Venezuela

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monster_gardener
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Toilet Paper Crisis/Civil War?..... Food shortages also....

Post by monster_gardener »

Thank You Very Much for maintaining the Forum, Admins Typhoon & YMix


Hat Tip to Doc.



http://www.chron.com/news/world/article ... 520831.php

Venezuelans scrambling to find scarce toilet paper


FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press, By FABIOLA SANCHEZ and KARL RITTER, Associated Press | May 16, 2013 | Updated: May 16, 2013 3:54pm

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans scrambled to stock up on toilet paper Thursday as fears of a bathroom emergency spread despite the socialist government's promise to import 50 million rolls.

After years of economic dysfunction, the country has gotten used to shortages of medicines and basic food items like milk and sugar but the scarcity of bathroom tissue has caused unusual alarm.

"Even at my age, I've never seen this," said 70-year-old Maria Rojas. She said she had been looking for toilet paper for two weeks when she finally found it at a supermarket in downtown Caracas.

Thousands of rolls flew off the store's shelves as consumers streamed in and loaded up shopping carts Thursday morning.

"I bought it because it's hard to find," said Maria Perez, walking out with several rolls of paper.

"Here there's a shortage of everything — butter, sugar, flour," she said. But the latest shortage is particularly worrisome "because there always used to be toilet paper."

Economists say Venezuela's shortages of some consumer products stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and the government's controls on foreign currency.

President Nicolas Maduro, who was selected by the dying Hugo Chavez to carry on his "Bolivarian revolution," claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilize the country.

The government this week announced it would import 760,000 tons of food and 50 million rolls of toilet paper.

Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming said "excessive demand" for tissue had built up due to a "media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country."

He said monthly consumption of toilet paper was normally 125 million rolls, but current demand "leads us to think that 40 million more are required."

"We will bring in 50 million to show those groups that they won't make us bow down," he said.

That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find bathroom supplies. Several supermarkets visited by The Associated Press in the capital on Wednesday and Thursday were out of toilet paper. Those that received fresh batches quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread.

"I've been looking for it for two weeks," Cristina Ramos said at a store on Wednesday. "I was told that they had some here and now I'm in line."

Finance Minister Nelson Merentes said the government was also addressing the lack of foreign currency, which has resulted in the suspension of foreign supplies of raw materials, equipment and spare parts to Venezuelan companies, disrupting their production.

"We are making progress ... we have to work very hard," Merentes told reporters Wednesday.

Many factories operate at half capacity because the currency controls make it hard for them to pay for imported parts and materials. Business leaders say some companies verge on bankruptcy because they cannot extend lines of credit with foreign suppliers.

Merentes said the government had met the U.S. dollar requests of some 1,500 small- and medium-sized companies facing supply problems, and was reviewing requests from a similar number of larger companies.

Chavez impoed currency controls a decade ago trying to stem capital flight as his government expropriated large land parcels and dozens of businesses.

Anointed by Chavez as his successor before the president died from cancer, Maduro won a close presidential election April 14 against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, who refused to accept the result, claiming Maduro won through fraud and voter intimidation. He filed a complaint to the Supreme Court, asking for the vote to be annulled, though that's highly unlikely to happen since the court is packed with government-friendly justices.

Patience is wearing thin among consumers who face shortages and long lines at supermarkets and pharmacies. Last month, Venezuela's scarcity index reached its highest level since 2009, while the 12-month inflation rate has risen to nearly 30 percent. Shoppers often spend several days looking for basic items, and stock up when they find them.

Could a Civil War start over Toilet Paper? :shock:

Maduro better be careful to import quality toilet tissue ;) so as not to spark the flame on Venezuelan rears already rubbed raw by Chavez's Social Ass ;) Shortages.......
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Endovelico »

Send them some surplus copies of the Patriot Act... I doubt we could find a better use for that excellent bill...
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Venezuela Toilet Paper Suggestions, Better & Even Worse.....

Post by monster_gardener »

Endovelico wrote:Send them some surplus copies of the Patriot Act... I doubt we could find a better use for that excellent bill...
Thank You VERY MUCH for your post, Endo.

And Thank you VERY MUCH also for the the most EXCELLENT suggestion on what to do with the Patriot Ass ;) oops I mean Patriot Act.

So SECONDED!

Let me add a few other documents which might make good toilet paper if the ink is non toxic or as fire kindling otherwise........... ;)

The Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) proposed by that Ass ;) Lazy Lying Duty Station Deserting IRS Abusing Son of a Bitch Eater President Obama butt ;) only after we repeal it since the DemocRAT Clowns in the UZ Clowngress did not read it before passing it and only now are some of them like Max BaucASS ;) allegedly realizing what a train wreck it is.

Since Venezuela is a Spanish speaking nation, the collected transcripts of the speeches of Fidel Castro should be added so the Venezuelans will have something to read while on the "throne" ;) which will inform them as to what their future is likely to be and where the orders are coming from, Cuba.
Chavez and Maduro & supporter speeches could be added also.

And while I will refrain from suggesting a Middle Eastern book allegedly uncreated perfect in Heaven unintelligible verses and all, I will suggest its human created EVEN WORSE ;) sequels, the Hadiths and Figh ;) manuals for which I do not give a fig ;) such as the Reliance of the Traveler and maybe a few copies of the Atrocious Occasionalist ;) writings of the Jihadist Muslim Philosopher Ghazali.

JWi5jdgTUJs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWi5jdgTUJs


One more for Chavez himself..........


t2mU6USTBRE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mU6USTBRE
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Re: Venezuela

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Reuters | Venezuela inflation soars to record monthly high 6.1 pct
CARACAS, June 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela's inflation hit a record monthly high of 6.1 percent in May, compounding new President Nicolas Maduro's economic headaches less than two months after taking office in the OPEC member country.

Last month's consumer price rises, up from 4.3 percent in April, took Venezuela's annualized inflation rate to a startling 35.2 percent, the highest in the Americas.

This adds to a complex panorama of slowing economic growth, widespread shortages of basic products, and political tension over Maduro's narrow election victory to replace late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.
Ouch.
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Endovelico
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Endovelico »

Venezuela and Nicaragua offer asylum to Edward Snowden
Jonathan Watts and agencies - guardian.co.uk, Saturday 6 July 2013 09.45 BST

Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower who is believed to have spent the past two weeks at a Moscow airport evading US attempts to extradite him.

The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daneil Ortega, made the asylum offers on Friday, shortly after they and other Latin American leaders met to denounce the diversion of a plane carrying the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, due to suspicions that Snowden might have been on board.

The invitations came as Snowden sent out new requests for asylum to six countries, in addition to the 20 he has already contacted, according to WikiLeaks, which claims to be in regular contact with the former National Security Agency contractor.

Most of the countries have refused or given technical reasons why an application is not valid, but several Latin American leaders have rallied together with expressions of solidarity and welcome.

"As head of state of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden … to protect this young man from persecution by the empire," said Maduro who, along with his predecessor Hugo Chávez, often refers to the US as "the empire".

The previous day, Maduro told the Telesur TV channel that Venezuela had received an extradition request from the US, which he had already rejected.

A copy of the request, seen by the Guardian, notes that Snowden "unlawfully released classified information and documents to international media outlets" and names the Guardian and the Washington Post. Dated 3 July and sent in English and Spanish, it says: "The United States seeks Snowden's provisional arrest should Snowden seek to travel to or transit through Venezuela. Snowden is a flight risk because of the substantial charges he is facing and his current and active attempts to remain a fugitive."

It adds that he is charged with unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised disclosure of classified communication intelligence and theft of government property. Each of these three charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

Describing Snowden as "a fugitive who is currently in Russia", it urges Venezuela to keep him in custody if arrested and to seize all items in his possession for later delivery to the US. It provides a photograph and two alternative passport numbers – one revoked, and one reported lost or stolen.

Maduro said he did not accept the grounds for the charges.

"He has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the US spying on the whole world," Maduro said in his latest speech. "Who is the guilty one? A young man … who denounces war plans, or the US government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate president, Bashar al-Assad?" (...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ju ... rd-snowden
Funny. By trying to prevent Snowden from reaching South America, by grounding President Morale's plane, the US has in fact created the conditions for asylum to be granted him. Now the only problem is having Snowden reaching Venezuela, but maybe President Maduro will be willing to dispatch a navy vessel to St. Petersburg to collect him.
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Bagging it Diplomatically.......

Post by monster_gardener »

Endovelico wrote:
Venezuela and Nicaragua offer asylum to Edward Snowden
Jonathan Watts and agencies - guardian.co.uk, Saturday 6 July 2013 09.45 BST

Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower who is believed to have spent the past two weeks at a Moscow airport evading US attempts to extradite him.

The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daneil Ortega, made the asylum offers on Friday, shortly after they and other Latin American leaders met to denounce the diversion of a plane carrying the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, due to suspicions that Snowden might have been on board.

The invitations came as Snowden sent out new requests for asylum to six countries, in addition to the 20 he has already contacted, according to WikiLeaks, which claims to be in regular contact with the former National Security Agency contractor.

Most of the countries have refused or given technical reasons why an application is not valid, but several Latin American leaders have rallied together with expressions of solidarity and welcome.

"As head of state of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden … to protect this young man from persecution by the empire," said Maduro who, along with his predecessor Hugo Chávez, often refers to the US as "the empire".

The previous day, Maduro told the Telesur TV channel that Venezuela had received an extradition request from the US, which he had already rejected.

A copy of the request, seen by the Guardian, notes that Snowden "unlawfully released classified information and documents to international media outlets" and names the Guardian and the Washington Post. Dated 3 July and sent in English and Spanish, it says: "The United States seeks Snowden's provisional arrest should Snowden seek to travel to or transit through Venezuela. Snowden is a flight risk because of the substantial charges he is facing and his current and active attempts to remain a fugitive."

It adds that he is charged with unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised disclosure of classified communication intelligence and theft of government property. Each of these three charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

Describing Snowden as "a fugitive who is currently in Russia", it urges Venezuela to keep him in custody if arrested and to seize all items in his possession for later delivery to the US. It provides a photograph and two alternative passport numbers – one revoked, and one reported lost or stolen.

Maduro said he did not accept the grounds for the charges.

"He has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the US spying on the whole world," Maduro said in his latest speech. "Who is the guilty one? A young man … who denounces war plans, or the US government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate president, Bashar al-Assad?" (...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ju ... rd-snowden
Funny. By trying to prevent Snowden from reaching South America, by grounding President Morale's plane, the US has in fact created the conditions for asylum to be granted him. Now the only problem is having Snowden reaching Venezuela, but maybe President Maduro will be willing to dispatch a navy vessel to St. Petersburg to collect him.
Thank You Very Much for your post, Endo.

Would not recommend that unless Snowden is placed in a "diplomatic pouch" though the "official use" requirement might cause problems ;)
A diplomatic bag, also known as a diplomatic pouch, is a container with certain legal protections used for carrying official correspondence or other items between a diplomatic mission and its home government or other diplomatic, consular, or otherwise official entities.[1] The physical concept of a "diplomatic bag" is flexible and therefore can take many forms e.g., a cardboard box, briefcase, duffel bag, large suitcase, crate or even a shipping container.[1] Additionally, a diplomatic bag usually has some form of lock and/or tamper-evident seal attached to it in order to deter interference by unauthorised third parties. The most important point is that as long as it is externally marked to show its status, the "bag" has diplomatic immunity from search or seizure,[2] as codified in article 27 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.[3] It may only contain articles intended for official use.[3] It need not be a bag; in fact, no size limit is specified by the convention. It is often escorted by a diplomatic courier, who is similarly immune from arrest and detention.[2][3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_pouch
Unusual shipments

Some[which?] corrupt governments are alleged to have used diplomatic immunity to smuggle drugs, which was mentioned by English journalist Tony Thompson in his book Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld.
During World War II, Winston Churchill reportedly received shipments of Cuban cigars by this means.[2]
In 1964, a Moroccan-born Israeli double agent named Mordechai Ben Masoud Louk (also known as Josef Dahan) was drugged, bound, and placed in a diplomatic bag at the Egyptian Embassy in Rome, but was rescued by Italian authorities.[4] The crate that he had been placed in appeared to have been used for a similar purpose before, possibly for an Egyptian military official who had defected to Italy several years before but then disappeared without a trace before reappearing under Egyptian custody and facing trial.
During the 1982 Falklands War, the Argentine government used a diplomatic bag to smuggle several Limpet mines to their embassy in Spain, to be used in the covert Operation Algeciras, in which Argentine agents were to blow up a British warship in the Royal Navy Dockyard at Gibraltar. The plot was uncovered and stopped by the Spanish[dubious – discuss] Police before the explosives could be set.[citation needed]
In the 1984 Dikko Affair, a former Nigerian government minister, was kidnapped and placed in a shipping crate, in an attempt to transport him from the United Kingdom back to Nigeria for trial.[4] However, it was not marked as a diplomatic bag, which allowed British customs to open it.[4]
In 1984, the Sterling submachine gun used to shoot dead WPC Yvonne Fletcher from inside the Libyan Embassy in London was smuggled out of the UK in one of 21 diplomatic bags.[5][6][7][8]
In March 2000 Zimbabwe was the object of political interest internationally when it opened a British diplomatic shipment.[2]
In May 2008, a replacement pump for the toilet on the International Space Station was sent in a diplomatic pouch from Russia to the United States in order to arrive before liftoff of the next shuttle mission.[9]
In 2012, a 16 kg shipment of cocaine was sent to the United Nations in New York in a bag masquerading as a diplomatic pouch.[10]
In January 2012, Italy detected 40 kilograms of cocaine smuggled in a diplomatic pouch from Ecuador, arresting five. Ecuador insisted it had inspected the shipment for drugs at the foreign ministry before it was sent to Milan.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic ... _shipments
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Endovelico »

Venezuelan Economy Records Better than Expected Q2 Growth of 2.6%
Aug 23rd 2013, by Ewan Robertson

Mérida, 23rd August 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan economy experienced better than expected GDP growth of 2.6% for the April – June period this year, with the country’s central bank predicting the economy to continue growing throughout 2013.

The figures are good news for President Nicolas Maduro, and suggest that the government is overcoming economic problems which affected Maduro’s popularity in the run up to the presidential election in April.

“I want to congratulate the government’s economic teams. Good news came out today that has made the bitter people bitter…after the sabotage that they [opposition sectors] committed against the economy…we’ve recovered the economy slowly, but sustainably,” Maduro said yesterday.

Total growth for the first six months of 2013 compared with the same period last year is 1.6%, with the Venezuelan economy having experienced eleven quarters of sustained GDP expansion.

In the first quarter of this year the economy grew by a sluggish 0.5% [updated figure] in the context of rising inflation and scarcity levels. The country was also hit by a political shock in March, when late President Hugo Chavez passed away.

According to the Venezuelan Central Bank’s (BCV) report yesterday, the non-oil sectors of the economy which most expanded in the second quarter were finance (24.3%), communications (6.7%), water and electricity (6.0%), manufacturing (5.7%), trade (4.2%), community services (3.6%) and public services (2.9%).

Meanwhile, construction (-6%) and transport (-0.9%) contracted, as did mining by 22.2%. Non-oil related economic activity grew by 2.9% compared with oil-related growth of 1.3%.

Two economic sectors which the BCV’s second quarter report most analysed were construction and the food industry.

The shrinkage in construction was because of a slowdown in the government’s mass housing construction program, which the BCV said was “due to the culmination of a great number of works and that new projects must fulfill contractual, approval and financial disbursement processes”.

Meanwhile the food industry grew by 9.3% in the last quarter, which will be seen as a positive sign by the government in the struggle against on-going relative shortages in some basic products.

The BCV’s report states that the main reasons for the increased economic growth are “greater availability of primary resources and materials..., the increase of imports in diverse sectors, the social policies of the national government, and greater household demand for goods and services”.

The BCV, which works actively with the government on economic policy, argued that the increased availability of primary materials and greater imports were due to BCV and government efforts to “deepen the efficiency” of mechanisms granting foreign currency to Venezuelan companies.

Based on the Q2 figures, the government and BCV are now predicting total economic growth in 2013 of around 3%. “If the economy continues like this, we can assure that Venezuela will have growth of 3 percent or more in 2013,” said finance minister Nelson Merentes in a press conference yesterday.

Interpretations

Some economists were critical of the government’s positive appraisal of the economy’s performance in recent months. Jose Guerra, an economist and university professor, questioned official optimism over the state of the economy.

“What is the success? In the first half of 2013 GDP grew 1.6% and inflation 25%. In the first six months of 2012 GDP grew 5.8% and inflation 7.5%,” he tweeted, according to conservative daily El Nacional.

However, other economists have interpreted the figures as a sign that the Venezuelan economy will continue improving throughout 2013.

“This [report] shows that the economy continues growing, and that it overcame the relative wobble in the first quarter [of 2013],” said economist Jose Gregorio Piña, while speaking on state channel VTV earlier today.

“The indicators reveal to us that the [economic] situation is going to continue improving, above all in the construction sector with the boost of the Great Housing Mission”, he continued.

While BCV data shows food scarcity levels remaining relatively high over the last few months, monthly inflation has dropped from a high of 6.1% in May to 3.2% in July.

Furthermore, unemployment in June dropped to 6.9%, compared with 7.4% in June of 2012, according to the government’s National Institute of Statistics.

BCV president Eudomar Tovar argued in a press conference yesterday that the 2.6% increase in GDP from April – June created some 200,000 new jobs. “This is something very important because these are people who have an income and, as a result, generate consumption and contribute to the strengthening of the economy,” he stated.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9965
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Typhoon »

Context:

MercoPress | Venezuela inflation in July 3.2% and 42.6% in the last twelve months
Venezuela consumer prices last month rose at the fastest pace since the index was created in 2008 amid worsening shortages of staple goods such as meat, sugar and milk.
Prices rose 42.6% in July from a year earlier and 3.2% in the month, the central bank said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Doc »

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStor ... s-20848739
Maduro Urges Calm as Venezuelans Jam Stores Again
CARACAS, Venezuela November 11, 2013 (AP)
By RICARDO NUNES Associated Press
Associated Press

President Nicolas Maduro, who called for an emptying of shelves when he seized control of a slew of appliance retailers last week, urged calm Monday as Venezuelans massed outside stores nationwide for a fourth straight day.

Maduro, in a nationally televised address, charged that opposition agitators had infiltrated the long lines that have formed in several cities and were trying to stir up violence. He said he was deploying tens of thousands of volunteer civilian militiamen to assist security forces in crowd control.

"Be calm, these products will stay where they are," Maduro said, adding that under no circumstances would he allow companies to gouge consumers again. "There's no need to sleep outside store doors. Nobody should despair. Nobody should get anxious."

Tension has hung over much of Venezuela since Maduro last week took control of several electronics retailers he accuses of hiking prices to sow discontent and destabilize his rule. This week the government is expanding its crackdown to businesses selling clothes, shoes and automobiles, all of which have seen prices shoot up in tandem with a sharp drop in Venezuela's bolivar currency on the illegal black market.

Business groups have accused the government of carrying out a witch hunt, and shops in parts of eastern Caracas shuttered early Monday for fear of violence. In the suburb of Los Teques, police fired shots in the air to prevent crowds from raiding a toy store. On Saturday, looters cleaned out an electronic store in the city of Valencia.

Still, even some opponents of Maduro have applauded his tough stance against what he calls the "parasitic bourgeoisie," and many of the president's political foes are waiting in the lines with his supporters to take advantage of deep discounts.

Among those waiting since Saturday night in a five-block-long line outside the JVG electronics shop in eastern Caracas was Robert Cox. Cox said he opposes the government, and disagrees with the abrupt way Maduro slashed prices, but he added that couldn't afford to let pass by the opportunity to restock his home the latest appliances.

"If I weren't here, someone else would be," he said.

Maduro is gambling that by expanding price controls he can regain support he has lost since being elected in April, as inflation soared to a two-decade high and the U.S. dollar shot up on the black market to nine times its official value.

The president said he also plans to set profit margins for companies if congress approves a law granting him special powers and is creating a special prosecutor to investigate businesses for "usury and robbery of the people."

Analysts said the populist measures might bolster government candidates in next month's mayoral elections, but warned that the tougher rules are likely to inflict more damage on Venezuela's economy by discouraging investment and adding to shortages that reached a record level in October.

Maduro is also taking his offensive to the Internet, blocking access to seven websites that track the value of the country's bolivar currency on the black market. The president over the weekend accused the websites of spreading panic and conspiring against his government.

Free-market economists say the only way to stabilize the economy is to lift capital controls put in place a decade ago by the late President Hugo Chavez and to devalue the bolivar.

That's a notion Maduro rejects.

The president argues that Venezuela's 54 percent inflation rate is the result of hoarding and speculation by his opponents in Venezuela and in the U.S. He says the country, which is South America's biggest oil producer, has more than enough dollars to pay for imports.

If not for the "economic war" being waged by his opponents, inflation should be running around 16 percent to 18 percent, Maduro said Sunday night.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Azrael »

Venezuela was starting to get embarrassing when Hugo was going off about the devils and lavender, but as time goes on, the pitch has become increasingly difficult to bat on, and now we are in some seriously ticklish territory. If this wasn't Latin America, where buffoonery is a practiced as a high art, people would by dropping dead of embarrassment by now.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

Does Russia have two or four Tu-160's based in Venezuela now? I know they had two there some years back, and two arrived last month but I don't know if the new ones are replacements or additions.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Doc »

Maduro becomes dictator of Venezuela

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the ... story.html
Venezuelan president Maduro given power to rule by decree

Image

JUAN BARRETO/AFP/Getty Images - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro raises his fist after getting the approval of the National Assembly to give him wide-ranging special powers to rule by decree for one year, Nov. 19, 2013.

By Emilia Diaz-Struck and Juan Forero, Tuesday, November 19, 6:52 PM E-mail the writer

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s legislature on Tuesday gave President Nicolás Maduro decree powers that he says are necessary for an “economic offensive” against the spiraling inflation and food shortages buffeting the country’s economy ahead of important municipal elections.

The 50-year-old former union activist and bus driver, who succeeded Hugo Chávez after the mercurial leader died of cancer in March, secured just enough votes for the measure to pass after a dissident lawmaker was recently stripped of her seat. Opponents warned that Maduro, who blames the economic crisis on private businessmen conniving with agents of the U.S. government, is leading Venezuela to ruin while trampling on individual liberties.
Touring storm damage at Summit Village Trailer Park near Marion, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, right, asks Courtland Vandiver about the injuries he sustained when his trailer overturned by storm winds Sunday. Dozens of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the U.S. Midwest on Sunday, unleashing powerful winds that flattened entire neighborhoods, flipped over cars and uprooted trees.(AP Photo/The Chronicle-Tribune, Jeff Morehead)


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“We are going to consolidate this economic offensive,” Maduro said shortly after the vote, explaining to viewers on national television that he accepted the new powers in the name of his mentor. “Mission completed, Comandante Hugo Chávez!”

The government has recently taken extreme measures to slow the country’s 54 percent annual inflation rate, one of the world’s highest, and end widespread shortages of toilet paper, milk, cooking oil and other basic goods. The local currency is also in a free fall, skyrocketing to more than 60 bolivars to the U.S. dollar on the black market, 10 times the official rate.

Earlier this month, after railing against “bourgeois parasites,” Maduro ordered troops to take over a major electronics store chain and force managers to sell goods ranging from plasma TVs to stereos at bargain-basement prices.

“Let nothing be left on the shelves,” Maduro told Venezuelans at the time.

The government also slashed prices at appliance dealers, auto-mechanic stores and toy shops, prompting a rush on businesses across the country as shoppers hunted for bargains. Dozens of businessmen were arrested, accused of speculating and hoarding supplies.

“They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites,” Maduro said, using the same combative language his predecessor had wielded against opponents.

Chávez, a bombastic orator who set Venezuela on a collision course with the United States, frequently used decree powers during his rule to push through radical economic and political changes in his efforts to remake Venezuela into a socialist country.

With the ability to pass laws without congressional approval for up to a year, Maduro said that he would move fast to restrict profit margins and introduce other changes to the economy. The government’s plans have rattled entrepreneurs, who during nearly 15 years of leftist populist rule have seen 1,000 businesses expropriated while facing a raft of intrusive government edicts.

Massive state spending, much of it in the form of handouts to followers, has generated growth and won supporters for the self-styled revolutionary government. But Venezuela’s opposition leaders say the policies are not sustainable.

“You have ruined, persecuted and expropriated,” María Corina Machado, a lawmaker and one of Maduro’s toughest adversaries, said during Tuesday’s hearing. “Everything you touch you ruin. Everything you touch you asphyxiate and corrupt. This has generated unemployment, shortages, pain and misery in Venezuela.”
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Re: Venezuela

Post by noddy »

deary me, i have nightmares about this kind of socialism forming in australia and much of the west, bitterness and entitlement as a religion.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Azrael »

Maduro is starting to remind me of El Presidente from Gilligan's Island.

Image

Incidentally, "maduro" is Spanish for over-ripe banana.

Image
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Re: Venezuela

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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/money/ ... picks=true

Venezuela's Internet Crackdown Targets Popular Website Bitly
Published December 05, 2013
Fox News Latino

Venezuela Cyber Crackdown.jpg

An anti-government protester holds up a fake Venezuelan banknote that reads in Spanish, "This is the revolution. Poor Bolivar." (ap)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuelans have been scrambling for dollars for weeks, taking refuge in the greenback as their own currency is in free fall. Rather than address the economic imbalances behind the bolivar's plunge, the government is going after the bearers of the bad news — it's taking down websites people use to track exchange rates on the black market.

Cyber-activists say the crackdown goes to absurd lengths, even targeting Bitly, the popular site for shortening Web addresses to make it easier to send them as links via Twitter and other social media. For more than two weeks, access to the service has been partially censored by several Internet service providers in Venezuela, apparently because Bitly was being used to evade blocks put on currency-tracking websites.

The New York company says such restrictions have only previously been seen in China, which has one of the worst records for Internet freedom, and even then not for such an extended period. Opponents of Venezuela's socialist government say the restrictions are designed to obscure reporting of the nation's mounting economic woes.

"We help connect people with information and insight about their world," Bitly CEO Mark Josephson said. "When someone is standing in the way of that mission, that's not something we feel good about."

Bitly got caught in the crossfire of Venezuela's polarized politics a month ago, shortly after President Nicolás Maduro decided to block access to sites such as www.dolartoday.com that publish the black market rate for the bolivar, which is now 10 times the official rate of 6.3 bolivars per dollar.

Maduro accuses the sites of fueling an "economic war" against his government, which is facing municipal elections this weekend that will be its first political test since he narrowly won the presidency in April following Hugo Chávez's death. Many of the sites are also openly critical of the government.

But with the blocks in place, many sites managed to skirt the controls by migrating to Twitter, keeping hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans informed of the black market rate by using Bitly to direct traffic to newly created websites.

In response, telecommunications regulator Conatel sent a letter to Twitter on Nov. 19 asking it to immediately shut all accounts used to violate Venezuela's currency controls, warning that its failure to do so would be "highly damaging to the Venezuelan economy." Twitter has ignored the request but declines to comment on the matter.

Around the same time, Bitly was taken down without notice — a least for Venezuelans who are subscribers to the state-run service provider, CANTV. As a result, the average number of clicks on Bitly-generated links has fallen by half to about 1.5 million a day in Venezuela, Josephson said.

"It's like shutting down all the highways in the country because there was an accident on one street," said Luis Carlos Diaz, a cyber-activist and tech columnist for the Caracas newspaper Tal Cual.

Meanwhile, the government hasn't said how it intends to stem the bolivar's decline, a major factor fueling inflation that hit a two-decade high of 54 percent in October. Economists say the only way to stabilize the currency is by devaluing the bolivar and unwinding decade-old controls that restrict the amount of foreign currency Venezuelans can purchase. Maduro vigorously insists he will never adopt such policies.

The currency market's cat and mouse game continues, because while Bitly remains offline, other URL-shortening services haven't been touched. And Bitly can be used by Venezuelans who access the Internet through private networks.

Every 12 hours or so, the Dolartoday website tweets a message to its 350,000-plus followers directing them to a new Web address using a shortener tool provided by Google, the website's owner told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he faces arrest for publishing the illegal rate.

Igor Molina, a high-ranking official for Conatel, defends the agency's actions to limit some websites. The more than 100 sites ordered blocked "don't reflect the real economy and assign an arbitrary value to the dollar," he said.

Despite one of the slowest download speeds in the world, Venezuela's online population is the fourth-most active user of Twitter in the world, according to a study this year by PeerReach, a social media research firm.

Partly fueling that is the nation's politics. The harassment of journalists, arbitrary licensing of the airwaves and the takeover of private broadcast media by pro-government owners have made the Internet the last bastion for criticism of the government. And many fear that could be the next battleground.

"Today it's Bitly, but tomorrow it could be the opposition websites," said Diaz, the columnist.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Venezuela: Grocerias en el Mercado.....

Post by monster_gardener »

Azrael wrote:Maduro is starting to remind me of El Presidente from Gilligan's Island.

Image

Incidentally, "maduro" is Spanish for over-ripe banana.

Image
Thank You VERY MUCH for your post, Azrael.
Incidentally, "maduro" is Spanish for over-ripe banana.
GOOD One, Azrael!

I was thinking more in terms of Spanglish ;) : MADuro ;) ... Crazy and Hard but platanos Maduro would be soft.... ;)

Which reminds me....

Tengo que ir al SUPERMercado para comprar grocerias ;) :twisted: .....
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Re: Venezuela

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e16845406/
With oil economy running on fumes, Venezuela 'on the edge of the apocalypse'

STEPHANIE NOLEN

CARACAS — The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Feb. 12 2014, 9:16 PM EST

In the serene private clubs of Caracas, there is no milk, and the hiss of the cappuccino machine has fallen silent. In the slums, the lights go out every few days, or the water stops running. In the grocery stores, both state-run shops and expensive delicatessens, customers barter information: I saw soap here, that store has rice today. The oil engineers have emigrated to Calgary, the soap opera stars fled to Mexico and Colombia. And in the beauty parlours of this nation obsessed with elaborate grooming, women both rich and poor have cut back to just one blow-dry or manicure each week.

Demonstrators make a barricade of burning garbage during a protest against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas February 12, 2014. A demonstrator was killed during an anti-government rally in Caracas on Wednesday, Reuters witnesses said. A Reuters cameraman and a photographer both heard shots and saw one protester had fallen to the ground. The person was then carried away dead.
Gallery

In pictures: Venezuela's popular discontent boils over in demonstrations against Maduro
Journalists in Venezuela are taking to the streets to protest newsprint shortages, which have forced some papers to stop printing. Gavino Garay reports.
Video

Video: Reporters take to streets of Caracas over paper shortage
Hundreds of demonstrators in Caracas call for an end to violence after former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her ex-husband were murdered in Venezuela. Sarah Irwin reports.
Video

Video: Hundreds protest in wake of Miss Venezuela's murder

Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, is a leading candidate for next collapsed state.

“To be Venezuelan today is to live on the edge of the apocalypse, convinced it will happen tomorrow,” said Alberto Barrera, a poet, screenwriter and biographer of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, in a recent conversation over coffee that was, by necessity, black. “But then, we’ve been expecting the crisis at any moment for years now.”

Inflation is running at over 50 per cent, a raging black market buys dollars at more than 10 times the official rate, domestic industry has all but shut down; there are critical shortages of many consumer staples, including corn flour for arepas, the national breakfast. TV stations – now all state-controlled – are full of ads that alternately denounce capitalism or show square-shouldered actors talking about how they don’t hoard and buy only what they need. Billboards boast of how socialist Venezuela has never been stronger; yet almost no one has toilet paper in their bathrooms.

The apocalypse hasn’t come yet. “The crash never comes because Venezuela has an insurance other countries don’t have – one of the largest oil reserves in the world,” said Jorge Roig, president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce. Venezuela’s economic indicators defy logic, he said, but the international thirst for oil has postponed the day of reckoning.

High oil prices funded Mr. Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution” over the past 14 years. He made massive investments in health and education; because the government releases almost no reliable data, it is debatable how much impact these had on human development, but they did inspire a belief in redistribution and justice, and ensured his huge popularity.

But since Mr. Chavez’s death nearly a year ago, it has become apparent that his hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, lacks his charisma. Meanwhile, the safety net is starting to tatter. Production by the national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A, or PDVSA, is declining, although the government won’t say by how much. The company is crippled by debt, has no cash to invest in operations, must operate on the posted exchange rate, and has been turned into a bizarre do-everything organization that makes jam and processed chicken, builds houses and runs neighbourhood health clinics.

As uncertainty grows, Venezuelans must adapt to an ever-shifting reality. In the middle and upper class, this means cultivating friendships with grocery store clerks who text you when a shipment of butter comes in; shopping on credit cards, because the bolivare, the national currency, will be worth even less when the bill comes due; and sinking cash into hard assets such as a used car, if you can find one (the official waiting list at dealerships is years long.)

“I have so much sugar stacked up in my house you can hardly get in the door,” said Josefina Turco, a lawyer who was lining up repeatedly in stores on a recent afternoon to get ingredients for a birthday cake for her daughter.

People with access to dollars through jobs or travels use a vast network of illegal but openly operating currency traders to buy black market bolivares and fund a lifestyle that is perversely cheap (at 10 to 1 against the posted rate) even as prices shoot up. That cappuccino, if you can find the milk, is the equivalent of $6 at the posted price – but 60 cents in black-market bolivares.

For low-income people – about 40 per cent of the population – there are cushions, such as state-subsidized grocery stores, where the prices of staples are about half the market rate. There are state-imposed price controls on everything from TVs to rice and beans.

Many of the poor and lower middle class remain ardent supporters of Mr. Chavez’s socialist party and his redistribution project. “The Comandante in his 14 years of rule filled us with idealism … the idea that we are all entitled to a share will survive him,” said Henrique Ollorbes, 63, a retired firefighter whose extended family lives on a network of pensions, grants and schemes provided by the government.

But the cost of inflation is felt much more sharply in small household budgets, notes Richard Obuchi, a professor of public policy at Caracas’s postgraduate management institute IESA. So are the effects of a violent crime rate that was already high and is growing; low-income groups are also hit hardest by the declining qualities of health care, housing and public transportation.

“We work so much more than we used to,” said Nancy Ortega, a maid who toils in a leafy upscale suburb each day; a year ago she worked three days a week, and now it is five. Her husband works 9 to 5 in an autobody shop, then does odd jobs for four hours after it closes, and works both days on weekends. The family saves nothing; they spend additional earnings on school fees and food. The laptop they wanted to get their older child for school has doubled in price in the past few months, and her husband had to do even more extra shifts to get the younger one a video game system for Christmas. “He said, ‘Let her not feel like Santa neglects her’ – he doesn’t want the kids growing up like we did.”

This is Mr. Chavez’s Venezuela, said Luis Vincente Leon, who runs a public opinion firm in the capital. There is undoubtedly an economic crisis, “but even the poor have a high level of assets.” And, now, a high level of expectations.

The runaway inflation rate and shortages call for harsh economic medicine: a currency devaluation, an end to state subsidies, a lifting of exchange and price controls. Mr. Maduro has taken steps to reform the foreign currency market, obliging those who want dollars to buy them at auction and thus pay closer to the black market rate. But he has given no sign he intends to take more dramatic steps, and risk the ire of both his base and the hard-left political powers behind him.

Mr. Obuchi, the public policy expert, predicted another year of rising inflation and greater shortages. Mr. Barrera, the screenwriter whose telenovela business has decamped to Mexico, believes the end of the Chavismo project may finally come, in an instant. “The day that oil prices so much as flicker,” he said, “we become a cannibal society.”
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Re: Venezuela: Grocerias en el Mercado.....

Post by Endovelico »

Azrael wrote:Incidentally, "maduro" is Spanish for over-ripe banana.
Wrong. "Maduro" means simply ripe, and isn't limited to bananas. May also be used, in Portuguese, in respect of a middle-aged person.
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Re: Venezuela

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/ ... WU20140218
Venezuela opposition leader surrenders, protesters flood streets

By Eyanir Chinea and Jorge Silva

CARACAS Tue Feb 18, 2014 6:05pm EST

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez gets into a National Guard armored vehicle in Caracas February 18, 2014. REUTERS-Jorge Silva
An opposition supporter waves a national flag during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas February 17, 2014. REUTERS-Jorge Silva

(Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces arrested opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez on Tuesday on charges of fomenting unrest that has killed at least four people, bringing tens of thousands of angry supporters onto the streets of Caracas.

Crowds of white-clad protesters stood in the way of the vehicle carrying the 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist after he made a defiant speech, said an emotional farewell to his family, and gave himself up to soldiers.

The vehicle eventually reached a military base.

Opposition leaders hope Lopez's arrest will galvanize street demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro, though there is no immediate sign the protests will topple the socialist leader.

"I am handing myself over to an unfair justice system," the protest leader told supporters, standing on a platform next to a statue of Cuban poet and independence hero Jose Marti.

"May my imprisonment serve to wake the people up."

The crowd lifted his wife up to give him a final embrace and hang a crucifix around his neck.

Minutes later, he surrendered to military officers, pumping his fist and then stepping into the military vehicle with a Venezuelan flag in one hand and a white flower in the other.

Supporters impeded the vehicle's progress for several kilometers (miles) and later gathered at the gates of the La Carlota air-base where he was taken. They disbursed in the late afternoon as a tropical downpour broke out.

In a speech to a rival rally of his own supporters, Maduro said he had sent the Vice President of the Socialist Party, Congress Chief Diosdado Cabello, to help transport Lopez.

Lopez's Popular Will party said he had been taken to court where authorities would formally read him the charges, which include murder and terrorism. Lopez says he is being made a scapegoat by a dictatorial government.

LATEST FATALITY

Earlier, in the coastal town of Carupano in eastern Venezuela, residents said a 17-year-old student died after being struck by a car during an anti-government demonstration.

That added to three fatal shootings in Caracas last Wednesday.

Student-led protests across the nation of 29 million people have become the biggest challenge to Maduro since his election last year following socialist leader Hugo Chavez's death.

They demand Maduro's resignation over issues ranging from inflation and violent crime to corruption and product shortages.

"The country's situation is unsustainable," said filmmaker Jose Sahagun, 47. "The government's mask has fallen off. This man (Maduro) has held power for 10 months and the deterioration has been fast."

The protesters appear unlikely to have the influence of Arab Spring demonstrations that toppled governments across the Middle East, in part because Venezuelans unsuccessfully tried similar strategies against Chavez a decade ago.

There has been no evidence Venezuela's military might turn against Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to Chavez.

Thousands of oil workers and Maduro supporters, clad in the red of the ruling Socialist Party, held their own demonstration in Caracas on Tuesday, music blaring in a party atmosphere.

"Comrade President Nicolas Maduro can count on the working class," said oil union leader Wills Rangel.

The unrest has not affected the country's oil industry, which is struggling from underinvestment and operational problems that have left output stagnant for nearly a decade.

Chavez purged state oil company PDVSA of its dissident leadership in 2003 after a two-month industry shutdown meant to force him to resign, making it unlikely workers could attempt something similar against Maduro.

"CHAVEZ LIVES!"

In a nation split largely down the middle on political lines, 'Chavistas' have stayed loyal to Maduro despite unflattering comparisons with his famously charismatic predecessor. Many Venezuelans fear the loss of popular, oil-funded welfare programs should the socialist lose power.

"Chavez lives, the fight goes on!" Maduro backers chanted.

An opposition legislator and anti-government activists alleged that a government supporter had hit the dead student in Carupano, Jose Ernesto Mendez, but there was no independent confirmation or response from authorities to the allegation.

Residents said three other demonstrators were injured in the melee in Carupano, in Sucre state. One was gravely hurt.

A government statement said a man had been arrested for running over a 17-year-old and injuring three others.

Maduro's government accuses opponents backed by Washington of seeking to promote a coup against him, similar to a botched attempt against Chavez in 2002 when he was ousted for 36 hours.

The burly former bus driver and union activist this week expelled three U.S. diplomats accused of recruiting students for the protests. Washington said that was "baseless and false."

Venezuelan global bonds, which fluctuate sharply on political unrest, dropped as much as 3.2 percent on Tuesday. Yields on the benchmark bond maturing in 2027 rose to nearly 16 percent.

Yields are on average 15 percentage points higher than comparable U.S. Treasury bills, by far the highest borrowing cost of any emerging market nation.

Complaints about acts of violence by both sides have piled up over six consecutive days of confrontations between police and demonstrators. Only 13 students were reported still being held after nearly 100 arrests in the past week.

Opposition activists say some of those detained have been tortured. Maduro says police have been restrained in the face of provocation and attacks.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Re: Venezuela

Post by Doc »

Maduro using Basij to attack unarmed protestors

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 3541238462
Protests Against Venezuela's Government Escalate
At Least Five Demonstrators Dead Since Protests Turned Violent

By
Ezequiel Minaya
Feb. 20, 2014 3:52 p.m. ET

Amateur video from Caracas appears to show a shooting on Avenida Panteon Wednesday night, as Venezuela's National Guard and quasi-official motorcycle shock troops confront protesters. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ's global news update. Photo: AP

CARACAS, Venezuela—Protests against Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro's government escalated overnight Thursday, with demonstrators burning tires and cars and the security forces fighting back to gain control of the streets in the capital and other cities.

At least five demonstrators, four of them from antigovernment groups, have died since protests turned violent last week. Dozens of others have been injured or jailed, say opposition leaders, as Venezuelan protesters rise up against what they call an increasingly authoritarian government taking this oil-rich country to economic ruin.

One protester in Caracas was shot overnight by what appeared to be members of the National Guard, according to a video of the incident and media reports.

In the video of the injured protester, the person filming or others near him can be heard shouting "dirty assassin" to uniformed agents several floors below. The agents are pictured walking alongside the wounded man as he lies writhing on a sidewalk. The protester remained in critical condition on Thursday, according to newspaper El Nacional.

Other videos showed armed men on motorcycles entering areas held by protesters during the night, amid sounds of gunfire and fireworks.

"The government came out to kill people, to try to shut up people with lead," said Henrique Capriles, a leading opposition figure, in a news conference on Thursday.

Members of a pro-government "colectivo," or "collective," march in downtown Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday. Associated Press

Mr. Maduro has accused what he calls "fascist leaders" financed by the U.S. of trying to topple his socialist government from power. In a televised speech on Wednesday night, he charged that the demonstrators were trying "to fill the country with violence and to create a spiral of hatred among our people."

"In Venezuela, they're applying the format of a coup d'état," said Maduro, charging that his foes were hoping to generate chaos to "justify a foreign military intervention."

The president said that Leopoldo López, an opposition leader who surrendered to authorities on Tuesday after being accused of instigating violence, was behind the bedlam. He warned that other opposition leaders could follow him into prison.

"One of them is in jail," Mr. Maduro said of Mr. López, whom Venezuelan media reported could face 10 years in prison. Mr. Maduro added: "The others will, one by one, end up in the same jail cell."

Opposition leaders and witnesses, though, have said that uniformed state security agents, as well as pro-government motorcycle gangs, known as "colectivos," have cracked down violently on unarmed demonstrators.

The protesters have, since earlier this month, taken to the streets against a government they say is failing to control soaring inflation and rampant crime and unable to resolve a serious shortage of basic goods. The arrests of demonstrators, some of whom opposition leaders say have sat in jail for days without being charged, has only led more people into the streets.

Mr. Capriles, who narrowly lost to Mr. Maduro in an election last April to determine who would succeed the late President Hugo Chávez, scoffed at the president's claim that a coup was taking place.

"Civilians don't launch coups," he said, "the military does." He suggested instead that a weakening administration would benefit the National Assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, a former military officer with close ties in the army who is seen as a rival of Mr. Maduro. A coup, opposition leaders say, would most likely come from inside the army.

"That would be the worst thing that could happen to the country," said Mr. Capriles.

There is no sign, though, that Mr. Maduro's hold on power is weakening. Various ministers and military officers have, throughout the past week, gone on television to underscore the solid nature of the administration.

The military was purged of dissident officers in recent years, many of whom fled the country. Rocio San Miguel, a military analyst in Caracas, said that, in the coming days, it would become clear just how supportive the army is of Mr. Maduro.

"The government has tight control over the high command and the principle commanders," she said. "But we have to see what are the vision and morals of the middle ranks.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Re: Venezuela

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Agence France-Presse | Venezuela deploys paratroopers after more protests, threatens to block CNN
The Venezuelan government ordered paratroopers Thursday to a border city where growing student protests began over two weeks ago, with President Nicolas Maduro angrily rejecting US calls for dialogue.

The nationwide demonstrations, led by students and the opposition, have left at least four people dead and dozens hurt in the biggest challenge to Maduro since he took power from the late Hugo Chavez last year.

There have been near-daily protests and rallies, some of them violent, in the capital Caracas and other cities, over what Maduro's critics say are deteriorating economic conditions, rampant street crime, corruption and bleak job prospects.
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Re: Venezuela

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir ... n-22991687
Venezuela Moves Swiftly Against Opposition
CARACAS, Venezuela March 20, 2014 (AP)
By FABIOLA SANCHEZ and ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press
Associated Press

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has used the military, legislative and judicial power consolidated during 15 years of socialist rule in a sudden series of blows against opponents who have spent more than a month protesting in the streets, knocking down their barricades and throwing dissident leaders in jail.

Thursday dawned with two more opposition politicians behind bars, one of them sentenced to more than 10 months in prison. And pro-government lawmakers had already started trying to put another outspoken critic behind bars as well, moving to strip an opposition congresswoman of her legislative immunity from prosecution.

Maduro has been warning his rivals for weeks that they could soon meet the same fate as opposition hardliner Leopoldo Lopez, who was jailed on charges related to the Feb. 12 protests that initiated the wave of unrest, which has so far led to at least 28 deaths, most of them after Lopez was arrested.

San Diego Mayor Enzo Scarano was removed from his post by the Supreme Court, arrested and on the same day sent to begin a 10 ½-month prison term for failing to heed a court order to have protesters' barricades removed from the streets of his city.

San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos was arrested as well on charges of rebellion and conspiracy. Maduro said in a speech last month that Ceballos would soon join Lopez behind bars for fomenting violence. "It's a matter of time until we have him in the same cold cell," Maduro said.

The federal government itself moved in this week to clear out the plaza at the heart of the demonstrations against inflation, shortages, crime and perceived official intolerance, sending national guardsmen to take over Plaza Altamira in the capital.

Maduro's mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chavez, also picked off rivals one by one in previous political crises, but rarely if ever over such a short period of time.

Luis Vicente Leon, president of Caracas-based polling company Datanalisis, said the government's recent moves were a step toward radicalizing the country's political process.

"Without a doubt (Maduro) has perceived that the protests are not going to stop so it's best to simply confront them and deal with them harshly," Leon said, adding that the opposition will likely find less room to maneuver because the government seeks to create a sense of fear that anyone even demonstrating peacefully could face danger.

Maduro's rivals said they would not be bullied into submission, vowing new marches.

Two-time opposition presidential candidate and Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles said through his Twitter account Thursday that Maduro had "thrown gasoline on the fire."

"He and only he will be responsible for the situation that unfolds in the country," Capriles wrote.

Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres on Thursday distanced federal authorities from the arrests, saying it was other government branches that were acting "to protect the right of the majority and not to protect the right of a small group that under the excuse of protesting wants to muddle the lives of Venezuelans."

San Cristobal, where the wave of protests began, is being run by an unelected official who had been serving as a city administrator, one of Ceballos' top aides, Ronni Pavolini, told The Associated Press.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Re: Venezuela

Post by YMix »

The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy in Venezuela
by EVA GOLINGER

Anti-government protests in Venezuela that seek regime change have been led by several individuals and organizations with close ties to the US government. Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado- two of the public leaders behind the violent protests that started in February – have long histories as collaborators, grantees and agents of Washington. The National Endowment for Democracy “NED” and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have channeled multi-million dollar funding to Lopez’s political parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and Machado’s NGO Sumate and her electoral campaigns.

These Washington agencies have also filtered more than $14 million to opposition groups in Venezuela between 2013 and 2014, including funding for their political campaigns in 2013 and for the current anti-government protests in 2014. This continues the pattern of financing from the US government to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela since 2001, when millions of dollars were given to organizations from so-called “civil society” to execute a coup d’etat against President Chavez in April 2002. After their failure days later, USAID opened an Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Caracas to, together with the NED, inject more than $100 million in efforts to undermine the Chavez government and reinforce the opposition during the following 8 years.

At the beginning of 2011, after being publically exposed for its grave violations of Venezuelan law and sovereignty, the OTI closed its doors inVenezuela and USAID operations were transferred to its offices in the US. The flow of money to anti-government groups didn’t stop, despite the enactment by Venezuela’s National Assembly of the Law of Political Sovereignty and NationalSelf-Determination at the end of 2010, which outright prohibits foreign funding of political groups in the country. US agencies and the Venezuelan groups that receive their money continue to violate the law with impunity. In the Obama Administration’s Foreign Operations Budgets, between $5-6 million have been included to fund opposition groups in Venezuela through USAID since 2012.

The NED, a “foundation” created by Congress in 1983 to essentially do the CIA’s work overtly, has been one of the principal financiers of destabilization in Venezuela throughout the Chavez administration and now against President Maduro. According to NED’s 2013 annual report, the agency channeled more than $2.3 million to Venezuelan opposition groups and projects. Within that figure, $1,787,300 went directly to anti-government groups within Venezuela, while another $590,000 was distributed to regional organizations that work with and fund the Venezuelan opposition. More than $300,000 was directed towards efforts to develop a new generation of youth leaders to oppose Maduro’s government politically.

One of the groups funded by NED to specifically work with youth is FORMA (http://www.forma.org.ve), an organization led by Cesar Briceño and tied to Venezuelan banker Oscar Garcia Mendoza. Garcia Mendoza runs the Banco Venezolano de Credito, a Venezuelan bank that has served as the filter for the flow of dollars from NED and USAID to opposition groups in Venezuela, including Sumate, CEDICE, Sin Mordaza, Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones and FORMA, amongst others.

Another significant part of NED funds in Venezuela from 2013-2014 was given to groups and initiatives that work in media and run the campaign to discredit the government of President Maduro. Some of the more active media organizations outwardly opposed to Maduro and receiving NED funds include Espacio Publico, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Sin Mordaza and GALI. Throughout the past year, an unprecedented media war has been waged against the Venezuelan government and President Maduro directly, which has intensified during the past few months of protests.

In direct violation of Venezuelan law, NED also funded the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Table (MUD), via the US International Republican Institute (IRI), with $100,000 to “share lessons learned with [anti-government groups] in Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia…and allow for the adaption of the Venezuelan experience in these countries”. Regarding this initiative, the NED 2013 annual report specifically states its aim: “To develop the ability of political and civil society actors from Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia to work on national, issue-based agendas for their respective countries using lessons learned and best practices from successful Venezuelan counterparts. The Institute will facilitate an exchange of experiences between the Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable and counterparts in Bolivia, Nicaragua and Argentina. IRI will bring these actors together through a series of tailored activities that will allow for the adaptation of the Venezuelan experience in these countries.”

IRI has helped to build right-wing opposition parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and has worked with the anti-government coaltion in Venezuela since before the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez. In fact, IRI’s president at that time, George Folsom, outwardly applauded the coup and celebrated IRI’s role in a pressrelease claiming, “The Institute has served as a bridge between the nation’s political parties and all civil society groups to help Venezuelans forge a new democratic future…”

Detailed in a report published by the Spanish institute FRIDE in 2010, international agencies that fund the Venezuelan opposition violate currency control laws in order to get their dollars to the recipients. Also confirmed in the FRIDE report was the fact that the majority of international agencies, with the exception of the European Commission, are bringing in foreign money and changing it on the black market, in clear violation of Venezuelan law. In some cases, as the FRIDE analysis reports, the agencies open bank accounts abroad for the Venezuelan groups or they bring them the money in hard cash. The US Embassy in Caracas could also use the diplomatic pouch to bring large quantities of unaccounted dollars and euros into the country that are later handed over illegally to anti-government groups in Venezuela.

What is clear is that the US government continues to feed efforts to destabilize Venezuela in clear violation of law. Stronger legal measures and enforcement may be necessary to ensure the sovereignty and defense of Venezuela’s democracy.
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The Dirty Hand of the Toilet Paper Shortage Crisis.....

Post by monster_gardener »

YMix wrote:
The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy in Venezuela
by EVA GOLINGER

Anti-government protests in Venezuela that seek regime change have been led by several individuals and organizations with close ties to the US government. Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado- two of the public leaders behind the violent protests that started in February – have long histories as collaborators, grantees and agents of Washington. The National Endowment for Democracy “NED” and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have channeled multi-million dollar funding to Lopez’s political parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and Machado’s NGO Sumate and her electoral campaigns.

These Washington agencies have also filtered more than $14 million to opposition groups in Venezuela between 2013 and 2014, including funding for their political campaigns in 2013 and for the current anti-government protests in 2014. This continues the pattern of financing from the US government to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela since 2001, when millions of dollars were given to organizations from so-called “civil society” to execute a coup d’etat against President Chavez in April 2002. After their failure days later, USAID opened an Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Caracas to, together with the NED, inject more than $100 million in efforts to undermine the Chavez government and reinforce the opposition during the following 8 years.

At the beginning of 2011, after being publically exposed for its grave violations of Venezuelan law and sovereignty, the OTI closed its doors inVenezuela and USAID operations were transferred to its offices in the US. The flow of money to anti-government groups didn’t stop, despite the enactment by Venezuela’s National Assembly of the Law of Political Sovereignty and NationalSelf-Determination at the end of 2010, which outright prohibits foreign funding of political groups in the country. US agencies and the Venezuelan groups that receive their money continue to violate the law with impunity. In the Obama Administration’s Foreign Operations Budgets, between $5-6 million have been included to fund opposition groups in Venezuela through USAID since 2012.

The NED, a “foundation” created by Congress in 1983 to essentially do the CIA’s work overtly, has been one of the principal financiers of destabilization in Venezuela throughout the Chavez administration and now against President Maduro. According to NED’s 2013 annual report, the agency channeled more than $2.3 million to Venezuelan opposition groups and projects. Within that figure, $1,787,300 went directly to anti-government groups within Venezuela, while another $590,000 was distributed to regional organizations that work with and fund the Venezuelan opposition. More than $300,000 was directed towards efforts to develop a new generation of youth leaders to oppose Maduro’s government politically.

One of the groups funded by NED to specifically work with youth is FORMA (http://www.forma.org.ve), an organization led by Cesar Briceño and tied to Venezuelan banker Oscar Garcia Mendoza. Garcia Mendoza runs the Banco Venezolano de Credito, a Venezuelan bank that has served as the filter for the flow of dollars from NED and USAID to opposition groups in Venezuela, including Sumate, CEDICE, Sin Mordaza, Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones and FORMA, amongst others.

Another significant part of NED funds in Venezuela from 2013-2014 was given to groups and initiatives that work in media and run the campaign to discredit the government of President Maduro. Some of the more active media organizations outwardly opposed to Maduro and receiving NED funds include Espacio Publico, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Sin Mordaza and GALI. Throughout the past year, an unprecedented media war has been waged against the Venezuelan government and President Maduro directly, which has intensified during the past few months of protests.

In direct violation of Venezuelan law, NED also funded the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Table (MUD), via the US International Republican Institute (IRI), with $100,000 to “share lessons learned with [anti-government groups] in Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia…and allow for the adaption of the Venezuelan experience in these countries”. Regarding this initiative, the NED 2013 annual report specifically states its aim: “To develop the ability of political and civil society actors from Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia to work on national, issue-based agendas for their respective countries using lessons learned and best practices from successful Venezuelan counterparts. The Institute will facilitate an exchange of experiences between the Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable and counterparts in Bolivia, Nicaragua and Argentina. IRI will bring these actors together through a series of tailored activities that will allow for the adaptation of the Venezuelan experience in these countries.”

IRI has helped to build right-wing opposition parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and has worked with the anti-government coaltion in Venezuela since before the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez. In fact, IRI’s president at that time, George Folsom, outwardly applauded the coup and celebrated IRI’s role in a pressrelease claiming, “The Institute has served as a bridge between the nation’s political parties and all civil society groups to help Venezuelans forge a new democratic future…”

Detailed in a report published by the Spanish institute FRIDE in 2010, international agencies that fund the Venezuelan opposition violate currency control laws in order to get their dollars to the recipients. Also confirmed in the FRIDE report was the fact that the majority of international agencies, with the exception of the European Commission, are bringing in foreign money and changing it on the black market, in clear violation of Venezuelan law. In some cases, as the FRIDE analysis reports, the agencies open bank accounts abroad for the Venezuelan groups or they bring them the money in hard cash. The US Embassy in Caracas could also use the diplomatic pouch to bring large quantities of unaccounted dollars and euros into the country that are later handed over illegally to anti-government groups in Venezuela.

What is clear is that the US government continues to feed efforts to destabilize Venezuela in clear violation of law. Stronger legal measures and enforcement may be necessary to ensure the sovereignty and defense of Venezuela’s democracy.

Thank You VERY Much for your post and helping to maintain the Forum, YMix.......

FWIW I suspect that things like The Dirty Hand ;) of the Toilet Paper Shortage Crisis :twisted: & similar caused by the Social Ass ;) policies of MADuro and Chavez is a more urgent concern of many Venezuelans when they sit on the Throne ;) in Judgment of who to vote for......

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Re: Venezuela

Post by Doc »

YMix wrote:
The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy in Venezuela
by EVA GOLINGER

What is clear is that the US government continues to feed efforts to destabilize Venezuela in clear violation of law. Stronger legal measures and enforcement may be necessary to ensure the sovereignty and defense of Venezuela’s democracy.
What is all too clear is that Venezuelan is run but thugs. The opposition has been arrested. Public Protests have been "Banned" Which merely turned the protests more violent. But some feel it is more important to cover it up what is really going on with petty distractions.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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