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Ilhan Omar DEFENDS Socialist Venezuela, Puts Blame on U.S. For Chaos

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By The Blaze. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) put the blame of the failures of the socialist dictatorship in Venezuela squarely on the shoulders of the United States in an interview Wednesday.

Congressmember Ilhan Omar,” asked PBS anchor Amy Goodman, “if you can comment what’s taking place right now in Venezuela, the U.S. supported coup attempt against President Maduro.” . . .

“And we sort of set the stage for what we’re arriving today, this particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change,” she explained. “It really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela and it certainly does not help, it’s not in the interest of the United States.”

The Muslim member of Congress is one of the few Democrats who are speaking out against the U.S. efforts to recognize Juan Guaido as the democratic and constitutional interim president in Venezuela. Omar and others instead support the socialist dictatorship of Maduro, who has been using violence to stomp down protests.

(Read more from “Ilhan Omar DEFENDS Socialist Venezuela, Puts Blame on U.S. For Chaos” HERE)

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Venezuelans Take to Streets as Uprising Attempt Sputters

By AP. Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s call to fill streets around the nation Wednesday but security forces showed no sign of answering his cry for a widespread military uprising, instead dispersing crowds with tear gas as the political crisis threatened to deepen.

Thousands cheered Guaidó in Caracas as he rolled up his sleeves and called on Venezuelans to remain out in force and prepare for a general strike, a day after his bold attempt to spark a mass military defection against President Nicolas Maduro failed to tilt the balance of power.

“It’s totally clear now the usurper has lost,” Guaidó proclaimed, a declaration belied by events on the ground. (Read more from “Venezuelans Take to Streets as Uprising Attempt Sputters” HERE)

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Liberals Admit: Because Venezuelans Were Disarmed, They Have No Power Against the Government

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The effort to oust dictator Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela continues today after President Juan Guiado launched a new operation yesterday in hopes of a military defection. In response, Maduro’s Cuban thugs ran people over in the streets with heavy armored vehicles and fired tear gas.

While watching the video of innocents being mowed down, MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders admitted that because everyday Venezuelan citizens are not allowed to own firearms, they’re defenseless against the government. The Washington Free Beacon pulled the clip.

“You have to understand, in Venezuela gun ownership is not something that’s open to everybody. So if the military have the guns, they have the power and as long as Nicolás Maduro controls the military, he controls the country,” Sanders said, watching in horror.

Venezuela banned and confiscated firearms for civilians in 2012 under the guise of crime reduction.

(Read more from “Liberals Admit: Because Venezuelans Were Disarmed, They Have No Power Against the Government” HERE)

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Watch: Chaos in Venezuela as Armored Vehicle Plows Into Crowd Amid Uprising

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Protests are underway in Venezuela, as citizens took to the streets in response to U.S.-recognized President Juan Guaido calling for an uprising to end Socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime. But Maduro is fighting back, and footage shows an armored vehicle plowing into a crowd of pro-Guaido supporters.

Guaido posted a video on Twitter shortly before dawn on Tuesday, showing him flanked by armed troops outside the La Carlota airbase in the capital of Caracas. The opposition leader called on Venezuelans and the military to back him in what he called the “final phase” of toppling Maduro, Reuters reported.

Guaido was also joined by his mentor, politician Leopoldo Lopez, who was meant to be under house arrest, according to Newsweek. Lopez tweeted, “I’ve been freed by soldiers following the constitution and President Guaido. I’m at the base. Let’s all mobilize. It’s time to win Freedom.” . . .

Several hundred people also rallied outside Maduro’s palace in support of the dictator. While Maduro did not make a public appearance, he issued a statement saying he had spoken with military leaders who reassured him of their “total loyalty.” Maduro’s second in command told the media that Venezuela was in a state of “absolute calm,” despite the uprising staged by what he referred to as “the coup-mongering, murderous far right.” (Read more from “Watch: Chaos in Venezuela as Armored Vehicle Plows Into Crowd Amid Uprising” HERE)

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Venezuelan Blackouts Have Left Millions Without Clean Water

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Venezuelans are already living in darkness after the country’s electrical system collapsed, but now millions of people, residents of Caracas and other major cities whose water systems are tied to the power grid, are completely without clean water.

The Daily Wire’s Ashe Schow reported Monday that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is now instituting a rationing program for the country’s meager supply of electricity, allowing residents to turn their lights on for only a half hour at a time for the next 30 days.

But the same grid and now-defunct hydro-electric power plant that powers homes in Caracas also powers the country’s water system, and without electricity, local pumping stations simply won’t work, according to Yahoo News. The government is providing some residents with water from pumping trucks, but it’s simply not enough to address Venezuelan’s meager needs.

“[P]eople try to find water wherever they can: from springs, leaky pipes, gutters, government-provided tankers and the little that flows through the Guiare River in Caracas,” Yahoo reports. . .

More comprehensive reports about water shortages from earlier in March reveal that the Guiare River, where many desperate Venezuelans are getting water, is fetid and heavily polluted. The Associated Press reported back in January that Venezuelans who “farm” the river for “treasures” risk life and limb, and that the river serves as a “drain for rainwater from the streets and sewers, along with industrial waste.” (Read more from “Venezuelan Blackouts Have Left Millions Without Clean Water” HERE)

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Venezuela Goes Dark in Worst Blackout in DECADES

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Venezuela entered its fourth day of blackouts in an “electricity crisis” that plunged most of the country’s 23 states, including the state home to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, into complete darkness.

Reuters reports that international non-governmental organizations estimate that at least 17 people have died, nine of whom were waiting for emergency medical attention. Reuters was not able to independently verify the numbers, but they are being tabulated by the non-partisan NGO, Doctors For Health, which has been treating patients in Venezuela.

“The outage is by far the longest in decades. In 2013, Caracas and 17 of the country’s 23 states were hit by a six-hour blackout, while in 2018 eight states suffered a 10-hour power outage, government officials said at the time,” Reuters reported Sunday. Six of the country’s 23 states have no power at all.

Bloomberg reports that the outage began when a transformer exploded at the Guri Dam, one of the nation’s most important hydroelectric plants. The government says the explosion was “sabotage,” but it’s not immediately clear what caused the system to collapse. One government official blamed the problem on eroding infrastructure. . .

Hospitals can’t even use emergency generators because of Venezuela’s ongoing fuel shortage. Without gasoline to power the generators, the country is reliant on the grid system to deliver power, even in emergency situations. (Read more from “Venezuela Goes Dark in Worst Blackout in DECADES” HERE)

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Sad: People Search Garbage Truck for Food in Socialist Venezuela

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By Daily Wire. Starving Venezuelans rummaged through a trash truck this week in a search for food, following Venezuela’s collapse due to its socialist policies.

“Amid the increasingly dire situation in Venezuela, Univision’s left-leaning anchor Jorge Ramos traveled into the rapidly imploding socialist country for an interview Monday with dictator Nicolas Maduro,” The Daily Wire reported. “But after Ramos said he took the conversation in a direction Maduro didn’t appreciate, things quickly devolved, resulting in Ramos and his team having all their equipment confiscated and a frightening two-hour encounter with agents.”

In a video posted on the “Real American with Jorge Ramos” Facebook page, Ramos “said the last straw for Maduro was when the Mexican-American journalist held up his iPad and showed him footage he had filmed himself of three children on the streets of Venezuela rummaging through the back of a garbage truck for scraps of food,” Fox News reported.

“He just couldn’t stand it,” Ramos said. “He didn’t want to continue the interview. He tried to close my iPad. They confiscated all of our cameras, all our videos.”

“He didn’t like the things we were asking, about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, the torture of political prisoners, about the humanitarian crisis that they are living,” Ramos later told Univision. “I told Nicolas Maduro that millions of Venezuelans and many governments in the world do not consider him a legitimate president and they consider him to be a dictator.”

(Read more from “WATCH: People Search Garbage Truck for Food in Socialist Venezuela” HERE)

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Venezuela Soldiers Who Choose Defection Hope More Join Their Ranks

By NBC News. A high-stakes plan by the Venezuelan opposition to bring humanitarian aid into the country floundered Saturday when troops loyal to Maduro refused to let the trucks carrying food and medical supplies cross, but it did set off a wave of military defections unlike any seen yet amid the country’s mounting crisis. Over 320 mostly low-ranking soldiers fled in a span of four days, Colombian immigration officials said Tuesday.

With no relatives in Colombia, several dozen have ended up in a shelter run by a priest. The home on a street with low-hanging electrical wires is where they are nervously keeping track of relatives left behind, figuring out how to apply for asylum and deciding what should come next. . .

In interviews with The Associated Press, nine National Guard soldiers described the day that they were ordered by commanders to stop the humanitarian aid from entering Venezuela. Fearful of being jailed, many complied with orders and admitted to launching tear gas at protesters. Two said they were part of a failed plot to get the aid in. All fled after making unplanned, split-second decisions with only the uniform on their backs. (Read more from “Venezuela Soldiers Who Choose Defection Hope More Join Their Ranks” HERE)

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Venezuelans in DC: ‘We’ve Seen What Happens When Socialism Takes to the Extreme’

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Our friends over at Campus Reform attended an anti-Maduro protest in Washington, D.C., to get a sense of what real Venezuelans think about the socialist policies installed in their native country.

The Venezuelan protesters urged caution about promoting the far-left policies implemented in Caracas, where socialism has caused a full-blown economic, political, and humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions.

“People are eating from trash bags in the street, so how has socialism actually helped the country?” asked a woman who took part in the protests.

“I don’t think any Venezuelan can really like socialism because we’ve seen it put in place,” responded one protester.

“It’s not a game. It is not a game. It is not the route to go. It is not possible. It is not feasible. Don’t fall for it,” said another.

“We’ve seen what happens when socialism takes to the extreme,” said a woman wearing a Venezuelan hat and a Venezuelan flag.

“Check your history. Look at the news. Look at all the countries that have failed under socialist government, like Cuba, like Venezuela,” another protester responded.

Considering that a large swath of the Left is now pushing a full-blown socialist Green New Deal, it doesn’t appear that they’ve spoken to enough people who have actually been forced to live under these failed policy ideas. (For more from the author of “Venezuelans in DC: ‘We’ve Seen What Happens When Socialism Takes to the Extreme'” please click HERE)

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Boom: U.S. Sanctions Venezuela’s Largest State Owned Oil Company

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White House National Security Advisor John Bolton and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin announced new sanctions on Venezuela’s largest state run oil company Monday afternoon as dictator Nicolas Maduro refuses to step down from power.

“The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline, and will continue to use the full suite of its diplomatic and economic tools to support Interim President Juan Guaidó, the National Assembly, and the Venezuelan people’s efforts to restore their democracy,” Mnuchin released in a statement. “Today’s designation of PdVSA [Petroleos de Venezuela] will help prevent further diverting of Venezuela’s assets by Maduro and preserve these assets for the people of Venezuela. The path to sanctions relief for PdVSA is through the expeditious transfer of control to the Interim President or a subsequent, democratically elected government.” . . .

(Read more from “Boom: U.S. Sanctions Venezuela’s Largest State Owned Oil Company” HERE)

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What You Need to Know About the Presidential Crisis in Venezuela

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Socialist autocrat Nicolas Maduro helped continue the downward spiral in Venezuela for what was once a promising and growing state, leading to a full-blown economic, societal, and now a political crisis.

On Wednesday, the United States government threw its weight behind the legitimacy of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. In the span of minutes, the Trump administration built a rapid-fire, almost instant global coalition behind the removal of the Venezuelan dictator Maduro.

The country’s economy is in a state of collapse. Once private and thriving companies were forcibly overtaken by state authorities, with disastrous consequences for some 500 or more businesses. Socialist management of Venezuela’s oil riches has led to major output issues. Inflation continues to devalue its already worthless currency. Its GDP contracted by more than 10 percent in 2018. Political and societal instability has resulted in a substantial brain drain. High taxation and regulation have made it pretty much impossible to become a successful businessman or entrepreneur without working hand in glove with the state. And given that the socialized system delivers no incentive to make a living, logistics are a national nightmare, resulting in empty supermarkets and shuttered stores.

Life in general for the average Venezuelan remains exceedingly difficult. Law and order are basically nonexistent. The government regularly engages in extremely violent crackdowns on who they perceive to be political opponents.

These realities have created a massive humanitarian crisis in Venezuela affecting tens of millions of people. The past year has seen hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans regularly taking to the streets, in defiance of Maduro, to raise awareness about their desperate and horrific conditions.

President Trump recognized Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela just minutes after Guaido declared himself “acting president” at a protest in Caracas on Wednesday.

“In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant,” President Trump said in a statement. “The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law.”

The vast majority of countries in the Western Hemisphere have backed Guaido. Eleven countries in the 14-country Lima Group — Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru — released a statement backing Guaido. Mexico, Cuba, and Bolivia support Maduro, while a few, such as Guyana, Uruguay, and Saint Lucia, remained neutral.

Across the globe, several powerful authoritarian nations continue to put their weight behind Maduro. Turkey, Russia, Iran, China, and others have expressed their support for Maduro as the leader of Venezuela. The European Union backed Guaido and urged immediate democratic elections.

Both Maduro and Guaido continue to claim the mantle of the presidency. Maduro justifies his legitimacy by pointing to his victory the 2018 elections, which international observers considered to be rigged in his favor. Guaido is currently the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly. In that position, he becomes interim president of the country if there is a presidential vacancy. Guaido claims that Maduro’s 2018 election was illegitimate, and therefore Guaido should be president.

It remains too early to tell who will persevere as the ultimate authority in Venezuela. A former Venezuelan ministry says that ultimately, the “guys with guns,” or the Venezuelan military, will determine the outcome of the political crisis, putting aside the prospect of foreign intervention. (For more from the author of “What You Need to Know About the Presidential Crisis in Venezuela” please click HERE)

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Strong Trump: President Recognizes Opposition Leader as Leader of Venezuela

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On Wednesday, taking a typically unequivocal stance, President Trump recognized Juan Guaido, 35, the president of the Venezuela National Assembly who is in opposition to socialist President Nicholas Maduro, as the interim president of Venezuela just minutes after Guaido announced himself as the head of state.

As Bloomberg reports, at a protest in Caracas before hundreds of thousands of people, Guaido stated he would assume the powers of the Venezuela presidency, citing a constitutional amendment that permits the head of the legislature to do so. He said, “I swear to formally assume the powers of the national executive as interim president of Venezuela to achieve the end of the usurpation.” NBC News noted, “The protests were called to coincide with the anniversary of the 1958 coup that overthrew military dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez – a historic date for Venezuelans.”

Guaido became the president of the Venezuela National Assembly on January 5. Roughly two weeks ago, Maduro was inaugurated for a second, six-year term, but many countries, including the United States, have called his election illegitimate.

Trump released a statement asserting:

In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant. The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law … We encourage other Western Hemisphere governments to recognize National Assembly President Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela, and we will work constructively with them in support of his efforts to restore constitutional legitimacy. We continue to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime directly responsible for any threats it may pose to the safety of the Venezuelan people.

(Read more from “Strong Trump: President Recognizes Opposition Leader as Leader of Venezuela” HERE)

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