Venezuela, The Starving Socialist Dystopia (Part 1)

Spain pushes EU to adopt restrictive measures against Venezuela
September 5, 2017

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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Julio Borges, president of the National Assembly and lawmaker of the Venezuelan coalition of opposition parties (MUD), meet at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, September 5, 2017


MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is pushing for the European Union to adopt restrictive measures against members of the Venezuelan government as a way of encouraging a return to constitutional order in the crisis-hit country, the Spanish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The head of Venezuela’s opposition-led congress, Julio Borges, visited Spain on Tuesday to meet Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as part of a European tour seeking support against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro’s government has been criticized by the United Nations, Washington and other governments for failing to allow the entry of foreign aid to ease an economic crisis, while it overrides congress and jails hundreds of opponents.

“Against the progressive worsening of the situation in Venezuela, the Spanish government is pushing ... for the adoption of restrictive, individual and selective measures, which don’t hurt the Venezuelan population,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Spanish government was working with its partners in the EU on these measures and was in constant contact with other Latin American countries, the ministry said.

A foreign ministry spokesman did not say what the measures would be.

After the meeting with Borges, the ministry underlined Spain’s support for a peaceful, democratic solution and called for the release of all political prisoners.

Spain’s foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, also met representatives of human rights activist Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuela’s best-known detained political leader, who was barred from flying out of the country to join Borges on the tour.

Venezuela’s foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, criticized the opposition leaders’ meeting with Rajoy, saying they were unpatriotic in backing sanctions that he said would hurt the Venezuelan economy.

“@marianorajoy assaults Venezuelan dignity, representing the worst colonial past, defeated and expelled by our Liberators,” Arreaza tweeted on Tuesday.

The Venezuelan opposition won control of congress in 2015. But Maduro’s loyalist Supreme Court has tossed out every major law it has passed as the oil-rich country slips deeper into a recession exacerbated by triple-digit inflation and acute shortages of food and medicines.

Maduro has said he faces an “armed insurrection” designed to end socialism in Latin America and let a U.S.-backed business elite get its hands on the OPEC nation’s crude reserves.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...tive-measures-against-venezuela-idUSKCN1BG2DA
 
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Ok ill play what is it we don't understand about Venezuela?

I have no idea...? What do you know? I would need to work from there.

I never said you lacked understanding, as I haven't seen you offer any opinion on the issue. You chimed into an old exchange and started senselessly flinging shit.

Unless you're wanting me to differentiate the Venezuelan political/economic model from a definitionally communist or socialist system, and rebut an inference that this is just "lol socialism," I don't know what you're asking of me.
 
Canada to impose sanctions on Venezuela's Maduro and top officials
David Ljunggren | Sept 22, 2017

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will impose targeted sanctions against 40 Venezuelan senior officials, including President Nicolás Maduro, to punish them for “anti-democratic behavior,” the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Canada’s move, which followed a similar decision by the United States, came after months of protests against Maduro’s government in which at least 125 people have been killed. Critics say he has plunged the nation into its worst-ever economic crisis and brought it to the brink of dictatorship.

“Canada will not stand by silently as the government of Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic rights,” Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.

The measures include freezing the assets of the officials and banning Canadians from having any dealings with them.

The actions were “in response to the government of Venezuela’s deepening descent into dictatorship,” Canada said.

There was no immediate reaction from Caracas, where the government established a pro-Maduro legislative superbody that has overruled the country’s opposition-led Congress.

Maduro has said he faces an armed insurrection designed to end socialism in Latin America and let a U.S.-backed business elite get its hands on the OPEC nation’s crude reserves.

The United States imposed sanctions on Maduro in late July and has also targeted around 30 other officials.

The Canadian measures name Maduro, Vice President Tareck El Aissami and 38 other people, including the ministers of defense and the interior as well as several Supreme Court judges.

Canada is a member of the 12-nation Lima Group, which is trying to address the Venezuelan crisis. A government official said Freeland wanted to host a meeting of the group within the next 60 days.

Cyndee Todgham Cherniak, a trade sanctions expert at Toronto law firm LexSage, said although limited in scope, the Canadian measures were symbolic.

“When you join other countries ... it makes the message louder,” she said by phone.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday he believed there was a chance for a political solution.

“This is a situation that is obviously untenable. The violence ... needs to end and we are looking to be helpful,” he told reporters at the United Nations.

Experts say individual measures have had little or no impact on Maduro’s policies and that broader oil-sector and financial sanctions may be the only way to make the Venezuelan government feel economic pain.

U.S. President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order that prohibits dealings in new debt from the Venezuelan government or its state oil company.

Earlier this month, Spain said it wanted the European Union to adopt restrictive measures against members of the Venezuelan government.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...zuelas-maduro-and-top-officials-idUSKCN1BX2PV
 
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Wall Street Exhales After Venezuela Makes Another Bond Payment
By Ben Bartenstein | September 21, 2017​


Investors in Venezuelan securities are breathing a sigh of relief after the government once again made good on its promise to pay foreign bondholders.

The nation, one of the world’s riskiest debtors, said yesterday it was having difficulty wiring a $185 million interest payment that was due Sept. 15. Officials confirmed Thursday that the money was on its way to bondholders. Bank of New York Mellon, the paying agent on the notes, has processed the funds, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

“This helps a bit,” said Stuart Sclater-Booth, a money manager at Stone Harbor Investment Partners in New York, who puts Venezuela’s odds of avoiding default this year at 60 percent. “You know that they are looking under the mattress, under the cushions and going through pants pockets in the laundry for every last dollar when a payment is due.”

Venezuelan bonds rallied Thursday, erasing some of the losses incurred during the previous session. But even with the coupon appearing to get paid well within the 30-day grace period, the delay may be a bad omen for the months to come. Almost $4 billion of payments, mostly by the state oil company, are coming due by year-end. Some of those have no grace period. A default could lead to what some lawyers say would be the messiest restructuring ever.

Several holders of Venezuela’s $4 billion of bonds due in 2027 said that they have yet to receive the payment, but expect to before week’s end. The implied probability of a default within the next six months has spiked to 63 percent from 43 percent a month ago, according to credit-default swaps data compiled by Bloomberg.

“I can’t say I wasn’t concerned this week, but it was likely they’d have operational issues,” said Shamaila Khan, the director of emerging markets at AllianceBernstein, which Bloomberg data show is the largest reported holder of Venezuela’s 2027 bonds. “The bigger issue would’ve been if the government said they weren’t going to pay.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-as-venezuela-delivers-bond-payment-once-more
 
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President Trump urges EU to sanction Maduro regime in Venezuela
AFP News | September 26, 2017

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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged the European Union to follow America's lead in slapping sanctions on the "oppressive" regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"We hope our friends in the EU will soon follow the United States, Canada, and many Latin American nations, in sanctioning the Maduro regime," Trump told a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

"The citizens have endured immense starvation, suffering and dangers, political unrest, under the oppressive socialist regime," added the US leader.

Washington has slapped sanctions on the crisis-stricken country -- including on Maduro himself -- and days ago added Venezuela to a new list of countries targeted by a US travel ban.

Rajoy said his government was spearheading efforts within the EU to push for sanctions against Caracas.

"What is happening in Venezuela is unacceptable," he said. "Traditionally it was a democratic country and at this time it is no longer a democratic country. They're political prisoners."

"Sanctions are important," he added. "It is important there is an international coalition so democracy is restored.

Venezuela has denounced the US sanctions and the travel ban announced this week, which the foreign ministry described as a form of "psychological torture."

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/trump-urges-eu-sanction-maduro-regime-venezuela-190016683.html
 
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As Venezuela starves, Maduro tells army to prepare for US 'threats'
Sept 27, 2017

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, fresh off calling on the inhabitants of his starving nation to eat rabbits that had been kept as pets, is now asking his army to make sure it has “rifles, missiles and well-oiled tanks at the ready” amid a war of words with the United States.

Maduro made the declaration Monday during a military exercise in the city of Maracay, two days after the Trump administration signed new restrictions imposing bans on the entry of some Venezuelan government officials and their families into the U.S.

"We have been shamelessly threatened by the most criminal empire that ever existed and we have the obligation to prepare ourselves to guarantee peace," Maduro said, according to AFP.

The Venezuelan president, wearing military garb, also said he wanted prosperity for his country, but added "we need to have rifles, missiles and well-oiled tanks at the ready...to defend every inch of the territory if needs be."

Nearly two weeks ago Maduro encouraged people to start eating rabbits for protein as Venezuela faces a severe food shortage. After being given the rabbits, many people who took part in a pilot project for the rabbit-eating initiative placed bow ties on the bunnies, kept them as pets and cuddled with them in bed.

Low supplies of food and medicine are leaving millions of people starving and desperate for medical treatment. A study published earlier this year reported that roughly 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of 19 pounds in the last year due to food shortages, Fox News reported.

The ongoing economic crisis has been spurred by the socialist policies of Maduro and his predecessor, the late former President Hugo Chavez.

The U.S. government in August hit Maduro and 20 other top officials with financial sanctions, and also banned American finance companies from lending money to Venezuela’s government and its state-run oil company, AFP reported.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...uro-tells-army-to-prepare-for-us-threats.html
 
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Venezuela Votes for Governors in a ‘Deficient Democracy’
By ANA VANESSA HERRERO and NICHOLAS CASEYOCT. 14, 2017

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PUERTO CABELLO, Venezuela — For weeks, Alejandro Feo la Cruz, a former opposition mayor who is running for governor, has crisscrossed his state in Venezuela with a simple message: The country’s ruling party can no longer feed its own people.

Few disagree with him here in the seaside city of Puerto Cabello. Its container port once fed Venezuela but now sits largely empty, and its streets raged with protests against President Nicolás Maduro for months this year.

Polls show that Mr. Feo la Cruz — like most opposition candidates for the governorships up for grabs in all 23 Venezuelan states on Sunday — should be a shoo-in.

But can Mr. Feo la Cruz actually win? And if he does, will he be allowed to govern?

Venezuela is holding its first election since a major consolidation of power by Mr. Maduro in July. The president has put so much authority into the hands of his supporters that most of his neighbors in Latin American now call his government a dictatorship.

His administration stands accused of altering the results of the last election, which installed an all-powerful body that rules the country virtually unchecked.

Continue reading the main story


The new entity has stripped the opposition-controlled Legislature of power, opened a committee to investigate treason charges against opponents and aims to rewrite the Constitution.

And the street protests that have rocked Venezuela for months this year, leaving at least 120 dead, have largely dissolved, leaving few outlets of opposition to the country’s ruling socialist party.

“What we are living is no longer a democracy,” said Mr. Feo la Cruz. But he added that he still saw a chance on Sunday to “convert it back into a democracy.”

Many experts are not as optimistic. Luis Vicente León, who heads Datanálasis, a Venezuelan polling firm whose numbers show wide support for the president’s rivals, says opposition politicians may sweep the statehouses, only to find themselves powerless once they enter them.

“What’s clear is that these governors won’t be able to govern,” he said.

And if the election is any sign of what lies ahead for the opposition, it will be a rough road.

One of its most popular politicians, Henrique Capriles, was banned by the government this year from participating in politics. A half-dozen other opposition mayors were sentenced to jail this summer, with some fleeing the country afterward.

Venezuela’s electoral commission, controlled by Mr. Maduro’s allies, has printed ballots with the names of opposition candidates who are not running and moved many polling places far from neighborhoods that voted for the opposition in the past.

Even the election’s date was manipulated. Venezuelans have been waiting more than a year to vote for governors since the government abruptly suspended the election last year. It rescheduled the vote for the fall only after the protests dissolved.

“I refer to it as an ‘authoritarian project,’ or a ‘deficient democracy,’” said David Smilde, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group based in the United States. “There is a big gray zone between dictatorship and democracy that Venezuela is in right now.”

Mr. Smilde said the government’s main motivation for even holding the vote at all was to undo Venezuela’s increasing isolation from neighbors.

The day after the new ruling assembly was formed in July, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against Mr. Maduro and eventually banned banks from buying the state oil company’s debt, aside from short term notes of credit.

Last month, a group of 12 Latin American countries released a statement declaring that they wouldn’t recognize the new governing assembly either, a move that complicates the cash-strapped government’s ability to obtain loans.

“They want to be able to point to this election and say, ‘We are a democracy,’” said Mr. Smilde. “They are hoping to hold on, and that the international community will get used to them as they did with Zimbabwe, Cuba and other countries.”

For its part, the opposition is hoping that the election will give it a political toehold in the country. And it thinks that Mr. Feo la Cruz’s state, Carabobo, is ripe territory for that.

Carabobo was once a prosperous region, home to car manufacturing, oil refineries and the country’s largest port. Carabobo has also been stronghold of Mr. Maduro’s party — a former military officer was its governor until recently — and a place where the nation’s economic collapse has taken a large toll. Above its largely empty port is a garbage dump where people now scavenge for food.

“We’ve been three years without water,” said Asimira Lugo, a 60-year-old retiree who watches over her grandchildren in La Belisa, a barrio that has typically voted for Mr. Maduro’s party.

She was watching a campaign event in which Mr. Feo la Cruz was walking the streets to greet potential voters. The smell of open sewage hung in the air and residents put out buckets to collect rain water.

But while residents said they favored Mr. Feo la Cruz, few turned out that day to see him, reflecting a sense of resignation among many Venezuelans that there was little the opposition would be able to do to turn around the country.

“Now no one believes in anyone,” said Jhonathan Hernández, a 36-year-old kiosk owner in Augusto Pinaud, a working-class neighborhood in Puerto Cabello.

Mr. Feo la Cruz, 46, acknowledged the apathy, particularly after the collapse of the street protests this summer.

“It’s been a slow process,” he said. “Our main challenge has been getting people’s hope back and channeling that energy, the spirit of struggle, using the main weapon citizens have now: voting.”

Mr. Maduro’s party is backing Rafael Lacava, the 49-year-old former mayor of Puerto Cabello, who has spent much of the campaign handing out government-subsidized food and inaugurating new building projects to show his sway with the country’s leaders.

He is also known for spontaneous displays on the campaign, like taking off his shirt during events and releasing a stump speech while he runs on a treadmill.

“Carabobo needs soul, it needs for hope to return,” he said in the video, panting from the exercise machine.

But the enthusiasm has not yet translated into widespread support. Only about 18 percent of voters said they favored him in a September survey by Datanálasis, the polling firm.

And it’s that popular advantage over the ruling party that the opposition hopes will boost it, even if it is likely to remain locked out of actually governing, its candidates say.

“The governorship isn’t a definitive solution, but it’s one way to start breaking up” Mr. Maduro’s power, said José Manuel Olivares, an opposition candidate in the state of Vargas. “They have the weapons and the power, but they don’t have the votes.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/americas/venezuela-election-nicolas-maduro.html
 
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Pro-Maduro governor candidates dominate Venezuelan election; opposition cries foul
Chris Kraul, Mery Mogollon | Oct 15, 2017

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Candidates loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won at least 17 of 23 governorships up for grabs in Sunday’s elections, according to the National Electoral Council, but opposition leaders immediately rejected the tally, citing exit polls that indicated their candidates won many states.

Voter preference polls published prior to Sunday’s vote showed opposition candidates leading in a majority of Venezuelan states. But turnout was a question mark in light of various measures taken by the Maduro government that critics said were designed to confuse anti-Maduro voters.

National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena said conclusive results for 22 of 23 states had been tallied, with 96% of votes counted. She said turnout was 61.1%. The only results left pending were for Bolivar state in the country’s southeast.

“The results show the democratic mood of Venezuelans,” Lucena said, after announcing that the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which is controlled by Maduro, had won a majority of state houses. "Our destiny is decided by elections and this is an overwhelming demonstration of democracy.”

The opposition lost all three governorships that it had held, in the states of Miranda, Lara and Amazonas. But candidates aligned with the Democratic Unity alliance of opposition parties did win in Zulia, Merida, Tachira, Anzoategui and Nueva Esparta states.

One exit poll cited by the opposition had indicated that candidates opposed to Maduro would win 17 or 18 governorships.

Maduro spoke immediately after the results were announced, saying Chavismo, the socialist movement founded by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, had swept most of the governorships.

Maduro added that the five victorious opposition governors must swear allegiance to the controversial new constitutional assembly convened in August if they are to assume power.

Gerardo Blyde, campaign director for the Democratic Unity alliance, said that the results announced by the electoral council were “suspicious…. We have serious doubts about the results."

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-venezuela-elections-20171014-story.html
 
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Venezuela vote dispute escalates foreign sanctions threat
Alexandra Ulmer, Deisy Buitrago | October 15, 2017

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s opposition cried foul on Monday over the ruling socialists’ win in gubernatorial elections, raising the threat of more foreign sanctions following the vote in what the United States called “an authoritarian dictatorship.”

President Nicolas Maduro’s candidates took 17 governorships, versus five for the opposition, in Sunday’s nationwide poll, according to the pro-government electoral board.

The socialists’ strong showing came despite devastating food shortages, triple-digit inflation, and a collapsing currency. Polls had suggested the opposition would easily win a majority.

Dismayed leaders of the Democratic Unity coalition demanded an audit after citing a litany of abuses, including multiple voting, state food handouts on the day of the poll, forced attendance at gunpoint and suspicious phone and power outages.

The opposition fell short of offering detailed evidence of outright fraud, however, and there were no conventional foreign observer missions to verify claims of vote-rigging.

“This is a process of electoral fraud without precedent in our history,” said opposition spokesman Angel Oropeza. An estimated 1 million voters were blocked from voting, he said, referring to claims the election board skewed results by relocating hundreds of polling places away from opposition strongholds.

Many dispirited opposition supporters now see foreign pressure as their only real hope of hurting Maduro ahead of next year’s presidential vote.

The United States condemned the elections as neither free nor fair and vowed to keep up pressure on Maduro for the erosion of democracy in the South American OPEC nation.

“As long as the Maduro regime conducts itself as an authoritarian dictatorship, we will work with members of the international community and bring the full weight of American economic and diplomatic power to bear in support of the Venezuelan people as they seek to restore their democracy,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

The Trump administration has already imposed sanctions on Maduro and top officials, including election board head Tibisay Lucena. Washington has also struck at the government’s ability to raise more funds via foreign debt.

The European Union could also take measures against Maduro, who was narrowly elected to replace the late leader Hugo Chavez in 2013.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has also branded Venezuela a dictatorship, expressed concern at claims of “serious irregularities” and “lack of transparency” in the gubernatorial vote.

“France deplores this situation and is working with its EU partners to examine appropriate measures to help resolve the serious crisis,” the French foreign ministry said.

POOR TURNOUT

Venezuela’s government, which insisted in advance of Sunday’s vote that it would demonstrate its commitment to democracy, still retains significant support in poorer, rural settings. And it seems unlikely that supporters of the elite-led opposition, which has struggled to capitalize on discontent over the economy, will return to the streets en masse after months of grueling protests earlier this year.

The protests failed to pressure the government into holding an early presidential election, freeing scores of jailed activists or accepting foreign humanitarian aid.

At least 125 people died, while thousands were injured and arrested in violence.

“Obviously, this was a brutal fraud,” said David Osorio, 21, who lost an eye when he was hit by a gas cannister in the clashes. “But I don’t know if going back to the streets is best ... because the same will happen and many are simply not willing.”

A few hundred opposition protesters massed in front of the electoral council in the southern Bolivar state, where results were still not given by Monday evening. The National Guard used tear gas to scatter the crowd, according to a Reuters witness.

Various opposition leaders acknowledged disillusionment and people staying home had played a big role.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” legislator Jose Guerra said, noting record turnout of 74 percent in a 2015 congress vote, which the opposition won, versus 61 percent on Sunday.

Flanked by his powerful wife, soldiers, and red-shirted party members, a jubilant Maduro painted the opposition as sore losers. “When they lose they cry fraud. When they win they shout ‘Down with Maduro,'” said Maduro, 54.

The opposition pocketed governorships including the turbulent Andean states of Merida and Tachira and the oil-producing region of Zulia.

The government, which had previously controlled 20 governorships, took states across Venezuela’s languid plains and steamy Caribbean coast. It won back populous Miranda state, which includes part of the capital Caracas, and also won in Barinas, Chavez’s home state, where his younger brother retained the top job.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-v...t-idUSKBN1CK06A?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
 
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