Regime Change In Venezuela: Army Defectors, Russian Mercenaries And Disappearing Gold
Over the past few days, the intensity of anti-government protests in Venezuela has declined despite attempts of the US-led bloc to warm them up through both public and clandestine measures. However, the conflict continues to develop amid the acute standoff in the media sphere between the Maduro government and its opponents backed by the US-led bloc.
On January 29, CNN released an interview with two “Venezuelan army defectors” who appealed to US President Donald Trump to arm them to defend “freedom” in Venezuela. They claimed to be in contact with hundreds of willing defectors via WhatsApp groups and called on Venezuelan soldiers to revolt against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
“As Venezuelan soldiers, we are making a request to the US to support us, in logistical terms, with communication, with weapons, so we can realize Venezuelan freedom,” one of the alleged defectors, Guillen Martinez, told CNN. Another one, Hidalgo Azuaje, added: “We’re not saying that we need only US support, but also Brazil, Colombia, Peru, all brother countries, that are against this dictatorship.”
During the entire clip, these persons were presented in a manner alleging that they had just recently defected and are now calling on others to follow their step. However, therein lies the problem. The badges on their uniform say FAN – Fuerza Armada Nacionales. This is an outdated pattern, which has been dropped. Now, Venezuela’s service members have a different badge – FANB, which means Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana. So, either the “Venezuelan army defectors” somehow lost the letter B from their uniform, or the entire interview is a staged show involving former Venezuelan service members, who have been living for a long time outside the country, or in the worst case – actors.
The interview came amid increasing US political, media and sanction pressure on the Maduro government. White House National Security Adviser John Bolton was even spotted with a mysterious note about the deployment of 5,000 US troops to Colombia, the US ally which borders Venezuela. In this situation, a large-scale military uprising or at least formation of some opposition within the army would become a useful tool in a wider effort to overthrow the country’s government. On the other hand, the use of such CNN-styled content shows that so far the US and its proxies have achieved little success in buying the support of Venezuelan service members.
On January 29, Venezuelan lawmaker Jose Guerra claimed via Twitter that a Boeing 777 of Russia’s Nordwind Airlines landed in Caracas on January 28 to spirit away 20 tons of gold bars, worth some $840 million, from the country’s central bank. When asked how he knew this, Guerra provided no evidence. By January 30, these items of breaking news had rocked the headlines of most of the mainstream media.
Another version, which was also quite popular among pro-opposition media, is that the plane, which reportedly made the trip directly from Moscow, moved in a group of Russian private military contractors to support the Maduro government. This version is fueled by reports claiming up to 400 Kremlin-linked private military contractors may have arrived in Venezuela.
The developing crisis is also accompanied by the growth of citizen journalism. Bellingcat members already created a Twitter page named “In Venezuela”, which provides field news about the crisis from Toronto, Canada. It’s easy to expect some “open source intelligence investigations” revealing crimes of the Maduro government against peaceful protesters very soon if the conflict escalates further.
Roughly speaking, the mainstream media presents the audience with the following story: The Maduro government is about to fall and is already moving the country’s gold reserves somewhere via Russian planes. At the same time, Vladimir Putin sent his mercenaries to rescue Maduro and to keep the corrupt regime in power in order to secure Russia’s economic and political interests. This, as well as the oppressive nature of the regime, are the only reason why the forces of good have not yet achieved victory.
Fortunately, there is the shining knight of democracy, Juan Guaido, who was democratically appointed as the Interim President of Venezuela from Washington. He, his Free Venezuelan Army consisting of hundreds of WhatsApp defectors and a group of unbiased US/NATO-funded citizen journalists and investigators are ready to stand against the Maduro-Putin alliance and to defend freedom and democracy in Venezuela… with a bit of help from the Trump administration for sure.
There are no doubts that modern Venezuela is allied with Russia and Moscow will employ its existing influence to resolve the crisis and thus defend its investments and oil assets. Furthermore, Maduro and his supporters showed that they are not going to give in to the US-led pressure. At the same time, The level of MSM hysteria, including an open disinformation campaign against the Maduro government and attempts to demonize it through various means, including its ties with Moscow, show that the Washington establishment is serious in its regime change efforts and may even be ready to instigate a Syria-style “proxy war” in the country in order to achieve own goals.
“During the entire clip, these persons were presented in a manner alleging that they had just recently defected and are now calling on others to follow their step. However, therein lies the problem. The badges on their uniform say FAN – Fuerza Armada Nacionales. This is an outdated pattern, which has been dropped. Now, Venezuela’s service members have a different badge – FANB, which means Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana. So, either the “Venezuelan army defectors” somehow lost the letter B from their uniform, or the entire interview is a staged show involving former Venezuelan service members, who have been living for a long time outside the country, or in the worst case – actors.”
Oops. Looks like America’s psyops operators made a little mistake there!
“The developing crisis is also accompanied by the growth of citizen journalism. Bellingcat members already created a Twitter page named “In Venezuela”, which provides field news about the crisis from Toronto, Canada. It’s easy to expect some “open source intelligence investigations” revealing crimes of the Maduro government against peaceful protesters very soon if the conflict escalates further.”
If Bellingscat followers are getting involved in America’s regime change war against Venezuela, that is another sign of the fraudulent nature of the USA’s “pro-democracy” pretensions, given the role of this Citizens Psyops … sorry … Citizens Journalist group in promoting the “moderate rebel” jihadists and head-choppers that the USA and Free World have backed against Syria.
Perhaps, we can also expect a Venezuelan-branded version of the White Helmets terrorist auxillary, which will have a fawning documentary made about it and receive numerous film awards from “prestigious” film festivals and distribution with NetFlix?
Finally, a detailed analysis of Juan Guido, America’s latest “moderate rebel” stooge.
The making of Juan Guaidó: How the U.S. regime change laboratory created Venezuela’s coup leader
https://www.liberationnews.org/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-u-s-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/
I’d assume if these were actors then they’d have had a professional costume aide working with them who could look up on the internets what the proper military uniform looked like and produce it.
No, these were probably people who deserted years ago,possibly fleeing criminal charges, and who have been living abroad and probably receiving money from the Nazi Endowment for Democracy for some time, who then pulled their old uniforms out of a moth-proof bag, had them adjusted by a tailor to account for the weight they gained since they used to do military physical training, then stood before the cameras of the Counterfeit News Network to tell their lies.
Does anyone know how many years ago the Ven. Army changed its name and thus its badges?
I was telling a story the other day about 1999. The key bit of the story was that CNN lied. I haven’t trusted CNN for decades. Not since Turner sold it.
I would disagree. There have been many false flag events in the US, where the “actors” have made ridiculous mistakes. They do this for different reasons. To see how dumbed down we are and because they don’t have to be careful because they control everything.
The U.S is so very corrupt because they have been ruled by the Rothschilds etc for so so long. Lincoln, Jackson said no to their bullying but then Woodrow Wilson gave in. Then they were totally controlled by Central Banking system. …Federal Reserve
Now there are only a few countries left , including the newly unenslaved Iceland, that aren’t under the central banking evil CONTROL .
SO they want to take over Venezuela and it’s resources…surprise ….they have done it over and over again to so so many other countries.
Wake up!
Will the USA/UK/Canada and other assorted grovelling lackeys be importing those White Helmets after the democratic freedom bombs start falling?
What we have here are some crisis actors performing to the script that was given to them. The only person missing is Vicky Cooky. I presume she will arrive with bags of cookies once the coup d’etat succeeds, or will it ?
The US is using the same manual on subversion it has used before. An update is required. You don’t use the same trick twice. Too obvious.
We all know by now that what America does to other nations does not apply to America itself.
But, if it did, then it is now American stated policy position that if a President tries to rule outside the Constitution, say for instance by declaring National Emergencies to rule by declaration and bypassing the legislature and the requirement that all monies spent be appropriated by the legislature, then it is acceptable for the leader of the legislature to declare herself President, even though she didn’t even run for the office in recent elections.
In other words, say hello to President Pelosi. President Pelosi would be equally legitimate as President Guard.
Franklin pointed out that the British were using a military solution for a political problem. Hasn’t`t changed a bit. Reason and logic wasn’t`t consulted and is still being ignored today.
“Bellingcat members already created a Twitter page named “In Venezuela”, which provides field news about the crisis from Toronto, Canada…”
Well, they will certainly have ringside seats in Toronto! It’s only 3860 km or so away from Caracas. With directional mikes they should be able to pick up even the quietest of whispers.
Bellingcat…
You pay him (Mr. Higgins), and he will find what pleases you. Totally unreliable.
And the twitter accounts are probably filled by Bana Alabed, who could write flawless English at the age of 6, and as only citizen of Aleppo had unlimited access to electricity and wifi (with an account, registred in the UK)?
It keep amazing me, what crap people are willing to believe.
Cheers, Rob
From Telesur….
“Opposition Protests Flop As Chavista Marches Surge”
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Opposition-Protests-Flop-As-Chavista-Marches-Surge-20190131-0012.html
“Protests called by self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido for Jan. 30 were much smaller and calmer than anticipated, and limited to the upper-class neighborhoods in the east of the capital of Caracas. Meanwhile, supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro came out to protest intervention by foreign actors.”
—————
I was an opposition protester in Washington in the past, before protesters in the Land of the Free were threatened with 75 years in prison for protesting, with the same for any journalists who dare accompany the protesters instead of tamely waiting for a press release from the police chief telling them what to say. From that experience, getting a couple of hundred people out for a protest means nothing. That is a tiny crowd, easily ignored by authorities. Of course, in the Land of the Free, protests of hundreds of thousands of people are also easily ignored. So a protest of a few hundred is nothing.
Can someone explain to me how this Juan Guaido guy is still alive or walking free in Venenzuela??
Is this a joke, or am I missing something ??
I image he doesn’t take too many steps away from the front porch of the US Embassy building in Caracus.
Probably sleeps there at night, but there would be no doubt that at the first sign of trouble he’ll run in and bunker down.
Why the embassy is still not surrounded by police, checking everyone that goes in or out since Venezuela do not have relations with USA anymore.
First of all, the U.S. has absolutely no business in Venezuela, nor anywhere else in the world.
Second, the current crisis could only happen because of yet another experiment of socialism failing.
What happened in Venezuela was the the umpteenth perfectly implemented case of socialism. And as everybody, except dumb socialists, could have foretold long before, this one was unequivocally going to fail as well, because after all, this is the very nature of socialism.
So who is to blame? The dump Venezulians? The USA trying to take advantage of this?
For me it’s both, no doubt about it. 80% Venezuelians, 20% US.
Yet, socialist China is running fast at 6.6 percent a year.
Remember this is not 10 % any longer BUT there s a snag: just do the math to calculate how much is 6.6% ON 14 trillion against what was 10% growth ON 7 trillion a few years ago…
Beijing became the model, the benchmark for all African, asian and even Latin American nations who were left behind in the last 150 years.
And the model in replacement for whom?
Yes, you guessed it right: the self righteous soi disant leaders of the north atlantic area…
And there is no return.
Lol lol
Latvia isn’t socialist. So what is the excuse here?
“The New Latvian Government Was Appointed by Washington”
“The four-month epic connected to the creation of a government coalition in Latvia, full of squabbles and cynical exchanges, ended very simply.
Washington was tired of watching the “democratic exercises” that threatened to shake the stability of its Baltic ally or, even worse, allow “undesirable” politicians to come to power, and thus dictated the composition of the new Latvian office”
https://www.stalkerzone.org/the-new-latvian-government-was-appointed-by-washington/
.
What “regime change”? I don’t see any evidence of one. All I’ve seen is the western lie machine cranking out the usual din of lies and wishful thinking.
As SF also points out most of this is going on “in the media sphere”. Stop consuming this nonsense in western media. Reliable reporting like South Front and certain S/American outlets have all stated clearly that the opposition is small and dwindlng.
Yes there are protests and grievances – Venezuela has been under the gun for years – but nothing amounting to a serious threat to the government.
The lies and hype machine would have had us believe – just in recent times alone – that North Korea would be defeated, Iran suffocated, President Assad toppled and that Russia had invaded Ukraine.
I am not downplaying the misery the US is capable of inflicting on countries but I do not believe they are either coherent enough or even capable mentally of invading and conquering anybody any more and sanctions on anybody and everybody is all they have left along with the media machine which these days it is best to avoid completely. And the endless belligerence and sheer malevolence of the US has happily served to draw closer together countries in trade and defence agreements hastening the end of the dollar.
I am also sure that Venezuela is organising it’s forces and resources to deal with the terrorism we might expect but my overall impression of this latest American and puppet EU exercise is that it is a pathetic failure.
I also believe that the US empire including countries like France, is far nearer to collapse than Venezuela and they are becoming more and more fascist and totalitarian to cope with rising popular dissent.
The NATO gang have run out of countries they can destroy. What was all the noise about? To misquote Shakespeare “Sound and fury signifying nothing”
Further confirmation that it has all gone horribly wrong for the Anglo Zionists is found in another South Front article in which it is stated –
“Therefore one may conclude Guaido’s “recognition” was supposed to follow the military coup which Guaido probably promised and Washington clearly expected. It is also difficult to say whether Guaido overestimated the degree of his support within the military or outright lied to his American sponsors. Either way, the US intelligence community has once again failed at providing an accurate assessment of the situation within a country, as Venezuela’s military rallied around President Maduro.
The United States has thus painted itself into a corner. Guaido’s recognition, which was moreover coordinated with the bulk of Latin America’s countries and with the European Union (which likewise points to a wider though failed conspiracy to overthrow Venezuela’s government) cannot very well be walked back”
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:27 UTC
Written and produced by SF Team: J.Hawk, Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson
And it can also be confirmed that Russia is indeed planning to set up a military base on the Venezuelan island of Orchila.
Please find link. Mod:
https://southfront.org/venezuela-crisis-us-has-painted-itself-into-corner/
You have the correct link for the “US has pained itself into a corner”
The link for the Russian base in Venezuela’s island of La Orchila is –
http://tass.com/pressreview/1035596
Sorry – I should have included it.
Not much is written about this. This explain a lot of things !!!!
Well, that is a very interesting article. It didn’t pop up in my mind yet, but this ‘bargaining’ theory sounds interesting. But again, when Moscow says no (which I think they will answer), the remaining question is: what is Plan B?
And I’m wondering whether there is a plan B.
I think mr. Macrobama (brilliant description of the Saker) will then end up like… Julian Assange.
Cheers, Rob
Well written report from SF. So far the zionazi-gay moves have been bluff noises and psywar with the usual asset stealing. The theatrics have not been followed up with solid moves on the ground in Venezuela by these coup’ers. Given all the gofers they got jumping together, this coup attempt involves much more planning than its skoolboi implementation so far implies.
What we are seeing right now is zionazi-gay chest beating tailored for western consumers. Psywar mostly for the attackers’ people. The real war against Venezuela hasn’t started yet, likely they are waiting on some planned event or series of events to use for a pretext.
Refusal to hand over Venezuelan gold means end of Britain as a financial center – Prof. Wolff
https://www.rt.com/business/450144-venezuela-gold-boe-wolff/
“That is a signal to every country that has or may have difficulties with the US, [that they had] better get their money out of England and out of London because it’s not the safe place as it once was,” he said.
“One of the few things left for Britain is to be the financial center that London has been for so long. And one of the ways you stay a financial center is if you don’t play games with other people’s money,” he said.
“You can be sure that every government in the world is going to rethink putting any money in London, as they used to do, when they are watching this political manipulation with the money that they entrusted to the British. It is very dangerous for the world but for Britain particularly,” said Wolff.
He explained: “What the British are showing is that they can’t continue apparently to be the neutral place where you can safely put your money.”
Sort of like France doing an israeloamerica over the Mistral ships Russia paid for. I have not done a study on how that cowardice affected their arms sales to foreign countries, but I bet they’re in decline.
Britain is far too desperate to care for such details as the trust of the clients. The gloves are off and brute force is all that remains as they flounder in desperation.
Prof. Wolff is both a Leftist and a Jew. So, knowing your positions on things, he should not be trusted, correct? Because what you regard as Left is either fake left or not left at all. As for his being Jewish, that automatically disqualifies him as Zionazi gay. Or maybe I misread your comments.
Just like, during the Falklands conflict, France supplied Argentina with ship killing exocet missiles, only they weren’t configured correctly so most never exploded yet still sank ships, and later on France provided Britain with the codes to disable the missiles entirely.
England lost 3 ships during the Falklands conflict, they could have lost the whole fleet had the exocets worked properly. Margaret Thatcher was as much the Iron Lady as the Duke of Wellington, the Iron Duke, defeated Napoleon, or America defeated the Nazis.
Can’t trust purchases from France, they might not work when needed the most.
Remember the dirty tricks France played re Mistral…..
“England lost 3 ships during the Falklands conflict, ”
The British lost 6 SHIPS > Sir Galahad, Atlantic Conveyor, HMS Coventry, HMS Antelope, HMS Ardent, HMS Sheffield.
Italy Not Recognizing Guaido as Venezuelan Interim President – Deputy FM
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201902011072014281-italy-not-recognizing-guaido-venezuelan-interim-president-deputy-fm/
“Italy does not recognize Guaido because we absolutely oppose the fact that a country or a group of third countries can determine internal policies of another country. This is called the principle of non-interference and has been recognized by the United Nations,” Di Stefano, told the Tv2000 broadcaster on Thursday.
Di Stefano also emphasized the importance of avoiding the eruption of a military conflict, similar to the war in Libya, in Venezuela.”
Nice. But two other Italian diplomats spouted the zionazi-gay nonsense instead. So Italy wavers and keeps one foot in the cess pool.
commonwealth streetrobbers are on full action. hopefully they perish. white neoliberal capitalist dictatorship is no way better than socialist initiative, though dictatoric appearance.
anybody remembering the venezuelan proposal to leave all the oil in the great forest, getting holistic development help. too less wanted it.
there is a big war coming up between the destroyers of the earth and the guards.
farewell
the venezuelans should troll the neocon-dummies and
fake some defectors, ask for lots of money and weapons
from the US+vassals, then give it all to the regular army/state coffers
film everything, every secret delivery and meeting and
then make it public …. so we all can have a big laugh @ pindo idiocracy
Proxy.
The empire does not put many of its own at risk.
Proxies.
If the markets would go ahead and collapse and take the dollar with it, many
countries now playing along with Washington would find independence. It wouldn’t be pretty … but it might be just.
My 2 cents on the nauseating “theft of gold” fake news:
There are about 30 tons frozen in the UK as of this writing. Gold that would have been useful to pay for the 600’000 tons of wheat Russia will ship to Venezuela this year. Even if 20 tons of gold would be transported from Venezuela to Russia, it would still mean that Russia sold wheat to Venezuela at a bargain price.
Whereas I don’t know the price and payment for Russian wheat shipments to Venezuela, but I am quite sure it won’t be shipped for free. Due to sanctions, cash payments might not be possible.