\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a slogan that\u2019s long encapsulated the unique ability of Hugo Ch\u00e1vez’s<\/a> fiercely nationalistic revolution to stay in power in Venezuela<\/a> for 27 years: \u201cUnited, we will win!\u201d<\/p>\n The young, the old, ruling party leaders and propagandists alike shout it at official events, street demonstrations and on state television, pumping their fists to show loyalty to the self-described socialist government \u2014 and its traditional antipathy toward the United States. Even when confronted with overwhelming truths that defy such bravado, the diverse coalition of military, ideological and opportunistic hangers-on has acted in lockstep.<\/p>\n But cracks in that unity have emerged after the stunning U.S. military operation<\/a> that captured then- President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> in January. Longtime loyalists are airing disagreements with the government of acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez and even discussing publicly rumors that an insider\u2019s betrayal helped the U.S. depose Maduro.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez, has done away with some of Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s policies, complied with U.S. demands and shuffled the government to her liking, removing ministers, pushing legislation through the National Assembly to overhaul the nation’s oil industry and releasing political prisoners<\/a>. <\/p>\n Supporters of Chavismo are making their disapproval known. Many criticize the warming relationship<\/a> between Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s government and the White House, whose occupant, regardless of party, Chavismo has historically seen as its main adversary.<\/p>\n May\u2019s deportation of a former minister<\/a> to face criminal investigations in the U.S. and Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s recent authorization for the U.S. military<\/a> to conduct a training exercise in Venezuela\u2019s capital laid bare internal divisions.<\/p>\n Mario Silva spent years spreading pro-government propaganda as the host of a program on state TV before being removed from the airwaves after Maduro\u2019s capture. Silva questioned the legality of the deportation of Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro’s, arguing that it violated a constitutional ban. <\/p>\n He contended that Rodr\u00edguez is not governing freely, as some decisions \u201care being made in the U.S. Embassy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe imperialists don\u2019t negotiate. They conquer, test and probe \u2014 until our country shatters,\u201d Silva said in a livestream. \u201cNobody is safe right now. And that is a concrete, terribly dangerous fact.\u201d<\/p>\n On May 23, a few dozen people in Caracas protested the training that saw two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft land at the U.S. Embassy. They held a Venezuelan flag with the message, \u201cNo to the Yankee drill\u201d written over it. Participation was minimal, which stood out in a city used to frequent demonstrations with attendance in the thousands.<\/p>\n El\u00edas Jaua, who served as Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s vice president and in Maduro\u2019s cabinet in his first years in office, repudiated the exercise on social media. He later told The Associated Press he was speaking up to raise awareness among Venezuelans of the \u201chumiliating\u201d situation facing the country.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this stage, the most important thing is to prevent this occupation and this colonial administration to which a nation like Venezuela is being subjected from becoming normalized,\u201d Jaua said.<\/p>\n Ch\u00e1vez and Maduro \u2014 as well as Rodr\u00edguez, in her previous roles as vice president and communications and foreign affairs minister \u2014 had long prophesied that the U.S. would use force to take control of Venezuela\u2019s oil industry, which has opened up to private capital<\/a> after Maduro’s capture. The Trump administration oversees oil sales and administers revenues as part of its phased plan<\/a> to turn the troubled South American country around.<\/p>\n The social, political and economic crisis that took hold when Maduro became president in 2013 drove more than 7.7 million people to leave Venezuela and pushed millions of others into poverty. It also led to rounds of anti-government protests and U.S. economic sanctions, both of which the ruling party survived.<\/p>\n Party stalwarts celebrated a Maduro victory in a 2024 election despite overwhelming evidence showing he had lost. They also echoed the party leadership’s denial of a surge of migration. Their loyalty was often rewarded, be it with food and basic goods for the poor or multimillion-dollar contracts and bodyguards for the better-off.<\/p>\n Andr\u00e9s Izarra, a communications minister under Ch\u00e1vez and tourism minister under Maduro, said the fractures are not based in ideology or a defense of Chavismo, which he believes ended when its founder died in 2013. Maduro’s interest, he said, was in enriching himself and remaining in power at all costs.. <\/p>\n Self-interest, he said, is creating division.<\/p>\n \u201cSince there is no ideological foundation, it is simply a struggle for power, money, positions, and survival. Do you think (he) would be protesting if he\u2019d kept his bodyguards, or if they\u2019d kept his little salary, or his share of power?\u201d Izarra, who lives in exile since becoming a government target last decade, said of one critic of change under Delcy. \u201cIf they had an ideological interest, they would have spoken much earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n Criticism even aired on state television last month, when a Colombian leftist leader sitting in the audience of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello’s show stood up and questioned Venezuela’s efforts to free Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores from U.S. custody.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a very weak campaign for Cilia and Nicol\u00e1s\u2019s freedom,\u201d Manuel Caicedo said before a visibly stunned Cabello.<\/p>\n Another devout Chavista, lawmaker Iris Varela, told a podcaster she believed a government insider had helped the U.S. oust Maduro. The idea has widely rumored since President Donald Trump announced that the authoritarian leader had been captured on Jan. 3, but no evidence has emerged.<\/p>\n Of course there\u2019s a betrayal,\u201d Varela said. “I say that every Christ has a Judas. If our Lord Jesus Christ knew he was going to be betrayed and yet he let Judas kiss him on the cheek, … won\u2019t a traitor emerge for Maduro?\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n