So whose interests are being served? Must not be that important, or the media would “explain” it to us. Because I’m sure the U.S. has nothing to do with fomenting unrest, or the impending military coup — because we wouldn’t try to grab all that nationalized oil, right?
Listen and understand. The game changed in Venezuela last night.What had been a slow-motion unravelling that had stretched out over many years went kinetic all of a sudden.
What we have this morning is no longer the Venezuela story you thought you understood.
Throughout last night, panicked people told their stories of state-sponsored paramilitaries onmotorcycles roaming middle class neighborhoods, shooting at people and storming into apartment buildings, shooting at anyone who seemed like he might be protesting. People continue to be arrested merely for protesting, and a long established local Human Rights NGO makes an urgent plea for an investigation into widespread reports of torture of detainees. There are now dozens of serious human right abuses: National Guardsmen shooting tear gas canisters directly into residential buildings. We have videos of soldiers shooting civilians on the street. And that’s just what came out in real time, over Twitter and YouTube, before any real investigation is carried out. Online media is next, a city of 645,000 inhabitants has been taken off the internet amid mounting repression, and this blog itself has been the object of a Facebook “block” campaign.
What we saw were not “street clashes”, what we saw is a state-hatched offensive to suppress and terrorize its opponents.After the major crackdown on the streets of major (and minor) Venezuelan cities last night, I expected some kind of response in the major international news outlets this morning. I understand that with an even bigger and more photogenic freakout ongoing in an even more strategically important country, we weren’t going to be front-page-above-the-fold, but I’m staggered this morning to wake up, scan the press and find…
Nothing.
As of 11 a.m. this morning, the New York Times World Section has…nothing.
This is another failed CIA (1%) coup which is why it’s not being reported. The 1% in Venezuela, with the help of the CIA, started this mess and the majority in Venezuela will end it. Since the death of Hugo Chavez the USA, the IMF and the World Bank have been screwing around with Venezuela’s currency. That caused a balance of payments issue which lead to an import/export problem. Shortages of imported industrial parts and consumer goods was the result. Inflation increased dramatically and the currency was devalued. The 1% in both the USA and in Venezuela got the crisis that they set up. Next came the CIA’s criminals and street thugs leading 1% street protests. What happened last night was the inevitable result. The actions of the USA are the proximate cause of all of the deaths. So who, exactly, is responsible for the human rights violations?
The “protesters” are the old-guard Banana Republic Fascists having yet another go at toppling a properly elected President for the crime of caring for the Poor. The lot should be exterminated for the mess they keep causing. Put them down like the rabid dogs they are. They are nothing we should care about.
I agree 100% with Imhotep. He’s got the right of the story. These are the people that John Perkins warns us about. Best thing to do is mow them down.
Not true at all:http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10377
Here’s yet another contrary article, same source as mltb11: “Violent Protests in Venezuela Fit a Pattern” http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10376
& I don’t appreciate monkeyfister’s ‘rabid dogs’ comment, that’s eliminationist bullshit we’ve heard entirely too much of. We’re not in Venezuela (and likely can’t read Spanish media) so basically we don’t have a clue what’s going on there but if shit like this is true
then the skeptics among us are entitled to our skepticism. After all we do know what went down there (& who supported whom) in 2002 during the anti-Chavez coup…
Sorry, but these same Fascists have been at this “let’s overthrow a government we don’t like” for a long, long time, now. This documentary was made in 2002. It was the third attempt at overthrowing Chavez– almost succeeded. This is the fourth since 2002.
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Chávez: Inside the Coup:” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etbEQcA7jUA
They ARE rabid dogs, thoroughly backed by the CIA, because the Chavez movement cares about the poor.
I think Al Jazeera’s version of what is going on is enlightening:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/02/violent-protests-escalate-venezuela-201422020613529913.html
excerpts –
“…The protesters, mostly students who want Maduro to resign, blame the government for violent crime, high inflation, product shortages and alleged repression of opponents.
Also on Thursday, Al Jazeera’s Rachel Levin, reporting from Caracas, said opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who dramatically surrendered to authorities before thousands of cheering supporters this week, has been formally charged with inciting violence at anti-government protests.
Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, is currently being held in the capital’s Ramo Verde jail…”
“…Though the majority of demonstrators have been peaceful, more than a dozen protesters in Caracas have been seen attacking police, blocking roads and vandalising buildings…”
“…This conspiracy from the opposition against our popular project has become a psychological war. They are trying to topple a legitimate government by means of violence. They are supporting an economic war in the country…”
Clearly, the opposition has legitimate interests that need to be corrected. Most of the opposition is peaceful, but Lopez in particular incites violence.
For me, the money quote is the one about Lopez being a Harvard educated economist. Goodness. I wonder if such a person, who no doubt would be only too happy to steer any endeavor in which he has a hand to the side of Global Corporate Capitalism and resource extraction at all costs, would have difficulty finding a sympathetic source providing financing and muscle?