By: Gašper Blažič
“The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Ljubljana closed on 30 April 2018. Since the closure of the resident embassy, the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Vienna has been responsible for the Republic of Slovenia.” With these words, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to our editorial office in June 2018 that Slovenia, just one day before May Day of that year, had been left without a resident embassy of the Latin American country which, much like the former Soviet Union, had represented a great hope for the “working people” in their efforts to introduce “democratic socialism” in Slovenia.
According to the Venezuelan side, the reasons for closing the embassy were budgetary, requiring a reorganisation of Venezuela’s diplomatic network. If we are to believe these claims. Well, Demokracija reported the following at the time:
A year earlier, the party Levica had been founded, emerging from the coalition United Left (established in 2014). A little later, at the same address as the Venezuelan embassy, the then‑MEP Tanja Fajon, later president of SD (a position she no longer holds), had her parliamentary office. The same Tanja Fajon is still Slovenia’s foreign minister. So if you are wondering why the embassy of the Bolivarian Republic – named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th‑century Venezuelan revolutionary who never became president of Venezuela but was president of Bolivia, Peru, and Gran Colombia – really closed its doors, the key to the answer lies in the far‑left party that first entered parliament in 2014 and repeated its success in 2018 and 2022. The embassy thus fulfilled its mission, regardless of the fact that some prominent members of the (United) Left later scattered into other parties – Miha Kordiš, Violeta Tomić, Franc Trček, etc.
Why am I listing all these facts? Primarily so that you understand how foreign influence operates in Slovenian domestic politics as well. While leftists were persuading you about the influence of the USA, the West, and the Vatican on the Slovenian right (a similar argument was used in 1991 by the aggressor generals of the YPA), they themselves were doing far worse things than those they accused others of. It is worth highlighting that the fallen Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is also the head of one of the world’s most powerful narco‑cartels with strong international political backing. Because of this, no one dared touch this cartel, least of all the United Nations, whose chief António Guterres was, between 1999 and 2005, the head of the Socialist International, the organisation under which Maduro and his mafia fall. So much for why the UN kept both eyes shut while the people of oil‑rich Venezuela were dying.
As for how generously various projects, such as the all‑Slovenian “people’s uprisings,” the cycling protests, and even anti‑vaccine protests during the last Janša government, were financed with dirty narco‑money, we can only speculate.
I understand that many are bothered by the fact that the Americans launched a blitzkrieg in Venezuela entirely on their own initiative. Allegedly an attack on a sovereign state and, if we are to believe Levica, on the democratically expressed will of the people who in 2024 “re‑elected Niki” as president. The European Union did not recognise the results of these elections, nor did Slovenia, at least officially. Even though our most celebrated “Bolivarian” (pardon, radiator‑loving) party was already in the coalition at the time. If Slovenia were not an EU member, its positions would likely not have been so restrained, and it would probably be sending messages to the world very similar to those of the Freedom Movement MP Lena Grgurevič regarding yesterday’s American action in Caracas. But our government officials had to bite their tongues and fingers when drafting official public statements.
But American unilateralism is nothing new in recent history. Recall: in 1996, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was stopped by NATO, meaning the Americans and their allies. Three years later, the same happened in Kosovo. Both times without UN approval, which failed miserably in both cases. Russia (still under Yeltsin) fiercely opposed these actions, but ultimately had to accept the facts on the ground. And last year even Vladimir Putin had to accept the unpleasant reality that with the fall of Assad’s regime he lost Syria from his sphere of control. In all these cases, the UN repeatedly proved to be a toothless tiger, except when it had to endlessly repeat the thesis of genocide against Palestinians, because the powerful Arab lobby demanded it.
I believe that the event on the first Saturday of 2026 – let us recall the Fatima messages – was shocking for leftists at home and abroad. That is why they are trying to spread their interpretation in a similar way as with their narrative about Gaza. The global axis of evil stretching from Moscow–Pyongyang–Tehran–Caracas–Havana is collapsing. The influential Chinese will not be willing to defend it, as doing so would endanger their vital interests. The regime in Tehran is also shaking, and with it two terrorist organisations (Hamas and Hezbollah) are losing strength. Uncertainty is also growing in Moscow, which supports its Latin American political friend; and we should not overlook other Putin vassals in the Balkans (through Serbia, Republika Srpska, all the way to Zoran Janković, who is, incidentally, the chief patron of Prime Minister Robert Golob).
The unexpected New Year’s American intervention in Caracas – carried out practically without a fight – sent a powerful message to the world. Also to Slovenian leftists. Namely, that their power is not untouchable and that they may expect another “surprise package” from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). This message comes at a very inconvenient time for Slovenia’s ruling elite, just over two months before the elections. The butterfly effect of Nicolás’s involuntary exodus from Venezuela is no trivial matter. We can certainly expect the ruling coalition to become even more aggressive, arrogant, and obsessed with conspiracies. In doing so, it will dig itself an even deeper hole. In the next two months, we can therefore expect Golob’s attacks on the opposition from his “bunker.” But in reality, this will be the swan song of the “electrogenius” from the Goriška region, his patrons, and his allies.