Venezuela

NOVANEWS By William Blum Global Research Wikileaks has done it again. I guess the US will really have to get tough now with Julian Assange and Bradley Manning. In a secret US cable to the State Department, dated November 9, 2006, and recently published online by WikiLeaks, former US ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, outlines a comprehensive plan to destabilize the government of the late President Hugo Chávez. The cable begins with a Summary: During his 8 years in power, President Chavez has systematically dismantled the institutions of democracy and governance. The USAID/OTI program objectives in Venezuela focus on strengthening democratic institutions and spaces through non-partisan cooperation with many sectors of Venezuelan society. USAID/OTI = United States Agency for Inte...

NOVANEWS Ryan Mallett-Outtrim (VA),- Venezuelan security forces have foiled a plot to violently destabilise the country, Vice-president  Jorge Arreaza announced this afternoon. “The Bolivarian National Armed Forces and state security agencies have dismantled a plan that would affect the election or post-election,” Arreaza told Venezuelan media. Military and government officials have stated that Colombian paramilitaries procured Venezuelan military uniforms, C4 explosives and 50 high capacity magazines for use in an attack on Venezuelan soil (YVKE). He further stated that the plot involved Salvadorian mercenaries who “wanted, but could not, intervene to disrupt the peace of the republic at the last minute”. The government first announced the presence of two groups of Salvadorian mercenar...

NOVANEWS He was a nationalist, not a commie Antiwar.com The death of Hugo Chavez Frias provoked cries of “Hallelujah!” from pundits on the right. Michael Moynihan, writing in the Daily Beast (the internet incarnation of Newsweek), jeered “Good riddance!” while he danced on the Venezuelan strongman’s grave. All the usual suspects – the War Street Journal, the “conservatives” over atNational Review, and the Israel Firsters of Commentary – took the opportunity to revile the deceased. Their collective view of Chavez’s Venezuela was summed up by Rory Carroll’s recent polemic, Commandante, as “a land of power cuts, broken escalators, shortages, queues, insecurity, bureaucracy, unreturned calls, unfilled holes, uncollected garbage.” That this could easily describe any number of American cities...

NOVANEWS Tamara Pearson (VA),- This morning United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) leader Diosdado Cabello presented evidence, including phone recordings, documents, and emails, allegedly proving that the opposition has plans to not recognise the 14 April presidential election results. Cabello presenting the “evidence” on public television this morning (VTV) Cabello played an audio recording of a phone conversation to the public in which Joao Nunes, Capriles’ bodyguard and driver, said that Capriles won’t recognise Sunday’s results if he loses. In the recorded conversation, which lasts just over a minute, Nunes talks with another person, “Michell”, who says “It’s looking to be full on, man”. Nunes responds, “Man, they’re going to rob it from them in the streets…”. Michell then says,...

NOVANEWS Mercenaries Infiltrate Venezuela Chris Carlson (VA),- Venezuelan government officials released a recorded conversation on Saturday that allegedly reveals the use of “mercenaries” by the Venezuelan opposition to create chaos in the lead up to elections next Sunday. Interim President Nicolas Maduro made the announcement at a campaign event on Saturday, assuring that the group of “mercenaries” were already in Venezuela, and are seeking to carry out three objectives before next week’s elections: sabotage the electrical grid, increase the number of murders in the country, and assassinate Maduro. “From Central America we have gotten information that a group of mercenaries has entered the country, with coordination from the Central American right-wing and some sectors linked to the...

NOVANEWS By Stephen Lendman It doesn’t surprise. It’s likely happening ahead of Venezuela’s April 14 presidential election. It’ll continue when it’s over. Washington tolerates no independent governments. It demands pro-Western ones. It wants them serving US interests. Outliers are targeted for regime change. Throughout his tenure, Chavez was America’s main hemispheric bete noire. He’s gone. Chavismo lives. Washington’s war on Venezuela continues. It’s the oil, stupid. Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves. It’s also for unchallenged regional dominance. No holds barred tactics persist to achieve it. On April 5, Russia Today (RT) headlined “New WikiLeaks cable reveals US embassy strategy to destabilize Chavez government.” America’s Caracas embassy’s a hotbed of anti-Chavismo subversio...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre   For the New Internationalist:   Tamara brushes her fingers against the strings of her guitar, thoughtfully. I had met her on a trip into Plaza Bolivar, near the Capitolio Metro station in Caracas, where I keep noticing that there are a lot of people using wheelchairs. ‘I don’t know why,’ Tamara replied, ‘but you can see how things have changed. Before, it was much more difficult for disabled people to get around. The Metro was much less expensive, it cost money to get a wheelchair, there was no help. Also, people’s attitudes are changing.’ ‘Before’ is a word I keep hearing in Venuzuela. For example, all of the museums and historical sights in the centre of the capital, Caracas, are free to enter, but it wasn’t like that ‘before’. Even one o...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre   For Upside Down World:   It is Tuesday, April 2nd; music and people fill the streets of Caracas.  This is the official opening day of the campaign for Presidential elections in Venezuela, due to take place on April 14th after the death of Hugo Chavez, a popular leader who had won a total of fifteen elections during his fourteen years of rule.  Nicolas Maduro, former bus driver, ex-Vice-President and the man Chavez personally named as his successor, kicks off his tour of the country in Barinas, the state where Chavez was born and the heart of the Venezuelan countryside.  Henrique Capriles, the main opposition candidate who lost to Chavez last November, had originally announced that he would start in the same place, but changed his plans afte...

NOVANEWS RT Venezuelan acting President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters during a campaign rally in Puerto Ordaz, Bolivar state, Venezuela on April 6, 2013. (AFP Photo / Juan Barreto) Acting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro believes there is a US plot to assassinate him during his election campaign. He called on his followers to be “vigilant” and warned conspirators want to prevent his victory in next week’s election. Presidential candidate Maduro pointed the finger at the former US Ambassador to Venezuela Otto Reich and the ex-ambassador to the Organization of American States, Roger Noriega, outing them as the driving force behind the conspiracy. “Their goal is to kill me,” said Maduro on Saturday during an electoral campaign speech in the northern state of Bolivar. He calle...