Thread: American coup in Venezuela

It appears that the regime change puppet, by allegedly breaking a court order has exposed himself to arrest, worldwide, for illegally leaving the country.

US-backed Venezuela ‘president’ Guaido could face 30 years in prison – judge


"Opposition politician Juan Guaido, who declared himself president of Venezuela with US backing, may face up to 30 years in prison, a judge said. Meanwhile, US is threatening new sanctions against Caracas to compel regime change.

Guaido’s visit to Colombia on February 22 violated the travel ban imposed by Venezuela’s supreme court, deputy judge of the Supreme Tribunal for Justice Juan Carlos Valdez told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"He is a person hiding from justice. What happens with runaways who are re-entering the country and are found by the authorities? They must be caught and sent to prison,” Valdez said, adding, “He may face up to 30 years in jail.”

State prosecutors are currently analyzing Guaido’s conduct for possible crimes, the judge added.

Guaido crossed into Colombia on Friday, ostensibly to lead a “human wave” of supporters across the border and force the military and border guards loyal to the government to allow in “humanitarian aid” provided by the US. He was nowhere to be seen, however, as his followers clashed with security forces. The aid was not allowed in.

The self-proclaimed president then went to Bogota, where he attended Monday’s meeting of the Lima Group of countries backing the US attempt to force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to resign.

Speaking before a UN Security Council session on the situation in Venezuela, US special envoy Elliott Abrams announced that more sanctions on Caracas will be coming this week.

“We have said that sanctions will continue, we announced sanctions yesterday,” Abrams said. “There will be more, there will be more this week, there will be more next week. We'll continue to impose sanctions on high-ranking members of the regime and people who handle their financial affairs.”

Meanwhile, Guaido told the Colombian broadcaster NTN24 that he intends to return to Venezuela in spite of the risk of being arrested."

https://www.rt.com/news/452506-guaido-prison-sanctions-venezuela/

Originally Posted by OhOh

I am always willing..... If I desire to..

rave on....

Lima Group does not support military intervention in Venezuela — Brazil's vice president

BOGOTA, February 25. /TASS/. The Lima Group countries do not support a military intervention in Venezuela, Brazilian Vice President Antonio Hamilton Mourao said on Monday.
"No one [in the Lima Group] supports a military solution to the situation [in Venezuela]," Mourao said.

The Brazilian vice president noted that "it is necessary to look for other ways to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela."
Brazil has no intention of allowing the United States to use its territory for a military operation against the Venezuelan government, Mourao stressed.

"This requires the authorization of the National Congress [Brazil’s parliament]. The [Brazilian] government cannot do that [without consultations with the parliament]. The majority in the government is against [the use of Brazil’s territory by American troops]," he noted.

He stressed that Brazil would do its utmost to make sure that the Venezuelan crisis is resolved by diplomatic means.

On January 23 Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself as the country's acting president. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described it as a coup attempt and announced severing diplomatic relations with the United States. On January 28 the US imposed sancitons on Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA oil company.

Guaido was recognized as interim president by the Lima Group countries (except for Mexico), as well as by Albania, Georgia, the United States, and the Organization of American States. Several EU countries came forward with support for the Venezuelan parliament and expressed hope for new elections to resolve the crisis. Maduro was supported by Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey. Belarus and China called for resolving all issues by peaceful means and spoke against any interference from the outside. The UN secretary general called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.


TASS: World - Lima Group does not support military intervention in Venezuela ? Brazil's vice president

Originally Posted by uncle junior

rave on....

In my drug fuelled adolescence it was multi-day "festivals", wandering around searching for a Canadian flag or being kept warm by an organised, hash, food, tent, blanket and pussy, bunny.

Originally Posted by OhOh

US-backed Venezuela ‘president’ Guaido could face 30 years in prison – supine Chavismo judge

FTFY.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Lima Group does not support military intervention in Venezuela — Brazil's vice president

Who said they did?

The United States announced new sanctions against Venezuelan government officials this week as the situation in the country that’s home to the world’s largest oil reserves continues to escalate. The latest sanctions, against four governors close to President Nicolas Maduro, came after clashes at the border prevented humanitarian aid from entering Venezuela and they will pressure not just the Maduro government but also Venezuelan bondholders and other creditors that rely on oil payments.

Reuters reported yesterday that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence had called on the Lima Group—a group of governments trying to resolve the Venezuelan crisis peacefully—to increase pressure on the Maduro government by seizing PDVSA assets as well as other government-owned assets of Venezuela and transfer the ownership to Juan Guaido’s interim government from the Venezuelan opposition.

The Lima Group, however, is reluctant to interfere so directly. Washington has taken the matter to the United Nations Security Council but it has as members Russia and China—allies and large creditors to Maduro—who can veto U.S. proposals. What this suggests is the crisis in Venezuela will continue with the resolution no closer in sight than it was a month ago.

This is probably making a lot of people and companies nervous: earlier this year, when opposition leader Juan Guaido became the focus of media attention after declaring himself interim president of the country, holders of Venezuelan debt had cause for optimism for the first time in a long while. The hope there will be a government change in Caracas pushed Venezuelan bonds to two-year highs and had some bondholders begin planning for the future and how a new opposition-dominated government would help them get their money back. Alternatively, they will get paid in oil, like China.

China is the largest creditor of the Maduro government. Over the last ten years, Beijing has dispensed some US$62 billion to the Venezuelan state and since the latter is unable to meet its obligations with cash, it is repaying the Chinese debts with crude oil.

The situation is pretty similar with Caracas’ number-two creditor, Moscow. PDVSA has given Rosneft the right to acquire 49 percent of Citgo as collateral on a debt the two agreed a few years ago and it has also agreed to supply crude oil to the Russian company. Now, with the new sanctions—and more to follow, as threatened by Washington—repaying these debts could become even harder, and bondholders’ optimism might fizzle out.

Last month, before the rise of Guaido to international media prominence, Bloomberg reported that a group of Venezuelan bondholders had sent an envoy to the government in Caracas to discuss options for repayment of the debt, on which Venezuela has largely defaulted. The most viable option, it seems, was the same old money-for-oil scheme the Maduro government is using with China and Russia.

However, as the political situation grows increasingly confusing, with two governments, two parliaments, and even two boards of directors for PDVSA, the chances of creditors getting their money in one form or another diminishes. It will diminish even more as Venezuela is forced to reduce its oil production under the weight of the sanctions. Even the oil it does produce cannot be used as payment by U.S. bondholders: they would be in violation of the sanctions if they take it in.

https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Sou...Sanctions.html

Geneva, 19 February 2019 – The number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide now stands at 3.4 million, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, announced today.


According to data from national immigration authorities and other sources, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are hosting an estimated 2.7 million Venezuelans, while other regions account for the rest.

On average, during 2018, an estimated 5,000 people left Venezuela every day in search of protection or a better life.

Colombia hosts the highest number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, with over 1.1 million. It is followed by Peru, with 506,000; Chile, 288,000; Ecuador, 221,000; Argentina, 130,000; and Brazil, 96,000. Mexico and countries in Central America and the Caribbean are also hosting significant numbers of refugees and migrants from Venezuela.

“The countries of the region have shown tremendous solidarity with refugees and migrants from Venezuela, and implemented resourceful solutions to help them. But these figures underscore the strain on host communities and the continued need for support from the international community, at a time when the world’s attention is on political developments inside Venezuela,” said Eduardo Stein, joint UNHCR-IOM Special Representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants.

Latin American countries have granted some 1.3 million residence permits and other forms of regular status to Venezuelans and reinforced their asylum systems in order to process an unprecedented number of asylum applications. Since 2014, over 390,000 asylum claims have been lodged by Venezuelans, over 232,000 in 2018 alone.

With rising numbers, the needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and the communities hosting them continue to increase.

Governments in the region have strengthened their national response and are cooperating – through the Quito process – to enhance the assistance and protection of Venezuelan nationals and facilitate their legal, social and economic inclusion. The next regional meeting of this process will take place in Quito in the first week of April.

To complement these efforts, a humanitarian Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) for refugees and migrants from Venezuela was launched last December, targeting 2.2 million Venezuelans and 500,000 people in host communities in 16 countries.

https://reliefweb.int/report/venezue...now-34-million

Russian Ambassador to the UN: "The sanctions against Venezuela are a robbery so that the country is on its knees"

Embajador ruso en la ONU: “Las sanciones contra Venezuela son un robo para que el país esté de rodillas”

El representante ruso denunció que los daños a la economía ascienden a $345.000 millones de dólares debido a las sanciones de EE.UU. “Pero no se habla de eso”, señaló.

The Russian representative denounced that the damage to the economy amounted to $ 345,000 million due to US sanctions. "But you do not talk about that," he said.

https://www.latercera.com/mundo/noti...dillas/545545/

(I cannot find anything about that on BBC)

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Geneva, 19 February 2019 – The number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide now stands at 3.4 million, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, announced today.

Perhaps a bit trailing behind Ukraine after they were liberated from their dictator...

The Great Migration: No One in Ukraine Knows How Many of Our Compatriots Have Moved Abroad

According to State Statistics Service data, over the past 12 years Ukraine has been experiencing migration population growth – over the said period 230,000 more people entered the country as compared to those who left. At the same time, according to UN statistics, Ukraine is among the top ten countries with the highest emigration levels and the numbers have increased in recent years. State Statistics Service estimates the number of migrant workers at 1.3 million, while experts say the number varies between 2 and 4 million. The discrepancies emerge both because of different understanding of what “migrant” means and different data collection methods.

A poor understanding of the “mathematical component” leads to confusion and speculation. Thus, for instance, many politicians claim that in recent years between 5 and 8 million Ukrainians left the country trying to get away from poverty and unemployment.

VoxUkraine tried to find out what was wrong with migration data and what could be done about that.

https://voxukraine.org/en/the-great-...-moved-abroad/

Jeezus Here goes Klondyke again with his/her nauseating repititious "what about" obfuscation. Is it possible when you tear yourself away from RT and cuddles with OMO you can stick to VENEZUELA. Does it not make you think at all that his cosying up to the military is the only thing keeping that fat dictator in power? If he was any sort of leader he would test his popularity with free and fair elections. If he did so there could be no legitimate opposition to him, but of course all his shannanigans have been done to keep him in power regardless of the wants of the populace. No doubt you and the your 2 mates Mo and Shemp will remind everyone of the last election which apparently was fair but only to you, your 2 mates, Vlad and Xi, those 2 pillars of democracy.
If it was a real USA coup the septics would have already destroyed most of their military bases and took over by now. I doubt they fear an army that has only fought a few rebels and unarmed civilians, not a real army that shoots back. They U.S. would only have to kill all the Venezuelan generals and that would be 50% of the military gone. The rest would surrender faster than the french and belgium armies put together.

Dictator #101: Control the Media.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Turn on the TV or open a paper in New York, London or Buenos Aires these days, and chances are that the latest in the showdown between socialist President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido will feature prominently, with Mr. Guaido’s return to Venezuela to resume the power struggle Monday just the latest twist in the drama.


Not so in Venezuela, where the news that local residents watch and read largely depends on the whims of a regime that would rather not have them ponder whether they truly live in the democratic workers’ paradise that Mr. Maduro’s “Bolivarian revolution” has bestowed upon them.

News coverage on Venevision or Globovision is as trite as it is predictable: “President Maduro talks with Cuba and Colombia”; “Distribution of carnival bonus begins”; and “[Foreign Minister] Diosdado Cabello assures government had a ‘great victory’ on Feb. 23” were among the “highlights” one day last week as the government tottered, world powers weighed in, and protesters filled the squares and streets of the capital.

With independent newscasters such as CNN en Espanol long off the grid, even the Venezuela Aid Live concert on Friday proved too much for censors. The feared National Telecommunications Commission(Conatel), quickly blacked out offending cable channels’ signals.

Restrictions, favoritism and intimidation have long been determining factors in the traditional media landscape, and Venezuelans by and large now turn to social media to get a sense of what is truly happening in their embattled country.

“We all try to find a way around” traditional outlets, said Karla Salcedo Flores, a Venezuelan-born reporter now working for Colombia’s Caracol Internacional. “Through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, wherever.”


But Maduro loyalists and pro-government pundits are active on these platforms as well and, largely unburdened by any commitment to factual or balanced reporting, wreak havoc in ways that have warped the political debate over the best road forward.

A recent incident, though, unnerved even the most jaded observers with its brazenness.

Using a photograph that Ms. Salcedo Flores had taken of volunteers trying to extinguish the flames on a humanitarian aid truck, state-run media outlets reported that the youngsters were spraying gasoline — not water — on the vehicle, which troops loyal to Mr. Maduro had set ablaze.
Madelein Garcia, a reporter for the Telesur network, which the Maduro regime sees as a “Bolivarian” alternative to international news channels, then doubled down by concluding from her analysis of pictures of the truck’s rubble that it had been carrying arms for opposition instigators. The Caracas-based Telesur also gets funding from fellow leftist governments in Cuba, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Bolivia.

“They manipulate using a photo I took,” Ms. Salcedo Flores told The Washington Times. “I feel very powerless that the Venezuelan authorities want to squash the truth with all their might.”

A 10-year Venevision veteran, Ms. Flores ultimately left Venezuela’s oldest network still in operation because she was tired of “censorship attacks.” With Mr. Maduro’s popular backing at an all-time low, contrarian reporting hasn’t become any easier.

The press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranked Venezuela 143rd out of 180 countries in its 2018 World Press Freedom Index, down six places from 2017 and the lowest score of any South American country.

Since succeeding political mentor and populist Hugo Chavez as president in 2013, Mr. Maduro “[has done] his utmost to silence independent media outlets and keep news coverage under constant control,” the group said.

“The climate for journalists has been extremely tense since the onset of a political and economic crisis in 2016, and is exacerbated by Maduro’s frequent references to the ‘media war’ being waged by national and international media outlets to discredit his administration.”

Turning to humor

At the classic bar El Leon in Caracas’ Altamira neighborhood, longtime Globovision presenter Dereck Blanco last week was toasting to his new life as a freelancer, a work status that was the result of his refusal to let the regime dictate an implicit stylebook.

“Conatel sanctioned the outlet because I called Juan Guaido ‘interim president’ on the program I used to host in the morning,” said Mr. Blanco, 35. “And they already sent me on [permanent] ‘vacation.’”

But over ice-cold bottles of Polar beer, his colleague Joan Camaro, a crime reporter for the online publication Caraota Digital, insisted there was still a place — and a need — for independent journalists inside Venezuela.

“You can’t just leave, and that’s that. You also have to fight,” said Mr. Camaro, 23. “And we — from our information trenches, as I call them — contribute a lot.”

Up to half a million Venezuelans, tired of the grinding poverty, food shortages and political turmoil, tune out their daily battles by turning to comedian Manuel Angel Redondo for a humorous take on current events and still catch up on the news.

Mr. Redondo, the host of the “Daily Show”-like “But We’ve Got a Homeland,” for four seasons has been making light of circumstances that often seem overwhelming.

“We’re a kind of path of catharsis to be able to consume this information,” he said in an interview. “It’s a little bit like playing a double agent who makes you laugh but, at the same time, wants to send you an important message.”

The public face of a 10-member crew, Mr. Redondo uses a variety of websites and social networks to distribute his show and even incorporates the popular messaging app WhatsApp to expand his viewership and offer special content.

His four writers, he jokes, often get a hand from the presidential Miraflores Palace and Guaido opposition headquarters.

“We’ve never tried to pursue a campaign … but simply try to show our country’s reality in a humorous and ironic tone,” Mr. Redondo said. “And it’s supereasy for us because our scripts are pretty much written by our political leaders themselves.”

Although the young comedian tries to put a lighthearted spin on events, even humor seems to be in short supply when the stern Mr. Maduro is in charge, something Mr. Redondo experienced firsthand last year when Conatel didn’t much care for the jokes he was making on the La Mega youth radio.

“The station was on the hook for an almost inhumane amount of money [in] fines,” he said. “And the way things work in Venezuela, you don’t pay that fine but they get you some other way.”

The outcome is that live broadcasts are now off limits for the La Mega veteran, leaving a note of bitterness courtesy of government that has also made information a hard-to-obtain commodity for the entire population.

“If you asked me what I do, I used to say, ‘Radio host,’” Mr. Redondo said. “Now I say, ‘Crazy guy from the internet.’”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...news-venezuel/

It's heart-breaking to learn how some (please no names here) are concerned about the strive of Venezuela people to get a real democratic leader at last who will ensure that the population will no longer starve in the future and they will enjoy a fair profit from their (oil) resources...

Has the invasion started yet, Klong dyke?

Originally Posted by Texpat

Has the invasion started yet, Klong dyke?

Breadline Bernie is leading the charge!

I thought they had to invade Iran first?

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

Does it not make you think at all that his cosying up to the military is the only thing keeping that fat dictator in power?

You may wish to read their constitution.

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

If he was any sort of leader he would test his popularity with free and fair elections.

I presume you would be happy to have an election every month, until your candidate was elected. Some ameristanis have similar ideas of, "free, democratic elections".

I didn't win boo, hoo. I demand another, another and another!!!!! Until I I I I I I I I win. Losers are losers , get on with things.Trya when the nextelection islegaly called, According to the constitution there are timetables to be adhered too.

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

If he did so there could be no legitimate opposition to him, but of course all his shannanigans have been done to keep him in power regardless of the wants of the populace.

Their constitution says otherwise. But hey who actually bases their actions on a silly constitution, unexceptional countries ignore theirs, time, after time, after after ,time.

Originally Posted by Texpat

Has the invasion started yet, Klong dyke?

Keep up, it started years ago. One, two, three, presidents ago.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

On average, during 2018, an estimated 5,000 people left Venezuela every day in search of protection or a better life.

Another heart-breaking sorrow of some (please no names here) when a population leaves their country in "search of better life". Haven't we learned here recently that some 70,000 UK people live in Thailand? And that's officially documented, perhaps unofficially it's some 100,000?

Only in Thailand. How much it accounts around the world? Few millions?

Any figures about e.g. US citizens leaving their country? However, it's surely not "in search of better life", but perhaps in search of e.g. better food, or better wife, or better democracy, or you name it...

Just curious how different citizens are differently measured...(it has a name, something about double something...)

Originally Posted by OhOh

You may wish to read their constitution.

*Cough* HIS constitution.

One suspects their parliament had a vote or some such reasoning. All clearly and legally laid out in the democratically create constitution.

Originally Posted by OhOh

One suspects their parliament had a vote or some such reasoning. All clearly and legally laid out in the democratically create constitution.

Yeah, you see you "suspecting" something is akin to anyone else taking the wildest of guesses.

Chavismo long ago hijacked the rights to make the constitution and gave it to the cronies that he put in power.

It's what dictators do.

Thank you for confirming that the correct process was used to modify, if at all, the constitution. Again as required by the existing constitution, that any modifications were duly voted on, by those allowed to vote.

Good to see a countries politicians actually utilising their constitution fully and modifying it, by introducing any proposed amendments, and after them being discussed/debated and voted on, in the proper manner.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Thank you for confirming that the correct process was used to modify, if at all, the constitution. Again as required by the existing constitution, that any modifications were duly voted on, by those allowed to vote.

Good to see a countries politicians actually utilising their constitution fully and modifying it, by introducing any proposed amendments, and after them being discussed/debated and voted on, in the proper manner.

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

(How comforting for the Venezuela people that they have somebody at their gates who knows how to help to poor Latino...)

US threatens ‘secondary sanctions’ against those who refuse to back its Venezuela coup


Elliott Abrams next to Colombian President Ivan Duque at the border with Venezuela.

With the vast majority of the world still seeing Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, America’s hawkish special envoy has hinted that Washington might sanction third parties that defy the US regime-change efforts.

The international community must choose sides wisely in the Venezuelan conflict, the curator of US intervention in the Latin American country, special envoy Elliott Abrams, suggested on Tuesday, noting that Washington would not limit itself to economic sanctions just against the Maduro government, but against all who chose to support him.

“Secondary sanctions, it’s clearly a possibility,” Abrams said at a press conference, warning that a decision to sanction third party countries “would depend on the conduct of the [Venezuelan] regime over time.”

So far some 54 countries have bowed to US pressure and recognized the self-proclaimed ‘interim president’ Juan Guaido, who since January has been rallying support for regime change. Whilst the US claims the “momentum is good” to get more countries on board, the majority of the world’s countries and population rejected Washington’s “imperialist” ambitions, Colin Cavell, associate professor of political science at Bluefield State College, told RT.

The US administration is “internationalizing the Venezuelan conflict on a very dangerous basis... threatening other countries who deal with Venezuela, saying that if you do not support our sanctions, we are going to impose sanctions on you,” Cavell explained.

Sanctioning governments across the globe for backing Maduro over Guaido not only violates the international law but highlights the brazen interference of the US in the affairs of a sovereign nation. Furthermore, the academic believes, the US administration seems to be acting under the assumption that “if there’s more pain on the Venezuelan people” then they will rise up and “overthrow” their government.

“Three-quarters of the world's countries are siding with the elected government, the democratic government of Venezuela and that includes the largest countries in the world, China and Russia,” Cavell concluded. “So despite what Donald Trump says internally to keep in power domestically, the world is watching very closely this imperial aggression in Venezuela.”

https://www.rt.com/news/453114-us-th...ons-venezuela/