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[Ghills]

Oh for fucks sakes! Finally I'm able to connect. Dunno if I'll have connection again or what. The battery our phones were charged on a car by  a good samaritan.

We have no water and cooking gas is running low, not as if we have much left to cook. The three of us are okay for now if any of you is wondering.

The failure was due poor management and the corruption that allowed our power system to be destroyed by the lack of maintenance. Apparently the Guri damn had 3 or 4 turbines damaged and several other equipments. Of course the Maduro mafia says is the extreme rigth wing and USA. We have been on the brink of this collapse for months if not years and they did nothing but keep stealing the money instead of invest it on maintenance, upgrades and new power plants.

On the other hand people are dying, newborns are dying on the hospitals. My wife and I have prayed every nigth for those little souls. Maduro does indeed allowed by both action and inaction a genocide of our people. In the J.M. de Los Rios children hospital in Caracas the mafia just took their last generator away and left dozens of children and newborns to die.

Guys, there's no much food left at home and what little we had has been eaten to avoid going bad or have already started to spoil. On the streets there is people charging 1 dollar per 10 minutes charge  (people with generators). And a bag of ice or a bottle of water is 10$ and I really dont have money beyond like 8$ worth of bolivares on my bank account which is inaccessible anyway just as my PayPal savings/escape money, all useless now.

Gasoline is low too due the pumps not being able to work without electricity and the queues for the stations with generators (3 in total here in my city) are kilometers long. Not that I have a car on my own but this has furthered the collapse.

If this keeps on going for as long as the worst cases states (a week or even more longer, there have been already 3 days), I have to be honest, I doubt we'll make it through, not in one piece. I mean maybe I'll have to scavenge from the trash but surely won't be the only one, and violence is already beginning to undertake the streets. I'll fight for my family to the bitter end if it comes to it.

If I don't post here ever again, well, just don't vote for socialism, promise me.

I'm so sorry.

[Magistrum]

Another tragedy caused by a minor and that attest to the failure of the poorly-thought disarmament statute, which is still being enforced.

--

Mais uma tragédia protagonizada por menor de idade e que atesta o fracasso do malfadado estatuto do desarmamento, ainda em vigor.

Which is great, because...



In the red underline, "Even armed, I felt defenseless."

[LordBaal]

I'm so sorry.

Don't be, unless you are Mauro or Chavez isn't your fault.

[smjjames]

Another tragedy caused by a minor and that attest to the failure of the poorly-thought disarmament statute, which is still being enforced.

--

Mais uma tragédia protagonizada por menor de idade e que atesta o fracasso do malfadado estatuto do desarmamento, ainda em vigor.

Which is great, because...



In the red underline, "Even armed, I felt defenseless."

What's that article clipping about? Something involving a motorcycle (my guess at the translation of motocicleta) and being assaulted (assaltantes? plus the underlined bit that was translated)?

edit: The International Energy Agency is saying that the Venezuelan oil industry is in danger of collapsing, due to economic factors and from the US sanctions starting to really bite. I know people have been saying that the Venezuelan oil industry is having issues during this crisis, but when the international watchdog on the oil industry gives a warning, it's probably getting serious.

[Magistrum]

What's that article clipping about? Something involving a motorcycle (my guess at the translation of motocicleta) and being assaulted (assaltantes? plus the underlined bit that was translated)?

Two robbers stole his motorcycle even tough he was armed and is a former military officer.

Mega old news, but it is a nice showing of how dumb his rhetoric is.

[Culise]

Reported coup attempt underway in Venezuela: parts of the military and internal security forces have defected to join Guaido and the legislature in open opposition to President Maduro.

[LordBaal]

No, those men are finally comming around to actually obey the constitution and the true president, which is not Maduro.

Is not a coup, is the end of a coup.

[Kagus]

I of course managed to misread the headline as "Venezuela opposition leader claims SOUP is under way", which... Well, that's certainly one way of doing it.

Definitely not something I'd trust the military with doing, but okay.

EDIT: Latest from the live news Guardian link

"Right now, I can see lots of regular, normal people and their children walking spontaneously towards Plaza Altamira [scene of anti-Maduro protests] to show their support for Guaidó and López’s and all the national assembly members who are there. They’re carrying flags and the atmosphere is very cheerful at the moment."

She has also spoken to Mariani Otero, a 32-year-old housewife, who is draped in a Venezuelan flag. She told Patricia:

"Venezuelan brothers and sisters, today, 30 April, I tell you we will see each other in a free Venezuela, the Venezuela we all want and are fighting for

We’re waiting for all those who’ve gone abroad to come back and join us. Kisses! We’ll see each other in a free Venezuela!"

[smjjames]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sorry to veer the subject again, but Elliott Abrams gave some declarations about how the sanctions against Maduro will put him out, and the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) needs to come closer to Guaido, be part of our future and participate in the next elections and how a military force is not necessary in a change of goverment and our own military will have to protect us in the event of a transition.

I guess we just doged the bullet of the "possibility of becoming collateral damage" but we are bitting the "stay hungry, sick and afraid for many years more" bullet really hard. A couple of points that migth come over Abrams head,:

Maduro & Co. don't give a shit about sanctions, they just keep happily plundering what they can here and keep getting that juicy income from drug trafficking so they really don't care about this piece of land beyond using it as a power base, hideout and reamin on a "diplomatic immunity" status.

Inviting the PSUV to be "part of the future" is akin to have had the NAZI party engage on the future of germany rigth after WWII ended.

Expecting the military to protect us from... themselves? The armed forces of Venezuela became the armed branch of the PSUV and hence the ruling mob. Their higher ups are involved in more corruption than Hoffa, Nixon and Escobar together, the middle guys are either deep into this and getting rich or too afraid and being hunt down, the lower ranks are enjoying the power trip of basically being able to mug anyone they want without repercussions and shoot unarmed people in the protests, or are leaving the hell outta here. This ranks are being refilled with whatever they can find and given the conditions the people that join them aren't exactly good people. And at any rate they leave the dirtiers work for the paramilitary called Colectivos (not afiliated with the Borg despite also being mindless drones) or cuban guys doning venezuelan uniforms.

The far and few military, mostly middle guys, that migth have something to object are watched closely by their peers and external agents, you see every week some of them being arrested and dragged away to the "tomb", a poor man's Guantanamo smack at a side of Caracas.

So no my dear Elliott, I know you migth have more knowledge in several orders of magnitude than me on international affairs and such, but unless you know something that I dont, having lived inside the problem for 20 years now, I beg to differ with you. Maybe he does know something, and mayne by next friday I'll be eating my own words but thats highly unlikely.

 

It seems I'll eat my words?

Perhaps. Either way, here's hoping you stay safe in the present situation.

Thanks dude! I'll keep us safe.

Yeah, ongoing coup attempt. This would usually go in the Latin American politics thread, but given how this is such an internationally involved ongoing crisis....  Gonna cross post in there anyway for posterity or whatever.

Sec. of State even coined a name for it, 'Operacion Libertad'

[Kagus]

Sec. of State even coined a name for it, 'Operacion Libertad'

Well, I mean, the US Sec. of State wasn't the first one to use the term. Fairly sure Guaidó was using the phrase before the states started really picking up on things.


Aaand the latest from the Guardian feed:

Juan Guaidó is addressing demonstrators in Altamira, Caracas. He said he has been in communication with the military for years but today he knows they are not supporting Maduro - “el dictador.”

Operation Liberty has started, he said.

“Today it is clear to us that the Armed Forces are with the people and not with the dictator,” Guaidó told the crowd. “We know that all Venezuelans are in favor of change and the Constitution “

In a Tweet, Guaidó also declared “the moment is now.”

“The country’s 24 states have taken to the road: the street without return. The future belongs to us: the people and Armed Forces united by the cessation of usurpation.”

[smjjames]

TBH, that was before I noticed Guaido had already used the term.

Anyways, it appears to be a relatively bloodless, as coups go, coup so far

[EnigmaticHat]

Posting to watch.

I hope if the coup is successful the international community lends its aid to rebuilding the Venezuelan economy.

[Teneb]

No, those men are finally comming around to actually obey the constitution and the true president, which is not Maduro.

Is not a coup, is the end of a coup.

It's a coup. You can wholeheartedly agree that it is a righteous one, but, by definition, it is a coup.

A coup is, to simplify it a bit, when members of the State topple the current regime. A revolution, meanwhile, is when a group that is not part of the State does the same thing.

However this shitshow ends, I just hope it won't have any intervention by any country that is not called Venezuela.


Meanwhile, in Fascist Brazil:
There's a law project that mandates that any university course with less than 50% rate of graduation compared to how many are entering it will either get cut or restructured. While the fucking president himself defended that Sociology and Philosophy are useless because they make no money, the main victims of this will be Physics, Math and Computer Science.

Oh and because Universities are "ToO PoLiTiCaL!!!11one", they'll be getting less budget.

But wait, there's more! Minister of Education defends that students can film teachers* who speak out against fucking fascists. In this case the teacher dared to criticize fascist guru Olavo de Carvalho who says such sage things as: "Pepsi is sweetened using the cells of aborted fetuses". I won't be throwing a link to his own video on the subject because it contains shock-images of gore and thus is against forum rules.

*Filming, photographing or using the image of anyone without their explicit permission is illegal, by the way.

[Kagus]

Some of the soldiers have started firing their weapons into the air in order to scare off the other side. Sounds like things are getting dangerously close to bloodshed.

[smjjames]

No, those men are finally comming around to actually obey the constitution and the true president, which is not Maduro.

Is not a coup, is the end of a coup.

It's a coup. You can wholeheartedly agree that it is a righteous one, but, by definition, it is a coup.

A coup is, to simplify it a bit, when members of the State topple the current regime. A revolution, meanwhile, is when a group that is not part of the State does the same thing.

However this shitshow ends, I just hope it won't have any intervention by any country that is not called Venezuela.

It appears to be a combination coup and revolution/popular uprising. Gotta wonder if the coup part is spontaneous or planned though.

As for intervention besides Venezuela itself, might want to keep an eye on Cuba, considering how it seems to have taken over part of Venezuelas military. I wouldn't be surprised if the US had some sort of behind the scenes support of the coup though.

Some of the soldiers have started firing their weapons into the air in order to scare off the other side. Sounds like things are getting dangerously close to bloodshed.

I've heard some things about gunshots being fired, but no injuries reported atm. I did say 'so far', it very well could turn bloody as Maduro probably won't go down without a fight.