U.N. rights boss decries Venezuela crackdown; says sanctions may worsen crisis

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS MARCH 20, 2019 / 10:04 AM / UPDATED 44 MINUTES AGO

U.N. rights boss decries Venezuela crackdown; says sanctions may worsen crisis

GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces, backed by pro-government militias, have quashed peaceful protests with excessive use of force, killings and torture, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday.

Michelle Bachelet, addressing the Human Rights Council, cited allegations that the National Police’s Special Actions Force (FAES) had executed 37 people in January in Caracas in illegal house raids in poor areas supporting the opposition.

However, the latest U.S. sanctions on financial transfers linked to the sale of Venezuelan oil in the United States “may contribute to aggravating the economic crisis”, said Bachelet, a former president of Chile.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration had held in reserve what he called “the toughest of sanctions” to try to cut off revenues to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuelan-politics-un/u-n-rights-boss-decries-venezuela-crackdown-says-sanctions-may-worsen-crisis-idUSKCN1R11OE

[Miguel M]

1. Isn't that the goal?

It is the very goal of US sanctions on Cuba... Cuba carries on.

Supporters of Guaido seem to revel over suffering caused by sanctions.

Reminds me of the hard line ex-Cuban “exiles” of S Florida who have nothing but hate gnawing in them.

[DetlefK]

2. Ah, the good old US-bashing while ignoring everything else going on.

Cuba is a dictatorship with a bad human-rights record? Ignore that!

Maduro is violating the venezuelan constitution again and again to destroy democracy in Venezuela and get his cronies ever more power? Ignore that!

Maduro has mismanaged the venezuelan economy and when the oil-price collapsed he had no plan B? Ignore that!

Decades of insufficient infrastructure-investment in Venezuela? Ignore that!

A russian plane has ferried Venezuela's national gold-reserves to Moscow? Ignore that!

Venezuelan troops have invaded Colombia and have threatened Guyana with invasion multiple times over the years? Ignore that!




If only the sanctions were to end. Venezuela would get its democracy back, its gold, its educated emigrants, and Maduro would confess that he held onto a failed economic policy for ideological reasons.

It's so easy!

[Miguel M]

4. So you agree with Putin's ass kisser Trump's strategy?

Yet you're remarking on how Russia now has Ven's gold? Confusing indeed. Sounds like a clear victory for TrumPutin.

Well done.

[MRubio]

5. I absolutely agree with Trump's strategy to date........

..........wish Obama would have used it years ago as we'd probably be well on our way to recovery by now.

For me, this is the key point in all of this.

Anyone can say what they want about how great it is that there are food hand-out programs like CLAP, or that PDVSA has been handed over to the common man, or any of the dozens of other things that some trumpet as marvels of Chavez's 21 st Century Socialism.

But when over 10% of the population of a country decide to flee in just a few years, SOMETHING is profoundly wrong, no? Venezuelan families, particularly mothers and their children, tend to be extremely close. Everyone here either knows someone personally, or has experienced the heartache themselves of being separated from their loved ones. To me, THAT is the biggest tradegy of today's Venezuela.

It's time for Maduro and his "project", as they all call it, to come to a fucking end.

[DetlefK]

6. Has it ever occured to you that the world is not divided into Good vs Evil?

Just because the US helped the libyan rebels, that does not mean that Gaddafi is a good guy.
Just because the US helps the syrian rebels, that does not mean that Assad is a good guy.
Just because the US wants to see Maduro gone, that does not mean that Maduro is a good guy.

Just because Trump is a narcissistc con-man or worse, that does not mean that every single thing he does is automatically bad.

For example, he passed a bipartisan landmark prison-reform spearheaded by Jared Kushner, but the GOP never touted that in the media because they don't care about the incarcerated, the voters never heard about it because it was overshadowed by yet another scandal, and the Democrats don't mention it because it's insignificant compared to other topics.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/21/trump-prison-reform-first-step-act-signed-law

[Miguel M]

7. ThNks for the affirmation.

You support US imperialism.
And look at the examples you bring up. How many civilians dead? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?
You actually desire this for Venezuela.
Disgusting to read putrid support for such murderous imperialism.

[DetlefK]

8. I am not for US imperialism. I am vehemently against Socialism.

If you want to know why I am against Socialism, just google what it did to Eastern Europe.



Also, I find it rather interesting that you are not interested that Gaddafi oppressed his people with pseudo-democratic elections, that he was an enemy of journalism and for a while a financier of international terrorism.

I find it rather interesting that you are not interested that the syrian civil-war broke out because Assad would rather kill his own people than give in to protests demanding democracy, that Assad is bombing his own civilians with barrel-bombs, and that Amnesty International published a report about torture-dungeons of his regime where THOUSANDS of people have been literally tortured to death.

And I find it rather interesting that you are not interested in Maduro's repeated violations of the venezuelan constitution, that you are not interested in his lies and manipulations, his threats of war against Guyana, his scapegoating of iguanas, the Sun, random journalists and random foreign governments, that you are not interested that Maduro has replaced actual technological experts with incompetent cronies, that you are not interested that he is allying himself with criminal gangs, that you are not interested that there are multiple reports of human-rights violations against protesters.

How many people have died because of Maduro, how many lives have been ruined, how many have been forced to leave their country?

[Miguel M]

9. Straw man much?

Nowhere did I post ANYTHING close to your comments. What a dishonest comment, in context of US interfering with other nations.

You don’t support US imperialism, but, every now and then, you do (when it suits your beliefs, which means - you support US imperialism. Period.)

[DetlefK]

10. I can just as easily make the counter-accusation:

"You ignore human-rights violations when it suits your political agenda."
See? It's that easy.

My point has been and is that geopolitics cannot be simplified to good-vs-evil. You simplify the situation to make it fit a pre-conceived agenda: That the US is evil.

[Miguel M]

11. Another straw man. Again, nowhere do I say that the US is evil.

My position comes from anti-interventionism. By the US, a coalition of the willing, Russia, anywhere.

You do support US imperialism.

[DetlefK]

12. Your evidence for that is as good as your evidence for your claim about Guaido-supporters.

[Miguel M]

13. You make the claims yourself

What? I shouldn’t believe what you post? Got it.

Thanks for making it clear.

[DetlefK]

14. Quote please. Where do I say that I support US imperialism?

Am I an imperialist for daring to say that Gaddafi, Assad and Maduro are bad people?

[Miguel M]

15. You seem to have lost track.

I was referring to your straw man arguments against me.

Anyway, I’ve had enough of your disingenuous straw man arguments.

Have a good day supporting US interventionism. On with the body count.

Cheers

[DetlefK]

16. Wait, making strawman-arguments against you counts as US imperialism?

Now I'm thoroughly confused.

[MRubio]

3. Miguel, can you site some sources for your assertion that...........

......Guaido supporters seem to revel over suffering caused by sanctions?

I've said this before, and I'll say it again now. To date, I haven't seen evidence of any additional suffering for the general population caused by sanctions. And let's be perfectly clear. The only sanctions that have any potential effect on the general population, are those sanctions that have been applied since Guaido was recognized as interim president by over 50 nations back in January.

Before that, the only sanctions in effect were those against about 40 specific regime figures. There were no sanctions before that against Venezuelan companies like PDVSA.

Heck, I could even make an argument that things have improved here. Lemme splain.

A few weeks ago I priced a gizmo at a hardware store in Punta de Mata. I've often said that I believe this particular store is well-run because they're usually well-stocked (imported goods), and their prices fluctuate daily. It's as though they arrive in the morning, plug in that day's dollar value on the black market, and all prices are adjusted accordingly.

Anyway, the price of the gizmo a few weeks ago was 121,000 bs. Yesterday, I priced the same gizmo again and it was 75,000 bs. We bought it and other supplies, and paid with dollars at a reasonable exchange rate.

At the open-air market in Punta de Mata, we found some imported goods, like sugar, cheaper than they were before. I don't know if the drop in prices was the result of a lower dollar, or the fact that with the recent blackout, commerce had virtually shut down for a few days and vendors wanted to generate cash, but prices were lower.

I keep expecting to find gasoline in short supply because of the latest sanctions. Hasn't happened yet. Yesterday again, we filled up in El Tejero, zero wait. The four additional fuel stations between there and Punta de Mata were all open and with only minimal lines.

Again, no additional suffering that I've noted since the application of the stricter sanctions.