Things not going well in Venezuela

[InkaUtexas 25853]

There was a lot of hope this Trio could solve it. Looks like it is siesta time. Full article below.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-mediation-brazil-mexico-colombia-0189b6e14f14548667acc0d6e369297e

MIAMI (AP) — It was a rare diplomatic gamble when the three leaders of Latin America’s largest democracies inserted themselves into the high-stakes standoff between Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and his opponents over who won the country’s presidential election.

Dubbed the three amigos — all dyed-in-the-wool leftists who have been friendly with Maduro — the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico broke from decades of hands-off diplomacy toward Venezuela and their own reluctance to meddle in a neighbor’s sovereign affairs in a region where U.S. military interventions during the Cold War still generate resentment.

But some experts say the peacemaking effort is losing steam before barely getting off the ground.

They cite misgivings by Mexico’s outgoing president, divisions among Latin America’s left and pressure from the U.S. on Maduro to recognize defeat and step aside. The main outcome so far, they say, has been to grant Maduro precious time to consolidate his rule and jail more opponents since the July 28 vote.

Spoiler

MIAMI (AP) — It was a rare diplomatic gamble when the three leaders of Latin America’s largest democracies inserted themselves into the high-stakes standoff between Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and his opponents over who won the country’s presidential election.

Dubbed the three amigos — all dyed-in-the-wool leftists who have been friendly with Maduro — the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico broke from decades of hands-off diplomacy toward Venezuela and their own reluctance to meddle in a neighbor’s sovereign affairs in a region where U.S. military interventions during the Cold War still generate resentment.

But some experts say the peacemaking effort is losing steam before barely getting off the ground.

They cite misgivings by Mexico’s outgoing president, divisions among Latin America’s left and pressure from the U.S. on Maduro to recognize defeat and step aside. The main outcome so far, they say, has been to grant Maduro precious time to consolidate his rule and jail more opponents since the July 28 vote.

“The mediation effort is cautious, focusing on avoiding conflict and a new migration wave rather than defending democracy,” said Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, a Venezuelan born analyst and founder of Aurora Macro Strategies, a geopolitical risk consulting firm based in New York.

“It’s hard to be optimistic,” adds Michael Shifter, the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

The diplomatic effort by Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro to resolve the dispute over the election outcome was initially heralded by many in Venezuela’s opposition and the U.S., which was happy to leave that political minefield to others.

Lula, who dispatched a close aide to Caracas to monitor the vote, refused to recognize Maduro’s claim of victory. Joined by López Obrador and Petro, he also called on Venezuelan authorities to publish detailed tallies of election results — as it has traditionally — to back their claim that Maduro won.

“If there are doubts ... then count the votes,” López Obrador said in his first remarks after the election.

Opposition politicians have said they obtained more than 80% of the country’s vote tally sheets and that they show challenger Edmundo González winning by a two-to-one margin, which has prompted the U.S. and dozens of other countries to say that González garnered the most votes.

Brazil, Mexico and Colombia have not joined those countries, trying instead to get Maduro to release the disaggregated results. But as weeks have passed, and as the Venezuelan government’s crackdown on the opposition has continued, the trio has lost some of its mojo. A long-discussed phone call between the presidents and Maduro has yet to take place.

Recently Lopez Obrador suggested he would take a step back from the effort to await the results of an audit being carried out by Venezuela’s supreme court, which is packed with Maduro loyalists and has almost never ruled against the government.

Meanwhile, Lula angered many in the opposition by saying he favors a do-over of the election.

“We don’t know really how committed they are to a transition to democracy,” said Javier Corrales, a professor of Latin American politics at Amherst College in Massachusetts. “Maybe in private circles they are putting pressure on Maduro to step down but in their public statements there’s no evidence that this is a priority. They mostly talk about stability and avoiding bloodshed.”

The U.S. has been all too willing to sit on the sideline after years of failed efforts by the Trump administration to oust Maduro. The Biden administration, while condemning the apparent steal, hasn’t retaliated or gone as far as the opposition in recognizing González as president-elect. Instead, it prefers to give political space to the diplomatic dealmaking, especially since the next presidential term doesn’t start until January.

However, behind the scenes, it has been sharing its views with the trio, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently speaking to his Mexican counterpart, Alicia Bárcena, while President Joe Biden and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both dialed up Lula.

Unlike Venezuela’s neighbors, the U.S. has real leverage over Maduro that could make it impossible for him to effectively govern for the next six years. That includes debilitating oil sanctions that have all but shut the OPEC nation out of Western markets and are contributing to shortages and an ongoing economic crisis. There’s also a $15 million bounty for Maduro’s arrest to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S.

Any exit plan for Maduro would likely involve some sort of amnesty for the president and dozens of others who are accused of corruption, drug trafficking and human rights abuses.

Thomas Traumann, a Brazilian political consultant, said that Lula and his partners emerged as “the adults in the room” after a string of U.S. policy failures.

“Where have U.S. sanctions led us?” said Traumann, who was previously the spokesman for Dilma Rousseff, a member of Lula’s Workers’ Party and president from 2011 to 2016. “Over the past 20 years, the U.S. has tried sanctions, freezing foreign reserves, recognizing a puppet president and even supporting a military coup in 2021 — all of which have failed.”

Still, he said it’s unrealistic for any foreign country — the U.S. or otherwise — to play more than a supporting role so long as Maduro has the support of the armed forces and powerful allies like Russia and China.

“This plan may not succeed — not because Lula and Petro are naïve or aren’t applying enough pressure on Maduro, but because there is little they can do to enforce it,” he said. “Any autocrat can survive international sanctions.”

——-

AP Writer David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Maria Verza in Mexico City and Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

 

 

[InkaUtexas 25853]

I don't know if this is rage emoji worthy. It is what I sadly expected when the troika was announced and took over vs. the OAS and UN voter teams. Negotiations and back door talks to allow Maduro to get out with "dignity" and the promise he would not be arrested. Colombia suprises me. for a few reasons. 1- Venezuelan migrants are losing their welcome from most working class Latin Americans. 2- The Colombian military is tired of the remenants of the FARC running across the border for sancutary, 3- This was the President's chance to be seen as a player in Hemispheric politics.

Brazil and Mexico? Nah, expected them to go soft.

[InkaUtexas 25853]

US response to Venezuela's Court saying Maduro won.

Now shit will get interesting.

HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…On the ruling of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice 

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On the ruling of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice 

Press Statement

 

 

August 23, 2024

 

Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice ruled yesterday that Nicolas Maduro won the July 28 presidential election against democratic opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.  This ruling lacks all credibility, given the overwhelming evidence that Gonzalez received the most votes on July 28.  

The publicly available and independently verified precinct-level tally sheets show Venezuelan voters chose Edmundo Gonzalez as their future leader.  The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.  Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law, and the wishes of the Venezuelan people.   

Continued attempts to fraudulently claim victory for Maduro will only exacerbate the ongoing crisis. The United States calls on Maduro to release those who have been detained for exercising their right to free expression. 

The United States and the international community will continue to stand up for the Venezuelan voters whose will and rights have been continuously undermined since July 28.  We stand ready to support an inclusive, Venezuelan-led process to re-establish democratic norms. 

[InkaUtexas 25853]

Maduro buckling down. Appointing a rival. Not always the smartest move. Expect more of the Chavez-gangs to up their harrassment BS and more arrests. Colombian border about to be a great place to earn some side cash if you have an extra black couch.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday appointed a ruling socialist party boss to oversee the country’s police forces, empowering a hard-line loyalist who has vowed to pursue government opponents as part of a crackdown that has alarmed human rights groups.

Maduro named Diosdado Cabello interior minister as part of a Cabinet shuffle following last month’s contested presidential election.

Along with Maduro, Cabello is one of the most fervent stalwarts of the so-called Bolivarian revolution started by the late Hugo Chávez and has long been considered the second most powerful person in Venezuela after Maduro. A retired army lieutenant, he fought alongside Chávez in a failed military uprising in 1992 and later served as acting president when Chávez himself was removed in a brief coup a decade later.

https://apnews.com/article/maduro-cabinet-shuffle-diosdado-cabello-66d9d34ce5f8ba5bc477fb1eb8ccd4ac

 

[InkaUtexas 25853]

US seized Maduro's private jet undergoing maintenance (wink wink) in the Dominican Republic.

The United States has seized Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s airplane after determining that its acquisition was in violation of US sanctions, among other criminal issues. The US flew the aircraft to Florida on Monday, according to two US officials.

It’s the latest development in what has long been a frosty relationship between the US and Venezuela, and its seizure in the Dominican Republic marks an escalation as the US continues to investigate what it regards as corrupt practices by Venezuela’s government.

The plane has been described by officials as Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One and it  has been pictured in previous state visits by Maduro around the world.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/02/politics/us-seizes-venezuela-president-maduros-airplane/index.html

 

[InkaUtexas 25853]

Maduro upping the pressure.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-attorney-general-requests-arrest-warrant-opposition-leader-gonzalez-2024-09-02/

CARACAS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Venezuela's attorney general's office said on Monday a court has issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes amid a dispute over whether he or President Nicolas Maduro won a July election.

Attorney general Tarek Saab shared a photo of the warrant with Reuters via a message on the application Telegram.

The issue of an arrest warrant against Gonzalez would amount to a major escalation in Maduro's government's crackdown against the opposition following the disputed election.

[atomheartbevo 89618]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/03/americas/christmas-venezuela-october-maduro-intl-latam/index.html

“September smells like Christmas!” Maduro said in his weekly television show on Monday, to the apparent delight of his audience.

“This year and to honor you all, to thank you all, I am going to decree the beginning of Christmas on October 1. Christmas arrived for everyone, in peace, joy and security!” he said.

Maduro’s decree – not the first of its kind, but the earliest – comes as Venezuela grapples with the fallout from July’s presidential election, which saw Maduro claim a third term despite global skepticism and outcry from the country’s opposition movement.

[InkaUtexas 25853]

25 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/03/americas/christmas-venezuela-october-maduro-intl-latam/index.html

“September smells like Christmas!” Maduro said in his weekly television show on Monday, to the apparent delight of his audience.

“This year and to honor you all, to thank you all, I am going to decree the beginning of Christmas on October 1. Christmas arrived for everyone, in peace, joy and security!” he said.

Maduro’s decree – not the first of its kind, but the earliest – comes as Venezuela grapples with the fallout from July’s presidential election, which saw Maduro claim a third term despite global skepticism and outcry from the country’s opposition movement.

Ballsy. Christmas in Latin America usually means you get an extra months pay. The country has very little cash. How are they going to do that?

Bonuses for beating up protestors?

[SimonBolivar 10957]

20 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I am going to decree the beginning of Christmas on October 1

There should be an uprising on that alone. How man Salamarca de Navidad movies can an already depressed nation take?

 

 

Also I saw this article over the weekend and thought it was a good/sad read.

The Venezuelan City Devastated By Migration - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

Spoiler

It was once a thriving metropolis in the heart of oil country in Venezuela.

That city, Maracaibo, no longer exists.

Today, the city is rife with abandoned houses, some of which look like bombs were dropped on them, because homeowners tore windows and roofs off to sell for scrap before they took off on journeys to Colombia, Chile and the United States. Middle-class neighborhoods are filled with for sale signs and overgrown yards.

Fewer cars drive down the streets, and fewer criminals are around to steal them. Christmas dinners, once packed with noisy relatives, are lonely affairs aided by webcams.

Nearly eight million people — more than a quarter of the population — have fled Venezuela in recent years, driven out by economic misery and political repression.

Nowhere is that exodus more staggeringly acute than in Maracaibo, which has been hollowed out by the loss of about half a million of its 2.2 million inhabitants — many of them adults in their late teens to middle age. (The population figure is based on surveys, since the government has not conducted an official census in more than a decade.)

“The first blow you sense is the loneliness,” said Maracaibo’s mayor, Rafael Ramírez. “It’s devastating, and affects you emotionally.”

Maracaibo, which is in western Venezuela and remains the country’s second-largest city, has been battered by a collapsed economy, routine blackouts and persistent gasoline and water shortages.

Many working adults searching for jobs elsewhere have left their children home until they can establish a firmer footing, leaving aging grandparents to fill the breach.

“Right now, this is a country of old people,” said Antonio Sierra, 72, as he sat in his living room lounge chair and looked up at a window where outside many of the houses on his block are empty.

All three of Mr. Sierra’s adult children are gone. One of his sons left behind a baby, Rafael, who is now 7. Last year, even the boy’s teachers left. Mr. Sierra and some other grandparents took up a collection to pay a replacement $2 a week to teach first grade.

Maracaibo is now bracing for another wave of departures in the coming months given the country’s plunge into instability after a national election in July that the autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, claimed to win even though vote tallies showed he lost decisively.

His government has unleashed a brutal campaign against anyone challenging the electoral results, and with the United States among the many countries that have rejected Mr. Maduro’s claim to victory, the U.S. sanctions that have deepened Venezuela’s economic woes are not likely to be eased anytime soon.

A mass departure of the country’s dwindling numbers of doctors, nurses, sanitation workers and bus drivers would be even more brutal in Maracaibo, where so many who filled those jobs are already gone.

Mr. Ramírez longs for the days when companies held conferences in Maracaibo and when the state oil company produced so much petroleum at a nearby lake that its workers enjoyed a comfortable standard of living.

“This was an oil city, a city that had designed a convention center so that all industries, people, the oil industry, would come here,” Mr. Ramírez said. “That city is not going to come back, but it has to be reinvented.”

 

The sharp increase in migration from Maracaibo, the mayor said, began about a decade ago. It followed the collapse of the state oil company, which was caused by corruption, a lack of investment and political purges of skilled employees — and exacerbated by U.S. sanctions.

An enormous nationwide power outage in 2019 triggered days of looting in Maracaibo and tipped the scales. The State of Zulia, which includes Maracaibo, borders Colombia, making leaving on foot easier for people who could not afford airfare. (The power went out again on Friday, when a major blackout cut electricity nationwide.)

A recent survey commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce in Zulia showed that nearly 70 percent of the families interviewed had an immediate family member outside the country.

At least half of the people questioned for another survey commissioned by Maracaibo’s mayor said they were considering leaving, a number considerably higher than the overall national rate of 30 percent of survey respondents who expressed a desire to go, said Efraín Rincón, a political consultant who conducted the surveys.

“Faced with this reality, we see that the portion of the elderly is growing, but not organically — not because there are more older people,” Mr. Rincón said. “It’s because there are fewer young people.”

 

Much was riding on the election on July 28, when Mr. Maduro faced off against Edmundo González, a retired diplomat who took the place of a more popular opposition candidate barred by the government from running.

Polling machine tallies collected by electoral observers showed that Mr. González won easily. The government says otherwise, but more than a month after the race, officials have yet to provide precinct-level election results.

Many people, even longtime supporters of Mr. Maduro’s mentor, former President Hugo Chávez, had counted on an opposition triumph to start reversing the country’s fortunes and lure their loved ones back home.

María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who was prevented from running, made that a cornerstone of Mr. González’s campaign.

Instead, the government quickly cracked down on demonstrations in the days after the election — arresting around 2,000 protesters, activists, journalists and politicians.

 

With the Maduro government showing no inclination to negotiate a solution to the electoral crisis, migration levels later this year are “going to be dramatic,” said Mirla Pérez, a professor and social science researcher at the University of Central Venezuela. “Right now, people are strategizing how to leave.”

Ms. Pérez said migrants typically first leave their children behind and then send for them later, once they are financially situated. Eventually, they send for their parents, too.

A recent trip to the airport in Maracaibo found a number of people, including several older adults, leaving for good to join their adult children in Spain and Argentina. Taxi drivers who frequently make the three-hour trip to the Colombian border reported long lines of Venezuelans leaving on foot.

Back in Maracaibo, hundreds of thousands of older people are in precarious conditions, according to a nonprofit, Convite, earning around $3 a month in retirement benefits. Though most people receive some money from relatives abroad, Mr. Rincón’s surveys showed that the average amount was less than $25 a month.

The Maduro administration, in an apparent acknowledgment of the problem, created a Ministry for Older Adults to guarantee access to health care, food and public services.

Mr. Sierra’s wife, Marlenis Miranda, 68, said she managed the household around the schedule of when power and water were available.

Electricity comes on maybe once a week, sometimes every other week. When the water turns on every week or so, she fills four huge barrels to use the rest of the week, and reuses bath water to flush the toilets.

Their son, a former police officer, is driving for Uber in Texas, while their daughter is working at a nursery school in Vermont. Another son, who in 2013 was the first in the family to leave, is a graphic designer in Barcelona.

“Sometimes you look outside on a Saturday and say, ‘Oh, how this looks so alone,’” Ms. Miranda said. “So alone.”

 

After two of Edith Luzardo’s children left Maracaibo for the United States, Ms. Luzardo stayed behind, raising her two grandchildren. When The New York Times visited her in July, she lamented how only five people were left in a house where 24 people once lived.

She debated whether to wait to be approved for entry into the United States under a special Biden administration migration program, but in August, it was briefly suspended.

Two days after the suspension announcement, Ms. Luzardo decided to take the same treacherous route many Venezuelans have followed, through the Darién Gap, a jungle path connecting Central and South America.

“I’m not afraid,” Ms. Luzardo, 66, said. “I’m strong.”

 

Low on money, Ms. Luzardo, one of her sons and the two grandchildren she had been raising were stranded for a few days in Costa Rica before finally making it to Mexico, according to her son.

Xiomara Ortega, 68, said so many people planned to leave if Mr. Maduro won that she expected to be the only one left in her Maracaibo neighborhood. Two of her daughters are in Colombia, and Ms. Ortega is raising six grandchildren.

On most days, she has no water — or even money to buy any. She sweeps neighbors’ patios for extra cash and steals electricity from a nearby utility pole. She looked around at the sparse low-income settlement and counted three empty houses.

“There’s no one left,” Ms. Ortega said. “I will stay.”

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89618]

42 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

There should be an uprising on that alone

Username definitely checks out.

[InkaUtexas 25853]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Username definitely checks out.

Meh, Bolivar only fought to secure some Arepas and hot Colombian womenz.

[MissingInAction 25002]

Columbian wimmenz will cut you. I've got the scar to prove it.

[InkaUtexas 25853]

35 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Columbian wimmenz will cut you. I've got the scar to prove it.

Is that why you have a guard dog and date macedonian midgets?

[MissingInAction 25002]

44 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Is that why you have a guard dog and date macedonian midgets?

Nazi midgets.

[SimonBolivar 10957]

17 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

Meh, Bolivar only fought to secure some Arepas and hot Colombian womenz.

[InkaUtexas 25853]

45 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

The Surly version, led by @RDCanecutter 

Edited September 5 by InkaUtexas
Armybrat took the picture. Was upside down and in lithograph.

[RDCanecutter 26377]

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

The Surly version, led by @RDCanecutter 

As the King of Spain commands, there go I.

[HellesBier 188]

23 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Columbian wimmenz will cut you. I've got the scar to prove it.

 

DC sucks.

Edited September 6 by HellesBier

[MissingInAction 25002]

Colombia, Columbia, whatever it takes.

[HellesBier 188]

22 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Colombia, Columbia, whatever it takes.

Well I think spelling it correctly helps you somewhat with the gals down south. 

[MissingInAction 25002]

I'm a 6'2" ginger. Latinas want to bang me out of sheer novelty.

[Brisketexan 105041]

5 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

I'm a 6'2" ginger. Latinas want to bang me out of sheer novelty pity.

FIF what is surely the truth.

[MissingInAction 25002]

[SimonBolivar 10957]

 

9 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

I'm a 6'2" ginger. Latinas want to bang me out of sheer novelty pity money.

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

FIF what is surely the truth.

FIF both of you

Edited September 6 by SimonBolivar

[Zepol87 9185]

9 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

I'm a 6'2" ginger. Latinas want to bang me out of sheer novelty.

Can confirm

[InkaUtexas 25853]

It is all about Luna man, we get it.

 

[Macanudo 12974]

3 hours ago, Zepol87 said:

Can confirm

So, how was it?  Is he a kind and gentle lover?

Edited September 6 by Macanudo

[InkaUtexas 25853]

 

Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital Caracas, which is sheltering six Venezuelan political figures opposed to President Nicolás Maduro.

Members of the Venezuelan opposition posted images and videos of officers from the country’s intelligence service forming a perimeter around the embassy complex.

Opposition figures inside the building said they were under "siege" by Mr Maduro's regime.

The embassy, as well as Argentine interests in Venezuela, have been represented by Brazil since diplomatic relations between Argentina and Venezuela broke down over the summer due to the outcome of Venezuela's presidential election.

On Saturday, the Venezuelan government revoked Brazil's custody of the embassy, it said, in an apparent attempt to remove its diplomatic protection.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c207958pp9qo

[atomheartbevo 89618]

2 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

On Saturday, the Venezuelan government revoked Brazil's custody of the embassy, it said, in an apparent attempt to remove its diplomatic protection.

What a fantastic way to isolate your country!

[InkaUtexas 25853]

55 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

What a fantastic way to isolate your country!

Yeah, Brazil was one of the few friends they had who were not part of the Axis of Idiots.

[InkaUtexas 25853]

Opposition has fled.

The Venezuelan government has said opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has left the country, seeking asylum in Spain.

Mr González has been in hiding, and a warrant issued for his arrest after the opposition disputed July's presidential election result - in which the government-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.

Venezuela's Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez said in a post on social media that after "voluntarily" seeking refuge at the Spanish embassy in Caracas some days ago, Mr Gonzalez asked the Spanish government for political asylum.

She added that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage and that he had left.

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares said Mr González had departed the country at his own request, and on a Spanish Air Force plane.

He added that Spain's government was committed to the political rights of all Venezuelans.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14zdypxr7no