Three weeks it was bought by a sensor from republican cassy opposed big budget deficit. The i think ceremony for the Winter Olympics in pyongyang is now underway showpiece event comes on the back of a togetherness between north and south korea the sister of north koreas leader has become the first member of her family to step foot in south korea since the two countries went to war in one nine hundred fifty jong is part of the north korean delegation thats arrived for the games. Egyptian army has launched what its called a comprehensive operation against terrorists and criminal groups in the Sinai Peninsula website announced the start of the offensive local media is reporting what it calls an unusual increase in the number of military vehicles in north sinai hospitals have been put on higher in order to provide extra beds and nursing staff to deal with emergencies and medical evacuation. By the. Call what the impreza call the smore ning Law Enforcement forces began implementing the plan a comprehensive confrontation against the terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in north and central sinai and other areas in the delta of egypt and the desert back in the west of the nile valley this comes in addition to training and other operations on all Strategic Directions in order to tighten control of the ports of the egyptian state. For a fifth consecutive day bombs have been targeting rebel held on the edge of the capital damascus aid agencies say government and russian as strikes of killed at least two hundred thirty people Rights Groups say hospitals have been told another targets of strikes including the bombing of a Red Crescent Center on a five year government sees the enclave as running desperately low on food medicine and medical equipment. Was the number of those being killed in eastern guta rises by the hour the war is taking its toll on the survivors. And they. Say. Thank you. But really. It is shelling and destruction every time it turns out there are twenty five explosions not here demolishing the entire country people going to leave the shelters can leave given to us theres nothing in the shelters the people who believe in peace talks in geneva dont see whats happening here on the ground. Syrias accusing the u. S. Of committing a war crime by bombing fighters loyal to president Bashar Al Assad and province the u. S. Led Coalition Says one hundred fighters loyal to the Syrian Government died in the airstrikes as they were in response to what it called an unprovoked attack on the headquarters of its allies the Syrian Democratic forces but russia which backs assad says the strikes are part of an effort by washington to control key economic assets in the region. Supporters of former bangladeshi Prime Minister have continued protests after a court ruling against their leader she was jailed for five years on wednesday for embezzling around two hundred fifty thousand dollars in donations meant for an orphanage trust eldest son and four aides were given ten years sentences says supporters say the ruling is politically motivated as venal acts of its has been detained in saudi arabia for seventeen days and what Rights Groups are calling a quiet government crackdown on human rights Campaigners Police entire book accused. Of advocating womens rights on social media she faces five years in prison if found guilty rescue operations are starting to wind down in taiwan after a devastating six point four magnitude earthquake aftershocks have been hampering the search for survivors with five people still missing in the port city of tuesdays quake killed at least twelve people and injured hundreds of others. Those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after the big picture stay with us. Venezuela is gripped by crisis. Ravaged by economic collapse and mobbed by political to k. The government of Nicolas Maduro faces an existential threat. Mother who has been a bully in the middle of a big storm. Latin americas once model democracy struggles to maintain order and feed a divided people. Have never seemed a detour racial of Living Standards of this moment almost unworkable or a nation boasting the Worlds Largest oil reserves fight the economic survival as its called further apart. Polarization is the racial it is there regionally is there by class its there in malta paul multiple ways. But the seeds of its current demise was sown a century ago. When the events of its formative years in shared that the fate of venezuela would be written in oil. This country that was once that the wealthiest in the region what went wrong how did we get to this point in venezuela. The country starts among the Association Process that is shaped by all of this puts a state becomes more and more powerful and they shape their country through the state charges and then my goodness of being tried to create. List revolution and that led this people to destroy the whole business of herat those of the country. That unemployment did go down equality increased per capita g. D. P. Increased of course you could say that because of the oil wealth are at the same time or are that only wealth could have been distributed completely different there and i would say it was distributed much more equitably. And it was a very backward country before birth of one of the poorest of latin america. Life expectancy was in your early thirties and about three quarters of the country was a mature. Its very difficult to speak of a National Policy much less of a national culture. Then we have an extraordinary developments in nine hundred fourteen when venezuela sings its those wells begins pumping oil for the first time. In this way that enters the era of commercial heavy Oil Production and not only is the british and the dutch involved but now the us also comes to venezuela to partake in oils production. Foreign oil giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and the American Standard oil company were granted concessions by the military dictatorship of one percent taken as allowing them to drill for oil and allowing us to get rich. Rival of the Oil Companies the development of the industry parallels the rise of one be sent the gold mist and the rise of the venezuelan state even though venezuela really begins to develop its all economy the venezuelan state doesnt benefit hugely because in essence its only charging rent for the land. By the mid one nine hundred thirty s. The once lease collective of largely coffee exporting regions had become a consolidated nation state formed and transformed by oil. We have the beginnings of a mass process of urbanization so people coming out of the rule country signs in city the big cities because the major london is the selling off the Oil Companies the very idea of oil became imbued with the notion of modernity that the oil camps with the north american presence the british presence with electricity water sewage would then become social laboratories that other venezuelans should emulate on the one hand there were people who were living in the oil camps who received all the benefits of working for all companies and then on the outside of these comes you have the majority of Venezuelan Society who didnt have access to all of the health care and benefits and education benefits. One percent take on as died in one thousand nine hundred eighty five but he laid the blueprint for other dictators to follow developing infrastructure suppressing to sand and getting rich off oil deals. The first half of the Twentieth Century would see venezuela ruled by oppressive military regimes for all but three years on a popular push for democracy in one nine hundred forty five briefly on seated dictatorship. But the Political Party cemented in that democratic interlude axion democratic eighty and capacity question democrats remained a persistent opposition to authoritarian rule. By the mid one nine hundred fifty s. The rule of another dictator general marcos paris and then as it creates a vastly expanded and increasingly unequal state we enter what some of called the bulldozer years in venezuela the state will now use the funds the profits of oil to engage in broad scale developmental is projects those are all great opportunities for development but also for corruption because in the process of developing those projects the military and their associates were all benefiting from industry the big problem is that the only way president is commencing himself in power is through brutal repression. What we see is a real climbdown brutal climb down position. You start to seeing also the very clear parameters of two venezuelas venezuela benefits from oil and the venezuela that actually still remains in the shadow of the oil industry. And that venezuela is rural that venezuela is poor that venezuela is illiterate that venezuela isnt seeing and looking at the evolution of the other but is not benefiting from it. As venezuelas elite rich and its poor are getting left behind the forces for democracy once again dad to take on a dictator. You begin to see rumblings in the military you begin to see younger officers protest in much the same way they had protested before theres also an active social movement being led by dissidents in the communist party in our own democratic even the social democrats and others theyre actually cooperating to undermine the menace. Said perez humanise who is the effectively have thrown through another coup which then brings us to moccasin venezuela in one nine hundred fifty eight. Democracy had fallen to dictatorship a decade earlier right now to survive unity was a must. There is an attempt to form a pact so eydie comes to the table with its union impossible its who framework copay comes to the table the christian democrat right so what you have around the table is essentially all of the key financial and political interests in the country the Roman Catholic church is also essentially politics in these negotiations as is the military these parties signed. And began was being called in venezuela. Meaning there was an agreement which the parties. I agreed not to go in conflicts that good risk with mr allen democracy. Venezuela was moving inexorably toward the socalled first world with growing confidence. It had broken the cycle of military coups and now the printer fiar pact ensured progress would be underwritten by democratic process. In a certain length is a kind of golden age because it has more than inflation going on now for two decades and it also has now a democracy that means to be an example for the rest of latin america. In one nine hundred sixty venezuela helped establish the organization of Petroleum Exporting countries back and in one nine hundred seventy three following the hike in oil prices after war in the middle east it was awash with patronage dollars. Venezuela was asserting itself as a global player. And in colors andrus perez it would have a president ready to take the next big step and take back its well. That was the dream of democracy and so colors and this is ive got the money why not lets do it. So we nationalize the oil industry in one nine hundred seventy five its called with it. What it essentially is it nationalized the bureaucracy of Oil Exploration its nationalization to create a Company Rather than nationalization all Venezuelas Oil sector to say many of the world workers maintain their privileged status in the oil camps and this is the period in venezuela that many refer to as loving as well as the image of saudi venezuela in which the notion is that one of the terms in venezuela is. Its cheap to me to venezuela have that kind of wealth. The dream of a state oil company had been realized with head of the south president Carlos Andres paris now involved on a nationwide spending spree funding social programs housing projects and nationalizing industries with the price of crude oil at a record high such lavish spending could also be supplemented by borrowing. He wanted an industrialized country and he could be could be had a lot of. This also puts us in loans and more loans and more than that continues as long as the price of oil is good as the all price begins to fall back venezuela doesnt reduce its financial outlays. You have this huge bureaucracy which also merges in venezuela and huge amounts of corruption government high post implicitly have the benefit of helping yourself and helping others in your Social Circle and instead of addressing any of these problems the strategy of the government is instead to or a money there. Becomes more difficult to. Under that environment. Is the election one thousand nine hundred to go to war to have a market economy. Inflation begins to take off corruption becomes an even more profound problem and yet we have no effort made by any of the governments in the 1980s to actually address the overwhelming reliance on oil which is falling in. Successive governments of democratic and copay did little to check the economic decline social inequality and the corruption of the ruling class. In december one thousand nine hundred eighty eight. Paris was reelected to office promising to bring back the cash which glory is of his first. But rhetoric would be trumped by reality was he his sworn into power. To serve people. To the. Venezuela to go to an agreement with the International Monetary fund saying there was no choice no choice at the time because an assailant was in the business you had to go to some adjustment structure roach adjustment to launch. The growth again the problem is greg this i. M. F. Loan comes with some very difficult terms and conditions you have you have a segment of the population that hasnt benefited from the boom times Living Conditions have been deteriorating through the eightys and now comes this i. M. F. Loan where yet again theyre feeling the effects should parents have anticipated this. Sort of certainly on huh. Because it distracted again the poor who had been already suffering it affects them even more but i would say just one step back also in terms of an alternative i think we have to keep in mind on the one hundred at that time the new liberal kind of policy paradigm was absolutely had to monitor and around the world and so it certainly appeared that way i think that there was no alternative i would argue from todays perspective there probably were some alternatives one of them would have been perhaps to actually default on the debt which of course you know has all kinds of other consequence in part about trying to for example tax the wealthy more or some other way of raising revenues other than cutting back on. The parts that. Have an impact on the poor what do you say to that cost people are still suffering in terms of unemployment and wages yeah because the when you change when you have to the idea in the second sentence but as a government was that the country couldnt be resorting all your resources couldnt be at depending on the state resources they had to promote private an intrapreneur ship they have to promote the participation of a business we had to promote for a National Investment in oil and in other industries that where state owned how we change or raise. Pain and but who are less sending to lessen the pain for the majority there were some of the more advanced social programs of the time. That later on where. You know taken by brazilian man made mexico to. Have a feeling that i have a different perspective on that i mean if you want to change us from from one day to the other into a free market economy when we have been a state economy throughout all the Twentieth Century i mean you cant do that and i think the problem was not that the taint had to come and we have still we still havent been able to have a market economy in some way that will lead us to to feed the population the thirty million of and as soon as that we are but the problem was the way it was put out it was a political problem the political problem was gunderson that it said you know what we cant take this ng with change and were going to do a radical change would also how to play the major role in the moment were trying to cover some of those photos run on the platform that antonio loeb wrong when he ran for president and then made this big turnaround i mean thats why there was a hundred eighty degree turn after he came into Office Actually i think it was a major impact on what happened afterwards as well actually i think thats not accurate because he said in his Electoral Campaign that he was going to bring may use changes in in a Straight Line the economy and political round but what is true is that he represent. All the years that. We had in the senate and one nine hundred seventy s. He was perceived in one way and then does the opposite and that was exactly what was the adding insult to injury injury being the cut backs on. Subsidies for transportation or for food and at the same time this is not what we thought we were voting for i think there was a big this in chad doesnt consult his party because he thinks he is so popular he doesnt need to consult his party to do this radical change and so there is some out against this. Party says if i go to my party i lose too much time he he goes to the i. M. F. To do a Shock Therapy with that was that the way it was called that with a country that everything that depended on the state for everything you cant just jump into a free market economy without giving a transition to the people without convincing the people without doing some kind of political a menu for there to convincing people that that isnt this is it the people didnt think it was necessary thats the point i really think that this is he was used to something and as god will said if you change this its going to be painful and its going the society is going to resist and thats thats theyve got a. Nineteen eighty nine the country was facing a very dire situation the government of congress on this basis of which i was part. Did try to rebalance the economy by eliminating all of these price controls Exchange Controls refinancing that and asking for International Financial assistance but before any of these policies were adopted the government that had taken over on february second one nine hundred eighty nine was met with this kind of council. This was a massive revolt of the venezuelan people. Populous sectors pull sectors who were coming down from the body also. Started out of the race of petrol and they got stations. People middle class people who were run sacking markets. It spirals into this massive social explosion because in many ways that venezuelan dream had come to an end. The back to the old the field was shattered because in response to the massive social protest spontaneous social protest the government got one hundred s. Babies his ministers is the porters supported use of the military. The deepening economic turmoil and simmering distrust of the political elite now so crack as a blaze with riots and looting. Oh president peres gave orders for the military to restore order to the streets of caracas the militarys response would be deadly. These words troops the head some of them were young says that eighteen years old they were afraid of the people of the city big put them into shanty towns and they started killing it was a very brutal it was a very horrific repression all the pop. The mobilization this was the moment of rep two with democracy in venezuela the headline in newsweek in the us was blood americas model democracy explodes. Government figures claimed two hundred seventy six civilians were killed in the military crackdown independent reports suggested the death toll was almost twice as high. A red line had been crossed and a new fake i was about to match that would challenge a failing government and change the course of venezuelan history. Think military side of conspiring against the government of. The colors of this village and this conspiracy is going to take place is going to come out in the open in one thousand nine hundred two with the coup of the fourth the leader of the coup was to which of us. The coup attempt was launched in six different cities across but in this way luck because chavez had failed to catch a clue that because he was basically taken prisoner and during a very very Famous Television interview when the coup was over government. Laws already were going to. Move further in or out of the work of it done jabbers said we failed to achieve our goals from that war or this two word sentence really became the catch phrase of demands for political change in venezuela the government of paris doing these reforms how did a lot of these content when chavez attempted coup in for a variety nineteen ninety two. Suddenly the discontent got the face. That would represent the disturbances that the society. Is now on the political map and he in effect as soon as the political savior of those completely disaffected and they do. Chavez a middle ranking officer in the Venezuelan Army had failed to overthrow carlos under his peres and was sent to prison. He would be released within two years hed taken on a corrupt elite stood up for the poor and transformed himself from a man of the military to a man of the people. By nine hundred ninety eight the man who would be cain would be elected as president. Was. The nature of news as it breaks the u. S. Cut the funding has cemented the feeling here that the u. S. Is now part of the problem and has picked the israeli side with detailed coverage on our children government insists negotiations are ongoing to secure the release of the girls and hundreds of others. From around the world three decades on chileans are still thinking about abuses but this time those committed by the church. And young so molly refugee thrilled to gain u. S. Residency in twenty sixteen. And i was lucky too good to hear i was a really really hard to go down said my prayer but with anti immigrant sentiment under the Trump Presidency aljazeera world asks ali was whether his American Dream is still alive and so molly in america at this time on aljazeera we headed to Jerusalem Bureau covered Israeli Palestinian affairs we covered this story with a lot of intimate knowledge we covered it with that we dont dip in and out of this story we have presence here all the time apart from being a cameraman its also very important to be a journalist to know the story very well before going into the fields covering the United Nations and global diplomacy for aljazeera english is pretty incredible this is where talks happen and what happens here matters. There again im more colander all these are the top stories on aljazeera the Opening Ceremony for the Winter Olympics is underway sapiens event comes off the back of a show of togetherness between north and south korea a sister of north koreas leader has become the first member of her family to step foot in south korea since the two countries went to war in one nine hundred fifty but its chambers of the u. S. Congress have approved a spending bill ending the Government Shutdown house of representatives narrative postes a new federal budget which must now be signed by President Trump to become ill have a senate missed a midnight deadline to the legislation which resulted in the second shutdown in three weeks that was booked by a senator from the Trumps Republican Party big budget deficit. Dont you remember when republicans how just how i havent the president obama was spending us into the gutter spending us into oblivion and now republicans are doing the same thing and so i asked the question whose fault is it republicans yes whose fault is it democrats yes its both parties fault they gyptian army has launched what its calling a comprehensive operation against terrorists and criminal groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Website announced the start of the offensive local media is reporting as it cools an unusual increase in the number of military vehicles in north sinai hospital have been put on high alert in order to prepare extra beds and nursing staff to deal with emergencies and medical evacuations. Syria is accusing the United States of committing a war crime by bombing fighters loyal to president Bashar Al Assad or province u. S. Led Coalition Says one hundred devices loyal to the Syrian Government dies in the air strikes and says they were in response to what it called an unprovoked attack on the headquarters of its ally the Syrian Democratic forces but russia which backs assad says the strikes are part of an effort by washington to control key economic assets in the region. Supporters of former bangladeshi Prime Minister says there have continued protests after a court ruling against their leader she was jailed for five years on wednesday for embezzling around two hundred fifty thousand dollars in donations meant for an orphanage trust those are your headlines and news will be continuing here on aljazeera after we get you back to the big picture. In december one thousand nine hundred ninety eight chavez a former on the left tenant was elected as president of venezuela so you order from and then they are oh john or freddie in a country divided by race and class where white equaled wealth and privilege and anything else meant everything less chavezs victory was an historic turning point he was of mixed indigenous heritage he was really nothing like anything that we had ever seen before in terms of venezuelan president ial elections or politics which would always been very much dominated by an a white elite class of politician. Travis was elected on a very simple blood form saying that essentially a problem is corruption and we have to get rid of this political. Chavez was talking about the importance of a third way between socialism and capitalism it was all about participation democracy a war chavez was promising to do was to completely overhaul the pontiff equal state of the article. The new president created a constituent assembly to write a new constitution and set about his task of transforming the country. And see we need to eradicate this poverty and our country in the way to do it is by gaining control of our oil industry making sure those profits are going back into our country. Because i would like in a closer look at the end of it if so but in place i dont know what the embassy in but it was each of the end of it and we have looked at by the way some of the dont do that. By seeking greater control of the National Oil Company divest chavez was taking on venezuelas most prized and powerful asset. The fight for bed of s. S. Spilled out onto the streets becoming symbolic of the struggle between two venezuelas one left behind by an oil field modality the alba looking to keep its place and its control within it. Caracas was a tinderbox of competing ideals battling for the very idea of that his way finishing up once in a huge to more everyday demonstrations in the street. And going to meet offloading the person injured. But it was an opposition rally it was moving in the hundreds of thousands towards the palace in order to us to resign. But the palace was surrounded by backers of we were childless though going to resist this other. People that were on the buildings shooting. We dont know who they were. So well civilian fell bit of both sides. So obvious call the army to send the pants in the street to stop the people. Army so sorry this is a political problem. We are not sending the folks on the street to stop the people. That was a coup that was really when the moment the cool happened was when his minister said. I cant go out. The army had been scarred by the handling of the car cut so on rest in one thousand nine hundred. The nine. But its high ranking been conspiring with elements of the elite establishment deposed by chavez and together they plotted his downfall. And we started getting reports. In the fall of two thousand and one that you know this guy that guy the other guy are planning a coup. Charles shapiro had taken his seat is the u. S. Ambassador to venezuela just three weeks before the coup against president chavez a coup that was far from secret it becomes like background noise if were hearing this everybody in venezuela is hearing it as well the executives have been there is there were in the queue the church was in the cool the cardinal of course was in the cool. The into benoit the president the government is was in that cool and so became clear that they were planning something and the u. S. Ambassador who was in venice while at the time was openly collaborating with the opposition i did not the u. S. Government did not organize plan implement. Authorize a coup ok and if i have im not organized enough to have organized a coup in three weeks chavez was forced out by this coalition of you know these opposition groups allied with these dissenting military high ranking military officers who had forcefully gone in and taken him against his well. Chavez had been ousted taken into custody and flown to an offshore military base. Petro com the head of the Venezuelan Chamber of commerce but they come ross was now hastily sworn in as interim president his presidency would last only hour as. When this huge as demonstration comes in just simply drives carmona and his government out of the president ial palace. Military since a helicopter to pick up jobbers child this gets back to the president ial palace. Is Something Like a movie. It would come good in the helicopter and then by the people of waiting for to. Go to sleep when youre president of the. Within forty eight hours of being overthrown chavez was back in power. Eight months later his authority would be challenged once again. Certain offices of the Earth Company seem to have been involved in the coup but in any case chose didnt feel Strong Enough to oust them from the company and what they did was they continued to conspire to make a bit of coup thats really with it. So what was a bit cool in oil lockout. This is not a strike. This was the result of an action taken by executives and by high Oil Executive officials to actually lock out employees to bring production to zero to try to crash the economy minister a lot to put the economy on its knees. The National Oil Company along with the Union Federation and the chamber of commerce conspired to bring venezuela to an economic standstill with the way of bringing down the chavis. The strike seemed to be a failure they were unable to stop production theres a new sense of buy their base out that comes out of the strike that pay their base and now belongs to a larger number of venezuelans than rather the symbol of a privileged status for a small select number of individuals. Who got chavez had health and now at the beginning of two thousand and three the president s resilience and tourists. That leave no body but a funny little everything that takes a little fanfare to you on a plane literally going to come out here you know the feeling of hearing. So he went to cuba. And cuba came up. With a bunch of new social programs. And he started to implement these new social programs massive new social programs in for health care for access to food for. Or scholarships we have a whole raft of these socalled mysie owners the social programs which give people Citizenship RightsIdentity Cards access to job training access to breakfast clubs University Systems so this is a very comprehensive effort to deliver basic social services what this is doing though is essential is Still Using Oil as that redemptive quality to bleed social change while bringing social change deepening the dependence on oil and he can do this while the prices of oil are hard. He had outsourced to find of a good bottle as if it was going out of fashion so. He decided that that was the moment to radicalise the process. In two thousand and seven with the price of crude oil six times greater than when he was first elected to Office Chavez embarked on a nationalisation drive big play let me love it or not. But i dont know that but the only way that. He renegotiated Oil Contracts and brought power in Resource Companies as well as Telecommunications Groups and banks under state ownership and in his view under the will of the venezuelan people. Is trying to continue on with this grassroots governance by the more entrenched he became in power the more sort of the further away he drifted from that initial model that had been so widely accepted and you know beloved by the people or oil prices began to decrease people began to say wait a minute before its all gone im going to get my piece of. China as it first comes to power he had said that is socially there was going to be you know a hard hand denying fist against these problems of corruption which had been so. From the point of view his mo but the reality was that absolutely nothing was done. As the integrity of his government weathered so too did the president s health. Chavez was suffering with cancer and could no longer keep his ailing condition hidden from the venezuelan people. In october two thousand and twelve still frail from intensive treatment who got chavez won a fourth term as president by march two thousand and thirteen he was dad. Its impossible to underestimate the effect that the death of charges on. The elder for the one saw on the streets. At the same time as the split ration of some people really was expletive of the venice well as we had with the thousands lined up to see him his body lying in state. Others in miami and others in that i celebrated. And the carries the dies with you he was willing through his charisma and through his money and those two things disappear in two thousand and thirteen they didnt set any money aside in a Sovereign Wealth Fund on a Rainy Day Fund you know so they got money in case things go down everybody in the oil industry knows oil prices are cyclical. The use the period of the oil boom from two thousand and four to two thousand and fourteen to six to pull the public theyre the biggest sucker in venezuelan history is the guy whos going to follow chavez is president and thats exactly what. Nicolas maduro a former bus driver and trade unionist it served as foreign minister was handpicked by chavez as his successor. My dear i was no chavez. His narrow election victory in april two thousand and thirteen and the deepening economic crisis would herald protests from a restive population. And over a new challenge from an emboldened off position. When the dollars to pay the price start dropping the government was inside had a severe death and did not have the enough dollars to buy the food imports and the medicine imports. A whole wave of protests or roles in this context. What we have joy in the first couple of years of the majority presidency is the opposition use of protest and street mobilization as a way of discrediting and deal just lies in the government becomes the key opposition tool the protests are sidetracked by these more violent sectors who are looking for an incident the. Protests against crime against Food Shortages and against Economic Hardship all ultimately protests against them a doer of government. Violence was met with violence clashes between protesters and state forces would leave dozens of venezuelans dead. Modo has no support the only support them a hoss is the Repressive Forces of the state the military the police and the paramilitary groups. And parliamentary elections held in december two thousand and fifteen the opposition Democratic Unity roundtable that had included parties such as acts young democratica and kobe secured a two thirds majority in the National Assembly. Convulsed by the prospect of the opposition blocking government appointments as well as dictating policy president manipulated Supreme Court appointments and manufactured a ruling favorable to his objective to nullify the National Assembly. And thats where some of us began to see these transgressions into. A more author a tarion type of government less democratic. You know then clearly weve stepped beyond the bounds of democracy and far beyond the participatory democracy that the ball of our own revolution had proposed to build the country. In may two thousand and seventeen amidst continuing protests against his government but announced plans to hold elections for a new legislative body was. The constituent assembly would have sweeping powers to rewrite the constitution and dissolve the opposition led National Assembly. Such plans would lead to three months of sustained clashes between antigovernment protesters and the governments own forces this mass protests was met with massive massive repression in the end a hundred thirty five people were killed fifteen of them all on july thirtieth twenty seventeen the day when the National Constituent assembly was elected. Fifteen thousand people were injured six thousand people were put in prison it was a repression of a scale that the country had never seen. Two thousand and seventeen would continue to be a year of contested elections the constituent assembly would be boycotted by the opposition leaving the two out loyalists with total control. The Ruling Socialist Party would also win eighteen of the twenty three governorships in the gubernatorial elections in october. Contested counts and procedural irregularities dog the elections that were claimed as proof of chevys most enduring appeal by madeira and gave cause for the opposition to call for more protests and more. On rest. In two thousand and eighteen the year of another pivotal president ial election the will divide a fractured nation once more the battle for venezuela goes on. People need to be expressed politically all the dissatisfaction and the rejection that they are feeling and the desire that they have put a political tinge and i would i would say big wanted to mock the democracy and position hasnt known how to put their act together to give that strategy and that political expression because that is not going to come from the government they are over thirty. Is there any way any chance that you can have the opposition and the government have any type of talks and negotiations what is clear throughout discussion is that through the decades you have had a pos struggle you had a power struggle playing out this is a deeply divided society can these forces that have been opponents for so long. Coexist currently they are negotiating and i think. There is a willingness on both sides to come to an agreement because the economic crisis has been dealing been going on for so long and people will tend to blame my daughter for that although i think you know the us and the opposition bear a large part of the blame for the current economic crisis venezuela is in a kind of semi civil war situation right now with the opposition from the us us it is putting tremendous pressure with its financial sanctions against in this way and i work cannot refinance its debt that has having an Economic Impact as well as of course the ongoing kind of. Tremendously high inflation which i think is partly also the governments fault but the combination of these factors is going to cause a lot of people to say you know we give up were going to vote for somebody else i think they are only solution for venice where are negotiations for a transition to democracy meaning dressing nation of mother little free and Fair Elections. Supervised by International Organizations and to get a new path to democracy. Personally i think that the elections are already very guaranteed in terms of their security and protect protected against fraud but they could have additional controls and that could happen and then that might be a way of moving forward but it all depends again on who the opposition candidate is and if they can actually challenge the bowler and so to Speak Movement which is still very substantial and then as well is that any existence between that that support the revolution and those that oppose a or is it always going to be like this in venezuela is zero sum game for survival i think that the people that are the top of the of the government dont have any. This position for changing their points of view and so there is no way we can go to a democratic transition and i think one could say the same thing about the stubbornness of the opposition i mean to have taken also very extreme very hard line positions that make negotiation extremely difficult so i would. Like for Fair Elections known to me it was a resignation that. I was not able to act but thats what theyre about but not at all and thats what im saying table but thats an example of for things to free the prisoners to recognize a national asked somebody to give a crown a gram of their of a Fair Election whats the force and. To respect International Law and to call for human rights im done but its not a resignation agreement is possible but so far the demonstrations and all of the what the demands on the. Resignation of. Regimes are democratic is right. Im not saying that they cant i mean its saying as long as they maintain that position and agreement will not happen if you ask for a resignation of ah office or a Public Office or you write letters im not saying its not their right i just think that no agreement will be reached on that basis but that is not on the table of negotiation i repeat they are all for things that on the table and negotiate the resign its not on but thats part of an agreement is possible in that sense but not on the on the puzzle that would put many hard resignation just say what has that usage of recognizing National Constituent assembly the opposition cannot recognize a National Constituent thats simply because its completely destroys democracy their main issue is that their government has the National Constituent assembly with were in super constitutional power that can. Decide whatever it wants to decide to suppress over north to suppress of mayors to. Change it out of the National Assembly whatever it was you dont have any control social control on that body that is the body of the photo shoot the tool. The fist of that they dont ship i mean theres many different responses to but i mean one of them is of course that this was an elected body even though the government i mean the opposition boycotted the election once in a democratic election after my general name there was something i would do in a democratic election just blow the other one could have won it as you can tell me that that is a. Good basis of democracy is one one citizen one vote. We are talking about to finish with us the upper middle class in many ways thought that they owned the Venezuelan National project it was their project. It was their notion of a country because in many ways it was part of their property their privilege their position and that other in this way that was always an uncomfortable attachment that even this when i was always there but not part of the national narrative. That venezuela that was historically you raced out of the dominant narrative in the oil years that venezuela that exists in that one shows that surround us in almost every other major city in venezuela that been a swale and which includes a very diverse segment of the population and who saw all of their lives improved under the chargers. And goes well beyond what Business Vision wise for venezuela. But a lot of this is showing is that the movement wasnt Strong Enough to survive on its own without its leader. This is a regime and their rules according to the right they have to move because they are the successes of tones that inherit his legacy. How is it possible that a participatory democracy thats supposed to be grassroots based and government of the people can survive with just the people was really led by a leader. Because no one can fill the shoes of a child as. Were dealing with us a very Fragmented Society it comes from two different lived experiences there is no going back to pre nine hundred ninety eight and preach obvious venezuela has been transformed it has changed what it will evolve to remain cities. From a fresh coastal breeze. To watching the sunset on the australian outback. Well the last couple of days of prefer the floods and mudslides into believe yes the loss of cloud and rain coming down here big area clad in other disturbance which has shut its hand and the wet weather never really say far away as we go on through the next couple of days the past thirteen celsius was simply out and by far the south has still got some lively showers into parts of northern taina want to service it around twenty eight degrees celsius for the south westerly wind itll be a little dry a little warmer a little brighter as you go on into sas day further north really big down polls right across the amazon basin and again it does stay wet for a good pothole bolivia on the face of the showers through and the sunshine is showers across the caribbean but more of the west sunshine that shows us looking pretty good over the next couple of days blue skies for many systems little bit of cloud just popping up that weather clapham of the cumulus thirty celsius in kingston fine and dry some lovely sunshine his similar picture as we go on through saturday but you want to see more showers just pushing up towards cuber this days but the the heaviest showers are going to be across Central America to the caribbean side of Central America over the coming days meanwhile well its all about the snow moving across the the Northern Plains of the u. S. Is heading towards new england over the next couple days. There with sponsored by the time. This is al jazeera. And theyre welcome to this news im noriko Global Headquarters and coming up