stewiek2 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 http://caracaschronicles.com/2014/02/20/the-game-changed/ Quote The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night – and the International Media Is Asleep At the Switch Francisco Toro / 1 day ago San Cristobal on Tuesday night Dear International Editor: Listen and understand. The game changed in Venezuela last night. What had been a slow-motion unravelling that had stretched out over many years went kinetic all of a sudden. What we have this morning is no longer the Venezuela story you thought you understood. Throughout last night, panicked people told their stories of state-sponsored paramilitaries on motorcycles roaming middle class neighborhoods, shooting at people and storming into apartment buildings, shooting at anyone who seemed like he might be protesting. People continue to be arrested merely for protesting, and a long established local Human Rights NGO makes an urgent plea for an investigation into widespread reports of torture of detainees. There are now dozens of serious human right abuses: National Guardsmen shooting tear gas canisters directly into residential buildings. We have videos of soldiers shooting civilians on the street. And that’s just what came out in real time, over Twitter and YouTube, before any real investigation is carried out. Online media is next, a city of 645,000 inhabitants has been taken off the internet amid mounting repression, and this blog itself has been the object of a Facebook “block” campaign. What we saw were not “street clashes”, what we saw is a state-hatched offensive to suppress and terrorize its opponents. Here at Caracas Chronicles we’re doing what it can to document the crisis, but there’s only so much one tiny, zero-budget blog can do. After the major crackdown on the streets of large (and small) Venezuelan cities last night, I expected some kind of response in the major international news outlets this morning. I understand that with an even bigger and more photogenic freakout ongoing in an even more strategically important country, we weren’t going to be front-page-above-the-fold, but I’m staggered this morning to wake up, scan the press and find… Nothing. As of 11 a.m. this morning, the New York Times World Section has…nothing. NYTimes – nothing . . . The Guardian’s World News has some limp why-are-you-protesting? piece that made some sense before last night’s tropical pogrom, but none after it. The Guardian: Fluff So…basically nothing. . . . The BBC is still leading its Latin America section on a Leopoldo story, as though last night had been just business as usual. BBC – Would you guess a sort of pogrom took place in Venezuela from looking at that? . . . CNN is also out chasing the thing that was the story in the old Venezuela: CNN: Your breaking news is broken. . . . Al Jazeera English never got the memo: AJE: NPI . . . Even places that love to hate the Venezuelan government are asleep at the wheel: Et tu, Ailes? . . . The level of disengagement on display is deeply shocking. Venezuela’s domestic media blackout is joined by a parallel international blackout, one born not of censorship but of disinterest and inertia. It’s hard to express the sense of helplessness you get looking through these pages and finding nothing. Venezuela burns; nobody cares. Let me put this clearly. Y’all need to step it up. The time to discard what you thought you knew about the way things work in Venezuela is now. Quico (Damnit, there’s just no way to stay retired in these circumstances…) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrees Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 This year two places that I intended to visit were Ukraine and Venezuela. I next intend to visit Scotland. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Maduro gave himself sweeping powers a few months back and it was only a matter of time before it started going to shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) Coming apart at the seams, despite Maduro's iron grip on the army. Ultimately the people will determine the outcome, however. When the poor and working class decide that the occasional handout isn't worth watching the whole country collapse around them, they'll join in with the middle class and then the generals will have to act. Maduro will be ousted/arrested, Lopez freed, elections held and Lopez will win. Hopefully he's not just a Washington stooge. Edited February 23, 2014 by maqroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Venezuela is the very model of a socialist utopia. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 No it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 No it isn't. Fascist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) I dated a venezuelan girl once..she was hot as hell but really wild and crazy...her grandfather was a nazi war criminal who fled to south america after the war, He himself had pulled the trigger many times when they had to execute jews. And according to her it was nothing he had any regrets about either...he remained a nazi til the day he died. She was bisexual aswell and i have to say she was one of the best **** ive ever had...she talked all the time of how she loved to fist f**k other girls lol..like i said, really crazy! Edited February 24, 2014 by Ikantcpell 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 23, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 23, 2014 The contrast between the first and second part of that post couldn't be greater. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 (edited) Sadly this looks like a country ripe for a US coup that installs a genocidal dictator. Amazingly, even AP US history barely mentions all the US has done to Latin America. Edited February 24, 2014 by Rovers13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_ Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Am in Brussels ATM and there were hundreds of Venezuelans in one of the squares doing a peaceful protest, didn't have a clue what it was all about.... I do now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted February 24, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted February 24, 2014 This year two places that I intended to visit were Ukraine and Venezuela. I next intend to visit Scotland. St Andrews is nice this time of year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 No it isn't. Sure it is. Socialist revolutions almost always evolve through the following steps: - Revolution! Power to the people! - Power to the people I like! - I am the people... - The people are the enemy of the revolution! - Shoot the enemies of the people.....*Bloody conflict, followed by a centre right capitalist gov*. The lesson? never trust socialists talking about revolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 (edited) People who seek power are rarely anything but egomaniacs. People who use violence to gain power should never be trusted to run a country. They are populists more than anything. Mussolini being a prime example. Started life as a socialist, switch to the pro-business right*. Why? Because the wind was blowing in that direction and he stood a better chance of gaining power. *A little less black & white than that but the point stands. Edited February 24, 2014 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 People who seek power are rarely anything but egomaniacs. People who use violence to gain power should never be trusted to run a country. They are populists more than anything. Mussolini being a prime example. Started life as a socialist, switch to the pro-business right*. Why? Because the wind was blowing in that direction and he stood a better chance of gaining power. *A little less black & white than that but the point stands. Agree with the first part of that post but equating fascism with the 'right' is miles off track. Under fascism everything is relegated to serving the interests of the central state, be that personal liberty, individual responsibility and accountability, property rights, etc. Fascism and it's cousin Nazism are basically the opposite of right wing political ideology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 A slave starts by demanding justice and ends up wanting to wear a crown. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Who said that, Julius Caesar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Camus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Fascism is far right in terms of authoritarian tendencies. It's not the libertarian right though. That's why politics isn't really a one plain thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Fascism is far right in terms of authoritarian tendencies. It's not the libertarian right though. That's why politics isn't really a one plain thing. Pol Pot? Stalin? Mao? "Far" anything politically tends to end up as authoritarian because it rejects the consensus required to occupy the centre. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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