Exactly 18 Years After US Coup Against Venezuela, Pompeo and Abrams Warn
Another is Coming
US regime change cheerleaders Mike Pompeo and Elliot Abrams warned
Venezualas government not to resist the upcoming implementation of a
transitional government.
by Alan Macleod
April 13th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
On the eighteenth anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup against the government
of Venezuela, senior American officials announced that the people should
prepare for another imminent push. The goal is to replace [President
Nicolas] Maduros illegitimate dictatorship with a legitimate transitional
government that can hold free and fair elections to represent all
Venezuelans. It is time for Maduro to go, announced Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo.
On Saturday the eleventh, exactly 18 years after the U.S. supported a
briefly successful coup against Hugo Chavez, American envoy for Venezuela
and coup specialist Elliott Abrams warned that if Maduro resisted the
implementation of said transitional government his departure would be far
more dangerous and abrupt, effectively threatening him with another
assassination attempt, like the one the U.S. tacitly supported in 2018.
The U.S. has recently upped its sanctions against Venezuela and sent
warships to the region to enforce a blockade.
The phrase transitional government has been used a great deal of late; the
White House describing Bolivias Añez administration as such. Añez came to
power in November thanks to a U.S.-supported coup against President Evo
Morales. That transitional government has since massacred protestors,
pulled Bolivia out of multiple international treaties and indefinitely
suspended elections. Thus, it came as no surprise when Maduro rejected the
same fate as his ally, Morales. We will take care of Venezuela, he
replied, Mr. Abrams, cool your jets.
Camila
@camilateleSUR
13 April 2002: Nicolás Maduro Moros stands among the Venezuelan people in
the streets, demanding freedom for Comandante Hugo Chávez.
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Maduro is well aware of the history of U.S. coups in his country, having
been part of a counter-demonstration that successfully overturned the April
2002 putsch. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show
that coup leaders at the time traveled back and forth to Washington D.C.
several times in the months leading up to the event, where they received
counsel and training from American officials. NED and USAID funding for the
groups who carried it out quadrupled in 2002 and then quadrupled again in
2003. The U.S. government incontrovertibly knew by at least April 6 that a
coup carried out by those they were funding and training was about to occur.
But instead of alerting the government, they immediately endorsed events,
falsely claiming that President Chavez had massacred his own people and then
resigned.
How the Media Manufactures Consent for Regime Change in Venezuela
Alan MacLeod looks at the role of the media in fomenting popular support for
the regime change operation in Venezuela.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Feb 26, 2019
Since then, Washington has never stopped attempting to remove the United
Socialist Party from power, refusing to accept the validity of widely-lauded
presidential elections in 2013 and 2018, funding virtually the entire
spectrum of the domestic opposition for two decades. A number of other, less
successful coups attempts have all been met with at least tacit American
approval as well, including 2014 and 2017 waves of terrorist violence, a
failed 2018 assassination of Maduro, and four separate coup attempts last
year by self-declared president Juan Guaidó.
The Trump administration has also ramped up Obamas sanctions on the
country, leading to over 100,000 deaths, according to an American U.N.
Special Rapporteur who visited the country, describing them as akin to a
medieval siege and declaring Trump guilty of crimes against humanity.
Abrams lifes work has been to use the power of the U.S. government
overtly and covertly to overthrow sovereign states through coups,
sanctions and genocides. On his first day as Assistant Secretary of State
for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs under Ronald Reagan in 1981, he
jumped into action, covering up the now-infamous El Mozote massacre in El
Salvador, conducted by a death squad created, armed and trained by
Washington. Since then he has been an architect of dirty wars, genocides
and regime change in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia and Panama, among
others. As Jon Swartz of The Intercept wrote:
The choice of Abrams sends a clear message to Venezuela and the world: The
Trump administration intends to brutalize Venezuela, while producing a
stream of unctuous rhetoric about Americas love for democracy and human
rights.
When Rep. Ilhan Omar brought up some of this history during a 2019 House
Committee on Foreign Relations last year, he appeared outraged, almost
beyond words.
Venezuelas Coronavirus Response Might Surprise You
Despite struggling under US sanctions, Venezuela is handling the coronavirus
crisis by placing value in health over profits.
MintPress News | Leonardo Flores | Mar 25
Despite the sanctions, the Venezuelan government has actually proven to be
far more capable of handling the coronavirus pandemic than the Trump
administration. Even before any confirmed cases, Maduro declared a health
emergency, canceling foreign flights and prohibiting crowds. On the day of
the first case, schools, theaters, and restaurants were closed, and wearing
a mask in public became mandatory. The government created a national online
database and website where unwell citizens could inform authorities of their
condition. Over 20,000 people who registered were immediately visited in
their homes by medics. The country has reported only 181 infections and 9
deaths.
While Pompeo and Abrams latest remarks are a grave threat to the
sovereignty of Venezuela, they are not novel, Venezuelans have been hearing
similar proclamations for nearly two decades. Whether they will succeed
where previous administrations before them have failed remains to be seen.
