#1 - Situation in Venezuela

What kicked this mess off? Was there an election and Trump randomly decided to recognize the opposition candidate?

The Original Mind wrote:What kicked this mess off? Was there an election and Trump randomly decided to recognize the opposition candidate?

Last year there was presidential election. Trump recognized the random guy as president during innauguration that took place a few days ago. The most funny part is that Trump's "Venezuelan president" did not even run for presidency. He boycots elections for several years actually. It's all about oil and gold as ever. The Bank of England refused to return over $1 billion in gold to Venezuela recently. Meanwhile the globalist manchurian already attempts to "privatize" Venezuelan oil. Of course privatization menas that it will be "sold" to the global corporations and stolen from the country...

Same script I see. So the election was last year and this guy didn’t even win, let alone run. Was there a popular movement in favor of this guy at the time? Where did he come from?

The Original Mind wrote:Same script I see. So the election was last year and this guy didn’t even win, let alone run. Was there a popular movement in favor of this guy at the time? Where did he come from?

Hes movement is called "National Assembly".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assembly_(Venezuela)

He has some support, obviously. Question is how big is this support connected with US sanctions. Not everyone is ready to withstand food shortages, for example, in exchange for sovereignity...

Wikipedia enlists him as Venezuelan president already:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Guaid%C3%B3

It's really ridiculous. It looks like US president can recognize random guy around the world as president of certain country and it gonna be taken for fact. Wtf? Just imagine this: Clinton won 2016 election. Russia then recognized Trump as US president and called for Clinton to step down.

Sharmine Narwani
@snarwani
2 min.
The first UN rapporteur to visit #Venezuela for 21 years says "economic warfare” practised by the US, EU and Canada are significant factors in the country's crisis, and calls US sanctions illegal under international law.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-us-sanctions-united-nations-oil-pdvsa-a8748201.html

That's the US, and globalist world order in extend, attempting to make conditions for fake revolution...

So I read the Wikipedia articles you posted. From what I see, the National Assembly was the result of Chavez’s 1999 new constitution (which replaced the 1961 constitution). It was initially dominated by Chavez’s loyalists, but has since become the political core of opposition to Chavez’s political program, and to Maduro’s now, with the opposition winning a supermajority in 2015. In 2017, the pro-Maduro Supreme Court tried to disband the National Assembly (a n illegitimate move I think, since it would effectively rewrite the constitution). This didn’t fly and was widely condemned around the world. Following the anti-Madura protests in 2017, the Supreme Court established a new Constituent Assembly with the mandate to rewrite the constitution. The opposition in the National Assembly opposed this, claimed it was illegitimate, and refused to participate. Maduro thus easily won a majority to the Constituent Assembly and Venezuela now has two parallel parliaments.

Thus, at present Venezuela has a National Assembly that is based on the vote of 70% of the people, and opposes Maduro, and a Constituent Assembly that it based on Supreme Court mandate and the vote of pro-Maduro citizens. That’s the basis of the oppositions claim that Maduros government is unconstitutional.

So I read the Wikipedia articles you posted. From what I see, the National Assembly was the result of Chavez’s 1999 new constitution (which replaced the 1961 constitution). It was initially dominated by Chavez’s loyalists, but has since become the political core of opposition to Chavez’s political program, and to Maduro’s now, with the opposition winning a supermajority in 2015. In 2017, the pro-Maduro Supreme Court tried to disband the National Assembly (a n illegitimate move I think, since it would effectively rewrite the constitution). This didn’t fly and was widely condemned around the world. Following the anti-Madura protests in 2017, the Supreme Court established a new Constituent Assembly with the mandate to rewrite the constitution. The opposition in the National Assembly opposed this, claimed it was illegitimate, and refused to participate. Maduro thus easily won a majority to the Constituent Assembly and Venezuela now has two parallel parliaments.

Thus, at present Venezuela has a National Assembly that is based on the vote of 70% of the people, and opposes Maduro, and a Constituent Assembly that it based on Supreme Court mandate and the vote of pro-Maduro citizens. That’s the basis of the oppositions claim that Maduros government is unconstitutional.

The problem here is it was ruled that there were voting irregularities in favor of a small number of anti-Maduro representatives in the elections for the National Assembly. Without those, it was not enough for the anti-Maduro faction/s to have a majority.

And when you look at the players and the lengths they go to to meddle in Venezuela's affairs, it's really not too far fetched to think there could have been outside interference in their election vote.







The UK Independent in a recent article titled, "Venezuela military chief declares loyalty to Maduro and warns US not to intervene," would admit (emphasis added):
The US has a long history of interfering with democratically elected governments in Latin America and in Venezuela it has sought to weaken the elected governments of both Mr Maduro and Mr Chavez.

Some of the effort has been in distributing funds to opposition groups through organisations such as the National Endowment for Democracy, while some has been in the form of simple propaganda.

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, said that for the past 20 years it had been US policy to seek a change of government in Caracas. Mr Trump’s recognition of Mr Guaido was the most obvious effort to undermine the government.
The US National Endowment for Democracy's (NED) own current webpage admits to extensively interfering in every imaginable aspect of Venezuela's internal political affairs with funds directed at:
Building Strategic Capacity for Local Democratic Actors
Cohesive Strategic Communications
Defending Human Rights Victims
Developing Tools for Agile Communication
Empowering Citizens through Local and National Policy Dialogue
Facilitating Humanitarian Aid Relief
Formulating a Comprehensive Public Policy Reform Package
Fostering Scenario Planning and Strategic Analysis
Fostering Small Business Enterprise in Defense of Democracy and Free Markets
Improving Democratic Governance in Venezuela
Improving Local Democratic Governance
Leadership Empowerment and Socio-Political Participation
Monitoring Human Rights Conditions
Monitoring the Human Rights Situation
Promoting Access to Justice and Public Services
Promoting Checks and Balances
Promoting Citizen Journalism
Promoting Citizen Participation and Freedom of Expression
Promoting Democratic Governance
Promoting Democratic Values
Promoting Dialogue and Reconciliation
Promoting Freedom of Association
Promoting Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
Promoting Human Rights
Promoting Independent Journalism
Promoting Political Engagement and Advocacy
Promoting the Rule of Law
It is clear that the US is funding virtually every aspect of opposition operations - from media and legal affairs, to indoctrination and political planning, to interference in the economy and the leveraging of "human rights" to shield US-funded agitators from any attempt to arrest them.

At one point during US regime change efforts, NED-funded front, Sumate, would even organize a recall referendum against President Chavez - which he won. The Washington Post in a 2006 article titled, "Chavez Government Probes U.S. Funding," would admit:
[Sumate] organized a recall referendum in 2004 that Chavez won and also is a vociferous critic of the government and the electoral system.
The article also admits that:
USAID which hired the Maryland-based company Development Alternatives Inc. to administer the grants has declined to identify many Venezuelan recipients, saying they could be intimidated or prosecuted.
While the nature of the US government's extensive meddling in Venezuela remains intentionally covert - admissions surrounding Sumate's activities illustrate how even entire referendums are organized through the use of US money and guided by US directives.

NED and other organizations operating in parallel - including convicted financial criminal George Soros' Open Society Foundations - seek to entirely overwrite Venezuelan institutions, governance, and law, replacing it with an obedient US-sponsored client regime and system of administration.

US support is not confined to broad efforts to build up the opposition - but also specific efforts to aid senior opposition leaders.

A leaked 2004 US State Department document titled, "Status of Capriles and Sumate Cases," made it clear that NED funding was ongoing even then, and that the US State Department was required to provide aid to NED-funded front Sumate being prosecuted for the very obvious treason they were engaged in. It also illustrated US State Department support for senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski.

Capriles - along with Leopoldo Lopez - served as mentors to current opposition leader Juan Guaido who is now openly being offered some $20 million by the US State Department in aid.

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2019/01/us-regime-change-in-venezuela.html

PESKOV DESCRIBES REPORTS ON RUSSIAN BODYGUARDS FOR MADURO AS CONSPIRACY THEORY, CALLS FOR IGNORING FAKE NEWS

PESKOV: ONLY GOOD WAY TO HELP VENEZUELA NOW IS NOT TO MEDDLE IN SITUATION THERE THE WAY SOME COUNTRIES ARE DIRECTLY DOING

KREMLIN NOT CONSIDERING MILITARY, FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO VENEZUELA'S PRESIDENT - PESKOV

PESKOV: SITUATION IN VENEZUELA MUST BE SETTLED BY VENEZUELANS ON THEIR OWN AND WITHIN CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

http://www.interfax.com/news.asp

Venezuela regime change big business opportunity: John Bolton

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/venezuela-regime-change-big-business-opportunity.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Thiefs...

Empire News
@imperienytt
7 min.
Open Letter by Over 70 Scholars and Experts Condemns US-Backed Coup Attempt in Venezuela

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/24/open-letter-over-70-scholars-and-experts-condemns-us-backed-coup-attempt-venezuela?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork

by KneelB4Zod! Today at 3:44 pm
Venezuela regime change big business opportunity: John Bolton
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/venezuela-regime-change-big-business-opportunity.amp?__twitter_impression=true
Thiefs...

The U.S. have been doing this their whole history to the countries (not just from the third world), I wonder what is going to stop them finally.

branding the move a "protection of assets." ... backing Juan Guaido, calling him "the right person to take Venezuela forward" and making the return of Venezuela's gold all the more unlikely. Over the weekend, as if on cue, Guaido praised London's decision not to return the gold.

A 1992 review of US extraterritorial asset freeze orders by legal scholar Rachel Gerstenhaber recounted well over a dozen cases of the US freezing or confiscating assets of countries including the likes of Iraq, Panama, Libya, Iran, South Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua and a bevy of former Eastern Bloc states. The list doesn't include similar moves by US allies in Western Europe, which similarly deprived countries of tens of billions of dollars in sovereign assets.

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201901281071893222-fate-of-venezuelan-gold-based-on-past-history/?utm_source=https://t.co/7GRjddKoaD&utm_medium=short_url&utm_content=k966&utm_campaign=URL_shortening

same ole same ole ...

@Anon who wrote the long response to me.

Thanks for the detailed response. From what I read, the voting fraud investigation only turned up irregularities in the cases of three anti-Maduro individuals and one pro-Maduro individual. That wouldn’t be sufficient to change the radical swing to the anti-Maduro faction in the 2015 election. And given the mass popular opposition to Maduro, which certainly cannot be explained solely with reference to American interference, there can be no doubt that the 2015 election result generally represents the will of the people.

Further, the small number of irregularities - common in elections across the whole world - hardly justifies the Supreme Courts decision to create an unconstitutional second congress.

All this is true regardless of America’s funding of opposition groups. I certainly dont think the American government should be involved in funding foreign groups, and I don’t support interference abroad, but it seems clear that there is solid opposition to Maduro and the failed socialist system and that the Supreme Court was acting against the interests of the people and democracy when it set up the second assembly that the opposition rightly boycotted.

@Anon who wrote the long response to me.

Thanks for the detailed response. From what I read, the voting fraud investigation only turned up irregularities in the cases of three anti-Maduro individuals and one pro-Maduro individual. That wouldn’t be sufficient to change the radical swing to the anti-Maduro faction in the 2015 election.

Sorry but you're wrong here. Incorporating the three Amazonas lawmakers would hand the (anti-Maduro) opposition a total of 112 legislators, meaning it would command a two-thirds super majority in the 167-seat National Assembly, technically giving it wider powers.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKCN10B0UV


Also the claims of voting irregularities weren't just plucked out of thin air. There is video and audio evidence captured where votes were bought for. https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11814

And given the mass popular opposition to Maduro, which certainly cannot be explained solely with reference to American interference, there can be no doubt that the 2015 election result generally represents the will of the people.

Again, this is not accurate. There is not a 'mass popular opposition to Maduro'. He won the Presidential election twice. He always comes top in approval polls, albeit rather low in the 30% BUT still a country mile ahead in approval rating than any others who languish in the low 20% at best. Ever since the day the US-stooge Guaido swore himself in as the fake President apart from I think one or two isolated cases in the day after, there hasn't been any signs of unrest and Venezuelans are going about life as before. Guaido has been routinely calling for the army to overthrow the government and for there to be a popular uprising, but no one pays attention to him. Infact only the other day it was said that hardly any Venezuelans had even heard of Guaido before his big announcement.  

So sure some may be opposed to Maduro himself, but rather it would be more accurate to say that the Venezuelans are tired and fed up with a deteriorating economic situation precipitated by the harsh sanctions imposed on the country by the USA corporate gov who don't care about Venezuelans but want to install a sycophantic regime in order for the US to take the Venezuelan oil for their own interest at the expense of Venezuela.

Further, the small number of irregularities - common in elections across the whole world - hardly justifies the Supreme Courts decision to create an unconstitutional second congress.

The irregularities were enough to affect the outcome of the election so that further powers were granted to the anti-Maduro pro-US faction, as I outlined above. So something certainly needed to be done when the Venezuelan democracy is under clear attack, unless of course you approve of such blatant election interference as is the case with US foreign policy.

The National Assembly anti-Maduro faction made it known they wouldn't accept the decision that three of their members had been voted in where there were cases of voting irreguarities so the National Assembly has effectively become illegitimate. I don't know what other ways there could have been to find a way out of this situation, they likely tried other options before accepting the only way was to go to a Constiuent Assembly (which has been done before many years ago, so I don't see your argument that it is constitutional).

All this is true regardless of America’s funding of opposition groups. I certainly dont think the American government should be involved in funding foreign groups, and I don’t support interference abroad, but it seems clear that there is solid opposition to Maduro and the failed socialist system and that the Supreme Court was acting against the interests of the people and democracy when it set up the second assembly that the opposition rightly boycotted.

Total opposite. They were protecting the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people as I've alluded to already. Anyone voting for the pro-US anti-Maduro faction, (who by the way are progressive, centre-left liberals), is being sold an illusion that life will be better after the US comes to spread it's 'democracy and freedom', just like we can see from the wonderful examples in Iraq, Syria, Libya and so forth. Infact if you research how life was for Venezuelans before Chavez came to power you were see that the vast majority of Venezuelans lived and were trapped in abject poverty, were treated like scum, and found it extremely difficult to improve their living standards. And all this was when the US multinationals were in cahoots with the government. Then Chavez came to power and things dramatically improved. Access to good quality healthcare and education was improved,  life expectancy increased an so forth . For once none of these things were restricted to the small privileged elite running the country while everyone else had to live like peasants. Unfortunately the US globalists didn't want this, they prefer that everyone be subservient to them and stripped of their independence, hence the economic war imposed on Venezuela through the criminal sanctions ever since the time when Chavez came to office to the current day.

John Bolton's notes on '5,000 troops to Colombia' spark speculation about military intervention in Venezuela

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/28/john-bolton-notepad-troops-colombia-venezuela-military-intervention/2705957002/

John #Bolton states regime change in #Venezuela is about the country’s #oil. pic.twitter.com/8UNZugRMKs

— Ali Özkök (@Ozkok_) 29. ledna 2019

This moustached motherfucker should dance like Ceausescu...

Massive pro-#Maduro demonstration in Lara state, #Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/kUr0RE6sWe

— Ali Özkök (@Ozkok_) 29. ledna 2019

#Venezuela's FM owning French President #Macron over his crocodile tears for Venezuelan protesters while the #YellowVests are being repressed by his government #GiletsJaunes pic.twitter.com/2gD9IAqevJ

— Partisan FB (@PartisanDE) 29. ledna 2019

Calls to use neighbors in invasion of Venezuela heard in U.S. - Lavrov on Bolton's note regarding 5,000 troops to Colombia

U.S. hindering int'l assistance in Venezuela settlement - Lavrov
LAVROV: VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION GETTING SIGNALS FROM U.S. NOT TO AGREE TO ANY CONCESSIONS
U.S. encouraging illegal actions of Venezuelan opposition - Lavrov
LAVROV: RUSSIA DOING EVERYTHING TO SUPPORT LAWFUL GOVT OF MADURO

Venezuela due to pay Russia $100 mln in March, debt servicing problems possible - MinFin
U.S. SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA CONTINUE LINE TOWARD UNDISGUISED INTERFERENCE IN ITS INTERNAL AFFAIRS - PESKOV
MOSCOW TO DEFEND ITS INTERESTS THAT MAY BE AFFECTED BY U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST VENEZUELA BY ALL MEANS AVAILABLE WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF INT'L LAW - PESKOV
LAVROV: U.S.' FREEZE OF ASSETS OF OTHER COUNTRIES USUALLY ENDS WITH CONFISCATION
U.S. SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA COMPLETELY UNDERMINE CONFIDENCE IN INT'L FINANCIAL SYSTEM DOMINATED BY U.S. DOLLAR - LAVROV

http://www.interfax.com/news.asp

Guy Elster‏@guyelster · 2 hod.
#BREAKING #Russia's foreign minister says it will take all necessary steps to support #Venezuela leader Maduro


Guy Elster‏@guyelster · 10 min.
#BREAKING #Venezuela opposition leader #Guaido says all options are on the table when asked about a possible military option: CNN

Unfuckingbelievable...

The Venezuelan soldiers are very clear about what the US is doing.
Here they are comparing what happened in Libya with Venezuela.

This is good news, they will be more attentive and surely the Russians are already advising in some things thanks to the experience obtained in Syria pic.twitter.com/eSg6ihOfgN

— Enrique (@garoukike) 29. ledna 2019

‘The Venezuelan economy has been crippled by U.S. sanctions’ says @DerbyChrisW, referencing former @UN rapporteur @Alfreddezayas. pic.twitter.com/DFETUNCSNU

— RT UK (@RTUKnews) 28. ledna 2019

Ben Norton‏@BenjaminNorton · 14 hod.
The Bank of England stole £1.2 billion of gold reserves from the sovereign government of Venezuela, and now a UK foreign office minister is trying to give that money to the fake Trump-appointed coup "president" Juan Guaidó

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/28/juan-guaido-bank-england-urged-give-venezuela-gold-reserve-interim-leader-rather-than-nicolas-maduro

"Interim leader has asked UK to send £1.2bn reserves to him rather than Nicolás Maduro"