Venezuela

[villakram]

This was all reported on at the time, not so much in the regular propaganda media outlets, plus ca change!

[blandy]

On 06/05/2020 at 01:31, HanoiVillan said:

Also in important Venezuelan news. You might remember a story from last year, about the dastardly Maduro government setting fire to an aid convoy sent to relieve the suffering of the Venezuelan people. But wait, what's this?

Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Nicolás Maduro Burned Aid Convoy

'The narrative seemed to fit Venezuela’s authoritarian rule: Security forces, on the order of President Nicolás Maduro, had torched a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in his country were suffering from illness and hunger.

Vice President Mike Pence wrote that “the tyrant in Caracas danced” as his henchmen “burned food & medicine.” The State Department released a video saying Mr. Maduro had ordered the trucks burned. And Venezuela’s opposition held up the images of the burning aid, reproduced on dozens of news sites and television screens throughout Latin America, as evidence of Mr. Maduro’s cruelty.

But there is a problem: The opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro’s men, appears to have set the cargo alight accidentally.

Unpublished footage obtained by The New York Times and previously released tapes — including footage released by the Colombian government, which has blamed Mr. Maduro for the fire — allowed for a reconstruction of the incident. It suggests that a Molotov cocktail thrown by an antigovernment protester was the most likely trigger for the blaze.'

from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/americas/venezuela-aid-fire-video.html

These people are all complete **** idiots.

They are all complete idiots. And it's both sides, too. From that same article.

Quote

On Feb. 23, Venezuela’s opposition planned to pierce a military blockade by Mr. Maduro, hoping that the president’s security forces would break with him rather than stop much-needed aid. They argued that a cascade of defections in the military would follow, eventually toppling the government.

Instead, Mr. Maduro’s security forces, along with government-aligned gangs, attacked protesters, who came armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails. One of the aid trucks burned in the melee, igniting the bitter war of words over who was responsible.

Mr. Maduro’s government has also made unsubstantiated claims, starting with its longstanding insistence that there are no food shortages in Venezuela.

It also claimed that the aid shipment contained expired supplies or American weapons.

You've got a corrupt leader, an opponent seemingly chosen/favoured by the US, you've got gangs of thugs supporting the corrupt leader, you've got US mercenaries, a knobhead in the Whitehouse, Maduro blocking aid and food convoys with his military....accidental fires...it's an absolute clusterpork, with no good guys anywhere to be seen.

[HanoiVillan]

In no way should John Bolton be taken to be giving the truth about anything much at all . . . That being said, it's worth noting some of the more interesting claims made in the chapter on Venezuela in his book, and we can hope that other, more reliable sources may be able to confirm or challenge them later:

 

[HanoiVillan]

Well, one helpful source has emerged, as (Democrat ) senator Chris Murphy gives us a history lesson:

Useful reminder that most Democrats are every bit as terrible on foreign policy as relates to Latin America as Trump is.

EDIT: Probably worth saying that there are several enormous logical flaws here, but the biggest is that there is simply no evidence that a majority of the Venezuelan population wants America to install a government in their country, and the idea that Mr & Mrs Average in Caracas were turned off the idea by it being Elliot Abrams, specifically, in charge is just crackers.

Edited August 4, 2020 by HanoiVillan

[Awol]

4 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Useful reminder that most Democrats are every bit as terrible on foreign policy as relates to Latin America as Trump is.

Susan Rice looking likely to be VP on Biden’s ticket. She a neo-con to her bootstraps on foreign policy and likely to be President shortly after Biden stumbles over the finish line. 

[HanoiVillan]

2 minutes ago, Awol said:

Susan Rice looking likely to be VP on Biden’s ticket. She a neo-con to her bootstraps on foreign policy and likely to be President shortly after Biden stumbles over the finish line. 

Susan Rice is indeed dire, and the fact she's got so far on the VP shortlist is damning in itself, but where have you heard that about her getting selected? I thought I had read that Kamala Harris had been leaked, though I haven't been paying a huge amount of attention.

[Awol]

2 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Susan Rice is indeed dire, and the fact she's got so far on the VP shortlist is damning in itself, but where have you heard that about her getting selected? I thought I had read that Kamala Harris had been leaked, though I haven't been paying a huge amount of attention.

Just rumour control in my department among the US politics wonks - they are pretty good though. 

[villakram]

1 hour ago, Awol said:

Just rumour control in my department among the US politics wonks - they are pretty good though. 

Lot's of dirt around her from her time in Africa around the fall of Mobuto and the various Rwanda/Congo disasters, nevermind her neo-lib shilling under "no-drama" Obama.

Of course, we should not look back.

[HanoiVillan]

The dumbass has even added to his thread (classic Senator-tweeting, half a thread and then about 9 hours later the other half ) :

I think the answer you need to hear Chris is 'NO', even if you don't want to hear it. It was always extremely stupid to claim that someone was the 'legitimate' leader of a country when he wasn't in office and hadn't won a presidential election. It was even dumber because he didn't have the support of the military, but you have to say this bit quietly because people like Chris suddenly think it's fine if that last criteria is met.

[Chindie]

Whoops.

[HanoiVillan]

New administration still fully committed to the Bit then:

'Interim President'

[OutByEaster?]

In terms of improving the lives of the Venezuelan people, I would assume they aren't including the 20,000 estimated dead due to the sanctions?

 

[OutByEaster?]

Sorry, I should of course say illegal sanctions.

https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=a82534eeb3db958852aa0196cd3308df733df290-1614792168-0-AR92utjjNjeNKth6-XSR4EiP4AsBDEn1kCmeGJ9I9DRk5QgCifEi9GKjP8hm4Doz1EcEwbD7ke2bAmNxY1BSj_XTcH4iptw9Cpsfl77Wwp5yYPa-l5pDAVAeX1Bh2E9IeJlLtZYoVoJTCAb-mEtmtE0joCVC_6r6nXXklESQ48xbvfAIN9YI7OmmJTKClU2OZxbbC8v06cKkogsePdhilynqeUWK0be9YnXYUArL8JSlDhRLoPwX76Y0Des_MQXgpOAyVr2cIMPgPkEDqHP0VLkyLhWkIlMFlEhtU50gyUnZMGor1BF_4-GkEMx_vHftCBeOfwmF2cIAKv3KRK8EsJzxzvClglmihnSvuzcATGn5-UpoOVGL53aNitaZNUWSigpgb1o8ylbfQlvksPrn4FhcnUDS9BBM46yUO5dqwqvVZdqY187SVi__7Rw04_amEg

Quote

We find that the sanctions have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018; and that these sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the US is a signatory. They are also illegal under international law and treaties which the US has signed, and would appear to violate US law as well.

It's US regime change 101 - first try a PR run against the existing President (the one that's not doing as he's told), then finance, arm and train the local opposition, if you can't inspire a localised coup, impose sanctions as a punishment to increase public unhappiness, undermine international faith in the leader, continue to finance your preferred (usually right wing authoritarian) opposition and hope that revolution or subservience comes about sooner or later, and then, if all else fails, send in the bombers.

 

[villakram]

With the Nuland's and Susan Rice, an already imperially minded Biden has essentially turbo-charged his foreign policy "credentials". Not a single piece of any of this is surprising.

[HanoiVillan]

On 06/05/2020 at 01:25, HanoiVillan said:

Well well well, lookie here. The full post here is so long I've had to put most of it in a spoiler tag:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

On May 1st, Joshua Goodman of the AP posted this story:

Let's take a closer look at some parts of this story:

Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela’s Maduro

'The plan was simple, but perilous. Some 300 heavily armed volunteers would sneak into Venezuela from the northern tip of South America. Along the way, they would raid military bases in the socialist country and ignite a popular rebellion that would end in President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest.

What could go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything.

The ringleader of the plot is now jailed in the U.S. on narcotics charges. Authorities in the U.S. and Colombia are asking questions about the role of his muscular American adviser, a former Green Beret. And dozens of desperate combatants who flocked to secret training camps in Colombia said they have been left to fend for themselves amid the coronavirus pandemic.

[...]

This bizarre, untold story of a call to arms that crashed before it launched is drawn from interviews with more than 30 Maduro opponents and aspiring freedom fighters who were directly involved in or familiar with its planning. Most spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation.

When hints of the conspiracy surfaced last month, the Maduro-controlled state media portrayed it as an invasion ginned up by the CIA, like the Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco of 1961. An Associated Press investigation found no evidence of U.S. government involvement in the plot. Nevertheless, interviews revealed that leaders of Venezuela’s U.S.-backed opposition knew of the covert force, even if they dismissed its prospects.

Planning for the incursion began after an April 30, 2019, barracks revolt by a cadre of soldiers who swore loyalty to Maduro’s would-be replacement, Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader recognized by the U.S. and some 60 other nations as Venezuela’s rightful leader. Contrary to U.S. expectations at the time, key Maduro aides never joined with the opposition and the government quickly quashed the uprising.

A few weeks later, some soldiers and politicians involved in the failed rebellion retreated to the JW Marriott in Bogota, Colombia. The hotel was a center of intrigue among Venezuelan exiles. For this occasion, conference rooms were reserved for what one participant described as the “Star Wars summit of anti-Maduro goofballs” — military deserters accused of drug trafficking, shady financiers and former Maduro officials seeking redemption.'

 

So we've got a bunch of guys trying to help Guaido take power, launching a quickly-quashed rebellion and then retreating to a hotel in Bogota. So far, so known from last year. But this guy amongst them turns out to be important:

 

'Among those angling in the open lobby was Jordan Goudreau, an American citizen and three-time Bronze Star recipient for bravery in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as a medic in U.S. Army special forces, according to five people who met with the former soldier.

Those he interacted with in the U.S. and Colombia described him in interviews alternately as a freedom-loving patriot, a mercenary and a gifted warrior scarred by battle and in way over his head.

[...]

At the end of an otherwise distinguished military career, the Canadian-born Goudreau was investigated in 2013 for allegedly defrauding the Army of $62,000 in housing stipends. Goudreau said the investigation was closed with no charges.

After retiring in 2016, he worked as a private security contractor in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. In 2018, he set up Silvercorp USA, a private security firm, near his home on Florida’s Space Coast to embed counter-terror agents in schools disguised as teachers. The company’s website features photos and videos of Goudreau firing machine guns in battle, running shirtless up a pyramid, flying on a private jet and sporting a military backpack with a rolled-up American flag.

Silvercorp’s website touts operations in more than 50 countries, with an advisory team made up of former diplomats, experienced military strategists and heads of multinational corporations -- none of them named. It claims to have “led international security teams” for the president of the United States.'

 

So this guy Goudreau is a private security consultant with a dubious past. The name 'Silvercorp' will be important.

 

'Goudreau’s focus on Venezuela started in February 2019, when he worked security at a concert in support of Guaidó organized by British billionaire Richard Branson on the Venezuelan-Colombian border.'

 

I genuinely did not realise that Richard Branson was providing back for a coup. Huh.

So Goudreau worked with a Venezuelan guy to come up with a plan:

 

'According to White, Goudreau came back from the concert looking to capitalize on the Trump administration’s growing interest in toppling Maduro.

[...]

In Bogota, it was Toledo who introduced Goudreau to a rebellious former Venezuelan military officer the American would come to trust above all others — Cliver Alcalá, ringleader of the Venezuelan military deserters.

Alcalá, a retired major general in Venezuela’s army, seemed an unlikely hero to restore democracy to his homeland. In 2011, he was sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly supplying FARC guerrillas in Colombia with surface-to-air missiles in exchange for cocaine. And last month, Alcalá was indicted by U.S. prosecutors alongside Maduro as one of the architects of a narcoterrorist conspiracy that allegedly sent 250 metric tons of cocaine every year to the U.S.'

 

I won't bother going into the details of the plan, but the financing is interesting:

 

'It’s unclear where Alcalá and Goudreau got their backing, and whatever money was collected for the initiative appears to have been meager. One person who allegedly promised support was Roen Kraft, an eccentric descendant of the cheese-making family who — along with former Trump bodyguard Schiller — was among those meeting with opposition envoys in Miami and Washington.

At some point, Kraft started raising money among his own circle of fellow trust-fund friends for what he described as a “private coup” to be carried out by Silvercorp, according to two businessmen whom he asked for money.

Kraft allegedly lured prospective donors with the promise of preferential access to negotiate deals in the energy and mining sectors with an eventual Guaidó government, said one of the businessmen. He provided AP a two-page, unsigned draft memorandum for a six-figure commitment he said was sent by Kraft in October in which he represents himself as the “prime contractor” of Venezuela.

But it was never clear if Kraft really had the inside track with the Venezuelans.'

 

Again, the link: https://apnews.com/79346b4e428676424c0e5669c80fc310

 

Anyway, the planned coup falls apart, Alcala is in prison in New York awaiting trial, Guaido still isn't President. Not much seems to be going right for these guys does it? And then what happens on May 3rd? They only try to actually carry out the plan, or something like it!

What do we think has happened to these two geniuses, then?

Oops.

 

 

. . . but basically the key point is that a private American security contractor appears to have launched a failed land invasion of Venezuela in support of Juan Guaido, after an article exposing the plan was published by the Associated Press. Most of the small group of men sent are dead, and two have been captured, paraded on Venezuelan TV. Guess some stuff hasn't stopped for the virus.

Some of you may remember this exciting incident of last year, when a private American security contractor in Florida attempted to overthrow the Venezuelan government, only to get their absolute arses handed to them.

Well, an event that happened last week that doesn't seem to have been discussed yet on this forum is that a group of armed men entered the Haitian president's house and assassinated him, severely injuring his wife. The circumstances are weird - how come no security at the house appear to have been harmed, for instance - and the upshot is that the poorest country in the western hemisphere is once again in complete chaos.

Now, the initial reports are making this situation seem not completely dissimilar to last year, including the seemingly-inevitable Venezuela-Miami-Colombia triangle:

Colombians held in Haitian president’s assassination claim ties to Miami-area security firm

'The Miami area is looming ever larger as investigators question the men held in the plot to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

Seventeen Colombians and two Haitian Americans from South Florida are in custody in Haiti. A person who interviewed the detained Colombians in Haiti told the Miami Herald that the men claimed to have been recruited to do work in Haiti by an under-the-radar firm in Doral called CTU Security. It is run by a Venezuelan émigré, Antonio Enmanuel Intriago Valera.

The Miami Herald visited the company’s offices on Thursday, where a doorbell rang to a phone, and a man declined to discuss the events in Haiti. He did not return phone calls, texts or emails asking about reports of involvement in the monumental developments gripping Haiti. No one answered on Saturday.

Multiple sources in Haiti, requesting anonymity for their safety, have confirmed to the Herald that the detained men said they were hired by CTU, and several of the men indicated they had been in Haiti for at least three months, some longer. It is unclear if they knew or believed CTU leaders were aware of the assassination plot.

[...]

Intriago’s CTU is formally registered as the Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy LLC, and was incorporated in Florida in 2019 under his name, and it has filed annual reports in the two successive years. It lists a member named Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, who had run a now-defunct security firm of his own called Taktical Consulting Corp.

Florida licensing records show Intriago is authorized by the state to provide security services and to carry a firearm. He has little other footprint in public records except for a detainer filed against him in 2011. He has several eviction complaints filed by landlords against his company over the years.

Intriago has a website that shows him as a wholesaler and retailer of security equipment.

“As a representative for big and important security and safety device manufacturers around the world our objective is to offer first-class personalized products and services to law enforcement and military units, as well as industrial customers,” the company says in its About Us section.

Known in Venezuelan expat circles in South Florida, Intriago would boast of his police background in the South American country. At times, said one who knew him but did not want to be identified in the widening story, Intriago claimed to have connections to or to have worked directly for U.S. agencies.

A person claiming to have known him back in Venezuela said Intriago worked out of a small Doral office, where he would boast of being a paid mercenary and a coordinator of special forces, but most people did not take those claims seriously.

The source, who demanded anonymity to speak freely, said that Intriago is also known for providing firearms, firearms parts, and military and police equipment such as bulletproof vests.

[...]

Intriago’s Facebook page provides a bit of a timeline. It shows him appearing to arrive in the United States around 2009 and working initially with alarm systems. His social media presence is largely apolitical except for some postings against the Venezuelan government and one in support of Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan lawmaker the Trump administration recognized as the oil-rich country’s legitimate leader.

Intriago’s security firm has a limited social media presence and does not appear to have won any federal contracts to provide security or training. His personal Facebook page shows that he offers personal security classes at night for people wanting to protect their families and pitches the services occasionally in posts.

[...]

There is nothing in Intriago’s public footprint to indicate that he had either the money or the scope to train dozens of private soldiers to raid the private residence of the Haitian president and kill him.

What role Miami and Intriago played directly, or inadvertently, in the Haitian assassination will surely be investigated with the FBI. Haiti has asked for FBI help, in part because of the large number of businessmen and drug gangs that might have had an interest in getting rid of the president.

A team from Colombia is already in Port-au-Prince, dispatched on Friday to collaborate with the Haitian government on how the Colombians became involved in the assassination.'

from: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article252700808.html

Might be interesting to keep an eye on this one.