Maduro: more fighting talk for Spain

[rooster59]

Maduro: more fighting talk for Spain

By Catherine Hardy

What is happening?

There has been more fighting talk from the President of crisis-hit Venezuela.

Nicolas Maduro has accused Spain of waging a propaganda war, aimed at provoking a real armed conflict between Caracas and Madrid.

Speaking to a gathering of university students, Maduro said negative stories about the crisis-hit country are featuring every day in the Spanish press.

He claims this amounts to a propaganda war and says Spain is preparing to ask NATO about military intervention in Venezuela.

There is no concrete evidence to support Maduro’s claims.

Why has Maduro said this now?

Relations between the two countries have recently become more tense.

Spain’s national security council met in Madrid on Friday.

A general election – the second since last December – is due to be held on June 26th.

What did Maduro accuse Spain of?

• Waging a propaganda war in the Spanish press
• Manipulation and lies about Venezuela
• Preparing a request for military intervention by NATO

He challenged Mariano Rajoy to hold an election debate in Caracas between the main candidates.

Maduro also hinted that he may stand for election as the spanish leader himself.

“They (Spanish politicians) have gone beyond ridiculous. They are making fools of themselves. Rajoy, you are a coward, come to Venezuela and hold your debate, I will participate, maybe I will even stand for president in Spain and win.”

Why would Maduro come out and say this?

Venezuela is in the grip of a severe economic crisis.

The fall in the oil price has hit the country – a key producer – hard.

There are chronic shortages of basics like food and medicine.

Venezuela has the highest inflation in the world. Latest estimates from the IMF predict the rate could increase by 481% this year.

Polls suggest the majority of people in the country want Nicolas Maduro out of office.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-05-28

[halloween]

Seems a worthy successor to Hugo.

[daoyai]

When in crisis, find an external threat.

[sandrabbit]

The socialists have turned what should be one of the richest countries in the world into a 3rd world country. They have huge amounts of oil & gas plus a huge mineral wealth and they still managed to blow it. Chavez was so scared of the doctors he pissed off he got treatment in Cuba. Maduro is just throwing siht anywhere now hoping it sticks, he's just blaming everything on the US and rich people. When I was there Chavez would always say to the poor people who didn't have power that the rich people were stealing their electricity and because the education system is shit they believed him that it could be stolen, sigh. It's the most dangerous country I've been to, next door Columbia was way better. Argentina did the same thing, Kirchner now is finding out in a big way about lying and stealing from the people - they used Britain as the bogey over the Falklands same as Maduro does with the US. Venezuela will become N Korea if democracy isn't allowed to occur because of 'presidential' stupidity, they even money laundered for Iran when there they were embargoed. The Venezuelan people need some good news, they don't even have toilet paper.

[Familyaffairs]

President of Spain ? Megalomaniac, his days are numbered, and it will end ugly....

[bendejo]

Taking a cue from Argentina -- when things go bad declare war on another country to (attempt to) unite your citizens.

Both countries in bad shape economically. The whole premise seems like a farce. What next, Haiti vs Angola?

The regimes of these charismatic leaders usually don't survive the leader.

I haven't been to Argentina since the new president, but under the previous gov'ts mention of the Fauklands appeared in the press at least once per week, 30+ years later.

Edited May 28, 2016 by bendejo

[RuamRudy]

The socialists have turned what should be one of the richest countries in the world into a 3rd world country. They have huge amounts of oil & gas plus a huge mineral wealth and they still managed to blow it. Chavez was so scared of the doctors he pissed off he got treatment in Cuba. Maduro is just throwing siht anywhere now hoping it sticks, he's just blaming everything on the US and rich people. When I was there Chavez would always say to the poor people who didn't have power that the rich people were stealing their electricity and because the education system is shit they believed him that it could be stolen, sigh. It's the most dangerous country I've been to, next door Columbia was way better. Argentina did the same thing, Kirchner now is finding out in a big way about lying and stealing from the people - they used Britain as the bogey over the Falklands same as Maduro does with the US. Venezuela will become N Korea if democracy isn't allowed to occur because of 'presidential' stupidity, they even money laundered for Iran when there they were embargoed. The Venezuelan people need some good news, they don't even have toilet paper.

I have no doubt that Chavez, Maduro and their drug smuggling cohorts are largely responsible for the mess in Venezuela, but I would have no trouble believing that there were not foreign countries meddling with the intent of creating exactly the situation we see now. Any possible emergence of a populist peoples' party is a threat to the status quo.

But simply pointing to a failed state and saying 'socialism bad' is not a credible explanation of why one of the potentially richest countries on the continent is wrecked internally and humiliated internationally. The seeds of the South American slide into socialist policies were sown by the right wing dictatorships that held the continent in their grip from the 50s, with their love for money and their disdain for human rights, We see much the same around the world now, and not just in the developing world.

[halloween]

I have no doubt that Chavez, Maduro and their drug smuggling cohorts are largely responsible for the mess in Venezuela, but I would have no trouble believing that there were not foreign countries meddling with the intent of creating exactly the situation we see now. Any possible emergence of a populist peoples' party is a threat to the status quo.

But simply pointing to a failed state and saying 'socialism bad' is not a credible explanation of why one of the potentially richest countries on the continent is wrecked internally and humiliated internationally. The seeds of the South American slide into socialist policies were sown by the right wing dictatorships that held the continent in their grip from the 50s, with their love for money and their disdain for human rights, We see much the same around the world now, and not just in the developing world.

What do you mean by "Any possible emergence of a populist peoples' party is a threat to the status quo."?

Chavez was president since 1999, elected by a consortium of socialist parties, another 15% of the vote was garnered by other socialist/communist parties that declined to join his government. The United Socialist party, uniting the various smaller parties, was formed over 9 years ago. 17 bloody years is a pretty slow "emergence" don't you think, and what they have done to the country makes your "status quo" look very attractive in comparison.

[RuamRudy]

I have no doubt that Chavez, Maduro and their drug smuggling cohorts are largely responsible for the mess in Venezuela, but I would have no trouble believing that there were not foreign countries meddling with the intent of creating exactly the situation we see now. Any possible emergence of a populist peoples' party is a threat to the status quo.

But simply pointing to a failed state and saying 'socialism bad' is not a credible explanation of why one of the potentially richest countries on the continent is wrecked internally and humiliated internationally. The seeds of the South American slide into socialist policies were sown by the right wing dictatorships that held the continent in their grip from the 50s, with their love for money and their disdain for human rights, We see much the same around the world now, and not just in the developing world.

What do you mean by "Any possible emergence of a populist peoples' party is a threat to the status quo."?

Chavez was president since 1999, elected by a consortium of socialist parties, another 15% of the vote was garnered by other socialist/communist parties that declined to join his government. The United Socialist party, uniting the various smaller parties, was formed over 9 years ago. 17 bloody years is a pretty slow "emergence" don't you think, and what they have done to the country makes your "status quo" look very attractive in comparison.

I am in no way defending the Chavez or Maduro governments. Ineptitude and criminality seem to be recurring themes with both regimes, but I am suggesting that their political objectives, which were hugely challenging in themselves, were quite possibly made impossible through the actions of foreign agents whose agendas were to ensure that they failed.