In Venezuela the new year begins, just as the previous year has ended, with violence. The military forces of President Nicolás Maduro attack the insurgents in the mountains around the capital Caracas. The rebels are led by Oscar Pérez.
It is not yet known if he was killed during battle hours. The videos published show him bleeding, armed and presumably in freedom.
For the socialist government, Pérez is the number one enemy of the state. The former pilot of the CICPC police unit stole a helicopter in June last year and fired on the Interior Ministry and threw grenades at the Supreme Court.
A fan? Maybe. Maybe one of these is needed to have an opportunity in the fight against Maduro.
He remains in his position as President since 2013, which he inherited from Hugo Chávez at that time. Since then, he has repeatedly made far-reaching decisions - antidemocratic decisions directed against his own people.
Maduro, 55 years old, went from a charismatic ex-trade unionist to a socialist butcher. Since 2014, he has led a vendetta against his own people, brutally oppressing the opposition and refusing to accept reconciliation. More than a hundred people have already died in violent protests, and there have been repeated arrests and torture.
Democracy in one of the most important countries of the continent has become a dictatorship over the years. The United Nations warned in September that it was suspected that military and paramilitary loyalists had committed crimes against humanity. An investigation has not yet been possible.
The Latin American country has the largest oil reserves in the world, fuel is cheaper than water between Caracas and Caicara. The politicians have had the opportunity to create paradisiacal conditions. On the other hand, the country is a hell for many people.
Venezuela has become a center of poverty in the region due to years of mismanagement and corruption. Hyperinflation was more than 1000 percent at the end of 2017, the highest rate in the world. Currently, the minimum wage is only a few euros.
More than half of Venezuelans live below the poverty line. The country can not import food due to lack of foreign currency. At Christmas the traditional Christmas ham was missing on many tables. The Maduro Autocrat blamed it on "international sabotage".
At the beginning of the year, massive looting of supermarkets occurred in several cities. People were fed up with life in the queue. The army went to protect supermarkets.
Although the socialist government supported by Russia, China and Cuba is trying to calm the situation by subsidizing food aid, only those who express their support for Maduro in writing can do so.
Medical care is also considered catastrophic. Venezuelan hospitals are miserably equipped. Maduro de facto kills Venezuelan citizens through his policies even if he does not shoot them, but makes them die of simple diseases or malnutrition. According to the New York Times, it is estimated that hundreds of children have died of hunger.
To avoid the catastrophe, Maduro has recently announced that it will generate around 5.9 billion dollars through the creation of its own cryptographic currency, called "Petro". With this, he wants to have better access to real money and, therefore, circumvent the sanctions of the United States.
The United States has banned trade in Venezuelan government bonds. This also affects the state oil company PDVSA, one of the country's main currency suppliers. The private fortune of the ruler, who is in the United States, as well as that of many generals were frozen. One reason for the punitive measures: The parliament dominated by the opposition was deprived of power in the summer and replaced by the so-called Popular Assembly, in which the followers of Maduro have a voice and vote.
Maduro has sent many opposition leaders to jail and has faced many of the remaining opponents. He is determined to confront the whole world -even the powerful Latin American Catholic Church-, which this week welcomes Pope Francis in Chile and Peru.
Maduro challenges the church. On Monday, he severely attacked two bishops and asked his judicial branch to investigate them. Maduro announced that they preached hatred, after one of the clergymen prayed at mass so that the country would be freed from the "plague of corruption."
The bishop is not alone. Two million Venezuelans have already fled their homes due to the catastrophic supply situation and the persistent repression in the last two years, about half a million of them in the Colombian border region. Luisa Ortega, the private attorney general, also fled to the neighboring country.
Maduro has only been able to stay in power because the army is at his side. How much longer, that is questionable. On the one hand, it is said that the mafia has infiltrated the army and controls many regions of the country, including the border area with Colombia. On the other hand, few razos soldiers doubt their orders, which have been the same for months.
The opposition organization "Obeservatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social", OVCS, has published a study according to which in 2017 there have been 9,787 demonstrations against the government of Caracas. There would be 27 protests a day. Many of them with blood.
And it does not seem that in 2018 it will be different: According to the study, there were already 386 demonstrations in the first 16 days of the year and five deaths. Maduro continues to use brute force to maintain the socialist experiment launched in 1999.
The constitution requires him to hold presidential elections this year. Your goal is clear. He wants to avoid defeat, win at the polls, attract his impoverished voters with the old slogan "overcome".
