OMNI
VENEZUELA NEWSLETTER #3,
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
OMNI’S Newsletters on Venezuela: This is the third newsletter specifically on Venezuela, and OMNI’s Latin America newsletters have included books, articles, and reports relevant to recent US subversion of Venezuela’s elected government. See http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2013/04/latin-america-newsletter-2.html
This newsletter is organized in reverse chronological order from 2018 to the present. It is composed of articles in defense of the Venezuelan government’s attempts to defend itself against US attempts to overthrow it.
CONTENTS
Venezuela: Aggression In October? (2 items)
https://popularresistance.org/venezuela-aggression-in-october/
Corporate Media Condone Destruction of Venezuela’s Voting Machines. FAIR. https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-condone-destruction-of-venezuelas-voting-machines/
These Six Banks Have Frozen $4.6 Billion Belonging To Venezuelans. https://popularresistance.org/these-six-banks-have-frozen-4-6-billion-belonging-to-venezuelans/
How the U.S. failed at its foreign policy toward Venezuela. Monthly Review.
CODEPINK Letter
Popular protagonism in Venezuela’s transition to socialism: A conversation with Michael Lebowitz. Monthly Review.
Trump Tells Florida Crowd 'Something Will Happen In Venezuela' Soon. Biden similar. Popular Resistance.org
VenezolanosConBiden and MAGAzuela: Two sides of the same coin. Monthly Review. Biden similar. [Dem/Rep US War Party. –Dick]
Bolton Weaves A Tall Tale In His Venezuela Chapter. Monthly Review.
Trump used looted Venezuelan public money to build border wall with Mexico. Monthly Review.
How Venezuela helped defeat Canada’s Security Council bid. Monthly Review.
A Catholic Worker take on Venezuela
Goliath is not invincible. Monthly Review.
Mercenaries, pandemic and riots in Venezuela: A grassroots perspective. Monthly Review.
Venezuelan Army to escort Iranian tankers bringing gasoline to Venezuelans blockaded by U.S. sanctions. Monthly Review.
Killers for Hire Invade Venezuela: The Worsening Situation in Venezuela. Cindy Sheehan http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2020/05/contract-killers-for-empire-worsening.html
Follow up from the webinar on Venezuela's resistance to US imperialism. Popular Resistance
Corporate Media don’t think Americans paid to invade Venezuela Count as mercenaries. Monthly Review
Genocide and Military Occupation: The five most important keys to the Guaidó-Silvercorp contract. Monthly Review
More Details Emerge Of The Coup Plot In Venezuela, Showing US-Guaido Involvement. Popular Resistance
Trump Rehearses The Invasion Of Venezuela. Popular Resistance
President Maduro: 4 new mercenaries captured–U.S. led military incursion. Monthly Review.
Venezuela: Two U.S. citizens captured in botched coup attempt. Monthly Review
US To Mobilize Military Reservists In ‘Anti-Drug’ Operation Against Venezuela. Popular Resistance
Exposed: Another Failed Attempt To Oust Venezuelan President Maduro. Popular Resistance
Letter from President Maduro as U.S. threatens Venezuela with war. Monthly Review
Trump sends gun boats to Venezuela while the World partners to fight a deadly pandemic. Monthly Review
Trump: US to deploy anti-drug Navy ships near Venezuela. Associated Press
Trump’s narcoterrorism indictment of Maduro already backfires. Monthly Review.
“U.S. Indicts Venezuela’s President.” NADG (3-27-20).
Beyond Chutzpah: US Charges Venezuela With Narco-Terrorism. Popular Resistance
US Senators Call For An End To The Blockade On Venezuela And Iran. Popular Resistance
As the World tackles the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. raises the pressure on Venezuela
Venezuela’s Coronavirus response might surprise you
Venezuela: U.S. blocks flights to repatriate citizens amid COVID-19
Sure, but Venezuela is the Narco State… Monthly Review
As media amplifies unrest in Venezuela and beyond, millions are quietly revolting in Colombia. Monthly Review
Mistrial in Trump admin’s biased case against Venezuelan embassy protectors is win for sovereignty. Monthly Review
Venezuelan Communards meet to organize national movement. Monthly Review
“Opposition head defies Venezuelan travel ban” Washington Post
Giuliani is said to have taken part in a 2018 call with Venezuela's president as part of a shadow effort to ease him from power. Washington Post
USAID funds salaries of Venezuelan politicians as it doubles down on the coup. Monthly Review
How Venezuela defeated Washington’s coup attempt at the United Nations. Monthly Review
Venezuela oil production continues decline as China cancels more shipments. Monthly Review
Venezuela: Despite U.S. sanctions Maduro delivers house number 2.8 million. Monthly Review
Economic Warfare
Washington intensifies its collective punishment of Venezuelans. Monthly Review
U.S. sanctions target subsidized food program as Foro de Sao Paulo kicks off. Monthly Review
UN Wire 8-21-19
3 ITEMS ON WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
UNHCR head praises Brazil's response to Venezuelan refugees. Bloomberg
Venezuelan women lack access to birth control as crisis continues. Associated Press
POPULATION CONNECTION IN VENEZUELA.
UN report calls on Venezuela to end human rights violations. Bloomberg
U.S. and Canada are backing an elite white minority in Venezuela. NOTES FROM THE EDITORS. Monthly Review
The path to climate justice passes through Caracas. Monthly Review
Washington Office on Latin America gets behind U.S. regime change agenda in Venezuela. Monthly Review
U.S. in Venezuela. How would intervention be seen? ADG
The dogs of war are unchained once more. Monthly Review
Guaido “hires” an economic hitman (Venezuelan debt). Monthly Review
Stop the U.S. War Machine -- Hands off Venezuela and Iran! ANSWER Coalition
The DC Venezuelan Embassy Petition. Codepink
TEXTS
August-September
Aggression against Venezuela in October? (2 items)
Venezuela: Aggression In October?
By Ángel Guerra Cabrera, La Pupila Insomne. A US-sponsored military aggression against Venezuela could take place before the November 3 elections in that country. On August 22, Admiral Remigio Ceballos, chief of the strategic operational command of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), said that “The international intelligence agencies allied to Venezuela inform us that Colombia is preparing an aggression, and the FANB will respond with force and forcefulness to any aggression against the sovereignty and independence of Venezuela, under the command of our Commander in Chief Nicolas Maduro Moros”. -more-
The stage is set for a Venezuela October surprise. Mronline.org (9-4-20).
Aggression against Venezuela from the U.S. has intensified in recent weeks and all signs are pointing towards an escalation ahead of elections in the U.S. and Venezuela. | more…
Corporate Media Condone Destruction of Venezuela’s Voting Machines by LUCAS KOERNER
https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-condone-destruction-of-venezuelas-voting-machines/
The vast majority of Venezuela’s voting machines were incinerated on March 7 in a fire that engulfed the main warehouse of the National Electoral Council, or CNE, outside Caracas.
An unknown militant group styling itself the “Venezuelan Patriotic Front” claimed responsibility for the arson attack, which comes as the Maduro government and moderate opposition factions continue high-level negotiations to hold parliamentary elections in a bid to overcome the country’s current standoff.
Given Western journalists’ moral outrage over the dubious allegations of widespread “meddling” in the 2016 US presidential election, consistency would have mandated a similar response to such a brazen attack on Venezuela’s democracy.
Instead, corporate outlets followed the familiar script of blaming the victim, repeating the US State Department talking point that the Venezuelan electoral system is “rigged” (FAIR.org, 5/23/18) and floating outlandish conspiracy theories.
The Fiction of ‘Fraud’ MORE https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-condone-destruction-of-venezuelas-voting-machines/
© 2020 Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. All rights reserved.
These Six Banks Have Frozen $4.6 Billion Belonging To Venezuelans. Popular Resistance.org.
By La IguanaTV/La Tabla. The looting, theft and hijacking of resources from Venezuela have been of great magnitude, six banks withhold under the excuse of US sanctions, around 4.6 billion dollars much needed by and belonging to the Venezuelans, currently facing a spike in Covid-19 cases. The website La Tabla cited the data published by the Venezuelan NGO dedicated to the study, promotion, education and defense of human rights, “Organización Sures“, which explained that this Venezuelan money is in the following banks: Novo Banco: $ 1,547,322,175.89, Bank of England: $ 1,323,228,162.57, Clearstream: $ 517,088,580.00... -more-
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JULY
Thank you for signing the petition to Congress
CODEPINK Letter 7-16-20
Dear Dick --
Thank you for signing the petition to Congress asking them to co-sponsor S.J.Res.11 to prohibit the unauthorized use of United States Armed Forces in hostilities with respect to Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their own future!
Together we can end war and create a more peaceful world.
Please forward this email on to others who may want to sign:
Here's the full petition:
No US Intervention in Venezuela
Dear Congress,
The U.S. has a long and sordid history of supporting coups in Latin America — Guatemala in 1953, Chile in 1973, Honduras in 2009 — and it always turned out disastrous for the people. It’s urgent that you not let the Trump administration send the U.S. military to intervene in Venezuela.
U.S. economic sanctions have devastated Venezuela’s economy, creating food and medicine shortages, widespread poverty, and mass migration. The people of Venezuela need sanctions to be lifted and dialogue between the Maduro government and the opposition to be facilitated — Mexico and Uruguay have offered to mediate, as has the Pope. A democratic process, not a coup, must be supported.
Please co-sponsor Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative David Cicilline’s legislation- S.J.Res.11 in the Senate and H.R.1004 in the House - making it clear to President Trump that without congressional authorization, military force may not be used in Venezuela. After becoming an original co-sponsor of the bills, please encourage revision of the bills to include very important language on the harm being done to the Venezuelan people by the sanctions and the need for dialogue - facilitated by Mexico, Uruguay, and the Pope - to move forward to address this crisis, rather than the US coup strategy.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Your friends can sign here: http://www.codepink.org/hands_off_venezuela?recruiter_id=296273
Popular protagonism in Venezuela’s transition to socialism: A conversation with Michael Lebowitz. Mronline.org (7-16-20)
The Marxist theorist emphasizes that socialism involves people transforming themselves. | more…
Trump Tells Florida Crowd 'Something Will Happen In Venezuela' Soon. Popular Resistance.org (7-16-20)
By Alan Macleod, Mintpress News. On a trip to COVID-19 riddled Florida this weekend, President Donald Trump not-so-cryptically revealed that he had something big planned for Venezuela during a meeting with leaders of the U.S. military’s Southern Command. “Something will happen with Venezuela. That’s all I can tell you,” he said, before adding that Washington would be “very much involved” in what he was referencing. Biden has also taken a hard line on Venezuela and is attempting to out-hawk Trump on the issue. “It’s time for free and fair elections so that the Venezuelan people can turn the page on the corrupt and repressive Maduro... -more-
VenezolanosConBiden and MAGAzuela: Two sides of the same coin. Mronline.org (7-14-20)
The Biden campaign recently held an event outlining the presidential hopeful’s “vision for Venezuela.” Spoiler alert: it barely differs from President Trump’s. | more…
The following 2 items are from mronline.org (7-1-20)
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JUNE
Bolton Weaves A Tall Tale In His Venezuela Chapter. Mronline.org (6-2020)
By Leonardo Flores, Popular Resistance. From the first paragraph of “Venezuela Libre”, the ninth chapter of John Bolton’s upcoming book, The Room Where It Happened, it is obvious that the tale Bolton spins is full of fabrications, half-truths, propaganda and the occasional kernel of truth. The chapter is a 35-page screed in which the infamous warmonger places blame for the Trump administration’s disastrous Venezuela policy on everyone from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, to State Department bureaucrats and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and, of course, President Trump. The criticism also extends to... -more-
A Catholic Worker take on Venezuela
The US government is offering a $15 million bounty for information that would lead to the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro. The US has refused to recognize the democratically elected Venezuelan President Maduro and has been seeking to install one to its liking, currently Juan Guaido. What the US is doing is ordering the arrest of world leaders it does not approve of, putting a bounty on their heads. This decision of the US constitutes a further escalation in coercive measures against a sovereign country, which has included sanctions so extreme as to create a blockade, costing Venezuela 40,000 lives in a period of just over a year and $116 billion in lost revenue.---Code Pink CASA CRY, NEWSLETTER OF CASA MARIA C.W. , July 2020, sent by Roberta Thurstin, June 26.
Goliath is not invincible. Mronline.org (6-6-20).
Last year, I walked with Mariela Machado in her housing complex known as Kaikachi in the neighbourhood of La Vega (Caracas, Venezuela). After Hugo Chávez was inaugurated president in 1999, a group of working-class residents of the city saw an empty piece of land and occupied it. Mariela and others went to the government and […] | more… 
MAY
Mercenaries, pandemic and riots in Venezuela: A grassroots perspective. Mronline.org (5-24-20).
Venezuela is confronting COVID-19 amid foreign sanctions and mercenary incursions. Complicating matters further is the explosive combination of deep recession and a nationwide lockdown, which has triggered incidents of looting and riots. | more…
Following 2 items from mronline.org (5-23-20)
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Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Podcast with Guest, Dakotah Lilly
Killers for Hire Invade Venezuela: The Worsening Situation in Venezuela
Listen to radio podcast here:
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2020/05/contract-killers-for-empire-worsening.html
TOPIC: CONTRACT KILLERS FOR EMPIRE
For this virus episode of The Soapbox, Cindy and Dakotah talk about the signed contract between the agents of U.S. Empire and contract killers who tried to go to Vz to assassinate the democratically elected president and leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Nicolas Maduro.
Please listen! The U.S. is taking the opportunity with the corona issue to continue its underhanded dealing around the world!
‘I’ve never seen a contract for toppling a govt’: Venezuelan VP decries Guaido’s hiring of US mercenaries to Rafael Correa
Follow up from the webinar on Venezuela's resistance to US imperialism
2020 | Sat, Apr 25, 5:41 PM |
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Greetings!
Notify everyone and meet at the Peace Park to take photos with signs 6 feet apart sometime before the last week of May. Perhaps some of the churches would start doing The Manitos Children's Fund is a new project to raise awareness of the impact of sanctions on Venezuelans. The goal is for people to organize solidarity committees in their community and raise both awareness and funds for direct support.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Popular Resistance <info@popularresistance.org>
Date: Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 4:22 PM
Subject: Follow up from the webinar on Venezuela's resistance to US imperialism
To: <earthpax@gmail.com>
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Corporate Media don’t think Americans paid to invade Venezuela Count as mercenaries. Mronline.org (5-14-20).
When an attempted invasion of Venezuela launched from the shores of Colombia was foiled on May 3, after armed commandos were intercepted at Venezuela’s coastline of La Guira, it seemed undeniable that the heavily armed men, possessing satellite phones and uniforms with the U.S. flag emblazoned on them, had been paid to take part in […] | more…
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More Details Emerge Of The Coup Plot In Venezuela, Showing US-Guaido Involvement
By Jorge Martin, Marxist. Popular Resistance, 5-8-20. Yesterday, 6 May, Venezuela announced the arrest of more members of the mercenary expeditionary force that was to carry out the coup. In a press conference with the attendance of the international media, president Maduro gave more details about the attempted coup. During the press conference, Maduro showed a video clip featuring US mercenary and former Special Forces soldier Luke Denman: one of two US mercenaries arrested as part of the mercenary force. A key aspect of this saga is the contract signed by Guaidó and his representatives with... - more -
Trump Rehearses The Invasion Of Venezuela
By Atilio A. Boron, Resumen English. Popular Resistance (5-8-20). Make no mistake about it: what happened in Macuto is not an isolated incident, but rather the result of a meticulously conceived plan whose final outcome, in the feverish hallucination of those who conceived it, is the kidnapping and assassination of President Nicolas Maduro and the realization of the longed-for and elusive “regime change”. In fact, the day after the first incident in Macuto, a new mercenary collective was intercepted and subdued by the popular militias in Chuao, in the coastal region of the State of Aragua. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the Trump Administration of... - more -
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Popular Resistance (5-3-20)
US To Mobilize Military Reservists In ‘Anti-Drug’ Operation Against Venezuela. Popular Resistance (5-3-20).
By Ricardo Vaz and Lucas Koerner, Venezuelanalysis. Mérida - US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday activating armed forces reservists for an “anti-narcotics” mission in the Caribbean. “The Secretary of Defense is directed to order to active duty for not more than 365 consecutive days, any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit, of the Selected Reserve under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense, not to exceed 200 Selected Reservists at any one time, as he considers necessary,” the decree reads. - more -
Exposed: Another Failed Attempt To Oust Venezuelan President Maduro. Popular Resistance (5-2-20)
By Joshua Goodman, AP News. The failed attempt to start an uprising collapsed under the collective weight of skimpy planning, feuding among opposition politicians and a poorly trained force that stood little chance of beating the Venezuelan military. “You’re not going to take out Maduro with 300 hungry, untrained men,” said Ephraim Mattos, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who trained some of the would-be combatants in first aid. This bizarre, untold story of a call to arms that crashed before it launched is drawn from interviews with more than 30 Maduro opponents and aspiring freedom fighters who were directly involved in or familiar with its... - more -
APRIL
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Trump sends gun boats to Venezuela while the World partners to fight a deadly pandemic. Mronline.org (4-5-20)
On April’s Fools Day, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a press conference where he announced a new “counter-narcotics effort” by U.S. Southern Command. “We’re deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, aircrafts and helicopters, Coast Guard cutters…doubling our capabilities in the region,” he said | more…
I SENT THE FOLLOWING 4-2-20 TO: Abel, Luis Restrepo, Luis Contreras,
:Coontreras replied:How do we stop this?
UN CHARTER FORBIDS NATIONAL AGGRESSIONS.
JUST TO SAY 'VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW' IS MEANINGLESS
AND SAYS NOTHING TO EDUCATE AS WELL AS WIN SUPPORT.
A BILL OF PARTICULARS IS NEEDED: THE HOW AND THE WHY
OF THE VIOLATION:
THE UNITED STATES HELPED IMPORTANTLY IN DRAFTING THE U N CHARTER.
THE UNITED STATES SENATE RATIFIED IT BY AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY.
IN CHAPTER 1. ARTICLE 2, #4, THE U N CHARTER FORBIDS, EXCEPT AS AND WHEN AUTHORIZED BY THE SECURITY COUNCIL,THE “THREAT OR USE OF FORCE” AGAINST ANOTHER STATE, EXCEPT IN CASE OF DEFENSE AGAINST ARMED ASSAULT.
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
AND THIS OFFENSE VIOLATES A NORM PRESCRIBED BY OUR
OWN CONSTITUTION.
Based upon the UN Charter, the following AP report seems heavily biased in favor of US aggression.
Dick
Trump: US to deploy anti-drug Navy ships near Venezuela
By JOSHUA GOODMANtoday 4-2-20
MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Navy ships are being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a U.S. drug indictment against Nicolás Maduro.
The announcement came at the start of the daily White House press briefing to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, which has left much of the country in lock-down and which the government warns could cause 100,000 to 240,000 deaths.
“The Venezuelan people continue to suffer tremendously due to Maduro and his criminal control over the country, and drug traffickers are seizing on this lawlessness,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said after the president’s announcement.
The deployment is one of the largest U.S. military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove Gen. Manuel Noriega from power and bring him to the U.S. to face drug charges. It involves assets like Navy warships, AWACS surveillance aircraft and on-ground special forces seldom seen before in the region.
The goal is to nearly double the U.S. counter-narcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere, with forces operating both in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Esper said the mission would be supported by 22 partner nations.
“As governments and nations focus on the coronavirus there is a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists and other malign actors will try to exploit the situation for their own gain,” said Trump. “We must not let that happen.”
The enhanced mission has been months in the making but has taken on greater urgency following last week’s indictment of Maduro, Venezuela’s embattled socialist leader, and members of his inner circle and military. They are accused of leading a narcoterrorist conspiracy responsible for smuggling up to 250 metric tons of cocaine a year into the U.S., about half of it by sea.
“If I was just indicted for drug trafficking by the United States, with a $15 million reward for my capture, having the U.S. Navy conducting anti-drug operations off my coast would be something I would worry about,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who has been among those calling for a tougher stance against Maduro.
Maduro’s communications minister, Jorge Rodriguez, called the deployment a “desperate attempt to distract attention from the tragic humanitarian crisis” in the U.S. caused by the coronavirus. In an ironic jab, he said that for “the first time” in decades the U.S. is trying to choke off the supply of cocaine, which he noted mostly comes from Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally.
Maduro has blasted the Trump administration’s offer of a $15 million reward for his arrest, calling it the work of a “racist cowboy” aimed at getting U.S. hands on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the world’s largest.
Others have faulted a U.S. plan, unveiled Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to create a five-member council without Maduro or Guaidó to govern the country until elections can be held within a year. While it’s the first attempt in months by the U.S. to seek a negotiated solution to Venezuela’s stalemate, coming on the heels of the indictments many say it has little hope of succeeding and likely to drive Maduro farther away from the path of dialogue.
The Trump administration has long insisted that all options are on the table for removing Maduro, including military ones. Still, there’s no indication then, or now, that any sort of U.S. invasion is being planned.
Rather, the sending of ships fits into a longstanding call by the U.S. Southern Command for additional assets to combat growing antinarcotics and other security threats in the hemisphere.
It could also be an attempt to send a message of protection for Maduro’s U.S.-backed rival, Juan Guaidó.
Maduro’s chief prosecutor ordered Guaidó to provide testimony Thursday as part of an investigation into an alleged coup attempt. Guaidó, the head of Venezuela’s congress who is recognized as his country’s legitimate leader by the U.S. and almost 60 other nations, is unlikely to show up, raising the possibility he could be arrested. The U.S. has long insisted it will not tolerate any harm against Guaido.
In January, another Navy vessel, the USS Detroit, conducted a freedom of navigation operation off the coast of Venezuela in a show of pressure against Maduro.
“That presence sends a big statement about U.S. commitment, it sends a big statement to our friends, it reassures them, and then to our adversaries that those are capable performers,” Adm. Craig Faller, the head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command, said in congressional testimony last month.
The report of the planned deployment comes two days after one of Venezuela’s naval patrol boats sank after colliding with a Portuguese-flagged cruise ship near the Venezuelan-controlled island of La Tortuga. Maduro accused the ship of acting aggressively and said it was possibly carrying “mercenaries” seeking his ouster.
“You have to be very naive to see this as an isolated incident,” Maduro said Tuesday night on state TV.
But Columbia Cruise Services, the operator of the cruise ship, said the patrol boat fired gunshots and than purposely rammed into the liner at speed. There were no passengers on board and none of its 32 crew members were injured, the company said.
Trump’s narcoterrorism indictment of Maduro already backfires
Mronline.org (4-1-20).
Among those indicted by the U.S. was Cliver Alcalá, a retired general who is considered the military leader of the pro-Juan Guaidó forces. Soon, Alcalá posted videos that threaten to cause further splits in the opposition and could result in the arrest of Guaidó.
MARCH
Faiola, Anthony and Matt Zapotosky (The Washington Post), “U.S. Indicts Venezuela’s President.” NADG (3-27-20). “Maduro is accused of narco-terrorism; $15 million bounty offered.”
“Beyond Chutzpah: US Charges Venezuela With Narco-Terrorism.” 
By Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. (3-31-20). US Attorney General Barr’s indictments on March 26 against the government of Venezuela for narco-terrorism go beyond chutzpah. For starters, William P. Barr was chief counsel for the CIA airline Southern Air Transport implicated in the 1980s for running illicit drugs and related narco-terrorism during Iran-Contra. The US charges of drug trafficking against Venezuela are the height of hypocrisy. The world’s leading source of heroin is US-occupied Afghanistan; the US is the world’s largest cocaine market. -more-
US Senators Call For An End To The Blockade On Venezuela And Iran
By Staff, Alba Ciudad with OT content. Popular Resistance (3-31-20). A group of 11 Democratic senators demanded that the White House temporarily suspend the coercive measures imposed on Venezuela and Iran in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The senators sent a letter on Thursday to the secretary of the State Department, Mike Pompeo, and to the secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, to request the suspension for 90 days and allow the reception of humanitarian assistance, Hispan TV reported. -more-
Following 3 items from mronline.org (3-27-20).
As the World tackles the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. raises the pressure on Venezuela
In a press conference on March 26, it was almost comical how little evidence the U.S. Department of Justice provided when it accused Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and several of the leaders of his government of narco-trafficking. The U.S. offered $15 million for the arrest of Maduro and $10 million for the others. Maduro, U.S. […]
Venezuela’s Coronavirus response might surprise you
Within a few hours of being launched, over 800 Venezuelans in the U.S. registered for an emergency flight from Miami to Caracas through a website run by the Venezuelan government. This flight, offered at no cost, was proposed by President Nicolás Maduro when he learned that 200 Venezuelans were stuck in the United States following […]
Venezuela: U.S. blocks flights to repatriate citizens amid COVID-19
Arreaza reiterated that the request for humanitarian flights responds to a request made by Venezuelans themselves to the Venezuelan Attention System in the United States.
FEBRUARY
2 from mronline.org (2-27-20)
Sure, but Venezuela is the Narco State…
Venezuelan analyst Oscar Forero contextualises the accusation that Venezuela is immersed in illegal drug activity.
Source
As media amplifies unrest in Venezuela and beyond, millions are quietly revolting in Colombia
Despite protests of historic proportions fueled by anger over corruption and a brutal right-wing crackdown, the unrest in Colombia has garnered remarkably little international media attention compared to Venezuela.
Mistrial in Trump admin’s biased case against Venezuelan embassy protectors is win for sovereignty. Mronline.org (2-18-20). The Trump administration’s case against Venezuelan embassy protectors was severely biased, but ended up with a hung jury. The mistrial is a victory for sovereignty and democracy, and another failure in the coup attempt. Source
Venezuelan Communards meet to organize national movement. Mronline.org (2-12-20)
Dozens of communes from across the country are uniting to form a “large national political movement.”
Here’s an antidote to the ADG’s biased labeling of all things related to Venezuela’s present government as SOCIALIST, while never referring to the US economic system CAPITALISM which millions of people and hundreds of economists believe to be the chief source of the rapidly increasing climate chaos.
“Opposition head defies Venezuelan travel ban” by Anthony Faiola The Washington Post | Today 1-20-20 at 2:11 a.m.
Venezuelan opposition leader capitalist Juan Guaido, recognized as the nation's rightful president by the capitalist United States and nearly 60 other lackey countries, defied a travel ban Sunday to make a surprise appearance in neighboring capitalist Colombia, the start of a global mission to shore up support for his US supported capitalist coup.
The 36-year-old capitalist opposition leader is to meet with capitalist U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today in Bogota, according to fellow coup conspirators. From Colombia, they say, he'll continue on to the annual meeting of the capitalist World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he will urge European officials to increase pressure on the authoritarian, socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro.
President Donald Trump is also expected to attend Davos this week. Senior figures in the capitalist Venezuelan opposition hope the two will meet in what could be a pivotal encounter for the overthrow of authoritarian, socialist Madura. . . . .
For the original article go to https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/jan/20/opposition-head-defies-venezuelan-trave/
2019
From: The Washington Post <email@washingtonpost.com>
Subject: News Alert: Giuliani is said to have taken part in a 2018 call with Venezuela's president as part of a shadow effort to ease him from power
Date: December 29, 2019 at 2:37:13 PM CST
Reply-To: The Washington Post <email@washingtonpost.com>
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By viewing Venezuela through the lens of Russiagate, Fareed Zakaria (Washington Post, 3/28/19) was able to present backing an attempted coup as a pro-Resistance™ position.
Francisco Rodríguez and Jeffrey D. Sachs (New York Times, 2/2/19) envision similar efforts for a “peaceful and negotiated transition of power,” and Khanna made sure to characterize Maduro as “an authoritarian leader who has presided over unfair elections, failed economic policies, extrajudicial killings by police, food shortages and cronyism with military leaders.”
In other words, Maduro the Dictator must be overthrown—but don’t worry, the US would be diplomatic about it.
Those that didn’t take explicit positions nonetheless wrote articles blaming all or most of Venezuela’s woes on Maduro and Chávez. Economics wiz Paul Krugman (New York Times, 1/29/19) gave his spiel:
Hugo Chávez got into power because of rage against the nation’s elite, but used the power badly. He seized the oil sector, which you only do if you can run it honestly and efficiently; instead, he turned it over to corrupt cronies, who degraded its performance. Then, when oil prices fell, his successor tried to cover the income gap by printing money. Hence the crisis.
Note that Krugman failed to mention the 57 percent reduction in extreme poverty that followed Chávez’s replacement of management of the state-owned oil industry (which has been nationalized since 1976, long before Chavismo). Nor does he acknowledge the impact of US sanctions, or any other sort of US culpability for Venezuela’s economic crisis.
Caroline Kennedy and Sarah K. Smith (Washington Post, 2/5/19) did not explicitly blame Maduro and Chávez for Venezuela’s “spiral downward,” but similarly ignored evidenced US involvement in that spiral. There are only so many places where you can point fingers without naming names.
Dictatorship-talk—writers lamenting the horrific and helpless situation under an alleged “dictator”—characterized many of the ambiguous and no-position articles. In the Post (1/24/19), Megan McArdle asked:
You have to look at Venezuela today and wonder: Is this what we’re seeing, the abrupt end of Venezuela’s years-long economic nightmare? Has President Nicolás Maduro’s ever-more-autocratic and incompetent regime finally completed its long pilgrimage toward disaster?
By simply describing the declining situation of a country (Times, 2/12/19, 4/1/19) and using words like “regime” (Times, 2/14/19), “authoritarian” (Post, 1/29/19) and, of course, “dictatorship” (Post, 1/23/19; Times, 2/27/19) in reference to government officials, commentators create the pretext for regime change without explicitly endorsing it.
The Sunday talkshows and NewsHour also couldn’t find a single person to challenge the anti-Maduro narrative. They did find room, however, for three of the most passionate advocates of regime change in Venezuela: Sen. Marco Rubio (Meet the Press, 1/27/19), Donald Trump (Face the Nation, 2/3/19) and Guaidó himself (NewsHour, 2/18/19).
Other TV regime change proponents included Florida Sen. Rick Scott (Meet the Press, 2/3/19), 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls Peter Buttigieg (This Week, 2/3/19) and Amy Klobuchar (Meet the Press, 3/17/19), Sen. Tim Kaine (Face the Nation, 3/17/19), and Guaidó-appointed, Mike Pence-approved “chargé d’affaires” Carlos Vecchio (NewsHour, 3/4/19).
But leave it to Nick Schifrin of the NewsHour (1/30/19) to bring on “two views” of the US intervention question that are both pro-regime change and pro-US intervention. View No. 1 came from Isaias Medina, a former Venezuelan diplomat who resigned from his post in protest against Maduro. Medina made the unlikely claim that 94 percent of the Venezuelan population—or 129 percent of the population over the age of 14—support US intervention to overthrow the Maduro government:
Not only I, but 30 million people, support not only the US circumstance, but also the Latin American initiative to restore the rule of law, democracy and freedom in Venezuela.
The New York Times (4/1/19) neglected to mention that, unlike most of her “fellow liberals,” Joanna Hausmann is the child of an official in the Venezuelan coup government.
The Times even produced an opinion video (4/1/19) with Joanna Hausmann, “a Venezuelan American writer and comedian,” as she is described in her Times bio. Between sarcastic stabs at Venezuela’s “tyrannical dictator” and cute animations of “Ruth Bader Ginsburg in workout clothes”—Hausmann’s self-described “spirit animal”—come more serious declarations about the nation’s political situation:
Juan Guiadó is not an American right-wing puppet leading an illegitimate coup, but a social democrat appointed by the National Assembly, the only remaining democratically elected institution left in Venezuela…. Let’s provide humanitarian aid and support efforts to restore democracy.
Odd that the Times didn’t find it necessary to note a blaring conflict of interest: Hausmann’s father is Ricardo Hausmann, Juan Guaidó’s appointed Inter-American Development Bank representative. Mint Press News (3/19/19) bluntly described him as the “neoliberal brain behind Juan Guaidó’s neoliberal agenda.”
It would be ludicrous to think the Times would withhold as blatant a connection to Maduro if one of his aides’ daughters made a snarky opinion video calling Juan Guaidó a would-be “brutal dictator”—even if our theoretical commentator was “an independent adult woman who has built a popular following on her own,” as Times opinion video producer Adam Ellick said in defense of the omission. Such a crucial relationship to a powerful Chavista politician would never go undisclosed—in the unlikely event that such a perspective would be tolerated in the opinion pages of an establishment paper.
These are just a few of many media pundits’ endorsements of Guaidó—someone whose name most of the Venezuelan population did not even recognize before he declared himself interim president. Put more accurately, they are endorsements of a US-backed coup attempt.
One of the more muddled regime change endorsements came from Rep. Ro Khanna’s Post op-ed (1/30/19), in which he says no! to military intervention, no! to sanctions, yet yes! to… “diplomatic efforts”:
The United States should lend its support to diplomatic efforts to find some form of power-sharing agreement between opposition parties, and only until fair elections can take place, so that there is an orderly transition of power.
“Diplomatic” is a reassuring term, until you realize that US diplomacy, as FAIR’s Janine Jackson explained on Citations Needed podcast (3/20/19), is “diplomacy where we try to get other countries to do what we want them to do”—in this case, effecting a “transition of power” in another country’s government.
USAID funds salaries of Venezuelan politicians as it doubles down on the coup. Mronline.org (10-22-19)
The payment of Mr. Guaidó’s representatives is a serious conflict of interest. Does the Guaidó team represent the Venezuelan people or the interests of the government that is paying their salaries? It is a point worth reiterating: a foreign politician is being paid by the United States to influence policy in the United States.
How Venezuela defeated Washington’s coup attempt at the United Nations. Mronline.org (10-8-19).
An inside look at how Venezuelan diplomats stymied a US attempt to revoke their credentials at the UN and shatter their nation’s sovereignty.
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Venezuela: Despite U.S. sanctions Maduro delivers house number 2.8 million. Mronline.org (9-18-19).
As a part of Great Housing Mission Venezuela, the national program guarantees citizens’ access to adequate housing.
Economic War
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UN Wire 8-21-19
3 ITEMS ON WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
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WOMEN IN VENEZUELA
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POPULATION CONNECTION IN VENEZUELA
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Hi Mr. Bennett,
Thank you for sharing this notice! I know you read our recent magazine article on an organization we support in Venezuela, The Turimiquire Foundation. They have been able to forge ahead even in these difficult times for Venezuelans. I thought I’d share some of their successes with you! Their work is worth sharing, if you’d like to mention them in one of your upcoming newsletters.
Thanks so much, and best wishes!
Shauna
==============
From the Turimiquire Foundation:
Thanks to your help, we had a very productive year, delivering our critical services in the face of the growing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
2018 Highlights:
Reproductive Health
In 2018, we offered our family planning services to more than 1800 additional reproductive-age women and their families, delivering 11,987 Couple Years of Protection (CYPs) - the metric by which USAID measures family planning achievement - to the low-income populations that we serve. We have now cumulatively passed 117,740 Couple Years of Protection (CYPs) for more than 50,000 low-income women and their families in Venezuela! And we have done this at an average cost of less than $10 per CYP, well below international averages. We have also cumulatively delivered more than 3000 workshops in reproductive health and responsible sexuality to over 55,000 participants, focusing on teenagers, students, and young adults.
Humanitarian Aid
In 2018, we performed 866 surgical procedures for low-income individuals who can no longer count on Venezuela's public health system. These included 710 tubal sterilizations, plus hernia repairs, emergency cesarean sections, various orthopedic, oncological and pediatric interventions, as well as laparoscopic diagnoses and biopsies, for a cumulative total of 7125 surgeries since we initiated this program. We have also provided emergency assistance to dozens of rural families, helping to alleviate a myriad of problems, including basic nutrition for children, in this time of acute crisis in Venezuela.
Education
Our Scholarship Program enables some 50 rural students each year to continue their studies at local high schools. Over 500 students from semi-literate families have now attended high school and almost 100 have graduated. Previously, most students in this community abandoned their formal education at or before the sixth grade. At any given time, some twenty or more of these high school graduates are continuing their studies at the college level with ongoing Foundation support, a real precedent. Each year more students graduate from high school and some of the best students continue to college. To support these young rural scholars, we run a staffed library and computer facility two hours walking distance from the nearest road, where we also offer subsidized school supplies. Our rural high school and college students, as well as low-income urban students, regularly study at our urban Computer Center in Cumaná, which offers free Internet, tutoring and a study area for schoolwork. Two of our rural college students have graduated in nursing, two in education, one in administration, and others are on the way!
Sustainable Rural Development
We are distributing our little known tropical fruit cultivars (Durian, Mangosteen, Jackfruit, Rollinia and more) to local farmers, helping to maintain gravity-piped water and public electricity for 120+ families in the remote, roadless Rio Brito valley, and supporting supplementary river crossing services after the one local bridge was swept away in the rainy season, isolating some of the rural communities where we work. In this time of acute crisis, we are also able to help these communities survive by attending to any number of problems and details on the spot as they come up, making a real difference.
ServYr Merida
We supported our partner Gisela de Sarrazin in her talented, energetic work helping the campesinos and afflicted rural youth of Mérida in the Venezuelan Andes mountains.
Please visit our website for more details.
The work continues in what is going to be a very challenging year here in Venezuela!
A big thank you,
Steven, Teresa and Bob in Venezuela, Willie in Cambridge, MA., and all of us at the Turimiquire Foundation
Shauna Scherer, MPA, CFRE |
Is Venezuela Where Trump Finally Stands Up to Putin? By Fareed Zakaria. The Washington Post (3-28-19).
By viewing Venezuela through the lens of Russiagate, Fareed Zakaria (Washington Post, 3/28/19) was able to present backing an attempted coup as a pro-Resistance™ position.
Francisco Rodríguez and Jeffrey D. Sachs (New York Times, 2/2/19) envision similar efforts for a “peaceful and negotiated transition of power,” and Khanna made sure to characterize Maduro as “an authoritarian leader who has presided over unfair elections, failed economic policies, extrajudicial killings by police, food shortages and cronyism with military leaders.”
In other words, Maduro the Dictator must be overthrown—but don’t worry, the US would be diplomatic about it.
Those that didn’t take explicit positions nonetheless wrote articles blaming all or most of Venezuela’s woes on Maduro and Chávez. Economics wiz Paul Krugman (New York Times, 1/29/19) gave his spiel:
Hugo Chávez got into power because of rage against the nation’s elite, but used the power badly. He seized the oil sector, which you only do if you can run it honestly and efficiently; instead, he turned it over to corrupt cronies, who degraded its performance. Then, when oil prices fell, his successor tried to cover the income gap by printing money. Hence the crisis.
Note that Krugman failed to mention the 57 percent reduction in extreme poverty that followed Chávez’s replacement of management of the state-owned oil industry (which has been nationalized since 1976, long before Chavismo). Nor does he acknowledge the impact of US sanctions, or any other sort of US culpability for Venezuela’s economic crisis.
Caroline Kennedy and Sarah K. Smith (Washington Post, 2/5/19) did not explicitly blame Maduro and Chávez for Venezuela’s “spiral downward,” but similarly ignored evidenced US involvement in that spiral. There are only so many places where you can point fingers without naming names.
Dictatorship-talk—writers lamenting the horrific and helpless situation under an alleged “dictator”—characterized many of the ambiguous and no-position articles. MORE https://www.washingtonpost.com/
U.S. sanctions target subsidized food program as Foro de Sao Paulo kicks off. Mronline.org (7-31-19).
Washington has targeted companies and individuals it alleges are profiteering from the CLAP food initiative.
From the “destruction” of Chavismo to the epicentre of the anti-imperialist Left. Mronline.org (7-16-19).
While capturing Venezuela’s oil was and obviously remains the objective, the destruction of Chavismo as an example and inspiration also was and remains a key consideration.
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June 2019 (Volume 71, Number 2)
by The Editors
(Jun 01, 2019)
The situation in Venezuela has become extremely dire due to Washington’s heightened economic warfare, its continuing attempts to engineer a political coup, and its growing threats of massive military intervention—all aimed at bringing down the Bolivarian Republic. The recent seizure of Venezuelan oil assets in the United States and its gold reserves in British banks, as well as the sanctioning of Venezuelan oil sales, have come on top of a long series of economic sanctions—beginning with the Obama administration and now intensified under Trump’s—that constitute nothing less than a modern form of siege warfare, extended to food supplies and medicine. But the Venezuelan Revolution has managed to resist in the face of the economic and political warfare of the most powerful imperialist nation in the world, and the reasons why are to be found in the nature of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuelan people themselves. | more…
U.S. and Canada are backing an elite white minority in Venezuela. Mronline.org (6-29-19).
The U.S. and Canada are not supporting “the return of democracy” in Venezuela as they claim. Instead, they are following in their shameful histories of colonialism, imperialism, exploitation, illegal wars of aggression, and overthrowing governments. Source 
The path to climate justice passes through Caracas. Mronline.org (6-26-19).
For now the U.S. regime change agenda has been defeated as a result of the mass mobilization in April and May of the Venezuelan masses in defense of their Bolivarian Revolution, a mobilization which succeeded in marginalizing the opposition led by U.S. puppet Juan Guaido, demonstrating how pathetic his claims of legitimacy were. Source 
Constitution – Title I: Fundamental Principles (Art. 1-9). Mronline.org (6-7-19).
Article 1: The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is irrevocably free and independent, basing its moral property and values of freedom, equality, justice and international peace on the doctrine of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator. Independence, liberty, sovereignty, immunity, territorial integrity and national self-determination are unrenounceable rights of the Nation. Source.
Washington Office on Latin America gets behind U.S. regime change agenda in Venezuela. Mronline.org (6-6-19). WOLA’s hawkish stance on Venezuela may seem surprising for a “human rights” organization, but it is less of a surprise for those familiar with WOLA’s history. Source
The dogs of war are unchained once more. Mronline.org (5-26-19).
This week’s newsletter features an open letter to the President of Indonesia, written by Khamid Istakhori, General Secretary of Federasi SERBUK–a large trade union federation in Indonesia. He asks President Jokowi to use Indonesia’s presidency of the UNSC to denounce violations of international law against Venezuela. Source
Guaido “hires” an economic hitman (Venezuelan debt). Mronline.org (5-34-19).
Washington’s actions in August 2017 drove Venezuela out of the international financial system and disabled the country from issuing debt for purposes of refinancing the debt acquired in previous years, as well as using foreign banks. Source
Stop the U.S. War Machine -- Hands of Venezuela and Iran!
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The DC Venezuelan Embassy may be saved! Please Sign!
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CODEPINK
http://www.codepink.org/
Here's the full petition:
Tell the State Department: Accept the Protecting Power Agreement Re Venezuela
Dear Secretary Mike Pompeo,
We are encouraged to learn that on May 21, the Venezuelan and Turkish governments have agreed to sign a Protecting Power Agreement that would put the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC under the charge of the Turkish government. This is similar to the agreement that the State Department has worked out with Switzerland to take charge of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. We have learned that the Maduro government is ready to approve the U.S.-Swiss Protecting Power Agreement if the U.S. government will approve the agreement between Venezuela and Turkey.
Such a reciprocal agreement will be beneficial for the people of both nations, as the Protecting Power Agreements will provide the U.S. and Venezuelan citizens with assistance when in need and will keep the embassies intact until relations are re-established at a future date.
Sign here: http://www.codepink.org/protectingpower?recruiter_id=353680
“Will U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Help or Harm Its People?”
The PBS NewsHour (1/30/19) had a debate over intervention in Venezuela where the “anti” side saw the US’s goal as “assist[ing] the Venezuelan people [to] promote a peaceful transition in Venezuela.”
View No. 2, the ostensibly anti-regime change take, came from Benjamin Gedan, who served on the Obama administration’s National Security Council as director for Venezuela and the Southern Cone. When asked if he supported Trump’s moves to sanction Maduro and possibly use US troops to oust him, Gedan responded:
I think both of those steps are problematic. I think the sense of urgency that the United States administration has shown is absolutely correct…. The question is, how can we assist the Venezuelan people [to] promote a peaceful transition in Venezuela, without harming the people themselves, or fracturing the coalition that we have built over two administrations?
In other words, how can we overthrow the Venezuelan government without destroying the country—or “fracturing the coalition we have built”? The US has many options on the table, but none of them involve not pursuing the overthrow of Maduro.
In the “no position” camp for TV news, New York Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger (Face the Nation, 1/27/19) noted that the problem with US support for Guaidó is one of “both history and inconsistency”:
Our history in Latin America of intervening is a pretty ugly one, and the inconsistency of not applying the same standards to places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where the president has embraced strong men, I think may come back to make the United States look pretty hypocritical, not for the first time.
Sanger indulged in the popular “hypocrisy takedown”: The problem, as presented, isn’t that the US disrupts democracies, destroys economies and kills people, but rather that it does so inconsistently. While vaguely acknowledging the US’s horrific track record of Latin American interventions, and Trump’s cherry-picking of governments worthy of regime change, Sanger didn’t take the logical next step of calling for the US to keep its hands off Venezuela. Instead, he called Maduro’s supporters—defined as “China, Russia and Cuba”—“not a great collection,” and failed to push back against the claim that Maduro “fixed the last” election. Without a formal declaration, Sanger did all the ideological preparation for foreign-backed regime change.
That elite media didn’t find a single person to vouch for Maduro or Chavismo, and that almost all the opinions explicitly or implicitly expressed support for the ouster of Venezuela’s elected president, demonstrates a firm editorial line, eerily obedient to the US government’s regime change policy.
This isn’t the first time that FAIR (e.g., 3/18/03, 4/18/18) has found a one-sided debate in corporate media on US intervention. When it comes to advocating the overthrow of the US government’s foreign undesirables, you can always count on opinion pages to represent all sides of why it’s a good thing. And the millions of people who beg to differ? Well, they’re just out of the question.
END VENEZUELA NEWSLETTER #3, 9-3-20