What's really happening in Venezuela?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

Our guest, George Ciccariello-Maher, looks at the recent history of the U.S. role in Venezuela opposing both the Chávez and Maduro governments.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Earlier this week, right-wing opposition leader Leopoldo López turned himself in to the National Guard after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest last week, accusing him of inciting deadly clashes.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, to find out more, we go to Philadelphia to speak with George Ciccariello-Maher, author of We Created Chávez:

GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER: ...there’s an unfortunate tendency, if you follow Twitter or if you’re on the Internet, that, you know, in this sort of post-Occupy moment and in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, every time we see—every time we see protesters in the streets, we start retweeting it, and we start to sort of, you know, feel sympathetic, without necessarily knowing what the back story is. And I think we’re obligated to do that here.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, George Ciccariello, who is Leopoldo López? The Washington Post describes him as a 42-year-old, Harvard-educated, left-leaning moderate. What do you know about his history?

GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER: Left-leaning moderate would be quite a stretch. Leopoldo López represents the far right of the Venezuelan political spectrum. In terms of his personal and political history, here’s someone who was educated in the United States from prep school through graduate school at the Harvard Kennedy School. He’s descended from the first president of Venezuela, purportedly even from Simón Bolívar. In other words, he’s a representative of this traditional political class that was displaced when the Bolivarian revolution came to power.

(it gets better, just make sure to click SHOW FULL TRANSCRIPT after you click on the link)

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/20/venezuelan_protests_another_attempt_by_us

[RufusTFirefly]

1. K & R! n/t

Thank you, Sarah!

[SolutionisSolidarity]

2. Excellent read.

[pa28]

3. Thanks to Democracy Now for providing an informed take rather than sponsored misinformation.

Case in point would be the WaPost editorial decision to portray Lopez as a "left-leaning moderate".

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Yes, exactly. Thank goodness someone is telling an accurate account. nt

[El_Johns]

4. KR

GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER:

Sure. Well, the Obama government continues to fund this opposition even more openly than did the Bush—than did the Bush regime. If you look at the budget there, you know, Obama specifically requested funding for these Venezuelan opposition groups despite—you know, despite anti-democratic activity in the past, despite the fact that López and others were involved in signatories of the coup in 2002 and engaged in violent actions that they were brought up on charges for in 2002. And so, for López to come now and to claim that he’s an actor for democracy in the streets is really quite—you know, quite laughable. But what he is trying to do is to really seize control of this opposition away from the more moderate elements.