US forces attacked Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a military raid. Trump proudly announced that no American soldiers were injured in the operation, which was carried out with the help of the CIA and Delta Force. He conveniently forgot to mention that the operation resulted in over 100 Venezuelan deaths. Venezuelan authorities also accused the United States of targeting civilian areas, which they claimed was solely a diversionary tactic. This attack, a symbol of the new American imperialism, began with the destruction of small boats, supposedly belonging to drug traffickers, resulting in 115 deaths, though no evidence of drug trafficking has ever been presented. It is clear that all of this is aimed solely at Venezuelan oil, which possesses the world's largest proven reserves, as well as the rare earth elements found in its subsoil. In 1997, the country produced nearly 5% of global oil, but the American embargo-not corruption, as Trump claims-on spare parts for drilling equipment decimated this industry. It is worth remembering that the vast majority of drilling wells are of American construction.
This attack comes after Maduro declared himself ready to negotiate and cooperate with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking and on access to Venezuelan oil reserves. Let us remember that the United States dropped the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while the Japanese were negotiating Japan's surrender. Just as the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were a message to the USSR, the kidnapping of Maduro is a message to Russia, China, and, on another level, Cuba and Latin America. The United States loves sending messages of geopolitical dominance, regardless of the death toll: over 200 in Venezuela and 220,000 in Japan, not counting subsequent cases of cancer or other side effects.
After declaring that the United States would become "very heavily" involved in the Venezuelan oil industry, Trump insisted, and I quote, "We're going to run the country until a safe, proper, and sensible transition is possible," and implied that this could take years. He added, "We're going to get the oil that, frankly, we should have gotten a long time ago."
Of course, this operation was carried out outside of international law and even American law. The fight against drug trafficking does not constitute a legal basis for the use of force. Furthermore, the Trump administration did not seek congressional authorization before attacking Venezuela, as required by the Constitution. In the United States, the House of Representatives and the Senate are supposed to give their approval in the event of conflicts abroad. However, they were neither consulted nor even informed, yet they have just refused to limit Trump's powers in Venezuela! Trump stated in an interview that there was only "one thing" that could limit his global power, which is: "My own morality. My own will. That's the only thing that can stop me." He added that he had no regard for international law.
Trump said he had spoken with the heads of major American oil companies before and after the operation. They reportedly confirmed to him that they were "dying to return to Venezuela" or to stay there, like Chevron, the only company that remained when Hugo Chávez, then president of the country, nationalized entire sectors of the Venezuelan oil industry, forcing foreign investors to accept reduced stakes in projects. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth declared, "If we left every time we disagreed with the government, we would leave everything, including this country!"
The same thing happened in Bolivia. The documentary I made, called "The End of Poverty?", took us to Bolivia, where we had a long conversation with Evo Morales's vice president, Álvaro García Linera, a Marxist theorist and former guerrilla fighter, who served as vice president for 13 years. He explained to us that for over 50 years, American companies exploited Bolivian oil and especially gas, with the profit-sharing split being 82% for the American companies and 18% for Bolivia. When they came to power, they said: now things will be reversed. For the next 50 years, you, the oil companies, will receive 18% and Bolivia 82% of the profits. The response from all the companies was that they would leave the country. But in the end, they all stayed, happy to receive their 18%.
It's worth remembering that oil companies contributed $19 million to Donald Trump's investment fund, with Chevron making the largest contribution of $2 million.
Trump has also continued to seize tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, including recently a Russian-flagged vessel off the coast of Scotland-an operation in which the United Kingdom participated! He announced that Venezuela's interim leaders would hand over between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil, which the United States would sell at market price, and that this money would be, according to Trump, "under my control, as President of the United States of America." He added that Venezuela would only purchase American products financed by its oil revenues.
It's important to understand that the operation to control Venezuela goes back many years and began during Hugo Chávez's presidency. More recently, in January 2019, the Trump administration recognized Juan Guaidó, a little-known opposition congressman, as president of Venezuela, even though Maduro had been declared the winner of the elections. The whole world accused Maduro of having rigged the elections, just as Chávez had done in his time. I was in Venezuela during one of the elections that Chávez won, and I was told by United Nations observers that elections in Venezuela were much more closely monitored than in other countries. Each voter receives a paper copy of their ballot from the electronic machine, which they can check and bring with them if they wish to contest the result. They even stated on camera that at the time, they had not observed any irregularities during the election. What we also saw was the building occupied by the CIA, which was spreading this kind of disinformation and working to destabilize the regime.
Yet, Guaidó's recognition was soon followed by Canada and other Latin American and European countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. But within a few months, it became clear that the regime change attempt had failed: the entire Venezuelan territory, the ministries, and the army remained under Maduro's control.
In our previous column, we showed how the Nobel Peace Prize committee played a crucial role in this operation, awarding the prize to Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan warmonger from the very beginning who has been working for decades for the American military intervention. Last week, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, launched legal action against the Nobel Committee for the same reasons. The Nobel Committee has thus legitimized the American intervention. Now even CNN is calling Machado the "leader of the opposition," which she definitely isn't, just as she's about to be received by Trump at the White House, to whom she promised to give her Nobel Prize!
Trump is now issuing thinly veiled warnings to the governments of Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba, saying of Colombian President Gustavo Petro that he "owns cocaine labs and factories where he manufactures cocaine," adding that he needs to "watch his ass!"
Is this imperialism, driven by financial interests, shaping a new world order based on the law of the strongest? Surely, because at the same time, global arms company stocks have risen sharply at the beginning of this year, gaining on average more than 10%. The most impressive performances were achieved by European defense-industrial giants such as Saab and Rheinmetall, which saw increases of approximately 25% and 20.5%, respectively. This follows a massive 50% increase in US defense spending, reaching $1.5 trillion by 2027, an amount Trump deems necessary to build a "dream army." Incidentally, Trump recently announced the construction of a new fleet of "20 to 25" large ships, dubbed the "Trump-class USS Defiant." He added, "Each one will be the largest warship in the history of our country" and even "in the world!"
Meanwhile, Maduro was transferred to a New York court to defend himself against charges of orchestrating drug trafficking into the United States. He pleaded not guilty. It is interesting to note that Trump's main charge-that Maduro was the head of a drug cartel, a charge without any evidence, which justified his abduction-has been dropped from the charges brought before the court. Maduro is now being held in solitary confinement, a preferred form of torture in the United States, in a federal prison known for its "barbaric conditions."
Philippe Diaz
"The Other Voice of America"
www.philippe-diaz.com
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8795
Link: (en) France, Monde Libertaire - The Return of the Empire of Violence (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten