Russia: Maduro should prepare for another coup attempt

Russia WARNS Maduro That He Should Prepare For Another US-Backed Coup Attempt

Paul Antonopoulos

Russ Fort,

22 May, 2019

MOSCOW – On Tuesday, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that the opposition in Venezuela will try again to overthrow the elected government. For Naryshkin it is important that Caracas consolidates its position with the Venezuelan people and negotiates with the opposition, even if Washington makes domestic dialogue difficult.

“The crisis will obviously continue. The failed US-backed coup is obviously not the last. It is important that the legitimate government consistently consolidates the population of the country and join forces.” Naryshkin told reporters at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Intelligence Services of the United States of America.

Naryshkin added that although the failures of the government’s economic policies contributed largely to the outbreak of the political crisis in the Latin American country, “foreign forces” stimulated it.

Since January this year the political tension in Venezuela has been on the rise. At the time the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, proclaimed himself the interim president of the country, to which he received external support from the United States and its main allies.

The government of Nicolás Maduro, re-elected in 2018, continues to be considered legitimate by countries like China, Russia and international organizations.

On April 30, Guaidó attempted again to depose Maduro, however, the attempted coup failed. The Venezuelan government has begun an investigation to find out what has happened.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Central Bank and the Superintendency of Banking Institutions (SUDEBAN) announced that banks should develop their own financial operations system and waive agreements with the VISA, MasterCard and Maestro systems until January 30.

According to the portal Banca y Negocios, until November 30, operations with debit cards of these systems must be stopped and, until January 30 of next year.

SUDEBAN commissioned the country’s banking institutions to create an independent payment system, taking into account recent US sanctions and new threats. Banks must develop a sovereign system for processing banking operations using the biometric identification of customers.

However, experts questioned by the portal Banca y Negocios consider that the creation of this type of system in such a short time is unlikely.

Earlier, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared that the country would be free of the dollar, although Venezuelan authorities had practically legalized the circulation of the dollar.

In fact, the dollarization of Venezuela’s economy has continued in recent months – from official permission to use foreign currency.