DESPARDES News Monitor – There has been days of breathless reporting in the U.S. media about public and military support for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro collapsing, and about an April 30 coup by presidential poseur Juan Guaidó. Guaidó was not even a candidate in the May 2018 presidential elections; Maduro won that race with 68 percent of the vote, given the opposition’s boycott of the balloting. Later, Guaidó was chosen not by voters but by the National Assembly — which has been suspended by the Venezuelan Supreme Court — and ultimately by the Trump administration.
Guaidó “declared himself interim president.”
Venezuela’s story has been one from riches to rags, followed by upheavals.
On the day of the fake coup, the New York Times reported, in an unusual unbylined article headed “Venezuela Crisis: Guaidó Calls for Uprising as Clashes Erupt”.
And CNN ran Juan Guaido’s video, in which he falsely claimed to be “in the La Carlota air force base.”
In its reporting on the “uprising” announced by Guaidó on Tuesday, April 30, it ran a video from social media depicting Guaidó, accompanied by opposition leader Leopoldo López, along with some armed men in uniform, said to be military defectors, standing behind them.
Fake coup, it was a hoax, said salon.com recently.
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is lifting a ban ( controversial step) on lawsuits against the Cuban government, in order to put pressure on Havana over their alleged role in assisting the embattled Venezuelan government during a coup attempt by opposition forces backed by Washington. Washington decided last month to begin enforcing the 1996 Helms-Burton act, which essentially allows Cuban-Americans to sue the Cuban government over property confiscated during the 1959 Socialist revolution. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell lashed out at Washington for its “cowboy” intervention threats against Venezuela. Spain has called for the formation of a group composed of EU and Latin American governments aimed at facilitating new elections in Venezuela, but the US has been saber-rattling, saying that military options to enforce regime change are still on the table.
Post-coup, the Washington Post wrote an editorial “Russian Collusion in Venezuela” asking why Donald Trump believes Putin instead of his advisers? It quoted President Trump saying, ‘I had a very good talk with President Putin — probably over an hour,” President Trump said on Friday. “And we talked about many things. Venezuela was one of the topics. And he is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela. And I feel the same way.” Mr. Trump added: “I thought it was a very positive conversation I had with President Putin on Venezuela.” According to the WP, it’s also the opposite of what the rest of Trump Administration and nearly every outside observer believes….Read further
President Trump\d National security adviser John Bolton had said in an interview on Fox News that Venezuela’s oil reserves were a major reason for the U.S. to get involved. Last year, in a speech in Miami, he promised to go after the “troika of tyranny,” his term for the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua (echoes of Bush’s “axis of evil”); Russia and Cuba are supporting President Marco Maduro while a coalition of democratic governments in the hemisphere—including Canada, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru—have recognized Marudo’s opponent Guaido as the legitimate head of state.
The #US administration is ‘like a cowboy who says ‘look at me, I will draw my gun’, said Spain’s Foreign Minister. “It’s abusing power’ in Venezuela & Cuba“.
US Vice President Mike Pence tweeted, “Cuba has robbed Venezuela of more than her freedom; she has stripped her of wealth. The struggling people of Venezuela aren’t just the victims of one dictatorship but two”.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo says it is “disgusting” to see leaders from the UK and other countries continue to support Venezuela’s “murderous dictator Maduro”.
“It is disgusting to see leaders, not only in the United Kingdom but in the United States as well, who continue to support the murderous dictator Maduro.
“No leader from a country with Western democratic values ought to stand behind them.”
