[Heisenberg]

I don't recall saying the opposition was popular - I'm very ready to believe that they aren't. I just don't see how it follows logically that the current government is somehow wonderful, or that Venezuelan state TV is the best way to find out What's Really Going On™.

And, like I said, 80% of the population oppose the Constituent Assembly, which is where I got the "more than half" figure from. But since I didn't get the stat from a Maduro-approved source, it simply must be a CIA lie - you haven't even tried to provide an alternative poll or source.

This is the sort of thing I'd expect from a small child growing up in rural 1930s Russia, not a fully-grown woman with an education and access to the internet.

As for whether I sound "mad", I'll have to leave that to others to decide.

[skinster]

The opposition isn't popular. The opposition is only as big as it is, is because of all the money the CIA pumped into it. Otherwise it serves a minority in Venezuela, the rich. Fuck the rich.

Nobody claimed Maduro is wonderful or great or whatever. I'm reminded of that boring attempt at a trick that comes about at times like this, where you're an Assadist if you oppose imperialism in Syria and now you're accused of considering Venezuala's "current government is somehow wonderful, or that Venezuelan state TV is the best way to find out What's Really Going On™" because you oppose US plans of regime change in another country. Yawn. If you have issue with Telesur as a media organization, feel free to share what you think it is that it puts out that according to you is propaganda.

And, like I said, 80% of the population oppose the Constituent Assembly, which is where I got the "more than half" figure from.

Okay well I don't trust the blog from that anti-socialist pollster that hates the current government that you posted. Do you have a second source for that 80% figure?

[AFAIK]

My political party is banned from the UK because I haven't registered it.
I'm the victim of a power grab.

Oh, come off it. It's a transparent bit of retroactive justification for a move he planned anyway.

Exactly. The opposition parties should have anticipated this and avoided playing into Maduro's hands.

Cambodia's gov't recently banned the biggest opposition party from existing and it had to go back to a 3 and a half year old speech to find a excuse because they made an effort to avoid giving the gov't a pretense for disbanding them.

[Libertarian353]

EM, what are you talking about now and what does this have to do with whites lol?

I'm saying why do we always care about the dark masses when the government is anti-american? Why do we somehow for "transparent" democracy when the government is on the left? Have you ever even listen to what the people there want?

Hell the_D doesn't even agree with democracy due to that "sheep asking two wolves what's for lunch" bull, when trump won. So why care about Venezuela just cause it's left?

[Rugoz]

Exactly. The opposition parties should have anticipated this and avoided playing into Maduro's hands.

Cambodia's gov't recently banned the biggest opposition party from existing and it had to go back to a 3 and a half year old speech to find a excuse because they made an effort to avoid giving the gov't a pretense for disbanding them.

Did it stop Cambodia's opposition party from being banned?

Maduro has disregarded democratic rules for ~2 years now, at some point you become supportive of the regime if you play along. In what democracy are political parties banned from participating in future elections when they do not participate in current elections anyway? It's an utterly ridiculous pretense and nobody buys it.

I'm saying why do we always care about the dark masses when the government is anti-american? Why do we somehow for "transparent" democracy when the government is on the left? Have you ever even listen to what the people their want.

Yeah there's nothing more pathetic than anti-democrats invoking the "will of the people" whenever it suits them.

[AFAIK]

You don't have to make it easy for him, Rugoz. If you want the gov't to look illegitimate when it does illegitimate things then don't give it bureaucratic cover to hide behind.

[Libertarian353]

Yeah there's nothing more pathetic than anti-democrats invoking the "will of the people" whenever it suits them.

See now that's trump and his base in general. Remember the doublespeak.

[Quantum]

The British Government and Parliament have effectively cancelled Brexit, overturning the popular vote, yet people from "free" countries have the nerve to lecture other countries about democracy. Sort your own shit out, FFS, before criticising others.

[Sivad]

In what democracy are political parties banned from participating in future elections when they do not participate in current elections anyway? It's an utterly ridiculous pretense and nobody buys it.

If the ruling party had such overwhelming support it wouldn't make sense to ban the opposition. From what I can tell the opposition won a supermajority in the last parliamentary election by a landslide, called for a referendum to recall Maduro, in turn the parliament was disbanded by the Supreme Court stacked by the outgoing parliament with Maduro loyalists, and has been replaced by a new parliament which via constitutional revision isn't elected in open elections.

You can debate whether Venezuela's economic troubles are due to sabotage or bad policy, but the fact is the turmoil has cost Maduro political support and so now in order to preserve the revolution he's abandoning democracy and rule of law and setting himself up as El Presidente for life.

[skinster]

[skinster]

Venezuela's Maduro Defies Odds, Comes Out Stronger in 2017
2017 was a tumultuous year in Latin America.

From the anti-austerity protests in Brazil and Argentina to the corruption shake-ups in the Dominican Republic and Peru as well as the recent election turmoil in Honduras, most countries in the region witnessed considerable political strife alongside the continued economic sluggishness hampering Latin America since the 2014 dip in commodity prices.

Despite this generalized regional turbulence, Venezuela and its President, Nicolas Maduro, have received the brunt of scrutiny from media and political quarters of all stripes.

The first half of the year looked poised to be the tipping point, after months of deadly, opposition-led protests calling for Maduro’s ouster coupled with persistent attempts by U.S.-allied nations to isolate the country and force measures on it. U.S. President Donald Trump even took the unprecedented step of acknowledging that a “military solution” was not off the table for the South American nation.

Venezuela's opposition began positioning themselves at this time as a government in waiting, with prominent leaders alluding to the 'zero-hour' and frantically meeting with their allies internationally.

Fast forward to year's end and the Venezuelan leader is still president and moreover, finds himself in a position of strength.

"There is an ascendant leadership, and that is leadership of President Maduro, which is something confirmed by many surveys," Gustavo Borges Revilla, director of the Venezuelan investigative digital outlet Mision Verdad, says.

Maduro's United Socialist Party, or Psuv, achieved near sweeps in regional and municipal elections in October and December respectively, while the Constituent Assembly vote in July also delivered a friendly outcome.

According to Borges, Maduro has also been able to assert his leadership of a movement that had been declared all but dead outside of the country.

"He has managed to rebuild his authority ... all leaders of the party have rallied around him."

At the same time, his adversaries have not only lost considerable terrain, but also the organizational and strategic unity that has proven to be elusive among Venezuela's opposition groups.

The remarkable turn of events, which comes on the advent of presidential elections in 2018, is not a matter of luck, Borges insists, and also sets the stage for something that few thought likely just months ago - the possibility of Maduro's re-election.

While Maduro has long been a prominent figure in the government of late president Hugo Chavez, he was not necessarily the heir-apparent to El Comandante.

Following Chavez's death in 2013, the 190 cm former vice president and trade union leader faced considerable obstacles from the get-go.

"We must remember that President Maduro took control of the Venezuelan state at a very difficult and complex moment, in the midst of much confusion," Borges says.

The steep drop in oil prices, opposition protest violence in 2013 and 2014 and heavily personalized attacks by media projected the image of a country without a figure in control. The shadow of the charismatic Chavez loomed large, and Maduro had the unenviable task of dealing with the country's problems at the same time as regrouping his support.

"Rebuilding the political base and groups amid the confusion generated by the death of Comandante Chavez took at least two years," says Borges.

In December 2015 however, Venezuela's opposition made their biggest breakthrough in 15 years by winning 56 percent in the country's legislative elections. The 109 seats obtained gave the MUD coalition a considerable majority in the National Assembly.

For over a year, the country's legislative branch was used not only as a tribune against Maduro and his administration but also as a vehicle to stifle his initiative and seek his removal. Among the first measures passed by the assembly including motions to reduce his presidential term, which was ultimately declared unconstitutional and paved the path to continuous clashes between the branches of government.

Maduro's administration responded by using legal methods to "nullifying the mechanisms of sabotage and collapse of the state, which was the plan of the opposition," Borges says.

The annulling of election results in Amazonas state led to a Supreme Court declaration that the National Assembly was acting 'in contempt,' given the refusal to have the Amazonas legislators step down.

It was also in 2016 that the Venezuelan opposition failed in their attempts to convene a recall referendum against Maduro, with election officials citing thousands of fraudulent signatures and impossible timelines.

These steps were taken in accordance with Venezuelan law, Borges says.

Nonetheless, these measures provided Venezuela's opposition with fodder for claims that Maduro was enacting a 'dictatorship' - a spectre that was also evoked frequently during Chavez's presidency.

Meanwhile, diplomatic pressures through the Organization of American States, where the opposition has found a staunch ally in General Secretary Luis Almagro, began to mount, and the country's economic prospects failed to improve.

As they did throughout 2016, the opposition-controlled National Assembly began 2017 by attempting once again to remove Maduro.

On Jan. 9, the assembly declared President Maduro had 'abandoned' his post and also accused him of "breach of the constitutional and democratic order."

Small protests continued in the following months, spurred on by the surprising and increasing opposition of attorney general, Luisa Ortega Diaz, to decisions taken by the executive.

In early April, a seemingly procedural ruling by the Supreme Court authorizing a joint-venture became a catalyst for the opposition to ratchet up pressure against Maduro. The top court ruled they had the authority to approve the measure while the National Assembly maintained their position to not comply with previous court ruling - a statement that opposition leader decried as tantamount to a dissolution of the legislature.

Even though the decision was later reversed, the opposition called its supporters to the streets and progressively intensified their calls and positions. For almost 4 months, the country was gripped by protest violence that claimed the lives of over 100 peoples and left thousands injured. The victims were predominantly bystanders and included horrific lynchings of people perceived to be 'Chavistas.'

Speaking to supporters for International Worker's Day, Maduro said he would use his authority within the constitution to convene an election for a constituent assembly as a means to create dialogue and find peace. The opposition balked, continuing their calls for street pressure to push Maduro out of the Miraflores Palace.

The results of the vote on July 30 had little surprises, as the opposition insisted they would not recognize the constituent assembly.

Nonetheless, despite promises by opposition leaders to stop the vote and continue the 'resistance,' the street violence stopped almost immediately after the Constituent Assembly took place.

Less than 3 months later, Chavistas won 19 of 23 governorships. In December, Maduro’s allies won over 300 local governments including all state capitals and even former bastions of the opposition in municipal elections.

Ortega Diaz also left the country for neighbouring Colombia where she accused the government of corruption and rampant impunity, despite herself being accused of facilitating corruption and impunity after almost a decade as the country's top lawyer.

The dramatic and rapid change in the correlation of forces gave Maduro grounds to claim victory over his foes.

"The year 2017 was the year of threats of violence and aggression that our country (has never faced) before," Maduro told military officials at a year-end ceremony. "It was the year of the popular union of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, of the peasant workers, of the workers ... a year of victory for peace.”

While not officially declaring his intentions to run next year as of yet, he also predicted 2018 would be a year of "victories."

Maduro certainly enters the new year on more solid footing than in 2017, however, he still faces major challenges.

"The hardest thing to tackle is the economy - every sector of Venezuelan society knows that,” Borges acknowledges.

While the plummet in the price of crude that coincided with the start of Maduro's administration has continued to be a significant driver for the economic problems facing Venezuela, other internal and external factors - including economic sanctions from Washington and lack of access to credit and markets - have colluded to push his government and the Bolivarian Revolution to the brink.

With up to 70 percent less revenue from oil and barriers to accessing credit and loans to the "unofficial blockade made official after Trump,” Borges says that the Venezuelan state has not yet been able to address internal productivity as a counter to their import problems.

“The state has not been able to consolidate mechanisms for production - there have been advances in agriculture, but it's obviously not enough.”

The CLAP food program has had some success in circumventing the hoarding and speculation that has frustrated most Venezuelans over the last couple of years, dramatic shifts in costs and availability of goods continue to be the bane of Venezuelan life.

Yet for Borges, Maduro's recent wins in the political sphere, which include commitments by key opposition leaders to dialogue, mean he is better positioned to bring the economy under control.

“One of the things that doesn't allow you to govern the economy is political conflict,” the journalist says, meaning that the absence of clashes between branches of government and the possibility of a positive outcome to the Unasur-facilitated dialogues could be good news for Venezuela's economic prospects in 2018.

The last quarter of the year also saw the Venezuelan president announce major reforms including a shift away from the petrodollar, the creation of a cryptocurrency and also a departure from price controls.

The moves have not yet been fully implemented and so no major impact had been registered as of yet, but there is little doubt that the economy will be the major issue as Venezuelan's go to the polls in 2018.

The recent election results have not only put Maduro at an advantage over his right-wing adversaries, but it has also answered challenges to his leadership within Chavismo as well as concerns about the prospects of a coup.

For Borges, the results show that Maduro's plan is working, that left-challenges against him are "not viable" and that despite the difficulties, the Bolivarian Revolution remains firm.

“Venezuela has its own political process, which has been built from below," Borges says. "There is a civic-military unity which is difficult to break or destroy.”
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/opini ... -0016.html

[skinster]

Western Media Shorthand on Venezuela Conveys and Conceals So Much
A Reuters article (4/18/18) reports that the European Union “could impose further sanctions on Venezuela if it believes democracy is being undermined there.”

The line nicely illustrates the kind of journalistic shorthand Western media have developed, over years of repetition, for conveying distortions and whitewashing gross imperial hypocrisy about Venezuela. A passing remark can convey and conceal so much.

The EU’s sincerity in acting on what it “believes” about Venezuelan democracy is unquestioned by the London-based Reuters. Meanwhile Spain, an EU member, is pursuing the democratically elected president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, for the crime of organizing an illegal independence referendum last year. Weeks ago, he was arrested in Germany at Spain’s request, and other elected representatives have been arrested in Catalonia, where Spain’s federal government deposed the elected regional government after the referendum.

In July 2017, a few months before the referendum in Catalonia, Venezuela’s opposition also organized an illegal referendum. One of the questions asked if the military should obey the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which was an extremely provocative question, given the opposition’s various efforts to overthrow the government by force since 2002. The referendum required an extremely high level of political expression, organization and participation. It allegedly involved 7 million voters. The Venezuelan government disregarded the results—as Spain disregarded the Catalan referendum results—but unlike Spain, did not jail people for organizing it, or send police to brutally repress voters. In fact, two weeks later, Venezuelan voters (overwhelmingly government supporters, since the opposition boycotted and did not field candidates) were violently attacked by opposition militants when they elected a constituent assembly. The attacks resulted in several deaths.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has hardly failed to call attention to the hypocrisy of both the EU and Spain, but the Reuters article made no mention of it.

Reuters also reported that “the country’s two most popular opposition leaders have been banned from competing” from Venezuela’s presidential election on May 20. Reuters didn’t name the two supposedly “most popular opposition leaders,” but in the past (e.g., 4/12/18, 2/28/18, 2/19/18) the wire service has identified them as Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles. As it happens, according to the opposition-aligned pollster Datanalisis, whose results have been uncritically reported by Western media like Reuters for years, opposition presidential candidate Henri Falcón has been significantly more popular than Capriles in recent months, and barely less so than Lopez.

Mark Weisbrot (in an opinion piece for US News, 3/3/18) broke the news that US government officials had been secretly pressuring Falcón not to run, so that the election could be discredited as including no viable opposition candidate. Two weeks later, Reuters (3/19/18) discreetly reported Weisbrot’s scoop.

However, by far the most important thing Reuters neglects telling readers about the “two most popular opposition leaders” is that had they done in the EU what they’ve done in Venezuela since April 2002, Lopez and Capriles would both be serving long jail terms.

Capriles and Lopez together led the kidnapping of a government minister during a briefly successful US-backed military coup in 2002 that ousted Venezuela’s democratically elected president, the late Hugo Chávez, for two days. Lopez boasted to local TV that the dictator installed by the coup (whom Lopez called “President Carmona”) was “updated” on the kidnapping.

Imagine what Carles Puigdemont’s predicament would be if, rather than organizing a peaceful referendum, he had participated in a foreign-backed, ultimately unsuccessful military coup against the Spanish government. Needless to say, running for public office would not be on the table. That would be the least of his worries.

In Venezuela, Capriles eventually served a few months in prison for participating in the coup, while Lopez avoided doing any time, thanks to a general amnesty granted by Chávez. Lopez was finally arrested in 2014 for leading another violent effort to overthrow the government.

I’ve reviewed before (teleSUR, 1/9/18) violent efforts to overthrow the government that Lopez, Capriles and other prominent opposition leaders have been involved with since the 2002 coup. I also described how Julio Borges and Henry Ramos (two other prominent opposition leaders) have openly sought to starve the Venezuelan government of foreign loans as it struggles with a severe economic crisis.

In August, Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s entire economy that will cost Maduro’s government billions of dollars this year (FAIR.org, 3/22/18). It has threatened to go even further, brandishing an oil embargo or even a military attack. With sufficiently compliant media (and the collusion of big human rights NGOs like Amnesty International), such depravity becomes possible.

The Reuters article also says that Venezuela’s economic “collapse has driven an estimated 3 million people to flee the country.” No need to tell readers when the economic “collapse” began—2014—much less who made the estimates or if other sources contradict them. In fact, the UN’s 2017 population division numbers estimate Venezuela’s total expat population as of 2017 at about 650,000—only about 300,000 higher than it was when Chávez first took office in 1999. Even a group of fiercely anti-government Venezuelan academics estimated less than 1 million have left since the economic crisis began. (See FAIR.org, 2/18/18.)

Cherry-picked statistics aside, when Western powers want a democratically elected government overthrown, the approach is clear. Complete tolerance for violent foreign-backed subversion—which the powerful states and their allies would never be expected to tolerate—becomes the test for whether or not a state is a democracy. The targeted government fails the test, is depicted as a dictatorship, and all is permitted. Only the tactics required to bring it down need be debated.
https://fair.org/home/western-media-sho ... ialnetwork

[annatar1914]

Best news i've heard all day, thanks!

Any time the Poor strive to break free of their chains, there are those who try to subvert true democracy and restore the exploitation of the Poor by the Rich.

Viva Venezuela!

[AFAIK]

Thanks for sharing those articles, skinster.
I'll add fair.org to my bookmarks.

[skinster]

[skinster]

Drinking to Venezuela tonight.

[Zionist Nationalist]

Yeah right in a country where 1USD=950,000 bolivars

that means the minimum wage is 3USD per month

yay for socialism

[annatar1914]

Yeah right in a country where 1USD=950,000 bolivars

that means the minimum wage is 3USD per month

yay for socialism

Just as with Chile under Allende in the 1970's, everything you mention is due to the the machinations of the 5th column within Venezuelan society and Western attempts to overthrow the Venezuelan government and get a new one back to helping exploit Venezuela's people and resources.

And Venezuela isn't Socialist, it's a mixed economy Capitalist nation.

[Zionist Nationalist]

Just as with Chile under Allende in the 1970's, everything you mention is due to the the machinations of the 5th column within Venezuelan society and Western attempts to overthrow the Venezuelan government and get a new one back to helping exploit Venezuela's people and resources.

And Venezuela isn't Socialist, it's a mixed economy Capitalist nation.

I dont think that any government in the world would would win in legitimate elections during such a crisis

of course the west would want to remove maduro but at the same time the economic crisis was clearly vaused by mismanagment. its not a coincidence that both Russia and venezuela suffered economic decline due to their economies being so reliant on crude oil prices and lets not forget the nationalisation procces that started at the end of chavez era that was the main cause of this economic disaster.

[Rugoz]

Just as with Chile under Allende in the 1970's, everything you mention is due to the the machinations of the 5th column within Venezuelan society and Western attempts to overthrow the Venezuelan government and get a new one back to helping exploit Venezuela's people and resources.

And Venezuela isn't Socialist, it's a mixed economy Capitalist nation.

Until mid-2017 US sanctions against Venezuela were limited to certain officials. No broad economic sanctions were in place. The Trump administration imposed financial sanctions last year, but there are still no limits on crude oil exports to the US. Needless to say oil exports are the regime's most important source of revenue, despite collapsing production.

We can safely say that Venezuela was ruined, economically and institutionally, by a bunch of power-hungry left-wing assholes and their brainless followers.