The Standoff Over Food and Power in Venezuela

I appreciate the truthful denunciation of Maduro's starvation techniques to stay in power. Starvation, lack of medicine and basic services in hospitals, rampant corruption and negligence of industry is what has brought the collapse of the Venezuelans, not U.S. sanctions. It was also important to remark that Maduro rigged all elections he claims to have won. People in Venezuela despise Maduro, that is a reality. The last fair election in Venezuela was held in 2015 and Venezuelans overwhelmingly favored the left leaning opposition to Chavismo. However the usurpers created their own congress and removed the one elected by the people. By removing an elected congress and electing himself president Nicolas Maduro became an illegitimate leader. The constitution is the only tool Americans have to reign their president, the same is true for Venezuelans, who are employing a constitutional article, approved by Chavez, to remove an unelected usurper of the presidency. I think it is troubling and condescendant to assume Venezuelans have an unpolitical view of the humanitarian aid and "they just want to eat". Not only are Venezuelans aware of the oppressive tactics the illegitimate government has used for more than a decade to dehumanize them, but they also are desperate to rid themselves of the Cuban influence in Venezuelan affairs. I find it interesting that when addressing the Venezuelan issue, most pundits have to avoid talking about Venezuela and speak instead of interventionism

1. People are starving because of our sanctions. 2. That bridge was blocked off long before the "humanitarian aid" showed up. 3. The charges Elliott Abrams avoided by pleading guilty to withholding information about atrocities were literally for smuggling weapons disguised as humanitarian aid. 4. The opposition parties chose to boycott the election. 5. This has nothing to do with Venezuela kicking Exxon-Mobil out. It's all about saving the children, we promise.

I agree the matter will not be helped by American use of force, but that does not exclude military options. Why can't we use the military to drop food inside Venezuela? Begin along the border and once it is clear what the aircraft are doing proceed further inland and dare Maduro too shoot at them once their purpose is clear.

I thank you for your efforts to portray the current situation in Venezuela. I am a Venezuelan citizen who has been living in the United States since 2001. There is a history of US intervention in Latin American throughout history, which is to be expected considering the power of the US in the region. The interventions mentioned during the cold war are in a completely different historical context. It is well known that the Maduro administration is illegitimate (for reasons that are to long to expose in this opinion), he was not democratically elected. According to the Constitution it is Mr. Guaido's role to assume the Presidency until free elections are called. More than 80% of the population in Venezuela is against Maduro and his Narco Regime, there is a social-economic-health humanitarian crisis. The US is backing the people of Venezuela, "We, The People" which is what democracy is about. Isn't that what the US states stands for?

The picture caption says "Venezuelan troops positioned truck trailers and shipping containers to block lanes of a major highway link with Colombia in order to prevent opponents of the government from bringing food and medicine into Venezuela." This is yet another lie. The bridge in the picture was built in 2015. Those trailers and shipping containers have been sitting there since 2016. The bridge was never open. Colombian newspapers back in 2016 reported that this bridge had not been made operational. It is a lie that a functioning highway was blocked to prevent "food and medicine" from getting into Venezuela. In other news, Elliot Abrams, current US Special Envoy to Venezuela, admitted in 1987 that he shipped weapons to the contras on what were supposedly "humanitarian aid" flights. To stave off felony charges during the Iran-Contra scandal, Abrams pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress.

Your Venezuela story spends time going back to the 50’s and 70’s pointing out our role in deposing elected Central and South American governments. Fair enough. What is frustrating is the glossing over of the systematic pillaging of the economy by Chavez/Mauro over the last 20 years. It seems to me that’s the real story and to pick it up today at the Columbia border and justify the long term internal destruction of the country by its dictators as the result of US actions is less than honest

I appreciate the effort to portray the complexity of the situation in Venezuela and to highlight the problematic history of US intervention in Latin America, but I'm astounded that you didn't discuss Venezuela's oil as a leading reason for current US interest there. The Trump Administration has baldly admitted it.

Hello, I'm quite shocked with the fact that the journalists involved in today's show affirm that the interventions in Latin America backed by the US started in 1973 in Chile. That is quite inaccurate. The first intervention of that era happened 9 years before that, in 1964 in Brazil. There are thousands of sources for that. Also the fact Allende killed himself is disputed to this day in Chile. If this team needs a detailed quick source referenced by serious research and official documents, you can go to the Klein's Shock Doctrine - there is a wonderful documentary with the same name too. The Chicago boys started their Latin America game in Brazil. Also, I recommend the reading of The World Bank and The Poverty of Nations, which describes in detail - written by a Bank's former officer - what were the impacts of the military dictatorship in Brazil and other countries, all backed by the World Bank post coups. I still get surprised of how little attention the second biggest country and population in the Americas is taken seriously in North America. By the way, Brazilian current mess is not dissociated from foreign countries in the geographical north. LatAm keeps carrying the burden - as do other States in the geographical south - of having to be the cheap source of commodities for the north, as our people die of hunger and all sorts of conflicts generated by both the massive inequality and the corruption fueled by multinational corporations and foreign governments interventions.

I have a friend who has taught Spanish to the military at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA. for years.Spanish They have been at this for a long time just in case the US needs to send troops to countries like......Venezuela or Cuba or ...? BTW The DLI teaches lots of other languages as well)

I wish the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, who ran on a platform of fixing our roads, and never did a thing, would look at the roads of a "starving, third world" country . . .

Could you please stop saying Juan Guaido self declare president of Venezuela? He was asked to assume the role of president interim base on the constitution. Thanks

Hey - when do we get an episode about the Green New Deal? Inquiring folks who won't be dead yet when climate change ruins the planet wish to know.

the USA should keep it's nose away from other country's internal strife---having-said-that---FOOD/MEDICINE is a humanitarian issue :)

You're painting this like the USA's intentions in Venezuela are good, and they are not.