PETER BOLTON—I myself argued in a 2016 essay for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs that an economic war waged by a domestic societal elite, and abetted by the United States, has been a major cause of the crisis. Though dismissed by critics of Chavismo as a conspiracy theory, there is, in fact, ample evidence of an economic war against the Venezuelan government ever since Hugo Chavez was first elected in 1998. The so-called oil strike, for instance, (in reality a management-led lockout) was a transparent attempt to bring about regime change by crippling the economy. Cases of hoarding goods and deliberately disrupting supply chains on the part of the opposition-friendly private business sector, meanwhile, have been well-documented.
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PAUL DOBSON—Speaking with self-declared ‘interim president’ Juan Guaidó on a weekly digital broadcast called Aló Embajador (Hello Ambassador) last Thursday, US Charge d’Affaires to Venezuela James Story manifested that sanctions relief would be a “mistake” under current conditions.
The Colombia-based diplomat went on to explain that the Biden White House would only consider a policy shift upon receiving “irreversible,” “conclusive” and “fundamental changes” from Caracas. While Washington’s representative offered no further details on what these changes may entail, Guaidó has previously established President Nicolás Maduro’s resignation, alongside new presidential elections, as preconditions for sanctions relief.
Story’s statements come amidst speculation over whether Biden plans to continue Donald Trump’s aggressive stance towards Venezuela or heed to domestic and international pressure for sanctions relief.
The blockade, which has hampered Caracas’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts and caused severe fuel and diesel shortages, has been condemned by a range of international actors, including United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis, and most recently UN Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures Alena Douhan, who described it as “devastating” and “illegal” after visiting the country.
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Telling it like it is: Anya Parampil & Max Blumenthal Destroy the Massive Lies About Venezuela
10 minutes readThe Grayzone’s Anya Parampil joined Tucker Carlson on Fox News to discuss the corporate media’s abysmal coverage of the US-led coup attempt against Venezuela’s democratically elected government.
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Propaganda By Omission: Libya, Syria, Venezuela And The UK
30 minutes readMEDIA LENS—Imagine if Russia had been responsible for imposing sanctions on another country, violating that country’s sovereignty, with tens of thousands dead and many more lives at risk in the months to come. Imagine, moreover, that Russia had been condemned in a hard-hitting UN report for engaging in economic warfare, described as ‘a violation of international law’ that was causing a serious ‘growth of malnourishment in the past 6 years with more than 2.5 million people being severely food insecure.’ Imagine that such a report pointed to the ‘devastating effect of unilateral sanctions on the broad scope of human rights, especially the right to food, right to health, right to life, right to education and right to development.’ The headlines and in-depth coverage in the West would be incessant. The Russian ambassador in London would be given a stern dressing-down by the UK Foreign Secretary. MPs would address Parliament, condemning Putin in the strongest possible terms. There would be global demands for the UN to intervene.
The ideological discipline required to ignore such crimes under Western policy is remarkable, but it is standard in the corporate media system. Propaganda by omission, routinely carried out by BBC News and the rest of the ‘mainstream’ news media, is a crucial tool enabling Washington and London to pursue their aims; whether that be ‘regime change’, exploitation of oil and other natural resources, and geopolitical domination.
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Terrorists are using strongholds in Colombia and Spain to prepare attacks against Venezuela, and the Spanish government is doing nothing to stop it, President Nicolas Maduro has alleged. “From Colombia, from the Casa de Narino [the official presidential residence] a permanent conspiracy exists to attack Venezuela, to carry out terrorist attacks…These and other attacks are planned from Spain, but the Spanish government plays deaf, mute and crazy”, Maduro said in a speech broadcast by national television. Accusing Madrid of protecting Leopoldo Lopez, a Venezuelan opposition figure and fugitive who is wanted in his home country for criminal association and public incitement to violence, Maduro suggested that “it would be very easy for Spanish intelligence to investigate all the complaints and evidence that the National Assembly has provided [against Lopez]. It would be simple because the technical and investigative capabilities of Spain’s police are very strong, but they don’t want to do this, and protect a terrorist”.