CARACAS: A year ago, few could see crisis-beset Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro being re-elected for a second term. But still, he clings to power, and, denouncing an “assassination” attempt Saturday, insisted he is “more determined than ever”, reports AFP.
“I am fine, I am alive, and after this attack I’m more determined than ever to follow the path of the revolution,” said the 55-year-old following an alleged attack with an explosive-laden drone as he gave a speech at a Caracas military parade.
He was unharmed, but according to the government, seven soldiers were injured.
“Justice! Maximum punishment! There will be no forgiveness!” Maduro fumed hours later, as he blamed the incident on Colombia’s outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos and financiers in the United States. A mysterious rebel group also claimed responsibility for the alleged attack.
In May, Maduro powered to another six-year mandate, giving him a stranglehold on the presidency until 2025.
That was despite presiding over the ruined economy of the oil-rich South American country, where food and medicine shortages are the norm, the IMF projects one million percent inflation this year, and protests in 2017 left 125 dead.
Maduro’s nearest challenger, Henri Falcon, took just over 22 percent of the vote—and said that he did not accept the final results. The election result was also not recognized by many in the internatioanl community.
Maduro, a former bus driver, union leader, and ex-foreign minister, never doubted that he would be re-elected in a vote that he himself moved forward from December to May.
Yet the president has struggled to gain respect as the legitimate successor to Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013 and who anointed Maduro as his successor to perpetuate his own populist leftist ideology. “His authority was born out of the legacy of Chavez, but now we have a different Maduro, who knows that he is strong and is more aggressive,” Felix Seijas, head of the polling agency Delphos, told AFP.
Maduro’s first term in office was turbulent: the economic crisis, rising poverty and crime, violent street protests, international sanctions, and millions of Venezuelans fleeing their country.