Russia should never interfere in any other nation's internal politics, meanwhile the USA and IMF is helping kill Venezuela
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Saturday, April 18, 2026 19:07
VIEWED: 12070
PAGE 6 of 11
US neocons have been claiming since the event that Maduro's troops burned an aid truck (parked btw on a bridge that led to an unused/ unfinished roadway). But like the Covington student story, footage came out almost immediately afterwards apparently showing something different: An "opposition" (anti-Maduro) member throwing a Molotov cocktail and setting the "aid" truck ablaze.
The M$M has finally had to respond to the video and found
Quote:
Footage Contradicts US Claim That Nicola Maduro Burned Aid Convoy
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/americas/venezuela-aid-fire-v
ideo.html
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
NYT’s Exposé on the Lies About Burning Aid Trucks in Venezuela Shows How U.S. Government and Media Spread Pro-War Propaganda
https://theintercept.com/2019/03/10/nyts-expose-on-the-lies-about-burn
ing-humanitarian-trucks-in-venezuela-shows-how-us-govt-and-media-spread-fake-news/
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
'We need help': Anger mounts as Venezuela's worst-ever blackout enters day 4
'No country can bear 50 hours without electricity...we are in a humanitarian crisis'
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-backout-electricity-protests-1
.5050863
Chile, all over again.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But it's OK when the USA does it.
Venezuela.
More later.
Pretty sure Venezuela is doing just fine screwing things up all on their own.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
But the US certainly helps it along!
I just wonder why we're there at all. Why we're involved at all. Indeed, why the US 'national' defense is found in almost 800 military bases in 70 countries around the globe.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
And now for something completely different
Quote:
"GUAIDO IS THE MOST HATED GUY IN VENEZUELA"
British photojournalist Alan Gignoux and Venezuelan journalist-filmmaker Carolina Graterol, both based in London, went to Venezuela for a month to shoot a documentary for a major global TV channel. They talked with journalist Paul Cochrane about the mainstream media’s portrayal of Venezuela compared to their experiences on the ground.
Paul Cochrane (PC): What were you doing in Venezuela, how long were you there and where did you go?
Alan Gignoux (AG): We went in June 2018 for a month to shoot a documentary; I can’t disclose what channels it will be on right now, but it should be on air soon. We visited the capital Caracas, Mérida (in the Andes), Cumaná (on the coast), and Ciudad Guayana (near the mouth of the Orinoco river).
PC: How did being in Venezuela compare to what you were seeing in Western media?
Carolina Graterol (CG): I am a journalist, I have family in Venezuela, and I knew the reality was very different from what the media is portraying, but still I was surprised.
The first thing we noticed was the lack of poverty. Alan wanted to film homeless and poor people on the streets. I saw three people sleeping rough just this morning in London, but in Venezuela, we couldn’t find any, in big cities or towns. We wanted to interview them, but we couldn’t find them. It is because of multi disciplinary programmes run by the government, with social services working to get children off the streets, or returned to their families. The programme has been going on for a long time but I hadn’t realized how effective it was.
PC: Alan, what surprised you?
AG: We have to be realistic. Things look worn down and tired. There is food, there are private restaurants and cafes open, and you could feel the economic crisis kicking in but poverty is not as bad as what I’ve seen in Brazil or Colombia, where there are lots of street children. Venezuela doesn’t seem to have a homeless problem, and the favelas have running water and electricity. The extreme poverty didn’t seem as bad as in other South American countries. People told me before going I should be worried about crime, but we worked with a lady from El Salvador, and she said Venezuela was easy compared to her country, where there are security guards with machine guns outside coffee shops. They also say a lot of Venezuelan criminals left as there’s not that much to rob, with better pickings in Argentina, Chile or wherever.
PC: How have the US sanctions impacted Venezuelans?
CG: Food is expensive, but people are buying things, even at ten times their salary. Due to inflation, you have to make multiple card payments as the machine wouldn’t take such a high transaction all at once. The government has created a system, Local Committees for Production and Supply (known by its Spanish acronym CLAP) that feeds people, 6 million families, every month via a box of food. The idea of the government was to bypass private distribution networks, hoarding and scarcity. Our assistant was from a middle class area in Caracas, and she was the only Chavista there, but people got together and created a CLAP system, with the box containing 19 products. Unless you have a huge salary, or money from outside, you have to use other ways to feed yourself. People’s larders were full, as they started building up supplies for emergencies. People have lost weight, I reckon many adults 10 to 15 kilos. Last time I was in Venezuela three years ago, I found a lot of obese people, like in the US, due to excessive eating, but this time people were a good size, and nobody is dying from hunger or malnutrition.
PC: So what are Venezuelans eating?
CG: A vegetarian diet. People apologized as they couldn’t offer us meat, instead vegetables, lentils, and black beans. So everyone has been forced to have a vegetarian diet, and maybe the main complaint was that people couldn’t eat meat like they used to do. The situation is not that serious. Before Hugo Chavez cNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And now for something completely differentQuote:
"GUAIDO IS THE MOST HATED GUY IN VENEZUELA"
British photojournalist Alan Gignoux and Venezuelan journalist-filmmaker Carolina Graterol, both based in London, went to Venezuela for a month to shoot a documentary for a major global TV channel. They talked with journalist Paul Cochrane about the mainstream media’s portrayal of Venezuela compared to their experiences on the ground.
Paul Cochrane (PC): What were you doing in Venezuela, how long were you there and where did you go?
Alan Gignoux (AG): We went in June 2018 for a month to shoot a documentary; I can’t disclose what channels it will be on right now, but it should be on air soon. We visited the capital Caracas, Mérida (in the Andes), Cumaná (on the coast), and Ciudad Guayana (near the mouth of the Orinoco river).
PC: How did being in Venezuela compare to what you were seeing in Western media?
Carolina Graterol (CG): I am a journalist, I have family in Venezuela, and I knew the reality was very different from what the media is portraying, but still I was surprised.
The first thing we noticed was the lack of poverty. Alan wanted to film homeless and poor people on the streets. I saw three people sleeping rough just this morning in London, but in Venezuela, we couldn’t find any, in big cities or towns. We wanted to interview them, but we couldn’t find them. It is because of multi disciplinary programmes run by the government, with social services working to get children off the streets, or returned to their families. The programme has been going on for a long time but I hadn’t realized how effective it was.
PC: Alan, what surprised you?
AG: We have to be realistic. Things look worn down and tired. There is food, there are private restaurants and cafes open, and you could feel the economic crisis kicking in but poverty is not as bad as what I’ve seen in Brazil or Colombia, where there are lots of street children. Venezuela doesn’t seem to have a homeless problem, and the favelas have running water and electricity. The extreme poverty didn’t seem as bad as in other South American countries. People told me before going I should be worried about crime, but we worked with a lady from El Salvador, and she said Venezuela was easy compared to her country, where there are security guards with machine guns outside coffee shops. They also say a lot of Venezuelan criminals left as there’s not that much to rob, with better pickings in Argentina, Chile or wherever.
PC: How have the US sanctions impacted Venezuelans?
CG: Food is expensive, but people are buying things, even at ten times their salary. Due to inflation, you have to make multiple card payments as the machine wouldn’t take such a high transaction all at once. The government has created a system, Local Committees for Production and Supply (known by its Spanish acronym CLAP) that feeds people, 6 million families, every month via a box of food. The idea of the government was to bypass private distribution networks, hoarding and scarcity. Our assistant was from a middle class area in Caracas, and she was the only Chavista there, but people got together and created a CLAP system, with the box containing 19 products. Unless you have a huge salary, or money from outside, you have to use other ways to feed yourself. People’s larders were full, as they started building up supplies for emergencies. People have lost weight, I reckon many adults 10 to 15 kilos. Last time I was in Venezuela three years ago, I found a lot of obese people, like in the US, due to excessive eating, but this time people were a good size, and nobody is dying from hunger or malnutrition.
PC: So what are Venezuelans eating?
CG: A vegetarian diet. People apologized as they couldn’t offer us meat, instead vegetables, lentils, and black beans. So everyone has been forced to have a vegetarian diet, and maybe the main complaint was that people couldn’t eat meat like they used to do. The situation iNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
There is something going on in Venezuela that we're not being told, otherwise the people or the military would have revolted and gone over the Guaido's side in a flash.
It's like Ukraine or Libya or Syria all over again: The government is portrayed as being so bad, and the people so universally against, that toppling the big bad meanie would only take a little push.
But, as I pointed out about Ukraine, and Libya, and Syria, the government actually had significant support and it took a lot more fight than anticipated:
In Ukraine a significant minority of about 30% who were willing to pick up a rifle and fight;
In Libya the same, the "no fly zone" turned into a full-on NATO airstrike support of the "rebels" (jihadists) and even then the battle lasted far longer than anticipated and led to a factured nation with a western-supported government that very few Libyans support;
And in Syria, where Assad enjoyed the support of the minorities: Xtians, Druze, Alawites etc as well as most of the Syrian Sunni Arabs.
*****
It's well-known that the wealthy (or formerly-wealthy) are fleeing Venezuela. The parallels to Cuba are interesting, especially the point in time when the Soviet Union fell and Cuba lost all of its oil supply all at once, which was a giant shock to the economy, much like Venezuela lost its ability to export its oil all at once.
But when NPR runs a segment from the streets of Carcas where the main complaint is that people can't make their traditional breakfast from straight cornflour but must use a corn/rice, corn/wheat or corn/yucca mix ... I KNOW that NPR hates Trump and they agitate against him morning noon and night, but it that's the worst they can find on the streets of Carcas, then something is fishy about the way Venezuela is generally being reported.
That, and Trump's "shock and awe" foray into "regime change" has so far not succeeded, and is requiring more effort than anticipated.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
You should watch this. I know you'll say it's a propaganda film, and you'd be correct. It's about how Cuba survived an oil shock the likes of which have not been seen before.
But the fact is that somehow, Cuba adapted and the government survived, and (despite what you've been told) the Cuban government still retains the loyalty of most people.
Maybe bcause they've learned to dislike the USA so much. There's a lesson in there for us, somewhere. 
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME