Sunday, March 3, 2019

Venezuela's Soldiers Are Defecting

A Venezuelan national guardsman who defected to Colombia is escorted by a Colombian policeman near the Simon Bolivar bridge between Venezuela and Colombia, in Cucuta, Colombia, February 25, 2019. REUTERS/Marco Bello

Business Insider: 567 Venezuelan soldiers defected to Colombia, and it could be a sign that Maduro's once rock-solid power base is starting to crumble

* 567 Venezuelan soldiers defected to Colombia, according to Colombian officials, amid a spiraling political crisis in Venezuela.
* The military is a vital power base for Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, which his rival Juan Guaidó is trying to chip away at.
* Amanda Lapo, a defense analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Business Insider that the defections show that military loyalty "is not unanimous any more."

More than 500 Venezuelan soldiers have fled President Nicolás Maduro's crumbling regime for neighboring Colombia, the Colombian migration authority reported Thursday.

The wave of desertions comes as opposition leader Juan Guaidó continues to seek support from the armed forces, which are one of the foundations of Maduro's authority.

Colombia has counted 567 defectors since violent clashes between security forces and activists trying to bring US aid to Venezuela, according to CNN and Colombia's El Tiempo.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Here's why Venezuela's soldiers are deserting in their own words .... The 'king-maker' keeping Nicolas Maduro in power is starting to crack — here's why Venezuela's soldiers are breaking ranks, in their own words (Business Insider).

6 comments:

  1. Russia won't be happy.
    Or how they will phrase it on CNN: "Putin winning! Trump is a Putin puppet" ;)
    Can't wait for that network to keep losing viewers. And when historians document the lies coming from this network, the current anchors and their families will be ashamed for having worked there

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  2. It won’t be the senior officers who defect, it will be the lower, starving ranks who shoot the officers. The collectivos and other gangs Maduro has armed and funded will protect Maduro and his Cuban, Irani, and Hezbollah allies.

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  3. Enough soldiers defect, they will have collectivos manning the border outposts away from family.

    Which is fun, lots of fun. Then it gets boring real quick.

    Putting Hezbollah in the border posts would make for a good photo op for the opposition.

    Maybe Maduro just cedes the border region and pulls back to the capital and his palace.

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  4. 6 divisions (25 to 50 k apiece) & 1 engineering corp

    ~ 365,000 people, the size of the Brazilian Army which is a far large country.

    365,000-567 ...

    1 thousandths of their strength.. not much, but if it continues

    More would defect, but they do not have a clear path to escape

    Maybe Poot Poot needs to send 400 more Russian military contractors

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    1. Yes, 567 is small but symbolic. I would think most soldiers are stuck in the system where intimidation and the threat of backlash on their families keep them in line. Also, Russians kept millions of soldiers in line with political soldiers which is a key component of the communist system.

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  5. WNU's linked articles said 6% have defected over 2 years.

    Question is will it continue, will it accelerate, ...

    At the end of 4 years with 12% gone assuming a straight line trend, I think the regime could adapt.

    Somewhere between 25% to 50% gone in the next 2 years I am confident the regime collapses.

    Some people are fleeing without their families. If you cannot hold families hostage, then as a regime you have lost a lot of leverage.

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