Official convicted over Iran-Contra scandal appointed to help 'restore democracy' in Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent

Elliott Abrams withheld information from Congress over secret funding of paramilitaries

Andrew Buncombe Seattle @AndrewBuncombe | 5 hours ago

The Trump administration has announced that Elliott Abrams, who was convicted over the Iran-Contra scandal in which the Ronald Reagan administration secretly funded paramilitary groups in Nicaragua, will lead the US’s efforts to press for democracy in Venezuela.

. . .

Reuters described Mr Abrams was a neoconservative who has long advocated an activist US role in the world. He last served in government in the George W Bush White House, first as a Middle East expert on the national security council and later as a global democracy strategy adviser.

He was assistant secretary of state during the Reagan administration and was convicted in 1991 on two misdemeanour counts of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal. He was later pardoned by President George HW Bush.

. . .

For many Latin America watchers he will be associated with his denial of a 1982 massacre at El Mozote in El Salvador of hundreds of civilians by the military. Mr Abrams told a Senate committee that the reports of hundreds of deaths at El Mozote “were not credible”.


Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/venezuela-latest-elliott-abrams-trump-pompeo-maduro-juan-guaido-a8747306.html

[greyl]

1. Pompeo's appointment.

Key right-wing media are framing Elliott Abrams as anti-Trump.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/427053-pompeo-taps-elliott-abrams-as-state-department-venezuela-point-person

[winstars]

2. Another old white guy who should have died a long time ago.

But Steve Jobs dies young.
Bob Marley dies young.
_________ dies young

DICK CHANEY IS STILL ROCKING!!!

The guy upstairs sometimes confuses me...

[agingdem]

11. cockroaches don't die

they breed and spread disease

[Perseus]

12. Interesting that you bring that up, I was talking with friends about the same thing

this past week. Why do the good guys die young and the cockroaches stay on for a long time. Does the universe say "ok, you have done very good, its time to go" in order to prevent them from deviations from their goodness?

That is what is unfair about life, the evil ones remain trashing wherever they go, and the good ones leave us. How unfair is it that Robin Williams and George Carlin left us at this time? Imagine those two bringing out the trash that the orange buffoon is with laughter?

[pecosbob]

3. The neo-cons never went away

I just wish Dems would emphatically distance themselves from the desire to remold the world to their liking. Not a slam of our party...just a critique. We saw how ready and willing our party's reps were to embrace yet another new murderous Central American government just a few years ago.

[MrScorpio]

4. I guess we'll be seeing death squads starting up pretty soon.

[KG]

5. the depth of commitment of the never-trumpers

change of heart over a chance to feed at the trough.

[alittlelark]

6. "Desperate for Cash, Venezuela Gives Putin Control of Oil Assets" (yesterday)

This is some creepy 'deep state' shit.....

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211721862

Venezuela is handing over unprecedented control of its state-owned oil assets to longtime financial backer Russia in an effort to stave off insolvency and economic collapse.

Battered by civil unrest that threatens to become a total political meltdown, the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro has offered an ownership stake in up to nine of Venezuela’s most productive oil projects, Reuters reported Friday.

[Mc Mike]

7. Machine gun Abrams:

"I would like to take a machine gun and mow Anthony Lewis down," his wife once told the Washington Post

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/02/bush-s-unlikely-democracy-czar.html

[rickyhall]

8. All orange head knows are criminals?

[olegramps]

13. The Republican Party has been a criminal enterprise for over fifty years.

It is no different in mentality than the Mafia. Republicans welcomed the infiltration of totally amoral criminals and their assistance in operating smear campaigns. Stone began his career as an dirty tricks operator when he was nineteen years old in the Nixon administration. He was enriched by the Republicans for his services and regarded with esteem of a Mafia Don for his faithful services.

The Republicans are driven by the determination to destroy anyone who opposes them. They constitute a greater threat to our nation than any foreign government since they have demonstrated that they will put their party's objectives ahead of the very survival of the nation. It should be of little surprise that they endorsed Trump. He was their perfect Machiavellian candidate who embodied their immoral culture. Win at any cost. The ends justify the means allows them the latitude to destroy, lie, cheat and swindle without impunity. You looking at the face of the very personification of evilness. Beware.

[rickyhall]

9. It's fine POTUS can pardon people

but should have the stipulation that they cannot re-enter government

[FreepFryer]

10. He has experience destabilizing Venezuela, having been responsible for 2002 anti-Chavez failed coup.

Elliot Abrams, who gave a nod to the attempted Venezuelan coup, has a conviction for misleading Congress over the infamous Iran-Contra affair.

...

But the crucial figure around the coup was Abrams, who operates in the White House as senior director of the National Security Council for 'democracy, human rights and international opera tions'. He was a leading theoretician of the school known as 'Hemispherism', which put a priority on combating Marxism in the Americas.

It led to the coup in Chile in 1973, and the sponsorship of regimes and death squads that followed it in Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and elsewhere. During the Contras' rampage in Nicaragua, he worked directly to North.

Congressional investigations found Abrams had harvested illegal funding for the rebellion. Convicted for withholding information from the inquiry, he was pardoned by George Bush senior.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/21/usa.venezuela

[EX500rider]

14. Actually there is only slight alleged US involvement.

Chávez would also state after the coup that there was "little evidence" that the United States orchestrated the plan.

Rear Admiral Carlos Molina, a central leader of the coup, later said that "We felt we were acting with US support... we agree that we can’t permit a communist government here. The US has not let us down yet."[159] However, the United States repeatedly informed the Venezuelan opposition that they would not be supported if there were a coup,[28][160] warned the Chávez government of the plot[26] and following the coup attempt, President George W. Bush denied the United States' involvement.
The United States learned of details about a potential coup in late-2001 due to the nature Venezuelan individuals openly plotting to overthrow President Chávez. In March 2002 only days after United States Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro began his duties in Venezuela and just weeks before the coup attempt, Shapiro met with a trade union organization. During this meeting the group openly shared their desire to be part of the coup, with Ambassador Shapiro informing them that the United States would not support such actions and that governmental change should only occur electorally. In December 2004, The New York Times reported on the release of newly declassified intelligence documents that showed that the CIA and Bush administration officials had advance knowledge of an imminent plot to oust President Chávez,[28] although the same documents do not indicate the United States supported the plot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt#Allegations_of_US_involvement

Of course facts rarely persuade Chavez/Maduro supporters. I guess if you repeat made up facts in your head enough you believe them.

[FreepFryer]

15. The Guardian is a reputable news source which the Wikipedia article you cited doesn't disprove (n/t)

[EX500rider]

16. I'll take Hugo's word for it, thanks.

Chávez would also state after the coup that there was "little evidence" that the United States orchestrated the plan.

[Judi Lynn]

17. People of conscience were sickened when it was announced George W was returning him to government.

He has always been a hideous, unprincipled, hate-driven agent for the racist, amoral plundering fascist element.

Thank you for the information.

[Nitram]

18. What could possibly go wrong?

[LiberalLovinLug]

19. The grip of the right wing international elites back onto Venezuela is nearly complete

It has been a sore spot ever since Chavez toppled the corrupt right wing regime previously. All kinds of subversive actions and pressures, with collusion from the WTO, and the opposition parties, right wing newspapers, and the CIA. Together with a concerted effort to withhold imports of basic necessities.

But also, in the mix, that I'm sure they counted on, is good old human frailities. In both Chavez and Maduro. Backed into a corner like that, and their administration attacked from all sides, both economicly, and with fake news, they, especially Maduro, stubbornly foight to hold onto power by more and more draconian means. It is human nature to fight back especially if you see the opposition is such a large organized international group effort. Until their authoritarianism to hold power overshadowed any good benefits to the country....like Chavez did with reversing the illiteracy rate, and daring to confront the almost colonialist looting "deals" that the international capitalists had made with the previous sold out government. And they ran out of money because of this concerted opposition to fulfill even basic promises to the poorer classes, which was the final blow.

They were bound to be made an example of, just in case any other South or Central American countries wanted to follow their direction. And it didn't help when held fast and didn't just relent and let the .1% own all of the resources again. Damned if they did , and damned if they didn't. It became a no win situation.

I just fear that there is no middle ground. Once again, in some Trumpian decree about restoring law and order and freedom (for investors) stomping out dangerous "civil rights" etc, they will go the complete opposite, like Brazil, I fear.

[EX500rider]

21. "a concerted effort to withhold imports of basic necessities."

Really? Please show some proof of that.

What actually happened is the Venz. govt makes it almost impossible to get dollars to buy imports.
They also have price controls on basic necessities, which during massive inflation (also govt caused by over printing money) means you'll be forced to sell under costs as the inflation makes the money worth less.


Shortages in Venezuela of regulated food staples and basic necessities have been widespread following the enactment of price controls and other policies under the government of Hugo Chávez[4][5] and exacerbated by the policy of withholding United States dollars from importers under the government of Nicolás Maduro.[6] The severity of the shortages has led to the largest refugee crisis ever recorded in the Americas.[7][8][9] The Bolivarian government's denial of the crisis[10] and its refusal to accept offers of aid from Amnesty International, the United Nations, and other groups has made conditions even worse.[11][12][12][13] The United Nations and the Organization of American States have stated that the shortages have resulted in unnecessary deaths in Venezuela and urged the government to accept humanitarian aid.

By February 2017, the Venezuela's Living Conditions Survey, managed by a multi-university organization in Venezuela, reported that about 75% of Venezuelans had lost weight in 2016. The survey had also stated that 82.8% of Venezuelans were living in poverty, 93% could no longer afford food and that one million Venezuelan school children did not attend classes "due to hunger and a lack of public services"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortages_in_Venezuela

[LiberalLovinLug]

22. I forgot to add one of the other huge factors in the economy's decline

That is dropping oil prices. It really threw a monkey wrench into any plans to balance out the inequalities in their society. (Interesting that Saudi Arabia, a staunch US Ally, flooded the market, knowing it would hurt both Russia, who was in the US bad books then, and Venezuela. But I digress.)

It is more cuts of a thousand knives. The oil price collapse is only one.
You can argue that the price controls and withholding US dollars made things worse, but that was a reaction to the ongoing economic war against them. Like I said, damned if they do anything, damned if they don't.

But anyways, this is a longer more nuanced article about the collapse.

https://nacla.org/news/2016/11/03/hunger-venezuela-look-beyond-headlines

At the beginning of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution in 1999, with still over half of the population facing hunger and poverty, both the government and citizens identified food production and provisioning as strategic priorities—and significant strides have been made in the years since. On the production end, the state has made reinvestments in agriculture, including an agrarian reform process to redistribute large landholdings and support small- and mid-scale farmers and fishers. On the distribution end, strategies have included increased availability of basic food items at subsidized and regulated prices and provision of free meals via school and workplace programs as well as community-based feeding sites.

These efforts have made historic gains in food security, as recognized by FAO, but they are mainly isolated projects rather than systemic shifts. That is, the country’s powerful longstanding food import and distribution complex has remained largely unaltered. Today, Venezuela’s food and medicine supply is mostly controlled by twenty companies, and one of these, Polar, is responsible for eight of the items in Venezuela’s basic food basket, according to the Minister of Agriculture. For instance, Polar is responsible for 62% of the market for pre-cooked corn flour used for arepas, which form an essential part of the Venezuelan diet.

.....

Could it be that the shortages are manufactured? Many food sovereignty activists see it as no coincidence that Polar, the country’s largest food company, responsible for many of the items missing from shelves, is owned by a well-known member of the political opposition to the government.


I think there is blame to go around. Chavez and Maduro overreacted to the attacks, or pushed reforms too fast. But lets not pretend that all those large international companies, many American, would just sit back and take that kind of hit to their bottom line. And that there was not a big effort cripple this festering socialist sore.

What I don't understand is the vitriol against these leaders. And the efforts they made to help smaller farms, literacy, and reduce the strangling grip on their economy by foreign ownership of their resources. Ill gotten ownership from deals by previous right wing governments in most cases. Yes they deserve some backlash for their stubbornness, their refusal to step aside, their too extreme 'punishments' on foreign investors. But ffs, can't we at least agree on at least their attempt to bring more egalitarian principles to their nation with so many suffering with no rights, no education, no healthcare, and all the rules bent towards the 1%? Even if they ended up failing in mostly human ways? I'll never understand how people can go on the same or even more aggressive attacks against governments that at least try to help more of their people, and fight to resist corporate dominance and subservience in the political landscape.

[EX500rider]

23. "to the ongoing economic war against them"

You haven't proven that to be true.

If they had money they could buy from any country in the world...as to the US leading that war, well who is Venz.'s biggest trading partner for exports & imports?
The USA....strange economic war that is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela

All their problems are due to bad govt decisions:

Since the Bolivarian Revolution half-dismantled its PDVSA oil giant corporation in 2002 by firing most of its 20,000-strong dissident professional human capital and imposed stringent currency controls in 2003 in an attempt to prevent capital flight,[20] there has been a steady decline in oil production and exports and a series of stern currency devaluations, disrupting the economy.[21] Further yet, price controls, expropriation of numerous farmlands and various industries, among other disputable government policies including a near-total freeze on any access to foreign currency at reasonable "official" exchange rates, have resulted in severe shortages in Venezuela and steep price rises of all common goods, including food, water, household products, spare parts, tools and medical supplies; forcing many manufacturers to either cut production or close down, with many ultimately abandoning the country as has been the case with several technological firms and most automobile makers.

And they have been in power for 20 years now, too bad they weren't smart enough to diversify their economy.

[LiberalLovinLug]

25. I'll add both of your comments to my response

"that at least try to help more of their people"

I bet Pol Pot thought he was "helping the people" too.


Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90 percent now live in poverty.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-idUSKCN1G52HA
That is some great "help" for the people.
Results count more then intentions when it comes to governance.


There is a big difference in some megalomaniac ideological fantasy enforced by violence and mass murder that only brought misery and death, to actual statistical improvements in literacy, health, education, because of those investments in policy, not through weapon violence.

Yes, they both have failed. Probably Chavez got cocky thinking that oil prices would just keep on being the engine to sustain his efforts to bring more economic benefits to the underclasses. Like you said, failed to diversify. Of course that is difficult when you are constantly fighting a war with the WTO and other capitalist sentinels.

But yes, a thousand times yes, they made mistakes. Felt threatened by the wealthy players in the international community and reacted in the same aggressive manner, which unfortunately only made things worse for the people. Maduro faced the choice of going down in flames, or just sulking away,maybe taking a big bribe to give up, and just acquiesce the country back to the right wing and foreign looters. He made his choice, partly I'm sure fueled with a sense of being cornered, and an arrogance, stubbornness, not wanting to lose his job, and he is paying for it.

[EX500rider]

27. "and he is paying for it."

I'd say the starving populace of Venz. has done all the paying.

[LiberalLovinLug]

28. Paying politically, but you knew that

As far as the population, yes, they are paying a steep price being the pawns caught in the middle.
Do you honestly think, that the neo-con Bush admin, or the .1 % internationally, would just sit idly by when a huge shift towards aggressive socialism happened in an oil rich country, and with such a popular leader, at the time, to sustain it, right in their back yard?

But I guess its all going to be ok. The invisible hand of the market will make it all better. I have no doubt that when they have successfully installed the next banana dictator who skims off pay for play payments in exchange for controlling investments in their industries again, while curbing labor and civil rights, and benefitial programs to the less well off to make those investors happy, their economy will show signs of improvement, at least for the top earners which is what the GDP indicates, many will crow about it, including yourself.

I just think, personally, that they should get a little credit for their goals, some of which were accomplished like literacy, their attempt to resist the bad deals and thievery allowed by previous corrupt regimes. At least they tried. They had the arrogance to think they could win so easily against such massive wealthy forces. That oil would bail them out. And the human defensive reactions to the threat on their own power, and the work they wanted to accomplish, has done them in.

[EX500rider]

29. Poorly thought out govt polices are at the root of all their problems:

Price controls during rampant inflation making the shelves bare...check
Over printing money causing the million % inflation...check
Ridiculous multi-level currency controls ensuring no dollars to buy imports...check
Confiscation of foreign property driving off investment...check
Firing competent oil workers and substituting lackeys, ensuring oil production drops...check
Failing to diversify the economy from oil...check
Failing to invest in electrical infrastructure resulting in rolling blackouts...check
Pricing gas so low it's all black marketed to neighboring countries...check

Command economies have never worked.

[LiberalLovinLug]

32. " Command economies have never worked"....in a vacuum.

If you are talking purely in economic terms, it actually works better. As long as they can still trade freely with other countries/corporations,and there is no effort to work against them. That's the rub.

Say what you will about the Soviet Union, their command style economy improved and got better consistently all along until around 1989 when the country began to turn into a right wing mafia authoritarian state. While capitalist countries economies fell and rose along with massive unemployment.

Right from the start of the Soviet Union's revolution, the international right wing organized the White Army to invade and combat the Red Army which gave rise to instability, and like all moments like this coughTrumpcough it gives rise for someone like Stalin to emerge to "restore order". And that of course caused all kinds of social repression, outside of economic growth.

The question is would a more controlled economy work on a world wide scale? With security roadblocks put in place for policing financial crimes? Or at least allow those that chose it to exist? Who knows. Its never been tried. And now that its gotten to the point of 20 people with as much wealth as over half the population of the planet, it ain't ever going to be tried.

I don't even think Chavez had in mind to have a 100% command economy anyways. It was that he and others had had enough of their country being taken advantage of, and any benefits not going to the most in need. Got angry and that message resonated, and they were elected to bring change. But like the White Army, they were attacked from the get go, and reacted like rats in a corner and lashed out with policies that ended up hurting their own people, in a hapless attempt to stop foreign and domestic powerful elites that were used to getting their way, from doing the hurting.

[EX500rider]

33. Name a Soviet civilian manufactured product that was worth a crap & could be sold in the West

"If you are talking purely in economic terms, it actually works better"
What was the US GDP Vs the Soviet one?

The Soviets had a saying "They pretend to pay us, we pretend to work"
That's not really the way to a successful economy.
What happened to the Chinese economy when they went from a Command to Capitalist economy?
This:




"..... and lashed out with policies that ended up hurting their own people,"
And then doubled down on said policies

[LiberalLovinLug]

35. Not that I want a complete enforced command economy

A mixed system seems to work best. Government controlling and financing things that should not be profit based, and centered around providing the cheapest most efficient spending like on education, medical coverage, ifrastructure, food safety, product safety, environment protections, armed forces...and probably a few others. The rest should be left up to human ingenuity.

But you are only emphasizing my point about a CE not working in a vacuum. But the Soviet economy did slowly rise, even if they had to buy their own products. And the other benefits which are not added to that are things like healthcare, education, and also maternity leave, which was granted in the USSR in the thirties. Lets see when did the US grant that......hmmm..oh yeah not ever.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Here's a review of some of the tactics employed to remove Socialist President Allende in Chil

which started well BEFORE his election. It's always important to stress that President Nixon's instructions to his CIA chief, Richard Helms included his evil demand for Helms to use the CIA and its resources to "make the economy scream." Only a drooling idiot would fail to realize this tactic, employed over FIFTY YEARS ago has been considered a standard tool to use against any leftist in power the fascist element uses, having been proven successful for predators so long ago.

(Don't let fascist trolls try to claim that "Oh, that happened 50 years ago" as if it makes any sense at all to emphasize known dirty deceitful weapons used against progressive elected Presidents. They seem to think that will stop you short if you point them out in a conversation. Rudeness and bullying are always their instant identifiers whenever they attempt to support destructive aggression against other people's right to self-determination in their OWN countries.)

If you have a moment this information is useful, although in no way complete. It's an accurate summary of what already happened, written some time ago:

U.S. Responsibility for the Coup in Chile

. . .

II. U.S. Covert Activities in Chile

. . .

U.S. planning for the 1970 election began in June, 1970, when the Forty Committee met on Chile and Richard Helms promised John McCone $400,000 of CIA funds to assist the anti-Allende news media.54 The CIA also contributed $1 million to Allende's opponents.55 Allende's election went to the Chilean congress sitting as an electoral college, where an additional $350,000 was paid out by the CIA in an attempt to buy votes.56

After Allende's victory, Nixon, Kissinger, Helms, and John Mitchell met on September 15, 1970. Helms came from that meeting with the impression that "Nixon wanted a plan for action that would include a military coup and a broad-based destabilization effort that would 'make the economy scream.'" Helms' notes of the session read, "Not concerned with risks involved. Full time job -- best men we have."57 An additional $6 million was spent over the next three years,58 including $1.5 million to rightist candidates in the March, 1973 congressional election.59 The grand total of $8 to $11 million spend by the CIA since 1970 may have been worth $40 to $50 million after being funneled through the black market.60

On the day that Helms received his instructions from Nixon, the owner of El Mercurio, wealthy Chilean businessman Agustin Edwards, conferred with top officials of the Nixon administration.61 The El Mercurio network consists of newspapers, radio station, ad agencies, and a wire service; it dominates the Chilean media in audience, size, and prestige, and includes the three principal newspapers of Santiago and seven provincial papers.62 In the seven-month period from September 9, 1971 to April 11, 1972 the CIA spent $1.5 million on El Mercurio,63 but the funding also preceded and followed this period. El Mercurio may have been the recipient of almost half of the total CIA expenditures in Chile since 1970.64 In addition to the sort of ads that were used successfully in the 1964 campaign, CIA funding also sponsored mailings before the election on forged Popular Unity stationery to hundreds of thousands of voters. These mailings asked voters to list household goods and indicate whether they would be willing to share with the poor after the election.65 The CIA even purchased a radio station for the right-wing.66 The El Mercurio network was used by the CIA to "launder propaganda, disinformation, fake themes and scare stories which were then circulated through 70 percent of the Chilean press and 90 percent of the Chilean radio. The USIA and the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) in turn circulated these stories all over the world."67 CIA agents at El Mercurio included Enno Hobbing, Alvaro Puga, and Juraj Domic.68

The CIA helped finance truckers' strikes in 1972 and June, 1973, probably through the International Transport Workers Federation,69 and may have had a hand in funding, training, and arming the Patria y Libertad, an extreme right-wing party in Chile.70 Michael Townley, a former Peace Corp volunteer in Chile recruited by the CIA, directed groups of Patria y Libertad to paint "Djakarta is approaching" slogans all over Santiago immediately before the coup.71 CIA money also subsidized a strike of middle-class shopkeepers and a taxi strike in the summer of 1973.72

More:
http://www.namebase.net:82/chile.html

[EX500rider]

38. "Oh, that happened 50 years ago"

Because it did? 9 Presidents ago....has zero to do with current US activities.
Do you hold current administrations of other governments to the same standard?
Is Argentina pushing people out of airplanes at present or would it be stupid to bring that up when discussing current events in Argentina?

[Judi Lynn]

39. You explain your agenda very well with this comment. Nice try. n/t

[EX500rider]

40. What the US did for Western survival during the Cold War is no longer our modus operandi...

....but if we hadn't we'd all be speaking Russian.

[EX500rider]

24. "that at least try to help more of their people"

I bet Pol Pot thought he was "helping the people" too.


Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90 percent now live in poverty.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-idUSKCN1G52HA
That is some great "help" for the people.
Results count more then intentions when it comes to governance.

[Solly Mack]

20. SMH

[underpants]

26. What, Jared's too busy?

I almost did a spit take when I saw it was Elliott Abrams

[EleanorR]

31. We're down to an ex-con, a son-in-law, McConnell's wife, the woman who screwed Nola,

and a few "let them eat cake" billionaires running things? And what, 42 others who've been fired or left?

[Judi Lynn]

34. US taps controversial Abrams to 'restore democracy' in Venezuela

Date created : 25/01/2019 - 23:33



US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as President Donald Trump speaks about the government shutdown at the White House AFP

Washington (AFP)

Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo on Friday tapped Elliot Abrams, a central figure in Ronald Reagan's controversial anti-communist campaigns in Central America, as a new envoy to "restore democracy" in Venezuela.

Pompeo announced the appointment of Abrams two days after Washington declared head of state Nicolas Maduro to be illegitimate and recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of crisis-plagued Venezuela.

Pompeo said that Abrams "will be a true asset to our mission to help the Venezuelan people fully restore democracy and prosperity to their country."

Abrams told reporters in brief remarks: "This crisis in Venezuela is deep and difficult and dangerous and I can't wait to get to work on it."

. . .

Abrams during the 2016 election had written a piece in The Weekly Standard magazine entitled, "When You Can't Stand Your Candidate," in which he argued that Trump "cannot win and should not be president of the United States."

More:
https://www.france24.com/en/20190125-us-taps-controversial-abrams-restore-democracy-venezuela

[Scurrilous]

36. K&R

[Judi Lynn]

37. Everybody Else's Business: Coup Fever In Venezuela - OpEd

Everybody Else’s Business: Coup Fever In Venezuela – OpEd
January 27, 2019
By Binoy Kampmark

This could have been seen as audacious. Instead, it had the smell of a not so well concealed sponsorship, the backing of a meaty foreign hand. Venezuelan opposition leader and President of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó decided to take a quick step in the direction of the presidency. His own counterfeit theory is simple: he is not being a usurper, so much as a panacea for the usurpation by the current president, Nicolás Maduro. “I swear to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure and end to the usurpation.”

Such language is not that of a principled revolutionary figure so much as a hired hand intent on returning the country to conservative tedium. The power doing that hiring has had friendly press outlets for Guaidó to express his opinions. On January 15, the president of the National Assembly was permitted space in The Washington Post to claim that his country was witnessing something without precedent. (Be wary of the message claiming the exceptional.) “We have a government that has dismantled the state and kidnapped all institutions and manipulate them at will.”

But even Guaidó had to explain, despite deeming Maduro an unrecognised figure, that Venezuela was not your vanilla, crackpot dictatorship wedded to the use of police powers. “The regime may have ties to drug trafficking and guerrilla groups, but we also have a functioning, democratically elected parliament, the National Assembly.” Pity, then, that Guaidó needs so much outside help to make his call.

. . .

The official Venezuelan president cannot be said to have been a friend of state institutions. He is holding power under a form of sufferance. His interpretation of the democratic mandate can be said to be sketchy at best, a feature not uncommon in the history of the Americas. Authoritarianism breeds revolt, which breeds authoritarianism, a default revenge mechanism. But Maduro has good reasons to sneer at his opponent and the warm embrace by US officials of the movement seeking to remove the Chávista. The memory of 2002 and the failure on the part of Washington to remove Hugo Chávez remains strong and, in some ways poisonous; the failed coup resulted in attempts on the part of Chávez to neutralise the power of his opponents, be they in the Supreme Court or the corporate media. Mass round-ups and executions were resisted, but authoritarian counter measures were used. Maduro has merely been one of Chávez’s keener students in that regard.

More:
http://www.eurasiareview.com/27012019-everybody-elses-business-coup-fever-in-venezuela-oped/

[Devil Child]

41. Thank you for shining light on this Judi Lynn

People need to know what they are backing when voicing support for the coup in Venezuela.

[Judi Lynn]

42. So few are able to make the break with their childhood faith in what they've been told about the US

and take the time to start questioning what it is they really know, after all, and realize they need to start making conscious decisions.

Most people take the easy, and wrong way, unfortunately.

So glad to see your comment. Thank you, Devil Child.