In case anyone's interested, Venezuela is waging war on its students...
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 30, 2025 16:13
VIEWED: 7260
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:Of course, but when I see unarmed civies willing to confront tear gas & guns, I figure it's not over some petty policy disagreement...
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Realize there is always at least one other side, and often more players than are spoken of.
Seems some of the worst crime rates in the world and shortages of everything from toilet paper to rice and other staple foods are part of the problem.
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/276782488/venezuela-s-crime-and-shortage
s-fuel-anti-government-protests
Of course the government blames it all on a CIA plot.
"When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."
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I didn't see a reference to a CIA plot in your link. I'd be interested in following up on that. The US government has deliberately destabilized economies in the past, and if it's the case now there are probably telltale signs.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
I didn't see a reference to a CIA plot in your link. I'd be interested in following up on that. The US government has deliberately destabilized economies in the past, and if it's the case now there are probably telltale signs.
Since you ask...
Quote:
According to President Nicolás Maduro, the food shortages are being artificially induced by the opposition. He claims they form part of wider plan concocted by the CIA to destabilise his government, sabotage the oil industry and trigger power cuts.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/sep
/26/venezuela-food-shortages-rich-country-cia?CMP=twt_gu
Of course, the rest of the Guardian story paints a different picture of the causes of the shortages.
"When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."
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CHRIS, KIKI, GEEZER
Been watching inflation rates on zerohedge.com, and Venezuela's is pretty high. Anyone with money saved is getting whacked. This prolly means urban wealthy. That fits with the demographics of Maduro supporters, who tend to be the rural (and urban) poor. Inflation doesn't bother them much, because they don't have money anyway.
So we have the upper middle class (apparently) on one side, and the poor on the other. Classic economics dispute. There IS a problem with Chavismo, and that is "giving" the poor money without improving production at the same time. If you put more money into the hands of the many without increasing goods, you'll wind up with the classic definition of inflation: "too much money chasing too few goods". And if you don't produce your necessities internally. you wind up depending on foreign imports and your foreign reserves.
In that regard, the exchange rate of the Venezuelan Bolivar CAN be artificially manipulated (Forex manipulation is a big discovery lately) and that can also affect prices of imports.
ETA: KIKI is correct, in that before, during, and after the nationalization of the oil industry, production was interfered with. Also, in previous anti-government demonstrations, people were killed by sniper fire from provocateurs. Not sure this is the case this time, but possibly the police were not responsible. Or maybe they were. With all of the cameras rolling, it should be easy to find out for sure.
Harder to explain the crime, tho. Usually I would chalk it up to unemployment, but that doesn't seem to be the case, unless the unemployment figures are cooked (like ours are).
FREM
No, as a matter of fact I don't recall you saying anything about Chavez. What was it that he did which made you post? 
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Interesting that despite shortages, there's little malnutrition - far less than during pre-Chavez days. That indicates to me something is going more right than wrong. http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/malnutrition/by-coun
try/ Venezuela death rate is 3.0, the US death rate is 1.0 (and for comparison, Greece is 0, while Haiti is 53.3).
I do remember that there was definite US interference with oil production, I'd have to look to see if that's still going on. There also seems to be an unstated policy of US reducing its purchases of Venezuelan oil.
Caracas,
Monday
February 17,2014
Venezuela Oil Exports to United States Fall to Record Low
Figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the United States Department of Energy show that Venezuelan oil shipments to the United States fell in April to what’s reckoned to be the lowest recorded level for 18 years. Meanwhile, figures just released by OPEC said Venezuelan oil production was up by 23,000 barrels a day, or 1%, in May compared to the previous month to 2.238 million barrels per day.
Finally, the US has a long history of interfering with S and Central American governments - indeed governments around the globe - by any means necessary, for example the Contras ... or the Ukraine today. It's perfectly reasonable the US saw the death of Chavez as an opportunity to employ its arsenal of dirty tricks to bring down a government it dislikes economically.
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Something you didn't know about Venezuela: breast augmentation is a "growing" business there!
Busty Mannequins and an Inflated Sense of Beauty in Venezuela
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Seems like Venezuela has gone all Brazil ...
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MORE INFO
Leak reveals plot to destabilize Venezuelan govt
Quote:
Leaked documents [who leaked them? Where were they leaked from??? Signy] have revealed evidence of a plot to destabilize Venezuela and undermine the rule of leftist President Nicolas Maduro. The papers appear to substantiate Caracas’ claims of outside attempts to cripple the country through internal sabotage.
Documents obtained by a contributor to RT’s Spanish channel, Eva Golinger, detail a structured plan to erode the stability of Venezuela with a view to “returning real democracy and independence that have been hijacked for more than 14 years.”
The plans are allegedly the product of a conference between American company FTI Consulting and two right-wing Colombian groups affiliated with former President Alvaro Uribe in the Colombian city of Cucuta in June of this year. Former President Uribe was an outspoken critic of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, referring to him openly on Twitter as a “dictator” and an “assassin.”
The three groups propose an initiative they name “The Venezuelan Strategic Plan” and list the ways in which they can disrupt all facets of Venezuelan society in the run-up to December’s regional elections.
“The suggested aims in the plan are especially geared towards the municipal elections on December 8,” writes the document. In the elections the Venezuelan population will choose 335 mayors, 2,435 municipal councilors, 69 local indigenous representatives, 2 mayors and 20 district councils.
The document is broken down into bullet points, which deal with how to maximize the impact on “all sectors of the Venezuelan population.”
The strategies to be employed include: “creating crisis on the streets, facilitating the intervention of North America and NATO forces with the Colombian army,” power cuts, food shortages, support and financing of the political opposition.
The document writes that violence should also be encouraged and “whenever possible lead to deaths and injuries.” It also gives special mention to Venezuelan opposition figure Henrique Capriles who lost in the presidential elections at the beginning of the year, advising support of his political campaign.
http://rt.com/news/golinger-documents-venezuela-destabilization-299/
Also- some truth the the rumor that US officials are precipitating the violence?
Quote:
After days of protests led by students and opposition forces, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the expulsion of three US consular officials whom he accused of conspiracy and meeting students involved in anti-government protests. Maduro did not identify the US officials, but pledged that the Venezuelan foreign minister would give more details later.
"It's a group of US functionaries who are in the universities. We've been watching them having meetings in the private universities for two months. They work in visas," Maduro stated in a nationally televised broadcast.
http://rt.com/news/maduro-expels-conspiring-opposition-358/
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BRAZIL.... eewwww! and .. YAY! It's a movie I encourage everyone to see- I guarantee you won't forget it!
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