International Venezuela, The Socialist Dystopia, v2: The region's worst humanitarian crisis in decades

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Previously: Venezuela, The Starving Socialist Dystopia (Part 1)
 
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Venezuela's presidential battle begins, Maduro favorite
Andrew Cawthorne, Andreina Aponte | January 24, 2018

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s presidential election race has begun with favorite and incumbent Nicolas Maduro signaling a nationalist, “anti-Trump” campaign while his demoralized foes scramble to find a viable candidate for a vote they predict will be unfair.

Critics of the 55-year-old Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013, say he has ruined a once-prosperous oil economy, turned Venezuela into a dictatorship and skewed the election system to perpetuate power for his Socialist Party.

Government officials say they are fighting a U.S.-led right-wing conspiracy determined to end socialism in Latin America, hobble Venezuela’s economy, and steal its oil wealth.

“Donald Trump is not the boss of Venezuela!” thundered Maduro at a rally late on Tuesday. He spoke hours after the pro-government Constituent Assembly, a legislative superbody, announced the vote would be held by April 30.

Maduro’s candidacy seems a formality: he says he will stand if the Socialist Party wants him, and party leaders say there is no other candidate under consideration.

The president’s approval ratings have plunged during a crushing four-year recession caused by failed state economic policies such as decade-old currency controls, and the fall in global oil prices since 2014.

The U.S. State Department weighed in on Wednesday, criticizing the decision to hold an election, saying the vote would deepen the country’s internal tensions. [S0N1O401O]

Foreign sanctions against Maduro’s government, including a U.S. prohibition on investors dealing with any new Venezuelan debt, have exacerbated the grim panorama as millions suffer food and medicine shortages and the world’s highest inflation.

But having survived massive protests last year and consolidated his grip, the international pressure has now given Maduro a powerful rallying cry to seek re-election.

“The people rule in Venezuela, not empires,” he said at Tuesday’s rally, going straight into campaign mode with jingles from past elections. “I‘m ready ... We’re going to win big.”
‘MADURO‘S FARCE’

Venezuela’s opposition, which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets last year in an attempt to oust Maduro, is in a quandary. Its most popular figures - including Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles - are prevented from standing. Some are in jail, others are in exile or barred from politics.

“The election will be held on Maduro’s terms, allowing him to ensure his victory,” the Eurasia consultancy said. “All of this will come at a cost of increased international isolation, something that the government seems willing to stomach if the tradeoff is to lose power.”

The most militant of government opponents believe it is useless to fight the socialists at the polls, given the election board - whose head is on U.S. and EU sanctions lists - favors the government and turns a blind eye to use of state resources for campaign purposes.

Electoral council documents seen by Reuters appeared to show pro-government numbers were inflated in last year’s vote for the Constituent Assembly, and the opposition produced strong evidence of fraud in Bolivar state during governor elections.

The government denied any voting fraud, saying its election system is the cleanest in the world.

“The dictatorship does not want free elections. No-one in Venezuela or abroad should support another of Maduro’s farces,” said Antonio Ledezma, a hardline opposition leader who recently escaped house arrest to flee to Spain.

If militants campaign for a boycott of the election, that would complicate plans by the already disparate Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition to hold a primary election to choose its best candidate. Leaders of the major MUD parties were meeting later on Wednesday to discuss strategy and possible primaries.

“To participate or not, vote or not, protest or not? If we’re not united, no strategy will work. If we go forward together, nobody can beat us,” said young opposition leader Hasler Iglesias.

Two opposition leaders, Henry Ramos and Henri Falcon, have already announced presidential aspirations. But both are divisive figures within the opposition: Ramos is seen as too old-school by many, while Falcon is viewed with suspicion due to his origins within the ruling “Chavismo” movement.

Announcing his would-be candidacy on Wednesday, Falcon said the government was incapable of resolving the country’s crisis, adding, “We need to get rid of this rubbish government, democratically.”

Given the dismal state of the economy and years of bitter political standoff, many Venezuelans are fed up with all parties and yearning for a fresh face.

Some have been calling for Lorenzo Mendoza, the long-haired billionaire head of Venezuela’s main private food company Polar, to stand, but he has given no hint he will.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...l-battle-begins-maduro-favorite-idUSKBN1FD1BQ
 
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When you elected a bus driver as president, then don't be surprised if you get taken for a ride.
 
I’m surprised we haven’t FREEDOM the shit out Venezuela they got lots of oil
 
We all love hard numbers before elections, don't we?

 
Venezuela Excludes Opposition from Presidential Snap Election
January 26, 2018​

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Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro takes a selfie next to his wife, Cilia Flores, as they arrive for a rally with workers of transport sector in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 24, 2018.

Venezuela’s top court has excluded the opposition coalition from the upcoming presidential election, a move that virtually ensures that unpopular leftist president Nicolas Maduro will win another term.

Registration of parties and candidates to run in the election was slated to happen this weekend.

The Supreme Court, however, told the national election council late Thursday to delay registration for six months.

The court did not give a reason for its ruling.

The presidential election will be held by the end of April. The election had originally been scheduled for December.

The Constituent Assembly unanimously approved the new election timetable Tuesday as the ruling Socialist Party attempts to consolidate its power, even in the midst of Venezuela’s massive economic woes.


Representatives of both the Venezuelan government and the opposition have been negotiating under international auspices in the Dominican Republic, to try to agree on a framework for fair elections.

The election maneuvering comes as Venezuela is experiencing a deep economic crisis. The French news agency reports that inflation this year is expected to reach 13,000 percent.

Under Maduro, the country’s money has become nearly worthless and prices for consumer products have soared. There are widespread food and medicine shortages, with many Venezuelans left malnourished.

Venezuela has refused to acknowledge the hunger and malnutrition problem, and has refused all international humanitarian assistance. But a majority of the country’s 30 million people say they are skipping meals because of a lack of food, and some 500,000 people have left the country over the past two years.

https://www.voanews.com/amp/venezuela-presidential-snap-election/4226005.html
 
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Sssssooooo.... BASICALLY, it isn't an election

But, but the People can vote for which ever candidate they want on the ballot!

Looking forward to see a pix of the official ballot. I wonder if he gonna pick a nobody from his clique to be a stooge, just so there would be two names on the ballot instead of one.

I don't know why this guy is still trying so hard with a blatantly-fake election that fools abaolutely no one, to be honest.

Pretty much all the countries in South America already straight-up calling him a dictator and expelled Venezuela from their Mercosur club house after he dissolved the Venezuelan Congress. Unilaterally moving the election date up half a year while preventing the oppositions from registering their candidates until AFTER the vote should remove all doubts from any remaining Maduro fans in the forum.
 
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The People can vote for which ever candidate they want!

Looking forward to see a pix of the official ballot. I wonder if he gonna pick a nobody from his clique to be a stooge, just so there would be two names on the ballot instead of one.
Maduro is dumb enough to only have his name.
 
Maduro's crazy bus has no brakes eh?
 
This election will be as legitimate as Saddam Hussein's run for a consecutive term

What are you basing this prediction on?

Venezuela's elections during the Chavez era were overseen and approved by international voting groups.

It's ridiculous how ignorantly Americans feel that they can arbitrarily undermine the legitimacy of foreign governments because those governments' interests are supposedly diametrical to theirs.
 
What are you basing this prediction on?

Venezuela's elections during the Chavez era were overseen and approved by international voting groups.

It's ridiculous how ignorantly Americans feel that they can arbitrarily undermine the legitimacy of foreign governments because those governments' interests are supposedly diametrical to theirs.
He's disallowing the opposition party to run though...... That goes from "shades of grey" to "there's, black, white, and this weird red color over here"
 
What are you basing this prediction on?

Venezuela's elections during the Chavez era were overseen and approved by international voting groups.

It's ridiculous how ignorantly Americans feel that they can arbitrarily undermine the legitimacy of foreign governments because those governments' interests are supposedly diametrical to theirs.


Are you serious? are you aware of Maduro's tactics against his political opponents?

Do you really believe this will be a fair, corruption free election?

And I'm not talking about Chavez's era of elections.

I"m talking about Venezuela now.
 
He's disallowing the opposition party to run though...... That goes from "shades of grey" to "there's, black, white, and this weird red color over here"
Are you serious? are you aware of Maduro's tactics against his political opponents?

Do you really believe this will be a fair, corruption free election?

And I'm not talking about Chavez's era of elections.

I"m talking about Venezuela now.

Opposition parties are not banned. Individual members of them may be banned per conduct detrimental to the country, and most of them for good reason.

From Arkain's post

Venezuela’s opposition, which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets last year in an attempt to oust Maduro, is in a quandary. Its most popular figures - including Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles - are prevented from standing. Some are in jail, others are in exile or barred from politics.

[...]

Two opposition leaders, Henry Ramos and Henri Falcon, have already announced presidential aspirations. But both are divisive figures within the opposition: Ramos is seen as too old-school by many, while Falcon is viewed with suspicion due to his origins within the ruling “Chavismo” movement.

Announcing his would-be candidacy on Wednesday, Falcon said the government was incapable of resolving the country’s crisis, adding, “We need to get rid of this rubbish government, democratically.”

Given the dismal state of the economy and years of bitter political standoff, many Venezuelans are fed up with all parties and yearning for a fresh face.

Some have been calling for Lorenzo Mendoza, the long-haired billionaire head of Venezuela’s main private food company Polar, to stand, but he has given no hint he will.
 

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