Latin America
Related: About this forumTowards another coup in Venezuela?
Towards another coup in Venezuela?
Protests are initiated by ultra-right factions of the opposition in the hope of an eventual systemic overhaul.
Last updated: 19 Feb 2014 08:50
Five days after violent anti-government incitement in Venezuela led to the deaths of three people, the US State Department issued a press statement declaring: "The allegations [by President Nicolas Maduro] that the United States is helping to organise protestors
is baseless and false. We support human rights and fundamental freedoms - including freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly - in Venezuela as we do in countries around the world."
Of course, US commitment to such freedoms is called into question by its own operating procedures, which have included police beatings of peaceful protesters and the incarceration and torture of whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Maduro might - meanwhile - be forgiven for associating the US with efforts to overthrow the Venezuelan government given said country's intimate involvement in the 2002 coup d'etat against Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez - not to mention its general history of fomenting opposition to less-than-obsequious Latin American regimes.
George Ciccariello-Maher, a professor at Drexel University and the author of "We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution", remarked to me yesterday that, although "there's no reason to think that the US is directly involved in organising or calling these protests
we need to bear in mind that it continues to fund the very same opposition groups that have participated in violent, anti-democratic actions before and that continue to do so".
More:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/towards-another-coup-venezuela-201421952658348169.html
SamKnause
(13,101 posts)You work tirelessly to get the truth out.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)As Phil Ochs put it, so many years ago:
"We own half the world, O Say Can You See,
And the name for our profits is 'democracy',
so like it or not, you will have to be 'free'
'Cause We're The Cops of the World, Boys,
We're The Cops of the World".
MADem
(135,425 posts)I think Diosdado Cabello has his eye on the prize.
After all, Hugo always liked him best. They served together in the Army.
Maduro is an incompetent asshole. He's run the country right into the ground, he's allowed the Boligarchs to run rampant and loot the place blind.
There's no blaming the Big Bad USA on this score--this is Venezuela, fucking up all by themselves. Rampant inflation, scarcities of basic goods, brutal repression and imprisonment of anyone who "disagrees" with the fearless leader....yeah, but nothing to see here, move along, now!!!
joshcryer
(62,270 posts)You have to wonder what that was about. Shared power?
In any event I'm glad we can trust Al Jazeera again now.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Could be a deal is in the works...how will they get the bus driver to drive off into the sunset, I wonder?
I think that opinionator/author is on the edge, even for AJ!
Judi Lynn
(160,524 posts)Democrats have a rich history of complete union support going back for ages.
Why would someone who mocks people who take jobs like driving buses infest a Democratic and progressive website, anyway?
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)being Democratic and sure doesn't seem very progressive.
Judi Lynn
(160,524 posts)Geez, you hopped right on my post, and I only now just got online for a moment.
You must campout by your keyboard around the clock to see any Democrat check in who doesn't support your vigil to repudiate any leftist here.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)including posting in the wee hours of the morning. You might want to look at taking up a hobby or learn Spanish or something productive.
The UN just released a report yesterday on N Korea's leftist government, you might want to digest that.
Not sure what progressive or leftist means to you, its not anti-US.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I doubt he was a very good bus driver, either.
Get off the high horse. You're just irritated because your hero is a shitty president/dictator, by ANY measure.
He's INCOMPETENT--and apparently you're the last to get the memo. When the left tosses him out on his ass, perhaps it will sink in.
Zorro
(15,740 posts)That's what I suspect will happen.
To be followed by histrionic screeching of how "the fascists left no other alternative" by the usual troupe of forum blowhards.