Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's JournalEverybody Else's Business: Coup Fever In Venezuela - OpEd
Everybody Else’s Business: Coup Fever In Venezuela – OpEd
January 27, 2019
By Binoy Kampmark
This could have been seen as audacious. Instead, it had the smell of a not so well concealed sponsorship, the backing of a meaty foreign hand. Venezuelan opposition leader and President of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó decided to take a quick step in the direction of the presidency. His own counterfeit theory is simple: he is not being a usurper, so much as a panacea for the usurpation by the current president, Nicolás Maduro. “I swear to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure and end to the usurpation.”
Such language is not that of a principled revolutionary figure so much as a hired hand intent on returning the country to conservative tedium. The power doing that hiring has had friendly press outlets for Guaidó to express his opinions. On January 15, the president of the National Assembly was permitted space in The Washington Post to claim that his country was witnessing something without precedent. (Be wary of the message claiming the exceptional.) “We have a government that has dismantled the state and kidnapped all institutions and manipulate them at will.”
But even Guaidó had to explain, despite deeming Maduro an unrecognised figure, that Venezuela was not your vanilla, crackpot dictatorship wedded to the use of police powers. “The regime may have ties to drug trafficking and guerrilla groups, but we also have a functioning, democratically elected parliament, the National Assembly.” Pity, then, that Guaidó needs so much outside help to make his call.
. . .
The official Venezuelan president cannot be said to have been a friend of state institutions. He is holding power under a form of sufferance. His interpretation of the democratic mandate can be said to be sketchy at best, a feature not uncommon in the history of the Americas. Authoritarianism breeds revolt, which breeds authoritarianism, a default revenge mechanism. But Maduro has good reasons to sneer at his opponent and the warm embrace by US officials of the movement seeking to remove the Chávista. The memory of 2002 and the failure on the part of Washington to remove Hugo Chávez remains strong and, in some ways poisonous; the failed coup resulted in attempts on the part of Chávez to neutralise the power of his opponents, be they in the Supreme Court or the corporate media. Mass round-ups and executions were resisted, but authoritarian counter measures were used. Maduro has merely been one of Chávez’s keener students in that regard.
More:
http://www.eurasiareview.com/27012019-everybody-elses-business-coup-fever-in-venezuela-oped/
An Authoritarian Bromance
BY
ERIKA ROBB LARKINS BRYAN PITTS
It's no surprise Trump and Bolsonaro are fans of each other. Both are racist, authoritarian-minded misogynists.
Jair Bolsonaro gestures after casting his vote during general elections on October 28, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Buda Mendes / Getty
Donald Trump is a reliable friend to authoritarian despots, and he recently found a new bedfellow. Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has a history of outrageous comments on everything from indigenous and LGBT rights to democracy itself that make Trump look statesmanlike in comparison. Trump appears unconcerned with aligning himself with such hate speech. “Congratulations to President @JairBolsonaro” he tweeted on January 1, when Bolsonaro took office. “The U.S.A. is with you!” Bolsonaro responded effusively: “Dear Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, I truly appreciate your words of encouragement. Together, under God’s protection, we shall bring prosperity and progress to our people!”
The emerging “bromance” between the right-wing presidents of the Americas’ largest countries is in line with the friendly relationships Trump has developed with leaders like Iván Duque of Colombia and Mauricio Macri of Argentina. In the case of Colombia, the areas of cooperation between the US and its most stalwart ally in the region are the same as ever — counter-narcotics, counterterrorism, and continued opposition to the government of Venezuela.
Trump’s relationship with Bolsonaro is different, however, in that Brazil has seldom been a consistent US ally. The countries have sparred over issues such as trade, Brazil’s pursuit of nuclear energy in the 1970s, and the country’s desire to take a leadership position in Latin America. Under presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, the relationship between the US and Brazil was frequently strained. Brazil sought alliances with other leftist governments in the region and increased trade with China and other BRICS countries, while playing a key role in torpedoing Washington’s aspiration for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. After the 2016 parliamentary coup that removed Rousseff, the new president, Michel Temer, sought to mend fences with the US through measures like expanding access to Brazil’s offshore oil deposits for foreign companies.
The connection between Macri and Trump seems related to the presidents’ shared histories, dating back to Trump’s real estate dealings with the Argentine president’s father in the 1980s and 1990s. Macri and Trump are both pampered businessmen and millionaires, and share a long track record of shady business practices and opaque finances. However, the scandals surrounding Macri seem to have had little effect on his popularity, much like Trump.
More:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/jair-bolsonaro-donald-trump-far-right
CIA archives show ties between the Honduran Border Caravan and the Reagan Administration
January 24, 2019
Covert and overt action in the ‘80s contributed to the “regional instability” still felt today
Written by Chelsea Dickens
Edited by JPat Brown
In 1984, General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez of Honduras, a long-time U.S. ally and 1976 School of the Americas graduate, was exiled to Florida at the end of a barrel.
In an interview with NBC’s Brian Ross, Alvarez bitterly recounted that he did not receive any help from his friends at the U.S. Embassy. All that was given to him was a letter through the wife of the U.S. Ambassador’s wife at the time that it would be “best” if the family not stay in the country.
A few years earlier, during the 1981 Honduran elections, President Ronald Reagan’s U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Vernon Walters made the claim that a “friendly” Honduras will mean and end to the influence of their Communist neighbors in Cuba and Nicaragua.
More:
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/jan/24/cia-honduras-reagan/
AP Exclusive: Anti-Maduro coalition grew from secret talks
Source: Associated Press
Joshua Goodman, Luis Alonso Lugo and Rob Gillies, Associated Press
Updated 9:57 pm CST, Friday, January 25, 2019
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The coalition of Latin American governments that joined the U.S. in quickly recognizing Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president came together over weeks of secret diplomacy that included whispered messages to activists under constant surveillance and a high-risk foreign trip by the opposition leader challenging President Nicolas Maduro for power, those involved in the talks said.
In mid-December, Guaido quietly traveled to Washington, Colombia and Brazil to brief officials on the opposition's strategy of mass demonstrations to coincide with Maduro's expected swearing-in for a second term on Jan. 10 in the face of widespread international condemnation, according to exiled former Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, an ally.
To leave Venezuela, he sneaked across the lawless border with Colombia, so as not to raise suspicions among immigration officials who sometimes harass opposition figures at the airport and bar them from traveling abroad, said a different anti-government leader, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security arrangements.
Building consensus in the fragmented anti-government coalition proved to be an uphill battle. The opposition has for years been divided by egos and strategy, as well as a government crackdown that has sent several prominent leaders into exile, making face-to-face meetings impossible. Others inside Venezuela were being heavily watched by intelligence agencies, and all were concerned about tipping off the government.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/AP-Exclusive-Anti-Maduro-coalition-grew-from-13562056.php
Before Venezuela, US has long involvement in Latin America
By The Associated Press
an hour ago
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accuses the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup against him. While the U.S. says it’s trying to rescue Venezuela’s democracy, Washington has a long history of interventions — military and otherwise — in Latin American politics.
Since the advent of the Monroe Doctrine in the early 19th century, the United States has involved itself in the daily affairs of nations across the hemisphere, often on behalf of North American commercial interests or to support right-leaning forces against leftist leaders.
That military involvement petered out after the end of the Cold War, although the U.S. has been accused of granting at least tacit backing to coups in Venezuela in 2002 and Honduras in 2009.
The Trump’s administration leading role in recognizing Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela returns the U.S. to a more assertive role in Latin America than it has had for years.
More:
https://apnews.com/8c99384884df4e1293690c797682f0ad
Black Children Don't Have Nick Sandmann's Rights
Black Children Don’t Have Nick Sandmann’s Rights
And they definitely don’t get the chance to redeem themselves on national TV with the help of Savannah Guthrie.
By Elie Mystal TODAY 12:53 PM
On Wednesday morning, I watched Savannah Guthrie help Nick Sandmann gaslight America into disbelieving its own eyes. I watched the interviewer make no attempts to cut through a mere teenager’s emergency public-relations script. I watched the Today show helpfully allow Sandmann to present himself without his racist uniform on his head.
And, along with nearly every nonwhite American I happen to know, I retched at the whole process. Some white people explaining away the racism of other white people to make white people feel better is a constant feature of the Trump era.
There’s something Promethean about the experience: Minorities are lashed to the rock that is America, MAGA eagles peck at our livers all day, then the next day the media tell us that we have to understand the “true” motivations of the MAGA eagles—and then releases them again to peck at our livers all day.
Even in that context, the Sandmann interview was a special form of crazy-making. I’ve seen the video of Sandmann and his Covington Catholic High School posse. I’ve seen the extended video that includes black people saying mean things to the mob of teens sporting racist haberdashery. I’ve seen the extended-extended clip of the Covington “kids” taunting women. And despite all of the clips and angles, nobody has been able to explain away Nick Sandmann’s blocking access to the Lincoln Memorial to Nathan Phillips, while his buddies laughed and mocked and tomahawk-chopped at a Native American.
More:
https://www.thenation.com/article/black-children-nick-sandmann-savannah-guthrie/
Brazil accuses US missionary of putting isolated tribe's lives at risk
Indigenous agency says Steve Campbell entered tribal lands
‘The probability of transmission of diseases … is high’
Reuters in Rio de Janeiro
Wed 23 Jan 2019 18.44 EST
Brazil’s indigenous affairs department (Funai) has accused an American missionary of exposing an isolated indigenous tribe to disease and possibly death.
Steve Campbell, a Christian missionary, entered the area occupied by the Hi-Merimã tribe last month, one of the few dozen tribes in Brazil that has had no contact with the outside world.
“It’s a case of rights violation and exposure to risk of death to isolated indigenous population,” a Funai spokesman said in a written statement to Thomson Reuters Foundation.
. . .
Experts have warned that there is an increasing likelihood of missionaries trying to contact isolated tribes in Brazil after the country’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, appointed an evangelical preacher as the new minister in charge of indigenous affairs.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/23/brazil-us-missionary-isolated-tribe-lives-at-risk-steve-campbell
~ ~ ~
Steve & Robin Campbell
Children: Jen and April
Caaixa Postal 141
78900 Porto Velho
Rondomia, Brazil
Steve and Robin work in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Their work is to help with medical, mechanical and countless other ministry opportunites.
http://www.greenebaptist.org/missions/missionaries.html
Image of the Day
By Space.com Staff | January 23, 2019 10:00am ET
- click for image -
https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA4Mi80MzUvb3JpZ2luYWwvcG90dzE5MDNhLmpwZw==
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Chile's Vibrant Night Sky
Credit: P. Horálek/ESO
Wednesday, January 23, 2019: The Milky Way shimmers over Chile's Atacama Desert in this stunning view by astrophotographer Petr Horálek of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The long line of yellow street lights marks the road between ESO's Paranal Observatory and the Residencia, a hotel that provides lodging for astronomers and other staff of the observatory. — Hanneke Weitering
More:
https://www.space.com/34-image-day.html
The ancient tombs of Colombia's Tierradentro
One of Tierradentro's underground tombs (Image: The Colombian Way)
Southwest Colombia
by Adriaan Alsema December 28, 2018
Despite being a world heritage site, the precolumbian tombs of Tierradentro are a relatively unknown tourism gem in southwestern Colombia.
The relative obscurity of this archaeological treasure in the municipality of Inza is because of its location in eastern Cauca, an area that was long territory controlled by the now-demobilized FARC guerrilla group.
Locals and indigenous people in the area have known about the 2,500-year-old burial sites since forever, but the archaeological importance was not recognized until 1936 when archaeologist Georg Burg of the Cauca University began mapping the tombs and stone objects in the area.
The national government decided to protect and further excavate the site two years later, together with what is now known as the San Agustin archaeological park.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/the-ancient-tombs-of-colombias-tierradentro/
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Wonderful array of amazing images from this area in Colombia. Have never seen these images before, find them fascinating.
Their age, at 2,500 years is phenomenal. So glad science decided to take a much more complete look at this enormous window into the past of the Western Hemisphere:
https://tinyurl.com/ybgdjacg
Killings Of Guatemala's Indigenous Activists Raise Specter Of Human Rights Crisis
January 22, 20196:45 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
MARIA MARTIN
For three days last week, thousands of Guatemalans blocked roads and major highways to protest the Central American country's slide toward a constitutional crisis. The protest organizers included groups that have long demanded justice: indigenous communities and campesinos, as rural and farm workers are called.
Indigenous citizens, many dressed in colorful traditional clothing, came out partly to protest the Guatemalan president's recent expulsion of a United Nations-backed commission investigating corruption in the country. Since 2007, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, known by its Spanish initials CICIG and funded by the U.N., the United States and the European Union, has worked with Guatemalan justice agencies to target corrupt officials.
In the highly unequal society that is Guatemala, many Maya believe any strengthening of the justice system will protect indigenous rights granted under the country's constitution and peace accords.
The country's indigenous people therefore have a strong motivation to lobby for the rule of law. Maya communities bore the brunt of almost four decades of a civil war that ended in 1996, leaving over 200,000 casualties, the majority indigenous Guatemalans, according to the United Nations. Now the mostly Maya organizations and many human rights groups worry that the violence is making a comeback: In just the last year, 26 members of mostly indigenous campesino organizations have been killed.
More:
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/22/685505116/killings-of-guatemalas-indigenous-activists-raise-specter-of-human-rights-crisis
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