Interim President Juan Guaidó of Venezuela is admitting that the populist push to remove the Nicolas Maduro regime from power is losing ground. Without military backing, the largely disarmed population has little to fight Maduro and his renewed forces.
“We have to acknowledge that yesterday there were not enough (people), we have to insist that all the armed forces protest together,” said Guaidó. “We are not asking for a confrontation. We are not asking for a confrontation among brothers, it’s the opposite. We just want them to be on the side of the people.”
MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders pointed out that the balance of power may possibly have never been in the hands of the protesters in the first place. Under Hugo Chavez, Venezuela passed a gun ban in 2012 leading to confiscation and arrests as early as 2013.
“Not only hanging on but he appears to still control the military,” said Sanders. “You have to understand, in Venezuela gun ownership is not something that’s open to everybody. So if the military have the guns, they have the power and as long as Nicolás Maduro controls the military, he controls the country.”
The realities of fighting a military regime unarmed was not unnoticed by Venezuelans.
“Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” said Javier Vanegas, a Venezuelan teacher of English now exiled in Ecuador, late last year. “The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.”
Video showing what appears to be Maduro forces running down protesters. (Photo: NYT)
See Also: How Gun Control Became an Instrument of Tyranny in Venezuela
“It was never easy to obtain a handgun permit in Venezuela but at least before 2012 it was possible,” said Daniel Di Martino, a Venezuelan expatriate, to the Daily Caller. “Since Venezuelans are unarmed we now depend on a military uprising for our freedom rather than a popular uprising.”
Earlier this week pro-Maduro forces opened fire on the protesters. Videos of an armored personnel carrier running over protesters has also surfaced (graphic). Tens of thousands of protesters turned to the streets to protest in an attempt to convince the military to split from the Maduro regime.
In a national address, Maduro said that the armed forces remain “united, cohesive and subordinate to their constitutional mandate,” in a display of leadership and military solidarity.
I am from Latin America. I have been trough a civil war, civil unrest, and many riots. I was a member of the National Police. I live in USA now. DO NOT allow the government to take your guns. That will be EXTREMELY STUPID…!
What a know-nothing article this is!
Guido never had more than a few hundred bystanders behind him and no military.
What will keep the Venezuelans free of enslavement to the US bankster class is a whole hell of a lot of Russian AKs that have been prepositioned for use if the Orange buffoon-in-chief can be persuaded to violate his campaign promises yet again by invading another free country.
¡Viva la revolución!
There are many like you here in the US,
I’m in Miami and there are numerous older stupid small minded individuals that live in comfort and freedom now, but back use to be in Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador running in the streets shout “VIVA LA REVOLUTION”
Only to have all their valuables, their property and their dignity stolen from them by a Socialist overlord. So they fled, leaving their country in ruins and coming to the US to vote for more Socialist politicians.
Have you ever heard of an honest election to remove a military dictatorship? Folks this is living proof why there is a Second Amendment in our Constitution. Dictatorships can only be removed by force and these tyrants know this. Disarm your citizens, maintain military control and kill off any opposition.
VEN is not a mil dictatorship. The US is tying to install a puppet operative by force. The “Guaido pro-US opposition” is very small, because people there know that they are under US attack.
Is there any clearer evidence as to why we have , and need ,
the 2A ? Observe , dear readers , if you will , the effects of a
populace disarmed and subservient to a communist regime.
There are elements within our government that are envious
and determined to see that situation here .
We must resist the concerted efforts of the neocommunists
to disarm and enslave citizens of this land .
What we see , and hear from that “utopia ” are what may be
waiting for us , if we submit .
RESIST , FELLOW CITIZENS !!!!!!!
Molon Labe !
I recently had a “discussion” with a life member of the NRA about the real reason for the 2A. He disagreed with the idea that armed civilians could stand against the military. When another guy joined his side, I shut my mouth. This life member of the NRA was siding with a guy who wants to ban black rifles and any other gun that becomes unpopular. Sometimes we just have to know when to back off.
Every American that cares about their freedom should have a semi-auto rifle and plenty of ammo. Have a look at Venezuela if you don’t understand why. Once they take them away from Americans, and don’t ever think that isn’t the plan, we’ll be in the same situation. Unless, the bad guys will defend us? After all, they will always be armed.
I got an AR-15 chambered in .300 Blackout and a Springfield M-1A with standard capacity magazines of twenty to thirty rounds for both. At least four hundred fifty rounds of ammo for both rifles presently. Do not let your ammo storage get below three hundred fifty rounds minimum. It is best to keep over seven hundred fifty rounds for each long gun you own. Train at least once every two months with your firearms.
For those of you who only own handguns buy yourself a long gun and stock up on ammo. Handguns are only really effective to a maximum of about ten to fifteen yards. Shotguns are presently dirt cheap. You can get yourself a decent five round pump action shotgun for less than $200 used. With solid slugs and a shotgun you have a weapon that is effective to at least 75 yards.
Venezuelans are defending themselves from historical US attacks through sanctions and coups as their people’s militia was mobilized several years ago. CNN is neo-liberal propaganda. You believe CNN now, but not when they are lying about Trump, Hillary and gun-related issues, is that right?
Horse cookies. Chavez,Maduro all very much same socialist craptastic design. Everyone keeps claiming we want to invade, or how bad Trump is but folks your old buddy Milk Dud Obama STAYED IN MIDDLE EAST FOR 8 FRIGGEN YEARS, TIES THE MILITARYS HANDS ON ROEs SO MORE SOLDIERS GET HURT/KILLED.
Keep bashing Trump but for most part he is NOT doing what lame stream media is claiming as truth.
Quit drinking left wing koolaid.
While it is true that individual gun ownership would help the people gain or maintain freedom, it doesn’t work so well when the majority of the population can’t read and write, and that was the situation in “wealthy Venezuela” before the communists took over. The opposition figures quoted who talk about how much it hurts them to not have access to weapons are assuming that they would be armed but non military supporters of the present government would not be, or are in the minority. Civil wars are devastating, as we know from experience.
Are you confusing Secession and Northern Aggression with a Civil War? You need to look up the definition of civil war. That would be conflict between citizens of the same country, fought to replace the ruling political entity with a different political entity.
Where’s the CIA ? Bring back Ollie North- he needs a job. They used to supply sanitized AK’s by the thousands to budding revolutions. Hell, there’s an AK factory in country that could be exploited by a hundred armed men. Perhaps it would be a quick massacre of armed civilians by Communist troops.
You can bet the liberal progressive politicians, AKA Democrats, are taking note of this. After all, they want to control the USA and impose socialism (and eventually Marxism) on everyone, just like Venezuela, but they can’t push too hard or too aggressively until they have disarmed most of the population. Their “red flag laws” are just one way to make an end-run around the rights of gun owners and the Constitution, by making people guilty until they can prove themselves innocent of whatever their accusers said they did, and denying them due process of law, under the guise of “protecting the public”.
This is exactly what the left wants here too.