MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. By trying deliver so-called humanitarian aid to Venezuela the opposition tried to create an impression the legitimate president, Nicolas Maduro, is unable to govern the country any more, but these attempts failed, the scientific secretary of the Latin America Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dmitry Rozental, said about last Saturday’s clashes between the opposition and the authorities.
"It was a provocation and another attempt at putting pressure on the government. The opposition and Maduro are trying to use humanitarian aid as a political instrument: the one who distributes food controls the street," he said. "The very instance of psychological pressure on the authorities by the opposition and rather harsh statements by Juan Guaido is important. This is evidence that something has gone wrong, not the way the planners had anticipated, and the aims set have failed to be attained."
Rozental said the opposition’s intention was to make everybody think the Maduro government is incapable.
"The purpose of the attempt to bring in humanitarian aid was expected to demonstrate that Maduro is unable to control the border and the situation in the country," Rozental said. "That attempt failed."
The scholar warns that the opposition may resort to other means of struggle.
"Guaido has already called for using all methods of pressure on the authorities. He even hinted at the possibility of armed intervention. Clearly, it is too early to say that military intervention will certainly follow. It is not imminent, because the attitude of the Latin American countries, including the Lima Group, to the military scenario is negative," he said.
Rozental believes that pressures on Venezuela’s legitimate government will grow.
"Nothing is over for Maduro. Everything is just beginning for him, including economic pressure on Venezuela," he said, adding that in his opinion the external opponents were going to fight an economic war of attrition against Venezuela.
On February 23, Maduro’s opponents made an attempt to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela in defiance of Caracas’s decision to close the border. The authorities of the Bolivarian Republic suspected that the humanitarian cargo was a cover-up for foreign intervention and an attempt at regime change. Violent clashes between the opposition and the National Guard and police occurred at some places on the border. Several people were killed and hundreds of others injured.