Thanks, bad weeds never die, haha, a little humor for the big, big scare.
Greetings,
Thank you so much for taking the time to translate, Miguel.
Well, I haven't slept since 2 a.m. when the attacks started. I heard the planes fly by, and then the power went out. A few seconds later, the shockwave hit, followed by reflections and red flashes on the concrete of the surrounding buildings. You've already seen the rest in the videos. My body is still buzzing with adrenaline, and I'm mistaking birds for planes in the distance especially after seeing a missile right over my head. Sorry, it wasn't a UFO; it's just that being under a missile was much less likely, until now!.
As the day progressed, few people went out to buy anything at the five small shops where you could get some vegetables and refill your drinking water. Then the atmosphere became very tense again, despite the beautiful day. Because I had a bad feeling about the obvious possibility of more attacks—something that was confirmed when I was able to connect to the internet—I made the decision to explain to my mother that we should leave our home and the less important things behind for a while.
Currently, I'm with the rest of the family, there's no place like home? Funny.
We're far from areas vulnerable to nearby attacks, but well, there's no safe place if they decide to attack much more forcefully and with much more destructive weaponry.
Getting down to brass tacks,
Yes,
Venezuela didn't defend itself at all! The radar was off, or rather,
they simply opened the gates for them.
Maduro was betrayed, and I don't think that should be a surprise. Remember when Chávez was already packed up and ready to be sent to the US, but some loyal military personnel rescued him? Well, Maduro didn't count on that loyalty.
We should ask Padrino López, who kept the population entertained by showing us the civic-military exercises and assuring us that Venezuela had the best Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Martian, and futuristic weapons in every corner of the country, the best defense, but when it came down to it, nothing happened.
"A war foretold doesn't kill soldiers," they say. Unfortunately, the soldiers killed were never warned. They were simply fulfilling their role as night guards; they were killed while simply on duty! They weren't expecting any combat. So far, 40 dead at one of those bases; surely there are many more counting the different states of the country that were attacked.
They had nothing prepared to respond. What happened to the "Bolívar 200" military deployment? It was a blatant lie.
We must also remember that Padrino López was offered a sum of money to betray Maduro and many others. Why isn't Padrino López, who claimed that "Venezuela is impregnable territory," being questioned or dismissed? Padrino López also reported days ago that Venezuela would possibly be attacked, but he didn't give details; this is no coincidence. He wasn't the only one "tempted" with enormous sums of money.
How is it possible that the person primarily responsible for the country's defense allowed this to happen and has said nothing about it, nor has anyone asked for explanations?
Marco Rubio says he met with Delcy Rodríguez to reach agreements that, ridiculously, were the same ones presented by Maduro. Marco Rubio says that Delcy accepted these agreements, but contradictorily, Delcy Rodríguez, instead of agreeing, appeared on television calling for popular resistance and an armed uprising. Later, they say a new law has been drafted that militarizes public officials, that is, obligates them to defend the homeland, or, to put it more bluntly, to be cannon fodder.
"Public employees, as part of the people, are incorporated into this comprehensive defense structure, becoming part of the combatant corps of the Bolivarian Militia, receiving strategic training and practical skills for national defense."
Just replace "cannon fodder" with "comprehensive defense structure" and it sounds more "democratic and patriotic."
I think they're just playing at creating more division to avoid support from the people who still believe in them. They portray Delcy as having negotiated Maduro's surrender, when the main suspects are sitting right next to him, but they always use the slogan "unity first" to expose them anyway. It's obvious there's nothing left to do.
It's worth noting that they haven't only betrayed Maduro, they've also morally betrayed everyone who believed in them, from the military levels, and once again it's proven that "the military makes and breaks presidents."
Maduro was never popular with a majority in Chavista circles. Many important figures who surrounded Chávez distanced themselves from Maduro and later even attacked him. These were the first signs of the revolution fracturing, and today we see the consequences. Not to mention the corruption scandals and deals with mafias to ensure their support for the government—in other words, "take your cut, but don't screw us over, don't mess with your country." Many today say, "They brought this on themselves," and they're not far from certain of it.
People aren't going to take up arms against defenses that were blatantly dismantled to sell out Maduro. People are terrified and disappointed, terrified enough to accept whoever governs as long as it allows them to continue with their normal lives, because ultimately, life goes on, and all that will be left is to work as always and save themselves.
It's up to the few remaining remnants of the revolution who are calling for resistance to prevent a second wave of US intervention. Unfortunately, all that's left is to accept reality and negotiate what Trump proposes to avoid a complete breakdown of the institutional order by keeping Delcy and not Maria Corina. But Marco Rubio surely wants the opposite.
Trump has definitely proven that he can finish something if he sets his mind to it, and do it well—better than Russia did with Zelensky. He has a fine trophy now.
It's sad that in more than 20 years of revolution, so many shouted "unity," and Maduro has ended up a sellout, with only his wife in prison, and once again, a people betrayed from within. Although, as I mentioned before, Maduro was going to end up dead or in prison. It was just a matter of time.
Furthermore, the mountain barracks where Chávez's remains are located were never actually attacked, or at least not from the front, which is the side bearing the 4F symbol and the main flame facing the city. Miraflores Palace was also not destroyed.
I live across from the mountain barracks, and I actually thought it had been attacked, but when I went outside to see where the attacks had taken place, I saw that the barracks remained intact with the 4F symbol and the flame still burning.
Around 6:00 a.m., at dawn, a reporter published images confirming that the mountain barracks remained intact. A few minutes later, a group of "colectivos" were filmed, supposedly defending the mountain barracks. These groups are generally known for their antisocial behavior. There is quite a bit of information about them and their abuse of power.
But my surprise at 8 a.m. came when I realized they had removed the symbol of February 4th and extinguished the flames. It's a place primarily occupied by the military.
The message is clear:
the flame of the revolution has been extinguished.
Vance confirms that Delcy Rodríguez is in Russia
According to the Spanish news La Sexta, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez is in Russia.
Calling for the people to take up arms... from Russia?... I don't think they'll be able to criticize Maria Corina now for calling for intervention in Venezuela from Spain, for example.
That's outrageous. The interpretation is, "Oh, wow! She's safe in Russia and wants us to kill each other!"
Wearing a vest and helmet, Diosdado Cabello appeared after the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States.
"We have now had 28 weeks since the first threats, and today they carried out a treacherous and vile attack against a people who were asleep. They cowardly attacked our people," Cabello added.
El número dos del régimen exigió una respuesta de los organismos internacionales."Mucha calma, que nadie caiga en facilitarle las cosas al enemigo invasor", lanzó.
www.clarin.com
On this occasion, it's impossible not to acknowledge that the US definitely performed a surgical operation, an extraction. There were no indiscriminate civilian casualties, which is surreal. Independent media tried to show some collateral damage to create a matrix of opinion, but they were not as large as expected to create a global impact about the bombing.
No plane appeared, no large numbers of soldiers or police officers showed up to guard anything, there was no immediate response of any kind, only silence and total abandonment by the Venezuelan defense forces and the public perception is that they were left looking inept, unable to defend the Venezuelan president after so long claiming victory in imaginary battles.
It's a desperate attempt to expect people who aren't even military personnel to throw rocks at missiles while demanding that Maduro be brought back to them.
As long as they continue to call for resistance, a resistance that I do not believe is possible, they will be the ones who actually lead the people to an unnecessary massacre.
The US played its cards well, China and Russia sent what was due under the military agreement, and that was all. They provided support with weapons; that they betrayed each other is nobody else's problem.
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1. **Infrastructure Reality Check**
2. **Phased Restoration Timeline**
3. **Capital Needs**
4. **Invisible Obstacles** (usually ignored in mainstream outlooks)
5. **Summary Forecast (Realistic)**
