The 'humanitarian crisis' in Venezuela... or not

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
https://nacla.org/news/2018/05/18/united-states’-hand-undermining-democracy-venezuela

this is the most damning article i could find...and it basically blames u.s. sanctions for all of Venezuala's problems...
if a country is dependent upon good relations with the United States for it's continued existence, then perhaps it has deep, fundamental problems that it ought to deal with....how can a country call itself anything but a vassal state if it relies upon us to provide it it's basic needs? if it does not require our aid to survive, how can we be responsible for it's downfall, when we quit providing that aid?
IS Venezuela an independent country? if so, how can we be responsible for it's fate? there should be no country on the planet that will wither and die if we stop doing business with it...and any that will, deserve it, in my opinion.
This is all true. Though there is plenty of blame to go around. Hugo Chavez did wipe out the Venezuelan constitution and then assumed full control of all branches of government including diplomatic and the power to nationalize private businesses without fair compensation to the owners. After the price of oil fell and the Venezuelan currency fell with it, in 2010, Chavez started setting the price of the Venezuelan dollar by himself.

This created a classic problem of nobody really knowing how much anything is worth except certainty that the government set price was too low. Of course, people were unwilling to sell to the government's fixed rates -- for food, medicine for example. Meanwhile a black market expanded that sold those goods at hyper-inflated prices. I say this as a backdrop to what is going on today. To quote the article you cited:

The United States’ Hand in Undermining Democracy in Venezuela
Most devastating has been the dysfunctional exchange rate system, which has led to a worsening “inflation-depreciation” spiral over the past four years, and now hyperinflation. Free gasoline and price controls that didn’t work also contributed to the crisis.

Maduro inherited that dysfunctional exchange rate system from Chavez. In fact most of the problems Maduro inherited came from Chavez's earlier actions. The title of the article was unfortunate because although the body of the text is accurate, Chavez dismantled democracy in Venezuela by rewriting the Constitution in 1999. The new constitution gave Chavez full control of all three branches of government.

The Constitutional Legacy of Hugo Chávez
https://www.brookings.edu/es/opinions/el-legado-constitucional-de-hugo-chavez/ (use google translate)


How today’s crisis in Venezuela was created by Hugo Chávez’s ‘revolutionary’ plan
https://theconversation.com/how-todays-crisis-in-venezuela-was-created-by-hugo-chavezs-revolutionary-plan-61474


So, yes, the US has had a hand in all of this by it's reactionary attitude towards all things socialist. It has made things worse for Maduro by imposing financial and economic sanctions against Venezuela. That said, Venezuela's constitution give Maduro all the power to fix this if he wants to. He inherited a fucked up system but also has complete control of Venezuela's diplomatic, economic, military and industrial capabilities. Instead, he's clamped down on the people and the press in an effort to maintain control while their economy spins in downward spiral that continues today.

Imagine if Trump had Maduro's power? What would he do? It's my guess, he'd be raiding the treasury for all it's worth and his toadies would get into the act. It is true that Chavez's family is living quite the opulent lifestyle. Reports of their worth are not substantiated but it seems a lot of money has moved out of the treasury and into their hands. Probably Maduro's and other people's too. IMO, this explains his actions to stifle dissent and the free press -- he can't let this information become public knowledge because it would mean the end of him.

So, then, what should the US do? If you were president, what would you do? I think @hotrodharley has it right. The US should stop meddling in Venezuela's affairs. We should end our sanctions, end our military threats, end monetary controls that prevent Venezuela from taking out loans and let the Venezuelan people end it when they reach the end of their patience. We should let Venezuela export oil to the US if there is a market for it. The only action we should take is offer food and medical assistance to refugees if the border countries allow. We should de-politicize aid when we make it available. We should make our diplomatic channels open to discussions with the Venezuelan government and not require concessions before talks. Above all we should stop threatening Venezuela.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Venezuela's neighbors cannot be liking the idea of armed conflict involving foreign forces. Not even a little bit. Anyone who witnessed the "Arab Spring" and the results can understand.

Immigration problems for Europe and even Russia? Look at the troubles where these immigrants came from. Don't try to assign blame but simply understand war scares people kind of badly.

Trouble can be imported or exported. And is.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Maduro was elected by exactly the same percentage of eligible voters that Obama was- 31%

He even moved the election up a year, and won.

He invited the opposition to run- instead, they boycotted and bombed polling places.
The election was invalid and the opposition refused to participate in a fraud.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Venezuela's neighbors cannot be liking the idea of armed conflict involving foreign forces. Not even a little bit. Anyone who witnessed the "Arab Spring" and the results can understand.

Immigration problems for Europe and even Russia? Look at the troubles where these immigrants came from. Don't try to assign blame but simply understand war scares people kind of badly.

Trouble can be imported or exported. And is.
3 million refugees. I'm amazed at the generosity Columbia and Brazil have given them. It must be a huge strain on their systems. There are reports of health problems associated with this migration too. That said, there is no sign they are closing their borders to refugees. It's an example the US could learn from.
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
https://nacla.org/news/2018/05/18/united-states’-hand-undermining-democracy-venezuela

this is the most damning article i could find...and it basically blames u.s. sanctions for all of Venezuala's problems...
if a country is dependent upon good relations with the United States for it's continued existence, then perhaps it has deep, fundamental problems that it ought to deal with....how can a country call itself anything but a vassal state if it relies upon us to provide it it's basic needs? if it does not require our aid to survive, how can we be responsible for it's downfall, when we quit providing that aid?
IS Venezuela an independent country? if so, how can we be responsible for it's fate? there should be no country on the planet that will wither and die if we stop doing business with it...and any that will, deserve it, in my opinion.
It blames not sanctions as much as medaling as a whole. As far as the financial part the States and it’s banks have enormous power. Chavez pissed of the States because he did not rely or want help. Remember the cheap gas? I’m not going to proclaim that I know what the fuck is going but I do know that most times the States gets involved things get worse and not better. But hey maybe this time will be different, it is Trump after all :(.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Maduro and Tty disagree. What you see and hear are not happening.
I found the source for tty's claim that "opposition are murdering innocent supporters of Maduro". It came from the Venezuelan house organ "Empire News". It was in a video and the narrator, Abbey Martin told people what to think when watching it. No evidence or verification. Nothing to give credence. Just a video and a script from a Venezuelan media outlet.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
It blames not sanctions as much as medaling as a whole. As far as the financial part the States and it’s banks have enormous power. Chavez pissed of the States because he did not rely or want help. Remember the cheap gas? I’m not going to proclaim that I know what the fuck is going but I do know that most times the States gets involved things get worse and not better. But hey maybe this time will be different, it is Trump after all :(.
no, it won't be. i'm not naive or stupid enough to think that we're not guilty of exactly what we're being blamed of being guilty of. i just don't think we're guilty to quite the degree that we're said to be. it's easy to exaggerate and inflate the things we are guilty of into the woes of the entire world. we certainly contributed to Venezuela's current problem, but we weren't the biggest factor, or the founding factor. they elected their leaders, who made their choices, and chose their allies.
many of those choices were poor, and many of those allies weren't good allies. we make a convenient target to blame for their own poor choices...since we do have some things to be blamed for legitimately...
 

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
I found the source for tty's claim that "opposition are murdering innocent supporters of Maduro". It came from the Venezuelan house organ "Empire News". It was in a video and the narrator, Abbey Martin told people what to think when watching it. No evidence or verification. Nothing to give credence. Just a video and a script from a Venezuelan media outlet.
I guess if he deluded himself into thinking he grows quality weed, the rest was easy.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
"The annual Freedom in the World report, which ranks nations according to civil liberties and political rights, has been released. The work of nonpartisan organisation Freedom House, it judges countries according to a range of criteria. Each is then assigned a total score and placed in one of three pots: "Free", "Partly free" and "Not free". "

For those overly concerned about humanitarian crises . . . .. It's not a hard read and the names all recognizable. Venezuela is not on the short list.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/the-worlds-most-authoritarian-destinations/
 
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Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
"The annual Freedom in the World report, which ranks nations according to civil liberties and political rights, has been released. The work of nonpartisan organisation Freedom House, it judges countries according to a range of criteria. Each is then assigned a total score and placed in one of three pots: "Free", "Partly free" and "Not free". "

For those overly concerned about humanitarian crises . . . .. It's not a hard read and the names all recognizable. Venezuela is not on the short list.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/the-worlds-most-authoritarian-destinations/
if you click on the map, it's rated 3, Not Free...they rated the 20 worst..just because you aren't one of the top 20 shitty places to live, doesn't mean you aren't a shitty place to live....
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
Do you view that as a negative?
how do you view it?
i view it as a negative...the N.R.A. used to be a decent organization, they taught kids how to shoot, tried to teach them firearms responsibility...now they lobby for assault weapons and bump stocks, and their leadership allow themselves to be used as pawns in russian money laundering schemes...so yeah, any politician allying themselves with the N.R.A. is suspect, as far as i'm concerned...
 

Rob Roy

Well-Known Member
how do you view it?
i view it as a negative...the N.R.A. used to be a decent organization, they taught kids how to shoot, tried to teach them firearms responsibility...now they lobby for assault weapons and bump stocks, and their leadership allow themselves to be used as pawns in russian money laundering schemes...so yeah, any politician allying themselves with the N.R.A. is suspect, as far as i'm concerned...
I view it as interesting that Tulsi Gabbard a democrat and the NRA are aligned, at least in some instances. Not that I'm a fan of any politician, but Gabbard seems better than many, she may not be owned by anybody...yet.

Assault weapons and bump stocks are a silly slippery slope scare tactics, don't wet your panties over that.
 
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