Been a long time coming for U.S. empire builders:
"Venezuelans again shut down capital to protest government" by Hannah Dreier Associated Press May 15, 2017
CARACAS — Thousands of protesters hauled folding chairs, beach umbrellas, and coolers onto main roads across Venezuela Monday for a national sit-in.
How nice of the agenda-pushing pre$$ to notice.
The ‘‘sit-in against the dictatorship’’ is the latest in a month and a half of street demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro that have left dozens dead. Many Caracas businesses were closed and taxi drivers suspended work in anticipation of a citywide traffic shutdown.
Opposition leaders are demanding immediate presidential elections. Polls show the great majority of Venezuelans want Maduro gone as violent crime soars and the country falls into economic ruin.
The European Union is also calling for Venezuela elections. EU foreign ministers said Monday that ‘‘violence and the use of force will not resolve the crisis in the country.’’
No offense, but what f***ing business is it of theirs?
Worry about your own house, EU!
And the United States has expressed grave concern about the erosion of democratic norms in the South American country.
The protests were triggered by a government move to nullify the opposition-controlled Supreme Court, but have morphed into a general airing of grievances against the unpopular socialist administration.
They do always seem to fail in the end.
As demonstrations take over Caracas almost daily, normal life has continued, but suffused with tension and uncertainty.
Excuse me?!!
At fancy cafes, patrons show each other the latest videos of student protesters getting hurt or statues of the late President Hugo Chavez on their phones.
Working class people who have to traverse the capital city for their jobs have adjusted their schedules to account for the daily traffic shutdowns, and are taking siestas to wait out the clashes between protesters and police.
On Monday, protesters stayed in main roads for six hours, then began to disperse under a heavy rain. They pledged to take to the streets again the next day.
At least 38 people have been killed and more than 750 injured in more than a month of unrest.
The EU has urged Venezuelan authorities to halt the use of violence against peaceful antigovernment protesters and said it stands ready to help the country through its political crisis.
EU foreign ministers said in a statement Monday that people’s rights ‘‘must be respected, including the right to peacefully demonstrate. It is crucial that all parties refrain from violent acts.’’
The ministers, meeting in Brussels, said that the EU ‘‘is fully committed to helping Venezuela find peaceful and democratic solutions and is ready to use all its possible instruments’’ to help.
Venezuela’s economy, once the richest in Latin America, is estimated to have shrunk by 10 percent in 2016, more than Syria’s. Its inflation that year has been estimated as high as 720 percent, nearly double that of second-ranked South Sudan, rendering its currency nearly worthless.
Sure looks like a U.S. vi$e to me. Must feel good after all these years.
In a country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves, food has grown so scarce that three in four citizens reported involuntary weight loss, averaging 19 pounds in a year.
Whatta prize!
City streets are marked by black markets and violence. The last reported murder rate, in 2014, was equivalent to the civilian casualty rate in 2004 Iraq.
That means its been a full-blown war.
Its democracy, long a point of pride, became the oldest to collapse into authoritarianism since World War II. Power grabs, most recently to replace the Constitution, have led to the protests.
When the democracy was founded in 1958, the country’s three leading parties, later narrowed to two, agreed to share power among themselves and oil revenue among their constituents.
How like AmeriKa they are.
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Well, the destabilization campaign the U.S. has waged for years has finally taken its effect and the fall of Maduro and the Socialists is imminent.
