guaido, juan
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bolton gone, support from? US (note erik and rudy meet w/ maduro?!)</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sotu, pelosi clapped</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">oddly does not connect dots on sanctions?</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/venezuela-maduro-joins-hands-guaido-fight-virus-200603103335964.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.aljazeera.com/news<b>/2020/06/</b>venezuela-maduro-joins-hands-guaido-fight-virus-200603103335964.html</font></a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader <b>Juan Guaido have reached an agreement to cooperate to raise funds for the fight against the coronavirus. </b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The one-page agreement was signed on June 1 between Health Minister Carlos Alvarado, Dr Julio Castro, who leads the National Assembly's commission on the coronavirus, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Tuesday.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Venezuela confirms two coronavirus cases, suspends schools </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Venezuela, already in crisis mode, struggles to fight coronavirus</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fear as coronavirus closes border with Venezuela over coronavirus]</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The parties will seek funds to cover a range of responses from improving testing, acquiring more protective gear and launching public health messaging campaigns, among others, Rodriguez added.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"COVID-19 does not respect or discriminate against gender, orientation or political party," Rodriguez said on state television on Tuesday night. "So this is good news, a good start, so that we can deepen our work together to combat COVID-19."</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guaido's communications team also said a "technical cooperation plan to deal with the humanitarian coronavirus crisis" was signed.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Translation: After months of insistence and struggle, we [finally] managed to get PAHO to receive the donations approved by the National Assembly to address the pandemic in Venezuela. Our policy is focused on saving lives, attending to the emergency and getting out of the dictatorship. </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two sides have so far not confirmed the details of the plan.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In a statement, however, Guaido's team said PAHO would receive the funds approved for humanitarian aid.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Separately, Washington welcomed the coronavirus agreement.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It is an important step, but only democratic transition will save Venezuela from catastrophe,<b>" the closed US embassy in Caracas </b>posted on Twitter.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Translation: Interim Government of @JGuaido signed an agreement with PAHO for a coordinated association with the regime to combat #COVID19, prioritising urgent medical care needs for Venezuelans. It is an important step, but only democratic transition will save Venezuela from catastrophe. </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The White House has imposed financial sanctions on the country to press for Maduro's departure.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Venezuela officially has 1,819 reported COVID-19 cases and 18 related deaths but international organisations such as Human Rights Watch believe this is an underestimate and the real toll is much higher.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The pandemic hit Venezuela when the country was already reeling from a serious economic crisis, hyperinflation and a collapse of public services. </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The country has the largest oil reserves in the world, but its production is in freefall, a collapse that experts attribute to failed policies, lack of investment, and corruption.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The economic meltdown has seen about five million Venezuelans flee the country since 2015, according to the United Nations.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MORE ON VENEZUELA</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UK court denies Venezuela's Maduro access to gold in bank vault</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">last month</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump backtracks on meeting with Venezuela's Maduro</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>last month</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Italy's ruling Five Star denies receiving $3.9m from Venezuela</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">last month</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Venezuela electoral board: Council rejected by opposition and US</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">last month</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/venezuela-outrage-death-detained-navy-captain-190701092427512.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/venezuela-outrage-death-detained-navy-captain-190701092427512.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">torture coup plot</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">border bridge bs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/23/venezuelan-soldiers-defect-troops-fire-tear-gas-protesters-colombia/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/23/venezuelan-soldiers-defect-troops-fire-tear-gas-protesters-colombia/</a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/">https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/</a></div><div>=</div><div><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; line-height: 1.57; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQFjAMegQIBhAB" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153); cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.57; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQFjAMegQIBhAB" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153); cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQFjAMegQIBhAB" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153); cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQFjAMegQIBhAB" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153); cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQFjAMegQIBhAB" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153); cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><cite class="iUh30 bc" style="color: rgb(60, 64, 67); font-style: normal; font-size: 14px; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.3;">www.bloomberg.com › news › articles › guaido-amnesty-for-venezue...</cite></a></div>
<h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 2px 0px 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.3;">Guaido Amnesty for Venezuelan Army Stalls in His Own ...</h3><div class="B6fmyf" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; height: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.57; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30 bc" style="color: rgb(60, 64, 67); font-style: normal; font-size: 14px; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.3;" /></div><div class="yWc32e" style="display: inline-block; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 2px; visibility: visible;"><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=guaido+narco+drug+thug+death+human+rights&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwifk47z4MLnAhXumq0KHQFzB5oQBSgAegQIDBAm&biw=1600&bih=757#" id="am-b12" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQ7B0wDHoECAYQBA" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(60, 64, 67) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQqR8wDHoECAYQBQ" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature%2B%26cd%3D13%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQIDAMegQIBhAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; font-size: 14px; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; color: rgb(60, 64, 67); line-height: 1.57; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature%2B%26cd%3D13%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQIDAMegQIBhAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; font-size: 14px; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.57; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="f" style="color: rgb(112, 117, 122); line-height: 1.57;">Feb 20, 2019 - </span>Venezuela's opposition leader, Juan <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(82, 86, 90);">Guaido</span>, has offered to forgive the military for ... Some citizens aren't ready to forgive <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(82, 86, 90);">human</span>-<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(82, 86, 90);">rights</span> abuses.</span></a></div></div><div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature%2B%26cd%3D13%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQIDAMegQIBhAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; font-size: 14px; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></a></div><div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:TGZ-foVmQR4J:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/guaido-amnesty-for-venezuelan-army-stalls-in-his-own-legislature%2B%26cd%3D13%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiu3a-O4cLnAhUMbq0KHT7TAgYQIDAMegQIBhAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; font-size: 14px; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></a></div><div><a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2019/02/25/burning-aid-apparent-deception-on-colombia-venezuela-bridge/">https://consortiumnews.com/2019/02/25/burning-aid-apparent-deception-on-colombia-venezuela-bridge/</a></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many linx pix</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>FOREIGN POLICY, INTELLIGENCE, INTERNATIONAL, VENEZUELA</div><div>Burning Aid: Apparent Deception on Colombia-Venezuela Bridge</div><div>February 25, 2019 • 66 Comments</div><div><b>Marco Rubio and coup leaders are accusing the Venezuelan National Guard, but Max Blumenthal lines up opposing evidence. </b> </div><div>
</div><div>By Max Blumenthal</div><div>in Caracas</div><div>Grayzone</div><div>
</div><div>The Trump administration’s coup against Venezuela culminated on Feb. 23 with U.S.-backed opposition attempting to ram several trucks loaded with boxes of USAID “humanitarian aid” across the previously unused Francisco de Paula Santander bridge connecting Colombia to Venezuela.</div><div>
</div><div>The trucks failed to reach the other side — but that was never really the point of the stunt. As Father Sergio Munoz, a right-wing Venezuelan activist posted on the Colombian side of the border, explained to journalist Dan Cohen, the humanitarian “aid” was a purely symbolic provocation aimed at discrediting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in international eyes and generating waves of destabilizing violence.</div><div>
</div><div>By the end of the day, the trucks lined up on the Francisca de Paula Santander bridge were flanked by gangs of guarimberos.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>(Telesur)</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">These were the nihilistic masked youth who form the shock troops of the right-wing opposition, and who placed Caracas under siege with violent barricade protests, known as guarimbas, at several points between 2014 and 2017. A mob of guarimberos burned to death Orlando Figuera, a 22-year old black Venezuelan accused of supporting Maduro, on an eastern Caracas street in broad daylight, back in June 2017.</span></div><div>
</div><div>On the Santander bridge this Feb. 23, the guarimberos rained down a hail of rocks and molotov cocktails on Venezuelan national guardsmen holding the line against the USAID trucks. Suddenly, the trucks caught fire and the masked youth began unloading boxes of aid before they burned. Within minutes, pro-opposition media reported that the Venezuelan national guard forces were responsible for the fires.</div><div>
</div><div>A reporter for the private anti-government channel NTN24 claimed without evidence that the Venezuelan security forces had caused the fires with tear gas:</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>taseenb</div><div>@taseenb</div><div>Another false flag at the border with Colombia. A "reporter" from @NTN24ve (opposition tv known for fake news) said a truck went on fire because the Venezuelan police launched tear gas. Let me know if you've seen tear gas burn a truck before#Venezuela #HandsOfVenezuela</div><div>
</div><div>Embedded video</div><div>702</div><div>12:02 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>564 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>The claim was absurd on its face. I have personally witnessed tear gas canisters hit every kind of vehicle imaginable in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, and I have never seen a fire like the one that erupted on the Santander bridge.</div><div>
</div><div>In 2013, the San Bernadino Sheriff’s Department deployed special incendiary teargas canisters (“burners”) to torch the house where fugitive cop killer Chris Dorner had holed up. But it is highly unlikely that the Venezuelan national guardsmen had anything like this weapon in their arsenal when they confronted the rioters on Feb. 23.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The total lack of evidence of Venezuelan culpability did not stop Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio from tweeting this accusation from nearby in Cucuta, Colombia:</b></div><div>
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</div><div>Marco Rubio</div><div>?</div><div>@marcorubio</div><div>They may not realize it yet but today the Maduro Regime made it easier to isolate them internationally. </div><div>
</div><div>After today it will be difficult for nations to remain neutral. And for their allies to continue to support it defend them. (Cont)</div><div>
</div><div>12.3K</div><div>4:38 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>8,621 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is facing calls for her own resignation after video appeared of her condescendingly browbeating a group of environmentalist children, repeated Rubio’s baseless allegation, using it to call for Maduro to step down.</span></div><div>
</div><div>By blaming the Venezuelan government for burning the USAID trucks, Rubio was clearly attempting to establish the casus belli he had been seeking. Yet neither he nor anyone in the “whole world” had seen the national guard set the fire, as he claimed. In fact, the evidence pointed in the exact opposite direction, suggesting that the masked opposition youth had torched the trucks themselves.</div><div>
</div><div>Colombian writer Humberto Ortiz produced footage from a pro-opposition channel showing what appears to be the exact moment when a guarimbero sets the aid on fire with a molotov cocktail:</div><div>
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</div><div>Humberto Ortiz</div><div>@graffitiborrao</div><div>Creo que @NoticiasUno nos puede ayudar a aclarar si la molotov lanzada por este muchacho pudo causar el incendio del camión.</div><div>
</div><div>Embedded video</div><div>1,820</div><div>9:25 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>1,775 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>Telesur reporter Madelein Garcia published photographs showing a guarimbero with a gas canister next to one of the burning trucks:</div><div>
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</div><div>Madelein Garcia</div><div>@madeleintlSUR</div><div>1. #ÚltimoMinuto| en #exclusiva @teleSURtv aquí las evidencias de quienes quemaron el camión con supuesta ayuda humanitaria en #Ureña, fueron los mismo guarimberos</div><div>
</div><div>View image on TwitterView image on Twitter</div><div>2,084</div><div>2:01 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>4,180 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div><b>Drone footage also published by Garcia shows how far away the trucks were from Venezuelan national guardsmen when they caught fire, and demonstrates that they were clearly on the Colombian side of the border:</b></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Madelein Garcia</div><div>@madeleintlSUR</div><div>2. Ahora veamos las imágenes aéreas este fue justo el momento cuando quemaron los camiones</div><div>
</div><div>Embedded video</div><div>1,356</div><div>2:03 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>2,649 people are talking about this</div><div>Even Bloomberg News, which has run a relentless stream of pro-opposition reports, published video showing guarimberos on the bridge making molotov cocktails, which could easily set a truck cabin or its cargo alight:</div><div>
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</div><div>QuickTake by Bloomberg</div><div>?</div><div>@QuickTake</div><div> · Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Replying to @QuickTake</div><div>MORE: The bus activists hijacked was set on fire as protests continue to turn violent in Ureña #tictocnews</div><div>
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</div><div>QuickTake by Bloomberg</div><div>?</div><div>@QuickTake</div><div>MORE: A member of the Venezuelan army defects during clashes at the Simon Bolívar border bridge. The defector was dragged to a building of the Colombian Migration office and protected by the Colombian police #tictocnews</div><div>
</div><div>Embedded video</div><div>61</div><div>12:28 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>43 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div><b>Meanwhile, the International Red Cross issued a statement condemning Venezuelan opposition activists disguising themselves as Red Cross workers – a blatant breach of humanitarian protocol. A screenshot from pro-opposition NTN24 coverage shows a fake Red Cross worker near one of the burning trucks:</b></div><div>
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</div><div>Max Blumenthal</div><div>?</div><div>@MaxBlumenthal</div><div> · Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Replying to @MaxBlumenthal</div><div>
</div><div>Nicole Kramm, photojournalist wounded by national guard defectors on Venezuelan border: “They wanted to kill civilians on the border. At full speed... I can’t believe they’re presented as heroes.” https://mobile.twitter.com/UNoticias/status/1099364281651523590?s=19 …</div><div>
</div><div>Últimas Noticias</div><div>?</div><div>@UNoticias</div><div>#ElPaís #VIDEO Nicole Kramm, fotoperiodista chilena que fue herida hoy durante falso positivo en la frontera: "Querían matar a la gente civil que estaba parada en la frontera. A toda velocidad. Me salvé por poco. No puedo creer que los presenten como héroes".</div><div>
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</div><div>Max Blumenthal</div><div>?</div><div>@MaxBlumenthal</div><div>
</div><div>The International Red Cross condemns yet another deception by the Venezuelan opposition https://mobile.twitter.com/Federation/status/1099374815394308102?s=19 …</div><div>
</div><div>IFRC Intl. Federation #RedCross #RedCrescent</div><div>?</div><div>@ifrc</div><div>We’ve learned that there are some people not affiliated w/ @cruzrojacol & @CruzRojaVe wearing Red Cross emblems at Colombia-#Venezuela & Brazil-Ven border.</div><div>We urge them to stop doing this. They might mean well but they risk jeopardizing our neutrality, impartiality & independence</div><div>
</div><div>496</div><div>1:12 PM - Feb 23, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>501 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Days ago, self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó announced that he would lead a “human wave” across the bridge and into Venezuela. But as darkness fell on Feb. 23, Guaido found himself at a stormy press conference with other right-wing, U.S.-aligned Latin American leaders. By his side was Colombian President Ivan Duque, who repeated the evidence-free allegation that Venezuelan security forces had burned the aid trucks.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Having failed miserably at every phase of the coup he had attempted to engineer, Rubio ended the day with a Twitter tantrum that peaked with a call for “multilateral actions” against Venezuela’s government. What form that action could take is still unclear, but it will certainly be justified by a series of baseless claims about what took place on the Santander bridge.</div><div>
</div><div>Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of books including best-selling “Republican Gomorrah,” “Goliath,” “The Fifty One Day War” and “The Management of Savagery,” which will be published in March 2019 by Verso. He has also produced numerous print articles for an array of publications, many video reports and several documentaries including “Killing Gaza” and “Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie.” <b>Blumenthal founded the Grayzone Project in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America’s state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Tags: Colombia Francisco de Paula Santander bridge guarimberos International Red Cross Juan Guaidó Max Blumenthal Nicolas Maduro Sen. Marco Rubio Trump administration USAID Venezuela Venezuela coup</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">blog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2019/09/21/venezuelan-govt-reveals-video-of-guaido-allegedly-hanging-out-with-colombian-drug-lords/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2019/09/21/venezuelan-govt-reveals-video-of-guaido-allegedly-hanging-out-with-colombian-drug-lords/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no foto</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nb link to RT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PTEMBER 21, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Venezuelan govt reveals VIDEO of Guaido allegedly hanging out with Colombian drug lords</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido during his trip to Colombia in February 2019. © Juan Felipe Corzo / AFP</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Venezuelan government has released what it says is more evidence of Western-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido’s ties to notorious Colombian drug lords and paramilitaries.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Friday, Venezuela’s Communication and Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez revealed a video of what he said was Guaido mingling with members of Los Rastrojos criminal syndicate and paramilitary group during his trip to Colombia in February. The footage shows a smiling Guaido posing with the alleged cartel members, riding alongside them in an SUV towards a helicopter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jorge Rodríguez</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?@jorgerpsuv</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gob Bolivariano capturó a Nandito, quien fue el autor de las fotografías entre @jguaido y narcoparamilitares de los rastrojos. Testimonio revelador de los nexos entre @jguaido y narcoparamilitares, así como coordinación de los rastrojos con @IvanDuque https://youtu.be/fkGdMuhP7PA </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> YouTube ?@YouTube</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">852</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3:11 PM – Sep 20, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1,522 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rodriguez claimed that the cartel facilitated Guaido’s trip, including his meetings with Colombian leadership, which openly backs him. A Colombian NGO previously released photos of the opposition leader with the alleged gangsters, and similar pictures were later published in Venezuela. During Friday’s briefing, Rodriguez showed yet another batch of similar photos of Guaido posing with and hugging various casually-dressed men, whom the Venezuelan government identifies as Los Rastrojos members.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Among the men photographed with Guaido is Ivan Posso Pedrozo, aka ‘Nandito,’ the cartel’s logistics and finance officer.</b> He was captured by Venezuela near the Colombian border in September. The government released an interrogation video, in which Pedrozo admitted organizing Guaido’s travel through Colombia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALSO ON RT.COM</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> New photos show Juan Guaido in car with ‘drug cartel gangster’The gangsters planned to start riots along the border as a distraction, while they smuggled Guaido into Colombia, Rodriguez said. He also claimed that they have taken and retained photos with the opposition leader as an “insurance policy” so the cartel could blackmail the politician if he comes to power in Venezuela.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guaido denied getting help from the syndicate and said its members were among hundreds of people with whom he posed for selfies while crossing the border. He further dismissed Rodriguez’s allegation as “fake news” being spread by the government to smear him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALSO ON RT.COM‘Shameful heritage of neocolonialism’: Venezuela slams US invoking military aid treaty]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The speaker of the opposition-controlled parliament, Guaido was declared ‘interim president’ in January, challenging the incumbent Nicolas Maduro. Guaido’s claim was quickly backed by the US and its allies in Europe and South America, including Venezuela’s neighbors, Colombia and Brazil. Countries like China, Russia, Iran and Turkey continue to recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guaido and his supporters have made several calls for the army and police to join them in toppling Maduro, but they remained loyal to the government.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.rt.com/news/469295-venezuela-guaido-colombia-cartels/</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guido</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/venezuelas-juan-guaido-on-maduro-u-s-sanctions-and-generalized-anarchy">https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/venezuelas-juan-guaido-on-maduro-u-s-sanctions-and-generalized-anarchy</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/17/20</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tag: <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/juan-guaido">https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/juan-guaido</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PBS new hour flattery interview with maduro opponent, ended with charming factoid he survived mudslide as child</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><ul class="video-transcript" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">udy Woodruff:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And now to Venezuela, a nation suffering through both economic meltdown and political crisis.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One year ago, opposition leader Juan pronounced President Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and said that he was the rightful president. Guaido won the support of nearly 60 countries around the world, including the U.S., but President Maduro remains in power.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With support from the Pulitzer Center, special correspondent Marcia Biggs sat down with opposition leader Guaido in Caracas.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Members of Parliament aligned with opposition leader Juan Guaido hadn't even reached Parliament on Wednesday, when their convoy was attacked by supporters of President Nicolas Maduro.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guaido lashed out at what he said was a naked power grab and campaign of intimidation by Maduro.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They are announcing the military takeover of the palace. And right here, I am denouncing it to the world.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They are using military and paramilitary groups armed by the dictatorship, civilian groups armed by the dictatorship to violently attack the federal palace.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Caracas on Tuesday, Maduro arrived at the National Assembly Palace to deliver his state of the union address before his supporters. He criticized Guaido as a puppet of the U.S. and called for new legislative elections this year.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Nicolas Maduro (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The people should decide on this conflict with their votes, with their conscience, with their political will, parliamentary elections in 2020.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conflict Maduro is referring to, who actually controls Parliament. Last week, National Guard troops, under government order, blocked Guaido and his supporters from entering the National Assembly for a leadership vote.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inside, Maduro supporters elected their own speaker, an opposition member willing to negotiate with Maduro. But two days later, Guaido returned, broke through the gauntlet, and was sworn in as speaker by his supporters, leaving the Venezuelan people to wonder which of these dueling parliaments and leaders is actually in power.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, the country remains crippled, a failing economy, soaring food prices, and a gasoline shortage, all made worse by U.S. sanctions. And many of this country's most vulnerable citizens left on their own.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I met Guaido at his office in Caracas yesterday to discuss all of this.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido, thank you so much for sitting down with us.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I want to start with the question that's on everybody's mind. What is going on in the National Assembly in Venezuela?</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As you may know, Venezuela today suffers from a dictatorship, a dictatorship that incarcerates people, that persecutes, that has generated the most severe humanitarian crisis in the region, seven million Venezuelans in a complex humanitarian emergency, as determined by the U.N., 5.5 million migrants on the continent, mainly in South America, only surpassed by Syria in terms of the refugee crises around the world.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That is what we Venezuelans are facing today. The national Parliament has become a beacon of resistance, of democratic struggle, of defense of the rights of Venezuelans. And it has not been exempted from the persecution by the regime.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that is why the dictatorship is attacking us the way they do. So, that is our great struggle, which I lead from the national Parliament. I must say that I enjoy remarkable international recognition and support. And that, in short, is what is happening today in our National Assembly.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OK, but, in the last two weeks, there have been an incredible series of events, where now you have essentially two bodies of Parliament.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Each one believes that it is the legitimate National Assembly.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is only one Parliament in Venezuela.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What we are experiencing at the moment is a brutal repression and a militarization of our Parliament, the use of armed paramilitaries, called colectivos, in Venezuela, and a fierce and brave defense by our parliamentarians.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite the dictatorship's attempts to seduce them, including the use of blackmail, the use of money from Venezuelan funds, they have not even managed to gain an artificial majority, because the world continues to recognize us, and, more importantly, the Venezuelan people.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, by the way, there are not two countries either. There are not two countries fighting against each other or polarized. Instead, 90 percent of the county is in favor of a change.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OK, who is running the country?</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That answer is not easy either. Why? Because, today, it is the dictatorship. Today, it is the criminality.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, it is the irregular groups on the border that exercise control of the country. There is a generalized anarchy in the country. Today, the common and prevailing situation is that of hunger, of migration. It is a context of drug trafficking proliferating in Venezuela, and we are fighting precisely to bring order back, to recover normality, to reestablish the rule of law, so that human rights can be respected in Venezuela.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's been a year since you declared yourself president. Maduro remains in power.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Parliament is now split. And, meanwhile, as you described a very bleak picture of this country, a crisis of hyperinflation, hunger and failing medical system, tell me, how do you move forward? What is your strategy?</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several things to clarify.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The first thing is that I didn't declare myself president. Article 233 of the Venezuelan Constitution states that the president of the Parliament is the acting president, since a presidential election wasn't held, and this is what happened in Venezuela in 2018.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, I am the acting president of Venezuela, while a presidential election is duly organized. Also, I must reiterate my previous answer. Our Parliament is not split. Our Parliament maintains a solid majority, which the world recognizes, and the dictatorship tried to tear it apart, resorting to bribery, and it didn't succeed, and then decided to use military and paramilitary groups, and didn't succeed there either.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In spite of that, at the risk of our integrity and our lives, we managed to assert the rights of Venezuelans, not just the majority of the parliamentarians who cast their vote that day. In order to go to work, I had to overcome gunfire, jump over walls, and confront paramilitaries.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In spite of all that, there is a Parliament that is recognized by Venezuelans and by the world, even though the dictatorship is hijacking power.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How have they kept power? Well, because the dictatorship still has part of the support of those who hijacked the weapons of the republic. And I think that that day that we managed to enter Parliament, where we all pushed open a door that was held by a few soldiers, is the metaphor for what is happening in Venezuela.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, the U.S. government imposed new sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry, the government's largest source of revenue, in order to pressure Maduro.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Are you in favor of these sanctions?</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Venezuelan oil production has been falling for nine years as a result of corruption, a product of bad management of the industry.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It has nothing to do with the imposition of sanctions. Last year, production remained at approximately 700,000 barrels throughout the year, and has not changed. That is to say, it has nothing to do with the sanctions. And the dictatorship continues to sell that oil that they manage to extract.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, continuing with the sanctions implemented, we must seek even more efficient mechanisms of pressuring this type of totalitarian regime.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Would you want a U.S. military intervention?</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I want a solution. I want an urgent solution for my country.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I want to stop seeing children suffering in Venezuela. I want to stop seeing mothers saying goodbye to their children at the airport, or worse, in the cemetery, and, with them, the hope of justice, because they were either executed or robbed.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Venezuela today is the most violent country in the world. Caracas is the most violent capital of the world, taking into account the rate of murders per 100,000 inhabitants.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, it is my responsibility to evaluate all the options to end this tragedy, to end once and for all this suffering of our people. And, of course, we must have all options on the table.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We have already seen so much political violence, and your supporters saw it this week. Are you worried about a civil war?</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido (through translator):</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I have no doubt that's what the dictatorship wants.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, we are not in favor, let's say, of pitting people against people. We are determined to put an end to this situation in the best possible way, as I was just saying a few moments ago, evaluating all the options.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But, today, the dictatorship has a monopoly on weapons. In any case, what we could see is genocide, a very severe genocide. And why do I say very severe? Because the national special police force has already illegally massacred 18,000 Venezuelans in three years.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That was also raised by the U.N., the human rights report. They want to shoot us. They are going to do it, as they did a few days ago, to prevent us from entering Parliament.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that is why I was commenting minutes ago, we must evaluate all the options to put an end to this tragedy, that Venezuelans, South Americans, and all the inhabitants of the continent are suffering, in short.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcia Biggs:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido, thank you so much for speaking with us.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vtbody body-text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 900px; width: 753px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No, thank you.</font></p></div></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></p></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252); margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Threatened with violence, Venezuela’s Juan Guaido on finding ‘urgent solution’ to crisis</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">World Jan 07</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Watch</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">3:35</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In Venezuela, dueling parliaments cast political crisis into further chaos</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Venezuela’s political turmoil deepened Tuesday as supporters of President Nicolas Maduro tried to open a new session in the National Assembly without opposition members or their leader, Juan Guaido. Guaido managed to force his way into the parliament, but the…</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Marcia Biggs, Frank Carlson</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">World Jan 06</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Watch</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">3:26</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Venezuela’s political crisis escalates as Maduro tries to wrest parliament from Guaido</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Sunday saw new chaos in Venezuela’s enduring political and economic disaster. Juan Guaido, leader of parliament and the opposition to President Nicolas Maduro, was physically barred from the National Assembly. Maduro supporters then claimed they’d replaced him as the speaker.</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Marcia Biggs, Frank Carlson</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">World Jul 04</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">5,287 people killed during Venezuela security operations in 2018, UN reports</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The U.N. human rights chief said the number of extrajudicial killings in 2018 was "shockingly high."…</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Jamey Keaten, Scott Smith, Associated Press</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">World May 25</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Venezuela negotiators return to Norway for crisis talks</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Representatives of the Venezuelan government and opposition have returned to Norway for a mediation effort aimed at resolving the political crisis in the South American country, the Norwegian government said Saturday.</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Christopher Torchia, Associated Press</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 09</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Arrest of Venezuelan opposition figure draws condemnation</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Christopher Torchia, Associated Press</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly in Venezuela, was detained by members of Venezuela's intelligence agency.</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Continue reading</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 04</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Watch 3:38</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Venezuelan standoff continues between Maduro and Guaidó</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By PBS NewsHour</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As the standoff over transition of power in Venezuela continues at least 50 countries including the U.S. have thrown their support behind Juan Guaidó whose recent calls for military support and for mass demonstrations have not been successful. Columbia University’s…</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Continue watching</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 04</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Key role of Venezuelan military in crisis takes center stage</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Christopher Torchia, Associated Press</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The critical role of the Venezuelan military in the country’s crisis was on display Saturday as President Nicolás Maduro sought to keep its support and opposition leader Juan Guaidó tried to woo the armed forces to his side.</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Continue reading</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 01</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Watch 2:44</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In Venezuela, Maduro holds on to power as Guaido’s military support falters</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By William Brangham</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">After Tuesday’s violent clashes, Wednesday dawned quiet in Caracas but eventually grew chaotic again. Police threw tear gas at Venezuelans demonstrating in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido. Meanwhile, it was unclear why Guaido’s earlier talks with military leaders about…</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Continue watching</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 01</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As new protests loom, was Venezuela opposition outplayed?</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Scott Smith, Joshua Goodman, Associated Press</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 650px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Opposition leader Juan Guaidó stunned the nation Tuesday when he appeared on a video urging troops to abandon Maduro and join those clamoring for the socialist leader's ouster. But while the call to action spurred protests around the nation, only…</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></li><li class="vtperson vtperson--host" style="margin: 0px; padding: 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 223, 232); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="" /></font><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">iVenezuela, Guaido calls for military to turn against Maduro</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">The political power struggle in Venezuela took a violent turn Tuesday, as opposition leader Juan Guaido appealed to the military to turn against President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, and for the public to take to the streets. Thousands turned out in…</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue watching</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Apr 30</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Watch 5:55</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">How Venezuelan opposition envisions ousting Maduro from power</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Although anti-Maduro protests exploded on the streets of Caracas Tuesday, by nightfall it was unclear if the Venezuelan military had heeded opposition leader Juan Guaido’s call to abandon President Maduro. William Brangham talks to Carlos Vecchio, U.S. representative of Venezuela’s…</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue watching</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Apr 30</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">WATCH: National security adviser John Bolton addresses Venezuela unrest</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">By Matthew Lee, Ben Fox, Associated Press</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Venezuelan opposition leaders calling for a military uprising against the government of President Nicolás Maduro gained quick messages of support Tuesday from the Trump administration amid a possible turning point in the South American nation's political crisis. Watch comments by…</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue reading</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Apr 30</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Venezuela’s Guaido takes to streets in military uprising</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">By Scott Smith, Christopher Torchia, Associated Press</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets with a small contingent of heavily armed troops early Tuesday in a bold and risky attempt to lead a military uprising and oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue reading</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Apr 17</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Watch 9:00</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);"><b>On Cuba policy change, Bolton says, ‘I can’t wait for the lawsuits’</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">The White House says Americans will now be able to sue businesses operating on land confiscated by the Castro regime. Previous administrations declined to enforce the related Helms-Burton Law. Canada and the EU, which have private-sector interests on Cuban land,…</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue watching</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Mar 28</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Venezuelan government bars Guaido from public office for 15 years</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">By Jorge Rueda, Associated Press</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">National Assembly leader Juan Guadio quickly responded to the decision, saying he would continue his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue reading</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Mar 11</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Desperation spreads in Venezuela after days without power</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">By Fabiola Sanchez, Scott Smith, Associated Press</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">In Venezuela, years of hardship for millions of people got abruptly worse after the power grid collapsed, intensifying the country's long-running misery.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Mar 09</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">As blackout eases, Venezuela braces for rival rallies</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">By Christopher Torchia, Associated Press</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Venezuelan opposition protesters on Saturday confronted security forces on a main avenue in Caracas, venting their anger over a nationwide blackout, shortages of basic necessities and the government of President Nicolas Maduro.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Mar 04</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Watch 7:27</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">How Guaido plans to increase pressure on Maduro to resign</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">After leaving Venezuela to garner outside support, opposition leader Juan Guaido risked arrest when he returned home. He arrived safely on Monday in Caracas, where he was greeted by crowds of supporters. Nick Schifrin talks to Carlos Vecchio, recognized by…</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Mar 04</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Guaido returns to Venezuela and calls for more anti-Maduro protests</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">By Christopher Torchia, Associated Press</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">A defiant Juan Guaido returned home to Venezuela on Monday despite concerns the opposition leader might be detained and urged supporters at a rally to intensify their campaign to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(241, 248, 252);">Continue reading</div></div></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/6/headlines/maduro_takes_control_of_venezuela_s_national_assembly"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/6/headlines/maduro_takes_control_of_venezuela_s_national_assembly</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro moved to take control over the National Assembly and blocked the re-election of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the assembly’s leader. The move comes as Maduro seeks to hold onto power amid a U.S.-backed opposition movement. He has faced criticism for consolidating control over Venezuela’s various governmental institutions, and his critics denounced the move as a “parliamentary coup d’état.”</font></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/6/headlines/maduro_takes_control_of_venezuela_s_national_assembly"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/6/headlines/maduro_takes_control_of_venezuela_s_national_assembly</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro moved to take control over the National Assembly and blocked the re-election of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the assembly’s leader. The move comes as Maduro seeks to hold onto power amid a U.S.-backed opposition movement. He has faced criticism for consolidating control over Venezuela’s various governmental institutions, and his critics denounced the move as a “parliamentary coup d’état.”</font></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/venezuela-bachelet-twilight-juan-guaido-insurrection/260274/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mintpressnews.com/venezuela-bachelet-twilight-juan-guaido-insurrection/260274/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="article-author" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px;"><time class="entry-time" itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2019-07-10T10:54:48-05:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">July 10th, 2019</font></time></p></div><div data-js="social-icons-bar-reload" data-post_id="260274" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="drop-cap" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; float: left; line-height: 50px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 6px;"><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14580" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">V</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14580" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">enezuelanalysis</a> —</span> <b>Guaido’s uprising is going through its terminal phrase.</b> He does not yet appear to have reached his end as leader, as he still produces and consolidates an important consensus among the opposition. What has decisively failed is his attempt to form a government without elections with the backing of the hawks in Washington. In almost six months since his <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14244" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">self-swearing in</a> as “interim president,” it has become palpable that his governing is truly impossible. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The coup de grace was delivered by Michelle Bachelet when she visited the National Assembly, of which he is president and a deputy. The UN high commissioner for human rights did not recognize him as president of the republic, but she did propose a roadmap for pressuring the Maduro government, which Guaido accepted even though it represents a deviation from Washington’s strategy.</span></span></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump administration invested a large part of its political and diplomatic capital in overthrowing Maduro, especially in the first six months of 2019. And it didn’t achieve it. Pence, Pompeo, Bolton, and Abrams squandered a valuable amount of time with disastrous results. Since talks <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14495" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">began</a> in Norway, the hawks have opted to <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14525" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">wash their hands</a> of the matter and leave Guaido to his own fate.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The fracture in the opposition deepens with every defeat. The faction of the opposition favored by the US government is stronger online than it is in the streets, where it grows weaker every day. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Voluntad Popular (VP), <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11452" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Leopoldo Lopez</a> and Juan Guaido’s minoritarian radical party with only 14 seats in the 165-seat legislature, was chosen by the hawks to lead a new offensive that has not only been defeated on its own terms, but VP has been <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14577" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">accused</a> of “appeasement” by its own radical sectors after promoting dialogue with the Maduro government under the auspices of Norway</span>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> As the Venezuelan popular saying goes, “they were left without the goat and without the leash.” That is, the much-anticipated invasion never came and the actors that could maneuver in the national political sphere, namely the large opposition parties, were displaced by those who imposed a media-driven politics that looks to foreign powers for solutions. And now what?</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The anti-government march on July 5 demonstrated that the opposition now does not even mobilize the bases of its own parties. Looking at the social media feeds of the most radical and mobilized opposition currents, it’s clear that they blame Guaido for failing in his attempt to govern and for his inefficient endeavor to secure foreign military intervention. Also weighing heavy are the<b> allegations of <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14545" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">corruption</a> on the part of his team in the provision of humanitarian aid, exposed by opposition media outlets.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From January of this year, when Guaido swore himself in, it was foreseeable that street mobilizations would not be enough to oust Maduro, not even those of <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14250" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">January 23</a>, whose widespread support was even evident in hardcore protests in some Caracas barrios. What was anticipated was some kind of direct action by the US armed forces, or those of a neighboring country, so that the escalation of the conflict in the media actually reached the national territory. The climax, which took place on <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14347" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">February 23</a> around the attempted forced entry of humanitarian aid, quickly petered out. The same thing happened on April 30 with the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14453" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">coup attempt</a>. They were very weak movements that drew Maduro and the armed forces closer together – the opposite of what was sought.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the decline of Guaido does not mean a definitive victory for Chavismo. It can even debilitate it as we will see.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bachelet’s report</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The three-day <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14554" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">visit</a> to Venezuela by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on June 19-21 and subsequent release of her report on July 5 can be read as a change of scene in the Venezuelan conflict.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During her stay, Bachelet met with President Maduro in the presidential palace and with Juan Guaido in the National Assembly. This may surprise us if we remember that since January over fifty foreign governments have <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14303" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">recognized</a> Guaido as “interim president,” although he has not been able to exercise any functions beyond naming “ambassadors.” Bachelet put an end to the farce and showed things as they really are, something which the international community has not dared to do: she removed the virtual throne from under Guaido and recognized Maduro as the only president.</font></p><div id="attachment_260275" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 130%; margin: 0px 0px 24px -106.797px; width: 1410px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p id="caption-attachment-260275" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">[pix Bachelet, left, chats with Maduro as they walk out of a meeting at Miraflores Presidential Palace, in Caracas, June 21, 2019. Ariana Cubillos | AP</font></p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bachelet’s report effectively displaces the conflict to the political arena because it is accepted enthusiastically by the opposition, even though the document doesn’t repeat its mantra of the “end of the usurpation,” and is welcomed by Maduro, who made two important gestures: the release of 22 “political prisoners” and the rumored proposal for Bolivarian deputies to return to their seats in the National Assembly, which they had abandoned since the emergence of the National Constituent Assembly in August 2017. In this way, Maduro opens up the possibility of negotiation, in which the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14510" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Norway</a> experience can play a pivotal role.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report presents interesting options for both parties in the conflict. For Maduro, it legitimates his refusal to recognize Guaido’s “interim presidency” and it sidelines Washington in the dispute for hegemony over the Venezuela question. For the opposition, which suffered another defeat and internal division following Bachelet’s <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14554" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">recognition</a> of Maduro,<b> the report allows it to double down on its call for foreign military intervention.</b> The radicals on either side have simultaneously launched a broadside of criticisms at the ex-president, but significant sectors in both camps have recognized the legitimacy of the report, which sets the table for Norway-mediated talks.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chavismo in its trench</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The elements of cohesion in Chavismo are more external than internal. Chavismo closes ranks when confronting an enemy force of the proportions of the governments of the US or Colombia, or when the opposition resorts to violence. Once the “Guaido effect” is exposed as an impotent act, the Maduro government is left standing without tangible opponents and begins to face a crisis situation in which it is itself completely helpless. That is when the seams in the institutional armor covering the government become visible, due to its inability to control an economy that is already <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14542" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">liberalized</a>.</font></p><div id="attachment_260276" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 130%; margin: 0px 0px 24px -106.797px; width: 1410px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p id="caption-attachment-260276" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">[ pix People watch a military parade marking Independence Day in Caracas, July 5, 2019. Ariana Cubillos | AP</font></p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">What has also become apparent recently is the government’s lack of control over state security forces. Obviously, Chavismo resents having to confront situations like the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14563" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">death</a> by alleged torture of Captain Acosta Arevalo on June 29, as well as the arrest of grassroots Bolivarian militant Jose Ramon Rodriguez on July 5. In the first case, arrests have been made, and in the second, Ramon Rodriguez has been freed. However, the accusations of grave misconduct on the part of the security forces, detailed in the Bachelet Report, are a concern shared by some <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14256" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">currents</a> of Chavismo.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other sectors, including the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14575" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">reject</a> the Bachelet report. Even now Maduro has demonstrated – and Bachelet has recognized it – that he is making moves to set the stage for negotiations: is there movement towards a power-sharing agreement or rather tactical maneuvers to remain in power?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regardless, it is undeniable that negotiations driven by Norway open the way for a scenario that can overcome the stalemate in the internal political game. A shift in political and diplomatic relations is needed in order to extricate Venezuela from its current economic quagmire, which is impacting the region.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Feature photo | Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó waves as he arrives to present details of his “Plan Pais” or Plans for the Country, to members of the agro-food sector, in Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2019. Ariana Cubillos | AP</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Ociel Alí López</span> is a Venezuelan researcher who has published numerous written and multimedia works. He is dedicated to analyzing Venezuelan society for several European and Latin American media outlets. He is a co-founder of alternative Venezuelan state television station Avila TV in 2006. He is the recipient of the CLACSO/ASDI researcher prize and the Britto Garcia literature award.</font></span></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><h4 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.1; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2019/05/07/what-is-happening-at-the-venezuelan-embassy-is-an-outrage/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">What Is Happening at the Venezuelan Embassy Is an Outrage</font></span></a></h4><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Medea Benjamin - May 7, 2019 - Local Peace Economy</font></div></div><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2019/05/07/what-is-happening-at-the-venezuelan-embassy-is-an-outrage/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://peoplesdispatch.org/2019/05/07/what-is-happening-at-the-venezuelan-embassy-is-an-outrage/</font></a></div><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right here in Washington, D.C., an unprecedented showdown is unfolding. Venezuelan supporters of self-declared interim president Juan Guaido have been trying to take over the Venezuelan Embassy. This goes against international law, the wishes of the government in control in Venezuela, and the dogged determination of a group of U.S. citizens called the Embassy Protection Collective, who have been living in the embassy since April 15.</font></div><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A takeover of the embassy of a sovereign nation whose government holds power and is recognized by the United Nations would be illegal according to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,</b> which says that diplomatic premises are inviolable and the receiving State must protect the premises against any “intrusion, disturbance of the peace or impairment of its dignity.”</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This has nothing to do with whether one likes Nicolás Maduro or considers the Venezuelan elections fair. My Saudi friends in Washington, D.C., hate Mohammad bin Salman—a man who has <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">never</em> been elected by anyone—but the U.S. government would never let them take over the Saudi Embassy. Chinese dissidents say that “winners” of Chinese rigged elections—with only the Communist Party allowed to exist—should not be recognized by the rest of the world, but they would never get access to the Chinese Embassies. Likewise for dissidents from Egypt, Honduras, Syria, Zambia, Congo, Romania, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.—all countries with highly questionable elections, to put it mildly.</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The inflammatory act of handing over the Venezuelan Embassy to Guaidó supporters would also have the potential to dramatically escalate the conflict between the United States and Venezuela.</b> If the Trump administration were to allow this, the Maduro government would likely reciprocate by taking over the U.S. Embassy. This could be just what war hawks John Bolton and Elliott Abrams are looking for as a justification for a U.S. military intervention.</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Determined to avoid another war, a group of U.S. peace activists sought and received permission from the legitimate Venezuelan government to form an Embassy Protection Collective. Since April 15, a group has been living in the embassy, sleeping on couches and floors, while outside supporters have been providing supplies and joining them for meals and educational events.</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At first the Venezuelan diplomats were still working in the building, but the State Department ordered them to leave the country by April 25</b>. Since then, we have been alone, holding the embassy so that a diplomatic solution can be worked out similar to the situation with Iran, where the U.S. Interests Section in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Tehran</a> has been operating under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Switzerland" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Swiss Embassy</a> and the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, D.C., is operating under the Pakistani Embassy.</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On May 1, however, our peaceful presence was violently besieged by angry Guaidó supporters. Designed to coincide with Guaidó’s call for a May 1 uprising, his U.S. representative Carlos Vecchio showed up for a press conference and quickly left, leaving behind an unruly, violent mob. This group has been surrounding the embassy since then, creating mayhem and not allowing food, medicines or supplies to the people inside.</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Even more shocking, the Secret Service, which is tasked with guarding embassies, has allowed this to happen.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> They have had a constant presence at the embassy since May 1 but have stood by as this group damages the building and threatens the peace activists inside and outside.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> They have allowed the opposition to bang on the doors with sledgehammers to try to break in, post signs all over the property against the wishes of the legal owners, physically attack people trying to get food inside, and destroy and steal the property of the Embassy Protection Collective (food, placards, signs, canopy). In violation of the city’s noise ordinance, the mob has been blasting sirens all day long at decibels so high that even the Secret Service police have been wearing earplugs. They block the sidewalks and all public passages. They have set up 10 canopies and 3 tents to surround the entire building. When we tried to set up a canopy, we were attacked by Guaidó supporters, but it was our member, Tighe Barry, who was arrested and accused of pushing a Secret Service officer.</span></font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Secret Service has a public statement saying that no individuals, medicine or food have been prevented from entering the building. We ask anyone who believes this to go to the embassy and try to deliver a package to the people insid</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">e. Even packages sent by the U.S. Postal Service are not allowed in. Every entrance is blocked by opponents, and the Secret Service does nothing to stop them. On the contrary, supporters who have tried to bring food have been arrested. This was the case of CODEPINK organizer Ariel Gold. When she found all entrances blocked, she threw bread into an empty ramp outside a door and was arrested for “throwing missiles.” When we tied a package to a rope to send food up through a window, three of us were physically assaulted, and despite clear video evidence, the police refused to arrest our attacker.</span></font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our people inside are without sufficient food and other critical supplies. They are not allowed to freely exit and enter the building. They sleep at night with a terrible sense of insecurity, worried that the angry mob will break in and attack. But we remain resolute, those of us on the inside and those of us supporting them on the outside, and we demand that our government respect U.S. and international law. The Secret Service must protect the embassy and the people who are lawfully on embassy property until the two governments come to an agreement about their premises. At that time, the Embassy Protection Collective will happily dissolve and leave the embassy, happy because we can go back to our lives but happy, most of all, because we will have helped to give John Bolton and Elliott Abrams one less reason to drag our nation into another war.</font></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Medea Benjamin is the co-director of <a href="https://www.codepink.org/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">CODEPINK</a> and a member of the Embassy Protection Collective.</font></span></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: Independent Media Institute</font></span></p><p style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 24px; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This article was produced by </span><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/local-peace-economy/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Local Peace Economy</span></a><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, a project of the Independent Media Institute</span></font></span></p><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; right: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">links</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> a televised appearance in 2016, Guaidó </span><a href="https://twitter.com/RedRadioVe/status/1088237230211190790" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">dismissed</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> deaths resulting from </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">guayas</i><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> – a </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">guarimba</i><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> tactic involving stretching steel wire across a roadway in order to injure or kill motorcyclists – as a “myth.” His comments whitewashed a deadly tactic that had </span><a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/Muere-joven-venezolano-por-guaya-colocada-por-grupos-fascistas-20140222-0059.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">killed</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> unarmed civilians like Santiago Pedroza and </span><a href="http://notitweet-sucesos.blogspot.com/2014/02/este-es-elvis-duran-el-motorizado.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">decapitated</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> a man named Elvis Durán, among many others.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This callous disregard for human life would define his Popular Will party in the eyes of much of the public, including many opponents of Maduro.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cracking down on Popular Will </font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As violence and political polarization escalated across the country, the government began to act against the Popular Will leaders who helped stoke it.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Freddy Guevara, the National Assembly Vice-President and second in command of Popular Will, was a principal leader in the 2017 street riots. Facing a trial for his role in the violence, Guevara <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics/venezuela-opposition-leader-guevara-seeks-refuge-in-chile-ambassadors-home-idUSKBN1D50LN" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">took shelter</a> in the Chilean embassy, where he remains.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lester Toledo, a Popular Will legislator from the state of Zulia, was wanted by Venezuelan government in September 2016 on charges of financing terrorism and </span><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12395" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">plotting</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> assassinations. The plans were said to be made with former Colombian President Álavaro Uribe. Toledo escaped Venezuela and went on several speaking tours with Human Rights Watch, the US government-backed Freedom House, the Spanish Congress and European Parliament.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Carlos Graffe, another Otpor-trained Generation 2007 member who led Popular Will, was </span><a href="http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/oposicion/carlos-graffe-salio-libertad-tras-cinco-meses-prision_217102" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">arrested</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in July 2017. According to police, he was in possession of a bag filled with nails, C4 explosives and a detonator. He was released on December 27, 2017.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Leopoldo Lopez, the longtime Popular Will leader,</b> is today under house arrest, accused of </span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">a key role in deaths of 13 people during the </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">guarimbas</i><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in 2014</span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">. Amnesty International </span><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/07/venezuela-leopoldo-lopez-moved-to-house-arrest-as-repression-deepens/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">lauded</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Lopez as a “prisoner of conscience” and slammed his transfer from prison to house as “not good enough.” Meanwhile, family members of </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">guarimba </i><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">victims </span><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12939" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">introduced</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> a petition for more charges against Lopez.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Yon Goicoechea, the Koch Brothers posterboy and US-backed founder of Justice First, was arrested in 2016 by security forces who claimed they </span><a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/Detienen-en-Venezuela-a-opositor-equipado-con-explosivos-20160829-0053.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">found a kilo</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> of explosives in his vehicle. In a New York Times </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/opinion/venezuela-prison-democracy.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">op-ed</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">, Goicoechea protested the charges as “trumped-up” and claimed he had been imprisoned simply for his “</span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">dream of a democratic society, free of Communism.” He was </span><a href="https://twitter.com/YonGoicoechea/status/926828442594799616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fvenezuelan-authorities-release-two-anti-maduro-activists-from-prison%2Fa-41241026" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">freed</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in November 2017.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/">https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/</a> altr link</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuela-coup-leader/254387/">https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuela-coup-leader/254387/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://grayzoneproject.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/amp/?twitter_impression=true" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Project</a> —<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Before the fateful day of January 22, <a href="https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1087447663153500166" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">fewer than one in five</a> Venezuelans had heard of Juan Guaidó. Only a few months ago, the 35-year-old was an obscure character in a politically marginal far-right group closely associated with gruesome acts of street violence. Even in his own party, Guaidó had been a mid-level figure in the opposition-dominated National Assembly, which is now held under contempt according to Venezuela’s constitution.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But after a single phone call from US Vice President Mike Pence, Guaidó proclaimed himself as president of Venezuela. Anointed as the leader of his country by Washington, a previously unknown political bottom dweller was vaulted onto the international stage as the US-selected leader of the nation with the world’s largest oil reserves.</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Echoing the Washington consensus, the New York Times editorial board </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/opinion/venezuela-guaido-maduro.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">hailed </a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Guaidó as a “credible rival” to Maduro with a “refreshing style and vision of taking the country forward.” The Bloomberg News editorial board </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-25/guaido-s-bold-stroke-for-democracy-in-venezuela" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">applauded</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> him for seeking “restoration of democracy” and the Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/revolt-in-venezuela-11548289111" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">declared</a> him</span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> “a new democratic leader.” Meanwhile, Canada, numerous European nations, Israel, and the bloc of right-wing Latin American governments known as the Lima Group recognized Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>While Guaidó seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, he was, in fact, the product of more than a decade of assiduous grooming by the US government’s elite regime change factories. </b>Alongside a cadre of right-wing student activists, Guaidó was cultivated to undermine Venezuela’s socialist-oriented government, destabilize the country, and one day seize power. Though he has been a minor figure in Venezuelan politics, he had spent years quietly demonstrated his worthiness in Washington’s halls of power</span>.</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Juan Guaidó is a character that has been created for this circumstance,” </b>Marco Teruggi, an Argentinian sociologist and leading chronicler of Venezuelan politics, told the Grayzone. “It’s the logic of a laboratory – Guaidó is like a mixture of several elements that create a character who, in all honesty, oscillates between laughable and worrying.”</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diego Sequera, a Venezuelan journalist and writer for the investigative outlet, Mision Verdad, agreed: “Guaidó is more popular outside Venezuela than inside, especially in the elite Ivy League and Washington circles,” Sequera remarked to the Grayzone, “He’s a known character there, is predictably right-wing, and is considered loyal to the program.”</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While Guaidó is today sold as the face of democratic restoration, he spent his career in the most violent faction of Venezuela’s most radical opposition party, positioning himself at the forefront of one destabilization campaign after another. His party has been widely discredited inside Venezuela, and is held partly responsible for fragmenting a badly weakened opposition.</b></font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“‘These radical leaders have no more than 20 percent in opinion polls,” <a href="http://www.caraotadigital.net/nacionales/luis-vicente-leon-la-oposicion-politica-venezolana-vive-su-peor-momento-historico/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">wrote</a> </span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Luis Vicente León, Venezuela’s leading pollster. According to Leon, Guaidó’s party remains isolated because the majority of the population “does not want war. ‘What they want is a solution.’”</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this is precisely why he Guaidó was selected by Washington: he is not expected to lead Venezuela towards to democracy, but to collapse a country that for the past two decades has been a bulwark of resistance to US hegemony. His unlikely rise signals the culmination of a two-decades-long project to destroy a robust socialist experiment.</font></span></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Targeting the “troika of tyranny”</font></span></h2><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Since the 1998 election of Hugo Chavez, the United States has fought to restore control over Venezuela and is vast oil reserves. Chavez’s socialist programs may have redistributed the country’s wealth and helped lift millions out of poverty, but they also earned him a target on his back. In 2002, Venezuela’s right-wing opposition briefly ousted him with US support and recognition before the military restored his presidency following a mass popular mobilization. Throughout the administrations of US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Chavez survived numerous assassination plots before succumbing to cancer in 2013. His successor, Nicolas Maduro, has </span><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/27/maduro-assassination-plot-venezuela_n_3820765.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">survived</a> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2344973.stm" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">three attempts</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> on his life.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Trump administration immediately elevated Venezuela to the top of Washington’s regime change target list, branding it the leader of a </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-national-security-advisor-ambassador-john-r-bolton-administrations-policies-latin-america/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">“troika of tyranny.”</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Last year, Trump’s national security team </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/americas/donald-trump-venezuela-military-coup.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">attempted</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> to recruit members of the military brass to mount a military junta, but that effort failed. According to the Venezuelan government, the US was also involved in a plot codenamed Operation Constitution to capture Maduro at the Miraflores presidential palace, and another called </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-27/inside-the-failed-plot-to-overthrow-venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Operation Armageddon</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> to assassinate him at a military parade in July 2017. Just over a year later, exiled opposition leaders </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J71BT0stT3k" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">tried and failed to kill Maduro</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> with drone bombs during a military parade in Caracas.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More than a decade before these intrigues, a group of right-wing opposition students were hand selected and groomed by an elite, US-funded regime change training academy to topple Venezuela’s government and restore the neoliberal order.</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Training from the “‘export-a-revolution’ group that sowed the seeds for a NUMBER of color revolutions”</font></span></h2><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">On October 5, 2005, with Chavez’s popularity at its peak and his government planning sweeping socialist programs, five Venezuelan “student leaders” </span><a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/venezuela-marigold-revolution" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">arrived</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in Belgrade, Serbia to begin training for an insurrection.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The students had arrived from Venezuela courtesy of the <b>Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies, or CANVAS</b></span><b>.</b> This group is </span><a href="http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2013/01/14/breaking-desperate-for-destabilization-in-venezuela-us-funded-otpor-rears-its-ugly-head/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">funded</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> largely through the <a href="https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/20/inside-americas-meddling-machine-the-us-funded-group-that-interferes-in-elections-around-the-globe/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">National Endowment for Democracy</a>, a CIA cut-out that functions as the US government’s main arm of promoting regime change; and offshoots like the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to leaked internal </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/17/1792423_information-on-canvas-.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">emails</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> from<b> Stratfor, an intelligence firm known as the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/15/stratfor-canadian-government_n_4449505.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">“shadow CIA,”</a> </b>“[CANVAS] may have also received CIA funding and training during the 1999/2000 anti-Milosevic struggle.”</span></span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">CANVAS is a spinoff of Otpor, a Serbian protest group founded by </span><a href="http://www.williamengdahl.com/englishNEO1Oct2017.php" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Srdja Popovic</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in 1998 at the University of Belgrade. Otpor, which means “resistance” in Serbian, was the student group that gained international fame – and Hollywood-level </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/143379353" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">promotion</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> – by mobilizing the protests that eventually toppled Slobodan Milosevic. This small cell of regime change specialists was operating according to the theories of the late Gene Sharp, the so-called “Clausewitz of non-violent struggle.” Sharp had worked with a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, Col. </span><a href="http://peacemagazine.org/archive/v24n1p12.htm" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Robert Helvey</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">, to conceive a strategic blueprint that weaponized protest as a form of hybrid warfare, aiming it at states that resisted Washington’s unipolar domination.</span></font></p><div id="attachment_254388" class="wp-caption aligncenter" source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" width="width" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px auto 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A fence covered with posters of Slobodan Milosevic behind bars, titled “When?” and “People’s Movement Otpor” in Belgrade, Serbia, March 30, 2001. Darko Vojinovic | AP]</font></p></div><figure id="attachment_1809" class="wp-caption alignnone amp-wp-inline-086b83d24e4412010a175ea3dba11ca3" source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 40px 12px; max-width: 100%;"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Otpor was supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, USAID and Sharp’s Albert Einstein Institute</span>. Sinisa Sikman, one of Otpor’s main trainers, once </span><a href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/17/1792423_information-on-canvas-.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> the group even received direct CIA funding. According to a </span><a href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/17/1713359_re-insight-venezuela-canvas-analysis-.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">leaked email</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> from a<b> Stratfor</b> staffer, after running Milosevic out of power, “the kids who ran OTPOR grew up, got suits and designed CANVAS… or in other words a ;export-a-revolution’ group that sowed the seeds for a NUMBER of color revolutions. They are still hooked into U.S. funding and basically go around the world trying to topple dictators and autocratic governments (ones that U.S. does not like ;).”</span></font></figcaption></figure><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stratfor revealed that CANVAS “turned its attention to Venezuela” in 2005 after training opposition movements that led pro-NATO regime change operations across Eastern Europe.</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While monitoring the CANVAS training program, Stratfor outlined its insurrectionist agenda in strikingly blunt language:</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Success is by no means guaranteed, and student movements are only at the beginning of what could be a years-long effort to trigger a revolution in Venezuela, but the trainers themselves are the people who cut their teeth on the ‘Butcher of the Balkans.’ They’ve got mad skills. When you see students at five Venezuelan universities hold simultaneous demonstrations, you will know that the training is over and the real work has begun.”</span></font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Birthing the “Generation 2007” regime change cadre</font></span></h2><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The “real work” began two years later, in 2007, when Guaidó graduated from Andrés Bello Catholic University of Caracas. He moved to Washington DC to enroll in the Governance and Political Management </span><a href="http://sri.ucab.edu.ve/sites/default/files/Convenio%20UCAB-%20CAF%20George%20Washington%20University.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Program</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> at George Washington University under the tutelage of Venezuelan economist Luis Enrique <b>Berrizbeitia</b>, one of the top Latin American neoliberal economists. Berrizbeitia is a </span><a href="https://www.caf.com/media/3571/resumenexecutive.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">former executive director</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> of the International Monetary Fund who spent more than a decade working in Venezuelan energy sector under the oligarchic old regime that was ousted by Chavez.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">That year, Guaidó helped lead anti-government rallies after the Venezuelan government </span><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2424" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">declined to</a></span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> to renew the license of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). This privately-owned station played a leading role in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez.</span> RCTV helped mobilize anti-government demonstrators, falsified information blaming government supporters for acts of violence carried out by opposition members, and banned pro-government reporting amid the coup. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The role of RCTV and other oligarch-owned stations in driving the failed coup attempt was chronicled in the acclaimed documentary, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.</span></span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">That same year, the students claimed credit for stymying Chavez’s constitutional referendum for a “21st century socialism” that </span><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2890" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">promised</a></span><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> “to set the legal framework for the political and social reorganization of the country, giving direct power to organized communities as a prerequisite for the development of a new economic system.</span>”</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From the protests around RCTV and the referendum, a specialized cadre of US-backed class of regime change activists was born. They called themselves “Generation 2007.”</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The <b>Stratfor</b> and CANVAS trainers of this cell identified Guaidó’s ally – a <b>street organizer named Yon Goicoechea – as a “key factor” in defeating the constitutional referendum. </b>The following year, Goicochea was </span><a href="https://www.cato.org/friedman-prize/yon-goicoechea" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">rewarded</a><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> for his efforts with the Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, along with a $500,000 prize, which he promptly invested into building his own Liberty First (Primero Justicia) political network.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[milton prize px]</font></span></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx pix</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Goicoechea receives the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, May 15, 2008. Seth Wenig | AP</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Friedman, of course, was the godfather of the notorious neoliberal Chicago Boys who were imported into Chile by dictatorial junta leader Augusto Pinochet to implement policies of radical “shock doctrine”-style fiscal austerity. And the<b> Cato Institute is the libertarian Washington DC-based think tank founded by the Koch Brothers, two top Republican Party donors who have become aggressive supporters of the right-wing across Latin America.</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wikileaks published a 2007 email from<b> American ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield</b> sent to the State Department, National Security Council and Department of Defense Southern Command praising “Generation of ’07” for having “forced the Venezuelan president, accustomed to setting the political agenda, to (over)react.” Among the “emerging leaders” Brownfield identified were Freddy Guevara and Yon Goicoechea. He applauded the latter figure as “one of the students’ most articulate defenders of civil liberties.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Flush with cash from libertarian oligarchs and US government soft power outfits, the radical Venezuelan cadre took their Otpor tactics to the streets, along with a version of the group’s logo, as seen below:</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Otpor | Venezuela px]</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Galvanizing public unrest…to take advantage of the situation and spin it against Chavez”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2009, the Generation 2007 youth activists staged their most provocative demonstration yet, dropping their pants on public roads and aping the outrageous guerrilla theater tactics outlined by Gene Sharp in his regime change manuals. The protesters had mobilized against the arrest of an ally from another newfangled youth group called JAVU. This far-right group “gathered funds from a variety of US government sources, which allowed it to gain notoriety quickly as the hardline wing of opposition street movements,” according to academic George Ciccariello-Maher’s book, “Building the Commune.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While video of the protest is not available, many Venezuelans have identified Guaidó as one of its key participants. While the allegation is unconfirmed, it is certainly plausible; the bare-buttocks protesters were members of the Generation 2007 inner core that Guaidó belonged to, and were clad in their trademark Resistencia! Venezuela t-shirts, as seen below:</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juan Guaido | Protest</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Is this the ass that Trump wants to install in Venezuela’s seat of power?</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That year, Guaidó exposed himself to the public in another way, founding a political party to capture the anti-Chavez energy his Generation 2007 had cultivated. Called Popular Will, it was led by<b> Leopoldo López, a Princeton-educated right-wing firebrand heavily involved in National Endowment for Democracy </b>programs and elected as the mayor of a district in Caracas that was one of the wealthiest in the country. Lopez was a portrait of Venezuelan aristocracy, directly descended from his country’s first president. He was also the<b> first cousin of Thor Halvorssen</b>, founder of the US-based Human Rights Foundation that functions as a de facto publicity shop for US-backed anti-government activists in countries targeted by Washington for regime change.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Lopez’s interests aligned neatly with Washington’s, US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks highlighted the fanatical tendencies that would ultimately lead to Popular Will’s marginalization. One cable identified Lopez as “a divisive figure within the opposition… often described as arrogant, vindictive, and power-hungry.” Others highlighted his obsession with street confrontations and his “uncompromising approach” as a source of tension with other opposition leaders who prioritized unity and participation in the country’s democratic institutions.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leopoldo Lopez | Wealth</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Popular Will founder Leopoldo Lopez cruising with his wife, Lilian Tintori.]</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By 2010, Popular Will and its foreign backers moved to exploit the worst drought to hit Venezuela in decades. Massive electricity shortages had struck the country due the dearth of water, which was needed to power hydroelectric plants. A global economic recession and declining oil prices compounded the crisis, driving public discontentment.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stratfor</span> and CANVAS – key advisors of Guaidó and his anti-government cadre – devised a shockingly cynical plan to drive a dagger through the heart of the Bolivarian revolution. The scheme hinged on a 70% collapse of the country’s electrical system by as early as April 2010.</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This could be the watershed event, as there is little that Chavez can do to protect the poor from the failure of that system,” the Stratfor internal memo declared. “This would likely have the impact of galvanizing public unrest in a way that no opposition group could ever hope to generate. At that point in time, an opposition group would be best served to take advantage of the situation and spin it against Chavez and towards their needs.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By this point, the Venezuelan opposition was receiving a staggering $40-50 million a year from US government organizations like USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy, according to a report by the Spanish think tank, the FRIDE Institute. It also had massive wealth to draw on from its own accounts, which were mostly outside the country.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the scenario envisioned by Statfor did not come to fruition, the Popular Will party activists and their allies cast aside any pretense of non-violence and joined a radical plan to destabilize the country.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Towards violent destabilization</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In November, 2010, according to emails obtained by Venezuelan security services and presented by former Justice Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres, Guaidó, Goicoechea, and several other student activists attended a secret five-day training at the Fiesta Mexicana hotel in Mexico City. The sessions were run by Otpor, the Belgrade-based regime change trainers backed by the US government. The meeting had reportedly received the blessing of<b> Otto Reich,</b> a fanatically anti-Castro Cuban exile working in George W. Bush’s Department of State, and the<b> right-wing former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the Fiesta Mexicana hotel, the emails stated, Guaidó and his fellow activists hatched a plan to overthrow President Hugo Chavez by generating chaos through protracted spasms of street violence.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Three petroleum industry figureheads – Gustavo Torrar, Eligio Cedeño and Pedro Burelli – allegedly covered the $52,000 tab to hold the meeting. </b>Torrar is a self-described “human rights activist” and “intellectual” whose younger brother Reynaldo Tovar Arroyo is the representative in Venezuela of the private Mexican oil and gas company Petroquimica del Golfo, which holds a contract with the Venezuelan state.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cedeño, for his part, is a fugitive Venezuelan businessman who claimed asylum in the United States, and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pedro Burelli a former JP Morgan executive and the former director of Venezuela’s national oil company, Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA). He left PDVSA in 1998 as Hugo Chavez took power and is on the advisory committee of Georgetown University’s Latin America Leadership Program.</span></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Burelli insisted that the emails detailing his participation had been fabricated and even hired a private investigator to prove it. The investigator declared that Google’s records showed the emails alleged to be his were never transmitted.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet today Burelli makes no secret of his desire to see Venezuela’s current president, Nicolás Maduro, deposed – and even dragged through the streets and sodomized with a bayonet, as Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi was by NATO-backed militiamen. </font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">View image on TwitterView image on Twitter</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pedro Mario Burelli</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@pburelli</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> .@NicolasMaduro, jamas me has hecho caso. Me has fustigado/perseguido como @chavezcandanga jamás osó. Óyeme, tienes sólo dos opciones en las próximas 24 horas:</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Como <b>Noriega: </b>pagar pena por narcotráfico y luego a @IntlCrimCourt La Haya por DDHH.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. O a la <b>Gaddafi.</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Escoge ya!</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1,051</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10:09 PM - Jan 16, 2019</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1,252 people are talking about this</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The alleged Fiesta Mexicana plot flowed into another destabilization plan revealed in a series of documents produced by the Venezuelan government. In May 2014, Caracas released documents detailing an assassination plot against President Nicolás Maduro. The leaks identified the <b>Miami-based Maria Corina Machado as a leader of the scheme</b>. A hardliner with a penchant for extreme rhetoric, Machado has functioned as an international liaison for the opposition, visiting President George W. Bush in 2005.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">maria corina machado | george bush</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Machado and George W. Bush, 2005.]</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I think it is time to gather efforts; make the necessary calls, and obtain financing to annihilate Maduro and the rest will fall apart,” Machado wrote in an email to former Venezuelan diplomat Diego Arria in 2014.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In another email, Machado claimed that the violent plot had the blessing of US Ambassador to Colombia, Kevin Whitaker.</b> “I have already made up my mind and this fight will continue until this regime is overthrown and we deliver to our friends in the world. If I went to San Cristobal and exposed myself before the OAS, I fear nothing. Kevin Whitaker has already reconfirmed his support and he pointed out the new steps. We have a checkbook stronger than the regime’s to break the international security ring.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guaidó heads to the barricades</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That February, student demonstrators acting as shock troops for the exiled oligarchy erected violent barricades across the country, turning opposition-controlled quarters into violent fortresses known as guarimbas. While international media portrayed the upheaval as a spontaneous protest against Maduro’s iron-fisted rule, there was ample evidence that Popular Will was orchestrating the show.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“None of the protesters at the universities wore their university t-shirts, they all wore Popular Will or Justice First t-shirts,” a guarimba participant said at the time. “They might have been student groups, but the student councils are affiliated to the political opposition parties and they are accountable to them.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Asked who the ringleaders were, the guarimba participant said, “Well if I am totally honest, those guys are legislators now.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Around 43 were killed during the 2014 guarimbas. Three years later, they erupted again, causing mass destruction of public infrastructure, the murder of government supporters, and the deaths of 126 people, many of whom were Chavistas. In several cases, supporters of the government were burned alive by armed gangs.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Guaidó was directly involved in the 2014 guarimbas. In fact, he tweeted video showing himself clad in a helmet and gas mask, surrounded by masked and armed elements that had shut down a highway that were engaging in a violent clash with the police. Alluding to his participation in Generation 2007, he proclaimed, “I remember in 2007, we proclaimed, ‘Students!’ Now, we shout, ‘Resistance! Resistance!’” </font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Guaidó has deleted the tweet, demonstrating apparent concern for his image as a champion of democracy.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On February 12, 2014, during the height of that year’s guarimbas, Guaidó joined Lopez on stage at a rally of Popular Will and Justice First. During a lengthy diatribe against the government, <b>Lopez urged the crowd to march to the office of Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz. Soon after, Diaz’s office came under attack by armed gangs who attempted to burn it to the ground. She denounced what she called “planned and premeditated violence.</b>”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leopoldo Lopez | Juan Guaido</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guaido alongside Lopez at the fateful February 12, 2014 rally. Photo | PanAm Post]</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a televised appearance in 2016, Guaidó dismissed deaths resulting from guayas – a guarimba tactic involving stretching steel wire across a roadway in order to injure or kill motorcyclists – as a “myth.” His comments whitewashed a deadly tactic that had killed unarmed civilians like Santiago Pedroza and decapitated a man named Elvis Durán, among many others.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This callous disregard for human life would define his Popular Will party in the eyes of much of the public, including many opponents of Maduro.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Cracking down on Popular Will </b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As violence and political polarization escalated across the country, the government began to act against the Popular Will leaders who helped stoke it.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Freddy Guevara, the National Assembly Vice-President and second in command of Popular Will, was a principal leader in the 2017 street riots. Facing a trial for his role in the violence, Guevara took shelter in the Chilean embassy, where he remains.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lester Toledo, a Popular Will legislator from the state of Zulia, was wanted by Venezuelan government in September 2016 on charges of financing terrorism and plotting assassinations. The plans were said to be made with former Colombian President Álavaro Uribe. Toledo escaped Venezuela and went on several speaking tours with<b>Human Rights Watch, the US government-backed Freedom House, </b>the Spanish Congress and European Parliament.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Carlos Graffe, another Otpor-trained Generation 2007 member who led Popular Will, was arrested in July 2017. According to police, he was in possession of a bag filled with nails, C4 explosives and a detonator. He was released on December 27, 2017.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Leopoldo Lopez, the longtime Popular Will leader, is today under house arrest, accused of a key role in deaths of 13 people during the guarimbas in 2014. <b>Amnesty International lauded Lopez as a “prisoner of conscience”</b> and slammed his transfer from prison to house as “not good enough.” Meanwhile, family members of guarimba victims introduced a petition for more charges against Lopez.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yon Goicoechea, the Koch Brothers posterboy and US-backed founder of Justice First, was arrested in 2016 by security forces who claimed they found a kilo of explosives in his vehicle. In a New York Times op-ed, Goicoechea protested the charges as “trumped-up” and claimed he had been imprisoned simply for his “dream of a democratic society, free of Communism.” He was freed in November 2017.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View image on Twitter</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@YonGoicoechea</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Hoy, en Caricuao. Llevo 15 años trabajando con @jguaido. Confío en él. Conozco la constancia y la inteligencia con la que se ha construido a sí mismo. Está haciendo las cosas con bondad, pero sin ingenuidad. Hay una posibilidad abierta hacia la libertad</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5:10 PM - Jan 19, 2019</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">136 people are talking about this</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Smolansky, also a member of the original Otpor-trained Generation 2007, became Venezuela’s youngest-ever mayor when he was elected in 2013 in the affluent suburb of El Hatillo. But he was stripped of his position and sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Supreme Court after it found him culpable of stirring the violent guarimbas. </font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Facing arrest, Smolansky shaved his beard, donned sunglasses and slipped into Brazil disguised as a priest with a bible in hand and rosary around his neck. He now lives in Washington, DC, where he was handpicked by<b> Secretary of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro</b> to lead the working group on the Venezuelan migrant and refugee crisis.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This July 26, Smolansky held what he called a “<b>cordial reunion” with Elliot Abrams, </b>the convicted Iran-Contra felon installed by Trump as special US envoy to Venezuela. Abrams is notorious for overseeing the US covert policy of arming right-wing death squads during the 1980’s in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. His lead role in the Venezuelan coup has stoked fears that another blood-drenched proxy war might be on the way.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Smolansky</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@dsmolansky</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Cordial reunión en la ONU con Elliott Abrams, enviado especial del gobierno de EEUU para Venezuela. Reiteramos que la prioridad para el gobierno interino que preside @jguaido es la asistencia humanitaria para millones de venezolanos que sufren de la falta de comida y medicinas.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10:46 AM - Jan 26, 2019</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2,619 people are talking about this</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Four days earlier, Machado rumbled another violent threat against Maduro, declaring that if he “wants to save his life, he should understand that his time is up.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A pawn in their game</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The collapse of Popular Will under the weight of the violent campaign of destabilization it ran alienated large sectors of the public and wound much of its leadership up in exile or in custody. Guaidó had remained a relatively minor figure, having spent most of his nine-year career in the National Assembly as an alternate deputy. Hailing from one of Venezuela’s least populous states, Guaidó came in second place during the 2015 parliamentary elections,<b> winning just 26% of votes cast in order to secure his place in the National Assembly. Indeed, his bottom may have been better known than his face.</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Guaidó is known as the president of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, but he was never elected to the position.</b> The four opposition parties that comprised the Assembly’s Democratic Unity Table had decided to establish a rotating presidency. Popular Will’s turn was on the way, but its founder, Lopez, was under house arrest. Meanwhile, his second-in-charge, Guevara, had taken refuge in the Chilean embassy. A figure named Juan Andrés Mejía would have been next in line but reasons that are only now clear, Juan Guaido was selected. </font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“There is a class reasoning that explains Guaidó’s rise,” Sequera, the Venezuelan analyst, observed. “Mejía is high class, studied at one of the most expensive private universities in Venezuela, and could not be easily marketed to the public the way Guaidó could. For one, Guaidó has common mestizo features like most Venezuelans do, and seems like more like a man of the people. Also, he had not been overexposed in the media, so he could be built up into pretty much anything.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>In December 2018, Guaidó sneaked across the border and junketed to Washington, Colombia and Brazil to coordinate the plan to hold mass demonstrations during the inauguration of President Maduro. The night before Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony, both Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland called Guaidó to affirm their suppor</b>t.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A week later, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart – all lawmakers from the Florida base of the right-wing Cuban exile lobby – joined President Trump and Vice President Pence at the White House. At their request, Trump agreed that if Guaidó declared himself president, he would back him.</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met personally with Guaidó on January 10,</b> according to the Wall Street Journal. However, Pompeo could not pronounce Guaidó’s name when he mentioned him in a press briefing on January 25, referring to him as “Juan Guido.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Embedded video</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Cohen</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@dancohen3000</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just called the figure Washington is attempting to install as Venezuelan President "Juan Guido" - as in the racist term for Italians. America's top diplomat didn't even bother to learn how to pronounce his puppet's name.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1:58 PM - Jan 25, 2019</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By January 11, Guaidó’s <b>Wikipedia page had been edited 37 times, highlighting the struggle to shape the image of a previously anonymous figure </b>who was now a tableau for Washington’s regime change ambitions. In the end, editorial oversight of his page was handed over to Wikipedia’s elite council of “librarians,” who pronounced him the “contested” president of Venezuela.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Guaidó might have been an obscure figure, but his combination of radicalism and opportunism satisfied Washington’s needs. “That internal piece was missing,” a Trump administration said of Guaidó. “He was the piece we needed for our strategy to be coherent and complete.”</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“For the first time,” Brownfield, the former American ambassador to Venezuela, gushed to the New York Times, “you have an opposition leader who is clearly signaling to the armed forces and to law enforcement that he wants to keep them on the side of the angels and with the good guys.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Guaidó’s Popular Will party formed the shock troops of the guarimbas that caused the deaths of police officers and common citizens alike. He had even boasted of his own participation in street riots. And now, to win the hearts and minds of the military and police, Guaido had to erase this blood-soaked history.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 21, a day before the coup began in earnest, Guaidó’s wife delivered a video address calling on the military to rise up against Maduro. Her performance was wooden and uninspiring, underscoring the her husband’s limited political prospects.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At a press conference before supporters four days later, Guaidó announced his solution to the crisis: “Authorize a humanitarian intervention!”</b></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While he waits on direct assistance, Guaidó remains what he has always been – a pet project of cynical outside forces. “It doesn’t matter if he crashes and burns after all these misadventures,” Sequera said of the coup figurehead. “To the Americans, he is expendable.”</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Top Photo | Venezuela’s self-declared interim leader Juan Guaido, center, greets supporters after a rally at a public plaza in Las Mercedes neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 26, 2019. Fernando Llano | AP]</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Cohen is a journalist and filmmaker. He has produced widely distributed video reports and print dispatches from across Israel-Palestine. Dan is a correspondent at RT America and tweets at @DanCohen3000.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Max Blumenthal </span>is the founder and editor of GrayzoneProject.com,</b> the co-host of the podcast Moderate Rebels, the author of several books and producer of full-length documentaries including the recently released Killing Gaza. Follow him on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal.</font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="amp-wp-inline-f62a86b1328cd4134bec55ddf6de989a" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></font></p><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source | GrayZone Project</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Maduro continues to call out the U.S. for its role in attempting to oust him from power. In an interview with the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">BBC</span> Tuesday, Maduro said that the U.S. is ruled by white supremacists.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">President Nicolás Maduro</strong>: “It’s a political war of the American empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today governs, of the Ku Klux Klan that rules over the White House, to take over Venezuela.”</font></p></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dn</font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the political crisis in Venezuela continues to mount, tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets Tuesday in dueling pro-government and pro-opposition protests. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó addressed his supporters and announced a deadline for allowing aid shipments to enter the country.</font></p><blockquote helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); vertical-align: top;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">Juan Guaidó</strong>: “Today we announce that February 23rd is the day for humanitarian aid to enter Venezuela. We stand by all sectors—delivery drivers, nurses, medics—to get ourselves organized.”</font></p></blockquote><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Military officers, who in large part have remained loyal to President Nicolás Maduro, have been blocking access to supplies at the Venezuela-Colombia border. Critics have blasted the U.S. for using aid as a political tool to undermine Maduro’s presidency while garnering support for Guaidó. The Red Cross and the U.N warned the U.S. to not send aid to Venezuela without the approval of the sitting president. The U.N. said, “Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or other objectives.” On Monday, Guaidó tweeted a photo of himself surrounded by pill bottles, saying that some aid in the form of nutritional supplements made it into Venezuela, although it’s unclear where they came from.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hmmn</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Feeley joined the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_State" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Department of State" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">U.S. Department of State</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in 1990. He is a career member of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_Foreign_Service" title="Senior Foreign Service" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Senior Foreign Service</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. His career includes extensive experience in Latin American affairs, either at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., and on assignments overseas. From 2004 to 2006, he was a Deputy Executive Secretary in the Office of the Secretary of State, where he managed information flow for Secretaries of State </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell" title="Colin Powell" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Colin Powell</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice" title="Condoleezza Rice" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Condoleezza Rice</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Irony of the 'Troika of Terrorism' and Trump's Disdain for Multilateralism</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>The United States has had a major role in the evolving drama of the fight for democracy in Venezuela and Nicaragua. And so far, it’s been surprisingly coordinated, a veritable model of multilateralism.</div><div>
</div><div>OPINION</div><div>JOHN FEELEY</div><div><b>John Feeley was US Ambassador to Panama</b> and is a Univision consultant.</div><div>2019-01-28T18:58:59-05:00</div><div>
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</div><div>In an administration whose foreign policy has been characterized by the president’s personal improvisation, the gelding of the State Department, and amateurish nepotism, there are one or two aspects of the Trump team’s approach that have been remarkably consistent: looking at the world through an outdated and Manichean lens of anti-communism and demonstrating a visceral disdain for multilateralism.</div><div>
</div><div>To the extent the administration has a comprehensive Latin America policy - the so-called fight against 'the Troika of Terror' - it contains both of these elements. Trump has ordered that Obama’s Cuba policy be rolled back, reverting to the stale tactic of unilateral diplomatic isolation. For over half a century, this Cold War relic of a policy failed to produce an island-based movement to establish a democracy instead of the dictatorship in Havana, but it was the price the Cuban-American congressional delegation exacted to support Trump.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet when Honduras’ center-right government of President Juan Orlando Hernández changed the constitution so that he could run for re-election, something Team Trump rightly criticized in Venezuela and Nicaragua, Washington remained mute, despite the Organization of American States’ decision not to certify the election as fair and transparent</span>. Washington's silence was also despite the claims of former National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster that “America First does not mean America alone,” there were no buyers for that empty rhetoric in Latin America. Actions speak louder than the President’s Twitter account.</div><div>
</div><div>But like a broken clock that tells the correct time twice a day, Trump’s policies to date regarding Nicaragua and Venezuela have been right.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The irony is that in both cases, but particularly in Venezuela, anti-multilaterist-in-chief and National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have used a multilateral approach (diplo-speak for a group effort) to help energize the Venezuelan opposition. </span>Historians will debate where the strategy was hatched, but it is clear that, although not the scriptwriter, the United States has had a major role in this drama. And so far, it’s Oscar worthy.</div><div>
</div><div><b>It started with a video message to the Venezuelan people by VP Mike Pence on January 22 nd in which he all but welcomed National Assembly president Juan Guaido to swear himself in as interim president under Venezuela’s constitution.</b> Guaido did so the next day, and almost immediately President Trump tweeted U.S. recognition. That was followed in short order with a statement by Pompeo, setting off a chain reaction of recognition declarations from other Latin countries that looked like intricately coordinated falling dominos. Rarely does any diplomatic maneuver move that rapidly or in such a synchronized fashion. And in all cases, it requires good multilateral coordination. That is what diplomats do and it was refreshing to see it happen successfully in this case.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To be sure, the OAS Secretary General and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro were out ahead of the United States in recognizing Guaidó’s legitimacy. However, Assistant Secretary of State Kim Breir and NSC Senior Director Maurico Claver Carone spent hours talking to counterparts in the region prior to January 23rd. Whether leading or following, they and their bosses - Pompeo and Bolton - appear to have conducted the kind of effective multilateral diplomacy that moves the policy needle and results in changes on the ground. In this case, hemispheric solidarity is contributing to the first genuine moment in the past two decades when <b>Venezuelans might take back their country from a band of corrupt, narco-state mafia bosses.</b> No small feat.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Great Britain’s Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt announced on January 26th that the UK would recognize interim president Guaidó, and at the same time halt any gold shipments to Venezuela. The $1.2 billion held in specie by the British Central Bank represent almost 25% of the estimated $8 billion in reserves the Maduro government has, most of which is located outside the country for ease of pilfering. This crippling decision for the Maduro regime resulted from yet another multilateral lobbying led by … Bolton and Pompeo. It is an effective pincer movement to weaken Maduro by coordinating with another sovereign state instead of going at it solo.</div><div>
</div><div>Maduro retains the loyalty of the senior military … for now. Whether that holds will be the key to his and Venezuela’s future. But so, too, will be the actions and statements of the United States. A skeleton crew of diplomats remains in our Embassy in Caracas. They are skilled and committed, and the fact that the American flag still flies over the compound represents another small ray of hope for the Venezuelan street. But they will not be the negotiators of any final deals. That locus of power remains in the hands of the Maduro and Guaidó camps, and the Venezuelan people, who will continue to protest peaceably for new elections by the opposition.</div><div>
</div><div>However, the role of foreign leaders will also be critical. China, Russia, Cuba, and Iran still recognize Maduro, but none of them genuinely care for or admire the man. He has been the useful idiot for their exploitation of Venezuela in line with their interventionist interests in that country, which mostly revolve around oil.</div><div>
</div><div>If Trump and company decide to continue their experiment in multilateral diplomacy, might I suggest the President call Vladimir Putin. Instead of talking about the Mueller investigation, or Russia’s support for Syria’s brutal dictatorship, or its illegal occupation of the Crimea, perhaps Trump could suggest that Russia get its nose out of the Western Hemisphere and withdraw its support for a cowardly, drug dealing dictator and his cronies. They have impoverished Venezuela to a level not seen in this region ever before.</div><div>
</div><div>I’m sure President Trump has Putin on speed dial. That’s a call I urge him to make.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div></div>