(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Coup attempts, murder plots and other conspiracies are part of everyday life in Venezuela, if you believe President Nicolas Maduro.
For the socialist leader, the hand-picked successor of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, there is an axis of evil that includes the US, conservative Colombia and a group of exiled Venezuelans based in Miami who allegedly join forces to plot against the South American country from abroad.
Maduro describes the "extreme-right" opposition within the country's borders as a stooge for the "US empire."
The political atmosphere in Venezuela is currently toxic and destructive as the country struggles to remain afloat financially.
Its problems spill beyond its own borders. The country of 30mn has since 2002 been a member of the Mercosur South American trade alliance along with regional giants Brazil and Argentina. Despite its once-ambitious goals, the regional economy has stagnated.
Venezuela, a founding member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is believed to have the world's largest proven oil reserves and was the world's ninth-largest oil exporter in 2013, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
But the sharp fall in oil prices of recent months has put its budget under immense pressure, and Caracas has argued in vain within Opec for restricting global production in order to boost prices.
Foreign currency is scarce in Venezuela. Long lines are commonplace outside supermarkets for even simple goods for everyday use. In 2014 inflation topped 60%, and the general mood is downcast.
Maduro's response is to denounce what he calls the "economic war" on the country. He regularly orders police to occupy popular supermarkets and arrest their managers for illegally raising prices.
The opposition sees all this as a sign that the government is crumbling. Several prominent government critics recently issued a manifesto calling for a "transition" government to face the country's mounting economic and financial crisis.
Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma was one of the signatories, and his action landed him in jail. Another prominent opposition figure, Leopoldo Lopez, has been in prison for more than a year for allegedly inciting violence in mass protests in early 2014.
Their wives have become the voice of their jailed husbands. Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, has for months been travelling around the world calling for support for her fight to secure her husband's release.
Members of the European Parliament, a UN working group, the US and many other countries have called for the release of Lopez, 43, the leader of the opposition party Voluntad Popular (The People's Will).
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