Sunday, December 27, 2015

The Venezuelan People hypnotized by a fascist plot

Venezuelans were tricked by a fascist plot into voting for the opposition in the December 6, 2015 legislative elections. This, according to an opinion article by Hernán Mena Cifuentes published by the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, explains the recent counter-revolutionary electoral behavior of the people.

Mena Cifuentes summarizes the chavista argument of the people suffering by a media induced mass delusion: “hypnotized and confused by the most brutal plot,” and thus “abandoning the most luminous avenue constructed by Socialism, and following the dark an thorny path of fascism, which will throw the people, if it does not awake up soon from this imposed lethargic hypnosis, into the abyss of submission and domination suffered in the past (la Cuarta República.)” 


El pueblo venezolano cayó en la trampa tendida por el fascismo
  Hipnotizado y confundido por la más brutal de las conjuras de que haya sido víctima en toda su historia, la mayoría del pueblo venezolano abandonó el domingo las iluminadas alamedas construidas por el Socialismo para seguir por los atajos oscuros y escabrosos del fascismo, que lo arrojará, de no despertar a tiempo, del hipnótico letargo impuesto, a los abismos de sumisión y dominación que vivió durante la Cuarta República.

La victoria  fascista en las elecciones parlamentarias, “no fue un triunfo  de la oposición, sino una victoria de la contrarrevolución”, afirmó el Presidente Nicolás Maduro tras reconocer los resultados de los comicios, con la gallardía etica y moral que jamás tuvieron los enemigos de la Revolución Bolivariana para admitir las 18 victorias alcanzadas por el Chavismo en poco más de 16 años.

El triunfo fascista solo fue posible gracias al golpe de Estado continuado, acompañado de una implacable guerra psicológica, mediática, económica, financiera, política y diplomática desatada por EEUU, el imperio más poderos de la historia contra un proceso inédito y pacífico, magna obra de Chávez, que fue ejemplo para que otros países de la Patria Grande siguieran el mismo camino.

Pero, viendo cómo  escapaban de sus garras aquellas naciones a las que había sojuzgado y saqueado sus ingentes recursos naturales durante un siglo, EEUU, desencadenó esa conspiración, utilizando como peones a una caterva de apátridas que por una tajada del botín robado se prestan para traicionar la libertad que tanto sudor, lágrimas y sangre ha costado al pueblo hijo de Bolívar.

En complicidad con la oligarquía, políticos, prensa mercenaria, presidentes, ex presidentes y parlamentarios europeos y latinoamericanos, el Imperio, volcó todo su odio e ira contra Venezuela continuando con su obra predadora, lo que El Libertador pronosticó hace 186 años: “EEUU parecen destinados por la Providencia para plagar la América de miserias en nombre de la libertad.”

En el marco de esa aventura belicista desplegada contra Venezuela, el Imperio aplica el mismo guión, la misma y repetida agenda desestabilizadora que adopta contra aquellos países y sus gobernantes negados a convertirse en sus vasallos, ya sea enviando a sus marines a invadirlos o imponiendo sanguinarias dictaduras y  sumisas y obedientes pseudo democracias.

Lo hizo en Argentina, Chile,  El Salvador, Haití, República Dominicana, El Guatemala, El Salvador, Brasil, Bolivia y en otros países como las patrias de Martí, Sandino y Bolívar, hasta que en 1959 Fidel con la Revolución cubana dio el primer grito libertario, seguido en 1979 por el de Daniel Ortega con la Revolución Sandinista y el  lanzado por Chávez con su victoria electoral en 1998, punto de partida de la Revolución Bolivariana.

Fue esa gesta liderada por el comandante la que abrió nuevos  caminos a otros gobernantes progresistas y revolucionarios que siguiendo su ejemplo reconquistaron la dignidad y soberanía perdidas sus pueblos y se sumaran a la marcha de libertades que avanzó por la Patria Grande donde, bajo la inspiración de Chávez renació el sueño integrador de Bolívar.

Pero el Imperio no estaba dispuesto a tolerar semejante amenaza a sus sueños de conquista planetaria, aquella “piedra en el zapato” que era Chávez, que lo  desalojó de su feudo, liberando junto con sus hermanos mandatarios, a los pueblos que sojuzgó durante décadas y robó sus ingentes recursos naturales, base del progreso y desarrolló que alcanzó gracias a ese monumental saqueo.

Para impedirlo, los “think tanks” imperiales recomendaron  destruir la Revolución Bolivariana, responsable de esa situación que amenaza su mundial hegemonía  y fue así como comenzó la más brutal, salvaje e implacable conjura desencadenada contra la Revolución Bolivariana, solo comparable a la desatada contra sus hermanas, la Revolución Cubana y  nicaragüense

Un sabotaje petrolero que paralizó al país y robó la Navidad a los niños venezolanos; un boicot terrestre, marítimo y aéreo; el fugaz derrocamiento de Chávez por un golpe de Estado; invasión e infiltración de paramilitares, acciones golpistas como La Salida  con sus guarimbas y barricadas, que segó las vidas de 43 personas, fueron algunos de los actos desestabilizadores con que se pretendió destruir el inédito y pacífico proyecto revolucionario.

Y como fracasó toda la violencia, destrucción y muerte que  generaron durante más de 3 lustros, los agentes del Imperio, por instrucciones de su amo montaron la trampa desestabilizadora de la guerra económica que habría de dar por fin sus podridos frutos, y  colocándose  la máscara de la legalidad, participaron en los comicios del domingo en los que vencieron.

Ha sido una batalla más de la guerra que Washington encargó  a sus lacayos del eje Miami-Bogotá-Madrid-Caracas, que llenos los bolsillos con los miles de millones de dólares que les ha dado,  desataron una ofensiva de acaparamiento, desabastecimiento, ataque a la moneda, contrabando de extracción, infiltración de mercenarios que sembró el caos en la economía venezolana.

Largas e interminables “colas” frente a las gasolineras para llevar el combustible  a Colombia,  y frente  a los supermercados, donde escasean los alimentos de la cesta básica y cuanto  producto se coloca en los estantes, ya que desaparecen apenas llegan, adquiridos por hordas de “bachaqueros” que se los llevan al país vecino donde  los revenden obteniendo grandes ganancias.

De nada sirvieron las acciones del gobierno revolucionario para reducir la escasez provocada por el saqueo y el descomunal aumento de los precios,  como los significativos aumentos  salariales, los subsidios a los productos de primera necesidad y otras medidas, pues la guerra económica ha sido tan implacable que afectó la confianza y credibilidad del pueblo, que cayó en la trampa que tendió  el fascismo.

Apenas transcurrido las primeras horas de su “circunstancial victoria”, anuncian el desmantelamiento de todo el andamiaje jurídico, político y social levantado por la Revolución Bolivariana, derogar la Ley del Trabajo, de Precios justos, destituir al presidente, a ministros, despedir trabajadores y entregar de nuevo el petróleo, incluyendo la Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco a la voracidad de las transnacionales de EEUU, su amo.

Y no fueron más allá en sus demoníacas pretensiones, apenas se hicieron del poder, como ha sido su costumbre, de lanzar a las calles sus hordas de violentos para descargar contra los dirigentes revolucionarios y el pueblo todo el odio y la ira que alimenta su miseria humana, porque están conscientes de que no pueden hacerlo, porque hay una barrera impenetrable que se lo impide.

Es la Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana, que ha resistido desde hace años, imperturbable y firme, desde sus máximos jefes comandantes generales, demás oficiales y hasta el último soldado, todos los intentos de traición a su misión histórica de resguardar los valores de lealtad y libertad que han jurado defender como  herederos  legítimos del espiritu libertario que les imprimio Bolívar.

Un Ejército Forjador de Libertades, dispuesto a enfrentar cual intento, venga de donde venga, de destruir la Revolución Bolivariana, así sea del Imperio más poderoso de la historia, como lo hizo tras el golpe de Estado del 11-A, cuando, de la mano del pueblo rescató y devolvió a la presidencia a Chávez el eterno y supremo comandante.

Porque esos valientes militares son hijos del pueblo venezolano, poseedor de ese don magnifico  que lo hace resistente a todas las dificultades, como las miles que superaron Bolívar y Chávez cuando el  enemigo los creyó vencidos, y  se levantaron  y lucharon con mayor vigor que antes y vencieron finalmente, así lo hará ese pueblo indoblegable, téngalo el mundo por seguro que así será, mas temprano que tarde.
 
Hernán Mena Cifuentes 09/12/2015 12:22

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Mega conspiracy against Latin American progressive governments

End of the year infographics by Venezuelan funded TV channel Telesur. This new collection offers details of a broad conspiracy against the Latin American left. “In 2015 progressive governments of Latin America have suffered economic and political internal attacks which they have denounced as part of a regional destabilization strategy to put an end to the great social advances of the last 15 years,” explains Telesur.








Thursday, December 10, 2015

Chavismo explains defeat

(This is a re-post of my piece for the WOLA blog Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights)

Government and pro-government forces have been reacting to Sunday’s adverse elections results. Comments have ranged from the self-critical to the blaming of an “economic war” waged by the opposition.
The first reaction came from President Maduro himself. Right after the electoral authority’s announcement that the opposition had secured at least 99 elected deputies, Maduro appeared on television from the Miraflores palace recognizing defeat. He refrained however from directly congratulating the winners and instead accused his opponents of stepping up the “economic war” against the country in the weeks before the election. He also called for a “rebirth” of the Revolution and told his followers they needed to “go from the current state of difficulties caused by the economic war, to a renovation of hope.”
On Monday, the president met with his cabinet and said that the government was declaring itself in a state of “permanent dialogue with the people, with criticism and self-criticism and constructive action.” But he also suggested that the Revolution should go into a defensive/offensive phase. The defense should be for the safeguarding the social accomplishments of the Revolution against the attacks form the right. He explained, “they feel they have power and are already showing their fangs and threatening to persecute the people. The bourgeoisie is coming to impose a neo-liberal restoration.”  The offensive phase, on the other hand, should aim at the final defeat of the “economic war promoted by rightist sectors seeking to generate chaos and destabilization.”
In his televised address on Tuesday night, Maduro said he would block any amnesty law for political prisoners coming from the new parliament. He also asked for the resignation of all his cabinet ministers, as he announced the government will be going into a deep “restructuring.”  
Other government officials also reacted to the results. The PSUV governor of Falcón State, Stella Lugo, declared on Monday that “the government is going into a full state of revision.” She said however, that the revision should focus not in the government itself, but on how it had failed to clearly explain the effects of the economic war and who was behind it: “The opposition won those spaces because of the economic crisis. But we failed to explain to our people that the crisis had been planned by the right-wing. The people yesterday drained in the ballots their discontent as a result of the economic crisis.”
The head of the PSUV’s electoral campaign, Jorge Rodríguez, also accepted defeat in a press conference on Monday. He asked for an internal revision of the government, but also blamed the defeat on what he called an “atypical campaign.” “While we were in the street with ideas and proposals, the opposition side didn’t even put any candidates in the field. Instead they waged an economic and psychological war. As president Maduro said yesterday, the right-wing didn’t win; the economic and psychological war and all aggressions suffered by the Venezuelan people won the elections.” Rodríguez also turned to the accusation made in the past by the opposition againstChavismo and told the “right” not to take this electoral win as a blank check. “If the opposition uses this electoral result as an instrument to attack the institution, well, it will have to face us,” he warned.
The international campaign coordinator of the pro-government coalition, Roy Chaderton, said in a press conference in Caracas that the defeat could be explained because “a part of our people, seriously disgruntled by the sufferings progressively caused by the economic war waged by rightist sectors, succumbed to the promises of a false change, which is really a step backwards.”
One of the reelected Chavista deputies, Earle Herrera, said that the results were “an incentive to consolidate and defend the achievements of the first 17 years of the Bolivarian Revolution.” He also said that his reelection had not been an essay task because “the Venezuelan people have been the victims of sabotages of the oil industry, guarimbas, economic war, kidnaping attempts, and many more destabilization plots, which we have been fighting against alongside the people.”
The current president of the National Assembly and PSUV leader Diosdado Cabello said that the results were only a slight misstep for the revolution. But he also sent a message to thoseChavistas who had switch political loyalties and voted for the opposition: “if you claim to be aChavista, but you voted for the opposition, the facts will prove you wrong.” On Tuesday Cabello declared that the current AN will speed through the appointment of 12 judges of the Supreme Justice Tribunal, before the new opposition dominated assembly takes over in January 2016.
Independent Chavismo also quickly reacted to the elections results. The popular web forumAporrea.org, carried many articles which backed the government’s line of blaming the economic war for the defeat (read examples here and here). Some also blamed a lack of patriotism and loyalty by the people, asking the Lord to forgive the traitors, or claiming that the “the bonds of servitude are still stronger that those of patriotism.”
Many more pieces however expressed doubts about the government’s explanations of an economic war as the main culprit for the defeat and instead squarely blamed corruption and incompetence within the government (read examples here and here.)
The need for self-criticism and doubts about the conspiratorial explanations given by the government were the main points of several reactions from the independent left. Franklin González, a well-known social sciences professor of the Universidad Central de Venezuela and former ambassador to Poland, Uruguay, and Greece during the Chávez administration, wrote in a piece for Aporrea that the government needed to learn from the defeat and deal with the everyday problems of the people instead of blaming everything on a conspiracy. “If a person phones a government bank and spends an infinite time on hold, without ever reaching anyone to answer, this has little to do with imperialism and the CIA.”

Nicmer Evans, leader of the independent Chavista party Marea Socialista, said that the government should fully face its responsibility for the results. “I have heard some government officials blaming the people; instead I think the government has no one to blame but itself. To say that the economic war is completely responsible for this is quite frankly to be totally disconnected from reality.”

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Elections day conspiracy theories

A perfect day for conspiracy theorizing.

If, as most polls predict, the day ends with a National Assembly controlled by the opposition, will the government accept defeat? 

Here is a story of a secret meeting of high government officials in the Fuerte Tiuna military compound on December 4 to discuss the issue. Different versions of this story have been circulating since yesterday in opposition web sites and social media. Note the presence of a “Cuban general” in the meeting, and the touching Latin-American hope in the military finally standing up against the regime:

¡BOMBAZO! PADRINO LOPEZ SE REVELO CONTRA MADURO Y DIOSDADO En una Reunion en FUERTE TIUNA
DICIEMBRE 6, 2015
REUNIÓN EN FUERTE TIUNA

Presentes todos los integrantes del Alto Mando Militar, el Comandante de la Redi Central, un general cubano, el jefe del Sebin, el jefe de la Dgcim, el ministro González López, Jorge Rodríguez, el ministro Motta Dominguez, el jefe de Cantv, el jefe de Conatel. Presidieron Maduro y Diosdado.
Las voces mas activas de la reunión fueron las del presidente Maduro, Diosdado y el ministro de la defensa. Todas las encuestas de cierre referidas y comentadas parcialmente por el presidente eran demoledoras en los números contra el régimen. Incluyendo dos de cierre al martes 2 de diciembre ejecutadas por el Sebin y la Dgcim.
La encuesta en la que más énfasis y preocupación puso el presidente (esa la leyó el ministro Padrino) fue la interna dentro de la FAN con la misma tendencia nacional y la misma diferencia de casi 35 puntos a favor de la oposición. El general en jefe le insistió al presidente que teniendo esa tendencia en la FAN era peligroso hacer retoques en los resultados electorales definitivos a nivel nacional en virtud a que generalmente los resultados se conocen al detalle desde la mesa electoral por todos los integrantes del Plan República.
El tema del control del orden interno lo garantizó con los planes previstos en las Redi y Zodi. En general el Alto Mando Militar se vió nucleado y unido en la reunión, salvo el Almirante Franklin Montplaisier (Comandante General de la Armada) y el MG Reverol (Comandante General de la GN) quienes se presentaron dispuestos a todo con tal de que la victoria para la revolución se garantizara “como sea” como lo dijeron en varias oportunidades. Hubo un momento de tensión durante la reunión, lo fue cuando Diosdado Cabello expuso que “lo que estaba en juego el domingo era el futuro de la revolución y la cabeza de todos los presentes” y el ministro Padrino en una intervención de cierre señalaba que él tenía el compromiso de salvar la responsabilidad institucional de la FAN con “la correcta ejecución primero del Plan República y luego, en caso de una grave alteración del orden publico, la restitución del mismo a través de la ejecución de los planes correspondientes.”
Vladimir Padrino señaló que lo que estaba en juego era la democracia y el cumplimiento de la constitución y que el Comandante eterno Chávez ya había dado un ejemplo en una situación similar el 2 de diciembre de 2007 durante la derrota electoral del referendo aprobatorio de la reforma constitucional. Ni al presidente Maduro, ni a Diosdado le gustó cuando el ministro Padrino señalo que las responsabilidades eran individuales, que él iba a asumir las suyas. Posteriormente quedaron como temas generales y tocados muy superficialmente, las posibilidades del apagón parcial, el tema de las operadoras de telefonia digital y el internet y la posibilidad de que algunos factores de la MUD hicieran anuncios de los resultados electorales antes de la intervención del CNE.
Parece que la cosa no esta tan buena para Maduro y Diosdado, El tono se pone serio cuando el mismo Padrino Lopez es quien pide garantizar los resultados.
Así que mañana todos a estar pilas en las mesas. NO VAMOS A PERMITIR NINGUNA ESTAFA.

EL Gobierno puede que tenga algunos militares, PERO NO A TODOS, todavía hay Venezolanos que quieren una mejor institucionalizad y aun aman a este país tanto como tu y yo.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Public Opinion Research on Conspiracy Theories in Venezuela

Despite the importance conspiracy claims have acquired in Venezuela’s political discourse, both for the opposition and government but especially as the official rhetoric of the latter, public opinion experts have paid little attention to the study of the use of conspiracy theories in Venezuelan politics.

Several pollsters have included in their surveys questions indirectly related to the beliefs in an “economic war,” sabotages, or alleged plots to kill government officials. DATANALISIS for example found earlier this year that only 9.3% their respondents blamed the private sector for food scarcities while 50% blamed the government. But late last year IVAD, found that an impressive 19.9% of respondents believed it was true that the opposition was planning to assassinate President Maduro. And one of Venezuela’s most important public opinion agencies, HINTERLACES, has fully embraced the government’s conspiratorial rhetoric as part of their explanations (see my most recent posts on this issue here, here, and here.)

John M. Carey, Brenda Nyhan, and Thomas Zeitzoff are, to my knowledge, the first to commission a survey directly asking questions about conspiracy beliefs in Venezuela. Carey has published some of the results of that survey in The Washington Post.

One of the most interesting bits:

We found that belief in conspiracy theories in Venezuela is widespread. Most notably, while key demographic characteristics track only loosely with politics, conspiracy theory beliefs are tightly bound up with Venezuelans’ preferences between the governing chavistas and the opposition. Moreover, the conspiracy beliefs the government has promoted are far less frequently endorsed than one promoted by the opposition — an indicator that the PSUV’s attempts to avert electoral disaster are failing.

What percentage of the population supports government conspiracy theories, or their opposition inspired versions, seems to roughly correlate with general government and opposition support according to recent polls. If the authors are right and “belief in conspiracy theories in Venezuela is widespread,” did people in the last couple of years simply switch the conspiracy theories they believe in line with their political allegiances? 

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Jorge Arreaza: The government is protecting the opposition from itself

The Vice-president Jorge Arreaza yesterday addressed a group of foreign diplomats accredited in Venezuela and, according to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, “alerted over the media manipulation of the national political scenario that is promoted by the right-wing ahead of the December 6 elections, as part of their plan to sabotage them.”

Arreaza said: “The media attacks against Venezuela every time there are elections are terrible. There is a pattern here, a planned and well-rehearsed script.

Arreaza also repeated the government version according to which the leader of opposition Party Luis Manuel Díaz was killed as part of a settling of scores between organized gangs fighting for the control of Guárico State’s criminal activities. Arreaza said that Díaz had belonged to the gang of “Los Plateados.”

The Vice-president added that the Venezuelan government has information that the “ultra-right” is planning to commit “political crimes with the aim of generating confusion and of blaming the government for such crimes.” 

According to him these rightists groups are paying between 30,000 and 60,000 dollars to sicarios for the assassination of Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo López, as well as other opposition figures. President Nicolas Maduro had previously also declared that “the right” is paying people “up to $50,000 to generate violence in Venezuela.”

Fortunately, declared Arreaza, “the government is offering protection to Tintori and to other opposition leaders that are showing up in intelligence lists as targets.”

The Venezuelan government backed news channel Telesur is also running a series of pieces claiming that the opposition is falsely accusing PSUV militants of electoral violence and that the recent attacks on opposition electoral meetings is all part of a plot that includes paid sicarios dressed as PSUV supporters. In this article, “The false attacks against the MUD in Venezuela,” Telesur explains that it suspects that the immediate complaints by the MUD of alleged attacks were planned in cahoots with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, the European Parliament, and the United States Embassy in Caracas.

In a not very subtle attempt to criminalize the opposition parties umbrella organization Mesa de la Unidad (MUD), Telesur is running via twitter (@teleSURtv), under the hashtag #MUDmafiososYasesinos, this information about the “Criminal network of the Venezuelan ultra-right” already published in August.



Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Electoral coup according to Telesur

Here is an interesting “infographic” by Telesur. It shows the “five stages of the electoral coup in Venezuela,” which would be staged by the opposition for the December 6 legislative elections.

“Why are United States officials so sure that there will be a complex scenario in Venezuela? Because there is a five stage plan to stage an electoral coup,” informs Telesur.

The first stage is a media strategy using “mass psychology.” This media strategy aims at producing “manipulated tendencies [showing] an opposition victory.” Recent polls that show a 35 points lead for the opposition can surly be dismissed as part of the conspiracy. Also part of this stage is the “magnifying” of issues such as insecurity, scarcity, and the violation of human rights. These are issues are most obviously not a real problem in Venezuela and are part of a media construction.

The second stage of the plot is to denounce an electoral fraud. In order to do this the opposition is asking for “intervention of international observers and the United Nationals System.”

The “consolidation” of International support for the opposition is part of the third stage. The usual conspirators such as Alvaro Uribe and Felipe González are mentioned, but also organizations such as the Konrad Adenauer, and the Friederich Ebert foundations and FreedonHouse.

Opposition street mobilization is the fourth stage, “especially in the State of Táchira and other frontier states.” According to the document the opposition has been hording t-shirts “with the symbols of the PSUV”. Opposition militants would dress as pro-government supporters and attack electoral centers and State media facilities. The document directly accuses an opposition candidate for the State of Barinas, Freddy Superlano, a person “with close links to Tintori,” as the “strong man” for this part of the plot.

The fifth and last stage will “achieve that medical centers are not in condition to open during the days before and after the elections to take care of the wounded.” How the opposition could effectively close government controlled public health facilities, is not explained in the document.

The main evidence of this conspiracy is, for Telesur, are recent declarations by John Kelly, current chief of the United States Southern Command, and by Thomas Shanon, Counselor of the United States Department of State, that the “White House is closely following the Venezuelan electoral process,” and a recent visit to Caracas of a “parliamentary rights-wing European group,” which met the local opposition.

The source used by Telesur for this document is also interesting: Hugo Moldiz Mercado, a Bolivian politician who was briefly Minister of Government in his country in 2015.

(Thanks to @brolidolli)


Friday, October 9, 2015

Blackouts are acts of sabotage

Venezuela is again suffering from a bout of daily electricity blackouts in several regions, including Caracas. As it has done many times before, the government is claiming “the right” is sabotaging the electricity grid and power stations.

President Maduro yesterday accused “elements of the right” of provoking an explosion at a power station in the state of Táchira. “I warned about this a week ago, the battered right [derecho maltrecha] is not in an electoral campaign, it is waging a terrorist campaign, it has an invisible campaign to harm the people,” said Maduro.

Electricity Minister Luis Motta Domínguez seconded Maduro and said “sectors of the right” are to blame for the explosion at the power station: “they are increasing the attack together with a media campaign to discredit the workers of CORPOELEC [public electricity company].” The Minister believes that it is not a coincidence that “blackouts have increased only two months before the [December legislative] elections.”

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Who believes in paramilitaries?

According to a recent survey by the NGO Paz Activa about organized crime, 19.7% of Venezuelans believe the official version by the government that paramilitaries are to blame for the country’s organized crime. Almost the same percentage of those surveyed (18.9%) blamed guerillas.  

Saturday, September 12, 2015

It was an inside job!



TeleSUR is the Venezuela government’s answer to what it considers a biased and imperialist centered international media landscape. It regularly republishes conspiracy theories about Venezuelan politics published originally by the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias.

However, being TeleSUR a global news outlet, it also gives space to international conspiracy theories. Here is a long article published in the TeleSur web page summarizing the most famous conspiracy theories around the 9/11 events of 2001. The theory favored by the author of the piece is that the events were an inside job by the Bush administration in order to start wars and get a lot of oil. A very similar piece was published by TeleSUR last year September.

The channel’s conspiracy theorist in residence, Miguel Pérez Pirela, known in Venezuela for claiming in 2012 that the opposition was sending encrypted subversive messages via newspaper crossword puzzles (here and here), has this video clip produced by TeleSur explaining what really happened in 9/11.


Thursday, September 3, 2015

Our conspiracy theories are true because we have said many times that they are true

The article “Characterizing paramilitarism” by PSUV leader Freddy Bernal, published in Aporrea.org, is a good example of a typical rhetorical devise used in conspiracy theories: the conspiracy theory is true because we repeatedly said it is true and because we relatedly warned of the consequences of the conspiracy.

It matters little if the events can also be explained as the consequence of many other causes, for example: government incompetence. Such explanations will be dismissed as being also part of the conspiracy, part of a “smoke screen” or “media campaign” to cover up the conspiracy and blame the government.

According to Bernal, “the facts, and the actions of the security forces, are gradually proving the importation of the paramilitary culture in our country. This is a grim [nefasto] phenomenon about which we have warned time and again, pointing to the relation this plague [paramilitarism] has with a sector of the Venezuelan right-wing. The repeated denunciations made by the bolivarians about the issue have been disqualified by the opposition with the argument that they are but a ‘smoke screen’ to cover security deficiencies.”

The important premises of Bernal’s argument are: that the actions of the government are evidence of the truth of its own conspiracy theories, that the links between paramilitaries and the “right-wing” exit because the government has repeated often that they exist, and that there is no such a thing as “security deficiencies” in Venezuela.

Follows Bernal´s own explanation of recent events: “I believe that in Venezuela the right-wing, having been defeated several times in their traditional conspiratorial formulas (military coups, magnicidio, street insurrections, foreign interventions, etc.), has opted for plans to launch paramilitarism in order to overthrow the Venezuelan government. (…) The capture of the, no longer supposed but confessed, murderers of Liana Hergueta is evidence without any doubt of a diabolical cocktail made of opposition parties + paramilitarism + trafficking of dollars + guarimbas [street protests] + crime. The story told by the murderers confirms the denunciations we, the bolivarians, have been making…”

Monday, August 31, 2015

Magnicidio is back!

The last time president Maduro claimed to have evidence of a plot to assassinate him was December 14, 2014. From Ecuador, where he was attending UNASUR meeting, Maduro said that a sicario had been sent form Central America to kill him. No evidence was ever shown of the magnicidio attempt supposedly foiled by Venezuela’s secret services.

Today from Vietnam, where he is signing several agreements, Maduro said this: “We are being attacked from Bogotá. I have the evidence, and I will show how from Bogotá there is a campaign to kill me, [a campaign] of hatred, such as we had not faced in 15 or 16 years of Bolivarian Revolution (…). Unfortunately the Colombian government is giving its consent [anuencia] and turning a blind eye [to this campaign],” he added.    

Friday, August 28, 2015

Confessions as evidence and paramilitaries

This week Maduro’s government and official media have insisted on presenting the confessions of José Pérez Venta and Carlos Trejo, the main suspects in the murder case of Liana Hergueta, as evidence, the only presented so far, that there is a broad conspiracy by Colombian paramilitaries and the local opposition to destabilize the country.

The Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN) is refuting the claim made by “national and international media that the [Hergueta] case was a police [sic] case, apparently isolated, of a murder of a women for money, when in truth it is the evidence of a direct relationship between right-wing groups in Venezuela and Colombian paramilitarism and its criminal practices.”

For AVN Pérez Venta’s confessions have “clearly stablished this criminal relation of antichavista sectors with paramilitary groups of Colombia.”

The PSUV governor of Aragua Tareck El Aissami also revealed in a news conference this week that Pérez Venta had confessed to being part of a plan to murder Daniela Cabello, the daughter of the president of the National Assembly Diosdado Cabello.

El Aissami said that this newly revealed part of Pérez Venta’s confession is evidence that “the opposition is engaged in the most disgusting violent plans against the country.”

However the pro-government news portal La Tabla (here reposted by Aporrea) reports that Andrea González and Dany Abreu, the two organizers of the plan to murder Daniela Cabello according to Pérez Venta, are a pastry cook and a student of electrical engineering with no links to the case, apart from Pérez Venta having named them.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Imagining Paramilitaries in Venezuela

The claims that paramilitaries are being brought into the country to destabilize fit well with the government’s narrative that it is fighting a powerful but hidden enemy. In this narrative the broadly defined paramilitaries serve as agents of a vast opposition conspiracy plan which helps the government explain its policy failures as an effect of that conspiracy. The government can blame the opposition, and its alleged international backers for those failures, and at the same time charge local opposition leaders and activists with criminal intent.

David Smilde and I wrote this post for the WOLA blog. We summarize most of the claims made so far by the government and some of the reactions by the opposition and human rights NGOs. Human right organizations are especially concerned about the upsurge in deportations of Colombian citizens and about the consequences of thy refer to as the xenophobic rhetoric recently used by Maduro in his discourses.

President Maduro gave a press conference yesterday in which he also made a summary of his claims of “paramilitary infiltration”. Maduro again accused Colombian ex-president Álvaro Uribe Vélez of being behind of most of the criminal violence and of the “economic war” in Venezuela by sending paramilitaries into the country. He also accused prominent local opposition leaders of having ties with the paramilitaries.

Here is the press note of the conference by the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias:

El paramilitarismo es la principal causa de los problemas en frontera colombo–venezolana
Caracas , 24 Ago. AVN.- Fenómenos como el crimen organizado, el contrabando de extracción y la fuga de productos de primera necesidad son problemas trasladados al país a través de la práctica paramilitar instaurada en Colombia desde hace varias décadas y que ha causado graves daños en la frontera colombo – venezolana, señaló este lunes el presidente de la República, Nicolás Maduro.
Al ofrecer una rueda de prensa a medios nacionales e internacionales, desde el Palacio de Miraflores, Caracas, el jefe de Estado manifestó que Venezuela es víctima del modelo paramilitar capitalista, que se desarrolló en Colombia.
Explicó que esa práctica surgió de un poder económico, que tuvo su origen en la producción de cocaína, y que luego se transformó en una burguesía paramilitar que se encargó de organizar grupos criminales en varias partes de Colombia. Fue entonces cuando se instauraron en ese país dos poderes: el político, basado en la práctica paramilitar, y el económico, sustentado en el narcotráfico.
En este contexto, el mandatario nacional denunció al ex presidente colombiano Álvaro Uribe Vélez como al principal impulsor de estos fenómenos y como al más grande anticolombiano que haya existido, esto, tras denunciar su responsabilidad en los llamados "falsos positivos", asesinatos de ciudadanos colombianos que se justificaban diciendo que se trataba de guerrilleros.
"Álvaro Uribe Vélez es el más grande anticolombiano que haya existido. Cuántas familias tienen que llorar porque su hijo fue desaparecido y descuartizado por bandas paramilitares, en silencio tienen que llorar porque se lo desapareció un falso positivo de Uribe", dijo.
Durante el encuentro con los medios, con el objetivo de informar sobre las acciones de paz que promueve Venezuela para restablecer la seguridad en la frontera con Colombia, el Presidente insistió en que todos los señalamientos que hace el Gobierno nacional para alertar a los venezolanos sobre los planes paramilitares que se tejen desde el país vecino no están dirigidos al pueblo colombiano, al que en la tierra de Bolívar se le recibe y se le respeta.
Por ello, ratificó su solidaridad y compromiso con el pueblo hermano, que tiene en Venezuela una población de 5,6 millones de habitantes, y sus procesos de paz, al tiempo que rechazó la campaña que emprenden medios colombianos e internacionales para señalarlo como anticolombiano.
"Yo lo que soy es antiparaco, antinarcotraficante, eso sí soy, y amamos al pueblo de Colombia", respondió. 
El jefe de Estado reiteró que "solo con justicia, habrá paz", por lo que la voluntad del Estado venezolano está dirigida a realizar las investigaciones que sean pertinentes –como se hizo en el caso del joven dirigente Robert Serra y la comunicadora social Adriana Urquiola, ambos asesinados por órdenes dadas desde Colombia y en vinculación con acciones desestabilizadoras promovidas por la derecha– para desmantelar los planes paramilitares que atentan contra la tranquilidad de los venezolanos.
Rechazó una vez más el paramilitarismo por considerarlo un flagelo que, como la gangrena, va destruyendo el tejido político, social y económico de las sociedades, y reconoció el compromiso del presidente de Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, de acabar con dicha problemática, voluntad que, comentó, se ve reflejada en la colaboración que ha prestado la justicia colombiana en la resolución de los casos mencionados.
"Agradezco a Santos, lo respeto como jefe de Estado a pesar de las diferencias ideológicas y políticas. Usted está haciendo algo muy noble, está buscando la paz con valentía y con coraje, y lo apoyamos con todo en Venezuela y América Latina, pero Venezuela tiene que decir la verdad, porque como decía Simón Bolívar las gangrenas políticas no se curan con paliativos y nadie podrá curar ninguna enfermedad sin saber su causa", manifestó.
Venezuela contra el narcotráfico
El jefe de Estado también destacó los aportes de los efectivos de la Aviación Nacional Bolivariana, quienes han derribado un total de 92 naves con 180 toneladas de drogas ilícitas que provenían de Colombia con destino a Venezuela.
"Venezuela es el primer país que apoya una ley de intersección aérea, que entró en vigencia en 2012 y con la que hemos dado un fuerte combate contra naves de narcotráfico que vienen desde Colombia. Hemos neutralizado, de distintas formas, a 92 naves, golpeando 180 toneladas de drogas ilícitas. Tenemos un combate tremendo contra el narcotráfico", expuso el Presidente.
De igual forma, celebró los esfuerzos del Estado venezolano para lograr la detención de 100 capos de la droga, que se dedicaban al tráfico de sustancias ilícitas hacia Estados Unidos, América Latina y El Caribe.
"Hemos capturado a más de 100 capos duros de la droga y hemos entregado a Colombia y a Estados Unidos 70 de ellos. Estamos enjuiciando a una parte de ellos en Venezuela y estamos por entregar en los próximas días más de 30 sujetos del más alto nivel del negocio de la droga en Colombia", detalló.

 AVN 24/08/2015 21:15

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Criminal Network of the Ultra-Right

As a follow-up to the previous post here is an image published by Telesur stablishing the alleged links of a vast right wing conspiracy in Venezuela:


Paramilitaries according to Telesur

Government officials and state media have been blaming supposed paramilitaries “imported” from Colombia by the local opposition and backed by the United States, for almost everything from common crime to street protests.

Here is a sample how Venezuela government sponsored Telesur has been covering the paramilitary incursions in the country.

State media has been showing a video of the confessions of the main suspect in the murder of Liana Hergueta. Telesur has this English subtitled version of the video titled: “The Parapolitics of Venezuela’s right wing.”

Telesur explains: “In the video, José Pérez Venta, primary suspect in the murder of Liana Hergueta, reveals an elaborate network of contacts between far-right politicians in Colombia, opposition Venezuelan activists, and paramilitary groups.”

This is how Telesur informs in another piece in English of the “revelations” made by President Maduro:


Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said 30 groups appear to be trained and financed by Colombia to destabilize Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro revealed a video Tuesday that shows links between leading figures of the country's right-wing opposition with Colombian politicans and paramilitary groups.

In his weekly television program, Maduro showed a video allegedly exposing groups trained and financed by the former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to destabilize Venezuela.

In the video, Jose Perez Venta, primary suspect in the murder of Liana Hergueta, reveals an elaborate network of contacts between far-right politicians in Colombia, opposition Venezuelan activists, and paramilitary groups.

"We have identified 30 groups trained and financed by Uribe from Colombia," Maduro said. “We will capture all paramilitary groups who want to hurt Venezuela."

Some of the well-known opposition political leaders mentioned in the video are opposition activist Maria Corina Machado, former mayor of metropolitan Caracas Antonio Ledezma, and the governor of Miranda, Henrique Capriles.

According to Maduro paramilitary operatives were ordered to kill opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in order to stir chaos in the country.

"Why did they want to kill Leopoldo Lopez? To blame the Bolivarian revolution," he said referring to Venezuela's progressive people's movement that came out of Hugo Chavez's presidency.

President Maduro also alleged that the video reveals the role played by U.S. officials in destabilization attempts against his country. Perez states in the video that opposition leaders received financing from the United States and Spain who then funneled the money to other opposition activists.

Perez specifically names right-wing U.S. lawmaker Marco Rubio and the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Phil Laidlaw, as being involved.

The murder of Liana Hergueta has shaken Venezuela. The woman’s body was found dismembered and the Interior Minister Gustavo Gonzalez had previously said her murder was politically-motivated.

Officials from the Ministry of Justice suspect that Hergueta was killed for political reasons by groups connected to paramilitaries.

Another news clip by Telesur in English reports of funding by the United States, according to the President of Venezuela’s National Assembly Diosdado Cabello:

National Assembly Head: U.S. Financing Terror in Venezuela
The head of the National Assembly on Wednesday evening uncovered new evidence that links the U.S.-backed opposition with the gruesome murder case that is shaking Venezuela.
More evidence has surfaced Wednesday for the second day in row, allegedly exposing the violent operations of Venezuela's right-­wing opposition, including explicit details on a controversial murder case that may be financially and politically tied to the U.S. embassy in the country.
Diosdado Cabello, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, released a new video on Wednesday in which Jose Rafael Perez, the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of Venezuelan Liana Hergueta, confesses how he and his accomplice committed the crime and affirmed he received financial support from the U.S. embassy.
In the video, Perez Venta alleges that opposition student leader Gabriela Arellano met with a U.S. officialto discuss an “exit” plan for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with the intent on finding financial backing to destabilize the country.
In the video, Perez Venta says he and his accomplice, Andrew Carlos Trejo, contacted Hergueta through the mobile phone application, WhatsApp, with the intent of killing after robbing her.
Perez also pointed to United States Congresswoman Betty Grossi alleging that she had financed him and participated in the deadly Guarimba protests of 2014.
Earlier, Cabello said that former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe sponsored paramilitaries in Venezuela with the intent to create social and political instability.
His statements echo the earlier announcement by Maduro, who alleged that the right-wing opposition was linked to Colombian paramilitaries.
The parliamentary leader also revealed a plan by a woman identified as Taiz Gonzalez, aka Dora the Explorer, who is in charge of purchasing chemical substances to be used in terrorist attacks in Venezuela.
“Uribe has financed and sponsored paramilitaries in Venezuela,” Cabello insisted.
The speaker of the assembly also mentioned a person by the name of Jose Luis Santa Maria “whose function is to place explosives in the Miraflores (presidential) Palace.”
 
Finally, Telesur gives further context to the news with this informative piece in Spanish characterizing opposition leaders as para-politicians:

Conoce a los parapolíticos de la derecha venezolana
El involucrado en el asesinato de la venezolana Liana Hergueta, José Pérez Venta, confesó el método para llevar a cabo hechos violentos en el país y la vinculación de políticos de la derecha.
El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, mostró este martes en su programa “En Contacto con Maduro” número 36 un vídeo que muestra la parapolítica de la derecha venezolana, tras el asesinato de Liana Hergueta.
teleSUR te invita a conocer a los parapolíticos: 
Gabriela Arellano, venezolana, militante del partido Voluntad Popular (VP) y candidata a la Asamblea Nacional (AN) de Venezuela. En febrero de 2014 estuvo estrechamente vinculada a las llamadas “guarimbas” (manifestaciones violentas) que ocasionaron la muerte de 43 personas en el país.
El 2 de abril de 2014, Arellano sostuvo una reunión con un consejero político de la Embajada de EstadosUnidos (EE.UU.) en Venezuela.
Henrique Capriles Radonski, político y abogado venezolano, dirigente del partido Primero Justicia y actual gobernador del estado Miranda (centro-norte), excandidato a la Presidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela en par de oportunidades.
Fue acusado por el presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, de organizar y pactar con el paramilitarismo y la criminalidad en el estado Miranda; y aseguró que dichas actividades están vinculadas con líderes colombianos.
Antonio Ledezma, alcalde metropolitano de Caracas (capital). El pasado mes de febrero fue detenido tras ser acusado de fraguar un plan golpista contra el Gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro.
Ledezma, y el diputado opositor Julio Borges diseñaron un plan para eliminar físicamente al dirigente de Voluntad Popular, Leopoldo López, informó el presidente del Parlamento, Diosdado Cabello.
María Corina Machado, exdiputada a la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela, exprecandidata presidencial y vocera de la ultraderecha venezolana.
Fue destituida de sus funciones parlamentarias en marzo de 2014, luego de que violara la Constitución deVenezuela, al aceptar el cargo de embajadora alterna de Panamá ante la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) durante el Gobierno del expresidente de esa nación, Ricardo Martinelli.
Es una de las principales responsables de las acciones violentas, generadas por grupos fascistas en Venezuela en febrero de 2014, cuyo saldo fue de 43 muertos y más de 800 heridos. Machado en compañía del también ultraderechista Leopoldo López, llamó a los jóvenes a salir a la calle para derrocar el Gobierno legítimo y constitucional de Nicolás Maduro.
Richard Blanco, militante del partido de derecha Alianza Bravo Pueblo (ABP), a quien le fue retirada su inmunidad parlamentaria en 2013 por las denuncias sobre defraudación tributaria y legitimación de capitales que reposan sobre él.
El pasado 16 de julio de 2013 la Sala Plena del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) determinó que existíansuficientes elementos de convicción para iniciar un antejuicio de mérito contra Blanco por la presunta comisión de delitos contra el fisco y por delincuencia organizada.
Según la sentencia de la Sala Plena del TSJ, Blanco está incurso en delitos estipulados en el artículo 116 del Código Orgánico Tributario y en el artículo 4 de la Ley Orgánica contra la Delincuencia Organizada.
María Conchita Alonso, actriz de oposición cubano-venezolana, radicada en EE.UU., en febrero de 2015, el presidente de la AN, Diosdado Cabello, difundió un video donde la artista venezolana, aseguró quela única vía para derrocar al Gobierno de Maduro es "una invasión con balas". 
Miguel Henrique Otero, dueño del diario El Nacional, dedicado a la publicación de informaciones falsas y que distorsionan la imagen de Venezuela en el extranjero. Este diario fue denunciado por el presidente de la Asamblea Nacional, Diosdado Cabello, por reproducir informaciones sobre su supuesta vinculación con un cartel de drogas en México.
Otero fue señalado este martes por José Rafael Pérez Venta, uno de los autores del homicidio de Liana Hergueta, como uno de los personajes que financió las guarimbas en febrero de 2014.
Cuando Pérez Venta fue interrogado sobre los lineamientos que recibió de Otero, señaló: "Financiamiento completo y perpetuo para los enfrentamientos de los disturbios. Cuando lo daba, y nos lo daba en efectivo o sino daba los materiales completos".
Lorent Saleh, dirigente y miembro fundador de la "ONG" Operación Libertad, fue entregado el pasado 4 de septiembre a funcionarios del Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional (Sebin) en San Cristóbal (sureste) y de la oficina de Migracion de San Antonio del Táchira, en calidad de deportado por el gobierno de Colombia.
Bajo la pantalla de una ONG de “lucha por la democracia”, Saleh realizaba entrenamiento paramilitar en Colombia y planeaban realizar varios atentados en Venezuela.