Western media appeared as eager as the U.S. government to undermine the elections in Venezuela and agitate for political strife, writes Alan MacLeod.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in 2017. (Jeso Carneiro, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
By Alan MacLeod
MintPress News
Much to the chagrin of the U.S. government, socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro won a third successive term in office on Sunday, convincingly beating his U.S.-backed opponents, Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado, by seven points.
Almost immediately after the results were announced, American officials began decrying the elections as a farce. “We commend [the Venezuelan people’s] courage and commitment to democracy in the face of repression,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech on Sunday evening, adding:
“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not affect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people. It is critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently. That election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes. The international community is watching this very closely, and will respond accordingly.”
Senator Marco Rubio, a longtime Venezuela hawk, went further, stating, “Everybody knows massive voter turnout like the one today in Venezuela would result in a massive loss by Maduro. The ONLY way he wins is with massive fraud.”
He went on to say that Maduro should have lost by 40 points and would immediately institute a communications blackout across the country in an effort to cement his rule (something that did not happen).
Statements like these completely contrast with the accounts and testimonies of dozens of American electoral observers in Venezuela, many of whom spoke with MintPress News.
“I don’t agree with Marco Rubio,” said Wyatt Souers, a representative of the International People’s Assembly, explaining that:
“The U.S. has tried to destabilize and undermine the legitimacy of basically every Venezuelan election in recent memory. Ahead of the election, they always put out statements and media pieces, declaring the election a fraud before it even happens. But what we have witnessed this week is tons of support for the Maduro government amongst the people here.”
Souers visited several polling stations in the Caracas area and noted that turnout was “massive”, with hundreds of people inside the voting stations at any given time.
“We got to go in and see the voting process. Everything was happening according to protocol. And so, I would say it seems like these elections are legitimate, and we fully support the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their own future.”
Roger D. Harris, an observer from Task Force on the Americas, spent the day observing electoral centers in Miranda State. He and others told MintPress that opposition supporters were perfectly happy to publicly announce their allegiances and express their grievances with the government. Despite their opposition to socialism, most retained confidence in the electoral system. As Harris noted:
“I spoke to a person who is voting against Maduro, a professional who studied psychology in San Francisco. She was hopeful for change. But what was very significant was that she thought that the electoral process is free and fair. Overall, our impression of going to the various polling places was that people were very welcoming to us international observers, and were very proud to be out there voting for their country.”
No Comparison with US
Independence Day in Venezuela on July 5, 2021. (A.Davey, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Many U.S. observers who spoke with MintPress were quick to compare the Venezuelan system favorably with their own. “I am actually kind of blown away by how advanced this system is, particularly compared to the backward nature of the U.S., so I am completely impressed,” Jodi Dean, a professor and political scientist, said.
“We witnessed several polling stations, and we did not see any irregularities or anything that would point to any type of fraud or illegitimacy. The voting process here is much more rigorous than in the United States,” Souers told MintPress. “They have a very good process here.”
Elizabeth Burley, a representative of Unión de Vecinos, a Los Angeles tenants’ union, spent election day monitoring voting in La Guaira state and noted a number of superior features of Venezuelan democracy, including that the polling system is automated and completely consistent between localities.
Furthermore, she said, Venezuelan elections are held on Sunday rather than midweek as they are in the U.S., allowing more people to participate. Burley noted that she was able to go inside stations and observe everything and that there were witnesses from both government and opposition parties present. Apart from a few verbal exchanges between left- and right-wing voters, she said, events proceeded in a state of calm.
MintPress, however, witnessed a crowd of over 100 opposition supporters arrive at a voting center in central Caracas at 6 p.m., attempting to force polling stations to close exactly on time. The crowd tried to block latecomers from voting but without success. One opposition supporter blocking the door said, “Nobody should be allowed to vote unless they are from our side.”
Media Undermines a Trustworthy Process
Western media appeared as eager as the U.S. government to undermine the elections in Venezuela and agitate for political strife. “Venezuela’s Autocrat Is Declared Winner in Tainted Election,” ran The New York Times headline. The BBC described Maduro’s celebration party as “choreographed,” implying he does not enjoy widespread support. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, retweeted a call from far-right Argentinian President Javier Milei to the Venezuelan military to stage a coup against Maduro. “Shame on dictator Maduro,” Musk said.
Fake news abounds on social media as well, as images circulate of thieves supposedly stealing election boxes full of ballots. What can clearly be seen in those videos, however, are people taking huge air conditioning units. Ballot boxes in Venezuela are made of brown cardboard and are barely larger than a shoebox. The giant white appliances thieves drag out with them in the video bear zero resemblance to ballot boxes.
Hoax pictures, supposedly showing National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters with screens all showing the “real” result (an opposition victory), went viral, as did a screenshot from a TeleSUR infographic that incorrectly stated that three minor opposition parties received 4.6 percent of the vote each, instead of combined. This meant the entire vote on TeleSUR’s graphic added up to 109 percent. That relatively minor data entry error was enough for the image to go viral around the world, supposedly proving a gigantic fraud, despite the fact that its source was merely a TV channel rather than the CNE itself.
A viral video claims that leftist thieves are stealing ballot boxes.
In reality, these are aircon units.
Ballot boxes are small brown cardboard boxes, barely larger than a shoebox.
These giant appliances bear no resemblance to ballot boxes. https://t.co/npy6WfBHRS
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) July 29, 2024
The opposition is also blatantly using a bot network to boost their narrative on social media
HT: @JulianMaciasT pic.twitter.com/687Kss6kLg
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) July 30, 2024
In reality, the Venezuelan electoral system is perhaps the most advanced in the world. To cast a ballot, voters must present their national identification card. They also have their fingerprints scanned. If both the I.D. card and fingerprint match those on the national database, they can vote on a touchscreen electronic voting machine. The electronic vote is sent to the National Electoral Commission headquarters in Caracas, and a paper ballot is printed. Voters must check the ballot and place it in a box. Afterward, they must put their thumb on an ink blot and stamp it next to their name on an electoral roll to prove they have voted. They then physically sign their name beside the fingerprint.
When polls close, paper ballots are counted in front of witnesses from all parties and compared to the electronic vote count. If there are any discrepancies, a full audit is conducted. In 2013, the electronic vote was 99.98 percent accurate. This was because, across Venezuela, 22 people who had voted on the machines failed to put their paper ballot in the box.
In 2012, President Jimmy Carter (whose Carter Center regularly monitors elections worldwide) described the Venezuelan process as “the best in the world.”
[The Carter Center, however, has not certified Sunday’s election results, saying in a statement:
“Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.
The Carter Center cannot verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the electoral authority’s failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles.
Venezuela’s electoral process did not meet international standards of electoral integrity at any of its stages and violated numerous provisions of its own national laws. …
Venezuelan citizens turned out peacefully and in large numbers to express their will on election day. Despite reports of restrictions on access to many polling centers for domestic observers and opposition party witnesses; potential pressure on the voters, such as ruling party checkpoints in the vicinity of voting centers; and incidents of tension or violence reported in some localities; voting appeared to take place in a generally civil manner.
In the limited number of polling centers they visited, Carter Center observer teams noted the desire of the Venezuelan people to participate in a democratic election process, as demonstrated through their active participation as polling staff, party witnesses, and citizen observers. However, their efforts were undermined by the CNE’s complete lack of transparency in announcing the results.”]
“Everything has been calm to the point of boring,” Dean said of the election process, adding:
“People are happy and welcoming tons of foreigners to look and see what they are doing and explain it patiently, with confidence and real enthusiasm for democracy. Actually, I think that one of the reasons that there is so much cynicism in the United States about democracy is that people don’t trust the system. And here, part of their enthusiasm is that they have a lot of confidence in their system, that their voice will be heard.”
[Since the results of the election was announced there have been public protests, including tearing down seven statue of Chavez around the country.]
An Economic, Political & Psychological War
Nicolas Maduro came to power in 2013 in a similarly heavily-monitored election. The results were endorsed globally, almost without exception; the United States was the only country to refuse to recognize his victory.
Since his rise to power, Washington has waged a relentless economic war on Venezuela in an attempt to strangle his administration. There are currently over 900 U.S. sanctions against the country. The effect has been devastating: under the weight of the American blockade, Venezuela’s oil industry collapsed, causing it to lose 99 percent of its international income. Under threats of secondary sanctions, countries and businesses refused to trade with Venezuela, causing massive shortages of food and other necessary goods.
A report published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a D.C. think tank, found that, between 2017 and 2018, the U.S. blockade had killed more than 40,000 people. An American United Nations official who visited the country described the situation as akin to a “Medieval siege” and declared the U.S. guilty of crimes against humanity.
The economic war is mirrored by a political war, as Washington has attempted to isolate Venezuela internationally. Media, too, have played their part, constantly demonizing Venezuela as a failed state presided over by a dictatorship. In his victory speech on Sunday evening, Maduro claimed the results were a victory of truth over lies and decried the “dirty war” against Venezuela being played out in the press and on social media.
The U.S. has supported multiple coup attempts against Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. It has also spent tens of millions funding opposition groups, including NGOs, student organizations, and political parties. Marina Corina Machado is a case in point. The opposition leader’s “human rights” group, Súmate, was bankrolled by the C.I.A. front group, the National Endowment for Democracy.
Fighting US Imperialism
Venezuela has been a target because it offers an alternative vision of how society should be organized. Under Hugo Chavez, Venezuela nationalized its vast oil industry and used the profits to fund massive social welfare programs, including free healthcare, education and housing.
Under Chavez, poverty was reduced by half, and extreme poverty was reduced by three-quarters. Illiteracy was eradicated, and the student population grew to become the fourth largest in the world.
Venezuela became an inspiration around the globe, especially as it led the movement for a more multipolar world, offered unqualified support for Palestinian liberation, and gave its oil away for free to poor countries and communities, including black and Native American populations in the U.S. who had their homes heated for free or at heavily discounted rates courtesy of the Venezuelan government.
U.S. sanctions have devastated the country. But the Maduro administration appears to have successfully weathered the worst of the storm. Stores are full again, inflation has been tamed, and Venezuela now produces 96 percentof the food it consumes.
On top of that, Maduro’s signature housing policy, Misión Gran Vivienda Venezuela, just celebrated the building of its five-millionth apartment. “Venezuela is healing” is a common slogan across the country.
While the likes of Antony Blinken and Marco Rubio condemn the electoral process in Venezuela, their positions are not supported by the dozens of Americans who were actually on the ground in Venezuela last week. It is doubtful, however, that those observers’ words and testimonies will be heeded by those in power. After all, for the U.S. Empire, some issues are too important to let the truth get in the way.
Alan MacLeod is senior staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.
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Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Support Maduro and not the CIA puppets like Juan Guaido who only want to steal Venezuelan Oil and break the Venezuelan people!
The description of the process that Macleod describes is impressive, and whatever “fraud” exists, it doesn’t seem like it would be that easy to game the system. But stand that aside for the moment. The USA, where its ballot access and voting laws and procedures differ from state to state (voting on a workday, of course and making it hell for anything but red and blue parties to even get on a ballot) through an electoral college systems that basically means candidates don’t even need to campaign in solid red or blue states, is hardly in a place to lecture other countries on voting norms. Here is Venezuela with a well-defined national system throughout the country. When federal elections in the USA are consistent and truly democratic across the country, might I begin to entertain the notion that the USA elections are free and fair. Until then, I really wish the empire would stop meddling in other countries’ affairs.
A representative of the Carter Center once said that US elections were “neither free nor fair”, and that they would not be able to approve of the election process in any state.
The Carter Center was referred to in this article as endorsing the vote and the process, but that was for a prior election. This time, the Carter Center has NOT endorsed the results, due to an unusual lack of transparency (google AP News, Carter). What does Alan McLeod have to say about this?
The first versione of this article was sent when yesterday’s Carter Center’s statement had not been released yet.
It’s included now.
A few replies here seem to be seriously unaquainted with the situation in Venezuela (and how the U.S. and others in this hemisphere have screwed it up) at least over the past couple of decades. If we were discussing Israel I’d write them off as hasbarists in full but non-confrontational bloom. All I can suggest if I take them at face value is to learn for yourselves whom to trust (and why). Regrettably it’s no longer possible to trust old friends like PBS and NPR not to subtly mislead with establishment narrative (and even non-MSM outlets like The Intercept that used to seem unpolluted – but it helps to consider who owns them and who has left them due to how they’re being run more recently).
Another thought is to see how similar the establishment attitude toward Venezuela is to our still hostile attitude toward Cuba after so many decades, and also the attitude often common in ex-pats from both countries (and again understand why).
Right here is still a worthwhile place to look for reasonably factual and progressive insights.
FWImaybeW.
I would like to see someone address the exit poll discrepancies. Edison Research is the same company that does all the exit polling in the US, and any time their exit poll projections deviate wildly from predicted results here (as they are prone to in our cartoon system prone to every kind of fraud), election integrity activists including myself are quick to cite them as red alerts for election fraud. Why was Edison’s polling so wrong this time?
I would assume it’s because the polling was set up in favour of the party the US wanted elected. This is very possible and actually it happens all the time. I pay very little attention to polls. Considering this isn’t the first time Maduro has won with a landslide, I suspect the poll was rigged.
And why if the people’s observers from US think that the elections were legit, observers from Latin American countries think differently? Are they in cahoots with US. I doubt it. Seven diplomatic missions of these countries were thrown out of the country by Maduro’s bolsheviks. Makes on think.
Peru’s diplomatic mission was suspended (although I think they’re back now) when Dina Boluarte’s coup unseated the elected president and then proceeded to kill a couple hundred demonstrators. Don’t know about the others.
I appreciate this article very much.
I hope though that you write further articles on this matter as there many aspects of the fraud theory that you were unable to examine in this article. I am think of the option polls, the exit polls, and the Machado claim that the opposition date from73% of the polls shows a Gonzales victory.
Many of us who enthusiastically support Maduro are a bit overwhelmed by the avalanche of accusations.
Thanks again
Economic sanctions are the equivalent of siege warfare on an entire country to starve them out. It hasn’t worked well on entire countries but does exact a toll anyway doing no apparent good. So too has been the covert actions used like in the cold war to cause protective homeland security like here to protect from real or imagined actions Then those actions are used to base police state tactics against them. Encouraging coups was praised by Allen Dulles as worth it for propaganda value which may have included lies they we might step in to help them.
Thank You Alan
Thank you, Alan Macleod for this update contradicting US anti-socialist propaganda.
It would be good to spread the actual reports from the Carter Center and other reliable observers.
So far the Carter Center has asked Venezuelan election authorities to release the detailed results.
Intercept published a story citing a group of NGOs predicting a rightwing victory, while another site cited a group of NGOs predicting a Maduro victory: but we have no site comparing the NGOs’ politics.
I will presume a Maduri victory if only because he seems concerned with the real public interest,
But I would expect the most cautious evaluation of sources to persuade the greatest number.
From Anya Parampil’s “Corporate Coup”, this is an example of why Blinkin’ said “The international community is watching this very closely, and will respond accordingly.” The International community being the handful of Necons and Neoliberals that are doing everything they can to steal the Venezuelan peoples natural resources.
In 2002 Canadian mining firm Crystallex, signed for the rights to exploit the Venezuelan gold deposit at Las Cristinas.
Venezuela didn’t sign final approval for the mine after the bankers crashed the economy in 2008.
Crystallex sued for $3.16 Billion in “damages” for a mine they never opened, in the Washington DC based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes tribunal (ICSID). ICSID being a neoliberal kangaroo court for prosecution of the “Global South” sided with Crystallex for $1.2 Billion, and so ordered Venezuela to pay.
Venezuela told them, by not paying, to pound sand.
After Trump decreed Guaido fake president (Jan. 2019). Fake president Guaido’s new fake “Attorney General” Jose Ignacio Hernandez “lifted the corporate veil” on Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela. Paving the way in July 2019, for a Delaware court to rule Crystallex could steal the $1.2 Billion from Citgo via a fire sale of their infrastructure to US oil companies.
Anya was saying on The Grayzone that the fire sale of Citgo was to take place this month, but a political decision was made to move it to September to avoid the elections. Carlos Vecchio, Guaido’s fake ambassador to the US and Exxon/Mobile stooge will benefit greatly. Along with Exxon/Mobile of course.
Has the US ever done anything good? Defeated the Nazis? I think the US took the Nazis’ business. The US is the enemy of the world. What is the “US”? A government of business, state-sanctioned corporate policies with the threat and support of the Pentagon. The US is a fascist state, as described by Mussolini. The US is the enemy of the world, and Israel is a US base.
It is very simple. The oligarchy wishes to install a government in Venezuela that will put up zero resistance to them filling their coffers with Venezuela’s riches. You know, the kind of governments they have installed in the west.
“American Democracy” begs some kind of question:
2024: Dems block primary challenges, remove their candidate, appoint other candidate. Only elected major party candidate is prosecuted and shot.
2020: After vote-count problem in primaries, Dems collude to exclude Sanders, appoint Biden. Criticism of November election goes unprocessed as 1/6 protesters are prosecuted.
2016: Successful Republican primary challenges deposes neoconservative candidates. DNC argues in court that it has no legal requirement to follow its own rules. Greens sue for votes uncounted, but cannot include all states.
2012: Relatively straightforward, apparently.
2008: In open-mike event, Obama tells Clinton that the number of primary challengers is unacceptable. Left-leaning candidates are driven from the party over the next few years.
2004: Bush steals election.
2000: Bush steals election.
1996: B Clinton talks labor, continues anti-labor policies
1992: B Clinton talks labor, continues anti-labor policies
1988: Ex-CIA chief takes election
1984: Actor fading into senility fronts for Ex-CIA chief
1980: CIA chief VP cuts deal with Iran to steer US election
Before that, we only have to go back to 1972 for another failed election, this one involving the Watergate break-in. In 1968, candidate RFK Sr is shot and killed, along with the very influential Martin Luther King. And before that, we have the last successful assassination of a sitting president, almost certainly involving the collusion of CIA assets under Allen Dulles.
The US empire managers will continue their temper tantrum to no avail. Same goes for their lap dogs in the corporate media. All bankrolled by the Western ruling oligarchy teetering on the brink of collapse and long ago having abandoned democratic principles. They are privileged crooks who hate the thought that ordinary people could be allowed to govern themselves without their Gringo overlords calling the shots. Boo hoo.
There certainly are advantages towards whoever winds up leading Venezuela leveraging the BRICS against the USA in order to secure the best deal for their nation, but let’s be honest. Neither group gives a flying fig about democracy or free and fair elections. The ‘R’ in BRICS is Russia and the ‘C’ is China, neither of which are known for their free and fair elections. The ‘B’ is Brazil, which has a checkered history as well. India (the ‘I’) is the only truly exemplary democracy among the BRICS nations, and Modi has been doing his best to chip away at that reputation for the past decade. Venezuela would be wise to treat both the USA and the BRICS as tenuous trading partners who aren’t entirely trustworthy, rather than view them as true allies.
The U.S has no right to comment on the Venezuelan election. They sound just like Trumpers!
And elections in the US are ALWAYS squeaky clean??? Never any cheating??? Will the day ever arrive when the US STOPS sticking it’s nose where it don’t belong?
Has anyone else noticed that there is very little difference between the US government’s claims of election fraud and Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020?
There is actually an important difference. Trump’s 2020 claims contradicted exit poll results which if anything implied that Trump himself may have been the beneficiary of computerized fraud in a few states (though not enough to swing any states in his favor). The same company that does all the exit polling in the United States also did exit polling in Venezuela this year and showed quite a large deviation in Maduro’s favor from their polling sample, at least when only 80% of results had been tallied several days ago.
The really important contrast is how the US state department has a general standard of 1.5% (if I’m remembering the number right) deviation of official results outside an exit poll’s margin of error where they’ll refuse to recognize a foreign country’s election as free and fair, but they NEVER apply that standard in the United States where it happens regularly.
The bottom line moral of the story is that the U.S. electoral system, as well as the governance of the country is the real eyesore fraud.
The article states: Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech on Sunday evening, among other garbage:
“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not affect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people. It is critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently. That election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes. (Do first yourselves what you would have others do) The international community is watching this very closely, and will respond accordingly.”
Didn’t the American state department just recently condemn the Russian presidential ,election result saying Vladimir Putin rigged the system, because Russia is not a democracy; and besides, that he Putin is the devil incarnate?
When Antony Blinken says, above: “The international community is watching this very closely, and will respond accordingly.” Just who does this international community consist of?
In the case of the genocide taking place in Palestine, under the guidance of its Prime Culprit, this sadistic Minstrel gets invited to perform his act for a combined session of the Congress, for the forth time, despite ‘the international community’s vociferous objections.
The regime in Kiev is no longer headed by a legitimate president, but no worries, this is no hindrance for us in getting what we want done, done!
Fraud? America today, is the ‘butt’ of an international joke, in that it considers itself the extraordinary Democracy. And that it is; wrapped in sheeps clothing!
Oh dear, is this going to be another Maidan coup, another ‘Ukraine’?
Venezuela hasn’t much to worry about in that regard. First, the Nazis are all in the universally despised upper classes, who have been moving to Miami and New York and reducing their already low numbers anyway. Second, one of the first things that Chavez did was to redistribute most of the military’s small arms from central depots to small armories distributed around the country and then organize and train local ‘self defense teams’ who could respond quickly to local outbreaks of violence. (Then they bought 330,000 used Kalashnikovs and added them to the armories.) This first eliminated the constant incursions of right-wing terrorists and drug operations from Colombia, the primary military threat at the time, but it also insulated the government from the possibility of a coup by a corrupted military leadership since Venezuelan soldiers will refuse to fire at their countrymen.
I hope Venezuela is considering joining BRICS so they can flip the bird at the US and its allies and truly get themselves out from under the US hegemonic boot. Good for the Venezuelan people and congratulations once again!!
The Guardian UK is on overdrive with its propaganda on the outcome of the Venezuelan election (of course, along with the NY Times, et al). They have truly mastered there art of propaganda.
I honestly have no idea what to believe at this point in regards to Venezuelan elections.
I’ve read both versions (that the results are rigged, that the results are legit) from news sources I trust outside the MSM bubble. Most Venezuelan ex-pats I know are very much in the ‘rigged’ camp, but then again, they are ex-pats for a reason and not necessarily representative of people who still live in the country. At this point, I’m going to have to resign myself to accepting that I can’t trust ANY information coming from either camp and shrug my shoulders. Whatever the truth may be, I wish the Venezuelan people luck.
I find it interesting that Maduro claims victory with 51% but that the opposition stated they had proof that they won by a landslide. Where is the independently verified proof?
The main reason Machado was not allowed on the ballot is because she advocated for the US to invade Venezuela to effect a regime change, a position that rendered her ineligible to run.
I think it was the last election there that the US advised the opposition to not run. They did not and then the US criticized Maduro’s win.
And let’s not forget Juan Guaidó…
It would be interesting to research how many voters were voting the “opposition” because life under US sanctions is so difficult, throwing in the towel as it were. Can’t blame them if they did. Being collateral damage from our almost unrelenting attack on their country must be horrifying.
Good grief Steve! US government is committing genocide
with its fascist friend Israel and you don’t know what the
the truth is?
There also may be an American white supremacist factor
(Trump’s coming), as most poor Venezuelans are dark and wealthy
more light skinned.
Take another look at the picture.
Hear, hear!
At the moment, I am with you. Personally, I am not in the habit of taking either the likes of Venezuelanalysis / Correo del Orinoco / TeleSUR, or Caracas Chronicles / Muros Invisibles / Americas Quarterly, on faith, to say nothing of the larger international corporate and legacy media outlets, even if I do try to take all of their salient points and relevant information into account.
In the context of Venezuela and other US-targeted adversarial states, I am perhaps most inclined to be in accord with those who have been oppositional toward their own society’s authoritarian tendencies but are also not simply National Endowment for Democracy (NED) conduits who shill for US regime change, some examples being Francisco R. Rodríguez for Venezuela, Andrei Nekrasov in Russia, Nizar Nayouf and Maher Arar in Syria, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), etc.
I hope Venezuela is considering joining BRICS so they can flip the bird at the US and its allies and get on with their democracy and economic development for the people. The anti-democratic forces of the US, Canada, Australia and western European countries could learn a thing or two about how to run a fair and transparent election. The same old same old scripts that get pulled out by the US and western media when on of its “state-wards” defies them is hilarious if it weren’t so destructive. Good for you Venezuela!
They’re in line to join BRICS, four more have already joined the original five. There are 7 countries currently in the queue to join including Venezuela, one (Saudi Arabia) has been invited but hasn’t decided yet, and 32 other countries have expressed interest but haven’t yet completed the application process. (Including, to my shock, US allies Peru and Turkey.)
Malaysia has applied. Not a big country or big economy, but Malaysia would truly be a win/win. A big part of Malaysia’s appeal being location, location, location. China wants them in. I’m sure that Malaysia has had numerous visitors from the US State Department, Defense Department, and CIA since the announcement.