Tag: Nicolás Maduro

Fallout

Richard Barnes

By now the actions of the Maduro regime belie both their denials of a rescue as well as their assertions that the 5 political hostages in the Argentine embassy had been released pursuant to negotiations between Venezuela and the United States. 

By their deeds — which clearly speak louder than words — the regime reflects the actions of an angry, abusive, and rabid suitor whose advances have been rebuffed. They certainly are not congruent with the results of a “negotiated settlement” but rather those of a utterly outwitted, losing party.

Although the rescue was made known to the world on Tuesday, May 6, it appears to have taken place (or become known to the regime) at least a day earlier (or more). On Monday night, May 5, Rafael Antonio Torres, professor and also political secretary of one of the allied opposition parties, was seen being violently removed from his house and beaten before being forced into a government vehicle. His whereabouts are unknown.

Again, this particular arrest took place on Monday night, the 5th of May, before the world knew anything about the rescue; however, the government functionaries and enforcers obviously did.

But Tuesday, the 6th, marked the furious escalation by the Maduro crime syndicate. In Carabobo, his associates detained journalist Mario Chávez Cohen as well as his mother. Although she was released several hours later, he remains as one of the disappeared.

Also on the 6th, Magallí Meda, one of the 5 who was extracted from the embassy, denounced on X the breaking and entering of her mother’s home in Caracas. She wrote, “At this hour, agents of the regime are violating the doors of my mother’s house…. I condemn this new crime and ask for your support for the protection of my family….”

On Saturday, May 10, the home of Humberto Villalobos, one of the five, was also broken into by hooded, masked, booted, and heavily armed officials. 

These actions have been captured by security or other cameras and images and clips have been published throughout the country.

Coincidentally, on May 1, Human Rights Watch published a detailed report on political detentions and disappearances in Venezuela, noting that the majority of the documented abuses occurred after the fraudulent elections last July. The report also excruciatingly details the deaths of 9 young people, a few of whom had nothing to do with protesting the elections.

Truly we are witnessing the actions of a criminal enterprise. 

In addition to individuals and their families, entire groups or voluntary organizations have been threatened and acted upon. Spokesmen for The Committee For the Liberty of Our Political Prisoners, one of the associations formed to denounce what has befallen family members has denounced threats against them. However, they affirm their determination to continue to bring to light the loss or disappearances of their loved ones.

In sum, diverse areas of the country have been reporting the disappearances or detentions of political leaders or social activists, including family members in some cases. These include journalists, professors, medical doctors, in addition to unremitting pressure on organizations not deemed friendly to Maduro.

So, given all this activity, I now have to believe this indeed did catch the dictatorship off guard. Very off guard. Not only that, they must be thinking that if these well-guarded, high visibility persons were successfully extracted from what was perhaps the most heavily guarded site in Venezuela (apart from Maduro’s residence), then could there be a Noriega moment in someone’s future?

María Machado certainly is rejoicing along with many in the country, despite the increased repression: “The most surprised of all, and I can guarantee this, are [the regime]. This is an enormous victory, and it moves me deeply because I believe that every Venezuelan feels it like a personal victory.” She was visibly moved as she said this.

“[Operation Macaw] was distinguished by its precision and complexity; it was executed to perfection.” She would say no more in order to protect all involved. 

“There is a plan, a very complex and integral operation, to advance the weakening of what is left of support for this regime,” she said, referring to the international cooperation necessary for the success of Operation Macaw.

She went on to express her gratitude: “With a certainty, Venezuela will soon be free, and after hours of tireless effort, we can announce that, in the framework of a rescue operation coordinated with the governments of the United States and other democratic allies, our colleagues … are now safe and sound on United States soil,” she went on to say.

“We extend a special acknowledgement to the administration of President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, as well as to the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, for their unbreakable support in these crucial hours. Their leadership has been a beacon of hope for our colleagues and for the entire Venezuelan nation who yearns for justice and dignity.”

Government enforcers entering the property of Magallí Meda’s mother (Tuesday, May 6, the day after the rescue)

Inside the house of Magallí Meda’s mother (Tuesday, May 6; the day after the rescue)

I have pasted only 4 photographs below. I do so to remind us that we are talking about real flesh and blood people like you and me. These are brave individuals who have not been accused of violence à la 2020 riots in the United States or the violent protests in more recent years. 

These folk oppose the dictatorial regime and have sought to do so by constitutional means. But we must always remember: those for whom the state is God, will not tolerate blasphemy against it. Therefore opposition to the state, or to the policies thereof, will pay a heavy price — up to their very lives.

Pray for Venezuela.

Attorney Merlina Carrero, among the many who have “disappeared” since the dramatic rescue.

Physiatrist Angel Lugo, among the disappeared.

Journalist, Mario Chávez Cohen, among the disappeared. His mother was also arrested and released hours later.

Rafael Antonio Torres, professor, was seen to be forcefully extracted from his home and “beaten violently” before being taken away. He is among the disappeared.

Note: For recent events I have found Infobae to be a reliable source and less tendentious than others. I do not vouch for them in general; however, for these recent days, they have been accurate.

About That Rescue

Richard Barnes

The Argentina embassy saga began months before the July, 2024 Venezuela elections. In a nutshell, the Venezuela state regime, headed by Nicolás Maduro, well aware of its deep unpopularity with the Venezuelan people, began arrests and disappearances, and issued arrest warrants against the key players of the united opposition who in turn sought asylum in the embassy. 

Arrests began with a frenzy, including Dignora Hernández, 56-year-old political secretary of an opposition party, violently taken from her home as she cried for help and roughly pushed by goons into a state vehicle. This was caught on video surreptitiously and went viral. She is still detained, 413 days later.

Six remaining opposition leaders sought asylum from Argentina, which was granted the same day as the aforementioned arrest, in March, 2024. From that embassy, surrounded by Venezuelan military and intelligence forces, which at times would cut off water and power and even food, these six were still able, not only to mobilize millions to vote in July, but also to get election monitors to access official vote tallies which demonstrated a landslide victory for the opposition.

Therefore, when the regime announced its “victory”, the evidence loudly belied it and various countries found themselves obligated to not recognize the regime or to “pretty please” ask them to publish the actual tallies. Such polite requests still await replies.

Massive multitudes protested after the farce of an election, but the state’s response was brutal. And effective. The opposition candidate, Edmundo González, fled to Spain, having been granted safe passage, loudly and with state-approved photos.

Parenthetically, it is important to remember that the opposition candidate was Corina Machado originally. However, the state declared her too popular inelegible and struck her off the ballot; she therefore convinced the 75-year-old González to run instead.

The months slipped by; the Venezuelan state broke diplomatic relations with Argentina whose personnel evacuated; Brazil “took charge” of the embassy, whatever that means; and the asylum seekers remained.

In December (2024), one of the six, Fernando Martínez, agreed to evacuate; eventually leaving the embassy in a Swiss diplomatic automobile. He died two months later.

Yesterday, after 412 days of captivity, the world learned that the remaining 5, along with Ms Machado’s infirm mother, had been “extracted” from Venezuela, ending the ordeal for them, but not for the stricken land.

As usual, the folks on the ground, in this case, local (Venezuela), independent sources, are perhaps more accurate, although we cannot be sure until more details are made available.

With that caveat, what we are hearing is that this was a USA operation, which took place while Maduro was in Moscow where he received a call at 3 AM, Moscow time. The message was, “Estados Unidos liberó a todos los que estaban en la embajada argentina. [The United States has freed all who were in the Argentina embassy].”

If that report is accurate, it certainly was not happy news for the strongman who is now no doubt intent on finding out who betrayed him. There will be scapegoats for sure and it won’t be pretty.

Few details are known, other than what a local said, “Fue de película [It was an action movie — rough translation].”

A word of caution, however. The apparatchiks are insisting that this was a negotiated release long in the works. Although I tend to discount such pronouncements, I am intrigued as to how such an operation could have taken place in the heart of Caracas, next to other embassies, including the Russian, and surrounded by Venezuelan security.

On the other hand, when Mr. González left the country for Spain, the state made it a great propaganda coup. Why not this “negotiated” action? 

Could it have been an “extraction” over time — one per week or day?

I hope I am wrong, but I believe this event caught the state by surprise, during the absence of the “duly elected president”, no less. If I am correct, then we will see retaliations which will make those which followed last July’s elections seem like child play.

So, again, I do hope I am wrong.

Meanwhile, Ms Machado, although very happy for the successful extraction, is still in hiding in Venezuela. 

And inflation is in triple digits.

Pray for Venezuela.

Edmundo González, photo published in local media upon his having been granted safe passage to Spain where he sought asylum in September, 2024. This event was widely published by the state.

The five hostages: Magalli Meda, Claudia Macero, Pedro Urruchurtu, Humberto Villalobos, and Omar González

The original six. Fernando Martínez, bottom row, center, evacuated the embassy in December and died two months later.

Evidence of Fascism, Socialism, and Communism — Hurting Your Own People

Richard Barnes

I was recently asked about the usual definition of fascism placing it as a right-wing phenomenon, as if Hitler were a conservative or right wing politician or orthodox Christian(!).

Unfortunately, that is the “popular” understanding of the term; so if you are conservative or traditionalist in your beliefs you are liable to be identified as a fascist. 

Perhaps the best source to consult in this matter is the classic by F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom. In that great work, he makes the obvious observation that the line between fascism and socialism or communism is practically … nil.

The three systems, and their multifarious variants, are undergirded by one constant: total control. 

All else is dressing. Communism seeks total control by having the state own all property, or “means of production”; fascism seeks total control by having the state direct or force or threaten all property, or “means of production” to act as directed. 

The end result in both cases is the same: totalitarian control of the people and their property. In other words, total control of everything. 

In all such cases, Orwell’s definition applies: a boot grinding on our faces forever.

That is the reality.

To attempt to describe fascism as “conservative” or “right wing” is worse than a distraction. It is false and misleading. 

Another aspect of totalitarianism — regardless of its provenance — is its complete disregard for the people under its governance.

Totalitarianism — whether fascistic or communistic or socialistic — acts and rules to retain power.

The conservative temper is totally of another world. It acts and rules as an exercise of love. It governs with an inchoate understanding that we are responsible not only for those living today, but for those who have gone before us — who have bequeathed us a wonderful heritage — and for those who are yet unborn — who will carry on on our behalf long after we are gone.

Conservative temperament sees our time on this earth as a trust. A responsibility to not only preserve what we have inherited, but to improve upon it and to pass it on to our descendants after us.

It is a disinterested temperament — it cares more for those to come in the future than it does for “me”. 

So when we learn of the former self-described socialist president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, commanding his loyalists to block Bolivia’s major roads, starving out the populace, in order to prevent his arrest on charges of pedophilia, we should not care whether he is a leftwing or a rightwing maniac. 

What we should understand is that he is determined to return to power. 

And when we read that the self-described socialist president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is providing the vehicles to ensure those road blockages, we should readily understand that Mr. Maduro is also a man consumed with retaining power. Whether he is a “socialist” or a “fascist” is irrelevant.

He and Morales are totalitarians. 

And the totalitarian temper is not limited by forms of governing. It is found in monarchies, dictatorships, democracies, republics, fill-in-the-blank.

In all such cases, the attitude is: the people be damned.

Both Bolivia and Venezuela are suffering greatly. But this does not concern the powerful in those countries.

Their concern is to retain power.

So the blockades have caused over $1.3 Billion in damages to the economy of Bolivia plus untold deaths and wounded by the violence of the Morales thugs. All the while Venezuela’s ruling elite focuses on assisting an ally more than on liberty for her own people. 

So, instead of asking whether a politician or a pundit is right wing or left wing or fascist or socialist or communist, a better question or analysis is: does that person promote or pursue more liberty for the people or does he or she promote more regulations and controls. 

That is the litmus test: liberty or tyranny.

Ah. One more thing: an irreligious people cannot govern itself. Therefore, such a people will confuse “more liberty” with “more libertinage”, which always results in more tyranny.

Pray for the people of Venezuela. And Bolivia.

At a wholesale market in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, farmer Damaris Masias watches through tears as 10 tonnes of tomatoes that she spent over a week trying to get through roadblocks are tossed into a bin (Barron’s)

A Summary of the Recent Elections in Venezuela and Their Aftermath

Richard Barnes

Rene J. Abreu wrote a post on his LinkedIn page which you might find of interest. It is brief and compact, yet the full story. The most recent news is that the Venezuela state has suspended X (formerly Twitter) in Venezuela, thereby further hindering the communication and the uncensored news among the Venezuelan people.

I thank Rene for his post and have put his link further below.

By Rene J. Abreu

Venezuela Events After the July 2024 Presidential Elections and the “Venezuelan Mining and Metallurgical Engineers Society (SVIMM)”.

In Spanish SVIMM is “Sociedad Venezolana de Ingenieros de Minas y Metalúrgicos”, an institution created in 1958. As censorship grew up significantly in Venezuela during the last two decades, new directors took the institution lead in 2017. Bravely, this professional institution has been publicly in favor of the truth and the right doing in the natural resources industries in Venezuela.

On Sunday July 28th, 2024, a Presidential Election took place in Venezuela and the opposition won with roughly 70% of the votes. On the same day, the Government announced fraudulently their victory, showing no proof of votes and proceedings.

As it is not easy to understand this situation by my non-Venezuelan friends and readers, following are some facts that may help:

1) For 25 years the same government/political system has been in power.

2) After the first election in 1998, using the democracy tools the government was able to control all the internal institutions and became a “modern dictatorship”.

3) Some opposition parties and leaders were prohibited, controlled, jailed, assassinated, or forced to emigrate. Approximately 8 million people were forced to emigrate and some 4.5 million of them were lawfully registered to vote abroad. Only less than 70,000 emigrants were allowed to vote in this presidential election.

4) Through a Primary Election in 2023, leader Maria Corina Machado unified the opposition, but the regime disqualified both, Mrs Machado and her appointee Mrs Corina Yoris. The lawful opposition party “Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD)” was able to register Mr Edmundo Gonzalez as the unique opposition candidate.

5) While the regime changed rules, jailed politicians, and used traps, the opposition built up a huge social movement of people along the country.

6) Peacefully millions of Venezuelans attended and voted on July 28th.

7) On Monday July 29th the opposition started progressively publishing in internet the actual proceedings (Acts) to prove the wide gap in votes between both candidates. This platform is still open to the world.

8) Venezuelans have been peacefully demonstrating on the streets nationwide against the fraud. The regime is violently acting as a gang of foreign and local criminals combined with some police and military Venezuelans. The repression continues now. It is urgently required the support by the world’s democracies to save the Venezuelan People and for the truth to prevail.

I would like to congratulate SVIMM for publicly demanding on August 1st the Venezuelan Electoral Authorities the publication of all the proceedings supporting their July 28th, 2024, announcement. I think that the future of geology, mining, and metallurgy is bright in Venezuela with the resilience and bravery of institutions like SVIMM.

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Castro In Venezuela In 1989

Richard Barnes

In my research on the Cuba-Venezuela Nexus I read about a remarkable photograph taken when Fidel Castro arrived at the Teresa Carreño theater to participate in the festivities celebrating the inauguration of the second (non consecutive) term of Carlos Andrés Pérez (CAP), on February 2, 1989.

CAP thought highly of Fidel Castro, actually meeting with him secretly multiple times during his first tenure (1974-1979) which was, not coincidentally, the age of massive expropriations in Venezuela. CAP invited the bitter dictator to the inauguration for his second term (1989-1993). 

Bitter because he had an almost lifelong compulsive lust to use Venezuela’s riches to fund his Napoleonic dream of ruling over all of Latin America. A Spanish empire redivivus of sorts, only with lots more executions. He never lost that dream and when President Rómulo Betancourt spurned him he became inflamed with anger and took reckless actions to topple the elected president.

Fast forward to February 2, 1989, when the photo below was taken.

We cannot read another person’s mind. But in looking at this photo, you can! You can, because we now know what was going on in his mind at that moment.

CAP had naively given Castro carte blanche to enter the country with hundreds of “advisors”, by-passing immigration. This was unprecedented … and ominous. CAP also gave the Cubans full use of the Eurobuilding Hotel, then in final phases of construction, in Caracas. During Castro’s visit no Venezuelan was allowed in the sprawling premises, only Cubans, including food and cleaning services.

It was during that infiltration that Nicolás Maduro returned to Venezuela camouflaged as a Cuban adviser. And, just as ominously, scores of fully equipped sharpshooters entered also. Upon departure, Venezuelan emigration officials reported to CAP that the number of Cubans and equipage departing was significantly less than what had entered. 

The president waved aside their concerns. Later, after the 9-day Caracazo (February 27 – March 8, 1989) which by some estimates killed over 1,000 Venezuelans, the usual suspects reported this rioting as “spontaneous” reactions to CAP’s economic policies. There was nothing “spontaneous” about it. The playbook was a reboot of the April 9, 1948 Bogotazo whose aftermath is what Castro wanted for Venezuela. He eventually got what he wanted.

What was the context of the much ballyhooed discontent supposedly suffocating Venezuelans in the 70s and 80s which led to a massive popular uprising which brought a Communist, Hugo Chávez, to power, never to be relinquished?

Between 1973 and 1982, when conspiracies, mostly within Venezuela’s left-wing military leadership, had sworn to do away with “democracy”, Venezuela “was a country whose economy had grown 50% in a decade … and found herself among the 20 top economies in the planet and in the top 10 with the best quality of life. Unemployment was 3.2% and poverty had fallen from 14.4% in 1976 to 9.5% in 1979 … the index of absolute privation was .53%, the lowest percentage of the entire American continent along with Canada and 90% of Europe.” (Source: Thays Peñalver)

Democracy in Venezuela was not ended because of poverty or privation which has been argued or asserted since the late 1980s. She eschewed her democratic institutions according to the designs of leftwing ideologues mostly ensconced in the Venezuela military.

Nor was Venezuela hopelessly in hock to American companies and interests. CAP was ardently anti-US and his policies left no room for doubt. His administration nationalized the oil and iron ore industries, and greatly regulated the American companies operating in the country. Unprecedented actions, all, which, produced an initial period of economic euforia, like a drug rush. But then the piper had to be paid and that was the situation in 1989, when CAP threw a vast party for his second inauguration, with Castro as a guest of honor.

It is difficult for most of us to appreciate the chaos and havoc faced by the citizens of Caracas during those nine days in late February and early March of 1989. 

In addition to his own plane, Castro had arrived accompanied by two Soviet transport planes, later known to have been packed with munitions, weaponry of war, and other arms and grenades with “great powers of destruction”. All this was waved in with not so much as a by-your-leave. And when he departed, only a fraction of the equipage returned with him.

The Venezuelan authorities, not briefed about the unaccounted personnel and equipage brought by Castro. assumed that the disturbances which began in late February were merely local unrest. As police and national guard personnel approached the areas of riots, they fell under unremitting, unrelenting fire. By some estimates as much as 200 sharpshooters ensconced in the roofs of the city’s buildings fired and killed at will — both unarmed civilians as well as police and national guard. Areas of Caracas were virtual war zones as attested by European journalists such as José Comas, who had reported on the wars in Kosovo and Serbia. He described his coverage as, “The Caracas war front”. 

To this day we still lack an authoritative accounting of the death and bloodletting of those nine days. The attacks were so severe and the crossfire so violent that the original intent — the overthrow of CAP, Castro’s good friend –was abandoned and the backup plan was implemented. Now the Caracazo was affirmed to have been the result of heavy handed suppression ordered by CAP himself and executed by the Venezuelan authorities.

Fidel Castro called CAP to express his support and solidarity and to denounce the scum who wished to overthrow him. American newspapers dutifully reported the crocodile tear expressions of the bitter butcher.

A mere three years later, CAP was impeached and removed from office. A few years after that, Hugo Chávez, who had been involved in three coup attempts was elected president and, though dead, his administration continues to this day, under Castro’s hand-picked successor to Chávez, Nicolás Maduro.

One important note: during last coup attempt in 1993, President Pérez, swearing he would not commit suicide like Allende, acted with great courage and audacity, fully armed and fighting his way out of La Casona to Miraflores where he was shortly surrounded once again, forcing him to fight his way out a second time that night. CAP was too much of an ideologue in his enmity of all things US and, worse, he was naive and foolish in his embrace of a rattlesnake like Castro. But when the chips were down, he acted valiantly. We are not cardboard creatures.

Fidel Castro arrives at the Teresa Carreño Theater to celebrate Carlos Andres Perez’s second inauguration on February 2, 1989. He had arrived in Venezuela accompanied by two Soviet Transport planes with war materiel which was allowed into Venezuela without being searched. Most stayed in Venezuela after Castro’s departure and was deployed in the Caracazo of February 27 – March 8, 1989. Surely all this was on his thoughts as he saw the realization of his decades-long dream close at hand.