The Colombia/Ecuador/Venezuela Mess or Let's Place Bets on How Long Before the U.S. Backs a Colombian War With Venezuela

also the masses of the people on the streets around important centers of power including the ministry of defense and la carlota air force base.

https://s1.latercera.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/vene4-700x450.jpg

"nothing happening"

(or actually opposing groups of civilians confronting each other, national guard out water-cannoning people and shooting teargas. gunshots

Are these masses of people quantitatively or qualitatively different from the masses who were rallying for Guaido a couple of months ago?

Thanks Jim, literally it was just that video of Guaido for much of the time. Seeing a bit more now..

Looking at that tank running at ppl, and from that it looks like the coup attempt will fail..

Are these masses of people quantitatively or qualitatively different from the masses who were rallying for Guaido a couple of months ago?

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, April 30, 2019 11:16 AM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark

guaido specifically directed his supporters to that specific air force base (and other places) and his supporters and chavez supporters are there clashing. the national guard is also there

el pais has live video streaming https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/04/30/actualidad/1556618727_875831.html

it's not very illuminating but certainly shows that events are taking place

Sounds like the same popular stalemate as before, with the armed forces still on the side of Maduro as the decisive make-weight. Maybe another Iraqi Kurdish uprising or Hungarian uprising of 1956 in the making?

If really Maduro cared about his people he would have at least have internationally monitored elections by now.

don't worry guys, america's best and brightest minds are on the case

don't worry everyone Erik Prince is gonna sort this out

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-erikprince-exclusi/exclusive-blackwater-founders-latest-sales-pitch-mercenaries-for-venezuela-idUSKCN1S608F

the el pais live streaming is interesting, in a low-key way. listless protestors throwing stones from behind the cover of a wheely bin, equally listless national guard firing tear gas from an overpass while their colleagues josh around in the background

no successful coup today.

Insta-conspiracy theory: Maduro knew the CIA would be sounding out military officers to participate in a coup, so he obligingly provided them with some.

VENEZUELA: US Secretary of State Pompeo tells @CNN @wolfblitzer that Maduro was ready to leave Venezuela this morning, but dissuaded by Russia - @kylieatwood

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) April 30, 2019

Genuinely impressed anyone could say that with a straight face.

Guaido's 'UK representative' has just repeated it - with a straight face - on Newsnight.

Maduro is very obviously working within the sphere of Russian’s influence.

Now I doubt with this military support that he will ever leave.

Lol doubt even The Guardian is saying this but you do you.

Maybe if I read this if I can get past the headline.

Former bus driver Nicolás Maduro clings to wheel in Venezuela https://t.co/UKri7OzEbx

— The Guardian (@guardian) April 30, 2019

Kissinger or the Dulles brothers woulda gotten the coup done like *snap*

you couldn't ask for a clearer indication of america's decline

It's the 2nd Anniversary of Fyre Festival—See What the Key Players Are Up To Now

Juan Guiado is the Venezuelan Owen Smith

— Bela Lugosi's Red (@GAYLEXITNOW) April 30, 2019

Lol doubt even The Guardian is saying this but you do you.

Maybe if I read this if I can get past the headline.

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, May 1, 2019 3:35 AM (eleven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/venezuela-russia-rosneft/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/as-maduro-confronts-a-crisis-russias-footprint-in-venezuela-grows/2019/03/29/fcf93cec-50b3-11e9-bdb7-44f948cc0605_story.html?utm_term=.7cfadacf3a65

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/world/americas/russia-venezuela-maduro-putin.html

MOSCOW — On a rainy afternoon this week, a group of Russian officials and oil executives gathered for Mass in a Catholic church tucked away behind the imposing secret service headquarters in central Moscow.

They did not come to pray. Instead, they were commemorating the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, who poured billions of dollars into Russian weapons and machinery, and showing support for his embattled successor, Nicolás Maduro.

Mr. Maduro is fighting to save the political system he and Mr. Chávez have built, with Russian support, for two decades. Mr. Maduro’s catastrophic economic mismanagement has led the opposition to claim the country’s leadership with the support of the United States, the European Union and most South American nations.

Tell me if you need more.

Venezuela is under sanctions so it will get cash from wherever. Don't see how it goes from that to Russia having a say on whether Maduro goes or not.

Tell me if you need more

if any of these days of protests look like ending in a successful takeover of power maduro will be on his way to cuba quicker than you can grill an arepa

Russian meddling and influence started long before economic sanctions.

i am reminded of something fidel told allende with reference to the soviet union when he visited chile. something along the lines of "remember they need you as much as you need them". his point was that these relationships are a two-way street. even more so now that the former soviet union is now the much weaker, and less influential russian federation. a good example of this is the relationship between the u.s. and israel. the u.s. give massive support to israel, but you could never say that the government there just acts at the behest of the u.s. see the fractious relationship between obama and netanyahu for an example. symbiosis is the order of the day in these things. if maduro wants to go he'll go, ascribing everything bad to russia is manichean, and assuming actors in the global south are just puppets is condescending (this goes for guaido too).

4 billions in weapons from Russia during Chavez era + joint military exercises, onwards with the Bolivarian revolution!

xpost

Yeah I agree to a certain extent, it is true that sometimes interests just aligns. My two point are mainly that the notion that Maduro is a benevolent protector of Venezuela's sovereignty vs imperial interests are naive. The two way street relationships could exist with other more peaceful nations but there is a reason both Chavez and Maduro chose the Russia-China sorta coalition. It is not the EU or Canada that puts lots of journalists in prison. My other point is that as long Russia credits the Maduro regime and sell weapons, Maduro will stay in power. He has abused his military power to win the last elections and as of right now, it is the military who can do the necessary exchange of currency for to obtain primary needs, meaning a whole bunch of generals are getting rich of the disaster. Considering his past behavior, and Putin's past behavior, and how lamentable whatever Guaido tried to do yesterday, I don't see how or why the tyrants would change course right now.

It is not the EU or Canada that puts lots of journalists in prison

They kill them in Malta.

... and Slovakia.

And Northern Ireland.

Am I doing this right?

No.

Yes freedom of the press is equivalent in Austria and Venezuela. Absolutely. Bravo guys.

"It is not the EU or Canada that puts lots of journalists in prison."

Plenty of other people EU and Canada kill and mis-treat, if that's the road you wanna walk.

No-one mentioned Austria but, since you have, another wonderful EU country with Nazis in its government.

Heh, Venezuela is just ahead of Russia:

https://rsf.org/en/ranking

I mean, I'm not about to support Maduro but LOL @ the EU as some kind of exemplar of democracy and freedom - home of Orban, the FPO, the Law and Justice Party, Salvini...

And even with all these terrible people and parties, it remains a much freer place than Maduro's Venezuela. Post and pre-2018 economic sanctions. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LOL @ the EU as some kind of exemplar of democracy and freedom

This is such a weird sentiment

The EU is a fairly decentralized entity that also happens to be home to exemplars of democracy and freedom? Which are ever relative terms to begin with? Because no country could ever live up to the kind of absolutist standards you no doubt have in mind, at least not in the foreseeable future?

How do you know what I have in mind?

I tell you what's weird, using Canada and the EU as a stick to beat Maduro!

Sorry I should have used Australia and Norway.

xp: It's not really what anybody here is doing, but it wouldn't be weird at all?

Seems pretty arbritrary to wheel out the EU as a comparison for Venezuela?

I mean,

And even with all these terrible people and parties, it remains a much freer place than Maduro's Venezuela. Post and pre-2018 economic sanctions. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yah boo sucks or what?