"Venezuela officials say coup plot thwarted" by Hannah Dreier, Associated Press February 14, 2015
CARACAS — Venezuelan officials Friday cheered the thwarting of what they said was a planned coup that involved a plot to blow up the presidential palace.
That I believe.
President Nicolas Maduro announced Thursday night that a retired air force general had been arrested and 13 other people are implicated in a plot to overthrow the South American country’s 15 year-old socialist revolution.
With AmeriKan connections, no doubt.
‘‘We have foiled a coup attempt against democracy and the stability of our homeland,’’ Maduro said, speaking on the anniversary of the massive street protests which wracked the nation last year.
Congress president Diosdado Cabello said in a television broadcast later that 11 soldiers were among those implicated, including a retired general, and said several have been arrested. He also named two opposition politicians and a businessman as plotters.
Cabello showed photos of weaponry and other items he said had been seized from those implicated. In addition to the palace, officials said the plotters planned to bomb the Defense Ministry and the headquarters of the government-sponsored news channel Telesur.
Opposition coalition spokesman Jesus Torrealba rejected the accusations Friday.
‘‘The government makes up these stories about coups to avoid talking about how the country is breaking down,’’ he told a group of journalists.
Venezuela’s government has frequently alleged coup plots, often without providing much evidence or follow-up.
Pot, kettle, crap.
A study by the Caracas-based newspaper Ultimas Noticias counted 63 alleged assassination plots between when late President Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 and his death in 2013.
Yeah, U.S. never does that (blog editor rolls eyes towards ceiling).
President Nicolas Maduro’s government has denounced more than a dozen purported plots since coming to power 15 months ago.
That is not U.S. policy.
Last spring, Maduro announced that three air force generals had been arrested after they were discovered plotting with opposition politicians to overthrow the government. Officials have said nothing about the case since.
The most serious recent allegations came in late May, as authorities tried to mop up dissent that led to a three-month wave of deadly antigovernment protests.
Top officials delivered an hours-long presentation in which they accused a handful of opposition leaders of working with the US ambassador in neighboring Colombia to ‘‘annihilate’’ Maduro.
The embassies are CIA stations, and have been for a long time.
Those who believe the government are a quick to recall Washington’s endorsement of a coup that toppled Chavez for two days in 2002.
I'm surprised to see that U.S.-supported effort even mentioned.
--more--"
"Caracas mayor’s arrest sparks protest" New York Times February 21, 2015
CARACAS — A new political crisis convulsed Venezuela on Friday over the arrest of the Caracas mayor, one of the country’s top opposition figures, accused by President Nicolás Maduro of abetting what he called an American plot to overthrow the government.
Supporters of the mayor, Antonio Ledezma, mobilized protests after his Thursday night arrest — which they called a kidnapping.
Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups demanded Ledezma’s release, and hundreds of demonstrators gathered in a Caracas plaza.
There they go again.
But Maduro, whose administration has been roiled by an economic crisis, insisted that Ledezma was a seditious plotter working hand-in-hand with the US government.
Hours after mayor was seized, Maduro promised to release hours of video to demonstrate the United States had orchestrated a secret plot to topple him.
“Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent,” the US State Department said in response.
Nice try changing the subject.
--more--"
Related: Venezuela Claims to Have Captured U.S. Pilot
Venezuelan Coup Plotter Gustavo Cisneros Donated $1M to Clinton Foundation
You know what is wrong with Venezuela? Bad cops.
"Venezuelans protest police killing of 14-year-old boy" by Luz Dary Depablos and Hannah Dreier, Associated Press February 26, 2015
SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela — The killing of a 14-year-old boy by a policeman during an antigovernment protest raised already high tensions Wednesday in Venezuela amid a crackdown on the opposition and crippling economic problems.
Well, U.S can't really criticize anyone there. Not now.
Schools and many shops stayed closed in San Cristobal, the capital of a restive western state, the day after Kluiverth Roa was shot in the head and killed during a confrontation between protesters and police.
So it may not even have been a cop; it could have been an agent provocateur, and likely was!
Roa’s father spoke to hundreds of mourners who gathered in the Andean city for the boy’s funeral Wednesday afternoon and said his son had neither supported nor opposed the government, but was an innocent bystander.
Police officer Javier Mora Ortiz confessed to firing on Roa with plastic ammunition, officials said. The family has said the boy’s autopsy suggested it was a live round.
A photo and video of the student lying in a pool of blood, his backpack hanging over his shoulder, as a man frantically tries to stanch the bleeding and others scream and clutch their heads in horror rocketed around social media Tuesday afternoon.
Now I'm thinking staged and scripted fraud that seems to be the norm coming from the propaganda pre$$ these days.
Ruling party officials, including President Nicolas Maduro, forcefully condemned the killing.
But as Maduro spoke Tuesday, offering condolences while also saying the police had been attacked, many residents of this university town near the Colombian border leaned out their windows to bang pots and pans in a cacophonous protest that lasted two hours. Shops closed their doors and public transportation halted as protesters hurling rocks clashed with police backed by armored trucks late into the night.
In the neighboring mountain town of Merida, however, students clashed with police who fired plastic ammunition. At least four protesters were seriously injured,
In Caracas, dozens of protesters held signs outside the diplomatic mission of the Vatican beseeching Pope Francis to intervene.
Francis has his hands full with other matters:
"Four members of Pope Francis’ advisory commission on clergy sex abuse traveled to Rome to express their concerns in person about Francis’ appointment of a Chilean bishop accused of covering up for the country’s most notorious molester."
Up to his ass in buttocks, I see.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry described the killing as horrendous and of a piece with the wrongheaded direction in which he said the Venezuelan government is moving.
What an unreal hypocrite!
--more--"
"Venezuela sets deadline to US to slash embassy staff" Associated Press March 03, 2015
CARACAS — Venezuela’s government has given the United States two weeks to slash the size of its mission here to 17 diplomats as tensions between the two nations rise.
Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez made the announcement Monday after a rare meeting with the top American diplomat in Caracas.
She said it is up to the United States to decide which of an estimated 100 diplomats stationed here it wishes to send home, making it clear that the goal is to strike a balance with the 17 Venezuelan diplomats that serve in the United States.
President Nicolas Maduro said over the weekend that his socialist government had detained Americans on suspicion of spying and would be taking steps to shrink and curtail the movement of the US Embassy staff he accuses of plotting with the opposition to oust him.
The United States has not exchanged ambassadors with the country since 2010, so the US Embassy was represented by Chargé d’Affaires Lee McClenny.
Maduro regularly denounces the United States for meddling in his country’s affairs, and has taken to leading weekly chants of ‘‘Gringo, go home.’’
Oh, look, they insulted us, 'murkn!
Yeah, this government we all despise is meddling all over the planet, but it's all for corporate and Zionist good. Who could be against that?
--more--"
"Obama imposes sanctions on 7 Venezuelan officials" Associated Press March 10, 2015
WASHINGTON — President Obama imposed sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials Monday, accusing them of perpetrating human rights violations and public corruption in the socialist-governed South American nation.
He's got some nerve considering the torture!
The individuals all come from the top echelon of the state security apparatus responsible for cracking down on antigovernment protests that rocked Venezuela last year and for pursuing charges against leading opponents.
How about turning such lofty ideals inward?
“Corrupt actions by Venezuelan government officials deprive Venezuela of needed economic resources that could be invested in the Venezuelan people and used to spur economic growth,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. “These actions also undermine the public trust in democratic institutions and the human rights to which Venezuelan citizens are entitled.”
Lew $pew, and we will never trust you!
The sanctions come after the US Congress passed legislation late last year authorizing penalties that would freeze the assets and ban visas for anyone accused of carrying out acts of violence or violating the human rights of those opposing Venezuela’s government.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said her country will insist on a relationship with the United States that is “based on respect and sovereign equality.”
This government can't fulfill that request, so....
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have been on the rise.
It's going to surprise us all by being the next overt U.S. military action, and the reason is clear: oil, and it's location in this hemisphere. Will be hard for China and Russia to rush to its defense.
Last summer, the State Department imposed a travel ban on Venezuelan officials accused of abuses during street protests that left dozens of people dead. And last week, Venezuela gave the United States two weeks to slash its diplomatic mission there to less than 20 percent of its current size. The United States, in turn, has criticized Venezuela for its anti-American rhetoric.
Still, the United States maintains deep economic ties with Venezuela. According to a 2013 State Department fact sheet, Venezuela was one of the top five suppliers of foreign oil to the United States.
Yeah, they helped you through the record winter.
Where's the love, huh?
--more--"
I wonder how much of that oil goes for the US military machine.
"Venezuelan lawmakers allow president to rule by decree" Associated Press March 17, 2015
Obama calls them executive orders, and out Congre$$ allows it.
Hey, getting oil from a dictatorship is nothing new for the United States; in fact, they seem to prefer it.
CARACAS — The Venezuelan Parliament has approved a law giving President Nicolas Maduro the power to legislate by decree for nine months in the face of what he described as threats by the US government.
The so-called ‘‘anti-imperialist’’ law was passed Sunday and will be in effect from the time it is published in Venezuela’s Official Gazette until Dec. 31.
Maduro requested the expanded powers in response to new US sanctions on Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations. Critics of Venezuela’s government have called the move a power grab.
The United States is targeting officials in the top echelon of Venezuela’s security apparatus responsible for cracking down on last year’s antigovernment protests and for pursuing charges against opponents.
The officials will be denied US visas and have their US assets frozen.
The leaders of South America’s leftist governments have come out in support of Venezuela, while Washington has denied Maduro’s claim that it is seeking to undermine his government and urged him to focus on Venezuela’s domestic problems, including food shortages and soaring inflation.
Actually, it is every damn government, even US allies. They don't want to see this happen to them when the U.S. decides to double-cross them, as they have done so many times in the past.
On Saturday, Venezuelan soldiers rolled out shoulder-fired missiles, fighter planes, and armored trucks to begin 10 days of military exercises that Maduro said are needed to protect against the US threat.
It's a signal and good move. Be ready while telling them don't come in here!
As nearly 100,000 members of the armed forces began conducting exercises across the country, Venezuela’s government got support from South American nations, which criticized Washington for the way it imposed sanctions on Venezuelan leaders.
Just leftist governments, right?
The Obama administration imposed the sanctions last week on several Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations and declared the country a threat to US national security, a formality that generally precedes declarations of sanctions.
That was a big to-do in blogosphere.
Maduro said he would take steps to protect Venezuela from a hostile US government.
What?
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez inaugurated the exercises at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, the largest military installation in Venezuela.
He said US sanctions constitute ‘‘an imminent danger for us’’ and the armed forces must ready themselves to ensure the country’s independence.
In a nationally broadcast talk, Maduro praised the skills shown by the armed forces on the first day of the exercises, saying that ‘‘we have a military that is the best guarantee of peace.’’
That's what my government and pre$$ tell me, yeah.
If ever, he added, ‘‘the insolent boot of imperialism dared touch the sacred land of Venezuela, that day if we had to fight for the dignity of our country, we would do it for peace and for the sovereignty and the integrity’’ of the country.
Hey, you watch your language!
--more--"
They don't like Obummer down there?
"Top Venezuelan court releases 4 government opponents" by Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press March 19, 2015
CARACAS — Four Venezuelans arrested during a crackdown on antigovernment protests last year have been released from jail following widespread international condemnation and the recent suicide of an imprisoned government opponent.
The most prominent of those released is Christian Holdack, who is standing trial with the nation’s most prominent antigovernment prisoner, Leopoldo Lopez, on charges they perpetrated violence at a February 2013 demonstration.
The Supreme Court granted Holdack bail late Tuesday in response to his lawyers’ plea that he was suffering from depression and was at risk of committing suicide if he remained locked up.
Like the Gitmo guys?
Tuesday night, the 34-year-old walked out of the police station in Caracas where he had been held for the past year. Holdack, an amateur photographer, was filming protesters in Caracas when he was detained last year, according to his wife.
That's where the print ended.
The protest kicked off a wave of unrest against Venezuela’s socialist government in which at least 43 people from both sides of the conflict died and 3,300 people were detained, although the vast majority of those were released long ago.
His release comes less than a week after a jailed government opponent, Rodolfo Gonzalez, committed suicide, drawing attention to what rights groups say are harsh prison conditions for the 40-plus opposition members still in custody
Amnesty International this week called for Holdack to be released on humanitarian grounds, repeating his lawyers’ assertions that he was unfairly imprisoned and had been beaten while in custody.
Another timely appearance by another juman rights organization.
As a condition of his release, Holdack is required to report before the court every eight days and is banned from leaving the country.
Looks like probation to me.
Three lesser-known government opponents also were released in the past two days, Congressman Miguel Pizarro said Wednesday. He identified them as Julver Pulido, Juan Esqueda, and Miguel Angel Nieto.
Pizarro called the releases important but cautioned that he sees no wider amnesty underway.
--more--"
Don't they have any supporters?
"Former longtime Cuban president Fidel Castro appeared in public for the first time in more than a year, official media reported. The Cubadebate website said Castro greeted a group of Venezuelans visiting the capital of Havana last week. Cubadebate published images Friday that show Castro sitting in a vehicle, shaking hands with several people through the window. Castro will turn 89 on Aug. 13."
Gets us to the summit, right?
I'm told it may help speed relations with Cuba, but then the talks stalled as leaders resisted backing US sanctions on Venezuela, and while the focus of the Caricom talks included regional security and economic development, Obama’s visit here is also part of a larger plan, which includes his outreach to Cuba. The move is directly related to the administration’s efforts to improve US standing in the region and to overtake Venezuela’s attempts to draw the Caribbean states into its orbit. For years, Venezuela has used cut-rate oil to buy anti-American support from cash-strapped Caribbean governments."
Maybe U.S. oil companies could do the sa.... ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Sorry, thought I could get through it.
That's where the print ended it; the web had more.
"In the past, Venezuela has been able to count on a winning block of Caribbean votes to oppose U.S. initiatives in institutions such as the Organization of American States, which it has regularly used as a platform to denounce American policies in the hemisphere and beyond. Despite their small populations, the Caribbean countries together constitute nearly half of the nations of the Western Hemisphere. As they try to wean island governments away from Venezuela, administration officials have also tried to play down their difficulties with Caracas. Thomas Shannon, a senior aide to Secretary of State John Kerry, was in Venezuela on Thursday for meetings with President Nicolás Maduro, aiming at least to give the impression that the United States is trying to smooth over its differences with the Maduro government before the Caricom meeting and the larger Summit of the Americas. Relations between the two governments, always bumpy, hit a major pothole last month when Obama, acting on a unanimous congressional resolution, imposed sanctions on seven senior Venezuelan officials. What seemed to cause the most upset, however, was boilerplate language in the order that declared Venezuela a ‘‘national security threat’’ to the United States. Venezuela has called that statement an ‘‘act of aggression.’’
I suppose they won't be shaking hands anytime soon (my print copy read Kuhnhenn and Lederman from AP):
"Even as Washington talked up the historic shift toward Cuba, leftist leaders in Latin America took shots at the U.S. in solidarity with Venezuela. Barely off the plane, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela laid a wreath at a monument to victims of the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. To shouts of “Maduro, stick it to the Yankee,” he vowed to personally ask Obama to apologize to Panama and compensate victims of what he called a “massacre” that left more than 500 people dead during the invasion." “Never again a U.S. invasion in Latin America,” Maduro said. President Evo Morales of Bolivia said he backs Maduro’s drive to end U.S. intervention in the region."
Panama was an H.W. Bush special that served two purposes: it showed the world the U.S. would exercise military power after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it secured the Panama canal. Noriega being a drug dealer (while on CIA payroll) was just the cover.
NYT adders:
"Obama said at a civil society forum before the official start of the summit meeting, “I’m here to say that when we do speak out, we’re going to do so because the United States of America does believe, and will always stand for, a certain set of universal values.”
I know he has to mouth the scripted propaganda, and maybe he has internalized it, but the guy makes me sick in the same way Bush did at this time in his term.
The president rushed through a packed schedule Friday as the summit meeting got underway, beginning his day with a tour of the Panama Canal. “The Panama Canal is a testament to human ingenuity and vision,” he scrawled in the guest book. At a forum with chief executives, Obama promoted a $1 billion investment package he has proposed for Central America in an effort to address the causes of the surge of immigrants across America’s southern border last summer.
And yet we get austerity here at home from him and the Congre$$.
As he prepared to sit down with Castro, the president made it clear that he still had human rights concerns. Hours before Obama arrived to address the civil society forum at a Panama City hotel, members of groups sent by the Cuban government tried to block access to dissidents, calling them mercenaries who did not speak for Cuba. At one point, amid angry chanting at one another, one of Cuba’s best-known government opponents, Guillermo Farinas, was jostled and manhandled as he tried to make his way through a thick crowd of pro-Castro demonstrators. “These aren’t really dissidents; they aren’t really interested in democracy and human rights,” Patricia Flechilla, a Cuban student and delegate at the summit, told reporters, going on to repeat a familiar complaint from the Cuban government that opponents are paid and propped up by foreign governments, namely the United States.
Yeah, everybody down there knows that.
The fracas interrupted the work of the forum, made up of nongovernmental groups from across the hemisphere, to produce a statement directed at the heads of state gathered at the summit meeting. Later, before Obama arrived, scores of people waving Cuban flags and chanting “Long live Fidel, long live Raúl” met outside the hotel. Santiago Canton, executive director of RFK Partners for Human Rights at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, said the presence of Cuba at the summit meeting would inevitably lead to discord. “People were sent by the Cuban government to disrupt everything going on, and they are doing that well,” he said after observing the clash."
Now, finally, we can sit down at the table:
"A cordial start, mostly, for US-Cuban detente; Obama, Castro meet at Summit of the Americas" by Karen DeYoung and Nick Miroff Washington Post April 12, 2015
PANAMA CITY — In his speech, President Raúl Castro angrily denied Cuban participation in international terrorism, saying that although his country had supported other revolutions, its experience with terrorism came primarily from what he called US-sponsored terrorist attacks inside Cuba in decades past.
Just before President Obama’s speech, Ecuador’s leftist president, Rafael Correa, an ally of Cuba, railed against the embargo and recounted what he said were the sins of US multinational companies in his country. He demanded the return of US-occupied Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and spoke of ‘‘North America and our America.’’
Related:
"President Tabare Vazquez said the United Nations refugee agency will help six former Guantanamo prisoners obtain housing in his country. Vazquez told reporters at the Summit of the Americas in Panama that each of the six will soon have a home, thanks to the UN high commissioner for refugees. The six freed prisoners have struggled to adapt to life in Uruguay since arriving in December after years of captivity at Guantanamo. They have not gotten work and are getting by on about $600 a month provided by a nongovernmental organization (AP)."
Obama, in what appeared to be extemporaneous remarks that were not part of his prepared speech, addressed Correa by name while saying that he was ‘‘not interested in theoretical arguments.’’
The Cold War, he said, ‘‘has been over for a long time, and I’m not interested in having battles that, frankly, started before I was born. What I’m interested in is solving problems and working with you . . . in the spirit of alliance.
Then why you heating it up in Ukraine?
‘‘I always enjoy the history lessons that I receive when I am here,’’ Obama said evenly. ‘‘I’m the first to admit . . . there are dark chapters in our history. . . We can, I suppose, spend a lot of time talking about past grievances. And I suppose that it’s possible to use the United States as an excuse . . . for political problems that may be occurring domestically’’ in Latin America. ‘‘But that’s not going to bring progress.’’
What an arrogant jerk.
Instead, he said, he would rather talk about taking steps on climate change, economic growth, and security.
Debates about the past, Obama said, in a clear jab at Correa’s economic and political difficulties at home, are ‘‘not going to solve the problems of children who can’t read, who don’t have enough to eat. . . I just want to make very clear that when the United States speaks out on human rights, it’s not because we think we’re perfect, but because we think the idea of not killing people because they disagree with us is the ideal.’’
He didn't really say that, did he?
(Blog editor's chin drops to chest; if so, he's delusional!)
How many covert and overt wars has this nation's government fomented the last 15 years?
Later Saturday, after Obama had left the room, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro began an equally lengthy speech.
After denouncing US sanctions imposed on officials in his government, as well as a US declaration that Venezuela is a ‘‘national security threat’’ to the United States, Maduro said he, too, respected Obama, ‘‘in spite of the fact that he has threatened our motherland.’’
He's a better man than I because I have lost all respect for him. I'm not buying the Iran fooley as reported by the jew$paper, sorry.
--more--"
"US-Cuba good will plays key role in summit" by Joshua Goodman Associated Press April 13, 2015
PANAMA CITY — As usual when Latin America’s leftist leaders get together with US officials, there were plenty of swipes at Washington during the seventh Summit of the Americas.
From 19th-century territorial raids on Mexico to US support for the overthrow of Chile’s socialist government in 1973 and the 1989 invasion of Panama that removed General Manuel Noriega, Washington’s interventions in Latin America were targets of rebuke during long speeches by President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and his allies.
Haven't seen much of them lately, and that is Chile's 9/11.
That prompted President Obama to retort, ‘‘I always enjoy the history lessons that I receive when I’m here.’’
But the historic meeting between Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba on Saturday before the summit closed provides the United States and Latin America with an opportunity to move beyond a history of grievances and mistrust and set a course of closer cooperation.
That's what criminals always say. Let's move past it!
There were concerns in the run-up that US sanctions on Venezuelan officials could undermine the good will generated by Obama’s decision to restore ties with Cuba, but they proved to be unfounded.
This is such public relations garbage and spin.
After condemning US aggression in his speech, Castro professed admiration for Obama, calling him an ‘‘honest man’’ who had not forgotten his humble roots. He noted that Obama was not even born when the United States imposed sanctions in Cuba.
The two leaders later sat down for the first meeting between Cuban and American heads of state since before the 1959 revolution that deposed Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista.
Even Maduro eased up, declining to follow through on a threat to deliver a petition signed by 10 million Venezuelans calling on Obama to repeal sanctions. Instead, he spoke with Obama in a private exchange that Maduro said could open a way to meaningful dialogue between the two nations.
The White House said Obama reiterated his concern about the state of democracy in deeply divided Venezuela, but in his public speech Obama refrained from language declaring the situation in Venezuela a national security threat — the justification to freeze the assets of seven officials accused of human rights abuses tied to last year’s antigovernment protests.
President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico made no mention of the Venezuela sanctions in remarks Saturday. President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil did but apparently for the consumption of her leftist base at home.
Regional leaders are awaiting follow-through on Obama’s vow to consider removing Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism and dismantling of the trade embargo.
It's going to be a hard sell because "Washington’s isolation of Cuba, particularly through its trade embargo, has been a perennial source of hostility in Latin America, uniting governments across the region regardless of their ideologies. Even some of Washington’s close allies in the Americas have rallied to Cuba’s side, sometimes making it hard to gain traction on other, unrelated issues, officials have said."
Yeah, it's not just the "leftists" like I was led to believe, and the other, unrelated issues are overthrowing Venezuela's government or supporting a U.S. invasion. Must be why the banks are complaining.
--more--"
Yeah, turns out Cuba All About Cargill and Other Food Corporations.
Kind of blows the roof off the propaganda, huh?
Now about appeasing that leftist base in Brazil:
"It’s raining in Brazil, and the coffee bulls are running for cover. Downpours in the past month are replenishing soil left parched by a 2014 drought. The rains in Brazil, the world’s top coffee producer and exporter, have spurred hedge funds to cut their bullish wagers. Coffee swung from a bear market to a bull market and back again over the past year, making it the most volatile component of the Bloomberg Commodity Index; 2014’s dry spell caused prices to double, but global stockpiles at the end of September will be 14 percent higher than previously estimated, the US government forecasts. Brazil’s output will rise to 49.5 million bags this year from 47 million in 2014, according to Volcafe, the coffee unit of commodity trader ED&F Man. Production in Colombia, the second-largest grower of arabica beans, is poised to reach the highest since 2008."
Related: 11 soldiers killed in rebel attack in Colombia
Colombian Report on US Military’s Child Rapes Not Newsworthy to US News Outlets
Brazil rallies seek president’s ouster
Sure looks like a U.S. effort to me.
"Brazil leader facing turbulence, but ouster unlikely" by Brad Brooks, Associated Press March 17, 2015
RIO DE JANEIRO — Massive protests calling for the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff have narrowed her options to fend off political and economic crises and will mean more turbulence for the nation in the months to come, but her ouster remains highly unlikely, analysts said Monday.
Meaning the people are with her and the U.S. doesn't have the resources in country to facilitate a coup.
Polls showed the Rousseff government’s popularity had already been cut in half before Sunday’s protests, compared to when she won reelection in October, and the sheer size of the challenge facing her was splashed across front pages of newspapers Monday with photos of the surprisingly huge crowds seeking her removal.
Anger over a sprawling corruption scheme sparked Sunday’s marches in more than 150 cities.
Federal prosecutors say they’ve uncovered Brazil’s biggest graft case yet in a kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, with at least $800 million paid by construction and engineering firms in bribes to politically appointed former executives at the oil company, all in exchange for winning inflated contracts.
Looks like bu$ine$$ as u$ual here, and didn't the elections decide all that?
Investigators say some of the money was funneled back to the campaign coffers of the Workers’ Party and its allies. Dozens of congressmen and some former executive branch officials, including two former chiefs of staff to Rousseff, are under investigation.
The president, who served as chairwoman of Petrobras’ board during several years as the graft took place, isn’t implicated, but polls show a large majority of Brazilians think she knew about the pilfering.
Some 210,000 people gathered on a main Sao Paulo avenue Sunday, a crowd larger than any seen during daily antigovernment rallies in June 2013, when anger was less focused on Rousseff herself than on public anger over poor public services and perceived endemic political corruption in general.
Protests now are expected to be less frequent. The right-leaning groups who organized Sunday’s events on social media have called for a new round on April 12.
The U.S. hand was just revealed, even with the propaganda pre$$ glove on it.
Despite the anger expressed in the streets, few analysts expect Rousseff’s departure.
‘‘While the next few months will be very difficult, we still don’t think the government is headed to a governability crisis or that Rousseff is likely to be impeached,’’ the Eurasia Group political risk consulting firm wrote in a Monday note.
I dream of such a thing at home, and it is happening!
Eurasia emphasized that it’s difficult to impeach a sitting president and that ‘‘there are a number of examples to demonstrate presidents can survive very low approval ratings and very unpopular periods of governance.’’
It cited a moment in 1999 when Brazil’s currency was devalued and then-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso had single-digit poll numbers but remained in office.
Still, Sunday’s wave of protests illustrated how far from grace the ruling Workers’ Party has fallen since it took the presidency in 2003.
Created in 1980 by a collection of strong unions and a wide range of nongovernment organizations representing a wide cross-section of Brazilian society, the party has always been known for its ability to rally its adherents into the streets.
‘‘Who could have imagined that the Workers’ Party would flip sides and now be the target, after 30 years of glories,’’ wrote Eliane Cantanhede, a political columnist for the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
Yeah, who Could have ImAgined?
She said the government needs to make stronger efforts to work with the opposition and push through congressional measures to spark Brazil’s moribund economy and make substantial political reforms.
Political commentator Merval Pereira wrote in Monday’s O Globo newspaper that if Brazil had a parliamentary system, ‘‘the government would have fallen by now,’’ noting that even Rousseff’s allies in Congress, many of whom are under investigation in the Petrobras graft case, are blocking reform measures she has introduced.
--more--"
Time to gas up the bus:
"Police renewed their search Sunday for more victims in a bus accident in southern Brazil that killed at least 49 people. The dead include eight young children, three adolescents, 24 women, and 14 men, the government of Santa Catarina state said. The bus plunged 1,300 feet down a mountain near the city of Joinville on Saturday. Officials said that the death toll could rise because more bodies could be found under the bus and in the woods. The bus crashed on a curvy road that wound through a verdant green region popular for hiking and biking in Santa Catarina state, about 600 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro. The cause of the accident is under investigation, although authorities suspect the driver may have lost control on a curve. The group was traveling from Uniao da Vitoria for a religious event near the coast in Parana state."
Maybe you would like to get your money back?
"Bankruptcy trustee offers details on alleged TelexFree fraud" by Beth Healy, Globe Staff March 02, 2015
The bankruptcy trustee in the TelexFree Inc. fraud case said the former Marlborough company took in $1.03 billion from investors in just 16 months, according to its internal records.
The alleged global fraud, which was run from a small city west of Boston after being shut down in Brazil, had nearly 1.9 million participants, according to the trustee’s filing in federal court in Boston.
The list of people was so long that it would have filled 35,110 pages, the trustee said — the largest alleged pyramid scheme in history in terms of the number of people affected.
Stephen Darr, the court-appointed trustee, said in his filing submitted late Friday that he could not be certain the information was accurate because “the physical books and records available to the trustee are extremely limited and incomplete.” He also said the debtor’s principals, who have been indicted on criminal fraud charges, have provided no assistance to his office.
TelexFree filed for federal bankruptcy protection in April, as prosecutors and regulators were preparing to bring charges against the company and its top executives. The company purported to sell cheap Internet phone service, targeting thousands of Brazilian immigrants in Eastern Massachusetts and participants as far away as Uganda, Australia, and Indonesia.
The company lured a vast network of participants by encouraging them to buy memberships for about $1,400 and promising to pay them large returns if they promoted the company in online ads and among their friends and family. Early participants have said they did in fact reap returns, which encouraged later entrants to invest large portions of their savings....
Looks like an Enron-type $cheme.
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The "trustee’s filing was first reported Saturday by the blog Ponzitracker?"
"TelexFree lawsuit names Bank of America, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Accused of doing business with firm after Brazil shutdown" by Beth Healy Globe Staff April 07, 2015
A lawyer representing victims of the alleged TelexFree Inc. fraud in a class-action lawsuit has named numerous defendants in the case, including Bank of America Corp. and the audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
According to the lawsuit, which consolidated the civil complaints of at least 780,000 alleged victims, Bank of America and PricewaterhouseCoopers did business with TelexFree even after learning the company had been shut down in Brazil under allegations it was conducting a pyramid scheme.
TelexFree purported to be a seller of cheap long-distance phone service, out of an office in Marlborough. But prosecutors allege that in reality, the company took in more than $1 billion from participants in 18 months by promising them quick investment returns in exchange for promoting the company.
The company’s two US principals are facing criminal charges and allegations by securities regulators that they defrauded as many as 1 million people around the globe. It is believed to be the largest fraud in history in terms of the number of victims.
Robert Bonsignore, a Belmont, N.H., lawyer who is lead counsel in the civil case, alleged that TelexFree and its principals and top promoters “knowingly, maliciously, and willfully conspired to perpetrate, and did perpetrate, the TelexFree pyramid Scheme with full awareness of its unfair, deceptive, and unlawful nature.”
In addition, the 200-page complaint alleges that a number of service providers, including banks and accountants, “were negligent or reckless in providing advice, directly participated in,” or provided “essential substantial assistance” to TelexFree, despite knowing it was an illegal pyramid scheme.
A spokeswoman for PricewaterhouseCoopers, based in New York, declined to comment. A spokesman for Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., also declined to comment.
Lawyers for TelexFree and its Massachusetts principals, James Merrill of Ashland and Carlos Wanzeler, formerly of Northborough, have denied wrongdoing. Both men face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Merrill is at home awaiting trial. Wanzeler fled to his native Brazil last April, just after TelexFree filed for bankruptcy protection and as agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI raided its office.
Among the numerous service companies named in the complaint, Bank of America and PricewaterhouseCoopers are the largest.
**************
In early spring 2013, Bank of America questioned TelexFree about its business, according to the complaint. It also “had exchanges with TelexFree about terminating their relationship and discontinuing the service of their accounts, but never did,” the complaint says.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Worcester, says PricewaterhouseCoopers “negligently provided accounting and consulting services” to TelexFree during the scheme. It alleges that TelexFree hired PricewaterhouseCoopers in January 2014, several months after the company had been shut down in Brazil.
The complaint also alleges that PricewaterhouseCoopers “negligently advised” TelexFree to prepare inaccurate and unfair 1099 tax forms to participants who had in fact lost money with the company.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin last year secured a $3.5 million settlement with Fidelity Bank of Fitchburg for allegedly allowing TelexFree to open accounts without thoroughly vetting its business.
Fidelity Bank, which is run by Merrill’s brother, John Merrill, neither admitted to nor denied the allegations.
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Related:
"Many people in Brazilian and Dominican immigrant communities in Massachusetts put money into the Wings Network swindle from November 2013 through April 2014, the SEC said, alleging that the company raised at least $23.5 million in a pyramid scheme with echoes of the alleged TelexFree."
Also see: Brazil Arrests U.S. Cult Leader Wanted on Child Sex Charges
That's when the ticker stopped.
"Judge dismisses criminal case against leader of Argentina" by Jonathan Gilbert, New York Times February 27, 2015
BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine judge Thursday dismissed the criminal allegations against President Cristina Fernández that had been brought by Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor who had accused her of conspiring to shield Iranian officials from responsibility for the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center here in 1994.
The judge, Daniel Rafecas, decided that the criminal complaint that Nisman put forward before his mysterious death last month was not sufficient to open an investigation into the president. In a 63-page document released Thursday detailing his decision, Rafecas said the allegations did not “minimally hold up.”
The criminal case had been revived by another prosecutor after Nisman’s death, seeking to charge the president, the foreign minister, and other political supporters of Fernández .
The original complaint by Nisman, the lead investigator of the attack on the Jewish center, which left 85 people dead, had described a complex web of back-channel negotiations, accusing Argentina’s president of directing an effort to reduce pressure on Iranians wanted in connection with the bombing in exchange for trade benefits.
Rafecas’s decision to dismiss the case can be appealed by the prosecutor who revived Nisman’s accusation, said María Bourdin, a spokeswoman for the judiciary.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Nisman was killed or committed suicide. The lead investigator told the local media Wednesday that Nisman’s death was still “a great unsolved mystery.”
Nisman’s body was found a day before he was scheduled to appear before Congress to discuss his criminal complaint against the president and several top supporters. He had also drafted a request for Fernández’s arrest but did not include it in his complaint.
The sudden death of Nisman, who was found on the floor of his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head, stunned Argentina and exposed deep rifts in the nation.
Tens of thousands of Argentines poured into the center of Buenos Aires last week for a demonstration in honor of Nisman, and widely diverse theories have swirled since his death, with many Argentines saying in polls that they believed the government had a hand in it.
I have not followed it as closely as I should have; however, I'm smelling Mossad.
Fernández made it clear in January that she believed Nisman had been killed. She and her inner circle have cast suspicion on various figures, including the assistant who lent Nisman the gun that was found and the ousted spymaster who worked with Nisman during his investigation.
Fernández and the foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, have both rejected the assertions that they conspired with Iran, pointing to statements from Interpol’s former secretary general that they never sought to lift arrest warrants for Iranian officials wanted in connection with the 1994 bombing.
Still, the federal prosecutor who took up Nisman’s case this month sought to charge Fernández in connection with the claims of secret negotiations with Iranians.
In his decision to dismiss the case, Rafecas wrote that the assertion the foreign minister tried to get Interpol to lift arrest warrants against the Iranians was unfounded. The evidence, he wrote, contradicted the accusation “categorically and conclusively.”
Some of Fernández’s political opponents immediately sought to question the judge’s impartiality.
Jorge Lanata, an influential broadcast journalist who openly opposes the government, said in televised comments that the judge, Rafecas, was behaving “like a soldier of Kirchnerismo,” the name given to the political movement of Fernández and her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, who was president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007.
The office of the prosecutor who revived Nisman’s criminal case, Gerardo Pollicita, declined to say Thursday whether he would appeal the decision.
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Related:
"Journalist Who Reported on Argentine Prosecutor’s Death Flees to Israel" by Isabel Kershner:
"Mr. Pachter added in the televised remarks that he held Israeli citizenship."Probably best read with this." -- h/t
Also see: Cristina of Argentina: Target of Israeli “false flag” attack
Their attack dogs in the AmeriKan media:
"Prosecutor in Argentina bombing inquiry is found dead" by Jonathan Gilbert and Simon Romero, New York Times January 20, 2015
That was a total rewrite of the print version that was scrubbed.
"Phone transcripts show Argentina tried to make deal with Iran" by Jonathan Gilbert and Simon Romero, New York Times January 22, 2015
"Argentine president now says prosecutor’s death not suicide" by Jonathan Gilbert and Rick Gladstone, New York Times January 23, 2015
"Argentina ties former spy to case of slain prosecutor" by Simon Romero, New York Times January 24, 2015
"Police investigated in case of dead Argentine prosecutor" by ALUMUDENA CALATRAVA, Associated Press January 23, 2015 2015
US calling for a fair and impartial investigation as the Zionist War Media fingers Hezbollah and Iran.
"Prosecutor weighed Argentine president’s arrest; Documents alleges effort to shield Iranian officials" by Simon Romero, New York Times February 04, 2015
I'm thinking he was coming forward with information linking Israel to another in a long line of false flag attacks.
"Argentina calls ex-spy chief to testify" Associated Press February 06, 2015
It's intriguing, it's mysterious, and that's when I stop reading propaganda.
"Prosecutor seeking to charge Argentine president in coverup" by Jonathan Gilbert and Simon Romero, New York Times February 14, 2015
"Brookline rabbi seeks justice in 1994 terrorist act; Mother among 85 killed in bombing in Buenos Aires" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff February 23, 2015
That about did it for me there.
"Transportation strike in Argentina shuts down country" Associated Press April 01, 2015
BUENOS AIRES — Transportation unions brought Argentina to a standstill Tuesday with a one-day national strike to protest income tax rates and high inflation they say is eroding their earnings.
Flights were canceled, schools shut down, banks closed, and thousands of businesses were shuttered along largely empty streets.
While transportation workers represent only a small part of the South American country’s workforce, shutting down trains and buses created a domino effect because many Argentines have no other way to get to work or school.
Most domestic and international flights were canceled because transportation unions represent many airport workers. Some schools canceled classes and others announced half-days as teachers had trouble getting to work.
Even drivers with their own cars had a hard time getting into the capital because members of the Socialist Workers party blocked the principal routes into Buenos Aires.
The unions argue that high taxes and inflation, which private economists put at around 35 percent annually, have eroded wage gains.
Top officials in President Cristina Fernandez’s cabinet say the tax rates are fair and affect only a small percentage of workers, those who earn at least $1,765 a month.
Looks like AmeriKan agitation to me.
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And what ties all these things together?
▪CIA-backed terrorists launch mortar attack on residence of the governor of Tachira state, Venezuela. More proof of terrorist links of John Brennan.
▪Two Europeans jailed in Bolivia for trying to assassinate Evo Morales. Brennan’s CIA has been very busy lately south of the border.
▪Caracas mayor accused of involvement in CIA coup plot. Mayor Antonio Ledezma is also a committed Zionist. Do the math on Argentina, Cuba, and Venezuela: Nisman, Alan Gross, and Ledezma. Get it? Got it? Good!
▪Argentina tells U.S. and Israel to stay out of its affairs. Nisman affair exposes CIA-Mossad operation.
(h/t)
Time to throw this post out for your perusal.
NDU: The pope may visit Cuba, but nothing’s definite
Time to throw this post out for your perusal.
NDU: The pope may visit Cuba, but nothing’s definite
