In Venezuela, Surrounded by Dark Plots (Real or Not)
Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela claims that sabotage caused a widespread blackout.
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
The New York Times, September 10, 2013
CARACAS, Venezuela — When a sweeping power failure left more than half the country without electricity last week, President Nicolás Maduro wasted no time issuing a verdict. Despite a strained power grid that has gone lacking in basic upkeep for years, he assured Venezuelans that there could be only one cause: sabotage.
Then on Monday, when officials released a long-awaited report on the explosion at the national oil company’s enormous Amuay refinery, which killed more than 40 people last year, the conclusion surprised no one: sabotage again.
Accusing unseen conspirators of subjecting the nation to a variety of ills is an art form in Venezuela, honed during the 14-year presidency of Hugo Chávez, who died in March.
But ever since Mr. Maduro was elected by a narrow margin in April to replace Mr. Chávez, his mentor, he has cranked the discourse of conspiracy to an ever higher pitch, darkly warning of plots that seem to lurk around nearly every corner, aimed at killing him, destroying the economy or wrecking Mr. Chávez’s socialist-inspired revolution.
Few people are ever arrested and none have been convicted of any of the schemes Mr. Maduro has warned of in recent months.
Still, he makes it clear who he holds responsible: his political opposition and the United States, which he paints as an imperial enemy bent on subjugating Venezuela.
And for many Venezuelans, the allegations seem credible, especially because the United States once gave tacit approval for a coup that briefly removed Mr. Chávez from office.
On Monday, Mr. Maduro held a news conference where he riffed at length on his favorite themes, linking the alleged sabotage at the refinery to assassination plots, the electrical blackout, conspiring capitalists and supposed intrigues originating in the White House.
Mr. Maduro complained about the skepticism of his critics, who say he uses the frequent warnings of conspiracy as a scare tactic to generate support.
“Can it be that they want to see the cadaver with four bullets in it?” he said, knocking on a wooden table to ward off bad luck. “That’s the proof they want to see.”
Mr. Maduro said the refinery explosion in August 2012, which was caused by a gas leak, was carried out to disrupt the country before an election last October in which Mr. Chávez was re-elected, suggesting that it was done at the prompting of the American Embassy. The country’s enemies are also plotting to bring down the economy, he said.
Venezuela is struggling with inflation that is running at more than 45 percent a year, with chronic shortages of staple foods and basic consumer goods in the stores. Many economists say that government price controls and a lack of dollars to pay for imports are causing those problems.
But Mr. Maduro insisted that they were the result of a “war against the economy,” saying that he had the names of businessmen who were conspiring to further reduce the supply of some products, aiming to cause “a calamitous situation” this fall.
He also claimed to have information of a meeting in the White House in late July in which officials from the State Department, the National Security Agency, the C.I.A. and the Pentagon came up with a plan called “Total Collapse” intended to destabilize Venezuela.
“There could be people who think that this is fantasy,” Mr. Maduro said. Invoking Salvador Allende, the leftist Chilean president who was overthrown in 1973 after concerted American attempts to undermine him, he said, “It is raw reality.”
Mr. Maduro’s fiery words create the impression that he is surrounded on all sides by enemies who want to take away the social programs and other benefits provided by his government to the poor.
“Of course it was sabotage,” Jesús Lira, a vegetable seller, said of the refinery explosion and blackout. “And the government should come down hard on the opposition for it.”
But critics point out that while the government is heavy on accusations there are rarely arrests. No one has been arrested in the refinery explosion or last week’s blackout.
All that has led to a kind of conspiracy overload in which many people shrug their shoulders at the most strident assertions of impending doom or dastardly evildoing.
“You’ve got to wonder, how many saboteurs there are in the country,” Alberto Barrera Tyszka, a journalist and novelist, wrote in a newspaper column on Sunday.
“They are everywhere, they appear in every circumstance, at any time.” He added, “Conspirators are the frothy solution to every problem.”
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