Over the past year, US officials say, the Trump Administration has held a series of secret meetings with rebellious Venezuelan military officers. The talks centered on various plots to carry out a coup d’etat in Venezuela.
The White House declined to discuss the talks directly, only saying they were talking with anyone who could “bring positive change” to Venezuela, and “who demonstrate a desire for democracy.”
Officials say the White House ultimately declined to back the coup plotters, and the coup never took place. The repeated meetings, however, showed a serious US interest in the idea, and openness to toppling the Venezuelan government.
This led to severe criticism from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, who slammed the US for providing any planning and support for military conspirators.
This evidence potentially does major harm to any rebellion, and to its ability to credibility sell itself to the rest of the region, as the government can now portray them, somewhat credibly, as part of an American plot. Given President Trump’s open talk of a “military option” in Venezuela, this would be credible to many.
Nothing says “disrupt the war party” like shopping around for a brand new coup!
The Russians is interfering with us while we interfere with everyone else. It ain’t fair! We is Amurkins and oughter be able to interfere without interference. Saint McCain sed so!
I come a little late to this discussion but it’s just too much fun to ignore.
Of course the United States, starting back in 2002, has been conducting an economic war against Venezuela. Venezuela was doing fine back then, because the American wars in the Middle East had driven the price of oil up to over $100 a barrel , so Chavez could lavish the indigenous population with social programs to lift them out of their historic poverty. With oil prices through the roof the colonial comprador class was still collecting abundant income from oil revenue, so the situation was not intolerable.
What’s odd, and noteworthy is that Chavez, in an unprecedented act of ***genuine democracy*** (egad!) had essentially “given the country back to the Indians”. Absolutely astonishing!
Then the charismatic Chavez died in March 2013, and a year and a half later oil prices collapsed, at which time the United States began its full court press to regime-change Venezuela. With oil prices in the toilet, the money spigot to both the privileged classes and the poor was turned down to a trickle, and nothing gets people riled up like having their standard of living go from rich to “regular”. When the gravy train ended for the previously rich, their unhappiness became the foundation for “the opposition” to serve in the role of foot-soldiers for the US regime-change effort.
Meanwhile, all the stories about the dire circumstances in Venezuela — entirely predictable: “brutal dictatorship”, “socialist economic catastrophe” — have been propaganda, total bs. Just the usual “perception management” that the US Deep State applies to its own people as it prepares for war against its next hapless victim.
But things are different now. The US has become the world’s leading oil producer, so higher oil prices are now “a good thing”. (For the US oil companies? Check. For the American people? Not so much.) But higher oil prices are also good for Venezuela (and Russia and Iran), which will help Venezuela recover economically. So bottom line: the long sought regime-change in Venezuela (as in Syria) has failed.
BY the way, for the truth about Venezuela, Google up “Abby Martin, Venezuela”.