I know Daniel personally. His knowledge and understanding of Venezuelan politics is profound. I am glad you found him as a source.

Venezuela has strayed so far away from its constitution that if you want to quibble, you can find flaws in the legal logic. In addition, there are some serious weaknesses and gaps in the existing constitution. Afterall, it was a constitution designed by Hugo Chavez to allow him to consolidate power. Nevertheless, the Opposition’s interpretation is far closer to the spirit of the document than anything the usurper regime is doing.

Daniel in Venezuela blog has a fresh post today also, dealing primarily with the inadequacy of the Venezuelan constitution on the question of calling new election in an absurd 30 days time. Good read.

One feature of Latin-American countries is that they consider the Law as a political weapon. Of course, that happens in every country… but in Latin-America, that’s a KEY element in politics.

For example: Maduro had legal basis for each and every thing he has done, and so does Guaido. Both of them are in a nowhere land between the law and a coup. I’m not saying that both situations are the same because they aren’t. I’m saying that there’s a common pattern here, which is cultural.

You can see the exact same pattern in Ocasio-Cortez. When she proposed to “replace” the High Court, that was the pattern behind: use the law as a weapon. Did you notice how often the law has been used against Trump as a political weapon? Well, I’d bet that the US is shifting quickly towards a more Hispanic culture, because that’s a Latin-American feature.

At the end of the day, Guaido is a far better option for Venezuela than Maduro, hands down. But when it comes to the Law, they are both using it the way it serves them best. It’s not about ‘what’s the law’ but ‘how can I use the law’. It’s a different mindset, and it’s a quite difficult one for culturally American people, since there’s a traditional worship to the Rule of Law that doesn’t exist in Latin-America (or in Hispanic US).

By the way, that Latin-American mindset, that’s the future one in US. Ocasio-Cortez is more or less the new standard: law is not something to be cared, but to be used. And that happens BOTH in right and left, because it’s not political, it’s cultural. Don’t think it’s a leftist problem: it’s a matter of time the right has the same mindset in US. Guaido doesn’t care about the Rule of Law, because (with very few exceptions) no Latin-American politician does.

My point was not that there is no argument to be made against the legality of what Guaido and the legislature are doing. My point is that there is indeed a cogent legal argument for it. It is not clearly a coup, nor is it even likely a coup (and of course Maduro’s election was fraudulent).

Coups are not always bad by any means. But I originally thought this was a coup attempt, and now I wouldn’t call it that.

What he’s not saying is that the big legal issue here is whether the Constituent is or isn’t legal, and that’s far from being obvious. If the Constituent is legal, then it becomes the top house, above the National Assembly.

So where’s the problem? the current Constitution is EXTREMELY bad written, and it’s not clear whether the president can or can not create the Constituent.

It depends on how you interpret it.

The most logical interpretation would be that a referendum should be necessary to create the Constituent. But that’s STILL an interpretation. It’s not explicitly stated in the Constitution.

Maduro controls the High Court, so he can impose his own interpretation (which is: the president can create the Constituent, the referendum only being necessary to enact the new Constitution). It’s less logical, but it’s possible. So you can see the problem here.

Is Maduro right? Nope. But he has legal basis. The whole situation is far from being easy.

Same people who refuse to believe the evidence of the 2-hour Covington video against the false leftist narrative.
What a surprise.

Cuba was and is an object lesson in ‘the fruit’ of ‘the tree’ Venezuelan’s planted. Now Venezuela is providing another object lesson for humanity’s edification.

“Millenials have a higher opinion of socialism than of capitalism”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/02/05/millennials-have-a-higher-opinion-of-socialism-than-of-capitalism/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fa658eff7a2c

Yes, they were and are being lied to but for a lie to resonate, you have to want to believe it’s true and also be willing to deny all evidence to the contrary.

Ignorance + the vote is all too often a fatal combination.

Everybody involved in national security, and a good number of us not involved, knows exactly who the Wagner Group is. Nobody has any doubt that they are Russian soldiers operating under control of the Kremlin. Trump authorized the killing of 200 of them in an airstrike when they advanced toward a U.S. position in Syria; the first U.S. President to kill Russian soldiers since 1921.

So, as Mike K said, calm down.