Venezuela's Maduro rooting for 'revolutionary friend' Sanders in U.S. campaign
Source: Reuters
Venezuela's embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, said on Tuesday night he supported Bernie Sanders in the U.S. presidential race, adding that the candidate, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, would win if the vote were "free."
Maduro, a socialist who sees himself as the political heir to his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, has long railed against the United States, blaming it for Venezuela's economic crisis and accusing Washington of attempting to topple him.
"Bernie Sanders, our revolutionary friend, ought to win in the United States," Maduro said during an hours-long televised broadcast.
"If the elections were free ... Bernie Sanders would be president of the United States," he said, criticizing the U.S. Electoral College system as unrepresentative of popular sentiment.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-usa-idUSKCN0YN32Q
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scscholar
(2,902 posts)and the less of a problem with income inequality was nice. We could learn from them in that regard.
Freddie Stubbs
(29,853 posts)scscholar
(2,902 posts)are at the official exchange rate. No one pays that unless you're an American using a credit card. The actual price was less than 5% of that! For example, the restaurant I consulted at charged $240 at the official exchange rate for a cheeseburger, but the locals said it was about $5 at the unofficial rate. The official exchange rate is 10 Bolivar per $1, but I was able to exchange a dollar for 900 Bolivar. At that rate, food sounds 90 times more expensive than it really is when the US media misleads us.
DemMomma4Sanders
(274 posts)They don't pay attention to the household and small farmers down there that share their stock with their community.
NO on is hungry in Venezuela.
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)
Bonx
(2,053 posts)How is that good, or misleading ?
Elmergantry
(884 posts)Venuzula is. Everyone is equal. Equally misreable
nyabingi
(1,145 posts)benefited greatly thanks to their socialist system, and giving a shit about the common man is a trait in leadership that the powers-that-be in Washington just can't stomach. From constant media propaganda against them, to blatant coup attempts, to our support for their right-wing elite via NGO's, the US has done everything besides invasion to overturn Venezuelan democracy.
The US smells blood in the water and they're in a full-on assault against all of the socialist/left-leaning governments in Latin America. It's so nice to see "liberal Democrats" supporting right-wing elites in other countries - a contradiction I've yet to see any of them justify and rationalize in a logical manner.
Elmergantry
(884 posts)When socialism fails its always some other reason than socialism
nyabingi
(1,145 posts)from the capitalist/fascist Western governments.
The socialist Scandinavian countries have been doing just fine with their socialisms because they haven't been targeted.
And it's not really even about socialism versus capitalism. It's about the very rich elite who use government institutions (and most notably their militaries) to serve their own selfish desires. For these people, the majority of the people on this planet are savages to be exploited for labor and completely ignored otherwise.
If you don't understand this then everything else will only confuse you.
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)you were posting here three weeks ago as well- I thought the CIA shut them down! 
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141446731#post5
scscholar
(2,902 posts)Most of my friends here are still on dial-up or ISDN, but CANTV in Caracas offered not only DSL, but ADSL (advanced).
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Actually it is the more shitty flavor of DSL based on the loop length from the DSLAM-
SDSL or even better HDSL would be considered a more (advanced) form of DSL for future reference 
scscholar
(2,902 posts)Here's what CenturyLink says is available on the block my boss lives on:
http://imgur.com/WgSvnA5
Notice the 1.5 Mbps. Venezuela is much better. And, CenturyLink couldn't even get the DSL to work at any speed due to the old phone wiring.
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)He and the rest of the PSUV, and Chavez before that, never really implemented socialism. Chavismo is and always has been nothing more than a kleptocracy to make its leadership into multi-millionaires by siphoning off the Venezuelan people's money at the expense of the people's well-being. Now things are coming to bite them in the ass.
nyabingi
(1,145 posts)Chavez set up in Venezuela didn't really take place?
If what you're saying is true, why have the socialists been elected consistently since Chavez first became president?
Maybe once we get rid of Chavez for you and put the rich back in charge of everything, you can move back there and enjoy life as it was before Chavez. You support Sanders in the US, but hope for the downfall of someone who supports the same thing in Venezuela? You don't make any sense.
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)The fact that you don't see it because you can't accept reality is another thing. You're so ideologically blinded by your hardcore left-leaning ideology, you are simply unwilling to accept that Chavismo has run its course and must choose another entity responsible for its decline other than the Chavista leaders themselves. Not every left-leaning government that collapses is due to the US's fault. The world is not as black and white as you and the other Chavista apologists in this site see it.
And yes, I do bloody yearn for the days before Chavez. The country was actually heading in the right direction before he took over. You only need a Google search to look the numbers up. Then came the military populist asshole of Hugo and screwed everything up by trying to seize all private enterprise and businesses for him and his buddies to manage, and now our country produces fuck all except oil, and even then, the oil production is going down the drain too. It's what happens when you replace the leadership and management of a rich nation's industries with a bunch of uneducated and inexperienced nincompoops in exchange for their brown-nosing loyalty. And not to mention the extremely tight currency exchange control the government has which makes it difficult for any company or person to obtain dollars, or even do business in Venezuela. Now most of our food and medicines have to be imported, but even that is in trouble because of the currency exchange controls I mentioned, as well as the Venezuelan currency (the Bolivar) which is now more worthless than a piece of toilet paper thanks to the worst inflation rate in the world.
And let's not even talk about the crime rate. I remember back when I was a kid during the pre-Chavez years and it was still relatively safe to walk on the street. Now one can't even feel safe in their own home. I actually have friends and family who have been broken into while at home and tied up while the goddamn thugs stole god knows many things from them. But see, the Chavista government never really intended to do anything about that either. It's all part of their strategy to drive out the middle+ class of Venezuela out of the country, since they are the ones who in vast majority vote against Chavismo.
But see, that no longer matters anymore. The people are starving, and can barely feed themselves 3 meals a day, and many line up for hours at a supermarket just for basic goods that one can find even in a bloody gas station in the US. And because of the lack of medicines, people all over the country are dying because they can't find the medication they need to stay alive or be treated. Even kids with cancer can't survive. And all of those people's blood are on Maduro's and the PSUV's hands. I yearn for the day when they finally are ousted and all of them answer for their crimes. Hopefully most of them are found guilty of treason.
The last December elections show that Chavismo no longer has the majority. The people are tired of all the incompetence and corruption under Maduro and his administration. It's time that they are voted out. Let's just hope they're willing to relinquish that power, though, cuz they know that once they do, they won't have anyone to save them from being prosecuted.
nyabingi
(1,145 posts)to ignore the very real aggression the US has had towards Venezuela since Chavez was first elected. Barack Obama didn't come out earlier this year and make the confusing statement that "Venezuela is a national security to the US" for no reason. In case you haven't done your historical homework, it basically means that "we are coming for you". What the hell kind of "threat" did Venezuela pose to us? See if you can answer that question.
People like you are already biased in favor of the "good ol' days" when people like you owned everything and enjoyed all of the wealth of the society, and like Trump promising to "make America great again", you want things returned to the days when the masses of the people (the Black and Native populations) languished on the outskirts of society, barely eking out an existence.
People who are not even willing to acknowledge the very real and destructive interference of the US in Latin America aren't looking at the situation from a neutral point of view. You think I'm "ideologically blinded" when it is you who wants to ignore our shady and deadly dealings in Latin America. It is you who wants to ignore the very real benefits the poor received under the socialist governments of Chavez and Maduro (the people whom the rich and their US benefactors could care less about), and you're ignoring it because ideologically, you don't want to give them credit for having done anything good.
The left in Latin America has failed to recognize that they face an enemy within and without who have no respect for democracy and the rule of law. They failed to realize that the right-wing and their US accomplices absolutely will not stop until they've achieved a return to power that they haven't been able to get in quite a while. The left-leaning Latin American governments need to realize that they are going to have to fight for what they believe in, arrest the real traitors who have been working with the US to destroy their own countries, and consider expelling these people from their country altogether. Sometimes violence can't be avoided, and Maduro and other leaders need to realize that.
The people of Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil will not take their situations lying down, and will fight to defeat the neoliberal policies that the US wants for these countries. If they don't, they'll return to the bad days of the numerous right-wing dictators that the good ol' US has installed time and time again.
Again, what kind of "threat" has Venezuela EVER been to the United States, Marksman?
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)Is it because they are too stupid, in your opinion, to realize that what they're suffering through right now is because of these "enemies within" that are supposedly (according to Chavista propaganda garbage anyway) being financed by the EVIL EMPIRE? Also, what the fuck is up with you saying all this shit about "people like you" who owned everything? Newsflash, my family and I have always been middle class. We were never some kind of greedy corporate asshats like Trump (I find that comparison insulting, by the way, especially when you know fuck all about me except that I hate Chavismo and what it has reduced my country to). And frankly, THIS paragraph?
This basically insinuates on your part that all the left-leaning governments in LatAm are too dumb and/or unprepared to face the oh-so-evil clutches of the US/CIA/what-have-you that you and the hardcore and ideologically blinded marxists in this site love to use as scapegoats for every cat stuck up a tree in the continent. You'd think they'd be smart enough to break off any trading or relations with the US since Obama is apparently Enemy #1.
Another thing also, why the hell do some of those left-leaning governments use the US as scapegoats for their problems while others don't? Can't remember Dilma or Michelle Bachelet, for example, every mentioning the "EVIL EMPIRE" trying to sabotage their governments.
I'm also waiting to hear exact details and evidence as to how the US is even making Venezuela's economy collapse even when they're the country's biggest trading partner, and the one country that buys Ven. oil at full price. Now THAT doesn't make sense.
Angel Martin
(942 posts)Under capitalism the rich become powerful
Under socialism the powerful become rich.
Response to Marksman_91 (Reply #5)
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Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)Oh, wait, I forgot, you consider anyone who doesn't support Chavismo automatically a right-wing CIA agent. Guess in that case Noam Chomsky and Mujica and OAS Secretary General Almagro are CIA agents too, since now they recognize the utter failure of Maduro's gesture.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)uhnope
(6,419 posts)Not helpful to Sanders
christx30
(6,241 posts)My favorite movie is Empire strikes back. Just because some idiot likes it too doesn't mean I'm wrong. It just means my choice is so good, even a moron can see how good it is.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)and she told me some horrific stories.. She gets paid $4 a week to clean toilets in a hotel. She save for years to be able to visit her sister in Peru... She also said that there is a shortage of soap, milk, and other necessities... she saves bits of soap, she doesn't throw out anything.. Said she would not go back to Caracas, but her family was here.. husband, daughter, etc. She looked miserable
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)This is unfortunately what most people in my country are going through now. Recently a boy named Oliver made the news for dying from cancer because the chemotherapy medication he needed could not be found anywhere in the country. People are literally dying because they can't find basic goods and medicines that you can easily find anywhere in the US or pretty much any other country in the continent. Maduro and the rest of the PSUV will have to answer for these crimes, as they are responsible for putting the people in this situation due to their moronic policies and desire to stay on power no matter the cost.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)Poor children? Poor elderly? Poor workers? The unemployed? The homeless? The semi-homeless? Even formerly middle class people, still with a few assets, barely hanging onto their homes, can't afford the drugs they need. Millions of people here are having to choose between the skyrocketing prices of drugs prescribed by their doctors, or eating.
The impacts of hoarding by the rich in Venezuela, collapsed oil prices (oil revenues support social programs), rampant tax evasion by the rich, global corporate bullying and manipulation, and lingering impacts of Wall Street's massive global financial crimes, appear to be similar to drug and health insurance corporation profiteering here, along with our failure to provide decent jobs and livable Social Security retirement incomes. In both cases, "people are literally dying" for lack of medicines or food, and I don't see much difference between them.
Our corporate oligarchs have been out to destroy Venezuelan socialism for more than a decade now, and they've been out to gut our social programs and profiteer off health care, education and everything else, here, as well. It is global corporate predators and their local fasicist allies who are the villains, not governments like Venezuela's which have tried to the right thing by their people.
And corporate infomercials tend to do what you just did, use "a boy named Oliver" as a warm, touching, human example of whatever it is they're selling, or to lie about something that cuts into their enormous profits--such as proper regulation or good social programs.
"People are literally dying because they can't find basic goods and medicines" there, and people are literally dying because they CAN'T AFFORD basic goods and medicines HERE, but corporate infomercials never tell us about HERE.
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)And in any case, at least those medications can be found over there. Not advocating the healthcare system that the US has, mind you. I'm actually supportive of Bernie Sanders and hope his administration can bring universal healthcare to all. That doesn't mean I'm a blinded ideologue who can't see reality before him and understand that the Chavista model is an utter failure that no other country on Earth, even in Latin America, is willing to replicate.
Democat
(11,617 posts)According to some on DU.
Response to Freddie Stubbs (Original post)
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ebayfool
(3,411 posts)With bated breath and all that ...
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sendero
(28,552 posts).... to see yet another moron tarnish the idea of socialism by implementing policies that are known and proven to never work.
I certainly hope Sanders is not the intellectual brother of a fool like Maduro.
