US trying to spur mutiny in military against Maduro

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent - Ireland

News North America Saturday 9 February 2019

Luc Cohen and Roberta Rampton

February 9 2019 2:30 AM


The United States is holding direct communications with members of Venezuela's military, urging them to abandon leader Nicolas Maduro, and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior White House official said.

The Trump administration expects further military defections from Mr Maduro's side, the official told Reuters in an interview, despite only a few senior officers having done so since opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president last month, earning the recognition of the United States and dozens of other countries.

"We believe these to be those first couple [of] pebbles before we start really seeing bigger rocks rolling down the hill," the official said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We're still having conversations with members of the former Maduro regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited."

The official declined to provide details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held, and it was unclear whether such contacts could create cracks in the Venezuelan socialist leader's support from the military, which is pivotal to his grip on power.

Read more: https://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/us-trying-to-spur-mutiny-in-military-against-maduro-37798188.html

[cstanleytech]

1. Two more years and we can abandon Trump.

Assuming of course he does not try something like trying to invite Russian or Chinese troops in to help keep him in power.

[RockRaven]

2. The USA again getting involved in upending a South American government?

What could go wrong?

It's not like we've got a track record of disastrous interference in that part of the world.
I mean, it isn't the Middle East.
Or Southeast Asia.
Or South Amer-... oh wait. Damn.

[yaesu]

16. A very long history of interventions, this is the second time for Venezuela

http://www.yachana.org/teaching/resources/interventions.html

[Devil Child]

3. Promises of gold and power to those who flip

All you gotta do is join in the "Free Venezuelan Army" or whatever the CIA chooses to call the future "grass roots" armed insurrection.

The US government is trying to light a powder keg in Venezuela and it won't be pretty.

[cstanleytech]

4. The keg was already lit its more like they are trying to pour gas on it to speed it up which

is stupid as its liable to blow up in their face.

[yaesu]

17. I think the Air force has already abandon Maduro & many other countries, including Canada

have been working on ousting Maduro. I don't like our track record when it comes to US sponsored regime changes. I'm sure maduros replacement will be very corporate friendly.

[pangaia]

5. The US has been trying to undermine Maduro for quite some time. Nothing new there.

Right or wrong, this is how we roll.
The Us has never met a 'left wing' government we didn't want to get rid of.

And someone straighten me out because I am no expert, but Nancy Pelosi, someone almost all of us, me included, seem to trust, said she supports Guaido.

[Judi Lynn]

6. This government has intended to remove whatever leftist leader was governing

since Hugo Chavez was inaugurated February, 1999.

Someone who wants to invest the time and energy studying what has happened through research realizes these situations are far, far more difficult to criticize than it is to simply duck and "go along" with what is clearly the intention.

It's an ancient pattern, going back well over a hundred years. Someday the routine will be resisted successfully, and Latin American countries will actually be able to shake off government controlled from Washington, D.C., for real, at least for more than a few years.

Nancy would be committing political suicide if she tried to buck the system right now. What she has done is totally predictable. She is a great Speaker, and will always be unless her political enemies are able to sabotage her, too. God, hope that won't happen.

Her total value is worth far more than one position, after all. Gotta go for the big picture.

[pangaia]

7. We certainly agree on pour history in South America,.

And thank you for view on nancy's position.

It is really part of the big problem that someone even like nancy can not speak THAT truth to THAT power because of so many other circumstances.


I wonder if it can ever end..

[Judi Lynn]

8. Considering the enormous distance between the European descended elites

and the massive poor classes of indigenous people, so very many descendants of African people kidnapped and forced into slavery, and those of mixed ancestry, with time the oligarchs ARE going to flush themselves down the tubes. They have tried to control the poor, to deny them education in any way similar to their own, to deny the poor adequate medical treatment, common decencies like adequate housing, sanitation, affordable transportation, affordable utilities, etc., while STILL using their tax money to line their own pockets, and sharing the wealth from the countries' natural resources with gigantic multi-national corporations, giving them astonishing breaks in taxes, and refusing decent social services of any kind to the people.

They have sucked the people dry, and in time, even with the control of governments they are aided in seizing, along with the militaries and national police forces, they are going to be overcome. They have been playing a greedy, murderous game with the poor, and disadvantaged, and it WILL backfire in their faces, in time.

Justice will finally prevail, even though it has seemed like an impossible dream so far. Too many people are suffering, while very few greedy clowns have lived dangerously, at their expense, as the world's most evil parasites.

Sometimes ya gotta say what ya think, no matter what.

Of course I'm ready for the ####storm from itinerant trolls.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. K&R for truth.

Well-funded media groups (social and public) are spreading dissension around the globe to assist their increasing control of global assets (natural resources, human assets, cash and real estate). For one of the best snapshots, all we have to do is look at what's happened in the UK.

I agree with you that the world cannot continue on this path of ever-increasing economic inequality and social division...

[Devil Child]

12. K&R for this fine post

Always appreciate your well thought out posts, especially in regards to the Americas and our governments past, current, and planned actions their.

Let the trolls come, you will be fine

[pangaia]

15. I HAVE to believe you are right.

[Kurt V.]

28. +100 for clarity

[Judi Lynn]

9. I forgot to mention, it's excellent seeing your comments, pangaia.

[pangaia]

14. Thanks. I ALWAYS enjoy your OPs.

Even though most of them go way over my head, they make me think...

And I always learn something.

I'm reading Nigel Calder's EINSTEIN'S UNIVERSE - for probably the 4th time in the decades I have had the book.

[Judi Lynn]

21. Just discovered YouTube has the version of Einstein's Universe presented as a documentary:

Thanks for the reference.

I'm interested in seeing the short look at it, after learning it's available.

[pangaia]

23. HA WOW that is amazing !!!

[former9thward]

42. Speaker Pelosi has no interest to trying to "buck the system".

She supports Guaido because she supports Guaido which is the right thing to do. Obama was right to place sanctions and the people are right to support Guaido over a government which has brought starvation.

[oldsoftie]

10. Pelosi supports him because according to the VZ Constitution, he IS the legitimate Leader of VZ

And she knows its good to get on the bandwagon early to help fledgling freedom uprisings.
The key is when a couple generals flip and the number of troops who follow them
The only reason top generals HAVENT turned on Maduro yet is because he bribes them with lots of cash

[pangaia]

19. I didn't kmow he was the legitimate leader of VZ

no

That explains a lot.
In fact everything.

Thanks

[oldsoftie]

25. According to the VZ Constitution, he is. Until there is a legitimate election held anyway.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Do you have a link to information concerning this usurper's legal right to the Presidency?

It would be appropriate if you could share this vital information.

It also wouldn't hurt to furnish your proof that Maduro bribes top officials to stay loyal to their commands.

It would be of primary importance to see the proof of Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's legitimate President. The truth should matter.

[oldsoftie]

26. Yeah it should. Unfortunately many here only believe proof they agree with.

"According to the National Assembly, it has a right to name an interim president according to article 233 and 333 to restore the validity of the constitution since they view the last May 20 elections as illegitimate.

Article 233 of the Venezuelan constitution states that “when the president-elect is absolutely absent before taking office, a new election shall take place (...) And while the president is elected and takes office, the interim president shall be the president of the National Assembly.”

Antonio Ecarri, a constitutional lawyer and vice president of the opposition party Democratic Action (Accion Democratica) said that article 233 could be used because the absence is due to the “usurpation of the presidential office, which has left the position empty.”

Furthermore, article 333 says that the constitution “shall not lose validity if it ceases to be observed by an act of force or its repeal.” In this case, “every citizen will have the duty to collaborate for the re-establishment of its effective validity.”
https://www.euronews.com/2019/01/27/is-it-legal-for-juan-guaido-to-be-proclaimed-venezuela-s-interim-president

As for Maduro and his bribery, just google it. There are only 100 stories about it out there.

[pangaia]

29. I happened to find this.... it if is accurate...

There is no one litmus test for political legitimacy, which can come from a few different sources. Both Mr. Maduro and Mr. Guaidó have debatable claims to legitimacy, which is part of what makes this so messy.

Calling a leader “legitimate” does not mean that he or she is popular, successful or morally upstanding. It simply means that citizens, political elites and foreign governments recognize the leader’s rightful authority.

So when a leader takes power and is initially treated as legitimate — and Mr. Maduro was generally accepted when he took office in 2013 — it’s very difficult for him or her to lose it.

But Mr. Maduro has seen his sources of legitimacy weaken.

SNIP

Mr. Guaidó’s claims to legitimacy are imperfect as well.

He has argued that Mr. Maduro’s disputed re-election victory left the presidency technically empty, triggering a rule that allows for Mr. Guaidó, as head of the National Assembly, to be sworn in as interim leader.
That only makes Mr. Guaidó legitimate if he can convince enough citizens, political elites and foreign governments to treat him as such.

It’s not the world’s easiest sell. Mr. Guaidó’s claim derives from a creative interpretation of a constitutional provision, rather than from popular will or the due process of the law. It’s mostly a claim about the weakness of Mr. Maduro’s legitimacy rather than the strength of his own.

MORE AT LINK


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-guaido-legitimate.html

[Judi Lynn]

35. Thank you for this look at the situation. Really appreciate it. n/t

[Devil Child]

13. We rightfully condemn Russian interference in our domestic affairs and our election process

Yet, our government is blatantly attempting "regime change" in Venezuela and people are quick to rationalize and/or justify why this is ok.

The approach to Venezuela exposes US hypocrisy and disdain for any nation in the Americas who dares to break from our sphere of influence. Monroe Doctrine still reigns supreme.

[madville]

18. Just about everyone wants Maduro gone

They need a new start down there regardless.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Sometime if you consider it worthwhile, it would help to look into the subject deeply,

beyond what you easily discover in corporate media, and media serving corporate interests.

Doing the homework isn't easy, but finding the truth is the only important goal.

Anything less is concerned with manipulating public perception.

You have to find out for yourself by investing the time.

[EX500rider]

31. Yes, I agree with Judi, many posters here could use a education on Venezuela:

I'd start with:

Human Rights Watch:
Under the leadership of President Hugo Chávez and President Nicolás Maduro, the accumulation of power in the executive branch and erosion of human rights guarantees have enabled the government to intimidate, censor, and punish its critics. Severe shortages of medicines, medical supplies, and food have intensified since 2014, and weak government responses have undermined Venezuelans’ rights to health and food. Security forces have arbitrarily detained and tortured protesters, and raids in low-income communities have led to widespread allegations of abuse. Other persistent concerns include poor prison conditions and impunity for human rights abuses.

https://www.hrw.org/americas/venezuela


AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL:
Venezuela remained in a state of emergency, repeatedly extended since January 2016. A National Constituent Assembly was elected without the participation of the opposition. The Attorney General was dismissed under irregular circumstances. Security forces continued to use excessive and undue force to disperse protests. Hundreds of people were arbitrarily detained. There were many reports of torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence against demonstrators. The judicial system continued to be used to silence dissidents, including using military jurisdiction to prosecute civilians. Human rights defenders were harassed, intimidated and subject to raids. Conditions of detention were extremely harsh. The food and health crises continued to worsen, especially affecting children, people with chronic illness and pregnant women. The number of Venezuelans seeking asylum in other countries increased.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/venezuela/report-venezuela/


Reporters Without Borders said that the media in Venezuela is "almost entirely dominated by the government and its obligatory announcements, called cadenas.
According to the National Sindicate of Press Workers of Venezuela, 115 media outlets have been shut down between 2013 and 2018 during Nicolás Maduro's government, including 41 printed means, 65 radio outlets and 9 television channels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Venezuela

What sites do you recomend Judi?

[GulfCoast66]

24. I hate the US interference in an South American country.

The recently Assembly was ready to roll back Maduro’s power.

So he had his pet court declare the elected Assembly powerless.

But as has been the case for 4 decades any offense can be overlooked bt an element of the US left is it is in the name of socialism.

The US working to destroy the regime in Venezuela is wrong and needless. They were doing a fine job on their own.

I hope I never read another DU post blaming their problems of fictional sanctions from the US. But I am sure I will tonight. How if can be overlooked that we have been their largest trading partner and source of funding for the last 18 years is unbelievable to me.

[oldsoftie]

27. Just look up this thread, you'll see plenty of posts defending Maduro

And we've got plenty of folks who still Blame the US for all their problems even today.

[GulfCoast66]

30. Oh, I know. And then they often tout the great socialist governments in Western Europe.

Which is a totally farce since they are all prosperous capitalist countries with strong social Democratic policies.

I guess somewhere, sometime they are hoping a government owned and run economy will be successful economically.

I hate any US involvement in South American nations and think we should just ignore Venezuela. They are doing a fine job wrecking the country without our help.

[oldsoftie]

37. You have said it perfectly in that second line.

Even Demarks president said publicly, "We are not a Socialist country"

[Judi Lynn]

32. Ricardo Hausmann Is Taking Milton Friedman's Lessons to Venezuela

Published on
Friday, February 08, 2019
by Common Dreams

Will the legacy of putting neoliberal academic theories over the people win again?

by Tanya Rawal-Jindia

For a few years now, there has been a tendency to compare Donald Trump to Richard Nixon, but the more urgent comparison in the face of the Venezuelan crisis is one between two well-pedigreed economists: Milton Friedman and Ricardo Hausmann.

Under Nixon’s reign, Milton Friedman was the “intellectual” who started to gain excessive power. Friedman was a trained economist, earning a doctorate at Columbia University, with teaching and research stints at the Universities of Chicago and Stanford.

And under Trump, we have another trained economist: Ricardo Hausmann. He received his doctorate from Cornell University and is the director for the Center of International Development at Harvard University.

For years now, Ricardo Hausmann has been suggesting that the solution for Venezuela’s socialist “crisis” is a U.S. invasion or “intervention.”

What we are seeing in Venezuela is not a sudden rise in the people demanding new leadership by Juan Guiadó, a man they just heard of in late January 2019. Rather, this “crisis”—a word that reinforces the illusion of an abrupt disaster—is a careful and hyper-theorized plan that was concocted in the office of a Harvard University professor. A year ago, Hausmann posted on his own blog a solution that asks the National Assembly to impeach Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. His expert suggestion is that “the Assembly could constitutionally appoint a new government, which in turn could request military assistance from a coalition of the willing, including Latin American, North American, and European countries.”

Direct violations of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter aside, Hausmann openly compares his plan to the U.S. “liberating” Panama in 1989. Do Americans really want to be asked for reparations in 20 years for Venezuela? Currently, the United States is facing such demands for Panamanians with support from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Thousands of lives were lost in Panama, countless lives ruined. And Hausmann is asking the United States to repeat this devastation.

Last year was not the first time Hausmann openly spoke of destabilizing Venezuela. In 2014, after Hausmann advocated for Venezuela to default on its loans, the economist was called out by President Maduro for attempting to destabilize Venezuela. It was at this time that Hausmann was given the nickname “academic hitman” by Maduro, who planned to bring legal action against the Harvard professor for speaking on behalf of the agencies that were supporting his well-funded and pro-International Monetary Fund (IMF) research.

Hausmann has been referred to as the informal mentor to Juan Guiadó. Indirect might be a better word to describe the mentorship, as there is a middleman between Hausmann and Guiadó: Leopoldo López, the leader of Popular Will. It is through Hausmann’s mentorship of López (who brought Guiadó under his wing and “plotted” his rise to lead the coup) that Hausmann’s plans are now coming to action. And, as with Milton Friedman in his time, the relationship between López and Hausmann gives us further insight into the use of academic capital to assert its will and, in turn, gain power.

In 2014, when Maduro arrested López for inciting violence in Caracas, Hausmann got Harvard University to rally behind the anti-socialist agitator and give him an honorary degree from the prestigious institution.

It is this ongoing attempt to bring Venezuela to its knees through the strategic use of highbrow higher education and the formal education of economists that conjures up memories of Friedman’s role with Chile. Friedman was able to successfully implement a neoliberal system in Chile by way of Chilean economist Sergio de Castro—whom Friedman trained in a way that Hausmann’s training of López echoes.

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/08/ricardo-hausmann-taking-milton-friedmans-lessons-venezuela

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

[myohmy2]

33. thank you for your insight...

...it just seems to me Maduro has been getting hammer by Washington because he's a Socialist and wants to keep control of Venezuelan oil/assets...

...I'm certainly not up to speed on what's happening down there and with our shipments of 'humanitarian aid' but I caught a France 24 program talking about Palantir and the World Food Program teaming up to transform humanitarian goods delivery...Palantir was said to be a CIA software company...

...then I Googled

Common Dreams, 2-6-2019

" 'Breathtaking and Terrifying': UN Food Relief Agency Partners With CIA-Funded Software Firm Palantir "

" The CIA-funded California software firm Palantir Technologies and the World Food Program (WFP) have announced a five-year $45 million partnership that data privacy and human rights advocates are describing as "breathtaking and terrifying" as well as "horribly irresponsible and potentially incredibly harmful." "

" "The recipients of WFP aid are already in extremely vulnerable situations; they should not be put at additional risk of harm or exploitation."
—Privacy International "

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/06/breathtaking-and-terrifying-un-food-relief-agency-partners-cia-funded-software-firm
……………………………………….


...as our corporate media wrings their greedy hands wondering why the evil Maduro wouldn't let our food/aid shipments into Venezuela...I also heard someone claiming Venezuelans were willing to walk across the border at different points into Columbia(?) to get our 'humanitarian aid' but we wouldn't give it to them...

...MAGA nice...

[Judi Lynn]

34. Oh, jeez! That is HORRIFIC. It isn't inconsistent with their methods, sadly.

It does confirm what is happening to people who have actually been studying covert operations written about after the fact regarding Latin America all these many years.

You "said" a "mouthful" with this information. I really hope more people will see it and start paying very close attention. The pivotal stuff is always glossed over altogether, and people usually don't know about it for years.

I have to thank you, so much. It's greatly appreciated.

...MAGA nice...

[a la izquierda]

36. Maduro needs to go.

But military intervention is not the answer. It has never ended well for Latin America when we’ve either sent in the military or meddled in their affairs.
And to know that Eliot Abrams and John Bolton are involved should bother anyone.
I’d venture to say those folks supporting Maduro’s ouster via US craftsmanship should read Greg Grandin’s Empire’s Workshop.

[ripcord]

38. The best outcome in Venezuela would be for the military to abandon Maduro

[scarytomcat]

39. maybe we should demand the election of 2016 be overturned because the election was fraudulent

Hilary is really our president and Trump should give her the White House
She clearly got more votes and is the rightful winner. Just like our government says Guaido should be their leader.

[EX500rider]

40. Unfortunately the Electoral vote is what counts in the US....

..and I believe it is 40 other countries also saying Guaido should be the interim president until they can have a new election.

[scarytomcat]

41. the electoral college is out dated and should be done away with

We need to stop meddling in other county's elections and governance,
we have a long history of overthrowing democratically elected leaders.
The people of Venezuela should decide with peaceful elections who their leaders are not us or another country. Venezuela has large oil reserves that influence the situation. The low price of oil is hurting their economy.