# 🇻🇪 Same old story in Venezuela? **URL:** \ **Category:** Reasonably serious discussion\ **Created:** [4 August 2017 19:50 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526 "2017-08-04T19:50:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pap](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/pap/32/74795_2.png) [@pap](https://www.sotonians.com/u/pap)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 19:50 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/1 "2017-08-04T19:50:01Z")
It seems Maduro, President of Venezuela, is the latest bad guy to emerge on the world stage, at least, if you believe what the Western capitalists are saying. The recent context is a series of constituent elections, designed to counter-balance the forces of a very well financed opposition in the Venezuelan Parliament. The opposition have manufactured shortages of key goods, and have been busy sabotaging government installations and/or production. Whatever your view of Maduro or his predecessor Chavez, there does seem to be a disturbingly predictable pattern whenever a left wing government takes power, especially if they’re particularly keen on nationalising stuff. As bad as the media is saying Maduro is right now, what follows is usually much worse. Traditionally, it used to be an authoritarian dictator with a brutal secret police. Iran and Chile are great examples. These days, it seems the West is happy for these regions to become ungoverned spaces, although we shouldn’t rule a military dictatorship out in the aftermath. ## Is it the same old story in Venezuela? ---
**Author:** ![Cobham-Saint](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/cobham-saint/32/99252_2.png) [@Cobham-Saint](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Cobham-Saint)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 20:47 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/2 "2017-08-04T20:47:12Z")
Isn’t it Venezuela that has a shed load of oil? Nobody would give a fiddlers fart if that wasn’t the case. ---
**Author:** ![SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/saintbristol/32/607_2.png) [@SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/u/SaintBristol)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 21:50 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/3 "2017-08-04T21:50:33Z")
He’s changing the constitution, questioning the election results and putting Army generals into key positions in government. He’s a Latin American Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Cobham-Saint](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/cobham-saint/32/99252_2.png) [@Cobham-Saint](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Cobham-Saint)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 22:00 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/4 "2017-08-04T22:00:00Z")
Like I said: Isn’t it Venezuela that has a shed load of oil? Nobody would give a fiddlers fart if that wasn’t the case ---
**Author:** ![Intiniki](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/intiniki/32/9_2.png) [@Intiniki](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Intiniki)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 22:04 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/5 "2017-08-04T22:04:56Z")
I’ll check in with the Venezuelans I met in 2005 and get their view. Pro Chavez people. It was quite an interesting week I had there. ---
**Author:** ![pap](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/pap/32/74795_2.png) [@pap](https://www.sotonians.com/u/pap)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 22:50 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/6 "2017-08-04T22:50:48Z")
And yet it’s Trump’s tune we are dancing to. There’s also nothing inherently wrong in changing a constitution. When did this ever end well, is what I’m asking. Is it going to end the same way? ---
**Author:** ![SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/saintbristol/32/607_2.png) [@SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/u/SaintBristol)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 23:09 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/7 "2017-08-04T23:09:05Z")
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/19/despot-disguise-democracy-james-mcgill-buchanan-totalitarian-capitalism](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/19/despot-disguise-democracy-james-mcgill-buchanan-totalitarian-capitalism) ---
**Author:** ![SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/saintbristol/32/607_2.png) [@SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/u/SaintBristol)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 23:13 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/8 "2017-08-04T23:13:28Z")
Hey Pap, I was wrong, in that I thought Corbyn had no chance of being elected. How wrong was I 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/saintbristol/32/607_2.png) [@SaintBristol](https://www.sotonians.com/u/SaintBristol)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 23:16 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/9 "2017-08-04T23:16:49Z")
I was also at Glastonbury, he’s become a kind of cult figure … Not sure even he’'d be into that. ---
**Author:** ![Cobham-Saint](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/cobham-saint/32/99252_2.png) [@Cobham-Saint](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Cobham-Saint)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2017 23:27 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/10 "2017-08-04T23:27:56Z")
Viva la Revolución! (as nicked from t’Grauniad online) ---
**Author:** ![pap](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/pap/32/74795_2.png) [@pap](https://www.sotonians.com/u/pap)\ **Post date:** [5 August 2017 05:57 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/11 "2017-08-05T05:57:03Z")
World’s largest reserves, apparently. If memory serves, Livingstone did a deal with Venezuela to get cheap oil. Getting shot of left wing governments is what US administrations do, though. Venezuela just seems to be the perfect trifecta. Left wing, has loads of oil and on their doorstep. It’d be funny if so many people weren’t going to die as a result. That’s why the mindless cheerleading and commentary from the likes of @saintbristol are so disappointing. It’s that kind of uninformed parroting that enables hawkish regimes to change other governments with no real scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![StickyWhiteDovePiss](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/stickywhitedovepiss/32/40_2.png) [@StickyWhiteDovePiss](https://www.sotonians.com/u/StickyWhiteDovePiss)\ **Post date:** [5 August 2017 06:34 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/12 "2017-08-05T06:34:35Z")
I’m a bit confused by the Venezuela situation. My political instincts tell me that the position that the US and our own governments have taken is the same old self interested bull shit. But on the other hand I work with two Venezuelans who I would consider to be quite reasonable left wing people, and they despise Chavez and Maduro. So much so, that any conversation about the situation winds them up so much I’ve never managed to get them to open up properly about it. One of them did say the other day that the helicopter attack on parliament by the policeman was almost certainly carried out on the orders of Maduro himself, to give them legitimacy in using force to crack down on the protests. ---
**Author:** ![Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/goatboy/32/167_2.png) [@Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Goatboy)\ **Post date:** [11 August 2017 17:11 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/13 "2017-08-11T17:11:53Z")
> **[What’s REALLY happening in #Venezuela – from someone who knows](https://skwawkbox.org/2017/08/10/whats-really-happening-in-venezuela-from-someone-who-knows/)** > > Mike Prysner is a former US Army soldier turned documentary-maker, who produces and co-writes The Empire Files for Latin American broadcaster teleSUR English with Abby Martin. He was, until recentl… ---
**Author:** ![Intiniki](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/intiniki/32/9_2.png) [@Intiniki](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Intiniki)\ **Post date:** [23 January 2019 23:18 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/14 "2019-01-23T23:18:31Z")
> **[US says it now backs Venezuela opposition](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-46980913)** > > Donald Trump's move comes as tens of thousands of Venezuelans take part in anti-government protests. It’s all going Venezuela and Trump has once again waded in. Take 8 months since the election that many said wasn’t legitimate. America’s back yard will never be left to it’s own devices. ---
**Author:** ![Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/goatboy/32/167_2.png) [@Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Goatboy)\ **Post date:** [24 January 2019 06:40 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/15 "2019-01-24T06:40:27Z")
[https://twitter.com/BootsRiley/status/1088303942952472576](https://twitter.com/BootsRiley/status/1088303942952472576) When it all kicks off, and it will, what is the betting that there will be more coverage of the violent demos here than there is of the shit going on just across the channel? ---
**Author:** ![Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/goatboy/32/167_2.png) [@Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Goatboy)\ **Post date:** [24 January 2019 06:55 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/16 "2019-01-24T06:55:03Z")
Here’s the fucking odious Guy showing how many fucks he gives about democracy and sovereignty. Cunt. [https://twitter.com/guyverhofstadt/status/1088181936214937600](https://twitter.com/guyverhofstadt/status/1088181936214937600) ---
**Author:** ![Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/goatboy/32/167_2.png) [@Goatboy](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Goatboy)\ **Post date:** [24 January 2019 08:05 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/17 "2019-01-24T08:05:14Z")
[https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1088171545959137280?s=20](https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1088171545959137280?s=20) ---
**Author:** ![Saint-or-sinner](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/saint-or-sinner/32/64280_2.png) [@Saint-or-sinner](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Saint-or-sinner)\ **Post date:** [24 January 2019 08:31 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/18 "2019-01-24T08:31:28Z")
He mentions the Lima group of countries(still trying to work out how Canada gets in), as if they should decide the fate of Venezuela, but they were told in no uncertain terms what would happen if they didn’t vote as demanded. “Before the Lima Group voted, which the US is not a member of, the CIA directo…err, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a video presentation to the group. Pompeo’s message of “carrots” for those voting correctly, and “sticks” for those voting incorrectly was clear. How shameful to see the US bully its tiny neighbors, and watch them humiliate themselves.” > **[Guardian Reports More “Good News”, Kids are Dying in Venezuela](https://off-guardian.org/2019/01/22/guardian-reports-more-good-news-kids-are-dying-in-venezuela/)** > > The Guardian’s Tom Phillips’ article “Venezuela Crisis Takes Deadly Toll on Buckling Health System” (January 06, 2019) is more good news for US psychopaths, such as Trump, Bolton and Pompeo. Childr… ---
**Author:** ![pap](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/pap/32/74795_2.png) [@pap](https://www.sotonians.com/u/pap)\ **Post date:** [24 January 2019 17:59 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/20 "2019-01-24T17:59:17Z")
What do your in-laws do that attract protest, Bazza? ---
**Author:** ![Barry-Sanchez](https://www.sotonians.com/user_avatar/www.sotonians.com/barry-sanchez/32/76_2.png) [@Barry-Sanchez](https://www.sotonians.com/u/Barry-Sanchez)\ **Post date:** [24 January 2019 19:39 UTC](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526/21 "2019-01-24T19:39:05Z")
A major shareholder in a large cooperative. [Next page](https://www.sotonians.com/t/same-old-story-in-venezuela/526.md?page=2)