Venezuela Coup update thread
- Thread starter MCP
- Start date
I am going through a similar situation in the US, where all domestic norms have been abandoned to basically steal from me. When they start rambling nonsense, and inventing reasons to steal from you, you have to cut everything off and deal with other people.
It is about greed and white supremacist ideology that does not acknowledge your right to own a natural resource that can be sold to them. I don't understand why countries engage in trade with the West no matter how lucrative it appears. I did a write up on how African countries traded slaves with Europeans who eventually showed up with their military to colonize.
Many of these countries make the fatal mistake of setting up grand socialist programs from selling oil. What they should've done with the oil money is expand domestic manufacturing. Some of these oil rich countries will manufacture less than 10%.
It is about greed and white supremacist ideology that does not acknowledge your right to own a natural resource that can be sold to them. I don't understand why countries engage in trade with the West no matter how lucrative it appears. I did a write up on how African countries traded slaves with Europeans who eventually showed up with their military to colonize.
Many of these countries make the fatal mistake of setting up grand socialist programs from selling oil. What they should've done with the oil money is expand domestic manufacturing. Some of these oil rich countries will manufacture less than 10%.
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MCP
Can you edit the thread to: Venezuela Coup Update thread
Can you edit the thread to: Venezuela Coup Update thread
Page 136 of McCabe's new book, recounting a 2017 Oval Office meeting: "Then the president talked about Venezuela. That’s the country we should be going to war with, he said. They have all that oil and they’re right on our back door."
Maduro brought this on himself, he was even dealing with the Koch brothers. Many of these foreign nations lack insight into the nuance of white supremacy.
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BREAKING: Clashes as Venezuela's National Guard fire tear gas on residents clearing a barricaded border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia to let humanitarian aid pass through. https://7ny.tv/2tA3IFG
Venezuela Loading up on Weapons
Correspondent Martin Markovits takes an in-depth look into the rise of military spending in Venezuela, as the country passes Brazil to be become South America's largest importer of arms, and the 13th largest worldwide.
Correspondent Martin Markovits takes an in-depth look into the rise of military spending in Venezuela, as the country passes Brazil to be become South America's largest importer of arms, and the 13th largest worldwide.
Inside Venezuela’s Showdown: Why U.S. Aid Can’t Get Through | Dispatches
From riches to rags: Venezuela's economic crisis | The Big Picture
Hyperinflation nation
Trinidad and Tobago is Ignoring Its Venezuelan Refugee Problem
Thursday, January 24, 2019
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Thursday on the political situation in Venezuela:
"The Maduro government in Venezuela has been waging a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violated the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly and was re-elected last year in an election that many observers said was fraudulent. Further, the economy is a disaster and millions are migrating.
"The United States should support the rule of law, fair elections and self-determination for the Venezuelan people. We must condemn the use of violence against unarmed protesters and the suppression of dissent. However, we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups – as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. The United States has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries; we must not go down that road again."
I have seen them use racial cover, now they have socialist cover to attack you to steal your oil. Now we are seeing his real purpose in last year's election.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Thursday on the political situation in Venezuela:
"The Maduro government in Venezuela has been waging a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violated the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly and was re-elected last year in an election that many observers said was fraudulent. Further, the economy is a disaster and millions are migrating.
"The United States should support the rule of law, fair elections and self-determination for the Venezuelan people. We must condemn the use of violence against unarmed protesters and the suppression of dissent. However, we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups – as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. The United States has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries; we must not go down that road again."
I have seen them use racial cover, now they have socialist cover to attack you to steal your oil. Now we are seeing his real purpose in last year's election.
source: FLAPOL
U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Shalala, a pair of South Florida Democrats, say a weekend trip to the Venzuela-Colombia border shored up their support for Venezuelan Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó.
The U.S. has backed Guaidó over a power struggle with the country’s elected President Nicolás Maduro.
Guaidó serves as the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, but has recently been recognized by the U.S. and several other nations as the country’s rightful President.
“As the people of Venezuela continue to face a catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by the dictatorial Maduro regime, the United States and our allies in Latin America stand united as we work together to help the Venezuelan people receive lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” Shalala said.
“While visiting the Venezuela–Colombia border, we heard heartbreaking stories of friends and family members dying of starvation and treatable diseases, all while a brutal dictator does everything possible to prevent aid from being delivered — bridges blockaded, trucks burned, peaceful protesters badly injured or killed.”
“Maduro is starving his people,” Wasserman Schultz added.
“Venezuelans have been in the dark for days. And children are dying of preventable diseases.”
Shalala and Wasserman Schultz met with Colombian President Iván Duque and local officials Saturday. On Sunday they were in Cúcuta with a delegation including included Colombian Ambassador to the United States Francisco Santos. The two plan to give additional details on their trip in remarks scheduled for Monday morning.
The pair of Democrats is representative of the South Florida delegation who, along with Republicans, have sided with President Donald Trump‘s efforts to push back against the Maduro regime.
Along with questions surrounding the legitimacy of Maduro’s most recent elections, the Venezuelan people are also suffering, according to reports. Inflation has hit sky high marks inside Venezuela, and residents face shortages of several basic necessities. Multiple journalists, including Americans, have also been detained by the Maduro government in the face of critical reporting.
Wasserman Schultz made clear the intent of her visit in remarks from the border.
“We are here to make sure the Venezuelan people know that Democrats and Republicans in the United States are united in bringing humanitarian aid into Venezuela, standing behind interim President Juan Guaidó, and pressing for fair and free elections for its people,” Wasserman Schultz said.
“We will not stand idly by as more Venezuelans are forced to flee the country they love,” Shalala added.
“Our support for the Venezuelan people and their efforts to restore freedom and democracy is stronger than ever.”
Donna Shalala, Debbie Wasserman Schultz visit Venezuela border
The pair of Democrats have pushed back against the Nicolás Maduro regime.
The pair of Democrats have pushed back against the Nicolás Maduro regime.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Shalala, a pair of South Florida Democrats, say a weekend trip to the Venzuela-Colombia border shored up their support for Venezuelan Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó.
The U.S. has backed Guaidó over a power struggle with the country’s elected President Nicolás Maduro.
Guaidó serves as the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, but has recently been recognized by the U.S. and several other nations as the country’s rightful President.
“As the people of Venezuela continue to face a catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by the dictatorial Maduro regime, the United States and our allies in Latin America stand united as we work together to help the Venezuelan people receive lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” Shalala said.
“While visiting the Venezuela–Colombia border, we heard heartbreaking stories of friends and family members dying of starvation and treatable diseases, all while a brutal dictator does everything possible to prevent aid from being delivered — bridges blockaded, trucks burned, peaceful protesters badly injured or killed.”
“Maduro is starving his people,” Wasserman Schultz added.
“Venezuelans have been in the dark for days. And children are dying of preventable diseases.”
Shalala and Wasserman Schultz met with Colombian President Iván Duque and local officials Saturday. On Sunday they were in Cúcuta with a delegation including included Colombian Ambassador to the United States Francisco Santos. The two plan to give additional details on their trip in remarks scheduled for Monday morning.
The pair of Democrats is representative of the South Florida delegation who, along with Republicans, have sided with President Donald Trump‘s efforts to push back against the Maduro regime.
Along with questions surrounding the legitimacy of Maduro’s most recent elections, the Venezuelan people are also suffering, according to reports. Inflation has hit sky high marks inside Venezuela, and residents face shortages of several basic necessities. Multiple journalists, including Americans, have also been detained by the Maduro government in the face of critical reporting.
Wasserman Schultz made clear the intent of her visit in remarks from the border.
“We are here to make sure the Venezuelan people know that Democrats and Republicans in the United States are united in bringing humanitarian aid into Venezuela, standing behind interim President Juan Guaidó, and pressing for fair and free elections for its people,” Wasserman Schultz said.
“We will not stand idly by as more Venezuelans are forced to flee the country they love,” Shalala added.
“Our support for the Venezuelan people and their efforts to restore freedom and democracy is stronger than ever.”
source: New York Times
Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Nicolás Maduro Burned Aid Convoy
Top U.S. officials have said Nicolás Maduro’s regime burned an aid convoy last month. But TV footage contradicts that claim and shows how this unverified information spread across Twitter and television.CreditCreditNatasha Vásquez/Afp
CÚCUTA, Colombia — The narrative seemed to fit Venezuela’s authoritarian rule: Security forces, on the order of President Nicolás Maduro, had torched a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in his country were suffering from illness and hunger.
Vice President Mike Pence wrote that “the tyrant in Caracas danced” as his henchmen “burned food & medicine.” The State Department released a video saying Mr. Maduro had ordered the trucks burned. And Venezuela’s opposition held up the images of the burning aid, reproduced on dozens of news sites and television screens throughout Latin America, as evidence of Mr. Maduro’s cruelty.
But there is a problem: The opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro’s men, appears to have set the cargo alight accidentally.
Unpublished footage obtained by The New York Times and previously released tapes — including footage released by the Colombian government, which has blamed Mr. Maduro for the fire — allowed for a reconstruction of the incident. It suggests that a Molotov cocktail thrown by an antigovernment protester was the most likely trigger for the blaze.
At one point, a homemade bomb made from a bottle is hurled toward the police, who were blocking a bridge connecting Colombia and Venezuela to prevent the aid trucks from getting through.
But the rag used to light the Molotov cocktail separates from the bottle, flying toward the aid truck instead.
Half a minute later, that truck is in flames.
The same protester can be seen 20 minutes earlier, in a different video, hitting another truck with a Molotov cocktail, without setting it on fire.
The burning of the aid last month has led to broad condemnation of the Venezuelan government.
More than three million people have fled the country because of the humanitarian crisis caused by Mr. Maduro’s mismanagement of the economy. Political opponents who have remained in the country face repression by his security forces, with many jailed, tortured or forced into exile. Many demonstrators have been killed and even more injured during street protests.
the border standoff — even though many of his people have died of medicine shortages in hospitals.
Yet the claim about a shipment of medicine, too, appears to be unsubstantiated, according to videos and interviews.
The United States Agency for International Development, the principal supplier of the aid at the bridge, did not list medicine among its donations. A top opposition official on the bridge that day told The Times that the burned shipment contained medical supplies like face masks and gloves, but not medicine. And video clips reviewed by The Times show some of the boxes contained hygiene kits, which the Americans identified as containing supplies like soap and toothpaste.
Yet the claim that Mr. Maduro burned medicine has persisted.
“Maduro has lied about the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, he contracts criminals to burn food and medicine intended for the Venezuelan people,” wrote John R. Bolton, President Trump’s national security adviser, in a message posted on Twitter on March 2.
After being contacted by The Times about these claims, American officials released a statement describing how the fire began more cautiously.
“Eyewitness accounts indicate that the fire started when Maduro’s forces violently blocked the entry of humanitarian assistance,” the statement said. It did not specify that Mr. Maduro’s forces lit the fire.
American officials also noted that, whatever the circumstances, they held Mr. Maduro responsible because he blocked the aid trucks that day, punishing Venezuelans in need.
“Maduro is responsible for creating the conditions for violence,” said Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “His thugs denied the entry of tons of food and medicine, while thousands of courageous volunteers sought to safeguard and deliver aid to Venezuelan families.”
The aid shipment created a showdown unlike any on the border between Colombia and Venezuela in years.
On Feb. 23, Venezuela’s opposition planned to pierce a military blockade by Mr. Maduro, hoping that the president’s security forces would break with him rather than stop much-needed aid. They argued that a cascade of defections in the military would follow, eventually toppling the government.
Instead, Mr. Maduro’s security forces, along with government-aligned gangs, attacked protesters, who came armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails. One of the aid trucks burned in the melee, igniting the bitter war of words over who was responsible.
Mr. Maduro’s government has also made unsubstantiated claims, starting with its longstanding insistence that there are no food shortages in Venezuela.
It also claimed that the aid shipment contained expired supplies or American weapons.
But one claim that appears to be backed up by video footage is that the protesters started the fire.
“They tried a false flag operation, that supposedly the people of Venezuela had burned a truck carrying rotten food — no, no, no — it was they themselves, it was the criminals of Iván Duque,” Mr. Maduro told a crowd, referring to Colombia’s president.
The day of the convoy, Colombia’s government quickly became a chief booster of the theory that Mr. Maduro had been behind the fire. Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez posted a picture of what she said was “one of the trucks incinerated by gangs by order of Maduro.”
After the truck was destroyed, the Colombian government sent CCTV footage from the bridge to American officials and Colombian journalists, according to officials and journalists who received them.
The footage was edited to show circles around Venezuelan security forces throwing tear gas canisters, which explode on impact, toward the aid convoy. Subsequent images show the truck erupting into smoke, implying that it was the Venezuelan officials who were responsible.
But the footage distributed by the Colombian government removes the 13-minute period before the fire begins. Officials from Mr. Duque’s office did not release the full video after repeated requests from The Times.
Protesters who threw Molotov cocktails from the bridge insisted that Mr. Maduro’s forces, not their homemade bombs, set the fire.
Junior José Quevedo, 23, said he had arrived at 7 a.m. that day and tried to talk policemen into allowing the aid to pass. “But then another armed group came of colectivos,” he said, referring to government-aligned gangs.
Adalberto Rondón, another bomb thrower on the bridge that day, said it was national guardsmen who lit the fire.
The same account was widely picked up that day by American officials.
“Each of the trucks burned by Maduro carried 20 tons of food and medicine,” Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter, repeating a claim posted by a Colombian news network that was on the scene. “This is a crime and if international law means anything he must pay a high price for this.”
Contacted by The Times about the footage Saturday, a spokesman for Mr. Rubio did not address who burned the trucks, saying in a statement that “Maduro bears full responsibility for the destruction of humanitarian aid.”
Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, has fervently maintained that the aid contained medicine and that it was burned by Mr. Maduro as well.
When contacted by The Times on Thursday about possible contradictory information on what the truck contained, Edward Rodríguez, a spokesman for Mr. Guaidó, said he “didn’t have the exact information” and referred questions to Gaby Arellano, a lawmaker in charge of the aid distribution.
Ms. Arellano could not be reached for comment this past week. But when interviewed by The Times on the bridge shortly after the truck burned on Feb. 23, Ms. Arellano said the truck was not carrying any medicine.
“There were face masks, syringes, gloves, the things that you use in an operating room,” she said.
Ms. Arellano also said Mr. Maduro’s security forces had burned the shipment, with his forces throwing tear gas canisters that exploded on the vehicle.
“Tear gas bombs, when they fall they throw out a spark,” she said. “Since there were boxes, when the first one fell, it set everything on fire.”
Asked if it had been done on purpose, she said: “There couldn’t be any other reason, could there? The world is here, it was all recorded live by the media. There’s even videos where you can see it all happening.”
Nicholas Casey reported from Cúcuta, and Christoph Koettl and Deborah Acosta from New York. Albinson Linares contributed reporting from Cúcuta, and Anjali Singhvi from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on March 11, 2019, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Maduro Burned Aid? Footage Shows Otherwise. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Nicolás Maduro Burned Aid Convoy
Top U.S. officials have said Nicolás Maduro’s regime burned an aid convoy last month. But TV footage contradicts that claim and shows how this unverified information spread across Twitter and television.CreditCreditNatasha Vásquez/Afp
CÚCUTA, Colombia — The narrative seemed to fit Venezuela’s authoritarian rule: Security forces, on the order of President Nicolás Maduro, had torched a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in his country were suffering from illness and hunger.
Vice President Mike Pence wrote that “the tyrant in Caracas danced” as his henchmen “burned food & medicine.” The State Department released a video saying Mr. Maduro had ordered the trucks burned. And Venezuela’s opposition held up the images of the burning aid, reproduced on dozens of news sites and television screens throughout Latin America, as evidence of Mr. Maduro’s cruelty.
But there is a problem: The opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro’s men, appears to have set the cargo alight accidentally.
Unpublished footage obtained by The New York Times and previously released tapes — including footage released by the Colombian government, which has blamed Mr. Maduro for the fire — allowed for a reconstruction of the incident. It suggests that a Molotov cocktail thrown by an antigovernment protester was the most likely trigger for the blaze.
At one point, a homemade bomb made from a bottle is hurled toward the police, who were blocking a bridge connecting Colombia and Venezuela to prevent the aid trucks from getting through.
But the rag used to light the Molotov cocktail separates from the bottle, flying toward the aid truck instead.
Half a minute later, that truck is in flames.
The same protester can be seen 20 minutes earlier, in a different video, hitting another truck with a Molotov cocktail, without setting it on fire.
The burning of the aid last month has led to broad condemnation of the Venezuelan government.
More than three million people have fled the country because of the humanitarian crisis caused by Mr. Maduro’s mismanagement of the economy. Political opponents who have remained in the country face repression by his security forces, with many jailed, tortured or forced into exile. Many demonstrators have been killed and even more injured during street protests.
the border standoff — even though many of his people have died of medicine shortages in hospitals.
Yet the claim about a shipment of medicine, too, appears to be unsubstantiated, according to videos and interviews.
The United States Agency for International Development, the principal supplier of the aid at the bridge, did not list medicine among its donations. A top opposition official on the bridge that day told The Times that the burned shipment contained medical supplies like face masks and gloves, but not medicine. And video clips reviewed by The Times show some of the boxes contained hygiene kits, which the Americans identified as containing supplies like soap and toothpaste.
Yet the claim that Mr. Maduro burned medicine has persisted.
“Maduro has lied about the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, he contracts criminals to burn food and medicine intended for the Venezuelan people,” wrote John R. Bolton, President Trump’s national security adviser, in a message posted on Twitter on March 2.
After being contacted by The Times about these claims, American officials released a statement describing how the fire began more cautiously.
“Eyewitness accounts indicate that the fire started when Maduro’s forces violently blocked the entry of humanitarian assistance,” the statement said. It did not specify that Mr. Maduro’s forces lit the fire.
American officials also noted that, whatever the circumstances, they held Mr. Maduro responsible because he blocked the aid trucks that day, punishing Venezuelans in need.
“Maduro is responsible for creating the conditions for violence,” said Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “His thugs denied the entry of tons of food and medicine, while thousands of courageous volunteers sought to safeguard and deliver aid to Venezuelan families.”
The aid shipment created a showdown unlike any on the border between Colombia and Venezuela in years.
On Feb. 23, Venezuela’s opposition planned to pierce a military blockade by Mr. Maduro, hoping that the president’s security forces would break with him rather than stop much-needed aid. They argued that a cascade of defections in the military would follow, eventually toppling the government.
Instead, Mr. Maduro’s security forces, along with government-aligned gangs, attacked protesters, who came armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails. One of the aid trucks burned in the melee, igniting the bitter war of words over who was responsible.
Mr. Maduro’s government has also made unsubstantiated claims, starting with its longstanding insistence that there are no food shortages in Venezuela.
It also claimed that the aid shipment contained expired supplies or American weapons.
But one claim that appears to be backed up by video footage is that the protesters started the fire.
“They tried a false flag operation, that supposedly the people of Venezuela had burned a truck carrying rotten food — no, no, no — it was they themselves, it was the criminals of Iván Duque,” Mr. Maduro told a crowd, referring to Colombia’s president.
The day of the convoy, Colombia’s government quickly became a chief booster of the theory that Mr. Maduro had been behind the fire. Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez posted a picture of what she said was “one of the trucks incinerated by gangs by order of Maduro.”
After the truck was destroyed, the Colombian government sent CCTV footage from the bridge to American officials and Colombian journalists, according to officials and journalists who received them.
The footage was edited to show circles around Venezuelan security forces throwing tear gas canisters, which explode on impact, toward the aid convoy. Subsequent images show the truck erupting into smoke, implying that it was the Venezuelan officials who were responsible.
But the footage distributed by the Colombian government removes the 13-minute period before the fire begins. Officials from Mr. Duque’s office did not release the full video after repeated requests from The Times.
Protesters who threw Molotov cocktails from the bridge insisted that Mr. Maduro’s forces, not their homemade bombs, set the fire.
Junior José Quevedo, 23, said he had arrived at 7 a.m. that day and tried to talk policemen into allowing the aid to pass. “But then another armed group came of colectivos,” he said, referring to government-aligned gangs.
Adalberto Rondón, another bomb thrower on the bridge that day, said it was national guardsmen who lit the fire.
The same account was widely picked up that day by American officials.
“Each of the trucks burned by Maduro carried 20 tons of food and medicine,” Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter, repeating a claim posted by a Colombian news network that was on the scene. “This is a crime and if international law means anything he must pay a high price for this.”
Contacted by The Times about the footage Saturday, a spokesman for Mr. Rubio did not address who burned the trucks, saying in a statement that “Maduro bears full responsibility for the destruction of humanitarian aid.”
Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, has fervently maintained that the aid contained medicine and that it was burned by Mr. Maduro as well.
When contacted by The Times on Thursday about possible contradictory information on what the truck contained, Edward Rodríguez, a spokesman for Mr. Guaidó, said he “didn’t have the exact information” and referred questions to Gaby Arellano, a lawmaker in charge of the aid distribution.
Ms. Arellano could not be reached for comment this past week. But when interviewed by The Times on the bridge shortly after the truck burned on Feb. 23, Ms. Arellano said the truck was not carrying any medicine.
“There were face masks, syringes, gloves, the things that you use in an operating room,” she said.
Ms. Arellano also said Mr. Maduro’s security forces had burned the shipment, with his forces throwing tear gas canisters that exploded on the vehicle.
“Tear gas bombs, when they fall they throw out a spark,” she said. “Since there were boxes, when the first one fell, it set everything on fire.”
Asked if it had been done on purpose, she said: “There couldn’t be any other reason, could there? The world is here, it was all recorded live by the media. There’s even videos where you can see it all happening.”
Nicholas Casey reported from Cúcuta, and Christoph Koettl and Deborah Acosta from New York. Albinson Linares contributed reporting from Cúcuta, and Anjali Singhvi from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on March 11, 2019, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Maduro Burned Aid? Footage Shows Otherwise. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Venezuela opposition leader claims coup is under way – live news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...er-juan-guaido-claims-coup-underway-live-news
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Juan Guaidó posts a video of himself flanked by armed forces claiming he is ‘starting the final phase of Operation Liberty’
Venezuela’s Guaidó says ‘final phase’ of plan to oust Maduro has begun
The Guardian
April 30, 2019
Venezuela’s Guaidó says ‘final phase’ of plan to oust Maduro has begun
The Guardian
April 30, 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...er-juan-guaido-claims-coup-underway-live-news
.
Venezuela's Guaidó accused of coup attempt by government
The most dramatic moment yet
Analysis by BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus
Events in Venezuela are uncertain and unclear but Mr Guaidó has seemingly gambled heavily in his latest bid for power.
The loyalty of the military to President Nicolás Maduro's regime has been the central factor that has kept him in power. Barring a fundamental change in their allegiance or at the very least a significant split in their ranks, no amount of outside diplomatic pressure is going to push Mr Maduro from office.
Image copyright Reuters
So are we seeing this split now? Mr Guaidó and his supporters claim parts of the military across the country have backed him, but so far there is little evidence of this.
Are people joining Guaidó?
Footage recorded later by Reuters news agency shows Mr Guaidó and Mr López with dozens of uniformed men on a highway in Caracas.
Many are wearing blue armbands and bandanas to signal their support for Mr Guaidó. The footage shows tear gas being fired at them.
Footage shows supporters of Mr Guaidó throwing stones at the airbase while others wave Venezuelan flags but their actions seem to lack co-ordination.
Mr López, who leads the Popular Will party of which Mr Guaidó is a member, urged Venezuelans to join them: "All Venezuelans who want freedom should come here, disrupt order, join and encourage our soldiers, join our people. Good morning Venezuela, let's do this together."
His wife told the Guardian's Joe Parkin Daniels that he had been released "to free Venezuela alongside Guaidó".
How has the government reacted?
The Venezuelan Information Minister, Jorge Rodríguez, responded to the events on Twitter, writing that the government was confronting a small group of "military traitors" who, according to him, were promoting a coup.
Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said that military bases were "operating normally" and that the armed forces were "standing firm in defence of the constitution and its legitimate authorities".
In a later tweet, he wrote: "They're cowards!!"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48103858
.
The most dramatic moment yet
Analysis by BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus
Events in Venezuela are uncertain and unclear but Mr Guaidó has seemingly gambled heavily in his latest bid for power.
The loyalty of the military to President Nicolás Maduro's regime has been the central factor that has kept him in power. Barring a fundamental change in their allegiance or at the very least a significant split in their ranks, no amount of outside diplomatic pressure is going to push Mr Maduro from office.
So are we seeing this split now? Mr Guaidó and his supporters claim parts of the military across the country have backed him, but so far there is little evidence of this.
For Mr Guaidó the stakes are huge. The Venezuelan government says it is putting down a coup attempt. This is perhaps the most dramatic moment yet in Venezuela's current political saga.
Footage recorded later by Reuters news agency shows Mr Guaidó and Mr López with dozens of uniformed men on a highway in Caracas.
Many are wearing blue armbands and bandanas to signal their support for Mr Guaidó. The footage shows tear gas being fired at them.
Footage shows supporters of Mr Guaidó throwing stones at the airbase while others wave Venezuelan flags but their actions seem to lack co-ordination.
Mr López, who leads the Popular Will party of which Mr Guaidó is a member, urged Venezuelans to join them: "All Venezuelans who want freedom should come here, disrupt order, join and encourage our soldiers, join our people. Good morning Venezuela, let's do this together."
His wife told the Guardian's Joe Parkin Daniels that he had been released "to free Venezuela alongside Guaidó".
How has the government reacted?
The Venezuelan Information Minister, Jorge Rodríguez, responded to the events on Twitter, writing that the government was confronting a small group of "military traitors" who, according to him, were promoting a coup.
Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said that military bases were "operating normally" and that the armed forces were "standing firm in defence of the constitution and its legitimate authorities".
In a later tweet, he wrote: "They're cowards!!"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48103858
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1 hr 16 min ago
How did we get here in Venezuela?
Nicolas Maduro.
Here's a timeline of the country's crisis since last year:
https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-n...ela-operation-freedom-live-updates/index.html
How did we get here in Venezuela?
Nicolas Maduro.
Here's a timeline of the country's crisis since last year:
May 2018: Nicolas Maduro, who has been President since 2013 and has presided over years of economic decline, secures another six-year team after winning an election widely denounced as a sham by the opposition and the international community.
August 2018: Several drones armed with explosives disrupt a military parade in an apparent assassination attempt against Maduro. Amid warnings that inflation could hit one million percent by the end of the year, the government issues a new currency.
January 2019: Two weeks after Maduro is sworn in, Guaido declares himself the interim president amid anti-government protests. The Trump administration recognizes Guaido as president -- followed by much of Latin America and Western Europe -- and the US sanctions Venezuela's government-owned oil company.
February 2019: Maduro's government announces that it will not accept much-needed foreign aid and intends to reroute food and supply shipments to Colombia instead. He later breaks off diplomatic relations with Colombia as tensions escalate over the aid on the border.
March 2019: A power outage leaves more than 70% of the country without electricity at one point, and rolling power outages plague the country for days. Separately, the US announces withdraws all remaining diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Caracas, and slaps sanctions on some members of Maduro's government.
August 2018: Several drones armed with explosives disrupt a military parade in an apparent assassination attempt against Maduro. Amid warnings that inflation could hit one million percent by the end of the year, the government issues a new currency.
January 2019: Two weeks after Maduro is sworn in, Guaido declares himself the interim president amid anti-government protests. The Trump administration recognizes Guaido as president -- followed by much of Latin America and Western Europe -- and the US sanctions Venezuela's government-owned oil company.
February 2019: Maduro's government announces that it will not accept much-needed foreign aid and intends to reroute food and supply shipments to Colombia instead. He later breaks off diplomatic relations with Colombia as tensions escalate over the aid on the border.
March 2019: A power outage leaves more than 70% of the country without electricity at one point, and rolling power outages plague the country for days. Separately, the US announces withdraws all remaining diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Caracas, and slaps sanctions on some members of Maduro's government.
https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-n...ela-operation-freedom-live-updates/index.html
Cuba to begin rationing food amid economic crisis
https://theweek.com/5things/840872/cuba-begin-rationing-food-amid-economic-crisis
Cuba will begin widespread rationing of staple foods and other products such as chicken, eggs, rice, beans, and soap as the country faces what The Associated Press calls a grave economic crisis, the government announced on Friday. Commerce Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez blamed the Trump Administration for hardening the United States' trade embargo on the island. Some economists, meanwhile, argue that the crisis stems more from the fact that Venezuela has not provided Cuba with its usual amount of aid since becoming mired in its own dire ecomomic and political situation. Díaz said that cooking oil would be in full supply. "We're calling for calm," she said.
Source:
The Associated Press
Why do folks act like it's the govt fuckin up the economy and not
Western countries lime u.s holding the countrys economy hostage through sanctions
And then u.s propaganda. To imply it's the leadership
The crazy shit is how easy it is for them to mind fuck masses of people with that obvious bullshit...
If they lift those sanctions Venezuela economy would boom in less than a year...
Western countries lime u.s holding the countrys economy hostage through sanctions
And then u.s propaganda. To imply it's the leadership
The crazy shit is how easy it is for them to mind fuck masses of people with that obvious bullshit...
If they lift those sanctions Venezuela economy would boom in less than a year...
Mini-Maduro targeted as US turns screws on Venezuela leader's son
The US has imposed sanctions on Nicolasito, 29, who claims to be an economist and a flautist and has faced claims of nepotism
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/nicolas-maduro-son-venezuela-sanctions-us
The Trump administration has slapped sanctions on the son of Nicolás Maduro, in the latest attempt to tighten the screws on Venezuela’s embattled leader.
The move by the US treasury department freezes any US assets belonging to the president’s son – Nicolás Maduro Guerra, or Nicolasito – and bars Americans from doing business with him.
“Maduro relies on his son Nicolasito and others close to his authoritarian regime to maintain a stranglehold on the economy and suppress the people of Venezuela,” said the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
Like his father, Nicolasito is tall and portly; at 29 years old, he is one of the youngest political figures in Maduro’s inner circle.
He is allegedly a major player in Venezuela’s gold trade. According to Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, a former spy chief who recently fled to the US, an assistant of Nicolasito set up a company to buy gold from miners and sell it to Venezuela’s central bank at inflated rates.
Little is known about Nicolasito’s personal life, although he is understood to be married with two children. His Twitter biography describes him as an economics graduate and a flautist in the world-famous Sistema network of youth orchestras, although government critics have expressed doubt over both claims.
His political career appears to have taken off soon after his father was elected president in 2013, when at the age of 23 he was appointed as the head of Venezuela’s body of inspectors, fueling accusations of nepotism.
In 2014 he was also named as director of the Venezuelan School of Cinema, again prompting incredulity about his credentials. “Maduro’s son knows nothing [about cinema]” the feted Venezuelan playwright José Tomás Angola said at the time. “What he does know is how to steal a camera.”
Since 2017 Nicolasito has sat on the constituent national assembly – the loyalist body set up to sideline the opposition-held national assembly.
When Donald Trump floated the possibility of a military intervention to oust President Maduro, Nicolasito responded with a speech threatening a Venezuelan invasion of the United States. “The rifles will reach New York, Mr Trump!” he boomed, looking at the camera. “We will reach and take the White House!”
In a country beset by economic collapse and intense food shortages, Nicolasito prompted outrage in March 2017 when he was filmed at a society wedding in Caracas, dancing to Arabic music while being showered with dollars. He brushed the incident off as “gossip”.
The US has sanctioned more than 100 Venezuelan officials and insiders accused of corruption, human rights violations and drug trafficking, including Maduro himself and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The US has imposed sanctions on Nicolasito, 29, who claims to be an economist and a flautist and has faced claims of nepotism
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/nicolas-maduro-son-venezuela-sanctions-us
The Trump administration has slapped sanctions on the son of Nicolás Maduro, in the latest attempt to tighten the screws on Venezuela’s embattled leader.
The move by the US treasury department freezes any US assets belonging to the president’s son – Nicolás Maduro Guerra, or Nicolasito – and bars Americans from doing business with him.
“Maduro relies on his son Nicolasito and others close to his authoritarian regime to maintain a stranglehold on the economy and suppress the people of Venezuela,” said the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
Like his father, Nicolasito is tall and portly; at 29 years old, he is one of the youngest political figures in Maduro’s inner circle.
He is allegedly a major player in Venezuela’s gold trade. According to Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, a former spy chief who recently fled to the US, an assistant of Nicolasito set up a company to buy gold from miners and sell it to Venezuela’s central bank at inflated rates.
Little is known about Nicolasito’s personal life, although he is understood to be married with two children. His Twitter biography describes him as an economics graduate and a flautist in the world-famous Sistema network of youth orchestras, although government critics have expressed doubt over both claims.
His political career appears to have taken off soon after his father was elected president in 2013, when at the age of 23 he was appointed as the head of Venezuela’s body of inspectors, fueling accusations of nepotism.
In 2014 he was also named as director of the Venezuelan School of Cinema, again prompting incredulity about his credentials. “Maduro’s son knows nothing [about cinema]” the feted Venezuelan playwright José Tomás Angola said at the time. “What he does know is how to steal a camera.”
Since 2017 Nicolasito has sat on the constituent national assembly – the loyalist body set up to sideline the opposition-held national assembly.
When Donald Trump floated the possibility of a military intervention to oust President Maduro, Nicolasito responded with a speech threatening a Venezuelan invasion of the United States. “The rifles will reach New York, Mr Trump!” he boomed, looking at the camera. “We will reach and take the White House!”
In a country beset by economic collapse and intense food shortages, Nicolasito prompted outrage in March 2017 when he was filmed at a society wedding in Caracas, dancing to Arabic music while being showered with dollars. He brushed the incident off as “gossip”.
The US has sanctioned more than 100 Venezuelan officials and insiders accused of corruption, human rights violations and drug trafficking, including Maduro himself and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Russia Vows to Beef Up Venezuelan Military,
Counter Destabilisation Attempts
https://sputniknews.com/world/201907051076156345-russia-venezuela-armed-forces/
The situation in Venezuela has been tense since January following the eruption of anti-government protests, fueled by opposition leader Juan Guaido’s proclamation as the nation's interim president.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told journalists on Friday that Moscow is determined to counter any internal or external attempts to destabilise the situation in Venezuela. The official stressed that the United States keeps on devising ways to further destabilise the situation in the country. However, he noted that their efforts fail due to the public support for the legitimately elected authorities.
Ryabkov also underlined that Moscow will continue to boost the potential of the Venezuelan Armed Forces.
"We will certainly take measures under the existing agreements, which will help strengthen the potential of that country's Armed Forces", Ryabkov told reporters.
Ryabkov underlined that the focus will be placed on the equipment sent to Venezuela, once again dismissing speculations that Russia has military personnel deployed in the Latin American country.
Venezuela has been plagued by political instability since January when US-backed opposition leader and head of the National Assembly Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in a bid to replace incumbent president Nicolas Maduro.
The United States and its allies, including a number of EU nations, immediately recognised Guaido, while Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey, among others, voiced their support for Maduro as the country’s only legitimate president.
Russia has underlined several times that the presence of Russian military experts in Venezuela is completely legitimate. The specialists are in the country to train technicians and work on repair and maintenance of weapons systems, previously sent to Venezuela under bilateral defence industry cooperation agreements.
Counter Destabilisation Attempts
https://sputniknews.com/world/201907051076156345-russia-venezuela-armed-forces/
The situation in Venezuela has been tense since January following the eruption of anti-government protests, fueled by opposition leader Juan Guaido’s proclamation as the nation's interim president.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told journalists on Friday that Moscow is determined to counter any internal or external attempts to destabilise the situation in Venezuela. The official stressed that the United States keeps on devising ways to further destabilise the situation in the country. However, he noted that their efforts fail due to the public support for the legitimately elected authorities.
Ryabkov also underlined that Moscow will continue to boost the potential of the Venezuelan Armed Forces.
"We will certainly take measures under the existing agreements, which will help strengthen the potential of that country's Armed Forces", Ryabkov told reporters.
Ryabkov underlined that the focus will be placed on the equipment sent to Venezuela, once again dismissing speculations that Russia has military personnel deployed in the Latin American country.
Venezuela has been plagued by political instability since January when US-backed opposition leader and head of the National Assembly Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in a bid to replace incumbent president Nicolas Maduro.
The United States and its allies, including a number of EU nations, immediately recognised Guaido, while Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey, among others, voiced their support for Maduro as the country’s only legitimate president.
Russia has underlined several times that the presence of Russian military experts in Venezuela is completely legitimate. The specialists are in the country to train technicians and work on repair and maintenance of weapons systems, previously sent to Venezuela under bilateral defence industry cooperation agreements.
US ‘Narco-Terrorism’ Charges Against Maduro May Be Pretext for Panama-Style Invasion, Observer Warns
sputniknews.com
Opinion
19:11 GMT 26.03.2020(updated 19:37 GMT 26.03.2020) Get short URL
18631
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The US Department of Justice has announced indictments against multiple senior Venezuelan officials including President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of “narco-terrorism,” and offering millions of dollars in reward money for information leading to their arrest or conviction.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr unsealed charges against Venezuela’s president and other senior officials, including the head of the country’s constituent assembly parliament, the former director of Venezuelan military intelligence and a former high-ranking general on Thursday, accusing them of secretly running the ‘Cartel of the Suns’ drug trafficking group.
In a message on its website, the DEA promises “rewards of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro Moros,” as well as up to $10 million each for the arrest of his associates, with the rewards administered by the Narcotics Rewards Program.
Pretext for Invasion?
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond to the charges. However, observers speaking to Sputnik have dismissed Washington’s claims outright, warning that they may actually be just a pretext to try to topple the Latin American country’s government after previous efforts to do so failed.
According to the observer, the ‘narco-terrorism’ charges against Maduro are reminiscent of Operation Just Cause, the 1989 US invasion of Panama to oust President Manuel Noriega.
© AP Photo / John Hopper, File
In this May 2, 1989 file photo, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega walks with supporters in the Chorrilo neighborhood, where he dedicated a new housing project, in Panama City
The charges against Maduro and his officials are the latest US effort on the Venezuelan front following the failure of its year-long effort to topple the Caracas government by naming opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s “interim president”.
“This is another example of ‘lawfare’ - not backed up by evidence,” writer, historian and former UN rapporteur to Venezuela Alfred de Zayas says of the DoJ charges against Maduro and company.
© AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani, File
This Oct.16, 2007 file photo shows the entrance hall of Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, central France
Wild West 'Justice'
De Zayas thinks this misuse of the administration of justice for political ends actually only works to undermine the integrity of the US justice system, while giving “rise to cynicism on the part of the citizens.”
Tapia agrees. “Of course it’s not rational nor ethical, but we’re talking about US foreign policy. That money” that the US is spending attempting to oust Maduro “could be used to help the health services, buy masks, pay salaries, anything that can actually help to reduce contagion” amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “But neither the State Department, nor the Justice Department’s budgets are affected by the pandemic, so the siege and harassment of Venezuela continues on its path,” the analyst laments.
Blatant Hypocrisy
In 2019, independent media around the world reported on photos of ‘interim president’ Guaido posing with members of the Los Rastrojos, a Colombian criminal paramilitary group and drug cartel which at its height was one of that country’s most powerful drug traffickers.
© AP Photo / Patrick Semansky
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reacts as President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
And that’s not to mention Washington’s penchant for fabricating evidence to suit their needs. “As the then-CIA director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has admitted: ‘we lied, we cheated, we stole’,” the former envoy notes, recalling as well the Bush administration’s narrative on Iraq’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ leading up to the 2003 invasion. “Does the US plan another invasion, this time against Venezuela? Yet another crime against humanity? I am an American citizen and I say: not in my name,” de Zayas urges.
Tragicomedy
Former US army officer-turned whistleblower and political analyst Scott Bennett says the “narco-terrorism” charges against Maduro and his fellow officials would be “almost comical if it were not so tragic a statement about the corruption and hypocrisy of the US State Department and the Deep State agents there.”
© AP Photo / Fernando Llano
Storage tanks stand in a PDVSA state-run oil company crude oil complex near El Tigre, a town located within Venezuela's Hugo Chavez oil belt, formally known as the Orinoco Belt
According to the former terrorist financing investigator, if Washington wants to investigate a real drug-trafficking and money laundering scheme, they should dust off a file named ‘Deep Black’, a report which he says“details how the CIA and Mossad orchestrated drug-trafficking and money laundering through US persons like Richard Armitage (prior State Department official), former President George W. Bush, Col. Oliver North (USMC retired), and others.” Bennett says he would be “happy to be the first witness” in that case, and promises to “provide the documents in case" the government "‘lost’ them.”
15 Month-Long Coup Attempt
The political crisis in Venezuela escalated in late January 2019, when Juan Guaido, the leader of the semi-defunct opposition-controlled National Assembly, proclaimed himself 'interim president', receiving the immediate backing of the US and its Latin American and European allies.
President Maduro, who was sworn in for a second term just weeks earlier, characterized Guiado as a US puppet, and accused Washington of seeking to take control of his country's vast oil and mineral resources. A number of countries, including Russia, China, Cuba and Turkey among others have rejected Guiado's claims to the presidency and continue to recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
US ‘Narco-Terrorism’ Charges Against Maduro May Be Pretext for Panama-Style Invasion, Observer Warns
The US Department of Justice has announced indictments against multiple senior Venezuelan officials including President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of...
sputniknews.com
Opinion
19:11 GMT 26.03.2020(updated 19:37 GMT 26.03.2020) Get short URL
18631
Subscribe
The US Department of Justice has announced indictments against multiple senior Venezuelan officials including President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of “narco-terrorism,” and offering millions of dollars in reward money for information leading to their arrest or conviction.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr unsealed charges against Venezuela’s president and other senior officials, including the head of the country’s constituent assembly parliament, the former director of Venezuelan military intelligence and a former high-ranking general on Thursday, accusing them of secretly running the ‘Cartel of the Suns’ drug trafficking group.
In a message on its website, the DEA promises “rewards of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro Moros,” as well as up to $10 million each for the arrest of his associates, with the rewards administered by the Narcotics Rewards Program.
Pretext for Invasion?
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond to the charges. However, observers speaking to Sputnik have dismissed Washington’s claims outright, warning that they may actually be just a pretext to try to topple the Latin American country’s government after previous efforts to do so failed.
According to the observer, the ‘narco-terrorism’ charges against Maduro are reminiscent of Operation Just Cause, the 1989 US invasion of Panama to oust President Manuel Noriega.
© AP Photo / John Hopper, File
In this May 2, 1989 file photo, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega walks with supporters in the Chorrilo neighborhood, where he dedicated a new housing project, in Panama City
The charges against Maduro and his officials are the latest US effort on the Venezuelan front following the failure of its year-long effort to topple the Caracas government by naming opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s “interim president”.
“This is another example of ‘lawfare’ - not backed up by evidence,” writer, historian and former UN rapporteur to Venezuela Alfred de Zayas says of the DoJ charges against Maduro and company.
© AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani, File
This Oct.16, 2007 file photo shows the entrance hall of Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, central France
Wild West 'Justice'
De Zayas thinks this misuse of the administration of justice for political ends actually only works to undermine the integrity of the US justice system, while giving “rise to cynicism on the part of the citizens.”
Tapia agrees. “Of course it’s not rational nor ethical, but we’re talking about US foreign policy. That money” that the US is spending attempting to oust Maduro “could be used to help the health services, buy masks, pay salaries, anything that can actually help to reduce contagion” amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “But neither the State Department, nor the Justice Department’s budgets are affected by the pandemic, so the siege and harassment of Venezuela continues on its path,” the analyst laments.
Blatant Hypocrisy
In 2019, independent media around the world reported on photos of ‘interim president’ Guaido posing with members of the Los Rastrojos, a Colombian criminal paramilitary group and drug cartel which at its height was one of that country’s most powerful drug traffickers.
© AP Photo / Patrick Semansky
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reacts as President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
And that’s not to mention Washington’s penchant for fabricating evidence to suit their needs. “As the then-CIA director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has admitted: ‘we lied, we cheated, we stole’,” the former envoy notes, recalling as well the Bush administration’s narrative on Iraq’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ leading up to the 2003 invasion. “Does the US plan another invasion, this time against Venezuela? Yet another crime against humanity? I am an American citizen and I say: not in my name,” de Zayas urges.
Tragicomedy
Former US army officer-turned whistleblower and political analyst Scott Bennett says the “narco-terrorism” charges against Maduro and his fellow officials would be “almost comical if it were not so tragic a statement about the corruption and hypocrisy of the US State Department and the Deep State agents there.”
© AP Photo / Fernando Llano
Storage tanks stand in a PDVSA state-run oil company crude oil complex near El Tigre, a town located within Venezuela's Hugo Chavez oil belt, formally known as the Orinoco Belt
According to the former terrorist financing investigator, if Washington wants to investigate a real drug-trafficking and money laundering scheme, they should dust off a file named ‘Deep Black’, a report which he says“details how the CIA and Mossad orchestrated drug-trafficking and money laundering through US persons like Richard Armitage (prior State Department official), former President George W. Bush, Col. Oliver North (USMC retired), and others.” Bennett says he would be “happy to be the first witness” in that case, and promises to “provide the documents in case" the government "‘lost’ them.”
15 Month-Long Coup Attempt
The political crisis in Venezuela escalated in late January 2019, when Juan Guaido, the leader of the semi-defunct opposition-controlled National Assembly, proclaimed himself 'interim president', receiving the immediate backing of the US and its Latin American and European allies.
President Maduro, who was sworn in for a second term just weeks earlier, characterized Guiado as a US puppet, and accused Washington of seeking to take control of his country's vast oil and mineral resources. A number of countries, including Russia, China, Cuba and Turkey among others have rejected Guiado's claims to the presidency and continue to recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
US ‘Narco-Terrorism’ Charges Against Maduro May Be Pretext for Panama-Style Invasion, Observer Warns
US ‘Narco-Terrorism’ Charges Against Maduro May Be Pretext for Panama-Style Invasion, Observer Warns
The US Department of Justice has announced indictments against multiple senior Venezuelan officials including President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of...
Opinion
19:11 GMT 26.03.2020(updated 19:37 GMT 26.03.2020) Get short URL
18631
Subscribe
The US Department of Justice has announced indictments against multiple senior Venezuelan officials including President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of “narco-terrorism,” and offering millions of dollars in reward money for information leading to their arrest or conviction.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr unsealed charges against Venezuela’s president and other senior officials, including the head of the country’s constituent assembly parliament, the former director of Venezuelan military intelligence and a former high-ranking general on Thursday, accusing them of secretly running the ‘Cartel of the Suns’ drug trafficking group.
In a message on its website, the DEA promises “rewards of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro Moros,” as well as up to $10 million each for the arrest of his associates, with the rewards administered by the Narcotics Rewards Program.
Pretext for Invasion?
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond to the charges. However, observers speaking to Sputnik have dismissed Washington’s claims outright, warning that they may actually be just a pretext to try to topple the Latin American country’s government after previous efforts to do so failed.
According to the observer, the ‘narco-terrorism’ charges against Maduro are reminiscent of Operation Just Cause, the 1989 US invasion of Panama to oust President Manuel Noriega.
© AP Photo / John Hopper, File
In this May 2, 1989 file photo, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega walks with supporters in the Chorrilo neighborhood, where he dedicated a new housing project, in Panama City
The charges against Maduro and his officials are the latest US effort on the Venezuelan front following the failure of its year-long effort to topple the Caracas government by naming opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s “interim president”.
“This is another example of ‘lawfare’ - not backed up by evidence,” writer, historian and former UN rapporteur to Venezuela Alfred de Zayas says of the DoJ charges against Maduro and company.
© AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani, File
This Oct.16, 2007 file photo shows the entrance hall of Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, central France
Wild West 'Justice'
De Zayas thinks this misuse of the administration of justice for political ends actually only works to undermine the integrity of the US justice system, while giving “rise to cynicism on the part of the citizens.”
Tapia agrees. “Of course it’s not rational nor ethical, but we’re talking about US foreign policy. That money” that the US is spending attempting to oust Maduro “could be used to help the health services, buy masks, pay salaries, anything that can actually help to reduce contagion” amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “But neither the State Department, nor the Justice Department’s budgets are affected by the pandemic, so the siege and harassment of Venezuela continues on its path,” the analyst laments.
Blatant Hypocrisy
In 2019, independent media around the world reported on photos of ‘interim president’ Guaido posing with members of the Los Rastrojos, a Colombian criminal paramilitary group and drug cartel which at its height was one of that country’s most powerful drug traffickers.
© AP Photo / Patrick Semansky
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reacts as President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
And that’s not to mention Washington’s penchant for fabricating evidence to suit their needs. “As the then-CIA director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has admitted: ‘we lied, we cheated, we stole’,” the former envoy notes, recalling as well the Bush administration’s narrative on Iraq’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ leading up to the 2003 invasion. “Does the US plan another invasion, this time against Venezuela? Yet another crime against humanity? I am an American citizen and I say: not in my name,” de Zayas urges.
Tragicomedy
Former US army officer-turned whistleblower and political analyst Scott Bennett says the “narco-terrorism” charges against Maduro and his fellow officials would be “almost comical if it were not so tragic a statement about the corruption and hypocrisy of the US State Department and the Deep State agents there.”
© AP Photo / Fernando Llano
Storage tanks stand in a PDVSA state-run oil company crude oil complex near El Tigre, a town located within Venezuela's Hugo Chavez oil belt, formally known as the Orinoco Belt
According to the former terrorist financing investigator, if Washington wants to investigate a real drug-trafficking and money laundering scheme, they should dust off a file named ‘Deep Black’, a report which he says“details how the CIA and Mossad orchestrated drug-trafficking and money laundering through US persons like Richard Armitage (prior State Department official), former President George W. Bush, Col. Oliver North (USMC retired), and others.” Bennett says he would be “happy to be the first witness” in that case, and promises to “provide the documents in case" the government "‘lost’ them.”
15 Month-Long Coup Attempt
The political crisis in Venezuela escalated in late January 2019, when Juan Guaido, the leader of the semi-defunct opposition-controlled National Assembly, proclaimed himself 'interim president', receiving the immediate backing of the US and its Latin American and European allies.
President Maduro, who was sworn in for a second term just weeks earlier, characterized Guiado as a US puppet, and accused Washington of seeking to take control of his country's vast oil and mineral resources. A number of countries, including Russia, China, Cuba and Turkey among others have rejected Guiado's claims to the presidency and continue to recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
wow
thats crazy.... I dont care what anyone says..
its blatantly obvious they murdered Hugo Chavez....
medical hits are a thing...
that most folks arent up on yet.. thats why most folks think mike jackson and prince and whitney died from overdoses..
but yet you got a member from the rollingstones that did more drugs then all three of them combined and still breathing..
I digress...
this going on in venezuela right now.. would make a great fuckin movie..
that article bought up some great point tho... how you going after venezuela for drugs..
and the fuckin cia...is known for running the drug game...
crazy how this system depends on dumbed down masses to function..
thats why they KNEW they better hurry with this stimulus package..
because the last thing they want are the masses to wakeup..
and being lockdown without no means to money or food..
will wake a nation up fast as fuck