by Peter Koenig
On 8 of June, I had the privilege to attend a press conference hosted by the Venezuelan Ambassador in Bern, Switzerland. The purpose of the press conference was to clarify the current highly misrepresented situation in Venezuela, as well as explaining the process of electing a new National Constitutional Assembly (Asamblea Nacional Constituyente – ANC) on July 30, 2017.
In his hour-long presentation, the Ambassador introduced the issues at stake by explaining that Venezuela today has the largest known oil reserves in the world and the fourth largest deposits of gas; that the US is importing 60% of its lush energy use (a distant first of the globe’s per capita energy users), mostly from the Middle East, where it is subject to long and costly transport (40-45 days), and to many risk factors, including the Gulf of Hormuz, controlled by Iran, where today about one third of all the world’s petrol must pass through.
By contrast, shipments of petroleum from Venezuela across the Caribbean to the refineries in Texas takes only 4-5 days.
This is the main reason why Venezuela is in the White House’s crosshairs, plus, of course, the fact that for Washington it is totally intolerable to have a sovereign socialist Republic in its ‘backyard’ – and so close, the same syndrome applies also for Cuba, a genuinely successful socialist nation, having survived almost sixty years of atrocious and criminal American strangulation. There is no tolerance for sovereign independent countries that do not bend to the dictate of the United States and her behind the scene handlers.
The Ambassador then went on explaining the process of the upcoming election of the National Constitutional Assembly (ANC). He described the process of direct democracy, where Venezuelans elect their delegates by region and by sector, and where of course, the opposition was also supposed to participate, although the opposition’s leadership has already declared they would boycott the process.
The elected new ANC would then be called to amend the Constitution of 1999, to adapt it to today’s circumstances. The current Constitution was approved in a similar democratic process by the people and sanctioned by the ANC one year after President Hugo Chavez Frias became President in 1998. The 1999 Constitution is still valid and adhered to until this day.
The July election will choose 545 members to the National Assembly, of which two thirds (364) would be elected on a regional or territorial basis, and one third (181) by sectors of professions or activities, i.e. students, farmers, unions of different labor forces, employees, business owners – and so on. This cross-section of people’s representation is the most solid basis for democracy.
The Ambassador assured the journalists that there will be a very high peoples’ participation in the elections, as was the case for the 19 democratic elections that took place since1998, when Comandante Chavez became President.
This election should be an opportunity for the opposition to gather as many Assembly seats as possible, and then help shape the new Constitution in a fully democratic process. Not by street violence.
The fact that the opposition is planning to boycott the election shows clearly, they are not interested in democracy. They have one goal only, to oust President Maduro and take power, privatize state assets, especially hydrocarbons (petroleum and gas) to hand them to international mainly US corporations to be exploited at no benefits for the Venezuelan people.
This was precisely the case before President Chavez took the reins of the country. Foreign corporations, almost all North Americans, left not a dollar in tax revenues in Venezuela.
Venezuela today is arguably the only true democracy in the western world, as said on numerous occasions by Professor Noam Chomsky, MIT.
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To counter the neoliberal mainstream media’s (MSM) demonization of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and her President Nicolas Maduro, the Ambassador showed various videos demonstrating that the instigators of violence were clearly the armed opposition. They are constituted and led by a rich elite and supported ideologically and financially from outside.
Among different foreign sources of support and funding, most of them American, is the infamous National Endowment for Democracy – NED, a so called “fake” NGO “think-tank” (sic), receiving from the US State Department hundreds of millions of dollars per year to ’spread democracy’ American style around the globe, i.e. training local rebel groups abroad and within the targeted country to provoke instability through unrest and violence; distribute anti-government propaganda, infiltrate the media, universities and so on. They are the same who were responsible for the so-called Arab Spring and the Color Revolutions in former Soviet Republics, including Ukraine.
The facts explained and demonstrated by the Ambassador showed clearly who was responsible for most of the 67 deaths and more than 1,200 injured within the last couple of months.
This is all supported by unmistakable videos, showing government supporters, who are despite what the western media are saying, the vast majority – between 70% and 80%, demonstrating peacefully and unarmed.
However, western media twists and manipulates the truth to become anti-Venezuela propaganda, including video clips presented out of context, or outright falsified, blame the aggression on the government supporters, accusing authorities and police of oppressing civil liberties, of dictatorship, of killing its own people.
The western MSM do not show the weaponized right-wing opposition attacking police with explosives, putting police cars on fire and throwing Molotov cocktails and more sophisticated explosives at police and authorities.
This point of opposition violence, blackmail and more, is clearly demonstrated by a recent US journalist covering the riots for the pan-Latin American TeleSur TV. Ms. Abby Martin, the host of the Empire Files, an investigative program, told RT (Russia Today) that she received numerous death threats from opposition fighters during her work on the ground in Venezuela. She says protesters threatened to lynch and burn her alive if she tried to contradict their narrative (https://www.rt.com/news/391338-us-journalist-venezuela-threats/). This is to be taken seriously, because several journalists have already been murdered by the opposition.
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The Ambassador made two very important points that the west should listen to. He said, that despite the violent social upheavals, the government is respecting the principles of democracy and has not declared a State of Emergency or Martial Law, nor curtailed private-owned foreign media slandering Venezuela with lies.
This contrasts with other countries, like France which for the past two years has been under a declared State of Emergency, just a small step below Martial Law, and is about to put this state of permanent militarization into her Constitution; or take Argentina which is suppressing foreign media like TeleSur (and were at the point of shutting down also RT), because they are telling Argentinians the inconvenient truth.
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When the Ambassador opened the floor for questions and comments, most of the journalists present were polite, seeking clarifications of the election process. But there were two sore thumbs sticking out, the representatives of the two largest and most neoliberal Swiss newspapers, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and the Tagesanzeiger.
They came with a specific agenda. It seems they didn’t listen to anything the Ambassador said. They simply hurled their list of insults, accusations and offensive negative lie-propaganda at the Ambassador. Both of them are what one would assume in Switzerland, educated people. They must know the truth. If they don’t say the truth, they are most likely bought agents of the Anglo-Zionist network that controls 90% of the news throughout the western world. After they accomplished their mission of insulting the Ambassador, they left the conference.
Isn’t it a journalist’s foremost obligation to adhere to a code of ethics? – That’s what they were taught at universities, to seek the truth and portray the truth as objectively as possible.
And what about Switzerland? A country that boasts about its neutrality, appears to have completely abandoned her noble principles and moved to become Europe’s epicenter of neoliberalism. No wonder, such alternative international media like TeleSur and RT are not publicly offered to households by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG), the monopoly holder (90%) of Swiss television and radio providers.
Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, RT, Sputnik, PressTV, The 4th Media (China), TeleSUR, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance.
“Isn’t it a journalist’s foremost obligation to adhere to a code of ethics?”
A journalist’s only obligation is to serve power and to maintain his prestige and paycheck.
‘Journalists’ of the M$M nowadays are just white-livered liars who tell the exact opposite of the truth, and are very well comparable to the “Ministry of Truth” Orwell wrote about, or the Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany Goebbels.
Maybe the commenters John and Mr. Black (John actually wrote a whole book) are the two sore thumbs Peter Koenig mentions, same hypocritical, vulgar lying, demonizing kind, anyway.
This point of opposition violence, blackmail and more, is clearly demonstrated by a recent US journalist covering the riots for the pan-Latin American TeleSur TV. Ms. Abby Martin, the host of the Empire Files, an investigative program, told RT (Russia Today) that she received numerous death threats from opposition fighters during her work on the ground in Venezuela. She says protesters threatened to lynch and burn her alive if she tried to contradict their narrative (https://www.rt.com/news/391338-us-journalist-venezuela-threats/). This is to be taken seriously, because several journalists have already been murdered by the opposition.
Why, this is merely Western “freedom and democracy” in action!
The Venezuela “opposition” shares much in common with those cuddly moderate jihadists, head-choppers, and cannibals in Syria … in that the Americans, British, French, and other European imperial powers lovingly promote them all as pro-democracy rebels.
Democracy and Freedom have long ago been hijacked by these predator nations, as a weapon and mask to advance European-American colonialism.
Just how bad is the economy in Venezuela? Here’s what three locals told me
Andrew Henderson
It’s been no secret than Venezuela is a nation in crisis. For years, the place has suffered from hyperinflation and all sorts of other economic ills at the hands off a disastrous monetary and social policy. If Nomad Capitalist is all about “go where you’re treated best”, Venezuela could be summed up as just about the opposite.
Recently, the government stepped in to “solve” the problem by devaluing the currency by 64 percent. We saw a similar move in Egypt last year, and my recent visit there suggested to me that their move did not end well.
I believe that it’s important for us to not only study what works, but what doesn’t work as well. Venezuela should be a wealthy country, but years of rule by crazies has led them into deep, dark spiral. This could be repeated anywhere. And while I’m not suggesting that the United States or anywhere else will become the next Venezuela, there is nothing special in the water that stops any of this stuff from happening anywhere else.
While I spend most of my time in Europe and Asia – places where I believe opportunities are best and most accessible – I wanted to know more about the situation in the ground in Venezuela. I had met a Venezuelan freelancer who was working in Bogota when I met her two years ago, and I decided to reach out to get the real scoop.
After all, the media often issues rather erroneous reports when it comes to anything overseas, preferring to scare would-be travelers in the United States and elsewhere from leaving their homes. There was never any doubt that the communist, authoritarian government of Venezuela was not my cup of tea, but were the toilet paper lines as bad as described?
I emailed my contact Jessica, who replied promptly and also offered two of her colleagues to comment, as well. What follows is a group interview conducted with Jessica, Sheryl, and Joisber about the real situation in Venezuela.
Each of these ladies and gentleman were very gracious and very forthcoming in answering my questions. Other than changing punctuation and re-organizing paragraphs for readability, I have not edited or “touched up” their answers in any way. This may lead to a few words seeming out of place, but I wanted to give the unaltered, unfiltered way of what is happening in Venezuela.
Here is my interview…
Tell me about the situation in Venezuela right now.
SHERYL: “The perfect Storm”. That’s the way I like to call the situation in Venezuela right now. It’s a combination of catastrophic events, not only of a political nature but also of a social, economic and even moral, which increasingly drown my country in despair. The desperation of not being able to leave home freely without feeling insecure of what could happen on the way to work or school. No one is save here.
Poor people don’t have the opportunity to take a bite to the mouth, which is why they see themselves in the need to dig in the garbage and, in the worst scenarios, to loot local shops to be able to take daily bread from the hands of others. I can say it with propriety because I have friends of very low resources who tell me such stories.
The whole country is in tension and every day there comes news of how young people were killed in the protests against the government, the brutal repression to which we are exposed for expressing an opinion contrary to those who hold the reins of the country and how we are humiliated waiting up to 6 hours in long lines to buy something as simple as bread.
I could go on, but I don’t think I’d have the words to describe all this disaster, because although many are fighting tirelessly everyday to resist this corrupt, dictatorial and ruthless government we don’t know what the final result will be or what may happen before the situation gets better.
JOISBER: The situation right now is very hard. Most of the high officers of the government are corrupted or involved in drug traffic, so they will pursuit for holding the power at all cost. President has more than 80% of people reject and he doesn’t resign because he doesn’t have where to run out. Almost all executive officers are being investigated by the USA Treasure Department, DEA or Interpol. In this scenario, I don´t think that any country deserves to receive them as guests.
People on the streets have almost two months protesting for a change and the government is just killing, repressing and putting in jail common citizens who think different, just to hold the seat. Health is in critical levels. There’s a huge shortage of medicines and medical supplies. You can’t find a single painkiller on a drugstore. Food is also a problem, you can’t have it regularly. People must pay high prices for it in the black market or just have to spend many hours making a file to obtain it.
Crime murders at least 400 persons every weekend (more than any actual military conflict in the world. Jail mobs are supported by the government itself; they trade impunity for money. Army and police forces are also corrupt. Most policemen are on the streets hunting bribes instead of enforcing laws. The black market is present in absolutely all: food, medicines, legal transactions, banking, and services. We live in a country where bribing is a common thing (anyone who can ask you for money for anything will do it, because the lack of law supports him).
JESSICA: In this moment Venezuelans are out in the streets, expressing their discontent through different forms of peaceful protests and making demands of the government:
1. To accept international humanitarian aid. This way the international community could send medicine to our country. In Venezuela it is very difficult to find medicine, there are people dying every day because they can’t find or afford the most basic treatments. People suffering of terminal illnesses, such as cancer, usually give up all hope, even before starting treatment, that is because it does not matter if you have money to pay for a treatment, usually there are no reagents in the country. Also, hospitals do not meet the minimum hygiene requirements, causing newborns to die every day. If you were the government of Venezuela, what would you do? In my case, I would accept the international humanitarian aid, but, guess what? They don’t want it, they say that everything is just fine…They are proud of this mess and they don’t want help, that would be like accepting their failure
2. To release political prisoners. The government has arrested political leaders who have fought for the rights of the people and denounced government abuses. In Venezuela if you don’t support the government then they call you a “terrorist” and it does not matter if you only go to a protest with a white T-shirt and bottle of water, for them you are still a “terrorist” It does not matter if you have never killed a single person or destroyed a place with a bomb, in Venezuela if you don’t support the government, then you are a “terrorist”. I think this is disrespectful, not only for the protesters but for the real terrorism victims.
The most popular political prisoner is Leopoldo López, he is a political leader from the party “Voluntad Popular” and he was arrested back in February 2014 when started some similar protests. He was arrested because he called people to take action, to go out and protest. In 2014 more than 20 persons died in the protests, most of them were killed by the National Guard of Venezuela (The government, obviously, controls the National Guard) but the government said it was all Leopoldo’s fault, because his speech incited hate, which is curious, because you only have to turn on the TV and watch a government’s channel to see a real hate speech.
In April of this year, Freddy Bernal, a government’s supporter and chief of one of the alimentation plans said in a pro-government’s march (textually) “If the time came when every man and woman had to take a Kalashnikov to defend Bolivar’s homeland, I am sure that we would be willing to do so”. In my opinion, Bernal is making a call to take ARMS against the opposition, he calls for murder… isn’t this hate speech? Believe it or not, Freddy Bernal is not in jail.
In Venezuela there are thousands of people like Leopoldo López in prison for demanding the fulfillment of human rights, unfortunately, in Venezuela there are thousands of people like Freddy Bernal, too.
3. To respect The National Assembly. On December 2015 the Venezuelans elected The National Assembly and the opposition party (MUD- A coalition of opposition parties) won, obtaining 109 deputies, while the government’s party (PSUV) only had 55 deputies. This was an historical victory for the opposition in Venezuela, but what happened next? The government through the TSJ (Supreme Court of Justice) began to annul all the decisions made by The National Assembly, ignoring the will of more than 7 million people who voted for that Assembly. Democracy? I don’t think so.
4. General Elections. People want Nicolás Maduro out. According with our constitution, the presidential election should be held on Decemeber 2018, however, Venezuelans don’t trust the National Electoral Council. This distrust is due to the fact that in December 2016 they had to carry out elections of governors and mayors, today, the CNE hasn’t even started the process, so this is why people don’t think that we are going to have presidential elections on December 2018. While Venezuelans demand all those things in many pacific ways, they have been repressed and attacked by the National Guard and national police.
Is the situation better or worse in Caracas – the capital city – than in the rest of Venezuela?
JESSICA: In Caracas the situation is terrible, most of the people that have been killed by the National Guard are from Caracas and there are protests every single day. But in states like Mérida, Táchira or Zulia, the repression has been worse.
SHERYL: I don’t live in Caracas, but I have relatives who do, and definitely it’s not better. In all major cities it is worse, 80% of the national population is against the government, and this is demonstrated every day. I don’t know if other countries know it but have been 50 days of continuous protests and counting. Every day it’s worse and I don’t say it because of the protests, because that’s the only way we have to express our opinion, it’s because there is less food, less medical supplies, less justice, but more insecurity, more corruption, more despair and more sadness.
The media has portrayed protests in Venezuela as violent and out of control. Is that true?
JOISBER: It is absolutely false that protestant people are violent. All mobilizations and protest activities has a pacific nature. Usually National Guard puts a pass block on streets to avoid people reach the final point (for instance a Minister’s office). When citizens reach that point, repression begins with no provocation or questions asked.
The police and army officers have violated almost all rules of engagement of this kind of environment including, shooting from helicopters, shooting directly at people, passing over people with security vehicles, entering residential zones without warrant, and using over dated tear gas.
On the other hand, the government maintains armed paramilitary groups who are sended to protests to shoot, loot and generate disorder and violence. After this, they just blame the opposite party for it (for this purpose they send those so-called “colectivos” paramilitaries wearing civilian clothes Most answers from people are made in self-defense, and in many occasions the opposition leaders disperse and rejects those focus who try to take justice in their own hands.
JESSICA: I wouldn’t say that the protests are violent or out of control, I would say that the National Guard and the National Bolivarian Police are violent and out of control. Since the start of this process the opposition leaders made a call for peaceful protests, but it doesn’t matter how peaceful you are, the “security” corps just start throwing tear gas or shooting bullets to the protesters heads (yes, that is how most of the killed protesters have died). This is why in some pictures about the situation in Venezuela you might see groups of youngsters holding shields and wearing helmets (yes, shields and helmets!) and they basically stand in front of the march, protecting all the protesters, that is why when this youngsters arrive to a march everyone starts applauding them, they are heroes.
In addition, in case what I have said is not creepy enough, the National Guard and the National Bolivarian Police are not the only threats to the life of the protesters, we also have “Colectivos”…Colectivos are groups of supporters of the government who also have guns, but they do not belong to any force of order, however, they ‘help’ the National Guard and the National Bolivarian Police to terrorize and injure (and,yes,kill) protesters. Actually, according with PROVEA (a program who defend the human rights) since the protests started more than 40 people have been killed by Colectivos, National Bolivarian Polices and National Guards.
The dangers faced by demonstrators in Venezuela are so big that a group of med students created an organization called ‘Cruz Verde’ (Green Cross), they take care of injured protesters, thanks to national and international donations (sometimes they even help injured guards). Even when this is a noble and altruistic work, the guys of the Green Cross are not safe from the Government and its assassins, a few weeks ago, more than 10 officers of the National Bolivarian Police attacked a car from the Green Cross with more than 8 bombs of tear gas and they also stole all the medicines and equipments they had. Also, a week ago one of the Red Cross volunteers, Paul Moreno was killed in the state of Zulia while he was helping people.
The government wants to show the world that the opposition is the responsible of those deaths, they want the world to believe that those killed were terrorists, but, certainly, they weren’t, they were people of my age (23), they were people who took classes with me at the university, they were people who wanted to express their frustration against an inefficient government. Those murdered guys had millions of dreams, but only one in common: a better country.
SHERYL: Almost 100% of the protests have never reached their “meeting point” (Supreme Court, National Assembly headquarters, The Ombudsman’s Office, et cetera). Why? Because the troops of the National Guard, the armed groups paid by the government (there is evidence of them) and the police instead of protecting the people and guarding their interests as was the case in Ukraine suppress the protests in a violent way.
Even the Republic’s General Attorney, who was previously adept to the government, agrees that violent acts have been facilitated by these “security” agencies. And, how can we ask a repressed and humiliated people for so long to react differently to such repression?
Venezuela is a time bomb. The people is beginning to defend themself and to break the chains that oppressed them and made them feel fear in past years. And I’m more than sure they will not stop until we have a new president.
The government has taken control of international companies like GM and Pepsi. Do you know anyone from those companies, and how have they been affected?
JESSICA: I don’t know people who had worked for GM or Pepsi so I don’t know how their lives have been affected, but what I do know is that the government took control of the principal GM fabric in Venezuela and something similar happened to Pepsi. This is a typical government play, they take control of a company or a fabric and they give the control of this to a friend, it doesn’t matter the experience you have on the field, if you support the government and you are the cousin, the brother, the son of someone, then you will have your company, this way, after a month or maybe two, most of this companies fail and the worse part of it is the way this affects the economy.
The same thing happened previously with other companies, for example, the Colombian chain of supermarkets ‘Éxito’, the government took all their supermarkets and started a new one (so this is government’s property) called ‘Bicentenario’ and let me tell you something about Bicentenario: this is a supermarket without food, or hygiene product, or anything.
SHERYL: I don’t know anyone who has worked for those companies, but I can imagine the sadness and despair that they felt. Those who lose their jobs that way can take up to two months to get another one. This is almost normal in Venezuela, not only because of the expropriations carried out by the government but also because of the personnel reductions that many companies (especially small ones) are forced to do thanks to the inflation and the high production and maintenance costs, not counting wages and administrative expenses. Because of this, they have chosen to have up to 3 jobs at a time, work independently or simply to leave the country.
The media shows photos of people waiting hours in line just to buy toilet paper. Is that true? Talk about any shortages, and what products are no longer available?
SHERYL: Yes, it’s totally true. Not only do they make long lines for toilet paper, but for cornmeal, wheat flour, vegetable oil, pasta, rice, milk, diapers, baby food, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, butter, bread in any of their presentations, toothpaste, bath soap, and much more.
And from a few months to now we can’t even buy “subsidized” products in the supermarket, because now it is only the National Guard that is responsible for distributing food and medical supplies to the whole country. At first they said they were going to deliver boxes 2 times per month with “everything you need” to eat 15 days, but as we all knew that never happened, that box is sold every 6 to 12 months. And the importation that reaches the markets is very expensive, and the great part of the population can’t afford it.
JESSICA: It is true; in Venezuela the inflation is out of control and the prices of the food are constantly growing day by day. Because of this situation, the government (instead of fixing the change control ) decided to regulate the prices of some products so that way all the people could afford them, that’s why you can see huge lines for food; there is not much regulated food but there are lots of people that can’t afford the usual prices. By now you can’t even find some products for high prices, so you have to make a 7-8 hours line.
The shortage mutated with time, during a month you won’t find mayonnaise, next month you won’t find toilet paper, right now, we can’t find bread and surely, next month there is going to disappear another product.
JOISBER: Toilet paper, diapers, tooth paste, food, BREAD. You’re allowed to make the file just once a week for establishment according to your last ID number. The ugly truth is that you make the line but there’s no warranty you’re going to find anything. Grocery buying has to be done daily, sometimes because you don’t have enough money to make a weekly buying and other times because there’s nothing to buy.
Most people have to get in line the day before, from early hours. Once I saw a girl who just got a little tooth paste after making the line for 18 hours. 90% of bakeries have no floor to produce bread. They reduce selling to 1 pound of bread for person in line (when they have bread to sell) and after a huge line. I just saw more than 400 persons in a bakery waiting in line to buy bread for tonight.
All basic products are scarce today. You find it just for luck unless you pay for it on the black market at really expensive prices. A pound of powder milk should cost 5000 Bs and you find it for 30000 Bs underground. Buying basic products and sell it on the black market has become a profession. We call them the “bachaqueros”.
Many supermarket chains import basic products like floor, pasta or rice. They bring them legally from Colombia or Brazil, but they are also expensive. For example 1 vegetable oil liter should be sold for 4000 Bs but you can buy it from a bachaquero in 9000 and the imported one cost 8200.
A missed in action product? Any cream or paste medicine (i.e. for skin care) There’s no import of prime materials for its production in Venezuela.
How is the violence and the shortages affecting the wealthy? Is anyone exempt from the issues facing the country?
JESSICA: The violence situation in Venezuela is out of control, in Venezuela if you have a smartphone you can’t go out with it, because someone can stole it from you and if you resist, they could kill you, they just don’t care, crazy, right? Actually, I do not have a single friend that hasn’t been robbed, at least. So most of us have been forced to buy a second phone, maybe a simpler one so we can stay communicated while we are on the streets, is this fair? I don’t think so..
I’m 23 years old and I study engineering at the UCV (Central University of Venezuela) and I feel that I am wasting my youth in Venezuela, maybe this is a superficial perspective, but this is my perspective: how is possible that I can’t go to the cinema after 7pm because someone might kill me? How is possible that I can’t go to a club with my friends because we might get kidnapped? How is possible that some months ago a boy who studies with me at the engineering faculty was shot in the head because he was trying to stop a thief? And you might wonder: Where is the police? Well, the police only appears when they can beat and kill young protesters, you will never find them if you want justice, actually, most of them are the main kidnappers in the country
In Venezuela no one is safe from violence, even the wealthy people, they are the main targets. Maybe they can buy the expensive products and don’t need to make lines in order to get regulated products, but they still don’t have a quiet life, none of us have it.
SHERYL: Violence affects all of us who live in this country, regardless of our economic position. In fact, those who have more money are those who are, in a way, more exposed to kidnappings, robberies and murders. If you have no direct relationship with the government you are not secure. And about the food, those who despite the speculation decide to spend their money on food with excessive prices are often also in trouble because the shelves of supermarkets are empty, what are they going to buy? Anyone is free to face the problems of the country.
JOISBER: Only the high government officers are relative exempt from the crisis. If you are a common citizen you’re affected because is hardtop feed yourself with those high prices and your low income. If your personal economy is a little better, you still have to spend a lot buying what you need.
Regarding violence, organized crime is the greatest industry in country not related to oil extraction. A jail produces in a week more money than Polar Industries in a month (Polar is the biggest private enterprise in Venezuela). Money is obtained by kidnapping, stealing or just asking for “protection” fees called “vacunas” (vaccine in English). The most contradictory part of this madness is that mob bosses help the near communities. They rule their influence zones, a job that should be made by local governors.
The crime crisis is so deep, that some groups are stealing even some of the most basic of the cities infrastructure; this week in my neighborhood they’re “working” removing telephone lines from the public posts to sell the copper as recycling stuff. We as a community tried to denounce it at the police and they send us to the telephone company. Then we went to the company and they said that this was a police issue. Impunity everywhere, beautiful isn’t it?
Unemployment has quadrupled form 7% in 2015 to 28% now. Are these figures accurate, or too low? Who do you know who is unemployed, how is it affecting them, and what are they doing about it?
JOISBER: Those numbers are too low because they are manipulated. More than 50% of Venezuelans are not on a formal employment (an institution or enterprise). You just can’t survive being somebody’s employee, taking in mind you need at least 5 times the minimal wage to maintain a 4 persons family. Actually is better do something else than being in a job a whole day for just a dollar.
Any venezuelan prefers to work informally (mostly in commerce). Even if you’re a professional like me, there’s no office paying enough to sustain your home. Government holds some social welfare, but you must be close to socialist thoughts (or pretend to be) to get it.
Only 8% of the population eats 3 times a day. In many families adults skip one or two meals to let the children have it. Every day is more common seeing people searching in garbage bags for food.
JESSICA: I think that the figures are accurate, in Venezuela you can’t have high unemployment figures because there is a law that supports the workers, so it is very difficult for a company to fire someone, this sounds great, but the government is constantly increasing the minimum wage, this way a company can’t fire someone and every 3 or maybe 5 months they have to increase the salaries of all the employees, options? Or you increase the products you sell or you go bankrupt.
Usually companies increase their products and this helps with the inflation, obviously. So, this way you won’t find so many unemployed people. Also, Venezuelans are fighters, we just don’t give up, so you will probably find someone selling tea on the lines to buy food, or someone selling candies at the subway, or someone playing the guitar for a few coins…we always find the way to help our families, of course, I am talking about the people that chose the right path.
SHERYL: Well, some say less other say more, but I believe that unemployment has been the least of our problems these last months. The Venezuelan is characterized by being proactive, I have seen many who when dismissed by the personnel cuts of which I spoke previously have been dedicated to informal commerce. However, not having a routine by the kind of work they have, affected them not only psychologically but also physical, so they lose weight and acquire diseases derived from stress.
How are resourceful young Venezuelans like yourselves using the internet to make a living?
SHERYL: Well as I said before, nobody is exempt from facing the shortages problems in the country, and those who win dollars using platforms are not the exception. Most use this extra income to save money and move to another country where they can have a better life.
JOISBER: Everyone who can earn money in dollars will do it or will try to. I know many young and not so young people using Internet in many ways to make money online. Platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr or even PTC portals represent an alternative for those who are trying to survive in this country. Is not massive, but is highly increasing.
Speaking for my case, earning just $5 a day at least I ensure a good menu for my family. The Venezuelan population has easy and cheap access to superior studies or to learn a second language in comparison to the rest of the world. This allows very capable and competitive human resource offering freelance services on portals. Besides, making money in dollars (even when a $5 payment seems like misery) is highly appreciated, because the benefits are not pulverized by inflation. You also save money for transportation and avoid the risk for robbery on your bus to work.
Unfortunately on the Internet are also a lot of scam or tricky business and the same desperation to get the head out of the water make Venezuela more susceptible to get one of those traps.
JESSICA: I work with freelancer sites and I have to say that it has been a huge help for me, because by making little or big jobs I can earn dollars, in Venezuela, there is a change control, so, If I earn $5 I can do a lot of things, actually. Thanks to freelancer sites I can help my family by buying meat once a month, with $20 I can buy the meat for a month. However, with my jobs online I actually earn more money than a person who has a minimum wage, so I am very grateful with this website and I am really happy for taking that English course 5 years ago…
In my case, I live with my parents so they take care of everything, but as I said, sometimes I help buying meat and some things, however, I use most of my earnings on personal things and right now I am saving money because I want to leave the country when I get my degree. Obviously is not the same for everyone and I am pretty sure that there are some other Venezuelans over there working with various freelancer sites like Upwork and living from it.
Talk about inflation: how is the bolivar declining, and how does it affect you?
SHERYL: The bolivar is worthless. Every day the dollar rises, so our currency is practically under the ground. Inflation is literally eaten our salary, the increases made by the president are worthless because immediately the next day begins to increase the value of everything and we are even worse than before.
JESSICA: Inflation in Venezuela is worse every day, the prices are constantly increasing. This affected my family in so many ways, in my house we just don’t eat the same way we did in the past. An example could be the price of a 2 Liters Coke; two years ago the price was 250 bolivares but now it is 4,500 bolivares – a nearly 20X increase. If you want to go to the movies, a single ticket costs almost 4,000 bolivares. The minimum wage is 60,000 bolivares plus 135000 bolivares in Cesta Tickets (A Cesta Ticket can only be used to buy food). If you need to buy food for a house with 4 people you can spend more than 200,000 bolivares (1 kilo of cheese is 11,000 and 1 kilo of meat is between 13,000 and 15,000 bolivares) all this is only in food, we are not taking into account medicines and other things.
JOISBER: Inflation is overwhelming. Each month food cost increases at least 30%. The price index is independent of the currency flow, it just grow. This year is a perfect example for parallel dollar fluctuation:
On March 1st, $1 cost 4,300 bolivares. On March 31st, $1 cost 5,200. On May 22nd, $1 cost 5,850.
But the prices just increase, with no way back from heaven. Since 2015, prices increased at least 1,000% in a year. In just the first five months of this year has is more damage than the full year before. And an egg cost one bolivar in January 2015, but today cost 450 bolivares. The President hasn’t understood that they must increase the production (among many other policies) to stop inflation. Instead they just increase the minimal wage, but when they put it 20% higher, prices increases 40%. This is just unbearable.
Talk about the black market: is everyone rushing to sell their bolivars? What currency do people prefer to hold? Tell me about the difference between the official exchange rate and the actual rate on the street. Talk about what it’s like to exchange bolivars on the black market.
JESSICA: The principal problem in Venezuela is that we have a change control established by Chávez when he was the president. In this moment you can get dollars in the black market or in an official way, but no one uses the official way.
People prefer dollars than bolivars, because our economy is a dollarized economy, which is ironic, because all the government’s leaders hate the United States (or that’s what they say).
So to sell dollars according with the black market, all that you have to do is to go to a website called Dollar Today and see the price of the dollar for that day (we actually don’t know who created this website or which parameters they use to increase the dollar) right now you will receive 5851 bolivars for $1.
The difference between the official dollar and the black market dollar is that the official dollar costs 10 bolivares (huge difference, right?) but that dollar is only used to buy medicines… well, that is what they say because I see no medicines.
SHERYL: Those who sell their bolivars are those who want to leave the country. Obviously we prefer the use of dollars because it’s worth much more than the local currency. However, we can’t use it to buy food or clothes, so its use is limited only to those who wish to leave the country or who they need it to import products from abroad to sell here or for production purposes.
The difference between the black dollar and the official is that the first one can only be used by the government to supposedly import food and medical supplies (which are obviously very inefficient, most of the preferential dollars are used to pay for the luxuries of adepts to the government and their families in the United States and Europe) and the second are those that are bought and sold every day for the purposes I described above.
I exchange dollars very often. And the exchange rate on the street is way above the official (black: $1=5,851 bolivares; official: $1=700 bolivares). All people use this type of exchange because as I said the preferential dollar can only be used and controlled by the government.
JOISBER: There are 3 kinds of currency exchange rates in Venezuela. The first is at a rate of 10 bolivares for $1, and is for money officially going to food or medicines. Then there is the “free flow” official rate of 700 bolivares to $1 for goods and services, such as tourism; this rate is nonsense. Then there is black market rate on the street, which today placed at 5850 bolivares for a dollar, and is still increasing.
The people here tend to hold the fewer amounts of bolivares as possible. Many of those who can´t buy foreign currency prefers to buy something like a blender or a washing machine. The bolivar is not an option to save. Any currency like dollars, euros or even Colombian pesos avoids savings to vaporize. Is that hard that holding the blender at least guarantees that you’ll have some money you can use, even if you sell it for less. If you leave your money in the bank you’re surely lose it. You can also buy some kinds of food –such as rice- because you can trade it later for some good you need. Everyday there’s more Facebook or Whatsapp groups to do so.
There was a Vice article about how you could live for a month on 100 euros. Is that true?
SHERYL: Yes, that’s true. Now with only 2000 euros you could buy a car. And if you save a little more money you can even buy a house or condo. If a foreigner for some reason came to Venezuela to live could achieve in one or two months what would take us many years. Amazing, right?
JESSICA: In the black market, 100 euros are 655,383 bolivares, which is equivalent to 3 minimum wages approximately. Supposing that you live alone and that you don’t have to help a familiar or something, you can actually live in luxury for 100 euros a month. However, one of the main problems right now is to change those 100 euros in the black market, not much people have all those bolivares.
JOISBER: Today this kind of life will cost you about 500 euros a month. A box with 36 bottles of beer cost $4 and a good bottle of rum like $8. With some hundreds of euros you’ll live well, but inflation is growing fast. The same candy you bought for a hundred two years ago cost today 2000 bolivares. Hotel rooms are subsided for the mentioned “official rate”, but good and services provided must be paid at real rates. Hotels must buy cleaning issues or food at local and real prices (when they can find it, of course).
Travelers have been advised to stay away, with many people saying that anyone who comes to Venezuela will be asked for bribes, detained by police, and beat up or shot in the streets. Is that true? Is Venezuela safe for foreigners?
JESSICA: It is true, in Venezuela are too many security issues and violence, that is why Venezuela is not a safe place for tourists, they can be easily recognized and kidnapped or bribed. It hurts me to say those things because I know Venezuela have so many beautiful places, however, I feel that is my responsibility to say nothing but the truth. Unfortunately the government has not even tried to maintain or take care of the touristic places, so everything is just full of trash and the hotels doesn’t meet the minimum conditions.
A few years ago, Mónica Spear, Miss Venezuela 2004, came to Venezuela to show the country to her husband and her daughter (she wasn’t living in Venezuela anymore). During one of their road trips at night, their car stopped working and they had to wait for a car crane, while they were waiting some thieves appeared and tried to stole them their objects of value but they resisted and the thieves killed them, the only survivor was Monica’s daughter and that was a miracle. This is a beautiful and rich country with kind and helpful people, but right now we are not going through our best moment.
SHERYL: I’d not advise foreigners to visit Venezuela, at least not for now. It’s a beautiful country, full of natural wonders and excellent people who, despite all the problems, continue to face this crisis with the best disposition. However, we are now going through very difficult times, in which the future of the country is being decided, and I do not think this is the best scenario for those who lead a normal life very different from ours and what they want is to spend good time with their families.
We would like everyone to know our country but, in my opinion, I think it would be very dangerous; airports are controlled by ruthless military hungry for dollars. Also, as I said, we are in a time of national tension, so it is best for tourists to leave at least for now. After having a new president I am very sure that they will be well received.
JOISBER: Venezuela is not safe for anyone in this moment. The confrontation between the government and dissidence is really accentuated and the police forces are almost exclusive dedicated to contain manifesting citizens. A foreign traveler making tourism is just a dish for criminals right now. There are some destinations in the country such as Canaima or Los Roques who try to protect tourism for themselves, because they live from tourism, but a single traveler can face such a bunch of risks trying to reach those destinations. We are on the verge of a civil war, and coming to Venezuela for tourism right now is just suicide.
If given a choice, do Venezuelans prefer to leave the country, or do they want to stay and fight it out?
JESSICA: Based on the people I know, I could say that most of the Venezuelans, specially my age (20-23) want to leave the country. Leaving everything you love behind is not easy, saying goodbye is a difficult thing but right now we need to make a choice: we save ourselves or we save Venezuela.
I respect the people who want to stay, but I want to leave, unfortunately I don’t think that a country that has been destroyed for 18 years can be fixed just in 2 years. So, in my particular case, I am waiting to get my degree to leave the country. I wish that I could come back to Venezuela in the future to help in the construction of a better country, but right now I don’t want to keep living this way, I don’t want to live thinking that I am going to be killed in any moment. I want a better future for me and my loved ones.
SHERYL: Anyone would be a difficult decision. It is not easy to go to a different country and start from scratch, leaving family, friends and a life behind. Nor is it easy to stay to fight it out without knowing if you will survive.
I believe that all Venezuelans have considered the two options equally, because on the one hand we want to find a better life, without complications, without waiting long hours in lines to buy food or personal care products, without insecurity or corruption. On the other hand, we understand that we are the only ones who have the power to change the future of our country, because if the government were we would starve for as long as they want, like Cuba.
Either way, we all have our helping method to recover the country, as well as to build it every day. Some going every day to fight it out to the protests, others viralize what happened in our country every day through social networks and raising their voice against the government, others leaving the name of Venezuela high with their achievements, and others protesting wherever they may be.
What we have all come to understand is that every action is worth, and even if it is something small, maybe a photo or video to show what is happening in certain place, it is crucial and helps actively in the recovery of our rights. Personally I think that it doesn’t matter where we are, if we are willing to help no matter what we do but the intention with which we do it. As I also believe that those who left the country by their own choice will return when all this ends to build the country we want.
JOISBER: Those who can leave just did it. The others that have some possibility to leave at least are thinking about it, or have their plan B. However, there’s still a lot who can’t or don’t want to go and are on the task to fight in order to make the change. People are really tired and are looking for the change.
The common citizen has awaked today, and we are clear that we can’t hold a decent living here unless we point some structural breakdown and put the sails in the democracy winds again. The poverty, the shortage, the crime, every one of those knocks our doors more than once a day. Here we overpassed the no return point some time ago, and most of us are very clear that the only way to survive is the restoration of our republic.
Lastly, just how rampant is corruption in Venezuela?
JESSICA: Yes, all the people related with the government are involved somehow in corruption scandals. There are politicians whose salaries are not enough to run a business in Miami, to have a house in Europe or to pay an expensive college for their sons and daughters, but they do, and when you do the math, something is just not right. Also it is ironic that all those politicians who support the government are always criticizing the United States but all their kids study and live in the United States. According with the government, everything that happens in Venezuela is America’s fault, because of the CIA… crazy, right? Welcome to my country.
Do you need another example of corruption? Let’s talk about the Odebrecht scandal of corruption, this company has been having trouble through Latin America because they had paid to governors, mayors and ministers for contracts, it is important to say that in so many countries of Latin America all the people involved in corruption are in jail. In Venezuela, everyone is innocent; actually, there is not even a process of investigation.
SHERYL: Corruption is not at all overhyped. You can see corruption everywhere, especially in the military and police corps. Here even to transporting food from one state to another, you must pay bribe. In order to enter Colombia next door you must pay a bribe. If you are apprehended during a protest and but you have not committed any crime and there is evidence to prove it you must pay a bribe to avoid jail. Here the highest paid citizens are ironically those who plunge more the country into misery.
JOISBER: The corruption? It’s simply brutal. The international reserves (any country savings) of Venezuela right now are about 10 billion dollars. In the chavismo era the nation stealing is by minimal of 400 billion dollars. I give you those numbers just putting together the most relevant fortunes made from nowhere. Just imagine any business where you buy anything paying 10 Bs for a dollar and sell the same item at a 5850 Bs for dollar rate. It’s insane.
For the high government the corruption has become a protector shield. For example USA has about 900 generals in their defense forces to manage it. In Venezuela we have more than 2000 generals. Every one of them has free way to smuggle, make dark business, and earn illegally millions with the only condition to leave Maduro alone. This is the first line of defense against a military overthrow.
Despite all the misery we’ve talked about here, Venezuela is one of the countries with most private jets per capita. Isn’t it madness? Every single politician close to the president line holds properties, industries, business, luxuries that they can’t even imagine. This is the really catch, they are there just for money. They used que people, the country and constantly jeopardize our children future just for money. We are ruled by a bunch of common thieves.
Please provide links to back up your posts instead of just cutting and pasting which has taken up large parts of the comment section. Thx. Mod
Wow — a 10-screener submitted by some cool Western ‘anti-authoritarian’. Seriously, I should be very grateful if such ‘modest contributions’ in the form of loud, angry, gargantuan proclamations were posted as links instead of being served up verbatim.
Moreover, I can imagine that this was the kind of response the Venezuelan Ambassador got from the two Swiss MSM rags. Anti-authoritarians have their authorities too, mind you.
@Nussiminen
“Anti-authoritarians have their authorities too, mind you.”
Kind of like Antifa, as an example?
Bs! More fake news, with unidentified (fictitious) characters giving the MSM stock “information” used by these Colour Revolutionaries. Fake, lying, Bs!
“ ‘If the time came when every man and woman had to take a Kalashnikov to defend Bolivar’s homeland, I am sure that we would be willing to do so’. In my opinion, Bernal is making a call to take ARMS against the opposition, he calls for murder… isn’t this hate speech? Believe it or not, Freddy Bernal is not in jail.”
For hate speech, please contact the NWO ideologues. Of course, there is an unmistakeable strain of the mortal sin of authoritarianism in Freddy Bernal’s words. Schizophrenic and paranoid Western anti-authoritarians tend to become somewhat authoritarian themselves whenever they sense the danger: “Believe it or not, Freddy Bernal is not in jail”.
No, and neither should he be in jail; you should.
Its the eternal struggle between the elites that use propaganda,and the power of money to control a country. And those that seek independence from those things. Its more than obvious which side you favor.
So once again I will say to our readers,if a revolution is to succeed against the West the governments must purge their societies of those elements. In Venezuela they should start by expelling all Western NGO’s. Expel the Western MSM,and arrest their local stooges. Arm a peoples militia.And nationalize any companies (and seize the bank accounts of their owners) found betraying the country and working to destroy the government. Half-way measures never work. Chile is the perfect example of that. Allende ,the good man that he was,was murdered because he refused to “pull the trigger” on his 5th column. If Venezuela doesn’t “pull that trigger”,Maduro will follow him.
The oligarchs should be offered the choice (only once) that China and Russia gave their elite. Do not work against the nation,and keep your wealth. Serve foreign interests,and work against the government. And a prison cell at best will be your fate (the gallows at worst).Just as in Russia and China there will be some that don’t listen. But China after a few executions of elites doesn’t seem to suffer much from that today.Cleanse the corruption from the government as well. Imprisonment and executions will be needed there before that point is learned too.
As for the macro-issues of the economy. The low oil prices are a serious problem. But Venezuela has the World’s largest proven oil reserves. So the future holds promise if handled correctly. Venezuela should be moving energetically to sign agreements to have joint ventures with Russian and Chinese oil and gas corporations. Since China in particular wants a continuing source of massive imports of oil. They should be interested in the “bonanza” that Venezuela can offer them.They should also move to de-dollarize their economy.Except for payments for oil from the US,refuse to accept dollar payments from other countries for these products. And most importantly,do not permit the dollar to be used “inside” Venezuela.Unless they gain control of their money inside the country the US will always be able to subvert them.
Venezuela is in a war with the US for their survival.They need to take that seriously,half measures aren’t enough. In looking at the Wars of Independence from Spain. There were a lot of hardships endured. The economies were wrecked,and brother turned on brother to determine whether the nation would continue as a colony,or become an independent nation.Those that longed for freedom finally won out in a bloody,bloody,struggle.I see little difference today.Those that want freedom from the US will have to fight for it. And it will be bloody before it is won.Governments and people need to understand that. And either accept that freedom is worth the fight. Or “lay back” and just continue to be slaves to the US.Those are the only two real choices these countries have.Anything less will only be temporary and the US will never stop subversion until they destroy you. Like with the “scorpion and the frog” tale,the US has no choice “its just in their nature”.
Congratulations to the usual zioagencies (specially Moss-aid, Straitfor and Ussa-aids). Very well crafted piece of propaganda. Perfect to vomit through their controlled media. It’s however, not hard to debunk.
First, I have to tell this to provide context: what they insist to call: “Venezuela”, or “Colombia”, or “Chile”, or any of the other partitions of the balkanized Hispanic Latinoamérica, is basically the result of the highly organized attack of criminal and traitorous Freemasons serving the interests of the City of London against the people of the former Spanish Empire.
Because these freemasonic murderers won, they rewrote history, and the psychopaths were portrayed as “liberators” or “heroes”, our natural link with Spain and the Latin world was portrayed as “oppressive” and “colonial” (We were in fact Provincias, not colonias, with the same citizenship rights under the Spanish Monarchy). It’s all like Ukraine nowadays!
Then, these freemasonic “Banderitas” were rewarded with part of the loot from the divided & isolated territories, and they became the new oligarchy. Their mission: to be the local enforcers and representatives of the London banksters in each of the new banana republics. They are in fact, a freemasonic subsidiary mafia that sucks enough political and economical power, but basically, keeps each state looted, brainwashed and oppressed by the Khazarian godfathers.
Chavez was a freemason, and Madero is a marrano, so they knew exactly who and what the adversary is. Chavez became the leader because the zios overlooted the banana: 78% of the people living under abject misery, on a sea of oil, and the “contracts”: 99% to the anglozionist company and 1% to “Venezuela”!!!
So guess who is the “pacific” opposition? Cortina Machete (a crypto-jew, agent of the “company”, and future governor if the putsch organized from the Ussa embassy in Colonia succeeds), Caprinos (a marrano, whose family controls the disinfo ziomedia), Leopolio (a partner of the zioneocons from Ussa), and even the Cisnes family (billionaires, partners of lesser range of the Rockenfelder ziobanksters). Zios have a firm control of the riches of the state, and have implemented a terrible and effective economic blockade.
Chavez used the despicable Bolivar as a messianic figure to try and wrest some of the riches from the zioleaches. He modified the contracts into international standards: about 26% for the state and 74% to the ziocompany (which takes the exploration risks), and gave most of this money to social programs (the other plausibly went to the usual thieves). But the real endgame is the greater idea that terrorizes the luciferian zios: the Union of my country Latinoamérica, under the precepts of a Christian God and a social-democratic order.
In order to keep my country Latinoamérica looted and enslaved, they used their main asset in the region: the former governor of Colonia. This archcriminal is a freemason, member of the Committee of 300, drug dealer (partnership with the Medellín Cartel), and a genocidal assassin who, together with the Moss-aid, set-up paramilitary death squads to steal lands from subsistence farmers, to protect the coca and poppy crops, and to expel leftist guerrillas so the transnational ziocompanies can loot more comfortably.
This exgovernor of Colonia sent his army of paramilitary assassins to spread terror and murder in Venezuela. They literally hired thousands of murderers, thieves and psychopaths to kill hundreds of people per week in Venezuela, even randomly! or to steal, or to rape, or harass, or anything and everything that can turn life into a living hell. The so-called “protestantes pacíficos” are paid 300 dollars per day to conduct violent attacks against the people and the institutions. They feel that the ziovictory is near, because they promised to give this exgovernor stocks in the agribusiness of Venezuela, which is big (but of course, the oil is entirely for the ziotransnationals).
Two mistakes made by the agents that wrote the propaganda: 1. Mentioning the Odebrecht “scandal”. In case of bribery, it is simply the common mode in a banana republic under freemasonic control, and there have been many other incidents with bigger numbers and bigger everything (The ziomedia in Colonia also went berserk about the Odebrecht case). The real cause of the attack against Odebrecht is that this company was chosen by the Dilma government of Brazil to fabricate the military aircrafts to defend the Unasur and Latinoamérica.
2. “After having a new president I am very sure that they will be well received”. The ziomedia never says the obvious: that the attack is directed against the people of the nation. So they blame the visible figure and flood the ziomedia with vicious attacks against that person. Instead of: Assad must go, you have here: Madero must go. So in Syria, the zios killed 400 thousand people by mistake because they were trying to hit Assad!
Well you are using all the right slogans. But what you fail to address is that the facts are the facts – Venezuelans are suffering a massive crime wave, are impoverished, don’t have access to foods, medicines or modern conveniences like toilet paper. I have a good Venezuelan friend who has family in Venezuela and these stories are not made up, they are fact.
The problem with ideology is it acts as a prism that hides reality. There are those who are motivated simply by “socialism” or “anti-Empire” and frankly don’t care the least for the people suffering in the streets as long as their side “wins”.
Unfortunately, the financial and economic integration of countries such as Venezuela into world markets is not done for the purposes of charity. It is done to ensure a transfer of wealth to multinational corporations and the international banking system. Most likely, (depending on the class to which your friend belongs) the result will not benefit the people you are concerned about, The pressure and obsession with Venezuela indicates that Venezuela is not serving the Third World function to the desired degree. That is, as a source of cheap raw materials and as a market for the multinationals.
If those behind the neoliberal policies attempting to subvert Venezuela succeed, the results are predictable. A very narrow elite class consisting of those “gatekeepers” (largely the political leadership) that make possible transfer of profit will be rewarded very handsomely. A wider but still quite narrow class of professionals and other experts will also benefit to the extent that they are necessary. However, the great majority of the population will face austerity, cuts in social programs, pensions, etc. Greece is the most recent example.
A large number of so-called “third world” countries integrated into the Empire have a standard of living far higher than that of Venezuela. Look at the other oil powerhouses – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, etc. Then there is China, which has benefited greatly from integration. Even in South America we have examples such as Brazil. In fact aside from (socialist) Cuba it’s difficult to find another country in the economic mess that Venezuela is in.
Why not try to put the blame where it lies – with Venezuela’s government? Being anti-capitalism does not ipso facto make you “good” or “democratic”. Binary thinking has always been a lazy (and completely wrong) way to interpret events – from the Marxist idea that all struggle is between economic classes to the derivative views that all struggle is between the races (and that the “oppressed” race is always the correct one) or the sexes or whatever else.
It seems like any Venezuelan who dares to complain about the difficult economic situation is dismissed as simply an “agent of imperialism”.
To all armchair socialists, sitting in your homes in the West, surrounded by your creature comforts: please try and have some empathy for those who have/have had/ to deal with the daily grind of hyperinflation or who have to queue for hours on the freezing pavement/scorching sun for a loaf of bread/ milk/ eggs. I bet if one of you had to do it you would also feel angry and demoralised!
I fully realize that Venezuela is in the crosshairs of the Empire. They are in the frontline of the resistance. I wonder however if Maduro is really up to this task..? Are we dealing with another Dilma? or a Yanukovich? To his credit he hasn’t declared a state if emergency but maybe he ought to? At this point he shouldn’t be worrying about bad press but rather get on with the tasks at hand. And why on earth is the Venezuelan ambassador giving press conferences to the MSM propagandists in Switzerland?? I also wonder about the economic stewardship of the country, for example, where is Venezuela’s gold? I wish we could discuss these things calmly without flinging wild accusations against each other.
@caldre
If you are being honest, take a look at the charts that siljan found on the real economy effects of Chavez rule at
http://cepr.net/blogs/the-americas-blog/venezuelan-economic-and-social-performance-under-hugo-chavez-in-graphs
huge improvements in broad measures of economic wellbeing like primary/secondary education, poverty and extreme poverty, health…..
of course they are a commodity economy, and probably not very economically astute in the present oilprice crisis, but they are facing overwhelming international economic and political opposition orchestrated by their own and washington elites…. saud/qatar/uae/china are not facing any such opposition, quite the opposite most of them enjoy protection…
“There are those who are motivated simply by ‘socialism’ or ‘anti-Empire’ and frankly don’t care the least for the people suffering in the streets as long as their side ‘wins’.”
US imperialism, by contrast, does indeed care for the continued, never-ending suffering in the streets just about everywhere.
It’s in fact great that the Zionazis are so honest about their total hatred and contempt of the world’s majority. Makes Zionazi ‘outrage’ about struggling countries and peoples look ever more ridiculous and unconvincing with each passing day.
John:
I stopped reading your copied text when I came across the following sentence.
Almost all executive officers are being investigated by the USA Treasure Department, DEA or Interpol.
If the situation is that bad, why doesn’t Josiber move to the US?
Aside from the fact that no one can say anything about the credibility of that statement, this accusation raises some questions. The Iran-Contra-Affair has shown that the CIA had been involved in drug running activities. (According to statements of his son, Pablo Escobar had close ties to the CIA. ) In Afghanistan the US and it’s allies are protecting poppy fields – aside from “spreading democracy”. Is it a coincidence that the number of opioid addict white middle-class folks is rising, whilst US soldiers and contractors have easy access to that stuff? Who benefits from blaming executive officers of the Maduro administration? Accusations of the US Treasury Department, Interpol and DEA aren’t worth the paper they’ve been written on. This seems to be a similar political move to the one that had been employed to get Julian Assange arrested.
If it weren’t for the meddling of outsiders in the internal affairs of Venezuela and the typical blocking (like done to Cuba) the country could do well. I’m wondering why Maduro wasn’t able to cut some deals with the Chinese (selling oil for yuan) and importing – comparably cheap/affordable – Chinese products.
Maybe Venezuelans like Josiber, Jessica and Shery need full-blown capitalism (Ukraine style or that of Russia of the 90’s) in order to learn.
“Maybe Venezuelans like Josiber, Jessica and Shery need full-blown capitalism (Ukraine style or that of Russia of the 90’s) in order to learn.”
In that case, they’ll conclude that “The Kremlin” is to blame for all the rampant corruption, incompetence, greed, and mayhem. Zionazi loyalists are militant imbeciles — learning is anathema to them.
We already know that things are difficult for the Venezuelans and here’s the reason –
http://tapnewswire.com/2017/05/us-responsible-for-violence-in-venezuela-socialist-leader/
Pity this small fact escaped the author of this very long post because subverting governments, murdering leaders and causing mayhem in South America is something the US has been doing for decades (remember the US funded terrorist Contras blowing up hospitals in Nicaragua in the 80s, the overthrow of Allende in Chile . . . .the list goes on and on.)
In fact is there a single country on Earth pursuing independent policies that the US hasn’t tried to destroy?
He’ll be telling us next that it’s President Assad’s fault Syria is in semi ruins.
While the US destroys everything it touches, Russia tries to help – they are sending wheat to Venezuela.
Perhaps the purpose of this long post was to convince us that the government of Venezuela is evil. Sorry my friend, we know where the evil comes from.
Get the USA to “butt out” of other people’s and they will flourish.
Chavez did make one major mistake; he didn’t kick out the oligarchs left from the era of plunder by the Uncle Sam, and it bites Venezuela now in the rear. They are the key sabotage weapon against the people in the hands of the zionazi handlers.
I don’t understand this “playing fair” with the aggressor/s by those under attack. Zionazis understand only one thing in the world: fateful punch in the head. Syria is the case in point…
Maduro runs a horrible commie regime. 75% of Venezuelans lost 19 pounds on average last year. There is rampant crime. Criminals rob citizens and support the government that enables the criminality with incompetence.
Please don’t attack the author and incite murder. Mod
Kudos to Mr. Black who managed to say in a few lines what took John above almost a whole novel to blurt out. Anti-authoritarians are so cumbersome with all their prattle.
Speaking of harsh times in Venezuela: Any news about “Catire” who left Venezuela for Canada when he couldn’t get a Mercedes Benz in his early twenties?
It is a mistake to blame all of the ills of Venezuelan society on the governments headed by Chavez and Maduro. The recalcitrant elites, with much international support, use economic sabotage and violent disruption to embarrass and discredit a government whose legitimacy they have never accepted.
I remember the coup in Chile. The military act of September 13. 1973 was systematicly prepared by “strike” of the bought teamsters and the media each day promoting the wining about the starving people …
We know about the bought “revolutionarties” in Kiew, “5 Billion”
From the top down to the anti-topsters, all bought by boundless $
Only a crazy Bilionaire can have the means to face the virus as he commands
all money can buy
and has to constituate a miracle out of crazy cleaning officers to safe as much as
will be possible from the submerging USAtanic $ in balancing US-lifeboats
cause it’s God’s will as I see it
God’s nearnes = slow but increasing density of miracles since Boris Jelzin’s surrender after 10 years of schooling the Russians of USAtanic $
My survey God’s heaven this week:
http://astromundanediary.blogspot.de/2017/06/6_11.html
“Isn’t it a journalist’s foremost obligation to adhere to a code of ethics? That’s what they were taught at universities, to seek the truth and portray the truth as objectively as possible.”
Western MSM journalists do adhere to a ‘code of ethics’ all right — they are known as presstitutes for a reason. Lie and grovel in the service of corporate power to make a living.
Bureaucracy isn’t the answer: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/06/gary-north/magnificent-well-deserved-economic-collapse/ Bureaucracy is, however, the one tool of government, the essence of government, the place minus natural feedback mechanisms for the Deloris Umbrages and Cornelius Fudges of this world (a Harry Potter reference). For this reason, Zbigniew Brzezinski identified it (and the citizen’s faith in it) as the Achilles’ heel of a society.
One final thought, surely the inept execution of his brilliant thoughts by the likes of HRC, Psaki et al. hastened his demise
Please stay on topic. If you wish to discuss Zbig Brezezinski then the MFC is available for off-topic discussions. Mod
Thank you Peter for this insight.
Unfortunately we have some MSM/Neo Liberal comments above that seem to follow in the footsteps of the Swiss journalists. It is conveniently forgotten by some that Venezuela has been under sanctions for years. The US has done everything in its power to destroy the Venezuelan economy for years and that has led to the hardships along with the drop of the oil price. Russia with stood the same treatment.
The color revolution continues……
@ John at 5:03 pm on June 10 UTC
For an alternative view to the cut and paste job from a Langley Virginia Manual, please see here; Destabilizing Venezuela: Exploring the Zionist connection:
https://richardedmondson.net/2017/06/07/destabilizing-venezuela-exploring-the-zionist-connection/
Venezuelan economic and social performance under Hugo Chavez in Graphs;
http://cepr.net/blogs/the-americas-blog/venezuelan-economic-and-social-performance-under-hugo-chavez-in-graphs
What Chaves spent his life building in Venezuela, his enemies have worked tirelessly to destroy after his death. With millions of dollars in ‘aid’ from the USA and paid NGO trolls like the one above.
In Venezuela, Chavez’s populist Bolivarian Revolution, delivered food, education, health care and hope to millions of Venezuelans who had never before benefited from the country’s oil riches.
Something wrong with providing food, education, health care and hope to millions of Venezuelans ?
Hugo Chavez refused to believe that prosperity was meant to be an enclave of the 1%. He believed that the vast riches of his Country’s natural resources should be shared by all his people and he instilled hope to millions of people in Venezuela and beyond. For that he was relentlessly demonized by the Western fake news mob and their shabbos goys, when he was alive, and it seems to have intensified after his passing.
Forgot to add: Thank you Peter Koenig for this informative article. God bless you.
thank you for the update on venezuela. it is totally opposite of what the narrative is in occupied america. the corporate us has gone rogue on their responsibility to properly help develop the american landscape for the benefit of every american. instead us corp is openly corrupt.
best wishes to the people of venezuela.
Switzerland’s noble principles – ?
Part of the EU – without even joining.
The bankers love Switzerland –
Its a divided country I suppose –
The William Tell story is Swiss – written by a German about the Swiss folk – mountain people – shepherds – cowherds – courageous and daring and in a way – bumpkins –
But then there’s the banks.
Sickening –
If the current Venezuelan government is unable or unwilling to resist aggression against it, then isn’t that ipso facto evidence that the government is unfit?
@John on June 10, 2017 · at 5:03 pm UTC
The author of that eternal propaganda piece of fiction, Andrew Henderson, which you cut and pasted here, is in the business of enhancing “offshore strategies” for us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe0tzx6JP_Y
He runds the Nomad Capitalist website, where nomadism means freedom for capital to go anywhere in predator mode, strike, trake its pray and bring it home. Of course since Venezuela does not cooperat with these exercises in freedom, stories and Jessicas have to be invented.
Anonymous:
Thank you very much for pointing this out. After a quick look at the link that you provided, the whole mystery about the person of Andrew Henderson seems to unravel.
I’ll partially quote the first sentence of the introduction of his “mission” as stated in the description of the video.
Andrew Henderson travels … every year to stay up to date on the latest legal strategies for entrepreneurs and investors to pay less tax, grow their money faster, and build their personal freedom.
The above quoted sentence tells it all. The business model of this guy is to “sell” others tax avoidance schemes. Probably that dude doesn’t even know that mainly value adding jobs (maintenance jobs and research as well) create real value and that some service jobs (for example transportation) are the basic needs for running a society. Whilst there is a need for lawyers (for a basic rule set) and bankers, their importance is way overrated in present day.
Perhaps it’s time that someone let most bankers, consultants and lawyers eat their own products (printed paper). Let’s see when they come begging for real food.
Perhaps it’s time that someone let most bankers, consultants and lawyers eat their own products (printed paper). Let’s see when they come begging for real food.
In a related vein, politicians should be compelled to eat the fruits of their labor as well–although, consuming horse manure might not be a very appetizing option for them.
No doubt the Maduro government has problems of corruption and poor economic management, but the main challenge the country is facing, as always, is the lack of other than oil-exports foreign revenue. Think of Venezuela as a Saudi Arabia or Kuwait sitting in the south american caribbean basin, bordering the Amazonas jungle, 90 per cent hydro carbons dependent, with a growing population. No government, right or left-wing, has seriously tried to tackle this structural problem, diversifying the whole economic and productive base. Having said that, it is obvious that the government and the legacy of the bolivarian revolution are under siege by the traditional powers: the white, deeply racist bourgueoisie, the US and their local allies from Latin America and Europe, including the Peña Nieto narco state from Mexico, that has betrayed it’s non-intervention historic principles…
Yep, Washington is trying to orchestrate another color coup against another independent country. However, unlike the Ukraine, Venezuela has a much stronger government with a clear ideology and plan for fighting back. I believe that Venezuela will win this battle.
I bet ziocon agents poisoned Chaves to give him cancer. They also did it to Arafat. And several others, for instance a documentary producer that was making a docu about a black project advanced aircraft known as the Flux Liner or Alien Reproduction vehicle. While working on the documentary he was diagnosed with an agressive cancer, died 2 months later. Autopsy show he was poisoned with a number of heavy metals and radioactive materials.
An other pioneering researcher in his field of anthropology, studying the human origins, was Lloyd Pye. He said that after studying the human genome, that became just recently possible with the mapping of it, he is convinced that our DNA bears obvious tell tale signs of genetic manipulation in our species. 2 chromosomes “glued to” 2 others, resulting in 46 chromosomes as opposed to 48 in Chimpansees. And pieces of code cut out and put back in backwards. Totally unique on earth, no other animal, plant or organism has these DNA anomalies. Mainstream says they must be some naturally formed anomalies, but that it is anomalous they can’t deny.
He didn’t live long after he shared his insights. And I’m also suspicous of the death of Bob Marley.
“World ignores opposition violence at Venezuela protests”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8w7CKp1FM0
‘Empire Files host Abby Martin just returned from Venezuela where she saw first hand how violent opposition protesters attempt to intimidate reporters and thereby give a false impression of what is happening.’
@siljan
thank for this and the charts on Chavez achievements…. we need all the facts and all the context to make judgements…. not just shortterm economic crises, but longterm growth and distribution of economic benefits to all the population, not just to parasitic elites and their foreign vulture capital handlers…
It is essential that artcles such as these are available to those who want to understand what is behind the veil of media doublespeak.