Written by Daniel Edgar exclusively for SouthFront
A ‘top secret’ document entitled “Plan to Overthrow the Venezuelan Dictatorship ‘Masterstroke’” has recently received substantial coverage by the ‘alternative’ press in Latin America (needless to say, it has received little or no mention in the ‘mainstream’ press). The document is dated the 23rd of February 2018 and apparently was edited and approved by Kurt Tidd, commander of United States Southern Command (‘SouthCom’).
Many sections of the report read as though they were written by the proverbial Cubans of Miami and their CIA/ mafia handlers. For instance, in the section on ‘Information Strategy’ the report emphasizes the importance of “keeping the harassment to the Dictator as the only responsible of the crisis in which he has submerged the nation” (p.9), and in another section states the intention to “expose him as a puppet of Cuba” (p.3). The unlikely spectre of the small Caribbean island taking over the Latin American continent piece by piece as conquered dominions still has a surprising amount of currency in the mainstream press and among right wing sectors (usually updated as ‘CastroChavism’).
As with the ‘Protocols of Zion’, whether or not the document is authentic (as far as I know SouthCom has not denied its authenticity, and they would hardly acknowledge authorship of such a document), the report appears to provide a very accurate description of the US strategy to impose regime change in Venezuela and re-install a surrogate political regime obedient to Washington ever since the election of Hugo Chavez up to recent events, as well as of the next steps that the United States intends to take. It provides further corroboration that these plans include the extreme and irrevocable step of an open military invasion together with the armed forces of several neighbouring States (in particularly Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Guyana, and presumably also Peru) if all else fails, supported by paramilitary groups and other covert forces and groups already present in or infiltrated into Venezuela and other countries throughout the region.
The report describes the immense scope and brutality of the United States’ disruptive economic, social and political actions to destabilize and overthrow the Venezuelan government and anticipates the possibility of an even more dramatic escalation in intensity and scale. For instance, in order to undermine “the decadent popular support to Government”: “Encouraging popular dissatisfaction by increasing scarcity and rise in price of the foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods for the inhabitants. Making more harrowing and painful the scarcities of the main basic merchandises…” (pp.2-3)
Consistent with the stated intentions and plans, over the last year the US has been staging large-scale multilateral military exercises that simulate major aspects of the projected military intervention in Venezuela, including in adjacent areas from where an overt military campaign and associated economic blockade would be waged (see for example Manlio Dinucci, 2017).
While the extravagant hostility and threatening polemic emanating from Washington has presaged the possibility of direct military intervention at least since 2015 when then president Barack Obama promulgated an Executive Order “declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela”, a multilateral military intervention would be unprecedented in recent Latin American history.
While in the nineteenth century an international military coalition was created to invade and subdue a rebellious Paraguay and in the first half of the twentieth century US marines invaded and occupied Latin American countries on numerous occasions, since World War II the US has crafted an extremely effective neo-colonial system of political, economic and technological dominance and control that made overt external military intervention unnecessary. When national governments became too independent or attempted to allocate a larger portion of their country’s wealth and resources to the benefit of its own people instead of US corporations the US could rely on political and economic destabilisation, followed by a military coup by complicit military officers if necessary, to re-establish absolute submission to Washington.
The mere fact that the US may be genuinely considering such a drastic and potentially risky step as a viable course of action is testimony to the resilience of the Venezuelan government and people after almost twenty years of political destabilization, attempted coups and economic sabotage. It also testifies to the importance of Venezuela to the second ‘war of independence’ in Latin America to liberate the continent from imperial/ neo-colonial rule, and amounts to a tacit admission that the all-out efforts of the masters of US foreign policy to impose regime change in Venezuela have thus far failed and are unlikely to succeed in the absence of even more extreme measures, the last resort in the regime change textbook of open military intervention.
In acknowledging the importance of Venezuela to the emergence of independent leadership in numerous Latin American countries since the election of Hugo Chavez and the consolidation of regional forms of cooperation throughout Latin America that explicitly or implicitly rejected Washington’s ‘leadership’, the report states that the recent “rebirth of democracy” (return to conservative, neoliberal, right wing regimes that unquestioningly support Washington’s policies) has halted the trend “in which radical populism was intended to take over” South America. Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador are cited as examples of the resurrection of democracy. In this context, the report states that “overthrowing the Venezuelan Dictatorship will surely mean a continental turning point” (p.2).
Also reflecting the regional significance and implications of related developments, the report includes as part of the ‘Information Strategy’ proclaiming the failure of regional “mechanisms of integration created by the regimens of Cuba and Venezuela, specially the ALBA and PETROCARIBE”, along with “strengthening the image of the OAS” and other multilateral institutions and agreements in the region that are compatible with and subservient to the US’ interests and objectives (p.10).
In terms of the international dimensions of the strategy, the report declares that other components include:
“Fully obstructing imports… Appealing to domestic allies as well as other people inserted from abroad in the national scenario in order to generate protests, riots and insecurity, plunders, thefts, assaults and highjacking of vessels as well as other means of transportation with the intention of deserting this country in crisis through all borderlands and other possible ways, jeopardizing in such a way the National Security of neighbouring frontier nations. Causing victims and holding the Government responsible for them. Magnifying, in front of the world, the humanitarian crisis in which the country has been submitted to…” (pp.4-5)
“Preparing the involvement of allied forces in support of the Venezuelan army officers or to control the internal crisis, in the event they delay too much in taking the initiative…
Getting the support of the cooperation of the allied authorities of friendly countries (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Panama and Guyana)…
Organizing the provisioning, relief of troops, medical and logistical support from Panama. Making good use of the facilities of electronic surveillance and signals intelligence, the hospitals and its deployed endowments in Darién, the equipped airdromes for the Colombian Plan, as well as the landing fields of the old-time military bases of Howard and Albrook…
Moving on the basification of combat airplanes and choppers, armored conveyances, intelligence positions, and special military and logistics units (police and military district attorneys and prisons)…” (pp.6-7)
“Developing the military operation under international flag… Binding Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Panama to the contribution of greater number of troops, to make use of their geographic proximity and experience in operations in forest regions. Strengthening their international condition with the presence of combat units from the United States of America and the other named countries, under the command of a Joint General Staff led by the USA…
Using the facilities at Panamanian territory for the rear guard and the capacities of Argentina for the securing of the ports and the maritime positions…
Leaning on Brazil and Guyana to make use of the migratory situation that we intend to encourage in the border with Guyana…
Coordinating the support to Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, Aruba, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago and other States in front of the flow of Venezuelan immigrants in the event of the crisis…” (pp.7-8)
Another very interesting aspect of the report from my point of view is its discussion of the Colombian component of its strategy (I have been in Colombia for most of the last eight years). Apart from the reference quoted above to pre-stocked military bases in Colombia in apparent preparation for the possibility of a large-scale military conflict with Venezuela (in flagrant contravention of a 2010 judgment of the Constitutional Court of Colombia), the report affirms as intentions and objectives:
“Continuing setting fire to the common frontier with Colombia. Multiplying the traffic of fuel and other goods. The movement of paramilitaries, armed raids and drug trafficking. Provoking armed incidents with the Venezuelan frontier security forces… Recruiting paramilitaries mainly in the campsites of refugees in Cúcuta, La Guajira and the north of Santander, areas largely populated by Colombian citizens who emigrated to Venezuela and now return, run away from the regimen to intensify the destabilizing activities in the common frontier between the two countries. Making use of the empty space left by the FARC, the belligerency of the ELN and the activities in the area of the Gulf Clan…” (p.6)
Apart from indicating that many of the refugees fleeing from Venezuela (the plight of these people is a favourite topic of the mainstream media in Colombia in their constant denunciations of the Venezuelan government) are in fact Colombians returning to Colombia after fleeing the political violence and economic hardship that has ravaged Colombia over the last couple of decades, the report confirms the widespread use of paramilitary groups and other criminal organizations and illegal armed groups to further the United States’ “national interests and foreign policy objectives” in the region. This would also be consistent with the nature of US involvement in Colombia over the last century, as described in detail by Renan Vega Cantor in the 2015 report of the Historical Commission established to investigate the origin and evolution of the social and armed conflict in Colombia.
Fortunately, the eagerly anticipated eruption of widespread violence prior to and following the presidential election on the 20th of May has not eventuated. In addition, in the final presidential debate in Colombia on the 26th of May the two candidates that will take part in the second round on the 17th of June (Ivan Duque and Gustavo Petro) both categorically ruled out the involvement of Colombia in an open military intervention against Venezuela.
It may be that the belligerency and reckless threats and actions simply represent the ‘fire and fury’ brand of erratic ‘diplomacy’ of the latest US Executive in Chief, in the belief that everyone will bend to their will if the threats are extreme enough (backed up by an occasional salvo of missiles). Nonetheless, the US war machine in all of its guises and forms is going to great lengths to ensure that it is prepared for every eventuality, and the only certainty is that an overt military attack against Venezuela orchestrated by the US cannot be ruled out entirely.
The following sections are translations of commentaries by analysts in the region:
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Julio Yao Villalaz, “Venezuela, An impossible intervention” (“Venezuela, una intervención imposible” (3 March 2018)
“The intervention that the United States is promoting against Venezuela with the complicity of the so-called ‘Lima Group’, made up of 12 countries – less than half of the member States of the Organisation of American States (OAS) – among which is Panama unfortunately, is an illegitimate and impossible endeavour that scandalously violates the Charter of the OAS, the UN Charter and International Law.
The collective violation of International Law involves decades of illicit actions, ever since Hugo Chavez assumed power in Venezuela and the United States began to lose its privileges, benefits and petroleum subsidies…
Notwithstanding the unquestionable lack of credibility of the organisation, the Charter of the OAS sanctifies principles of International Law that prohibit absolutely the individual or collective intervention of its members in the internal and external affairs of other States and are, mutatis mutandi, the same principles as those of the Charter of the United Nations…
(The author lists relevant principles of the UN Charter that prohibit any form of intervention in the affairs of a member State, and notes that the principle of ‘representative democracy’ sanctified in the Charter of the OAS cannot supersede the principles of the UN Charter which make no such stipulation.)
Moreover, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela far exceeds the so-called ‘representative democracies’ of the region (Venezuela is a participatory democracy) and is one of the most democratic countries in the world, as its history and actual experience demonstrate, verified by the United Nations, international human rights organisations, as well as by other renowned personalities and associations such as the Carter Foundation among others.
However, the United States and its acolytes, henchmen and lackeys from the ‘Lima Group’ persevere with the violation of International Law notwithstanding that they didn’t even gain the support of the OAS for their imperialist adventure (the independent countries of the Caribbean and others prevented it) and that almost all of the members of the ‘Lima Group’ violate and are far from complying with the norms that guarantee minimum requirements for even an elemental democratic governance.
What right does the United States have to threaten Venezuela, if the United States is the worst violator of the UN Charter and the main denier of International Law; if the United States has rejected or refused to ratify more human rights treaties than any other State; when the United States is the country with the highest number of death sentences on the planet; if the United States is the State whose ‘defence’ budget is larger than the budgets of the next six largest States’ budgets combined; if the United States is the State with the largest number of foreign military bases in the world (more than 1,000)…
What right does this delinquent country have to deny the right of the Venezuelan people to exist?
What right does Colombia have to head the aggression against Venezuela, if on the external plane it is a country occupied by the United States (there are seven US military bases in Colombia) that lacks independence; and, on the internal plane, Colombia is a narco-State that maintains one of every 10 Colombians outside the country; when Colombia has betrayed the Peace Accord that it signed with the FARC and assassinates and permits paramilitaries to systematically eliminate social leaders and human rights defenders; if Colombia tolerates persecution and attacks against political movements that participate in national politics, such as the FARC? Colombia is already an accomplice in the sanctions against Venezuela and will be the tip of the spear of the invasion of the Bolivarian Republic.
What right does Peru have to allege a lack of democracy in Venezuela, if its President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, was at the point of being dismissed by the Congress for ‘moral incapacity’ to govern because he received bribes from Odebrecht; if the same Peruvian president illegally indemnified former president Alberto Fujimori – a confessed perpetrator of genocide – and if his government is permanently under siege by the reclamations of health and education workers?
What right does Argentina have to question the transparency in Venezuela, if its president, Mauricio Macri, is immersed in the Odebrecht scandal as well as the ‘Panama Papers’ and his government is constantly accused by reclamations from its people, the Mapuche Indians, pensioners and the middle class, that has seen the progress achieved during the mandate of former president Cristina Kirchner stagnate?
What right does Brazil have to offer its territory as a trampoline for an intervention and denounce Venezuela as a ‘dictatorship’, if its unelected president, Michel Temer, arrived to the position thanks to a ‘soft coup’ against Dilma Rousseff, is accused by the Prosecutor General of ‘passive corruption, obstruction of justice and criminal organisation’ and has anti-democratically blocked the presidential candidacy of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva?
What right does Mexico have to denounce Venezuela for a ‘humanitarian crisis’ if its president, Enrique Peña Nieto, presides over a corrupt government sustained by drug trafficking and organised crime, that has handed over Mexico’s wealth to the transnationals of the United States and the same Mexico has the world record for journalists assassinated and disappeared?
What right does Honduras have (please!) to question the legitimacy of the National Constituent Assembly of Venezuela if its president, unconstitutional and unelected, enthroned by a fraud of cosmic proportions, Jose O. Hernandez, clings to power with the support of the bayonets of US Southern Command and kills his own people without hesitation?
What right does Panama have to question the independence and the democracy of Venezuela, if the Partido Panameñista (of president Juan Carlos Varela) assumed power in the arms of the (US) invaders following the invasion of 1989 (who swore in Guillermo Endara as president in a US military base)? It is worth recalling that, at international law, agreements signed under military occupation are ipso facto void.
What moral right does Panama have to destroy the right of Venezuela to self-determination, if Guillermo Endara, the first post-invasion puppet president and president of the Partido Panameñista (the political party of the current Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela), subscribed to the Arias Calderon-Hinton Accord (1991), the basis of the Salas-Becker treaties of 2002 that handed Panama over to 16 federal agencies of the United States (including the Pentagon, the US Army, the US Air Force, the US Navy and the US Coastguard)? These US entities could once again convert Panama into a platform of aggression for the US Southern Command…
(The author, a former Panamanian diplomat, proceeds to describe many other instances of illegal collaboration by Panama’s government with US imperial plans and projects of bilateral and regional dominance.)
Despite the complete absence of moral or legal authority of the ‘Lima Group’ to attack Venezuela, the United States insists on invading the country with the complicity of governments that are unrepresentative, anachronistic, outlaws and enemies of International Law … under the notorious banner of ‘Humanitarian Intervention’.
They want us to believe that in Venezuela there is a ‘humanitarian crisis’ that requires a confrontation of people against people in the region, of the poor against the poor and of brothers against brothers, to satisfy the appetites of Washington, misinterpreting the Chinese strategic genius Sun Tzu, who counselled conserving one’s own forces by utilising foreign forces…
(The author proceeds to review some of the military aggressions by powerful States to further their own interests based on dubious or completely fabricated claims of humanitarian crisis, such as in Yugoslavia and Libya.)
In the case of Panama, the United States didn’t even take the effort to inform the OAS or the UN, nor even the US Senate, that they must approve the invasion in 1989, but they did lie about and satanize General Manuel Noriega, as testified in ‘Secret-Sensitive’ documents of the US National Security Council, documents that establish as the real objectives securing the Panama Canal treaties and derailing the negotiations between Panama and Japan for a new canal.
But in Venezuela there is neither a humanitarian crisis nor a civil war – nor had there been one in Panama. Rather, there is a massive external intervention in the country’s and the people’s affairs, internal and external, an intervention manifested in ultra-modern and multi-faceted forms, with the transnational support of countries, NGOs and personalities that are trying to destroy the Venezuela nation, destroy its revolution and rob Venezuela of its prodigious natural wealth.
The intervention against Venezuela would be an aggression against Latin America and the Caribbean, a regression in Latin American Unity, a blow against the memory of the liberators of Our America, and for all of these reasons, it is an impossible intervention that cannot be allowed to triumph!”
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Julio Yao Villalaz, “Kuczynski, the ‘Lima Group’, Venezuela and the VIII Summit of the Americas”, (“Kuczynski, el ‘Grupo de Lima’, Venezuela y la VIII Cumbre de las Américas”), 23 March 2018
“With the exit from power of the Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) the so-called Lima Group, created as part of a multi-faceted war that the United States has been waging in order to destroy the sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people, has suffered a further loss of legitimacy
The Lima Group is made up of less than half of the members of the Organization of American States (OAS), but Kuczynski’s resignation following accusations of corruption has shaken the VIII Summit of the Americas (held on the 13th and 14th of April) to its foundations. The principle theme of the Summit was, paradoxically, ‘democratic governance and corruption’; its host was to be the now defunct Peruvian leader.
Yes – apart from the resignation of the Summit’s host – the United States tried to widen the basis for its intervention against Venezuela; moreover, the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro was denied entry to the Summit. The failure of the hegemon is double, as the simultaneous vacuum in the Peruvian presidency and absence of the Summit’s host exposes the democratic fragility and dubious moral and political merits of several of its associates (Peru, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama, just to mention a few), which have been accused of similar or worse corruption than that which buried Kuczynski and qualifies them as ‘failed States’, according to the new terminology of the US Southern Command (SouthCom).
Given its illicit objectives, since its formation the Peru Group has violated the Charter of the OAS, the UN Charter and International Public Law – all of which consecrate the prohibitions on all forms of intervention, threats and attacks. The Lima Group was formed with full knowledge of the publicly stated intentions of the United States to launch a military invasion of Venezuela and therefore the complicity of its members with the aggression is manifest.
Could Colombia, favourite vassal of the United States in Latin America, deny that it has received fabulous sums from Washington to lease its territory to destabilize, attack, and serve as the spearhead for the invasion of Venezuela?
The Declaration that created the Lima Group in August of 2017 loses its reason for being given the report of the independent investigator of the UN Human Rights Council, the jurist and American historian Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, who was alternatively ignored and vilified by the Western media complex for having stated that ‘there is no humanitarian crisis in Venezuela’ that would justify a ‘humanitarian intervention’ (that is, armed intervention).
According to Zayas, a graduate of Harvard, in Venezuela there is however ‘suffering and a shortage of supplies, a natural result of the economic and commercial war’ being waged by a violent opposition against its own people, under the auspices of foreign praise and support, not the result of internal oppression…
From the mouth of president Trump, the United States has threatened Venezuela with an imminent armed invasion if it doesn’t submit to his orders – which implies giving its natural resources and wealth to US transnationals. But the US sanctions, which deny the Venezuelan people their right to exist, could be the subject of a legal petition before the International Criminal Court notwithstanding its increasing lack of credibility.
The non-existence of a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela renders impossible the purported application of the Charter of the OAS, the principle objective of the Lima Group, and the debacle of the VIII Summit of the Americas leaves the US without the regional conditions (that is, complicity) that it needs to destroy the Bolivarian Republic.
If the Lima Group doesn’t represent the OAS, which lacks a Security Council to authorize such actions; if the Lima Group doesn’t represent the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) or any other legally constituted regional organization; if the Lima Group cannot act on its own account, in violation of the Charter of the OAS, without risking its own expulsion from that organization; if the Lima Group violates the UN Charter; then, what is this group, who does it serve and what is the legal basis of its actions?
The Lima Group is a band of delinquent States, outlaws and mercenaries that are opposed to the consolidation of the Zone of Peace that has been declared in the region, serve the US Southern Command, and lack legality, to such an extent that the frustrated festivities of the vultures in Lima could prove to be the funeral of their forgotten national dignity.”
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José Negrón Valera, “USA. ‘The moment has arrived’: The Unitas Lix plan would be the final blow against Venezuela” (“EE.UU. ‘El momento ha llegado’: el plan Unitas Lix sería el golpe final contra Venezuela”), 14 May 2018
“Disguised as military exercises, the US Southern Command has prepared a strategy with which they will try to give the ‘coup de grace’ to the Government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
‘Orange alert’ in South America
At 6.48am on Saturday the 13th of May the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, announced to the South American people via a statement on his Twitter account:
“We denounce that the USA and the OAS are implementing a plan to overthrow the Venezuelan Government: before the elections they will realise violent actions supported by the mass media and after the elections they will attempt a military invasion with the armed forces of neighbouring countries”…
Similarly, the Argentine journalist Stella Calloni brought to the attention of public opinion the grave threat that Venezuela faces, revealing a secret document of the US Southern Command.
The 11 page document, entitled “Masterstroke: A plan to overthrow the dictatorship in Venezuela” and signed by admiral Kurt Tidd, commander of the US Southern Command, considers that ‘the moment has arrived’ to intervene militarily in the South American country.
With the synchronization of a time bomb, Roger Noriega, formerly the permanent representative of the United States in the OAS between 2001 and 2003 and bitter enemy of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, wrote in the New York Times that ‘the options for Venezuela’ had been exhausted, stating that the only remaining alternative is the overthrow of Nicolas Maduro.
The importance of Noriega’s article derives from the medium in which it was published. The most influential media platform with respect to the legitimization of the United States’ military operations.
To complete the panorama, the US Embassy in Caracas, in a suspicious demonstration of clairvoyance, informed US citizens that before and after the presidential elections they are expecting demonstrations and focal points of destabilization…
The roadmap to overthrow ‘Chavism’
A strategic analysis of the SouthCom documents that have been revealed, together with the declarations of military spokesmen and mid-level officials of the diplomatic apparatus, enable us to establish with sufficient clarity how they will develop the successive stages of the intervention against Venezuela.
In the first place, one has to take into account the electoral conjunction where it is still possible that the Venezuelan opposition will reach an agreement to combine their forces and support a single candidate.
Despite the fact that the United States, the Lima Group and the European Union have already affirmed that under the ‘actual conditions’ they won’t recognize the results, one cannot dismiss the possibility that a single candidate ‘in extremis’ could provoke a motivating effect in the opposition sectors that still haven’t decided if they will vote.
A scenario of technical stalemate between ‘Chavism’ and the opposition would provide an appropriate context for international pressure against the Government of Nicolas Maduro.
In second place, Noriega reaffirms that the political front cannot be discounted entirely. In this instance, the State Department would be focused on ‘encouraging Venezuelans – including members of the armed forces – to restore democracy’, that is to say, execute a coup d’état.
Although this seems improbable, the Southern Command would not need a successful military rebellion – a skirmish within a military barracks would be sufficient, as occurred a few months ago in Paramacay Fort – in order to demand ‘that power be transferred without delay to the legitimate civil authorities, the members of the National Assembly’.
In this case, they would be evaluating the ‘liberation’ of a zone in the country where a parallel government could exercise de facto functions, with the recognition and support of the international community allied to Washington.
In the document of the Southern Command Tidd emphasizes that, in order to overthrow ‘Chavism’, it is necessary to intensify the psychological war to provoke ‘an exacerbation of the division between members of the Government’, combined with military actions that would start with violent protests in urban centres, especially in Tachira where the Venezuelan Government has been able to neutralize numerous mafia groups dedicated to smuggling contraband goods across the border with Colombia.
The Unitas Lix plan and the final blow
The operations of destabilization could intensify following the announcement of the electoral results on the 20th of May and it is anticipated that they could last until September, when in Colombia the international aerial and maritime military exercises Unitas Lix 2018 will commence.
Kurt Tidd clearly explains that the Bolivarian Government can only be brought down by way of a ‘military operation under an international flag, patronized by the Conference of Latin American Armies, under the protection of the OAS and the supervision, in the legal and media context, of the Secretary General (of the OAS), Luis Almagro’.
Unitas Lix is nothing less than a façade for imposing a maritime blockade of Venezuela in the least traumatic way possible, as occurred in 1902 against the then Government of Cipriano Castro.
The objective of a maritime blockade, according to Kurt Tidd’s logic, is precisely the ‘obstruction of all imports’, especially of food, medicines and other essential goods. However, the centre of gravity of the entire strategy would be to impede the commercialization of Venezuelan petroleum…
It is now that the tempestuous exit of Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Colombia from Unasur makes sense.
Apart from strengthening the OAS as the primary regional organization and main forum to debate a possible situation of political instability in Venezuela, it was essential that the South American Defence Council be abandoned.
It would be incoherent if the regional organization that establishes the objective of ‘consolidating a zone of peace in South America and constructing a common vision in terms of defence’ were to docilely receive the intention of the Southern Command to ‘proceed to station its combat planes and helicopters, armoured vehicles, intelligence stations’ and even prisons in South America.
Another objective of transforming Unitas Lix into a military operation would be to generate a security ring around Venezuela to prevent the possible approach of the military forces of Venezuela’s allies. One of the scenarios to which they would have to pay close attention.
Unitas Lix would be proposed as the last stage of a long term and large scale operation of attrition against Venezuela. However, what is most scandalous about Washington’s plan to overthrow Chavism is that its proponents are well aware that there would be substantial resistance within the country, and even that the Venezuelan opposition ‘doesn’t have sufficient strength’ to guarantee governability.
Nonetheless, Tidd already has the solution: sending ‘the military forces of the UN to impose peace’…”
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Hector Bernardo, Conspiracy against Venezuela (“Complot contra Venezuela”), 13 May 2018
“In a new anti-democratic gesture, the US government has intensified its strategy to overthrow the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and prevent the elections scheduled for the 20th of May. In this instance, the attack is headed by the ultra-right senator Marco Rubio, closely linked with the Cuban mafia groups in Miami and the arms trade. Rubio has met with various leaders in the region to reinforce the alternative paths the coup could take.
Marco Rubio has transformed himself into one of the most influential people within the intimate circle of the North American president Donald Trump… (He) is one of the main promoters of aggression against all of the popular governments in the region that do not align themselves with the orders and demands from Washington. In a new assault against the Venezuelan government and people, the Republican senator asserts the necessity of extending the measures that have immersed Venezuela in an economic crisis and affirms that ‘the moment has arrived to accelerate Maduro’s exit’.
Rubio has dedicated much of his political career to persecuting the popular governments in the region. At the moment he is dedicating all of his efforts to attacking Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua though previously, and without the support of the White House, he also campaigned against Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Argentina), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Salvador Sanchez Ceren (El Salvador)…
Currently, with the substantial influence he has achieved within the circle of president Donald Trump’s confidants, Rubio has dedicated himself to organizing the international pressure against the government of Nicolas Maduro. An example of this was his recent trip to Costa Rica to attend the delivery of aircraft and ships for the coastguard and vigilance of the country’s airspace as a ‘reward’ for having accepted the demand from Washington to not recognize the result of the presidential election in Venezuela on the 20th of May.
During the Summit of the Americas, held in Peru in April, Rubio met with another leader that has accepted Washington’s schemes in their entirety, the Argentine president Mauricio Macri. After the meeting, Macri reaffirmed that he would not recognize the result of the presidential election in Venezuela either, along with the leaders of Chile (Sebastian Piñera) and Colombia (Juan Manuel Santos). All members of the Lima Group, a forum in which Rubio has significant influence.
Not only has the North American senator dedicated himself to fomenting the political destabilization and economic and financial asphyxiation that the Venezuelan people are suffering, he has also been one of the main instigators and promoters of the violent terrorist actions that have been unleashed there (as well as the recent violent efforts to destabilize the democratically elected government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua)…”
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References
Julio Yao Villalaz, “Venezuela, una intervención imposible”, Voltairenet, 3 March 2018
http://www.voltairenet.org/article199789.html
– “Kuczynski, el ‘Grupo de Lima’, Venezuela y la VIII Cumbre de las Américas”, 23 Marzo 2018, Voltairenet
http://www.voltairenet.org/article200334.html
Stella Calloni, “El ‘Golpe Maestro’ de Estados Unidos Contra Venezuela (Documento del Comando Sur)”, VoltaireNet, 9 Mayo 2018
http://www.voltairenet.org/article201091.html
– Stella Calloni, “The United States ‘Masterstroke’ against Venezuela”, 17 May 2018, VoltaireNet
http://www.voltairenet.org/article201159.html
José Negrón Valera, “EE.UU. ‘El momento ha llegado’: el plan Unitas Lix sería el golpe final contra Venezuela”, 14 Mayo 2018, Resumen Latinoamericano
“Plan to Overthrow the Venezuelan Dictatorship ‘Masterstroke’”, United States Southern Command, 23 February 2018
“Plan para Derrocar a la Dictadura Venezolana ‘Golpe Maestro’”, Estados Unidos Comando Sur
Traducción y original del Documento del Comando Sur, Golpe de Estado en Venezuela (Translation and original of the Document of the US Southern Command, Coup D’état in Venezuela), 13 Mayo 2018, Resumen Latinoamericano –
Renán Vega Cantor, 2015, “The International Dimension of the Social and Armed Conflict in Colombia: Interference of the United States, Counter-Insurgency and State Terrorism”, Chapter 13, Historical Commission of the Conflict and its Victims, A Contribution to Understanding the Armed Conflict in Colombia, (translated to English by Daniel Edgar), Havana, Cuba
Hector Bernardo, “Complot contra Venezuela”, 13 Mayo 2018, Resumen Latinoamericano
http://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/2018/05/14/complot-contra-venezuela/
Manlio Dinucci, “Grandes ejercicios militares alrededor de Venezuela”, 25 Agosto 2017, VoltaireNet
http://www.voltairenet.org/article197590.html
– “Large.scale manoeuvres encircling Venezuela”, 25 August 2017
That is why I am saying if there were no English man in this world then there would be no war in this world. I have studied most of the previous and current wars of this world. 90% wars made by English man by using disinformation, deception and lie. More than 60% English men and women like oppression of poor unarmed nations.
English were very cunning they sent in the Jesuits to do the ground work, put the fear of God into the natives, spread disease like smallpox then the corporations moved in to plunder the assets and if the natives objected then the superior English military wiped them out. Those tactics used to work, fortunately not no more.
I think Rob has regressed a few centuries, is his brain.
That is why I am saying if there were no English man in this world then there would be no war in this world.
Jinghis khan, Shaka, Napoleon, Alexandros Negas, Xerxes greet you from Walhalla from the Long Feasting Table of Conquerors. :))
Czachoslovakia was invaded by USSR.
England is the nation with most invasions and attacks of other countries in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s
USA dont have the support of latin American governs..among other reason USA need to Invade Venezuela with large forces beside to launch cruise missile and airstrikes…..it means many civilians deaths as consecuence of “trump-wall army”…
dont believe all the BS you hear.
You think Latin american countries want their peace of mind disrupted by gringo billshit..Don’t believe they have any love for americans they are viewed as idiots..coupled with racism to anything not white and English speaking
what make you think I believe what you saying? I am responsible for what I say, not however you translate it, in your mind kid.
So, what exactly were you trying to say? “don’t believe bullshit” is so general that it has no meaning. What is your point?
Yes I apologize for not been more precise, for the not able to think and put the dots together. But then again, when I post, is not for that mentality people of 2 second thinking span, if that.
But I give you a hind. Read the atticle I wrote the comment and then read again my comment and in few years, I am sure you figure it out.
Latins loves to give free blowjobs for a promise of going to America…………..LOL. Just look at Temer wagging and Argentina is in the hands of Wall Street finance boys. Argentina again running for a new State bancruptcy.
The USA is trying to increase the price of oil, because American oil isn’t economically viable under 60 bucks a barrel. So they lower global production to increase the oil price. Venezuela Libya Iran, Syria etc are how the US controls the oil market. If they don’t own it, they will destroy it, it’s the American way.
This seems to be the US plan which represents a reversal in strategy – the US, in collaboration with KSA, engineered a crash in oil prices to cause Russia pain. I guess they eventually noticed the bullet hole in their foot.
I like your last line, although I would say control instead of own, which is just one of many ways of exercising control – other ways favoured by the US include sending dump trucks loaded with cash to the houses of national leaders and dump the cash on their front lawn or alternatively, rain missiles down upon them. Not subtle, but effective.
Economic Hitman John Perkins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pnC8AnOICsk
I am familiar with this video. The strongest part is the candid and honest narration by Perkins. He is spot on about the methods, but there are some points he is off. His discussion of who the emperor(s) are is not correct – he would be dead if he truly identified them. Also, clandestine control of client states in Empire building and maintenance is not new as is use of economic hitman, although they have evolved to be more sophisticated.
Note that Captain Morgan was clandestinely backed by the English Crown to raid the Spanish Main as a privateer just as men of private companies are sent in as economic hitman with the rationale the same – disguise government complicity. England would never support such a man of low repute as a pirate, well not publically. I am sure the Spanish knew full well and were not surprised when the lowly pirate was Knighted to become Sir Henry Morgan. Sigh, how the world truly works is a wondrous thing.
Lastly, the last part of the video was reasonably correct but delivered in a pedantic ideological way that would likely turn off many viewers.way. But the part by Perkins makes the video well worth the watch.
“The USA is trying to increase the price of oil” But as I know THAT’S WHY The USA convinced the SAUDIS to over-flow the market, to get the price DOWN and to hit SPECIALLY the RUSSIAN ECONOMY, added to the Venezuelan and IRANIAN, thru low OIL-PRICES and LOW GAS-Prices ( GAS 8is connected on OIL, on international agreements). That meant LOW INCOMES for the mobbed countries. Increasing the price just pumpes dollars into the Russian pockets, not to mention the (IRANIANS and now the “hot-dog” on the Wall-Street’s Menu , VENEZUELA.
But maybe the SAUDIS are desperate already because pushing down the OIL-Prices thru an overproduction of OIL, they lose around 100 BILLION USD every year. And that seems for the Saudis not to be funny at all.. The “love to the US-Swamp” goes thru the stomach by the Saudis, too ;)…
I’m not surprised that posters here are supporting the badly failed Bolivarian-revolution of Venezuela. That’s because the inferiority complexes of the typical SF poster run so deep, that he will have no problem siding with a loser like Maduro.
Viva la revolucion, viva Hugo, viva Fidel, viva Kim, viva Venezuela!
The Bolivarian revolution failed, because they are up against the resident evil, the USA. When the USA is finally put in a box, the South American countries will finally have a chance to provide for their people. The USA has always considered all of the Americas to be owned by the USA, I think it’s called the Monroe doctrine, but really it’s slavery.
you babble stupidity. From the left, right and center.
insane world…truly satanic…..they aint gonna give up on venezuela, nor syria,nor persia,nor NK……….its now or never for the wicked satanic plan of a one world government with the jewish satanic leadership…they destroyed everything in all countries thats important for a peaceful, loving society starting with the family and its values…….people are to busy watching eg. a bastard marriage, snorting cocaine drinking booze, watching brain washing mind control hollywood movies etc….and there definetly is no sign on the horizon for change…..sad truly sad
Spot on the money!!
except for the use of the word satan to describe greedy people who are certainly not only Jewish. That man, is a hater, and haters are NEVER spot on.
Did America hurt your feelings?
Stupidity is just unpleasant. It like bugs.
Nothing that USA can do to harm Venezuela comes close to what Chavez and Maduro have done to their country in tme name of 21st century socialismo/Bolivarianism bullshit.: Caracas is the most violent capital in South América no food in supermarkets power shortage Migration crisis oil production tanking, despite huge oil reserves hyper inflation
Brazilian rock legend Raul Seixas has said before in a wonderful and funny song: the solution is to rent the country to americans
Oh, yes. This is all a natural occurrence of their policies. Go back to when all Venezuela’s problems started. It was when Chavez got friendly with Cuba. If you believe all Venezuela’s problem are all home grown, then the US propaganda has worked, hasn’t it?
If you consider hyperinflation and skyrocketing number of homicides as American propaganda, yes.
wow.. let me guess. A Temer supporter
No one denies that there are problems…the question is: why did they occur? No one denies there is a war in Syria, but how did it occur? From non-violent demonstrations? Hardly.
Assad allowed his country to be filled with terrorists to fill his pockets with dollares, gold and jewels, and entered into contracts with ISIS to protect him while he was occupied in closed meetings with Putin and the devils of Hezbollah making bombing plans over where the civilians lived who refused to vote for his dictatorship, and these civilians only wanted 5 minutes to breath in peace and wanted freedom…….for small innocent children.
Did the US impose price controls and false exchsnge rates? Did the US force the Venezuelan government to nationalise every industry and then allow them all to collapse? It is mismanagement of all sectors of the economy in Venezuela caused mostly because those in charge were too busy and spent too much of their attention lining their pockets to care as problems built up. The result is that now as their people go hungry the only people in Venezuela insulated by their vast wealth are a very few surviving decent businessmen like Lorenzo Mendoza and the now extremely wealthy PSUV elite. Whatever the US says or plans and whatever propeganda may be out there, the truth is that with or without any foreign plots or attempts at destabalisation: the actions followed by Venezuelas leadership over the last 15 years would have destroyed any country, whether they were US allies or claimed to be socialist or not. The only other government that was similarly corrupt and followed similarly destructive policies in recent times has been Mugabe and ZANU-PF, and look at the state of Zimbabwe now. Proof is in the rise in crime in Venezuela, inexplicable food and sugar shortages in such a naturally fertile land (like Zimbabwe) and the lack of waste collection services. They have made it impossible for the country to function regardless of the huge amou t of assistance Russia and China have provided, that simply led to people like Diosdado Cabello building more luxorious and huge mansions that would be regarded with envy by even people like Trump, Richard Branson, the royals or Saudi Arabia, Roman Abramovich and the sheikh of qatar.
Everything is Merica’s fault…duh
Of course, the west is doing a blockade on Venezuela.
Nothing more annoying than idiots trying to explain away Venezuela’s problems with info from CNN.
been a retard, is your first, or family name?
first
You give Chavez a lot of credit to be able to outdo the damage the US has (and continues to do) which has been meticulously documented in the article above.
Did you even read the article before posting?
The demand for Russian S-400, S-300 and Pantsir-S air defense missile systems is very high because these missiles systems is a big threat to US, UK, France and Israeli aggression. Instead of Trump requests and threats still each nations buying S-400.
Every country is worried due to US, UK, France and Israeli aggression. They see that what they are doing to Palestinians, Yemenis, Syrians, Libyans and to Afghanis etc. They think that next is their number. lol.
At the second number is of Russian SU-35 and SU-57 the demand of which is very high and every nation want to buy these fighter jets.
Maduro can’t be a Cuban puppet because Cuba defends ABORTION RIGHTS and Maduro does not. Guyana does and so has every right to defend them in West Guyana or further west still, though Colombia has no such rights, especially after attacking abortion rights in the FARC zones. ABORTION RIGHTS IN WEST GUYANA AND GUANTANAMO! The US has abortion rights, but not on military bases like Guantanamo.
you really are, a low mentality deabrain boy.
The Prime minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago made it very clear a few weeks ago that he has no intention of being part of any invasion of Venezuela and that includes using this country as a jump off point rally point or base of operations for any thing.,…Mind you this crap got him so jumpy that he went to Australia to buy more naval vessels as reported in the local newspapers since this is an oil and gas producing country with extensive offshore oil and gas fields…Guyana will not get CARICOM approval and despite all the American saber rattling and Venezuela border problems a stable Venezuela is preferred over the american fuck ups that is the hall mark of their change in govt policies… Mind you tropical jungle warfare is not desert warfare and Venezuela is well armed to fight so good luck with getting the south american countries involved in a war to benefit american bullshit..
If these Lima Countries fall for the US plans, then the whole of South America can kiss any independence or deemed independence from the US – Goodbye.
More deaths, heartache and poverty for the elitists to gloat at.
Russia – China – India …….. get in the there NOW, please.
Sad to watch, if it happens.
Damn long article with many restatement within it. Chavez gave his countrymen hope and dignity with his reinvention of ideals of Bolivarian Revolution; It was not communism or outright socialism, more on lines of Communitarianism. As Marti wrote, it may not be wine to the taste of outsiders, being Plantain, but it was their wine, the peoples. Venezuelan people rose up and while they did not immediately throw down Venezuelan Oligarchs whose stolen oil money resided in US banks, they elected a leader who stood for ending corruption and giving rightfully owners of oil, the people a fair share. Doomed from start, both by the ingrained inbred oligarchs of old who cared not for Venezuela or its people, just wealth and power, and the invasion of foreign N G Os who pretending to favor “socialism” undercut Bolivarian ideals against the mass of people’s true wants and needs. Get thoughts of oil out of mind, power is the game, power of life and death over others, game of, We can do “WTF” between others of same psychotic mentalities. Oil is but an aside, it provides wealth to feed their perversions, an excuse, a weapon to wield, a weapon they give to less powerful minions who are of same diseased mindframes. By these dispensation of powers to lesser humans to kill, loot, and destroy, that too feeds their mental sickness. Like those who as child kill small animals just to enjoy seeing their pain, they only live for that momery rush of self gratification. It extends from childhood hedonism to old age, from top to bottom, “IT IS THE SYSTEM” THEY VOLUNTARILY CHOOSE TO LIVE WITHIN. Within US where the soldier and their stratifi are very well financially taken care of for letting their most depraved nature’s, deciders of life and death, have free reign. This age we live within is at its lowest basic point of human enlightenment and is no different than thousands of years ago. The only difference bethat in old days there was always a place where the enlightment seekers could find out of sight out of mind of the powerfull. Today there is only one spot on earth left for peace and enlightment seekers, into only deepest secretive minds inside, while outside they are deliberately ignorants. It is only by destruction of those whose minds are diseased can humanity advance. But who can say, maybe humanity has already passed its enlightenment apex, and are now the dead end of all life.
“…Encouraging popular dissatisfaction by increasing scarcity and rise in price of the foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods for the inhabitants. Making more harrowing and painful the scarcities of the main basic merchandises…”
“…Fully obstructing imports… Appealing to domestic allies as well as other people inserted from abroad in the national scenario in order to generate protests, riots and insecurity, plunders, thefts, assaults and highjacking of vessels as well as other means of transportation with the intention of deserting this country in crisis through all borderlands and other possible ways, jeopardizing in such a way the National Security of neighbouring frontier nations. Causing victims and holding the Government responsible for them…”
Fake document or not, the above describes the usual US Khazar Mafia-driven foreign policy. Read it with Syria or Iran (or Russia, for that matter) in mind. MSM propaganda always focuses on a demonized leader to take the public mind off of what is really happening:
“…Like those who as child kill small animals just to enjoy seeing their pain, they only live for that momery rush of self gratification…”
I can only conclude that whatever the goal of US regime change schemes, there are a substantial number of neocon Khazar Mafia either directly in or indirectly influencing a US deep state that actually enjoy inflicting pain on others. They’re in it for the perverse entertainment, not the outcome.
The disintegration of representative government in the US – or anywhere else – is reliably signaled by one thing. Not by the mere presence of psychopaths; they’ll always be a few of them infesting positions of power. It’s by the utter failure of everyone else within that government to recognize these diseased humans and banish them from government permanently.
On the other hand, we have to see how Putin’s BRICS is desintegrating and the CIA “recovers the lost territories”, one by one And PUTIN tries to make happy Bibi Netanyahu, dances tango with his killers /hoping that West-Europe breaks with Washington (?? the BILDERBERG-PACK? Never!)), calls them ” our Western friends and partners”.. Mr Paul-Craig Roberts–even if I don’t agree with all his ideas— in this case the man has right: if Putin continues THIS WAY with “asking for the hand of the Western markets” like asking them to marry, he will lose one day all the good things he did for Russia and will submit Russia to the International Bankster Money-Nob8ility again The “Medvedev-clique” tzhere is the NWO-gang, the 5th Colon of the Rothschild-M@fia
BRICS were never alliance. It is an economical term for earlier fast developing countries.
S – South Africa … where is? Nothing. Also had no close contacts to other BRICS countries.
B – Brazil. Economical disaster. Actually is lead by CIA agent. Never had close contacts to other BRICS countries. To EU and USA yes.
I – India. Constant enemy of China. No close contacts to Brazil and South Africa.
C – China. The only country, which grows constantly. But China has no friends, only interests.
R – Russia. No miracle. Slow growth, no significant allies. With China has some common interests, but more fields of rivality.
“Chavez gave his countrymen hope and dignity with his reinvention of ideals of Bolivarian Revolution; It was not communism or outright socialism, more on lines of Communitarianism.”
HAHAHA good joke….I really LOL at work! Everyone wanted to know what happened…I showed them all your post…we all laughed…it was a good time!
I thank Southfront for posting this well researched and comprehensive opinion piece. While it is a long and dense article, it is worth it to take your time in reading to better absorb, and probably a second read, particularly for those unfamiliar with the topics discussed.
One useful thing to keep in mind is that what is playing out with Venezuela has very close parallels with what happened in the 1980s regarding Nicaragua – for those interested, a good start is research the Iran-contra affair that blemished President Reagon’s Second term. Be aware that wiki is unfortunately biased and so be wary of relying on them as a source.
What did Venezuela do to all Europeans using America as their hitman? Is it because the owners of the land have found their way and freedom from the rouges of Europe.?
It seem so.
Addendum to the pictue about Venezuela.
http://g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2018/02/venezuelanos-formam-fila-da-fome-ao-alguem-oferecer-comida-em-roraima.html
And China + Russia stay and look, instead of opening BASES in Venezuela
They already have ones…
1?……………………………….LOL……………………….Haha haha haha aha harhar.
Check your English grammar, you fool!
They will wait and see what their colleges and partners are doing, so US can see they act as equal partners as Europe are doing.
There’s no possible way for those aforementioned to win the War against Venezuela. It can turn into another Vietnam, but they, especially Colombia is so weak that it can not defend it self, it doesn’t have sustainable economy, not to mention to wage the War against superior Venezuela.
Direct military intervention of USA in Latinoamerica would not be the first one and would not be the last one.
Excellent article, among a few, EXPOSING the USA as a MURDEROUS entity, like its controller, Israel, ruled by SUPREMACIST Psychopaths
I am not a fan of interventions, but Chavism is a cancer, and Venezuelan people live in terrible conditions as a result of corrupt conditions of the Maduro narco state. One of my relatives died last night in Caracas because he couldn’t get basic medication. It is a mistake for Russia and other to allie themselves with Maduro. Not only are his days numbered, but being on the side of Maduro will have the long term consequences of turning Venezuela against Russia.
Speaking from Miami?
Narco state? When the US moved into Columbia, cocaine production increased, it’s the USA that is the narco state.
I dont give a shit about your history lessons. I am speaking about Venezuela today. Maduro is an evil maggot. People are killing cats in the streets. This has nothing to do with US. Siding with tyrants who are starving their own people is a bad long-term policy.
http://www.voltairenet.ORG/article201289.html
The hidden stakes behind Venezuela’s presidential election
by Thierry Meyssan
Formally speaking, the level of abstention during the Presidential election in Venezuela does not allow us to validate the democratic character of the victory of Nicolás Maduro. However, the amount of participation is easily sufficient, in the middle of an economic war, to illustrate popular support for national institutions. Indeed, far more than the Chàvists’ hold on power, what was in play was the future of the country faced with ongoing aggression.
The Presidential election in Venezuela was supposed to be the the occasion for launching a new stage in preparations for the destruction of the « Caribbean Basin ». At least, that was what SouthCom was hoping [1].
There are several ways of looking at the crisis currently affecting Venezuela. For the Western nations, it is the result of poor management by President Maduro and his Socialist dream. For the army, observing the military preparations in Panama, Colombia, Bazil and Guyana, it is on the contrary the result of a terrible war – for the moment exclusively economic – which is being waged against the country under the command of the United States. Nonetheless, the Gross Domestic Product has fallen 15 % per year, and inflation has reached vertiginous heights (18,000 % since the beginning of the year). Although the Maduro administration is still able to distribute foodstuffs and avoid famine, it has so far failed to halt the descent into hell.
For no valid reason, and in advance, the 14 member states of the Lima Group contested the legitimacy of the vote [2]. Like in Syria, in 2014, one of them deliberately violated the Vienna Convention concerning consular relations by forbidding the Venezuelan embassy to organise voting facilities in its consulates. This time, it was Canada, (member of the Lima Group ), and not France and Germany (who are not members of this Group [3].
Like in Syria, the pro-US opposition had called for a boycott on the vote. Then it organised a transport strike, which prevented voters from the countryside and the suburbs from reaching the polling stations.
The level of abstention was therefore abnormally high. Particularly since one and a half million Venezuelans had left the country because of the difficult living conditions, and had been unable to re-register to vote at foreign embassies.
And yet 46 % of the twenty million voters did in fact manage to vote, and 67 % of them supported the Chàvist candidate, Nicolás Maduro.
Electoral analyses attest to the fact that the level of participation was all the higher where the constituency represented the poorer voters.
The same studies show that only voters above the age of forty actually went to the polls – younger voters were almost entirely absent. This indicates that the young expressed their lack of interest for politics or had followed the instructions of the pro-US opposition, while those who knew Venezuela before the Bolivarian Revolution were motivated to vote.
And indeed they had to be motivated, not only to make the journey to the polling stations, but to support Nicolás Maduro despite the general collapse of the economy! The most disadvantaged, those people whose monthly salary no longer allows them to buy a kilo of meat, were proportionally the most numerous voters. This means, contrary to what the United States had hoped, that the Venezuelans do not hold the Maduro administration responsible for their economic catastrophe. They are continuing the combat engaged by Hugo Chávez to liberate their country from US imperialism.
This anomaly is the consequence of the sense of national solidarity which developed during the 18 years of the Bolivarian Revolution. It makes any foreign military intervention into the country difficult.
Besides that, the fact that a serious candidate, Henri Falcón (ex-Governor of the state of Lara), announced on the morning of polling that the vote was rigged and would not permit his victory, and that it was not worth going to the polling stations. Nonetheless, his declaration did not prevent close to two million voters from making the journey to vote for him. Their decision can only be interpreted as a double intent – to defend their country, and to appeal to the entire political class for reconciliation in face of the on-going aggression.
A sign of growing despair, close to one million people voted for evangelical pastor Javier Bertucci, who sees no other solution for the salvation of his country than collective repentance and divine intervention.
Even before the results of the vote were published, Washington announced the promulgation of a « Presidential decree forbidding certain supplementary operations concerning Venezuela » [4] and the G7 [5] had prepared a declaration for the « rejection of the electoral process » [6].
Faced with the reality of the result, there was silence. What possible pursuit could be undertaken to advance the plan for the destruction of states and societies in the region? Would it not be dangerous to launch an attack on Venezuela, as had been undertaken in Syria, at the risk of meeting fierce resistance? In short, should the attack be made now, or should the Venezuelans be impoverished and divided even more before the attack was launched?
Apart from that, and contrary to diplomatic habit, Russia had reacted in advance to the declarations of the Lima Group by stating that they consisted of interference in interior affairs [7]. This suggests that Moscow is not being fooled by the situation. And in case NATO should intervene, will Russia once again get involved?
It is too soon for SouthCom to decide. During this period of evaluation, the Pentagon will have to « work » on the youth of Venezuela, who hardly participated in the election. It could also bring more pressure to bear on other states of the Caribbean basin, notably Nicaragua.
Thierry Meyssan
Damn US, oil…blood money…military industrial complex, wall street, corporations, Zionists, Jews, media….did I miss anything?
The trouble with Venezuela, is they are too close to American business interests. Chevron runs the oil industry in Venezuela, even though PDVSA is supposedly Venezuelan, all the sub contractors are American. And the American oil companies work hand in hand with the US Government. Shutting down Venezuelan oil production has increased profits for Chevron. The US is now destroying the Brazilian economy, until Latin American countries put up an iron curtain between the south and the USA, the poverty will continue. It’s easy to blame the US, but they don’t have to take American loans.
TL;DR. But from a distance, Maduro’s circle look like a bunch of corruptocrats lacking all conviction, glancing nervously at each other “Who among us will be the first to make a deal with Uncle Sam for his own skin?” Under such circumstances, said Uncle will be greatly emboldened to give the whole house of cards a few extra pushes. Psychological warfare is cheap, so why not talk about invading a bit, and see how much you can get Maduro to wobble.