Sometime last week Donald Trump reached an awful milestone. His public lies since being inaugurated as president of the United States exceeded 10,000. I don't know if his lie that Juan Guaido is the elected President of Venezuela was made before Trump reached his shameful land mark or after, but it is remarkable for its brazenness. Here is the statement that was made on White letterhead on May 1st:
“Juan Guaido indeed is the duly elected constitutional leader” of Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today. “Our task is to continue to support all those who are supporting Juan Guaido.”
The truth is that Guaido's political party boycotted last year's election and President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected. Furthermore, the United States meddled in those elections to the extent that it is difficult to sort truth from fiction. The election was irregular and is contested but one thing that is true is that Guaido was not elected president.
The United States began meddling in the affairs of Venezuela when Hugo Chavez was president. That has continued and intensified under the Maduro presidency. The Venezuelan economy, and Venezuelan society, are in ruins in part because of that meddling.
On April 25th the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) http://cepr.net released a paper analyzing a study that quantified the human suffering wrought by that American meddling.
“The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports,” said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of CEPR and co-author, with Jeffrey Sachs, of the report. “This is illegal under US and international law, and treaties that the US has signed. Congress should move to stop it.”
“Venezuela’s economic crisis is routinely blamed all on Venezuela,” said Jeffrey Sachs, co-author of the paper. “But it is much more than that. American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela’s economy and thereby lead to regime change. It’s a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people.”
Here are some points highlighted in CEPR's April 25th press release announcing the paper:
Early last week the Trump administration, along with Joe Biden and the Washington Post, announced that the Venezuelan military were going to rise up and throw out Maduro. The coup attempt flopped and the Americans are reduced to complaining that the Venezuelan military perpetrated violence upon the peaceful demonstrators. If you read the Mexican press, as I do, you will understand that Guaido's paramilitaries were armed and firing into the protestors.
So we have the Americans nurturing violence on the street and killing Venezuelans by the tens of thousands with sanctions complaining about probable violence by Maduro forces.
How do you sort out the lies so that you can count them one-by-one?
“Juan Guaido indeed is the duly elected constitutional leader” of Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today. “Our task is to continue to support all those who are supporting Juan Guaido.”
The truth is that Guaido's political party boycotted last year's election and President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected. Furthermore, the United States meddled in those elections to the extent that it is difficult to sort truth from fiction. The election was irregular and is contested but one thing that is true is that Guaido was not elected president.
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| Hugo Chavez - Wikipedia |
On April 25th the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) http://cepr.net released a paper analyzing a study that quantified the human suffering wrought by that American meddling.
“The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports,” said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of CEPR and co-author, with Jeffrey Sachs, of the report. “This is illegal under US and international law, and treaties that the US has signed. Congress should move to stop it.”
“Venezuela’s economic crisis is routinely blamed all on Venezuela,” said Jeffrey Sachs, co-author of the paper. “But it is much more than that. American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela’s economy and thereby lead to regime change. It’s a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people.”
Here are some points highlighted in CEPR's April 25th press release announcing the paper:
• An estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–18;
• The sanctions have reduced the availability of food and medicine, and increased disease and mortality;
• The August 2017 sanctions contributed to a sharp decline in oil production that caused great harm to the civilian population;
• The US sanctions implemented since January, if they continue will almost certainly result in tens of thousands more avoidable deaths;
• This is based on an estimated 80,000 people with HIV who have not had antiretroviral treatment since 2017, 16,000 people who need dialysis, 16,000 people with cancer, and 4 million with diabetes and hypertension (many of whom cannot obtain insulin or cardiovascular medicine);
• Since the sanctions that began in January 2019, oil production has fallen by 431,000 barrels per day or 36.4 percent. This will greatly accelerate the humanitarian crisis, but the projected 67 percent decline in oil production for the year, if the sanctions continue, would cause vastly more loss of human life.
Early last week the Trump administration, along with Joe Biden and the Washington Post, announced that the Venezuelan military were going to rise up and throw out Maduro. The coup attempt flopped and the Americans are reduced to complaining that the Venezuelan military perpetrated violence upon the peaceful demonstrators. If you read the Mexican press, as I do, you will understand that Guaido's paramilitaries were armed and firing into the protestors.
So we have the Americans nurturing violence on the street and killing Venezuelans by the tens of thousands with sanctions complaining about probable violence by Maduro forces.
How do you sort out the lies so that you can count them one-by-one?
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