Venezuela nears total collapse

Venezuela nears total collapse as government now unable to provide food, water, electricity and protection for citizens

Friday, April 15, 2016 by: Isabelle Z.

(NaturalNews) Every day seems to bring new evidence that Venezuela's transition from a market-based economy to a socialist one is proving to be every bit as ill-advised as it has sounded from day one. The country is now nearing total collapse as the government is failing miserably to provide its citizens with basic necessities such as water, food, electricity and protection. Meanwhile, inflation is set to exceed 700 percent this year.

The socialist policies put in place by the late Hugo Chavez and perpetuated by current president Nicolas Maduro are driving the country to complete collapse. The fall in oil prices isn't helping matters, as the nation heavily relies on oil exports. Medical suppliers are cutting off shipments, and health organizations warn that people are dying from a lack of medicine.

Unrest is rising dangerously, with protesters regularly clashing with police in bloody demonstrations. Zero Hedge reports that morgues are overflowing as the country descends into chaos, and collapse is pretty much inevitable. Violence is rising sharply, with murders rising dramatically.

Power grid nearing collapse

In the wake of all this unrest, Maduro recently announced that every Friday will be a "holiday" in order to slash electricity usage. State employees will be given Fridays off of work for at least the next two months, and Maduro is urging people to forgo hair dryers, appreciate the country's tropical heat and hang their clothes out to dry. In fact, Maduro even had the gall to say that women look better when they let their hair air dry.

At first, the government tried to pass it off as a desire to be more green, but it's really just a desperate measure to prevent the collapse of the power grid. Venezuela gets 70 percent of its electricity from its hydroelectric plants. Severe drought has led to a water shortage everywhere, and the reduced water levels in the plants mean generators aren't putting out as much power as needed.

The government required businesses to cut their power usage by 10 percent, and police can enter and inspect businesses at will to see if they are exceeding their allotment. The Organic Prepper reports that, in February, stores were forced to turn off electricity from 1pm to 3pm and then again from 7pm to 9pm every day.

In 2014, Natural News reported that food shortages had reached such a critical level in the country that the government instituted an identification system akin to rationing that keeps track of people's purchases and criminalizes hoarding.

It could happen anywhere

All of this should be taken as a warning. This is what a modern economic collapse looks like, and if it can happen in Venezuela, it can happen anywhere.

The Organic Prepper's Daisy Luther wrote:

"These mandated power rations, the limited amounts of food, the government-funded snitches, the tracking, and most of all, the propaganda, are all what await us in an economic collapse situation. While the Venezuelan government will be facing no limits on their use of electrical power, the people will only be allowed allotted amounts."


If the American economy goes the way of the Venezuelan one at some point, being self-sufficient could mean the difference between life and death. The Self-Reliance Summit is one way to educate yourself on these matters. Stocking up on foods and natural cures is one way people can prepare for such a situation and reduce their odds of becoming just another body in the stack at the morgue.

Venezuela is cutting electric power for four hours a day, to save energy. Venezuela is an OPEC member, and ranks #1 in proven oil reserves.

And the country's larges beer brewer will cease operation. It has no dollars, needed to buy grain.

A real socialist paradise there, Bernie.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Onward and upward,
airforce

"It's Pure Chaos Now; There Is No Way Back" - Venezuela Morgues Are Overflowing

by Tyler Durden 04/10/2016


When we previewed Venezuela's upcoming hyperinflation, which in January was predicted to be 720% and as of this moment is likely far higher...



... we said "This Is What The Death Of A Nation Looks Like" and said "there is no good news in any of the above for the long-suffering citizens of this "socialist paradise" which any minute now will be downgraded to its fair value of "socialist hell."

Subsequent news that Venezuela was now openly liquidating its gold reserves while its president, in an amusing twist, announced last week, that henceforth every Friday will be a holiday, (the term there was a slightly different meaning) to cut down on electricity usage (while blaming El Nino for its electricity rationing) merely confirmed that the end if nigh for this once flourishing Latin American nation.

Sadly, while we have been warning for years about Venezuela's inevitable, economic devastation, we said it was only a matter of time before the chaos spreads to broader society and leads to total collapse.

That may have arrived because as even the FT now admits, after visiting the main Caracas morgue, Venezuela risks a descent into chaos.

But back to the morgue of central Caracas, where FT correspondent Andres Schipani writes that the stench forces everyone to cover their nostrils. "Now things are worse than ever," says Yuli S�nchez. "They kill people and no one is punished while families have to keep their pain to themselves."

Ms S�nchez�s 14-year-old nephew, Oliver, was shot five times by malandros, or thugs, while riding on the back of a friend�s motorcycle. His uncle, Luis Mej�a, remarked that in a fortnight three members of their family had been shot, including two youths who were shot by police.

Sounds a little like Chicago on a Friday... only in Venezuela things are even worse: "an economic, social and political crisis facing Nicol�s Maduro, Venezuela�s unpopular president, is being aggravated by a rise in violence which is prompting fears that this oil-rich country risks becoming a failed state."

Even the morgue employees are asking if they should give up.

"What can we do?" Mr Mej�a asks. �Give up.� The morgue employee in charge of handling the corpses notes that a decade ago he received seven or eight bodies every weekend. These days, he says, that number has risen to between 40 and 50: "This is now wilder than the wild west."

Critics say that the Venezuelan government is increasingly unable to provide citizens with water, electricity, health or a functioning economy which can supply basic food staples or indispensable medicines, let alone personal safety.

In other words, total socioeconomic collapse. This is what it looks like:

Last month alone, Venezuelans learned of the summary execution of at least 17 gold miners supposedly by a mining Mafia, the killing of two police officers allegedly by a group of students who drove a bus into a barricade, and a hostage drama inside a prison at the hands of a grenade-wielding criminal gang. On Wednesday, three policemen were killed when an armed gang busted a member out of a lock-up in the capital.



At least 10 were killed in a Caracas shanty town after a confrontation between local thugs armed with assault rifles, while a local mayor was gunned down outside his home in Trujillo state last month. There are widespread reports of lynchings.



All this is creating a broad unease that Mr Maduro is unable to maintain order... There is a lack of basic goods. Analysts warn that the economic crisis risks turning in to a humanitarian one.

Some refuse to acknowledge that a state erected on so much oil wealth can be a failed state:

�Failed state is a nebulous concept often used too lightly. That�s not the case with today�s Venezuela,� says Mois�s Na�m a Venezuelan distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. �The evidence of state failure is very concrete in the country that sits on top of the world�s largest oil reserves.�

Alas, a failed state is precisely what Venezuela has become: Venezuela is already one of the world�s deadliest countries. The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local think-tank, says the murder rate rose last year to 92 killings per 100,000 residents. The attorney-general cites a lower figure of 58 homicides per 100,000. This is up from 19 per 100,000 in 1998, before Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez took power.

It gets worse, because in addition to a soaring murder rate, the government itself is implicated.

"Venezuelans are facing one of the highest murder rates in the hemisphere and urgently need effective protection from violent crime,� said Jos� Miguel Vivanco HRW�s Americas director. �But in multiple raids throughout the country, the security forces themselves have allegedly committed serious abuses.�

Their findings show that police and military raids in low-income and immigrant communities in Venezuela have led to widespread allegations of abuse, including extrajudicial killings, mass arbitrary detentions, maltreatment of detainees, forced evictions, the destruction of homes, and arbitrary deportations.

And like all other failed governments, Maduro's administration is quick to deflect blame, instead accusing violence within its borders on Colombian rightwing paramilitaries "engaged in a war against its revolution." But as David Smilde and Hugo P�rez Hern�iz of the Washington Office on Latin America, a think-tank, recently wrote: �Attributing violence in Venezuela to paramilitary activity has been a common rhetorical move used by the government over the past year, effectively making a citizen security problem into a national security problem.�

For many Venezuelans it no longer matters who is to blame. "It is a state policy of letting anarchy sink in," says a former policeman outside the gates of a compound in Caracas.

The FT adds that the former police station now houses the Frente 5 de Marzo, one of the political groups that consider themselves the keepers of socialism�s sacred flame. The gates bear the colours of the Venezuelan flag and are marked with bullet holes. The man believes there is something akin to a civil war going on.

�Venezuela is pure chaos now. It seems to me there is no way back,� the former policeman says. He is right.

* * *

And since words can not fully do a failed state justice, here is a video clip from Jeff Berwick showing the reality on the ground in the country where "socialism's sacred flame" is about to go out for good.

https://youtu.be/UOQb7Y5QVO8

A nice glimpse of what "fundamentally transforming" a nation looks like!

YES they can!

And Bernie wants to turn The USA into a Socialist Utopia, yep way to go Bernie and your Brain Dead Supporters.

If Burnie wants to turn America into a socialist etopia. He would be a dollar short and a day late.
Take along hard look around. We are Dan near it.

We may be close to it but if Bernie gets his way we will be a Full On Socialist Utopia.

But with the Bad there may be some Good if States like Texas refuse to be Socialist and Secede.

I don't see Texas Billionaires and Millionaires giving 90% of their money to Bernie so he can give it to the Welfare Trash.

And if Clinton gets elected I don't see Texas Gun Owners giving up their Guns, so another reason for Texas to Secede.

One thing no matter who gets appointed. The course of freedoms being lost and continue loss is for sure.
Every time elections come around. Its always the same whether it is this or that canidate. Promising lies only to tell all what they want to hear.
Then after the elections all see the lies.
A little controlled hope goes a very long way in controlling a nation.

I'd like to see the 3 (though one stands zero chance) GOP candidates make an issue of who they would appoint to the Supreme Court. It would let us know more about them as a president, and remind the Dems that BHO will not be choosing.

It seems like you have Hoisted the White Flag and Surrendered and have totally given up on the political process, maybe what you should do on election day since regardless of who gets elected, won't change anything, is stay home and get drunk.

Here is how I feel.

I have not given up, at least not yet.

I do not feel that Trump is just another Politician, I feel that maybe, just maybe, he is for real and that he will do the best he can to correct some of the Problems like unemployment, if he does as he has stated and brings back the jobs that have moved out of our Country.

I feel that Trump deserves the chance to prove he is not just a Lying Politician and is for real.

If Trump get elected and then backs down on what he has said he will do and proves himself a lier, then giving up on Politics and Elections makes a lot of sense. But not right now when we might have a President who will do something to change things for the better.

Just a few more months we will know for sure, so why not wait.

Vader first I don't drink it tends to make one talk shit.
Second I never have and never will give up. I spoke the the truth. For 25 plus years I have heard the election topic. Every 3-4 year same argument maybe this or that canidate won't lie. Then in the end a lie is a lie.

As to drinking I never used to drink very often but lately I have been drinking more and more and I am actually starting to enjoy getting drunk.

I find that it helps me get through an average day and helps me to sleep.

I don't drink and drive I only drink when I am home or with someone else who will do the driving.

Now as to Politics and Voting I used to vote in every election but I have not voted in the past two elections, but I do plan on voting in this one as long as Trump is running.

This is how I am thinking. I feel that Trump is not part of the Political system and he is more of an outsider and if he does as as has stated he will do then there is a chance he will help to change things.

If you believe that Trump is just another Politician and he actually is just another politician and that this election is just more of the same as previous elections, then you are correct.

But if Trump is an outsider as I believe he is and if this election is totally different then past elections as it sure seems like it is and I believe it is, then you are incorrect.

Just going by what I have been seeing the GOP is well on it's way to Self Destruction and this election is totally different then past elections and may be the beginning of the end of the Old GOP and maybe the beginning of a New GOP or ever the replacement of the GOP with a New Conservative Party.
I believe this election is not just the old same old same old and it is totally different then all previous elections and it will be a totally New Ballgame.

So what I am saying we should all wait until after Trump gets elected and and we find out if he is real or if he is a fake before giving up on this election.

It is like having a Lottery Ticket and before the drawing thinking to yourself, what I am stupid I have no chance of winning, so you destroy the Ticket before the Drawing and then you find out your Number Won, wouldn't you feel like idiot that you destroyed a Winning Ticket I know I would.

Here's a novel idea from Venezuela, a weekend that lasts five days . Because there's only enough electricity to work for two days a week.

This is giving the term "worker's paradise" a whole new meaning.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The elections are a sham. I participate but don't believe my vote counts. I'm not too broken up about it because I'm in a state that I think will be able to weather the coming storm.

For Venezuela, it won\'t be much longer.



Venezuela doesn't even have the money to print new money with. You can imagine what grocery stores look like:



Onward and upward,
airforce

Feeling the Bern of socialism!

I imagine most of you have been watching things develop south of the border.

It's not just Venezuela; Brazil, Puerto Rico and others are in various stages of collapse.

Ain't good.

What kills me is that the Sanders flock don't see the parallels or put 2 & 2 together.

President Nicolas Maduro has ordere... exercises to counter "foreign threats." My guess is, this is not going to end well.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Domino effect. How long until it travels north?

No, what would be the problem is the Marxists in our government looting our treasury to bail that country out with restrictions on US produced gasoline while paying the Venezuelans an inflated price for their oil and we get $5 per gallon gas at the pump while they get financial bailout. Only they do so by putting future generations of Americans further in debt.

Remember how it went in 2008, credit stopped, gas went to $5 per gallon and freeways emptied then who got their payoff? The banks and Wall Street...

Watch Venezuela, Because Food Shortages, Looting And Economic Collapse Are Coming To America Too

Just a few years ago, most Venezuelans could never have imagined that food shortages would become so severe that people would literally hunt dogs and cats for food.

Michael Snyder | Economic Collapse - May 16, 2016

The full-blown economic collapse that is happening in Venezuela right now is a preview of what Americans will be experiencing in the not too distant future.

Just a few years ago, most Venezuelans could never have imagined that food shortages would become so severe that people would literally hunt dogs and cats for food. But as you will see below, this is now taking place. Sadly, this is what the endgame of socialism looks like. When an all-powerful government is elevated far above all other institutions in society and radical leftists are given the keys to the kingdom, this is the result. Food shortages, looting and rampant violent crime have all become part of daily life in Venezuela, and we all need to watch as this unfolds very carefully, because similar scenarios will soon be playing out all over the planet.

The funny thing is that Venezuela actually has more �wealth� than most countries in the world. According to the CIA, Venezuela actually has more proven oil reserves than anyone else on the globe � including Saudi Arabia.

So how did such a wealthy nation find itself plunged into full-blown economic collapse so rapidly, and could a similar thing happen to us?

The president of Venezuela has declared a 60 day state of emergency in a desperate attempt to restore order, but most people don�t anticipate that it will do much good. Social order continues to unravel as the economy systematically implodes. The Venezuelan economy shrunk by 5.7 percent last year, and it is being projected that it will contract by another 8 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, inflation is raging wildly out of control. According to the IMF, the official inflation rate in Venezuela will be somewhere around 720 percent this year and 2,200 percent next year.

If people are able to get their hands on some money, they immediately rush out to the stores to use it before the prices go up again. This has created devastating shortages of food, basic supplies and medicine.

Electricity is also in short supply, and a two day workweek has been imposed on many government employees in a desperate attempt to save power. Violent crime is seemingly everywhere, and most law-abiding Venezuelans lock themselves in their homes at night as a result.

Much of the crime is being perpetrated by the mafia and the gangs, but sometimes it is just normal people looking for food. Desperate people do desperate things, and according to the Guardian there have been �107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016″�

Crowds of people in Venezuela have stolen flour, chicken and even underwear this week as looting increases across the country in the wake of shortages of many basic products. Many people have adopted the habit of getting up in the dead of night to spend hours in long lines in front of supermarkets. But as more end up empty-handed and black market prices soar, plundering is rising in Venezuela, an Opec nation that was already one of the world�s most violent countries.

There is no official data, but the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict, a rights group, have reported 107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016. Videos of crowds breaking into shops, swarming on to trucks or fighting over products frequently make the rounds on social media, though footage is often hard to confirm.

One example of this looting took place on May 11th. Thousands of hungry people stormed Maracay Wholesale Market in central Venezuela, and the police seemed powerless to stop them�

�They took milk, pasta, flour, oil, and milk powder. There were 5,000 people,�one witness told Venezuela outlet El Est�mulo.

People from across the entire state came to the supermarket because there were rumors that some products not found anywhere else would be sold there.

�There were 250 people for each National Guard officer� lots of people and few soldiers. At least one officer was beat up because he tried to stop the crowd,� another source told El Est�mulo.

You can see some rough footage of this incident right here�

�VENEZUELA TIENE HAMBRE! #Video Saquean Mercado Mayorista Maracay #11May pic.twitter.com/DGRZ1bgkgI v�a @venezolanodecen #CNERevocatorioYA

� El llanero (@llaneroVen) May 11, 2016

It is important to remember that this was not an isolated incident. As people have become hungrier and hungrier, there have been reports of looting at �pharmacies, shopping malls, supermarkets, and food delivery trucks�. During some of these episodes there have actually been people chanting �we are hungry�.

Other Venezuelans have resorted to digging in dumpsters and trash cans for food. This many seem detestable to many Americans, but when you are desperately hungry you may be surprised at what you are willing to do.

And as I mentioned above, some Venezuelans and now actually hunting dogs and cats for food�

Ram�n Muchacho, Mayor of Chacao in Caracas, said the streets of the capital of Venezuela are filled with people killing animals for food.

Through Twitter, Muchacho reported that in Venezuela, it is a �painful reality� that people �hunt cats, dogs and pigeons� to ease their hunger.

You may be tempted to dismiss these people as �barbarians�, but someday Americans will be doing the exact same thing.

There has been a breakdown of basic social services in Venezuela as well. Acute shortages of drugs and medical supplies are having absolutely tragic results. When I read the following from the New York Times, this crisis in Venezuela become much more real to me�

By morning, three newborns were already dead.

The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, shutting down the respirators in the maternity ward.

Doctors kept ailing infants alive by pumping air into their lungs by hand for hours. By nightfall, four more newborns had died.

So once again I ask � how did such a thing happen to such a wealthy nation?

Here is Business Insider�s explanation�

The real culprit is chavismo, the ruling philosophy named for Chavez and carried forward by Maduro, and its truly breathtaking propensity for mismanagement (the government plowed state money arbitrarily into foolish investments); institutional destruction (as Chavez and then Maduro became more authoritarian and crippled the country�s democratic institutions); nonsense policy-making (like price and currency controls); and plain thievery (as corruption has proliferated among unaccountable officials and their friends and families).

Are not the same things happening here?

The U.S. government is mismanaging our money too. During Barack Obama�s eight years in the White House, the U.S. national debt has risen by more than eight trillion dollars. We waste money in some of the most bizarre ways imaginable, and at this point our national debt is nearly the double the size it was just prior to the last major financial crisis.

Institutional destruction is also a legacy of the Obama regime. With each passing day, our society resembles the Republic that our founders originally intended less and less, and it resembles socialist dictatorships more and more. We may as well not even have a Constitution anymore, because at this point nobody really follows it.

The third thing that Business Insider mentioned, �nonsense policy-making�, is a perfect description of what has been going on in Washington D.C. these days. Perhaps that is why Congress only has a 12.8 percent approval rating right now.

Lastly, thievery and corruption are also out of control in our nation too. The elite and special interest groups spend massive amounts of money to get their favorites into office, and in turn those politicians shower their good friends with money and favors. It is a very sick relationship, but that is how our system now works.

We are sitting on the largest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, and our debt-fueled prosperity is completely dependent on the rest of the world lending us gigantic amounts of money at ridiculously low interest rates and continuing to use our increasingly shaky currency which we are debasing at a staggering pace.

We consume far more than we produce, and unlike Venezuela we aren�t sitting on hundreds of billions of barrels of oil. The amount of �real wealth� that we actually have does not justify our current standard of living. The only way that we are able to live the way that we do is by stealing consumption from the future. One study has found that our debt level is the highest that it has been since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and yet we continue to race down this road to economic oblivion without even thinking twice about it.

What you sow is what you will reap.

And just like Venezuela, America will ultimately reap a very bitter harvest.

They nationalized a massive oil industry and then spent the way profits on stupid shit instead of the basic needs of the population.

Governments have been able to run feeding programs for "dangerous" populations for centuries, in jails, prisons, schools and the military.

Shut down all military chow halls for a week and see what happens.

Now if they "funded military chow" and are not feeding the troops, but everyone in the military chow business gets nice homes and vehicles, it's not hard to figure out. Seems I remember hearing stories about how shortly after Obama took over, prison and military food went downhill, with combat zone troops in Afghanistan being cut back to two meals a day.

The reason the Venezuelans are rioting is they are not stupid people. They know that the fight between elites in their society and government is using food restriction as a weapon.

I'm not hearing much about this on the news, but Moody\'s has downgraded the bonds issued by Saudi Arabia because of falling oil prices.

Is the Venezuela disease spreading to the Middle east? This could get really interesting.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Barter activity explodes across Venezuela as failed socialist economic policies leave entire nation on verge of economic collapse: The bottom line is that Venezuela gets about 70 percent of its goods from abroad, however, the area�s fast-falling oil prices have prevented the government there from importing. As a result, the economy has shifted to a culture where a black market lifestyle is the norm, and people can expect items to cost upwards of three times their original price.

http://www.naturalnews.com/052224_economic_collapse_Venezuela_barter_economy.html#ixzz48YocpE2W


U.S. intelligence officials: Venezuela could be headed for collapse: Venezuela, where clashes erupted this week between security forces and demonstrators protesting food shortages, power blackouts and political gridlock, may be headed toward an all-out popular uprising that could lead to the overthrow of its government this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...-1935-11e6- 924d-838753295f9a_story.html

"Venezuela\'s health care system is the best in the world after Cuba."

The photos pretty much say it all.

Onward and upward,
airforce

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/05/17/video-venezuela-headed-for-an-economic-collapse-or-worse/

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion...-economic-collapse-are-coming-to-america

If you're a foreign visitor to Venezuela - and you have a credit card with a large limit - you can get all the food you want. You just can't get it at the official exchange rate of 10 bolivares to the dollar.

Plan on spending the black market rate of 1000 bolivares to the dollar. That makes your $1.70 cheeseburger a whopping $170 .

And if you're unlucky enough to be a Venezuelan, paid in bolivares, well...

Onward and upward,
airforce

Stupid stubborn ad wasteful. They get free money from the world economy without working very hard for it because in part, oil companies do the bulk of the actual work. Like the Saudis, they are the "legitimate" government which is paid off not to have any trouble, and in that payoff, they make as much trouble as they can.

Barter economy it should be. Pack up a few shiploads of humanitarian ration packs and make that the only thing they get paid with.

That's the whole problem. The Venezuela government owns the Venezuela oil industry. Maduro is using the oil money to pay off his military (and depositing the rest in his Swiss ban account, I'm sure). And since nobody outside Venezuela will accept bolivares at the official exchange rate, it wouldn't work anyway.

Onward and upward,
airforce

According to Wikipedia, they own the CITGO gas station chain, lock, stock and barrel.

Either way, they have money, they just fucked it off and wasted it.

Sooner or later, you run out of other people's money. Greece and Puerto Rico have already found that out, and California and Illinois won't be too far behind.

Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than any other country in the world - and they can't keep the lights on for more than two days a week. That should tell you something.

Onward and upward,
airforce

According to one report their budget was based on selling oil for $104 per barrel. When the price dropped their central planners refused to cut spending.

This is why some of the oil emrates in the gulf have invested so heavily in a trust fund of sorts. They have also tried to spend some of the money to diversify their economies.

A massive drop in oil revenue hurts, but not a catastrophe.

Here are some very interesting comparisons. Contrast Venezuela with Chile, which began to abandon socialism about the same time Venezuela began to adopt it . The charts say it all. On every metric - income per capita, life expectancy, infant mortality, economic freedom, GDP, political freedom - Chile wins.

Onward and upward,
airforce

How much is the bolivar really worth? Well, just to give you some idea, thieves are no longer bothering to steal them .

How can Venezuela work itself out of this mess? Here was Ludwig von Mises suggestions for the Austrian crown, updated to the Venezuelan bolivar:

1. Abandon socialism. A little obvious, but it's the first step.

2. Abandon the bolivar. Ideally, it would go back to the gold standard. And since you're starting over anyway, it wouldn't be all that hard. But any commonly accepted currency - even the dollar - would work.

3. Privatize the Venezuelan economy. Sell off the oil companies, and return the seized oil wells to their rightful owners. Put into private hands, the oil industry would soon flourish again.

4. Abandon "official" currency exchange rates.

5. End prohibitions and regulations on importing and exporting goods and services. Venezuela needs free trade.

That should get the ball rolling. I'm not holding my breath for Maduro to implement them.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Puerto Rico is a real problem and could balloon into a fiasco. Basically they have the ability to hold the US hostage because of their location. If the US doesn't bail them out, then who does? It's like Cuba round 2. That's one damn expensive island.

Ever wonder who President Maduro would like to see get elected? Yep, it\'s Bernie. Big surprise, that one.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuelans Ransack Stores as Hunger Stalks Crumbling Nation+

The New York Times

By NICHOLAS CASEY


CUMAN�, Venezuela � With delivery trucks under constant attack, the nation�s food is now transported under armed guard. Soldiers stand watch over bakeries. The police fire rubber bullets at desperate mobs storming grocery stores, pharmacies and butcher shops. A 4-year-old girl was shot to death as street gangs fought over food.

Venezuela is convulsing from hunger.

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Hundreds of people here in the city of Cuman�, home to one of the region�s independence heroes, marched on a supermarket in recent days, screaming for food. They forced open a large metal gate open and poured inside. They snatched water, flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, potatoes, anything they could find, leaving behind only broken freezers and overturned shelves.

And they showed that even in a country with the largest oil reserves in the world, it is possible for people to riot because there is not enough food.

In the last two weeks alone, more than 50 food riots, protests and mass lootings have erupted around the country. Scores of businesses have been stripped bare or destroyed. At least five people have been killed.

This is precisely the Venezuela its leaders vowed to prevent.

In one of the nation�s worst moments, riots spread from Caracas, the capital, in 1989, leaving hundreds dead at the hands of security forces. Known as the �Caracazo,� or the �Caracas clash,� they were set off by low oil prices, cuts in subsidies and a population that was suddenly impoverished.

The event seared the memory of a future president, Hugo Ch�vez, who said the country�s inability to provide for its people, and the state�s repression of the uprising, were the reason Venezuela needed a socialist revolution.

Now his successors find themselves in a similar bind � or maybe even worse.

The nation is anxiously searching for ways to feed itself. The economic collapse of recent years has left it unable to produce enough food on its own or import what it needs from abroad. Cities have been militarized under an emergency decree from President Nicol�s Maduro, the man Mr. Ch�vez picked to carry on with his revolution before he died three years ago.

�If there is no food, there will be more riots,� said Raibelis Henriquez, 19, who waited all day for bread in Cuman�, where at least 22 businesses were attacked in a single day last week.

But while the riots and clashes punctuate the country with alarm, it is the hunger that remains the constant source of unease.

A staggering 87 percent of Venezuelans say they do not have money to buy enough food, the most recent assessment of living standards by Sim�n Bol�var University found.

About 72 percent of monthly wages are being spent just to buy food, according to the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis, a research group associated with the Venezuelan Teachers Federation. In April, it found that a family would need the equivalent of 16 minimum-wage salaries to properly feed itself.

Ask people in this city when the last time they ate a meal, and many will respond that it was not today.

Among them are Leidy Cordova, 37, and her five children � Abran, Deliannys, Eliannys, Milianny and Javier Luis � ages 1 to 11. On Thursday evening, the entire family had not eaten since lunchtime the day before, when Ms. Cordova made a soup by boiling chicken skin and fat that she had found for a cheap price at the butcher.

�My kids tell me they�re hungry,� Ms. Cordova said as her family looked on. �And all I can say to them is to grin and bear it.�

Other families have to choose who eats. Lucila Fonseca, 69, has lymphatic cancer, and her 45-year-old daughter Vanessa Furtado has a brain tumor. Despite also being ill, Ms. Furtado gives up the little food she has on many days so her mother does not skip meals.

�I used to be very fat, but no longer,� said the daughter. �We are dying as we live.�

Her mother added, �We are now living on Maduro�s diet: no food, no nothing.�

Economists say years of economic mismanagement � worsened by low prices for oil, the nation�s main source of revenue � have shattered the food supply. Sugar fields in the country�s agricultural center lie fallow for lack of fertilizers. Unused machinery rots in shuttered state-owned factories. Staples like corn and rice, once exported, now must be imported and arrive in amounts that do not meet the need.

In response, Mr. Maduro has tightened his grip over the food supply. Using emergency decrees he signed this year, the president put most food distribution in the hands of a group of citizen brigades loyal to leftists, a measure critics say is reminiscent of food rationing in Cuba.

�They�re saying, in other words, you get food if you�re my friend, if you�re my sympathizer,� said Roberto Brice�o-Le�n, the director of the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a human rights group.

It was all a new reality for Gabriel M�rquez, 24, who grew up in the boom years when Venezuela was rich and empty shelves were unimaginable. He stood in front of the destroyed supermarket where the mob had arrived at Cuman�, an endless expanse of smashed bottles, boxes and scattered shelves. A few people, including a policeman, were searching the wreckage for leftovers to take.

�During Carnival, we used to throw eggs at each other just to have some fun,� he said. �Now an egg is like gold.�

Down the coastal road in a small fishing town called Boca de Uchire, hundreds gathered on a bridge this month to protest because the food deliveries were not arriving. Residents demanded to meet the mayor, but when he did not come they sacked a Chinese bodega.

Residents hacked open the door with pickaxes and pillaged the shop, venting their anger at a global power that has lent billions of dollars to prop up Venezuela in recent years.

�The Chinese won�t sell to us,� said a taxi driver who watched the crowd haul away all that was inside. �So we burn their stores instead.�

Mr. Maduro, who is fighting a push for a referendum to recall him this year over the country�s declines, said it was the political opposition that was behind the attacks on the stores.

�They paid a group of criminals, brought them in trucks,� he said on Saturday on television, promising compensation to those who lost property.

At the same time, the government also blames the shortages on an �economic war� in which they accuse wealthy business owners of hoarding food and charging exorbitant prices, creating artificial shortages to profit from the country�s misery.

It has left shop owners feeling under siege, particularly those who do not have Spanish names.

�Look how we are working today,� said Maria Basmagi, whose family immigrated from Syria a generation ago, pointing to the metal grate pulled over the window of her shoe store.

Her shop was on the commercial boulevard in Barcelona, another coastal town wracked by unrest last week. At 11 a.m. the day before, someone screamed that there was an attack on a government-run kitchen nearby. Every shop on Ms. Basmagi�s street closed down in fear.

Other shops stay open, like the bakery in Cuman� where a line of 100 people snaked around a corner. Each person was allowed to buy about a pound of bread. Robert Astudillo, a 23-year-old father of two, was not sure there would be any left once his turn came. He said he still had corn flour to make arepas, a Venezuelan staple, for his children. They had not eaten meat in months.

�We make the arepas small,� he said.

In the refrigerator of Araselis Rodriguez and Nestor Daniel Reina, the parents of four small children, there was not even corn flour � just a few limes and some bottles of water.

The family had eaten bread for breakfast and soup for lunch made from fish that Mr. Reina had managed to catch. The family had nothing for dinner.

It has not always been clear what provokes the riots. Is it hunger alone? Or is it some larger anger that has built up in a country that has crumbled?

In�s Rodr�guez was not sure. She remembered calling out to the crowd of people who had come to sack her restaurant on Tuesday night, offering them all the chicken and rice the restaurant had if they would only leave the furniture and cash register behind. They balked at the offer and simply pushed her aside, Ms. Rodr�guez said.

�It is the meeting of hunger and crime now,� she said.

As she spoke, three trucks with armed patrols drove by, each emblazoned with photos of Mr. Ch�vez and Mr. Maduro.

The trucks were carrying food.

�Finally they come here,� Ms. Rodr�guez said. �And look what it took to get them. It took this riot to get us something to eat.�

I don't think all that "economic planning" turned out quite the way all those socialists predicted.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Governments can run school lunches, prison and jail chow, and military chow. How they can't seem to run some public feeding centers out there like the Romans did, is beyond reprehensible.

If you can't or won't feed the people in your household, then by default, it's no longer your household.

Was that a serious question? What color are the trees on Mr. Casey's planet?

Hungry, hopeless people are the most dangerous animals on the planet.

Just wait till the EBTs quit working for good. It'll make Venezuela look like a kindergarten egg hunt.

Two good quotes here that I agree with.
If you can't or won't feed the people in your household, then by default, it's no longer your household.

Just wait till the EBTs quit working for good. It'll make Venezuela look like a kindergarten egg hunt.

Considering the free fall of oil after Brexit, Venezuela will not be able to recoup from its leadership blunders any time soon.

That socialist paradise just keeps getting better. Now Maduro wants to ban opposing political parties, because of "fraud" in the recall vote.

Onward and upward,
airforce

From Socialist Utopia To Slave-Nation - Venezuela Unveils Shocking "Forced Labor" Law

by Tyler Durden
Jul 29, 2016

While we here in the United States debate pressing issues in the wake of the upcoming Presidential election, like the urgent need for gender-neutral bathrooms, the people of Venezuela remain entrenched in a food crisis that continues to sow widespread unrest which has become increasingly violent in recent months (see our post here). So what do you do if you�re the President of a Socialist government with mounting civil unrest and growing political opposition seeking your ouster via a recall referendum? Well you enslave your entire nation, of course.

As Vice News reports, President Nicol�s Maduro signed a new law last week that requires "all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how" to work in agricultural fields on demand. The new law mandates that citizens can be required to work in the agricultural sector for a period of 60 days which can be extended "if the circumstances require it."

While we�re �sure� President Maduro�s intentions are good, we�re somewhat skeptical of his plan. As we recently reported (here), the real issue at hand in Venezuela is, of course, the hyperinflation death spiral gripping the Socialist nation in the wake of the collapse of their oil-dependent economy. As Miguel P�rez Abad, minister of industry and business, recently told Reuters the decline in domestic production is being exacerbated by plummeting imports which are likely to fall by 60 percent this year, compared to 2015. As a local baker pointed out, "We cannot make more subsidized bread with the current cost of flour. We always end up losing, but we cannot afford to stop making bread either."

Per the FT, local merchants are being forced by an increasingly oppressive military to sell groceries at a loss to avoid civil unrest:

�They went into all the shops in the area, forcing us to sell at a loss,� says Daniel, not his real name, of the incident earlier this month. The army men demanded that Daniel sell his beef at 250 bol�vares (roughly $0.25 at black market rates) a kilo, even though he explained it cost 3,000 bol�vars to buy from his suppliers.



�They told me the beef belonged to the people and stayed seven hours as a huge queue formed outside.�

Not wanting to be outdone by his U.S. counterparts who masterfully utilize complicit media outlets to control news cycles at their will (see our recent post here), President Maduro has repeatedly taken to the airwaves to blame the food shortages in Venezuela on an "economic war" waged by right-wing businesses, and supported by US imperialism, who seek to bring down his Socialist regime. Just last month, Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency based on his fears that the U.S. was plotting a coup attempt. Per Vice News:

He alleges that business owners are sabotaging the economy in an effort to force him out. Maduro accuses them of wanting to bury the socialist legacy of his popular predecessor, President Hugo Ch�vez, who created a solid base of support among the poor thanks to oil-subsidized social programs and price-controlled food.

Meanwhile, Antonio Pestana, chief of Venezuela's farming association, indicated that Venezuela�s food crisis was a simple issue related to the underutilization of available ag land, telling reporters last month that only 25 percent of agricultural land is actually being farmed in Venezuela. While we don�t doubt Mr. Pestana�s figures, we�re not sure how enslaving a nation of people helps to alleviate Venezuela�s food crisis. Without the ability to import critically important irrigation equipment and fertilizer supplies, due to a useless currency, we�re not sure what use additional ag labor will be. We�ve heard that singing to plants can help improve yields, perhaps that is the plan?

Yeah well, if they want to eat then they should work, and rioting might be hard work, but it's not work.

President Maduro has doubled the minimum wage for Venezuela. At the official exchange rate (which no one will pay), that makes the minimum Venezuelan hourly wage and food bonus equal to $66.06.

Yeah, that should solve the problem. :rolleyes:

Onward and upward,
airforce

President Maduro has found a way to put an end to lines extending outside bakeries. He\'s going to ban lines that extend outside bakeries.

Yes, you read that right. He's going to fine bakeries that allow lines to extend outside their doors, because those lines induce "anxiety" among the people.

Um, no, El Presidente. It's the lack of bread that spreads anxiety among the people.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Well heck, why doesn't he just ban poverty and inflation?

Magical thinking seems to be a common thing with his type,

Is doomsday inevitable for Venezuela? At this point, I'd say yes.

As Robert A. Heinlein would say, this is what is known as "bad luck."

Onward and upward,
airforce

Is Venezuela seeking closer ties with Iran? It looks like it, but I'm personally not real concerned. If Iran wants to sink money into the black hole that is Venezuela, that's their business.

Onward and upward,
airforce

President Maduro is increasing the minimum wage by 50%. This is kind of like treating cancer with cigarettes.

Onward and upward,
airforce

50% increase in minimum wage... There, that aught to fix it their ailing economy....

Why are people protesting in Venezuela? According to Rachel Maddow at MSNBC, it\'s because of donations the government made to the trump campaign .

Seriously.

Um, no, Rachel. They're protesting because they don't have enough to eat. But you can bet they're dear leader, socialist Nicolas Maduro, isn't missing any meals.

See it for yourself here. You can't make this stuff up.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela was once touted as an example of a progressive, prosperous South American country.

It's collapse should serve as a lesson to all.

Socialist death squads are propping up Maduro. That's not the headline for the New York Times story, of course. In fact, the words "socialism" or "socialists" never appear in it.

When we hear those antifa groups talk about arming themselves, maybe we should start paying attention.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The Venezuela opposition wants the military on their side. I'm not a big fan of military juntas, but anything would be better than what they have now.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Maduro says he and his cronies are like the Jews under Hitler. Um, no.

You can't make this stuff up.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Why the Left refuses to talk about Venezuela. A new article at the Mises Institute.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Very good link there...

The leftist always say that we can't compare soviet communism to "democratic socialism" because the soviet version was "authoritarian and undemocratic"...

But Venezuela is the perfect counter to their failed argument.

Socialism simply has not ever worked, nor can it ever work, due to the inherent flaw that it denies human nature and every law of economics.

Silly Americans mock Venezuela�s 99.5% currency collapse, thinking it can�t happen here

by: JD Heyes

(Natural News) Yet another real-life attempt at creating a successful Marxist government is going down in flames � this time in Venezuela � harming millions of people in the process even as the far-Left government of President Nicolas Maduro doubles, triples and quadruples down on the same failed fiscal policies.

To say that the country is an economic basket case is a gross understatement. Inflation can only be described as runaway; the country�s currency isn�t even worth the paper it is printed on; few can afford even basic foodstuffs and supplies and the government is broke. Store shelves are empty; there is fighting in the streets; the murder rate is soaring, and the army has to guard shipments of goods.

As reported by Zero Hedge, the anger has gotten so bad over conditions in what used to be South America�s economic behemoth, demonstrators are resorting to throwing �bombs� full of feces at government forces, as the currency (the bolivar) collapses again by 99.5 percent � 5,100 bolivars to every $1.

The monetary depreciation and inflation are so extreme that most peoples� savings have been obliterated. It�s all but impossible to buy imported goods � and domestic production of goods has also fallen dramatically.

Like all good socialists, Maduro � who is essentially a dictator � has arbitrarily raised the minimum wage something like 20 times during his tenure (much like Democrats in the U.S. want to do and have done). But because artificially raising wages without taking into consideration whether businesses can even afford to pay them is a recipe for fiscal disaster, they have done no good and still only amount to about $40 a month. In fact, raising the wages by dictate rather than allowing the free market to determine wages has only made things worse.

Hence the feces bombs, which, as El Pais reports, some have dubbed �Puputov cocktails� on social media. Fast becoming the �weapon� of choice to hurl at government forces, demonstrators launch them with giant slingshots called a �crapapult.�

You can�t make this stuff up.

And yet, they are part of the political reality in Venezuela today: Socialism taken to the extreme is directly responsible for the destruction of this once proud, once prosperous country.

�These kids live in a dictatorship, they have no other option but to protest however they see fit,� Maria Montilla, 49, staged behind the lines of a group of protestors, told El Pais.

�There�s nothing explosive here. It�s out way of saying, �Get lost Maduro, you�re useless!�� one protestor, who requested anonymity, added.

Miguel Torres, the one-time spy chief for Maduro�s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, has broken with the current government. He sees major trouble ahead � even civil war � if nothing changes and the already massive protests spread even further to the poorer, generally pro-Chavez countryside.

�What is happening may be the starting point for a huge armed confrontation between Venezuelans,� he told Reuters. �Nobody wants that.�

Unfortunately, far too many Americans living in deep blue states and who were enamored with the presidential candidacy of socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would favor exactly the kind of government that is destroying Venezuela and has left other countries like Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and others in desperate poverty.

If that form of government ever takes hold, it would not only be an economic disaster for the world, since the U.S. dollar is the globe�s reserve currency, it would doom generations of Americans to the same hopelessness and endless cycles of poverty and desperation being seen now in Venezuela and other socialist governments.

Anyone who seriously believes that America�s currency would not undergo a catastrophic, deadly collapse under socialist government is no serious student of history. The evidence proving otherwise abounds.

Stay informed at Collapse.news and Rioting.news.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

The Death Cult of Collectivism. An old article, by Ludwig von Mises himself. It's not an easy read, nothing he wrote ever was, but the truth is not always easy.

Onward and upward,
airforce

As Venezuela Inches Toward Syria-Style War, U.S. Weapons Are Not the Answer

by Joseph M. Humire23 May 2017

For months the protests in Venezuela have been escalating and, last week, The Miami Herald revealed an audio recording suggesting that military snipers could be used against the Venezuelan protesters.

The implications of such an action would undoubtedly be an escalation of force in an already violent situation. Such lethal force by the military on Venezuelans could provoke the opposition to seek weapons and other arms to defend themselves.

Undoubtedly, they would turn to the U.S. for support. The Trump administration should not listen.

Anyone certain that they know what to do about Venezuela should be ignored. The situation on the ground is much more complex than a simple civil war between the regime and opposition elements. Wars are never that clean. What is brewing in Venezuela is a situation more like Syria, with various factions and extra-regional actors, far different than anything we�ve seen recently in Latin America. U.S. intervention without good intelligence would be counterproductive at best and could lead to a full-blown regional conflict.

Moreover, such a move would fall right into the military plans of the Venezuelan regime and their external allies.

An ongoing political-military buildup has been taking place in Venezuela over the last decade. While the country is short on food and medicine, there is an abundance of military armament courtesy of Iran, Russia, and China. This buildup culminated this January with a joint, multinational military exercise called Zamora 200, in which over a half million military members and civilian militiamen rehearsed Venezuela�s defense to invasion by a NATO force led by the United States and Colombia. Colombia began talks with NATO in late 2016 to potentially become a full member. The wargaming exercise conducted in Venezuela obviously had this in mind.

The Zamora 200 military exercise had three distinct phases, the last of which culminated in the breakout of a civil war. The Venezuelan regime wants the world to believe that Plan Zamora, which is the real-time execution of the military exercise, is a civil-military plan to quell the insecurity and instability in the country and prevent any so-called �coup d�etat.� In reality, Plan Zamora is likely designed to manufacture a coup, catalyze a civil war, and provoke the U.S. to intervene.

This is a tactic taken from Cuba�s counterintelligence playbook on disinformation and deception, planned and perfected for years throughout the Havana- and Caracas-led Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). In Bolivia, according to several independent reports, President Evo Morales allegedly concocted an autogolpe (self-coup) in 2009 by framing a fake terrorist plot that drew out his political opposition in Santa Cruz. A year later, in 2010, a similar event took place in Ecuador when then-president Rafael Correa shouted from the police headquarters in Quito to apparently try and provoke the police to fire their weapons at him.

The late Venezuelan caudillo and Maduro�s mentor, Hugo Ch�vez, was also accused of staging the 2002 coup d�etat to consolidate power and deflect blame to the U.S. for �intervening.�

Thus far, the Trump administration has been prudent, reverting to sanctions and strong rhetoric to stand up for human rights and protect U.S. national security interests. It seems President Maduro is not satisfied, telling President Trump to �get your pig hands out of here,� implying that U.S. intervention is already underway.

In reality, it is the Venezuelan regime that has already brought foreign intervention into Venezuela by calling on Cuba, Iran, and Russia to circumvent its sovereignty and provide lethal aid to its violent suppression and intimidation of the Venezuelan people. Just last month, both the Russian and Iranian defense ministers met with Venezuela�s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino L�pez, in Moscow to confirm they will send strong military and armed support to Venezuela.

What the Venezuelan regime and its extra-regional allies are looking for is a way to blame the Trump administration for what their policies have created in the country. A civil war is the only way the current regime and its allies can maintain power; however, the regime cannot simply go to war against its own people. They need a clear enemy and, if the Trump administration changes its policy to anything that can be portrayed as interventionist, it will make itself into the enemy that the Venezuelan regime and its allies crave.

Joseph M. Humire is the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), a DC-based, global think tank. And the co-editor of �Iran�s Strategic Penetration of Latin America� published by Lexington Books.

Venezuela's unbelievable currency collapse is getting worse

by Patrick Gillespie

Venezuela's currency is in free fall.

Violent protests are growing, the economy is spiraling further out of control and Venezuelans are suffering through shortages of food and medicine. And the bolivar, already worth next to nothing, keeps losing value.

At the beginning of the year, it took about 3,000 bolivars to buy one U.S. dollar. By Wednesday, it took almost 8,000. That's according to dolartoday.com, which tracks the unofficial exchange rate used by most Venezuelans because official rates are considered overvalued.

"I'd describe it as the result of a government that prints money like it's confetti," says Raul Gallegos, senior analyst at Control Risks, an international consulting firm. "The government has simply employed the wrong policies to stay in power."

Government corruption and mismanagement have triggered hyperinflation. Prices are set to rise a staggering 720% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The collapse of the economy and currency has driven shortages in food, medicine and basic products like toilet paper.

The country has been gripped by unrest as Venezuelans call for President Nicolas Maduro to step down or hold democratic elections. Since late March, 74 people have been killed and more than 1,400 injured in protests.

On Tuesday, the crisis escalated when a Venezuelan police officer and a team of accomplices stole a government helicopter and flew it over the Supreme Court, firing shots and lobbing grenades. The police officer demanded that Maduro resign.

Venezuelan lawmakers opposed to Maduro also clashed with national guard officers outside the National Assembly in a dispute involving an upcoming vote on constitutional changes.

Late Tuesday night, Venezuela's Supreme Court justices -- Maduro appointees -- stripped the attorney general of the power to investigate human rights abuses. They gave the power instead to an ombudsman friendly to Maduro.

Venezuela sits on the world's largest oil reserves and was once the wealthiest nation in South America. But since 1999 the government has focused only on selling oil to other countries and abandoned management of other natural resources and critical infrastructure.

Now Venezuela is running out of money. Its central bank only has $10 billion in reserves, which are intended to be a cushion to weather a crisis. In 2011, it had $30 billion.

--Lonzo Cook and Marilia Brocchetto contributed to this report.

Meanwhile In Venezuela, The Real Mad Max Emerges

Bikers chase, bomb sugar truck to steal payload

Zero Hedge - July 12, 2017



While Silicon Valley seems obsessed by �blood boys�, its another part of the world that appears to have gone full Mad Max. As the following clip shows a gang of bikers chase down and attack a truck (with molotov cocktails) to steal its sugar payload�

https://youtu.be/eOQfDMTlDjI

Not quite the �Guzzoline� or �Bullets� that Fury Road offers, but when all you have to eat is flamingoes or black stallions, sugar may be a good substitute worth risking your life over�

With each passing week, the situation in Venezuela keeps on getting worse.

Not quite the socialist utopia that Bernie Sanders longed for? Or more pointedly � this is exactly the dystopia one can expect from such policies of �redistribution� and central planning.

Battle Lines Are Being Drawn In Venezuela As The Socialist Nation Inches Toward Civil War

Venezuela is a powder keg, and it could blow at any time

Mac Slavo SHTFplan.com - July 25, 2017


You may recall this bizarre incident that occurred last month in Venezuela.

A rogue police officer by the name of Oscar Perez, who is also well known in Venezuela for starring in several B-rated action movies, commandeered a helicopter, before dropping grenades on the nation�s Supreme Court building and strafing the Interior Ministry with gunfire. It was without a doubt, the strangest moment to come out of that nation�s ongoing civil unrest.

But this brazen attack isn�t just odd. In fact, it may portend something much more serious that is simmering under the surface of Venezuela�s slow motion social collapse. It�s a sign that Venezuela is very close to erupting into a full-blown civil war.

Recently, a stolen police helicopter attacked the Venezuelan Supreme Court with grenades and automatic weapons. While no one was hurt, the incident should serve as a wake-up call for the entire Western Hemisphere, including the United States. The attack demonstrates a quantum escalation of the hunger-fueled conflict that has consumed the country for close to a year. Hunger is the key word. Hunger is the most basic of human suffering. Remember that rising food prices helped fuel the Arab Spring, which has left the world with a chaotic, fractured, refugee-hemorrhaging Middle East.

Obviously, the lack of food in Venezuela is a key factor in that nation�s unrest. Multiple studies have shown in the past that when food prices escalate to a certain point, riots and revolutions become very likely, even in cases where the population isn�t specifically revolting over the price of food. But in any case the lack of food, skyrocketing crime, rampant corruption, and flippant tyranny that are all fueling the unrest, and giving people like Oscar Perez lots of support in both high and low places.

Is Venezuela in danger of becoming another Syria? Maybe. The helicopter pilot, Oscar Perez, posted a bare-faced declaration online describing himself as representative of a group of �nationalists, patriots, and institutionalists.� The fact that he has been allowed to slip quietly back into the shadows illustrates how much of the population is willing to hide him. Even more distressing is the fact that his group even had access to a helicopter, a fact illustrating how much support they may have within Venezuela�s government institutions.

We can deduce from Perez�s attack that there are battle lines being drawn in Venezuela right now, and those lines run right through the middle of the civilian population, the military, the police, and the political class (and yes, that line does run through the middle of society, because there are still millions of people who support President Maduro).

And that�s what makes civil wars possible. They don�t usually occur in countries where millions of unarmed civilians hate the government, and the government is staffed by plenty of loyalists. These wars tend to happen in places where the soldiers and cops are also divided along partisan lines. That way, you have a lot of people armed to the teeth with the best weapons government tax dollars can buy, and those people become two separate armed camps with divergent views and political goals.

You can�t have a war unless there are two sides with a lot of firepower, and that�s what we see in Venezuela right now. That nation is a powder keg, and it could blow at any time.

Venezuelan authorities crush military rebellion -ruling official

Reuters Sunday, 6 August 2017

By Corina Pons and Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities have suppressed a military rebellion near the central city of Valencia, a ruling official said on Sunday, less than two days after President Nicolas Maduro formed a legislative superbody internationally condemned as a power grab.

Socialist Party deputy Diosdado Cabello made the announcement shortly after the release of a video showing a group of men in military uniform announcing a rebellion and calling for a broad uprising. But the rest of the country appeared to be calm, with the capital Caracas waking to a quiet Sunday morning.

One witness in the area of a military base in the town of Naguanagua reported hearing gunshots before dawn, but Cabello said the situation had been brought under control. Officials said the rebels, whom they described as "terrorists," were trying to steal weapons and that seven people were detained after the attack on the base.

The Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But government allies were quick to denounce the attack as a right-wing plot aimed at bringing down the "Bolivarian revolution" started nearly 20 years ago by the late Hugo Chavez and carried on by his protege Maduro.

"These attacks, planned by delirious minds in Miami, only strengthen the morale of our armed forces and the Bolivarian people," tweeted Socialist Party official Elias Jaua.

On Friday, government allies inaugurated a new legislative superbody that the Venezuelan opposition and leaders around the world denounced as a power grab by Maduro.

In Sunday's video, a man who identified himself as Juan Carlos Caguaripano, a former National Guard captain, said: "We demand the immediate formation of a transition government." He was flanked by about a dozen men in military uniforms.

"This is not a coup d'etat," he said. "This is a civic and military action to re-establish constitutional order. But more than that, it is to save the country from total destruction."

Local reporters published videos appearing to show dozens of Venezuelans near the base in Valencia taking to the streets to protest the government before being pushed back with tear gas. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the footage.

Six weeks ago a rogue policemen attacked key installations in Caracas by helicopter, failing to spark a larger movement.

ARMED FORCES IN SPOTLIGHT

Venezuelans view the armed forces as the key power broker in their country, and opposition leaders have repeatedly exhorted the military to break with Maduro.

But the top brass continues to publicly profess loyalty to his government. Critics say juicy government contracts, corruption, and contraband mean many military officials want Maduro to stay in office and fear persecution should the opposition take power.

Since April more than 120 people have been killed in unrest as rock-throwing protesters were met by state security forces firing rubber bullets and water cannon. (http://tmsnrt.rs/2ujuylf)

Maduro's new "constituent assembly" removed the chief prosecutor from her post over the weekend and ordered her to stand trial, confirming opposition fears that it would use its powers to root out critics of the government.

The prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, had become Maduro's main challenger from within the ruling socialist movement since the start of sustained opposition street protests four months ago.

Venezuelan authorities on Sunday accused the political opposition of being linked to the Valencia rebellion, raising the specter of a further crackdown on dissent in coming days.

Oil-rich but economically ailing Venezuela has a long history of instability. Maduro's mentor Chavez was a military officer who started his political career with a 1992 coup attempt, for which he served time in jail before winning the presidency six years later. Chavez died of cancer in 2013.

(Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Additional reporting by Girish Gupta, Deisy Buitrago and Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Louise Ireland and Lisa Shumaker)

If this doesn't convince people in America that prepping, resource self reliance, and forming mutual aid groups with like minded individuals is necessary, nothing will.I would really like to know if Venezuelans in the country have it as bad as those in the cities?

Venezuela on the brink. Jeff Deist interviews two Venezuelan libertarians, about 36 minutes.

Onward and upward,
airforce

GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces have systematically wielded excessive force to suppress protests, killing dozens, and have arbitrarily detained 5,000 people since April, including 1,000 still in custody, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday.

It called on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to rein in security forces and investigate alleged abuses and release people from arbitrary detention.

On Friday, Venezuela inaugurated a new legislative superbody that is expected to rewrite the constitution and give vast powers to Maduro's ruling Socialist Party, defying protests and worldwide condemnation that it undermines democratic freedoms.

"We are concerned that the situation in Venezuela is escalating and these patterns of human rights violations are showing no signs of abating," U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.

The ousting of Attorney-General Luisa Ortega, an outspoken government critic, was a sign of an "increasing undermining of democratic institutions and of independent institutions", she said, calling on the government to ensure her safety.

On Tuesday, Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of opposition mayor Ramon Muchacho of the Caracas district of Chacao, the site of intense anti-government protests.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement: "These violations have occurred amid the breakdown of the rule of law in Venezuela, with constant attacks by the Government against the National Assembly and the Attorney-General�s Office.

"The responsibility for the human rights violations we are recording lies at the highest levels of Government.�

U.N. human rights officers were not allowed into Venezuela, but issued preliminary findings based on 135 interviews in Panama and from Geneva in June and July with victims, families, witnesses, doctors and lawyers. They also received information from the Venezuelan ombudsman's office.

Of 124 deaths investigated, they found at least 46 attributable to security forces and 27 to pro-government armed groups, with the rest unclear.

"Witnesses spoke of security forces firing tear gas and buckshot at anti-Government protestors without warning. Several of the individuals interviewed said tear gas canisters were used at short range, and marbles, buckshot and nuts and bolts were used as ammunition," Shamdasani said.

Ill-treatment and torture have been reported in detention, including beatings, use of electric shocks, hanging detainees by their wrists and "suffocation with gas", she said.

"Journalists have reportedly been shot at with tear gas canisters and buck shot and been detained, threatened and had their equipment taken on several occasions," she added.

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

Venezuela used to be South America's breadbasket. Now, Venezuelans are forced to scavenge for food to feed their children .

The infuriating thing about Trump, is that sometimes he's right. When he said that Venezuela is an example of socialism enacted faithfully, he was spot on.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela had one good thing going for it, its oil. And now the quality of the crude they\'re shipping to refiners is a problem. It's all because of the hoarders and wreckers, certainly.

Onward and upward,
airforce

venezuela is issuing a new 100,000 Bolivar note. It's worth a whopping $2.42 for now, but not likely for long. One thing centrally planned economies are good at doing, is adding zeros onto their currencies.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela has just defaulted on its debt. For people who thought the situation in Venezuela couldn't get any worse, they're about to find out otherwise.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Before the wrath of "democratic socialism" (ala Bernie Sanders)... Venezuela was a food exporter. The Oranoco River valley has rich fertile soil, and with its low latitude location (right near the equator) they can grow two full season of many cereal grains and major crops. They also have regular tropical rains so little need for irrigation.

This happened in the old Soviet Union in the 1920s, in Eastern Europe in the 1950s, in Cuba and North Korea from the 1960s on, and in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) since the 1980s.

It never works, never will. It can't. Yet the democrats in our nation will still insist that these are not fair comparisons and that it just needs to be carried out properly...

Hyperinflation in Venezuela. Merchants are demanding payment in dollars, because the price in bolivars changes every hour.

Onward and upward,
airforce

This is why monetary monopoly is bad. Currencies should compete like other goods/services.

Venezuela, with the highest proven oil reserves in the world, is out of gasoline.

Onward and upward,
airforce

I want to know: When will the Venezuelan people wake up and overthrow their corrupt government?

Venezuela is in default on eight bond issues. And their oil industry is still deteriorating.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Nicolas Maduro has a wonderful plan...nancial persecution" facing his country.

He's... going to eliminate three zeros from his nation's currency.

You can't make this stuff up.

Onward and upward,
airforce

With it's oil industry collapsing, Venezuela now has to import oil . They're paying $80 or $90 a barrel for oil, and selling it at the pumps for $0.

This is like something out of Atlas Shrugged.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Here's another socialist success. Venezuela is importing oil from the U.S. , paying $80 to $90 a barrel and selling it for $0.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Mounting economic chaos leaves many Venezuelans in the dark

SCOTT SMITH,Associated Press�May 4, 2018

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) � A month-long blackout in Jennifer Naranjo's neighborhood in the Venezuelan port city of Maracaibo leaves her anxious. She's eight months pregnant and passes hot, sleepless nights with no air conditioning, swatting away mosquitoes, worried about her unborn daughter's future.

"I dream about getting ahead for my baby," said Naranjo, whose husband left in January to find work in Chile. "In Venezuela, the situation gets worse every day."

Blackouts are nothing new under two decades of socialist rule in Venezuela. But they've grown more frequent, and are lasting longer, as the OPEC nation's economy hits a breaking point with hyperinflation making increasingly scarce food and medicine unaffordable for many.

Naranjo's La Chinita neighborhood has gone without power since late March, when a transformer exploded. Officials repeatedly promised the parts needed to repair it would arrive the next day. So far they haven't come.

The four-block area is a small symptom of a vastly more widespread problem that is generating unrest across much of Venezuela, including Maracaibo, a city of 1.5 million people that has long exported energy in the form of oil across the world.

Venezuela's government doesn't publish figures charting power outages, but the human rights organization Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict reports that blackouts prompted 325 street protests across Venezuela in the first three months of 2018.

Maracaibo witnessed the greatest number of protests, said organization director Marco Ponce, including one where residents blocked a busy street and a 15-year-old boy was shot dead by a passing motorist.

A massive blackout put most of Maracaibo in the dark for Christmas Eve, and since then officials have rationed power across the sprawling city. Scheduled blackouts eat up at least 11 hours a day, not counting unplanned failures.

With air conditioners idle and daytime April temperatures often nearing 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), families throw open their doors and windows to allow in any hint of a breeze � along with mosquitoes. Naranjo, 20, fears a bite could infect her and her daughter, Pamela, with the Zika virus, which has stricken about 70 of Maracaibo's infants with microcephaly, according to the local charity My Miracle Foundation, which supports children with the illness.

With failing light switches and wall plugs, residents also can't charge phones or run television sets, so they often pass time chatting with neighbors in the street. They have to cook and eat by candles, which are costly.

"We can't wait any longer," said homemaker Elsa de Suarez, 58, who says her lifeless refrigerator doesn't allow her to keep food from spoiling. "It's an emergency."

Venezuela's status as home to the world's largest fossil fuel reserves should have made it immune to an energy crisis. It also has the Guri Dam, one of the world's largest hydro-electric projects and the cornerstone of an electrical grid once the envy of Latin America that has now fallen into disrepair.

Experts say only two or three of Maracaibo's 24 fuel-powered turbines still run after years of neglect, eking out just 10 percent of their previous output. Other power comes from the dilapidated national grid.

Maj. Gen. Luis Motta, Maduro's minister of electrical power, blamed a series of recent outages in Maracaibo on saboteurs attempting to undermine the government. They attacked power substations using Molotov cocktails, he said on state TV, without providing evidence. He didn't respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment.

However, experts say the power crisis is the government's own making. Powerful officials have been accused in U.S. court proceedings of looting investments earmarked for the electrical system and the country has kept home power bills among the cheapest in the world, around 1 cent a month, meaning the grid depends heavily on subsidies from a government with increasing financial problems.

The shortages are adding to the misery of a Venezuelan economic collapse on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s and as production in the oil industry � the largest consumer of power � has fallen to the lowest levels in decades.

Winston Cabas, president of the Association of Electrical Engineers of Venezuela, estimates that it would take an infusion of $50 billion over a decade to restore the country's electrical system, which he said is as precarious as Haiti's after the 2010 earthquake.

"The problem is not sabotage or terrorism," said Cabas. "The problem is corruption."

Venezuelans just want their lights on.

In downtown Maracaibo, more than 100 senior citizens recently grew frustrated standing in line for hours outside a bank waiting for the power to come so they could cash their monthly pension checks to buy food.

Across the bay, a group of fisherman mending shrimping nets paused when they heard the hum of their refrigerator die from another outage. They worried this was the one that would finally fry the refrigerator where they store their catches.

La Chinita residents show visitors the charred transformer box hanging on a pole. Then they roll up a sleeve to reveal fresh mosquito bites from the night before.

Many gather each evening on a corner in front of a mustard-colored flat-roofed home as dusk turns to dark. Bug repellent is too expensive, so one man burns a cardboard egg carton, which smolders slowly and helps keep the mosquitoes away.

A woman flips through the pages on a clipboard detailing the blackout's impact on La Chinita's 135 residents, including 29 young children and at least three bedridden elderly neighbors. She shows the record to officials urging their help.

Naranjo, pregnant, eats by the light of a shrinking candle stub. Unable to charge her phone at home, she can only talk to her husband in Chile once every three or four days. They often talk about her following him abroad.

For now, Naranjo remains fixated on finding money to deliver her baby in a good clinic and on buying her own mosquito net. She feels guilty asking relatives for too much help.

"Everything is so expensive," she says.

The candle flickers from a breeze and she stops eating to cup her hand behind the flame to shield it from blowing out and leaving her in the dark.

Nikki Haley says it\'s time for Maduro to go.

He won't go until there's nothing left to loot.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Late-stage socialism,Venezuela edition. There is a wave under way to seize the assets of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, because "No one wants to be last in line."

Onward and upward,
airforce

Nicolas Maduro has won another term as president of Venezuela. Not exactly a surprise.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Could China save Venezuela?

Onward and upward,
airforce

Killings by security forces rife in Venezuela, rule of law 'virtually absent': U.N.

Stephanie Nebehay


GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces suspected of killing hundreds of demonstrators and alleged criminals enjoy immunity from prosecution, indicating that the rule of law is “virtually absent” in the country, the United Nations said on Friday.

The U.N. human rights office called on the government to bring perpetrators to justice and said it was sending its report to the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation in February.

The U.N. report cited “credible, shocking” accounts of extrajudicial killings of young men during crime-fighting operations in poor neighbourhoods conducted without arrest warrants. Security forces would tamper with the scene so that there appeared to have been an exchange of fire, it said.

There was no immediate response from the government of President Nicolas Maduro to the report.

Critics say Maduro has used increasingly authoritarian tactics as the OPEC nation’s economy has spiralled deeper into recession and hyperinflation, fuelling discontent and prompting hundreds of thousands to emigrate in the past year.

About 125 people died in anti-government protests last year.

Security forces were allegedly responsible for killing at least 46 of them, U.N. rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing, adding: “Evidence has reportedly disappeared from case files.”

Maduro says the opposition protests were aimed at overthrowing him and accuses the United States of directing an “economic war” against Venezuela.

“The failure to hold security forces accountable for such serious human rights violations suggests that the rule of law is virtually absent in Venezuela,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “The impunity must end.”

Zeid called on the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday to set up an international commission of inquiry into alleged violations in Venezuela — one of its 47 member states.

“The time has come for the Council to use its voice to speak out before this tragic downward spiral becomes irreversible,” Leila Swan of Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday.

The unpopular Maduro has cast the release of dozens of opposition members as a peace gesture following his re-election to a new six-year term last month, which was condemned by most Western nations as an undemocratic farce. His government denies the detainees are political prisoners.

Venezuela is suffering from an economic collapse that includes chronic shortages of food and medicine and annualised inflation around 25,000 percent. Maduro blames an “economic war” directed by the opposition and the United States — which has imposed new sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry.

Under previous attorney-general Luisa Ortega Diaz, who fled Venezuela last year, 357 security officers were believed to be under investigation for crime-related killings, but there has been no public information since then, the report said.

Higher oil prices won't save Venezuela. Venezuela was one of the richest countries in South America - when oil was $18 a barrel. The price of oil is not what's wrong with Venezuela.



Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela's inflation rate could reach ONE MILLION PERCENT by the end of the year. And that, folks, is hyper-inflation.

What does an inflation rate like that even mean? If you can buy a candy bar for a dollar now, ONE HOUR FROM NOW it will cost $2.15.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela removes zeros from currency to slash inflation. Yes, you read that right. That should cure the 1,000,000% inflation in Venezuela.



Socialist countries eventually run out of everything except zeros. You can't make this stuff up.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela just raised the minimum wage 3000%. Can you guess what happened?

Yep. Workers are getting fired.



Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela’s Economic Collapse Was Enabled by its Central Bank

Venezuela was the fourth richest economy in the world in the 1950s!

By Mises.org Tuesday, January 22, 2019

One of the most remarkable aspects of the economic meltdown in Venezuela is just how far the country has fallen in terms of economic prosperity.

After all, Venezuela was the fourth richest economy in the world in the 1950s. The Venezuelan currency, “the bolivar” was one of Latin America’s strongest currencies during Venezuela’s peak from the 1950s to 1970s.

However, the economic meltdown in Venezuela has its origins, in part, in the founding of the Venezuelan central bank in 1939. This was followed by the nationalization of the oil industry in the 1970s by Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Perez, which was coupled with the central bank’s easy money policies. The final crisis has come with the socialist /communist measures of the past twenty years.

Rising oil prices in the 1970s brought wild speculation in Venezuela. State agencies and private enterprises continuously encouraged and engaged in massive amounts of loans in an unregulated, corrupt banking system , in the naïve belief that an everlasting boom could be sustained. The nations central bank helped fuel the fire.

Oil revenues had reached a peak during Carlos Andres Perez’ presidency, but despite the incredible amount of oil revenues, the national debt reached unprecedented levels. As oil prices eventually collapsed in the 1980s, the bubble burst and Venezuela suffered a banking crisis followed by a deep recession. Government’s use of easy-money policies from the supposedly “independent” central bank was in full swing, and the government used inflationary monetary policy to finance ever higher levels of government spending. This was the beginning of the end.


Eventually, debts began to go bad, and the banking crisis brought with it a currency crisis, as the Venezuelan bolívar suffered its first major devaluation, of nearly 100 percent, on the so called Black Friday of February 18, 1983. The Bolivar has never recovered to its pre-crisis levels and has suffered even larger devaluations since.

When everyone thought that the economic crisis couldn’t get any worse, then Venezuelan presidential candidate Hugo Chávez was able to capitalize on the economic instability plaguing the 90s and win the 1998 presidential elections. His presidency turned into a full-blown socialist/communist regime supporting an agenda of widespread nationalization of private industry. Chávez’s anti-growth policies brought Venezuela to its knees and ultimately destroyed the economy.

But none of this could have been possible without the central bank which enabled the regime to finance its own programs with endless waves of money printing.

This led to price inflation, which the regime than attempted to fight with prince controls. This had had some of the most devastating effects on the Venezuelan economy. According to a Johns Hopkins study by María Belén Wu:

In 2003, Chávez installed price controls for essential consumer products, which increased supply shortages from an average of 5 percent to 22.2 percent in 2013, the last record published by the central bank. Currently, in 2016, the shortage of products in the basic household consumption basket has quadrupled and stands at 41.3 percent.

The exponential increase in Venezuela’s monetary base as well as in official CPI inflation, had devastating effects on the economy and society as a whole. The continuous devaluation of the bolívar occurred with such speed and momentum that in January 2008 the government decided to create a new currency, the bolívar fuerte, by eliminating three zeros from the old currency. Obviously, this did not eliminate the core problem.

The last two decades have been marked by the Venezuelan government nationalization of the banks. As the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez nationalized the banks, he added that clients of the banks should not be alarmed: “To those who have their savings in the bank, don’t worry. You will be more than guaranteed in the hands of the Republic. You know the banking sector of Venezuela is one of the most solid in the world.”

According to Steve Hanke and Nicholas Krus in “Inflation by the Decades: 2000s” report, Venezuela stood at number 7 in the world inflation ranking for 2000-2009, with a cumulative inflation rate of 567.7 percent, and this period was only the beginning of the crisis. Hanke calculates the current hyperinflation in Venezuela is running at 48,760 percent at year as of December, 2018.

Today at least 70% of Venezuelans face starvation, food and medicine shortages and no health care. A humanitarian crisis is currently taking place in a country that once had one of the highest standards of living in the world, and this is a tragic example of how a once prosperous country with vast amounts of resources could become a failed state due to vast government mismanagement and corruption through its central banking system and through monetary policy.

President trump and other world lea...uaido as the new president of Venezuela. It's looking like a civil war is in the works.



Onward and upward,
airforce

Nicolas Maduro has just given U.S. diplomatic personnel 72 hours to get out. Things seem to be coming to a head.

Onward and upward,
airforce

US refuses to withdraw diplomats from Venezuela after Maduro breaks ties

“We call on the Venezuelan military and security forces to continue protecting the welfare and well-being of all Venezuelan citizens, as well as US and other foreign citizens in Venezuela.”

By RT Thursday, January 24, 2019

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to pull diplomats from Caracas, arguing the government that severed diplomatic ties with the US is not legitimate and threatening ‘appropriate actions’ if anyone is endangered.

“We call on the Venezuelan military and security forces to continue protecting the welfare and well-being of all Venezuelan citizens, as well as US and other foreign citizens in Venezuela,” Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday evening, adding the US “will take appropriate action to hold accountable anyone who endangers the safety and security of our mission and its personnel.”

U.S. will conduct diplomatic relations with #Venezuela through the government of interim President Guaido. U.S. does not recognize the #Maduro regime. U.S. does not consider former president Maduro to have the legal authority to break diplomatic relations. https://t.co/DBS4GiGEWI pic.twitter.com/gQZJuS1xfn

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 24, 2019

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro declared all US diplomats persona non grata on Wednesday, after Washington recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s president. Guaido, however, said he wanted the US diplomats to stay, setting the stage for a potential diplomatic incident.

As the US does not recognize Maduro’s “regime,” his order for US diplomats to leave is not legitimate, Pompeo argued, adding that Washington will conduct diplomatic relations with Caracas solely through Guaido’s government.

After the Trump administration recognized Guaido’s government, a number of US allies followed suit, including most of the OAS countries and Canada. EU leaders also endorsed the rebel government.

Cuba and Bolivia have expressed support for Maduro, while Mexico has said it would continue to recognize Maduro’s legitimacy “for now.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US “handpicking” of a government in Caracas perfectly illustrates the true Western sentiments toward international law, sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of states.




Pompeo: Maduro Regime “Illegitimate”
Blasts regime as criminally incompetent


By Newswars.com Thursday, January 24, 2019

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as illegitimate in a statement delivered to the United Nations Security Council.

Pompeo blasted the incumbent’s regime as “criminally incompetent” in his Thursday address where he also said America is ready to provide $20 million in “humanitarian assistance” to Venezuelans.

MOMENTS AGO: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced U.S. is ready to provide $20M in humanitarian relief for Venezuela https://t.co/0zwLBLgZKM pic.twitter.com/HSu9VPZNja

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 24, 2019

“As a friend of the Venezuelan people, we stand by to help them even more, to help them begin the process of rebuilding their country and their economy from the destruction wrought by the criminally incompetent and illegitimate Maduro regime,” said Pompeo. “Our support for Venezuela’s democratic hopes and dreams is in sharp contrast to the authoritarian regimes across the globe who have lined up to prop up former president Maduro.”

Pompeo’s speech echoed a State Department letter published Wednesday saying Maduro has no legal authority to break diplomatic relations.

U.S. will conduct diplomatic relations with #Venezuela through the government of interim President Guaido. U.S. does not recognize the #Maduro regime. U.S. does not consider former president Maduro to have the legal authority to break diplomatic relations. https://t.co/DBS4GiGEWI pic.twitter.com/gQZJuS1xfn

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 24, 2019

Around the world, lines are being drawn by nations over who they recognize as the leader of the collapsing nation, according to Conflict News.

Supporting Juan Guaido as interim president
🇺🇸USA
🇨🇦Canada
🇧🇷Brazil
🇵🇾Paraguay
🇨🇴Colombia
🇵🇪Peru
🇪🇨Ecador
🇨🇷Costa Rica
🇦🇷Argentina
🇨🇱Chile
🇬🇹Guatemala
🇽🇰Kosovo
🇭🇳Honduras

Supporting current President Nicolás Maduro
🇲🇽Mexico
🇨🇺Cuba
🇧🇴Bolivia
🇹🇷Turkey
🇷🇺Russia
🇸🇾Syria#Venezuela

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) January 24, 2019

Correspondingly, without mentioning Maduro by name, Russia has warned the U.S. against military intervention in Venezuela.

“Venezuela is friendly to us and is our strategic partner,” said Russia’s deputy foreign minister. “We have supported them and will support them.”

“We consider that [U.S. military intervention] would be a catastrophic scenario that would shake the foundations of the development model which we see in Latin America.”

Most Democrats are behind Trump on his support for Juan Guaido. But not all of them. The hard left just can't let goof their support for Maduro and his disastrous socialism. Too long to post here, but well worth a read. Sadly, Rep. RoKahnna (D - CA) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D - Minn), among others, won't read it.

Onward and upward,
airforce

I posted all of these new happenings over at another site yesterday , thought that I would add them here so as to bring you all up to speed on the new "Syria" that we are about to get involved in .

Bank Of England Refuses to Release Venezuela's Gold After US Lobbying
https://youtu.be/HtcBISqEi48

Maduro Stymied in Bid to Pull $1.2 Billion of Gold From U.K.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...maduro-s-bid-to-pull-1-2-billion-of-gold

Russia sends 400 armed mercenaries to try to defeat Venezuela’s uprising against the tyranny of socialist Maduro
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01...-venezuela-tyranny-socialist-maduro.html

Russian Military Contractors
https://youtu.be/LX5hdFrDQ3I

400 Russian Mercenaries
https://youtu.be/EQtOqh4jvQQ

Putin Talks With Maduro And Warns U.S.
https://youtu.be/NUPTE-Uck_Q

Maduro Urges Supporters To Hit Streets As Russian "Security Contractors" Arrive In Venezuela

by Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/25/2019

Update: Maduro - now backed by Russian military contractors, has urged his supporters to take to the streets to defend the legitimacy of his government. The Venezuelan leader has vowed that his country won't turn into a "Syria or Libya" situation, and that the Venezuelan military must prepare for an invasion.

According to Reuters, Maduro says he's willing to travel to New York to discuss the situation with the UN Security Council.

.@NicolasMaduro dice esta dispuesto a ir a Nueva York a debatir en Consejo de Seguridad de @ONU_es
— Reuters Venezuela (@ReutersVzla) January 25, 2019

***

As the international community splits along governments who continue to back embattled Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro and governments, led by the US, who have officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate head of state, Reuters reported that a group of Russian mercenaries with ties to the Kremlin have been sent to Venezuela to provide security for Maduro as he struggles with the biggest threat to his rule in his six years in power.



The contractors are believed to be from the Wagner Group, a group of private contractors who have performed secret missions on behalf of the government, including fighting in Syria and the Ukraine (which brings to mind this incident from last February when US-backed forces killed 100 Russian mercenaries in what was the closest thing to a direct proxy conflict between Russia and the US in Syria). It's unclear when the contractors arrived, or when they intend to leave. Russia has offered to mediate the conflict between Maduro and Guaido, while joining with China to criticize the US for interfering in Venezuelan affairs.

Russia, which has invested billions of dollars in the Maduro regime, pledged to stand by the embattled socialist leader this week. Yevgeny Shabayev, leader of a local chapter of a paramilitary group told Reuters he had heard the number of security contractors in Venezuela is roughly 400. Russia's defense ministry and Venezuela's information ministry haven't responded to requests for comment. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said we have "no such information" when asked about the contractors.



The contractors traveled to Venezuela on private chartered flights that first landed in Cuba. The contractors have been charged with stopping opposition sympathizers or members of Maduro's own forces from detaining him.

"Our people are there directly for his protection," Shabayev said, in light of the attempted revolt staged by rogue military officers earlier this week.

One source said a group of contractors had arrived in Venezuela before elections last year where Maduro won a second six year term, but another group had arrived "more recently."

Public flight tracking data suggests the latest batch of contractors arrived some time betwee mid-December and this past week.

Asked if the deployment was linked to protecting Maduro, the source said: "It's directly connected." The contractors flew to Venezuela not from Moscow but from third countries where they were conducting missions, he added. The third source, who is close to the private military contractors, said there was a contingent in Venezuela but he could not provide further details. "They did not arrive in a big crowd," he said. Publicly-available flight-tracking data has shown a number of Russian government aircraft landing in or near Venezuela over past weeks, though there was no evidence the flights were connected to military contractors. A Russian Ilyushin-96 flew into Havana late on Wednesday after starting its journey in Moscow and flying via Senegal and Paraguay, the data showed.

The aircraft, a civilian jet, is owned by a division of the Russian presidential administration, according to a publicly-available procurement contract relating to the plane.

Between Dec. 10 and Dec. 14 last year, an Antonov-124 heavy cargo aircraft, and an Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft, carried out flights between Russia and Caracas, flight-tracking data showed. Another Ilyushin-76 was in Caracas from Dec. 12 to Dec. 21 last year. All three aircraft belong to the Russian air force, according to the tracking data.

Since Guaido declared himself the acting president, Maduro has sought to expel US diplomats while vowing not to step aside. He has threatened violence against those who back the opposition. Maduro still retains control of the levers of power, including the country's energy industry and its military, though while military commanders have largely backed him, the allegiance of the troops on the ground remains somewhat less clear. Maduro has accused the US of agitating for the Venezuelan opposition to move against him.

This is what Venezuela needs to do right now. They won't, of course. But these simple steps would finally put them on the road to freedom and prosperity. And they would be a good idea for the U.S., too.



Onward and upward,
airforce

Slew of European States Recognize Guaido as Venezuelan Interim Leader

UK, Spain, Austria join United States


By RT Monday, February 04, 2019

The UK, France, and Spain among a number of countries, have announced their recognition of Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president after Caracas did not cave into an ultimatum calling for elections with eight days.

“Nicolas Maduro has not called Presidential elections within 8 day limit we have set. So UK alongside European allies now recognises @jguaido as interim constitutional president until credible elections can be held,” UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote in a tweet on Monday.

Germany, France, and Spain issued nearly identical warnings in late January, stating that they would recognize Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela unless new elections were held. The date for this to happen expired overnight, from February 3 to February 4.

In a tweet announcing Austria’s support for Guaido, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz claimed that President Nicolas Maduro has “so far refused to accept a free and fair presidential election” – leading Vienna to accept Guaido as Venezuela’s “lawful” leader. Sweden has done the same, with Europe’s ‘power house’ Germany, as well as Denmark, the Netherlands and Latvia following suit.

There is a plan by the left to allow illegal immigrants into America in order to destabilize the country and eventually allow them to vote.

Maduro described the demand put forward by the European states as “the stuff of the empire, of colonial times.”

Efforts to provide Guaido with an official EU endorsement have apparently fallen flat, however. A source inside Italy’s Five Star Movement told RT that Rome shot down an EU statement meant to recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

While Europe alleges that Maduro has stonewalled democratic elections, critics of the West’s enthusiasm for ‘regime change’ in Venezuela have pointed out that foreign states should have offered talks rather than meddling in the country.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that “there is a spark that can turn into a fire at any moment” in Venezuela. The political crisis, Cavusoglu insisted, could only be resolved “through dialogue.” Without getting into specifics, the Turkish diplomat said that the crisis had been “fueled from the outside” – an act of foreign meddling that has “punished” the Venezuelan people.

Last week, the US anointed Guaido as the legitimate head of Venezuela after the opposition leader proclaimed himself the new leader of Venezuela. Russia, Mexico and Turkey – among other nations – denounced the move, pledging support to the “legitimate” leader Maduro and calling for dialogue to resolve the tense political standoff.

That aside, after backing what officials in Caracas labelled “a coup,” Washington announced that it would deliver “humanitarian aid” to Venezuela. Notably, it was the US that earlier imposed crippling sanctions on the Latin American state. The “aid” delivery plans caused a furious response from the Maduro government.

Those who “wage unjust wars… devastate innocent… populations, subject economies to a blockade, cause death, hunger, destruction and suffering” dare to declare their actions “humanitarian,” Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza wrote on Twitter.

The US now recognizes that Juan Guaidó won the recent election in Venezuela. Under the current dictator, Nicolás Maduro, there has been a collapse of society.

Venezuela soldiers abandon posts at Colombia border

23 February 2019


Soldiers from the Venezuelan national guard have left their posts ahead of an opposition-led effort to bring aid into the country, Colombia's migration agency said.

In a separate development, Venezuelan troops have fired tear gas at people looking to cross into Colombia to work.

Tensions have been rising over a row about the delivery of humanitarian aid.

President Nicolás Maduro said the border with Colombia is partly closed to stop aid being delivered.

But self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó has vowed that hundreds of thousands of volunteers will help bring in the aid deliveries, which include food and medicine, on Saturday.

The first delivery of aid has already entered Venezuela through Brazil, Mr Guaidó tweeted.

The delivery of aid to the stricken country has proven to be a key area of contention between the two men who see themselves as Venezuela's leader.
What's the latest?

Pictures at various crossing points show security forces firing tear gas at volunteers and protesters burning outposts and throwing rocks at soldiers and riot police.

On the Venezuela-Colombia border, at least thirteen members of the security forces defected on Saturday, Colombia's migration authority said.

A video posted on social media appears to show four soldiers publicly denouncing Mr Maduro and announcing their support for Guaidó.

"We are fathers and sons, we have had enough of so much uncertainty and injustice," they say.

Local media report people jumping the barricades to cross the border, while opposition MPs have posted defiant messages on social media denouncing the use of force.

The BBC's Orla Guerin, at the Simon Bolívar International Bridge, said Venezuelans were begging soldiers to be allowed to cross.

Mr Guaidó visited the Tienditas bridge on the Colombian side of the border, where he was accompanied by the country's president, Iván Duque.

"Welcome to the right side of history", he told soldiers who had abandoned their posts, adding that soldiers who joined them would be guaranteed "amnesty."

"We want to work!" people chanted as they faced riot police at the Ureña border bridge in south-west Venezuela.

Activists there were joined by 300 members of the "Women in White" opposition group who marched in defiance of Mr Maduro's attempts to close the border.

Meanwhile, a top ally of President Maduro has suggested the government would allow Venezuelans to accept aid "at their own risk", but that no foreign soldiers would "set foot" inside Venezuela.

The president himself tweeted that "there will not be a war", posting pictures of cheering crowds in Caracas.

"Take your hands off Venezuela, Donald Trump", he told crowds, accusing the US president of using aid as a means to invading the country.

He accused Mr Guaidó of being a "puppet", and "American pawn", a "clown" and an "imperialist beggar."

A military outpost near the Venezuela-Brazil border has been taken over by a militia loyal to President Maduro, according to VPI TV.

Earlier on Saturday, two people were killed by Venezuelan forces near the border with Brazil.

"Why are you serving a dictator?"

It's been a difficult day here on the Venezuelan side.

We found locals getting angry because they found the border was closed - these people normally make a living across the border. Then it turned ugly in Ureña.

We witnessed protesters lunging to break one of the barriers but the National Guard started firing tear gas and pellets.

People were shouting at the National Guard asking them why, in their words, they were serving a dictator and not serving their own people.

We had to run away to avoid being hurt but there is still a lot of tension in the air, with a heavy military presence everywhere.

How did we get to this point?

Humanitarian aid has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing standoff between Mr Maduro and Mr Guaidó.

Mr Guaidó, who is the leader of the country's opposition-dominated National Assembly, last month declared himself the country's interim leader.

He has since won the backing of dozens of nations, including the US. He has called the rule of President Nicolás Maduro constitutionally illegitimate, claiming that Mr Maduro's re-election in 2018 was marred by voting irregularities.

Venezuela is in the grip of a political and economic crisis. The country's inflation rate has seen prices soar, leaving many Venezuelans struggling to afford basic items such as food, toiletries and medicine.

Mr Guaidó insists that citizens badly need help, while Mr Maduro says allowing aid to enter is part of a ploy by the US to invade the country.

About 2.7 million people have fled the country since 2015.




WND Exclusive
In Venezuela, bows and arrows against tanks

1 killed in skirmish, indigenous tribe captures Maduro soldiers


Nicolas Maduro’s forces in Venezuela armed with tanks and live fire attacked an indigenous tribe armed only with bows and arrows in Venezuela when they tried to stop a convoy of humanitarian aid from Brazil.

One woman from the Pemon tribe was killed and 15 were wounded, but the tribe took several soldiers, including three lieutenants and a sergeant captive.

The battle took place in the remote Gran Sabana region near the Brazilian border.

The Pemon were successful at stopping the anti-riot troops in their effort to block food and supplies from entering the country through Brazil near the village of Kumarakapay, about 50 miles north of the border. The soldiers tried to breach barricades set up by residents about 6 a.m., said Jorge Perez, mayor of the Gran Sabana municipality.

Marcel Perez, a 30-year-old Pemon, said in an interview in Pacaraima, Brazil, that he and others had gathered at dawn for a peaceful protest to prevent the military from reaching the border.

“We made a blockade, without any weapon but our traditional bows and arrows,” he said. “They had tanks, buses and a lot of soldiers. And, so they decided to shoot at us with live bullets.”

Five armored vehicles passed by, spewing tear gas that set fire to a small shack, the mayor said.

Those wounded more seriously were allowed to cross on ambulances into Brazil so they could be treated in the regional center of Boa Vista. Perez said he was beaten with sticks a few hours later by members of a pro-Maduro gang while taking other wounded people to a hospital in Santa Elena de Uairen, on the Venezuelan side.

Police said Zoraida Rodriguez, 45, was killed and 15 people were wounded. A Venezuelan general was negotiating with the tribe for the return of three lieutenants and a sergeant captured by the indigenous forces.

Maduro says he is blocking aid shipments claiming they are a pretext for a U.S. intervention.

President Donald Trump has said all options are open if Venezuela continues to block the supplies.

Volunteers are preparing to don white clothing Saturday morning and walk across international bridges to bring food and medicine to their compatriots. Near Cucuta, Venezuelans streamed across border crossings on foot Friday under a scorching sun.

Socialism: Maduro Sets Humanitarian Aid Trucks Ablaze As People Starve

Maduro's forces intercept food, supplies coming from Colombia


By Infowars.com Saturday, February 23, 2019

Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro’s troops set U.S.-backed humanitarian aid trucks on fire, and demanded that President Trump abandon involvement in his country’s affairs.

The humanitarian aid trucks, led by interim president Juan Guaido, were set ablaze Saturday trying to enter Venezuela from Colombia.

#URGENTE PNB quema tres camiones de ayuda humanitaria al lanzar bombas lacrimógenas contra la caravana de voluntarios #23Feb / vía @luisgonzaloprz #23Feb pic.twitter.com/ahTGTzjaKo

— NTN24 Venezuela (@NTN24ve) February 23, 2019

“We’re not beggars,” Maduro said. “What the U.S. empire is doing with its puppets is an internal provocation. They wanted to generate a great national commotion, but they didn’t achieve it.”

Maduro severed diplomatic ties with Colombia after its president Ivan Duque declared support for the United States’ recognition of Guaido as leader of Venezuela.

VIDEO: Dozens of Venezuelan workers trying to enter Colombia are blocked by security forces, after Nicolas Maduro's government announced the closure of the border in western Tachira state pic.twitter.com/B4eTpukQOw

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 23, 2019

VIDEO: Security forces use tear gas to disperse Venezuelan protesters gathered at the Venezuela-Colombia border pic.twitter.com/5qVZCQ7En7

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 23, 2019

Colombian soldiers have been deployed near at the border as tensions continue to escalate.

More trucks carrying humanitarian aid are expected to arrive to the four bridges connecting the countries in the next minutes. #23feb #venezuela #ahorapic.twitter.com/hNFIsKQ6Sk

— Amir Richani (@amir_richani) February 23, 2019

#Venezuela citizens demonstrating near the La Carlota airbase in #Caracas, pressuring the military to abandon #Maduro. pic.twitter.com/IazVmeas1t

— Sabine Analytics (@SabineAnalytics) February 23, 2019

Guaido condemned the destruction of the much-needed aid, but assured supporters that humanitarian trucks were still making their way across the Venezuelan border.

“We continue to receive the support of the international community, which has seen, with its own eyes, how the usurping regime violates the Geneva Protocol, where it is clearly said that destroying humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity,” he tweeted.

Seguimos recibiendo el respaldo de la comunidad internacional, que ha podido ver, con sus propios ojos, como el régimen usurpador viola el protocolo de Ginebra, donde se dice claramente que destruir la ayuda humanitaria es un crimen de lesa humanidad.

— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) February 23, 2019

Trump offered words of encouragement on Twitter Saturday to the Venezuelan people suffering under Maduro’s socialist regime.

The people of Venezuela stand at the threshold of history, ready to reclaim their country – and their future…. pic.twitter.com/ajxd1EN64c

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2019

National Security Advisor John Bolton also called on nations who still recognize Maduro as president to reconsider their support.

“Masked thugs, civilians killed by live rounds, and the burning of trucks carrying badly-needed food and medicine. This has been Maduro’s response to peaceful efforts to help Venezuelans. Countries that still recognize Maduro should take note of what they are endorsing,” he said.

Masked thugs, civilians killed by live rounds, and the burning of trucks carrying badly-needed food and medicine. This has been Maduro’s response to peaceful efforts to help Venezuelans. Countries that still recognize Maduro should take note of what they are endorsing. pic.twitter.com/KlSebd2M5a

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 23, 2019

I get the feeling Maduro would be willing to leave - if someone would offer him safe passage and sanctuary somewhere. The problem is, his two man supporters, Russia and China, probably don't want to have anything to do with him right now.

I'm surprised his army has stayed loyal this long. His generals must be afraid of something.

Onward and upward,
airforce

It Is Being Alleged That Weapons And Ammunition Are Being Moved Into Position For The Coming War In Venezuela

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...position-for-the-coming-war-in-venezuela


It looks like the war in Venezuela could begin as soon as next month, and it doesn’t appear that there will initially be much opposition to the conflict in the United States. There is widespread bipartisan support for “regime change” in Venezuela among both Democrats and Republicans, and the mainstream media is clearly willing to go along for the ride. Donald Trump is now surrounded by extremely hawkish advisers that are very eager to do something about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and if Trump decides to pull the trigger it is likely that the vast majority of his supporters will fully back the decision. And at this point most of the other major western nations are also calling for Maduro to go, but Maduro insists that he isn’t going anywhere. So a peaceful solution to this crisis appears to be out of the question, and that means that war is almost certainly coming.

This weekend was the first step. If western aid could be forced across the border, it would show that Maduro was losing control of the country. But if Maduro was able to block the aid that was coming across, that would make him look like a leader that doesn’t care about his people to those in the western world, and sympathetic media reports would help drum up support for war. Of course by now most of us have seen images of the violence that happened along the border over the weekend, and a lot of blood was needlessly shed. The following comes from Vox…

Starting Friday, violent clashes erupted at several points along Venezuela’s border with Colombia as armed government forces tried to block shipments of aid from entering the country. By the end of Saturday, at least four people had reportedly been killed along that line and along the Latin American country’s border with Brazil; hundreds more were injured. Maduro has insisted that the humanitarian supplies are unnecessary and spent the weekend continuing to celebrate his ongoing rule with his supporters — even as the United States and other international leaders amped up calls for him to step down.

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are going to endlessly run footage of the violent clashes over the weekend, and this will build support for whatever action is ultimately taken.

During the Bush years, direct military action was the preferred model, and we saw this in Afghanistan and Iraq. During the Obama years, arming the “resistance” and starting civil wars was the preferred model, and we saw this in Syria and Ukraine.

So what will Trump ultimately decide to do?

Well, the Russians appear to believe that in this case the Obama model will be followed, and they are accusing the United States of making preparations to arm the opposition in Venezuela. According to Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, the U.S. has already transported special forces personnel and military equipment “closer to Venezuelan territory”…

Zakharova alleged that the US had moved special forces and military equipment ‘closer to Venezuelan territory’ and was considering large-scale weapons purchases to arm the opposition.

Noting that it had been five years since the Ukrainian revolution that ousted a Russian-backed leader – which Moscow has accused the US of orchestrating – Zakharova said Washington was preparing for more regime change in Venezuela.

‘It seems that in Washington there is nothing to mark the fifth anniversary of the coup d’etat in Ukraine, so they decided to hold a new coup d’etat,’ she said.

She also told the press that the U.S. is planning to transfer “a large batch of weapons and ammunition” from an Eastern European nation to those that are ready to fight against Maduro’s government in Venezuela…

“We have evidence that US companies and their NATO allies are working on the issue of acquiring a large batch of weapons and ammunition in an Eastern European country for their subsequent transfer to Venezuelan opposition forces”, she said during the briefing.

If these allegations are true, the United States is about to turn Venezuela into a horrific war zone.

And Zakharova went on to say that “the cargo” is scheduled to arrive in Venezuela “in early March”…

“The cargo is set to arrive in Venezuela in early March through a neighboring country on aircraft flown by an international shipping company,” she said.

Could it be possible that everything that the Russians are saying is untrue?

Sure.

But when they publicly call us out on something like this, they usually have their ducks in a row. And if these allegations are true and the Russians were able to acquire this information somehow, this represents a stunning security failure for the U.S. military.

Of course a civil war is quite unlikely to be successful in overthrowing Maduro, and it is still possible that President Trump may opt for direct action by the U.S. military.

In fact, it appears that Venezuela’s self-declared “acting president” Juan Guaido could be on the verge of formally asking the U.S. military for help in “the liberation of our homeland”…

The threat comes just Guaido announced he would attend a summit of the Lima Group – a meeting of 12 American states which have recognized him as “legitimate” leader of Venezuela.

Crucially, Guaido is to meet with US Vice President Mike Pence at the summit where he will “propose formally to the international community that we should keep open all options for the liberation of our homeland, which is fighting and will continue to fight,” according to a tweeted statement Saturday evening.

If Guaido does officially request U.S. military intervention, it will only be because the U.S. has already assured him that he will get it.

In recent days, President Trump has repeatedly stated that all options are “open” when it comes to Venezuela, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed the same thing during an interview with Fox News on Sunday…

It appears this weekend’s provocations and border showdown over US aid entering Venezuela were just the beginning. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo discussed the prospect of military action against Caracas on Fox News Sunday, saying the Maduro regime’s days are “numbered” and that “every option” is on the table toward making that happen.

Pompeo said the US is “going to do the things that need to be done” and this will not stop until “makes sure” that “there is a brighter future for the people of Venezuela,” which includes continued support for self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido.

There are a few voices on the right and a few voices on the left that are speaking out against war in Venezuela, but right now the overwhelming consensus in Washington is that regime change is necessary.

Needless to say, whenever there is an overwhelming consensus on something in Washington, it is usually a really, really bad idea.

My regular readers already know that I believe that the U.S. should not be “the police of the world”, and that if we are going to ask young American men and women to die it should be for a very, very good reason.

Replacing one socialist leader in Venezuela with a slightly less socialist leader does not qualify.

But the winds of war are now blowing all over the globe, and this is something that I detailed in my recent article entitled “‘Wars And Rumors Of Wars’: The U.S., Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, India And Pakistan All Move Closer To Military Conflict”.

Steve Quayle has noticed all of the war talk as well, and in his most recent alert he called these “very dangerous times”…

MANY DIFFERENT AREA’S IN THE WORLD SEEM TO HAVE BEEN KICKED INTO WAR MODE, AT THE FLIP OF THE GLOBALIST SWITCH-KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ESCALATION BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND INDIA, AS WELL AS RUSSIA VERSUS THE UKRAINE. BACKROOM TALK OF CUBA BEING PUT ON WAR FOOTING ALSO. PRESIDENT PUTINS ANGER, IS OFF THE CHARTS AND THE WEST IS ABOUT TO INITIATE A SERIE OF EVENTS THAT WILL ESCALATE RAPIDLY-USE TOMORROW TO TOP OFF PREPS JUST IN CASE! RUN THROUGH YOUR LISTS TONIGHT -GOOD TIME TO RUN THROUGH YOUR CHECKLIST-AND CHRISTIANS PRAY AND INTERCEDE WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART-VERY DANGEROUS TIMES

I have written this article with a very heavy heart. I have a really bad feeling about what is going to happen, and I wish that I could do something to stop it.

Peace is being taken from the Earth, and what is coming next is going to shock all of us.

I had a feeling this was coming. Maybe some people in government will wise up and realize that "regime change" in Libya didn't exactly turn out as planned, and it's not likely to in Venezuela either. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Onward and upward,
airforce

After Venezuelan troops block aid, Maduro faces 'diplomatic siege'

Angus Berwick, Sarah Marsh, Roberta Rampton


CARACAS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro faced growing regional pressure on Sunday after his troops repelled foreign aid convoys, with the United States threatening new sanctions and Brazil urging allies to join a “liberation effort”.

Violent clashes with security forces over the opposition’s U.S.-backed attempt on Saturday to bring aid into the economically devastated country left almost 300 wounded and at least three protesters dead near the Brazilian border.

Juan Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, urged foreign powers to consider “all options” in ousting Maduro, ahead of a meeting of the regional Lima Group of nations in Bogota on Monday that will be attended by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence is set to announce “concrete steps” and “clear actions” at the meeting to address the crisis, a senior U.S. administration official said on Sunday, declining to provide details. The United States last month imposed crippling sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry, squeezing its top source of foreign revenue.

“What happened yesterday is not going to deter us from getting humanitarian aid into Venezuela,” the official said, speaking with reporters on condition of anonymity.

Brazil, a diplomatic heavyweight in Latin America which has the region’s largest economy, was for years a vocal ally of Venezuela while it was ruled by the leftist Workers Party. It turned sharply against Venezuela’s socialist president this year when far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office.

“Brazil calls on the international community, especially those countries that have not yet recognized Juan Guaido as interim president, to join in the liberation effort of Venezuela,” the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Colombia, which has received around half the estimated 3.4 million migrants fleeing Venezuela’s hyperinflationary economic meltdown, has also stepped up its criticism of Maduro since swinging to the right last year.

President Ivan Duque in a tweet denounced Saturday’s “barbarity”, saying Monday’s summit would discuss “how to tighten the diplomatic siege of the dictatorship in Venezuela.”

Maduro, who retains the backing of China and Russia, which both have major energy sector investments in Venezuela, says the opposition’s aid efforts are part of a U.S.-orchestrated coup.

His information minister, Jorge Rodriguez, during a Sunday news conference gloated about the opposition’s failure to bring in aid and called Guaido “a puppet and a used condom.”

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Sunday that Venezuela, the Caribbean island’s top ally, was the victim of U.S. imperialist attempts to restore neoliberalism in Latin America.

SMOLDERING BORDER AREAS

Trucks laden with U.S. food and medicine on the Colombian border repeatedly attempted to push past lines of troops on Saturday, but were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Two of the aid trucks went up in flames, which the opposition blamed on security forces and the government on “drugged-up protesters.”

The opposition had hoped troops would balk at turning back supplies so desperately needed by a population increasingly suffering malnutrition and diseases.

Winning over the military is key to their plans to topple Maduro, who they argue won re-election in a fraudulent vote, and hold new presidential elections.

Though some 60 members of security forces defected into Colombia on Saturday, according to that country’s authorities, the National Guard at the frontier crossings held firm. Two additional members of Venezuela’s National Guard defected to Brazil late on Saturday, a Brazilian army colonel said on Sunday.

The Brazilian border state of Roraima said the number of Venezuelans being treated for gunshot wounds rose to 18 from five in the past 24 hours; all 18 were in serious condition. That was the result of constant gunbattles, which included armed men without uniforms, throughout Saturday in the Venezuelan town of Santa Elena, near the border.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local crime monitoring group, said it had confirmed three deaths on Saturday, all in Santa Elena, and at least 295 injured across the country.

In the Venezuelan of Urena on the border with Colombia, streets were still strewn with debris on Sunday, including the charred remains of a bus that had been set ablaze by protesters.

During a visit to a border bridge to survey the damage, Duque told reporters the aid would remain in storage.

“We need everything they were going to bring over,” said Auriner Blanco, 38, a street vendor who said he needed an operation for which supplies were lacking in Venezuela. “Today, there is still tension, I went onto the street and saw all the destruction.”

MILITARY INVASION?

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Sunday for “violence to be avoided at any cost” and said everyone should lower tensions and pursue efforts to avoid further escalation, according to his spokesman.

But U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, an influential voice on Venezuela policy in Washington, said the violence on Saturday had “opened the door to various potential multilateral actions not on the table just 24 hours ago”.

Hours later he tweeted a mug shot of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was captured by U.S. forces in 1990 after an invasion.

President Donald Trump has in the past said military intervention in Venezuela was “an option,” though Guaido made no reference to it on Saturday.

The 35-year old, who defied a government travel ban to travel to Colombia to oversee the aid deployment, will attend the Lima Group summit on Monday and hold talks with various members of the European Union before returning to Venezuela, opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro said on Sunday.

“The plan is not a president in exile,” he said.

Ron Paul has a question: Just who burned that aid truck? The video doesn't answer the question conclusively, but it sure looks like it might have been the protesters. A false flag? Could be.

About 20 minute video.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Breaking: Venezuelans Take to Streets to Protest in Support of Juan Guaido During Blackout

Maduro says power grid still under attack


By RT Saturday, March 09, 2019

Electrical systems in Venezuela have been targeted by another cyberattack, President Nicholas Maduro has said. Caracas has accused the US of “sabotage”, while US officials blame local corruption and mismanagement for the blackout.

After a failure at the Guri hydroelectric power plant left much of the country without power on Thursday night, Venezuelan authorities managed to restore power to “many parts” of the country. However, the country’s grid took another hammering on Saturday, with many of the restored systems knocked out once again, the country’s embattled president said.

According to Maduro, the systems had been nearly 70 percent restored when “we received another attack, of a cybernetic nature, at midday… that disturbed the reconnection process and knocked out everything that had been achieved until noon.”

“We discovered that they were carrying out high-tech… attacks against the power systems.”

Additionally, “one of the sources of generation that was working perfectly,” was also sabotaged, he added, accusing domestic “infiltrators of attacking the electric company from the inside.”

Authorities are now trying to restore the systems “manually,” while struggling to “diagnose why the computerized” systems failed on such a massive scale.

Earlier, unconfirmed reports suggested that 95 percent of the crisis-stricken country was again without power, after Sidor Substation in Bolivar state had allegedly exploded, spewing clouds of black smoke into the sky. The substation had reportedly been sustaining the country’s power supply since the Guri plant –which produces 80 percent of the country’s power– failed.

The Venezuelan government blamed Thursday’s blackout on US “sabotage.” President Nicolas Maduro accused Washington of waging an “electricity war” on the socialist state, while communication and information minister Jorge Rodriguez blamed the outage on a US-orchestrated cyberattack.

Meanwhile US officials, including a vocal proponent of regime change in Venezuela, Senator Marco Rubio, blamed the socialist policies of Maduro’s government for letting the country’s infrastructure crumble to breaking point. The Florida Republican claimed that the country’s union of electricity workers had predicted the blackout, accused Maduro of pocketing money that could have been used for repairs, and joked that he “must have pressed the wrong thing on the ‘electronic attack’ app I downloaded from Apple.”

Meanwhile, in the darkened streets of Caracas, a power struggle is still playing out between President Maduro and US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself ‘interim president’ in January. Washington immediately threw its full weight behind Guaido, as did a host of Latin American and EU states. Although the Trump administration admitted this week that it has no particular “timeline” for its desired regime change, the official line from Washington remains “all options are on the table.”




Developing: Guaido Blames Maduro for Blackout, Rallies Protesters

Chaos stirs in nation fuming with rebellion


By Infowars.com Saturday, March 09, 2019

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is blaming Socialist President Nicolas Maduro for the nation’s blackout while calling for his supporters to rally in Caracas.

“[Maduro’s regime] has no way to solve the electricity crisis that they themselves created,” said Guaido while standing on a bridge in the capital. “All of Venezuela, to Caracas!”

“We have to conquer public spaces in a peaceful manner,” Guaidó declared. “We have to prepare ourselves for very tough times.”

Alternatively, Maduro is blaming America for the blackout and calling it “electromagnetic, cyber attacks directed from abroad.”

“The right-wing, together with the empire, has stabbed the electricity system, and we are trying to cure it soon,” said Maduro.

The crisis escalated January 23rd when Guaidó invoked the nation’s constitution and declared himself interim president, he’s been at fierce odds with Maduro since.

Venezuela's Guaido calls for massive protest as blackout drags on

by Reuters
Sunday, 10 March 2019

By Mayela Armas and Deisy Buitrago

CARACAS, March 9 (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Saturday called on citizens nationwide to travel to the capital Caracas for a protest against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, as the country's worst blackout in decades dragged on for a third day.

Addressing supporters in southwestern Caracas, Guaido - the leader of the opposition-run congress who invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January - said Maduro's government "has no way to solve the electricity crisis that they themselves created."

"All of Venezuela, to Caracas!" Guaido yelled while standing atop a bridge, without saying when the planned protest would be held. "The days ahead will be difficult, thanks to the regime."

Activists had scuffled with police and troops ahead of the rally, meant to pressure Maduro amid the blackout, which the governing Socialist Party called an act of U.S.-sponsored sabotage but opposition critics derided as the result of two decades of mismanagement and corruption.

Dozens of demonstrators attempted to walk along an avenue in Caracas but were moved onto the sidewalk by police in riot gear, leading them to shout at the officers and push on their riot shields. One woman was sprayed with pepper spray, according to a local broadcaster.

The power flickered on and off in parts of Caracas on Saturday morning, including the presidential palace of Miraflores, according to Reuters witnesses. Six of the country's 23 states still lacked power as of Saturday afternoon, Socialist Party Vice President Diosdado Cabello said on state television.

"We're all upset that we've got no power, no phone service, no water and they want to block us," said Rossmary Nascimiento, 45, a nutritionist at the Caracas rally. "I want a normal country."

At a competing march organized by the Socialist Party to protest what it calls U.S. imperialism, Maduro blamed the outages on "electromagnetic and cyber attacks directed from abroad by the empire."

"The right wing, together with the empire, has stabbed the electricity system, and we are trying to cure it soon," he said.

Several hundred people gathered at the rally in central Caracas for a march to denounce the crippling U.S. oil sanctions aimed at cutting off the Maduro government's funding sources.

"We're here, we're mobilized, because we're not going to let the gringos take over," said Elbadina Gomez, 76, who works for an activist group linked to the Socialist Party.

CLINICS IDLE

Julio Castro, a doctor and member of a nongovernmental organization called Doctors For Health, tweeted that a total of 17 people had died during the blackout, including nine deaths in emergency rooms.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the deaths or whether they could have resulted from the blackout. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Clinics in the sweltering western state of Zulia, which suffers chronic regional blackouts, had scaled back operations after nearly 72 hours without power.

"We're not offering services and we don't have any patients staying here because the generator is not working," said Chiquinquira Caldera, head of administration at the San Lucas clinic in the city of Maracaibo, as she played a game of Chinese checkers with doctors who were waiting for power to return.

Venezuela, already suffering from hyperinflation and shortages of basic goods, has been mired in a major political crisis since Guaido assumed the interim presidency in January, calling Maduro a usurper following the 2018 election, which Maduro won but was widely considered fraudulent.

Maduro says Guaido is a puppet of Washington and dismisses his claim to the presidency as an effort by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to control Venezuela's oil wealth.

Former mayor and exiled opposition activist Antonio Ledezma on Saturday called on Guaido to seek United Nations intervention in Venezuela by invoking a principle known as "responsibility to protect."

The U.N. doctrine sometimes referred to as R2P was created to prevent mass killings such as those of Rwanda and Bosnia and places the onus on the international community to protect populations from crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

"President @jguaido, (you should) formally request Humanitarian Intervention, applying the concept of R2P, to stop extermination, genocide and destruction of what's left of our country," Ledezma wrote via Twitter.

At the opposition rally, Guaido said he would not invoke an article of the Venezuelan constitution allowing the congress to authorize foreign military operations within Venezuela "until we have to."

"Article 187 when the time comes," Guaido said. "We need to be in the streets, mobilized. It depends on us, not on anybody else."

Trump has said that a "military option" is on the table with regard to Venezuela, but Latin American neighbors have emphatically opposed a U.S. intervention as a way of addressing the situation.

Socialist Dystopia: “This [Power Blackout] Is Going To End UGLY”
Mac Slavo
March 13th, 2019
SHTFplan.com



The dystopian state of the democratic socialist nation, Venezuela is in the midst of a massive power blackout. With no end in sight, the blackout is the result of years of government incompetence that has caused the power grid to deteriorate. As citizens panic, the government continues to further impoverish and enslave the civilians making them suffer.

Much of the country was plunged into darkness Thursday, reportedly after major problems coming from the country’s primary hydroelectric power plant, according to a report by NPR. Residents in some areas have seen a sporadic restoration of power, but people in other areas are growing more desperate and angrier. It’s become a precarious and dangerous situation for anyone counting on electricity for healthcare needs in the socialist country as well. According to The Wall Street Journal, the independent health watchdog Codevida said that “15 dialysis patients have died as a result of the blackout and some 10,000 more were at risk if they continue without treatment.”

The power problems are a symptom of 15 years of socialist policies that have left the country without a reliable network despite having the world’s largest oil reserves. Late socialist leader Hugo Chavez nationalized the power sector seven years ago amid a wave of state takeovers, reported the Telegraph.

“The food we had in our refrigerators has spoiled. Businesses are closed. There’s no communication, not even by cell phone,” 49-year-old Ana Cerrato told Reuters. “We need help! We are in a humanitarian crisis!”

“This is driving me crazy,” said Naile Gonzalez in Chacaito, a commercial neighborhood of Caracas. “The government doesn’t want to accept that this is their fault because they haven’t carried out any maintenance in years.” But that’s socialism. Once the government takes over and gets control and power over people and infrastructure, they do as they please. Governments in history have never cared about anything or anyone other than those who can give them more money and more power.

According to Reuters, Winston Cabas, the president of an electrical engineers’ professional association, told reporters that several of the country’s thermoelectric plants were operating at just 20 percent of capacity, in part due to lack of fuel. He also said the biggest problem is the government and the rationing of electricity.

“This is going to end ugly. It’s going to be ugly at the end,” designer Nela Garcia told an NPR reporter over the weekend.



The Venezuelan Collapse Is Now A Fight For Survival: “Never In My Life Have I Seen Something Like This”
The Daily Sheeple
March 14th, 2019
www.TheDailySheeple.com

As Venezuela fell into darkness following an already tumultuous period of starvation and unrest, many thought things couldn’t get any worse.

But they did.

So bad, in fact, that local water systems are no longer functioning, which means in addition to a lack of food and medicines, the people of socialist Venezuela are now struggling to gain access to potable water.

“I have 67 years,” the director said. “Never in my life, I have seen something like this.”

…

There have been reports of stores being looted and families scavenging for food and water anywhere they can.

The crisis was on full display at one river, where families got water despite it being polluted.

Via: ABC News

This is what it looks like when your country completely collapses and fresh water becomes a daily fight for survival:

People collect water from an open pipe above Venezuela’s polluted Guaire River during rolling blackouts as growing chaos takes hold in the country. https://t.co/vvUHIP1yVx pic.twitter.com/d3ekODJdFm

— ABC News (@ABC) March 14, 2019

With the economy in shambles, the US dollar coming under threat from China and Russia, and tens of trillions of dollars in unsustainable debt obligations, the United States could soon collapse in a similar style.

When it happens, most people will be shocked and unable to deal with the situation. Prepare yourself and your family accordingly, because as you can see from the example above, support from your local government is nowhere to be found.

“This Country Has Gone To Hell”: Total Chaos In Venezuelan Oil Capital After Blackout

Venezuela is a country on the edge of total anarchy.

By Zero Hedge Sunday, March 17, 2019

Venezuela’s oil capital, Maracaibo, was ransacked and looted in the midst of a blackout that hit the country around March 7. Even as the lights started to come back on, looting continued and residents overpowered disputed President Nichloas Maduro’s security forces. Store owners are just now starting to clean up, according a new Bloomberg article, which paints a picture of Venezuela as a country on the edge of total anarchy.

Enrique Gonzalez, an 18 year old bus conductor said: “If people made enough to make ends meet, we wouldn’t be trying to get by like this. This country has gone to hell.” His driver, at the time, was pillaging a Pepsi warehouse, where thousands of bottles had been looted in hours and where people were now ripping out spare copper wire and scrap metal.

Empresas Polar SA, a Venezuelan food giant, reportedly saw its Pepsi plant lose thousands of cases of beer and soda, 160 pallets of food, 22 trucks and five forklifts. A home improvement shopping center also saw its 50 stores looted by people who broke through its iron gates and glass doors. Travel agencies, cosmetic stands and snack shops were all pillaged among the chaos.

Bernardo Morillo, 60, who built and manages the mall told Bloomberg: “It’s hard to swallow. The national guard stood by as this vandalism happened and the firefighters didn’t even show.’’

Ricardo Costa, vice president of the Zulia state chapter of the Fedecamaras business group said: “…security forces were useless as people took anything of value, including cash machines, door frames, ovens, computers and surveillance cameras…”

The country’s Centro 99 food market saw looters pick its shelves clean. “They even carried off the lard and flour to bake bread in their bare hands,’’ the store’s manager said.

The looting started last Saturday afternoon after an ice company, on a hot day, demanded that it be paid in dollars. A crowd instead tore through its factory and then continued onto nearby pharmacies and stores. By the evening, the entire city was taken over by people seeking out life’s necessities by any means necessary.

The country’s blackout took an already flammable situation and threw a match on it. Maduro’s handling of the situation has prompted the U.S. and other nations to instead recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the rightful head of state. Maduro has concentrated his power, in the form of resources and troops, in Caracas, the country’s capital. But the recent chaos in Maracaibo, a city of 1.6 million, shows the rest of the country is in tumult and not even the largest cities are safe.

Maduro blamed the blackout on a U.S. cyberattack last week.

When power was restored, many transformers and substations wound up bursting into flames. There were long lines of people at water trucks, streams and burst pipes. As far as protection, “a single municipal squad car was seen” during a day of looting in the city – and the officers within warned that “no protection” was on its way.

Costa continued: “How is it possible that a thousand guardsmen are deployed to repel 50,000 protesters, but when a thousand looters come to a mall only 50 were sent?’ You could say this began because people are hungry, but the looters didn’t take just food — it morphed into aimless vandalism.’’

“Everyone knows that working here means working in anarchy, that anything can happen to you at any moment,” one local watchman said while watching his store disintegrate in front of him.

“They’re pulling wires, air conditioners, pipes — they’re literally running off with the roof.’’

This is a street in Caracas. The trash in the street is Venezuelan paper money, worth so little it's not worth picking up.

I remember talking with my landlady in Erlensee, Germany, many years ago. As a little girl in the 1920's she remembered her father going out to buy some firewood for the furnace - and realizing it would be cheaper just to burn the banknotes in the furnace.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Opposition leader Juan Guaido has launched a coup (I'm not sure the word "coup" really applies here) against Maduro. Maduro is in hiding, Guaido is leading protesters on the streets of Caracas. A large number of soldiers are defecting.

The Democratic 2020 candidates are so far pretty quiet on the matter.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Lots of video feeds at this link:

https://www.newswars.com/watch-heav...ry-vehicles-burn-as-venezuela-collapses/

They say Maduro is being supported by Russia, China, and Cuba. You would think if they were really supporting him, they'd be sending food, medicine, and toilet paper.

Onward and upward,
airforce

2 Aircraft Carriers Have Left Port – Are The USS Eisenhower And The USS Roosevelt Headed South Toward Venezuela?

April 30, 2019 by Michael Snyder


Juan Guaido has initiated a violent uprising in an attempt to overthrow Nicolas Maduro, and it appears that the U.S. may be preparing to intervene in the conflict militarily. The USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker accurately tracks the current positions of U.S. naval assets, and according to them the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has left port on the east coast and the USS Theodore Roosevelt has left port on the west coast. In both cases, each aircraft carrier was originally slated for “training” exercises, but now there is lots of speculation that they are both steaming south toward Venezuela. Since there has been no official confirmation from Washington, let me stress that once again that any talk about the potential destination of these carriers is just speculation. But considering what is taking place in Venezuela at this moment, it certainly would not surprise anyone if the waters off Venezuela is precisely where they are heading.

Earlier today, the Intel_Radar Twitter account created quite a stir with a series of seven tweets…

BREAKING: US Navy deploys two aircraft carriers, both southbound, one from each coast, amid Venezuela crisis. #Venezuela #Maduro #Guaido

Update 1 : Eisenhower left Virginia headed South, on the same day Roosevelt deployed out of San Diego headed for the Panama Canal. #Venezuela #Freedom #Guaido #Maduro #Cuba #USNavy

Update 2 : US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (MMSI:368962000|CS:NIKE) departed Norfolk ~2019-04-26, was off AIS for 4 days, and seems to be headed South, off the US East Coast. #Venezuela #Maduro #Guaido #Freedom #US_Navy

Update 3 : American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier (ARC) RoRo Integrity (IMO:8919934|MMSI:367063310) departed Mexico with a fake destination, “hiding their destination”.

Update 4 : USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has earned a number of awards, including the Battle “E” in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2006 and 2012 as the most battle efficient carrier in the Atlantic Fleet. #Venezuela #Maduro #Cuba #Guaido #Freedom

Update 5 : 6248 kHz LSB Venezuela naval freq still active. Also morse code in background.

Update 6 : A US Navy fast combat support ship departed Norfolk just a little bit ago.

If all of this information is true, it would certainly seem to indicate that something is up.

Could it be possible that the U.S. is about to go to war with Venezuela?

If you are not familiar with what happened in Venezuela on Tuesday, here is a pretty good summary…

It was a ploy that from its outset felt like a long shot. Before dawn Tuesday, Juan Guaido, flanked by his political mentor Leopoldo Lopez and a handful of soldiers who had broken ranks, issued a message to Venezuela and the world: The time to topple Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian regime was right now.

By dusk, with Maduro still firmly in control of the military command, Lopez had sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador’s residence in Caracas and the streets were beginning to empty of the protesters who had heeded Guaido’s call to join what he called Operation Liberty.

Either Guaido is completely suicidal, or he is coordinating with the U.S. and he believes that U.S. military help in on the way.

The second option seems more likely, and on Tuesday John Bolton even admitted that “a deal had been struck” with key members of Maduro’s regime…

The whole episode was so bizarre — with Guaido seemingly lacking the military might to have any chance at all — that it was hard to understand the day’s events. One explanation, as related by National Security Adviser John Bolton, was that a deal had been struck behind the scenes and that key members of Maduro’s regime had agreed to flip, paving the way for Guaido to easily assume power.

Well, either Bolton was bluffing or those officials double-crossed him, because it just hasn’t happened.

And perhaps that would help to explain this very angry tweet from Bolton…

.@vladimirpadrino, @Ivanr_HD, @MaikelMorenoTSJ: Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President Guaido’s amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship.

In response to Bolton’s tweet, one top Venezuelan official posted the following…

Dream on @AmbJohnBolton … Not today! #TrumpHandsOffVenezuela

Subsequently, Bolton once again told the press that “all options are on the table” when it comes to Venezuela…

Bolton later told reporters that the U.S. would consider intervening in Venezuela.

“We want, as our principal objective, the peaceful transition of power, but I will say again as the president has said from the outset and as Nicolas Maduro and those supporting him — particularly those who are not Venezuelan — should know, is all options are on the table,” Bolton said.

But if the U.S. goes into Venezuela, it will be a full-blown war against a seasoned military with more than 300,000 troops in a country twice the size of Iraq.

In addition, the Russians and the Cubans already have troops there, and they have no intention of pulling their forces out.

In other words, an invasion of Venezuela could potentially spark World War 3.

But John Bolton doesn’t seem fazed by any of that. He is a hardcore war hawk, and he has been calling for military conflict for years. If you will remember, he actually called for a pre-emptive war against North Korea just two months before joining the Trump administration…

For John Bolton, the national-security adviser, the summit represented a conundrum. Two months before he entered the White House, in April, 2018, he had called for preëmptive war with North Korea. During the past two decades, Bolton has established himself as the Republican Party’s most militant foreign-policy thinker—an advocate of aggressive force who ridicules anyone who disagrees. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, he argued that Kim’s regime would soon be able to strike the United States with nuclear weapons, and that we should attack before it was too late. “The threat is imminent,” he wrote. “It is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.”

We truly live in ominous times, and many are deeply concerned that Bolton seems to have so much influence over U.S. foreign policy right now.

Ultimately, we don’t know what is going to happen next, but it is interesting to note that White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also used the phrase “all options are on the table” during an interview with Maria Bartiromo…

“The only messages I think we are trying to get out there is that we want to make sure the Russians and the Cubans know they are not supposed to get involved and that we do and have said a bunch of times that all options are on the table” said Mulvaney during a conversation with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo from the Milken Institute Global Conference Opens a New Window.

They are making it very clear that a full-blown invasion of Venezuela is a real possibility, and most Americans have absolutely no idea what that would mean.

We are talking about a conflict that would be several magnitudes greater than the Iraq war, and it could be right around the corner.

Pompeo Threatens Military Intervention After Maduro Declares Victory Over 'Attempted Coup'

by Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/01/2019


Now that the monthslong simmering rebellion against Maduro has exploded into a full-fledged uprising - one that's in danger of being brutally suppressed by the Maduro regime - it's time for the US to revive its threats of military intervention with the added subtext of 'this time, we mean it'.

After footage from yesterday's riots showed regime tanks brutally crushing opposition supporters, Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox Business this morning and said that the US hasn't ruled out military intervention.

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE POMPEO SAYS MILITARY ACTION IN VENEZUELA IS POSSIBLE 'IF THAT'S WHAT'S REQUIRED', WOULD PREFER PEACEFUL TRANSITION -FOX BUSINESS INTERVIEW

His comments come as supporters of the regime and opposition prepare to take to the streets for another wave of massive demonstrations on Wednesday.

* * *

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido has called for a second day of street protests on Wednesday, but after the Venezuelan government successfully beat back the Guaido-led "popular uprising" - as the vast majority of Venezuela's military remained loyal to Nicolas Maduro - it's looks like the Russia- and China-backed socialist regime has resisted this latest challenge to its rule.

The coup attempt was hardly bloodless - there were horrifying incidences of extreme violence - but for all the jawboning from President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and NSA John Bolton, it appears Guaido's most prolific attempt yet to force Maduro from power was a spectacular failure. Some members of the military defected, but Maduro by and large retained control over the military and other levers of power. Presenting a surprising lack of confidence in Guaido, opposition supporters celebrated the release of Leopoldo Lopez from house arrest, the former opposition leader immediately sought refuge in the Chilean embassy.

Late on Tuesday, Maduro took to twitter to thank the supporters of his regime who took to the streets to help suppress the rebellion, and the leaders who stood up for the Bolivarian revolution.

Agradezco a todo el pueblo venezolano, su valentía, coraje y conciencia frente a este intento de golpe de Estado frustrado. Han demostrado que un pueblo movilizado es garantía de tranquilidad para la Patria. ¡Venezuela es Territorio de Paz e Independencia! pic.twitter.com/CjOhzxpjH4
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) May 1, 2019

Saludo a los líderes, lideresas, gobiernos, movimientos sociales e intelectuales del mundo por sus pronunciamientos, muestras de solidaridad y apoyo a la Constitución, a la democracia y al Gobierno Bolivariano que presido. ¡El Pueblo de Venezuela les Agradece! pic.twitter.com/XAnRvUABJa
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) May 1, 2019

Flanked by military leaders, Maduro delivered a speech where he demanded that all opposition supporters who participated in the day's violent skirmishes must be identified and arrested, and he bragged that the military base at La Carlota resisted a takeover attempt.

In honor of May Day, widely celebrated as International Workers Day, Maduro called for supporters to take to the streets for a 'millions-strong march'.

"Tomorrow, the first of May, we will have a large, millions-strong march of the working class," Maduro said in a Tuesday "We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history."

Forming an unusual alliance, it appears CNN has joined the Trump administration in spreading disinformation about the events in Venezuela to try and destabilize the regime.

CNN uses picture of pro-Guaido soldiers shooting (note the blue armbands) as proof of Maduro government "mowing down" its own citizens. Standard. https://t.co/kpwwCKI2oP
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) May 1, 2019

Still, Guaido hasn't given up yet, calling for his "Operation Liberty" to continue on Wednesday, he asked opposition supporters to take to the streets for the 'largest march in history' (though, after seeing footage of opposition supporters being crushed by a tank on Tuesday, we imagine that some might have second thoughts).

Mañana continuamos con la ejecución de la #OperaciónLibertad. Iniciamos la fase final y estaremos de forma sostenida en las calles hasta lograr el cese de la usurpación.

¡Vamos con todo, con más fuerza y determinación!#ConTodoPaLaCalle https://t.co/ep1vC824j6
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) May 1, 2019

Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry has said Pompeo's claim that Moscow had convinced Maduro to resist the coup and cling to power was "fake news".

Pompeo said Tuesday that Maduro had intended to step down, but Russia had convinced him to stay. "Washington tried its best to demoralise the Venezuelan army and now [has] used fakes as a part of an information war," Moscow spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told CNN on Wednesday.

As Venezuelans prepare for a second day of unrest, the number of dead and wounded in Tuesday's clashes hasn't yet been reported.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Castro, Chavez, Maduro, and "bad luck." An article from Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds.



Onward and upward,
airforce

FAA Has Restricted Airspace Around Venezuela

by NC Scout | May 1, 2019

In a likely prelude to action, the FAA issued the following NOTAM (Notice To Airmen):

KICZ A0001/19- SECURITY..UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ADVISORY FOR VENEZUELA
THOSE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A BELOW SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN FLYING
INTO, OUT OF, WITHIN OR OVER THE TERRITORY AND AIRSPACE OF VENEZUELA BELOW FL260 DUE
TO POTENTIAL HAZARDS TO CIVIL AVIATION ASSOCIATED WITH ONGOING POLITICAL INSTABILITY
AND INCREASED TENSIONS IN VENEZUELA.
A.APPLICABILITY. THIS NOTAM APPLIES TO: ALL U.S. AIR CARRIERS AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS;
ALL PERSONS EXERCISING THE PRIVILEGES OF AN AIRMAN CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE FAA, EXCEPT
SUCH PERSONS OPERATING U.S.-REGISTERED AIRCRAFT FOR A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER; AND ALL
OPERATORS OF AIRCRAFT REGISTERED IN THE UNITED STATES, EXCEPT WHERE THE OPERATOR OF
SUCH AIRCRAFT IS A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER.
B.PLANNING. THOSE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A PLANNING TO FLY INTO, OUT OF, WITHIN, OR OVER THE ABOVE-NAMED AREA MUST REVIEW CURRENT SECURITY/THREAT INFORMATION AND NOTAMS AND COMPLY WITH ALL APPLICABLE FAA REGULATIONS, OPERATIONS SPECIFICATIONS, MANAGEMENT SPECIFICATIONS, AND LETTERS OF AUTHORIZATION, INCLUDING UPDATING B450.
C. OPERATIONS. EXERCISE CAUTION DURING FLIGHT OPERATIONS DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF INADVERTENT RISKS TO CIVIL AVIATION FROM VENEZUELAN MILITARY AND SECURITY ACTIVITIES
ASSOCIATED WITH ONGOING POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND INCREASED TENSIONS IN VENEZUELA. THOSE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A MUST REPORT SAFETY AND/OR SECURITY INCIDENTS
TO THE FAA AT +1 202-267-3333 OR +1 202-267-3203.
HTTPS://WWW.FAA.GOV/AIR_TRAFFIC/PUBLICATIONS/US_RESTRICTIONS/
SFC– FL259; 22 FEB21:072019UNTILPERM. CREATED:22FEB21:142019

And the following:

FAA Background Information Regarding U.S. Civil Aviation– Venezuela
Due to ongoing political instability and increasing tensions in Venezuela, the FAA assesses there is an increasing inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operating into, out of, within or over the territory and airspace of Venezuela at altitudes below Flight Level (FL) 260. As a result, on 22 February 2019, the FAA published Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) KICZ A0001/19, advising U.S. civil aviation to exercise caution during flight operations into, out of, within or over the territory and airspace of Venezuela at altitudes below FL260.
The FAA is concerned about increased tensions associated with the ongoing political unrest and Venezuela’s recent military posturing, which included a national-level military exercise and the blockage of humanitarian aid on the Colombian border. The Maduro regime has publicly threatened to defend its sovereignty from any military aggression and to disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid. This confluence of events presents an increasing potential for miscalculation and/or misidentification of civil aircraft, which represents an inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operations in the territory and airspace of Venezuela.
Venezuelan forces have large stockpiles of advanced man portable air defense systems (MANPADS), and some MANPADS may be capable of engaging aircraft up to 25,000 feet. Although Venezuelan military forces are believed to have no intent to target civil aviation, the political instability and heightened tensions in Venezuela creates a concern for the possible loss of state control of some MANPADS
into the hands of potentially violent and unpredictable non-state actors who may have different intent and a lower level of training.
There is also the potential for Venezuela to operate GPS jammers in a leadership force protection role in and around Caracas, particularly in light of the August 2018 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) assassination attempt. Use of GPS jammers for counter-UAS operations may cause inadvertent GPS interference with civil aviation operations in Venezuelan airspace.
The FAA will continue to monitor potential risks to U.S. civil aviation operating the territory and airspace of Venezuela and make adjustments to its advisory for U.S. civil aviation as necessary.
Posted:22 FEB 2019

While in effect since February, it appears as though due to the ongoing and now widespread unrest, support very well might be inbound. Along with US accusations against Cuba and Russia, it might be a good time to review the following posts from earlier in the year:

Russian General: We Will Send Missiles To Cuba
Joint Sino-Russian Military Base To Reopen in Cuba
Russia deploying nuclear capable bombers to Venezuela
Venezuela’s Kalashnikov Factory to be at full capacity in 2019

The Russians have made it clear they intend on keeping the Maduro regime in power, whether the reports of their orders to Maduro are true or not, simply by their actions in the nation over the past year. This situation could rapidly and unpredictably spiral out of control, and at a minimum presents a Syria / Ukraine situation just to our south.

Review your plans.

Guaido Begs US Military To Help With Maduro Regime Change
Sunday, 12 May 2019 12:19 Zero Hedge



Venezuela's self-declared President Juan Guaido said on Saturday that he has instructed his political envoy in Washington to immediately open relations with the US military.

Guaido asked his ambassador, Carlos Vecchio, to sit down with Pentagon officials for "direct communications" to discuss "coordination" of efforts to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whose 2018 reelection Guaido claims is illegitimate.

"We have instructed our ambassador to meet immediately ... with the [US] Southern Command and its admiral to establish a direct relationship," Guaido told a Caracas crowd during a pro-opposition rally.

"We have said from the beginning that we will use all the resources at our disposal to build pressure."

The Southern Command is part of the US military responsible for operations and security in Central and South America, along with the Caribbean.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said that "all options are on the table" to end the country's yearslong political crisis. Washington, along with the European Union and most of Venezuela's neighbors, have backed Guaido to take control of the oil-rich nation.

However, Brussels and most Latin American countries have expressed opposition to potential military intervention. -DW

According to Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, the CIA is behind a plan to overthrow Maduro, according to Russia's state-owned Tass. Speaking at a Moscow press conference on Monday, Arreaza said "There is a whole plan made up by the CIA and the Venezuelan opposition to overthrow the Maduro government and take control of our country’s natural resources, which belong to the people as a result of a socialist revolution," adding "This is what we are trying to prevent. We don’t want the Venezuelan people to suffer"

Maduro, meanwhile, says that the CIA recruited his former intelligence chief over a year ago, who he claims masterminded the ham-handed coup attempt. In a Friday speech, Maduro slammed General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, former director general of Venezuela's National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), who defected in the wake of the failed April 30 military coup.

"Investigations have succeeded in proving that General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera has been recruited by the CIA for more than a year," said Maduro, adding that the "traitor" Figuera would face justice "sooner rather than later."

Maduro claimed that Figuera knew he was going to be fired and arrested at 9:00 a.m. on April 30, and prematurely launched the coup attempt before his imminent arrest.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Venezuelan defense minister Vladimir Padrino condemned what he called an illegal incursion by a US coast guard cutter in Venezuelan territorial waters - providing no evidence for his claim, but saying that Venezuelan vessels were able to force the ship to retreat.

"I don’t know if other republics will accept actions like this in their jurisdiction, but we will not," said Padrino.

A spokeswoman for US Southern Command, Col. Amanda Azubuike, said that a coast guard vessel was performing a drug interdiction mission in international waters of the Caribbean sea.

In past days, Padrino also denounced what he said were attempts by the US military to sow discord inside Venezuela’s barracks, inviting an angry response from Adm Craig Faller, head of Southern Command, who said he “stands ready” to assist Guaido.

“I look forward to discussing how we can support the future role of those [leaders of Venezuelan armed forces] who make the right decision, put the Venezuela people first and restore constitutional order,” Faller said. -The Guardian

Guaido maintains that as Venezuela's rightful leader, he has the right to invite foreign military actions - similar to how independence hero Simon Bolivar utilized 5,000 British mercenaries which he hired to liberate South America from Spain - adding that any such help should be considered "cooperation" instead of "intervention."

"We live in dictatorship," said Guaido, adding "We don’t have the option to stay at home waiting, but to keep demanding our rights in the streets."

To that end, Maduro still controls the Venezuelan military, and calls Guaido a "puppet" of the Trump administration.

"The US empire aims to end the Bolivarian Revolution," tweeted Maduro on Saturday. "We show the world that we can do social justice."

As much as I hope the regime changes soon, this is one we should stay out of.

Onward and upward,
airforce