THE German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month outlined her strong backing for Juan Guaido, a young Western-supported proxy figure also favoured by Venezuela’s wealthy class. Merkel proposes that Guaido “is the legitimate interim president” of Venezuela, without providing evidence to support her assertion. The reality suggests something quite different, and points to Nicolas Maduro as the rightful democratically elected leader of Venezuela.

Independent observers present throughout the May 2018 election procedure in Venezuela, such as experienced British journalist and author Jeremy Fox, have described a fully digital voting process “designed with multiple safeguards against fraud” which is “impressively efficient” and has “an automated manual verification back-up;” while “foreign media have been making hay with defamatory rhetoric, much of it consisting of outright fabrications.”

With regard Merkel’s stance on oil rich Venezuela, one should not be too surprised her government is again bending to Washington; following reunification a generation ago, Germany has been heavily influenced by US interests. In 1990 there were 200,000 US troops present on German soil, and almost 30 years later President Donald Trump was surprised to learn that 35,000 US soldiers are still stationed in the country. That number is set to gradually rise next year.