[Sixstrings]

Another Maidan?

Maduro Warns Venezuelan Protesters "We Are Coming For You"; Calls John Kerry A "Murderer"

As the daily street protests grow bloodier and bloodier, Venezuelan President Maduro has escalated his comments today, exclaiming that he "won't be bullied," and warning "prepare yourself, we are coming for you," if protesters don't "go home within hours."

*VENEZUELAN PROTESTERS HAVE 'HOURS' TO CLEAR BARRICADES: MADURO
*MADURO SAYS HE'LL SEND ARMED FORCES TO 'LIBERATE' PROTEST AREAS

With 28 dead in the last month of protests, things are very serious but as we warned previously, Maduro still enjoying the support of the poor - as EuroNews reports, it appears he is not going anywhere soon. John Kerry also came under fire as the foreign minister called him "a "murderer of the Venezuelan people," accusing him of encouraging the protests.

As Bloomberg reports,

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro says he will send armed forces to clear barricaded areas if "protesters don’t go home within hours."
"Prepare yourself, we are coming for you," Maduro tells soldiers at army event in Caracas
Plaza Altamira in eastern Caracas, the center of the protests, first to be “liberated,” Maduro says
As tensions with the US continue to rise:

The United States on Friday brushed aside "absurd" accusations by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that it was meddling in the country's internal affairs by intervening in anti-government protests.

Venezuela's foreign minister Elias Jaua had earlier called top US diplomat John Kerry a "murderer of the Venezuelan people," accusing him of encouraging the protests that have killed 28 people in five weeks.

"The solution to Venezuela's problems lies in democratic dialogue among Venezuelans, not in repression or in hurling verbal brickbats at the United States," a state department official said on condition of anonymity.

"Venezuela's government needs to focus on solving its growing economic and social problems, not on making absurd allegations against the United States."

Maduro, however, charged that "the desperate government interventionism of the United States is clear."

"There's a slew of statements, threats of sanctions, threats of intervention. There has been lobbying by the highest officials in the US government," he said.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-15/maduro-warns-venezuelan-protesters-we-are-coming-you-calls-john-kerry-murderer

I haven't followed this thing at all and have no idea what it's about.

Are they protesting post-Chavez economic conditions? The new pres just isn't a Chavez and can't hold it together? Is it about the dictatorship thing, and crackdown on freedoms in Venezuela?

[dissident]

The Venezuelan government is clearly facing the same US regime change operation as in Ukraine. Have some nutbars set up barricades and precipitate a takeover. In the case of Venezuela there are likely some military ducks all lined up in a row to bring "freedom" to the people. The loyal part of the military needs to be brought in to clear out the barricades over a period of several hours. If some troublemakers who obviously do not believe in due process (i.e. voting instead of rioting) die in the process, then that is just too bad. A collection of nuts agitated from abroad does not get to speak on behalf of all the voters. Voters speak for themselves at election time.

[Randall]

One of the people I work with is from Central America, his views of the situation are similar to those of Paul Craig Roberts.

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/03 ... g-roberts/

[Kristen]

All I can say is I hope that we aren't engaged in a secret plot to overthrow the government in Venezuela. It certainly doesn't help the majority of our country in any constructive way. It's hard to know the truth for sure when so many different factions are giving different and contradictory accounts.

[Sixstrings]

One of the people I work with is from Central America, his views of the situation are similar to those of Paul Craig Roberts.

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/03 ... g-roberts/

Responding to your linked article:

With Chavez’s death, indigenous Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro became president. Maduro does not have Chavez’s charisma, which makes him an easier target for the tiny Spanish elite that owns the media.

Okay, it's what my gut instinct sait it was, then -- that Maduro JUST AIN'T A CHAVEZ. It's not that the new dictator is just so unfortunate to not have enough charisma and the media is so hard on him -- he just ain't a Chavez, that's all.

So things are flying apart, now.

I'm not really interested in Venezuela, but I've read the news out of there same as everyone else has over the years. Chavez was a good guy, what do I care it's not my business. But in his later years, it is in fact true that he began cracking down on conservatives too much, to the point of shutting down TV stations and free speech. That's dictatorship. It's wrong and self destructive, regardless of how loveable the guy may be (personally I liked Chavez, I can't say I like Putin, but Chavez was mostly alright. But it was a bad, wrong turn to squash dissent. He wasn't brutal, but he had turned to dictatorship at the end -- apparently, Maduro is the brutal kind. We never saw this "we're coming after you" stuff from Chavez).

Washington began the attack on Maduro by attacking the Venezuelan currency and driving down its value in currency markets. Then university students, many of whom are the children of the rich Spanish elites, were sent out to protest.

Ok this is what bothers me about "alternative media" like RT and Paul Craig Roberts and all the conspiracy "question more" stuff out there. YOU CAN'T JUST THROW IT OUT THERE that the US "destabilized" the Venezuelan currency, without backing that up with some facts. And even then, you have to connect motivation to it -- it could be some banking thing, unrelated, or natural market forces.

Can anyone answer that? Just how did the US trash the venezuelan currency? Can anyone link anything?

As for the students, well, "elites" are people too, guys. I'm a Democrat but -- Republicans are people, too. They have a right to protest same as poor folks do. You can't just have your ultra left freebie giveaway country for all the poor and then trash business and anybody rich, and then oppress them, and expect it to all work out. Society needs labor AND business.

Then Brazil. Washington has its sights on Brazil, because the country is a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and Washington intends to destroy this organization before the countries can establish a trading bloc that does not use the US dollar.

Again, this is not journalism, Paul Craig Roberts just says things with nothing to back it up. That's ok for a forum but not as professional objective journalism.

And, seriously, Obama admin couldn't even get a website working. The CIA has been in disarray for years, NSA isn't even clear about who they're allowed to listen to or not.

I find it very hard to believe our federal gov has it together to this extent, to be masterminding problems in Venezuela. Seriously.

I can see that kind of deep strategy out of Putin, but sorry I don't see it from this Obama admin.

But assuming it's true -- about trying to break up the BRICS and prevent a move from the dollar -- then that makes sense to me. It's actually the #1 national security risk to the US. Losing that dollar as global reserve, and the shift away from the dollar going too quickly -- it could utterly tank us. It's just how it is, Americans didn't ask for this, it's the world that made our dollar the Roman denarius. So what are we supposed to do? Just implode and do nothing about that? We can't.

World needs to work with us if they're gonna move from the dollar, or, US does in fact need to play hardball on that. I just doubt the Obama admin and John Kerry's state dept have it together as much as Paul Craig Roberts thinks they do.

[ROCKMAN]

Well take your pick: interference by outside forces or folks pissed off with a truly crappy economy. If I take the CNN details as true it wouldn't take any outside force to create havoc. It sounds as if the only reason the gov't is still in control is the subsidies they give the huge poor population via the oil revenue. And it sounds as though that tit is in the process of drying up.

"The protests in Venezuela are starting to get nasty. The death toll is now at 28 and rising as people take to the streets in opposition to the government's mishandling of the economy. In response, the Venezuelan government this week announced a new "third" exchange rate mechanism (SICAD II) to increase the supply of U.S. dollars to private businesses and individuals. The government hopes this new scheme will help alleviate the crushing inflation and goods shortages at the heart of the month-long protests. But while SICAD II might make things easier for small businesses in the short term, it is hard to see how further manipulation of Venezuela's worthless currency will do anything to stem the tide of mass protests. Under President Nicolas Maduro, successor to Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has continued to flounder in a cesspool of self-induced crime brought on by economic stagnation. If the middle class and students leading the protests are able to draw enough support from the poorer classes to join their struggle, Maduro won't stand a chance.

The recent month-long protest in Venezuela is the strongest civil-disobedience movement the country has seen since 2003, when then-President Hugo Chavez was almost ousted from power in a military-led coup. In the years that have followed, Venezuela's standard of living has fallen dramatically as the government took to manipulating the nation's currency as a way to maintain popular support from the poorer classes. By using the state-controlled energy company, PDVSA, as a piggy bank, the Venezuelan government has subsidized a dubious state-regulated exchange rate to keep the price of food stuffs and medicine cheap. The system never worked well, but it has really fallen apart in the last two years. The market distortions have created major economic disincentives for investment and production inside the country. This has made Venezuela almost entirely dependent on imports for pretty much everything from electronics to food. As a result, inflation has skyrocketed (56% last year) as the central bank printed more and more bolivars, Venezuela's currency, to sustain the exchange rate.

Today, the government's official exchange rate remains locked at 6.3 bolivars to the dollar, but on the black market the rate is at 80 to 90 bolivars to the dollar, around 14 times the official rate. Such disparity means that foreign goods are now incredibly expensive, leading to shortages. It's become so bad that people are only allowed to go to the supermarket once a week, and when they get there, they find little on the shelves. Last year, in a bid to stem the shortages, the government implemented a new foreign exchange system known as SICAD, which allowed state-owned enterprises to "bid" for dollars in state-run auctions. SICAD gave these key businesses access to scarce dollars so they could pay their foreign suppliers at a rate that was higher than the official rate but below the black market rate. This is understandably very confusing. It is easier to think of SICAD as just another unsustainable state subsidy. It does nothing to foster investment or growth; it just continues the same old, broken economic policy that has turned Venezuela into a textbook example of how not to run an economy. So where are all these U.S. dollars coming from? Venezuela can't print them so they have to earn it somehow. With 95% of Venezuela's dollars coming from oil sales, this means that it is pretty much all coming from PDVSA. Therefore, the state-owned enterprises received dollars from PDVSA, and PDVSA received a bunch of devalued currency in return. That's bad news for the oil company, which has seen production fall off a cliff in recent years due to a lack of capital.

The economic collapse has had many consequences, most notably, a huge increase in violent crime. People are fighting over scraps, and the police are checked out. The black market for goods and dollars has the country looking like a dystopian hell, with crime bosses and private armies looting and murdering to control finite resources. Roves of highway bandits ambush vehicles they think could be carrying dollars. In one such attack last December, robbers shot and killed popular soap-opera actress and former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her husband in a violent carjacking near Puerto Cabello, the country's main port. The incident inflamed the media and brought the dollar-fueled crime spree home for many Venezuelans. Popular anger boiled over last month when the attempted rape of a student sparked mass anti-government protests at universities across the eastern part of the country. The harsh police response to the student-led protests spawned even larger protests across the country, including in Caracas, Venezuela's capital. The students have since been joined by the disillusioned middle class, who have seen their savings and wages obliterated by inflation.

In a desperate attempt to alleviate the economic calamity and reduce the dollar crime wave, the government this week announced it was extending the SICAD program to individuals and private businesses. The hope is that with greater access to dollars, store shelves will be full again and that crime would then fall. But the new program, known as SICAD II, just creates another shifty exchange rate. PDVSA doesn't have enough dollars to fulfill the needs of all the businesses in Venezuela, let alone those of individuals. This means the government would need to issue dollar-denominated debt to fulfill that demand. Considering Venezuela's junk credit rating, which was recently cut by S&P in December to B- with a negative outlook, it won't be easy. The details of the auction haven't been released, but it is doubtful that SICAD II will cure Venezuela's economic woes or have any meaningful impact on the protests or the crime rate. With so many people competing for such a limited supply of dollars, the SICAD II exchange rate will probably just end up mirroring the black market. There are simply too many desperate people looking to get rid of their worthless bolivars.

At the same time, today's protests risk fizzling out without broad-based support from the lower classes. So far, Venezuela's poor have stayed neutral in the conflict. The government has painted the protesters as a bunch of treasonous "spoiled brats" out to destroy Venezuela. That narrative worked well for Chavez, but as crime spreads and food becomes increasingly scarce, even for the lower classes, it is unlikely to work forever."

[Shaved Monkey]

I haven't followed this thing at all and have no idea what it's about.

Are they protesting post-Chavez economic conditions? The new pres just isn't a Chavez and can't hold it together? Is it about the dictatorship thing, and crackdown on freedoms in Venezuela?

It ticks all the boxes for forced democratisation.
Socialist
Lots of oil
The west doesnt control it flow or profits
Doesnt love Zionism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp-lfqKuyDg

So its time too

support the rebels
cause a ruckus
get the oil
put in your man an expat who has been screened and will follow the rules

[Simon_R]

Wasn't there a huge article on this a few weeks ago (on this site), about the decline in profitability of Venezualan oil (EROEI)

And this along with the oil subsidy stopping the Gov. of Venezuala from making any money.

basically this is ..... peakoil in action

not a conspiracy by the air loom gang or the elders of Zion .....

[Shaved Monkey]

Certainly is PO
So was Iraq, Libya, Syria, Egypt
Doent mean there weren't other factors involved either.
Keep in mind most Zionists are Christians.
Controlling Iran and Venezuelan oil is a high priority, controlling their thoughts/influence would be important too.
Its not always only about the religion of exponential growth.

[Simon_R]

AS Peak Oil is by nature a global phenomenon, it is too easy to blame all troubles on it.

However I do agree Egypt was a Peak Oil scenario, the others, I remain to be convinced.

Whilst there are always outside influences, it does seem that the main cause was the Venezuelan inability to manage their own economy/resources that caused this.

To expect others not to profit is like expecting predators not to pick off the weak.

Whether this is good or bad is entirely subjective, and I would not dream of trying to convince anyone either way.

Gotta, nip off and dig another hole

[GHung]

BBC: Venezuela president urges US to join 'peace commission'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-26599312

"Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has urged the United States to discuss "peace and sovereignty" in a high level commission mediated by the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).

Mr Maduro also asked President Obama not to heed US factions that he says want to kill the Venezuelan leader.

Venezuela blames the US for the anti-government protests that have left 28 people dead in the past month.

The US says Venezuela is using it as a scapegoat for its internal problems...."

Keep your enemies closer?

[Plantagenet]

basically this is ..... peakoil in action .....

Actually its socialism in action.

Venezuela is an oil exporting country. Under competent leadership Venezuela would be a wealthy country. Venezuela's current problems stem mainly from the socialist policies of Maduro and Chavez, combined with a remarkable level of government incompetence.

[Shaved Monkey]

We will never know how much of the problems of a socialist states is caused by outside interference.
The stakes are high so the pay off on investment is good.

[Randall]

What I get from talking to the person from Central America is a history lesson. For literally hundreds of years most of the people lived in abject poverty. For decades the west supported "Right Wing " governments continued this. Eventually through enough struggle "Left Wing " socialist governments came to power. Little things like basic education and sufficient food became available to all citizens.

Partially through corruption, poor government decisions and outside western actions the standard of living is beginning to slip.

It is nice to use terms like "You can't just have your ultra left freebie giveaway country for all the poor" but the reality was before socialism was starvation and few opportunities for education. If you notice, most Central American governments are not supporting the protestors, mostly out of fear and distrust that these protests are an attempt to return to the old ways of running governments.

It is correct to say a proper functioning society needs labor and business. Unfortunately in Central America it does not seem possible to get a balance.

As for suspicions about the incompetence and inaction on the part of the US to mastermind activities throughout the world, just remember there are decades of examples of activities. It would seem unlikely the only activities carried on today are drone strikes. Besides someone had to have their act together to make those files disappear off the Senate computers.

[Plantagenet]

the reality was before socialism was starvation

That isn't true. Cuba was the wealthiest country in latin America before socialism. Now average wages are ca. $30-60/month and the standard of living in Cuba has fallen so low it is in the running with Haiti for the privilege of being the poorest country in latin America. In Cuba it took socialism only a few decades to turn the wealthiest country in its region to the poorest.

Similarly Venezuela was a relatively well-off oil-exporting country before socialism. There was a prosperous and educated middle class, many of whom worked in the oil biz. Chavez nationalized the private Venezuelan companies that used to bring in good money for Venezuelans working in the oil sector and fired anyone who didn't support him. He's put political stooges in charge of the oil biz, while knowledeable Venezuelan scientists and engineers flee the country. Shortages of things like food and basic staples like toilet paper didn't occur there before the glories of socialism were introduced.

There's a reason why young people in Venezuela are risking their lives to demonstrate against socialismo y Maduro in Venezula, and it isn't because their lives have dramatically improved under socialism. Quite the contrary---its taken the socialists in Venezuela less than 20 years to trash the economy there.

[Sixstrings]

It is nice to use terms like "You can't just have your ultra left freebie giveaway country for all the poor" but the reality was before socialism was starvation and few opportunities for education. If you notice, most Central American governments are not supporting the protestors, mostly out of fear and distrust that these protests are an attempt to return to the old ways of running governments.

Well, it's a balance. At some point it becomes "no you can't have your ultra left freebie giveaway economy."

The the same goes for the US too, we have to look to our fundamentals and what supports the economy. I'm a big leftie as much as anyone else, but you really can't just send everyone a check and free stuff with nothing to back it up with.

In the US, finance supports a lot of this, whereas Venezuela and latin american countries are in a different situation. Yes, poverty and shacks are horrible. Places like Brazil are rising future powers now and getting better -- but guess what, it's still horrible there, for a lot of people.

Mexico is better after NAFTA, but generally, it's still horrible.

What you can't do though is just send everyone a check and give them free stuff and that somehow fixes everytrhing. Clearly that hasn't worked in Venezuela and one has to admit that now. It's not Obama's fault, it's that the Chavez system wasn't sustainable and after he was gone now it is flying apart.

[Sixstrings]

I'm trying to look into the allegation that the US purposely destabilized the Venezuelan currency, as part of some mastermind plot to get at Brazil and breaking up the BRICs (as Paul Craig Roberts asserts).

Can't really find anything, so far. Other than Paul Craig Roberts' article reprinted verbatim on Iranian state "RT" Presstv:

USA engineers Venezuela overthrow
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/03/15/354758/us-engineers-venezuela-overthrow/

Other than that, there's this:

Venezuela set to ease currency rules

Venezuela’s Socialist government is expected to relax foreign currency market rules, aiming to easing shortages of basic goods that fuelled month-long protests which have left at least 24 dead.
The move should improve access to the supply of dollars in the import-dependent economy and battle the black market bolívar rate, which is currently trading at 13 times the official rate of 6.3 against the greenback.

Under the new rules, US dollars will be allowed to be traded daily, in contrast to an existing mechanism that restricts access to dollars to weekly auctions for some specific sectors of the economy. Sicad 2, as it is known, adds a third exchange rate to Venezuela’s intricate foreign currency system, and allows private and public businesses as well as individuals to access the market.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b2bb890-aa00-11e3-8497-00144feab7de.html#axzz2wBKhwdRQ

I'll keep looking. What I'm guessing here is that Venezuela has just had a freebie giveaway economy for a long time now, and worst of all, they were not allowing their currency to float on the market. So there ya go. This is the end result of that kind of policy, it's not Obama's fault.

[Shaved Monkey]

Well, it's a balance. At some point it becomes "no you can't have your ultra left freebie giveaway economy."

The the same goes for the US too, we have to look to our fundamentals and what supports the economy. I'm a big leftie as much as anyone else, but you really can't just send everyone a check and free stuff with nothing to back it up with.

In the US, finance supports a lot of this, whereas Venezuela and latin american countries are in a different situation. Yes, poverty and shacks are horrible. Places like Brazil are rising future powers now and getting better -- but guess what, it's still horrible there, for a lot of people.

Mexico is better after NAFTA, but generally, it's still horrible.

What you can't do though is just send everyone a check and give them free stuff and that somehow fixes everytrhing. Clearly that hasn't worked in Venezuela and one has to admit that now. It's not Obama's fault, it's that the Chavez system wasn't sustainable and after he was gone now it is flying apart.

Our vision of what is third world and horrible is based on our middle class white bread view of the world .
Our countries have abilities to manipulate currencies and resources so we get a share well above what is sustainable or fair.

[Simon_R]

Hi Plant.

I would say its a combination of the both. A socialist government can improve the quality of life for the majority (Can not Will) when there is a nice pot of cash, as I see it one of the problems of socialism, is that the system does not work when the pot starts to get depleted, and this is the case in Venezuala, if the oil was loverly and gushing out of the ground with a huge EROEI then all would be well, however as the number start to fail, so does the government.

Simon

[Plantagenet]

Our vision of what is third world and horrible is based on our middle class white bread view of the world .

Thats why travel is so valuable. Go see 3rd world countries for yourself. You'll quickly figure out that your middle class white bread view of the world is very limiting and often wrong.