BREAKING NEWS: Nicolás Maduro has been captured | America bombs Venezuela 🇻🇪🇺🇸

[Sandroew]

@Atb210201 Good. End of conversation. From my part anyways. Im not telling you what to do.

Edited Tuesday at 07:29 PM by Sandroew

[integration journey]

6 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/s/SHr7UgkrBU

😂😂

[Husseinisdoingfine]

I’m tired of people blaming this on socialism.

Here’s Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s sworn interim president, explains the impact of the US’s illegal economic war against the country, reducing govt’s income to 1% and erasing Vzla’s income gains, HDI rise and Gini reduction from the from the Chavez era, all of which performed better than regional peers.

https://x.com/upholdreality/status/2008417409841922084
 

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:17 PM by Husseinisdoingfine

[Jodistrict]

Shahid Bolsen has an interesting take on this.  It's not the way it looks.

 

[Breathe]

I love the guest on this episode, Olga Lautman.

"Stephen Miller will turn Venezuela into a new Alcatraz"

 

[zazen]

3 hours ago, Jodistrict said:

Shahid Bolsen has an interesting take on this.  It's not the way it looks.

 

I generally likes his takes but he assumes a level of coordination that isn't there and is way too confident about the conclusion. There's also quite a few holes and contradictions in his argument. The incentives are also incoherent - he correctly says US companies can't be profitable from Venezuelan oil and don't want low oil prices to destroy their own heavy investment in US/Canadian oil. But then says the Gulf countries will come in with the investment and drive prices lower to kill off their competition which they can then consolidate and buy up.

He somehow squares that the gulf and Western capital elite are on the same page here - but how can they be? Firstly, even if finance elites like Blackrock etc aren't as exposed to oil stocks - having very low oil affects other things that indirectly can affect the financial system through credit risk and contagion etc. Finance want boring stable oil prices not low prices.  Secondly, why would gulf countries invest billions into a asset they they themselves are trying to diversify away from because the macro trend of the world is to go to push towards renewable? Just because gulf countries can extract oil at much lower prices doesn't mean they want those lower prices - they need higher priced oil to fund their own budgets and projects. That's something Shahid always talks about - how the Gulf countries through their sovereign wealth funds are shaping the region to become the new Europe 2.0 - but with what money if their main revenue stream is cut because they ''deliberately flooded the market with cheap oil and lowered the price of oil''.

The logic may be that lower the price and sell more oil - but oil is a commodity and doesn't work like a retail product. It's inelastic. Which means if the price goes down, the demand isn't going to all of a sudden jump to the same degree - people aren't going to all drive 50% more because its cheaper. That's why OPEC+ have always kept prices within a stable band that's profitable for them.

His framework assumes these transnational elites use the state for their own interest but then underestimates or overlooks the national security state (deep state) which thinks more in empire logic and not always in capital logic. Also - these same OCGFC (Blackrock etc) depend on the platform of the US itself (that the empire maintains) - but by his logic they are transitioning away from it and eroding it by shifting to the east. No other platform as yet exists with the depth of capital markets and law and order of Western finance for them to jump away from and towards - and if they did they are dealing with BRICS and Gulf type countries running those platform who will subordinate private capital more than Western platforms.

 

[Breathe]

5 hours ago, zazen said:

Also - these same OCGFC (Blackrock etc) depend on the platform of the US itself (that the empire maintains) - but by his logic they are transitioning away from it and eroding it by shifting to the east

I don't know what you mean here. I don't interpret what he says as OCGFC transitioning away from the US. Just that the OCGFC entities can't be told what to do by the US. The US is no longer an entity that can call shots. The OCGFC props up the illusion of a country that we used to call the US.

Oh, and I did like the video. I also think Shahid is great. However, I often wonder what his sources are. He makes some pretty bold fucking claims so it makes me uncomfortable to put my trust in this guy.

That said, he is clearly brilliant and there is a lot that does check out.

Lastly, him being indoctrinated by Islam does knock him down a few points in credibility.

Edited Wednesday at 05:31 PM by Breathe

[Breathe]

5 hours ago, zazen said:

way too confident about the conclusion

He's the same way with his religious beliefs. I wonder how often he questions his views in general.

[Jodistrict]

Shahid has his biases like everyone else.  I think he is one of the best political commentators on the Internet, but I encourage skepticism to get closer to the truth.  

[Beans]

On 1/6/2026 at 9:45 AM, Atb210201 said:

Trump has never bombed civilians.

Show me if he has.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9r0eyw0jno.amp
 

Ice has murdered Americans, wrongfully detained them, etc. 

all it takes is a simple google search. 

 

Trump had also killed innocent fishermen in Venezuela, bombing other countries randomly. 
he’s a fat lazy slob who can’t do shit, but ruin things. 
May all oppressed countries liberate themselves. 

[Husseinisdoingfine]

21 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

I’m tired of people blaming this on socialism.

Here’s Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s sworn interim president, explains the impact of the US’s illegal economic war against the country, reducing govt’s income to 1% and erasing Vzla’s income gains, HDI rise and Gini reduction from the from the Chavez era, all of which performed better than regional peers.

https://x.com/upholdreality/status/2008417409841922084

UN report from 2021 outlining the impact and illegality of the bipartisan US economic war against Venezuela.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2021/02/preliminary-findings-visit-bolivarian-republic-venezuela-special?LangID=E&NewsID=26747

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15323/ 

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/un-report-slams-u-s-economic-sanctions-against-venezuela/ 

Douhan clarified that hyperinflation has aggravated Venezuela’s economic decline and that the fall of oil prices in 2014 accelerated it. Oil sales, she emphasizes, have long accounted for almost all the government’s income and have, consequently, paid for schools, health care, and social programs. Ultimately, she writes, revenues would “shrink by 99%.”

Now “Venezuela faces a lack of necessary machinery, spare parts, electricity, water, fuel, gas, food, and medicine.” Remittances arriving from abroad have drastically fallen, due in part to impediments to bank transfers. Now, she notes, only 20% of normal electricity is available, almost five million Venezuelans have emigrated, and 2.5 million face severe food insecurity because of reduced food imports.

“Medical staff positions in public hospitals are 50–70% vacant,” she reported, adding that, mainly because of sanctions, “90% of the population” lives in conditions of extreme poverty.

Douhan’s report documents violations of international law. Both the freezing of assets and the U.S. goal of removing Venezuela’s government “violates the sovereign rights” of the nation. The U.S. “state of national emergency” and the reign of sanctions are incompatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, she asserted. U.S. extension of extraterrestrial jurisdiction to third countries “is not justified under international law,” Douhan said, referring to countries whose citizens and companies deal with Venezuela.

The U.S. abuses “the right to the highest attainable state of health,” the report claims. Douhan pointed to Venezuela’s “lack of doctors and nurses and of sufficient medicines, medical equipment, spare parts, relevant software updates, vaccines, tests, reagents, and contraceptives”—all formerly supplied by the government. She decried violations of the right to water and the right to education.

The Special Rapporteur’s report differs in very significant ways from a United Nations survey and set of recommendations released in September 2020. The UN Human Rights Council’s “Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela” at that time produced 409 pages and 65 recommendations. The document’s authors never traveled to Venezuela, however. Setting the tone, their first recommendation called for “prompt, effective, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigations into the human rights violations and crimes described in the present report.”

Like the Special Rapporteur, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report in February, one that joins in acknowledging a “deteriorating humanitarian situation” in Venezuela. The sole recommendation of the 50-page report was timidly to suggest that “Treasury should ensure that [its] Office of Foreign Assets Control systematically tracks information on inquiries” about the suffering.

Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research praised the GAO report for providing “more evidence that these unilateral, illegal U.S. sanctions are a form of collective punishment against the Venezuelan population and should be ended immediately.” Weisbrot and co-author Jeffrey Sachs in 2019 documented that sanctions had killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans.

Some opposition politicians in Venezuela now oppose U.S. sanctions. They include Timoteo Zambrano, President of the National Assembly’s Foreign Policy Commission, and Henri Falcón, former conservative presidential candidate.

But Guaidó, along with his U.S. and other foreign backers, advocates turning the screws even tighter.

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Now add another 4 years to that. That is the famed US tactic known as "make the economy scream", which BY ITSELF has never once succeeded at regime change anywhere in the world (China 1959-90s, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, Syria, Russa, etc etc), and only rallied the people together around their leaders, as the population of the targeted victim countries can ALWAYS see who is the real source of the economic hardships endured by the population: the United States.

It's great at getting imperial core liberals and your typical gusanos to align with ghoulish US foreign policy objectives though. "Well look at that, dictator X or Y ruined the economy, it was great before him!" Yeah no shit, you think the imperial superpower actively imposing and commanding an illegal economic blockade of the country has anything to do with that?

[Husseinisdoingfine]

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15323/

Guayaquil, Ecuador, September 18, 2021 (venezuelanalysis.com) – United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan presented a 19-page report detailing the negative consequences of US-led sanctions on the Venezuelan people.

The document compiles Douhan’s complete assessment of her 12-day visit to the Caribbean country in February. Presenting the findings at the 48th UN Human Rights Council session on September 15, the independent expert reiterated that the wide-reaching sanctions program against Venezuela has had a “devastating” effect on the entire population’s living conditions.

Douhan went on to explain that Venezuela’s pre-existing economic and social crisis was exacerbated by the imposition of “sectoral sanctions on the oil, gold and mining industries” as well as “the economic blockade and the freezing of the Central Bank assets.”

Consequently, the country’s revenues, essentially from oil exports, were significantly reduced, affecting “public electricity, gas, water, transport, telephone and communication systems, as well as schools, hospitals and other public institutions.”

The Belarusian lawyer added that the threat of extraterritorial and secondary sanctions has led to “over-compliance by banks and third-country companies,” amplifying the negative impact of primary sanctions. Furthermore, she argued that the “humanitarian exemptions appear to be ineffective and insufficient” to alleviate the crisis.

The special rapporteur concluded that unilateral sanctions against Venezuela are politically motivated, undermine the most fundamental human rights and violate international law. She urged the US and its allies to lift all coercive measures.

Douhan additionally acknowledged the Nicolás Maduro government’s “greater engagement” with UN agencies and NGOs to provide humanitarian aid to the population.

Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Félix Plasencia likewise participated in the 48th UN Human Rights Council session and welcomed Douhan’s report. “The Special Rapporteur made it clear that these measures, in the form of collective punishment, are international crimes that threaten the Venezuelan people.”

On Wednesday, over 800 human rights organizations and social movements released a statement supporting recent calls for sanctions relief, including by the UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet.

Venezuela has been under crushing US sanctions since 2017 when Washington targeted state oil company PDVSA. Between 2019-2020, the US Treasury Department imposed an oil embargo, a blanket ban on all dealings with Caracas, and shut down fuel and diluent imports and swap deals. Additionally, Washington levied secondary sanctions and a host of other measures, including freezing or seizing a number of Venezuelan assets abroad.

Right to food and wages

In her report, the UN independent expert emphasized that “the drop of oil revenues, exacerbated by the sanctions, provoked a food and nutrition crisis,” with food availability decreasing by an estimated 73 percent as imports fell between 2015 and 2019.

As a result, more than 2.5 million Venezuelans are severely food insecure, while the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recorded a “213.8 percent increase in undernourishment or chronic hunger.”

Douhan’s report also warned of “the precarious purchasing power of workers,” with the average salary estimated at US $2-10 per month covering around 2 percent of the food basket.

However, the special rapporteur acknowledged the government’s efforts to alleviate the crisis with a range of social benefits, including the distribution of subsidized food through the CLAP program. The latter reportedly assists 7.5 million households but has reduced its staples after imports were targeted by the US Treasury Department.

“Disastrous” health situation

The Belarusian lawyer stated that sanctions have blocked transactions aimed at acquiring medicine. “This prevented the purchase of blood reagents in 2020 for 2.5 million patients and 123,000 others in need of blood transfusions, according to the Ombudsman’s Office.”

Moreover, the blocked purchases affected 5,859 people suffering from hemophilia and Guillain-Barré syndrome and impeded 180,000 surgery operations for lack of antibiotics, anesthetics and tuberculosis treatment.

The insufficiency of basic medicines and their rising prices have likewise placed some 300,000 people at risk. At the same time, 2.6 million children have been deprived of vaccines for meningitis, rotavirus, malaria, measles, yellow fever and influenza.

Other concerns are the increase of teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS cases. Currently, 80,000 out of an estimated 120,000 HIV/AIDS patients had to suspend their treatment for lack of drugs, the report expressed.

Additionally, hospitals reported that only 20 percent of the equipment is functioning due to the inability to acquire spare parts. The UN expert documented two specific cases: The Children’s Heart Hospital did fewer than 120 surgeries in 2020 (the standard was around 1800), and the J.M. de Los Ríos Paediatric Hospital in Caracas had to suspend kidney transplants for 137 children.

Douhan’s findings likewise highlighted that Washington’s seizure of PDVSA’s US-based oil subsidiary CITGO halted the company’s humanitarian program. As a result, 14 children have died after not receiving liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants in hospitals abroad. Another 53 are awaiting the resumption of the state-funded Simón Bolívar foundation.

Deteriorated public services

During her visit to Venezuela, Douhan attested that all public services are working at half of their capacity since the US-led imposition of coercive measures.

According to Venezuelan government officials cited in the report, only 50 percent of the water system’s distribution units were running and “water had to be distributed in rotation to ensure delivery to all.” The use of chemical agents to treat and purify water was reduced by 30 percent, causing health problems.

The text went on to explain that Venezuela is producing “only 40 percent of the electricity it needs, and electric lines work at less than 20 percent of their capacity.” In the country’s southwest region, “75-80 percent of electricity could not be produced because thermo-power machines were damaged and needed to be repaired.” The situation was aggravated by alleged cyber-attacks against the electrical grid in 2019.

Gasoline and diesel scarcity

The special rapporteur concluded that the Caribbean nation was on the brink of a “catastrophic situation” due to acute fuel shortages.

Douhan warned that diesel scarcity has endangered “agriculture production, transportation of food, electricity generation, water pump operation, public transport, transit and ambulances.”

At the same time, gasoline shortages have resulted in higher transportation prices, blocked access to hospitals and schools, and aggravated food and medical supplies distribution, especially to the country’s remote areas.

Access to education

The government’s limited financial resources to buy and repair necessary infrastructure has led to shrinking Internet coverage, with reportedly only 10 percent of the territory accessing the service. In the pre-sanctions era, the range stood at 50-90 percent.

The Belarusian lawyer’s report likewise pointed that the higher costs of Internet access and ongoing power shortages have affected online teaching since the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to university researchers, an estimated 80 percent of students in public schools cannot overcome these obstacles.

Another consequence of the sanctions was the suspension of the government’s Canaima program in 2020, which produced and distributed 6,5 million tablet computers to 14 million students.

Migration and brain drain

The tightening of sanctions has led to unprecedented migration numbers. The UN expert report, citing a host of sources (including the Venezuelan government), placed the figure between 1.2 to 5.6 million by May 2021.

The accelerated migration caused a brain drain, with most state companies and public services losing 30-50 percent of their personnel, including “doctors, nurses, teachers, university professors, engineers, police officers, judges, technicians and many others.” This resulted “in internal disorganization, increased workloads for remaining staff, reduced services and a decline in their quality.”

Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan’s visit to Venezuela is the first out of ten scheduled for the next two years as part of an agreement between the Nicolás Maduro government and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights signed in 2019.

[Husseinisdoingfine]

The full text of Douhan’s report can be found here.

https://reliefweb.int/report/venezuela-bolivarian-republic/report-special-rapporteur-negative-impact-unilateral-coercive

[Lord of Darkness]

On 1/5/2026 at 4:53 PM, BlueOak said:

Most Political leaders don't care about what we think should happen in regards to rivals or other countries.
If they have a strong base support of 30%, there is enough suppression and media control that they can do whatever they like toward their rivals.

America is moving into the Russian and Chinese model, where tbh they don't even need 30% support, but it helps to have a nationalist population from which to draw military personnel and internal paramilitary or state policing and suppression of the populace (ICE, or the Rosgvardiya in Russia, the People's Armed Police (PAP) in China etc)

The problem is people think the world behaves differently to how it now behaves. 
In the authoritarian system we are moving towards globally. This is the new reality. Your voices and opinions do not matter. To the point that any theatrics or clever politicial manouvering is no longer required for a leader to attack his rivals either.

Sorry to be blunt with everyone here, but i've had that for a long time being a socialist, and now its implemented over the wider population.
 

Docile population. Active leadership. Alexander the great considered that to be preferable setting. Gorge Carlin said"wake up america", comfortable illusions is what ppl typically vote for...

What they get?

Cheap gas and burger with fries....

And thats egnough to render them mute

[LoneWonderer]

Here is the profs analysis. He says US taking Venezuela to cut off China from Venezuela oil in a geopolitical game. Maybe...partly true. This guy is cocky in his predictions so I'm careful when entertaining his views on geopolitics.