Originally posted here
Hyperinflation, poverty, access to medicines and food is difficult due to the devaluation of Venezuelan currency. No doubt it's a tough situation down there.
While it's easy to just blame "the dictator" Nicolás Maduro; what's happening in Venezuela is just not that simple.
As the media conglomerates in the United States do the bidding of the Trump administration, I remind you that they are also doing the bidding of the far-right, U.S. corporate interests, and fueling the battle for Venezuela's resources. Especially their oil.
The rhetoric of news outlets in the United States is mimicking the words of the far-right. They are giving credibility to all those “alternative news” outlets that have been attacking socialism and migrants all in the same breath. They are validating some of the hate-speech that is part of what shit-bricks like Richard Spencer, Gavin McInnes, and Milo Yiannapoopiepants used to rise to fame, only to flame out when they were confronted by real people in the real world.
Don’t be surprised if clueless morons like them start popping up with “I told you so” thanks to, in large part, the work of media giants in the United States.
But I digress.
Watching any of the major news outlets who send correspondents to “check things out” in Venezuela is a huge disservice to the struggle of the Venezuelans. The struggle in Venezuela is part in-house politics and part U.S. interventionism. The latter having the largest impact.
The U.S. government has had it in for Venezuela since Hugo Chavez locked us out and took over the country’s vast resources, virtually ending the United States’ exploitation that began in the early 20th century. Chavez’s plan was to accumulate the nation’s wealth and disburse it among its people and for a time, Venezuela enjoyed those vast riches. Everyone, including the marginalized, got an equal share giving everyone social equity in the future of Venezuela.
Where Chavez failed miserably was trying to reign in corruption which, to this day, is widespread. When Maduro took over, he too had the promise of removing the corrupt from power. As he did, he only made room for others who, some would argue, are more corrupt. But given all of that, corruption is not what brought that beautiful country to its knees. It was us. The United States of America and its European allies.
When Maduro tried to gain access to his country’s vast gold reserves in the U.K., he was denied because according to the British, they were afraid he would use it for his own benefit. [1]
When George W. Bush and Barack Obama began sanctioning the economic drivers in Venezuela they began the process of crippling the nation. [2]
Then, when Obama enacted a plan to wean the United States off of Venezuelan oil crippling the nation even further, he opened the door for Trump to cut them off completely. [3]
The United States, one of the only countries who paid cash for Venezuelan oil - the product that paved the way for so much economic growth and social equity - would single-handedly destroy everything the Venezuelan people had worked so hard for (most other Venezuelan exports are used to pay off debt to other nations)
But again, I digress.
Fast forward to today and turn to any cable news channel and all you’ll hear about is Maduro denying access to foreign aid. As if he is purposely starving his own people. [4]
What they are not telling you about are aid groups who are reluctant to help because they are afraid of being thrown into the geopolitics of it all. [5]
In other words, they want no part of the gun running disguised as ‘aid’ that is coming into Venezuela. [6]
Yes, that’s right. Gun running.
It’s what the United States does, isn’t it? We like to sow chaos and discord, then take sides with who we deem to be the “moderates” (who typically turn out to be terrorists later) so that we can move-in militarily under the guise of war and “acquire” a nation’s resources and wealth. It’s U.S. imperialism at its finest and it’s not going to end there.
Next on the agenda is Cuba. Mike Pence has already declared that Cuba will be added to the list of countries who sponsor terrorism. That’s right. Terrorism. What is the justification for this, you ask? There is none. Just another effort to starve out a people (which hasn’t worked in 60 years) in an effort to sow more chaos.
So what’s the end-game?
Well, Donald Trump’s reelection, of course.
If all of this sounds eerily familiar to something that’s already happened (Iraq), that’s because it is. The architect back then is the same architect of today. John Bolton.
From the “Axis of Evil” to the “Troika of Tyranny” it’s all out of the same playbook.
What do we do? We start paying attention to independent news outlets with truth as their sole agenda. There are many independent voices in Venezuela and in the United States with direct ties to that nation who are being drowned out by some white dudes flipping Venezuelan money through their fingers talking about how worthless it is. Seek these voices out - they are out there - listen to what they have to say. You’ll hear all sides of what is happening. Find media outlets like Latino Rebels and Futuro Media where these voices are flocking just to be heard.
Then, we need to come together and call this out and fight for the people of Venezuela and stop a potential war.
The days of U.S. colonialism are over and it’s time Americans accepted that.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/…/decision-on-venezuelan-gold-is-fo…
[2] https://www.panoramas.pitt.edu/…/us-sanctions-against-venez…
[3] https://foreignpolicy.com/…/when-it-comes-to-venezuela-tru…/
[4] https://www.cbsnews.com/…/venezuela-crisis-us-humanitarian…/
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/…/a…/venezuela-humanitarian-aid.html
[6] https://www.mcclatchydc.com/…/latin-a…/article225949200.html