Can anyone explain what's happening in Venezuela? Dictator Maduro hated by majority but, Trump Admin / VP Pence and Bolsonaro backing opposition?

[JonnyDBrit]

Honestly one of the most useful reads I've had for this whole sordid affair was this comic, courtesy of one Mike Centeno, a venezuelan artist who left the country about eight years ago:
https://thenib.com/what-happened-to-venezuela-isn-t-so-simple

Now, one can claim this slots him in the supposed middle to upper class who dislike Maduro because 'socialism', but considering the point of comparison used in the comic is that of the rise of the American far right, I think it's more down to the actual corruption and cult of personality. One particular thing of note is how yes, externally, it's easy to view things in purely political terms where things take sudden and dramatic turns, and crippling disaster seems imminent, vs the slower burn that most people have actually lived through. They just try to get by as best they can.

 

[Deleted member 15440]

i don't like talking about venezuela because 1) the discussion around it is always incredibly dumb and 2) i'm not educated enough on the subject but from what i know this is the correct take.

maduro is corrupt, abusive, authoritarian, and should absolutely not be forcibly removed from power by foreign actors including and especially the US. i hope everyone expressing well deserved concern for the people of venezuela recognize how much worse off they would be in the aftermath of any direct western intervention, overt or otherwise, because that is certainly what the right wing in this country wants.

 

[Funky Papa]

Do you have any links on that Cuba hypothesis? They were obviously Russian-backed (see: RT/Telesur collab, etc.) but that specific aspect w/ Cuba is not something I'd heard before.

Click to shrink...

No hypothesis. Cuba's support of the regime is well documented.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-general-interview-idUSTRE63S3CO20100429
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/...-in-venezuela-with-antipathy-toward-cuba.html
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-cuba-helped-make-venezuela-a-mafia-state

Some more background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba–Venezuela_relations#1999–present

Basically Chavez needed Cuba to run its health services and modernise Venezuela's army, much of which was paid in oil. Then Venezuela's economy crashed and Cuban support became even more important in order to keep things running, which allowed Cuba to keep the oil flowing while increasing its clout. But Cuba is also extremely weak and Venezuela cannot provide cash any longer when asked for some services, so there's a chance they may bail in the event of an open conflict. Hence Russian support.

If you look at Spanish sources you'll find protests in Venezuela against Cuban interference and some articles about Cuban doctors being used to run the Venezuelan health services in parallel to Venezuelan doctors, whom feel displaced and are greatly underpaid. This can be traced back to Chavez's days, when he imported large numbers of Cuban doctors and teachers to mold the country after Cuba using ideologically aligned and vetted professionals. It greatly increased living standards and support for Chavez among the poorest (while money lasted, anyway) at the cost of allowing Cuba to run a parallel administration.

Cuban advisors are also all over the army and helped to shape it into its current multilayered structure in order to reduce the risk of a coup.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/maduro-venezuela/528003/

I'm guessing that Cuba's extraordinary clout in Venezuela is rarely discused in America because Cuba is no longer considered a menace. But for many years Cuba has been running much the show while Chavez's and then Maduro's cronies bankrupted the country.