Reuters (4/19/18) reports on EU officials “accusing [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro’s government of breaches of human rights and undermining democracy.”
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 writes in US News (3/3/18) that US policy toward Venezuela is being set by Marco Rubio, “a hardliner who does not seem interested in an electoral or negotiated solution to Venezuela’s political crisis.”
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.
Messages to Reuters can be sent here (or via Twitter: @Reuters). Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.
Taking the Hypocritic Oath
Whataboutism at its finest. Come to Florida where there are plenty of Venezuelans cleaning houses and driving taxis that are university educated lawyers and engineers. You should talk to them before you trust anything coming from the Venezuelan government. Their stories have nothing to do with Socialism and everything to do with corruption and mismanagement. This is to be expected when a government expropriates a factory and hands it over to cronies with zero qualifications or experience. That’s not real socialism. That’s “Bolivarian” socialism. Real socialists cannot and should not defend what’s going on in Venezuela. Chavez’s and Maduro’s fake brand of socialism is giving real socialism a bad name at a time when it is needed the most. Anything positive they have accomplished has been for nothing at this point.
Fritz, if you live in Florida then, socialist or not, you should object to your government seeking to overthrow a democracy based on the fraudulent pretext that it is a dictatorship.
Shifting from whataboutism to hyperbole. The only tangible thing the Western powers have done is cut off the ability for Venezuela to refinance its debt or get new debt. That’s hardly and act of war or overthrow. It is the sovereign right of those countries to regulate their financial systems and does not infringe on Venezuela’s sovereignty. Venezuela has access to Chinese, Russian, Indian, and Persian Gulf banks. They could very well settle and refinance all their debts through banks in those countries. But, it seems the banks in those countries are smart enough not to throw their money away. My guess is that they know that when they give Venezuela money, it winds up in the Maduro’s friends and families personal bank accounts.
Of course, I do not support a violent overthrow. Peaceful protests are acceptable and the right of any person or group in a well functioning democracy. At the current trajectory, I’d expect Falcon to win, the constituent assembly to be dissolved, the democratically elected national assembly to be given its constitutional powers back, and the supreme court to be sacked and replaced with real jurists. Time will tell if Falcon is given a free and fair chance or if Maduro will win by threatening to take away people’s CLAP boxes. Moreover, what will the constituent assembly do if Maduro loses? Will they invalidate the results? If that happens, I’m sure things will go sideways.
US sanctions enacted in August will block CITGO from sending almost a billion dollars in profits in dividends to Venezuela this year. Combined with the disruptive impact of making it illegal for Venezuela’s government to use the financial system (all Venezuela $64billion in foreign currency bonds are governed under New York law) the impact will be billions in the first year of sanctions alone. No decent person would support sanctions like this (which also violate int’l law which no country has any “sovereign right” to do) against Israel or Saudi Arabia – never mind Venezuela. It is the economic equivalent of lobbing bombs at a country.
Venezuela committed it’s own economic suicide, I was against sanctions as they were not necessary but merely handed a PR tool to a regime and allow them to fantasise that it wasn’t the inevitable results of their economically insane policies (which were of course solely designed to facilitate their systematic looting of the nation and fund more giant mansions for regime officials). Some people even fall for it when psuv officials blame sanctions, forgetting the shortages and inflation actually started before even the collapse in oil prices, long before any sanctions even those merely targeted directly at the private wealth of corrupt politicians
It was not right to impose any sanctions, it gives the regime a PR tool and the chance to posit the fantasist position that Venezuelans economic destitution is a result of sanctions rather than as a result of insane policies designed to facilitate corruption and allow the transfer of Venezuelas assets wholesale from the people into the private wealth of a tiny PSUV bourgeoisie, ruling cronyist oligarchy. Some particularly gullible people, who lack the inclination or ability to research or think critically, even believe it. This despite the fact that economic collapse and inflation started before even the collapse in oil price, years before the sanctions you speak of were implemented. Venezuela needs real fair elections and needs to allow free media within its country. There needs to be real investigatory journalism permitted in that country and TV and radio programmes similar to those in real democracy where regime officials and opposition politicians sit round a table and take questions from the public (like question time on the BBC). I wonder why programmes like this are not permitted in Venezuela? I wonder how, magically, media in that country totally fail to publish anything critical of, or hold to account leadership (and why any that do get shut down by some fantasical coincidence?!)
Joe Emersberger continues to write propeganda and lies on behalf of and paid by the corrupt, greedy and murderous regime that uses the world socialism as a fig leaf in order to attempt to lend itself some kind of legitimacy in the guise of ideology to excuse and hide it’s obvious nature as a fascist criminal empire running a country like a giant ponzi scheme. Disgustingly, Joe Emersberger has no problem with his comfortable, safe and secure lifestyle in the great country of Canada being subsidised by; not only the fear, starvation, suffering and slavery of 30 million of the men, women, children and pensioners that make up the wonderful populace of Venezuela, but also the narcotics and people trafficking revenues of government supported criminal operations controlled by regime officials such as Diosdado Capello. If Joe Emersberger had any genuine life achievements to his name, he could be considered a modern day Hans Asperger. I hope he reflects on this some day, meets to real Venezuelans and by some miracle develops some morality and respect for human rights. I hope he is conveyed then to earn an honest living and apologise to the world and make amends, like a real life Grima Wormtongue.
We all know the US government and many of the wealthy elites are pieces of shit. And that the media gladly reports on worthy victims. What about the Venezuelan government, though..
Not getting loans does not seem like reason to have a breakdown of the economy. Venezuelan business could cause strife, but it is hard to figure how they might harm the economy this way, yet not run losses all the time. Or are they losing money? Or is the strife exaggerated. I have seen refugees on TV, it not look like Syria refugees. (I.e. one or two, a little line, etcetera) And i know other South American countries are infact still poorer.
Of course, breakdown of the economy is not “just a Venezuela thing” either. Nor is the economy doing badly based on fossil-fuels..
Jasper, the economic sanctions imposed by Trump in August block US-based CITGO (which is owned by the Venezuelan government) from sending almost 1 billion USD back to Venezuela in profits an dividends. ON TOP of THAT, they outlaw Venezuelan government from using the US financial system which makes refinancing debt about 100 times harder than it would otherwise be given that ALL of Venezuela foreign currency bonds are governed under New York law. Even a shit restructuring deal could ease the government’s debt burden by billions per year which would be huge in terms of making essential imports more affordable.
I’ve written before about the Maduro government’s blunders in economic policy. In case posting a link doesn’t work here, look up a piece on Telesur by me entitled “Chavismo must stop the economic bleeding”. As of now however, the US government basically has its foot on the Venezuelan government’s throat economically.
Also important to keep two things separate that the media constantly encourages us to conflate
1) The fact that the Venezuela is going through a huge economic crisis
2) The fact that Venezuela is a democracy
The int’l media for example doesn’t depict Greece as a dictatorship because the econ crisis its has been going through for years.
in recent years voters have punished the Maduro government for its blunders. However, voters have also punished the US-backed opposition for supporting violence and for openly trying to make the crisis worse. There then is a huge contradiction in the opposition’s discourse that hurts it at the polls: insisting the country is dictatorship while also encouraging its side to vote.
http://www.argusmedia.com/news/article/?id=1667467#.WuMaJaPky_A.twitter
That hasn’t happened since August, that has taken MORE THAN A DECADE. The growth of crime from levels that were already bad enough in 1999 has been steady and did not start in August. Shortages of basic goods (unless you have money to buy them on the military controlled black market) Go back years before August 2017. Seriously how can you be OK with writing this propeganda and lying on behalf of the filthy rich elite of Venezuela. Perhaps you would like me to put you in touch with some ordinary Venezuelans so you can write about the truth. Oh I forgot, you wouldn’t because they cannot even afford to pay for food, let alone you to write.
I have been a contributing supporter and generally appreciative of the insights FAIR offers on the U.S. media. But , as the husband of a Venezuelan who is in daily contact with members of a large extended family that at best could be described as working class, I am disgusted by the reporting of Fair regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.
Millions of Venezuelans, including several members of my wife’s family have lost jobs, and been forced into exile with nothing but what they can carry in a single suitcase. To characterize the Chavista government as anything other than incompetent authoritarians is appalling. I’m appealing to those who manage Fair to please do a better job of reporting what is happening in Venezuela. Millions of Venezuelans don’t have enough food to eat or live saving medicines, and the primary cause of this is the complete incompetence of the Chavista regime not any policy implemented by the U.S. or its European Allies.
Barry is absolutely correct. If Emersberger had even the slightest idea of what is actually going on in Venezuela, if he had family being forced to flee their homes into neighboring countries, he might not be so interested in minimizing the scale of human suffering. But since he’s sitting behind a keyboard in the North, without having to actually dirty his hands, he has no problem cherry-picking statistics and pretending everyone else is distorting how bad it is.
Jason, why are you OK with Trump’s economics sanctions? Do you pretend they are not doing tremendous damage or do you simply not care? BTW the way the reason the US government launches wars of aggression and economic attacks on countries all over the world is because it is very easy for people “behind a keyboard in the North” to support those crimes.
I said nothing about supporting Trump’s sanctions. You see, people with even the slightest capacity for intellectual honesty can separate out the fact that Trump’s sanctions should be opposed, but ALSO the human suffering in Venezuela should not be minimized with cherry-picked statistics and bogus excuses.
In fact, to argue that Trump’s sanctions are the principal cause of the current disaster is just tremendously dishonest. Trump’s sanctions did not even take effect until 2017, by which time Venezuela’s economy had been collapsing for 4 straight years, food production had been dropping for 6 years, food shortages had been critical for 5 years, poverty had already reached an all time high, GDP/capita had already declined to a lower point than anytime in the last 40 years.
By the time Trump’s sanctions took effect, Venezuela had literally already experienced the largest economic contraction in the history of the Western Hemisphere. It is just utterly ridiculous to make the argument that Trump’s sanctions have played a significant role in the disaster. But you’ve shown that you have little capacity to recognize basic facts.
Trump’s sanctions are deliberately making the crisis much worse – costing the economy billions of dollars per year. I don’t believe you oppose them or lift a finger to oppose them (which you are actually in a position to do if you are in the USA or Canada) or you’d be outraged with Trump and with western media coverage of Venezuela that depicts it as a dictatorship, not with me. Obama’s sanctions also did tremendous damage but had more plausible deniability than Trump’s because of the way he imposed them. Maduro’s deserves the most blame for the crisis, but it is pretty obvious why his opponents have struggled to defeat his party at the polls. During the Great Depression in the USA how many prominent politicians (or even not prominent) would have dared to support or otherwise wink at foreign attacks on the US?
ALSO, In terms of GDP per capita, the current Venezuelan crisis is definitely one of the worst ever in the region. in terms of its impact on employment or on migration it is comparable to others that taken place – for example Ecuador’s collapse of 1999.
Funny, you are so outraged at Trump, but I don’t hear any outrage at all for Maduro, who is the one who is the most to blame for the all human suffering going on in Venezuela right now.
Any sane person would be opposed to both of these clown-like leaders, but would reserve the majority of their ire for the one that has actually caused the lion’s share of the suffering in Venezuela. Instead, you focus all your ire on Trump’s sanctions and try to paint is as if they are largely responsible for what is going on, while saying almost nothing about the real source of the problems. Try being honest for once in your life.
Talk about cherry-picked statistics. Emersberger uses UN data that is based on census data, which is not frequently updated, to drastically underestimate the number of Venezuelans fleeing the country. Actually, the UN has published a report that puts the number at about 5,000 per day, which amounts to almost 2 million in a year. Of course, Emersberger doesn’t cite that source, because he’s interested in minimizing the scale of human suffering for his own petty ideological purposes.
http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/unhcr%20venezuela%20situation%202018%20supplementary%20appeal.pdf
Talk about cherry-picked statistics. Emersberger uses UN data that is based on census data, which is not frequently updated, to drastically underestimate the number of Venezuelans fleeing the country. Actually, the UN has published a report that puts the number at about 5,000 per day, which amounts to almost 2 million in a year. Of course, Emersberger doesn’t cite that source, because he’s interested in minimizing the scale of human suffering for his own petty ideological purposes.
http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/unhcr%20venezuela%20situation%202018%20supplementary%20appeal.pdf
Jason, I also cited a study by fiercely anti-Maduro academics, released in February, estimating migration a less than 1 million since the crisis began. Did you really miss that? In fact UN Migration Agency estimates 1 million leaving since eth crisis, and puts Venezuela’s TOTAL expat population (people who have any time at all with in the last several decades) at 1.6 million.
goo.gl/wmbCRM
so yeah plenty of reason to doubt claims of 3 to 4 million that the corporate media puts out – often without even citing a source.
You also don’t need any particular ideology to oppose the US government deliberately making Venezuela’s crisis worse – just common decency..
As expected, you can’t respond to the fact that the UN actually has estimated the total DISPLACED population to be about 1.5 million, and that about 5,000 per day are currently leaving, which means another 1.8 million per year at the current rate (see link above). You have cherry-picked the UN data that fits your agenda, and it is terribly dishonest, because the UN data you cite is based on census data that is not regularly updated, and therefore is totally inadequate for estimating a refugee crisis.
As for your ideology, it is possible to be opposed to US interventions, and ALSO admit the truth, which is that the Maduro government has created a complete disaster in Venezuela. What you’ve continually done is try to minimize the scale of the human suffering as a way to defend a thoroughly corrupt, criminal government. Talk about common decency…
Jason, the UN data I linked to in my reply to you IS BASED on data that is updated to end 2017. Unlike the UNCHR report you link to – which is vague about the time period for the 1.5 million – the UN report I link to in my reply to you DOES break down the migration figures per year. Here it is again
goo.gl/wmbCRM
And again I also linked to estimates by fiercely anti-Maduro academies in my piece and you keep ignoring that. Wonder why.
At any rate your objection is bizarre. You insist I should say 1.5 million left since the crisis rather than about 1 million. Meanwhile the Reuters article – which my piece was about – casually mentions 3 million. Others have even said 4 million.
Note that the UNCHR report you link to makes an “appeal” for $46 million to help Venezuelans. Trump’s sanctions will cost Venezuela BILLIONS of dollars per year. What you are doing is downplaying the barbarism of the criminal US attack on Venezuela.
What you seem to be unable to comprehend is that large movements of people cannot be accurately traced by census data (which is what the UN data you cite is based on), because most countries only collect national census data every few years. This is why the other source you cite discusses the problems with measurment, and concludes by saying that the real total is possibly 3 or 4 million.
The UNCHR report also states how it is hard to have a precise estimate, but estimates that 5,000 per day were leaving by the beginning of 2018. That would put the total at 600,000 so far THIS YEAR ALONE!!! In other words, the UNCHR estimate would indicate that about as many people have left in the last 4 months as you claim left in the last 18 years!!! Maybe you are just slightly full of it?
As for Trump costing the country billions, what you haven’t been able to grasp is that even with that money Venezuela would not be much better off given their macroeconomic policies. The economy has been in a freefall for 5 years, 4 of those before sanctions ever took effect. The missing billions would have only gone to enrich the corrupt factions that have been lining their pockets for the last 4 years, and which you continue to defend and support.
If Emersberger would have actually taken the time to read the methodology behind the UN migrant stock data he cites, he would have found the following statement:
“…when refugee flows occur rapidly in situations of conflict, it is uncommon for a population census to take place soon after and to reflect the newly arrived refugee population.”
In other words, the source he cites is by its own admission not a good way of measuring the current refugee flows out of Venezuela. If we look at another UN source, they estimate that 5,000 per day were leaving by the beginning of 2018. At that rate, about 600,000 people have left Venezuela so far THIS YEAR ALONE!!! That’s more than what Emersberger says left in the last 18 years. This is what you call being stunningly and embarrassingly full of sh*t.
http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/unhcr%20venezuela%20situation%202018%20supplementary%20appeal.pdf
Jason, I didn’t just cite UN population division did I?
As I’ve pointed out to you a few times now in these replies I ALSO CITED A STUDY BY A GROUP OF FIERCELY ANTI MADURO ACADEMICS
I wonder how many more replies from you are going to go by without you addressing that.
They found about 800,000 left since the crisis began in 2014 until the end of 2017. Add 600,000 to that and you are at 1.4 million – so nowhere near the 3 million the Reuters claims had left since the crisis as of April.
It is not ok to say 3 million have left because it might eventually be true as crisis continues – and is made deliberately worse by YOUR government (assuming you are in the US or Canada).
What is indeed stunning and embarrassing is that people like you can sit comfortably in the US or Canada and dismiss the impact of economic attacks on a country in crisis.
I have addressed the other source. Maybe you should read more carefully. As I said in an earlier comment up above, they also state how the true number is difficult to calculate, but conclude by saying there is a possibly that the number reaches 3 or 4 million. You conveniently leave that out, and only cite the lowest number that they cite. Again, you are dishonest with your sources.
In fact, it is quite likely that 3 million or more have left, especially given that the UN estimates that 600,000 have left in the last 4 months alone. Given that the situation has been very grave for several years now, it is entirely conceivable that even 4 million have left. But you know what is NOT conceivable? To say that only 300,000 have left in the last 18 years, which is what you imply in your utter disgrace of an article.
As for dismissing the impact of economic attacks, I actually prefer to focus on the REAL cause of the economic crisis that began in 2014, not a fictitious cause that didn’t even begin until 2017, just because it better fits my ideological agenda. I don’t like playing politics with human suffering like that.
What is truly disgraceful is that people like you sit comfortably in the North and defend a government that is causing massive suffering for its people. Not only do you defend them, but you distort statistics and lie in order to make it look like the human suffering is not as bad as it really is, and attempt to make it look like someone else (Trump) is really to blame. That is nauseatingly disgusting.
There are actually surveys that say as many as 4 million have left. But, of course, you don’t mention those, and instead rely on a source that says in its own methodology that it is not accurate in cases of refugee crises. Is there any limit to your dishonesty?
http://www.noticierodigital.com/2018/01/consultores-21-4-millones-venezolanos-emigrado-los-ultimos-anos/
Jason, What you say is “the lowest number they cite” – “they” being the fiercely anti-Maduro academics – is the number produced by THEIR OWN STUDY (about 800,000 from 2014-2017) combined with UN population data from 2015 ( 3 years ago therefore addressing your concern that it isn’t updated) And of course very recent data can also be off by inflating numbers – for example double counting people who pass through one or more countries. What you’re trying to defend is the corporate media citing the highest estimates often without a source never mind scrutiny.
You are playing politics with human suffering by dismissing the impact of Trump’s sanctions which is what opposition politicians do on Venezuela’s largest TV networks by the way. It’s one of the reasons Maduro may will reelection..
Actually dismissing the impact of Trump’s sanctions has nothing to do with playing politics, and everything to do with basic honesty. As I’ve said over and over again, the economic crisis was already EXTREMELY grave before Trump’s sanctions began. To put the emphasis on them is just utterly dishonest. If you actually cared about the human suffering going on in Venezuela, you would focus on the REAL cause, not try to shift the blame to something that has very little to do with it. Again, try being honest for once in your life.
And anyone with half a brain knows that a president that has presided over the worst economic collapse in the history of the Western Hemisphere could never win a free and fair election. In fact, even Maduro knows that, which is why he has prevented any free and fair elections from taking place since 2016, and is holding this month’s election in a hurried up fashion that completely violates all the rules of Venezuela’s electoral code. It is also why he has pressured millions of Venezuelans to get a “Homeland card” and to register their vote with that card under the veiled threat that they could lose food and wage bonuses that they need to survive if they don’t (as many found out when they didn’t vote in 2017).
In other words, you are literally one of the last morons on the planet still supporting a government that is threatening its own population with starvation if they don’t vote for him. Congratulations.
Jason, I wondered when you’d move on from trying to justify gross exaggerations about migration from Venezuela to repeating the US government’s claim that it is a dictatorship – which opponents have claimed for years, and still do, on the largest TV networks in the country.
Maduro’s government does not know how people vote. The last contested elections in Venezuela were the regional elections of October 2017 in which the opposition received 700,000 fewer votes than the government nationwide. The only real evidence of fraud was over 2000 votes in the state of Bolivar.
According to opposition-aligned pollster Datanalisis about 25% support Maduro (about 5 million Venezuelan voters) whom you presumably write off as “morons”. You are correct though that their views are excluded from commentary in western establishment media. You are much more likely to find US pundits praising Saudi Arabia.
Anyone with half a brain should know that a president gifted with opponents who wink at foreign attacks on their own country in the middle of a crisis can still win elections. Also helps when those opponents have made several violent efforts to overthrow the government, boycott elections, and openly seek to undermine opposition candidates like Falcon who refuse to go along with that idiocy.
I don’t write off poor Venezuelans with little access to good information as morons. It’s the ones that live in the North and have ample access to information, but still try to twist facts to fit their utterly idiotic agenda.
There’s no doubt that the government recieved more votes than the opposition. But that’s about where your brilliant analysis ends apparently. What you don’t understand because you’ve never spent more than two weeks in Venezuela is that the electoral system has lost so much credibility in the eyes of voters that there is very high abstention among the opposition, while state employees and poor sectors are under enormous pressure to vote for government candidates. So, yes, the government can win in entirely undemocratic fashion while idiot ideologues in Canada applaud them as democrats. It is completely irrelevant if the government can track votes. People who depend on food benefits to avoid starvation aren’t ones to take the risk, as many have told me personally.
Maybe if you tried to draw conclusions about things without simply adopting whatever position is the opposite of the US government or the mainstream media you wouldn’t find yourself in such an idiotic position like defending criminal governments that starve their own populations. Let me guess, you are probably also an Assad supporter… US government says he’s a dictator, therefore he must be your hero!
In case you actually want to inform yourself with facts, instead of armchair presumptions from thousands of miles away:
https://twitter.com/CaraotaDigital/status/943876516110327816
https://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n312353.html
http://www.descifrado.com/2018/03/12/expectativa-de-recibir-caja-clap-impulsaria-el-voto-por-maduro/
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/mundo/2017/08/6/quitan-despensa-venezolanos-que-no-votaron-para-la-constituyente
http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/economia/suspenderan-por-tres-meses-beneficiarios-los-clap-que-critiquen-gobierno_4266
http://diarioelcaroreno.com.ve/web/2017/08/29/no-nos-venden-el-clap-por-no-haber-votar-por-la-constituyente/
http://www.elimpulso.com/home/no-votar-privan-los-clap-familias-chirgua
Jason – Venezuelans have “littles access to good information” ? Interesting. So to you “good information” is not the parade of opposition politicians and pundits all over Venezuela’s TV and print media constantly saying the same things you do and winking at foreign attacks on their country? Maduro’s brilliant opponents have frequently called for abstention – and boycotted elections – then moaned about the results. Even when they aren’t calling for boycotts their extreme rhetoric encourages abstention. “We’re in a dictatorship but please vote for us” is not a coherent message when they do decide to contest elections. Constantly crying fraud when they lose for almost 2 decades and falsely claiming votes are not secret also doesn’t help. Just scratches the surface of their stupidity and arrogance which gives Maduro a real shot at re-election on May 20.
Anyway, I won’t take up any more of your valuable time arguing with the “last moron defending Maduro”
You might want to do something useful for Venezuelans (assuming you live in Canada or USA) and try to get the economic sanctions ended, but it your priority is combatting 0.1% of western commentary that does not demonize the Maduro’s government and the millions who will vote for him.
Like I said, you’ve obviously not spent any time in Venezuela. If you had, you would know that the media landscape has changed greatly in recent years and the media is not nearly as critical as they once were. Venezuela also has the worst internet service on the continent, making online info a tedious process.
As for doing something useful for Venezuelans, the most useful thing would be to help them get rid of the primary cause of their problems, which is a corrupt authoritarian government, not continue to defend it and offer support by twisting the facts. Ending the sanctions would only take Venezuelans back to early 2017, when they were in the middle of the worst crisis in their history. How exactly does that solve anything? But we’ve already been down this road and you’re obviously too dense to realize sanctions have almost nothing to do with a crisis that preceded them by 4 years.
If you actually gave two shits about Venezuelans you wouldn’t be trying to minimize their suffering as thousands are forced to flee their homes, and you wouldn’t be covering for a government that uses starvation as a tool for voter turnout. If you actually cared maybe you’d go to the Colombian border as I have and see the hoardes of skinny people wh can’t feed their children because Maduro’s military is trafficking the food, and maybe you’d spend less time writing billshit articles and more time figuring out how to help a family in need. Everyone I know with family in Venezuela is constantly sending money there, because when Venezuelans are actually real people to you, and not just pawns in your game of “US is my enemy”, then you actually focus on the real cause of their problems and how to solve them.
For those of you who speak Spanish. Most of these video clips are from March
Opposition legislator Juan Andres Mejia gets softball interview on one of Venezuela’s most wtached TV broadcasters. Venevision:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GwziDHjWBM
A 9 min pt he is asked about foreign sanctions. He replies that world will no longer tolerate the government’s human rights abuses. Says government is refusing humanitarian aid. Not asked about economic impact of current sanctions. Not asked about threat of oil sanctions.
Another softball Interview here with Jose Antonio Gil Yepes, president of the widely cited polling firm Datanalisis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrEsOtgWa4g
Says at 12 min pt that 4 million people have left Venezuela mostly in past two years. Outrageous. No challenge from the journalist
Gil Yepes warns Maduro that further “unconstitutional measures” will lead to increased pressure on him from the USA. Also says early in the interview that opposition members Leopoldo Lopez and Henry Falcon [who is running] would both beat Maduro in an election
Another softball interview with Henry Ramos, opposition politician,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NrA4KcoMGE
Ramos open by mocking President Maduro and assuring that fair elections he will be soundly defeated because of the “tragedy” Maduro has caused. At about 8:39 point says Maduro’s government is a “dictatorship”(& again at about 9:39) that they are trying to get rid of thru elections and that “help” of “int’l community” has been “invaluable”. No challenge to any of this from the journalist!
From 9:46 – Henry Ramos reads thru a litany of dire health care statistics and says heath care workers are threatened for citing them. Says malnutrition in children is rampant etc..
At 18 min pt Ramos says sanctions a re merely the consequences of government’s human rights violations and dismisses impact on the crisis. Nuts – and no challenge from the journalist.
Venezuela Presidential candidate Henri Falcon on Venevision says Maduro government is an “unscrupulous monster” (16 min) but also “beatable” if voters turnout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpS6_ciQTUM&feature=youtu.be
At about 23 min Falcon says it is absurd to wait for a “military invasion to save Venezuela” and that he finds it unacceptable and that Venezuelans must decide their own fate.
Another interview on Venevision a few weeks earlier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoIThZAW9kk
Interviewer says 80% disapprove of Maduro’s government (3 min pt)
Falcon says government has caused a “humanitarian crisis” that hasn’t been seen in 100 years. (about 3:20 pt)
Here is Falcon on state network (VTV) announcing his candidacy on Feb 27 on State TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW8XvfrFReA
at 2:38 pt calls President Maduro the “hunger candidate” and that it is now common to see Venezuelans looking thru trash for food. Continues thru this speech mocking Maduro as the “hunger candidate” who fails to talk about things like children dying from lack of medicine. Says by 9:06 point that democracy has been destroyed and all Venezuela’s institutions are “slaves” to the executive…at 10:42 says Maduro’s government has made Venezuela into a “hell”. At 13:19 says Venezuela faces risk of civil war….as 80% must let their children go to sleep hungry. At 16:00 pledges to release “political prisoners” in Venezuela. At 21 min point he demands having lection at later date. This done. Election was moved back a month to May 20. At about 35 min point says those who hope for a military invasion to save Venezuela believe in an “illusion”. Falcon did not denounce US economic sanctions in this speech tho he has elsewhere – timidly.
Wow, you mean opposition people still have a voice in the media? How outrageous!! Of course, that has nothing to do with what I said, which is that Venezuelans don’t have access to GOOD information. Or did you think hearing talking points from opposition politicians constitutes good information about the roots of their economic problems?
And I see you have no response to the widespread evidence of the government using starvation as a voter turnout tool. There is also widespread evidence of state repression of labor leaders. But, I know, I know, its all Trumps fault! That’s where we should really be focusing our attention!
For those of you who speak Spanish. Most of these video clips are from March
Opposition legislator Juan Andres Mejia gets softball interview on one of Venezuela’s most wtached TV broadcasters. Venevision:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GwziDHjWBM
A 9 min pt he is asked about foreign sanctions. He replies that world will no longer tolerate the government’s human rights abuses. Says government is refusing humanitarian aid. Not asked about economic impact of current sanctions. Not asked about threat of oil sanctions.
Another softball Interview here with Jose Antonio Gil Yepes, president of the widely cited polling firm Datanalisis.
Another softball Interview here with Jose Antonio Gil Yepes, president of the widely cited polling firm Datanalisis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrEsOtgWa4g
Says at 12 min pt that 4 million people have left Venezuela mostly in past two years. Outrageous. No challenge from the journalist. Gil Yepes warns Maduro that further “unconstitutional measures” will lead to increased pressure on him from the USA. Also says early in the interview that opposition members Leopoldo Lopez and Henry Falcon [who is running] would both beat Maduro in an election
Yes, how outrageous that they didn’t question the figure of 4 million. I mean, only every other source you consult besides the bogus UN migrant stock data indicates that the number is potentially as high as 3 to 4 million. So how outrageous that they didn’t listen to Joe Emersberger and his nonsense that only 300,000 have left in the last 18 years!!! If only everyone could be as dishonest and careless with statistics as Joe we could really be more effective in minimizing the disaster that Maduro has created…. such a shame.
Just to rehash the incredible irony of this situation: First, Joe Emersberger uses an inappropriate UN data source to estimate that only 300,000 Venezuelans have left the country in the last 18 years. Then, it turns out that the UN has actually estimated that 5,000 per day are currently leaving the country. So that means that in the LAST THREE MONTHS ALONE, far more than 300,000 have left. But instead of rectifying his idiotic statements, he instead states how outrageous it is that OTHER journalists are being careless with the numbers!!!! If you can’t tell, I’m laughing while writing this, because it is honestly hard to find an ass hat of this calibre these days. It is something that really must be appreciated.
Here is presidential candidate Henri Falcon about 2 weeks ago on Venevision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJba1JlnEFI
He calls Maduro a lunatic who has imposed starvation on Venezuela and the worst crisis in 100 years.
Says “international community” will recognize a victory by him. he sells his plan for Venezuela to adopt the US dollar and explains why he thinks it will end Venezuela’s devaluation-inflation spiral.
Yet Falcon still has to address charges by segements of the opposition that he is a closet chavista a traitor.
Here is Falcon’s main economic advisor, Francisco Rodriguez giving a detailed explanation of the dollarization plan on Venevision.
https://youtu.be/xU7cAdXYh5A
Yes, Joe, we can all see that you have no response for the widespread evidence that the government utilizes hunger to pressure people to vote for them. You don’t have to make it so obvious.
Here is Francisco Rodriguez on another private network Globovision talking about the dollarization plan he has worked out for the presidential candidate Henri Falcon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHAJbdmZxyo
He claims there is majority support for it according to Datanalisis polls.
Yes, I wonder if the 5,000 people crossing the border every day had time to tune in to this cable-only channel and watch this interview. It wouldn’t matter anyway, because Maduro has made it virtually impossible for people to register to vote outside of Venezuela. Maybe the other thousands who are still in Venezuela standing in line or searching dumpsters for food watched it on their new iPhones with 4g internet. Given that it is obvious to anyone with a brain that it is the government that tells the CNE when elections will be (instead of the other way around as stipulated by the constitution), I wonder if Venezuelans really want to take the risk of losing their meager food benefits by voting for someone like Rodriguez and Falcon? Oh well, at least you found a few interviews of them on TV. That really resolves the issue.
From 29 minutes on (the last half of the show) Here is Francicso Rodriguez again on another private network Televen explaining Falcon’s dollarization plan to deal with “the worst contraction in the history of Latin America” that has been “destroyed” by Maduro
https://youtu.be/AbtZKP05tew
The interview above was from a week ago
Francisco Rodriguez also says in the Televen interview above that Maduro government’s “incompetence and corruption” has cost Venezuela $27 billion per year in lost oil production.