Maduro Turns to Special Police Force to Crush Dissent

Aaand this is what happens when you disarm your citizenry...

I am shocked that the NYT would print an article exposing a known Western Hemisphere oppressive Western dictator government. Usually the NYT gives full support to anything related to socialism or Communism. I have been to South America in the last year and the Venezuelan ex pats are numerous all the way down to Argentina. More Argentinians would be somewhere else if they could.

Populists, like fascists and some others, to also say demagogues, something regular people are incapable of comprehending, their illusion of a better tomorrow, or endless possibilities – for example, jobs for all – historically always come to devastating consequences/effects. Sometimes, not for lack of trying, but before all their beliefs never reflect reality. Especially so is when there are so many external factors they absolutely have no control over. For example, a significant plunge in the price of a barrel of oil, which at one point saw itself being reduced by more than 70 percent, compared with June 2014 levels of $62/bbl (or an oil barrel), can be one of the various external factors to impact the ability of a nation/country that is significantly dependent on petro-dollars to finance the items of its national budget. The continuing existential economic crisis and immediately thereafter also an exacerbated one of political nature and unprecedented gravity, as far back memories can recall, in the South American Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, where oil accounts for 96 percent of exports and more than 40 percent of government revenues, sure tell it all.

Maduro and his top brass know that if they're ousted they will either have to flee the country and end up being imprisoned for drug trafficking and crimes against humanity or, if they stay in Venezuela, end up being dragged through the streets of Caracas and executed by the people much like Gaddafi. There's no doubt that Maduro and his gang will resort to genocide in order to stay in power.

This is what happens when one is incompetent and power hungry... Maduro is both. This is regardless of political ideology. One may argue Trump would the same if allowed. He admires Putin and is selling the USA to him. Plus Trump is an incompetent President who doesn't seem to get anything done.

And here they are, Venezuelan tonton macoutes. Maduro is trying to emulate, ineptly, Lenin and Castro. Lenin's solution was to murder the aristocracy and the upper middle class but corruption got you shot. Maduro's and Mugabe's way - and Corbyn's dream - has been to rob the middle class and create a socialist kakistocracy.

The ghost of Pinochet is looming in the shadows. Here we go again with another South American madman headed down a deadly road - for everyone.

Wait till Trump sees this on Fox.

Interesting how conservative commenters are quick to associate these human rights violations with Socialism, while liberal commenters are quick to point out similar acts by Nazis and Fascists and their admiring MAGA hat-wearers. Could it ever be possible to stand for tolerant, non-violent democracy again? The US certainly didn't do that in Central and South America in the 1970s-80s. Instead we helped to invent the Death Squad, and now our bad karma seems to be amassed in refugee caravans along the Mexican border.

We’ve got those special police dudes in Charlottesville. They’re very special- right—-

Venezuela is a beautiful country with beautiful beaches, Andes mountains, the Orinoco river, with unique animal life and plants. It has the potential to be a totally stable economic country. What prevents Venezuela from being a great country is the red communist government it has. Please don’t be nice and call Venezuela a socialist country. Those living in the capital of Caracas even have a problem buying daily toilet articles, bath soap, even food. Even children are dying from hunger. Cuba is still a red communist country and in 2016 (barack hussein obama) paid a visit to Cuba and was seen hugging communist Fidel Castro. Our country must learn from the fractures of Venezuela, WWII German Nazi empire, the Roman empire, and the Greek empire and other countries where the people gave too much power to their central government, and latter regretted their action but could do nothing to reverse their horrible future. Total freedom to do whatever you want is a fictitious crystal ball dream. Nothing is free, not even freedom. Everything has a price to pay.

Brown shirts, or oil-blackened black shirts, the real prop of the secret and not-so-secret police of Venezuela are learning perhaps as slowly as Donald Trump learns, that the real prop for their being is the well-being of the country. People everywhere have a right to governance FOR the people more than government by the plunderers in power. When people in Venezuela put chairs in potholes to warn motorists, rather than see holes filled in by any sense of the most minimal of government functions, the top will tumble, and Maduro better git while the gittin's good.

I wonder what are the vital actions on the ground in Caracas in the wake of these developments. Seems that the challenging regime of Guaido would want to entice military people to desert Maduro for better prospects of pay -and food--under the new regime. I'm assuming the US & its allies have thought out ways of forming and funding protective enclaves in Caracas and surrounding areas, where military defectors can protect vital functions--like feeding their supporters, and offering such functions to more who they need to defect. . . Am I assuming too much?

Despite (my shared) broad criticism of the Trump administration, I think this may be a career highlight for him.

Deeply disturbing, extremelly so to think of Jeremy Corbin prime minister of the UK and Bernie Sanders president of the US with this situation unfolding. Mr.Trump, you are on the left of these politicians. Bravissimo for recognizing Guaidó as the real leader of Venezuela! Cheers to Freedom!

I remember when Venezuela used to be rich. It had its share of illegal aliens going there to find employment. It's really a disgrace what's happening and the refugee crisis created with people flowing into nearby countries. The top military commanders will always have their pantries full of groceries but not the rank and file. Maduro should step down for the good of the nation. It's better than being removed by a foreign power. Killing that young boy who attended the protest is the extreme violation of human rights. Not even a trial.

I give the ultimate props to Juan Guaidó; he has a lot of courage and heart to speak out publicly against President Maduro. If only our own Congress in the United States of America had courage like him...

Our sanctions, and the accompanying toxification of Venezuelan debt are brutal for an import based country so highly leveraged, but I'm increasingly convinced that the strong move was the correct one. Thoughts and prayers are with the brave people fighting for their political rights in Venezuela. For once, I'm glad that this administration has given its vocal support to the people who need to hear it there. The chavismo has run its course, and the Chavez/Maduro form of "socialism" needs to be permanently pushed out. Sé fuerte, y libre Venezuela.

Here is a developing autocratic dictator crushing dissent. Can we allow this? Trump will get ideas that a Softheaded Congress would probably ignore. Trump is already attacking the Media, our intelligence services, and our Justice Dept among others. Watch out. He must be squashed like a bug as soon as possible.

This is what socialism eventually looks like, the loss of democracy and the "leader" killing protesters. Dissent becomes insanity or criminal treason.

My sympathies go out to the family of Yonaiker Ordonez, the apparent victim of policy brutality in Venezuela. Oddly, according to this article, when a similar incident occurred in the home of opposition activist Julio Reyes, he simply told the police to lower their weapons and they left his house. Interesting. So as hard as the NYTimes/FOX News Team is working to whip up war fever in America, this is all they've got? A few stories of rogue cops and the death of an opposition helicopter pilot staging an attack on government buildings in Caracas? Yeah, that's a pure case of repression, alright. So... if somebody flies a helicopter over government buildings in Washington DC, he gets the kid glove treatment from law enforcement authorities? Don't think so. The simple truth is, there's nothing going on in Venezuela that wouldn't entitle the Nazis to intervene during the US Depression, or China to intervene on the basis of police brutalities occurring right now in the States. If the US truly wants to help Venezuela, they can do something like stop the flow of contraband goods moving out of the country, creating food shortages and hardships in Venezuela. But no. The Times/FOX team wants war. Americans must stand up to this agenda. Americans must reject the agenda to destroy the self-determination of Venezuela, and countries like her, who show the temerity to look after the interests of their people, and not those of The City of London and Wall Street...

Where have we seen a "special police force to crush dissent" independent of a professional military before? Oh yeah, Germany in the 1930s. And in the future? Look to the MAGA hats, white shirts and khakis, for a bunch that is ready and willing to go.

When the leader of a country has to rely on a police force or the military to maintain political control over his citizens it is a sign that the leader is no longer the leader. Maduro has lost the support of his citizens because his leadership has made lives worse for the people of Venezuela. It is only a matter of time before he is removed from office by force, even if he commands the support of military leaders today. If the Russians or Cubans step in, it will only tarnish their reputations just like America was tarnished by its interference in Vietnam (& Iraq, & Afghanistan, & Libya, etc, etc)

Maduro will eventually be overthrown. Then what? The big problem is going to be reconstructing a broken economy.

I am surprised that no one saw the empty grocery shelves and the lack of medical care for the citizens! No one spoke of Russia and China's involvement with Maduro. He took loans from Russia. Russia is interested in all of the mineral resources of Venezuela.

It is important that people see this side of things. Many are saying to be "hands off and let the people decide" but when the people go to the streets, they get shot. When the people want to have dialogue, they have special agents killing them in their own homes without justice. There is no covert U.S. war against Venezuela, this is what Maduro's government does against his own people. I get that the US has gotten involved in the past, but these are not CIA agents trying to ferment unrest, these are Venezuelans trained by Cuban intelligence officers arresting and murdering citizens without any repercussion.

Perhaps we may take a page out of the Venezuelan story and are some comparisons. Suppose an opposition candidate (a Democrat) declares himself rightful president of the country (before elections) and demands that Trump steps down. Would people support this course of action to bring our disastrous and hated president down? What would we say if Europeans support that self declared president and freeze US assets in Europe to help overthrow Trump (as we are doing to help the self declared Venezuelan president bring down Maduro)? Would North Americans support that? Why or why not? Why the double standard with the Venezuelan case? Think. How far would we go? And by means of what routes?

Yet another article about this crisis that does not even mention the covert U.S. war against Venezuela. Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump have been directing attempts to topple the government since Chavez was elected, all because he took oil profits from the corporations and gave them to the poor. Now the U.S. is increasing the misery and chaos with new oil sanctions. Next look for a another U.S. organized coup, assassination attempt, or for Trump to send in the troops on a flimsy pretext.

Another corrupt country south of our border. at least we are doing something to force change. Travel to Central America and see the horrific conditions. What a mess. the path to citizenship here for the 11 million undocumented immigrants should be based on all their men joining a militia (trained and supplied by the US) to return to their countries and force changes to ensure social justice!

I was surprised that no news media mentioned about the food shortage in a large country where plenty of farmland are available. As long as people are fed and not hungry, people will not protest against their own government. Oil money is just icing on the cake. I worked 30 years in the oil industry here, and had several professional friends from Venezuela. They were both highly educated and European descendent. I wonder what really happened in that country. I'd like to see NY Times do a report on that.

The author of this article painfully avoids the Cuban secret police who are now the ultimate enforcers and power in Venezuela. It would be comical of such an omission except that slaughter is occurring and will increase exponentially until a civil war removes Maduro. The Cubans learned from Chile and Allende. Pope Francis is a disgrace for visiting Cuba.

I take everything with a grain of salt, even reports like this. When we are dealing with very cynical, dangerous people like Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, as well as the regular crew of extremist interventionists, we have to be even more careful to fact-check news reports that serve the narrative flurry supporting the thin reasoning behind intervention in another country that contravenes international law. I wouldn't put it past those guys to dress up their own terror squads as the opposition and murder a few locals, just for calculated injection into the media.

I wonder what Donald Trump thinks of these strong-arm tactics to crush dissent? If there was a time for the leader of the free world to speak out against this outrage it is now. But I won't hold my breath waiting for that to occur.

And if I am not mistaken, Elliot Abrams has just been appointed to head up the Venezuela crisis for the U.S. Is this not the same Elliot Abrams who was involved in the Iran-Contra Crisis where so many were tortured and killed? Is this not the same person who was found guilty of crimes against humanity and was pardoned by H.W. Bush? Funny how the recycling of these men goes on and on and on. They always seem to resurface when there is blood (or oil) to be extracted.

The Cuban government trained many of the Venezuelan military in methods of populace suppression. In at least one of the mass protests over the last decade, Cuban sharpshooters were identified shooting at individuals in the crowd, from the roofs of buildings. Cuba’s G-2 was trained by the KGB, and G-2 experts have trained many Latin Americans for a long time. Mostly in suppressing and incarceration or just murdering the political opposition, many who are poor people whose children are starving.

You can make all the legal arguments; debate all the various agendas; and discuss all the various pros and cons of who is right and wrong; and it always comes down to this. Might makes right. Who has the power; and who doesn`t.! As long as Maduro has the backing of the military and police; he will stay in power. The minute they turn on him; he is toast. While many have alreaady forgotten the long history of South American juntas and strongmen; this is really the history of that continent playing itself agin in front of the whole world. Only this time the world is actually paying attention.

The real story of Venezuela's crashing economy is buried by the mainstream media, namely that its oil is actually not oil at all, but rather tar. As such it is very expensive to refine, and even after being refined, it must be blended with other oil to be used. In its early oil days, Venezuela had plenty of good quality oil in Lake Maracaibo, but that is long gone. Now it's vast reserves are in the Orinoco Belt and are largely tar. As noted in a Forbes Magazine article from 2016 "Venezuela became a major oil producer when easily recoverable oil was discovered in Lake Maracaibo in 1914. Venezuela knew it had heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt, but this oil is difficult and expensive to retrieve. In 2006, the national oil company started accessing it, meaning that Venezuela’s recoverable oil reserves rival Saudi Arabia’s. However, production from the Orinoco Belt is still extremely costly." So when oil prices tanked, Venezuela was actually losing money with every barrel it produced. When its complicated refineries began breaking down, there was no money to fix them. When you add to this mix economic sanctions from the US preventing Venezuela from borrowing money to fix its refineries, you will begin so see what is really happened to Venezuela. And it's not the convenient lie being peddled by the US media.

The tactics of Benito Mussolini seem to be appearing just about everywhere (including the USA). They are the tactics of very small men who demand absolute obedience. Eventually they will suffer the fate of Mussolini himself, but it will take more than words to do it.

I hope the clueless fools criticizing Guaido in the comments section of his opinion piece today read this (although they clearly didn’t bother to read that before commenting). This regime is a brutal, violent dictatorship. Guaido and the opposition want free and fair elections and a return to peace and democracy. If you oppose that, you support the Venezuelan government murdering protestors.

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day," and Trump's policies toward Venezuela are, to date, unusually enlightened for him. Maduro , a high school drop-out who drove a bus, is a thug who's presided over the worst destruction of a peaceful, advanced country in modern history. And he uses extreme violence to stay in power. It's far from certain that Trump can finesse his way to a victory for Venezuela; but if he does, and deservedly gains in the polls, we have a problem at home. Just as Venezuela can take no more Maduro, we can take no more Trump. I for one am praying that BOTH men--somehow, some way--will soon be history.

This is what oil as the only product of nations seems to do. In Arabia as well as South America, where the black poison is seen as the only way a country can make money, the country quickly becomes like a drug addict-needing or desiring ever more, wishing to force consumers to pay more, to use more and ignoring the deleterious effects of the habit.