It seems Maduro, President of Venezuela, is the latest bad guy to emerge on the world stage, at least, if you believe what the Western capitalists are saying. The recent context is a series of constituent elections, designed to counter-balance the forces of a very well financed opposition in the Venezuelan Parliament.
The opposition have manufactured shortages of key goods, and have been busy sabotaging government installations and/or production. Whatever your view of Maduro or his predecessor Chavez, there does seem to be a disturbingly predictable pattern whenever a left wing government takes power, especially if they’re particularly keen on nationalising stuff.
As bad as the media is saying Maduro is right now, what follows is usually much worse. Traditionally, it used to be an authoritarian dictator with a brutal secret police. Iran and Chile are great examples. These days, it seems the West is happy for these regions to become ungoverned spaces, although we shouldn’t rule a military dictatorship out in the aftermath.
He’s changing the constitution, questioning the election results and putting Army generals into key positions in government. He’s a Latin American Trump.
If memory serves, Livingstone did a deal with Venezuela to get cheap oil.
Getting shot of left wing governments is what US administrations do, though. Venezuela just seems to be the perfect trifecta. Left wing, has loads of oil and on their doorstep.
It’d be funny if so many people weren’t going to die as a result. That’s why the mindless cheerleading and commentary from the likes of @saintbristol are so disappointing. It’s that kind of uninformed parroting that enables hawkish regimes to change other governments with no real scrutiny.
I’m a bit confused by the Venezuela situation. My political instincts tell me that the position that the US and our own governments have taken is the same old self interested bull shit. But on the other hand I work with two Venezuelans who I would consider to be quite reasonable left wing people, and they despise Chavez and Maduro. So much so, that any conversation about the situation winds them up so much I’ve never managed to get them to open up properly about it.
One of them did say the other day that the helicopter attack on parliament by the policeman was almost certainly carried out on the orders of Maduro himself, to give them legitimacy in using force to crack down on the protests.
It’s all going Venezuela and Trump has once again waded in. Take 8 months since the election that many said wasn’t legitimate. America’s back yard will never be left to it’s own devices.
https://twitter.com/BootsRiley/status/1088303942952472576
When it all kicks off, and it will, what is the betting that there will be more coverage of the violent demos here than there is of the shit going on just across the channel?
He mentions the Lima group of countries(still trying to work out how Canada gets in), as if they should decide the fate of Venezuela, but they were told in no uncertain terms what would happen if they didn’t vote as demanded.
“Before the Lima Group voted, which the US is not a member of, the CIA directo…err, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a video presentation to the group. Pompeo’s message of “carrots” for those voting correctly, and “sticks” for those voting incorrectly was clear. How shameful to see the US bully its tiny neighbors, and watch them humiliate themselves.”