US support for regime change in Venezuela is a mistake

[Judi Lynn]

US support for regime change in Venezuela is a mistake

The US push to topple the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro once again pits Washington against South America

Mark Weisbrot
theguardian.com, Tuesday 18 February 2014 07.30 EST

When is it considered legitimate to try and overthrow a democratically-elected government? In Washington, the answer has always been simple: when the US government says it is. Not surprisingly, that's not the way Latin American governments generally see it.

On Sunday, the Mercosur governments (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela) released a statement on the past week's demonstrations in Venezuela. They described "the recent violent acts" in Venezuela as "attempts to destabilize the democratic order". They made it abundantly clear where they stood.

The governments stated:

their firm commitment to the full observance of democratic institutions and, in this context, [they] reject the criminal actions of violent groups that want to spread intolerance and hatred in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as a political tool.

We may recall that when much larger demonstrations rocked Brazil last year, there were no statements from Mercosur or neighboring governments. That's not because they didn't love President Dilma Rousseff; it's because these demonstrations did not seek to topple Brazil's democratically-elected government.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/18/venezuela-protests-us-support-regime-change-mistake

[Common Sense Party]

1. It seems like the one most likely to topple the Maduro gov't is Maduro.

If he can't get a handle on rampant inflation and crime, his days are numbered, with or without the U.S.'s "help."

[Judi Lynn]

2. Towards another coup in Venezuela?

Towards another coup in Venezuela?

Protests are initiated by ultra-right factions of the opposition in the hope of an eventual systemic overhaul.

Last updated: 19 Feb 2014 08:50

Five days after violent anti-government incitement in Venezuela led to the deaths of three people, the US State Department issued a press statement declaring: "The allegations [by President Nicolas Maduro] that the United States is helping to organise protestors… is baseless and false. We support human rights and fundamental freedoms - including freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly - in Venezuela as we do in countries around the world."

Of course, US commitment to such freedoms is called into question by its own operating procedures, which have included police beatings of peaceful protesters and the incarceration and torture of whistleblower Chelsea Manning.

Maduro might - meanwhile - be forgiven for associating the US with efforts to overthrow the Venezuelan government given said country's intimate involvement in the 2002 coup d'etat against Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez - not to mention its general history of fomenting opposition to less-than-obsequious Latin American regimes.

George Ciccariello-Maher, a professor at Drexel University and the author of "We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution", remarked to me yesterday that, although "there's no reason to think that the US is directly involved in organising or calling these protests… we need to bear in mind that it continues to fund the very same opposition groups that have participated in violent, anti-democratic actions before and that continue to do so".

More:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/towards-another-coup-venezuela-201421952658348169.html

[quadrature]

3. the protests continue because huge numbers of people want them to...

huge inflation.
the middle class is being wiped out.
food shortages.
military style gangs rule the roads

is anyone surprised there are protests?

[bemildred]

4. Having seen them before, on numerous occasions, no we are not surprised nt

[Lodestar]

5. This has become the U.S. model of aggression...create internal strife and then act the hero by first

demonizing and then destroying their government, replacing it with a cooperative one. We justify it by suggesting we are creating democratic regimes when in fact we are either seizing resources or opening their markets up to us. We are expert at it, including a proliferation of media-generated misinformation/propaganda. Look up the revolutions in Europe (which involved Soros among other U.S. backers) We are seeing it again and again and it looks like that's what's happening in Ukraine as well as Venezuela. We almost attacked Venezuela once before but backed down when Americans reacted in anger and disbelief. Then the media demonized Chavez, etc. Obviously we won't be finished with them until we have our guy running things. They have vast quantities of natural resources and are close by and no defenses to speak of. What a deal! Whether you agree with U.S. geopolitical strategy or not, at the very least I think it's important to recognize our part in what's going on.

[Lodestar]

6. U.S. Budget Included $5 million for opposition groups in Venezuela (not to mention private funding)

...“In case anyone is in doubt, in Venezuela a plan is underway to create a political crisis and justify a state coup. We patriots must be clear where we stand, [and] what we represent in this moment of history,” the president declared. He also hit back at the U.S., saying that for the U.S. government human rights means “the right of the right-wing to overthrow legitimate governments”.

Venezuelan – U.S. relations have been frosty over the previous twelve years, with Venezuela accusing the U.S. of conspiring with the opposition and not respecting the country’s sovereignty. Last September Maduro also expelled three U.S. diplomats from Caracas for alleged conspiracy. The U.S. responded in kind, ordering three Venezuelan diplomatic officials to leave the country.

Investigations by lawyer and journalist Eva Golinger have revealed that the United States has provided funding and advice to the opposition during the Bolivarian era. “[The] U.S. budget for 2014 includes US $5 million for opposition groups in Venezuela (plus what they give in private),” Golinger tweeted yesterday, citing U.S. government documents.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10362