It seems to me that news coverage of the situation of Venezuela is very shallow and propagandistic, leaving me very uncomfortable about U.S. policy in the country and the region.t
FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) has been critical of much of the reporting.
A recent column by Mark Cook (“Venezuela Coverage Takes Us Back to Golden Age of Lying About Latin America“) points out that the whole spectacle of a convoy of U.S. aid being prevented from crossing over a bridge from Columbia to Venezuela was fabricated.
He writes:
The corporate media have continued to peddle the Trump-as-humanitarian-champion line, even after it was revealed that a US plane was caught smuggling weapons into Venezuela, and even after Trump named Iran/Contra criminal Elliott Abrams to head up Venezuelan operations. Abrams was in charge of the State Department Human Rights Office during the 1980s, when weapons to US-backed terrorists in Nicaragua were shipped in US planes disguised as “humanitarian” relief.
Canada’s CBC (2/15/19) at least had the honesty to acknowledge that it had been had in swallowing a lie from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the Venezuelan government had blockaded a bridge between Colombia and Venezuela to prevent aid shipments. The newly built bridge has not yet been opened: it has never been open, apparently because of hostile relations between the two countries, but the non-opening long predates the US government’s alleged food and medicine shipments.
Check out the CBC story, illustrated with photos (“How a bridge between Colombia and Venezuela became part of a propaganda fight“).
In any case, please share your thoughts on critical sources of news and analysis of the Venezuela situation. We really need to understand more about what’s going on there.
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Watch teleSur English for coverage. I’m afraid that once again the US is up to no good in another country. How do we stop these immoral acts of aggression?
Agreed. As well of the rest of the world outside the confines of Trump Inc. If it weren’t for NHK and BBC you would imagine that there wasn’t any world beyond the talking head of CNN and MSNBC and their obsession with all things Trump. At least our local news gives us the daily surf report and the traffic and weather every ten minutes…….
I have been relying on The Guardian/ https://www.theguardian.com/us for information about the situation in Venezuela. Many interesting articles, opinion, and editorials there. Here are a sample of them:
“Venezuela: how is the region coping with its collapse? by Kenneth Rogoff”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/05/venezuela-how-is-the-region-coping-with-its-collapse
“Venezuela blocks off second bridge to Colombia as Guaidó flies to Brazil”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/27/venezuela-bridge-simon-bolivar-colombia-maduro
“Early on Wednesday, two shipping containers were positioned across the Simón Bolívar bridge, a major pedestrian crossing between the two countries, following days of sporadic violence. The bridge was the focus of a failed weekend attempt to bring US food aid into the country as part of Guaidó’s campaign campaign to force Maduro from power.” (Read the article for more interesting details.
“Collapse of Venezuela’s healthcare system could fuel spread of malaria and other diseases across region”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/21/venezuela-crisis-threatens-disease-epidemic-across-continent-experts
editorial: “https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/24/the-guardian-view-on-venezuela-its-people-deserve-better”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/24/the-guardian-view-on-venezuela-its-people-deserve-better
“Donald Trump’s ship of fools is heading for the rocks in Venezuela”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/24/donald-trump-venezuela-nicolas-maduro
Venezuela: nearly 2m people have fled country since 2015, UN says
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/01/venezuela-migration-crisis-un-calls-for-response
14m bolivars for a chicken: Venezuela hyperinflation explained
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/20/venezuela-bolivars-hyperinflation-banknotes
Clearly, The Guardian articles describe a country in deep crisis but its editors and analysts do not see a role for the United States.
Just so happened to be watching this last night: ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE | 2007 (HD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTbIu8Zeqp0&feature=youtu.be
Then read your column today. Regarding what’s going on in Venezuela, start watching at 1:39:40 minutes.
Being intellectually honest about this, I have is no evidence on hand to check, it’s just that I was surprised at the coincidence. Don’t know if it’s true, but it’s worth being aware of the possibilities.
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4196
US needs to dismiss the sanctions against Venezuela. They only hurt other human beings. Doesn’t Britain hold Venezuela money?