by Jack
Venezuela – Protesters are out in force today, demanding the ouster of President Maduro, who claimed he was reelected Jan. 5th. However, the consensus of opinion was that Maduro rigged the election. Since then there have been many protest marches and clashes with police and military.
Juan Guaido, a former student leader and recently elected to Congress says he intends to temporarily replace Maduro as president. He says this is legal under the constitution, but that he needs “backing from the citizens to make it a reality.”
Guaido has been calling for nationwide protests against Maduro since Jan. 23, the anniversary of a mass uprising in 1958 that removed Venezuelan dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez from power. The people have responded, but President Maduro is not about to step down voluntarily. Putin has sent elite troops to train Maduro’s forces, but the Russians have not been directly involved in the violence so far. Trump has publicly backed Guaido as have a number of neighboring countries. Trump said he recognizes Guaido as the legitimate president.
Today Maduro’s armored vehicles were driven into a sea of protesters to disperse them, causing mass casualties. Small arms shooting could be heard around the capitol as well as occasional heavy machine gun fire, marking this day as Venezuela’s most violent since Maduro’s so-called reelection. Maduro, a former bus driver, rose to power in the labor union and then into politics. He was a favorite of Hugo Chavez who would later make him his vice president. When Chavez died in office Maduro took over.
Maduro had previously told the police and military not to murder their own people and gave a public order to that effect. However, as tensions escalate the use of force has been authorized. It appears Maduro is now making his move to suppress what is fast becoming a full scale rebellion. May 1st was the planned date for ousting Maduro, but the violence accidentally started early today.
The worst possible scenario would put US advisors, helping the Guaido group and Putin advisors helping Maduro, into a combat situation.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/maduro-was-ready-to-leave-venezuela-before-russia-convinced-him-to-stay-pompeo-tells-fox-news
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-cuba-embargo-sanctions-citing-venezuela
Smells a lot like what happened in Crimea a while back . . . . . .
Off topic, but important. I encourage everyone to monitor these two blogs. The current Ebola outbreak is no joke.
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2019/05/ebola-numbers-tell-their-own-story.html
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2019/05/ebola-2019-update.html
Scary thought, but wouldn’t our overcrowded homeless camps in CA be just about the worst place possible for a deadly disease like Ebola to spread? I’m no medical expert, but I think that just a couple of infected terrorists visiting the camps in L.A. or San Francisco could easily start an epidemic.
The American Council on Science and Health seems to think so! They said, “Homeless Camps Are Infectious Disease Time Bombs,” in an article from 2018. https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/09/13/homeless-camps-are-infectious-disease-time-bombs-11820
Wonder if the CDC has run a computerized assessment on this possible scenario and if so, what was the result? Has anyone heard what our contingency plans might be to halt an outbreak here?