Andrade's criticism: applauding the North American military intervention is a sepoy's attitude

By Brandon Cardozo

The American military intervention that ended with the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas generated a shock that was felt strongly in Plaza Cagancha this Saturday. While much of the continent observes the end of the Chavista dictatorship with relief, communist senator Óscar Andrade decided to stand on the opposite sidewalk to distribute “sepoy” cards to anyone who does not share his sixties vision of the world. In a mobilization that seemed like a trip back in time to the Cold War, the PCU legislator focused his speech on defending the sovereignty of a regime accused of narcoterrorism, completely ignoring the humanitarian drama that expelled millions of Venezuelans from their land.

The legislator, who seems to ignore the systematic human rights violations denounced by the UN, focused his speech on a supposed “radical reformulation of the Monroe Doctrine.” For Andrade, the American military intervention It has nothing to do with the liberation of an oppressed people or the capture of a leader accused of narcoterrorism. In his vision of the world, everything boils down to a crude plan of donald trump to seize Venezuelan oil and enrich his companies, a theory that allows him to avoid the problem about the dictatorial nature of his Caribbean allies.

Andrade's warning about North American military intervention

During his dialogue with the press, the communist senator warned that what happened this Saturday marks a “difficult line of return” for the continent. From his perspective, the American military intervention In Venezuela it is just the first step of an imperialist advance that tomorrow could target Colombia or even Brazil. It is curious that Andrade talks about sovereignty when the regime he defends has handed over control of its resources and security to powers like Iran, Russia and China, but of course, in the manual of the radical left, these interferences do not seem to qualify as such.

Andrade insisted that “the tragedies of Latin America "They don't settle with the military," a phrase that sounds like pure irony coming from a sector that has historically supported a dictatorship that was sustained, precisely, on the power of weapons and citizen repression. By describing support for the American military intervention, the senator tries to close a necessary debate with barricade insults, ignoring that thousands of Venezuelans who today live in Uruguay see in this operation the only real opportunity to return to their homes after years of misery and persecution.

Oil as an excuse for US military intervention

To divert attention from the charges of drug trafficking that weighs on Maduro, Andrade resorted to the old trick of economic determinism. He assured that the conflict is not about “democracy or dictatorship,” but about who gets the crude oil. According to the senator, the American military intervention It is a plundering maneuver, thus minimizing the clamor of millions of Venezuelans who were crying out for a way out of the stagnation of a regime that turned the richest country in the region into a factory for the poor.

Andrade's speech also included references to the Panama Canal, attempting to weave a web of conspiracies that justify his visceral rejection of the fall of Maduro. However, his rhetoric clashes with the reality of a Plaza de la Bandera that, a few kilometers away, was filled with people celebrating that the Caracas jailer will finally have to explain himself before a judge. The American military intervention It is, for "Boca", an affront to the "dignity of the people", although that dignity has been trampled by Chavismo during the last quarter of a century with the complicit silence of its party.

The isolation of the story in the face of North American military intervention

While Andrade marched alongside a few hundred stalwarts, the rest of the region appears to be moving in another direction. The insistence on defending the sovereignty of a “narco-regime” puts the communist senator in a position of isolation that even bothers some sectors of the Wide Front. By stating that the American military intervention It is an act of modern piracy, Andrade forgets that the real piracy was the one that emptied the coffers of the Venezuelan State while its population rummaged through the garbage to eat.

The mobilization in Montevideo ended up being an exercise in empty rhetoric, where more people shouted against Trump that in favor of the freedom of political prisoners in Venezuela. For Andrade, the American military intervention It is the original sin, but the torture in El Helicoide or the massacre of opponents in the streets of Caracas seem to be minor details that do not deserve urgent concentration. The term “sepoy” ended up being the boomerang of the day: who is more submissive, the one who supports the fall of a tyrant or the one who defends the interests of a caste that destroyed an entire nation under revolutionary slogans?