So the coup attempt is on.
From Venezuelanalysis:
Caracas, April 30, 2019 (venezuelanalysis.com) - A military coup attempt is underway in Venezuela on Tuesday, April 30, with imprisoned right wing leader Leopoldo Lopez, and self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaido and some members of the armed forces blocking a highway in Caracas and calling on the military to rise up
The important clue in this article is in the last paragraph:
Guaido had previously called for the “largest march in Venezuela’s history” scheduled for Wednesday May 1, while a Chavista march celebrating workers’ day was also expected to take place.
So is the point of this coup attempt to keep International Working People's Day from happening? Presumably the "rebel" troops are going to use live ammunition on anyone who shows up? I guess they had enough numbers to spring Leopoldo Lopez from his cell.
Anyone got any other news on this?
Comments
Nah...it's not "numbers"....
It's the CIA's operations account. Probably within a line item titled: "Discretionary Spending."
"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson
numbers
Your tax dollars at work....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
From The Guardian, via Yahoo! (about 40 mins. ago)...
"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson
"The US" does not include me.
Here I had just about begun to consider voting for Trump this time around, much as I detest the man, because of some things he has done, such as legalizing hemp, and imposing tariffs. Not now. Will the Green Party please find someone credible with, you know, actual governing experience to run for President.
Mary Bennett
Trump is cowed now
Trump has always been an imperialistic asshole toward Venezuela, so this is not out of character. More generally, however, Trump, it seems to me, has lost what control he had over foreign policy. Adelson essentially installed Bolton as his security advisor. Trump wants to carry Florida in 2020 so he making nice with Little Marco. Bolton, Pompeo, Pence are running the show, with Little Marco pitching in in Latin America. Trump is essentially an incoherent tweeter at this point. He is allowed to have his border wall fantasies, but the ultra-right wing of the deep state is in charge.
Perhaps the pro-Israel social networks in the U.S. are
indeed strong enough to give Trump the edge?
Trump has certainly gone out of his way to make Netanyahu look like one of history’s big winners.
Sheldon Adelson’s fellow billionaire Haim Saban has said, “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel” — they may not say so in so many words, but I bet that among billionaires there are quite a few more than just those two who agree.
From Democracy Now! this a.m.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy8jzH2pD00 width:500 height:300]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
From Business Insider:
https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-guiado-declares-military-coup-...
Publish first, admit deception later?
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Confusion everywhere
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-30/venezuela-says-its-putting-dow...
View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Michael Fox
@mfox_us
Replying to @mfox_us
Pictures from about an hour ago in Altamira, just outside the Carlota military base, where hooded opposition supporters are throwing rocks against the government armes forces guarding the base. They were pushed back by tear gas. Very clear that this was not a military uprising.
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9:21 AM - Apr 30, 2019
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Most major western media outlets have admitted accurate information on the ground is currently hard to come by as the rapidly unfolding situation remains highly fluid.
* * *
update: Reuters journalists have confirmed US-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is just outside a military base in Caracas surrounded by armed uniformed soldiers — this as he's claimed to have gathered more defectors.
Per Reuters:
Venezuela’s government is confronting a small group of “military traitors” that are seeking to promote a coup, Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Tuesday on Twitter.
A Reuters journalist saw opposition leader Juan Guaido standing near an air force base in Caracas surrounded by a group of men in uniform.
However, the Maduro government is claiming to be in "full control" over the country and its armed forces.
Guaido issued a video message hours prior saying he was in the “final phase” of his plan to oust strongman Nicolas Maduro, calling for an end to the recently reelected Maduro's “usurpation.”
View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Reuters Top News
✔
@Reuters
Tear gas fired at Venezuela's Guaido while gathered with men in military uniform https://reut.rs/2ZL8DT3
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7:25 AM - Apr 30, 2019
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The US-recognized "Interim President" told CNN, "We have the support of a big sector of the armed forces and in the coming hours we’ll be consolidating all their support near the transition in Venezuela."
Edward Snowden
✔
@Snowden
Big: Venezuela's opposition leader just launched a coup. Reports coming in that the government is now blocking access to social media in response. Any interference with the right of the people to communicate freely must be condemned. #vzcoup #venezuela https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1123189271274360833 …
NBC News
✔
@NBCNews
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has called for a military uprising in a video shot at a Caracas air base. https://nbcnews.to/2ZMgpfu
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6:40 AM - Apr 30, 2019
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Meanwhile, all major social media sites and messaging apps have been reported blocked throughout the country. Caracas officials have confirmed the government is confronting a small group of "traitors" attempting a coup.
* * *
Multiple reports say a military coup attempt is ongoing Tuesday morning in Venezuela as an anti-Guaido militia loyal to opposition leader and US-backed Juan Guaidó tries to establish military control of key points across the capital of Caracas and other major cities.
Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez confirmed via social media the government is in the midst of putting down what's being described as a "small coup" by military "traitors" working with the right-wing opposition.
File photo of Venezuela soldier in Caracas, via AFP
The AP has confirmed ongoing clashes between coup supporters and police inside Caracas, including reports of tear gas being fired, moments after Guaido issued statements in a video calling for a military uprising. Guaido was shown in the video accompanied by detained activist Leopoldo Lopez and surrounded by well-armed soldiers.
Crucially, Lopez said he was liberated from captivity where Maduro had put him under house arrest for leading opposition unrest in 2014, and in the video called on all Venezuelans to peacefully take to streets.
Juan Guaidó
✔
@jguaido
En el marco de nuestra constitución. Y por el cese definitivo de la usurpación. https://www.pscp.tv/w/b5gQ9TUwMjc4NDN8MXJteFBlakJydlhLTlWvemxFNY_71g4Qom... …
39.7K
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Juan Guaido @jguaido
En el marco de nuestra constitución. Y por el cese definitivo de la usurpación.
pscp.tv
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The AP described the video which apparently sparked the subsequent anti-Maduro action in Caracas:
In the three-minute video shot early Tuesday, Guaido said soldiers who took to the streets would be acting to protect Venezuela’s constitution. He made the comments a day before a planned anti-government rally.
“The moment is now,” he said, as his political mentor Lopez and several heavily armed soldiers backed by a single armored vehicle looked on.
“Everyone should come to the streets, in peace,” Lopez said further. The past months have seen multiple failed attempts to generate some kind of mass military and civilian uprising against Maduro, but so far all attempts have failed to generate any significant momentum, size, or staying power.
Embedded video
BNL NEWS
@BreakingNLive
BREAKING NEWS: Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido has started a military coup against Maduro. Heavily armed military forces are in various locations across the capital and other major cities
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So far Venezuela authorities have confirmed only coming up against a handful of armed militia members, which suggests Tuesday morning's anti-Maduro action will likely be short-lived.
developing...
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Doublespeak
Sounds like something Hillary would say.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Or Henry the Seventh
At least that dirty bastard saved the worst of his dirty tricks until after he had actually won the battle.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
good on ya, cass.
i'd been too harried to even try to clean up my coverage at the café and cross-post it. the live updates from telesur english are er...quite instructive. the link.
So wtf?
Please keep us updated here at c99% & thanks for what you've done so far!
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
i'm so sorry i can't manage to
cross-post all this, or i would have, believe me. look at what a mess it is, all of telesure's updates, w/ tweets, updates, more from the twittersphere i'd put into comments.
but please, please, help yourself to any of it. i don't even have the time to read all that you and others have brought here. if i say i'm 'beleaguered' would that mean anything? i'm traveling six directions at once today, i.e.: spread thin. my apologies. i just updated from telesur updates, and in comments. i need to rest my eyes and frazzled brain for a bit. here's the café link again.
What an absolute joke.
30 guys dress up in military kit, stand on a bridge near the airport, declare they are taking over the country - and the Imperial media pretends it's a real event.
Seriously, the freeway blogger has more of a chance of overthrowing his government than Guaido does.
And all this nonsense stirred up by a guy who needs the Venezuelan cops to PROTECT him from angry mobs who didn't appreciate his gringo buddies turning the lights out.
At his 'stage' I think the Venezuelan government is happy to use these Guaido's coup events simply for security drills. Keeps everyone at home on their toes and keeps the Chinese and Russian money and weaponry coming in.
The trick is to not give Bolton an excuse to call in Blackwater by letting Guaido hurt himself.
We'll see how that goes.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
They'll do it anyway.
There's no low to which the pigs will stoop to get whatever resources they want. They don't care who dies.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
The Deep State Neocons had to do something
The Russian Hoax fell apart like a piñata in a rainstorm, and the investigation is turning on them. Plus, it looks like no one is going to obey the oil sanctions on Iran.
If this CIA distraction fails to seize Venezuala's oil for oil US corporations to exploit for personal gain — there's going to be trouble. China and Russia better get over here and protect their investment.
In the past 24 hours, the US just attacked the two largest oil fields in the world. That is a direct attack against China and Russia — and by extention, the entire world. They missed their opportunity for a first strike, but they both have excellent second-strike capability.
It's not like this species was evolving.
Wait 'til "Mad Man Maduro's Military" Fires on May Day Crowds.
This prediction expires in 8 hours.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Well there had to be some sort of reason --
why Guaido chose to proclaim his "coup" on the day before May Day. I don't really know why he would do that. What was the idea?
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Rubio spouts off
Whenever Abrams and Bolton are calling for something people need to be aware that there will be blood in the streets so they can get
theretheir way. Reread Rubio's tweet.Another one of these, eh?
The criminal narrative is all about promoting democracy,
something the people in this country refuse to confront in their own country. Our unrepresentatives hold up democracy as something this country exemplifies therefore "we" have the right to enforce it on other countries. That's part of why the democratic party primary was started so early, to remind the people that we live in this great democracy with all these choices. It frustrates me that more people aren't rejecting this political system and calling for democracy in our own country. Instead most people fall for the same bullshit every time about the lack of democracy and freedom in other countries.
Just wait until *that* comes back home
And it will, it will. Herheinous didn't quite dare to pull the trigger, maybe the next failed unPresident won't have the nerve either - but sooner or later somebody will.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
If Hillary had won, she would have explained Democracy better.
I agree.
I'm so disgusted with us. I don't understand what has happened to the American public that it is silent about this coup attempt by the U.S. Unfortunately, we have become so dumbed down or just numb that we allow the country to become a fascist mover and shaker without a murmur. Yeah, I said "fascist". This is nothing new but it has been particularly inept. Any country that is led by people such as Eliot Abrams, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Chuck Shumer, Marco Rubio, or Nancy Pelosi deserves what it gets. Why aren't people in the streets here?
-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
If it happened in Germany
why can't it happen in amerika?
until either that revolution happens or
a war where we lose occurs, fascism is here
to stay, the Reich lives on.
EDIT: to keep the masses at bay, the D's along
w/tRump announce a $2tril infrastructure plan
whether or not it ever happens or if the details
suck is irrelevant.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Why aren't Americans in the streets?
Because Americans aren't allowed to talk about Fight Club.
You are asking
the right questions and making the right statements. Our government has reached the lowest depth of depravity, and we are paralyzed by shock, disgust, fear and anger. We are not in the streets because the mainstream media speak only for fascists, so we would not communicate our message through them. And we know many Americans believe what the media tell them.
Our Congress is a shambles. Our legal system is crushed. And our taxes don't make a dent in what is spent on war and oppression, so withholding our tax payments wouldn't make a difference. There is no such money as the military industrial complex spends from thin air.
I'm listing these things in order to ask you to suggest a workable path for the American people to take. I believe there is one, but I am so much in shock that I am psychologically paralyzed. Thank you for asking the right questions.
Flashback to JFK and the CIA’s Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961… n/t
If a Bay of Pigs, this too will be an embarrassing failure
This operation looks like it was written according to the Guatemala '54 script. Create economic chaos and the impression of a coup with a massive army of invading rebels. The economic blockade organized in Washington was real enough, but the military coup was little more than 150 mercenaries camped on the border. The actual spearhead of the invasion was a small cast of CIA broadcasters and sound effects engineers operating out of a radio station in Miami. More like Orson Welles 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast than the D-Day Invasion.
Much of the major U.S. media covered it like it was real - a definite force multiplier, there. Operation PB-Success became a classic case study in CIA psychological-economic regime change operations.
The only reason it worked in 1954 Guatemala is that President Arbenz didn't seem to have a clue about what was happening, and the US seemed omnipotent at the time.
Maduro and his loyal army and supporters, clearly, know better today.
So little support for Guaido
This has turned into a Bay of Piglets.
Nothing left for Guido except to be paddled out to the middle of
a misty lake at dawn. But, first, a kiss goodbye.
Always seemed that Maduro had majority support.
Seems like this drama is moving toward some direct US military intervention.
A few interesting developments
Leopoldo Lopez the real leader of Guaido's party was sprung from house arrest this morning, but, according to the Guardian, he has now sought asylum in the Chilean embassy. Also 25 rebel military officers have apparently sought asylum at the Brazilian embassy. If Lopez' side was winning, he would not be seeking asylum, nor would rebel military officers. There was also an earlier report that this coup was initiated prematurely. I am speculating that military officers that the US thought they had in their pocket tipped off the government, thereby forcing Guaido's hand. No word at the moment on Guaido's whereabouts. Bolton is threatening Venezuelan military officers via twitter, essentially saying join the rebels or face the consequences. Oddly and interestingly Bolton has repeatedly invoked Cuba in some non-specific way as being behind the Maduro regime. I am guessing (but I am by no means certain) that the attempted coup is falling apart. However, Bolton, Abrams, Rubio, Pompeo and Pence are the lowest of the low and I am sure that if the coup collapses or has collapsed, they will pursue other military options. The invocation of Cuba in this regard is worrying.
time for a game of
'where's guaido'?
but it ain't over...till it's over. what's next, given all the anti-bolivarian nation heads and alliances who are publicly backing the coup? peru, chile, brazil, the OAS, and of course the US troika of tyranny.
sputnik had reported earlier:
i can't find any tweets from the embassy occupying coalition (code pink, blacks4peace, kevin zeese, et.al), but my guess (hope?) is that they're still safely inside.
OFM; i went back to sputnik to see if there were any updates on that story (no) but from the the Temper Tantrum in Chief, may 1:
up isn't even down anymore. it's, like
outside. or chartreuse. yeah, up is chartreuse. welcome to bizarro world on dali.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Update
Trump is now threatening sanctions and an embargo against Cuba. This tells me the coup is failing. It also tells me that Trump wants an excuse to put the squeeze on Cuba again, since there is no evidence as far as I know that Cuba had any consequential role in causing the coup to fail (assuming it has failed). As Wendy Davis points out, Trump's ass clown posse, their overlords and their Latin American whore governments will not give up. They are happy to spend our money to overthrow elected governments. They don't care how many die and they will probably never have to suffer the consequences of their actions. Makes me hope there is a hell.
It is bad enough to have a conplete and open moron
as POTUS but the absolute loons he's brought with him should scare the hell out of anyone with half a brain. The lunatics have run the asylum for a long damned time but now they're out in the open about it, loud and proud of their profound ignorance of the world.
I too hope there is a hell for these fuckers.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Those Washington bullets again
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT-LyKFvlFc]
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
such a good album.
much better than combat rock.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Real News Network is
reporting now on the coup attempt:
https://therealnews.com/stories/venezuela-guaido-military-uprising
Mary Bennett
i'd also been wondering
aloud earlier on the traitorous military defectors'if they might not be stolen uniforms, as with the fake national guard at the border turning away the fake 'humanitarian aid', remember?
just as i had, i'd found this on twitter:
where's random guaido? in leopoldo lopez's suitcase? in a shark tank at the brazilian embassy?
oh, and a grim reminder:
most hilarious interview ever
w/ the best-named teevee anchor ever: wolf blitzer (h/t the guardian):
back to 'the russians id it! i that want rachel madcow will run with on her next cow-fest?
Make sure that you don't ask any questions Wolfie
Like what gives Pompeo the authority to tell Madura should step down when he won the election fair and square.
"It's unacceptable to starve children and deny medicine.. " except for the ones in Yemen right now and the Iraqis and Libyans and Syrians and and and here in the f'cking USA where 19 million children are not getting enough food.
In a just world Pompeo would be working on losing weight in a prison somewhere. As well as Abrams, Bolton, Haspel and many, many others.
Trump sure is burning everything down as fast as he can right now. Of course the resistance democrats are going along with this coup attempt which the media is saying it isn't. "It's not a coup." This dying empire is punching out in countless directions.
Thank you
for calling Pompeo out about this:
How can the most powerful government in the world have reached this depth of depravity?
How can the most powerful government have become depraved?
Linda, when governments become powerful and think they have more muscle than any others, they become bullies and evolve into depraved bullies. With a little luck the U.S. empire will expire a lot faster than the Romans. It looks as if its happening now. The center of gravity of the globe is shifting rapidly to Russia and China and all of the surrounding countries such as Turkey, Iran, etc.
My take is that our corporate masters have appointed the clownish thugs like Bolton, Pompeo, Pence, and Trump in order to make their final move. Too late in my opinion. If Labour wins in England and the Yellow Vests push out Macron, the EU will be much less of a U.S. lapdog. If we could start some sort of Yellow Vest movement here it would just put more pressure on the scum in our government. But the empire is dying. I just don't want it to take the rest of the world with it.
-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
but the key reason
for any hunger and lack of medicines is the illegal sanctions that amerika has heaped on VZ beginning with the obomba administration. as well as convincing the UK to withhold VZ's own $2 billion worth of gold, and other such fukkeries.
and remember: even under obomba: 'VZ is a direct threat to US security', and 'no options are off the table, even military ones'. can't remember if he'd specified 'the maduro govt. or not, but i think that was just assumed. but no matter what bolton had admitted, it's NOT just the nation's vast oil reserves (then SoS rexxon had wanted), but the last few bolivarian nations extant are under the hegemon's gun.
Mate calls Pompeo on this :)
good on aaron.
also, this disgusting, if expected news: ‘Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail in UK’, RT.com, May Day, 2019
#HappyMayDay.
on morning edit: i'll post it, along with the extreme rendition hearings tomorow.
with all due respect to you,
cass, i hope you won't mind my providing a closing song as if it were my own diary. given that VZ is another proxy war against the remaining ALBA bolivarian nations, and the rest are on the T admin's hit list still in search of an Imperial project sparked first by obomba's 'pivot to the east' and all that rot...i'd like to bring this old blues master's tune covered masterfully well by carlos santana and stevie winwood. fancy such a musician's gathering that blues player derek trucks is relegated to playing rhythm guitar!
g' night, and here's hoping that the voices of better angels may heeded on the morrow...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulI0-NiJKqc]