“We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”
— Friedrich Hegel
By Jeremy Scahill
The Intercept / Intercepted podcast(2/2/19)
The Trump administration is openly engaging in a blatant effort to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. It’s a campaign aimed at regime change, and it’s being publicly promoted as an opportunity to steal Venezuelan oil for the benefit of U.S. corporations. They’re not even pretending.
But this is not some insane Twitter thought spewed by Trump after guzzling down gallons of Fox and Friends. It’s open imperialism, and it’s not just being embraced by powerful Republicans, but Democrats as well.
This push for regime change in Venezuela did not appear in a vacuum. The CIA has been plotting with so-called rebels in Venezuela from the early days of the Trump administration.
As Donald Trump has cozied up to strongmen and dictators across the world — from Vladimir Putin to Mohammed bin Salman, Rodrigo Duterte, Kim Jong-un, el-Sisi of Egypt — it seems that he’s found one so-called strongman that he can’t tolerate. And that leader happens to have the largest reserves of oil of any country in the world.
Link to Story and 9-Minute Video
- Trump Weighs US Military Intervention In Venezuela: Sending Troops Is ‘an option’ — U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he would consider sending troops to Venezuela to support self-proclaimed interim President Juan Guaidó. In an interview with CBS news that is set to air on Sunday, Trump said that deploying U.S. troops is “an option.” The U.S. president also said that he had turned down a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. … Read the Rest
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Allan Nairn: Trump’s Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams Is A War Criminal Who Has Abetted Genocide
Democracy Now! (1/30/19)
In an ongoing effort to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Mike Pence met with members of the Venezuelan opposition at the White House Tuesday alongside Trump’s new special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams. Elliott Abrams is a right-wing hawk who was convicted in 1991 for lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal, but he was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.
Abrams defended Guatemalan dictator General Efraín Ríos Montt as he oversaw a campaign of mass murder and torture of indigenous people in Guatemala in the 1980s. Ríos Montt was later convicted of genocide. Abrams was also linked to the 2002 coup in Venezuela that attempted to topple Hugo Chávez.
We look at Abrams’s track record with prize-winning investigative journalist Allan Nairn, who has closely tracked Abrams for over three decades. Nairn is two-time winner of the George Polk Award and a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award.
Link to Story, Transcript and 20-Minute Video
- Elliot Abrams, Trump’s Pick To Take Over Venzuellan Oil Has Spent His Life Viciously Crushing Democracy In Third World Nations — ON DECEMBER 11, 1981 in El Salvador, a Salvadoran military unit created and trained by the U.S. Army began slaughtering everyone they could find in a remote village called El Mozote. Before murdering the women and girls, the soldiers raped them repeatedly, including some as young as 10 years old, and joked that their favorites were the 12-year-olds. One witness described a soldier tossing a 3-year-old child into the air and impaling him with his bayonet. The final death toll was over 800 people. The next day, December 12, was the first day on the job for Elliott Abrams as assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs in the Reagan administration. Abrams snapped into action, helping to lead a cover-up of the massacre. News reports of what had happened, Abrams told the Senate, were “not credible,” and the whole thing was being “significantly misused” as propaganda by anti-government guerillas. This past Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named Abrams as America’s special envoy for Venezuela. According to Pompeo, Abrams “will have responsibility for all things related to our efforts to restore democracy” in the oil-rich nation. … Read the Rest
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Opening Act: After Venezuela, U.S. To Target Cuba In Effort To Reshape Latin America
Democracy Now! (2/1/19)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting the U.S.-backed effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is just the first step in the Trump administration’s plan to reshape Latin America—with Cuba next on its radar. According to the report, the U.S. is planning to announce new measures against Cuba in the coming weeks, including new sanctions and restoring Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The moves could severely hamper foreign investment into the country.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. then plans to target Nicaragua. In November, national security adviser John Bolton dubbed the three nations the “troika of tyranny.” Last week, Vice President Mike Pence said that President Trump is “not a fan” of U.S. interventions abroad, except for in “this hemisphere.”
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You can find a number of stories on the dangerous situation in Venezuela that you won’t find inside the pro-war mainstream media propaganda machine at Popular Resistance. Remember the lies of the media in the lead-up to the Cheney-Bush war on Iraq. We see the same strategy coming together now.
US-Led Cup In Venezuela: The Plot Thickens
Link to PopularResistance.org
