Venezuela: The World Upside Down

By Poetry X
6 May, 2014
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For people who actually get to verify the news, Venezuela is the case in point why the media is so dangerously bought up by corporate interests – the news distort the reality to advance their owners’ agenda. While former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was alive, the famous Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeado stated the world is upside down referring how the media portrays the Bolivarian Revolution. The Colombian novelist William Ospina made clear what the situation is in Venezuela, saying: it is the only place where you see the poor celebrating and the rich protesting [678 Feb 19-2014].

Venezuela has the biggest verified oil reserves on the world and of course that makes shine the petro-dollar signs in the eyes of many powerful. The US already supported and even conspired against the left leaning government of Venezuela a couple of times, like back in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez. The so called “crisis in Venezuela,” is widely covered by every major network, a crisis that confronts the tyrannic dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro and the heroic and victimized opposition groups, specially “students.” But, what the media is projecting about the Venezuela’s situation is very contradictory of the events on the ground – to say the least. The news range from the incoherent to total absurdity. It is very important to note that the so called “guarimbas” have two strategic groups. The first one is composed by privileged people who stand in the barricades during daylight, but by the late hours and night, a second group takes place. This second group is composed of mercenaries ready to destroy and kill. let’s see the important points we must know:

Defining the Venezuelan government as a dictatorship gets into the realm of total stupidity. That shouldn’t be even a matter of debate since the most prestigious organizations dedicated to monitor election events have stated the Venezuelan election system as the most reliable and transparent on the entire world [Global Research Sep 23-2012]. The government party has won almost every election and referendum, and the ones that lose, the Chavismo leadership took no time in conceding the victory to the opposition regardless how little the difference was. For example in the last municipal elections Fredis Rondón, from the opposition, beat Antonio Santiago, from the government party, only for eight votes (2569 – 2561) [El Mundo Dec 9-2013]. It is clear that Venezuela has built a participatory democraticy from the grass roots in favor of the majority. In December 2013, the government party won 255 out of 335 municipalities. However the opposition coalition has an important presence in the political scene : 67 out of 165 deputies, 3 out of 23 governors, and 76 out of 335 mayors belong to the position coalition. Many of the opposition participants in other countries would not even be let to participate in the elections due to their permanent conspiracy agains the government. [Generacion Mar 31-2014]
One of the main attacks against the government is that Maduro is sold to the Cuban “regime.” It is not a secret that the opposition leaders officially receive support and funding from USAID, NED, Freedom House, IRI among many other US entities. The US officially spends over $5M annually to support opposition movements just in Venezuela. Therefore the opposition itself is actually playing a role defined by a foreign government, a government that has very clear interest in the Venezuelan resources. Just as an example, one very important leader of the “protesters” is Robert Alonso, the master blocker (guarimbero mayor), he is a Cuban exile giving orders from Miami – he likes to be called “Rob” Alonso just to look more “American.” In addition, other powerful political and business groups from Colombia, Spain, England and Israel are openly supporting the oppositions coalition efforts to topple down the Bolivarian government [Congressional Budget 2014].
The media keep hammering on the idea that there are protests and that these groups represent the majority. However these groups represent such a reduced segment that instead of marches they have had to block street intersections – an action that is called “guarimba.” These “guarimbas” had to be taken only one the privileged areas of the capital and in a few other places due to its lack of support among the people [New York Times Mar 1-2014]. Make no mistake, the opposition has leaded a couple massive marches with pot banging and everything else (cacerolazo) but they last only for a few hours and then those privileged groups just go back to their homes. There are 335 municipalities in Venezuela, which in the highest point of the “protests” only 18 of them went to the corner streets to demonstrate against the government [The Guardian Mar 20-2014].
The media networks daily portray Venezuela as a regime where no voice of dissent is allowed. However, almost all Venezuelan media outlets are synchronized in the same agenda to generate an ambient of fear and hate to see if they can kick the government out. You can go and check just the two major newspapers, el Nacional and el Universal, to witness the media can release the most hateful propaganda against the government with almost no major consequences. Contrary to the common understanding, 85% of the media in Venezuela is private and they openly play an opposition role.
Antigovernment “protesters” are constantly depicted as “peaceful.” However, these groups have thrown Molotov cocktails and rocks at buses and other vehicles. They also have destroyed and burn down public institutions like the offices of the Supreme Court, the public telephone company CANTV and the attorney general’s office . And actually these protesters attack even people from the opposition and journalists from the private media [Correo del Orinoco Mar 4-2014]. It has to be mention the US is by far way more restrictive than Venezuela when it comes to protests – in the US we have the imposition of “buffer zones,” something that Venezuela does not even have [Raw Story Jun 26-2014].
The same antigovernment “protesters” accuse the government of human rights violations. However, those same groups have poured poison on at least one water stream. They also have strategically placed wires on streets in a manner to behead motorists. In addition, these groups have smeared grease on roads in a double lined manner to guarantee the crashing of vehicles.
The demonstrators complain about serious hunger due to scarcity, but they attack and burn food delivery trucks. One of the so called student leaders is Juan Requesens, who is clearly overweight and is regularly seen in luxurious restaurants of Caracas where certainly the menu is always is complete. The lack of some items (sometime many items) is due to an orchestrated plan to push the population to dissatisfaction [Correo Aug 12-2014 TeleSur]. The Colombian lawyer Aurelio Jiménez Callejas denounced back on December 2013 that opposition leader Enrique Capriles and the Colombian narco-politician Alvaro Uribe made a pact with Colombian distributors not to send their products to Venezuela. Many Colombian peasants have complained about this too since they no longer can sell enough of their harvest [Hispan Tv May 17-2013].
The “peaceful students” that “protest” are another case in point in the “crisis.” These “demonstrators” have destroyed and burn down museums and universities including the Táchira State University. In addition, these groups lit on fire a pre-scholar institution in Chacao, where 89 children from 1 to 3 years old were about to be burn alive if wasn’t the rapid response of the firemen who rescued them. Going back to these “students” in one video we can see a young woman vilifying Hugo Chavez and his legacy, but praising Adolf Hitler as a great and intelligent leader. Some of the signs exhibited by these “students” are mind blowing. Just as one example, one young woman showed a sign where she complained about the low salaries saying that with that money would never be able to get a breast augmentation. One interesting case to study deeply is the “student” Lorent Saleh. This young man is a very articulate opposition activist. However he has deep connections with Diego Cubillos,a well known Colombian leader of the neo-nazi group “tercera fuerza” (third force). Saleh is an astonishing case on itself since Saleh is very far from being considered a “arian European” but he enjoys being connected with white supremacist groups [La Iguana Apr 1-2014].
The demonstrator claim to be outraged the current state of the health care which according to them their is a serious shortage of medicine . However they have attacked health care facilities such as clinics and also have gone after doctors, specially Cuban doctors. In addition, these “protesters” also have impeded the pass of ambulances and firemen trucks while in the process of responding to emergency calls [La Iguana Apr 18-2014].
The opposition complains the national guard is repressive, but the “protestors” have killed about a dozen men of the pubic force and serially injured hundreds of them. Actually these groups carry many kinds of fire arms and mortars that have been used against officers and civilians while passing or when trying to remove the trash put by these “protesters.” In many of the shootings, paramilitary snipers have been captured on video. In addition there is a high ingredient of racism and social hatred from part of the demonstrators attacking dark skin people under suspicion of being Government supporters [Venezuela Analysis Jul 3-2014]. We must point out that these demonstrations got violent only on municipalities where the opposition coalition governs. As such, the mayors of these few municipalities, instead of controlling the manifestations, they ordered the police to stay away from those zones and the National Guard had to be sent when the situation got dangerous for the public. However, we must note, the judicial system has acted in a responsible manner sentencing 19 officials of the public force to prison for charges abuse or violence against the protesters [Unasur]

Untwisting Reality