Venezuela

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Thu Nov 21, 2024 3:27 pm

White House Proclaims Edmundo González So-Called ‘President-Elect’ of Venezuela
November 21, 2024

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Venezuelan far-right former presidential candidate, Edmundo González, appears at Puerta del Sol Square in Madrid, Spain, to support the "protest" against the election results in Venezuela, on September 28, 2024. Photo: Ana Beltran/Reuters/File photo.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has announced that his government recognizes the former far-right Venezuelan opposition candidate, Edmundo González, as so-called “president-elect of Venezuela,” in their insistence to repeat a script that failed and now seeks to impose a new Juan Guaidó.

During the last session of the G20 Summit held this Tuesday, November 19, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Antony Blinken announced the US entity’s decision to recognize González as the so-called “president-elect,” reflecting a change in the administration of Joe Biden, who is about to leave the White House.

Following the July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, the US empire had not openly recognized the former far-right candidate as the alleged winner of the Venezuelan election, where President Nicolás Maduro had been proclaimed the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE) and later by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).



In clear disregard of the will of over six million Venezuelans, Blinken published a message via social media, in which he claimed that on July 28, Edmundo González was named—under an authority that the US empire does not hold—as the so-called “president-elect” of Venezuela.

In a new act of US imperial intervention, Blinken ironically also demanded “respect” for the will of the voters.

In response, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil condemned Blinken, “a self-confessed enemy of Venezuela,” for insisting on “making a fool of himself now with a Guaidó 2.0.”

Through social media, Gil invited the US official to dedicate his last days in government to reflecting on his failures and ridding himself of such deeply ingrained imperial and colonial complexes.

“The fictive plan of yet another Secretary of State,” wrote the Venezuelan diplomat, “who sank, along with his puppets, trying to reverse Venezuelan democracy, never fails [to expose themselves].”

González rejoices
Less that one hour after Blinken’s post, the far-right Venezuelan politician—still under asylum in Spain—responded on the same platform in deep appreciation of the US entity’s interventionist gesture.

“We deeply appreciate the recognition of the sovereign will of all Venezuelans,” González claimed on his X account. “This gesture honors our people’s desire for change and the civic feat that we carried out together on July 28.”

Until now, Joe Biden’s government had not made any formal statements on the matter, nor had it used the term “president-elect” in relation to Edmundo González Urrutia. Time will tell if, after January 10, the date on which President Nicolás Maduro will be sworn in, the US government will name González as the new “legitimate president” of Venezuela, as happened at the time with Juan Guaidó, in the empire’s attempt to oust Nicolás Maduro and the strength of the Chavista movement.

https://orinocotribune.com/white-house- ... venezuela/

Venezuela: Organic Law on Communal Peace Justice Reform Dismisses Right-Wing Propaganda
November 20, 2024

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Comuneros having a meeting at the Comuna El Maizal in 2019. Photo: Cira Pascual Marquina/Venezuelanaysis/file photo

After extensive debates, the Venezuelan National Assembly approved last Wednesday, November 13, the Organic Law of Special Jurisdiction for Communal Peace Justice. This is a legal instrument that seeks to establish a new form of justice that is not punitive, but rather deeply rooted in solidarity, neighborhood, and family principles that serve as the basis of the Communal State promoted by the Bolivarian Revolution.

In this regard, President Nicolás Maduro has called for the election, by direct and secret vote, of the Communal Peace Justices of the 5000 communal circuits of Venezuela, marking a new milestone in participatory and protagonist democracy. Elections that will be held with a high symbolic value, scheduled for next December 15, 25 years after the constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was approved.



The responsibilities of the communal Peace Justices, according to Article 8 of the recently reformed Organic Law of Special Jurisdiction for Communal Peace Justice, published in the Venezuelan Official Gazette #6854 on November 14, 2024, are:

• To hear conflicts or disputes that arise between individuals or legal entities in their local territorial area, and which have been entrusted to them for decision-making.
• To hear conflicts or disputes arising from the rental or horizontal property relationship, except those assigned to ordinary and special courts or administrative authorities.
• To be aware of conflicts or disputes between members of the community arising from the application of ordinances relating to coexistence, community charters; coexistence regulations of the Community Councils or instruments of a similar nature issued by neighborhood organizations.
• To hear conflicts or disputes between members of the community related to the operation, performance and administration of neighborhood organizations.
• To act as a receiving body for complaints in cases of gender violence, in accordance with the terms established in the special law that regulates the matter, and may dictate protection and security measures in favor of the victim or the family.
• To assist with the monitoring and enforcement of measures relating to family coexistence and the obligation to provide support issued by the Courts for the Protection of Children and Adolescents.
• To ensure respect for the rights of children, adolescents, older adults, people with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations
• To be aware of the action arising from the ownership, possession and protection of domestic, community or endangered animals.
• To be aware of conflicts or controversies that arise between members of socio-productive organizations in the communities.
• To hear all disputes related to the actions of the Communal Councils, Communes and People’s Power organizations.
• To promote educational campaigns on civic values, peace, solidarity, human rights and conflict resolution in the communities within its territorial scope.
• To promote the adoption of ordinances, community charters, regulations for coexistence of the Community Councils or instruments of a similar nature originated by neighborhood organizations, in order to promote harmony, peace and solidarity in community relations.
• To request the support of municipal, state or national police, when required for the effective performance of their duties.

Far-right journalists and influencers in Venezuela and abroad have been claiming for weeks that the reform is another step taken by the Maduro administration to control the Judiciary, when in reality the reform reduces communal justices’ responsibilities if compared with the 2012 original law.

The new version of the law removes the civil registry and the supporting control role over food and services from the duties of the communal justices. In the 2012 law, the justices had the authority to register marriages and divorces, however, that has been removed in the reformed version of the Organic Law

(RedRadioVE) by Fransay Riera with Orinoco Tribune content

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-es ... -justices/

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Sabotage as a political tactic: a new chapter against PDVSA
Nov 19, 2024 , 1:33 pm .

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El Palito refinery, located in Carabobo state (Photo: Yuri Cortez / AFP)

In a press conference, the Executive Vice President and Minister of Petroleum, Delcy Rodríguez, reported the details of the sabotage against critical infrastructures of the national oil and gas industry during November 10 and 11 in different parts of the country.

So far, 11 people have been arrested. The minister described those responsible as "anti-Venezuelan extremists" and alleged that these agents worked in collusion with "internal gangs" that are being investigated and attacked by the industrial security system of Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA).



The facts
On the morning of Sunday, November 10, a grenade was launched (without detonating) at the PDVSA North Dock facilities, near the Zulima field, Lagunillas municipality on the Eastern Coast of the Lake, Zulia state.

That same day, in the afternoon, a fire broke out in the Petrocedeño joint venture's Upgrader area, the largest for processing crude oil from the Hugo Chávez Orinoco Oil Belt, located in the José Antonio Anzoátegui Industrial Complex (CIJAA).

At 10:40 a.m. on Monday, November 11, a fire broke out in the 26" Muscar-Soto gas pipeline, belonging to the Muscar Operational Complex of the Punta de Mata Division, located in the Ezequiel Zamora municipality of Monagas state.

Both the Vice President and the President of PDVSA, Héctor Obregón, reported that a multidisciplinary technical team has deployed an action plan on three simultaneous fronts, working 24 hours a day with the necessary equipment, from the moment the incidents were recorded, to recover the damaged facilities and resume production and distribution operations quickly.

In Monagas, five workers were injured by the arson attack.

Economic impact
While the first incident had no repercussions, the next two had a significant negative economic impact, broken down as follows by affected areas:

Oil and gas: $157.8 million

Petrochemical industry: 55.8 million dollars

CVG and basic companies: 29.8 million dollars

Electricity service: $3.5 million

In total, $246.9 million in losses to the national economy were estimated due to crimes against Venezuela's main industry.

However, the Minister said, the impact on other "industrial and transport sectors" has yet to be seen, although "thanks to the contingency plans we have in place, we have managed to address diesel distribution and ensure minimal impact on the electrical system."

Damage and repercussions
The unsuccessful attack in Zulia was aimed at interrupting the crude oil and gas production operations that supply the Paraguaná Refining Center (CRP) in Falcón state.

Let us remember that the CRP is made up of the Cardón, Amuay and Bajo Grande refineries, and is the largest refining conglomerate in America and the second largest in the world. In its facilities, crude oil is transformed into gasoline, diesel, asphalt and other derivatives for subsequent national distribution.

The sabotage in Anzoátegui state caused a fire that, due to preventive measures, caused the respective emergency shutdown according to protocols, halting the improvement and refining processes for diesel production.

This has a negative impact on the distribution of fuel, required by the automotive, agri-food and industrial sectors, impacting 25% of national consumption.

The Petrocedeño Upgrader also produces Leona crude oil, extracted from the Belt, which is then transferred to the CRP.

The explosion, the result of sabotage, and the large-scale fire at the Muscar Operational Complex affected the infrastructure of these facilities, which distribute 80% of the gas to the entire country. Vice President Rodríguez described it as the Guri of gas in Venezuela, or the heart of its national distribution.

During the press conference, it was emphasized that the chain of events has a direct impact on key areas of the country, such as oil and gas production (liquefied petroleum gas and methane), fuel (gasoline and diesel), petrochemicals, basic industries, the National Electric System, the cement, manufacturing, textile, and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as other public services.

This series of attacks, chained together in the same time frame, has a negative impact on the national economic structure, while generating anxiety and discontent among the population due to the impact on basic services.

Political objectives
Venezuela is in a period marked by economic growth, the comprehensive regeneration of the national energy industry and the recovery of the social state. The attacks, therefore, have political objectives based on sabotage tactics against vital infrastructure for the full functioning of the country's economic structure.

These are methods that have already been practiced in the past by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in our territory, according to recent American journalistic reports .

In this way, the destabilization of Venezuelan society is sought, in a month marked by Christmas and popular celebrations. The interruption of services is intended to produce unrest and anxiety in the population, at a time when the economy is stabilizing and tending to growth.

The incidents have repercussions on core processes in the economic heart, and therefore on the strategic plans for the recovery of the industry and the national economy in general. The disruption of energy production processes has a political distinction, since it affects different domains, as the Vice President denounced:

"They had already attacked the Guri reservoir (where the Simón Bolívar Hydroelectric Power Plant is located), now they are attacking the vital raw material for thermoelectric plants: gas. In order to also harm oil production, the petrochemical sector; to damage the production of basic companies and affect, of course, the electric service, mainly in the east of the country."

The aim is to disrupt the energy supply and create a climate of socio-economic disorder, affecting industrial production, transport and the daily life of the population.

Furthermore, the attack on critical infrastructure such as gas pipelines and industrial production facilities would aim to erode the state's legitimacy and authority in the eyes of national and international investors, raising doubts about the security of the facilities. This would have a direct impact on losses for both PDVSA and the country in general.

Moreover, the incidents occurred during the Christmas season, in a country that celebrates these festivities with devotion, a period in which there is also a general relaxation of work conditions typical of the holidays.

Undermining confidence in the authorities and generating a climate of instability, just weeks before re-elected President Nicolás Maduro assumes a new presidential term before the National Assembly, is an important factor for analysis.

In the current political context, the attacks against PDVSA are experienced close to the date of assumption of the new presidential period, linked to the threats of mercenary invasion and coup d'état by Erik Prince with the campaign "Almost Venezuela" , the statements of María Corina Machado and Edmundo González during the last months of assuming the Presidency on January 10 and the possibility of manufactured protests to destabilize the sociopolitical climate.

Thus, a possible new phase of Machado's "until the end" next January is tangible with the accompaniment of sabotage tactics against critical infrastructures, in search of a picture of instability in different areas of the daily life of the Venezuelan population. It would be the continuation of the attacks against PDVSA in a framework of political destabilization, supported by foreign factors.

This is in the unlikely event that the State does not take measures to protect the security of the national energy industry. The deployment to repair the damage caused and the arrest of those responsible confirms that, in effect, the highest authorities are considering this and other scenarios. This is how Vice President Rodríguez concluded the press conference:

"We are monitoring each situation and you can be assured that together with the working class of the oil industry, Venezuela will continue on its path of good and guarantee all the essential and fundamental elements for national development and for the economic development of our people and their social happiness."

https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/el-s ... ntra-pdvsa

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Tue Nov 26, 2024 3:04 pm

President Maduro Unveils the ‘No-To-Christmas’ Destabilization Plan

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Nov. 25, 2024. Photo: Venezuelan News


November 26, 2024 Hour: 9:04 am

Mafias based in the state of Zulia and the far-right politician Maria Corina Machado are part of the latest conspiracy.

On Monday, President Nicolas Maduro denounced the existence of the “No To Christmas” destabilization plan promoted by the Venezuelan far-right against the Bolivarian nation.

This new terrorist plan is based on a conspiracy orchestrated by underground economic groups located in the state of Zulia and the U.S.-backed opposition politician Maria Corina Machado.

“The plan involves a bloody and brutal conspiracy with the Zulian mafia-like and corrupt powers. The conspiracy is being carried out from Colombia with drug-trafficking and paramilitary groups, as well as with Maria Corina Machado,” the Venezuelan president emphasized.

Machado spent several weeks in Colombia holding meetings with leaders of paramilitary and drug-trafficking networks, linked to former Colombian presidents Ivan Duque and Alvaro Uribe. On at least two occasions, she met with Jose Rincon, a fugitive from Venezuelan justice who is part of Zulia’s economic mafias and is said to be financing the conspiracy.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ruling the cognitive war to impose colonialism.” pic.twitter.com/TcFmMBkE6K

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) November 25, 2024


“He is the leader of one of Zulia’s economic oligarchies. This man amassed his fortune by being plugged into the State. He benefited from public loans for nearly 15 years and managed to monopolize economic power in Zulia and other parts of the country,” noted the Bolivarian leader, who accused Rincon and Machado of planning terrorist acts, such as planting bombs and destroying gas and oil installations.

“They were in a delusional state filled with violence, hatred, and vengeance,” the Venezuelan president said, referring to the motivations of Rincon and Machado as uncovered by authorities so far.

“The investigative and intelligence work has been impeccable and continues to develop. We alert the people in the states of Zulia and Falcon, as well as all Venezuelans, because the Venezuelan people are the protagonists in this battle,” Maduro added.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello revealed that the far-right mercenaries entered Venezuela through the state of Aragua and were heading south toward the Amazon region.

“The investigation began at the Maracaibo Mayor’s Office and uncovered a web of corruption and conspiracy, which led us to discover the connection between Rincon and judges, prosecutors, businesspeople, and both retired and active military personnel,” he said.



https://www.telesurenglish.net/presiden ... tion-plan/

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The agenda of violence continues: the latest plan dismantled
22 Nov 2024 , 6:02 pm .

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A plan for politically motivated violence combines with criminal gangs to create chaos (Photo: Últimas Noticias)

Journalist Eligio Rojas revealed information regarding the movement of weapons and ammunition by some organized crime groups with a view to fomenting acts of violence prior to January 10. The inauguration of re-elected President Nicolás Maduro is scheduled for that date and, from the opposition's perspective, it would be a moment of supposed political rupture due to the agenda of ignoring the election results of last July 28.

Through the digital media channel La Iguana on YouTube , he mentioned the groups involved in plans of violence for political purposes:

Llano Train in the states of Apure and Guárico.
The Chevrolets in Aragua.
Yeico Massacre in Zulia.
High plains in Falcon.

Rojas explained that in this last state, security forces are carrying out operations in the municipalities of Tocópero and Píritu, following the trail of activities linked to the shipment of drug shipments from Colombia.

Seizures and arrests in progress
The movements of criminal organizations have been detected in key points of the national geography. Both in the states of the northern coastal axis and in the plains region, the flow of operators and weapons linked to criminal activity has been detected, which, according to Rojas, points towards the construction of a new momentum of political destabilization.

The permeability of the border with Colombia and the Caribbean islands constitutes an opportunity for operations inscribed in an agenda of violence assumed by a sector of the opposition, given the decline of the coup plan hatched before the recent elections.

In Falcón, 15 military uniforms were seized from Ramón Edgardo Infante, 51 years old, a member of the Sabanas Altas gang.
On October 28, Eduardo Parra González, a Colombian national, and Venezuelan Máyira Luque were arrested in the Rómulo Gallegos municipality of Apure state. Both were transporting 2,600 cartridges of different calibers in a vehicle.
The following week, at the same location, Jorge Alberto Requena Rojo, Nixon Orlando Ramírez Ramírez and Stephanie Angeline Alvarado Lara were arrested. They were all linked to far-right terrorist organizations, according to a report by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) cited by Eligio Rojas. They were carrying a P226 pistol with a magazine containing 13 rounds.
In the Los Olivos sector of Maracaibo, Zulia state, the military seized a batch of 20 firearms that three people who were arrested were carrying. These were 20 9mm pistols that, according to the report of the 211th detachment of the GNB, were intended for use by criminal gangs.
Criminal cells, protagonists of swarming
As Misión Verdad has reported , the combination of mercenaries, criminal groups, arms trafficking and elements of cyberwarfare is related to the swarming tactic promoted by María Corina Machado as part of the country's regime change agenda.

The report by Rojas refers to the link between extreme right-wing groups and violent actions for political purposes, for which the former have recruited the aforementioned criminal gangs whose role in the plan is to organize hotbeds of violence in parallel with their criminal activities, taking advantage of the logistics that these groups possess and their knowledge of the territory.

This practice has been common on previous occasions. It is worth recalling the performance of criminal gangs in the Sucre municipality of Miranda state during Operation Gedeón in May 2020. This was detailed by criminal José Alberto Socorro Hernández, alias "Pepero", who claimed that the shootings in the area were a "smoke screen" instructed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in order to distract security forces from the paramilitary incursion.

Eligio Rojas linked elements of the aforementioned plan with the recent liberation of the Eastern Central Region Penitentiary Center, better known as the El Dorado prison in Bolívar state. At the beginning of November, more than 3,000 officers, including police officers and members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), took control of the prison and 17 pranes, or negative leaders.

In addition, authorities arrested three guards from the Ministry of Penitentiary Services who were acting in complicity, and seized two rifles, two shotguns and automatic weapons, as well as more than 400 cell phones, satellite internet antennas, routers , alcoholic beverages and a "significant" stash of drugs, according to the Minister for Penitentiary Services, Julio García Zerpa.

In this regard, Rojas' report explains that elements were found that suggest the use of the prison population to foment acts of violence for political purposes. It also states that these plans were thwarted at the end of 2023 by Operation Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro, in which seven prisons were raided in a 50-day period and a large quantity of weapons and ammunition was seized.

Chaos as a programmatic basis
The decline of María Corina Machado's leadership and her eventual escape from the country have limited the swarming , however the evidence points to the fact that the combination of criminal gangs and extremist leaders would be part of this tactic of chaos and confrontation designed to create conditions for a coup d'état, supported by the configuration of shock networks and the activation of armed groups.

Other reports by Rojas have revealed the involvement of the DEA and Colombian drug trafficking groups in plans to control territories in the country. The actions of the Tren de Aragua —reconverted into Los Chevrolet— and the Tren del Llano in confrontations after July 28 left multiple murders of the civilian population and material damage to important public infrastructure.

Various spokesmen of the anti-political opposition, such as Iván Simonovis , have escalated the level of threat in their messages and the recent arrests and seizures have confirmed the development of an armed plan that seeks to accelerate scenarios of instability before January 10.

The shock and the coup d'état are the programmatic basis of an opposition that, in addition to orchestrating violence, has once again called for sanctions against Venezuela, hence the importance of comprehensive preventive action by the government.

Due to the lack of organizational power in the "citizen" front that triggers the swarming tactic , attempts are being made to take advantage of Donald Trump's recent victory in the US presidential elections. This would consist of creating conditions for his government to support violent hotbeds and a new push for destabilization, either directly through covert operations or by appealing to intervention due to the alleged "violation" of human rights of the actors involved.

It is highly likely that these new dismantled plans are a sign that operators in the field of unconventional warfare have decided to step on the accelerator in order to advance the times and condition the behavior of the Trump administration towards Venezuela, in which the most extremist and pro-intervention sector of the opposition places its hopes for the regime change agenda to return to the scene and dominate the political landscape from the very beginning of 2025.

https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/la-a ... smantelado

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:53 pm

We invent or we stick to capitalism

Image The Cayapo

Dec 4, 2024 , 11:33 am .

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If we do not radically create another culture, what good is so much collective sacrifice? (Photo: El Cayapo)

Humanist thought, with all its margins and roots, long ago took the path of never returning, leaving its physical derivative, capitalism in its imperial stage, in the inertia of repetition and death.

We can conceive of the country as an entity that feels, sees and names itself, inventing, designing, creating, thinking, experiencing, fertilizing itself from within, without imitations from the dominant outside, without copies or cut and paste. Motivated by the strength of the inside. Moved by the fiber of those who know themselves to be proud communities of the territory they inhabit, where they dream of doing what is right. It is the only way we can shelter and designate this country in all its splendor, no matter how big or small it is.

In the midst of the realignment of imperial capitalism, the only certainty that we can bet on as people of this mine is our solitude. Nothing from outside will dispel the mystery to be solved in the present: either we remain pitiful as a mine or we rise up in the history of the species as creators of a new way of thinking with which to solve the problems created by capitalism.

The important thing is to understand that we live at a point of incommensurability, along with everything else; it is up to us to be what we decide. One thing we must be clear about: within the framework of capitalism there is no solution for the majority.

Failure to make decisions in accordance with the circumstances will keep us in a permanent error, senselessly grieving over the tragedy, trying to produce that miserable feeling of pity, crying out to be taken into account in the capitalist family, whining as a tip the absence of scolding. Longing for past worlds as an ideal, pretending to be pamphleteers of the future, without responsibly assuming the reality of being inhabitants of this mine that, with courage, thought and audacity, we must transform into a country to which we can belong through knowledge and planning without ever having to receive orders from owners again.

At first, we were just Europeans invading foreign territory, intimidating people, and people trying to defend themselves and resist the hungry and miserable onslaught of those who came from outside, who sought by all violent or non-violent means to take everything from them, including their lives.

Here we put an end to diverse cultures. Here we settled after the crime and plundering that we have tried to justify all our lives. Here we founded a colony in the name of the masters of the Crown, and later of the bourgeoisie, to continue plundering. Here we brought Africans and enslaved them to generate the second accumulation of capital, which some time later would found what is today human capitalism and its current world empire.

Thus, we were born Venezuelans, with a name imposed on us and with a disability. Thus, we were left as if abandoned, always wishing to return as lords to Europe. Thus, our descendants grew up in shame and the lie that one day we will leave this shit. Thus, we joined the bourgeois ideas that emerged and were imposed in Europe, 300 years ago. Thus, the Mirandas, Rodriguez, Bolivars and others emerged on the continent who realized that we were already different from the Europeans, that we were mestizos, that we were neither Europeans nor Africans nor originals, although there were and continue to be originals; that we were other people and we had to decide to name ourselves as we were; but that mystery, despite bloody wars, still remains undefined.

There are still elites who dream of restoring the Crown; of being appendages, dependents, stupidly subservient. A mestizo elite that is ashamed of itself and does not want to be reminded of the past, but does want to be an equal part at the masters' table, even if to do so they have to sell every last mestizo and every last stone on this continent. The sad thing is that this mentality also seeps into the brains of the slaves that we are and we do not decide to be another possibility in the different because, like the masters, we hope to be recognized as equals in the concert of power.

This is the great contradiction that the thinkers and fighters of this continent have always faced. They first joined the bourgeois revolution, then the progressive, communist, socialist, anarchist ideas that redeemed the social being, all of them coming from Europe. Beyond the grandiloquent declarations on the so-called national holidays, in concrete terms, the elites continue to reduce themselves to the theatrical imitation of power.

Since the war of independence, they knew that building ourselves differently meant political, economic and cultural independence. That the first step was to cut the umbilical cord with Europe, and they did it, but the elite of the time did not understand, they were not clear about what was happening to them at that time. They were as stupid and short of ambition as the elites of today, who only serve to drool over the masters who control us from outside like the mine that we are.

The only thing these elites wanted was to continue smuggling with the English, with the Dutch, with the Germans, with whoever would buy their stuff at a higher price and not have to pay taxes to the Crown. That was the only thing this elite wanted, because it was an elite that still thought of itself as Europeans abandoned in these lands of mosquitoes, blacks and Indians, just as the idiots behave today, housed in Spain or Miami, who once again call for the invasion, the blockade and sanctions against Venezuela to feel fulfilled, like Creole colonists.

The independence they wanted was that the Crown would not tax them, but they wanted to continue being accepted as culturally European. They did not want to change the way of life and they permanently sabotaged everything that the independence fighters did on this continent.

And of course they never had the sense of unity of these fighters. They have constantly repeated the same vile behavior as the Chilean Boric, or the Argentine Fernández, or Pepe Mujica, or Petro, Lula, Noboa, Boluarte, Bukele, and a long list of sycophants, incapable of standing above their masters. All these guys go to Europe or the United States to negotiate individually, they are not going to speak for a continent, or for its people. They speak like elites, like businessmen, like merchants, like lifelong smugglers that they have been, surrenderers of the resources, the territory and the people of this continent. These elites play the role of the butler who negotiates on behalf of their owners. They are umbilically attached to the large transnationals that govern this continent from outside.

In a radically different way, Chavez proposes that we carry forward the thought of Simon Rodriguez, he proposes that we be creative, that we invent this continent as a concept, as a political decision, as an economic possibility, as a historical and artistic event. But he does not propose this to an individual, he does not propose this to an elite: he proposes this to the species that inhabits this part of the continent.

Because it is not possible to do it in an individual, elitist way. There must be a conviction in the great majority that this has to be done and must be done. Therefore, the task of every thinker, every politician, every intellectual, every activist, every dreamer in this era is to try to create this concept, to envision the continent as a possibility to inhabit it with knowledge of the cause, in the understanding of the collective and belonging to the territory, and not the other way around.

This implies questioning the current mode of production and its methods, uses and customs. It is not about distributing wealth equitably, or ending corruption, or managing capitalism better, or combating its consequences such as misery, hunger, poverty, drugs. It is a task with long-term dimensions, which requires patience, study, knowledge, planning, to build a new mode of production that generates another culture.

Having the sense that the continent does not belong to us, as capitalism has sold us until now, but that we belong to the territory. Therefore, the idea we have about it changes because this implies that we must protect it, take care of it, that what we do cannot be a tremor; it has to be to put down strong, vigorous roots. Not to be plundered, sold, handed over, destroyed.

We have to make plans, study and systematize everything we do as a group. We are going to conceive of child rearing, food, art; this has to have roots, it cannot be a spasm, an immediate event, a spectacle, but permanent. We must think that we will have children, the children will have children, they will be grandchildren and we will be grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. We must think about what we will transmit and what they will transmit to us. All of this has to be thought of as people in this territory, in the understanding that existence is not that of the individual: existence is that of the species as another form of life.

For anyone, this is a truism. That this grandfather, son, grandson that we propose should be discussed, that he will not be the same as the one culturally conceived in capitalism, because we are talking about a culture of belonging and not one that belongs to us, of a territory to which we belong and not one that belongs to us, of an emotional affiliation to which we belong and not one that belongs to us.

We must analyze, how do we give continuity to the species in a condition of non-deterioration, of non-mental illness? How do we eliminate the basic defects that make this species permanently sick and drugged by hunger, fear and ignorance in this territory? How do we overcome this condition of the species that for millennia has suffered this disaster, and that the way the powerful elites have raised it is absolutely wrong for the species? Of course, for the benefit of the elites, who understand: if I eat, study and protect myself, the problem of hunger, fear and ignorance is solved for the entire species. War as a method to achieve the above is a perfect benefit for the elites, but not for the majority of the enslaved species.

We must overcome this condition and create another, a condition of existence. To do this, we repeat, we must think collectively, even invent the collective method of thinking, because to invent it means to think it, to think it means to create it, to create it means to experience it, to experience it means to build it, and to build it means to make it permanent; to make it constant in the realm of what changes.

It implies that we have to design another school, another university, another architecture, another way of seeing how to live life. Let us remove the heavy burden of powerful knowledge and think for a moment that, before its powerful institutions existed, jobs, bridges, houses, food, cures, religions, art, shoes, clothing, entertainment had already been invented, which the powerful systematized and have made us repeat endlessly for their benefit as if it were the only end and beginning.

The shackles of the capitalist empire that immobilize the world's population are loose at this moment, due to the death of humanistic thought and the war for total control of the planet. This allows us the possibility of being able to think, to be able to design and to be able to experiment. We must try to get out of that stupidly nationalist vision of my country, of my territory, of my people. Get out of that framework and see ourselves from the small territory where we are from and see ourselves globally, universally, proudly proposing another way of living. Without being shaped by foreign proposals.

In the world, the species is waiting for nothing but a magical salvation, but we Venezuelans, through the government and with the government as a guide, can open great floodgates to enthusiastically produce knowledge and not acquire it, because the current knowledge of the world is a trifle that is used to maintain the power of capitalism in its imperial stage. All the deception of progress and the advance of great technologies are only illusions for the great majority, who in the end will always have the feeling of leaving a circus without a tent, to repeat the routine of work waiting for a new circus with the same clowns and acrobats in the pure rotten skeleton.

We are universal because we were born and inhabit point X of the universe, not because we know, write, paint, travel, eat different things imitated from outside. We are universal because we inhabit the immense. Understanding that we are universal gives us another dimension, that is different. Understanding what we are, that we belong to the infinite, and in it we correspond to this precise point where we were born, live, play, where we reproduce as a species.

It allows us to get rid of the concept of private property in order to conceive of the whole, the whole, to do and design, as a collective capacity with others within, in that territory, point of the unlimited. We would have another perspective of thought that is absolutely different from the one that has been imposed on us until now. Understanding Rodríguez's phrase "we invent or we err" is extremely important because we must overcome all the boxes that, in history, power has used to subjugate us as a species.

Before Chavez came to power, this idea was too much of a pamphlet for us. Today we see the importance of the philosophy that Rodriguez professed. It is extremely precise, without it it is impossible for us to win the war against capitalism, without it it is not possible to get out of the quagmire into which power has plunged us. We cannot do anything else, in fact, it is so precise that we have been making mistakes for 200 years because there is no daring, the audacity of invention is not supported by a thought created by us, because it is not inventing a car, a boat, a truck, a plane, a pair of pants, a fashion, a song. That is not what he spoke to us about.

He spoke to us about inventing, designing, creating, experimenting, building people, architecture, health systems, ways, customs and habits, production methods, machines, tools, science, technology, art, in accordance with the ergonomics of the people rooted in the landscape of these territories. That is what he spoke to us about; everything is contained in that little phrase, but the colonized mind confuses us with the humanist principle of trial and error.

Here the phrase "let's separate ourselves from capitalism to walk together" takes on profound meaning in this territory, from where we can relate to other members of the species anywhere in the world, without any kind of complex, without feeling that they owe us or that we are owed.

So, people, are we inventing or are we definitely wrong? We have to decide, because this is not possible in solitude. Let's analyze: if we do not radically create another culture, what good is so much collective sacrifice?

https://misionverdad.com/chavismo/nos-i ... apitalismo

Google Translator

******

Venezuela Condemns US SOUTHCOM and Guyana’s Provocations on Essequibo
December 5, 2024

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Photo composition showing the flags of Venezuela and Guyana, with a map of the Essequibo territory in between. Photo: File photo.

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The foreign minister of Venezuela, Yván Gil, has published a statement from the government of Venezuela condemning the recent joint actions conducted between the Southern Command of the US empire (SOUTHCOM) and the government of Guyana, “which threaten regional stability and undermine the principles of international law, and constitute a threat to regional peace, contrary to the spirit of the Geneva Agreement of 1966.”

In the statement, posted this Tuesday, December 3, Venezuela describes as unacceptable the consolidation of military installations in Guyana, “including the military use of the Brigadier Gary Beaton airfield located in the Essequibo territory,” that Venezuela claims as its own due to historical deeds in its possession.

Despite the solid case and evidence Venezuela holds against this territorial dispossession, it agreed to settle the dispute via a mutually agreed diplomatic negotiation, stipulated in the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which was signed by Guyanese authorities. The former British colony violated this agreement when it unilaterally submitted the territorial dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).



Below, you can read the full statement:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically and strongly rejects the recent joint actions between the United States Southern Command and the government of Guyana, which threaten regional stability and undermine the principles of international law, and constitute a threat to regional peace, contrary to the spirit of the Geneva Agreement of 1966.

The opening of military installations of the US Southern Command in Guyana, including the military use of the Brigadier Gary Beaton Airfield located in the Essequibo territory, are unacceptable and represent a new provocation by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, to the detriment of the spirit of peace that governed the Argyle Agreement, signed with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela [in 2023].

Venezuela believes that the warlike agenda of the US administration has no place in Our America, and even less so in the Guayana Esequiba. The unacceptable expansion of naval stations and airports for military use is evidence of its effort to hinder the peaceful and negotiated resolution of the territorial dispute, thus violating the legitimate historical rights of our country over the Guayana Esequiba.

The Bolivarian government of Venezuela, within the framework of the recognition of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, reaffirms its unrestricted commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes. In this regard, we call on Guyana to immediately cease these actions contrary to mutual understanding and the international legal framework.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ratifies its will to defend, based on the mandate given by the people in the referendum of December 3, 2023, the sovereign rights of the Venezuelan people over Guayana Esequiba through peaceful and diplomatic means, as it has historically done. No unilateral or external action will be able to undermine our determination to preserve the territorial integrity and dignity of our nation.

Caracas, December 3, 2024[/i]

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-re ... essequibo/

******

Venezuela passes a law targeting those who support sanctions on Venezuela

Following a series of sanctions against officials and sectors of the national economy, the Venezuelan parliament enacted a law seeking to stop internal actions promoting international sanctions.

December 05, 2024 by Pablo Meriguet

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Jorge Rodríguez voting yes on the Law in a session of the National Assembly on November 28. Photo: VTV
On November 28, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed the “Organic Law Liberator Simon Bolivar against the imperialist blockade and in defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”. The legislation seeks to impede political and economic activities that promote the economic sanctions that several Western countries have arbitrarily imposed on the Caribbean republic. The Act was passed after the US House of Representatives passed the “Bolivar Act”, which seeks to prohibit all types of business between the US and Venezuela.

The objective of the document approved in Venezuela is “to sanction the imposition of unilateral coercive measures and other restrictive or punitive measures, as well as actions cataloged as contrary to the security of the Nation, sovereignty, nationality, independence, self-determination, territorial integrity, cultural values, patriotic symbols and the interests of the Republic.”

For the Venezuelan legislators who approved the law, the sanctions imposed by Western countries are punitive, coercive, unilateral, and restrictive acts, and therefore constitute “a crime against humanity, within the framework of a systematic and generalized attack against the civilian population”.

Among the actions now illegal in Venezuela are the promotion of coercive or other restrictive measures against the State by other States or foreign corporations, the disregard of the legitimately constituted powers of the State, the collaboration with foreign organizations that promote sanctions against natural interests, the hindering of foreign investments in the country, and the promotion or solicitation of armed activities against the Venezuelan people.

Sanctions against people acting against the interests of the Republic include imprisonment, political disqualification, and confiscation of assets of the persons involved. Likewise, during the day of the approval of the “Simón Bolívar Liberator Organic Law against the imperialist blockade and in defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”, the possibility of withdrawing the operating permits of social media companies acting against the interests of national security was also considered. After passing the law, legislators presented the document to the Simón Bolívar Statue in the central Plaza Bolívar of Caracas.

Venezuela under siege
Since 2014, Venezuela has been under a complex and comprehensive regime of unilateral coercive measures, or sanctions, imposed mostly by the United States and the European Union.

The over 1,000 measures which have been imposed on the Bolivarian Republic in the last decade are vast. Individual officials from the Bolivarian government, and in some cases even their family members, have had their visas revoked, their assets and property seized, and some have even had million-dollar bounties placed on their heads by the US Department of Justice.

Entire sectors of the Venezuelan economy have also been hard hit, especially the oil sector and the state company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The oil sector sanctions even went so far as to sanction any foreign company that attempted to engage in transactions with PDVSA. After Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president, the US and its allies seized the majority of Venezuela’s foreign assets, including around USD 8 billion in bank accounts and gold reserves, as well as key state enterprises abroad like CITGO and Monomeros. In some cases, these assets were handed over to the Guaidó led opposition. Later investigations found that Guiadó and his allies embezzled significant sums of money and ran the state owned companies into the ground due to mismanagement.

The series of sanctions imposed under the Trump administration from 2017-2019 caused a drastic 90% decline in the country’s GDP, which impacted the population’s overall quality of life, access to food, medicine, and vital supplies, as well as public sector jobs and the ability of the state to maintain social programs and a functioning administration.

Through these sanctions, which have been varied and severe, the US and its allies have sought to punish the people of Venezuela for their model of transformation. With the promotion of the “Organic Law Liberator Simon Bolivar against the imperialist blockade and in defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”, the aim is to stop internal activities that in any way promote the undermining and weakening of the national economy and thus seek to promote a change of government in the country.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/12/05/ ... venezuela/
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Sun Dec 22, 2024 7:14 pm

President Maduro Criticizes Bourgeois Democracy, Announces Constitutional Reform
December 21, 2024

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a live broadcast from Charallave, Miranda state, where he questioned the liberal bourgeois democracy and announced a constitutional reform to further democratize Venezuela. December 19, 2024. Photo: Presidential Press.

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that he has formed a team “to consider a major constitutional reform that will further democratize Venezuelan society, empower citizens, and consolidate Venezuela’s freedom, national sovereignty, and popular sovereignty.”

At an event in Charallave, Miranda state, on Thursday, December 19, he presented 21 recently rehabilitated health facilities throughout Venezuela. President Maduro also announced that the constitutional reform has “great international and national advisors… along with our people” and is inspired by the elections of judges and justices of peace held on December 15.

“Venezuela is seeing more and better democracy—more and better participation—and for there to be democracy, the people are key. The old Western bourgeois liberal philosophy that democracy must depend only on political parties is a lie.”



He said that “electoral campaigns are a tournament of demagogy, lies, false offers or money” to control the media and social networks. “That is not a democracy, it is a farce, a theater of the absurd, and Venezuela does not want to create theaters of the absurd. Venezuela is imbued with the idea of ​​a new, modern democracy for the 21st century.”

Last Wednesday, President Maduro criticized the “false liberal democracy” that exists in the world and called for the construction of a new electoral political system. In an event broadcast on national television with judges and justices of the peace, the Venezuelan president called for overcoming “the old methods of politicking, lies, demagogy, and electoral manipulation, so that ordinary people can run their campaigns and reach high positions.”

In the president’s opinion, the bourgeoisie imposed a false liberal democracy “with its methods, its lies, its demagogy, its farce. The bourgeois electoral processes are all a farce where, in the end, the one who lies best, the one who deceives best, the one who offers the impossible prevails, and the one who manipulates the polls, big data, and artificial intelligence. The one who manipulates through social media, and not the one who has more honesty, more capacity, as in your case,” he said in his speech to those recently elected as communal justices of peace.

“All my life, I have cultivated a dream of a different democracy, one that is truly free. Free of demagogy, false offers, and manipulation. I believe that the time has come for colleagues in the National Assembly to legislate and put an end to lies in politics.”

https://orinocotribune.com/president-ma ... al-reform/

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Guaido and J10: The Reality in Face of President Maduro’s Swear In

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December 21, 2024 Hour: 5:41 pm

The fugitive from Venezuelan Justice, Juan Guaido, let glimpse in an interview, that the plans destabilizing and coup-plotters of the ultra-right led by Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, It is deflated and has no popular, much less diplomatic or international support.

Guaido, who fled Venezuela to settle in Miami, said about Urrutia’s plans to “return to Venezuela to take the oath of office as president of the Republic on January 10” that he would “return to Venezuela when he can. Be careful with this, when he can do it,” he emphasized.

In addition, Guaido said that it is highly unlikely that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia will gain significant support for “10 days from the President of the United States taking position, to 10 days from the new President taking position, that is, a transition team taking position, a new Senate having to ratify the positions, etc.”

Urrutia only will come back Venezuela “when it’s safe, when we have the diplomatic recognitions, when we’ve talked to the military, when we also have enough strength” according to Guaido, statements that determine that the plan of reactionary opposition continues to be insurrectional, in clear attack against democratic institutions in Venezuela.

The set of facts since last week’s Thursday are all relevant and build a very clear picture of the current internal state of the strategy of parallel government that could be brewing in the ranks of the most radical and violent opposition in Venezuela.

To top off failed opposition strategies, the Public Ministry of Venezuela confirmed this Friday that Fernando Martínez Mottola, who was detained at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas until Thursday, declared at the institution for “violent, conspiratorial and destabilizing acts” planned at the diplomatic headquarters, which he voluntarily abandoned.

The Prosecutor’s Office added that the opponent voluntarily appeared at its main headquarters in Caracas on Thursday to give statements about the serious violent, conspiratorial and destabilizing events organized from the residence of the Embassy of Argentina, following the presidential elections of 28 July.

Change in the opposition narrative
The narrative turn occurs when Spain formally grants asylum to the former presidential candidate, as confirmed by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. “The asylum status requested by Edmundo González in Spain has been granted and will be officially communicated in the coming days,” Albares announced during a press conference at the Senate’s Ibero-American Affairs Commission.

After leaving Venezuela on a Spanish military plane after taking refuge in the Spanish Embassy, Edmundo González initially signed a public statement in which he recognized both the electoral results and Venezuelan institutions. However, his stance has evolved in recent months, culminating in repeated claims about his possible return to Caracas on January 10, the constitutionally scheduled date for the presidential inauguration.

New ambassador of Spain in Venezuela
Meanwhile, diplomatic channels between Spain and Venezuela continue to evolve. The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Álvaro Albacete, the new ambassador of Spain, has presented his credentials in Caracas.

Foreign Minister Yván Gil expressed through his official Telegram account the commitment of the Bolivarian Government to strengthening mutual respect between both nations.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/guaido-a ... -swear-in/
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 11, 2025 6:21 pm

Venezuela Reports Detention of 7 New Foreign Mercenaries, Including 2 US Nationals (+FBI & US Army)
January 9, 2025

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a speech days before his inauguration, scheduled for Friday, January 10, 2025. Photo: Presidential Press.


The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has reported that seven people accused of being foreign mercenaries were arrested on Tuesday, including two high-level US officials, two Colombians captured in different parts of the country, and three individuals from Ukraine.

President Maduro explained this Tuesday, January 7, that in the next few hours confessions would be written by the captured mercenaries, “because they intended to carry out terrorist actions in Venezuela. But our operations to defend peace continue! We will get them all, we are going for them, because Venezuela should be respected. We are going to guarantee the peace of the homeland, of our Venezuela of the 21st century.”



The head of state took the opportunity to recall that in recent days, the number of threats against the people of Venezuela has increased. He emphasized that the peace of Venezuelans will continue to be secured, refuting complaints from the far-right and mainstream media.

“Nerves of steel, calm, and sanity,” said the Venezuelan president, “maximum popular, military, and police mobilization. Venezuela will win on our path of peace, with the Constitution and the stability and sovereignty of Venezuela.”

President Maduro said that the great history of the 21st century is currently being written, with the union and fusion of the people, the military, and the police.

He also reiterated that in both November and December of 2024, 125 foreign mercenaries were captured, who are believed to have been involved in the execution of terrorist actions in the country. He explained that they have been determined to be from 25 different countries.

President Maduro also denounced fascism and its supporters, for the violence they had planned to develop in the country with foreign mercenaries, in addition to filling the country with bombs to attack important leaders of the revolution and try to ruin the lives and Christmas of Venezuelans.

On Wednesday, during a ceremony in the Miraflores Palace, President Maduro clarified his announcement from the previous day, informing that the three Ukrainians captured had arrived directly from the frontlines of their war. He also informed that one of the US nationals captured works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the other one for the US Military.

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-re ... i-us-army/

Interior Minister of Venezuela Exposes Opposition Leader Enrique Márquez’s Involvement in Coup Plot
January 10, 2025

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Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello in his television program Con El Mazo Dando. Photo: Primicias Venezuela.

Venezuelan minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, presented evidence of the coup plot involving opposition leader Enrique Márquez, who has already been arrested.

“There are no saints here, and even less so if there is money involved. In this opposition everything is contaminated, absolutely everything,” said Cabello, the first vice-president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), during his program Con El Mazo Dando on Wednesday, January 8.

The minister also confirmed Márquez’s close friendship with US-linked Juan Barreto and lawyer María Alejandra Díaz, as well as with Rafael Tudares, son-in-law of the far-right opposition’s former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. “Among the things revealed about this gentleman [Enrique Márquez], he is found to be linked with the FBI and with Edmundo’s son-in-law,” he mentioned.



According to the minister, Marquez’s computer contained a statement addressed to several people, with a proposal for Edmundo González to be sworn in on January 10. In the text, “he proposes that González be sworn in before an assembly of citizens in a Venezuelan embassy abroad, such as that in the United States or in Peru,” Cabello revealed.

Among the addressees are Abdón Vivas Terán, José Rodríguez Iturbe, Asdrúbal Aguiar, Andrés Caldera, Humberto Calderón Berti, Antonio Ledezma, Rodrigo Rivera, Eduardo Carrillo, César Pérez Vivas, Carlos Alaimo, and Max Guerra.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), which in recent years has increasingly aligned itself with the opposition, condemned the detention of Márquez and demanded his immediate release.

(RedRadioVE)

https://orinocotribune.com/interior-min ... coup-plot/

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Donald Trump takes the bait against Venezuela, but it is not enough
Jan 10, 2025 , 3:38 pm .

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Donald Trump makes a combat gesture at a political event in Orlando, Florida, in 2022 (Photo: John Raoux / Associated Press)

Among the primary objectives of the psychological operation carried out by María Corina Machado, under the false flag of her "kidnapping" , was to draw Donald Trump's attention to Venezuela. They partially succeeded, with a statement through the digital network Truth Social:

"Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the regime. The large Venezuelan-American community in the United States overwhelmingly supports a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me. These freedom fighters must not be harmed and MUST be kept ALIVE and SAFE!"

Despite the gesture, it does not satisfy the purposes of that extremist sector of the Venezuelan opposition, as we will see below.

No specific policy regarding Venezuela
Although the Republican magnate took the bait, mentioning the Machado incident and calling Edmundo González Urrutia "president-elect," he tried to keep the Venezuelan issue low-profile compared to the other topics of the Great Game in other geopolitical and geoeconomic scenarios, regarding which he has already announced defined political lines:

The claims of American expansionism towards Canada.
The geopolitical formatting around the Gulf of Mexico.
The Panama Canal as a dam.
The annexation of Greenland, a territory that has belonged to Denmark for centuries and is close to Russia.
The cessation of the war in Ukraine and Donbas and, consequently, a significant Trump-Putin strategic meeting.
And trade tariffs on Chinese technological production.

These are the themes that have been the subject of the next US president's speech for his next government. This does not mean that they are immutable policies, that they will not undergo transformations in the development of his administration, but they are the fundamental themes for which his administration will take proactive measures to try to counteract and reverse the hegemonic decline of Washington.

With the international compass set in advance, Trump and his strategic team take into account a board with much larger interests on their agenda, where Venezuela does not figure precisely on the altar of their attention. Proof of this is the fact that, since their electoral victory last November, both the Venezuelan government and Machado and González Urrutia have featured little in their statements, speeches and interviews, except for side mentions from Republicans close to their political circle, such as Bernie Moreno .

In this sense, the message in Truth Social was deployed as a gesture of solidarity, without implying the outlining of a specific policy, the assumption of a strategic commitment or the prominent escalation of the "Venezuela issue" in its foreign policy priorities.

The mention of "Venezuelan-Americans" confirms that this was a post directed at political representatives from South Florida who support him, who held a meeting with González during the former diplomat's visit to Washington, including María Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Mario Díaz-Balart and Mike Waltz; the latter will be Trump's next National Security Advisor 2.0.

This sector, supported politically and economically by groups of Cuban-Venezuelan origin or descent who are hard-liners against their countries, has been a pillar in Trump's electoral constitution since his first administration; the appointment of Senator Marco Rubio as the next Secretary of State is a symptom that the strategy of maximum pressure would gain traction in his second government, a wish of that extremist clique.

Democrats push, but don't squeeze
In the transition period between the electoral victory of November 5, 2024, and the Presidential Inauguration Day of January 20, 2025, the Democratic administration of Joe Biden has taken care to accelerate some important international movements to engage the incoming administration in geopolitical swamps that, according to Trump himself, he wants to neutralize in favor of his own agenda.

The reconfiguration of the new Syria, where the most prominent regional players are Turkey, Israel and Iran.
NATO's preeminence as Europe's central operator.
The incessant financial and logistical support to Ukraine, acting as a pivot against Russia.
And new sanctions packages on Moscow.
Venezuela falls into the same picture, although with much less intensity. President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in before the Legislative Branch this Friday, January 10, in accordance with the constitutional mandate, for the period 2025-2031: a picture that clearly contrasts with the narrative spread in recent weeks about the supposed presidential rise of Edmundo González Urrutia and a possible arrival in Caracas. Once again, the extremist sector of the opposition failed to impose a change of regime, even though it has the support of the Biden administration.

At the time of this analysis, the Democratic government has not taken any measures of greater force and pressure against Venezuela, as the group that advocates for maximum pressure would like, such as lifting licenses for the country's energy sectors. But they have taken measures that are compatible with possible intentions to repeat some mercenary operation, as suggested by Erik Prince and Iván Simonovis from the United States.

A new batch of individual sanctions against Venezuelan officials was issued and, in addition, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced, via press release , that in support of the "return to democracy in Venezuela" they raised the reward on the heads of President Maduro and Minister Diosdado Cabello to 25 million dollars, in addition to 15 million dollars for Minister General Vladimir Padrino López.

Under this radar of action, the Biden government decides to accelerate its steps regarding Venezuela, but without achieving the configuration of a scenario that commits Trump - for now - to continue with the same strategy. In fact, everything remains to be seen regarding the agenda of the magnate and the decision-makers around him regarding Venezuela.

For now, Machado's simulation worked to make the magnate show the cards he had in hand on the Venezuelan case. The gesture is not enough to give a greater dose of artificial respiration to the opposition extremism, which is betting on imposing the typical hard line against what Senator Bernie Moreno has proposed: a Trump-Maduro negotiation based on the return of Venezuelan immigrants residing in the North American country and the continuation of the energy policy between both countries, an economic and geopolitical necessity in which both parties win.

Preventing at all costs the development of these tendencies and interests after Trump takes office, and quickly and forcefully establishing the issue of tightening sanctions against Venezuela, are the central objectives of the Machado and González Urrutia staging. With this purpose, María Corina's latest false flag operation was developed, which has gotten out of hand and has turned against her, generating pessimism and confusion among those who support her.

https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/dona ... suficiente

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 25, 2025 2:42 pm

Slaves of the capitalist empire

Image The Cayapo

Jan 24, 2025 , 10:39 am .

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Yes, we need knowledge, but we must create it, because it is not possible to replace the current culture with its same imaginary and enslaving structures. (Photo: El Cayapo)

1998-2024: years of joy and shock, of hard trials for us slaves, of learning, of detachment from ideological clutter, both bourgeois and from proposals for change that we fell in love with and always ended in nothing; years of hatred and unmasking, of strengths and weaknesses, of commercial affections and affections that awaken and bring us together in our daily separation; helping us to understand that, only by separating ourselves from the capitalist empire, we slaves can walk together in another real possibility of living, built by ourselves, without gods, hopes, utopias, chimeras or illusions, but the product of the collective effort that Chavez taught us.

Today, 25 years after Chavez's idea, trying to find a new way of living that is not enslaving, we can say that all the slaves or poor in the world, whether we are women, blacks, Indians, Africans, Europeans, Americans, Oceanians, Asians, Warao or Slavs, are called upon to imagine, to think, about how we replace the structures of the bourgeois empire with all its traditions, modes, uses and customs, and to design another way of living.

To this end, all, absolutely all slaves in the world are called upon and must abandon union and individual defenses, because, whoever we are, we are all slaves of the elite that dictatorially governs the world in a business-like manner, whether we group ourselves into unions, genders, colors, races, sexes, nations, trades, professions, unionism, environmentalism, anti-speciesism, veganism, pacifism, feminism, anti-racism, anti-fascism, lesbianism, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, anti-consumerism, anti-globalization, secularism; whether we militate around the left, be it radical, ultra, progressive, centrist or whatever; all, we repeat, are slaves of the same master-system that gave birth to the bourgeois revolution, humanism and its mode of production, capitalism, today in its imperial phase.

All these isms are confusions, carrots used by the power of the transnationals to prevent us slaves from thinking, so that we do not accept and reflect that we are slaves, so that we continue chasing cheap utopias, confused with gods or distributions of wealth in religious paradises, satisfied with the illusion of being owners but without a pimple in our pocket, believing ourselves to be free but not being owners of a single corporation, swearing equality but selling energy to the owner, believing in democracy but without any stock to play with in the stock market.

It has been almost 26 years since Hugo Chavez took over the leadership of the government structure and since then we have learned many things from him, among them that society is made up of an elite that considers itself superior. This Anglo-Saxon elite has generated and used all the mechanisms of domination at its disposal to remain in power over time. These mechanisms are repressive, ideological, educational, artistic, financial, productive, which allow it to exercise power over slaves. We have learned that we are only a mine in the current inter-capitalist war, a target-loot that financial-speculative capital needs to maintain and control; that this mine is the vast majority, attached to the great machinery that is the capitalist empire, which invades the entire planet like a virus.

This January we closed another battle, we discovered new and old ways of lying by the foreign elite and its local vassals, we discovered the fallacies of those who fight for others, of those who save worlds, we learned how university and academic politicians end up defending what made them what they are, and placing themselves in their rightful place. The exceptions are just that, and nothing more. These people lost their names and their essence for a title that enslaves them, like the former domestic slaves for a pittance of social prestige that supposedly makes them stand out from the mass of slaves, without realizing that they are only a bunch of dregs and skeletons with titles, fearing and hating their fellow slaves, in the belief that they are also superior, without realizing the salary of 15 and a half that they receive for being at the service of the corporations that suck the life out of them, just like the rest of us slaves. Without understanding the immense opportunity to think of another way of being and living that the current government represents.

It is now time to think and plan new ways of existing where transnational power cannot discover the keys and codes that will allow us to exist outside of its slavery.

We have always been told what to be, how to behave, who to follow, and to be grateful for having our energy stolen, whether as soldiers, workers, farmers, fishermen, professionals, poets, managers, or anything else that produces wealth.

In all historical ups and downs we are considered as soldiers, as an army that can be manipulated and led to the side that the manipulators of the moment want, but in none of the cases do we have an opinion, voice, decision, leadership, political design, plan. We are always supporting, helping, applauding, shouting, asking.

At most we are the force, an erupting volcano, an overflowing river, a tsunami, an earthquake, a storm, a cloud of dust, a fire, always in a destructive capacity, which must be feared, controlled, a channel created for it, barriers, dikes, and retaining walls placed around it, understood, and the ego of its individual leaders must be stroked.

Once the circumstance that makes us overwhelm our strength disappears, we become the culprits of the entire tragedy: a people without control, a brutish people, an ignorant people, a people with low passions, a treacherous people, an ungrateful people, a stupid people, a drunk, a hungry people, a bag of rum and stale bread, a miserable people who like to live as they live, a Juan Bimba who does not desire progress, civilization, development, economic growth and the culture of its owners.

Slave, damned slave, I need you only as a slave, why don't you shut up, why don't you fall asleep, why don't you put on your whip in silence, why don't you settle down in your shack, sidewalk, ranch, commune, favela, shantytown, neighborhood, and quietly eat your damned bagasse arepa, your bola de fraile, your manioc, your tortilla?

Why, damn it, do you have to be talking, arguing, proposing in these streets of the world, why didn't you just keep quiet, because that way you look much better, like at work, which is your only role in the history of time and you must do it well, without the need for scolding from supervision, because that's where a lot of money is spent?

That is why we have always subjugated you, not because we are the owners, or because we do not love you, or do not value you. It is because you do not pay attention and you are always screwing up, believing that you are not a slave, that you can be the owner, that you have rights and thinking that you can stop being one. Be careful and you will always be a good slave. Do not deviate, we are on the right path.

But we slaves know that all the paths taught and proposed by the owners are those of exploitation, plunder, invasion, blockade, hatred, flight, search, loss, oblivion, desire, absence, solitude, separation, lack, eviction, precariousness, cold, hunger: in short, slavery.

All paths of ignominy along which we go, evicted, laborers, displaced, forgotten, robbed, swindled, absent, alone, sent away, thrown out, fired, false positives, massacred, precarious, lost, hated, persecuted, seekers, hopeful, obstinate, lacking, who are eternally kept away from the riches we produce, in the belief that it is destiny, chance or God who tests us before we enjoy the happy life, which does not exist in eternity, but in its name the owners of the churches deceive us and enrich themselves, while we see the owners of the planet count and bet on the stock exchanges the energy and sweat stolen from our miserable existence, where even the word of encouragement is charged to us with interest.

We the poor only know, since Chavez came to power, what we intuited: that the traditional philosophy that justifies the bourgeois world, that politics, that art, that its imaginary, codes, codes, schools, factories, armies, that all the established institutions, all the illusion, all the hope, all the faith of the bourgeois world, were of no use to us; that no representation was going to solve the problem of submission, the subjugation that, asking for sacks of food, asking for sheets of zinc, asking for sacks of cement, every five years our destiny was sealed forever as slaves.

Say what the acrobats and circus owners may say, but the real reason why they so fervently want to overthrow the government is because, in more than 500 years, for the first time, we slaves have snored in the cave in this territory, and we are willing to stop being the labor commodity that makes them owners.

Since 1998 we have had an epic of triumph. That is why we cannot join whiny speeches, begging speeches, unworthy speeches, it is not the role that we have to play as slaves in contradiction. That must go down in history. Now we must think, it is no longer time to condemn, to criticize, to curse, to say we deserve, we desire, we want. It is time to create, to come together collectively to generate a country to which we can belong without the sword of scolding hovering over our bodies.

It is up to us to create the conditions for leading participation, and this is not just a saying; the entire world of the bourgeois dictatorship has been expressed through representation in politics, in art, in the factory, in school, in the family, in thought, in the religious imagination. Do we know of any collective heroes, collective teachers, collective philosophers, collective leaders, collective gods, collective professionals?

We must be clear that what we must do is to definitively replace the material conditions that make slave existence possible, to transcend history, to name ourselves, and that no one ever again names us, qualifies us, condemns us, or stigmatizes us.

It is time to question, to ask ourselves, what it is that really makes us slaves and how to overcome it. It is time to abandon all those institutions that make the rivet of slavery possible; we need to know how they work and how they make us permanent slaves. This implies asking ourselves about sports, schools, universities, health systems, forms of social organization, factories, families. In other words, we need to carefully analyze everything created by capitalism or maintained by capitalism that makes us slaves.

It is not a question of believing ourselves to be ignorant and swallowing or demanding that we be fed so-called humanist culture, because we have never had it; on the contrary, it is a question of getting rid of those ways, customs and habits that keep us trapped in stagnant spaces that, through custom, we consider natural. It is not rights that we need: it is thinking and creating another culture that is radically different from the current one. It is not a question of changing for the sake of changing, or of changing everything in order to change nothing like the leopard; it is a question of understanding that, that which has no vital force or destroys the existing conditions of life, must cease to have meaning for the other culture.

There are people of good faith who think that we are ignorant and that we need to fill our brains with bourgeois culture to be humanists, that we lack school, university, academy, current knowledge, but they have not stopped to think that it is that same school, that same knowledge, those same academies, that enslave us. Yes, we need knowledge, but we must create it, because it is not possible to replace the current culture with its same imaginary and its enslaving structures.

Jumping from being a mine to being a country is a difficult but refreshing task, as we can decide what to stop being and what to be with joy; it is not easy, it is not simple, it is not just blowing glass and making bottles; of course it is not, but it is the only way to abandon this enslaving human system that harasses us.

Humans will oppose this possibility as always, because the masters of the world do not forgive us slaves for deciding to build the destiny we dream of in the territory we inhabit. For them, in their interest and conviction, we were only born to serve them.

It is already January 2025. The bad omens did not come true, the ancient human-capitalist sorcerers failed in their predictions, nothing caught fire. The government does not believe in witchcraft because it knows who the enemy is and is prepared to prevent us from being turned into chaos, into a civil war, which is the only thing that suits the owners to stay in power.

Meanwhile, we are planting guaracaras, tapiramos, tapiramas or pintas, as they are called in different parts of the country where these tasty grains are eaten; also manoetigre yam, oregano, basil, chili, paprika, tomato. Harvesting yucca, yam, ocumos, papaya, turmeric, ginger, bananas, topochos, plantains, fruit trees, and preparing land for other summer crops.

Here we are where we were born, here we stay, because we will not leave this land to foreign corporations. Those who want to seek or follow chimeras, illusions, utopias, hopes for a better life in other lands. Have a good trip and may all roads open to you and you may walk freely, and if you decide to return, bring us solutions, knowledge, joys and desires to be planted in this land that saw us born and will shelter us without fuss. The body that must transform itself into another form of life to continue being life.

Because we no longer believe in any of those pregnant birds, however poetic they may seem. Now we are awake, earning and above all dedicated to the future, because Chavez told us that our future had been stolen from us and that, from now on, the contentment lay in the fact that we should work for future generations, so that no one else would ever steal their future as it was stolen from us. It would be selfish and miserable if we were to dedicate ourselves today to working for ourselves and contributing to stealing the future from those yet to come. In doing so there is no substantial transcendence, no overcoming of being a slave, and that means replacing the current mode of production and its culture.

Either we transcend or we transcend: there is no other slogan for now for the slaves in the thinking contradiction in which Chavez placed us. The rest is smoke, sniff and feather.

https://misionverdad.com/chavismo/los-e ... apitalista

Google Translator

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Venezuela and Colombia Develop Joint Strategy to Combat Armed Groups in Border Zones
January 24, 2025

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro (left) being welcomed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the former's official visit to Venezuela in April 2024. File photo.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, stated that he is in constant communication with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on combating armed groups operating in the border region of the two countries.

In public statements on Thursday, January 23, Petro confirmed that joint actions are being implemented to mitigate cross-border violence and crime.

From Haiti, where the Colombian President is currently on an official visit, he said that he is maintaining contact with the Venezuelan government to design a joint plan to eradicate armed gangs. The strategy focuses especially on the Catatumbo region, a historically complex, conflictive zone.



President Petro instructed his minister of Defense to establish direct contact with his Venezuelan counterpart, Vladimir Padrino López, with the aim of developing a protocol for coordinated action.



“I have spoken with the president of Venezuela in order to close illegal crossings, especially in the Catatumbo River, and to coordinate aerial surveillance actions on both sides of the border,” Petro explained.

The initiative aims at securing strategic regions utilized by drug-trafficking and armed gangs.

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-an ... der-zones/

Venezuela’s Interior Minister: Far-Right Opposition Leads Network of Coyotes Taking Migrants to US
January 25, 2025

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Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello (right) talking alongside PSUV Deputy Tania Díaz during the first episode of a new weekly podcast. Photo: IG/@ConelMazoDando.

Venezuelan right-wing leaders are running a criminal organization from the United States to transport migrants from Venezuela to the US, denounced the Venezuelan Minister for Interior Diosdado Cabello.

During a new podcast that he co-hosts with Congresswoman Tania Díaz, Cabello said that these criminal organizations are hidden behind figures such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and are led by far-right politicians Carlos Vecchio, David Smolansky, Julio Borges, Leopoldo López, Juan Guaidó, and Miguel Pizarro.

“It’s not that I’m going to leave Venezuela for Darién and go, no, no, if you go to Darién and you are not in contact with the coyotes, you’re not in. The coyotes? (Carlos) Vecchio, (David) Smolansky, (Julio) Borges, (Leopoldo) López, Juan Guaidó, (Miguel) Pizarro, and others. The coyotes are a criminal structure that operates in the US. The US has those opposition criminals there. If the US wants to resolve or tackle the issue of migration, it has to go after the coyotes who make policy from the US,” he said.

In this regard, he said that if US President Donald Trump wants to capture and punish those responsible for the mobilization of the Aragua Train, he must look for them within his borders. “If Trump wants to blame someone for the Aragua Train, those responsible are there. Those who mobilized the Aragua Train are there. That is a great truth, and they (the US) know it. The FBI knows it,” he added.

Venezuela is prepared
Minister Cabello also said that the Venezuelan government is prepared to receive fellow Venezuelans who wish to return to the country.

He pointed out that the Maduro Administration has a repatriation policy that guarantees the return of migrants. “In countries where our planes have not landed to repatriate compatriots, it is because the government of that nation has not allowed it, such is the case of Peru and Chile,” he added.

Cabello also pointed out that this plan, The Return to the Homeland Program, includes a provision to help Venezuelans start their own businesses. He also said that US imperialism, with the support of its local allies, has used all existing techniques and experiments to try to defeat Chavismo.

He recalled the far-right’s campaign of manipulation against youth to convince them to leave Venezuela and “then, wherever they go, the doors are closed to them,” as well as the financing and organization of criminal groups to convince people that they have reasons to leave.

“Here in Venezuela, they have used all the world’s experiments. They have done everything to try to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution, to try to undermine the Revolution’s resistance,” Cabello said.



Solidarity with Colombia
The revolutionary leader also said that Venezuela has always been in solidarity with the people of Colombia, who have suffered the ravages of the internal war that has continued for over 80 years.

“One of the reasons is the issue of solidarity, the human factor of this Revolution. We learned that from Commander Chávez and the great Cuban experience… We are trying to do our part, and with all the historical problems that Colombia has, Venezuela has intervened every time to contribute to peace,” said Cabello, referring to his visit to the Colombian-Venezuelan border, where emergency relief is being provided to displaced Colombians who arrive in Venezuela as a result of the violence affecting the Colombian Catatumbo region in recent weeks.

Cabello reported that all displaced people arriving in Venezuela are receiving comprehensive care. “I like to go to the sites because sometimes the reports are very nice, but what one sees with one’s own eyes is something else. That is why I went personally,” he added. He also said that the Colombian conflict is damaging the entire region, all of America.

(Últimas Noticias) by Gustavo Rangel

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-i ... nts-to-us/
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:11 pm

Between youth and sheep

ImageThe Cayapo

10 Feb 2025 , 11:18 am .

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And will we slaves stop yearning to be masters, to be ourselves in the different? (Photo: El Cayapo)

Everyone says they have the ovaries and testicles to fight and give their lives for their country or for whatever revolution, but to think outside the box?

Chávez turned life into a healthy contradiction, in this mine dominated by capitalism for more than five hundred years. He placed us in the brutal reality that we had no future, that it had been stolen from us, that for the new generations we had to think about it, experience it, build it, from its seeds. From now on, no one can be indifferent, either we reinforce the present with its heavy and miserable burden of the past, or we assume the contradiction of being the present and the possibility of thinking about the future where we will not be able to live. Chávez, by consecrating himself, gave us the example. There are no other options.

Can and should youth understand their contradiction as collective slaves and propose to think of another option? Youth must take up the challenge of thinking, experimenting and building a country that replaces the condition of the mine in which we are enslaved.

But first, youth must begin to define itself within the framework of contradiction, youth must look at itself according to the demagogy of businessmen and politicians or youth according to youth. Who is it, who does it decide to be in the future, what is its pride, what is its belonging, what is its intrinsic being? Is there perhaps a proposal, an idea, that supports an action, sustained as a current generation, assuming the construction of the future, in what mirror are they looking, what do they copy, who do they imitate, who do they follow? Has there been or is there a thought-action in contradiction from youth, that indicates to us where to go, how to get out of the quagmire in which capitalism has plunged us in its imperial phase, dominating the planet? Will youth be able to get out of the consumerist quagmire and assume itself as the leader of a species in contradiction, trying to overcome its condition of slavery?

All these questions come to mind when President Maduro speaks of a project by and for youth. Is youth perhaps an entity separate from the species or an object shaped by the political and corporate demagogy that keeps them drugged in an overdose of permanent consumption? Is youth a monolithic whole or are there young slaves and young rich people? And if so, what is the reason for each of them?

We have as a successful example the actions of those young people of February 4, today mature people, who risked their lives for their dreams, are responsibly trying to sustain with their perseverance what they once imagined as young people. They pointed out a path, they awakened the contradiction. What contradiction will the young people of today assume, understanding the sides, the interests, the individual, the collective, the species as a way of life, the future?

When we refer to youth, do we refer to that animal in full energetic capacity, easily enslaved by its fear, hunger and ignorance, used by the elites to maintain their power over life, yearning to be masters? Or do we describe energetic beings, outside of the consumerist custom, outside of the drug addiction imposed by the mode of production and the existing culture, beings whose brains are understood in their own time as being born to live without slavery, beings who assume themselves part of life, part of a body, a collective form of life, to which they owe themselves and for which they are obliged to think in order to keep it vigorous? Because it is from their strength that each one of us exists: beings who understand the need to create another form of existence, which is not to give continuity to the misery of war and its derivatives, to maintain small elites dominating life in general, beings with shame and pride, with whom life is renewed each time as existence. We must resolve this contradiction and make decisions based on it.

Paraphrasing President Maduro: Will young slaves be able to take on the challenge of fine-tuning common dreams, common plans and continue building with their own hands, their own effort, their own intelligence, the common home, working, sowing, harvesting? Or will they remain stuck in the consumerist pigsty that the society of nervous, sick consumerism offers them daily, like the TikTok challenge, which leads them to collective suicide for the insipid applause, which immediately abandons them in greater sickly loneliness, or will they remain stuck in their selfish individualism, which does not allow them to understand that we are not alone, but an integral part of life, that is, the whole?

To reinforce these ideas, we consider it pertinent to bring to your reading, with new corrections, part of the article " Like a parrot without a tail " published in Misión Verdad on September 20, 2024, on the occasion of the terrorist events promoted during July and August of the same year.

"We should not write for young people as sheep-like beings whose ideas are chewed up, but for thinking people, who like to use their brain not only to consume but to challenge themselves, to question themselves collectively, feeling that they belong to a wonderful body that is the species. Who are we, what do we do, what should we do in this territory, what is truth, what is reality, what is illusion, what is mirage, who controls us, what are their interests? That can be analyzed from different angles outside the consumer bubble in which capitalism keeps us. People who can question their condition as slaves and link each question to production, economy, history, geography, engineering, art, sowing, food, footwear, clothing, territory, where we live, because all are topics to be studied for a political design of the country, understanding that nothing can escape politics.

"The hackneyed discourse and the great campaign aimed primarily at young people, selling them the idea that discredited politics, without any importance, annoying, bothersome, without interest, without transcendent incentives, is something that should be rejected and not accepted, has given great results to the owners of large financial-speculative capital, who by carrying out their well-orchestrated policy through all the means of dissemination of propaganda and misinformation now merged in the networks. The policy of the owners generates great dividends for them, instilling in young people the idea of ​​consumption. While young people suffer from extreme consumerism, zombified, parked in the present like laboratory mice, refusing as living beings, to use politics as an everyday tool that, depending on the interests of either the owners or the slaves in contradiction, can generate solutions.

"They know that if young slaves join politics, with clear interests, that would mean a great setback for their politics, and if anyone knows about politics and practices it, it is the owners. They know how to discipline for work, the barracks, the church or concerts, to make people consume everything that the networks produce and offer. If the system disciplines the kids for that, let's imagine those kids disciplined in politics and see them from the other point of view, the role that people like Chavez, Maduro, Diosdado, the Rodriguez have played, the majority of our political leadership, direct descendants of slaves, and look at what they have faced and what they have built and what they have avoided during these long years of war in this country, by doing politics, really politics, big politics, not the politics of plunder, not the politics of traditional politics.

"A vital question that is asked of us in the midst of the fight: Are young people preparing for the new times, where we must create a new culture, an original one, a different one, born from these contradictions in which we slaves find ourselves, born from the ideas to be created, and not from the ossified slogans or pamphlets that are already dead, or do they only long to be deputies, councilors, mayors, governors, presidents, administrators, bureaucrats, technocrats, in short, simple regents of the reformulated bourgeois State, or do they aspire from their soft comfort where they manage the consumption of the networks to be blackmailers and beggars, or promoters of egos of mediocre bosses who will conform with the applause and praise of the proselytes, or will they only conform with being musketeers of the businessmen and politicians who direct the power, and we are not talking about the State, we are talking about power in the hands of businessmen?

"Let us imagine that attention is paid to this question and then attention is paid to investing in the political training of the majority of young slaves, in different branches, who develop politics and above all the politics that creates, that replaces, that thinks daily about its dynamics, its dialectic, that takes on the different trades, whether in cybernetics, propaganda, carpentry, agriculture, especially in agriculture, sowing, breeding; in engineering, architecture, construction. Let young people be trained with knowledge of why they do what they do, who they are, why they exist, with a political vision of what each trade and profession represents in terms of building another culture that replaces the current mine into which capital, according to its interests, has turned the territory, young people capable of designing original policies for original projects where imitation, copying, are felt as a remnant of the past, policies that obey concepts and premises defined in terms of how they are conceives the future for those same young people.

"An example: universities were designed by the West to impose its policy of knowledge, the acquisition of knowledge and the transmission of knowledge. They are all instrumentalized, designed, solely and exclusively to specifically capture those who have to be captured for their policy, and from there come those who go to be Democrats, Republicans, from there come those who will continue to support the system, whether as scientists, artists, philosophers, professors, engineers, doctors, those who will command those who sweep. That's where all that comes out, that's a policy. What is ours as slaves in contradiction and for when the different culture is built?

"Because that would then lead us to discuss what it means to do politics, because if politics is that wonderful art that until now has been used by those in power to commit barbarities, great crimes in history, if politics has served that purpose, if politics has even used methods like "the end justifies the means," which is a criminal method, where anything goes, it doesn't matter how much you kill, how much you steal, how much you destroy, as long as I achieve my objective; but if young slaves developed policies based on not stealing, killing, destroying, but on building, forming, creating, inventing, then we would be talking about two radically different political designs, two different tactics and two different strategies, which have to do with two different objectives and plans, and young people can perfectly join that.

"In the end, if the bourgeoisie manages to convince its young people not to go around doing drugs, to stop hanging around in discotheques because they understand that their interests are in danger, well, we slaves have to understand that we have no other interest than to cut off the chains, but in addition to that, to cut off our own chains, we can build a country and a people in this territory that accepts itself, that values ​​itself, that loves itself, but we have to invest in that and not with pamphlets, not with slogans, not with old books, because for the times to come, old books are of no use unless we need to study the past. We young people must study in the great book of reality the classes, the system of production, the ideologies, the means of control and submission, the political and ideological instruments that make it possible for young slaves to join the illusion that they can be bourgeois.

"We cannot start from the premise that Venezuela is the richest country in the world, with beautiful women, the soul of the plains, but poorly managed by the government and eaten away by corruption. The political vision must be radically different from the AD-oil-vulgar construct that has taken root in the territory, which today keeps the kids on one side and the other singing the same miseries. It is not a problem of division, but of interests. What are the interests of the slaves and what are the interests of the masters. If the slave thinks the same way as the master thinks, it is based on the interests of the master, because the master does not want to live like the slave, while the slave does aspire to live like the master, if he wants to have what the master has, if he wants to travel like the master, if he wants to dress like the master, to have the latest phone number of the master, then he is a slave with the illusion and hope of a master, because he will never be a master, even if he works and declares himself pro-government, He will always, in his inner ethics, defend his dream of being the master, and the time will come when he does not see his dream of being the master fulfilled and he will quickly react against him. Or has this not already happened with the Ramírez, the Barretos, the Navarros, the Figueras, the El Aissami and others?

"We must study how Chávez, Maduro, Diosdado, and the Rodríguez brothers were formed and made politics in the midst of their contradictions, and study, not to repeat the production of Chávez and Diosdado or Maduro, but to understand that together we must form ourselves today, in today's conditions, governed by their example.

"To see the dynamics in which they were formed, what their reality was, what their intracultural data was, but also what their academic data was, to be clear that grandmothers and the academy do not train us to be presidents, to understand what it means to serve the interests of the masters, how these fighters managed to get away from the production chain by breaking the principles of exploitation, how they managed to abandon their illusions of being masters, because that is how they end up doing politics: violating the precepts of custom that denied them, through daily action, the possibility of doing politics and facing, in the case of Chavez, what Orlando Urdaneta says in a video: "the military are whores, they are our whores"; and we are talking about a kid, a second-rate actor, who in his illusion of being a slave, eager to be a master, issues these sentences, arrogates that right to himself as if he were a master of the world, whips the table, while he crawls unworthily to be given work.

"How does Chavez, for example, violate all these rules, how does he confront his slave contradiction to abandon the illusion of the honey of power in his brain, because he keeps saying "at your command", "command", he keeps behaving like a soldier until he makes a political decision and rises up. And so does Maduro, Diosdado, Padrino Lopez, the Rodriguez family, to name a few of the many who are leading this process today.

"With the new times, the networks and the avalanche of consumer information, it makes no sense to be mistaken in believing that with a pamphletary speech we are going to convince young slaves that they should get involved in politics. We must invest in building policies, just as the bourgeoisie invests in its policies.

"We need to design that policy. That heroic young man repeating slogans makes no sense, that's already a thing of the past, the flag in the marches. Young people today are caught in a consumer bubble where reality is virtual. From the moment we are born, we stop perceiving reality.

"Now, we need young slaves trained in a contradictory process to stop being slaves and become politicians, who have knowledge of the cause for which they fight, who are not ideological, who are not guided. We have to create schools for that, because the traditional school, the high school, the university, the factory will not produce or train them. Thieves and demagogues come out of there (as has already been said: exceptions only justify), but a thinker or a politician who understands that this country must be built from the foundations, from reality will not come out."


The bourgeoisie yearns for youth to behave like its energetic sheep forever. And will we slaves stop yearning to be masters, to be ourselves in what is different? This is the question of the eight billion loaches or slaves that we are.

https://misionverdad.com/chavismo/entre ... y-borregos

When everything seemed like it couldn't get any worse, Goudreau appears
10 Feb 2025 , 5:40 pm .

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The former Green Beret has revealed fraudulent dealings and power tensions among the elite of Voluntad Popular, in the midst of the reformatting of USAID (Photo: Archive)

Mercenary Jordan Goudreau, chief executive of the failed Operation Gedeón attempted in 2020, engaged in a "give and take" on digital networks against Léster Toledo, co-founder of the "party" Voluntad Popular (VP) . The feud occurred as a result of the accusations he made against the elite of the aforementioned group.

Through his X account, the American accused Juan Guaidó, Leopoldo López and Toledo himself of being involved in the irregular handling of funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was rejected by the former political leader from the state of Zulia.

Goudreau's response to Toledo's comments was to say that he has evidence for his accusations, that the "real investigation is just beginning" and claimed to have recordings of conversations with Toledo and other members of VP. Goudreau then called him "screwed" and said that he will probably face years in prison "precisely for making up crazy stuff."

The former US Army officer suggested that Toledo is being protected by the US government, saying that "nobody investigated you, Lester. Biden, the CIA and the FBI protected you." He added that "the reality is that Guaidó and his friend Leopoldo López went to schools of the IV Division in the US using USAID, which is a CIA company. Guaidó used his friend Lester Toledo's company to launder $1.6 billion. The Department of Justice and the FBI know this. Guaidó and Leopoldo are protected."

Gideon: Everyone is accusing each other and everyone is right?
The controversial figure has revealed — or confirmed — some episodes of the "maximum pressure" of the first Trump administration against Venezuela, but in particular the fraudulent handling of US funds and Venezuelan assets by VP, among other actors of the Venezuelan extremist opposition.

Goudreau was arrested last July in New York on federal charges of arms smuggling. His lawyers claim in documents that he had authorization from the Executive, during the previous Trump administration, to organize and carry out the military incursion into Venezuela in 2020, the objective of which was to depose President Nicolás Maduro. The former military man himself declared that year that the FBI wanted to make him disappear to erase traces of his relationship with the Republican who now occupies the White House.

In recent days, he gave an interview to Colombian media La W Radio, in which he revealed the disputes between Guaidó, López and Toledo over funding from the United States. He stated that Operation Gedeón failed because it had no military support and that "its main problem was that the leaders of VP and the US agencies had different interests."

He added that, at that time, Trump had very powerful enemies within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who prevented the operation so that he could not lift the "trophy" that Venezuela represented. He revealed tensions between Guaidó and former general Clíver Alcalá Cordones, as well as López's appetite for seizing power.

On the other hand, last weekend Juvenal Sequea and Rayder Russo, former officials of the Bolivarian National Guard detained in Colombia, confirmed the participation of the former president of Colombia, Iván Duque, and members of his government, in Operation Gedeón. "In all the actions that we were carrying out in Riohacha, we were clear that the Colombian government was aware of what was happening. The police went through the places and spoke with them," said Sequea, according to information from La W Radio.

Russo also confessed that, after a meeting with Duque, coordination began with the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) of Colombia and indicated that, days before the incursion, they already had relations with the army in the Guajira camp.

The reformatting of USAID. Reorganization of interference AGAINST VENEZUELA?
The plot described by Goudreau reveals part of the intricate metabolism of money, agencies and US officials involved in the "revolving doors" of politics, special interest groups and Washington business. It also exposes the high levels of subordination that extremist opposition actors maintain with foreign entities, with which they have established lucrative business initiatives in the name of "human rights" and the "freedom of Venezuela."

These accusations indicate a greater distance between the far-right leadership and the current Trump administration. It is worth noting that, in his flurry of accusations, Goudreau implicates the tycoon president but admits that his intentions were sabotaged by internal disputes in the American bureaucracy.

These elements may be useful to the new US government, especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to move forward with the reformatting of USAID that has been underway. By demonstrating the failures and corruption schemes within the agency, they would be able to whitewash its image, as well as accelerate the organizational and narrative conditions to relaunch interventionist actions with greater efficiency.

This would not be a "crusade against corruption" but rather a more precise and less "distracting" approach to intervention and regime change. Moreover, the internal dispute between US political factors depends on a reordering of the flow of "humanitarian" funds because the model managed so far has not stopped the decline of US influence in international geopolitics.

There remains uncertainty about the relationship between the current White House occupant and the opposition extremists, particularly Rubio, who sponsored them to an obsessive level.

Added to the already known responsibility of the former leaders mentioned, but also of those who supported the "Guaidó Plan", such as María Corina Machado, Antonio Ledezma and Julio Borges, among others. A new blow to credibility, without distinctions.

Meanwhile, internal divisions within the opposition remain. While the extremist sector accuses other opponents of being "scorpions" for recognizing the national government, they are accused of continuing to enrich themselves with funds from American taxpayers and Venezuelan assets illegally seized, precisely by the tycoon's previous government. An act of what is known in psychology as projection?

The revelations by Goudreau and the former military officers also work against the aspiration of former candidate Edmundo González Urrutia to be promoted as a supposed president by Trump, who, until now, has been cautious and has wavered in his support for anti-Chavez supporters. In the face of so much discredit, he has avoided repeating the support for a "parallel" government in the case of Venezuela.

For its part, the sector that supports Machado and González maintains its objective of forcing all opposition organizations to abstain from voting in the upcoming electoral processes. Faced with this disastrous scenario, where corruption with USAID funds is added to the serious indictments of Goudreau, it is difficult to impose the line of abstentionism given that the labyrinth of accusations and accusations deepens.

The image of Gedeón's resounding failure reappears in the worst political moment, deepening the emotional decline, the scepticism surrounding the "strategy" of Machado and González and accentuating the battle for the narrative between participating or abstaining in the electoral cycle of April. Goudreau's comments significantly affect extremism and facilitate the game of moderates and electoralists, who continue to accumulate narrative and media advantages to strike back and seek to establish themselves as a superior option in the face of a deep moral crisis.

https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/cuan ... e-goudreau

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 24, 2025 3:22 pm

Venezuela’s Interior Minister Cabello: Only 38 Repatriated Migrants Have Criminal Records, No Tren de Aragua Links
February 21, 2025

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Venezuelan repatriated migrants, previously detained in the Guantanamo military base, arriving in Venezuela on Thursday, February 20, 2025. Photo: Con el Mazo Dando.

Venezuelan Minister for Interior Diosdado Cabello explained that the first thing the repatriated migrants who arrived the day before felt upon touching Venezuelan soil was the respect for human rights—dignified, respectful, and even affectionate treatment by the Venezuelan authorities. He also clarified that only 38 of the returning migrants have criminal records, and none of them have traceable connections to the Aragua Train (Tren de Aragua) criminal gang.

During the podcast Sin Truco Ni Maña this Friday, February 21, which he hosts alongside Congresswoman Tania Díaz, Cabello referred to the group of 177 migrants who returned to Venezuela on Thursday night from the US military base in Guantánamo Bay. They had been detained in the military base for several weeks, with some having spent up to four years in migrant detention centers without having committed any crime.

“‘They took us out of hell’ is an expression that they generally use, as they were surrounded by uncertainty because they are young people who had been there [in detention] for three or four years without committing any crime, only for having moved to the United States… And they were sent to Guantanamo, a prison where human rights do not exist at all,” Cabello said.

Cabello emphasized that of all the repatriated compatriots, only 38 have police records, and only one has an Interpol red notice for committing a crime in Ecuador. “The majority are citizens who only committed the crime of going to the United States without documents,” he added.

“Interpol requests it, and he comes here. He is Venezuelan, and of course, being Venezuelan, he must be judged by the laws here in Venezuela. We are going to ask Ecuador to send the file it has against this person,” said Cabello on the case of the Interpol red notice.

On the other 38 cases of individuals with police records, Cabello explained that “it doesn’t mean that they are wanted. A police record is that you enter their data [in the system], and it appears ‘from the day this person filed a complaint; from the day this person five years ago, 10 years ago, was caught in a robbery; this person participated in a fight.”

He explained that after detailed background checks, each case will be referred to the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigation Corps (CICPC), the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), or the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), depending on the case.

Minister Cabello added that none of these people have any connection with the Aragua Train. “They said they had sent those from the Aragua Train there [to Guantánamo]. I insist this is a vile narrative against our country, which is now being turned back on those who promoted that narrative. Why is it being turned back on them? Because now they are there cutting off tails and ears, grabbing anyone on the street and sending them there,” he said, as reported by Diario VEA.

Cabello specified that fingerprint readers were sent on the plane for identification purposes and background checks. “The person gets on the plane, scans their fingerprint, and the data is transferred to Caracas. Here, we already had the list of each one. Whoever has a record, it is here. This is not something improvised.”



Coyotes cashing out
Minister Cabello also reiterated the revelation that criminal organizations of “coyotes” linked to the Venezuelan far-right opposition are now offering migrants who wish to return “a ride on the plane” of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria in exchange for substantial payments.

“Now, they are telling people: ‘I can get you on a plane to return to Venezuela, but that will cost you this much.’ Now, they are offering this, making people believe they can control who returns or not. They don’t miss an opportunity. It’s incredible how shameless these people are,” he said.

In this regard, he added that the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland Program) is a program created by President Nicolás Maduro and organized by the Venezuelan government. Thus, these criminal groups led by fugitives from justice, such as Juan Guaidó, Leopoldo López, and David Smolansky, have no participation.

“There is no payment here. Venezuela is the one that is making all the arrangements and advancing the logistics so that they can return home through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria,” Cabello said, pointing out that the country has a reintegration program to receive these compatriots who return from abroad.

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-i ... gua-links/

Venezuela Produces 97% of Products Sold in Supermarkets
February 22, 2025

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A woman selects products in a supermarket. File photo.

The supply rate of Venezuelan supermarkets was 98% at the end of 2024. Meanwhile, 97% of the products currently on the shelves are produced in Venezuela.

According to data from the business association National Association of Supermarkets and Self-Service Stores (ANSA), in 2024, there were 2,578 new products on the shelves compared to 2023.

Currently, there are over 400 registered brands of coffee, more than 40 registered brands of precooked flour, more than 20 registered brands of tomato sauce, and over 25 registered brands of mayonnaise in Venezuelan supermarkets.

“A year or two ago, when you would go to a supermarket, you would have seen the usual brands. Now you see new brands, or brands with different packaging, 900-gram packages, large packages,” said President of ANSA Ítalo Atencio to Últimas Noticias.

By the end of 2024, 85% of the products available in the supermarkets were of domestic production, while the remaining 15% were imported.

However, Minister of National Commerce Luis Villegas recently reported that 97% of the products sold in the supermarkets are of national production. This has been possible due to the Economic Recovery Plan implemented in 2018, in which the primary production sector and the agroindustry received special attention.

“Earlier, we were a country with a rentier culture. We brought everything from outside,” Minister Villegas said in an interview on VTV. “Now, we have full national supply. We have all the products for the basic basket, we can see it in the supermarkets. The primary production sector is growing. The agroindustry is growing, the commerce sector is growing.”

The president of ANSA explained that in the impulse foods sector (snacks, candies), there is still higher importation than national production. “However, in supermarkets, there is more and more presence of brands of cookies made in Venezuela, brands of snacks made in Venezuela, and we believe that this is going to keep growing,” he added.

Similarly, in cleaning products such as detergents, disinfectants, and soaps, there has been an increase in products carrying the Made in Venezuela seal.

Growth of commerce
In 2024, the supermarket sector opened, remodeled, or changed business models in 61 branches, meaning an increase of 8% compared to 2023, when there were 38 branches.

“If you add this up, in two years, 100 new stores opened. This means that Venezuelans now have 100 more stores to shop in,” Atencio added.

The growth of supermarket commerce last year represented 4,880 direct jobs and 19,520 indirect jobs, totaling 24,4000 new jobs. Meanwhile, the sector’s total contribution to the country’s labor force was 650,000, of which 130,000 are direct jobs and 520,000 are indirect jobs.

Consumption in supermarkets during January-December 2023 compared to the same period in 2024 saw an increase of 6%, reaching four consecutive years of growth in food unit sales.

According to ANSA, this sector contributed 4.5% of Venezuela’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2024. The GDP itself grew by over 9% last year, as reported by President Nicolás Maduro in his annual address to the nation on January 15.

Based on the commercial growth, Atencio recommended that those involved in the supermarket sector make biannual evaluations since Venezuela is a country of seasonal consumption. “Sometimes we forget that,” he noted.

He stressed that consumption cannot be compared between December and January, as consumption can drop 20% or 25% in January. Meanwhile, with the carnival holiday between February and March, some categories experience more sales than others.

“But if Carnival is in March, which is the case of 2025, and Easter comes in April, there will be some categories that will also grow differently while others would not,” he said. He also recommended making evaluations in four-month periods.

Regarding the period from May to August, which is influenced by the end of the school year and subsequent school vacations, he commented that “most people travel within the country, some travel outside. The consumption of some products in that four-month period changes differently than during the rest of the year.”

Regarding the September-December period, which contains the last part of the school vacations and the Christmas season, he said that last year, Christmas products were available in the supermarkets from October.

“What did Venezuelans do? They bought in a planned way,” he remarked. “Some Christmas season products were bought in October, others in November, and others in December.”

Venezuelans’ shopping habits have changed

Atencio also stated that Venezuelans’ shopping habits have changed significantly. Before, Venezuelans used to shop monthly or biweekly. Meanwhile, last year, Venezuelans shopped twice a week in commercial establishments.

Atencio explained that this happened because Venezuelans make a first purchase and then make a second purchase of the same product. That is, they go eight times a month to make their purchases and spend an average of 55 minutes each time in the supermarket.

“The first purchase is likely made in an establishment of preference, but the second purchase is almost always made at a store closest to one’s home,” he said, adding that this pattern is part of the behavior acquired since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shopping experience
As for the reasons why Venezuelans might choose to shop at an establishment, Atencio stated that contrary to what some experts say, price is not the only relevant factor.

In a study conducted by ANSA, respondents were asked the reasons why they go to a supermarket, other than price, and the following options were given: promotions, quality, customer service, and shopping experience. The last two options were selected by 60% of those consulted.

Atencio explained that Venezuelans look for a pleasant shopping experience where they do not have to wait in line for long or where there is good lighting, for example.

“We say that Venezuelans, when it comes to shopping, are not remorseful shoppers,” he added.

He also said that the use of social media and communications technology has contributed to the planning of purchases.

“For example, if I go to buy corn flour, wheat flour, pasta, tomato sauce, sugar, potato, carrot, and onion, the first thing I do is check the price. I go to where I got the best price option and see if the products have the price-quality-value relationship that I am looking for,” he said.

According to Atencio, this is a challenge for supermarkets and suppliers in terms of achieving brand loyalty. Failure to do so could be affected by word-of-mouth recommendations among customers.

“Nowadays, we are saying that supermarkets have become an ecosystem of social exchange,” he commented, citing as an example a commercial establishment in the east of Caracas that has gone viral on social media and offers many services to its customers.

“People do not go to supermarkets only to buy food, health products, cleaning and household products,” he said. “Just having a coffee, buying bread, going to the pharmacy and buying medicine—that has changed. Now, supermarkets are seen differently by Venezuelans.”

Purchases in bolívars have increased
Atencio also highlighted the significant increase in supermarket purchases using the national currency, bolívars.

By the end of 2024, 86% of sales transactions were made in bolívars, and the remaining 14% were in foreign currency. This is the reverse of the case some three years ago when 85% of transactions were made in foreign currency and 15% in bolívars.

“In February 2025, 95% of transactions were carried out in bolívars,” Atencio said during a VTV interview with the minister for National Commerce.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro considered this a good sign in the strengthening of the Venezuelan currency. “This reinforces the objective of creating a multicurrency system amid economic sanctions,” he said in his TV program, Con Maduro+, on February 17.

https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-pr ... ermarkets/

Media as Weapon for Normalization of Foreign Interference in Venezuela (Part 1)
February 23, 2025

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Photo composition showing the logos of "independent" Venezuelan news outlets La Patilla, VPI, Efecto Cocuyo, EVTV, and El Pitazo with the USAID logo and US dollar bills in the background. Photo: CiudadCCS.

By Clodovaldo Hernández – Feb 22, 2025

The media and social media machinery is the great “normalizer” of all kinds of illegal situations, anomalies and perfidies. From a genocide to an island dedicated to celebrity pedophilia, everything can end up being something “normal,” as current daily events demonstrate.

However, sometimes, this machinery has the task of normalizing itself, of making its moral and ethical deformities, its shady dealings, and its malpractice look valid.

This is what is happening on a global scale, with the crisis of the business model of the so-called free and independent press in various countries after the suspension of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Thousands of organizations and individuals associated with the USAID, including editors, journalists, opinion leaders, and influencers have been exposed as entities supported by this arm of the US empire, which calls into question the most essential part of their very being: the independence and freedom that they proclaim as their values ​​and principles.

In this article, let us take a look at the Venezuelan scene, where it has been proven, by information issued by USAID itself (and exposed by the fights among the opposition factions), what had previously been decried by government members, political parties, journalists, and revolutionary analysts: the media that claim to be independent are deeply dependent on funds supplied by a foreign agency.

And—just to emphasize the obvious—these are not funds from a nation that is beneficial by nature, a nation that dedicates its resources to helping the less fortunate, but from a hostile country, which since 2015 declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to its national security; a country whose government in practical terms declared and made war on us by imposing an economic blockade and almost a thousand unilateral coercive measures; an empire that stole a multi-billion dollar company from us and froze the foreign bank accounts of Venezuela; a state that even wanted to prevent the Venezuelan people from having access to vaccines in the midst of a pandemic.

During all these years, the media apparatus has been responsible for presenting all these aggressions and violations of the most basic international law as morally justifiable and politically legitimate. It has partially succeeded, taking advantage of the fanaticism and stupefaction of a part of the Venezuelan population, the work of those media outlets, and the imperialist cultural industry.

As for those who do not buy the story that the US does all this because it is concerned about the validity of democracy and respect for human rights, the media and social networks work to normalize interference and coercion as things that happen because the world is like that.

Is it moral and ethical?
Trying to answer this question means putting oneself in the position of throwing the first stone, which is not the case for almost anyone who has lived in this world for a while. But that same vital presence and a long career in the field of mass communications grants this author the right to express an opinion on the matter.

The first question should be transparency. Many of these media outlets and journalists have kept or attempted to keep their financial dependence on USAID (and other state and parastatal agencies of the US and other countries in the Global North) secret. This amounts to deceiving the public at its most essential level.

A key question arises here: can a media outlet be a guarantor of the truth if it attempts to conceal the origin of the funds that make its work possible?

Beyond this ontological issue, in 21st century Venezuela the ethical dilemma takes on another dimension, supported by the aforementioned fact that media interference has occurred in the context of multidimensional warfare.

The country that has paid these media outlets is a hostile power—it is necessary to repeat this. It is not as if these funds were provided by a hypothetical society of lovers of the free press who lived in some earthly paradise of democracy and freedom.

For explanatory purposes, we can draw a historical parallel with the only time in history when we had been in a conflict of this magnitude with an empire: let us imagine that in the 19th century this type of media had existed, and that in the years of the War of Independence, the Spanish Crown had financed a handful of such media to create an anti-independence narrative.

In a much more rudimentary way, this did occurred in the War of Independence and all wars in the bloody history of the world. In fact, the Venezuelan independence hero Francisco de Miranda and the Liberator Simón Bolívar understood this very well, and for this reason they adopted the precaution of fighting not only with firearms but also with the printing press. But this historical topic would involve a detour too long.

Is it politically legitimate?
Aligning oneself with a hostile power in the midst of an international political conflict is, to say the least, reprehensible behavior. But in the case of Venezuela in the last 15 years, it has even more serious aspects because during this time, political aggression has been only one part of the anti-Venezuela operations of the United States, its European allies and the Latin American oligarchies.

The role of these media, paid by USAID and other US and European agencies, in legitimizing these attacks cannot be minimized. These attacks have caused untold suffering to the general population, or as Venezuelan philosopher Miguel Ángel Pérez Pirela often describes it, to Chavistas, independents and even opposition supporters.

The media machinery subsidized by the Global North has supported everything that has been done against the Bolivarian Revolution, including assassination attempts, coups, invasions, electrical blackouts, attacks on the national currency, the plundering of CITGO, Monómeros and other Venezuelan assets abroad, foreign bank accounts and other assets, in addition to many other imperial “actions.”

This “free and independent” press has been fundamental in the creation of international media narratives such as the world’s largest migration crisis, the wave of xenophobia against Venezuelans in various countries, the terrorist narco-dictatorship, the classification of Venezuela as a threat to regional stability, political prisoners and persecuted people, the supposedly fraudulent results of the elections, and a long list of other editorial lines dictated from the office that writes the checks.

The normalization strategy
It is an uphill battle to try to justify morally, ethically or politically the partisan role that the self-proclaimed free and independent press has played in the fifth-generation war that is being waged against Venezuela.

So what remains is to normalize this way of being, to try to make it seem logical, natural, part of the pragmatic functioning of the world.

To do so, they have resorted to the argument of the childish fight: “he started it first” (it is said just like that, with all the redundancy). The editors of many of the media outlets financed by the USAID claim that they had to appeal to the money of hostile powers because the Venezuelan government (the regime, some of them keep saying), suffocated the earlier media ecosystem, that is, the set of large conventional media (newspapers, radio, and television) that overthrew Chávez, briefly, in 2002. So, to confront a media hegemony of the Venezuelan state, the new “free” press was born, with funds provided by another state.

They also use a very cunning method: presenting themselves as an alternative to conventional media, that is, as if they had been born and grown not to accelerate the “regime change” sponsored by the US, but as a response to that ecosystem in which the owners of the media were only the richest people of the country or of the regions where their companies operated.

It might be a credible argument, if not for two issues.

The first is that many of these conventional media outlets (and their owners) have re-formulated themselves to present themselves as if they were something new, and they receive stipends from USAID and other public and private agencies in the US and Europe. Thus, they are the old wine in a new bottle.

The second issue is that there is no ideological difference, and therefore no difference in the way journalism is conducted, between the old-style media and these new ones which have sprouted with US dollars. In a strict sense, this free and independent press has done the same job (dirty, let me use the adjective as a mere opinion) that the conventional hegemonic media did at the beginning of the century. The old media tried to overthrow Chávez (and they succeeded, although only for 47 hours), and the new media have tried to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, by supporting all the machinations of their true owners, the foreign financiers.

A third argument for presenting themselves as free and independent is that they were born from the initiative of “ordinary” journalists, thus crystallizing the oft-cherished utopia of the alternative press. It would be beautiful if it were true, but everything indicates that the ventures supported by foreign money have only served to reproduce the same model of the editors of yesteryear, who accumulated economic and political power and lived like celebrities, while their workers sweated hard for miserable salaries. Or, as a friend and colleague (an opposition supporter, by the way) defined it so well: “We are the same as before: millionaire media owners and poor journalists who, when they die, a hat will have to be passed around (now called crowdfunding) to bury them.”

The second part of this article will address other aspects of this broad topic, including the “business model” based on subsidies from the Global North and the possible reinvention of the media thus funded.

https://orinocotribune.com/working-medi ... la-part-1/

******

President Maduro Says the FBI and the DEA Were Promoters of the Tren de Aragua Gang

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President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, during the activation of the Quadrants of Peace. Photo: Presidential Press Venezuela

February 22, 2025 Hour: 1:53 pm

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accused the US FBI and the DEA of having promoted and organized the formation of criminal gangs, such as the Tren de Aragua, from Colombia, for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities in Venezuela.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to president Maduro, organized the Tren de Aragua from Colombia, and that there and in the US there should be “information about this” although “a good part of the main names are protected in those countries.”

On the other hand Maduro stated that the 177 Venezuelan who arrived at the airport Simón Bolívar on Friday “could not see the sun because the permanent mistreatment accusing them of being part of the Tren de Aragua when the gang “was defeated. Now they intend to build a little wave.”


In this regard, the Venezuelan head of state stressed that the “US create a whole file to justify the ambush. We are prepared for anything”, while urging the continuation of the Quadrants of Peace and preventive policies.

Meanwhile, he added that Venezuela was “dismembering and destroying this criminal group. It is very timely the activation in the whole municipality of Sucre of the quadrants”. Likewise, he stated that “we start with the new methodology”.

“We activated 90 new Peace Quadrants to protect, with new methods. Supervise a process of liberation of the people of Petares”, added the head of state, and indicated that there is a peace quadrant for each circuit.

“So that all this offensive is to free Sucre and guarantee peace and thus respect for the rights of children, girls, adolescents, their right to mental health, to education, assuring that “with peace everything bears fruit”.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/presiden ... agua-gang/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Sat Mar 01, 2025 3:00 pm

Do you want to know something?

Image The Cayapo

28 Feb 2025 , 10:32 am .

Image

The AD, together with the insipid COPEI members and the complicit silence of the other elites who sucked from the motherland's teat, once tried to create a country glued together with parrot saliva and chewing gum. The result: a vulgar spectacle where the peasant and fishermen's circle, by force, turned it into a stage and microphone. The foreignizing left tried it too, and we ended up learning to play more charango and bass drum than cuatro and bandola. Since then, we have been stumbling between shrill vallenato, tearful passage, vulgar merengue, erotic salsa, reggaeton, champeta and other musical degenerations provided to us by the singing industry, who earn immense income from the pain of the poor that we are.

Today we exist in the midst of a wonderful process in which we are alive and with the capacity to think of a territory in which to put down strong roots, to found a healthy and original culture, where art is not a simple spectacle for the gloating of ignorant owners and a key to comfort for slaves who live off of art, but rather enjoyed by people in a circle, in communion, after work, shoes, a house, clothing and safe food for all.

The president told us:

"We need to see each other frequently to continue refining our common dreams, our common plans and to continue building with our own hands, with our own effort, with our own intelligence, our common home, our Great Homeland, our beloved Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, together, working, sowing, harvesting. It is a very nice idea."

This proposal is indisputable, marvelous and dazzling. How many conversions are required, how many experiments, how many people participating. And each one of these actions generates its own contradictions, which in the productive-political dialectic will have to disappear, to give way to what has to be created originally: all rowing in the same direction; to stop being the mine that we are and build the great country that those slaves and masters dreamed of in contradiction when they proposed to separate from Europe.

It has not materialized even today, because the internal elites joined or remained affiliated with the foreign bandwagon and we slaves never had the possibility of thinking on our own, but rather we followed ideas based on chimeras of salvation, happiness, well-being, development, improvement; hopes in remote ideas of rights, freedom, equality, fraternity, whose essence we did not understand, their substance, always adhering to the form, without understanding the content; utopias of wonderful worlds, where we would all be brothers, as long as the wealth was distributed to each one according to his need and his capacity. And meanwhile, here we are five hundred years later, trying to solve the mystery no longer of man in freedom (a fact accomplished in the owners), but of the slaves separating ourselves from the imperial capitalist system.

It is then necessary to resolve, to decipher the mystery that generates the contradiction: slave people with the illusion of being masters, in a mine-territory. We must free ourselves from productive ideological chains, from slave-master knowledge, separating ourselves from the current mode of production, in order to stop being slaves and accept ourselves in contradiction, to dedicate ourselves to clearing up the enigma of abandoning the mine and building ourselves as a country in the territory where we are enslaved. This involves another language where slave-master is not what is named, but the contradiction and its results.

We are not Chinese, Arabs, Yanomami, Guaraos, Slavs, Persians, Iberians, Saxons, Franks and so on, but those in power had the brilliant idea of ​​turning us all into humans, into a single thought, a single religion, a single mode of production. We are humans, a superior being that is above nature and whose purpose is to subdue it, control it, make it its own, in the name of whatever it wants. And we are talking about the other animals, trees, fish, water, wind, fire, earth, everything, absolutely everything. And that everything implies the species itself: Chinese, Arabs, Yanomami, Guaraos, Slavs, Persians, Iberians, Saxons, Franks and every other creature that inhabits this world, because we humans are not all, no, humans are only the Anglo-Saxons with a lot of money and power, but a lot of power, to the point of imposing their concepts, thoughts, visions on the world.

Humans who consider the rest of the species as their slaves, and therefore not worthy of being considered human. These gentlemen, and we are not referring to whites in general, speak of powerful people with the idea of ​​superiority. They, for example, consider the Russians to be the blacks of the snow, but even more, their belief is so powerful that they believe that the immeasurable is as they believe it to be, and that is why they assign it an age, a beginning and an end. And in more than 2 thousand years they have not tired of counting stars and other forms of life, because these gentlemen believe that nothing can be above them, that everything must be controlled, measured, packaged and sold as if it were theirs.

And when we talk about these gentlemen, we are not referring to any "dyed hair," we are referring to the Anglo-Saxon whites, the powerful owners of all the wealth on the planet. Of course there are blacks, Indians, whites, with some "churupos" in their pockets, who believe the story that they are also part of that class of people; if not, ask Mr. Obama why he did not marry a white woman. And there will be no lack of idiots who will answer: "The thing is that blacks are more racist than whites." No, Mr. idiot, it is because no powerful gentleman would marry his daughter to a black, Indian or poor person; that only happens in movies and in the mines, where any squalid "blowpipe," thinks he is a millionaire and has the right to be invited to Trump's inauguration.

In this time, when the cracks in the wall that hides natural physical reality have opened, supplanted by ideological reality, we must think from it, with it, in order to replace it with another. This means giving original meaning to the future of what it means to work, build, sow, harvest common dreams, common plans, defining what they are, what they mean, seeing each other frequently, who, where, for what. Each one of these questions needs implementations, mechanisms that make the necessary answers possible, not ideological answers, reports from bureaucrats stamping papers, but real ones, those that solve, but also knowing who carries them out.

Definitions of who, where, what: what are the common dreams, beyond the construction of the Great Homeland? Conventions that the bourgeoisie have already built in their own image and likeness based on their interests, because once and for all we must define whether the interests of the slaves are the same as those of the owners, but beyond that: if the interests of the slaves that we are are the same as those of the slaves in thinking contradiction, what is the future that we slaves propose? Is it the same as that of the bourgeoisie, the great power that invades countries and steals their resources to produce wealth and then sell it to maintain the ruin in the mines?

To get to where we are, as our president says, "we have defeated hatred, intolerance, we have defeated the coup, we have defeated fascism."

"Crazy ideas and crazy plans could not lead us into the chaos of violence. We overcame all the threats, all the psychological warfare, all the lies."

Circumstantially, this is true, undeniable, but if we do not replace current thinking, current culture, believing that we can coexist with capitalism, it is a chimera that sooner or later will become a nightmare again, and we will once again long for the appearance of the Commander to come and save us because we were not able to think and build, with the future that he left us, what belongs to us all.

" The drums of change are beating in the world"
To this end, the President proposes:

"A consultation for a youth project, a cultural project, to make a major reform of the Constitution, containing three elements: constituent consultation committees for the expansion of democracy and the construction of the new State, to clearly define the profile of the society we want from the cultural point of view, from the institutional point of view, to lay the clearest foundations because it is not like that in the Constitution. To lay the powerful, clear and luminous foundations of the new self-sustaining economy, non-dependent, diversified and producer of wealth that satisfies the needs of the people of Venezuela. To unite all the creative capacity of the country to have a leading, cultured, educated people, prioritizing self-construction and popular architecture, so that the new aesthetics and the new architecture of the people emerge, friendly, pleasant."

The fundamental problem with this proposal by the president is understanding that we need to think, to create original ideas that lead us to build, experiment and make customary a new mode of production where we are neither slaves nor owners, but rather people working and living for the people.

Of course, the wise men who are sycophants about anything, produced in ancient times and in the present, will tell us: What can be invented that has not already been invented? History has come to an end. What we need to do is to join the bandwagon of history with our own criteria, to leave behind the laziness typical of Latin Caribbeans, blacks and Indians, and to get to work seriously and become a great productive power, to compete head to head with the great world powers.

Because, who has written such nonsense that we can be productively independent, that we can be another culture other than the superior and distinguished Anglo-Saxon Western human culture? Let's see, tell me, who wrote so much nonsense together, when it is simply a matter of producing, distributing wealth equitably, according to capacity and need, and administering capitalism without corruption, because everything has already been said?

For it is known, in the profound readings of the wise men of Greece, Rome, the East and the West, who believed in water, in the cosmos, in the indefinite, in air, in numbers, the Eleatic, the order and mutability of the universe, in moralism, Being, the eclectic, pluralism, paradoxes, sophism, solipsism, relativism, the ethics of virtues, epistemology, dialectics, atomism, determinism, atheism, cynicism, hedonism, the ontological, the methodological, the peripatetic, skepticism, materialism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Pyrrhonism, the allegorical, self-determination, metaphysics, holistic, theurgy, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, mysticism, empiricism, Averroism, nominalism, humanism, renaissance, realism, utopia, naturalism, heliocentrism, liberalism, cartesianism, mechanism, dualism, rationalism, occasionalism, utilitarianism, idealism, synthetism, conservatism, deism, anarchism, evolutionism, socialism, hermeneutics, pessimism, positivism, transcendentalism, abolitionism, existentialism, pacifism, historical and dialectical materialism, social darwinism, phenomenology, pragmatism, semiotics, structuralism, instrumentalism, panpsychism, interactionism, intuitivism, deontology, structuralism, falsificationism, objectivism, individualism, emotivism, absurdism, skepticism, liquid modernism, post-structuralism, Postmodernism, with its social networks, trips to Mars and the latest woke culture with all its desideratum, do you intend to discard or question it because it is necessary to establish a culture without slaves or masters? And is communism, scientific socialism, of no use to you, or have you all gone mad, fucking slaves?

It is undeniable how overwhelming this wisdom accumulated over centuries of power is. One cannot deny the great service it has rendered to power for centuries, one cannot surpass its capacity to advance and develop all the science and warrior technology with which the elites stay in power, but the problem is that we slaves, after thousands of years of beautiful philosophy, continue to be the first subjugated on this planet, we continue to have masters, and this wisdom does not help us to overcome the position of shitty slaves.

But yes, rest assured, it is true that we are thinking of methods and ideas so that the millions of slaves that we are can use our brains without any conditioning and think of another culture, where millions of bodies and brains converge with millions of ideas that contribute to founding a culture where all, absolutely all, have a place as people and not as a guild, privilege, power, race, color, gender, title.

And that is not being crazy, because we have been kept insane since we are born, in the family, school, factory, high school, university and other institutions that the owners use to keep us insane. Added to this is the Internet and the media, which together the owners currently use to make us believe that living like slaves, watching them enjoy their pleasures excessively, is the only way to live, while we work to maintain that order, which for the owners is a wonder.

Never again exploitation and its consequences is what President Maduro proposes to us in broad terms, it was what the Commander always proposed to us to discuss, and it is the order of the day. Blaming others for not trying to carry out the great task proposed is the behavior of a slave who does not think. We need to become thinking slaves in order to resolve the great mystery that has had to be resolved for more than five hundred years: people living in a collective and not against people.

https://misionverdad.com/chavismo/quier ... r-una-cosa

******

Eight key points about Trump's move with General License 41
28 Feb 2025 , 10:34 am .

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Trump takes a step to put economic pressure on Venezuela, but maintains an ambiguous approach (Photo: Contrapunto / Archive)

US President Donald Trump announced that he will revoke — without saying so directly — General License 41, which since November 2022 has allowed the operations and activities of the Chevron company on Venezuelan soil.

Through his account on the social network Truth Social, the president wrote: "We hereby reverse the concessions that the corrupt Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and which also has to do with the electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime."

The tycoon's decision appears to mark the beginning of a new phase in the complex relationship between Washington and Caracas.

1. Implementation
According to the Republican's post, this leave will end on March 1st.

At the time of writing this note — February 27 — the U.S. government, specifically the Treasury Department, has not disclosed the measure in detail, but it is expected that the North American company will be given a period of time to cease its operations.

According to Bloomberg, this could happen within a period of three to four months, while other analysts such as Francisco Rodríguez refer to the content of the license and indicate that Chevron's withdrawal period will be six months.

Pending the formalization of the decision, there are no indications that this decision will affect, for now, the operations of other international oil companies that have active licenses.

2. Orchestration
The announcement about the license in question was released almost simultaneously with a post by Donald Trump Jr., the tycoon's son, in which he urged people to watch his podcast with María Corina Machado as a guest.

There is a very explicit factor of timing and positioning of the speech. The host described Machado as "an indisputable opposition leader" and celebrated the revocation of the licenses that "finance the illegitimate and corrupt Maduro regime," he said.

On the podcast , Machado flashed a noticeable celebratory smile. "This was the right thing to do, at the right time," she said.

The move "sends a clear message that Maduro is in deep trouble and that President Trump is with the Venezuelan people," he added. "I send my gratitude."

3. Responses from the Venezuelan government
The first reaction came from the executive vice president and Minister of Hydrocarbons, Delcy Rodríguez, who described this decision as "harmful and inexplicable."

"By attempting to harm the Venezuelan people, they are actually inflicting harm on the United States, its population and its companies, and also calling into question the legal security of their country in its international investment regime," said Rodriguez.

Regarding the self-inflicted damage by the United States, in connection with the statement by the senior official, this column published a rigorous analysis based on graphs that explain the energy costs linked to the measure.

"We categorically reject this type of action publicly requested by the country's extremist and failed opposition," said the Vice President, adding that such failed behavior drove migration from 2017 to 2021, with widely known consequences.

"Venezuela will continue its path of comprehensive economic recovery through the creative efforts of all and in absolute adherence to its sovereignty and national independence," he stressed.

For his part, President Nicolás Maduro stressed: "If the Americans ever wanted a respectful dialogue between equals, we would do it. We have done it and we will do it without problems."

He stressed that , regardless of the position adopted by the White House regarding his administration, Venezuela will continue to advance on its own path, based on the independence, sovereignty and development of the country.

"If the gringos want to continue their path of betting on fascism, on violence in Venezuela, of betting on sanctions, that's their problem," said the Head of State. "To the wise, clear words. I don't play with hidden cards, I play with cards on the table and, for that reason, we always win: because we play with the truth," he concluded.

4. Possible reasons for Trump
The important thing at this point is to investigate - at the risk of a considerable margin of error due to the unpredictability of the president - the nature and purpose of this new attack.

As for the US leader's reasons, the first of them is the old aggressive pattern of Washington's policy towards Venezuela. This must be considered as structural, bipartisan and state policy. It offers a logical framework to understand all the actions from the White House, regardless of the government that is there.

Secondly, there is the hypothesis of pressure from Republican politicians in the state of Florida. This suggests that the action could be part of significant concessions by Trump to this sector, considering that his government still needs support in parliament to develop its policies – some of which are very controversial.

Florida, however, is the US capital of the MAGA bloc, a state with special influence characteristics in the second term of the president, and the points of convergence between MAGA politicians and hardline Republicans (hawks) are considerable in the sunny southern state.

The critical point in American politics right now is the congressional debate on the budget and debt ceiling, which could lead to a government shutdown in the coming weeks. This is an endemic problem and, one might say, an interannual one, since it occurs almost every year with a bitter diatribe between the Oval Office and Congress.

This standoff has Republican representatives at odds with Trump's budget policy, weakening his parliamentary support. Republican representatives joined Democrats in rejecting the Executive's budget plan.

In addition, Florida Republican politicians are likely negotiating, asking for blood — Venezuelan — via sanctions, in exchange for budget support and to satisfy the Cuban and Venezuelan communities in Florida, considering that the president recently eliminated TPS for Venezuelans, a decision that generated political friction.

5. Maximum pressure 2.0?
The visit to Venezuela by Trump's special envoy, Richard Grenell, had outlined the conditions for projecting an apparent détente and a "different relationship" —Grenell dixit— between the White House and the Venezuelan government. The diplomat had emphasized that the tycoon was not seeking a change of regime in Venezuela.

However, given the importance of License 41 for Venezuela's oil activities, its elimination is, across the board, an act of pressure.

It can be seen that the statement accompanying the announcement is stripped of any hint of recognition of Edmundo González. Nor is there any mention of a change of regime in Venezuela. Trump's tone is one of punishment, but prioritizing the narrative blow against the "corrupt" Joe Biden.

At this point it is necessary to analyse this movement from a global perspective.

The record of the new administration's actions suggests a pattern of frontal harassment using the maximum of US coercive capacity.

The president has put pressure on countries subject to illegal sanctions, while threatening nations allied with the United States with tariffs and intimidating statements. In basically every case, Washington is using its tactical advantages to get something in return.

However, he has not yet stated anything concrete about what he is seeking in Venezuela, beyond the already evident acceleration of the repatriation of its migrants.

The case of Venezuela breaks the pattern. It would be the only country where the White House is currently considering regime change – without admitting it – or it would be the only country where, so far, they are applying pressure measures without openly stating any additional demands in return.

6. Is it still possible to negotiate?
Now, with the expiration of General License 41, the Trump administration has increased its "negotiating" advantage over Caracas, bringing relations to a spectrum of greater tension.

It is therefore possible that real negotiations between the two governments will take place from now on with the multinational and other heavy crude oil refining companies in the United States as parties involved, or with pressure from behind the scenes. This remains to be seen.

Given the apparent time frame for the dismantling of Chevron's operations in Venezuela, hypotheses have emerged about a probable time frame for negotiations and their possible outcomes.

According to Reuters, the situation could lead to an alternative license in the future that would allow the US oil company to operate in the country, but with a view to sending crude oil to other destinations.

It is also possible that another type of authorization will emerge with more restrictive and unfavorable conditions for Venezuela compared to those existing in 41.

In the meantime, as these scenarios are uncertain, Venezuela could choose to maneuver the situation as it was doing before November 2022, by carrying out its oil activities with other States, in an evasive manner within the framework of illegal sanctions.

This could include handing over Chevron's activities to other companies from BRICS countries, as President Maduro once suggested.

That element, together with the migration issue, would be some of Caracas' best cards to deal with possible negotiation scenarios. Everything remains to be seen.

7. The situation of the extremist opposition
In recent years, an important consensus has emerged in Venezuela around the rejection of illegal sanctions. This has been a point of agreement between the Venezuelan government, national and foreign businessmen with relations or activities in the country, political leaders of some opposition parties and sectors of the so-called civil society .

Trump's measure now brings together these sectors and repositions the issue of sanctions in public opinion, which generates diatribe but imposes a clearly majority rejection of these measures.

By default, the new framework further isolates the sectors that have promoted coercive measures, and this directly alludes to María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, whose possibilities of internal support are weakened and their bases of multi-sectoral support are broken.

Although Machado has said she is building "internal military support" for regime change, this, paradoxically, distances her even further from that possibility by inducing the strengthening of the government and military sector in response to the re-emergence of direct external threats.

8. The international question, beyond the United States
The end of License 41 implies, so far, the progressive cessation of Chevron's activities.

There is still no clarity on the fate of other licenses granted to companies from Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and India, among others, that carry out activities in the Venezuelan hydrocarbon sector.

Venezuela's allies in the BRICS will probably take this context as an opportunity to continue developing their energy ties with the country, which has been alluded to by Chevron CEO Mike Wirth himself, who indicated that the sanctions have generated a separation between Venezuela and the West, while they have favored the access of Iran, Russia and China to their crude oil.

State-owned PDVSA and other operators in the country would have to face the coercive framework again, but with accumulated experience in adapting to sanctions.

Currently, some 700,000 barrels a day leave Venezuela for markets other than the United States, and a good part of this crude is marketed using creative measures to evade the blockade, a situation that has been sustained during the time that General License 41 has existed.

https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/ocho ... general-41

Erik Prince, the commodification of migration and “Almost Venezuela”
28 Feb 2025 , 12:16 pm .

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Erik Prince has a mercenary record that diminishes his profile in terms of military success and achievements (Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters)

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and a leading proponent of privatizing security, now wants to extend his business model to immigration control.

According to the US portal POLITICO , Prince has presented a plan for mass deportations that includes methods and structures of private security to expel migrants from the United States. This initiative, aligned with anti-immigrant policies, highlights the danger of outsourcing state affairs and raises serious concerns about the militarization of the border and the growing role of the private sector in decisions that should be the exclusive responsibility of the government.

What does it consist of?
The militarization and commodification of migration has taken a new turn with this businessman's proposal. The project, outlined in a 26-page document, envisions a network of "processing camps" within military bases, with the argument of avoiding the collapse of the current facilities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).

The plan includes a fleet of 100 private jets and a contingent of citizens authorized to carry out arrests with the goal of deporting 12 million people before the 2026 midterm elections. To accomplish this, nearly 500,000 migrants would need to be expelled each month, at an estimated cost of $25 billion.

The plan argues that the federal government lacks the capacity to carry out large-scale removals and proposes outsourcing the process to private companies. Among its measures is the formation of a "Deportation Tracking Team" tasked with locating individuals through existing records. It also calls for hiring 2,000 attorneys and paralegals to expedite deportation hearings and assess individuals' eligibility.

Additionally, a public database is proposed in place of the traditional "Notice to Appear" — a legal document that notifies you that the U.S. government has initiated deportation proceedings — which could violate due process.

They also propose a "rewards program" that would offer cash payments to citizens who help capture undocumented migrants, an approach that would encourage local and state agents to participate in these tasks . Such an approach, however, raises concerns about possible abuses and lack of oversight in such a sensitive process.

Overall, the initiative seeks to accelerate these migration measures through an aggressive approach and the intervention of the private sector, which raises serious legal, ethical and social questions.

A logistics "solution" or a controversial business
In an interview with NewsNation on February 25, Erik Prince defended his mass deportation proposal, saying that he is not seeking to create a "private army" but rather to provide a logistical strategy for moving the millions of people he is seeking to expel.

He also downplayed his history with Blackwater, saying the company "no longer exists" and is now selling munitions. However, this attempt to distance himself from his past ignores his involvement in scandals such as the Nisour Square Massacre in Iraq, where Blackwater mercenaries killed 17 civilians.

Asked about the feasibility of deporting 12 million people by November 2026, Prince replied: "If you mobilize the entire United States military and use all the planes in the Air Force, maybe it's possible." He insisted that his plan is legal and ethical, although he avoided explaining how due process would be guaranteed in deportations of such magnitude.

His argument focused on operational organisation: "This all comes down to the question of logistics, how do you fly so many people? Think about how we've been invaded," he said.

Prince portrayed migration as an impending crisis and an uncontrolled invasion, using an alarmist tone to justify his initiative. He claimed that "millions of people have entered illegally, paying cartels to cross the border," a reality that, according to him, demands drastic and immediate measures.

By presenting the situation as critical , Prince seeks to legitimize his plan as an urgent and indispensable "solution."

This approach is no accident: by emphasizing terms like “invasion” and “ emergency,” Prince constructs a scenario of extreme urgency that makes it easier to get his proposal approved. The platform is designed to be implemented without a competitive bidding process, which would allow the White House to trigger a national emergency declaration.

Under this framework, the government could bypass the usual bureaucratic procedures, speed up implementation and give a central role to private companies like Prince's .

In this way, the discourse of the migration crisis not only justifies extreme measures but also lays the groundwork for rapid and unsupervised implementation, taking advantage of the emergency climate in order to guarantee the viability of the project.

In the final minutes of the short interview, however, he also defended the intervention of private companies and said that his proposal would allow for action in a "faster, more efficient and more economical" manner. However, this pragmatic vision ignores the legal risks of delegating a process as sensitive as mass deportation to private contractors .

The journalist also questioned the use of private planes. He pointed out that the memo mentions only 49 aircraft available. Prince responded that the challenge lies in "scaling up the operation" after claiming that the Biden administration facilitated the "immigration invasion," which his proposal seeks to reverse.

One of the most controversial points is the "reward program" for citizens who help identify and detain migrants. When warned about the backlash that this measure could generate, Prince evaded the question and simply said: "We are a nation of laws." He did not explain how abuses or human rights violations resulting from encouraging civilians to participate in capture operations would be avoided.

Finally, when asked about the government's interest in his proposal, he admitted that he had not received a response. "It is a bureaucratic process," he said, suggesting that the authorities would probably try to exhaust their own resources first before turning to the private sector.

However, he noted that deportations have been handled by contractors in the past, suggesting his plan is not an entirely new idea.

Prince presents his project as a pragmatic solution, but its vagueness and Blackwater's controversial history are generating skepticism. It is not about solving "a problem" - it is simply business disguised as immigration policy.

the "Almost Venezuela" connection
Prince's plan is not limited to the United States, its implications transcend borders and could directly affect the countries receiving deportees. However, what is most striking is the temporal coincidence between this proposal that has been floating around the halls of the White House since December 2024 and his previous initiative, "Almost Venezuela" , launched in September 2024, which was pointed out as a scam and an opaque plan for illegal fundraising.

At that time, Prince used the X platform to promote a fundraiser to finance a mercenary military operation against the country. Although the initiative did not achieve the expected support, it did generate significant media support among extremist sectors, and from then on Prince positioned himself as a key player in the intervention agenda against Venezuela.

Now, with his proposal for mass deportations, he is taking advantage of that same political and media momentum. This reflects a key political contradiction: on the one hand, he is promoting an interventionist agenda under the pretext of the “liberation” of Venezuela while, on the other, he is proposing aggressive measures against migrants, including Venezuelans. This incoherence exposes his opportunism, characteristic of someone who has built his career on questionable proposals and privatized operations.

His troubled career as a businessman in the mercenary industry and his history of initiatives clearly mediated by corruption and illegality, such as "Almost Venezuela", indicate that this platform for mass deportations could be another maneuver in his repertoire of controversial projects, closer to fraud than to a plan that serves Trump.

Taking advantage of the political agenda
The implementation of this mechanism raises both serious legal questions and the possibility of violating fundamental principles of due process.

The creation of a group of contractors with the power to make arrests amounts to delegating state functions to private actors, which would conflict with state and federal laws.

Furthermore, the proposal to hold mass deportation hearings without adequate procedural guarantees opens the door to lawsuits and judicial blockades.

Beyond its legal viability, Prince's formula fits into a well-known pattern: the conversion of security and immigration control into a lucrative business for private companies.

Blackwater and other security companies have obtained multimillion-dollar contracts for military and surveillance operations, and the privatization of deportations would be an extension of that model, along the same lines as the proliferation of private prisons and the outsourcing of border tasks.

This scheme clearly does not address migration as a humanitarian issue – which it has never been – but rather as a business opportunity.

However, the forced repatriation of millions of people in a short period of time not only ignores the structural causes of migration – many of them derived from coercive policies implemented by Washington – but also shows an approximation to the lack of independent supervision and opens the door to possible abuses and arbitrariness in the process.

The truth is that Prince's proposal is part of a logic of outsourcing state functions and militarizing processes that should be part of the government framework.

In short, Prince takes advantage of what is considered a "crisis" to lobby for his initiatives and ventures, always under the pretext of solving problems that, to a large extent, have been exacerbated by the very policies he defends.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/er ... -venezuela

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Mon Mar 17, 2025 3:04 pm

Venezuela Condemns Washington’s Criminalization of Venezuelan Migrants
March 17, 2025

[img]
Heavily armed Salvadoran police agents transfer Venezuelan migrants at the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador. Photo: Presidency of El Salvador.

Venezuela has categorically condemned the United States government’s persecution of Venezuelans in the US, calling it an “infamous and unjust criminalization of Venezuelan migrants.” The Venezuelan government’s official statement in this regard, issued on Sunday, March 16, likens Washington’s position to “the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps.”

The statement condemned in strong terms the persecution of Venezuelan citizens in the US, including the expropriation of their personal property, assets, businesses, vehicles, and bank accounts. It also condemned the targeting of Venezuelans in workplaces, schools, churches, hospitals, and public spaces in the United State, and considered the threat of separating children under 14 from their families as “profoundly indignifying.” The statement emphasized that never before have children been labeled in official documents as members of terrorist groups solely because of their nationality.

On Friday, March 14, the US government sent 238 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, applying The Alien Enemy Act of 1798 as the “legal” basis.

The Venezuelan government asserted that the United States’ actions violate international human rights laws, including the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers. The statement attributed Venezuelan migration to economic hardship caused by US-imposed illegal sanctions. It condemned the characterization of migrants as “foreign enemies,”and instead called them victims of geopolitical coercion.

The document also accused Venezuelan far-right opposition figures such as María Corina Machado, Julio Borges, and Leopoldo López of complicity in lobbying for sanctions and facilitating exploitative migration networks. It asked for national unity and international solidarity—particularly from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)—to challenge what it deems a dangerous precedent for the region.



Below is the full unofficial translation of the statement:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically and strongly condemns the proclamation of the United States government, which infamously and unjustly criminalizes Venezuelan migrants, in an act that evokes the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps.

The Alien Enemy Act of 1798, on which this presidential order is based, is an anachronistic law that violates not only fundamental US statutes but also international human rights frameworks, including the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Its application constitutes a crime against humanity.

Venezuelan migrants, who sought economic refuge due to the hardships inflicted by Western sanctions, are predominantly hardworking, dignified individuals, not terrorists or “foreign enemies.” They are victims of a criminal blockade designed to force regime change in Venezuela.

We condemn the persecution of our citizens, the seizure of their property, and the threat to separate children from families. Never before has an official document labeled children as terrorist affiliates solely due to their nationality.

Extremist opposition figures, who lobbied for these sanctions, bear responsibility for exploiting migrants through human trafficking networks. Evidence of their crimes lies with US security agencies, awaiting impartial investigation.

This proclamation, celebrated by unpatriotic collaborators, perpetuates the systematic aggression against Venezuela that began with Barack Obama’s 2015 Executive Order. We urge for national unity and global solidarity to combat this violation of human rights.

Venezuela will exhaust all diplomatic and legal avenues to defend its migrants. We urge CELAC and the international community to denounce this abhorrent precedent, which threatens our entire region. Only unity can counter this segregation, persecution, and dispossession.

All of Venezuela demand respect for their migrants and their families!


https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-co ... -migrants/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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