Venezuela: Resistance or disintegration?

[Voyageur]

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido named Harvard University economist Ricardo Hausmann as the country's representative to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Guaido's envoy to the United States said on Monday.

Probably no surprise, especially when there is Gold involved and like a magnet, whatever country that is, it seems to draw in The Harvard Boys.

 

[angelburst29]

Probably no surprise, especially when there is Gold involved and like a magnet, whatever country that is, it seems to draw in The Harvard Boys.

Venezuelan opposition asks Citibank to delay gold repurchase: sources

Opposition leader Juan Guaido has asked Citibank to delay by 120 days Venezuela's scheduled repurchase of gold that President Nicolas Maduro's government put up as collateral for a loan in 2015, three members of the team advising Guaido said.

Venezuela's Guaido vows to paralyze public sector to squeeze Maduro

Opposition leader Juan Guaido held talks with Venezuela's public sector unions on Tuesday about staging strikes to help bring down the government, as President Nicolas Maduro said a "crazed minority" bent on destabilizing the country would be defeated.

Maduro, speaking for the first time since Guaido’s return, said he would not allow “anything or anyone to disrupt the peace.” He called for “anti-imperialist” demonstrations across the country on Saturday, coinciding with marches called by Guaido.

“The crazed minority continues in their bitterness. We are going to defeat them, be absolutely sure,” he said during a ceremony to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the death of his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Guaido said the strikes would be staggered and aim to paralyze the public sector. He has called on state officials, who have been historically pressured by the ruling Socialist Party to publicly back Maduro, to disavow the government, and has promised future amnesties for those that do.

(Comment: I wonder, if Guaido's followers realize ... that by "paralyzing the public sector" Guaido is actually using them to temporarily cut off their own public services - to only benefit him? How stupid is that? Talk about - the blind - leading the blind! )

U.S. looking at new sanctions against Venezuela: U.S. official

The United States is considering imposing new sanctions on Venezuela to increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government to give up power, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said on Tuesday.

 

[goyacobol]

(Comment: I wonder, if Guaido's followers realize ... that by "paralyzing the public sector" Guaido is actually using them to temporarily cut off their own public services - to only benefit him? How stupid is that? Talk about - the blind - leading the blind! )

It's almost like the ANTIFA party personified in Guaido.

 

[Windmill knight]

I haven't been very much impressed by Trump lately.

Trump Extends Sanctions, National Emergency With Respect to Venezuela

The crisis has been brewing in Venezuela for over a month, as Washington has backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who unilaterally declared himself Venezuela's "interim president."

sputniknews.com

The document reads that the situation in Venezuela continues to "unusual and extraordinary" threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

"For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692 with respect to the situation in Venezuela."

The "unusual and extraordinary" situation of Venezuela was largely created by the US economic blockade, sanctions, and other covert and overt dirty tricks against its government. But now it turns that Venezuela is the threat, and furthermore, the solution is to impose even more sanctions! You would think that we are back in the Dubya days!!

 

[aragorn]

I thought that this was a very good analysis and summary of the situation:

Former Adviser to Venezuelan President Chavez: 'There's No Way to Save Maduro'

Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, returned to the country on Monday and successfully passed immigration control at Caracas Airport, despite fears he might be arrested after flouting a travel ban imposed by the...

sputniknews.com

Former Adviser to Venezuelan President Chavez: 'There's No Way to Save Maduro'
Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, returned to the country on Monday and successfully passed immigration control at Caracas Airport, despite fears he might be arrested after flouting a travel ban imposed by the nation’s Supreme Court.
Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, returned to the country on Monday and successfully passed immigration control at Caracas Airport, despite fears he might be arrested after flouting a travel ban imposed by the nation’s Supreme Court.

After his arrival, Guaido greeted crowds at an opposition rally and called on his supporters to take to the streets for more protests on Saturday.

Sputnik has discussed the situation in Venezuela with Professor Heinz Dieterich, an adviser to the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who now manages a research centre at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City.

Sputnik: The economic crisis that's continuing in Venezuela started in the last century under the former leader Hugo Chavez. In your view has the situation spiralled now even more so under President Maduro?

Heinz Dieterich: Maduro inherited an economic and political model that was already in crisis in the last years of President Chavez's government and that was due to the 2008 world financial economic capitalist crisis which brought down the oil price and the whole model of Hugo Chavez had been based on the foreign income of the high oil price plateau, and that was enough to satisfy the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and the masses and also the US transnational corporations who were omitted from in the oil exploitation.

So that model began to enter a crisis and when Maduro in 2013 won the election, the presidential election he did not make the necessary reforms which he needed to make under this new environment, the worldwide conditions to make the old model workable. So he continued with the model and the people begin to be dissatisfied which was very clear in the election in 2015 when the parliamentary election was won by the right, by the opposition, but instead of reforming the model and bringing it up to date to the new challenges Maduro kept it going.

When the people rebelled then he became more repressive and in the end it became a normal bourgeois dictatorship with a democratic facade, nothing more. So he is a usurper of a historical project which was democratic and progressive and he really underdeveloped it to the point where now there is no way to save him. And the people who try to maintain him in power really are trying to move a dead horse. There's no way to save him.

Sputnik: It's very interesting what you're saying in terms of this extreme loyalty that his lieutenants are showing him. Just referring back to Hugo Chavez he himself was a very popular leader and he enjoyed somewhat massive support from the military. What can be said about the army's support for Maduro? I've just eluded to it and you have as well, it's absolutely essential for his continuance, how long is it going to remain, how crucial is the army's support in this situation?

Heinz Dieterich: Very good question. I've discussed many times with Hugo Chavez very early in his presidency that it was absolutely necessary to form a Latin American integrated military command to defend against the Monroe Doctrine and US imperialism and he understood that, and he after a couple of years managed to convince Lula (Brazil) and Kirchner in Argentina that this should be done. And internally he modernised the armed forces with the help of a very capable general. So the Army and the Air Force, in fact, became a very strong modern force which had to be reckoned with.
In part that was due to advanced Russian military technology like the Sukhoi Su-30 fighter planes, Kalashnikovs and anti-aircraft missiles and so on. So again, Maduro inherited a very capable, a very powerful in the hardware and the software camp, powerful army. Now he really destroyed it, the same way he destroyed the economy and that's very easy to see.

He had, for example, about 1,500 generals in the army which was 4 to 5 times more than the functional need you have for generals, and the army has a very low plateau now of troops, it maybe less than 80,000, and combat morale is low because when they were with Chavez they had a mission and they were willing to die for Chavez and fight for the country, but how are they going to die for Maduro? That will not work.

So what's the situation today? The situation is that according to my analysis the verticality, the hierarchy which is decisive in an army body is crumbling and it's just a matter of time until the generals which support the government of Maduro until they will be alone. So I think there is increasing isolation of Maduro politically, internationally and nationally and the army, of course, is not isolated from that process. I think it's a matter of weeks until they will have to kick out Maduro because the only way to save the process in the country from US domination is without Maduro.

Sputnik: You've said that the opposition leader Mr Guaido was an employee of the empire, how likely is it that Venezuela's military will allow him to call the shots? From what you've said in your last answer it's only a matter of time then?

Heinz Dieterich: Latin America, since it formed its political independence in 1825 has always been seen by the US as a backyard, a neocolonial backyard that was expressed in the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which interestingly enough John Bolton has now revived. When asked on TV why they were attacking Venezuela so ferociously and not Saudi Arabia which has no democracy at all he said, "Well this is our backyard, this is our hemisphere and the Monroe Doctrine and Kennedy and Reagan used and we will use it to put order in our the backyard".
So there is now only one option for Guaido, everybody knows that he is what the Romans called proconsuls or what we call neocolonial administrators of imperialist backyards, and he lost the battle of February 23 this year when he said he would open the border by force for US aid which was a plan by the USA, of course, because it was a repetition of what they did with the Berlin wall in Germany. So the plan by Guaido was to open the borders by force and that would be the end of Maduro and he was defeated, it didn't work.

So then the US put into place a second plan and they said, "Well you go to Brazil, you go to Argentina and we drum up support for you and then you have to go back". So he has no other option if he does not go back now he's politically finished, but if he goes back he runs a risk to become a martyr because he possible might be put into prison. So I think in the end he will be the president in Venezuela because, as I said before, there was no way that the current regime by 15% of the population and Maduro with a small government clique and a small military clique, there's no way that this configuration of power will win against the US and its Latin American allies.

So at the end, if Guaido does not become a martyr in the process, he will be the next president, unless, and this is important for Russian and Chinese diplomacy, unless they form a third force; because it cannot be Guaido as the president, it cannot be Maduro as the president. There must be a third force because otherwise it will be a new colony of the United States. So I think that on the world level diplomacy does not understand really what the future options are.

Sputnik: The US has also not ruled out military intervention in the country, what consequences can this move have not only on Venezuela, but on the whole region, is it going to destabilise it, surely?

Heinz Dieterich: Well, it will be an open dictatorship like during the Cold War when they destroyed all the democratic regimes through military coups. They imposed the national security doctrine so the military forces would guarantee that there would be no progressive governments and they are now again at it; because if Bolton publicly says on TV in US that the Monroe Doctrine is our guidance then you probably say to the Latin Americans that we will destroy you at any cost if you don't do what we do. That, in fact, is America First by Trump that's now applied to the western hemisphere.
So a military intervention is possible but it will not be necessary, what they will do is they will repeat the criminal action by Ronald Reagan against the Sandinista revolutionary government when he armed 20,000 mercenaries in Honduras to destroy the Nicaraguan economy, they never had a decisive military victory, they were already defeated by the weakened economy. At the end 85% of the Nicaraguan budget was for defence and so you cannot have a civilian government that survives that. So at the end the Sandinistas were put out of government by a right-wing government.

And that's the plan here. The role of Honduras as the rearguard for the paramilitaries, of course, is Columbia and to a second degree Brazil. And there's also been information now by Russian sources that the US is already buying weapons in certain Eastern European countries which are being flown to Colombia and Colombia have army bases by the US. Venezuela is, in fact, surrounded by military bases of the US, but a direct intervention would generate a patriotic backlash in Venezuela and the military would fight that and the US understands that.

So what they will do is what they did in Nicaragua and in Chile against Allende. They will destroy the economy with paramilitary forces until a right-wing configuration of power can become officially the new government. But direct open intervention will not be necessary, and they will not risk people coming back in plastic bags, because now they're already in an electoral situation and Venezuela is one of the main topics of that electoral discussion now.

Sputnik: Professor, you mentioned the support that the countries such as Colombia and Brazil are offering to the opposition leader and allowing the US to use their countries for transit for the humanitarian aid and for military hardware, of course, why are these countries helping the US? What can they gain by siding with Washington in this issue, it's very interesting that the majority of the South American countries are all in support of Guaido and the US, I think there's only Uruguay that's in support of Venezuela, why are countries like Colombia and Brazil such strong support with regard to the US?

Heinz Dieterich: Well they need a patron. The US policy in Latin America is mafia style policy. There is a bully and he terrorises the neighbourhood and he decides to what has to be done. You can either defy the bully, and that is dangerous, or you can join him, and these presidents have taken the second alternative because the biggest dream of all these neoliberal, pro-imperialist presidents like Bolsonaro, like Duque in Colombia and so on, is to become a member of NATO because they think they're safe from the masses if they are a member of NATO.
They want to be an ally of the US because then they may have some small advantages in the economic field and so on. So you have two strategic choices which you can make in Latin America since Simon Bolivar, since the independence two hundred years ago: either you create a sovereign hemispheric power centre, which is 4-5 big states, confederations as he proposed, or you join the US as the subordinate ally. And these two principles to become a sovereign hemisphere versus the imperial powers of the United States and the Europeans, this tension between hemispheric, nationalistic Latin American future against an imperial-dominated European or US foreign control by the Monroe Doctrine, a neocolonial system that has been decisive.

 

[Aeneas]

The Russian telephone pranksters have managed to speak to Elliott Abrams pretending to be the Swiss president. It gives a very good idea of the mindset of these neocon gangsters. It is also very instructive as to their strategy.

'Useful to Keep Them Nervous': LISTEN as Top Trump Aide Blabs US Venezuela Plans

Vovan and Lexus, Russian telephone pranksters known for their trolling of politicians from around the world, have struck again, targeting US special representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams to find out more about the US-backed effort to...

sputniknews.com

'Useful to Keep Them Nervous': LISTEN as Top Trump Aide Blabs US Venezuela Plans
© AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta
LATIN AMERICA
16:11 06.03.2019(updated 16:33 06.03.2019)

Vovan and Lexus, Russian telephone pranksters known for their trolling of politicians from around the world, have struck again, targeting US special representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams to find out more about the US-backed effort to unseat that country's legitimate government. Sputnik got ahold of the full audio from the talks.
Posing as Swiss President Ueli Maurer, who also serves as the country's finance minister, the pranksters contacted Abrams on two occasions – in mid-February and early March, speaking to him for over 23 minutes about Swiss policy on the ongoing effort to freeze the Venezuelan government's assets as part of broader plans to replace President Nicolas Maduro with US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The highlight of the pair of conversations was when 'Maurer' asked Abrams about the chances of Washington following through with its threat to use military force to topple Maduro. Here is what he revealed:

"You know, we are not going to do that. Unless the regime does something completely crazy like attacking the US embassy. But our information suggests that people in the regime and in the military are actually nervous about a US invasion. And we think it is useful to keep them nervous, which is one reason why we will not say publicly 'no, no, no, this will never happen.'"

"In private briefings to members of Congress, this is exactly what I say to them, [that] 'we are not trying to make you in Congress nervous. We are trying to make the Venezuelan military nervous. And we think that it is a mistake tactically to give them endless reassurances that there will never be American military action.' But I can tell you this is not what we're doing. What we're doing is what you see – financial pressure, economic pressure, diplomatic pressure, political pressure," Abrams said.

Close Interest in Personal Accounts
Assuring Bern that the US asset freezes against Venezuelan government-related entities and individuals were aimed at "just trying to preserve assets," Abrams seemed particularly interested in Swiss efforts to block individual accounts, disclose their contents, and transfer them to Guaido's allies.
"Tell me if you would about the confidentiality questions here. For example, if you meet next week with representatives of Guaido in the national assembly and you say to them 'we have blocked this account or that account', are they then free to not only access the account, but are they free to announce things?" Abrams asked.
When the pranksters assured him that the answer was 'yes', the representative said he "didn't realise that," adding that "that's obviously great, frankly it's a great help to Guiado."

Limpopo Bank
When asked by Abrams about the status of accounts belonging to Venezuela's PDVSA state oil giant and other government accounts, the pranksters joked, posing as Maurer, that Swiss authorities knew about a number of Venezuelan accounts in Swiss banks, including one with a Russian connection known as "Limpopo Bank."

The US envoy didn't pick up on it, but 'Limpopo' was a reference to Vovan and Lexus's earlier trolling of US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who was pranked into accusing Russia of meddling in the elections of the fictional African country of 'Limpopo.'
When asked for advice on how to Swiss regulators should act against Venezuelan accounts if no illegal activity was found, Abrams insisted that "everything should be frozen, absolutely frozen, just to make sure that they stay where they are. That's our view."

Veiled Threat?
In what might be construed as a veiled threat, the Trump official also warned that because the US and dozens of its allies have now declared that the "Maduro regime" is "an illegitimate regime," there was now a "risk for any Swiss bank that hands those assets over."
"There is the risk of future litigation from the future legitimate government of Venezuela that the bank allowed those assets to be, in essence, stolen," Abrams explained. At this point, a diplomat from the US embassy in Caracas who was also on the line chimed in, saying that even without litigation, dealing with Venezuelan government "comes with high reputational risks."

Interest in China's Position
In the latter phone call, when asked about the then-upcoming UN Security Council resolution on the Venezuela crisis, Abrams complained that despite support from nine of its members, he expected the Russians to veto the US resolution, while adding that Washington was particularly interested in China's stance.
"We are always interested in seeing whether the Chinese abstain or veto. Thus far, they have gone along with the Russians in vetoing, but their language is much more restrained, very different, very businesslike," he said.

Comical and Tragic
As may be expected, Vovan and Lexus' conversation with Abrams garnered widespread attention in Latin America, including in Venezuela itself. On Wednesday, Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez did a bit of trolling of his own on Twitter.
"They [the US] are the most powerful empire on Earth, and a pair of Russian jokers are laughing in the face of this specialist in regime change…If it were not so tragic, it would be comical," Rodriguez quipped.
Listen to the full audio of the pranksters' conversations with Abrams here:

The State Department has yet to comment on the authenticity of the recordings.
Elliott Abrams is a veteran Reagan and Bush-era Latin America policy expert brought on board by the Trump White House in January amid the escalating political crisis in Venezuela. Abrams played a major role in the abortive coup attempt against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002, and acted as a lobbyist and unofficial spokesman for US-backed militias in Central America attempting to topple leftist governments in the region in the 1980s.

 

[Aeneas]

I thought that this was a very good analysis and summary of the situation:

Former Adviser to Venezuelan President Chavez: 'There's No Way to Save Maduro'

Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, returned to the country on Monday and successfully passed immigration control at Caracas Airport, despite fears he might be arrested after flouting a travel ban imposed by the...

sputniknews.com

I am not so sure that Maduro is going to fall and that Guaido will be president. The military might not as he points out in the interview fight for Maduro, but I think that they will fight for the country. And the same goes for the people. As this regime change drags out, the more Guaido will lose momentum if he has any at all. At the same time the countries around Venezuela have time to rethink the situation not least due to the likely efforts of China and Russia behind the scenes. Both China and Russia stand to loose big time not least in terms of investments if the US wins this regime change battle.

 

[herondancer]

The Russian telephone pranksters have managed to speak to Elliott Abrams pretending to be the Swiss president. It gives a very good idea of the mindset of these neocon gangsters. It is also very instructive as to their strategy.

Omg, that is hysterical. Bless these guys. They're as good as an intelligence service. Abrams totally deserves the embarrassment.

I am not so sure that Maduro is going to fall and that Guaido will be president. The military might not as he points out in the interview fight for Maduro, but I think that they will fight for the country. And the same goes for the people. As this regime change drags out, the more Guaido will lose momentum if he has any at all.

I certainly hope so. Reading the interview was really depressing, especially coming from a former Chavez official. One would think he has an insider's view.

On the on the other hand according to Venezuela Analysis article written in 2015, Heinrich was never truly a supporter of the Bolivarian revolution. One wonders why he was a Chavez advisor in the first place. Alan Woods describes him as "reformist and class collaborationist" and having "close relation with the counterrevolutionary General Raul Baduel discredited him and led to a radical break with Chavez."

Nowadays Dieterich is a critic of the Bolivarian leadership. But that was not always the case. In the past he attempted to cultivate relations with the same leaders. Like an obsequious courtier, he poured bucketloads of flattery on them. It would be difficult now to re-read those articles without being overcome with a feeling of nausea. Now the flattering courtier has become a vicious critic. It is hard to say which of the two variants is more poisonous.

Now Alan Woods is clearly leftist in leanings, but I don't think that negates his critique of Heinrich. The article is worth reading.

 

[Windmill knight]

I am not so sure that Maduro is going to fall and that Guaido will be president. The military might not as he points out in the interview fight for Maduro, but I think that they will fight for the country. And the same goes for the people. As this regime change drags out, the more Guaido will lose momentum if he has any at all. At the same time the countries around Venezuela have time to rethink the situation not least due to the likely efforts of China and Russia behind the scenes. Both China and Russia stand to loose big time not least in terms of investments if the US wins this regime change battle.

I agree, I don't think it's going to be that easy. If anything, to me it feels like the regime change plan doesn't have enough 'oomph', at least for now.

I haven't had a chance to read the interview, but I did read an article by that same guy Heinz Dieterich in Spanish the other day. He was commenting on the "fact" that Maduro called for presidential elections "because the military forced him to". Except that he didn't! It appears that Dieterich totally misinterpreted and took out of context a certain declaration by Maduro, in which he said that back when he had been interim president, he had called for elections within 30 days as the law declares, but that Guaidó is not doing that. Dieterich thought Maduro meant he was calling for elections now, when he was talking about the past!

I figured Dieterich was either hinting at something he knew from his sources, or he was getting a bit senile. Since that was 2 weeks ago, I suspect the latter.

 

[Joe]

I am not so sure that Maduro is going to fall and that Guaido will be president. The military might not as he points out in the interview fight for Maduro, but I think that they will fight for the country. And the same goes for the people. As this regime change drags out, the more Guaido will lose momentum if he has any at all. At the same time the countries around Venezuela have time to rethink the situation not least due to the likely efforts of China and Russia behind the scenes. Both China and Russia stand to loose big time not least in terms of investments if the US wins this regime change battle.

Perhaps, or perhaps not. Certainly the US has been making very large mistakes in recent years as concerns its traditional foreign policy (domestic policy too actually). In that article, I thought these were very valid points.

"You can either defy the bully, and that is dangerous, or you can join him, and these presidents have taken the second alternative because the biggest dream of all these neoliberal, pro-imperialist presidents like Bolsonaro, like Duque in Colombia and so on, is to become a member of NATO because they think they're safe from the masses if they are a member of NATO."

And after the defeat of the progressive social democratic forces in Latin America, Lula in Brazil, Kirchner in Argentina, Correa in Ecuador and so on, after the defeat of these forces, the US saw a power vacuum which would allow them to after all cement control for a long time in the US backyard. And they needed this because they have lost the economic competition, and the scientific, technologic competition with China. They've lost the strategic military competition with Russia. Russia is now 10 years ahead in strategic weapons against which the US neither in the air nor in the sea have any defences.

So they have lost against the two major world powers and they try to maintain themselves in a competitive situation by controlling Latin America. Because there you have 650 million citizens more, you have direct access to the Antarctic, which is fundamental, and you have immense natural resources. So they need to ferociously control Latin America because they have lost, for now, the competition for world governance against China and against Russia. That is the basic reason behind all of this.

 

[mabar]

So they need to ferociously control Latin America because they have lost, for now, the competition for world governance against China and against Russia. That is the basic reason behind all of this.

Yep! and, there is also the little ice age factor that is coming, more land/soil and resources will also be needed.

 

[Windmill knight]

Ok, I've read the Dieterich interview. It was interesting, but I'm still not convinced that Maduro is doomed to fall - at least not in the near future. I do agree with him on this part:

So a military intervention is possible but it will not be necessary, what they will do is they will repeat the criminal action by Ronald Reagan against the Sandinista revolutionary government when he armed 20,000 mercenaries in Honduras to destroy the Nicaraguan economy, they never had a decisive military victory, they were already defeated by the weakened economy. At the end 85% of the Nicaraguan budget was for defence and so you cannot have a civilian government that survives that. So at the end the Sandinistas were put out of government by a right-wing government.

And that's the plan here. The role of Honduras as the rearguard for the paramilitaries, of course, is Columbia and to a second degree Brazil. And there's also been information now by Russian sources that the US is already buying weapons in certain Eastern European countries which are being flown to Colombia and Colombia have army bases by the US. Venezuela is, in fact, surrounded by military bases of the US, but a direct intervention would generate a patriotic backlash in Venezuela and the military would fight that and the US understands that.

That seems to be the plan. But then, who would do the actual fighting? Certainly not the Venezuelan opposition, who come from the upper classes and won't be up for carrying machine guns. They would have to train the 'guarimberos' (anti-government street gangs), perhaps. Will they have enough? Will they be willing to do the job? Or they would have to get actual mercenaries - I don't know from where nor how easy it would be for the CIA to gather 20,000 of them and insert them in the country. Ideally, they'd love to see the Army turn their back on Maduro, but that too seems doubtful to me at this point.

There's also Russia and China. I don't think they would interfere directly on Venezuela's behalf, but there's still a lot they could do to support the country. Finally, Maduro's popularity and the cohesion around him may strengthen the more he is threatened - in fact, I get the sense this is already happening. We'll see!

 

[Windmill knight]

The Russian telephone pranksters have managed to speak to Elliott Abrams pretending to be the Swiss president. It gives a very good idea of the mindset of these neocon gangsters. It is also very instructive as to their strategy.

That's brilliant!

"You know, we are not going to do that [US military force]. Unless the regime does something completely crazy like attacking the US embassy. But our information suggests that people in the regime and in the military are actually nervous about a US invasion. And we think it is useful to keep them nervous, which is one reason why we will not say publicly 'no, no, no, this will never happen.'"

"In private briefings to members of Congress, this is exactly what I say to them, [that] 'we are not trying to make you in Congress nervous. We are trying to make the Venezuelan military nervous. And we think that it is a mistake tactically to give them endless reassurances that there will never be American military action.' But I can tell you this is not what we're doing. What we're doing is what you see – financial pressure, economic pressure, diplomatic pressure, political pressure," Abrams said.

There we go, he just confirmed for us that US military intervention is not the plan. Actually, it sounds more like the plan is just to keep bugging Venezuela until 'something happens' - which is standard CIA procedure, as we learn from Fletcher L. Poultry. No real plan, just cause trouble. "Fun and games", they call it.

 

[angelburst29]

The unimpeded return of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to the country cannot be regarded as any sort of validation that incumbent President Nicolas Maduro is weak, Venezuelan political analyst and consultant Dimitris Pantulas has told TASS.

Expert praises Maduro’s ‘clever’ move to let Guaido return unhindered to Venezuela March 6, 2019

Guaido left the country in late February despite the Supreme Court’s ban and arrived in Caracas on Monday without encountering any resistance from the authorities. "Guaido’s arrival in the country shows <…> that Maduro acted cleverly and rationally [by letting him enter the country], and this cannot in any way be seen as some sort of demonstration [of his] weakness, as some assert. The situation is exactly the opposite," Pantulas pointed out.

According to the expert, the head of state realizes that Guaido’s arrest would have led to intensified pressure on the Venezuelan government from the international community and to the amplification of protests in Caracas that would have gone hand in hand with violence. In his view, this scenario is "the last thing that Maduro wants at the moment."

Venezuela's government expelled the German ambassador on Wednesday, while press advocacy groups said two journalists, one of them American, had been detained as socialist President Nicolas Maduro cracks down on a challenge to his rule.

Venezuela expels German ambassador for 'meddling,' arrests U.S. journalist March 6, 2019

Ambassador Daniel Kriener was expelled two days after he and diplomats from other embassies welcomed home opposition leader Juan Guaido at the Caracas airport. The government declared Kriener persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country, accusing him of meddling in internal affairs, although it did not give specific details.

“Venezuela considers it unacceptable that a foreign diplomat carries out in its territory a public role closer to that of a political leader aligned with the conspiratorial agenda of extremist sectors of the Venezuelan opposition,” the government said in a statement.

But Maduro has continued to defy the Trump administration. Venezuelan military counterintelligence agents detained American journalist Cody Weddle and his Venezuelan colleague Carlos Camacho early on Wednesday, Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union said on Twitter, adding that the government has arrested 36 journalists this year.

Weddle, who recently covered Guaido’s return to the country for Miami television station WPLG Local 10 News, was arrested at his home on charges of treachery, according to free speech group Espacio Publico. Agents took Weddle’s computer and equipment, the group said.

The move, which came a week after Venezuela deported a team from U.S. television network Univision, drew condemnation from Organization of American States Secretary-General Luis Almagro and Florida Senator Rick Scott.

WPLG reported on its website that its management’s attempts to reach Weddle “have proven unsuccessful” and that his last contact with station employees was on Tuesday afternoon.

Slideshow (3 Images)
Venezuela expels German ambassador for 'meddling,' arrests U.S....

 

[angelburst29]

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido urged Europe to tighten financial sanctions against the government of Nicolas Maduro after it expelled Germany's ambassador.

Venezuela's Guaido urges more sanctions after German envoy's expulsion

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognized as the country's rightful interim ruler, speaks during a session of Venezuela's National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

Caracas declaring ambassador Daniel Kriener persona non grata “represents a threat against Germany,” Guaido was quoted on Thursday as telling Der Spiegel. Kriener and other diplomats had welcomed Guaido home at Caracas airport this week.

“I hope that Europe reacts sharply to this serious threat against an ambassador,” Guaido said. “Above all, they should tighten financial sanctions against the regime.”

Germany is among the many nations backing Guaido’s plan to install a transitional government ahead of national elections. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday called Venezuela’s action “incomprehensible” and said Germany and its European partners would continue to back Guaido.

Guaido, however, said he had asked Kriener to stay on as ambassador in Caracas, since Maduro was not empowered to expel a diplomat as he was “occupying the post of president illegally.”

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Hector Rodriguez recalled that in the decades-long history of Latin America the US tried to prevent the states from creating a bloc, as it was easier to rule them separately.

March 7, 2019 - Geopolitics and oil behind strife in Venezuela, Miranda State governor says
Geopolitics and oil behind strife in Venezuela, Miranda State governor says

© EPA-EFE/LEONARDO MUNOZ

"The current crisis is part of the historical period through which Venezuela is going," he noted. "The new stage of a lengthier historical period of 15-20 years has been in place for a month already. The country’s authorities firstly aim to protect the ‘Bolivar Project,’ the project of the unification of the Latin American nations. This project naturally runs counter to the US’ plans on Latin America."

Rodriguez noted that in the 200-year-long history of Latin America the US tried to prevent the regional countries from creating a common bloc, because it was easier to rule them separately. "Any Latin American leader who supported unification was immediately removed from power in a coup d’etat," the governor went on. "This is the main reason for the conflict."

Rodriguez named the US’ strive to control the oil produced in Venezuela as another reason for the political crisis. "The US’ interest is based on control over energy resources," he said. "The discourse is always the same: in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq. No one can say that 15 years after the US’ invasion in Iraq there is more democracy and human rights there now."

"What really increased there is deaths and famine. And more control over the energy resources," the politician added.

The US takes the lead - The two above-named reasons influenced Venezuela’s political life over the last 20 years, Hector Rodriguez said. "In 2002, there was a military coup, when there were cordons of tanks on streets; in 2007, there were manifestations, and then in 2014," he noted. "The US’ blockade started in 2013. Today’s events are another link in this chain, an attempt to carry out a new coup d’etat and remove the government."

However, Miranda State’s governor says that the current crisis has an important difference. "The US used to remain in the shade, but now they took the lead and are directing these manifestations," he said. "Still, I think that peace and democracy will win, like before."

Hector Rodriguez, aged 36, is a young Chavista leader. He is one of the possible presidential candidates among the government supporters if a presidential election is called.