Venezuela: The Empanada Summit

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Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Well as it turns out not all Colombians oppose Venezuela's crackdowns on Paramilitaries
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Colombian-Social-Movement-Backs-Venezuelas-Border-Crackdown-20150825-0026.html

quote:

Colombian Social Movement Backs Venezuela's Border Crackdown
One of Colombia's most prominent progressive social movements issued a statement Tuesday in solidarity with the Venezuelan government's action against paramilitaries and smuggling.

�On the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty and self determination ... we must seek to attack the greatest enemies to regional peace: the paramilitary phenomenon, the smuggling of petrol, supplies, livestock and food, and the illegal currency trade,� said Colombia's Marcha Patriotica (Patriotic March).

The movement continued by stating, �These extraordinary measures could be the beginning of an overall long term plan to resolve the border situation.�

The statement was in response to criticism of Venezuela's crackdown on cross border crime. President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of exception � similar to a state of emergency except civil rights are maintained � in five municipalities of the frontier state of Tachira Friday to crack down on smuggling and other cross-border crime, including the movement of paramilitary groups.

More than 2,000 soldiers have been deployed.

While the initiative has been widely welcomed by Venezuelans living in border areas, the measures have been controversial in Colombia. However, Marcha Patriotica argued the Venezuelan crackdown should be a �wake up call� to Colombia's government. The movement slammed the government in Bogota for its �abandonment� its border region to organized crime and paramilitaries, arguing that a lack of government intervention has led to �regional destabilization.�

�For the sake of our sister nations, the border should be established as healthy bi-national territory in peace and to promote development,� Marcha Patriotica stated.

The statement was released as Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez urged the Colombian government to take responsibility for its side of the border.

Rodriguez stressed that Venezuela experiences a �state of constant aggression� along its borders, referring to paramilitary groups prowling the areas.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 13:25

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 22:46

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

PerpetualSelf posted:

Lol yeah I'm so happy to hear the opinion of a organization started by the Communist Party of Colombia and infiltrated by the FARC. Obviously unbiased.

Ah the trusty "They're guerilla collaborators!" canard that Colombia uses whenever somebody dares to criticize it's human rights abuses, or anybody they deem "subversive". Of course you also made the ridiculous claim that right-wing paramilitaries don't exist anymore so its fascinating to come across someone who genuine believes in the transparent propaganda of a bunch of narco-terrorists.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 23:57

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:

Y'know, it's really sad that I hope you're just a troll because if you're serious then you're a completely reprehensible human being.

I'd say its far more despicale for someone to knowingly parrot lies that Latin American facists have used to have people dissappeared.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2015 04:39

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Here's an interesting in-depth article on the opposition
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11464

quote:

Selma in Caracas: Brown-Washing and the Abuse of History
Last week, I saw Selma at a movie theater in Altamira, located in Caracas' upper class eastern municipality of Chacao. Enthralled by DuVernay's stunning and horrifying portrayal of the "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march that saw 525 Black protesters savagely attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I was suddenly offput by a comment from another audience member behind me.

"Just like Llaguno Bridge," whispered the voice. I stopped, struggling to process what I had just heard.

To my shock, my fellow audience member had just compared the "Bloody Sunday" march to the April 11, 2002 Venezuelan opposition march towards the Miraflores presidential palace, which allegedly came under Chavista gunfire from the Llaguno bridge above. The alleged massacre was seized on by the corporate media as justification for the US-sponsored coup that ousted then-president Hugo Chavez for 47 hours, installing the dictatorial Carmona regime, which dissolved parliament, the Supreme Court, the National Electoral Council, and all other appointed authorities, as well as perpetrated widespread human rights violations against Chavista dissidents.

In reality, the day's events were elaborately staged, with snipers from the opposition-controlled Metropolitan Police opening fire on Chavistas and opposition demonstrators alike and rightwing media reporting the incident as a government-authored massacre, despite knowledge to the contrary.

How could anyone in their right mind compare the overwhelmingly White, upper class demonstrators intent on the violent ouster of the democratically-elected Chavez government to Martin Luther King Jr. and his comrades marching against Jim Crow? I momentarily consoled myself, dismissing this individual as a lunatic anomaly. However, to my dismay, I discovered that this person was hardly alone in monstrously twisting history in order to justify indefensible political positions.

"Selma has things to say to Venezuelans in this moment concerning civil rights, responsible leadership, and peaceful resistance," begins Alexis Correia, writing for the Venezuelan website El est�mulo.

"There are dialogues that seem too familiar to us: 'I prefer that people be angry with me then dead or hurt' could have come from the mouth of Capriles," the writer continued, referring to the perennial rightwing presidential candidate and Miranda governor�s call for an end to violent protests following the allegedly �disputed� 2013 presidential election.

This comparison of Henrique Capriles Radonsky to MLK is particularly perverse given that it was the former's refusal to recognize the outcome of the close yet internationally recognized election and his initial call for supporters to vent their "rage" [arrechera"] in the streets that precipitated the nation-wide rightwing violence in the first place, which left seven people dead and saw numerous government health clinics and food markets burned.

If anything, the disproportionately White and wealthy youth incited to violence by Capriles on April 15 bear far greater resemblance to the KKK than the people of Selma, especially since their violence almost exclusively targeted government installations that offer services to the historically excluded, indigenous, and Afro-Venezuelan poor of the barrios.

Among the victims were two children, ages 11 and 12, run over by a truck that swerved deliberately into a celebratory procession for Maduro. Hundreds of chavista homes were attacked and threatening messages were spray-painted across windows and doors.

Ever impervious to historical facts, Correia nonetheless insists that Capriles' subsequent decision to call off further street protests following the opposition violence he himself incited secures him a distinguished spot next to MLK for his "responsible leadership" and "peaceful resistance".

A Tale of Two Fortresses

These specious and nakedly opportunistic appropriations of Selma mirror similar efforts on the part of Zionist groups to falsely paint Dr. King as a defender of Israel. To this day, pro-Israel advocacy groups continue to quote "A Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend" as evidence of MLK's supposed Zionist sympathies, fifteen years after even the rabidly pro-Israel organization CAMERA admitted it was a hoax.

This of course prompts the question, namely what do Zionists have in common with the Venezuelan Right apart from a superhuman-like invulnerability to historical truth? In both cases, the usurpation of Dr. King's legacy aims to confer a semblance of legitimacy upon what in reality are settler colonial enclaves walled off materially and ideologically by White supremacy.

Paralleling Israel (and its US colonial role model and benefactor), Chacao is the fortress-like province of Venezuela's Eurocentric, comprador bourgeoisie, its militarized sanctuary that guards against the every present, racialized threat of "penetration" by the Chavista masses.1

Following the 1989 popular rebellion known as the Caracazo that saw anti-neoliberal protests and looting reach even the wealthier neighborhoods of Caracas, the municipality of Chacao was created in 1991 in order to offer elites, in the words of the president of a large industrial firm explaining his company's move, "safety and separation from the poor." 2

In the years since, Chacao has become the wealthiest municipality in Venezuela, if not Latin America, as well perhaps the most militarized in the country, spending 55% of its massive budget on security in 2015.

The municipality has also emerged as a key bastion of virulent anti-chavista revanchism, where Chavez was openly derided as a �monkey� for being the first proudly self-identified indigenous and Afro-descendent president in Venezuelan history.

Last year, Chacao was the epicenter of violent opposition protests that saw rightwing youth attack and kill Chavistas and security personnel, cause millions in public property damage, and obstruct movement with illegal street barricades.

More recently, on the anniversary of the arrest of far right leader Leopoldo Lopez this past February 18, masked youth brutally assaulted an unarmed air force sergeant with identifiably indigenous and Afro-Venezuelan features near the Chacao metro station. The incident occurred several blocks away from the theater screening Selma.

Setting the Record Straight

In light of the thoroughly White supremacist reality of Chacao, it should be clear that this peculiar reading of Selma is nothing less than a flagrant act of ideological strongarm robbery, a tactic which the Venezuelan opposition has by now thoroughly perfected, carefully constructing a PR image of its "student movement", its "political prisoners", etc.

But more than cynical political appropriation, we are witnessing a deliberate whitewashing- or in this case, brown-washing- of the Venezuelan Right, which is presented as the enlightened heir to progressive causes, such as the Civil Rights movement.

In similar fashion, Zionist organizations have actively sought to "rebrand" Israel via brown-washing, organizing delegations of US Black leaders in a bid to legitimate what is undeniably a settler colony founded on apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

In reality, the true MLK was, like Chavez, a revolutionary committed to abolishing capitalism and White supremacy, who stood forever in solidarity with the oppressed and colonized of the Earth.

"...[T]he problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation [capitalism], and the problem of war [imperialism] are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated," he famously declared in 1967.

Moreover, in his coming to terms with the irreconcilability of capitalism and substantive equality, Dr. King, like Chavez, embraced socialism as the condition of possibility for democracy: "[W]e are saying that something is wrong ... with capitalism.... There must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism. Call it what you may, call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all of God's children."

We can be assured that these words will never emerge from the mouths of Capriles, nor Lopez, or Machado, notwithstanding their impressive talent for falsifying history, particular with regard to their complicity in the 2002 coup and subsequent attempts to overthrow the socialist government.

Rather, the true heirs to MLK are the masses of Venezuela�s poor and oppressed laboring tirelessly in the trenches of countless collectives and communes, struggling to build the �new state� in which socialism is a lived reality.

***

Thank you to Oriele Benavides for her critical thoughts and reflections.

1 See George Ciccariello-Maher, �Toward a Racial Geography of Caracas: Neoliberal Urbanism and the Fear of Penetration,� Qui Parle 16, n. 2 (Spring/Summer 2007), 39-72.
2 Ibid., 20.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2015 01:30

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

I find it really hard to have any sympathy for the Colombian government in this situation, I mean they created this refugee crisis in the first place through the creation of the paramilitaries, then they export it to Venezuela and when Venezuela cracks down on these death squads, Colombia cries about Nazism. Good thing the UN and UNASUR are ignoring their ridiculous claims
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Over-5000-Displaced-Colombians-Receive-Asylum-in-Venezuela-20150902-0024.html

quote:

In recent days the world has watched as Venezuela launched a campaign to rid its border with Colombia of paramilitaries from the neighboring country, after three Venezuelan soldiers were injured by these death squads.

But while the Colombian government has protested the deportation of around 1,000 of its citizens with suspected links to these violent groups, the Venezuelan National Commission for Refugees has revealed that there are 5,991 Colombian refugees living there, displaced by their homeland�s internal conflicts. A further 20,000 have applied for asylum.

Rosalba Pe�a fled to Venezuela with her children and grandchildren after nine of her family members were assassinated by paramilitaries.

�We have to leave exiled from our country, fleeing the murders to protect our lives and those of our children,� Pe�a told teleSUR from her home in San Cristobal, Tachira state.

Pe�a has been given all the same benefits as Venezuelans, she said, including free medicine and food.

�I am respected. Here there is a lot of respect for grandparents and children. We live a better life. Being here the trauma of Colombia violence has passed from us a little,� she said.

Another former asylum seeker, Elsa Pe�a, came to Venezuela after her husband, a prominent figure in the political left, was �disappeared� in Colombia.

�I came fleeing the violence to safeguard the life of my children,� she said.

Pe�a was helped by Mission Miracle, a Bolivarian Revolution initiative that offers medical attention to people with sight problems. �I have been embraced by the Cuban-Venezuelan agreement. They took me to Cuba for visual surgery without paying a cent.�

Pe�a told teleSUR that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos needs to �stop playing the victim.�

�The Colombian people have suffered in their own flesh what violence really is, the bombings and the forced disappearances,� she said.

Earlier this week, Venezuela�s ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) said that Venezuela is the leading country in the region offering refuge to displaced Colombians fleeing poverty and violence.

�(These Colombians are) victims of political and social violence, abandoned to their fate without the minimum compassion of the Colombian state, controlled (historically) by violent political minorities,� said Ambassador Roy Chaderton.

Chuck Boone posted:

Again, the two Telesur article and one Venezuelanalysis article that I've read on this issue like to point out that under a state of exception, constitutional rights are not suspended. This is false. Constitutional rights are most certainly suspended under the state of exception.

No actually the article doesn't say that.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11483

quote:

President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of exception � similar to a state of emergency but where no human rights are rescinded � in five municipalities of Tachira state Friday in order to re-take control over the border area and re-organize it.

He clarified that the state of exception didn�t mean the suspension of any rights, �Just the opposite, we�re going to return the people�s rights to them after they have been taken by an incursion of Colombian paramilitary violence in Venezuela.�

Now there's probably a question of which constitutional rights are human rights and which are not, but Venezuela needs to what needs to be done with these death squad killing government supporters and waging economic warfare.

Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Sep 2, 2015

# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 23:38

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

Jimmy -- please. I have difficulty believing that you're being serious, but this is a lie that needs to be dispelled for anyone else reading this.

What do you think the overall message of that article is? Do you think that the phrase, "but where no human rights are rescinded" (specially when taken in the context of the very next sentence in the section you quoted) is to make it clear to the reader that while constitutional rights have been suspended, whether or not those rights are human rights is up for scholars to decide?

Well it is a matter for the courts to decide and they've determined that the state of exception respects human rights and that it is legal
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelan-Supreme-Court-Backs-Maduros-State-of-Exception-20150829-0008.html

And here's what Telesur has said about the state of exception
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-What-is-a-State-of-Exception-20150821-0032.html

quote:

2. A state of exception allows the temporary suspension of constitutional rights, except those that pertain to human rights, the prohibition of torture, the right to due process, the right to information and other basic human rights.

So no, they are not lying about the suspension of constitutional rights.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2015 00:56

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

PerpetualSelf posted:

Thats not socialism in any way and form except one. National socialism.

Actually I'm pretty sure Colombia, a country where leftists, journalists, human rights activists, union leaders, priests and more are regularly murdered by right wing death squads (who happen to be connected to many of the officials complaining about the border crackdown) is closer to Nazi Germany.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2015 01:19

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

PerpetualSelf posted:

It's clear at this point that another nation; any nation, should intervene. Probably by providing opposition civilians with guns and training and funding a guerrila war against the current leaders. I think if that were to occur the PSUV house of cards would fall quite quickly.

Nice to see people now advocating for death squads in this thread. If this is what what the Venezuelan right wants then I would say the Venezuelan government is justified in jailing people like Lopez and paramilitary infiltrators who want to plunge the country into civil war.

As for some positive news
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-to-Take-In-20000-Syrian-Refugees-20150908-0002.html

quote:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday his country will receive 20,000 Syrian refugees fleeing Western interventionism, war and violence.

This is the same number of refugees U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that his country will accept over the next five years.

Maduro took the chance to condemn plans by the U.S. and its Western allies to topple the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, who was democratically elected.
Instead, he said, they should seek to implement a peace plan for Syria, where a civil war, begun in 2011 has left over 250,000 people dead and over 11 million displaced, including 3 million externally.

The U. N. agency for refugees recently revealed that Venezuela has received over 200,000 refugees in the last couple of years, of which over 95 percent are Colombians, who arrived in the neighboring country fleeing from violence, poverty and war.

According to the British Red Cross, there are about 130,000 refugees living in the U.K., which is in stark contrast to the 5.6 million Colombian refugees living in Venezuela.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 01:45

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

M. Discordia posted:

1) Commit to targeted assassinations of legitimate targets (high-ranking PSUV figures) and forswear any and all violence against civilians or ordinary voters.

Shame to see this thread devolve into posters advocating for fascist terrorism. Venezuela has shown some remarkable restraint in the face of threats like these and I can only commend them for standing strong.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 03:01

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

PT6A posted:

You're a miserable piece of poo poo for supporting Maduro and his nonsense, and it's my personal hope that you eventually suffer the same things you support as they are inflicted onto others.

I'm not the one advocating violence, terror and hatred in this thread, there's no need for such bile.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 04:32

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Leopoldo Lopez is responsible for the deaths of 43 people and he got 13 years? I dunno what the outrage is about that seems pretty fair. Pluse the victims of the guarimbas and right wing violence have applauded the ruling.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11502

quote:

The ruling was applauded by Venezuelan social movements, including the Committee of Victims of the Guarimba and the Ongoing Coup, which has fought tirelessly against impunity in the cases of rightwing violence in 2014 and 2013.

�Justice is finally hearing us, part of the justice, but we will continue the struggle, becuase there are still material and intellectual actors yet to be brought to justice for these acts,� Committee spokesperson Desiree Cabrera told Venezuelanalysis.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2015 19:00

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

beer_war posted:

This is from a while back, but remember that Foreign Policy hit piece on Leopoldo L�pez Borneo Jimmy liked so much?

It has now been corrected 7 times:

What's more, the author, Roberto Lovato, used to work for Telesur:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...uelan-politico/

Doesn't change the substance of the piece or Lopez's role in the 2014 violence. Given that the U.S. Government tried to pressure Foreign Policy into suppressing the piece to protect their asset it looks like they did some arm twisting on FP to discredit the piece, sort of like the CIA did to Gary Webb in response to the Dark Alliance story. And Lovato is right, there's only one correction to the piece, the rest are "clarifications" that Burelli's lawyers pushed for FP to include.

Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Sep 13, 2015

# ¿ Sep 13, 2015 16:41

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

It looks like the Wikileaks cables have confirmed that the right wing opposition is in the U.S.' pockets
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/09/latin-america-wikileaks-hugo-chavez-rafael-correa-obama-venezuela-intervention/

quote:

Earlier this summer, the world watched Greece try to resist a disastrous neoliberal diktat and get a painful thrashing in the process.

When Greece�s left government decided to hold a national referendum on the troika-imposed austerity program, the European Central Bank retaliated by restricting liquidity for Greek banks. This triggered a prolonged bank closure and plunged Greece further into recession.

Though Greek voters ended up massively rejecting austerity, Germany and the European creditor cartel were able to subvert democracy and get exactly what they wanted: complete submission to their neoliberal agenda.

In the last decade and a half, a similar fight against neoliberalism has been waged across the breadth of an entire continent, and mostly outside of the public eye. Although Washington initially sought to quash all dissent, often employing even fiercer tactics than those used against Greece, Latin America�s resistance to the neoliberal agenda has in large part been successful. It�s an epic tale that�s gradually coming to light thanks to continued exploration of the massive trove of US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

Neoliberalism was firmly implanted in Latin America long before Germany and the eurozone authorities began force-feeding structural adjustment to Greece and other indebted, peripheral countries. Through coercion (e.g., conditions attached to IMF loans) and indoctrination (e.g., the US-backed training of the region�s �Chicago Boys�), the US succeeded in spreading the gospel of fiscal austerity, deregulation, �free trade,� privatization, and draconian public sector downsizing throughout Latin America by the mid-1980s.

The outcome was strikingly similar to what we�ve seen in Greece: stagnant growth (almost no per capita income growth for the twenty years from 1980-2000), rising poverty, declining living standards for millions, and plenty of new opportunities for international investors and corporations to make a quick buck.

Starting in the late �80s, the region began to convulse and rise up against neoliberal policies. At first, the rebellion was mostly spontaneous and unorganized � as was the case with Venezuela�s Caracazo uprising in early 1989.

But then, anti-neoliberal political candidates began to win elections and, to the shock of the US foreign policy establishment, an increasing number of them stuck to their campaign promises and began implementing anti-poverty measures and heterodox policies that reasserted the state�s role in the economy.

From 1999 to 2008, left-leaning candidates won presidential elections in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Paraguay.

Much of the story of the US government�s efforts to contain and roll back the anti-neoliberal tide can be found in the tens of thousands of WikiLeaked diplomatic cables from the region�s US diplomatic missions, dating from the early George W. Bush years to the beginning of President Obama�s administration.

The cables � which we analyze in the new book, The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire � reveal the day-to-day mechanics of Washington�s political intervention in Latin America (and make a farce of the State Department mantra that �the US doesn�t interfere in the internal politics of other countries�).

Material and strategic support is provided to right-wing opposition groups, some of which are violent and anti-democratic. The cables also paint a vivid picture of the Cold War ideological mindset of senior US emissaries and show them attempting to use coercive measures reminiscent of the recent chokehold applied to Greek democracy.

Unsurprisingly, the major media has largely missed or ignored this disturbing chronicle of imperial aggression, preferring to focus instead on US diplomats� accounts of potentially embarrassing or illicit actions taken by foreign officials. The few pundits that have offered bigger picture analysis of the cables typically assert that there is no significant gap between US official rhetoric and the reality depicted in the cables.

In the words of one US international relations analyst, �one doesn�t get an image of the United States as this all-powerful puppet master trying to pull the strings of various governments around the world to serve its corporate interests.�

A close look at the cables, however, clearly belies this assertion.

....

The Streets Are Hot

During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Soviet and Cuban communist expansion served to justify countless interventions to remove left-leaning governments and prop up right-wing military regimes.

Similarly, the WikiLeaks cables show how, in the 2000s, the specter of Venezuelan �Bolivarianism� has been used to validate interventions against new anti-neoliberal left governments, like those of Bolivia, depicted as having �fallen openly into Venezuela�s embrace;� or Ecuador, seen as a �stalking-horse for Ch�vez.�

US relations with the left government of Hugo Ch�vez soured early on. Ch�vez, first elected president in 1998, broadly rejected neoliberal economic policies, developed a close relationship with Cuba�s Fidel Castro, and loudly criticized the Bush administration�s assault on Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks (the US pulled its ambassador from Caracas after Ch�vez proclaimed: �You can�t fight terrorism with terrorism�).

He later strengthened the government�s control of the oil sector, increasing royalties paid by foreign corporations and using oil revenue to finance popular health, education and food programs for the poor.

In April 2002, the Bush administration publicly endorsed a short-lived military coup that removed Ch�vez from power for forty-eight hours. National Endowment for Democracy documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showed that the US provided �democracy promotion� funding and training to groups that backed the coup and that were later involved in efforts to remove Ch�vez through a managerial �strike� that paralyzed the oil industry in late 2002 and plunged the country into recession.

WikiLeaks cables show that, following these failed attempts to topple Venezuela�s elected government, the US continued to back the Venezuelan opposition through NED and USAID. In a November 2006 cable, then Ambassador William Brownfield explained the USAID/OTI strategy to undermine the Ch�vez administration:

In August of 2004, Ambassador outlined the country team�s 5 point strategy to guide embassy activities in Venezuela for the period [2004�2006] . . . The strategy�s focus is: 1) Strengthening Democratic Institutions, 2) Penetrating Chavez� Political Base, 3) Dividing Chavismo, 4) Protecting Vital US business, and 5) Isolating Chavez internationally.

The close ties that exist between the US embassy and various opposition groups are apparent in numerous cables. One cable from Brownfield links S�mate � an opposition NGO that played a central role in opposition campaigns � to �our interests in Venezuela.� Other cables reveal that the State Department has lobbied for international support for S�mate and encouraged US financial, political, and legal support for the organization, much of it funneled through the NED.

In August 2009, Venezuela was rocked by violent opposition protests (as has occurred a number of times under both Ch�vez and his successor Nicolas Maduro). One secret cable from August 27 cites USAID/OTI contractor Development Alternatives, Incorporated (DAI) referring to �all� the people protesting Ch�vez at the time as �our grantees�:

[DAI employee] Eduardo Fernandez said that �the streets are hot,� referring to growing protests against Chavez�s efforts to consolidate power, and �all these people (organizing the protests) are our grantees.�

The cables also reveal that the US State Department provided training and support to a student leader it acknowledged had led crowds with the intention �to lynch� a Chavista governor: �During the coup of April 2002, [Nixon] Moreno participated in the demonstrations in Merida state, leading crowds who marched on the state capital to lynch MVR governor Florencio Porras.�

Yet, a few years after this, another cable notes: �Moreno participated in [a State Department] International Visitor Program in 2004.�

Moreno would later be wanted for attempted murder and threatening a female police officer, among other charges.

Also in line with the five-point strategy as outlined by Brownfield, the State Department prioritized efforts to isolate the Venezuelan government internationally and counter its perceived influence throughout the region. Cables show how heads of US diplomatic missions in the region developed coordinating strategies to counter the Venezuelan regional �threat.�

As WikiLeaks first revealed in December 2010, the US chiefs of mission for six South American countries met in Brazil in May 2007 to develop a joint response to President Ch�vez�s alleged �aggressive plans � to create a unified Bolivarian movement throughout Latin America.� Among the areas of action that the mission chiefs agreed on was a plan to �continue to strengthen ties to those military leaders in the region who share our concern over Ch�vez.� A similar meeting of US mission chiefs from Central America � focused on the �threat� of �populist political activities in the region� � took place at the US embassy in El Salvador in March of 2006.

US diplomats went to great lengths to try to prevent Caribbean and Central American governments from joining Petrocaribe, a Venezuelan regional energy agreement that provides oil to members at extremely preferential terms. Leaked cables show that, while US officials privately acknowledged the economic benefits of the agreement for member countries, they were concerned that Petrocaribe would increase Venezuela�s political influence in the region.

In Haiti, the embassy worked closely with big oil companies to try and prevent the government of Ren� Pr�val from joining Petrocaribe, despite acknowledging that it �would save USD 100 million per year,� as was first reported by Dan Coughlin and Kim Ives in the Nation. In April 2006,the embassy cabled from Port-au-Prince: �Post will continue to pressure [Haitian president Ren�] Preval against joining PetroCaribe. Ambassador will see Preval�s senior advisor Bob Manuel today. In previous meetings, he has acknowledged our concerns and is aware that a deal with Chavez would cause problems with us.�
The Left�s Record

One must keep in mind that the WikiLeaks cables don�t offer glimpses of the more covert activities of US intelligence agencies, and are likely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Washington�s political interference in the region. Still, the cables provide ample evidence of US diplomats� persistent, determined efforts to intervene against independent left governments in Latin America, using financial leverage, the manifold instruments available in the �democracy promotion� toolbox � and sometimes even through violent and illegal means.

Despite the Obama administration�s restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba, there is no indication that policy toward Venezuela and other left governments in Latin America has fundamentally changed.

Certainly, the administration�s hostility toward the elected Venezuelan government is unrelenting. In June 2014, Vice President Joe Biden launched the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative, seen as an �antidote� to Petrocaribe. In March 2015, Obama declared Venezuela an �extraordinary security threat� and announced sanctions against Venezuelan officials, a move unanimously criticized by other countries in the region.

But, despite incessant US aggression, the Left has largely prevailed in Latin America. With the exception of Honduras and Paraguay, where right-wing coups ousted elected leaders, nearly every left movement that came to power in the last fifteen years remains in office today.

Largely as a result of these governments, from 2002-2013 the poverty rate for the region fell from 44 to 28 percent after actually worsening over the prior two decades. These successes, and the willingness of left leaders to take risks in order to break free of the neoliberal diktat, should be an inspiration for Europe�s new anti-austerity left today.

Certainly some of the governments are experiencing significant difficulties today, in part due to a regional economic downturn that has affected right- and left-wing governments alike. But seen through the lens of the cables, there are good reasons to question whether all of these difficulties are homegrown.

For instance, in Ecuador � where president Correa is under attack from the Right, and from some sectors of the Left � protests against the government�s new progressive tax proposals involve the same opposition-aligned business leaders that US diplomats are seen strategizing with in the cables.

In Venezuela, where a dysfunctional currency control system has generated high inflation, violent right-wing student protests seriously destabilized the country. The odds are extremely high that some of these protestors have received funding and/or training from USAID or NED, which saw its Venezuela budget increase 80 percent from 2012 to 2014.

There is still much more that we can learn from the WikiLeaks cables. For the �Latin America and the Caribbean� chapters of The WikiLeaks Files, we pored through hundreds of WikiLeaks cables, and were able to identify distinct patterns of US intervention that we describe at greater length in the book (some of these previously reported by others). Other book authors did the same for other regions of the world. But there are over 250,000 cables (nearly 35,000 from Latin America alone) and there are undoubtedly many more notable aspects of US diplomacy in action that are waiting to be uncovered.

Sadly, following the initial excitement when the cables were first released, few reporters and scholars have shown much interest in them. Until this changes, we�ll be lacking a full account of how the US state sees itself in the world, and how its diplomatic arm responds to the challenges posed to its hegemony.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2015 19:52

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Bro Dad posted:

I think there may have been a little more to it than that.

Much like there was "a little more" to white supremacist paramilitary groups attacking African Americans during reconstruction.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2015 22:13

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Hugoon Chavez posted:

Hey Borneo Jimmy if you want you can stay at my mom's in Caracas since obviously Venezuela is such a paradise.

Again I never said Venezuela is perfect, and I am well aware of the serious issues stemming from right wing economic sabotage and terrorism. Its still far better than Latin American countries under pro U.S. Neo-liberal regimes like Mexico and Honduras which are basically failed states where people are regularly murdered by the military and government supported drug cartels.

Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Oct 12, 2015

# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 00:50

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Hugoon Chavez posted:

I'm going to assume you live in the US. Isn't it better to go live in a country that's fighting the Right-Wing? Be part of the change! Join the Chavism and the 21st century Socialism, stop being an armchair communist and become a soldier of the revolution, come on!

I'm sure that you're not the kind of guy that claims he knows what's really going on and idolizes the Chavist movement, from the comfort of a right-wing, first-world country. Surely living alongside the champions of your cause is worth giving up a few commodities.

Ah the lazy "If you think it's so great why don't you live there" argument. For the record I would certainly be interested in seeing the revolutionary collectives working to make a better Venezuela first hand. Of course you seem quite in favor of U.S. intervention, wouldn't you like to live somewhere that has experienced the benefits of benevolent U.S. policy, like Iraq, Libya, or Syria?

# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 23:04

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Now this is disturbing
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11547

quote:

Caracas, October 12th 2015 (venezuelanalysis.com) - One of Venezuela�s main rural social movements, the Revolutionary Bolivar and Zamora Tide (CRBZ), has publicly denounced what it describes as the politically motivated murder of one of its activists, Luis Hernando L�zaro Ch�vez, last Tuesday, October 6th.

A press release issued by the collective states that communal council spokesperson L�zaro Ch�vez was killed in a machete attack at his rural home in Tachira state on the Venezuela-Colombia border last week.

According to statements made by a CRBZ spokesperson to Venezuelanalysis, two assailants took advantage of a blackout in the area to enter L�zaro Ch�vez�s home and immediately decapitate the victim.

The attackers also cut off the fingers of a minor who was in the house during the incident and one of the victim�s daughters remains in hospital after having received several blows from a machete.

To date, the local community has accused two Colombian residents of having carried out the attack. The CRBZ accuses both of belonging to �irregular groups� of former paramilitaries alleged to have been demobilised during the government of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010).

Former paramilitaries and criminal gangs are known to operate on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, often forcing residents to pay a �protection� fee known as a �vacuna�.

The Venezuelan government claims that these groups are heavily involved in lucrative smuggling activities at the border.

The CRBZ has denounced the murder of more than 300 campesino rural land reform activists by hired killers in the pay of wealthy landowners over the last decade.

The latest assassination reported by the group took place this past August in northwestern Carabobo state.

While no landed interests appear to have been threatened by L�zaro Chavez�s activism, the group states that the assassination is representative of a new violent rightwing strategy to terrorise and displace rural residents allied with the Bolivarian government.

�(It has to do with) the creation of new forms of attacking the revolution, the practice of neutralising community leaders, which is related to irregular warfare,� the spokesperson told Venezuelanalysis.

According to the collective, early political assassinations have morphed into murders �dressed up� as personal matters or common robberies, provoking a lackadaisical response from authorities.

In the case of L�zaro Ch�vez, one of the alleged murderers is purported to have had a personal issue with one of the victim�s children.

Nonetheless, the CRBZ says it�s not a coincidence that �outspoken Chavista leaders are the ones being killed�.

�No one decapitates someone and mutilates their children as part of a personal issue,� said the spokesperson, referring to the particularly gruesome nature of the murder.

The CRBZ is demanding a full investigation into the assassination, as well as the consolidation of the �People�s Bolivarian Militia� to confront the violence.

�Paramilitarism and hired killings are not some future threat, they are real practices and elements which our comrades are forced to endure and suffer at the border and in other communal territories in the country,� reads the statement.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2015 23:10

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

There have been a string of maybe half a dozen grenade attacks across the country against police stations over the last two weeks. The opposition is blaming the Ministry of Defense for letting the weapons flow out of storage, while the government is blaming the opposition for carrying out the attacks. This is what Maduro said last night regarding the attacks:

Decapitations, machete killings, sabotage, political assassinations and grenade attacks, the opposition sure have a winning electoral strategy. Can anybody tell me why these psychopaths should be in charge of Venezuela? Chuck, you say the right wing opposition is for the poor, yet as bad as things may be in Venezuela, imagine how much worse it would get with a right wing economic policy of privatization and austerity.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 23:39

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

The first thing I'll say is that there is no evidence linking any of those things to the opposition.

What about the Chavistas killed during the barricades in 2014? Or the 300 land reform activists assassinated by paramilitaries?

# ¿ Oct 15, 2015 03:07

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

I'm not familiar with the 300 land reform activists you've mentioned, but I'd say that if you're telling me that they were assassinated by paramilitaries, well, then there's your answer.

Hmm it's almost as if there's an organized campaign of disinformation by the corporate right wing media about Venezuela, and it would be in there interest to downplay an organized campaign of right wing violence. Last I recall, Colombian paramilitaries and wealthy landowners aren't supporters of the PSUV

As for Rosales, looks like he's got some drug cartel connections
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelan-Opposition-Leader-Returns-After-6-Year-Exile-20151015-0036.html

quote:

Manuel Rosales arrived Thursday afternoon in Maracaibo�s airport, capital of the Venezuelan state of Zulia, and met with his party's partners to discuss the coming legislative elections.

Leader of New Time (Nuevo Tiempo), a social-democrat party founded in 1999, and former governor of the western state of Zulia (2000-2008), Rosales fled to Peru in 2009, where he was granted political asylum for �humanitarian reasons,� as he was being investigated by the Venezuelan justice system.

During the meeting, he insisted to the local press he did not have �any debt with justice.� However, the Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz informed a few days earlier that he will be arrested on arrival for the charges still pending against him.

Rosales is accused of supporting a Colombian paramilitary group that attempted to enter to Venezuela via the Rio de Oro, in the state of Zulia, when he was governor. The allegations are grounded on the testimony given by a paramilitary fighter after he was arrested by Venezuelan security forces.

The governing socialist party's leader Egda Vilchez (PSUV) said that Rosales' return had nothing to do with courage but rather to pay his alleged U.S., European and Venezuelan funders for letting him carry out his presumed lavish lifestyle.

�His main assignment is to foment chaos and violence not only in Maracaibo, but also other cities of the country, aiming at the suspension of December's elections. They know they already lost them,� the attorney general added.

That habit of coke and teen hookers isn't gonna pay for itself.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 19:56

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

You've gone from insinuating that the opposition is directly responsible for financing/organizing terror campaigns in the country to essentially saying "some people who do bad things don't support the PSUV". What relevance does who criminals support/don't support have to your argument?

Right wing paramilitaries don't operate in a vacuum, they've been trained by Colombia, U.S. and Israel, financed by U.S. corporations and the the drug trade, and they operate with Colombia and the United States' permission, they don't kill people randomly.

quote:

The leader of an opposition party who filed a suit against Rosales in 2004 said that a judge approached him in 2008 and asked him to make false accusations against Rosales

Of course he says that right after defecting to the United States, no defector has ever lied for political gain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khidir_Hamza

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 18:38

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

Therefore, the opposition is financing/organizing terror campaigns in Venezuela? I won't address this anymore because it's clear at this point that there's no more straws to grasp at.

And guess who finances the opposition, sorry it's so hard to believe that the Latin American right and the United States would be involved in a campaign of terror against leftists, I mean it's not like there's a long and continuous history of it happening in the continent.

quote:

Chavez's removal of judge Afiuni in 2009,

Regarding that
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5908

quote:

Afiuni was judging a financier named Cede�o who was involved in a few corruption cases. The latest charge was that he and an accomplice deceived CADIVI, our office of currency control, by ostensibly buying computers for almost $30 million but bringing only empty containers to the country. The financier�s accomplice was arrested in Panama more than a year and half ago, and after being turned over to the authorities of Venezuela confessed the whole scheme. His lawyers delayed the trial with legal maneuvers, until about six months ago, when Judge Afiuni herself walked Mr. Cede�o out of the court room and escorted him with two other functionaries of her court to the internal parking lot for judges where Cede�o boarded a motorcycle that was let in to the lot by Afiuni�s instruction. Then Afiuni returned to the courtroom to write the ruling with the decision to liberate Cede�o and afterwards she sat down and said loud and clear that she would sit where she was to wait for the suspension letter to arrive from her superiors. The usual legal practice is that whenever an inmate is freed by ruling of a judge, he is taken back to prison where he waits for the arrival of the release order signed by the judge, something that usually happens in a matter of one or two hours. This was violated to be sure Cedeno would get away.

The judge, suspected of felony, was suspended to investigate further but nobody ever got sanctioned because in cases of bribery people released simply take off to another country to enjoy the money stashed in some bank account of a family member, like to Miami, USA, for example. This explains the approach of Afiuni, but this time things worked out differently because she was arrested and held to trial for bribery under the legal assumption that there is a serious presumption of a runaway.

In our country we have a popular saying: if it has ears and nose of a pig, back and tail of a pork, no doubt, it is a hog.

Additionally, it appears to be a manipulation regarding Afiuni's state of health. There have been a lot of claims in the mainstream press in Venezuela about the illness of Judge Afiuni. However, she was taken for professional examination with negative results. Afterwards the lawyers said she had a probable breast cancer, so she was then taken for special medical exams and cancer was ruled out. You can see her in pictures and she appears healthy. About a month ago, Globovision had her on the screen for an interview and she not only looked well but said nothing about any illness.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 19:32

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

Not only is the "evidence" in the article laughable, but worse, it makes it seem that Afiuni was arrested and removed because she allegedly took a bribe; in fact, she was removed from her post only because she made a decision that angered Chavez. The man she conditionally released on bail had been in prison for three years before the start of his trial.

Kinda hard to get worked up about that when worse poo poo happens in the American justice system, or the kangaroo courts that American political prisoners like Chelsea Manning are subjected to. "Serious" journalists who complain about Venezuela being a dictatorship never seem to have a problem with that.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 20:29

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

euclidian88 posted:

I am struggling to think of many instances where they have had any direct involvement in South America. Other than Mossad abducting some ex-nazis.

They do a lot of lovely things but are way more focused on Arabic countries.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/07/20137717429632532.html

quote:

"In [civil war-era] Guatemala, Israel, acting on behalf of the Reagan administration, stepped in to supply military equipment, including helicopters and Galil rifles, and training that had been cut off during the previous Carter administration. Israel also supplied [the Guatemalan regime with] computers, software, and other equipment used for surveillance. This was at the height of the genocide, which ultimately left 200,000 dead, including many Mayans."
...

As for Israel's alleged pariah-hood, this tragic scenario is seemingly contradicted by Bigwood's 2003 article for Al Jazeera, Israel's Latin American trail of terror, in which he lists countries in the region where Israel has supplied, trained, and advised right-wing groups and regimes: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. So much for lonesomeness.

Ideology's negligible importance is confirmed in Bigwood's article by Israel's support for the Argentine military junta's dirty war of 1976-1983 - which was characterised by mass forced disappearances and torture - despite, as Bigwood notes, the junta's anti-Semitic orientation. Ideological overlap is, however, seen in the case of Colombia, where President Juan Manuel Santos has not only appeared in a promotional video for an Israeli private security firm but has also announced: "We've even been accused of being the Israelites [sic] of Latin America, which personally makes me feel really proud."

Beyond verifying Santos' clunessness, this statement is particularly relevant given that Carlos Castano - the founder of modern Colombian paramilitarism - was trained in Israel and acknowledged copying the paramilitary concept from the Israelis.

Israel's hobby of collective punishment has, it seems, proven especially instructive; although formally disbanded, Colombian paramilitaries continue to terrorise civilian populations, often reportedly in concert with the military - which is itself famous for slaughtering civilians and dressing the corpses up as anti-government guerrillas. A primary goal of this terrorisation is to clear land of indigenous groups, campesinos, and other people whose existence impedes the proper exploitation of resources.

And when the Venezuelan government tries to control the violence spilling out from Colombia's civil conflict, the opposition cry about "racism", ignoring the 1,000s of political refugees given a home in Venezuela.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 21:24

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

-Troika- posted:

It's pretty much specifically racism.

Don't know how you could be racist to an apartheid regime that forcibly sterilizes black people.

Anyways here's some further evidence that the Venezuelan right has courted Israel's support
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6998

quote:

Over the weekend, Venezuela�s anti-Chavez minority conﬁrmed reports that one of their own recently met with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and promised to re-establish ties with Israel if the opposition is somehow successful in this year�s presidential election. Speaking on behalf of the opposition�s socalled Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), Metropolitan Mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma is said to have promised both economic and political rewards in exchange for Israeli support of MUD presidential hopeful, Henrique Capriles Radonski.

Though the MUD have been totally unable to improve their standing in polls which predict a sweeping electoral victory for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this October 7, Ledezma�s comments in Israel provide a troubling glimpse at wishful opposition thinking in a post-Chavez period.

�SOLIDARITY� WITH ISRAEL?

Though he was in Jerusalem last week for the 28th International Mayors Conference, opposition lawyer and politician Antonio Ledezma took advantage of his publicly-ﬁnanced trip to meet privately with Israel�s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the country�s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Asked about the closed-door meetings, Ledezma said he had used his time in Israel to spread �the message that the Venezuelan nation has respect for Israel�.

Ledezma told reporters he spoke with Netanyahu and Liberman about �the Venezuelan people�s solidarity with the Jewish community� and, �in addition, our (opposition) disposition to reestablish relations with the State of Israel under a new government presided by Henrique Capriles Radonski�.

�In contrast to the current political policy in Venezuela�, he said, �Capriles will re-establish our historical ties�.

M. Discordia posted:

In addition to its many other horrors, the Chavez regime is nakedly anti-Semitic and is driving Jews out of the country: http://www.aish.com/jw/s/The-Jews-of-Venezuela.html

I don't know if that has anything to do with the reason "Israel" made it onto the word salad list of Bad Things. To a certain kind of low-info leftist, words like "Zionist" are just invectives to use for any bad thing -- he could have just as easily accused the opposition of being controlled by Monsanto or rape culture or any other word from the list of "new ways to say Bad Thing."

I'm not gonna take serious some article that literally says "anti-zionism is anti-semitism". And why the crack about rape culture M. Discordia? Do you think it doesn't exist?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 22:01

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

M. Discordia posted:

Many minorities (Jews, Colombians, homosexuals, non-socialists) have found themselves scapegoated in turn by the authoritarian regime of Venezuela, as is the nature of authoritarian regimes.

Like I've said before, Venezuela has given a home to 1,000s of Colombians fleeing poverty and political persecution. They're not being scapegoated.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 23:23

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

Maduro loves Colombians so much that he recently relocated over 1,500 of them back to their beloved homeland at no cost.

Most of whom are being allowed to return http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11531

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 23:51

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

During the conversation, Mendoza and Hausmann talked about hypothetical scenarios for Venezuela's economic future, including the possibility of Venezuela receiving aid from the IMF.

Hausmann engineered the austerity measures that led to the Caracozo uprising in which 3,000 Venezuelans died, that man has blood on his hands, and I think Venezuelans would be right to be outraged over a major company advocating economic policies that actively gently caress over the poor. As difficult as things are with low oil prices and currency manipulation, things would be far worse with IMF economic shock therapy.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 23:19

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Hugoon Chavez posted:

I think the absolute worse part of that schism created by Chavism is that it exacerbated every racial and class issue. I don't remember wealth and much less race being such a problem growing up, but in the last years it has most definitely taken a wrong turn in those regards.

I'm sure whites who grew up in the Jim Crow south who remember fondly when African Americans "knew their place" felt the same way.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 13:24

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Hugoon Chavez posted:

And I'm sure you know me well enough to call me a racist. Maybe you are the one who should know your place and just .

Thank you confirming that pretty much all people whining about Maduro and Chavez are white, upper-class gusanos. Please tell me how the poor need to stop being so envious of the wealthy who've worked hard to inherit their fortunes.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 13:52

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

2) I want to distance Mendoza's conversation with Hausmann regarding IMF intervention away from the real policy question of whether or not the opposition should (or is considering to) seek the IMF in a post-PSUV scenario. As far as I know no one in the opposition has suggested this, and to take a private citizen's conversation on hypothetical scenarios as proof that an IMF deal is in the works is insane. Granted that Mendoza occupies a special position given his influential position as a business leader, to tie his (again) private conversation on economics with some kind of hidden plan by the opposition to sell the country to the IMF is as desperate a move as I've seen the PSUV take.

Well just to put in in perspective here's what they were saying

quote:

In the audio, which is dominated by Hausman, the ex-minister reveals that he is a longterm friend of the IMF�s Vice-president for the Western Hemisphere, who has asked him to go to the organisation to �talk about Venezuela�. He explains that the fund is �worried� that it will have to �intervene� in the country.

�The condition is that we have a small committee meeting to speak, gloves off, about what the hell we can do to see� Or, if you were to receive a call from Obama or Holland, or whoever and they say� Hell, mate, for us it�s really important that they get involved in Venezuela,� says Hausman.

The economist also assures Mendoza that he is committed to the �war in Venezuela� despite his absence, stating that �there is no exit for Venezuela without substantial international help,� appearing to reference the opposition�s violent street campaign to unseat the government last year, entitled La Salida (the exit).

Specifically Hausman recommends a 40-50 billion dollar loan from the IMF, which he says will entail a significant restructure of the country�s �debt profile� and �what they euphemistically term, private sector involvement�. The two men also reference a group of Hausman�s students in the US, who appear to have been pinned by both men to carry out the economic restructuring in a post-Chavista government.

The conversation finishes with Hausman revealing that he has �projects� in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Albania, and confirming that the time is right for �carrying out an adjustment plan in Venezuela�.

The recording has caused shockwaves amongst Venezuela�s citizens, who have widely rejected any IMF involvement in the country�s economics. The fund is largely held responsible by citizens for the country�s debt crisis in the 1980s, the economic turmoil of the 1990s, as well as for the riots known as the Caracazo in 1989 which led to widespread police repression and thousands of killings.

The IMF�s poisonous legacy in the country has led the country�s political opposition to distance itself publicly from the organisation. Nonetheless, its spokespeople have been consistently linked to the ill reputed fund over the past fifteen years of leftist government.

Earlier in February 2015, the political opposition led by Leopoldo Lopez, Maria Corina Machado and Antonio Ledezma, released a �Call for a National Transition Agreement� just days before the national government reported that it had uncovered plans for an attempted coup amongst the airforce.

�The Call for a National Transition� contained a number of points orientating the politics of a transitional regime in Venezuela, including selling off national public enterprises and the input of �international financial organisations�.

After the government publicly released the recording between Hausman and Mendoza last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the opposition of once again seeking financial support from the IMF in order to promote �insurrectionary violence� in the country.

�I have proof that the IMF has received a visit from a group of technocrats� who have requested 60 billion dollars in order to put their plan into action, and the fund has told them that they will give them [the money] if they unseat the government,� stated the president on his weekly television show, In Contact with Maduro.

Although Maduro has yet to reveal evidence, Mendoza at least seems to have corroborated the authenticity of the phone conversation, which he has slammed as an �illegal� recording of a �private talk� that he had with Hausman.

Maduro has called for Mendoza to be prosecuted.

�I hope the judicial bodies react,� he stated.

Sounds like way more than a private policy discussion. If audio leaked of an American CEO strategizing how to overthrow the American government to forcibly implement a ultra-conservative economic plan that would abolish what's left of the American social safety net, there would be widespread outrage.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 23:32

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Mozi posted:

Nobody has posted about this?

Venezuelan Prosecutor Says Opposition Leader�s Trial Was a Farce

Glad that he made it out of the country OK, and hopefully there are many beans left to spill. Not that it wasn't obvious that the outcome of the trial was politically decided but it's good to hear it stated so bluntly by someone who knew the best.

It looks like he's getting paid off to say this stuff
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11622

quote:

Caracas, October 27th 2015 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuela�s Attorney General, Luisa Ortega Diaz, has responded to a video released by Franklin Nieves last week, in which the former public prosecutor accuses the national public prosecution of mounting a �show trial� against jailed right-wing politician Leopoldo Lopez.

Lopez was found guilty of inciting public violence last month following a high profile trial in which Nieves acted as one of the lead prosecutors. A sentence of 13 years and nine months in prison was handed down to Lopez, who was at the forefront of the violent street mobilisations known as the �guarimbas� which sought to bring down the government in 2014 and led to 43 deaths.

Last Friday, Nieves made headlines when he circulated a video revealing that he had left the country, accusing Venezuela�s public prosecution of having rigged the case against Lopez.

�I decided to leave Venezuela with my family due to the immense pressure from the national executive and from my superiors to defend the false evidence with which they condemned Leopoldo Lopez,� he states.

In the home-made video, in which a somewhat nervous Nieves appears in front of a white wall, the lawyer claims to have suffered sleep deprivation and depression during the trial, which lasted for a year and eight months, principally due to stalling tactics from Lopez�s legal team.

However Nieves now states that the trial was �unfair� and calls on �fellow judges and prosecutors to tell the truth�. He reports to have been threatened with dismissal and jail time by his supervisors, before promising to reveal the �truth� behind �everything that happened� before, during and after the trial�.

Nonetheless, the former public attorney appeared frugal with specific details on Monday when he was interviewed by NTN24 for the first time since his video hit the international news.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nieves is currently in Miami with his family where they are officially seeking asylum. He has also asked for public forgiveness from Leopoldo Lopez and his family.

International Pressure

Although no official reaction to Nieves� claims emerged over the weekend, on Monday Venezuela�s chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz moved to refute the video�s content in an exclusive interview with Venevision, citing several inconsistencies in Nieves� declarations.

In particular, Ortega pointed out that Nieves had played a leading role in the trial and had initially acted independently to solicit Lopez�s arrest warrant. She said the official, who is reported to have worked for the institute for over 20 years, had violated the oath required of all public attorneys to uphold the legal system and the country�s constitution. She also confirmed that he had been dismissed for abandoning his post.

�He never denounced any irregularity throughout the investigation� an authentic and full act of conscience has to be carried out in the moment�during that year and eight months is when he had to come forward with this�.

Ortega also dismissed the accusations surrounding �false evidence,� making reference to the fact that all evidence used in the case was available to the public- mostly tweets from Lopez�s twitter account or televised statements- which were analysed by semiotics experts.

�Everything he says is very general, he doesn�t say anything concrete except something about false evidence, without even saying what that might be. It sounds like something out of a soap opera- �next will come the bit when I reveal all!�. I don�t understand why he didn�t explain everything straight away� Why didn�t he ask to be relieved of the case, or resign?�

The head of Venezuela�s public prosecution also described the attorney�s sudden confession as �set up� and accused him of having succumbed to �international and domestic interests�.

While international media sources such as the BBC have been quick to report that Nieves �fled� Venezuela, Ortega drew attention to the fact that he had left via the �main airport in the country�.

�He couldn�t have left if he was being persecuted� and he then goes to a foreign context to denounce undue process, which he didn�t argue here� We have to see what is behind all this because there are evidently things which aren�t clear,� commented the attorney general.

But Ortega isn�t the only person to call foul play. Several opposition figures and websites have ventured the thesis that the state prosecutor�s sudden public outburst could be attributed to the work of the US, and a question mark still hangs over how Nieves was able to leave the country for the US at short notice, without significant financial support or diplomatic guarantees.

The staunch US based anti-government opposition activist, Patricia Andrade, from Venezuela Awareness, also bolstered speculation following the emergence of the video in a string of tweets. She accuses Nieves of having been �sponsored to go to the US�.

�That fecal matter, Franklin Nieves, like all thieves, are cowards, they can�t take prison. They prefer the ca$$$$$$$$�.

�Who knows who sorted it out for him to come to the US, it makes me sick!�

For his part, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby expressed his concern Monday for the �pressures� on Nieves and urged Venezuela to �respect due process� and �release all political prisoners, including Leopoldo Lopez,� reports EFE.

The case against the wealthy, Harvard-educated Lopez was one of the most high profile legal cases in Venezuelan history, and the verdict was greeted by Venezuelan social movements as a triumph of justice over some of the most entrenched political and economic interests in the country.

The attorneys presenting the case are alleged to have received threats to their personal security , including in tweets published by �AnonymusWar,� which called on its 104,000 followers to find out where Nieves lived.

In response to the controversial video, the political opposition has called for Lopez�s trial to be annulled and his sentence overturned.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 00:10

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

A sheet of paper you say came from "someone" who says that "$850,000 are in an account that this gentleman has". This is evidence that Nieves got paid off. Got it.

Except the right wing opposition is also saying he got paid off, the whole thing smells fishy either way.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 00:36

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

What exactly "smells fishy" about this, other than the fact that it undermines the validity of a reality you refuse to question?

The fact that he was completely fine with the whole trial and it's proceedings, then once the U.S. cries about their asset going to jail, now all of sudden he's in Miami and calling for sanctions on the Venezuelan people, kind of a quick turn around don't you think?

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 00:55

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

No, not at all. Nieves said he was not "completely fine" with the trial and its proceedings, and he's speaking out against it, isn't he? He had good reason to go along with it at the time (fear of incarceration, fear for his/his family's safety, etc.) I won't address the rest of your post because it's absurd.

Read his testimony. Sleep on it. Think on it. Make up your own mind about this, Jimmy. Don't let Venezuelanalysis tell you what to think, buddy.

Given that human rights organizations in Venezuela and representatives of the victims of right wing violence have applauded the verdict in the Lopez trial, I've already made up my mind, thanks. I think that holding wealthy demagogues responsible for their violent, racist rhetoric is something that people should applaud. Given the deaths he's responsible for, Lopez got off light.

Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Nov 2, 2015

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 01:10

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

YodaTFK posted:

Victims of Right Wing Violence lmao

Its real, sorry to burst your sociopathic bubble
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Guarimba-Victims-Spread-Message-of-Nonviolence-in-Ecuador-20150630-0030.html

quote:

German Carrero was delivering medical supplies when a bomb detonated and ripped his hand off in 2014. Ever since right-wing protesters set off the bomb during the violent protests that took place in Venezuela last year, he has been determined to spread a message of nonviolence around the world, coming to Ecuador with other victims of violence to present his case.

�We want there to be justice, and that our human rights are respected. We are the real victims. There are 43 dead and 888 injured. People really did pay for this, they lost their children, mothers, brothers, and parts of their body,� said Carrero, a member of the Committee of the Guarimba Victims, to teleSUR.

Guarimbas, the Venezuelan term for the violent protests and barricades erected by right-wing opposition groups, were responsible for the death of 43 people in the South American country last year.

The Committee of Guarimba Victims held a private meeting with Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Ernesto Samper at the regional body headquarters in Quito, Ecuador�s capital.

Following the meeting, Samper said that UNASUR is in solidarity with their cause, and that the organization will work to protect democracy in the face of right-wing violence seeking to destabilize elected governments.

"Disagreements are legitimate, but violent disagreements are not,� Samper told teleSUR, �(The Committee of Guarimba Victims) have testimonies that are worth listening to, to have a balanced view of what is happening in Venezuela.�

Yandry Velazquez, a member of the committee, said she hopes that people learn from their cases as destabilization attempts against progressive governments are happening regionally.

�We want them to see who are the real victims. To bring our cases to the forefront. And use our example, so that no other Latin American country, and in this case Ecuador, is taken by violence, by baseless hatred, and that what happened to us happens to them,� said Velazquez following the meeting with Samper.

As opposition marches rage on in Ecuador, some of which are backed by right-wing politicians, who are calling for a change of government and elimination of wealth redistribution bills, members of the Committee of Guarimba Victims are sharing their stories in conferences and forums, spreading awareness and encouraging citizens to engage in nonviolent practices.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 01:39

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

YodaTFK posted:

Oh the violence is certainly real. It's the right wing part most people would question. Well, except you.

So are you saying these victim's groups are lying?

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 01:58

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Chuck Boone posted:

Ever notice how there's no "Victims of State Violence" groups?

Well it's a small minority compared to the hundreds of Chavistas assassinated by right wing paramilitaries.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 02:19

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Glenn Greenwald's just published a really good in depth article on the NSA spying on PDVSA
https://theintercept.com/2015/11/18/overwhelmed-nsa-surprised-to-discover-its-own-surveillance-goldmine-on-venezuelas-oil-executives

quote:

A TOP-SECRET NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY DOCUMENT, dated 2011, describes how, by �sheer luck,� an analyst was able to access the communications of top officials of Venezuela�s state-owned oil company, Petr�leos de Venezuela.

Beyond the issue of spying on a business, the document highlights a significant flaw in mass surveillance programs: how indiscriminate collection can blind rather than illuminate. It also illustrates the technical and bureaucratic ease with which NSA analysts are able to access the digital communications of certain foreign targets.

The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, is a March 23, 2011, article in the NSA�s internal newsletter, SIDtoday. It is written by a signals development analyst who recounts how, in addition to luck, he engaged in a �ton of hard work� to discover that the NSA had obtained access to vast amounts of Petr�leos de Venezuela�s internal communications, apparently without anyone at the NSA having previously noticed this surveillance �goldmine.�

That the NSA, unbeknownst to itself, was collecting sensitive communications of top Venezuelan oil officials demonstrates one of the hazards of mass surveillance: The agency collects so much communications data from around the world that it often fails to realize what it has. That is why many surveillance experts contend that mass surveillance makes it harder to detect terrorist plots as compared to an approach of targeted surveillance: An agency that collects billions of communications events daily will fail to understand the significance of what it possesses.

This newest revelation of NSA spying, reported as part of The Intercept�s partnership with teleSUR, comes just weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. government has launched �a series of wide-ranging investigations� into alleged corruption at Petr�leos de Venezuela, or PDVSA. That the NSA had obtained access to the electronic communications networks of key PDVSA officials raises the question of whether the agency�s spying has secretly aided the criminal investigations into corruption as well as other government actions targeting the company.

Access to these official PDVSA communications came at a critical moment in U.S.-Venezuela relations, which have been fraught since Hugo Ch�vez was first elected president in 1998 and particularly since a failed 2002 coup attempt by U.S.-funded groups. Two months after the discovery of this spying access, the U.S. State Department announced the imposition of economic sanctions against PDVSA, accusing the company of trading with Iran in violation of unilateral U.S. restrictions.

At the time, Venezuela was also confronting multibillion-dollar arbitration cases in international tribunals filed by U.S. oil giants Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips. The companies claim the Ch�vez government illegally expropriated large-scale drilling operations in the Orinoco oil belt and handed them over to PDVSA subsidiaries without just compensation.

The NSA analyst who stumbled into this access began his investigation inauspiciously. As he recounts, he opened PDVSA�s website in a browser and wrote down the names of the company�s leaders. He then simply plugged those names into a handful of internal NSA tools and databases such as CADENCE, UTT and PINWALE.

He quickly compiled an enormous cache of valuable leads: over 10,000 employee information forms containing email addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying details � information that could be used to retrieve communications stored in the agency�s huge databases and for future targeting. The analyst also obtained 900 username and password combinations, which he handed off to the NSA�s top hacking team, Tailored Access Operations, to penetrate the company�s network and infect its leadership�s computers with malware.

�By sheer luck, (and a ton of hard work) I discovered an important new access to an existing target and am working with TAO to leverage a new mission capability,� he wrote.

Prior to this breakthrough, the NSA�s spying efforts against Venezuelan energy operations were producing very little fruit, but not for lack of interest. Petroleum represents �more than half of all government revenues,� wrote the analyst, and thus, �to understand PDVSA is to understand the economic heart of Venezuela.� But a 2010 review showed that collection had gone �stagnant.�

One �telltale sign� that the NSA was failing on this target set, he said, was that �most reporting was coming from warranted collection.� That likely meant that the only surveillance the NSA was able to exploit was coming from communications transiting U.S. soil, which would require a secret warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

To ratchet up warrantless surveillance, the analyst decided to rebuild the collection strategy from scratch, running what he called a �target reboot� in search of �information at the highest possible levels� of PDVSA: �namely, the president and members of the Board of Directors.�

The analyst initially searched for those names in PINWALE, the NSA�s database of digital communications that have been automatically culled from the massive flows of intercepted data using a dictionary of search terms, or �targeting selectors,� including email addresses, IP addresses and user IDs.

This produced few emails from PDVSA�s leaders, but the 10,000 employee contact profiles, included those of PDVSA�s then-president, Rafael Dario Ram�rez, and former company vice president Luis Felipe Vierma P�rez. �Now, even my old eyes could see that these things were a goldmine of valid selectors,� the analyst wrote, full of previously unmonitored �work, home, and cell phones, email addresses, LOTS!� In other words, the analyst had uncovered another set of leads to run against larger NSA data sets.

Later, the analyst gleefully realized that these profiles were not available on the public web. They were all being served to private IP addresses. �WTHeck??? Yep, seems I had been looking at internal PDVSA comms all this time!!!�

Accessing a foreign private network is often technically challenging but bureaucratically simple by NSA standards, requiring low levels of internal review and legal authority. For a target such as an oil company, internal communications are the most valuable intelligence resource possible.

�It�s interesting that the analyst �discovered�� access to internal PDVSA communications, Matthew Green, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, wrote in an email to The Intercept after reviewing the document. The word �discovered� suggests that the NSA either �didn�t realize� it was collecting on this important source or there was an internal communications failure. The NSA possesses the equivalent of �a very ugly version of Google with half the world�s information in it� and a plethora of automated tools to exploit it, said Green, but �an analyst has to occasionally step in and manually dig through the data� to find the treasures hiding in plain sight.

�They�re capturing so much information from their cable taps that even the NSA analysts don�t know what they�ve got,� he added.

Petroleum has long defined U.S. government and corporate interest in Venezuela, which possesses the largest proven reserves in the world. In a 1974 State Department cable, then-U.S. Ambassador Robert McClintock wrote: �As a principal supplier of oil and iron ore to the U.S., as a major trading partner and host to a large U.S. private investment, Venezuela is fa[r] too important to allow us to drift into an adversary relationship.�

Two years later, Venezuela would nationalize its oil reserves, but U.S. interests continued to be served for decades by a series of U.S.-friendly, U.S.-supported right-wing governments. That all changed when Hugo Ch�vez swept into the presidency in 1998 on a populist mandate and began to change the decadeslong status quo.

�Along comes Ch�vez and closes the loopholes in the 1976 nationalization law and alters the nature of the relations between the state and the foreign companies,� Miguel Tinker Salas, historian of Venezuela�s oil industry at Pomona College, told The Intercept.

Washington viewed the Ch�vez government as an economic and political threat that derived its power from petrodollars. According to a 2009 State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, �PDVSA funds and runs the revolution.�

Previous Snowden revelations show that PDVSA is not the only major petroleum company to be targeted for economic espionage. Brazil�s government-controlled oil company, Petrobras, as well as its ministerial overseer, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, were targeted by the NSA and Canada�s CSEC, respectively, according to documents published by TV Globo in 2013. Russia�s Gazprom was also listed as a �target.� Intelligence reporting on oil in Venezuela is referenced in a 2013 presentation detailing the NSA�s PRISM program.

Prior to the Petrobras revelation, an NSA spokesperson told the Washington Post, �The [defense] department does ***not*** engage in economic espionage in any domain, including cyber� (emphasis in the original).

After the Globo story, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper significantly narrowed that broad claim. In a statement, he acknowledged that the United States does conduct economic espionage: �It is not a secret that the Intelligence Community collects information about economic and financial matters, and terrorist financing.�

But Clapper denied such intelligence is used to directly benefit U.S. corporations. �What we do not do, as we have said many times, is use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of � or give intelligence we collect to � U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line,� Clapper said.

Subsequent to the PDVSA �target reboot,� the U.S. executive branch has undertaken multiple actions � including sanctions against the state-run company in 2011, a money-laundering finding and an executive order, both in March 2015, and multiple reported corruption investigations � putting additional economic and reputational pressure on a company already squeezed by low global oil prices and protracted court battles with U.S. oil majors.

According to Tinker Salas, the Pomona professor, �It is difficult to imagine that the [U.S.] sanctions and the ongoing dispute with Exxon are not connected.�

In the lead-up to next month�s legislative elections, U.S. actions against the Venezuelan government have amounted to a �full-court press,� Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told The Intercept. �In recent months, Washington has been campaigning to de-legitimize the Venezuelan election, with leaks and even indictments from the Justice Department and DEA.�

On November 10, weeks before Venezuela�s national elections, DEA officials arrested two relatives of President Nicolas Maduro, who were indicted for allegedly conspiring to traffic cocaine to the United States.

Anonymous government officials told the New York Times last year that defendants in U.S. courts �have no right to know� if warrantless NSA surveillance collected abroad was used to build the case against them.

President Maduro said last month that he will file a lawsuit in the U.S. to challenge the executive order against his country.

The U.S. Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment from The Intercept.

PDVSA and Venezuelan government officials declined to comment for this story, as did the NSA.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2015 01:18

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 22:46

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

Regarding those arrests
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Condemns-Irregularities-in-DEA-Arrest-of-Venezuelans-20151117-0001.html

quote:

Some media outlets falsely claimed that 800 kilos of drugs were found on the plane, however Haitian government officials later denied the claim. A DEA official who participated in the arrest told CNN that the pair were arrested over allegations that they were in Haiti to finalize a deal to import that quantity of drugs to the United States.

The other 4 individuals traveling on the plane were released without charge and the plane was allowed to return to Venezuela.

Cabello questioned why the DEA would allow the plane, associated with alleged drug trafficking, to be released. That only two people were ultimately arrested led the president of the National Assembly to classify the detention as a kidnapping.

The two individuals arrested are said to be the nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan President Maduro. However, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest could not confirm they were in fact connected to Venezuela's first family.

After the two men were arrested, some international media reported on Friday that authorities raided a house and yacht in La Romana, Dominican Republic, that allegedly belonged to the Flores family.

However, the Dominican national drug control agency dismissed the claims as �speculation,� saying there was no official information to suggest the house and yacht were property of the Flores family. The Dominican anti-drug agency also confirmed that the raid happened the day before the two men were arrested, even though the event was only reported and linked to the family days later.

Tania Diaz, a candidate for the upcoming Venezuelan legislative elections for the ruling socialist party said the media coverage of the arrest was part of an orchestrated campaign to influence the country�s upcoming Dec. 6 elections. The two men arrested appeared in court in New York last Thursday and must appear again on Wednesday.

Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Nov 21, 2015

# ¿ Nov 21, 2015 00:55

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Venezuela: The Empanada Summit

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