What has happened in Venezuela isn't unusual. Any country that tries to follow a socialist set of principles will be in line for de-stabilisation.
And, in my opinion, it's no coincidence that Venezuela is the second largest oil producer in the world - and that the US was enraged when Chavez nationalised Venezuela's oil. A familiar story isn't it.
Of course, there are many views about what has caused the terrible situation in Venezuela. The accounts which receive the most media attention are those which suggest chaos is the natural outcome of following a socialist agenda. Accounts which provide a very different perspective are rarely seen in the mainstream media. Here, if anybody can be bothered to read them are some different accounts, some not uncritical of Maduro but also setting out the background to the current situation.
theconversation.com/how-donald-trump-could-make-venezuelas-crisis-dramatically-worse-103035 - an extract:
"The US’s hawkish turn is not without precedent. The US has been at odds with Venezuela since the early 2000s, when Hugo Chávez’s socialist policies threatened US economic interests and undercut Washington’s political clout in Latin America. Chávez aimed to use the country’s oil wealth to create new institutions and integration schemes outside the US orbit, and his efforts won support from other leftist governments in the region.
"In 2002, George W Bush’s administration supported a brief coup against Chávez. When Chávez was returned to power, the opposition sought to destabilise the country’s state-owned oil producer, PDVSA."
www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/08/juan-guaido-the-man-who-would-be-president-of-venezuela-doesnt-have-a-constitutional-leg-to-stand-on/
Good Morning Thursday 25th April 2024
Gary Glitter programme Tuesday
To think that London, or anywhere else for that matter, does not belong to any one demographic