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July 6th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, on Tuesday, tentatively offered to mediate in the increasingly violent crisis in neighboring Venezuela.
On Tuesday a mob of violent supporters of the socialist PSUV and the PSUV administration of President Nicolas Maduro stormed the country’s National Assembly building, injuring several lawmakers during their incursion.
The legislative branch of government has been usurped by the PSUV-dominated Supreme Court, with the court claiming that lawmakers are in contempt. The PSUV has, in so many words, put the Roundtable of Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition that holds an absolute majority in parliament out of business in what many – including usually PSUV friendly observers, described as a constitutional coup.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos commented on Tuesday’s incident saying: “We deeply regret receiving news from Venezuela, again, violence, this time in the hemicycle of democracy, the National Assembly building”.
Relations between Colombia and Venezuela are tense and the Colombian President’s efforts to achieve peace between the State and leftist guerrilla have, despite expectations to the contrary, not helped improve bilateral relations.
(archives)
In April 2017 Santos and Maduro didn’t mince words when they slugged it out in a duel of rhetoric that could prompt some to think “Kindergarden – my “censored” is bigger than your “censored”. The problem is, they are both head of state, in neighboring countries – in troubled neighboring countries – both of them with external factors contributing to their internal conflicts. A perfect storm where small incidents could have unintended consequences which could be difficult to control.
Santos had previously commented on the severe economic crisis in Venezuela and an increasingly authoritarian socialist government saying that the Bolivarian Revolution had failed.
In April he repeated that statement in the light of protests organized by the opposition Roundtable of Democratic Unity (MUD) and increasingly violent confrontations.
Faced with increased opposition, the socialist PSUV administration, earlier this year, began implementing a cohort of measures that can best be described as “borderline fascist or totalitarian”.
Maduro responded to Santos’ statement by returning fire in the for of a rhetoric barrage. Maduro claimed “Colombia is a failed state”. He added that his government in Caracas would “reveal the whole truth about the peace process” and claimed “They are preparing a massacre of FARC leaders who signed peace” (the peace accord that ended 52 years of armed conflict between the State and that Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army / FARC-EP.
Maduro also underpinned that Venezuela has taken in some 5.6 million Colombian s who were “fleeing from war, from paramilitaries, from the oligarchy, from hunger, from the lack of opportunities, from unemployment.
Santos has since then, “apparently” tried to prevent to further agitate an increasingly erratic Maduro. Together with leaders from other countries, Santos urged both the PSUV government and the MUD to refrain from violence and to start negotiating in earnest before Venezuela becomes utterly ungovernable and descends into a civil war. And the risk for that is high.
MUD lawmakers who have been denied access to the National Assembly for months, announce their plan to hold a plebiscite on July 16 as an act of civil disobedience.
The MUD has called for a plebiscite on the upcoming Constituent Assembly and for “Zero Hour Protests” as part of a civil disobedience strategy. Santos commented on the incident on Tuesday saying:
“As democrats we must condemn this violence and again call on the government and the opposition to negotiate in order to find a political solution”
Extending a token of gratitude, Santos thanked Venezuela for having helped to negotiate and end the 52-year-long civil war between the Colombian State and the FARC-EP.
He urged both sides in is to learn from this example and to find a peaceful, political solution. Extending a tentative offer to mediate, Santos said “If we can contribute our grain of sand we will”.
CH/L & A/N – nsnbc 06.07.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/07/06/colombia-tentatively-offers-to-mediate-as-venezuela-descends-into-violence/
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