Far-Right Rising in Spain; Far Left Falling in Bolivia

'Catalan independence push & weakness of old parties propelled rightwing Vox to its best ever result in Spanish election'

FILE PHOTO © Global Look Press / Juan Carlos Rojas

The Spanish voters are so tired of the traditional parties being unable to solve the Catalan and migrant issues, that they gave their voices to Vox, despite its rightwing agenda and lack of any actual policy, the experts told RT.

Vox unexpectedly came third in the Spanish general election on Sunday, claiming 52 seats in the country’s 350-seat parliament and more than doubling their results from previous elections.

The reason for that is the “weakening” of the traditional parties, said Vladimir Shveitser of the Moscow-based Institute for Europe.

The ruling Socialists (PSOE) “remain deadlocked between the interests of the working class and the domestic capital. And they aren’t very successful in promoting their policies in such a tight space,” he said. Another major player, the People’s Party (PP), is still unable to recover from the corruption scandal, which led to the downfall of Mariano Rajoy's government last summer.

The Spanish voters are now in a dubious state when they understand that supporting the old parties is pointless, but see no new parties, capable of providing an alternative.

And that’s where Vox comes in – with its hash rhetoric on such pressing issues as Catalonia’s push for independence from Madrid and the rising migration to the country. Its leader, Santiago Abascal promised to build a “patriotic alternative,” although he didn’t give any details of how this would work. 

When PSOE and PP are talking about giving Spanish autonomies more rights to avoid their succession, “Vox expresses belief that any and all home rule should be annulled, especially the one in Catalonia, so that there would be one unitary Spanish state… without any separation into historic regions,” Shveitser said.

Alejandro Quiroga, Spanish history scholar from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, also said that “the situation in Catalonia has had a nuclear effect in terms of the rise of the far-right in Spain.”

Another reason for the success of Vox is “the refugees and migrants, especially, from North Africa that started to actively make their way into Spain in recent years,” upsetting the locals, Shveitser pointed out. “Historic Spanish nationalism keeps working even in the 21st century.” 

But Quiroga had a different view, arguing that “the level of sociability in Spain – with migrants and foreigners in general – is quite high so that’s not really a problem.” Vox did especially well in the richest parts of the country where there aren’t too many migrants altogether.

Quigora believes that now Vox would make “a political issue,” despite it not being a real social problem in Spain. 

However, both experts agreed that party led by Abascal has little to offer to the Spanish people besides empty declarations.

“They don’t have much of a policy. They have a rhetoric, which is basically xenophobic and anti-women and anti-equality, but in terms of policies, really not much there,” Quiroga explained.

The arrival of Vox will also “provoke turmoil and chaos during the formation of the Spanish government,” Shveitser warned, saying that they’ve snatch a lot seat, but no other party will be willing to engage in a coalition with them.

Bolivian President Evo Morales resigns

amid election protests

Bolivian President Evo Morales has resigned after nearly 14 years in power, amid turmoil following his disputed re-election last month.

The head of the army had called on him to go after protests over his election win.

Auditors found irregularities with the poll but Mr Morales said he had been the victim of a coup.

He said he was leaving to help protect families of political allies, after their homes were burned down.

In a televised address, Mr Morales urged protesters to "stop attacking the brothers and sisters, stop burning and attacking".

Power vacuum

The biggest criticism of Evo Morales was his lack of respect for Bolivia's democracy - accused of overstaying his welcome and refusing to step down.

But the fact that the military has called the shots on the president standing down does not do much for Bolivia's democracy either.

Now Evo Morales has gone, there is a power vacuum. Increasing numbers of his Mas party are resigning, and it feels like there is a need for retribution - for Evo Morales and his people to pay the price for the mistakes they made while in power.

His supporters have called this a coup - his detractors the end of tyranny. The priority now is to choose an interim leader, call new elections and bring a polarised Bolivia together or face yet more unrest and violence in the coming weeks.

Vice-President Alvaro García and Senate President Adriana Salvatierra also resigned.

Protesters took to the streets to celebrate, chanting "yes we could" and setting off fire crackers.

How did we get here?

Bolivia has been rattled by weeks of anti-government protests, following the reports of election fraud.

Tensions first flared on the night of the presidential election after the results count was inexplicably stopped for 24 hours. The final result gave Mr Morales slightly more than the 10-percentage-point lead he needed to win outright in the first round of the race.

At least three people died during clashes that followed. Some uniformed police officers also joined the protesters.

On Sunday, the Organization of American States, which monitored the elections, said it had found evidence of wide-scale data manipulation, and could not certify the result of the previous polls.

Pressure continued to build on Mr Morales during the day, as several of his political allies resigned, some citing fears for the safety of their families.

The army chief, Gen Williams Kaliman, urged Mr Morales to resign "to allow for pacification and the maintaining of stability".

The military also said it would conduct operations to "neutralise" any armed groups that attacked the protesters.

What reaction has there been?

Opposition leader Carlos Mesa - who came second in last month's poll - thanked protesters for "the heroism of peaceful resistance".

In a tweet, he described the development as "the end of tyranny" and a "historical lesson", saying, "Long live Bolivia!"

However, the Cuban and Venezuelan leaders - who had previously voiced their support for Mr Morales - condemned the events as a "coup".

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel described it as a "violent and cowardly" attempt against democracy, while Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro said tweeted: "We categorically condemn the coup realised against our brother president."

Mexico says it is considering granting asylum to Mr Morales.

Who is Evo Morales?

Bolivia's first indigenous president, he had served as leader since 2006.

He ran for a fourth consecutive term in the October elections after a controversial decision by the constitutional court to scrap presidential term limits.

In a 2016 referendum, a majority had voted "no" to dropping the limit of term numbers that Bolivians could serve.

However, Mr Morales' party took the issue to the constitutional court, which abolished the term limits altogether.

Military Intervention in Venezuela ‘On the Table,’ Says OAS Secretary General

Is it time to overthrow another elected government in the name of democracy?

Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro waves to people during his visit to the Colombia-Venezuela border at the Simon Bolivar international bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, September 14, 2018. © Carlos Eduardo Ramirez / Reuters

The head of the Organization of American States (OAS), accused by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of being a “CIA agent,” says military intervention against Caracas should not be ruled out as a response to the ongoing crisis.

OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro has hinted that the bloc may consider taking military action in Venezuela if it runs out of diplomatic options in its bid to alleviate the plight of people in the crisis-stricken country.

“With regards to a military intervention aimed at overthrowing the regime of Nicolas Maduro, I think we should not exclude any option,” Almagro said on Friday.

Venezuelans have been fleeing to neighboring countries in droves due to shortages of food and water, as well as soaring inflation and unemployment at home.

Almagro was wrapping up his three-day trip to Colombia, which has been heavily impacted by the inward movement of refugees from Venezuela. Some 3,000 Venezuelans are estimated to be crossing into the country every day. Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Chile have also been sharing the refugee burden, with Brazil deploying troops to the border to restore order in the borderline state of Roraima after fierce clashes erupted between locals and migrants.

Almagro has frequently traded verbal blows with Maduro. Speaking in the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Friday, the OAS chief called the Venezuelan leader a “dictator” and Cucuta “the city that best exemplifies the lies of Venezuela’s dictatorship.”

The comments come shortly after an explosive report in the New York Times, which claimed that the administration of US President Donald Trump has long conspired with a group of Venezuelan officers to depose Maduro. The clandestine negotiations, which involved US officials engaging with a military commander on their own sanctions list, reportedly kicked off in autumn 2017 and continued throughout last year.

According to the NYT, US officials eventually decided not to endorse the plotters, who had asked their US handlers to provide them with material supplies, including encrypted radios.

When confronted with the report, the White House did not outright deny that it had been engaged in secret talks with mutinous officers. “The United States government hears daily from the concerns of Venezuelans from all walks of life – be they members of the ruling party, the security services, elements of civil society or from among the millions of citizens forced by the regime to flee abroad,” the White House National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement.

Almagro and Maduro have been embroiled in a long-running war of words, exchanging insults and calling each other “traitors.” Back in 2016, Maduro accused Almagro of being a “CIA agent” and of turning the OAS into a US pawn. The OAS chief then fired back, denying that he was with the CIA and accusing Maduro of slander. “And your lie, even if it repeated a thousand times, will never be true,” he wrote at the time.

The US has been pushing for the suspension of Venezuela from the OAS, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging members to kickstart the procedure so it “would send a powerful signal to the [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro regime.”

At the organization’s 48th assembly in June, Washington failed to secure enough votes needed for the proposed suspension, which was celebrated as a victory by Caracas.

Venezuela, however, wants to leave the bloc on its own terms. Back in 2017, it formally started a withdrawal procedure and will cease to be a member by 2019.

Does that mean that the OAS will have to invade Venezuela before they cease membership in the organization? Or do they think they will have the right to afterward?

'A Crisis Moment': Tracing the Origins of Venezuela's Spiraling Economy and its Human Toll

Here's how the country with the world's largest oil reserves

ended up in the midst of a refugee crisis

CBC News

A little girl lies on the ground at a camp in Cucuta, Colombia, near the border with Venezuela. Many of the Venezuelan children whose families have fled their home land are suffering from malnutrition or parasites. (Fernando Vergara/Associated Press)

Since 2014, the UN's International Organization for Migration estimates that 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their country, desperate to escape economic and political turmoil, hunger and violence.

Here's a look at how the crisis has unfolded:

A Venezuelan migrant breastfeeds her baby at a centre on Peru's border with Ecuador on August 24, 2018. (Douglas Juarez/Reuters)

Venezuela was once one of the richest countries in Latin America, taking in thousands of refugees in the latter half of the 20th century. But there was economic inequality. The country was run by the wealthy, and the poor suffered.

Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998 on a pledge to change that. At the time, Venezuela's greatest commodity, oil, was selling for about $10 US a barrel. By the time he died in 2013, it was $100 US. The government provided better housing, healthcare, and education for the working classes — but it also fixed prices for some food products and other goods and set-up a complex system of currency controls. 

Chavez's socialism left the government in deep debt. And in 2014, the price of oil started to drop, eventually going as low as $26 US a barrel. Today, it hovers around $70 US, but the uptick in oil prices hasn't been enough to save the country from further economic turmoil.

Then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, left, attends a ceremony for his re-election in 2012, with the man he would name as his vice president and eventual successor, Nicolas Maduro. (Ariana Cubillos/Associated Press)

Chavez's hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, has been accused of mismanaging the oil sector. Oil production has fallen and the country has been unable to pay its debts. The economy has gone into free fall, leaving the government unable to pay for imports like food and medicine. 

Hospitals are overcrowded and short on supplies.

American sanctions contribute to these woes, but socialism is the main contributing factor, and possibly corruption and incompetence, as well.

The crisis has lead to a 30 per cent increase in child mortality, according to the most recent official sources. (Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images)

Supermarket shelves are almost bare. Domestic farm production has dropped and the government can't afford to import enough food for its people. 

People shop at a near-empty supermarket in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Because of complex currency and price controls, the available food is often sold on the black market at prices average people cannot afford. 

In some cases, spoiled meat is being sold to consumers. But some Venezuelans buy it because it is all they can afford. 

A customer smells a piece of spoiled meat at a market in Maracaibo, Venezuela. It makes some sick, but at bargain prices, it's the only way many people can afford beef. (Fernando Llano/Associated Press)

In an attempt to deal with shortages and other economic problems, the government has continued to print money, causing hyperinflation which destroys purchasing power for many Venezuelans. According to a recent study by the opposition-controlled National Assembly, the annual inflation rate reached 83,000 per cent in July.

The International Monetary Fund says inflation could hit one million per cent by the end of the year.

A kilogram of tomatoes is pictured next to 5,000,000 bolivars, its price and the equivalent of about $1,

at a mini-market this month in Caracas. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Neighbouring countries, Colombia and Brazil, have seen thousands of Venezuelans pour over their borders seeking respite from the conditions at home. According to Colombia's immigration agency, that country alone has received nearly 900,000 asylum seekers in the past 18 months. Between 700 and 800 Venezuelans are arriving in Brazil every day. 

Nurses shout anti-government slogans during an August protest demanding higher wages amid spiralling inflation.

(Ariana Cubillos/Associated Press)

Those with greater resources are escaping to Spain, the United States, and Canada. According to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, there has been a spike in refugee protection claims from Venezuela in the past five years, from 31 applications in 2013 to 1,240 in 2017. There have been 588 applications so far this year.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have crossed into Cucuta, Colombia across the Simon Bolivar International Bridge. Some work in Colombia illegally, while others come daily to buy food and return to Venezuela. (Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images)

Peru, Chile, Argentina, Panama, and Ecuador are also popular destinations for Venezuelan migrants. 

With Ecuador and Peru tightening their entry requirements, officials in Bogota worry that Venezuelans fleeing

the economic and political crisis could become stranded in Colombia. (Schneyder Mendoz/AFP/Getty Images)

Maduro's government blames the problems on an "economic war" waged by business owners, Colombia and the U.S. It blames "hoarding" by speculators for food shortages and has urged the population to rally to the defence of the state.

In mid-August, Maduro announced measures aimed at combating hyperinflation, including a plan to chop five zeros off the country's currency. The government is also raising the monthly minimum wage by more than 3,500 per cent. 

But part of what fuelled the economic crisis in the first place was inflation due to a heavily indebted government printing money ad nauseam. Critics worry the new measures will not be enough to fix the economy and some say the changes could actually exacerbate the economic crisis. 

On foot, by bus, or on the backs of trucks, migrant families slog for days along the Pan-American highway

through Colombia and Ecuador, in this case with the goal of reaching Peru. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

Two Venezuelan men wait to get food and shelter in front of the Migration Center in Cucuta, Colombia.

(Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images)

Venezuela - Videographer Chronicles Countries Descent into Hell

Empty supermarkets, drug stores with no drugs, hospitals with no supplies and the man responsible has succeeded in consolidating his power. He has totally destroyed his country and believes he deserves to be its leader forever.

It's a good thing he is broke or he would be another Kim Jong Un.

video 12:34

Venezuela's New Assembly, 1st Order - Remove Honest Bureaucrat

Venezuela assembly ousts attorney general

after guards swarm her office

By Daniel Uria  

Dozens of uniformed guards stood outside of Luisa Ortega Diaz's office in Caracas, Venezuela as the country's newly implemented National Constituent Assembly voted to remove her from the office of attorney general.Photo by Luisa Ortega Diaz‏/Twitter

UPI -- Venezuela's newly elected National Constituent Assembly voted unanimously to remove Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz from office.

The assembly voted to permanently remove Ortega Diaz from her Supreme Court position and replaced her with Tarek William Saab, Venezuela's human rights ombudsman and supporter of President Nicolas Maduro.

Prior to the vote on Saturday Ortega Diaz tweeted photos showing dozens of uniformed guards standing outside, in what she called a "siege" and an "arbitrary act" on her office in Caracas.

About three dozen troops stood outside the building and apparently stopped Ortega Diaz and others from moving in and out of the building.

Her office also tweeted that the department's employees were "victims of abuse" by the guards.

Ortega Diaz was a supporter of Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, but clashed with Maduro about repression against street protesters and announced on Wednesday she had opened an investigation into the election that created the Maduro-backed National Constituent Assembly.

The London-based company that handled the election's polling technology has said they are sure "without any doubt" that the vote was manipulated.

A human rights commission of the Organization of American States asked that Venezuela's government guarantee the safety of Ortega and her family from prosecution following her removal from office.

Venezuela's Precipitous Descent into Autocracy

2 political figures killed as Venezuela holds

unpopular vote for new assembly

President Nicolas Maduro vows to go after political foes

after election with aim to rewrite constitution

The Associated Press 

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters in Caracas on Saturday.

(Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters)

Gunfire has killed a candidate in Venezuela's controversial election for a new assembly tasked with rewriting the country's constitution, as well as an opposition activist, officials said Sunday.

Jose Felix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer described as a popular candidate for the Constituent Assembly, was shot in his home in Bolivar City on Saturday night, a tweet from the country's public ministry said.

A group of people broke into his residence and "fired several shots," it said.

Ricardo Campos, a youth secretary for the opposition Democratic Action party, was shot and killed during a street protest in the same city early Sunday, said Henry Ramos Allup, a deputy in the National Assembly and the party's national secretary general.

Two other men were shot and killed during a protest on Saturday night in the town of Chiguara in Merida State in the country's northwest, Venezuelan newspaper El Universal reported.

The violence came before voting began in an election held after four months of political upheaval, which has left about 100 people dead and thousands injured and detained.

President casts pre-dawn vote

President Nicolas Maduro asked for global acceptance on Sunday as he cast an unusual pre-dawn vote for an all-powerful constitutional assembly that his opponents fear he'll use to replace his country's democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.

Accompanied by close advisers and state media, Maduro voted at 6:05 a.m. local time — far earlier and less publicly than in previous elections.

In one of the latest clashes between protesters and the government, a 61-year-old nurse was shot and killed by men accused of being pro-government paramilitaries during a protest at a church, close to the school where Maduro voted.

Maduro and his socialist administration deny links to violent paramilitaries and say the political opposition is responsible for the violence that has left at least 113 dead and nearly 2000 wounded in four months of protests.

"We've stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence," Maduro said. "Hopefully the world will respectfully extend its arms toward our country."

Venezuelans living in Bogota, Colombia, demonstrate against the constitutional assembly promoted by President Nicolas Maduro's government. The sign reads, 'Out with Maduro, no more dictatorship.' (Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters )

The opposition is boycotting Sunday's vote, contending the election has been structured to ensure Maduro's socialist party continues to dominate; all 5,500 candidates for the 545 seats in the constituent assembly are his supporters and the vote's success is being measured by turnout.

The government is encouraging participation with tactics that include offering social benefits like subsidized food to the poor and threatening state workers' jobs if they don't vote.

'Hoping for housing'

Opinion polls say more than 70 per cent of the country is opposed to Sunday's vote and by mid-morning, turnout appeared light in a dozen sites visited by The Associated Press, with dozens or hundreds of voters lining up at polling sites that saw thousands by the same time in previous elections. Some were frank about their motivations for voting: staying in the government's good graces to receive aid.

"I'm here because I'm hoping for housing," said Luisa Marquez, a 46-year-old hairdresser.

Others said they were there out of conviction that the constitutional assembly would help the government fend off what they called an international capitalist conspiracy to undermine Venezuela's socialist system with the help of the domestic opposition.

Communist paranoia, apparently, stems from socialist paranoia.

"The crisis, the shortages of food and medicine, that isn't the government's fault," said Luis Osuna, a 42-year-old private bodyguard. "Those who are attacking us to kill us with hunger and blame the government are the same enemies the government's always had."

Once one of Latin America's wealthiest nations, Venezuela has spiraled into a devastating crisis during Maduro's four years in power, thanks to plunging oil prices and widespread corruption and mismanagement. Inflation and homicide rates are among the world's highest and widespread shortages of food and medicine have citizens dying of preventable illnesses and rooting through trash to feed themselves.

The special assembly being selected Sunday will have powers to rewrite the country's 1999 constitution but will also have powers above and beyond other state institutions, including the opposition-controlled congress.

Opponents have 'prison cell waiting' 

While opinion polls say a vast majority oppose him, Maduro made clear in a televised address Saturday evening that he intends to use the assembly to govern without limitation, describing the vote as "the election of a power that's above and beyond every other. It's the super power!"

He said he wants the assembly to strip opposition legislators of their constitutional immunity from prosecution and indicated he is eager to prosecute many more members of the opposition parties that control a handful of state governments along with the National Assembly, providing one of the few remaining checks on the power of the socialist party that has ruled this OPEC nation for nearly two decades.

A demonstrator looks on during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas on July 28, 2017. (Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

"The right wing already has its prison cell waiting," the president said. "All the criminals will go to prison for the crimes they've committed."

And the number one crime in Maduro's eyes is, not supporting Maduro.

Saying the assembly will begin to govern within a week, Maduro said its first task in rewriting the constitution will be "a total transformation" of the office of Venezuela's chief prosecutor, a former government loyalist who has become the highest-ranking official to publicly split from the president.

There is no room in Maduro's Venezuela for an honest bureaucrat.

The Trump administration has imposed successive rounds of sanctions on high-ranking members of Maduro's administration, with the support of countries including Mexico, Colombia and Panama.

Vice-President Mike Pence promised on Friday that the U.S. would take "strong and swift economic actions" if the vote went ahead. He didn't say whether the U.S. would sanction Venezuelan oil imports, a measure with the potential to undermine Maduro but cause an even deeper humanitarian crisis here

Maduro's supporters on the Supreme Court set off the protests and clashes between police and demonstrator when they tried to strip the National Assembly of its powers in April.

The opposition has organized a series of work stoppages, as well as a July 16 protest vote that it said drew more than 7.5 million symbolic votes against the constitutional assembly. It called Saturday for roadblocks to start before dawn Sunday and a mass march on Caracas' main highway.

"A new stage in the democratic struggle starts tomorrow," Julio Borges, the president of the National Assembly, said at a news conference called by Democratic Unity, a coalition of some 20 opposition groups. "This new stage will need more courage ... street protests will get stronger."

This deplorable situation will certainly get much worse before it gets better; if it ever gets better.

Venezuela to Leave ‘Interventionist’ OAS Group Amid Deadly Anti-Govt Protests

© Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters

Caracas has decided to withdraw its membership from the Organization of American States after the body voted to “breach sovereignty” and convene an emergency meeting over the ongoing violent crisis in Venezuela that has already resulted in 29 deaths.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, announced that the Latin American country will begin the process of exiting OAS after the organization convened a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss Venezuela.

The decision by the OAS' Permanent Council was passed by 19 votes to 10, with one abstention and one absence.

The foreign ministry and President Nicolas Maduro will forward a letter to the OAS on Thursday stating that "Venezuela will not participate in any activities that promote interventionism," Rodriguez said, adding that the exit process will take 24 months.

Addressing the nation that has been engulfed in violence, Rodriguez asserted that the OAS seeks to criminalize the Venezuelan government and destabilize its constitutional democracy in order to facilitate foreign intervention. The country's chief diplomat said that OAS does not have the consent of the affected country to intervene in domestic affairs.

Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s representative to the Organization of American States, said that the fate of the South American nation will never be decided by institutions such as the OAS or Washington.

Protests in the country have been ongoing in Venezuela since March 29, after the Supreme Court ruled to take over the duties of the National Assembly, a ruling many saw as undemocratic. Although the Supreme Court repealed the ruling three days later, this was not enough to assuage anti-government protesters.

The opposition has demanded the government hold fresh elections as soon as possible. President Maduro has agreed but a date has yet to be set.

At least 29 people have died in clashes so far this month, according to Reuters, as many of the rallies erupted in violence and vandalism.

Clashes erupted in Caracas again on Wednesday after National Guard troops and police blocked a highway in the area of the capital where thousands demonstrated. Venezuelan police fired tear gas at stone-throwing anti-government protesters as masked youths picked up tear gas canisters to hurl back at security forces.

While police stopped protesters advancing, government supporters staged a counter-rally near the presidential palace in central Caracas.

Maduro's opponents are demanding the release of imprisoned protesters, humanitarian aid to help with food and medicine shortages, as well as autonomy for the opposition-led legislature.

Maduro claims recent protests are nothing more than opposition efforts to stir up violence and topple his government. Bolivian President Evo Morales agrees with his counterpart that the anti-government protests in Venezuela are “a coup d’etat, driven by the right.”

There could be some truth in what he is saying, but it's more likely that it is just socialist paranoia. The Venezuelan economy is collapsing and Maduro's response is to entrench himself in power. He is incompetent and probably corrupt (who in South America isn't), and he is the last person Venezuela needs in power to fix the economy. The people are getting hungry and Morales blames outsiders for stirring up the people. 

“I feel sad that the Organization of American States [OAS] keeps on its tradition of coups, which is the primary means of the North American empire,” Morales said in an interview with RT.