BREAKING: Maduro has taken Venezuelan opposition leader and activist Freddy Superlano.

Yet another example of Maduro’s disgusting brutality and repression against the opposition. We cannot stand for this! Freddy and every activist unjustly detained by this dictator must be released immediately.

https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1818335136838304161?t=uufpoeiW60JnZJYWve6BLw&s=19

now how did Venezuela get here in the first place, there was the collapse of the social safety net because it was tied to petrol funding, then CAP’s triumphant return and the doublecross on the austerity plan, and the Caracazo, which led the way to the rising the following year by Chavez, Cabello and in lesser note, AlCala, who was the plotter in 2018, then Caldera, the other dinosaur this time from Copei sprung Chavez from jail and then Bob’s your uncle,

extricating oneself from popular front regimes, is not easy, they failed in Bolivia, and the matter is under review in Peru, there was some success in Argentina,
we shall see how far Milei gets, with the Peronist opposition,

Poor Quico, who time and again told us that Trump was as bad as or worse than Maduro, must cringe when reading about Kamala Harris endorsing the Venezuela election results- “the people have spoken.” Yeah, right. Quico, CC, and Venezuela: between a rock and a hard place.

Bed = Made, as much as I hate to say. It also shows how Quico never really knew Chavismo or what it was about.

Quico wrote a column last year on the Argentine election- seeing Argentina between a rock and a hard place between Milei and Peronismo.(not in CC) While I don’t agree with his assessment of Milei- I was willing to give him a chance- Quico had a good takedown of Peronismo. And Quico mentioned Rudiger Dornbusch’s work on Populism in Latin America. Good for Quico.

Yeah, and fair. The issue for Quico is that Argentina had been stuck in alternating cycles of Peronismo and Statist Anti-Peronismo pretty much since WWII, with ruinous effect, and more devastating big government stuff for even longer. It was time for a change. Millei might still go wrong, but I do not know how.

Like you, I have written off Venezuela. Which does not bode well for Venezuelans who want US support for a return to democracy. A fair number of my hometown peers had lived in Venezuela- not oil field related. I worked in the oil field in Venezuela, and worked in the US in a small company with a lot of Venezuelans. If someone like me, with much more knowledge of Venezuela than most Americans, has written off Venezuela, not a good sign.

I will support a Venezuelan return to Democracy, but I will support it in the ways I believe are effective. That includes giving out weapons and logistical support to those willing to fight for it, or even a less odious form of dictatorship.

But that caveat aside, I am sorry on your end. It sucks absolutely. I never had that personal connection to Venezuela or Venezuelans personally, and my sympathies go out. I just feel that there is not much else I can do.

I have an additional take on the end of commenting at CC. Commenting there had gotten out of hand, which was entirely Quico’s fault. He should have stayed out of US politics. I figure the new proprietors of CC figured that the comments were more trouble than they were worth, and since many commenters were not contributing to CC ( I wasn’t), all the more reason to cut them off. Time for me to write off Venland.

Perhaps commenting had gotten out of hand, but that was largely because CC had gotten out of hand. The comments were a relative oasis where people could argue and debate and make a point. I wrote several longform comments as I am wont to do there, and it had an impact. In any case, taking away commenting was a good signal for me to indicate CC no longer wanted my attention. And it looks like I was not alone: support for CC cratered after the switch. Maybe that is one thing Quico was right on.

Inability to distinguish between friends and enemies reminds me of a CC column from several years ago. A Venezuelan living in San Francisco was shocked at the support that lefties in San Francisco gave to Maduro. Anyone with any knowledge of SF and the Bay Area knows that they are replete with bat guano crazy lefties. Support of Maduro- par for the course. The author went on to state that she had chosen lefty San Francisco over “right wing” Miami. “Right wing” Miami is the enemy of Commie Cuba. Maduro is friends with Commie Cuba. So, “right wing” Miami is the enemy of Maduro. Friends and enemies…..

What’s all the more important is that you can make a very good argument that Chavismo and the entire PSUV dictatorship is basically a vassal or wealth redistribution scheme on behalf of Communist Cuba. They are major benefits of largesse from Caracas and in commanding positions helping to train and advise the regime’s security apparatus. This is one thing I think JDR’s otherwise epic “suicide” blog on Venezuela misses: like most deaths it was not merely suicide but also murder.

https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/cubas-intelligence-masterstroke-in-venezuela/

https://www.voanews.com/a/americas_exiled-venezuelan-spy-chiefs-speak-out-about-corruption-cuban-ties/6172418.html

That also is important, because I think it makes a home grown, purely Venezuelan “fix” to the problem that much less likely. Too many foreign players have too many incentives to step in and kill their way through to keep things like the money train coming. It’s hard to have 1989 Romania style defections when you have the regime stiffened by Cuban or Russian or Chinese Communist mooks in positions of power.

There’s this old saying. “There comes a time to join the side you’re on.”

So many Venezuelan Lefties opposed to the PSUV never understood it.

What makes the CC author’s article on San Francisco even more absurd is that San Francisco elected Chesa Boudin as District Attorney(and later voted him out.). Chesa, who got invited to Miraflores (Venezuela’s White House) within 24 hours of arriving in Caracas, courtesy of being lefty terrorist royalty. Chesa, who worked for a year in Miraflores as a translator. Chesa, who co-authored The Venezuelan Revolution 100 Questions—100 Answers. From page 9:

Yup. It is one of the things that makes me throw up my hands and scream “WHAT DID YOU EXPECT WOULD HAPPEN YOU SILLY PEOPLE?!?!”

Communist or not, scare tactic or not, “political power and modest economic gains” were certainly lost.

Indeed, among others.

Regarding elections versus revo. Need to ponder that. Problem here is that Chavismo has the guns. Rock and a hard place.

Oh I know. What’s worse, Chavismo has foreign friends with boots on the ground and a willingness to kill to retain power like they have in Cuba and the PRC. But violence, horrible as it is, has already come. Moreover, it can play out in surprising ways. You can catch even a well armed and experienced spec ops soldier – let alone his colleagues in the regular military or various paramilitaries or police – by surprise and hope to overpower him. You never will be able to catch the entrenched PSUV bureaucracy or patronage/spoils system unawares at the ballot box, because you have to go up to play on their grounds. And that is a fool’s errand.

I hope that Kamala gets drilled hard on her “the people have spoken” nonsense. Nonsense, but par for the course for her.

Agreed indeed. It was disgusting cowardice and appeasement.

Joel D. Hirst has recently said some things about Venezuela.

https://joelhirst.blog/

Joel D. Hirst’s blog mentions two fiction books he wrote about a possible future for Venezuela: The Lieutenant of San Porfirio and The Burning of San Porfirio. I recently read them. I highly recommend them. Moreover, they are not expensive.

Poor Quico, who time and again told us that Trump was as bad as or worse than Maduro, must cringe when reading about Kamala Harris endorsing the Venezuela election results- “the people have spoken.” Yeah, right. Quico, CC, and Venezuela: between a rock and a hard place.

Quico wrote a column last year on the Argentine election- seeing Argentina between a rock and a hard place between Milei and Peronismo.(not in CC) While I don’t agree with his assessment of Milei- I was willing to give him a chance- Quico had a good takedown of Peronismo. And Quico mentioned Rudiger Dornbusch’s work on Populism in Latin America. Good for Quico.

Like you, I have written off Venezuela. Which does not bode well for Venezuelans who want US support for a return to democracy. A fair number of my hometown peers had lived in Venezuela- not oil field related. I worked in the oil field in Venezuela, and worked in the US in a small company with a lot of Venezuelans. If someone like me, with much more knowledge of Venezuela than most Americans, has written off Venezuela, not a good sign.

I have an additional take on the end of commenting at CC. Commenting there had gotten out of hand, which was entirely Quico’s fault. He should have stayed out of US politics. I figure the new proprietors of CC figured that the comments were more trouble than they were worth, and since many commenters were not contributing to CC ( I wasn’t), all the more reason to cut them off. Time for me to write off Venland.

Inability to distinguish between friends and enemies reminds me of a CC column from several years ago. A Venezuelan living in San Francisco was shocked at the support that lefties in San Francisco gave to Maduro. Anyone with any knowledge of SF and the Bay Area knows that they are replete with bat guano crazy lefties. Support of Maduro- par for the course. The author went on to state that she had chosen lefty San Francisco over “right wing” Miami. “Right wing” Miami is the enemy of Commie Cuba. Maduro is friends with Commie Cuba. So, “right wing” Miami is the enemy of Maduro. Friends and enemies…..

What makes the CC author’s article on San Francisco even more absurd is that San Francisco elected Chesa Boudin as District Attorney(and later voted him out.). Chesa, who got invited to Miraflores (Venezuela’s White House) within 24 hours of arriving in Caracas, courtesy of being lefty terrorist royalty. Chesa, who worked for a year in Miraflores as a translator. Chesa, who co-authored The Venezuelan Revolution 100 Questions—100 Answers. From page 9:

(5)Is the current government communist?

Although the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) supports the Chavez
government and was the first political party (besides his MVR party) to
endorse his presidential candidacy in 1998, its members do not currently
have any significant positions in the central government. None of the ministers, members of the National Assembly, state governors, or any other high-ranking public officials are communists.

Nonetheless, some sectors of the opposition in Venezuela denounce the
Chavez government as communist. Domestically, this rhetoric serves to scare the people, particularly the middle classes, who fear that their political power and modest economic gains will be lost.

Communist or not, scare tactic or not, “political power and modest economic gains” were certainly lost.

Regarding elections versus revo. Need to ponder that. Problem here is that Chavismo has the guns. Rock and a hard place.

I hope that Kamala gets drilled hard on her “the people have spoken” nonsense. Nonsense, but par for the course for her.

“There isn’t much more to say that hasn’t already been said. Hugo Chavez came along at a moment of particular stress, making that devilishly attractive argument, “You can live at the expense of others. You can have something for nothing. I will allow you to finally get revenge.” ……………………..
“Chavez promised to take money from the rich and hand it out to the poor. This is not a new idea. It failed in Venezuela for the same reason this idea always fails.”……………………..
“What makes people poor?” some academics ask. That is not the right question. Poverty is the natural state of man; we are born naked and we die as piles of mulch.

The real question is, “What makes people rich?” If you seek that answer, honestly, most likely your society will be rich. Honesty, integrity, morality, hard work, rule of law, family, faith, and restraint.”……………………

“Chavez’s redistribution did what all redistribution does, it empowered the state — and the capture of that state became the main goal of everyone; but bad actors, liars, charlatans, and the wicked have unique advantages to state capture.”
https://joelhirst.blog/  

We see it over and over again. The myth of an egalitarian society is sold to the masses. Then when the Marxists take over, the Communist elite have the power and money. Everyone else is equal – equally miserable.

It’s a con that destroys once prosperous nations. And in fact, it’s a throwback to the old Medieval system of nobles and serfs. Just dressed up in some new phraseology to con the unwitting who believe in the something for nothing fable.

We’ve seen it many times in the last 100 years. The USSR, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela to mention the most obvious. Yet, people still believe it will be different this time.

Venezuela is at the point where the only way out is not at the ballot box, but with the cartridge box.