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Related: About this forum8 dead as Venezuela turmoil continues, leader asks for Obama's help
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-venezuela-turmoil-20140222,0,859013.story#axzz2u5S5G8ZnCARACAS, Venezuela -- Massive demonstrations by opponents and supporters of President Nicolas Maduro were underway Saturday in central Caracas as the official death toll rose to eight on the 10th day of civil unrest roiling Venezuela.
Leading the opposition demonstration in eastern Caracas was Liliana Tintori, wife of Leopoldo Lopez, the former Caracas borough mayor who was arrested last week and charged with inciting violence that by official count has also led 137 injuries. Lopez and other opposition leaders say armed pro-government vigilantes have been responsible for the deaths.
News media on Saturday reported two more deaths Friday night in Caracas. And in a surprise announcement at a late night news conference Friday, President Nicolas Maduro called on President Obama to enter into negotiations with Venezuelan officials to settle differences. He also rescinded a previous order expelling CNN news crews from Venezuela.
Lopez is being held in Ramo Verde military prison where he continues to send messages to supporters urging continued demonstrations. In an interview with Bogotas El Tiempo newspaper published Saturday, Tintori said government officials had urged Lopez to go into exile rather than give himself up for arrest.
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-venezuela-turmoil-20140222,0,859013.story#ixzz2u5Sid7h3
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8 dead as Venezuela turmoil continues, leader asks for Obama's help (Original Post)
Bacchus4.0
Feb 2014
OP
Mika
(17,751 posts)1. Violent Protests in Venezuela Fit a Pattern
Violent Protests in Venezuela Fit a Pattern
{snip}
the strategy is clear: a sector of the opposition seeks to overturn the results of democratic elections. An important difference this time of course is that Venezuela has its first post-Chávez president, and a key part of the oppositions strategy overall has been to depict Nicolás Maduro as a pale imitation of his predecessor and a president ill-equipped to deal with the countrys problems (many of which are exaggerated in the Venezuelan private media, which is still largely opposition-owned, as well as the international media).
Following Maduros electoral victory in April last year (with much of the opposition crying fraud despite there being no reasonable doubts about the validity of the results), the opposition looked to the December municipal elections as a referendum on Maduros government, vowing to defeat governing party PSUV and allied candidates. The outcome, which left the pro-Maduro parties with a 10 point margin of victory, was a stunning defeat for the opposition, and this time they did not even bother claiming the elections were rigged. According to the oppositions own pre-election analysis, support for Maduro had apparently grown over the months preceding the election. As we have pointed out, this may be due in part to the large reduction in poverty in 2012 and other economic and social gains that preceded the more recent economic problems.
Defeated at the polls, the anti-democratic faction of the opposition prepared for a new attempt at destabilizing the elected government, and promoted relatively small, but often violent student protests in early February. They then called for a massive protest on February 12, Venezuelas Youth Day in the center of Caracas. The demonstrations have been accompanied by a social media campaign that has spread misinformation in an attempt to depict the Maduro administration as a violent dictatorship instead of a popular elected government. Images of police violence from other countries and past protests some several years old have been presented on social media as having occurred in recent days in Venezuela. A YouTube video that has been watched by almost 2 million viewers presents a one-sided portrayal of the situation and falsely states that the Venezuelan government controls all radio and television in the country, among other distortions. Similar disinformation occurred in April 2002 and in other past incidents in Venezuela, most notably when manipulated video footage was used to provide political justification for the coup detat.
http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/violent-protests-in-venezuela-fit-a-pattern/
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)2. *ACHOOO* Oh, sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit n/t
wayne_fontes
(25 posts)3. Obama shouldn't touch this situation.
He or the US government has only made a few generic comments about human rights thus far. It's the right policy. He only needs to wait and the Chavista government will fall. Hopefully by election two years from now.
The policies put into place by Chavez could never have worked in the long term. The opposition should be petrified at the prospect of assuming leadership now. They will have to make cuts in social spending and it won't be well received. They should wait, get united and start to put out the message that hard times are in the near future.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)4. He won't. Maduro is just pretending Obama has something to do with all the problems in Ven n/t
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