User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Page 4 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 31 to 40 of 49

Thread: Bernie should have promoted Maduro socialism

  1. #31
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Red face

    Mebbe dey got nobody else to 'drive the bus'...

    Venezuela's parliament delays trial of President Maduro
    Tue, 01 Nov 2016 - Venezuela's opposition-led parliament delays the trial of President Nicolas Maduro.
    The speaker for the National Assembly said the decision was aimed at easing the country's political crisis. An opposition march on the presidential palace planned for Thursday has also been postponed. President Maduro is accused of violating the constitution but claims MPs are attempting a "coup".


    Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (right) at a meeting between Venezuela's government and opposition leaders for Vatican-backed talks

    The decision to delay the trial follows Vatican-sponsored talks between the two sides, and the release from prison of three anti-government activists. Last month a referendum process seeking to remove Mr Maduro was suspended after the government said that the vote was meaningless.

    What is behind the crisis in Venezuela?

    Mr Maduro has dismissed the trial as invalid and has vowed to jail participants of any attempt to overthrow his government. A former bus driver and union leader, Mr Maduro is blamed by the opposition for Venezuela's dire economic situation. The oil-rich country is facing widespread food shortages and spiralling inflation. The opposition has been trying to hold a recall referendum that would allow Mr Maduro to be removed from office.

    Venezuela's parliament delays trial of President Maduro - BBC News
    See also:

    Venezuelan opposition eases temperature at Vatican request
    Nov 1,`16 -- Venezuela's opposition warily welcomed on Tuesday the government's release of four jailed activists, agreeing to delay a symbolic trial in Congress to void President Nicolas Maduro's authority and to scrap a protest march set for later this week.
    The moves were a response to the Vatican's efforts to avert bloodshed and dampen acrimony in the oil-rich South American country. Talks that began Sunday under its tutelage aim to defuse a crisis exacerbated by the socialist government's derailing of a referendum to recall the highly unpopular Maduro. The Democratic Unity opposition alliance said the releases did not sufficiently address its demands, which begin with immediate freedom for more than 100 people still behind bars that it considers political prisoners. Its executive secretary, Jesus Torrealba, called the releases "important but insufficient." "The releases need to continue. They should reinstate the recall referendum or, failing that, advance presidential elections," he told reporters.

    Torrealba was among opposition leaders who met privately Tuesday with U.S. special envoy Thomas Shannon, the undersecretary of state for political affairs. He offered no details but said Shannon backs the Vatican initiative. The opposition won control of congress in December for the first time in the 17 years that the late Hugo Chavez and his political heir, Maduro, have governed Venezuela. But Chavistas have a firm hold on the executive branch, the courts, the military and the security apparatus. Congress has no impeachment powers, but had summoned Maduro to a political trial Tuesday. Maduro called the proceedings a "coup attempt" and instead of appearing launched a noon radio program dedicated to salsa music.


    A inflatable figure in the likeness of late president Hugo Chavez is seen in a demonstration in favor of Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro, near the Congress building in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Nov, 1 , 2016. Venezuela's opposition on Tuesday welcomed the government's release of four jailed activists, but said it doesn't come near to meeting its demands, which include new elections

    Borges told reporters that, honoring the Roman Catholic Church's mediation efforts, the opposition would delay the trial pending the next round of exploratory talks on Nov. 11. Later Tuesday, opposition lawmaker Henry Ramos called off a planned march on the Miraflores presidential palace set for Thursday. He cited a Vatican request. A wave of anti-government unrest in 2014 resulted in more than 40 deaths and dozens of arrests. Food and medicine shortages have only worsened in the interim in a nation with one of the world's highest murder rates. Opposition leaders complain that Maduro is using the dialogue to ease tensions exacerbated by his mismanagement of the economy and oil revenues - where the opposition alleges massive graft has occurred - that is causing widespread suffering.

    Opinion surveys show four in five Venezuelans want Maduro out. The best-known of the released men is Carlos Melo, leader of a small party in the Democratic Unity opposition alliance who was held for two months. Opposition leaders complained that Melo, 65, spent more than six weeks in the basement jail of SEBIN secret police despite a release order. Melo told Colombia's Radio Blu on Tuesday that he credited international pressure for the releases. Among top imprisoned opposition leaders are Leopoldo Lopez, former mayor of the capital's wealthy Chacao district, and Antonio Ledezma, the sitting Caracas mayor. Sunday's talks included former Presidents Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, Martin Torrijos of Panama and Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...11-01-21-32-08

  2. #32
    Points: 56,719, Level: 58
    Level completed: 19%, Points required for next Level: 1,631
    Overall activity: 0.0%
    Achievements:
    Veteran50000 Experience PointsTagger Second Class
    patrickt's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    17597
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Living in Oaxaca, Mexico, born in Memphis and worked in Colorado
    Posts
    11,977
    Points
    56,719
    Level
    58
    Thanks Given
    916
    Thanked 5,009x in 3,481 Posts
    Mentioned
    54 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Like there's a difference in Maduro socialism and Castro socialism and East German socialism, and French socialism and U.S. Democrat socialism. It's rather like southern Baptists bickering with Church of Christ followers. When you get down to the basics it's all the same.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to patrickt For This Useful Post:

    waltky (11-05-2016)

  4. #33
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Red face

    Call it Venezuela’s own birther movement...

    Venezuelan Opposition Tries 'Birther' Tack Against President Nicolás Maduro
    Nov. 5, 2016 - Foes cite evidence disqualifying leader as Colombian; backers say his salsa skills prove he is all Venezuelan
    Desperate to end 18 years of Socialist rule, Venezuela’s opposition movement is trying to undermine embattled President Nicolás Maduro by claiming he has Colombian citizenship. The opposition has tried everything to wrest power, from a coup attempt in 2002 to its effort this year to stage a recall referendum on Mr. Maduro. Some lawmakers in the opposition-controlled Congress are playing one last card: trying to prove that Mr. Maduro was either born in Colombia or never renounced the Colombian nationality that by law is automatically granted to him because his mother, Teresa de Jesús Moros, was born there, in the border city of Cúcuta. “Venezuelans are clamoring for the president to show us his birth certificate,” said Dennis Fernández, an opposition congresswoman who since February has led a legislative commission investigating Mr. Maduro’s origins. Venezuela’s constitution says only native-born citizens with no other nationalities can be head of state.


    Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro dancing the salsa, an ability his supporters cite as evidence of his being a bona fide Venezuelan

    The Supreme Court, whose members are closely allied with the president, recently ruled that Mr. Maduro was born here and doesn’t hold another nationality, citing “incontrovertible documents” that weren’t specified or provided. A lack of clarity has fueled the opposition’s drive, since Mr. Maduro has never made a birth certificate public. The president says he was born in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas, but he and his allies have publicly named at least three different districts of the capital as birthplaces. The president’s associates point to his allegedly innate Venezuela-ness as proof. “He dances salsa like no other and he plays the drums,” Elías Jaua, a top ruling party official, told Spanish television in 2013.

    On state television, Mr. Maduro busts salsa moves his backers suggest no Colombian could pull off. And this week, he launched a new radio program called “The Salsa Hour,” which he will occasionally host. “We’re all the descendants of a process of fusion of rhythm and culture,” Mr. Maduro said. Left out of the discussion is that Colombians, too, dance salsa and play drums. Tibisay Lucena, president of the National Electoral Council and a staunch defender of Mr. Maduro, calls speculation on his origins “a cybernetic fantasy of social networks.” But in April, she noted that Mr. Maduro never presented his birth certificate when he ran for office because the election authorities only require a national ID card. Mr. Maduro’s office didn’t respond to calls seeking comment. But he has joked about the birther movement in the past, recently saying, “If I had been born in Cúcuta or in Bogotá I’d be a happy person because that’s the land of Bolívar,” referring to the founding father of both Venezuela and Colombia.


    Mr. Maduro, left, greeting supporters at a pro-government rally in Caracas late last month.

    For the opposition, though, it is no laughing matter. Ms. Fernández, the opposition lawmaker, has sent investigative teams to Colombia, where they turned up documents showing that Mr. Maduro’s mother was born in Cúcuta and baptized at San Antonio de Padua church. In Cúcuta, some older residents say they remember a young Mr. Maduro spending holidays with his aunt, Ema Moros. Her old green-painted house now sits abandoned with rusted locks. Walter Cardona, 56, still remembers a young Mr. Maduro joining in pickup games of soccer. “He’d go on Saturdays to the pitch,” he said. “He’d talk when he wanted to play, but nothing more.”

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuel...uro-1478343642

  5. #34
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Angry

    Maduro turns down early election as way out of economic crisis...

    Maduro rejects early elections as way out of crisis
    Tue, Nov 15, 2016 - SPECIAL POWERS: The Venezuelan president has again extended the state of emergency, which means he can govern, confront economic warfare and support the people, he said
    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday rejected early elections as a way out of a spiraling crisis that has led to widespread shortages, soaring inflation and mass protests. “An electoral way out? Way out to where?” he said on his weekly television program. “Nobody should get obsessed with electoral processes that are not in the constitution,” Maduro said. His comments came a day after his leftist government and the opposition agreed on a “road map” for negotiations to defuse a potentially explosive crisis. No reference to early elections was made in the joint statement issued at the end of the Vatican-backed talks, but leaders of the main opposition coalition portrayed it as opening the way to elections as a solution to the political impasse.

    Carlos Ocariz, a negotiator for the opposition’s Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), on Saturday said that the coalition would remain in the dialogue “until it obtains the most important thing: national elections and a recall referendum.” However, Maduro mocked that statement on his television show. “It makes me very happy that the MUD will continue in the dialogue until December 2018,” he said, referring to the end of his term. An opposition signature drive for a referendum to recall Maduro was stopped in its tracks earlier this year by a regime-dominated National Electoral Council and Supreme Court, leading to the current impasse.

    Only half of the about 30 groups that belong to the MUD back the dialogue, seeing it as an attempt to deflect their demands for a leadership change. “The dialogue between the regime and a sector of the opposition began as a consequence of the theft of the recall referendum, but today we ask ourselves: What happened to the right of Venezuelans to vote that originated the dialogue,” said Voluntad Popular, the party of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles, a former presidential candidate whose political movement supports the dialogue, called for the opposition to “immediately retake the agenda of a popular mobilization,” on Twitter on Sunday. “The crisis gets worse by the day,” he said.

    Hours later, Maduro extended for another two months the national states of emergency and economic emergency, which give him special powers “to continue governing and confronting economic warfare and supporting the people.” Venezuela has suffered a spectacular implosion in the past three years, worsened by plunging oil prices. Riots, looting and violent crime have accompanied the economy’s downward spiral. Food and medicine shortages have grown so desperate that Human Rights Watch calls the situation a “profound humanitarian crisis.”

    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../15/2003659323

  6. #35
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Angry

    Maduro settin' up his storm troopers to stay in power...

    Venezuela's Maduro seeks to expand armed civilian militias
    Apr 17,`17 -- Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced plans Monday to expand the number of civilians involved in armed militias as tensions in the crisis-wracked South American nation continued to rise.
    Maduro said he hopes to expand the number of civilians involved in the Bolivarian militias created by the late Hugo Chavez to 500,000, up from the current 100,000, and provide each member with a gun. Speaking to thousands of militia members dressed in beige uniforms gathered in front of the presidential palace to mark the force's seventh anniversary, Maduro said it is time for Venezuelans to decide if they are "with the homeland" or against it. "Now is not the time to hesitate," he said.

    The announcement comes as Maduro's opponents are gearing up for what they pledge will be the largest rally yet to press for elections and a host of other demands Wednesday. Thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets since the Supreme Court stripped the National Assembly of its last vestiges of power nearly three weeks ago, a decision it later reversed. At least five people have been killed, dozens hurt and more than 100 detained in the demonstrations. The Maduro government has vowed to hold a counter mass gathering Wednesday in defense of the socialist movement started by Chavez.


    A member of the Bolivarian Militia raises his fist during the seventh anniversary celebration of the militia, in front of Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 17, 2017. Officially known as the Venezuelan National Bolivarian Militia, it is a branch of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela created by the late President Hugo Chavez. The anniversary celebration took place with unrest spreading in Venezuela as confrontations between opposition demonstrators and authorities continue.

    Chavez created the civilian militias with the goal of training 1 million Venezuelans to assist the armed forces in the defense of his revolution from external and domestic attacks. Maduro told the militia Monday that vision remains relevant as Venezuela continues to face "imperialist aggression." "A gun for every militiaman!" he cried. Maduro's government claims foreign-backed opposition leaders are fomenting violence in an attempt to remove him from power. The opposition denies that assertion, saying it is Maduro himself who is responsible for Venezuela's woes, including triple-digit inflation, rising crime and food shortages.

    They also blame Maduro for ordering security forces to use tear gas against protesters and failing to stop pro-government armed groups from attacking demonstrators. Former congresswoman Maria Corina Machado posted a photo of the militia gathering Monday on her Twitter account, calling it a, "pathetic, desperate and unconstitutional attempt by the regimen to intimidate Venezuelans."

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-17-21-06-15

  7. #36
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Thumbs up

    Army pledges loyalty to Maduro...

    Army declares loyalty to Maduro as Venezuela braces for giant demonstration
    Wednesday 19th April, 2017: Venezuela's defence minister on Monday (Apr 17) declared the army's loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro, who ordered troops into the streets ahead of a major protest by opponents trying to oust him.
    Venezuela is bracing for what Maduro's opponents vow will be the "mother of all protests" Wednesday, after two weeks of clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against moves by the leftist leader and his allies to tighten their grip on power. The centre-right opposition has called on the military - a pillar of Maduro's power - to turn on the president amid an economic and political crisis that has triggered severe food shortages, riots and looting.

    But Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said the army "confirms its unconditional loyalty to the president." He made the comment before thousands of rifle-carrying members of the pro-Maduro "Bolivarian militia," who cheered with fists raised at a rally outside the presidential palace. Maduro thanked the army and the militia for their support and announced he planned to expand the latter civilian force to half a million armed members. "Loyalty is repaid with loyalty," he said.

    MADURO RALLIES ARMY

    The rally came hours after Maduro ordered the military into the streets to defend the leftist "Bolivarian revolution" launched by his late mentor Hugo Chavez in 1999. "From the first reveille (on Monday morning), from the first rooster crow, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces will be in the streets ... saying, 'Long live the Bolivarian revolution,'" he said Sunday night in a televised address. He called for the militia to be in "permanent training" and "permanent deployment" to defend Venezuela against "any imperialist aggression" - a thinly veiled reference to the United States.

    Senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles dismissed Maduro's announcement. "The old fogey has announced one rifle for every militia member. He is more desperate than ever," Capriles wrote on Twitter. "Venezuela does not want rifles, it wants food and medicine!"

    'REPRESSION'
    See also:

    Ahead of huge protests in Venezuela, here's what you need to know
    Tue April 18, 2017 - Turmoil in Venezuela has been exacerbated since the government tried to strip power from opposition; Opposition has called for protests throughout Caracas and throughout state capitals in the country
    Opposition leaders in Venezuela have called protesters to the streets for what they hope will be one of Venezuela's largest marches on Wednesday, a national holiday marking the beginning of the struggle for Venezuela to gain independence from Spain. President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters have called for a countermarch on the same day. Maduro also deployed the Venezuelan armed forces to the street on Sunday night, where they will stay for the duration of the marches. Ahead of the protests, here is what you need to know.

    Why are they protesting?

    In short, the opposition says Maduro has created a dictatorship in the last few years. The government has repeatedly blocked any attempts by the opposition to oust Maduro from power by a referendum vote. It has also delayed local and state elections. The last election held in Venezuela, the parliamentary election of 2015, gave the opposition a majority. Critics say any elections since have been delayed because Maduro is afraid of the outcome. Then, on March 29, the Venezuelan Supreme Court dissolved the Parliament, transferring all legislative powers to itself.


    Venezuela turmoil escalates

    By doing away with the opposition-controlled legislative branch, the move effectively meant the remaining two branches of Venezuelan government were controlled by the ruling United Socialist Party. The opposition was outraged and called the move a coup. The decision was reversed three days later, but by that time protests had already erupted. The protests have been bloody. Six people have died and countless others, many journalists, have been injured. The opposition call became even stronger when, on April 7, the government notified main opposition leader Henrique Capriles that he had been banned from doing any political work for 15 years. The 44-year-old governor, who has run for president twice, said the government was again acting like a dictatorship.

    What is Maduro's response?

    Maduro, 54, is defiant. Instead of taking steps to reduce tensions with the opposition, he has taken a confrontational tone with members of the opposition and protesters, whom he calls "vandals and terrorists." "We're after and will capture the very last of the attackers," Maduro said Saturday on national TV. "You all know that I don't fool around. When I go after criminals, I get them and I will capture all of these criminals who are getting their orders from the right-wingers." In a show of force on Monday, Maduro paraded the streets of Caracas surrounded by men and women in uniform. The military has also vowed its full support to Maduro.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/americ...est-explainer/

  8. #37
    Points: 264,301, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 86.0%
    Achievements:
    50000 Experience PointsSocialVeteranTagger First ClassOverdrive
    Awards:
    Activity Award
    MisterVeritis's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    307871
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Northern Alabama
    Posts
    104,523
    Points
    264,301
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    94,656
    Thanked 39,245x in 27,866 Posts
    Mentioned
    385 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by waltky View Post
    Army pledges loyalty to Maduro...

    Army declares loyalty to Maduro as Venezuela braces for giant demonstration
    Wednesday 19th April, 2017: Venezuela's defence minister on Monday (Apr 17) declared the army's loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro, who ordered troops into the streets ahead of a major protest by opponents trying to oust him.

    See also:
    Ahead of huge protests in Venezuela, here's what you need to know
    Tue April 18, 2017 - Turmoil in Venezuela has been exacerbated since the government tried to strip power from opposition; Opposition has called for protests throughout Caracas and throughout state capitals in the country
    Here the Obama regime used the intelligence community to spy on the political opposition.
    Call your state legislators and insist they approve the Article V convention of States to propose amendments.


    I pledge allegiance to the Constitution as written and understood by this nation's founders, and to the Republic it created, an indivisible union of sovereign States, with liberty and justice for all.

  9. #38
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Red face

    Minimum wage will rise 50 percent starting this month...

    Venezuela's Maduro hikes wages amid protests
    Jul 2,`17: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is hiking salaries as he tries to overcome major protests and rally support for his plans to rewrite the constitution.
    Maduro said on his Sunday television show that the minimum wage will rise 50 percent starting this month. Workers will earn at least 250,000 bolivars per month including food subsidies, or less than $35 at the black market exchange rate. It's the third wage increase this year as triple-digit inflation erodes workers' savings.


    Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro watching a military parade during Army Day celebrations at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela. Maduro said on his TV show on Sunday, July 2, 2017 that he was hiking salaries 50 percent, bringing workers wages to at least 250,000 bolivars per month, or less than $35 at the black market exchange rate. It's the third wage increase this year as triple-digit inflation erodes workers' savings.

    At least 80 people have died during the past three months of protests seeking Maduro's removal. The demonstrations gained intensity after Maduro called for a special election to choose delegates to rewrite the constitution in a poll that opponents say heavily favors the unpopular socialist leader.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...07-02-19-13-04
    See also:

    Venezuela hikes minimum wage 50 percent, effectively down 17 percent
    Sun Jul 2, 2017 | Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro raised the country's minimum wage by half on Sunday to just over $12.50 per month at the black market exchange rate.
    But given the currency's fall, the new minimum monthly wage of 97,532 bolivars is effectively down 17 percent in dollar terms since the last increase in May. The currency's fall -- of 99.7 percent since Maduro was elected president in April 2013 -- has exacerbated a brutal economic crisis that has millions struggling to find or afford food.


    A woman walks by banners of Venezuelan bolivar notes displayed at the Venezuelan Central Bank building in Caracas

    A thousand dollars bought in local currency when Maduro was elected would be worth just $3 today. Maduro's leftist government blames speculators and the opposition for the problems. "Following the immoral campaign that fixes prices through a false dollar abroad ... we are going to put the handcuffs on ... the whole campaign of speculation," said Maduro on state television, adding that the rise would be effective retroactively from July 1.

    The monthly salary is accompanied by a food ticket, the value of which also went up to 153,000 bolivars per month --bringing the total to just over $30 a month at the black market rate. Maduro often describes the salary increases as a "world record," while critics see it as a stark indicator of economic mismanagement. Street unrest across the country has left more than 80 people dead in three months.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ve...-idUSKBN19N0X5

  10. #39
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Red face

    Maduro huffin' anna puffin'...

    Venezuela congress going ahead despite 'imperial' threat: Maduro
    July 23, 2017 - Defying pressure from abroad and at home, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that a controversial election would go ahead next weekend for a new congress his foes fear will institutionalize dictatorship.
    Defying pressure from abroad and at home, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that a controversial election would go ahead next weekend for a new congress his foes fear will institutionalize dictatorship.[ "The imperial right wing believes it can give orders to Venezuela, the only ones who give orders here are the people," Maduro said in reference to a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose economic sanctions if the vote is not aborted. "This time next week Venezuelans will vote for a Constituent Assembly," the leftist leader added in his weekly TV program.

    Venezuela's opposition has been protesting in the streets since April against the unpopular Maduro whom they accuse of wrecking the OPEC nation's economy and crushing democracy. Opponents are boycotting the Constituent Assembly vote, which they see as a farce designed to ensure a majority for a government with minority popular support, and demanding instead conventional free elections including for a new president.

    The European Union and major Latin American nations have also stated their opposition to the constituent body, which will have power to rewrite Venezuela's 1999 constitution and override other institutions. "We need the support of other democracies to avoid turning into another Cuba," said Julio Borges, who leads the opposition-led National Assembly legislature that officials say will be replaced by Maduro's new constituent body. Opposition leaders are planning a week of protests, including a two-day national strike on Wednesday and Thursday, to try to force Maduro's hand. He says they are "terrorists" working for Washington to try to control Venezuela's oil.

    "They Won't Topple Me"

  11. #40
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Red face

    Maduro runnin' low on gas...

    Declining Oil Output Increases Economic Pressure on Maduro Regime
    September 27, 2017 – The Venezuelan government, dependent upon cash-for-oil loans from China and Russia, is facing a decline in domestic oil production and a bleak outlook for the future of its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
    The situation is so dire that Venezuela is importing light crude oil from the U.S. because Venezuela’s refineries can’t process the country’s own heavier crude, according to Miriam Grunstein, chief energy counsel at Brilliant Energy Consulting and a nonresident scholar at the Baker Institute Mexico Center. The state oil company’s future, she told CNSNews.com, looks “very bad.” Its revenues are “not sufficient to prop up any government” in Venezuela, including the regime of President Nicholas Maduro. “The national oil company has no liquidity and service companies haven’t been paid. They are importing oil from the U.S. which is absolutely scandalous.”

    The country’s oil production has dropped 8.5 percent from October of 2016 to July of this year, according to the economic indicators tracking website Trading Economics. Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. are also on the decline. Venezuela is the third largest supplier of oil to the U.S. (eight percent) after Canada (38 percent) and Saudi Arabia (11 percent), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The U.S. imported 291.4 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in 2016, down from 351.2 million barrels in 2012 and 496.6 million barrels in 2007. Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft is providing a “critical lifeline” to the Maduro regime with “outstanding loans of $6 billion” in exchange for pre-payments on oil, according to Harold Trinkunas, senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

    Testifying at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing earlier this month, Trinkunas said the Maduro regime was forced to hold a “fire sale” of state-owned oil assets this year to “guarantee a $1.5 billion loan from Rosneft,” needed to pay government debts. Another key backer of the Maduro regime, China, is having its own problems with Venezuela’s declining oil output. “Venezuela has been one of the largest recipients of Chinese policy bank loans, up to $60 billion since 2007 in exchange for guaranteed deliveries of approximately 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day,” Trinkunas told the panel. China, however, has been forced to agree to a moratorium on Venezuela’s debt repayments through next January as a result of Venezuela’s economic crisis and slipping oil production. Trinkunas blamed “corruption, poor maintenance, under-investment,” as well as “incompetent leadership” at PDVSA for the decline in the country’s oil output.

    Another key backer of the Maduro regime, Cuba, is feeling the pinch, too, Trinkunas told the hearing. “The Cuba-Venezuela economic relationship has diminished as the world price of oil has dropped. Venezuela is now less able to continue subsidizing Cuba’s imports due to its declining oil production.” Meanwhile Iran, a strong ally of Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, has reduced its involvement with Venezuela’s government. Cooperation between the two nations has declined as they find themselves in competition on world oil markets, Trinkunas said. He said Iran has resisted pleas by the Maduro regime to lower its oil output to tighten world oil supplies and increase prices. According to R. Evan Ellis, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Maduro regime’s fate is now tied to China more than to any other foreign ally. The “long-term viability of the Venezuelan regime,” Ellis said in testimony before the subcommittee, depends upon “the work performed by Chinese companies in sectors such as petroleum, construction, and energy.”

    Without China’s support, Venezuela would be unable to continue to pump oil from its oilfields. And Venezuela’s national oil company is three months behind on oil deliveries to both China and Russia. The Maduro regime is also making it difficult for Chinese companies operating in Venezuela to submit their invoices to China’s banks in order to get paid, Ellis testified. He also warned the committee that Venezuela has been “exporting military weapons to black markets throughout the world.” Since 2008, he said, Russia has sold the Venezuelan government between 2,000 and 5,000 portable anti-aircraft missiles. Those missiles “could present a significant threat to civil aviation if they fell into the hands of terrorists,” Ellis said.

    https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...-maduro-regime

  12. The Following User Says Thank You to waltky For This Useful Post:

    Ransom (09-30-2017)

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts