The Venezuelan opposition on Monday released a recording of what it says is a conversation between Mario Silva, a prominent Venezuelan television host and a favorite of the late Hugo Chávez, and a Cuban intelligence officer, in which Silva details a feud within the government between Chávez loyalists and Diosdado Cabello, the president of the National Assembly.
In the conversation with Aramis Palacios, a lieutenant colonel in the G2, the Cuban intelligence agency, Silva, the host of the state television program “La Hojilla,” describes a government deeply divided against itself, with rival factions competing for power amid rampant corruption.
The conversation was allegedly recorded for the benefit of Cuban President Raúl Castro, but its authenticity has not been independently verified. Writing on Twitter, Silva dismissed the recording as a Zionist plot.
Chávez propagandist in leaked recording: ‘We are in a sea of shit, my friend’ | FP Passport
Category Archives: Venezuela
Venezuela: Chávez propagandist in leaked recording: ‘We are in a sea of shit, my friend’ | FP Passport
Is Venezuela becoming a failed state? | Transitions
Venezuela remains mired in a political and economic crisis that shows no signs of letting up. But while street protests, soaring inflation, scarcity, and skyrocketing crime are massive headaches, the government can count on still-high oil prices to soothe the pain a bit.
The question that begs asking is: How will Venezuela maintain stability if oil prices drop?
A recent report by the International Energy Agency underscores the challenges the country faces in the short term. The United States has made huge progress in oil extraction thanks to fracking technology. It is set to become the world’s largest oil producer by the year 2020, and the global spread of fracking is bound to significantly increase international recoverable oil reserves in the near future. The agency crows that fracking is creating a “supply shock that is sending ripples around the world.”
Five scenarios for Venezuela — most of them bad – Andres Oppenheimer – MiamiHerald.com
Most polls show that Venezuela’s government candidate Nicolás Maduro is likely to win Sunday’s elections thanks to an unfair election process in which the government controls an overwhelming share of TV time, but — even if he wins — Maduro’s future is gloomy.
If most polls are right and Maduro wins despite a significant narrowing of his advantage over opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in recent days, a lot will depend on his margin of victory, and on whether Capriles concedes as readily as he and other opposition leaders have done in the past. It may not happen quite that way this time.
Judging from what I’m told by well-placed Venezuelans, there are five major scenarios of what may happen after Sunday’s vote to elect late President Hugo Chávez’s successor. Here they are, in no particular order:
Five scenarios for Venezuela — most of them bad – Andres Oppenheimer – MiamiHerald.com
25 Similarities Between Chavez and Putin | Opinion | The Moscow Times
8. Both leaders shared a strong affinity for conspiracy theories. Chavez said the U.S. tried to assassinate him several times, including his pre-death accusation that U.S. intelligence agents might have planted a carcinogenic substance in his body. Chavez also said the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy plotted the 2002 failed coup against him and that the country’s regular electricity blackouts were caused by the CIA. Meanwhile, Putin, Kremlin-friendly analysts and the state-controlled media have suggested that the U.S. has tried to orchestrate a color revolution in Russia by funding nongovernmental organizations, opposition leaders and protesters.
9. Both prided themselves on standing up to the U.S. with incendiary, populist rhetoric. While speaking at the United Nations in 2006, Chavez likened U.S. President George W. Bush to the devil and said the podium still smelled like sulfur after Bush had spoken from there the previous day. Chavez also called the U.S. “the biggest menace to our planet.” Putin likened U.S. foreign policy to the Third Reich during a Victory Day speech in 2007, called the U.S. the ”single master” on the global arena during his 2007 Munich speech and said in 2011 that the U.S. was a ”parasite” that feeds off the global economy.
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17. Both clung to a besieged-fortress mentality. Chavez said, “Venezuela is used to defending itself … and fighting imperialism. We must be ready for [U.S.] aggression.” During last year’s Defenders of the Fatherland Day speech at Luzhniki Stadium, Putin said, “Russia’s battle continues,” referring to U.S. meddling in Russian internal affairs. Putin concluded his speech by exclaiming, “We will die defending Moscow like our brothers died!” quoting Mikhail Lermontov and implicitly equating Russia’s battle against the U.S. with Russia’s brave defense against the French in the 1812 war.
Venezuela’s Chavez urged Shiites’ 12th Imam to ‘come sooner’ – Video
Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer this week, urged the Shiite Muslims’ 12th Imam, Mahdi, to return to Earth sooner than prophesied, as revealed in a video released by Rajanews, a media outlet of Iran’s ruling Islamic regime.
Shiites believe Mahdi, the last Islamic messiah, will only come back to Earth after a great conflagration engulfs the Middle East, setting the stage for global Armageddon. When Mahdi returns, Shiites believe, Jesus Christ will be at his side. Chavez was a Catholic.
Rajanews praised Chavez as a serious world leader who supported the Palestinian cause despite the absence of some Arab leaders. Chavez said in the video that global enmity “is located in Gaza” and that the fight for Gaza and the Palestinian cause “is beneficial for Venezuela, too.”
Since the 12th Imam is the Mahdi, and the Mahdi is the West’s Anti-Christ, that means Chavez was not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Related articles:
Return Mahdi site:1913intel.com – Google Search – http://goo.gl/qTtRC
How China propped up Chávez
Hugo Chávez, resplendent in crisply pressed fatigues and paratrooper boots with red shoelaces, had a very special guest. Meeting him that day in mid-September 2011 in Caracas was the world’s most powerful banker, who had lent Chávez’s government at least $40 billion over the four years from 2008 to 2012, or about $1,400 for every man, woman, and child in Venezuela.
The guest, stooped and looking older than his 66 years, drank chrysanthemum tea, staring across the table at Chávez, bald from his chemotherapy treatments. He handed the Venezuelan president a 600-page book filled with recommendations on how Chávez should run, manage, and build ports, roads, and railroads.
Hugo’s Banker – By Henry Sanderson and Michael Forsythe | Foreign Policy
All you Venezuelan expats can please thank China for helping to drive you out of Venezuela.
The End of the Latin American Left – By Alvaro Vargas LLosa | Foreign Policy
The exact condition of Hugo Chávez continues to be a Churchillian riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The Venezuelan president, who won his third reelection last October and has been hospitalized in Cuba for many weeks with cancer, missed his own inauguration in January. In his absence, Vice President Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s hand-picked successor, has been left in charge of the government indefinitely. But Maduro is no Chávez, lacking both the charisma and the power base of Venezuela’s mercurial leader. And it’s not just a problem for the chattering classes in Caracas: The question haunting the Latin American hard left, which Chávez has dominated in the last decade, is who will take his place.
The End of the Latin American Left – By Alvaro Vargas LLosa | Foreign Policy
Venezeula: Paranoid Plots and Empty Aisles – By Peter Wilson | Foreign Policy
Paralyzed by Chávez’s absence, Venezuela’s shaky government is inventing threats from abroad. But the hungry masses aren’t buying it.
Hours after Venezuelan Vice President — and current de facto leader of the country in Hugo Chávez’s absence — Nicolás Maduro told the nation that government security forces had uncovered a plot to assassinate him and the president of the National Assembly, Gonzalez was waiting in line at the store. Shelves were riddled with empty spaces where the food used to be.
An employee at the Agriculture Ministry here in Venezuela’s capital city, she was returning home when a friend called to let her know that sugar had just been delivered at their local supermarket. She promptly forgot about Maduro and his exhortations to beware of foreign agents looking to destabilize the country.
“I haven’t seen sugar in weeks,” she says. “The revolution is important and I love our president. But I suspect Maduro was just talking nonsense. It’s just another farce, another show. They have cried wolf too often.”
Paranoid Plots and Empty Aisles – By Peter Wilson | Foreign Policy
Venezuela: Chavez Is Responding to Treatment | TIME.com
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Sunday night that Chavez is conscious and responding to treatment for the respiratory infection at a Cuban hospital, although he gave no specifics of Chavez’s treatment or condition.
“The respiratory infection is under control,” but Chavez “still requires specific measures for a solution to respiratory insufficiency,” he said, reading a statement on state television.
“The president is conscious, communicating with his family, his political team and the medical team treating him,” Villegas said.
Chavez, who was re-elected Oct. 7, hasn’t spoken publicly or been seen since the operation, leading to anxiety among Venezuelans about the country. If he is unable to take office, Venezuela’s constitution says new elections must be called within 30 days.
