I have long been a critic of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his authoritarian predecessor President Hugo Chávez. Chávez remains an icon for many in the left in this country and around the world — despite his destruction of free speech and free press. Now Maduro has reached a new low after starving his country with moronic socialist policies of government controls and centralized powers. The international community has collected massive food donations for the starving populace but Maduro has stopped them at the border. He will not allow his people to eat unless the opposition recognized his internationally ridiculed National Constituent Assembly. He created the assembly to disband the constitutional legislative authority and assume authoritarian control over the government. Now he is turning to the ancient Roman tactic of offering bread to the masses in exchange for acquiescence for his disastrous rule.
With gangs roaming the street and people desperate for food, Maduro wants the opposition to trade freedom for food — an all-too-familiar trade off for authoritarian figures in history like Castro in Cuba (a hero for Maduro and Chavez).
Thus far, the opposition has wisely held firm against such extortion. In the meantime, the many enablers who defended the Chavez and Maduro regimes have largely gone silent as this government grinds a once prosperous nation into prehistoric times.
“Chavez an icon …” I doubt that, Turley. You need to cite some supporting research and there isn’t any.
https://static.pjmedia.com/lifestyle/user-content/36/files/2014/02/2009-04-21-ObamaChavez.jpeg
“This is a lesson that President Obama has yet to understand, and this photo, widely circulated around the globe, including inside Venezuela, lent Chavez enormous clout”
Sean Penn was already mentioned
Add Oliver Stone, Danny Glover… and more
We saw a similar reaction the Che Guevara and T-shirts with his picture on it are still sold.
Has anyone seen Sean Penn?
I’m sure Maduro and his predecessor promised Hope and Change.
It’s surprising that JT and 100% of the customers here are so ignorant about Venezuela. Surprising, but not very much so.
At this stage the Salvation Army could probably overthrow the government by simply feeding the population.
🙂
Where does the U.S. Constitution mandate intercession by the U.S. government in the internal affairs of foreign nations? Why not have Soros and every other interested party send dollars to Venezuela for the party of their choice or to open factories – send a priest – go down there and pick up a pitchfork – do it on your own time and leave the American taxpayer alone? Freedom and Free Enterprise. That’s the ticket. I don’t see any requirement for “common defence” anywhere.
Perhaps Chavez is an icon for the Left because of his repression of free speech and the press.
Aren’t the American Left doing the same?
Maduro can pound sand.
We should stop dithering and drop humanitarian aid overhead.
Can his military even repel us? I do not want any of our servicemen and women in danger. At the same time, I cannot shake the images of the children dying of starvation. There was this one where a grandfather and a boy were starving, to death, in order for the younger brother to eat. That’s heroism. It’s not necessary when there are tons of food at the border, probably mildewing by now.
They need food and medicine. Forget politics. For God’s sake don’t let any financial aid go through Maduro’s government. It needs to go to the people.
Please, can’t we ignore Maduro and somehow safely deliver these supplies in some kind of stealth op? If he considers dropping food an act of war, then broadcast that so his people can overthrow him.
This is exactly why I so vehemently oppose socialism, and any mission creep towards socialism, in our own country.
You have to ask yourself–
Where is the rest of the world?
Why does no one speak up?
Why do I not hear about this on the nightly news, which discusses Trump’s hair and Melania’s shoes, ad nauseum?
Where is the UN in this humanitarian catastrophe? The b@ll-less, impotent, despicable and incompetent UN, which can’t be bothered to respond to this crisis, sending in its people, under cover and protection of the UN, to distribute this food, in a safe manner? Surely, that could be accomplished–easily; however, the obese, filthy and disgusting UN turds, from around the world, waddling out of their limos, are too busy scoring whores and coke to actually accomish anything. This problem could be resolved, overnight. The UN’s force could distribute this food and do so, unharmed and anabated; however, the dirtbag in Venezuela, whose country is rich in oil, gets a pass. Like the true racists on this blog, who prefer silence to truth, the despot gets a pass. Silence and inaction are preferable.
Good point!
Hey, the Romans got circuses, too. Who’s negotiating this bad deal for these victims of the left?
Turley throws some bones to the right, then some bones to the left, then to the right, left, right, left…. It is completely understandable that it is necessary to start a fight to some degree to get the juices flowing, however this is lame, lame, lame. The idiots of this world find their places at the extremes, left and right. The conservatives disassociate themselves from the nazis and to some degree, even with some shared opinions, they should. Liberals, or whatever the nom du blame is, also disassociate themselves from rabid socialists. One South American dictator’s American supporter can be, interchangeably, left or right. America does not have the track record to allow it to even comment on what is leftist or rightist. Viable socialist, elected, good for the country, regimes have been ousted only to be replaced by dictators who regularly lunched with American Presidents. One would expect better from you, Turley.
I want to clarify my remark. No one I know, not anyone whose writings I read support Castro or Hugo or anyone like them. While there may be some liberals who like some of there polices, I don’t know them nor heard of them or support them.
Welcome back Rip. I’m certain what you don’t know could fill volumes. There are people you don’t know and writings you have not read (lot’s of them), interviews you have not seen, that shows support for these socialist regimes. All you need to have is this willingness to see them.
“No one I know, not anyone whose writings I read support Castro or Hugo or anyone like them.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-left-has-a-blind-spot-on-venezuela-when-will-it-acknowledge-that-chavezs-socialist-dream-has-9138930.html
In which a journalist writes about her reversal of opinion about Venezuela. In the beginning, she cheered the thought of using oil wealth to help the poor and give the rich “a good kicking.” Does that sound familiar? Class war? Cheering at hurting the wealthy? Now she has changed her tune as she saw the inevitable ravages of socialism.
“For those of us who do not have to put up with shortages, blackouts or arbitrary arrest, perhaps the worst part of the continued support offered to Maduro by many leftists is the ammunition it serves on a platter to the right. When it comes to the pinch, socialists will always sacrifice liberty for the ostensible promise of greater equality, these right wingers will say. While so many ‘progressives’ are happy to turn a blind eye to the abuses of the Venezuelan government, it is hard to disagree with them.”
I will say that the Left is no longer turning a blind eye to the ravages of Venezuela. It’s hard to ignore people dying of starvation. The situation is much worse than the time the article was penned in 2014. But they do seem unable or unwilling to make the connection to socialism. You will note that “Capitalist” is a curse word among the Left.
I was rather hoping he would end like Che.
I want to object to your offhand comment about the left supporting Hugo and thus tying his horrible acts to the liberals in this country. This was low partisan blow that is not in line with what this blog is normally about.
I want to object to your offhand comment about the left supporting Hugo and thus tying his horrible acts to the liberals in this country.
When you get in the ring against the truth, every blow you take will of course seem low.
Boo hoo. The truth hurts. Another snowflake, offended by the truth. The Left, consistently, trips over its feet to run and support miserable and cruel despots, the world over. Nothing new. Nothing unusual. Perhaps, instead of being offended by what you read, you should investigate, and search your soul, for why your comrades consistently support the likes of Castro, Chavez, etc.?
Act like a fascist-end like Mussolini. The Venezuelans need to take care of this themselves.
The poor Venezuelans hopefully will have learned their lesson that flirtations with socialism is hurtful to the poor and will never go back to rooting for such evil populists dictators in the name of equality. I hope the transition to sanity will be quick and bloodless for this former bus-driver is way out of his core competency.
Doesn’t look as though he has missed any meals.
Silence is golden. I will remain silent when some CIA guy kills this guy. It is time.
Mr. Maduro is playing a bad hand, but it is the only hand he has.
The odds are high that he will end hanging upside down in a gas station.
The consolation is that he will then be enshrined in the Pinko pantheon of martyrs.
I agree he is going to be another deposed dictator statistic pretty soon.