Venezuela: partij van Guaidó corrupt, zelfs al voor deze enige regeringsverantwoordelijkheid draagt

In het hieronder opgenomen artikel van Alexander Rubinstein beschrijft hij hoe de partij van Guaidó, een nog voor dit jaar onbeduidende oppositiepartij, nu al wordt geplaagd door verregaande corruptie.... Dit terwijl deze partij door de VS en de rest van het westen werd gebombardeerd tot de grootste oppositiepartij en daarmee werd Guaidó gebombardeerd tot oppositieleider......

Zoals gezegd: voordat de VS en haar hielenlikkende westerse partners Guaidó tot interim president uitriepen (alsof de VS, Canada, de EU en anderen daartoe gemachtigd zijn.....), was deze figuur bij het grootste deel van het Venezolaanse volk niet bekend....

Na alle leugens over Maduro die zijn volk zou uithongeren door zijn 'desastreuze economisch beleid', waarbij men hem zelfs beschuldigde van corruptie (zonder enig bewijs), blijkt nu dat de partij van Guaidó, Voluntad Popular ('de wil van het volk') zich nu al schuldig maakt aan grootschalige corruptie, terwijl het geen regeringsverantwoordelijkheid draagt.....*

Lees het volgende artikel, eerder op MintPress News en door mij overgenomen van Anti-Media, waarin Rubinstein o.a. schrijft over het popconcert (behoorlijk mislukt overigens) door Richard Branson georganiseerd en dat net over de Venezolaanse grens in Colombia. De opbrengsten werden gebruikt voor o.a. hotels, prostituees, verdovende middelen, dure kleding en auto's..... Opvallend trouwens hoe weinig reguliere westerse mediaorganen dit nieuws brachten, e.e.a. vooral in een paar regels ver weg in de krant......

Tja, als je al maanden leugens verkondigt en Guaidó afschildert als een held, is het natuurlijk niet leuk om te zien dat de partij van deze fascistische psychopaat nu al is verwikkeld in corruptie.... Men zegt nu als verdediging dat het maar een paar figuren uit de partij van Guaidó zijn, echter reken maar dat dit weer het spreekwoordelijke topje van de ijsberg is, gezien de manipulaties en het enorme aantal leugens.......

Het volgende artikel werd geschreven door Alexander Rubinstein, werd eerder gepubliceerd op MintPress News en door mij overgenomen van Anti-Media:

Massive Embezzlement Scandal Threatens Juan Guaido’s Political Future

(oplichter Guaidó misbruikt zijn kind voor politieke doeleinden......)

June 18, 2019 at 2:54 pm

Written by Alexander Rubinstein

(MPN) — The political party of Juan Guaido — Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) — was never all that popular to begin with. The sixth largest political party in Venezuela, Popular Will is heavily financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Now, a recently exposed embezzlement scandal in Colombia risks to further alienate the party from the Venezuelan people.

What was supposed to be Guaido’s watershed moment has instead turned out to be a public-relations failure far worse than his quickly quelled attempted military coup, which MintPress News reported caused even the New York Times to describe Guaido as “deflated.”

What happened in Colombia appears to be so damning that not only is the Colombian intelligence service leaking documents exposing wrongdoing by Popular Will representatives appointed by Guaido, but the Organization of American States (OAS) — which is typically just as pro-opposition as the Colombian government — has called for an investigation.

In a tweet issued June 14 at 10:47 p.m. Venezuela time, Guaido called on his ambassador to Colombia — whom he had shut out of the aid event — to formally request an investigation by Colombian authorities, whose already-existing investigation is the reason the story came out in the first place. That was more than four hours after Secretary General of the OAS Luis Almagro called for an investigation that would clarify the “serious charges,” identify those responsible and effectuate accountability.

But Guaido had already been well aware of the charges, having dismissed his appointees who appear to be ringleaders of the embezzlement scheme. According to the report, he was contacted by the journalist who exposed the scandal 30 days before the story was published.

What happened in Cúcuta isn’t staying in Cúcuta

There’s barely a peep about the scandal in the Western press. A Google News search for “Juan Guaido scandal” and “Popular Will scandal” turned up nothing of relevance at the time of this article’s writing. But on Latin America social media, everyone is buzzing about it. American journalist Dan Cohen appears to be the first to highlight the scandal to an English-speaking audience.

It started with a request from Juan Guaido to billionaire investor and regime-change enthusiast Richard Branson.

Dan Cohen

✔@dancohen3000

Associates of Venezuelan coup frontman Juan Guaidó embezzled funds raised in Cúcuta, Colombia for humanitarian aid and lavishly spent it on hotels, nightclubs and expensive clothes. This is a monumental scandal! Great work by @OrlvndoA. https://twitter.com/PanAmPost_es/status/1139651223387344896 …

PanAm Post Español

✔@PanAmPost_es

Enviados de @jguaido se apropian de fondos para ayuda humanitaria en #Colombiahttps://buff.ly/2ZqFjAh  Por @OrlvndoA #14Jun

1,271

6:22 AM - Jun 15, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy

The stated purpose of the concert was to help raise funds for humanitarian aid and spotlight the economic crisis. At least that’s how it was billed to Americans. To Venezuela’s upper class, it was touted as the “trendiest concert of the decade.”

It was to be a congregation of the elite with the ostensible purpose of raising funds for the poor.

One director of Popular Will told Vice News in 2014 that “the bulk of the opposition protesters are from the middle and upper classes and are led by Venezuela’s elite.” The class character of the opposition has not changed since.

Meanwhile, USAID was to coordinate the delivery of aid alongside Guaido; and Elliot Abrams, who in Guatemala used “humanitarian aid” as cover for the delivery of weapons into the country, is running the White House’s policies toward Venezuela. And so the aid was widely criticized, even by the International Red Cross, as politicized. By others, it was called a Trojan Horse.

The concert was held in Colombia across a bridge linking the country to Venezuela. International media had claimed Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro had the bridge shut down to prevent the delivery of aid, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that the “Maduro regime must LET THE AID REACH THE STARVING PEOPLE.” But the bridge, in fact, has never been opened for use.

Nonetheless, Richard Branson sought to raise $100 million and promised that Guiado “will be coming to the other side of the bridge with maybe a million of his supporters.” In the end, it was a little more than 200,000 who came.

Meanwhile, Guaido told the President of Colombia, Ivan Duque, that more than 1,450 soldiers had defected from the military to join them. But that figure was also inflated. A new report by PanAmPress, a Miami-based libertarian newspaper, reveals that it was just 700. “You can count on your fingers the number of decent soldiers who are there,” one local told the outlet.

Despite the low turnout, organizers lived it up in Colombia. Representatives from Popular Will, which rejects the socialist leadership of Venezuela, found themselves living like socialites across the border.

There were earlier signs of excess and debauchery. One Popular Will representative was hospitalized and his assistant found dead after overdosing while taking drugs with prostitutes, although Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) claims they were poisoned.

celine and julie go bowling @MissPavIichenko

FyreFest walked so Richard Branson's aid concert could run. https://twitter.com/RealAlexRubi/status/1139907563103891457 …

Alex Rubinstein

✔@RealAlexRubi

Replying to @RealAlexRubi

Turns out I extremely called this one. The @richardbranson aide concert in Colombia was rife with debauchery & excess:

- $150,000+ per night on hotels & nightclubs
- Prostitutes
- Luxurious dinners, fancy drinks
- High end clothe shopping spreeshttps://es.panampost.com/orlando-avendano/2019/06/14/enviados-de-guaido-se-apropian-de-fondos-para-ayuda-humanitaria-en-colombia/amp/?__twitter_impression=true …

59

12:53 AM - Jun 16, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

The inflated soldier count meant more funds for the organizers, who were charged with putting them up in hotel rooms. Guaido’s “army was small but at this point it had left a very bad impression in Cucuta. Prostitutes, alcohol, and violence. They demanded and demanded,” the report said.

They also left a bad taste in the mouth of the authorities. The Colombian government was supposed to pay for some of the hotels, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was to cover the costs of others, while Guaido’s people were only going to pony up the cash for two of the seven hotels.

But Popular Will never paid, leaving one hotel with a debt of $20,000. When the situation became completely untenable, the hotel kicked 65 soldiers and their families to the curb. One soldier anonymously told the outlet that the party was not taking care of their financial needs as promised.

Guaido’s ambassador to Colombia took money out of his own pocket to try to resolve the dispute, but the check bounced.

The responsibility of taking care of the needs of the defectors went to Popular Will militants Rossana Barrera and Kevin Rojas, as decreed by Juan Guaido in a signed statement. They were also charged with overseeing the humanitarian aid.

Barrera is the sister-in-law of Popular Will member of Congress Sergio Vargara, Guaido’s right-hand man. She and Rojas were managing all the funds.

But the pair started to live well outside their means, a Colombian intelligence source told the outlet. “They gave me all the evidence,” writes PanAmPress reporter Orlando Avendano. “Receipts that show excesses, some strangely from different check books, signed the same day but with identical writing styles.”

Rojas and Berrera were spending nearly a thousand dollars at a time in the hotels and nightclubs. Similar amounts were spent at times on luxurious dinners and fancy drinks. They went on clothes shopping sprees at high-end retail outlets in the capital. They reportedly overcharged the fund on vehicle rentals and the hotels, making off with the extra cash. Berrera even told Popular Will that she was paying for all seven hotels, not just the two. And they provided Guaido with the fake figure of more than 1,450 military defectors that needed accommodation.

In order to keep the funds flowing, Rojas and Berrera pitched a benefit dinner for the soldiers to Guiado’s embassy in Colombia. But when the embassy refused to participate, Berrera created a fake email address posing as a representative of the embassy, sending invitations to Israeli and U.S. diplomats. They canceled the event after Guaido’s embassy grew wise to the scheme and alerted those invited.

“The whole government of Colombia knew about it: the intelligence community, the presidency, and the foreign ministry,” writes PanAmPress, calling it an “open secret” by the time Guaido dismissed the pair. But that was after Guaido had been defending them staunchly, trying to avoid a firing by transferring responsibilities to the embassy.

Berrera was called to the embassy for a financial audit, represented by Luis Florido, a founding member of Popular Will. She turned in just a fraction of the records uncovered by Colombian intelligence, accounting for only $100,000 in expenditures. “The [real] amount is large,” the outlet reports, citing an intelligence agent who says far more was blown.

Meanwhile, “at least 60 percent of the food donated” by foreign governments “was damaged.”

“The food is rotten, they tell me,” the PanAmPress reporter said, adding that he was shown photographs. “They don’t know how to deal with it without causing a scandal. I suppose they will burn it.”

It isn’t yet known exactly how much was embezzled by Popular Will, but it is likely the truth will come out in due time, and more investigations are likely underway. On Monday, Venezuelan defectors said they will hold a press conference in Cucuta, showcasing more corruption by Popular Will. For now, however, the fallout remains to be seen.

Guaidone?

One thing is certain: the scandal threatens to end Juan Guaido’s 15 minutes of fame. The de facto opposition leader had little name recognition inside Venezuela and never won a political position with more than 100,000 votes behind him. But the overnight sensation never had a lengthy life expectancy anyway.

Though he received so few votes (Venezuela’s population is nearly 32 million), Guaido became the president of the National Assembly because the body is controlled by a coalition of opposition groups, despite President Nicolas Maduro’s PSUV Party being the largest in the country. That was in January, and the length of the term lasts only one year. In 2015, the opposition coalition decided that after each term, the seat would be rotated to a representative of a different opposition party. While there is no law barring Guaido from being appointed president of the National Assembly again, tradition runs counter to it and another party may want to seize on a chance to get into the limelight.

Supporters of the coup — and Guaido’s self-declaration as interim president — claim that Maduro is derelict of his duties, which justifies a transition of presidential power according to the constitution. But the article that allows for such a transition in certain cases stipulates that ”a new election by universal suffrage and direct ballot shall be held within 30 consecutive days.”

To date, Guaido has run 145 days past his deadline to have elections held, and the opposition has made it clear they are not willing to accept new elections if Maduro runs.

This, of course, makes little dent in Guaido’s legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S. and other countries that have recognized his presidency. U.S. allies in Latin America have shown over the past few years that they have little regard for the sanctity of their constitutions. In 2017, a U.S.-backed candidate in Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, ran for re-election in explicit violation of that country’s constitution and only wound up winning through fraud. Last week, Ecuador made the decision to allow the U.S. military to operate from an airfield in the Galapagos Islands despite a constitutional provision stating that the “establishment of foreign military bases or foreign facilities for military purposes shall not be allowed.”

By Alexander Rubinstein / Creative Commons / MintPress News / Report a typo

================================

* De VS heeft de partij van Guaidó waarschijnlijk uitgekozen daar de rest van de oppositie zich al schuldig had gemaakt aan corruptie en er over de onbeduidende partij van Guaidó, die zoals gezegd amper bekend was, veel minder misdadig gedrag vertoonde en zelfs al zou deze partij zich daar schuldig aan hebben gemaakt, men kende Guaidó en zijn partij niet en berichten over corruptie zouden daarom al snel verdwijnen naar 'pagina 80' van de landelijke media......

Zie ook:
'Max Blumenthal (journalist van The Grayzone) in feite gearresteerd voor berichtgeving over belagen Venezolaanse ambassade in VS'

'Venezolaanse ambassade Washington gewelddadig ontruimd'

'Tirannie op de straten van Washington, een vergelijking met de start van nazi-Duitsland'

'Venezolaanse ambassade in Washington belaagd, er mag zelfs geen voedsel worden gebracht....'

VS gaat door met uithongeren Venezolaanse volk >> de westerse wereld negeert deze afschuwelijke oorlogsmisdaad'

Reuters houdt rapport tegen over 40.000 Venezolaanse doden door VS sancties'

'Guaidó wil 4 miljoen Venezolaanse paspoorten om o.a. een grote achterban voor hem te vormen'

'Venezuela: overleg in Noorwegen eindigde met telefoongesprek tussen Guaidó en Pence'

'Venezuela: Edwin Koopmans (o.a. 'deskundige' van VPRO) met anti-Maduro propaganda'

'Venezuela: 'studentenprotest' wordt uitgevoerd door ingehuurde troepen.........' (waarin een Nederlander die 15 jaar lang in Venezuela ondernemer was, met 'een iets ander verhaal' dan Koopmans)

'Edwin Koopman (VPRO Bureau Buitenland) over Venezolaanse verkiezingen met anti-Maduro propaganda bij de 'onafhankelijke NOS.....'

'Venezuela: VS ministerie van BuZa publiceert per ongeluk een lijst met sadistische terreurdaden tegen het Venezolaanse volk'

'Pence to offer 'carrots' to Venezuela military, warnings to judges'

'Venezuela: VS zal desnoods militair geweld gebruiken om een vreedzame overgang van regime te bewerkstelligen...... ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!'

'Venezuela: ultieme couppoging van Guaidó mislukt'

'Trump vermoordde al 40.000 Venezolaanse burgers'

'Venezuela: humanitaire hulp stunt van de VS ingegeven om de kruistocht tegen Maduro een versnelling te geven'

'Venezuela: 4 belangrijke zaken aangaande humanitaire hulp waarover de reguliere media niet berichten'

'Trump en Bolton bedreigen openlijk de familie van Venezolaanse militairen'

'Congreslid Ilhan Omar fileert het monster Elliot Abrams, de speciale gezant van de VS voor Venezuela'

Venezuela: de anti-propaganda van John Oliver (en het grootste deel westerse massamedia) feilloos doorgeprikt'

'BBC World Service radio >> fake news and other lies about Venezuela' (bericht van dit blog)

'Joel Voordewind (CU 2de Kamer) bakt de 'Venezolaanse vluchtelingencrisis' op Curaçao wel erg bruin en van Ojik (GL 2de Kamer) schiet een Venezolaanse bok'

'Venezolaanse verandering van regime bekokstoofd door VS en massamedia'

'Guaidó is een ordinaire couppleger van de VS, e.e.a. gaat volledig in tegen de Venezolaanse constitutie'

'Venezuela >> regime change: 'de 12 stappen methode' die de VS gebruikt'

'Venezuela >> VS economische oorlogsvoering met gebruikmaking van o.a. IMF en Wereldbank'

'Venezuela ontwricht, wat de reguliere media u niet vertellen........'

'VS steunt rechtse coalitie (MUD) in Venezuela.........'

'Venezuela’s US-Backed Opposition Turns Up The Violence Following Assembly Vote'

'10 Things You Need to Know About the Terrorist Attack in Venezuela'

'Venezuelans in the Streets to Support Constituent Assembly'

'What Mainstream Media Got Wrong About Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Vote' (met mogelijkheid tot directe vertaling)

'The Left and Venezuela' (met mogelijkheid tot directe vertaling)

'Abby Martin Busts Open Myths on Venezuela's Food Crisis: 'Shelves Fully Stocked'' (zie ook de video in dat artikel!)

Reuters houdt rapport tegen over 40.000 Venezolaanse doden door VS sancties

Persbureau Reuters heeft willens en wetens een maand lang een rapport tegengehouden waarin werd aangegeven dat de sancties van de VS tegen het soevereine Venezuela vanaf augustus 2017 intussen aan 40.000 Venezolanen (inclusief veel kinderen...) het leven heeft gekost, ofwel deze mensen zijn vermoord door illegale acties van de VS, illegaal daar de VN Veiligheidsraad hier geen toestemming voor heeft gegeven.........

Het is om doodmoe van te worden, de terreur die de VS op dagelijkse basis uitoefent tegen een aantal landen die haar niet welgevallig zijn. Hoe is het mogelijk dat zelfs de reguliere media, die de ene leugen van de VS na de andere herhalen, dit weten en desondanks door blijven gaan nieuwe leugens te herhalen...... Sterker nog als sociale media die leugens doorprikken heeft men in de reguliere (massa-) media het gore lef te stellen dat deze sociale media nepnieuws (fake news) brengen, of zelfs samenzweringstheorieën in de wereld brengen........ De reden daarvoor, één die ik al meerdere keren heb gehoord uit de mond van 'journalisten' en politici, is dat de VS onze bondgenoot is en er dus geen reden is aan haar beschuldigingen te twijfelen, zoals de laatste beschuldigingen aan het adres van Iran, na aanvallen op 2 olietankers in de Golf van Oman....* 

Eerder leidden dit soort leugens zelfs tot illegale oorlogen van de VS tegen Afghanistan, Irak, Libië en Syrië, waar de VS uiteindelijk ook verantwoordelijk is voor de oorlog in Oekraïne, immers de opstand die tot de coup tegen de democratisch gekozen president Janoekovytsj leidde, werd door Hillary Clinton (minister van BuZa onder Obama) gefinancierd met 4 miljard dollar (!!) en voor een groot deel uitgevoerd onder regie en hoogstwaarschijnlijk deelname van de CIA......

Reuters meldt vooral vanuit het zieke gezichtspunt van de Trump administratie, dus vooral anti-Maduro en men geeft hem dan ook de schuld voor de ontstane desastreuze economische situatie in Venezuela..... Waar het voor een ieder die er 2 minuten tijd insteekt, duidelijk zal zijn dat de sancties en eerdere economische oorlog van de VS de grote boosdoeners zijn (en zoals je begrijpt, daarmee is de VS de werkelijke dader)........

Zojuist schreef ik over een eerdere economische oorlog tegen Venezuela, daar de terreur van de VS op dit gebied niet van vandaag of gisteren is...... Voordat de VS de zogenaamde officiële sancties tegen Venezuela afkondigde. voerde het een geheime economische oorlog tegen Venezuela, al onder Obama en Bush....... Onder Obama werden VS winkelketens met winkels in Venezuela te verstaan gegeven hun voorraden zo mogelijk aan te vullen en ook de farmaceutische industrie werd te verstaan gegeven zo min mogelijk te leveren aan Venezuela (de VS heeft zelfs 5 miljard dollar van Venezuela dat in de VS was gereserveerd voor de aankoop van medicijnen en medische apparatuur, geblokkeerd voor gebruik door de Venezolaanse autoriteiten..... Tegelijk meldt de VS dat Maduro het volk medicijnen onthoudt.....)

Nogmaals: Reuters wist dat de VS sancties de economie van Venezuela ernstig hebben geschaad en schaden, maar hield een rapport daarover onder de pet..... Reuters zou een onafhankelijk nieuwsorgaan zijn, echter ook dat blijkt eens te meer onzin te zijn......

Het volgende meer uitgebreide artikel werd geschreven door Joe Emersberger en werd eerder gepubliceerd op Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) en door mij overgenomen van Anti-Media:

Study Linking US Sanctions to Venezuelan Deaths Buried by Reuters for Over a Month

June 14, 2019 at 6:34 pm

Written by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

(FAIR) — I emailed Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters on May 22 about her article, “Venezuela Turns to Russia, Cuba, China in Health Crisis” (5/22/19). Her article depicted the impact of US sanctions as an allegation that Venezuelan government officials are alone in making.

         

Reuters (5/22/19) attributes the idea that US sanctions are causing a health crisis in Venezuela to Venezuelan Health Minister Carlos Alvarado.

The article stated:

The opposition blames [medical shortages] on economic incompetence and corruption by the leftist movement in power for two decades, but [President Nicolás] Maduro says US economic sanctions are the cause.

I asked why the piece made no mention of a study (CEPR, 4/25/19) released a month earlier by economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, which directly linked US sanctions to 40,000 deaths in Venezuela since August of 2017.

Her reply to me on May 23 was quite telling:

I was not aware of that study, but am now and will bear in mind.

It would indeed have been impossible for a Reuters reporter to be aware of the study if they depended only on Reuters articles to keep informed. The news agency hadn’t mentioned the study since it was released, never mind written an article about it.

I asked a contact I have at Reuters about this, and he was also surprised that Reuters hadn’t even mentioned the study. He suggested I query some of Reuters’ Venezuela-based reporters, which I did a few days later.

In my email to them, I passed along a list of news articles since August 2017, when Trump first dramatically intensified economic sanctions, that described worsening economic conditions.

I also noted that though the Sachs/Weisbrot study was ignored by Reuters, it had been intensely debated in public by Venezuelan opposition economists (i.e., the kind of people Reuters and other Western media actually pay attention to on Venezuela).

CEPR compared oil production in Venezuela and neighboring Colombia to illustrate the impact of US sanctions.

The Brookings Institution published a few rebuttals to the study (here and here), which I also pointed out to Reuters. The objections Brookings made were essentially already addressed by Weisbrot and Sachs in response to other critics.

On June 9, Reuters finally mentioned the study, at the end of an article by Nebehay, who is based in Geneva:

One study in April, co-authored by US economists Jeffrey Sachs and Mark Weisbrot, blamed sanctions for causing more deaths and disproportionately hitting the most vulnerable.

“We find that the sanctions have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018,” they said, arguing they were illegal under international law.

Nevertheless, since the day Nebehay replied to me, Reuters has continued to portray the severe impact of US sanctions as an allegation that only Maduro and other Venezuelan officials have made. It was even done by Reuters in an article published June 10, the day after the wire service finally mentioned the study:

The government of President Nicolás Maduro says Venezuela’s economic problems are caused by US sanctions that have crippled the OPEC member’s export earnings and blocked it from borrowing from abroad.

         

Reuters (6/1/19) treats the idea that US sanctions are responsible for deaths in Venezuela as an allegation made by Maduro–placing it after the statement, “The opposition has blamed their deaths on President Nicolás Maduro, whose socialist administration has presided over the collapse of the once-wealthy nation’s economy and severe reductions in healthcare spending.” 

Other instances of Reuters representing the idea that US sanctions work as they are intended to do—in other words, that they hurt the Venezuelan economy—as an allegation made by Maduro or his government:

• “He [President Maduro] says the country’s economic problems are the result of an ‘economic war’ led by his political adversaries with the help of Washington.” (5/23/19)
• “Maduro, who maintains control over state institutions, calls Guaidó a puppet of Washington and blames US sanctions for a hyperinflationary economic meltdown and humanitarian crisis.” (5/26/19; repeated almost verbatim, 5/28/19)
• “Maduro’s government, however, says US-imposed sanctions were responsible for the children’s deaths, by freezing funds allocated to buy medicine and send the children to Italy for treatment under the 2010 agreement.” (6/1/19)
• “Maduro blames the situation on an ‘economic war’ waged by his political adversaries as well as US sanctions that have hobbled the oil industry and prevented his government from borrowing abroad.” (6/7/19)
• “Maduro says Venezuela is victim of an ‘economic war’ led by the opposition with the help of Washington, which has levied several rounds of sanctions against his government.” (6/7/19)

Two recent articles by Reuters, however, stated the obvious about the most recent US sanctions that were implemented in 2019:

• “Venezuela is in the midst of a years-long economic and humanitarian crisis that has deepened since the United States imposed sanctions on the country’s oil industry in January as part of an effort to oust Socialist President Nicolás Maduro in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaidó.” (6/7/19)
• “Venezuela’s oil exports dropped 17 percent in May because of the sanctions.” (6/6/19)

But the study Reuters belatedly mentioned shows that US sanctions have been devastating to Venezuela’s economy, and seriously aggravating the humanitarian crisis, since August 2017.

Apologists for Trump always rush to say that Venezuela’s depression began years before Trump’s sanctions—as if that made it acceptable to deliberately worsen a humanitarian crisis. To tweak an analogy Caitlin Johnstone used, think of a defense attorney saying, “Your Honor, I will show that the victim was already in intensive care when my client began to assault him.”

Moreover, as Steve Ellner recently discussed, US support for an insurrectionist opposition in Venezuela goes back over a decade before the crisis, and was a factor in causing it. Economic sanctions Obama introduced in 2015 were also harmful—Weisbrot (The Hill, 11/6/16) in 2016 called them “ugly and belligerent enough to keep many investors from investing in Venezuela and to raise the country’s cost of borrowing”—even before Trump’s dramatic escalation of economic warfare that they paved the way for.

Putting aside a study by prominent US economists, the “Maduro says” formulation is also inexcusable because US Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been widely reported as a major influence on Trump’s Venezuela policy, gleefully tweeted on May 16 that Maduro “can’t access funds to rebuild electric grid.”

Rubio didn’t pretend he was referring to an imaginary electric grid used exclusively by Maduro. Reuters (5/30/19) has itself referred to Rubio as the “leading voice in the crafting of President Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy,” in a lengthy piece about US sanctions that said absolutely nothing about their impact on the general population, implying throughout that sanctions only impacted Maduro and other officials. (“Being blacklisted also crimps the lifestyle of Venezuelan officials’ families,” Reuters reported.)

My fellow FAIR contributor, Alan MacLeod, interviewed many Venezuela-based journalists for his book Bad News From Venezuela. He wrote last year (FAIR.org,  5/24/18):

Media copy and paste from news organizations like Reuters and Associated Press (AP), which themselves employ many cheaper local journalists.

In Venezuela, these journalists are not neutral actors, but come from the highly partisan local media, affiliated with the opposition, leading to a situation where Western newsrooms see themselves as an ideological spearhead against Maduro, “the resistance” to the government.

Even worse than being the “resistance” to Maduro is that Reuters has often made itself the “assistance” to politicians like Rubio, who are vicious enough to celebrate the economic strangulation of millions of people.

Reuters may carry on as if it had never reported the study by Weisbrot and Sachs. Western media outlets are perfectly willing to ignore their own reporting when it suits powerful interests (Extra! Update, 10/02). It is therefore up to all of us to not be passive consumers of news, and continually bear in mind that the news we are getting about official enemies may be less than half the story.

By Joe Emersberger / Republished with permission / FAIR.org / Report a typo

========================================
* Zie: 'Kapitein Japans schip spreekt Trump administratie tegen over Iraanse kleefbom op zijn tanker' voorts: 'VS heeft stok 'gevonden' om oorlog tegen Iran te beginnen: Iran zou tankers hebben aangevallen' en tot slot: 'Twee olietankers aangevallen in Golf van Oman: VS oorlogsbodem in de buurt'

Zie ook:
'VS gaat door met uithongeren Venezolaanse volk >> de westerse wereld negeert deze afschuwelijke oorlogsmisdaad'

'Venezuela: partij van Guaidó corrupt, zelfs al voor deze enige regeringsverantwoordelijkheid draagt'

'Guaidó wil 4 miljoen Venezolaanse paspoorten om o.a. een grote achterban voor hem te vormen'

'Venezuela: overleg in Noorwegen eindigde met telefoongesprek tussen Guaidó en Pence'

'Venezuela: Edwin Koopmans (o.a. 'deskundige' van VPRO) met anti-Maduro propaganda'

'Venezolaanse ambassade Washington gewelddadig ontruimd'

'Venezuela: 'studentenprotest' wordt uitgevoerd door ingehuurde troepen.........' (waarin een Nederlander die 15 jaar lang in Venezuela ondernemer was, met 'een iets ander verhaal' dan Koopmans)

'Edwin Koopman (VPRO Bureau Buitenland) over Venezolaanse verkiezingen met anti-Maduro propaganda bij de 'onafhankelijke NOS.....'

'Tirannie op de straten van Washington, een vergelijking met de start van nazi-Duitsland'

'Venezuela: VS ministerie van BuZa publiceert per ongeluk een lijst met sadistische terreurdaden tegen het Venezolaanse volk'

'Pence to offer 'carrots' to Venezuela military, warnings to judges'

'Venezolaanse ambassade in Washington belaagd, er mag zelfs geen voedsel worden gebracht....'

'Venezuela: VS zal desnoods militair geweld gebruiken om een vreedzame overgang van regime te bewerkstelligen...... ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!'

'Venezuela: ultieme couppoging van Guaidó mislukt'

'Trump vermoordde al 40.000 Venezolaanse burgers'

'Venezuela: humanitaire hulp stunt van de VS ingegeven om de kruistocht tegen Maduro een versnelling te geven'

'Venezuela: 4 belangrijke zaken aangaande humanitaire hulp waarover de reguliere media niet berichten'

'Trump en Bolton bedreigen openlijk de familie van Venezolaanse militairen'

'Congreslid Ilhan Omar fileert het monster Elliot Abrams, de speciale gezant van de VS voor Venezuela'

Venezuela: de anti-propaganda van John Oliver (en het grootste deel westerse massamedia) feilloos doorgeprikt'

'BBC World Service radio >> fake news and other lies about Venezuela' (bericht van dit blog)

'Joel Voordewind (CU 2de Kamer) bakt de 'Venezolaanse vluchtelingencrisis' op Curaçao wel erg bruin en van Ojik (GL 2de Kamer) schiet een Venezolaanse bok'

'Venezolaanse verandering van regime bekokstoofd door VS en massamedia'

'Guaidó is een ordinaire couppleger van de VS, e.e.a. gaat volledig in tegen de Venezolaanse constitutie'

'Venezuela >> regime change: 'de 12 stappen methode' die de VS gebruikt'

'Venezuela >> VS economische oorlogsvoering met gebruikmaking van o.a. IMF en Wereldbank'

'Venezuela ontwricht, wat de reguliere media u niet vertellen........'

'VS steunt rechtse coalitie (MUD) in Venezuela.........'

'Venezuela’s US-Backed Opposition Turns Up The Violence Following Assembly Vote'

'10 Things You Need to Know About the Terrorist Attack in Venezuela'

'Venezuelans in the Streets to Support Constituent Assembly'

'What Mainstream Media Got Wrong About Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Vote' (met mogelijkheid tot directe vertaling)

'The Left and Venezuela' (met mogelijkheid tot directe vertaling)

'Abby Martin Busts Open Myths on Venezuela's Food Crisis: 'Shelves Fully Stocked'' (zie ook de video in dat artikel!)

PS: vannacht en vanmorgen werd er bericht over de cyberaanvallen van de VS op het elektriciteitsnet van Rusland en dat al vanaf 2012 (later nog een bericht daarover), waar de VS eerder durfde te stellen niet verantwoordelijk te zijn voor de grote elektriciteitsstoringen in Venezuela...... ha! ha! ha! ha! Ach ja, volgens de reguliere westerse media en westerse politici is de VS een bondgenoot, dus twijfel over de woorden van de VS is totaal uit den boze......