So it goes

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to write but at the same time I can't really let this pass without comment either. Venezuela is finally burning.

There have been numerous reports and youtube videos of Pro-government "collectives" roaming middle class neighborhoods on motorcycles, shooting people and storming apartment buildings I wish I could say that I was shocked, horrified, angry, or even surprised but I'm not.

This has been a long time coming.

Comments

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

It's a horrible situation and I'll give you credit for not trying to score any cheap points.

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

"But since Mr. Chavez’s death nearly a year ago, it has become apparent that his hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, lacks his charisma."

Isn't it amazing how we are all human, we have the same internal organs, we each are bestowed a brain, but oh how the ideas of each brain operate so differently - - it's just fascinating to me (and, no, I'm not being sarcastic).


And for now I'm stuck on this statement (see below), and will have to think on this longer & likely read some other sources . . . but, thank you for bringing the topic to this forum!

"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"

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

apologies to the non-spanish speakers...

Well as one would expect, the government is down-playing the situation and blaming the opposition party.

http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/protestas-en-venezuela/140219/maduro-no-acepto-la-campana-de-demonizacion-de-los-colectivos

http://opisantacruz.com.ar/home/2014/02/20/caos-en-caracas-guardia-nacional-y-colectivos-chavistas-reprimieron-manifestaciones-civiles/19112

BBC Caracas can't seem to make up their mind about who fighting who but has confirmed that several nigheborhoods are on fire and several dead.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2014/02/140220_venezuela_protestas_nocturnas_en.shtml

A reuters article on Chavez's "Collectivists" from last year (in english)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/us-venezuela-protests-colectivos-idUSBREA1C1YW20140213

[cypukambl.livejournal.com]

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

Just curious as to how the US is responsible for all of those.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

"A New Cold War? Ukraine Violence Escalates, Leaked Tape Suggests U.S. Was Plotting Coup (http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/20/a_new_cold_war_ukraine_violence)"

"Venezuelan Protests: Another Attempt by U.S.-Backed Right-Wing Groups to Oust Elected Government? (http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/20/venezuelan_protests_another_attempt_by_us)"

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Nevermind "Da Jooz"

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Not surprised that this side of the story hasn't hit the US media by now.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

A somewhat unorthodox (?) view on the events in a number of the listed countries:

How the West Manufactures “Opposition Movements” (http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/03/west-manufactures-opposition-movements/#.Uwen2nuIFVA.twitter)

Of course, you wouldn't hear about that on CNN, or MSNBC, of FOX.

And no, it's not written by a Russian.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Iraq, da, the others, nyet, nyet, nyet and not nyet.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

You stay classy, Russia.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Nice grave dancing. You're bursting with glee.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Seriously?

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

Yeah. (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1828321.html?thread=144931041#t144931041)

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Never all that serious

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

You, me and he may differ on how Venezuela arrived to this point, but I don't see/hear "glee" in this post. It seems somber.

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

Well, some Western media have been trying (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/21/world/americas/venezuela-fact-from-fiction/) to sort this story out, despite resistance (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/21/world/americas/venezuela-cnn-journalists/) from the Venezuelan state.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Let's place this in the Open-Thread category (i.e. ongoing story), so we don't have to press you to state an opinion on the subject. Although I really wish you had.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Sometimes a somber sadness is a fairly sublime opinion.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

As I said I'm not sure what to say, my feelings on the situation are a mess but if I had to sketch out the broad strokes...

"Chavezismo" has been living on borrowed time since his death, lacking Chavez's charisma Maduro has resorted to buying the support of the poorer voting blocks at the expense of the middle class (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/venezuelas-maduro-resorts-to-state-sponsored-looting/2013/11/21/3096e0ae-5213-11e3-a7f0-b790929232e1_story.html) but as Margret Thatcher famously surmized "Eventually you run out of other people's money" or in this case goods.

Sooner or later the shop keepers will get sick of being scape-goated, or the poor will realize that they can't eat solidarity or wipe their asses with "isms", and on that day there will be a reckoning.

What will come of it, if anything, is still unclear, but to me it's yet another object lesson on the dangers of using class warfare as a political platform/tool.

"Eventually" always seems far removed until it isn't.

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

About the oddest thing is that the Pres. Maduro actually seems to believe the US is behind the protests. Venezuela has the world's highest inflation rate, second or third highest murder rate (it's hard to tell since this year's statistics seem doctored), have constant shortages of basic goods, and have closed down all opposition TV stations. During the protests, most stations were showing their regular programs and didn't report on the protests. In the last decade, Venezuela has grown slower than any other country in South America and every country in OPEC except Libya... who just had a civil war. They're less than one year from a bitter election that showed the divide in the country. With all of this, Pres. Maduro can't imagine that there is enough domestic discontent to cause protests?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

The United States has been the Venezuelan socialist bogeyman for a long time now. It's much easier to blame the United States for the problems you've created in your country than admit failure, and Chavez got away with it because he was such a charmer. Sniffing sulfur in the UN can go a long way toward making you look like a good guy to the under/misinformed.

I hope it works out for those people.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Surprised it took that long for this to happen once the former favorite Caudillo of some people died.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Took them a while for the fact to sink in, I suppose.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

snowballs start small