In this episode (2/21/19) of the Thom Hartmann Program socialist economist Richard Wolff Pd.D. and Hartmann present a thought-provoking 12 minutes on the myths and failures of corporate-friendly republican and democratic neoliberal austerity economics and some of the Washington D.C.-based roots of the current economic crisis in Venezuela.
Hartmann also brings up the unspoken reality of the clearly racial aspect of Trump administration threats of military action in Venezuela.
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This Is Not Humanitarian Aid: A Maduro Critic In Venezuela Slams U.S. Plan to Push Regime Change
“This is clearly a coup carried out by the United States government with its allies, with the Lima Group and the extreme right wing in Venezuela.”
Democracy Now! (2/22/19)
We go to Caracas, Venezuela, for an update on the escalating standoff between President Nicolás Maduro and opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó. Guaidó claims he is preparing to deliver humanitarian aid from the Colombian border Saturday. Maduro has rejected the plan, saying the effort is part of a broader attempt to overthrow his regime.
This comes as Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela and right-wing hawk, Elliott Abrams, is leading a U.S. delegation traveling by military aircraft to the Colombian border, supposedly to help deliver the aid. The United Nations, the Red Cross and other relief organizations have refused to work with the U.S. on delivering that aid to Venezuela, which they say is politically motivated.
We speak with Venezuelan sociologist Edgardo Lander, a member of the Citizen’s Platform in Defense of the Constitution. “This certainly is not humanitarian aid, and it’s not oriented with any humanitarian aims,” Lander says. “This is clearly a coup carried out by the United States government with its allies, with the Lima Group and the extreme right wing in Venezuela.”
Link to Story, Transcript and 25-Minute Video