Foreign Digest: Venezuela, Spain and Ukraine

Venezuela

            After some soldiers had defected to the democratic opposition with their arms and armaments, Venezuelan National Assembly leader Juan Guaido called this week for a military rebellion against the Socialist dictatorship.  There have been large protests, which, as usual, have been met by the tyrannical regime by arrests and deadly violence.  Guaido had used a constitutional provision last year to declare himself president, with the support of the duly appointed Supreme Court, after the assembly had been supplanted by a regime-contrived body.  The United States and dozens of other States recognize Guaido as President.  The U.S. supports the counterrevolution, but the Russian Federation opposes it.  There are Russian mercenaries in Venezuela.  The former opposition presidential candidate, Leopoldo Lopez, was freed by the opposition from government-imposed house arrest.  He took sanctuary in the Spanish Embassy, but the Socialist Spanish Government will not permit him to engage in political activity from its soil. 

Spain

            The ruling Socialists won the most seats in the parliamentary elections this week, gaining a large number from that last elections in 2016 but short of a majority.  The results will necessitate another coalition government, probably with the other center-left party, which came in fourth after losing seats, although they would still not have enough seats for a majority.  The center-right party came in third, losing only a handful of seats, while the conservatives came in third, nearly doubling their total.  These two parties’ combined number of 123 seats equals that of the Socialists in the 350-seat chamber.  However, the far-right will be in Parliament for the first time with two dozen seats.  Catalonian regional parties received most of the rest.

Ukraine

           Ukraine’s new President this week countered Russian Federation authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin’s proposal to grant citizenship to Ukrainians by offered Ukrainian citizens to Russians or any who fled tyranny and wished to help defend liberty.  Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and seized the Crimean Peninsula, in violation of its treaty with Ukraine recognizing the former Soviet Republic’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.