[Latin America] Lulag Archipelago

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Latin America] Lulag Archipelago

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

not yet but the words blockade and quarantine are being used
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-02/u-s-headed-toward-blockade-of-venezuela-trump-official-says
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...n-idUSKCN1UR5QF

# ? Aug 7, 2019 19:52

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 00:01

Vilerat Rereg: Aug 5, 2019; by R. Guyovich

uncop posted:

Maduro is an interesting guy, like he seems genuine and makes me feel like Venezuelan propaganda reflects the true sentiment of the idealistic side of its leadership. But there's also a noticeable bubble where they've been fighting a just defense of a revolution at least since the oil prices crashed and are actually energized by how USA has become so openly antagonistic in recent years. He embodies a sort of peak radlib ethos, where he not only associates revolution with established processes and institutions but also expects the people to literally launch a civil war to restore them if the government falls in an extra-judicial manner. Or actually in defense of something more radical, as if as an acknowledgement that he has been holding them back as a negotiation chip to preserve social peace with capitalists and so on.

I think we're living the actual transformation of VZ from a liberal democracy to a socialist democracy. Chavez and Maduro are radical enough, but the imperialist siege has forged a whole new country and movement. We're in this weird revolutionary birthing period where Maduro is both calling for a return to normalcy and for diplomatic negotiations, while also creating a new legislature and arming the workers. He may seem like a naive dope sometimes, but it seems that things like CLAP and workers militias are actually working. He's become Fidel without the mass struggle that led to the party actually having a monopoly on power.

# ? Aug 7, 2019 19:58

Zerg Mans: Oct 19, 2006

Fast Luck posted:

"largest economic collapse in a country outside of war since at least the 1970s."

(embargoes are an act of war)

# ? Aug 7, 2019 20:03

uncop: Oct 23, 2010

Wow economy forecast to decline 35 percent in a single year, that's close enough to what Greece lost in the span of their whole crisis. We are talking about a legitimate state of national emergency, a total war without all the shooting or a dozen natural disasters hitting key locations.

# ? Aug 7, 2019 20:33

PERPETUAL IDIOT: Sep 12, 2003

https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/1159154555784978435?s=19

# ? Aug 7, 2019 20:57

Kindest Forums User: Mar 25, 2008; Let me tell you about my opinion about Bernie Sanders and why Donald Trump is his true successor.

You cannot vote Hillary Clinton because she is worse than Trump.

This is horrifying

# ? Aug 7, 2019 21:14

Al!: Apr 2, 2010

PERPETUAL IDIOT posted:

https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/1159154555784978435?s=19

maduro is starving his people!!!!!!

# ? Aug 7, 2019 21:34

Condiv: May 7, 2008; Sorry to undo the effort of paying a domestic abuser $10 to own this poster, but I am going to lose my dang mind if I keep seeing multiple posters who appear to be Baloogan.

With love,
a mod

Fast Luck posted:

Maduro offering new presidential elections to the opposition and the US vetoing the offer
https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1158949874227920896

Meanwhile total media and political establishment silence on the protests in Honduras
https://twitter.com/leftiblog/status/1159125996030713856

Timeline here is
2005, Zelaya defeats incumbent and agricultural landowner Pepe Lobo for presidency
2008, Honduras joins the Bolivarian alliance under Zelaya
2009, military ousts Zelaya for considering amending the constitution to allow the reelection of a President
2009, Coup is condemned internationally, even by the OAS, but given stamp of approval by Obama/Clinton
2009, with Zelaya in exile, the National Party's Pepe Lobo wins back presidency
2010, Honduras leaves the Bolivarian alliance
2013, National Party candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) wins election as opposition splits its vote
2014, twelve environmental activists are killed
2016, indigenous leader and environmental activist Berta Caceres is assassinated by US-trained School of the Americas troops backed by banking interests
2017, Re-election ban for Presidents is now lifted so JOH can run again
2017, JOH is losing re-election by 5 points when the vote count is "paused" for 36 hours, then unpaused and JOH comes back and wins, even the Economist declares election is stolen
2019, JOH, who the US praised as an ally in the "war on drugs," is indicted for drug trafficking

But the US prefers to focus its efforts on overthrowing legitimately elected Nicolas Maduro

I can't believe you would post this without the full context of the _{_{_paywalled}} article

if you read the whole article you would see that bolton is perfectly right to not only torpedo negotiations, but to ratchet up sanctions and embargo/blockade venezuela

# ? Aug 7, 2019 22:02

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

since people are already going hungry in Venezuela things obviously cannot get any worse and so it's perfectly justified to cut off all food imports.

# ? Aug 7, 2019 22:04

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

CharlestheHammer posted:

man this is really bad news for those who rationalized sanctions as only against certain people somehow

the WSJ article actually still tries to claim that the embargo is not supposed to impact most of the people in Venezuela.

quote:

The new move threatens to target and impose sanctions on virtually any company or individual, foreign or American, that engages in business or offers support to anyone affiliated with the Maduro government, the official said. It isn�t designed to target the people of Venezuela, including their access to remittances.

also they literally only have one paragraph with a quote from a guy saying that these sanctions may be hurting people, but its framed as incompetance on the part of the US

quote:

�The administration hasn�t been very good at dedicating financial lines that would allow the purchase of food and medicine in sanctioned countries,� said Jeffrey Schott, an economic-sanctions expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank. �In practice, we still block food and medicine because the parties in the targeted regime that want to import it can�t get financing.�

# ? Aug 8, 2019 00:52

GoluboiOgon: Aug 19, 2017; by Nyc_Tattoo

ok, i found the worst podcast ever: elliot abrams being interviewed by aei about venezuela.

https://www.aei.org/multimedia/wth-is-going-on-in-venezuela-elliott-abrams-discusses-trumps-strategy/

it's really bad, elliot abrams lies constantly. the "best" bits are when he condemns maduro for running death squads and working with drug dealers completely deadpan. he is of course allowed to present a completely white-washed story of what he did.

there isn't really any new information in it, but it is a bit unusual to hear the us openly state that they are invading to maintain us hegemony in the hemisphere and control venezuela's oil reserves. abrams also states that the united states government will not accept the results of any election in which maduro becomes president. saying the quiet bits loud is trump's trademark tho.

abrams also claims that guaido hasn't seen a cent of the venezuelan money that was seized from the bank of england and citgo. he claims that this is because venezuela's us creditors will instantly sue guaido to take all of the money, instead of spending it on a coup. no honor among thieves, i guess. hopefully abrams didn't wire it all to the wrong swiss bank account this time.

the only time the interviewers push back is to petulantly demand a full-scale us invasion asap.

# ? Aug 8, 2019 01:00

Homeless Friend: Jul 16, 2007

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1158560094763638785

this sucks gently caress the US

Wow... Did this predictable event possibly have an economic effect beforehand? I guess we'll never know.

# ? Aug 8, 2019 01:06

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

PERPETUAL IDIOT posted:

https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/1159154555784978435?s=19

drat why arent they banned from social media yet for spreading propaganda???

# ? Aug 8, 2019 14:13

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

i couldn't find any story about this in the mainstream press, but i did find this 2018 AP article (so you know it's not propaganda and you can trust it)
https://www.apnews.com/d4e050fc4fe741369928b2468694a16e

quote:

AP: As Venezuelans go hungry, Trump targets food corruption

Around a U-shaped table in a hotel towering above the Panama Canal, U.S. Treasury Department officials distributed a list of suspected shell companies that they believe senior Venezuelan officials have used across the globe to siphon off millions of dollars from food import contracts amid widespread starvation in the oil-rich nation.

The two-day meeting, and several others that have taken place since April, are part of a sustained campaign by the Trump administration to pressure President Nicolas Maduro by striking at the wallets of the top officials in his socialist administration.
...
Since Donald Trump became president, dozens of senior Venezuelan officials, including Maduro himself, have been sanctioned by the Treasury Department over allegations of corruption, human rights abuses and drug trafficking.

Last year, Trump even threatened a �military option� to remove Maduro and, with senior aides and Latin American leaders, raised the possibility of invading the South American country. As the country�s economic troubles mount, he has sought to rally regional pressure as well.

The focus on food is deliberate, said Billingslea, a key driver of U.S. policy toward Venezuela who led Trump�s national security transition team.

A story published by the AP in 2016 revealed how senior Venezuelan officials and members of the military were enriching themselves by diverting money from food contracts. Since then, as hunger has spread, Maduro has moved to assert even greater control over food distribution, handing out monthly boxes of staples that critics label a form of dictatorial social control.

Maduro said he began distributing the so-called CLAP boxes � a Spanish acronym for Local Committees for Supply and Production � as a way to circumvent the �economic war� being waged by the U.S. and opponents seeking to oust him from power.

As Venezuela has fallen deeper into political and economic turmoil, the CLAP program has become a tenuous lifeline for millions of citizens suffering due to barren supermarket shelves and hyperinflation estimated by the International Monetary Fund to soon reach 1 million percent.

Critics say Maduro has essentially weaponized food, distributing the boxes primarily to government workers and supporters. According to an April survey by the local pollster Datanalisis, more than 60 percent of Venezuelan households said they received CLAP box in the previous three months � about the same percentage that helped re-elect the embattled leader in May presidential elections boycotted by the opposition.

The allegations are fueling calls from Latin American leaders, including the heads of Argentina, Colombia and Chile, for Maduro to be tried in an international court for crimes against humanity.

�This goes beyond just corruption,� said Billingslea, who led the U.S. delegation to Panama with Kenneth Blanco, the director of the Treasury Department�s financial crimes enforcement network. �This is literally looting the one social safety-net program left in Venezuela.�
...
On May 17, three days before Maduro was re-elected, then-Colombian President Santos, acting on information provided by the U.S., announced the seizure of 15 shipping containers filled with more than 25,000 CLAP boxes stamped with Chavez�s image and containing beetle-infested rice and other spoiled food.
...
The seized CLAP shipment, which was valued at over $500,000, was never sent. It spoiled sitting on the docks because the firm that ordered it, a Portuguese company called Agrovarius, said its bank accounts had been frozen and it could not pay its bills, according to the police testimony.
...
Agrovarius also was implicated in what has come to be called the so-called pork revolution, which took place last Christmas when angry Venezuelans took to the streets when Maduro failed to deliver on a promise to provide thousands of free hams to poor neighborhoods.

Maduro accused Portugal�s government of �sabotaging� the holiday gift, but the long-established Portuguese meatpacker Raporal pinned the blame on Agrovarius, saying it was never paid the more than 6 million euros needed to supply Venezuela�s government with the meat.
...
Billingslea, meanwhile, said that Maduro has repeatedly sought to deflect blame for his own mismanagement and refusal to address mounting hunger.

�If they really wanted to feed people, they�d let in the foreign aid that�s been offered,� he said.

lol if they really did seize a massive shipment of food be prepared for propaganda that they're doing it to cut down on venezuelan food corruption and they just need to let in US aid lmao

# ? Aug 8, 2019 14:26

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

we have to blockade empanadas from entering venezuela or maduro will use it for dictatorial corrupt purposes

# ? Aug 8, 2019 14:30

WampaLord: Jan 14, 2010

comedyblissoption posted:

we have to blockade empanadas from entering venezuela or maduro will use it for dictatorial corrupt purposes

He'll eat all of them and turn into Super Maduro and then he'll be invincible

# ? Aug 8, 2019 14:55

WampaLord: Jan 14, 2010

Maduro chuckled. "You mean the chaos empanadas?"

# ? Aug 8, 2019 14:56

Pener Kropoopkin: Jan 30, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
(and can't post for 20 days!)

Atrocious Joe posted:

the WSJ article actually still tries to claim that the embargo is not supposed to impact most of the people in Venezuela.

also they literally only have one paragraph with a quote from a guy saying that these sanctions may be hurting people, but its framed as incompetance on the part of the US

I could see somebody believing this if they think people import food on an individual basis, like an international DoorDash.

# ? Aug 8, 2019 15:51

Epic High Five: Jun 5, 2004

hmmm nice genocide the world is gleefully assisting us in

# ? Aug 8, 2019 15:53

Pener Kropoopkin: Jan 30, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
(and can't post for 20 days!)

What the EU and Lima Group care about first and foremost is human rights

# ? Aug 8, 2019 15:55

Condiv: May 7, 2008; Sorry to undo the effort of paying a domestic abuser $10 to own this poster, but I am going to lose my dang mind if I keep seeing multiple posters who appear to be Baloogan.

With love,
a mod

Pener Kropoopkin posted:

What the EU and Lima Group care about first and foremost is human rights

no you see, the trump administration cares deeply about human rights

that's why they are locking people in stuffed to the brim cages

# ? Aug 8, 2019 15:57

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

*literally tries to feed otherwise starving people in an economy that consists of 70% private free enterprise that fails to feed those people*

*is condemned by the AP as a failure of socialism and the poverty food program as a dictatorial corrupt social control policy*

# ? Aug 8, 2019 16:21

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

the US and john bolton and donald trump care about human rights

*shoves news stories about latest yemen civilian bombings under rug*

# ? Aug 8, 2019 16:22

Epic High Five: Jun 5, 2004

comedyblissoption posted:

the US cares about human rights

*shoves news stories about latest yemen civilian bombings under rug*

don't forget about the utter media blackout on Honduras!

# ? Aug 8, 2019 16:23

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

im the paperback clinton book that removed a reference to supporting the honduran coup as SOS

# ? Aug 8, 2019 16:29

Tollymain: Jul 9, 2010; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

death to america

# ? Aug 8, 2019 16:34

Goon Danton: May 24, 2012; Don't forget to show my shitposts to the people. They're well worth seeing.

# ? Aug 8, 2019 16:38

Condiv: May 7, 2008; Sorry to undo the effort of paying a domestic abuser $10 to own this poster, but I am going to lose my dang mind if I keep seeing multiple posters who appear to be Baloogan.

With love,
a mod

i love that the empanada summit thread has gone silent after bolton ratcheted up the punishment on venezuela to ultra starvation

guess the USA didn't want to help venezuelans breathe free after all. at least when fnox returns from sweden his home will be free of all those dirty maduro supporters

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:22

Al!: Apr 2, 2010

the only way out now is total nationalization

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:25

Epic High Five: Jun 5, 2004

pretty much, let this be a lesson as to what happens when you tolerate US-friendly private industry to exist in your nation

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:28

Al!: Apr 2, 2010

Epic High Five posted:

pretty much, let this be a lesson as to what happens when you tolerate US-friendly private industry to exist in your nation

the risk is that if nationalization happens, the us will mass murder a bunch of venezuelans and maybe columbians, tell the media (who will buy it uncritically) that maduro did it, and then full on invade.

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:32

Epic High Five: Jun 5, 2004

Al! posted:

the risk is that if nationalization happens, the us will mass murder a bunch of venezuelans and maybe columbians, tell the media (who will buy it uncritically) that maduro did it, and then full on invade.

we're already either doing that or just a half step away from doing that, though

Maduro should just arm his supporters and tell them where all the rich people grocery stores with food are, then give them standing orders to bring in every single American they see on the assumption that they're spies or wreckers

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:35

VitalSigns: Sep 3, 2011

Condiv posted:

i love that the empanada summit thread has gone silent after bolton ratcheted up the punishment on venezuela to ultra starvation

guess the USA didn't want to help venezuelans breathe free after all. at least when fnox returns from sweden his home will be free of all those dirty maduro supporters

You can't get rid of the people who do all the work lol

But they'll be safely disarmed and back as plantation slaves

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:39

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

Al! posted:

the risk is that if nationalization happens, the us will mass murder a bunch of venezuelans and maybe columbians, tell the media (who will buy it uncritically) that maduro did it, and then full on invade.

gonna lol if maduro starts going full nationalization and the nprs of the world start cheering and rooting for bombing and invading venezuela when before they said they were against a full on us military invasion

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:47

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006

what was the red line that qadaffi crossed? trying to subvert the petrodollar? what can you possibly expect if you literally ban venezuela from dealing in USD

# ? Aug 8, 2019 17:48