Maduro declared winner in Venezuela's election

[sandensea]

Venezuela's election officials say socialist leader Nicolás Maduro has won a second six-year term as president of the oil-rich South American country, while his main rivals are disputing the legitimacy of the vote and calling for a new election.

The National Election Council announced that with almost 93% of polling stations reporting, Maduro won nearly 68% of the votes in Sunday's election, beating his nearest challenger Henri Falcón by almost 40 points.

The opposition throughout the day argued that a Maduro victory would lack legitimacy because many voters stayed home, heeding the call to boycott an election seen as rigged. Government critics also say other voters were pressured into voting for Maduro.

Electoral authorities say turnout is projected to reach 48%.

The United States and many governments around the world rejected the election even before ballots were cast as several key rivals of Maduro were barred from running.

At: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-pope-francis-prays-venezuelans-55305346

[GatoGordo]

1. Neutral groups claim that turnout was 17%

"...while his main rivals are disputing the legitimacy of the vote and calling for a new election."

A new election? HAHAHAHAHA! You could have elections every day for a year, and it wouldn't do a bit of good. The outcome was known beforehand. Which is the very reason that the boycott was called. Maduro won't recognize the vote of 2015 (PSUV was bounced from power by a 2/3 supermajority), and hasn't offered a legitimately fair election since then.

Maduro and his Chavistas banned most of the MUD (opposition) parties, and all of the popular candidates.

[Judi Lynn]

2. The opposition also boycotted an election during Hugo Chavez' presidency.

Same claims made by the same racist right-wingers regarding that election, as well.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

3. DICTATOR FOR LIFE DICTATOR FOR LIFE!!11!!111

Rinse. Repeat.

[EX500rider]

7. When Canada and the EU don't think your election was legitimate you have problems.

Of course it helps when you jail all the opposition politicians.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

11. DICTATOR FOR LIFE DICTATOR FOR LIFE!!11!!111

Same was said about Chavez. Same motivation.

[EX500rider]

13. Well when you buy votes, arrest the opposition, ignore the Congress and set up your own..

....when the company that makes the voting machines says there was tampering, when you move up the elections...
Yes, it not a democracy in any sense.

[GatoGordo]

4. Exactly WHO are the racist right wingers in Venezuela? Henry Capriles? Leo Lopez?

Which political party? Primero Justicia? Accion Democratica?

The Marxist/Leninists love to make great noise about "right wingers" in Venezuela, but can't seem to put a name on WHO they might be.

[Bacchus4.0]

5. Yea!!!!! Your guy won!! Chavismo has brought poverty, disease, hunger, violent crime, mass exodus

with general misery and despair. Now just bring back slavery and chavismo's work will be done.

[GatoGordo]

6. Too late!

Maduro has mandated that all PdVSA employees are forbidden from quitting or retiring. They MUST report for work, or be subject to sanction, not the least is prison time in The Helicoide.

Also, all military personnel are not relieved from their patriotic duty to the Bolivarian Revolution (not the Venezuelan Constitution), and any deserters (most leave the country due to lack of food) can and will be punished for sedition, mutiny and whatever else Maduro and Padrino can dream up.

Fixed it for the Chavista apologists.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

12. Exactly WHO are these the Chavista apologists you CONSTANTLY refer to??

Same goes for your constant harping/accusations over your imagined Leninist/Marxist apologists on Cuba threads

Maybe its in your mind?

[Bacchus4.0]

15. Why does Cuba fly unsafe planes? "This is your captain speaking, due to the embargo...

this plane is unsafe and really shouldn't be flying, in fact the copilot bailed already. Now sit back and enjoy the rest of your flight or the rest of your life, whichever comes first."

I think its pretty easy to identify the apologists by those recently blaming the US for Cuba flying unsafe airplanes.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

16. I haven't seen that.

I have seen posts attempting to explain why Cuba has difficulty maintaining planes, NOT blaming the US for Cuba’s allowing unsafe planes take off.
There is a distinction between the two points - I’m sure that’s not lost on you.
But, your blurring this distinction is an attempt to smear those willing to examine broader issues regarding Cuba. The same way repugs did over O’s “you didn’t build it” comment.
It might be an effective propaganda tactic, but only on those who know little about the topic at hand.
I am Cuban, so, your tactic appears to be what it is.

[Bacchus4.0]

17. Here is some additional context

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142062325#post33

The report said that Roberto Pena Samper, president of the Cuban Aviation Corporation, bemoaned that the "embargo placed by successive American administrations prevents" the island "from acquiring the resources necessary to operate a larger fleet of planes and to enhance airport services."



https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142062325#post4

You responded to this one. The person you responded highlighted a statement regarding the embargo and Cuban aviation. Maintaining safety of the air fleet is Cuba's responsibility, not the USA's.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

18. Thanks. Confirms my point.

You smear the distinction between the two points I mentioned.
Here they are, in brief ...
1 - The US sanctions do have a tremendous impact on Cuba’s ability to maintain planes.
2 - Cuba should not be flying dangerously ill maintained planes.

I have seen zero apologia for point 2 here on DU.
I have seen DUers accusing those who bring up point 1 as being apologists for Cuba’s allowing dangerous planes take off.
It’s pure smear, and bullshit to do this.

[Bacchus4.0]

19. Since they are distinct points then what is the purpose of bring up point 1? The insinuation is

that the US embargo is implicated in the crash. Number 2 is basic aviation safety that Cuba needs to adhere. If they can't maintain a safe and reliable planes, they shouldn't be flying them.

p.s. By the way, the Venezuela situation counters the Cuban argument that the embargo is responsible for their lack of economic success. The US is Venezuela's largest trading partner and chavismo has created the greatest humanitarian disaster in the hemisphere despite on-going trade and relations with the US but that can be a separate discussion.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

20. Laughable.

So, you’re saying that the myriad of US sanctions SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO CRIPPLE THEIR ECONOMY are not successful? Have had no impact?
Ridiculous.
No access to good maintenance (because of sanctions) means that Cuba shouldn’t fly planes. OK.
So, no air transport system has severe economic impact.
There are a myriad of other impacts of US sanctions.
But, let’s blame Cuba for the withered aspects of their economy that are a result of sanctions.
Kinda like repugs killing stimulus here, and blaming Obama.
No, not kinda like that ... just like that.

[Judi Lynn]

21. Article on Ben Treuhaft, who created the Helms-Treuhaft Bass String Company in Cuba.

First heard of this guy around 2000, and found his wry joke on racist xenophobe anti-commie maniac Senator Jesse Helms to be irresistible. So many more people are needed to point out the folly of vicious personal hatred toward entire countries and their citizens:

Brian Beadie
a year ago

Send A Piana to Havana



Ben Treuhaft Piano Tuning Under the Gaze of Che - Photo by Sarah Harbin

Cuba has been much in the news again recently, with the death of Fidel Castro a potential turning point in the island’s history. One of the US’ first actions against Castro and his revolution was to impose a trade embargo on the island, in the hope of turning Cubans against the regime. Like all of the US’ plans to depose Castro, it failed.

The embargo would result in shortages of such essentials as food and medicine, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union when the country entered its Special Period. While restored vintage cars would become iconic to the island, a country world-renowned for its musical output wouldn’t be able to restore its pianos, which would prove especially vulnerable to the humid climate, and prey to termites. Enter dissident American piano tuner Ben Treuhaft, who would organise opposition to the embargo with his project Send a Piana To Havana, which would become the subject of award-winning documentary Tuning With the Enemy.

. . .

While this may have deterred some, Ben was undaunted, and carried on regardless. “That threat and the subsequent escalation to a $1.3 million fine against me and the Underwater Piano Shop (Ben’s business), along with 10 years in prison, only served to boost fundraising for the piano project. The 1917 Trading With the Enemy Act, along with disgraced ex-Senator Bob Torricelli’s 1992 Cuban Democracy Act, under which I was to be charged, were to my mind obsolete, surreal, and corrupt. Unlike my lawyer, I saw no downside to flouting them.”

. . .

“This assignment was particularly demanding, in that the piano had to collapse to carry-on size. When I arrived at my hostel in Havana there was a fax from OFAC. The Treasury, faced with more bad publicity, had dropped its objections to my plans to visit Cuba to work on pianos and roam the world-class beaches, but could I please not pursue the Helms-Treuhaft joint venture (I had previously communicated to the Feds my plans to pursue my dream of setting up a piano bass string factory using Cuban copper and Cuban workers: the Helms-Treuhaft Bass String Company.

More:
https://www.kiltr.com/brian-beadie/1783243494-send-a-piana-to-havana





Jesse Helms hated himself some Dr. Martin Luther King,
and he hated himself any thought of any of those godless
"Communists and sex perverts".

[GatoGordo]

22. Nonsense. But you knew that.

Up until yesterday, the sanctions against Venezuela were limited to approximately 40 Chavistas and the REFINANCING of PdVSA debt.

While Americans are prohibited from dealing with the Cuban regime, any other nation or business entity can (and many do). Canada and the EU is chock full of businesses that LOVE doing business with the Castro dictatorship. Canadians LOVE to vacation in Havana. They have been doing it for years.

But the excuse is always, "the Blockade" (which doesn't exist) and "US Imperialism"... never the economic malfeasance of the Castros and their lapdogs.

But, every time the wind changes direction... here come the excuses. Every time something GOOD happens in Cuba, its due to Marxism. Every time something BAD happens in Cuba, its because of the United States and vile Capitalism.

So a plane crashes... I wonder which way the wind blows...

[Mike Rows His Boat]

24. I was referring to US sanctions on Cuba only.

Nowhere do I say anything that you insinuate. Nowhere.

The rest of your hyperbolic "observations" are suspect to me.

[Bacchus4.0]

23. Venezuela has shown that cubanization leads to misery despite US trade

Indeed prior to the chavista debacle, Cuba had a scapegoat for its failures in the US embargo.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Guardian: Venezuela shows that protest can be a defence of privilege

Street action is now regularly used with western backing to target elected governments in the interests of elites

Seumas Milne in Caracas

@seumasmilne
Wed 9 Apr 2014 16.30 EDT

If we didn't know it before, the upsurge in global protest in the past couple of years has driven home the lesson that mass demonstrations can have entirely different social and political meanings. Just because they wear bandannas and build barricades – and have genuine grievances – doesn't automatically mean protesters are fighting for democracy or social justice.

From Ukraine to Thailand and Egypt to Venezuela, large-scale protests have aimed at, or succeeded in, ousting elected governments in the past year. In some countries, mass protests have been led by working class organisations, targeting austerity and corporate power. In others, predominantly middle class unrest has been the lever to restore ousted elites.

Sometimes, in the absence of political organisation, they can straddle the two. But whoever they represent, they tend to look similar on TV. And so effective have street demonstrations been in changing governments over the past 25 years that global powers have piled into the protest business in a major way.

From the overthrow of the elected Mossadegh government in Iran in the 1950s, when the CIA and MI6 paid anti-government demonstrators, the US and its allies have led the field: sponsoring "colour revolutions", funding client NGOs and training student activists, fuelling social media protest and denouncing – or ignoring – violent police crackdowns as it suits them.

. . .

What are portrayed as peaceful protests have all the hallmarks of an anti-democratic rebellion, shot through with class privilege and racism. Overwhelmingly middle class and confined to wealthy white areas, the protests have now shrunk to firebombings and ritual fights with the police, while parts of the opposition have agreed to peace talks.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/09/venezuela-protest-defence-privilege-maduro-elites

[GatoGordo]

9. You were singing a different tune in Honduras about "peaceful protests"

Why the dichotomy?

What of the protests in Nicaragua against Ortega and HIS oligarchy?

Racist students? Racist old people? Racist poor people?


~~~~~~~~~~

It seems Seumas Milne hasn't changed his tune, nor mellowed in his advancing years. What does he call himself these days? Maoist? Stalin apologist? Stasi acolyte? Or just plain old Marxist? He hasn't met a "anti-imperialist" dictator in his life that he doesn't fawn over. Which is his favorite these days? Maduro or Assad?

[Judi Lynn]

10. I'm sure it's O.K. with you if I encourage people to dive in and start researching, in earnest.

The truth is there for those willing to search for it.

As Mark Twain said, "A lie is halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots."

Especially if the lie is powered by a wealthy white elite which owns all the businesses and news media.

To those who have forgotten, please look for Edward Bernays, the father of U.S. propaganda, who started off his evil career by using news media to spread his filthy lies, to agitate the population into believing Arbenz, the President was a "communist," so they would support overthrowing him and returning power to the puppets who served the giant US company, U.S. fruit.

Please also remember to ask yourself, human DU'ers who respect democracy, who benefits from demonstrations? The long-established oligarchy which has ignored and hated the poor of the country, leaving them to struggle and suffer, or the people who are living in pain, and hopelessness?

Find out more about who is protesting. You will find your answers, the ones which tower about the flood of hostility from the greedy, hostile, classist right-wingers.

I have no doubt people of character will find their way to the truth, even if they are just starting to look.

GatoGordo, I don't usually read your comments. There is nothing there for me. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of people who will do anything to destroy respect for the left of the Americas, from Canada to Chile. All alike, they say the very same things.

[EX500rider]

14. Venezuela is not left...they are fascists.

A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

Venezuela meets all those criteria.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism