As tensions over aid rise, Venezuelan troops fire on villagers, kill two

[rooster59]

As tensions over aid rise, Venezuelan troops fire on villagers, kill two

By Carlos Suniaga and Nelson Bocanegra

 

An ambulance carrying people that were injured during clashes in the southern Venezuelan town of Kumarakapay, near the border with Brazil, is assisted by people at the border between Venezuela and Brazil, in Pacaraima, Roraima state, Brazil February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

 

KUMARAKAPAY, Venezuela/CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Venezuelan soldiers opened fire on indigenous people near the border with Brazil on Friday, killing two, witnesses said, as President Nicolas Maduro sought to block U.S.-backed efforts to bring aid into his economically devastated nation.

 

The United States, which is among dozens of Western nations to recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president, has been stockpiling aid in the Colombian frontier town of Cucuta to ship across the border this weekend.

 

With tensions running high after Guaido invoked the constitution to declare an interim presidency last month, Maduro has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela despite widespread shortages of food and medicine and hyperinflation.

 

Maduro, who took power in 2013 and was re-elected in an election last year widely viewed as fraudulent, says opposition efforts to bring in aid are a U.S.-backed "cheap show" to undermine his government.

 

The socialist president has declared Venezuela's southern border with Brazil closed and threatened to do the same with the Colombian border ahead of a Saturday deadline by the opposition to bring in humanitarian assistance.

 

A fundraising concert for Venezuela, backed by British billionaire Richard Branson and featuring major Latin pop stars like Luis Fonsi of "Despacito" fame, attracted nearly 200,000 in Cucuta on Friday, organizers said.

 

Some political analysts say Saturday's showdown is less about solving Venezuela's needs and more about testing the military's loyalty toward Maduro by daring it to turn the aid away.

 

With inflation running at more than 2 million percent a year and currency controls restricting imports of basic goods, a growing share of the country's roughly 30 million people is suffering from malnutrition.

 

Friday's violence broke out in the village of Kumarakapay in southern Venezuela after an indigenous community stopped a military convoy heading toward the border with Brazil that they believed was attempting to block aid from entering, according to community leaders Richard Fernandez and Ricardo Delgado.

 

Soldiers later entered the village and opened fire, killing a couple and injuring several others, they said.

 

"I stood up to them to back the humanitarian aid," Fernandez told Reuters. "And they came charging at us. They shot innocent people who were in their homes, working."

 

Seven of the 15 injured earlier on Friday were rushed by ambulance across the border and were being treated at the Roraima General Hospital in the Brazilian frontier city of Boa Vista, a spokesman for the state governor's office said.

 

Venezuela's Information Ministry did not reply to a request for comment. Diosdado Cabello, one of the most prominent figures in Maduro’s Socialist Party, accused the civilians involved in the clash of being "violent groups" directed by the opposition.

 

Venezuelan security forces have executed dozens and detained hundreds of others since protests broke out in January against Maduro's swearing-in, according to civil rights groups.

 

The United States condemned "the killings, attacks, and the hundreds of arbitrary detentions", a State Department official said on Friday.

 

Meanwhile China, which along with Russia backs Maduro, warned humanitarian aid should not be forced in because doing so could lead to violence.

 

BLOODSHED 'NOT IN VAIN'

 

The bloodshed contrasted with the joyous ambience at Branson's "Venezuela Aid Live" in Cucuta, where Venezuelan and Colombian attendees, some crying, waved flags and chanted "freedom" under a baking sun.

 

"Is it too much to ask for freedom after 20 years of ignominy, of a populist Marxist dictatorship?" Venezuelan artist Jose Luis "El Puma" Rodríguez asked. "To the Venezuelans there, don't give up, the blood that has been spilled was not in vain".

 

Earlier in the day, Branson held a news conference near a never-used road border bridge that has become a symbol of Maduro's refusal to let aid in after authorities blocked the bridge with shipping containers.

 

"What we're hoping is that the authorities in Venezuela will see this wonderful, peaceful concert...and that the soldiers will do that right thing," Branson said.

 

Guaido has vowed the opposition will on Saturday bring in foreign aid being stockpiled in Cucuta, the Brazilian town of Boa Vista and the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, setting up more clashes with Maduro's security forces.

 

He set off towards the Colombian border on Thursday in a convoy with opposition lawmakers to oversee the effort but did not disclose his location on Friday out of security concerns, according to his aides.

 

"You must decide which side you are on in this definitive hour," Guaido wrote on Twitter. "To all the military: between today and tomorrow, you will define how you want to be remembered."

 

Guaido's move to assume the interim presidency and international backing has galvanized Venezuela's opposition, which has vowed to keep protesting until Maduro steps down. It previously staged major protests in 2014 and 2017 that waned in the face of government crackdowns.

 

Yet some government critics are concerned it will take more than pressure to force Maduro to step down.

 

"The truth is that not even 10 concerts will make damned Maduro leave office," said Darwin Rendon, one of the 3.4 million Venezuelans to have emigrated since 2015 to find work. He sends what little he can earn selling cigarettes back to his family in Caracas.

 

"This regime is difficult to remove," he added.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-23

[metisdead]

A post advocating an illegal solution to the Venezuela problem has been removed. 

 

A troll post has also been removed. 

[Tug]

How sad and needless Venezuela is blessed with such wealth it’s so un nessary 

[Syduan]

I'd be surprised if the CIA weren't behind this...again. 

 

 

[Baerboxer]

2 hours ago, Syduan said:

I'd be surprised if the CIA weren't behind this...again. 

 

 

 

Yes right. As Maduro keeps saying, there's no crisis, no food shortages, no medical shortages, it's all a US conspiracy!

 

Must all be CIA propaganda eh? Everyone knows what a socialist utopia Venezuela is under it's bastion of democracy!

[khunken]

15 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yes right. As Maduro keeps saying, there's no crisis, no food shortages, no medical shortages, it's all a US conspiracy!

 

Must all be CIA propaganda eh? Everyone knows what a socialist utopia Venezuela is under it's bastion of democracy!

No, only you are raising that straw man.

It's Iraq mkII with oil as the target. Over US$3bn Venezuelan money frozen and a $200m 'food aid' propaganda effort that neither the UN nor the Red Cross would touch.

With Bolton,  Abrams & Rubio leading the coup attempt, all they need is Oliver North and they can take out Nicaragua on the side.

[Prissana Pescud]

Maybe US intel is being used .

But read the facts. Maduro is forcing his population to starve.

The post says it is a Marxist state.

It is not. It is a totalitarian state and only the totalitarian countries of China and Russia support him.

Marx was dead 50 years before twisted idiots in Russia used some of his musings to create the scumbag politics of 

China, Russia and maduro.

This is not working out well. The blood letting is about to get worse.

[HLover]

2 minutes ago, khunken said:

No, only you are raising that straw man.

It's Iraq mkII with oil as the target. Over US$3bn Venezuelan money frozen and a $200m 'food aid' propaganda effort that neither the UN nor the Red Cross would touch.

With Bolton,  Abrams & Rubio leading the coup attempt, all they need is Oliver North and they can take out Nicaragua on the side.

There is a certain group of Comrades that may not allow another destabilizing war in the name of democracy.

[Prissana Pescud]

4 minutes ago, khunken said:

No, only you are raising that straw man.

It's Iraq mkII with oil as the target. Over US$3bn Venezuelan money frozen and a $200m 'food aid' propaganda effort that neither the UN nor the Red Cross would touch.

With Bolton,  Abrams & Rubio leading the coup attempt, all they need is Oliver North and they can take out Nicaragua on the side.

I don't often side with baerboxer. But he has nailed it this time.

Maduro faked his election. He is starving his people.

Russia and China say don't give food aid or it will cause trouble.

What a scumbag bunch of idiots. People are starving and only the elite which caused this whole problem by bleeding the country dry are putting food on their plates.

Maduro and his cronies should exit stage left. Because when this whole issue erupts I suspect more than effigies of him will be burned.

[Prissana Pescud]

10 hours ago, Tug said:

How sad and needless Venezuela is blessed with such wealth it’s so un nessary 

The fact is that all the natural wealth of Venezuela (and it is not just oil) has been systematically looted by the regimes that

always seem to be "elected" there.

 But Mr Trump could learn a thing or two from Maduro.

Because Maduro blocks aid coming into his country by strategically placed old shipping seatainers.

This could be the solution that Mr Trump needs.

A cheap wall built from disused shipping containers. Whoed a thunk it. lol

 

[khunken]

17 minutes ago, Prissana Pescud said:

Maybe US intel is being used .

But read the facts. Maduro is forcing his population to starve.

The post says it is a Marxist state.

It is not. It is a totalitarian state and only the totalitarian countries of China and Russia support him.

Marx was dead 50 years before twisted idiots in Russia used some of his musings to create the scumbag politics of 

China, Russia and maduro.

This is not working out well. The blood letting is about to get worse.

First, I agree that the country is in a mess.

Second it is not all down to Maduro, Sanctions & frozen billions are a major contributory factor.

No, not only China & Russia support him. Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and quite a few others support Maduro.

Guido is nothing but a US puppet.

There's no doubt that the country needs a recharge politically but not on US or any other outsider's terms.

What is happening is a US-sponsored coup attempt and history tells most people that they rarely, if ever, turn out to be beneficial to the country involved.

[Jingthing]

Maduro must go. Once in a blue moon 45 is right. It's not about ideology. It's not about left or right. It's about a totally corrupt disastrous authoritarian regime that is slowly but surely killing and/or forcing out their own people by the millions. Now we can argue about what exact tactics the Maduro opposition should use to get the best results quickly enough with minimal bloodshed. But the bigger picture is more clear. Maduro must go.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Prissana Pescud]

2 minutes ago, khunken said:

First, I agree that the country is in a mess.

Second it is not all down to Maduro, Sanctions & frozen billions are a major contributory factor.

No, not only China & Russia support him. Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and quite a few others support Maduro.

Guido is nothing but a US puppet.

There's no doubt that the country needs a recharge politically but not on US or any other outsider's terms.

What is happening is a US-sponsored coup attempt and history tells most people that they rarely, if ever, turn out to be beneficial to the country involved.

And Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey, China and Russia are shining lights on human rights and political stability.

Lets take Turkey for example. After the oppressive Ottoman Empire collapsed because they bit off more than they chew in WW1, 

Turkey set out to systematically decimate the Armenian minority. They forced the country of Kurdistan into non existence and to this day are

still murdering and oppressing Kurds. That country is also in a repressed turmoil.

I could go on with the other countries but you should get the drift.

Maduro and his cronies need to exit and let something a little better occur.

Sure it will still be a corrupt country and the US will not change that.

But some of the countries extreme potential wealth will trickle down and the general populace will not be so hungry as they are now.

And best of all, the scum that are causing this problem will not be welcome back in the country. Living the high life in Russia no doubt. 

 

[khunken]

24 minutes ago, Prissana Pescud said:

And Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey, China and Russia are shining lights on human rights and political stability.

Lets take Turkey for example. After the oppressive Ottoman Empire collapsed because they bit off more than they chew in WW1, 

Turkey set out to systematically decimate the Armenian minority. They forced the country of Kurdistan into non existence and to this day are

still murdering and oppressing Kurds. That country is also in a repressed turmoil.

I could go on with the other countries but you should get the drift.

Maduro and his cronies need to exit and let something a little better occur.

Sure it will still be a corrupt country and the US will not change that.

But some of the countries extreme potential wealth will trickle down and the general populace will not be so hungry as they are now.

And best of all, the scum that are causing this problem will not be welcome back in the country. Living the high life in Russia no doubt. 

 

You're shifting the goalposts. I countered your statement that only China & Russia are supporting Maduro with examples of others. No mention of 'shining lights' or otherwise. However, as you bring it up, the US is no paragon of human rights, either, especially in (the large number of) countries that it interferes in.

Note too that CARICOM has stated that it rejects any form of intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. Even the OAS is split.

That is my opinion too - no outside intervention, which had made a right royal mess of the Middle East & prevented South America from developing for many years.

 

[emptypockets]

Whats CARICOM?? OAS?

[Prissana Pescud]

4 hours ago, khunken said:

You're shifting the goalposts. I countered your statement that only China & Russia are supporting Maduro with examples of others. No mention of 'shining lights' or otherwise. However, as you bring it up, the US is no paragon of human rights, either, especially in (the large number of) countries that it interferes in.

Note too that CARICOM has stated that it rejects any form of intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. Even the OAS is split.

That is my opinion too - no outside intervention, which had made a right royal mess of the Middle East & prevented South America from developing for many years.

 

I did not shift the goal posts. You mentioned all of the countries that support this totally corrupt and murderous regime.

And they also are totalitarian states that siphon off far too much of the public purse to be in any way legitimate.

You hang in there supporting him and his cronies. Because other than Turkey, Russia, Mexico et al, he needs all the support he can get.

All the countries you mention (and India is another) have not offered one corn husk in help to the 40% of starving people.

Food aid at the borders is being blocked. People are being shot for pleading with soldiers to let aid in.

Because Maduro and his cronies have stolen all of the countries assets. And you support him.

 US for all its faults is offering food aid (probably soy beans) and the chance for Venezuela to actually hold a legitimate election.

 Better than anything else or any one else is offering to starving people. But when the people are free of oppression,

it will not be a pretty sight. A lot of people in their rich houses will be wishing they moved out right now. 

To the countries of their supporters. Russia, China, Mexico. et al