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I saw Maduro speak on Telesur once, it was of course a confrontational diatribe about fighting imperialism and the enemies within, setting price controls, five-year plans, etc. Most it seemed to be classic Marxist-Leninist rhetoric lifted straight from the Cold War era without an ounce of self-awareness. I am amazed that Venezuelans ever voted for this clown in the first place.
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Aug 26, 2015 07:16
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M. Discordia posted:NPR did a 90-second story on the evictions this morning. It accepted as fact the notion that "smugglers" are causing the economic problems in Venezuela, and included a token "but some crazy people think bulldozing houses and genociding an ethnic group is bad!" one-line tag. In itself, I completely agree with the notion that the Venezuelan government has the right to deport any illegals present on its territory. It's just that this is so obviously a scapegoat meant to distract from actual problems that it's not even funny anymore. I would assume that there's little difference between Colombians and Venezuelans in the border area.
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Aug 26, 2015 17:00
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It's interesting to hear that Venezuelans have a superiority complex towards Colombians, I assume it's due to their history as an oil-rich state. I also assume that they're starting to have a hard time keeping it up, considering the current state of their economy. I don't think Colombians have to stand in line for toilet paper.
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Aug 27, 2015 16:54
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When all is said and done, Chavez and Maduro fit neatly into the centuries-old Latin American tradition of caudillismo. Sooner or later in any given Latin American dictatorship, the strongman of the moment will almost inevitably turn to Western interference for an easy (and sometimes justified) target to blame for the failure of the nation-building project, often while promoting a vague, almost mystical view of said nation or Latin America in general being pure or morally superior compared to the materialistic gringos (think la raza cósmica). This has mostly been accompanied by revolutionary socialist rhetoric since the Cold War, but the ideological trappings are almost incidental to the phenomenon at its core. It's nothing new and we've seen it over and over again in the past two centuries. That's why the Chavista regime has no trouble allying with deeply conservative regimes. Psychologically, the top priority is to avenge the latent but constant humiliation that they perceive themselves to have suffered at the hands of the yanquis. I've read a very interesting book about this cultural phenomenon called Del buen salvaje al buen revolucionario, by Venezuelan writer Carlos Rangel. It was written in 1976, but it might as well have been published today for how spot-on it is. The author is clearly a liberal, so I don't doubt that he would be despised by the majority of D&D, but he is certainly not a gung-ho supporter of savage capitalism. He puts more emphasis on strong, reliable institutions and the need for mentality change as an alternative to caudillismo and tercermundismo. I wonder if he is remembered in Venezuela at all. He'd be sad if he were still alive to see such a perfect example of his writings in his own country.
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Sep 3, 2015 18:55
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The region is under effective control of Guyana, right? Is there anything Venezuela could realistically do to press its claim? I imagine that if they tried to invade, there would be a strong international reaction.
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Sep 23, 2015 17:14
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25% is actually not that much for such a polarizing candidate. It leaves me hopeful that the Venezuelan electorate will get rid of the chavistas come December. My only fear is that they will try every trick in the book, if not to outright throw the election, then at least to invalidate the results.
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Oct 7, 2015 16:18
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It's the first time I've seen that. You know a poll is biased, you publish it anyway, and then you mention that the poll is biased. At least they're honest about their dishonesty.
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Oct 25, 2015 12:16
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The mere fact that they're resorting to these ridiculous mind tricks shows that they're worried.
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Nov 3, 2015 20:26
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BeigeJacket posted:I've often wondered, when reading the English translations provided by goons, whether Maduros speeches sound as rambling and word salady in Spanish. Because that poo poo seems to be all over the place. I've seen his speeches on Telesur, he reminds me of an East Bloc politician talking about the next five-year plan that this time for sure will definitely bring about the socialist revolution in spite of all the wreckers, saboteurs and class enemies. I hope Venezuelans give him the boot come December.
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Nov 24, 2015 21:16
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M. Discordia posted:This is what leftists in Western countries were like during the height of the Soviet period -- there are no purges, there is no gulag, any day now my band of English grad students will rule this excuse for a society, etc. Sadly, I think most people outside of Latin America aren't even aware of what's going on in Venezuela. At most, they might vaguely recognize the name Chavez. Here in Flanders, I don't recall ever hearing anyone spontaneously talk about Venezuelan politics in real life. When are the elections scheduled again, the 6th of December? The chavistas will almost certainly try to rig the vote in some way, and depending on how blatant it is, it might provoke an international reaction.
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Nov 27, 2015 19:06
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How do you think Maduro will respond to his party's near-inevitable loss?
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Dec 6, 2015 22:37
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Feinne posted:I mean never mind 'how far can this go before people revolt' because honestly with the military on Maduro's side that might never be possible. It feels like we're approaching 'how far before there is literally no more wealth for him and his cronies to squeeze out of the country' because everyone's starving and dying of loving malaria. I honestly never thought it would get this bad, in other failed states the situation might be dire but the informal economy is usually enough to allow regular people to satisfy their basic necessities. I didn't take into account that in this case you have the entire executive branch of the government actively trying to make things worse, blaming the effects of their own incompetence and disastrous policies on economic sabotage and 'wreckers', in some ridiculous, anachronistic echo of East Bloc rhetoric. I'm sure Maduro believes what he's saying, no matter how laughable it seems to us, but he needs to go. He's indirectly killing people.
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Aug 15, 2016 22:23
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I hope it's a huge success. If they could somehow non-violently chase out Maduro that would be ideal, but unfortunately neither of those is very likely.
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Sep 1, 2016 09:34
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I take it a lot of Venegoons are at the rally right now, which is why the thread's so quiet.
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Sep 1, 2016 15:31
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I'm seeing reports on the preparation for the march, on the BBC site for example, but nothing about the march itself so far. It must be a huge clusterfuck if Maduro ordered security forces to block access to Caracas.
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Sep 1, 2016 16:19
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It does seem baffling that he's still in power given how genuinely unpopular he seems to be. They're using repression, sure, but I imagine they're as incompetent at that as they are at everything else.
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Sep 4, 2016 21:21
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Sinteres posted:I think the overly cautious opposition is part of why other countries don't give a poo poo. As long as they're still pretending they're operating in a democracy, what are other countries supposed to do? If the opposition forced a confrontation and the military actually moved against the people in the real way though, I don't think the US would be able to (or want to) ignore what's going on in its back yard anymore. The US treating Latin America as its personal back yard is what allowed demagogues such as Chavez to come to power in the first place. If they intervened, it would vindicate the chavistas and you're just setting yourself up for a new crop of left-wing populists a generation from now. As for the opposition being 'overly cautious', just what are they supposed to do? They're old guys in suits, made politically powerless by the fact that Venezuela has become a dictatorship in all but name. In a situation like that, it's the streets that count. That's the true opposition. Not that I blame people for not wanting to risk their lives, I'd be the same, but I don't understand the bitter complaining about MUD. Surely you don't need the blessing of this or that specific politician to organize and to protest.
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Oct 29, 2016 17:34
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I'm not aware of any big Venezuelan community here in Belgium, though there must be some. The problem for Venezuela is that it's a brain drain, of course. If all the people with money and/or a decent education leave, that's bound to have a negative impact.
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Nov 21, 2016 08:23
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I hope the protests continue until the regime is toppled, with minimal casualties of course...except maybe Maduro and his cronies, who are responsible for the deaths and suffering of so many. Stay safe and stay strong. Fados posted:Meanwhile the good dudes at telesur just released this aptly named Maduro propaganda documentary called : "Indestructible Loyalty" Downvoted this poo poo, and I hope you guys do too. Mind-boggling that you can have Western (non-Latin American) commenters talk about 'American warfare' when it's Maduro blatantly killing 'his' people both directly and indirectly. Chuck Boone posted:This is all hearsay, so take it with a grain of salt: I heard that the man who organized the protest only requested a permit (you need permits to protest in Spain) for about 20 people, because that's how many people usually turned up to the protests that he organized. The outrage against the regime from Venezuelan expats is such that all of those people ended up showing up essentially unannounced. This sort of thing has been happening all over, too: there was a scuffle at an anti-regime protest in Panama earlier this week, and I've seen pictures of consulates/embassies in Colombia, the U.S. and Belgium being the sites of protests and demonstrations. Next time there's a protest in Brussels, I'm down. Haven't seen anything for the time being, but if you're in the know you can keep me posted. Phlegmish fucked around with this message at 14:53 on May 14, 2017 |
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May 14, 2017 14:06
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Cool, let me know if you do hear anything. I'll probably be able to get my dad to come with, he has the same opinion of Maduro and we both live close to Brussels. I think along with the current repression, what pushed me over the edge were the reports about the steep rise in infant mortality published by his own minister - whom he later fired, of course. That's when he stopped being 'just' an authoritarian clown and turned into a loving mass murderer. Which site are you mainly using to keep abreast of developments in Venezuela? Spanish is not a problem, I can read it just fine (just don't ask me to speak it).
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May 14, 2017 22:02
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Feinne posted:One would suspect the colectivos are probably going to be where any pushback starts, as in spite of being heavily armed they are despised and seem poorly organized for the most part and that's a real recipe for getting torn apart by a mob as soon as they are more angry than afraid of you. Most of them appear to be common thugs and criminals, and in any case they're going to bat for a quasi-dictatorship that has ruined the country. I have a hard time feeling sorry for them.
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May 17, 2017 18:45
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How are Maduro's plans for the 'special assembly' coming along? How is he planning to rewrite the constitution while parliament is opposition-controlled? This poo poo needs to be stopped before Maduro becomes another Putin/Erdogan.
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May 17, 2017 20:11
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Interesting read for sure. I've been wondering about that myself. It seems like you have a lot of different categories of security personnel in Venezuela, and loyalty to the regime is very variable within and between them. All it would take is for a police line guarding the approach to Miraflores to give way and it could be over. Unfortunately, it probably won't be that simple.
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May 18, 2017 16:38
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Night10194 posted:So apparently someone talked to the US's orange dipshit of a president and now we're putting sanctions on your supreme court justices. Yes, this is referred to as the boliburguesía: government officials that have enriched themselves under chavismo in various mostly illegal ways, while ordinary Venezuelans are starving. I am totally in favor of putting targeted sanctions on individuals associated with the regime (though not the country as a whole). I hope the EU follows suit with this, if they haven't already. Freeze their assets, make it completely impossible for them to enjoy their luxurious lifestyles abroad for as long as Venezuela remains a dictatorship. Unrelated, I've been checking out YT protest videos and it seems that the protesters are steadily getting more organized. I really like the little phalanxes.
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May 19, 2017 07:26
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57 days straight. Jesus Christ. Are there any plans to make things come to a head? So far no one is budging on either side, but I fear that the protesters will get tired soon.
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May 28, 2017 18:14
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Acebuckeye13 posted:This thread has gone exciting places I've been low-key following this thread for years. In that time, there must have been at least a dozen Venezuelan goons active at one point or another. As far as I can remember, not a single one of them had anything good to say about Maduro. Not one. Their stories have been almost universally heart-wrenching. Whatever happens, I hope he goes.
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Jan 26, 2019 21:18
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Pener Kropoopkin posted:Basing perceptions of ongoing events on things that happened years prior is delusional. The opposition isn't well loved by a majority of Venezuelans because of their prior incompetence & inconsistencies, and they will be even more hated for being American stooges while the sanctions regime ramps up. Guaido literally snuck across the border to do talks with the United States and our allies where this coup attempt was strategized. The Trump administration masterminding this crisis is plain as day. You're positively giddy with this turn of events, aren't you? Venezuelans have been documenting their and their relatives' experiences in this thread for years - the hunger, the crime, the violence, the corruption, the emigration, how people were struggling just to survive, how the situation got worse and worse for the average Venezuelan. We didn't much hear much from tankies outside of the occasional hit-and-run. The Maduro regime was so blatantly incompetent and malicious that even they were struggling to bring themselves to defend it, despite their general lack of human empathy. Now that the US is openly supporting the opposition, everything is falling into place again. They're coming out of the woodwork in large numbers. The comfort of the old narrative has returned. Black is black and white is white. The imperalist US, being the only agent that matters, is at its old tricks again, and that is of course the only thing they will be focusing on to the exclusion of anything else.
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Jan 26, 2019 23:43
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Pener Kropoopkin posted:It's easy for diasporates whose lives are no longer at risk to believe no price is too great to pay for the liberation of their homeland. Time and time again it's been proven that the costs of American intervention are greater than the status quo, and it's the height of hubris to assume that this time things will be different with Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, Lil' Marco, and Elliot Abrams at the helm. OK. I'm not in favor of an American military intervention, either. I'm just disappointed that the thread is basically about the US now, with Venezuela being a setting at best. It's a real country with real people with real ideologies, convictions and motivations who don't deserve to be reduced to the status of American chess pieces just because they happen to believe things that go against your worldview. For the record, I also understand the original groundswell of support for Chavismo two decades ago. That was real, too, and in many ways a justified reaction against inequalities within Venezuelan society. I just don't think the Maduro regime has actually been competent at addressing those or that it currently has any legitimacy left. Chomskyan posted:It's sampling bias. The Venezuelans who are English speaking and on Anglo websites are more likely to be wealthy and privileged. This is not the first time someone's come up with this argument because actual Venezuelan goons didn't agree with them, and it's just as condescending and stupid this time.
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Jan 27, 2019 00:20
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Maduro hits a lot of the same beats as Erdogan, right down to blaming nebulous foreign enemies for the results of his disastorus economic policies. When it comes down to it, and despite his vaguely socialist rambling, he's just another authoritarian strongman in the Latin American tradition.
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Jan 27, 2019 15:56
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