• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Ranchers.net

Trouble in socialist paradise?

Voters in Venezuela handed control of the legislature to the opposition after suffering from years of socialist-inflicted economic malaise. The ruling party, which under Chavez had consolidated more and more state power under itself, has tried to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition to undo the damage created by Chavismo, finally shutting down the legislative branch altogether last month. The transformation from socialism to dictatorship should never be surprising.

The historical, economic, and political context of the current moment in Venezuela, however, didn't stop MSNBC's Rachel Maddow from connecting it to the revelation that Citgo, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, donated $500,000 to the Trump inaugural committee. "Today Venezuelans are enraged anew by this brand new FEC filing from the White House," Maddow told her audience this week, while a chyron read "Unrest in Venezuela Over Trump Donations." :roll:

As CNBC reports, however, the filing came "a day after the latest in a series of violent demonstrations which have added to the country's rising death." The opposition movement in Venezuela called for nationwide protests earlier in the week, which were repressed by government forces. On social media, the ruling Socialist Party reveled in the fact that protesters were forced to clean themselves in a dirty river after being tear gassed by police.

Last night, El Valle, one of the capital Caracas' "toughest, most violent shantytowns," according to Caracas Chronicles, saw looting of the commercial district, with a response by local security forces and the national government's paramilitary forces, and reports of gunfire throughout the night.

Local media coverage of the ongoing unrest has been almost non-existent. "It can be baffling trying to piece together a sequence of events in a country with no free media,"


I guess Maddow missed this story as the rest of the media ignored it as well...
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Trump administration announced sanctions against Venezuela’s vice president on Monday, calling him a drug “kingpin” in its first moves against the country’s leftist government, which President Trump railed against during his campaign.

Vice President Tareck El Aissami, according to a Treasury Department statement, was being sanctioned for “playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.” The sanctions mean that Mr. El Aissami, 42, will be blocked from financial dealings with Americans and will have any American assets frozen.

The sanctions come as Mr. El Aissami has been consolidating power in Venezuela. He was appointed as vice president by Mr. Maduro on Jan. 4 after rising from a job as a rural student leader. Since appointing Mr. El Aissami to the post, Mr. Maduro has granted him expanded powers, including over the economy and expropriating businesses. Mr. El Aissami also heads a newly formed “commando” unit, meant to root out dissidents that the government accuses of plotting coups. Mr. El Aissami does not have a good history on human rights, Mr. Smilde said, adding that while he was governor of the state of Aragua “he presided over a police force that came to be one of the most violent and abusive in the country.”

Maybe Citgo should have gave trump more money and he would have sanctioned the dead leader's super rich daughter as well.

funny how the commie dictators, Chaves, ($800 million), Castro, ($900 million), Putin ($40 billion) get really rich. While the poor get poorer, the middle class get poor, the wealthy, get suddenly poor or dead, and the rest either leave, or get richer by chumming up to the ruling party.
Top