The NYT: Press Agent for the Trump Regime’s Coup Plot in Venezuela
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
The self-styled newspaper of record NYT has global reach, why it matters - an establishment publication supporting Wall Street, the military, industrial, security complex, Big Oil, and other predatory corporate giants.
The Times never met a US war of aggression, color revolution, or old-fashioned coup d’etat it didn’t wholeheartedly endorse and promote.
It’s been hostile to Venezuelan social democracy from inception. After Chavez’s December 1998 election, the Times turned truth on its head, calling him a “populist demagogue, an authoritarian…caudillo (strongman).”
During the two-day April 2002 aborted coup period, the Times said the following:
“With yesterday’s (4/12/02) resignation of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator.”
“Mr. Chavez, a ruinous demagogue, stepped down after the military intervened and handed power to a respected business leader, Pedro Carmona.”
Fact: Under Chavez and Maduro, Venezuela was and remains the hemisphere’s leading democracy. Most of its revenues go for social benefits, serving all Venezuelans equitably - polar opposite how governance works in the US and other Western countries.
Carmona was an earlier Guaido, a traitor to his country, heading Venezuelan business interests as head of the nation’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce at the time.
The Bush/Cheney regime plotted with Venezuelan oligarchs, prioritizing Chavez’s ouster, choosing Carmona as their man in Caracas.
Policies he instituted are indicative of what Guaido would do if the Trump regime’s coup plot succeeds.
Straightaway, he suspended democratically elected National Assembly legislators - controlled by majority Chavistas.
He abolished Bolivarian constitutional reforms unilaterally by diktat, democratic governance along with it, as well as dissolving all public bodies.
He initiated a (US-orchestrated) witch hunt against prominent Chavistas. The coup lasted around 48 hours, Chavez returned to power (on 4/13/02) following mass popular protests, along with key sectors of Venezuela’s military remaining loyal to constitutional rule.
At the time, Times editors lied, saying removing Chavez “was a purely Venezuelan affair.” The aborted coup was covertly made in the USA. The current Trump regime one is transparent for everyone paying attention to understand.
April 13 is remembered as a Day of National Dignity in Venezuela, commemorating the restoration of Bolivarian democracy in 2002 - what Trump regime hardliners want eliminated, an agenda the NYT (and other major media) support to their disgrace.
Polls when taken by Gallup and other pollsters show most Americans distrust establishment media reporting. The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) earlier said: “Most Americans say they have lost trust in the media,” adding: “Trust…is down. Again.”
Most recently CJR said public confidence in US major media is at a historic low. Other polls show similar results.
CJR put “the press” second to last above Congress, saying growing numbers of Americans “have hardly any confidence” in establishment media reporting - for good reason.
In print and electronically, they consistently feature managed news misinformation and disinformation on major world and national issues. NYT reporting is Exhibit A.
The self-styled newspaper of record supports the ongoing Trump regime’s coup plot to eliminate social democracy in Venezuela - aiming to gain control over the country’s oil, gas, gold, and other valued resources.
On March 3, the Times bemoaned weakened anti-Maduro momentum, saying “the return (of usurper in waiting Guaido) can’t come soon enough (for) his followers,” adding:
Maduro “swore himself in in January (sic) for a second term after an election widely viewed as undemocratic.”
Fact: Independent international monitors called last May’s presidential election scrupulously open free and fair - the same assessment monitors give following all Bolivarian elections, its process the world’s best, polar opposite the US system, the best “democracy” money can buy.
Fact: No democratic president other officials swear themselves into office. Because the National Assembly illegally swore in three contested legislators in January 2016, Venezuela’s Supreme Court held the opposition-controlled body in contempt, its decisions null and void – the judiciary to act in its place because of its “contempt” and “incapacitation” to carry out its constitutional duties.
Maduro was sworn into office before Venezuela’s Supreme Court, fully complying with the country’s constitutional law.
On the same day, Times editors pretended that the Trump regime’s week ago Trojan horse “humanitarian aid” PR stunt was a legitimate effort to help Venezuelans DLT and his hardliners don’t give a hoot about, or ordinary people everywhere, notably at home.
Waging war on Venezuela by other means is all about crushing its economy and immiserating its people, billions of dollars of state revenues lost, mostly earmarked for education, healthcare, and other vital social programs.
The Times and other establishment media pretend food market shelves in Venezuela are bare. The alleged dire food shortage reflects media reported rubbish - selling deception, inventing mass hunger, starvation, extreme deprivation, even torture and other forms of repression that don’t exist, falsely portraying Bolivarian social democracy as a police state.
Hardships indeed affect millions of Venezuelans, largely because of US economic and sanctions war.
In February, journalist Max Blumenthal visited a Caracas supermarket, finding shelves well stocked with a wide variety of meats, fruits, vegetables, beverages, and most everything else found in the West, saying:
“There isn’t an issue here with food distribution or food scarcity. The issue is the buying power of Venezuelans that has been completely destroyed because their currency has been so badly weakened by hyperinflation, speculation, and the flood of dollars that the government can’t control here, as well as hoarding by private capitalist elements that support the opposition.”
US war on Venezuela by other means bears most responsibility for hardships in the country, exacerbated by low oil prices.
Instead of reporting accurately on what’s going on, the Times and other establishment media falsely blame Maduro and Bolivarian governance, ignoring US efforts to make Venezuela’s economy scream.
The Times turned truth on its head to its shame, calling democratically elected and reelected Maduro “a dictator who has already destroyed his country — and has the support of Russia and China — is not one who gives a fig for the suffering of his people, a sizable portion of whom still harbor an attachment to the Bolivarian socialist’ claptrap of his predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez.”
Democrat Maduro “a dictator?” Venezuelan social democracy “Bolivarian socialist claptrap?”
This and lots more like it from a broadsheet claiming it features “all the news that’s fit to print” - omitting that it’s not fit to read, the above remarks Exhibit A.
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