[Latin America] Lulag Archipelago

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Latin America] Lulag Archipelago

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1132957125301420033
Trash article, but it looks like low energy Guaid� comes crawling to the negotiating table

Also no trolls in the comments yelling at NPR that Guaid� isn't the opposition leader, but the legal president. So it looks like the coup has even run out of posting energy.

In other terrible Western coverage, Reuters blames shortages in Cuba on a planned economy, instead of the more aggressive blockade and sanctions.
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1133078311058497538

quote:

The degree to which new U.S. sanctions, due in part to Cuba�s support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, have compounded its economic woes is open to debate.

The economy had already stagnated in recent years in tandem with the implosion of strategic ally Venezuela, resulting in cuts in fuel and energy use by state entities and this year shortages of basic goods such as bread, chicken and eggs.
...
�While the crisis will not be as bad as in the 1990s, it will have a worrying social impact on the most vulnerable households, which are already on subsistence salaries,� said Pavel Vidal, a former Cuban central bank economist who teaches at Colombia�s Universidad Javeriana Cali.
...
Some Cuban economists say the developing crisis stems fundamentally from an inefficient centrally-planned economy that imports more than two thirds of its food needs. Calling rationing little more than a short-term solution, they say the government must open up to a series of market-oriented economic reforms before the crisis deepens.

�This could be a critical moment that generates the consensus necessary to apply changes,� said Vidal. �The government needs to give more space to the private sector and investment.�

Cuba has enacted some economic reforms in recent years, including expanding the private sector from 2010 onward and introducing a new foreign investment law that cut taxes by around 50% in 2014.

But local economists like Omar Everleny say the reforms undertaken have been too cautious so far. The government has backtracked on overhauls of areas like agriculture and the dominant public sector remains deeply inefficient.

# ¿ May 27, 2019 21:19

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 22:12

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

StashAugustine posted:

there were a bunch of insane vietnamese expat groups that kept grifting funding to overthrow the communist government and probably killed some local journalists when they started asking where the money was going

PBS did a good documentary on that a few years ago.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/terror-in-little-saigon/

ProPublica did a print story but I've never read it.
https://www.propublica.org/article/terror-in-little-saigon-vietnam-american-journalists-murdered

It got called "controversial" and prompted this great petition, that is a great example of "woke" reactionary politics that parts of the Venezuelan expat community use.
https://www.change.org/p/michael-getler-pbs-ombudsman-investigate-frontline-propublica-s-reporting-in-terror-in-little-saigon

quote:

As a taxpayer-supported broadcaster, PBS should maintain the highest standard of journalistic integrity. The program �Terror in Little Saigon� aired by Frontline on November 3, 2015 fails both professional and ethical standards.

We urge you to investigate why and how the reporting team of Frontline and ProPublica was allowed to broadcast a flawed report based on the preconceived narrative of a militant, extremist Vietnamese American community.

Consider the following:

1. The program misrepresented key sources.

...

2. The Vietnamese American community is portrayed as a terrorized community.

Just by its name this documentary already established an antagonist as a monster-like character who instilled fear in its victims. This false portrayal facilitated the preconceived narrative that an anti-communist organization must be behind all the unsolved murders.

3. The reporting team exhibited a cultural bias demeaning to Vietnamese Americans.

The program labeled Vietnamese Americans who opposed communism and supported a free Vietnam as �vengeful� and �aiming to restart the Vietnam war.� The reporting team treated the viewpoints of non-Vietnamese as authority while dismissing how Vietnamese American describe their own motives and aspirations.

# ¿ May 30, 2019 01:20

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

These administration is taking a break from threatening Iran to tweet some poo poo by Venezuela again.

https://twitter.com/VP/status/1133847857172307968
https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/1133919035475841024

I wonder if Pence brought up Guaid� claiming to have the loyalty of half the army.

The Norway talks "collapsed" and reading between the lines it seems like the phone call to Guaid� was about abandoning them. Norway itself said they were going well yesterday.

quote:

OSLO/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido vowed to press ahead with street protests after talks with government officials hosted by Norway ended on Wednesday without progress towards resolving the South American country�s long-running political crisis.

At the meeting in Oslo, opposition delegates repeated calls for President Nicolas Maduro to step down and allow a transitional government to organize presidential elections to bring an end to a political crisis in the OPEC nation.
...
�There was no immediate agreement, so the chance that we have today is to remain in the streets,� Guaido told Fox Business Network, speaking via an interpreter. �We want to reach a solution to the conflict.�

In an earlier statement, Guaido�s office said that the opposition remained willing to continue with the mediation as long as there were conditions for progress, but that it would not abandon its roadmap for new elections.

Norway�s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that envoys for Venezuela�s government and opposition had shown a �willingness� to make some headway.

�The parties have demonstrated their willingness to move forward in the search for an agreed-upon and constitutional solution for the country, which includes political, economic and electoral matters,� the foreign ministry said.

In its statement, Oslo called on both sides to show discretion in public comments so as not to damage the process.

In remarks on national television, Maduro said the government had prepared the ground for the Norway mediation with months of secret talks. Opposition sources have also said there have been contacts with elements of the government for months, particularly in the run up to an abortive April 30 military uprising.

�The only way forward is dialogue,� Maduro said. �We want a peace deal.�

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-norway/venezuelas-guaido-vows-protests-as-oslo-talks-produce-no-deal-idUSKCN1SZ2BF

# ¿ May 30, 2019 13:47

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1133769770103451653

# ¿ May 30, 2019 19:17

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

NPR gives Guaido a platform to ask "Please bomb"
https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1134199308146937863

Beto is pro-Coup
https://twitter.com/citizensource/status/1134173793650429953

Trump is... pro-talks? I don't think he really cares what Pence and Bolton are doing honestly.
https://twitter.com/Rkrahenbuhl/status/1134117871888605185

# ¿ May 31, 2019 02:27

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1134803269803544576
https://twitter.com/MusicMiscreant/status/1134813651830038528

# ¿ Jun 1, 2019 14:48

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/MV_Eng/status/1136392109920071686

# ¿ Jun 5, 2019 23:02

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/vicenews/status/1136739540402659329
Guys, I guess the whole Venezuela crisis is just because the government is filled with a bunch of dummies

https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/1137140134044983296
See, even Bolton says that is what's happening

# ¿ Jun 8, 2019 01:42

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Food $200
Weapons $150
Rent $800
Nightclubs $3,600
Bribes $150
someone who is good at regime change please help me budget this. my coup is failing

# ¿ Jun 20, 2019 04:25

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

It's Venezuelan Independence Day, and US imperialist ghouls are tweeting about it because they genuinely care about Venezuelan independence.

https://twitter.com/SenRickScott/status/1147238112076148738
https://twitter.com/VP/status/1147134113373143040
https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1147117081307090947

# ¿ Jul 5, 2019 23:44

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/voxdotcom/status/1150564636640653312

quote:

If any one image helped illustrate the unique nature of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, it was a photograph taken in February, showing two shipping containers and a fuel tanker blocking a bridge to Colombia. The purpose of the barricade was to keep out a convoy of US-donated aid making its way to Venezuela from Bogota.

The attempted aid initiative took place in a particularly tense political context. Weeks earlier, the US had officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaid� as Venezuela�s interim president, but the government of Nicol�s Maduro � which brought about the country�s economic collapse through mismanagement and corruption � clung to power.

For the Maduro regime, squashing what it saw as a politically motivated relief effort was a way to keep US and opposition influence at bay.

Love to start my article promoting bitcoin by pretending an unfinished bridge was closed down and that a bunch of trucks even the New York Times admit were burned by the opposition was a legit aid convoy.

The article was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller family of course has a long history of not meddling in Latin American affairs.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2019 01:51

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

the Iranian foreign minister visited Venezuela to attend a meeting of the non-aligned movement, and teach Maduro how to create his own version of the the Assad curse

# ¿ Jul 26, 2019 03:39

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Jim from the Office spends all season investing Juan Guaido's expense account trying to figure out how $10,000 was spent on room service in Bogota hotels one weekend.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2019 04:57

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/maduro_en/status/1156638684248268800?s=20
https://twitter.com/maduro_en/status/1156426039901544448?s=20

Maduro is sending weapons into the US!

# ¿ Jul 31, 2019 23:15

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1155980079026954240?s=20
The economic war continues

https://twitter.com/drnoahross/status/1156993157222952960?s=20
This article is obviously propaganda, but it's so lazily transparent about it.

quote:

The commerce secretary said the U.S. would be ready to loosen the sanctions that Washington imposed on Venezuela as the Maduro regime turned increasingly autocratic in recent years. The sanctions have choked Venezuela�s lifeblood, its oil industry. They have also been directed at Mr. Maduro, top ministers in the government and the commanders in the security services, who are accused by the U.S. of rights abuses, corruption and drug trafficking.

�For immediate relief, the U.S. will ease sanctions, promote domestic and international trade credit, deploy technological advisers and engage international financial institutions,� Mr. Ross said.

President Trump said on Thursday that he is considering a blockade or quarantine against Venezuela.

"Yes, I am,� Mr. Trump told reporters when asked about the possibility of imposing a blockade or quarantine on the Venezuela in reaction to Russian, Chinese and Iranian involvement in the country. He didn�t elaborate and the National Security Council declined to comment. The Pentagon referred all questions or requests for clarification to the White House.
...
Among the more serious challenges Venezuela faces is reversing the collapse in oil production, which has fallen from 3.5 million barrels daily in 1999 to 734,000 barrels a day as of June, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Mr. Ross said that the U.S. plan to repair the sector calls for a bigger role for private firms, which until now have faced difficult restrictions to operate in Venezuela.

Even simple necessities, such as spare parts, were neglected by the Maduro regime, Mr. Ross said. �Undoing the socialistic mismanagement in some levels like that will be relatively inexpensive,� he said.

In a post-Maduro Venezuela, he said, trained professionals who fled would return to rebuild what once was one of Latin America�s richest nations, along with an infusion of capital in oil, natural gas and electrical production.

Mr. Ross estimated potential revenue of $50 million a day from pumping oil from Venezuela�s vast reserves, the world�s largest.

The Commerce Department would create a clearing house to help business activity, providing real-time information about trade and investment opportunities for U.S. and international businesses, Mr. Ross said.

The U.S. will lift commercial restrictions on U.S. firms, mobilize business contacts with Venezuela and foster pro-market, pro-business reforms, he said.

A lot going on here, but in no particular order my favorite parts are:
1. Trump nonchalantly saying the US will blockade Venezuela, which is an act of war
2. The Commerce Department trying to set up some sort of Ebay for privatizing the wealth of Venezuela
3. Admitting that US sanctions destroyed Venezuela oil production and then blaming socialism for ruining oil production in the country

# ¿ Aug 3, 2019 03:35

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

If free plan tickets counts as a bribe then I've got bad news about the integrity about literally the entire US journalism establishment.

The US has a history of strategically championing the rights of a single indigenous group while literally aiding genocide of other indigenous groups in neighboring countries.

In the 1980s the US said the Sandinistas were committing genocide against the Miskito, and it was a big part of the campaign against the government.
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/13/world/miskito-indians-are-focus-of-debate.html

quote:

But in the last eight months, the Miskitos have found themselves in the center of controversy - the target of the Nicaraguan Government, which has charged that some of their leaders are subversives, and the focus of attention by the United States, which uses their case as an example of what it sees as human rights abuses.

Disrupted by border warfare, displaced by Nicaraguan attempts to resettle and integrate them, and sometimes motivated by a desire to join Nicaraguans in exile, about 15,000 of the 125,000 Miskitos have fled to Honduras. Most of them are struggling to survive in a grim refugee camp near here.
...
''Their presence is an embarrasment to the Nicaraguans,'' a relief worker said. American officials focused attention on the issue last winter by charging that the Nicaraguans were engaging in genocide against the Indians.

Under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the Indians were left alone. After his overthrow in 1979, the new Sandinist Government in Nicaragua decided to end their isolation.

According to Sifrit Williams, a 52-year-old leader of Miskito refugees who wants to overthrow the Sandinists, the Miskitos generally perferred the Somoza Government because it did not intrude in their lives. Sandinists Press Literacy Drive

Mr. Williams said the Sandinists have, as part of a nationwide literacy campaign, sent in Cubans, whom the Miskitos mistrusted, to teach Spanish to the Indians, whose second language was often English, a language they learned from missionaries or inherited from English-speaking Caribbean peoples who settled along their coast.

Did the Miskito fight against the government of Nicaragua at the time? Yeah. Does that mean that today we can say both Samoza and the Sandistas were "hyper-garbage?" gently caress no.

Similarly, the Venezuela government since Chavez's election has empowered traditionally oppressed and overlooked communities like Afro-Venezuelans and the indigenous. It's not a perfect process and there is obviously still conflict in certain parts of the country with some indigenous people. This has gotten worse since the US economic siege has heightened some of these conflicts (as it's designed to do!).

We absolutely can can say that the result of US backed regime change will lead to massive bloodshed, especially against these traditionally oppressed groups that embraced the Bolivarian Revolution and Chavismo. The difference is, like the large scale assassination campaign underway against labor leaders in Colombia, there will be little coverage of it in the English speaking world.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2019 15:05

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

CharlestheHammer posted:

man this is really bad news for those who rationalized sanctions as only against certain people somehow

the WSJ article actually still tries to claim that the embargo is not supposed to impact most of the people in Venezuela.

quote:

The new move threatens to target and impose sanctions on virtually any company or individual, foreign or American, that engages in business or offers support to anyone affiliated with the Maduro government, the official said. It isn�t designed to target the people of Venezuela, including their access to remittances.

also they literally only have one paragraph with a quote from a guy saying that these sanctions may be hurting people, but its framed as incompetance on the part of the US

quote:

�The administration hasn�t been very good at dedicating financial lines that would allow the purchase of food and medicine in sanctioned countries,� said Jeffrey Schott, an economic-sanctions expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank. �In practice, we still block food and medicine because the parties in the targeted regime that want to import it can�t get financing.�

# ¿ Aug 8, 2019 00:52

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

look at this goofball
https://twitter.com/ericfarns/status/1159312579094818816?s=20

quote:

Former White House, State Department, USTR, now @ASCOA. Western Hemisphere stuff, mostly. Also trade, China, global affairs. Frequent media commentary.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2019 00:34

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Speaking of Blumenthal, his new book has a great example of impartial Western journalists during the Soviet War in Afghanistan.

quote:

Radek Sikorski, a young Polish exile and journalist for the UK�s Spectator, took his affection for the mujahedin a step further, donning Pashtun guerrilla garb, toting a rifle and even participating in a raid on a Soviet barracks, during which he fired three cartridge clips of ammo. According to the UK�s Telegraph, the reporter-cum-guerrilla �succeeded only in hitting the outer wall of a Soviet barracks.� After the Cold War, Sikorski went on to serve as Poland�s foreign minister and marry the vehemently anti-Russian Washington Post columnist, Anne Applebaum.

So, until the Grayzone staff arms themselves and joins a Bolivarian militia, I will consider them both impartial and cowards unwilling to truly defend Chavez's legacy,

# ¿ Aug 13, 2019 03:24

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/mfox_us/status/1161027423158226947?s=20

# ¿ Aug 14, 2019 00:35

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

If a political figure gains mass support by helping provide for the material needs of peoples it's bribery or oppression. The US is a true democracy because citizens get to choose between political parties who do not promise to improve people's lives.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2019 01:18

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/ReutersVzla/status/1164674861630988288?s=20

this is bullshit, but i still support Cuba helping prevent a military coup

# ¿ Aug 23, 2019 02:06

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Decent article about the opposition NGOs struggling after last years protests/coup attempt in Nicaragua

quote:

The Grayzone reported last month on the dramatic break-up of the Nicaragua Association for Human Rights (ANPDH), an opposition NGO whose board of directors confessed to exaggerating the death toll in order to rake in more US government money.

In a press conference this July that was totally ignored by corporate media, ANPDH ex-director Gustavo Berm�dez accused his former boss, �lvaro Leiva, of having �inflated the death toll.� Berm�dez said, �We personally asked him where you got that figure; a friend called me saying to please get his grandmother who died of a heart attack off the list of people who were supposedly victims of the repression.�

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/08/25/deaths-for-dollars-nicaraguas-human-rights-organizations/

# ¿ Aug 28, 2019 01:03

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

this thread goes in on some of the people spreading the #SOSBolivia stuff. Seems like a similar social media campaign directed at English speaking audiences like what targeted Venezuela and Nicaragua.

https://twitter.com/OLAASM/status/1166384558754926593?s=20
https://twitter.com/OLAASM/status/1166386587208495109?s=20
https://twitter.com/OLAASM/status/1166140816986988546?s=20

# ¿ Aug 29, 2019 01:03

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

That gang of collaborators have failed at pillaging Venezuela so they have to settle for helping steal the country's overseas assets.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2019 01:56

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

US regime change operations have been brutal affairs since at least the coup against �rbenz in Guatemala

# ¿ Sep 7, 2019 00:35

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

PERPETUAL IDIOT posted:

Guaido's been in charge for 8 months now. When is he going to stop this political, economic, and humanitarian crisis? I'm starting to think he's incompetent.

If you'd read the OP you'd know his term as interim President begins when Maduro steps down.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2019 01:00

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

R. Guyovich posted:

actually socialism is only good when white countries do it and it isn't really socialism. can i be president now

Venezuelans don't see race so how does this apply

# ¿ Sep 14, 2019 01:14

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1177661251616493568?s=20

# ¿ Sep 28, 2019 02:24

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1178446437237047297?s=20

# ¿ Sep 30, 2019 01:28

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Ecuadorean protesters making guaido look like trash

https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1181065418653519872?s=20
https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/1181347220509151232?s=20

# ¿ Oct 8, 2019 00:31

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/taseenb/status/1181796385638760449?s=20

# ¿ Oct 9, 2019 22:46

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

The US did pass sanction on Nicaragua not long after using the protests as justification, included Nicaragua as part of the "Troika of Tyranny," and had funded many of the NGOs that were involved in the protests.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2019 23:04

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Ruzihm posted:

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1184878031522992128

how did Brazil under Bolsonaro get 153 votes

# ¿ Oct 19, 2019 14:12

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1188410067068043264?s=20

Elections in Argentina are about to happen and western finance is freaking out.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2019 16:20

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/BadCubaTakes/status/1188452603342082048?s=20

# ¿ Oct 28, 2019 02:55

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

What a turnaround this year has had in Latin American politics. Bolsonaro took power at the start of the year, seemingly setting up the biggest country in South America, and probably the wider region, to return to the era of semi-fascist juntas. Later in January, the US did everything short of an overt military intervention to overthrow the Venezuelan government, as part of what seemed to be plan to finally crush them, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

Now Chile, ground zero for neoliberalism, has over a million people in the streets. Ecuador had a revolt against IMF demanded austerity so massive the government fled the capital. Now the anti-austerity ticket won in Argentina, after Macri signed up for the biggest IMF deal ever.

I'm not saying the situation is completely reverse, and these people's movements will certainly have some defeats and betrayals going forward, but goddamn has the momentum shifted quickly.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2019 03:39

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8UGs0rdhq8

Pink Tide 2: Red Tide

# ¿ Oct 28, 2019 04:00

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1188873375189524481?s=20
https://twitter.com/LulaOficial/status/1188648937059684352?s=20

# ¿ Oct 28, 2019 21:49

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 22:12

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

quote:

Blumenthal was informed that he was accused of simple assault by a Venezuelan opposition member. He declared the charge completely baseless.

�This charge is a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie,� Blumenthal declared. �It is clearly part of a campaign of political persecution designed to silence me and the The Grayzone for our factual journalism exposing the deceptions, corruption and violence of the far-right Venezuelan opposition.�

The arrest warrant was five months old. According to an individual familiar with the case, the warrant for Blumenthal�s arrest was initially rejected. Strangely, this false charge was revived months later without the defendant�s knowledge.

�If the government had at least told me I had a warrant I could have voluntarily surrendered and appeared at my own arraignment. I have nothing to fear because I�m completely innocent of this bogus charge,� Blumenthal stated. �Instead, the federal government essentially enlisted the DC police to SWAT me, ensuring that I would be subjected to an early morning raid and then languish in prison for days without even the ability to call an attorney.�

this is hosed
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/28/...ition-violence/

# ¿ Oct 29, 2019 00:44

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Latin America] Lulag Archipelago

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