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Protesting for democracy in Venezuela
By adamg on Sat, 02/22/2014 - 4:51pm
Brian D'Amico watched protesters call for human rights in Venezuela on the steps of the State House this afternoon, after a march from Copley Square.
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Comments
Ukraine, too
Earlier today there was a group of protesters in front of the State House calling for human rights and democracy in Ukraine. Same spirit, different side of the globe.
Ukraine
Do those morons realize they're essentially advocating for UPA and UNA/UNSO - a bunch of nazi sympathizers who make the worst teabagger look like a tame kitten? Take a good look at Maidan pics taken by the locals, not the sanitized ones taken by Western journalists who took great care to ensure UPA lads don't accidentally end up in the photo.
Arroyo Sr.
Did Felix Sr. show up to counter-protest?
Why are you dragging Arroyo into it w/o evidence he's involved?
And suggesting his politics are unpalatable? Felix D. Arroyo
Venezuela had a presidential
Venezuela had a presidential election in 2013 and Pres. Maduo won. So I don't understand the headline about protesting for democracy.
The oligarchs....
... didn't win, so it wasn't a fair election.
Really.
You think the hundreds of thousands of middle and lower class Venezuelans on the street today were all oligarchs?
Visit human rights watch (hwr.org) for a 'liberal' NGO take on the situation
'(New York) – Venezuelan security forces have used excessive and unlawful force against protesters on multiple occasions since February 12, 2014, including beating detainees and shooting at crowds of unarmed people, Human Rights Watch said today.'
Not what I said...
... but it isn't exactly ancient history that our government plotted with the oligarchs to overthrow the prior duly-elected president of Venezuela -- and stirring up popular protest was a part of the recipe for accomplishing this. And -- a bit longer ago -- we backed the overthrow of the government of Chile -- again by providing backing for whipping up protests by ordinary citizens. So -- I choose to be suspicious (which is not to say I would the current president is the nicest, most competent guy in the world).
Relevance?
I see, so the fact that the US did terrible things back in the 60-80s justifies terrible repression of the opposition by the Maduro/Chavez crew? ok... They get a freebie?
GWB was a bit more recent than that...
... and lots of the same foreign policy people are knocking about the present administration.
Agreed, Maduro won an election judged to be fair
It is really Orwellian how elected leaders (Morsi, Yanukovich, Shinawatra, Maduro) are being toppled in the name of "democracy."
This country can't even take a few Occupy kids camping out in parks - what would happen if they were shooting and throwing Molotov cocktails?
Orwellian
You know what's also Orwellian? When the state eliminates all media outlets which are voicing opinions contrary to their view point. Maybe you're too busy blaming sexual assault victims for their misfortunes to read the news, but Chavez and Maduro have aggressively made sure that independent and opposition media voices are silenced.
http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/venezuela#.UwoRuXm...
Three of your four examples are cases where leaders won very narrow, dubious elections and then proceed to govern as if they had a landslide victory while systemically repressing the very large portion of the population which supported the opposition.
Yeah not like the "free" press in the USA
Where you can get a carefully controlled spectrum from MSNBC to Fox.
They are just less sophisticated than our media controllers.
It's not our country.
You sound like one of those R2P warmongers.
How about the Guardian?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/22/venezuelans-streets-protest...
"Adding to the uncertainty reigning in the streets of Venezuela is the complete media blackout. Private and public TV stations in the country have given little coverage to the street protests, or even to the incarceration of López, who now awaits trial in a military prison on the outskirts of Caracas on charges of sedition"
So in your media view, the Guardian, the NYT and the WSJ are all basically the controlled media as the way that Chavez/Maduro shut down non-state controlled media outlets? I guess Snowden was all part of the Illuminati plot to disenfranchise voters in the 5th Suffolk, right?
Why is the Maduro regime worth defending? He's a bad leader and the country will only get worse under his leadership. It's not going to impact my life one bit, but it's still a story worth covering. If you like the sounds of his government and policies, that's your prerogative.
More complicated situation in Venezuela...
... than you make it sound.
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2014/02/venezuelan-opposition-party-usin...
Are you serious?
Your counter example to Human Rights Watch, the Guardian, Amnesty International http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/venezuela-trial-of-opposition-l... , etc... is a leftist gossip blog by an anonymous Australian?
What do the LOLcats think?
"Narrow, dubious elections"
Sounds exactly like the 2000 U.S. Presidential election and subsequent mis-government.