How Venezuela’s Maduro perseveres, even now

English phrases once bothered Venezuelan President Nicolés Maduro so much that he urged his State of the Union address audience to phase out words such as “skatepark” and “fashion.”

- By Recina Garcia CANO

ARIANA CUBILLOS Associated Press

PRESIDENT Nicolás Maduro administers an oath at a military event last week.

But as the White House threatens a potential U.S. military strike on Venezuela, Maduro is embracing English, singing John Lennon's “Imagine,” advocating for peace and dancing to a remix of his latest English catchphrase, “No War, Yes Peace.”

Although his turnaround is seen as a sign of desperation by supporters of Venezuela’s political opposition, whose leaders have repeatedly told their backers in Washington that the threat of military action would crack Maduro’s inner circle, months of pressure have yet to produce defections or a government transition.

Loyalty vs. punishment

Behind this knack for staying in power is a system that punishes disloyal associates harshly and allows loyal ministers, justices, military leaders and other officials to enrich themselves.

“The Bolivarian Revolution possesses a remarkable ability: the capacity for cohesion in the face of external pressure,” said Ronal Rodriguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory in Colombia's Universidad del Rosario, referring to the political movement, also known as Chavismo, that Maduro inherited from his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez. “When pressure comes from abroad, they manage to unite, defend and protect themselves.”

Underpinning the loyalty-or-punishment principle are corruption networks blessed by Chavez and Maduro that give loyalists permission to get richer. The policy has vexed previous efforts to unseat Maduro and has helped him and his close associates to skirt economic sanctions, obtain U.S. presidential pardons and claim an electoral victory they resoundingly lost.