Latin America
Related: About this forumDistorting 'Democracy' in Venezuela Coverage
MAY 10, 2019
GREGORY SHUPAK
Writing of the failed US-sponsored coup attempt in Venezuela on April 30, Uri Friedman of The Atlantic (5/1/19) referred to the Venezuelan branch of the coup as Juan Guaidós pro-democracy movement. The logical contradiction could scarcely be more pronounced: A wave of Friedmans wand transforms a political force seeking the military overthrow of Venezuelas elected government into a pro-democracy movement.
The Venezuelan governments current mandate comes from winning an election on May 20, 2018 that was observed by more than 150 members of theInternational Electoral Accompaniment Mission. In a joint report, the observers said of the agency that organizes the countrys electoral process, The technical and professional trustworthiness and independence of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela are uncontestable. The Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America, one of the groups that participated in the observer mission, reported that the results communicated by the National Electoral Council reflect the will of the voters who decided to participate in the electoral process.
The Wall Street Journal (5/1/19) performed the same trick, writing that Venezuelas democratic leaders launched a revolt against Cuban-backed dictator Nicolas Maduro. In the Journals universe, Maduro is a dictator despite heading a country with a legislative branch controlled by the opposition, where in October 2017 the opposition won five governorships, and which has thus far declined to arrest a politician agitating for a military putsch in open collaboration with hostile foreign powers, to the extent of entertaining the possibility of supporting a US invasion and supporting US-led sanctions that are devastating the countrys economy.
. . .
For the Journal, Venezuelas democratic leaders are those who sat out the countrys election, claimed it was unfair and then declined to file an appeal with the countrys National Electoral Council (CNE). One is hard-pressed to imagine a more soundly democratic practice than Guaidó not running for president and then declaring himself president even as 80 percent of Venezuelans had never heard of him at the time. According to historian Tony Wood (London Review of Books, 2/21/19):
More:
https://fair.org/home/distorting-democracy-in-venezuela-coverage/?awt_l=5xHp4&awt_m=hxro_mtLAmOI_TQ
Also posted in Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016232153
Oele
(128 posts)Also, having a "a legislative branch controlled by the opposition" doesn't mean much when that legislative branch has been robbed of its power.
LessAspin
(1,152 posts)They represent one more layer of verification than the system that allowed Trump to ascend to the Presidency.