Wednesday 1 May 2019

The coup in Venezuela appears to have FAILED


Coup fizzles? Guaido’s mentor takes refuge in Chilean embassy as 25 military seek asylum in Brazil’s

Coup fizzles? Guaido’s mentor takes refuge in Chilean embassy as 25 military seek asylum in Brazil’s

RT,
30 April, 2019

Venezuelan opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez has sought refuge in Chile’s embassy in Caracas, while at least 25 pro-Juan Guaido troops asked Brazil for refuge. The news all but points to the failure of the US-backed coup attempt.

Lopez had been under house arrest since 2017, but was seen at the side of Guaido – who had declared himself “interim president” of Venezuela in January – on Tuesday morning, as supporters of the US-backed opposition sought to take control of Caracas by force. At least 50 people were injured and 11 arrested during the unrest on Tuesday.

By the afternoon, however, Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero tweeted that Lopez, his wife Lilian Tintori, and their daughter were “guests” of the Chilean diplomatic mission in Caracas, adding that “Chile reaffirms commitment to Venezuelan democrats.”

Meanwhile, at least 25 armed Guaido supporters have sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Caracas, Brazilian media reported. There were no officers among them, according to reports.


The flight of Lopez and his family suggests that Guaido’s effort to win over the Venezuelan military and police – with verbal support from Washington – may have failed, as the majority of the security forces apparently remained loyal to President Nicolas Maduro.


Lopez founded Voluntad Popular, the party Guaido represents in the National Assembly. The legislative body was last elected in 2015, and Maduro’s government considers it defunct following the 2017 Constituent Assembly election.

During the 2014 protests in Venezuela, Lopez was arrested and charged with arson, conspiracy, murder and terrorism. Some of the charges were dropped, but he was found guilty of inciting violence in September 2015 and sentenced to almost 14 years in prison. He was placed under house arrest in July 2017, until he reappeared in public on Tuesday morning.


Venezuela’s Guaidó Falsely Claims Military Uprising in Progress: Mainstream Media Falls in Line




Blackwater's Founder Plotting to Send 5k Mercenaries to Topple Maduro – Report


30 April, 2019


The development comes amid calls by Venezuelan self-proclaimed interim President Juan Guaido, supported by the US, to ensure the “definitive cessation of the usurpation” of legitimately elected President Nicolas Maduro as part of his so-called Operation Freedom, which has repeatedly failed to attract a large audience in the country.
Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater private security contractor and a supporter of US President Donald Trump, has offered to deploy an army of mercenaries to help oust Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reported, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter.


According to the report, over the past few months Prince has been seeking investment and political backing for his alleged plans from Trump supporters and well-off Venezuelans living in exile.
In a series of private meetings, the Blackwater mastermind reportedly pitched an idea to deploy 5,000 soldiers-for-hire from Colombia and other South American nations on behalf of Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president.
Reuters noted that neither the White House, nor the Maduro government had responded to the comments, while Edward Rodriguez, a spokesman for Guaido, said that the country’s opposition officials had not discussed security ops with Prince.
As for Prince, his spokesperson Marc Cohen said earlier this month that the Blackwater founder had “no plans to operate or implement an operation in Venezuela”.
However, according to Reuters, the director of investor relations at Prince’s private equity firm Frontier Resource Group, Lital Leshem, confirmed his interest in a Venezuela mission.
He does have a solution for Venezuela, just as he has a solution for many other places”, the media outlet cited her as saying.
Two insiders with direct knowledge claim that Prince had requested at least $40 million in funds from private investors, as well as billions of dollars in frozen Venezuelan assets – although it remains unclear how the Guaido-led opposition could get hold of them.

His efforts to start an intelligence mission in the chaos-hit Latin American country are still ongoing, as one source alleged that Prince had held meetings in mid-April.
Earlier in the day, Guaido encouraged the nation and the Venezuelan Armed Forces to take to the streets in Caracas and ensure “the definitive cessation of the usurpation” of constitutionally elected President Maduro.
His calls were denounced by Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Lopez, who blasted Guaido’s “coup movement” and attempts to “fill the country with violence”. The minister reaffirmed the military’s loyalty to President Maduro, saying that the situation at all military bases remained stable.
Venezuela has been mired in an ongoing political crisis since early January, when Guaido was elected the head of the opposition-led National Assembly that all other government branches have been refusing to recognise since 2016.
In mid-January, two days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled his election, Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in defiance of legitimate President Maduro, who was sworn in for a second term on 10 January.
Guaido’s move was immediately recognised by the United States, with other countries around the world following suit, while Maduro blasted Guaido as a US “puppet” and dismissed the entire situation as a coup attempt staged by Washington.
As the Venezuelan crisis was gaining momentum in late January, US National Security Adviser John Bolton was spotted holding a yellow notepad with the words “5,000 troops to Colombia” during a presser on new sanctions against Caracas.

Given POTUS’ repeated remarks that “all options are on the table” for Venezuela, the mysterious note reinforced concerns that the Trump administration was planning to deploy armed forces to Colombia amid the political crisis in neighbouring Venezuela.
At the time, Acting US Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan told reporters that he had not discussed the alleged plan with Bolton.
US national security advisor John Bolton has called for “change of the regime” in Caracas, and accused Cuba of controlling the current government of Venezuela, while backing an opposition politician’s attempt at armed coup.


Bolton called on senior officials in the government of President Nicolas Maduro to switch their support to the US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, “if the Cubans will let them do it.”


https://www.rt.com/news/457947-caracas-warns-use-weapons-coup/
https://www.rt.com/news/458000-trump-treatens-cuba-embargo/

US President Donald Trump has threatened Cuba with a “full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions” if Havana does not stop its alleged support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

Trump tweeted his demands on Tuesday, after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for the military and police to take action against Maduro.



Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was ready to fly away to Cuba and leave Caracas to the US-backed opposition leader, but Russia talked him out of it, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in interviews.

He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay,” Pompeo told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday afternoon, even as reports were coming in that armed supporters of US-backed “interim president” Juan Guaido were seeking asylum in the embassies of Brazil and Chile in Caracas.

Secretary Pompeo just told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Maduro had a plane on the tarmac ready to go earlier today... but Russia talked him out of it

wow.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-chile-lopez-idUSKCN1S72YF?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5cc8f6b5fdd126000192fcc6&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR0FddnxNySFtjFkmLngFwgwm1Fyn1cc7wM_aQ-lNxtlCaASGUsJtg3tbbI

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