I'm John Batcha with my friend and colleague Evan Ellis in the U.S. Army War College,

Venezuela.

What is new is old.

Maduro is closing down all possibility of challenging the corrupt

July 28th vote. Consistent with that, Edmondo Gonzales Orita, the winner of the vote according to all sensible

voices inside and outside Venezuela, has departed for Spain.

There were reports that this was engineered by the Spanish government,

possibly also by the Spanish opposition Vox. The Spanish airplane was mentioned.

Gonzales is now in Spain where the report says Venezuela presidential

candidate Gonzales will remain a very clear voice that's in quote

pushing for change in his country.

Heaven this is a turn that we've seen before.

Madura has learned that the playbook is drive the opposition out of the country

and dismiss it is not significant to the Venezuela people inside.

Is it going to work again in your measure?

Well, sadly, John, as we've talked about really for the past couple weeks here on your program,

you know, insofar as the military and the other armed forces in Venezuela

are not splitting in part thanks to the penetration of them by the Cubans, in part due to the complicity of their

leaders in the various corrupt dealings with narco-trafficking and illegal mining and

into the rackets, that as long as the people with the guns are staying with Maduro,

Maduro has had the luxury to use his control of the courts,

as control of institutions to little by little,

...