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P. GREANVILLE—Editor’s Note: While the antiwar movement in the US is as shamefully dead (or in hiding) as the zombies that inhabit so much of our tv screens, CodePink and Medea Benjamin are the inspiring exception. Indeed, standing barely five feet, Medea Benjamin (nee Susan Benjamin), the onetime Green Party candidate, SDS member, and graduate of Tufts and Columbia, at age 66 projects the image of a frail schoolgirl instead of the indomitable political activist she is known to be. Watching her in action, it’s hard to conceive of a more improbable champion of peace and truth in social and international affairs, or a more relentless shatterer of the patina of “dignified business as usual” so valued by the system managers in the conduct of their criminal affairs than Medea.

In an article explicitly dedicated to uncovering alleged foreign interference in Venezuelan state and society, it is ironic that Casey entirely omitted the most egregious form of external intervention: US sanctions. Since 2017, Trump’s financial sanctions have battered the healthcare system directly, with recurring cases of medicine shipments blocked or assets destined for imports frozen as a result of US financial crimes enforcement directives, according to Torino Capital chief economist Francisco Rodriguez. In one such case, the Venezuelan government denounced the freezing of $1.6 billion of its assets by Brussels-based financial services agency Euroclear, half of which was reportedly destined for medicine imports.

Should the ‘Umbrella Revolution’ follow the template of Color Revolutions before it, one can expect ‘mysterious’ snipers to begin shooting indiscriminately at both police and civilians to maximize the chaotic uncertainty and provoke even more panic on the streets. Even if the Color Revolution attempt fails in all of its other objectives, its last-ditch intended legacy is to supercede the Tiananmen Square events as an even bigger black eye to China’s international reputation (whether real or perceived/manipulated).

MICHAEL PARENTI—On a PBS talk show (January 22, 1998), host Charlie Rose asked a guest, whose name I did not get, whether Castro was bitter about “the historic failure of communism”. No, the guest replied, Castro is proud of what he believes communism has done for Cuba: advances in health care and education, full employment, and the elimination of the worst aspects of poverty. Rose fixed him with a ferocious glare, then turned to another guest to ask: “What impact will the pope’s visit have in Cuba?” Rose ignored the errant guest for the rest of the program.