Media Response to Aftermath of Fizzled Coup Plot in Venezuela
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Events on Tuesday were more a tempest in a teapot fiasco than a serious coup attempt — ordered by Trump regime hardliners to promote their plot to topple President Maduro and eliminate Venezuelan social democracy.
US-led Western media dutifully serving as imperial press agents, pretended what happened was an exercise in democracy building, a notion they abhor.
NYT editors and staff are loyal servants of the imperial state, Wall Street, and other corporate interests over world peace, equity, and justice, a world safe and fit to live in they oppose.
They’re hostile to Trump for the wrong reasons but fully support his regime’s coup plot against democratically elected and reelected Maduro.
In response to Tuesday events in Venezuela, they went along with fabricated Trump regime claims about high-level Bolivarian officials ready to defect, as well fake news that Russia and Cuba were responsible for failure to topple Maduro — both Big Lies.
Guaido’s so-called Operation Libertat was polar opposite a serious regime change attempt. The Times claimed otherwise — turning truth on its head claiming it “seemed certain that this time enough of the military would cross over to assure Mr. Maduro’s ouster.”
About 25 soldiers were involved — 80% of them surrendering to authorities straightaway when realizing they were duped, lied to about what they were enlisted for, wanting nothing to do with Guaido’s regime change plot.
The Times mocked Maduro’s blaming “Trump for what he called an attempted coup d’etat (sic).” There’s no ambiguity about what’s going on, Trump regime fingerprints all over it.
The Times claimed otherwise. It unjustifiably justifies the plot to forcefully transform Venezuela into another US vassal state.
No secret Trump regime meeting was held with top Maduro officials. Claims by Bolton and Abrams about their willingness to defect were and remain bald-faced Big Lies. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called the claims “fake news” to try stoking tensions among Maduro loyalists.
The Times lied claiming it’s unclear “whether the officials (in question) got cold feet…” Guaido’s proclaimed “final phase” was and remains hype without substance.
Given how easily Tuesday’s disruptive actions were foiled forced the Times to admit “the opposition was left weaker than before,” adding:
“(M)ilitary intervention (is) a terrible idea…find(ing) little support across a region with bad memories of American meddling, and would brand Mr. Guaido as an American lackey.”
The brand has been visible all over him since the day he publicly pronounced himself a US puppet/usurper in waiting — a political nobody elevated to prominence by the power of state-sponsored/media supported propaganda.
Opposition support comes from well-off, upscale Venezuelans, not the country’s military or majority ordinary people, despising him. It shows in dwindling numbers showing up for his public addresses. Maybe no one will show up ahead, his efforts an utter flop, showing incompetence as well as treachery.
The Times and other media railed against Venezuela’s Supreme Court’s order to arrest and detain opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez in Ramo Verde military prison for violating his house arrest restrictions by allying publicly with Guaido’s fizzled Tuesday coup plot — calling his actions a “flagrant violation.”
A warrant was also issued for National Assembly vice president Edgar Zambrano for allying publicly with Guaido and Lopez on Tuesday. He’s charged with “treason, conspiracy, incitement to insurrection,” and related offenses.
Maduro vowed to hold everyone involved in the Tuesday coup plot accountable. A warrant for Guaido’s arrest and detention is long overdue. He’s guilty of treason, sedition, incitement of violence, and other serious offenses.
After showing restraint for the past two-and-a-half months, it’s time for Venezuelan authorities to hold him accountable — arresting, detaining, prosecuting, convicting, and sentencing him to longterm imprisonment where he belongs.
In response to Thursday’s warrants, the right-wing Wall Street Journal headlined: “Maduro Moves to Reassert Authority, Arrest Opposition Leaders,” saying:
“Venezuela’s government began going after opposition leaders on Thursday who it accused of planning a military uprising to oust autocrat (sic) Nicolas Maduro, ordering several of them arrested—including the vice president of the National Assembly—as antigovernment protests died down.”
Other US media issued similar reports. In the aftermath of this week’s events in Venezuela, the whereabouts of Guaido and his key henchmen are unknown.
On Thursday, Maduro said it’s time to challenge “coup plotters who sell themselves to Washington’s dollars.” Separately, he said “(j)ustice is looking for them, and sooner or later they will pay in prison for their treason and (other) crime(s).”
Commenting on the Trump regime’s fake news about Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino’s alleged intention to break ranks with Maduro and defect, he publicly expressed loyalty to the Bolivarian Republic, adding:
“Do not come to buy us with a dishonest offer.” Do not make phony claims about defections among senior Bolivarian officials.
Guaido’s call for nationwide strike action fell flat, union officials rejecting it, things in Caracas and elsewhere in the country proceeding normally on Friday.
A Final Comment
On May 6, Sergey Lavrov and Pompeo will meet in Rovaniemi, Finland on the sidelines of an Arctic Council ministerial meeting — mainly to discuss events in Venezuela.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed it, saying “the meeting was agreed on.”
Their last face-to-face meeting was in July 2018 at the Putin/Trump summit in Helsinki, Finland.
Kremlin/US discussions achieve nothing when held. Diplomacy with the US is a waste of time.
Agreements reached are breached time and again, why Washington can never be trusted— especially with the most extremist regime in US history running things.
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