Venezuela 2002=Chile 1973

I have a couple of friends from Venezuela, and suffice to say that their take over time is that Chavez apparently burned all his bridges readily on his own -- though doubtless some spook types knew how to use that to their advantage.

US govt officials accuse this president of being firends with both sadam hussein and fidel castro - two men of similar political views I''m sure, and venezuelan president was one of few leaders to say after sept 11 that US should consider what were the policies that led to it being under attack. Venezuela also controlling large chunk of non-arab oil, essential in US govt's plans to not be held hostage by iran/iraq/saudi oil embargo.

http://pilger.carlton.com/print/98841

He is just a bit too too concerned to demonstrate that his analysis of what's wrong been with the world since the 60s is thus confirmed in toto as per usual. Suppose someone was turning over the following worry in their mind: "But look at Chile now. Democracy is returned and the dictators are toppled: Pinochet's respectability is crumbling , and lawyers are preparing to bring Kissinger to book... Yes yes what happened in 1973 was horrible, but who's to say that it won't prove in the long run a better route to the humbling (and communal policing) of US misbehaviour in Latin America?" They would be baffled at best (certainly not speedily persuaded) by Pilger's automatic assumptions about outcomes.

On another note, Chavez is no Allende much less a Castro and more akin to the Christian-dem wing of the Sandanistas.

On another note -- anyone who asked yr. posed question about Chile would bea FUCKING IDIOT as there is no way that even the middle-of-road mainstream of the U.S. has claimed Chile wasn't that bad all-in-all. Many people dead, institution of dictatorship, and economic ruin ANYWAY = bad things. Restitution, as you well know, especially in more limited "bring the perps to justice" sense, does not perform resurrection.

since venezuela now is NOT chile 30 years ago, why on earth hook the story on the similarity? my point is that the neophyte will tend to look at chile NOW not chile then and say, what's the point being made? i am not pretending my posed question is smart or deep, i am trying to imagine a naive poorly informed outsider such as has been created by pilger's idea of the monolithic us/uk media => who does pilger imagine he speaking to/writing for? (possibly i am over- imagining the degree of nondiscussion and soft-shoeing round chile in the us media, which i after all don't see that much of; if i am over-reaching in my assumption that such a neophyte, informed only by the us mainstream, would have a rather too rosy view of the disaster of latin america under US hegemony, i think i know who i wd blame my assumptions on

erm i don't think anything achieves resurrection

At any rate, I'd love to be the fly on the wall at the next OPEC meeting, when Chavez hobnobs with the various sheikhs and whatnot.

The main problem is rilly more that ppl. who know about Chile *at all* are a limited audience for an article like this.

(geoff this report was 1.oo gmt)

the presedential address was done from within the palace, and then all the national tv has been showing is a repeat of his address and the celebrations...it's a bit bloody weird

Chavez won a landslide victory in a democratic election.

King George seized power in a coup after losing an election.

PM - Monday, April 15, 2002 6:45

To the oil-rich South American nation of Venezuela, and its on-again, off-again coup.

Rumours in the capital Caracas say it is on again because President Hugo Chavez has not been seen or heard of since his triumphant return to his official residence early yesterday morning.

He was to address the nation in the evening but failed to appear, and the country remains in chaos.

Not helping matters are the wild rumours that President Chavez has been kidnapped by dissident military officers.

the full audio story is: http://www.abc.net.au/pm/2002/04/15/20020415pm08.asx

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/international/americas/16DIPL.html

"human rights," we love em

"A member of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s brutal secret police who’s been accused of murder taught for more than a decade at the Pentagon’s premier university, despite repeated complaints by his colleagues about his past.

Jaime Garcia Covarrubias is charged in criminal court in Santiago with being the mastermind in the execution-style slayings of seven people in 1973, according to court documents. McClatchy also interviewed an accuser who identified Garcia Covarrubias as the person who sexually tortured him.

Despite knowing of the allegations, State and Defense department officials allowed Garcia Covarrubias to retain his visa and continue working at a school affiliated with the National Defense University until last year.

Human rights groups also question the school’s selection of a second professor, Colombia’s former top military commander.

Some Latin America experts said the hirings by the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies reflected a continuing inclination by the U.S government to overlook human rights violations in Latin America, especially in countries where it funded efforts to quash leftists."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/03/12/259553/chilean-accused-of-murder-torture.html

[Thread] There is a coup d'etat attempt underway here in Venezuela 🇻🇪, fueled by tons of fake news.

In this thread, I'll debunk some of the most egregious and viral fake stories circulating.

Add your own in the replies.

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) July 29, 2024

You can tell a lot about a movement's values from what they destroy. When the Right riots (anywhere) they burn institutions that serve the people, religious buildings that aren't their own, union halls and community centers where worker power and real democracy are nurtured. https://t.co/wOKrZnQEYv

— Tovarisch (@nwbtcw) July 30, 2024

This is a much better thread:

Since the international "left" is so convinced Venezuela is not a dictatorship and the voice of the people is being heard with these elections, here's a thread:

✨poor/indigenous/racialized people protesting/voting against the Maduro government in the last 48 hours✨

— Andrea Paola Hernández (@andreapaolahg_) July 30, 2024

Maduro has lost Chavista strongholds. It’s not the upper middle class on the streets.

The Venezuelans I know who've moved in the last five to six years are former Chavistas pretty embittered and fed up with Maduro -- a sense of having lost their patience.

100%

Massive expansion in the gaps between rich and poor, trickle-down economics, huge disparities caused by Dollarisarion, crackdowns on the left, erosion of workers’ rights, etc, even before you get to the theft of the election.

Miami's full of Venezuelans and their stories vary. You've got the middle-class ones who fled in the early/mid '00s to an increasingly proletarian base in the last decade. I'd shudder to put them in the same room.

i love mcleod's consistent refusal to identify the source of anything

Thanks SV, I wanted other views on what has been going on.

https://x.com/GMomurder who I think is a Chinese Venezuelan communist, has been posting / retweeting a bunch of useful stuff recently.

Grand, have given it a follow.

Pretty good piece and thread.

I wrote about Venezuela’s election for @NewLeftReview Sidecar. Brief 🧵with the main takeaway:

“A careful consideration of the evidence suggests the election results are not just difficult but impossible to believe.”https://t.co/nGfLhd93AL 1/

— Gabriel Hetland (@GabrielHetland) August 21, 2024