this is an interesting take on the empire's mucking about in venezuela;


In the CIA’s greatest hits (Arbenz, Mossaddegh, Allende etc.) the overthrown government had been in office for only a few years. Victims never really governed. They confronted calculated obstruction from their malevolent predecessors’ state machines. Chavez faced this in 2002. Reaction struck with force, and failed; thereby inoculating the Bolivarians.
For 20 years Chavez’s Bolivarian movement has overseen Venezuelan armed forces recruitment and promotion. The old guard is history. Chavez and Maduro maintained high ratios of generals to troops; they dismissed the recalcitrant, and routinely shuffled seating arrangements. Few potentially disloyal generals command followings of devoted cadre. Not only do Venezuela’s coup-plotters struggle with marshalling a strike force; they must lookout for legions of uniformed Maduro loyalists.
Divisions within the armed forces are not the coup-plotters’ gravest concern. In 2009 Chavez sought to deter coups, and invasions, by launching the Milicia Nacional Bolivariana (MNB).
MNB’s troop strength and battle readiness are state secrets about which Venezuelan officials release contradictory information. Pronouncements about MNB numbering 1 million are aspirational. Maduro recently announced plans to increase MNB to 1.6 million members; each “armed to the teeth.” Presently, about 400,000 civilians routinely engage in MNB combat training.
Venezuela’s armed forces have 350,000 personnel including 150,000 ground troops dispersed across several services.
Given the difficulties coup-plotters encounter garnering a critical mass from within the armed forces proper, the MNB’s presence prevents most malcontents from even thinking about a coup. Analysists too, should stop thinking about “coups” and start talking about a foreign-sponsored insurgency presaging full-blown war...........https://www.globalresearch.ca/resilience-and-strength-of-venezuelas-armed-forces-while-maduro-warns-of-vietnam-2-0-a-syrian-analogy-beckons/5668651