Venezuela's Rank-and-File Soldiers Have Been Deserting in Droves

[mikewhitney]

Exactly. If they were all fellow travelers on the same side then Marudo and his thugs wouldn't be calling them such things as devils in cassocks.

How do you tell if these are Marduro's thugs or Guaido's thugs or some other group stirring up trouble?

We have to be careful what we accept as truth since the US govt may want to go to war to support Guaido.

Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul institute was also warning us of improper US motives:

[Sparko]

How do you tell if these are Marduro's thugs or Guaido's thugs or some other group stirring up trouble?

We have to be careful what we accept as truth since the US govt may want to go to war to support Guaido.

Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul institute was also warning us of improper US motives:

Well Carp keeps saying one way to fix the problem of illegal immigration is to fix the problems that make them want to leave their country in the first place. I say take over all of these dictatorships and countries run by the cartels and put in some democracy. Puppets or not.

[One Bad Pig]

How do you tell if these are Marduro's thugs or Guaido's thugs or some other group stirring up trouble?

We have to be careful what we accept as truth since the US govt may want to go to war to support Guaido.

Yes, you might be careful what you accept as truth. Much of the EU also supports Guaido. They're not exactly pro-Trump.

Also, one of Trump's better attributes is that he tends to listen to what his military leaders are telling him. I don't know if you're uncritically swallowing libertarian points of view or what, but the positions you're pushing in this thread seem far from realistic.

[thewriteranon]

Yes, you might be careful what you accept as truth. Much of the EU also supports Guaido. They're not exactly pro-Trump.

Also, one of Trump's better attributes is that he tends to listen to what his military leaders are telling him. I don't know if you're uncritically swallowing libertarian points of view or what, but the positions you're pushing in this thread seem far from realistic.

I follow a number of libertarian pages and I haven't seen anything pro-Maduro. I imagine there are some that would prefer non-involvement, but I would find it rather out of character for most of the libertarians I follow to say that Maduro has acted "on behalf of the country and its people." Other than the ones who just say things to be contrarians.

Quick reminder that, yes, lots of South American politics trend liberal and lots of South American Christians are into liberation theology, but Guaido is not a conservative. He's still part of a liberal party.

[mikewhitney]

Well Carp keeps saying one way to fix the problem of illegal immigration is to fix the problems that make them want to leave their country in the first place. I say take over all of these dictatorships and countries run by the cartels and put in some democracy. Puppets or not.

It might help if the US didn't place sanctions on Venezuela. The situation seems to be outside influences rather than internal politics.

The idea of the EU supporting Guaido isn't exactly comforting; when too many nations are aligned to the same policy, it seems they are just jumping on the bandwagon.

[Sparko]

It might help if the US didn't place sanctions on Venezuela. The situation seems to be outside influences rather than internal politics.

The idea of the EU supporting Guaido isn't exactly comforting; when too many nations are aligned to the same policy, it seems they are just jumping on the bandwagon.

I don't know a thing about Guaido, but I do know Maduro is a murdering dictator that needs to be removed from power and they need to restore Venezuela's constitution back to what it was before and have free elections again.

[Starlight]

Venezuela military sets up blockade on bridge to stop aid from Colombia




https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezu...ombiaVenezuela military sets up blockade on bridge to stop aid from Colombia

Worth noting that this story is a lie by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The depicted bridge is newly constructed and has not yet been opened for traffic. It is absolutely not an existing bridge that was closed down to prevent aid getting through. Parts of the border between Venezuela and Colombia were closed 4 years ago due to security issues with armed smuggling rings who killed border guards (hence a delay in opening this bridge post-construction) but other parts of the Colombia-Venezuela border remain open. The idea that Maduro recently closed the border to block aid seems an utterly deranged claim by Pompeo.

Pompeo has been making up even more crazy lies to the effect that there are active Hezbollah (a Lebanese anti-ISIS political group) in Venezuela. The man seems to have his continents muddled up.

Pompeo should resign from Secretary of State as he is a nutter.

[Sparko]

Worth noting that this story is a lie by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The depicted bridge is newly constructed and has not yet been opened for traffic. It is absolutely not an existing bridge that was closed down to prevent aid getting through. Parts of the border between Venezuela and Colombia were closed 4 years ago due to security issues with armed smuggling rings who killed border guards (hence a delay in opening this bridge post-construction) but other parts of the Colombia-Venezuela border remain open. The idea that Maduro recently closed the border to block aid seems an utterly deranged claim by Pompeo.

Pompeo has been making up even more crazy lies to the effect that there are active Hezbollah (a Lebanese anti-ISIS political group) in Venezuela. The man seems to have his continents muddled up.

Pompeo should resign from Secretary of State as he is a nutter.

Worth noting your source is an opinion piece on medium.com - And the containers were not showing anywhere on that article, just some flimsy fencing. Looks to me like Venezuela added the containers to prevent the Colombians from bring in aid just like the Pompeo said.

[Starlight]

Worth noting your source is an opinion piece on medium.com - And the containers were not showing anywhere on that article, just some flimsy fencing. Looks to me like Venezuela added the containers to prevent the Colombians from bring in aid just like the Pompeo said.

The article cites numerous sources, so your rejection of it is absurd.

Basic internet research on the current status of Venezuela's borders would tell you there are currently open crossings from both Colombia and Brazil into Venezuela. The photo lying Pompeo shared was of a border crossing that has not yet been opened since construction. He should resign.

[rogue06]

The article cites numerous sources, so your rejection of it is absurd.

Basic internet research on the current status of Venezuela's borders would tell you there are currently open crossings from both Colombia and Brazil into Venezuela. The photo lying Pompeo shared was of a border crossing that has not yet been opened since construction. He should resign.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting on the bridge being blocked relying on other photos taken from a video apparently by the AP: Venezuela military barricades bridge in attempt to block aid

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And CNN is doing the same

Source: Tensions rise as Venezuela blocks border bridge in standoff over aid

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Two US trucks carrying food and medical supplies arrived at Venezuela's border this afternoon, according to a US official in the Colombian border town of Cucuta. But it is not clear when or whether the aid will reach people inside the country.

The government of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has blocked aid deliveries amid rising tensions over opposition plans to bring humanitarian aid into the country.

Venezuela's opposition leader and self-declared president, Juan Guaido, last week named Cucuta as one of three collection points for the delivery of international aid.

His move ramped up tensions with Maduro's government even as many in Venezuela remain in desperate need of such supplies.

Maduro has rejected the international aid, saying: "We are not beggars."

On Friday he tweeted: "The humanitarian aid is a show to humiliate us and is intended to justify military aggression; a macabre plan which does not hide the robbery of more than $10 billion from our nation by the United States. If they want to help, they must stop the blockade, the persecution, and the aggression against Venezuela."

Aid route blocked

Guaido said Thursday he was confident his efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the country would work out.

"We will succeed in letting the humanitarian aid in, because it's about saving lives," Guaido posted on his official Twitter feed. "While we work every day to reach the delivery of humanitarian aid, they insist in siphoning the medicines and food from those who urgently need it."

Colombian officials and a CNN photojournalist at the scene confirmed the presence of the blockade, which would effectively prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Venezuela via this route.

Images show an orange oil tanker and two large blue containers positioned midway across the three-lane Tienditas Bridge, which connects Cucuta with San Antonio city in Tachira State in western Venezuela.

Juan Caicedo, a spokesperson from Migration Colombia, Colombia's Ministry of Immigration and Immigration Control, said the Venezuelan military put the blockade into place Tuesday afternoon, adding that there are cameras monitoring activity on the bridge.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

Looks like starlight is busted yet again. Shouldn't you be getting tired of that?

[Starlight]

The US media gullibly parroted what Cheney told them when he lied the US into Iraq. Seems they are doing it again. They get so much advertiser money from the military industrial complex they are desperate to support every possible war.

[Cow Poke]

The US media gullibly parroted what Cheney told them when he lied the US into Iraq....

Perhaps you're unaware that others were for the war before they were against it?

Why liberals tell themselves comforting fables about the Iraq War

But you know what's even more maddening than the GOP's paroxysms of denial?

The insistence of leading liberals that the Bush administration lied the U.S. into war by deliberately overstating the threat that Hussein and his nonexistent stockpile of weapons of mass destruction posed to America and the region.

[rogue06]

The US media gullibly parroted what Cheney told them when he lied the US into Iraq. Seems they are doing it again. They get so much advertiser money from the military industrial complex they are desperate to support every possible war.

Going with the doubling down on stupidity/denialism thing yet again are you? How has that been working out for you? Has it ever altered reality to match up with your ravings? Perhaps if you click your heels together three times when you post.

The British press is reporting the same thing. And as the CNN story noted they have a correspondent on site who has verified the blockade and the Washington Post used pictures taken by a video supplied by the Associated Press.

[mikewhitney]

This is an interview with a professor in Venezuela. This gets us closer to understanding the events in Venezuela from an internal source

[rogue06]

Going with the doubling down on stupidity/denialism thing yet again are you? How has that been working out for you? Has it ever altered reality to match up with your ravings? Perhaps if you click your heels together three times when you post.

The British press is reporting the same thing. And as the CNN story noted they have a correspondent on site who has verified the blockade and the Washington Post used pictures taken by a video supplied by the Associated Press.

starlight's bizarre tinfoil hat conspiracy theory continues to spread from the USA media to the Agence France-Presse:

Source: Venezuela military reinforces Colombian border blockade

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Venezuela's government has beefed up the armed forces guarding a reinforced blockade
on the border with Colombia where opposition leader Juan Guaido wants to bring in humanitarian aid

Venezuela's military reinforced a blockade on Thursday morning at the border with Colombia where opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to bring in desperately-needed humanitarian aid despite President Nicolas Maduro's vow to keep it out.

AFP journalists saw several new freight containers blocking the road that connects the town of Urena in Venezuela to Cucuta in Colombia, where tons of US aid has been piling up for a week.

There was also a contingent of around 20 National Guard troops guarding the blockade.

Last week, the military initially placed two freight containers and a tanker across the road to prevent vehicles from passing.

During a mass street protest on Tuesday, self-proclaimed acting president Guaido said the aid would be brought in on February 23 and issued a direct order to the military not to block it.

Maduro, who has presided over an economic meltdown in Venezuela, has vowed to stop it from entering. The armed forces remain loyal to him.

His regime denies Venezuela is suffering from a humanitarian crisis and has dismissed the aid as a "publicity show" and pretext to a US-led invasion.

Venezuela has suffered four years of recession and is now ravaged by hyperinflation that the International Monetary Fund predicts will reach a staggering 10 million percent this year.

Salaries and savings have been rendered worthless while millions have been left in poverty faced with shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicines.

The United Nations says some 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015.

Guaido has been recognized as interim president by 50 countries and has strong backing from the US and neighbors Colombia and Brazil as he attempts to wrest power from Maduro, whose reelection last year the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

The National Assembly president has also announced plans for a second collection center in the northwestern Brazilian state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela. A third storage facility is to be established in Curacao, a Dutch island around 40 miles (65km) off the northern coast of Venezuela.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

So AFP joins CNN and AP in hallucinating a blockade the starlight says is nothing but a lie dreamed up by this boogeyman "lying Pompeo"

AFP journalists saw several new freight containers blocking the road that connects the town of Urena in Venezuela to Cucuta in Colombia, where tons of US aid has been piling up for a week.