Security & Strategic Review - January 2015 (ISSN 1741-4202)

VENEZUELA | Gearing up for confrontation. On 27 January, President Nicolás Maduro announced the establishment of the first ‘people’s civil-military commands’ which will be charged with fighting what he describes as a ‘war’ instigated by the ‘parasitic bourgeoisie’, ‘criminal gangs’ and ‘saboteurs’ and waged through large-scale hoarding of essential imports, along with price speculation and usury, with the aim of undermining the government and destabilising the country. This step is also a response to opposition leader Henrique Capriles’s call for the people to ‘mobilise’, even though Capriles has emphasised that he intends this to be peaceful, unlike the more confrontational approach pursued by the more radical wing in early 2014.