In 2007, following Venezuela’s expropriation of billions of dollars of assets from U.S. companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, I suggested a potential remedy.

Since Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.) owns the Citgo refineries in the U.S., the companies that had lost billions of dollars of assets should target these refineries for seizure as compensation.

Chaos and confusion erupted across Venezuela, and most stores were shuttered on Saturday, after president Nicolas Maduro announced that the government would enact a massive currency devaluation, implement a new minimum wage, hike taxes, and also raise gasoline prices for most citizens even as the country struggles with the greatest hyperinflation on record, surpassing even that of the Weimar Republic.

"They've dollarized our prices. I am petrolizing salaries and petrolizing prices," Maduro explained in a Friday televised address. "We are going to convert the petro into the reference that pegs the entire economy's movements."

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has said the country’s subsidized fuel prices should rise, to stop smugglers from cheating the country out of billions of dollars. Will this help alleviate the ongoing crisis or be another failed measure at redemption for the government?

Vessels sailing in the vicinity of Trinidad and Tobago are now under threat of being the victims of piracy for the first since the 1700s. According to a report from the Washington Post, in the wake of Venezuela’s economic and societal collapse, criminals desperate to earn a living have taken up the centuries-old crime and are attacking yachts and fishing vessels along the coast of South America.

Vessels sailing in the vicinity of Trinidad and Tobago are now under threat of being the victims of piracy for the first since the 1700s. According to a report from the Washington Post, in the wake of Venezuela’s economic and societal collapse, criminals desperate to earn a living have taken up the centuries-old crime and are attacking yachts and fishing vessels along the coast of South America.

Jeremy McDermott of Insight Crime, a nonprofit that studies organized crime in the region told the Washington Post that “It’s criminal chaos, a free-for-all, along the Venezuelan coast.”

“This reminds me of how the problems started off the coast of eastern Africa," said Roodal Moonilal, a politician from Trinidad and Tobago while speaking to the Washington Post. “What we’re seeing – the piracy, the smuggling – it’s the result of Venezuela’s political and economic collapse.”

Deeply Disturbing': For Second Time This Year, Facebook Suspends Left-Leaning teleSUR English Without Explanation

"It seems like the censorship power many people on the left want Silicon Valley executives to unilaterally exercise might end up being wielded against the left. One good way to know that would happen is that is already is happening."

For the second time this year, Facebook removed TeleSUR English's page without an explanation beyond claiming the media network had violated the platform's terms of service. (Photo: TeleSUREnglish/Twitter)

For the second time this year, Facebook has suspended teleSUR English's page, claiming the left-leaning Latin American news network violated the social media platform's terms of service without any further explanation—a move that provoked outrage and concern among journalists, free speech advocates, and Big Tech critics.

Following the attempt on Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro’s life with two explosive-laden drones on Saturday, the President promised to get to the bottom of the failed plot. Last night he showed that his government has learned some things at least, and Maduro says there is still more evidence to come.

Prior to releasing the evidence, Maduro announced that he would be showing off what Venezuelan security had found late Monday night. According to Maduro at the time the evidence backed up the initial claims he had made right after the assassination attempt that “there is sufficient evidence of the participation of the outgoing Colombian government of President Juan Manuel Santos.”

On Tuesday night Maduro presented the evidence to the people of Venezuela in a televised address. Much of what Maduro presented seems to confirm his conclusions and exposes a wider network of the forces plotting to end his life, and the Bolivarian revolution.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has said he believes that his US counterpart Donald Trump would not allow anyone to plot the assassination of other world leaders on United States’ soil.

On Saturday, a military parade in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas attended by Maduro was interrupted by what authorities said was an assassination attempt on the life of the president. Venezuela’s Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said several drones detonated close to the presidential box during Maduro's address. The president was unharmed, but seven soldiers sustained injuries.

Industry collapse
The downfall of Venezuela’s chief industry, coupled with International Monetary Fund predictions that inflation in the country will skyrocket to 1 million percent by the end of this year, have created an unusual scenario, in which Maduro may even welcome US sanctions on its oil sector. As Venezuela’s economy continues to unravel, leading to surging prices and rampant hunger, Maduro could try to pin the blame on sanctions.

“If you break it, you buy it,” said George David Banks, a former international energy and environment adviser to President Trump. “The White House doesn’t want to own this crisis.”

A video was revealed on Sunday showing former Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, telling a group of listeners that Venezuelan soldiers need to “remove” President Nicolas Maduro from office.

The recording was released just 24 hours after two air drones carrying explosives were detonated above President Maduro and several members of his administration on Saturday as the head of state addressed a large crowd at the 81st anniversary of the Bolivarian National Guard in Caracas. Maduro and other Venezuelan officials are saying that right-wing factions in the United States, Venezuelan and Colombia are behind the drone bombs.

In the video the former president and current Congress member says in English:

“I have said this in public, I have said that the Venezuelan soldiers need to remove that government (of Nicolas Maduro), not to establish a military government, but to call for a rapid transition, with democratic and transparent elections.

Update: Speaking on state TV a day after the alleged assassination attempt on Maduro, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said that six people have been taken into custody and more arrests are possible in the coming hours. He also said that two drones carrying 1 kg each of C-4 explosive were "disoriented" by govt. signal blockers.

He added that the government has raided several Caracas hotels in search for evidence, and noted that one suspect linked to a 2017 attack on Carabobo military base, another to last year’s anti-government protests.

Footage has emerged which appears to show the moment a drone bomb detonated over a packed rally where Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was giving a speech.

The video, which has been widely shared by Venezuelan social media accounts, shows a single drone hovering above the military parade - before suddenly exploding into a fireball.

Venuzuelan officials have claimed dissidents used two M600 drones, each carrying 2lb of C4 explosive. One of the drones was allegedly set to explode above the president while the other was to detonate directly in front of him.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the military managed to knock one of the drones off-course electronically and the other crashed into an apartment building two streets away from where Mr Maduro was speaking to the hundreds of troopsl.

Did the US try to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro?
John Bolton, Trump’s veteran neocon national security adviser, told Fox News the US had nothing to do with the explosive drone attack during an appearance in Caracas that injured several people but left Maduro and his entourage untouched.

“I can say unequivocally there was no U.S. government involvement in this at all. If the government of Venezuela has hard information that they want to present to us that would show a potential violation of U.S. criminal law, we’ll take a serious look at it, but in the meantime I think what we really should focus on is the corruption and oppression in the Maduro regime in Venezuela,” said Bolton during an interview with Chris Wallace.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” US national security adviser John Bolton denied that the US government had at all been involved in the reported Saturday assassination attempt in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

There were conflicting reports on what happened, but the government reported seven National Guard soldiers were injured by a pair of “drone-like devices that carried explosives.” They believe this was a failed attempt to assassinate President Maduro, who was unharmed.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has survived an apparent attack on his life during a military parade celebrating the 81st anniversary of the Bolivarian National Guard in the capital, Caracas.

In a televised national address late Saturday, Maduro said he was fine and laid blame for the attack firmly at the feet of “right-wing imperial forces” who he said had hired the would-be assassins.

“They have tried to assassinate me today, and everything points to the Venezuelan ultra-right and the Colombian ultra-right, and the name of Juan Manuel Santos is behind this attack,” he said.

“I must inform that they have been captured – those who attempted to take my life – and they are being processed. I won’t say more, but the investigation is very advanced.

“I tell the Venezuelan opposition that I guarantee you can live in this country peacefully. If something happens to me, you will have to face millions of Campesinos and humble people making justice with their own hands.

Amid the economic, political, and social collapse, Brazil has been described by many as being in the midst of a “zombie apocalypse” as years of corruption and violence spectacularly implodes all at once.

Horrified by the out of control violence and pessimistic about the nation’s political and economic outlook, thousands of wealthy Brazilians are now fleeing the country.

Thiago Lacerda, a high-profile actor, is one of the thousands of celebrities, bankers, lawyers and affluent Brazilians considering emigration before the next round of turmoil.

“I’m totally freaked out by what’s been happening, especially here in Rio [Rio de Janeiro],” Mr. Lacerda told The Wall Street Journal.

The 40-year-old actor said he has considered moving his family to Europe for the safety of his three children. “In several years, they’re going to want to go out, to start dating, without worrying about getting shot.”

With patented angst, Noam Chomsky opined on President Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua to an agreeing Amy Goodman: “But there’s been a lot of corruption, a lot of repression. It’s autocratic, undoubtedly.”

Earlier in their DemocracyNow! interview, the main talking points were established via a video clip of a dissident former official from Ortega’s Sandinista Party: Ortega’s “entire government has been, in essence, neoliberal. Then it becomes authoritarian, repressive.”

Left out of this view is why the US has targeted Nicaragua for regime change. One would think that a neoliberal regime, especially if it were authoritarian and repressive, would be just the ticket to curry favor with Washington.

A recent New York Times piece has sounded the alarm over what Washington perceives as China's "expanding reach into Latin America," related to a space mission control center located in the heart of the Patagonia region of Argentina.

The underlying perspective of the New York Times report over what is otherwise ostensibly a peaceful Argentine-Chinese space communications partnership is presented bluntly in the third stanza: "The isolated base is one of the most striking symbols of Beijing’s long push to transform Latin America and shape its future for generations to come — often in ways that directly undermine the United States’ political, economic and strategic power in the region."

Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega said he had sufficient proof that the United States was financing the ongoing violence in his country through organizations like the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

"We are facing a powerful enemy, which has carried out an armed invasion of Nicaragua several times, the United States, and it continues to interfere in Nicaragua's affairs. Yes, of course [Nicaragua has evidence of such financing]. Through these US accounts, the US Agency for International Development and other US organizations… they declare millions which are allocated for Nicaragua, for democracy as they say," Ortega said in an interview with the Euronews TV channel.

On joining the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 1990, Anayibe Rojas Valderrama, became “Sonia.” By then the insurgency had already, for 26 years, been fighting Colombia’s rich and powerful over their control of land.

Colombian soldiers captured her onFebruary10, 2004. Charged with drug trafficking, Sonia was extradited to the United States on March9, 2005. Convicted by the U.S. District Court in Washingtonon February 7, 2007, Sonia is serving a 16 year, eight month sentence at the Carswell woman’s prison in Fort Worth, Texas. She leaves prison on August 18 and presumably will be deported to Colombia. Her experience illustrates aspects of revolutionary struggle in Colombia and U.S. intervention and points to the currently dim prospects for peace there.

As the Nicaraguan police and their attendant pro-government “militia” invaded the poor neighborhood of Managua known as “Americas 1,” where residents are routinely harassed, Karina Navarette and her husband took her two children to a relative’s house, where they were to be watched, as usual, while Mama worked in a nearby residence. On the way, they saw “several armed men, ready to shoot.” That’s when all hell broke loose:

“They were all dressed in black and hooded and began to shoot at them. ‘My husband who was carrying the baby turned back to see and that’s when the bullet hit my baby’s head. We left running and there a boy helped us and they took him to the hospital, but there they told us that he was already dead.”

Who’s winning the US-China trade war? When it comes to soybeans, the answer is Brazil. The South American nation is capitalising on the strife caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade war to profit from both China and America in soybean trade.

China has been the biggest buyer of US soybean in recent years, but as imports have become caught up in Beijing and Washington’s tit-for-tat tariffs, Chinese purchasers are now looking to to Brazil to make up the shortfall.

As a result, US soybean prices have fallen by 20 per cent since April to their lowest price in nearly a decade, while the Brazilian crop is being sold at a premium, according to industry watchers.

The Argentine peso has lost a third of its value relative to the U.S. dollar in the space of three months, and locals have been to this rodeo before. For seven decades, Argentina has addressed her social and economic problems with massive state interventionism and deficit spending, funded by the printing press. The result has always been the same: economic stagnation and inflation.

The people of Nicaragua showed their support for the democratically-elected government of Daniel Ortega with a massive outpouring in Managua in a celebration of the 39th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. In addition to the mass protest in Managua, various cities had their own, in some cases very sizeable ones.

A number of US military bases have been established throughout Argentina since the election of president Macri.

In early 2018, Macri’s government also approved the construction of another American military base in the province of Misiones. This is a highly strategic position because the province is situated in the tri-border area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, which contains the Guaraní Aquifer, the largest subterranean drinkable and renewable fresh water reserve in the world. Specifically, of the 1.2 million square kilometers of land containing the Guarani Aquifer, 850,000 square kilometers are in Brazil’s territory, 225,000 square kilometers are in Argentina, 70,000 square kilometers are in Paraguay, and 25,000 square kilometers are in Uruguay.

Venezuela is the most visible problem. Under the disastrous Marxist economics that President Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, have pursued for nearly two decades, Venezuela has become a catastrophe of economic and political chaos. Once the wealthiest country in South America, Venezuela’s gross domestic product is plunging at double-digit rates, and inflation is now soaring at a mind-boggling 46,000 percent. Maduro’s increasingly beleaguered regime has responded with ever more severe authoritarian measures, virtually eradicating the country’s free press and imprisoning scores of opposition leaders.

Some readers may recall this headline from January 2018 "IMF Projects Venezuela Inflation Will Soar to 13,000 Percent in 2018."

This, it turns out was just a little bit off, because as we reported only two weeks ago, Venezuela's annualized inflation hit an annualized rate of 482,153%, with food prices soaring 183% in just one month.

Fast forward to today, when it's time for another "slight revision" because according to the latest IMF forecast released today, Venezuela’s hyperinflation by the end of the year will hit, drumroll, 1,000,000% as the government continues to simply print money to in hopes of filling the void of what was once the country's economy. Putting that number in perspective, the IMF believes that Venezuela inflation hit only 2,400% in 2017, according to a report published Thursday by Alejandro Werner, head of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere department.

Some readers may recall this headline from January 2018 "IMF Projects Venezuela Inflation Will Soar to 13,000 Percent in 2018."

This, it turns out was just a little bit off, because as we reported only two weeks ago, Venezuela's annualized inflation hit an annualized rate of 482,153%, with food prices soaring 183% in just one month.

Fast forward to today, when it's time for another "slight revision" because according to the latest IMF forecast released today, Venezuela’s hyperinflation by the end of the year will hit, drumroll, 1,000,000% as the government continues to simply print money to in hopes of filling the void of what was once the country's economy. Putting that number in perspective, the IMF believes that Venezuela inflation hit only 2,400% in 2017, according to a report published Thursday by Alejandro Werner, head of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere department.

As American motorists complain of rising gasoline prices, the Trump Administration and the oil and banking interests behind it are smiling on their way to the proverbial bank. If we look at seeming disparate events in Iran, in Venezuela and now in Libya it becomes clear there is a coherent strategy to promote disruption in key oil flows to the immediate advantage of US oil domination.

A decade ago the idea that the United States could displace Saudi Arabia or the Russian Federation as the world’s largest oil producer was considered unthinkable. Today it is clearly a foreign policy priority of the Trump Administration and the major Wall Street banks financing US shale oil production. The strategy is geopolitical and ultimately aims to weaken Russia, Iran and the other independent world oil producing powers like Venezuela.

Venezuela was considered an economic basket case…as far back as the early 1960s… when the US oil industry controlled the country.

So what’s really going on there?

Would you believe that the US news media is not telling the whole story, much less anything approximately the truth?

It’s simple: Venezuela has a lot of oil and we want it.

President Hugo Chavez was the first one to warn his Latin American partners of the imminent clandestine infiltration of NATO into South America. Nobody listened. Today it’s a fact – too late to fight against. NATO troops are occupying gradually all seven American military bases in Colombia. They are just simply converting from US to NATO bases – sounds more palatable than US bases – for sure. In the minds of unfortunately still most uninformed or mal-informed people, NATO stands for security. NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – in South America, what an oxymoron! – Well, it is the same ‘security’ farce as is NATO in Afghanistan and bombing the Middle East.

Apparently, President Trump's offhanded remarks about sending tanks to Venezuela were more than just a scare tactic. Trump reportedly asked a group of senior administration officials why the US couldn't simply invade Venezuela during a meeting in the Oval Office, according to the New York Post. The meeting was called to discuss sanctions against members of the Venezuelan regime.

?Trump's suggestion shocked members of his administration who were in the room, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former national security adviser HR McMaster. Months later, Trump was told by his aides not to mention his invasion suggestion during private dinner with leaders from four Latin American allies on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. But he did it anyway, surprising members of his staff. Trump also raised the idea with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

One of Brazil's richest men, Eike Batista, has received a 30-year prison sentence for bribes given to the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, Reuters reports, citing a federal court document. Cabral was also convicted.

The federal court found Batista - whose business was mainly in oil and metals - guilty of paying US$16.5 million to Cabral in exchange for winning state contracts, including one for the management of the legendary Maracana stadium in Rio and one for the construction of a US$3.7-billion port, Acu.

According to the prosecution, Batista paid a quarter of the bribe to Cabral in cash. The rest came in the form of Petrobras, Vale, and Ambev stock.

Over the course of two tumultuous decades, the US government has determinedly endeavored to destabilize, undermine and ultimately depose the democratically-elected government of Venezuela without pause. First they came for Hugo Chavez, then his successor Nicolas Maduro.

One wouldn't be able to discern this iniquitous reality from mainstream Western news reporting, however. Alan MacLeod, an academic specializing in media theory and analysis — and member of Glasgow University's respected Media Group — set out to discover why.

The plot, code-named Operation Constitution, involved scores of captains, colonels, and generals from all four branches of Venezuela’s armed forces. The goal was straightforward and seismic—to capture President Nicolás Maduro and put him on trial. The plotters, wearing blue armbands marked OC, were supposed to storm the presidential palace and main military base and stop the May 20 presidential election. Some of the planning took place in Bogotá, but Colombian and U.S. officials, who allegedly knew about the plot and winked from the sidelines, declined to provide active support.

Then something went wrong.

If there’s one group that has benefited from Venezuela’s economic collapse, it’s the country’s military, which has been handed control over much of the country’s remaining industry as the collapse has intensified. Venezuela’s army, about 160,000 strong, controls the mineral-rich Arco Minero del Orinoco, and some of its top officers are also serving as executives of Venezuela’s state-run oil company.

If there's one group that has benefited from Venezuela's economic collapse, it's the country's military, which has been handed control over much of the country's remaining industry as the collapse has intensified. Venezuela's army, about 160,000 strong, controls the mineral-rich Arco Minero del Orinoco, and some of its top officers are also serving as executives of Venezuela's state-run oil company.

As tens of thousands gather at our southern border, roiling US politics, the question arises: why are so many of the asylum-seekers and migrants crossing the border illegally from three Central American countries in particular: El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala?

To begin with, it’s no coincidence that these are the three “most invaded” countries south of the Rio Grande – that is, invaded by the United States and its proxies.

British firms are to sell arms to Argentina for the first time in six years after ministers hailed a dramatic thaw in relations.

The move comes just weeks after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited Buenos Aires vowing to 'build a partnership and an intensifying commercial relationship'.

The restrictions were imposed amid heightened tensions when Cristina Kirchner was president and engaging in sabre-rattling over the Falklands.

She branded British residents of the islands 'squatters' and accused the UK of 'colonialism' by hanging on to the territory.

However, ties have improved significantly under her successor, Mauricio Macri.

The chaos in Central America that brings tens of thousands of desperate people to our borders each year was and is largely made in the USA.

The US armed and continues to arm dictators in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

In Nicaragua in the 1980s, the US government funded terrorists (“the Contras”) who murdered peasants and destroyed social infrastructure in the countryside like medical clinics and agricultural processing centers – all to stimulate “regime change”, an objective the US still has and it working on in that country.

In Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, dictators we supported used our arms, training and encouragement to form death squads that targeted religious leaders, labor leaders, health care workers, university professors, and anyone who called for reform.

And some people wonder why these countries are in chaos with refugees showing up on our border.

Following two months of protests and an estimated 170 dead, the violence briefly subsided, as opposition-government negotiations tried to resolve the situation. The opposition now says the government is reneging on commitments and will abandon negotiations. What led to this crisis and where will it go from here? We discuss the situation with Trevor Evans and Camilo Mejia

A Brazilian judge has ordered Facebook to remove all current posts that offend the “image, honor and privacy” of slain politician Marielle Franco — and all future posts of the same nature. This could set a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech online in the country.

Rio de Janeiro city councilor Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes were killed in a drive-by shooting on the night of the March 14. Franco, 38, was a vocal critic of local police violence. Soon after her murder, false reports claiming she had been married to a drug lord and that she was elected with the support of a criminal group began circulating online, among other unqualified rumors.

Marielle’s widow and sister filed separate libel claims against Facebook and Google in an effort to get the stories removed from search results and social media. In both cases, the courts ruled in their favor.

Days before Christmas of 2001, a 54-year-old Argentine woman named Norma Cecilia Albino shoved her way past the throngs of demonstrators protesting the government’s new banking restrictions, walked into a bank branch in a northern Buenos Aires neighborhood, strolled to the counter, and asked to withdraw a few pesos from her account.

When the cashier explained to Albino that she’d already reached her limit and would not be able to withdraw more until the following month, Albino calmly rumbled through her purse for a bottle of alcohol, doused herself with it, and then, to the horror of a nation, set herself ablaze inside the bank lobby.

Ivan Duque, who is the candidate of former president Alvaro Uribe, won a solid victory for Colombia’s presidency and will probably take Colombia back towards civil war and internal repression, with the help of the US and other conservative governments, argues Manuel Rozental, of PueblosEnCamino.org

The United States prioritizes a Western Hemisphere “distinguished by democracy, peace, respect for human rights, and cooperation,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Organization of American States, the principle organizing body of North and South America, at a meeting in Washington earlier this week.

It was his first address to the body as secretary, and he didn’t mince words: he called for Venezuela’s ouster.

A national strike got underway Thursday in Nicaragua to protest the government's deadly crackdown on a two-month long popular uprising against President Daniel Ortega, hours after the Church moved towards rekindling talks to calm the crisis rights groups say has killed at least 152 people.

Anticipation of the "peaceful" nationwide 24-hour work stoppage that began at 12:00 am (0600 GMT) had meanwhile triggered a mad dash to gas stations and supermarkets to stockpile grain, milk and vegetables.

Jorge Esquivel, 60, voiced support for the strike -- to include all sectors besides those "related to the preservation of life and the coverage of basic services" -- called by a coalition of student, business and other civic representatives, one of the main groups involved in the now-stalled talks.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Chilean bishop at the centre of a child sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic church.

The pontiff accepted the resignation letters of three of the highest figures in the Chilean church on Monday - including the controversial Juan Barros.

All 34 of Chile's bishops had offered to resign last month, but Pope Francis announced only three would be stepping aside - Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Bishop Gonzalo Duarte of Valparaiso and Bishop Cristian Caro of Puerto Montt.

Barros, 61, is accused of covering up the crimes of Father Fernando Karadima who was first accused of abusing teenage boys in Chile in 1984.

Venezuela's sky-high inflation soared to 24,571 percent in the past 12 months, lawmakers said Monday.

President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government controls most of the country's economy and is in the midst of an ever-deepening crisis with food and medicine in short supply.

Analysts blame what they call mismanagement of a state-led economy. That includes its control over hard currency, as well as low oil prices. Venezuela depends on crude oil for its earnings.

The government blames US sanctions and businessmen speculating on the problems.

Despite tremendous hardship which the Venezuelan people are having to face, despite the sanctions and intimidation from abroad, President Nicolás Maduro has won a second six-year term.

Two weeks ago, at the Venezuelan embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, where I addressed several leaders of East African left-wing opposition, an acting Charge d’ Affaires, Jose Avila Torres, declared: “People of Venezuela are now facing similar situation as the Syrian people.”

True. Both nations, Venezuela and Syria, are separated by a tremendous geographical distance, but they are united by the same fate, same determination and courage.

At the OAS nineteen member states voted in favor, four against and eleven abstained when the US tried to have Venezuela sanctioned. US will not hesitate to bear tremendous pressure on member countries to get its way in Latin America. We speak to CEPR’s Mark Weisbrot about the vote and how it came about

In the past week, Venezuela’s economic death spiral has picked up speed. When, Venezuela’s hyperinflationary episode began in November 2016 the bolivar was valued on the black-market (read: free-market) at roughly 1,500 VEF/USD. Today, 6/8/18, a greenback will fetch a stunning 2.3 million bolivars. Less than a month ago, that same greenback would have fetched “only” 800,000 bolivars. With the collapse of the bolivar, inflation has soared to a record high of 37,076%.

The New York Times faced a dilemma. How to downplay this stinging defeat for Israel in world opinion? The Times has a correspondent in Buenos Aires, Daniel Politi, and here’s what he did in today’s sports pages; he did not quote Higuaín or any other player for Argentina. Instead, he spent 22 paragraphs partly peddling an alternate conspiracy theory: that Argentina canceled not for political reasons, but because the team feared “violence” from Palestinians.

If you’ve followed American media in recent times, you will have probably heard that meddling in affairs of foreign nations is a bad thing — but it seems that view changes dramatically when the US is the one doing the meddling.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was reelected in May in what Washington wrote-off as a “sham” election. In response, the Trump administration slapped new sanctions on the South American country and seemingly won’t be happy until Maduro and his socialist regime packs up and disappears.

The United States has been quietly funding and equipping elite paramilitary police units in El Salvador accused of extrajudicially murdering suspected gang members, according to a forthcoming United Nations report reviewed in advance by CNN.

Beginning with George W. Bush in 2003, successive US administrations have provided tens of millions of dollars in aid for Salvadoran military and police in support of the government’s “Mano Dura” (“Firm Hand”) security program, an aggressive campaign to combat out-of-control gang violence in a country with one of the world’s highest homicide rates.

Argentina‘s national football team has cancelled an upcoming friendly match with Israel, Argentine news sources reported.

Argentinian sports website Minutouno reported on Tuesday that Saturday’s game in Jerusalem had been “suspended” amid an “escalation of violence, threats and criticism” directed at captain ‘Leo’ Messi.

Argentina, a major contender to win the World Cupthis summer, has made four previous pre-World Cup visits to Israel since 1986.

The fixture between the two teams was set to be played in Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium on June 9, which is built on land that was once a Palestinian village that was destroyed in 1948.

Israeli media reported that in light of this latest development, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to his Argentinian counterpart Mauricio Macri by telephone.

The ambassador of Palestine in Argentina, Husni Abdel Wahed, had expressed his opposition to the friendly.

Nearly seven weeks after a violent crackdown on student protesters ignited a movement to oust the president of Nicaragua, daily life has become difficult and dangerous for a population increasingly in open rebellion against the government.

At least 113 people have been killed, more than 1,000 injured and hundreds arrested since the political uprising began in mid-April, according to human rights groups. Dozens of others have disappeared.

In what was until recently one of the safest countries in Latin America, families are now afraid to leave their homes after dark. Barricades set up by protesters block highways, public transportation is scarce and business in some parts of the country has ground to a halt.

Bloody protests against Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega’s government have the United State’s fingerprints all over it. Over 100 people have been killed since the civil unrest broke out in mid-April and it doesn’t take much to realize the US government is fueling the bloodbath.

According to RT, the so-called marea rosa, or “pink tide”, of allied leftist governmentswhich held sway across Latin America in previous years is being rolled back. Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff was removed from power in a right-wing coup, co-conspirators of which have now managed to imprison the current presidential frontrunner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno has stabbed his former leader Rafael Correa in the back by barring him from seeking re-election, while seemingly purging his cabinet of remaining Correa loyalists and beginning the process of allowing the US military back into the country.

Palestinians have thanked the Argentinian football team and star forward Lionel Messi for cancelling their friendly match with Israel scheduled for Saturday, according to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

Football fans and Palestinian human rights supporters had urged the Argentinian team to cancel the match, set to take place in an Israeli stadium built on the ethnically cleansed Palestinian village of Al-Maliha in response to Israel’s violent response to peaceful protesters on the Gaza border that left over 120 dead.

Initially set to be held in Haifa, the Israeli government moved the match to the Jerusalem village, offering the organisers $760,000 in compensation. Israel was reportedly already paying Argentina $3 million to play the match as part of its celebrations to mark 70 years of its independence, when it forcibly expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that the ongoing session of General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) would become the last one for the country, as Caracas was withdrawing from the organization.

"This is the last OAS General Assembly where the Venezuelan foreign minister participates, we criticize the OAS and we withdraw," Maduro was quoted as saying by the Globovision channel.

Maduro noted that the US government launched a campaign against Venezuela within the OAS.

Caracas Slams New US Anti-Venezuela Sanctions as 'Crime Against Humanity'
On Monday, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo urged the OAS members to increase pressure on the government of Venezuela and to impose additional sanctions. He added that suspending Venezuela from the organization would send a powerful message to Venezuelan leader.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Monday of leading a coup d'etat against the Caracas government.

Jorge Arreaza, the Venezuelan official, promised to fight the “imperalists” to the North. He delivered the strong rebuke following Pompeo's calls for the Organization of American States to suspend Venezuela from the hemispheric organization.

Pompeo also called on allies to sanction and further isolate the government of Venezuelan leader leader Nicolás Maduro.

The United States has been quietly funding and equipping elite paramilitary police units in El Salvador accused of extrajudicially murdering suspected gang members, according to a forthcoming United Nations report reviewed in advance by CNN.

Beginning with George W. Bush in 2003, successive US administrations have provided tens of millions of dollars in aid for Salvadoran military and police in support of the government’s “Mano Dura” (“Firm Hand”) security program, an aggressive campaign to combat out-of-control gang violence in a country with one of the world’s highest homicide rates.

With dark curly hair and a wiry frame, the 29-year-old gold miner said she had grown used to the violence, lawlessness and the rule of strongmen in southeastern Venezuela.

For years, the muddy patch of land that she worked with her family had been trapped in a turf war between rival gangs that left dozens dead.

But life changed abut a year ago when a new gang arrived: Colombia’s National Liberation Army, or ELN.

The miner said more than 100 well-armed ELN soldiers — hauled in by truck and wearing unmarked fatigues — descended on her isolated mining village along the border with Guyana and almost 500 miles away from the Colombian border.

Venezuela is a champion in democracy, in democratic elections, as proven twice within the last twelve months and more than a dozen times since 1999. Never mind that the lunatic west doesn’t want to accept it – simply because the west – the US and her handlers – and her European vassals, cannot tolerate a socialist country prospering – one that is so close to the empire’s border and on top of it, loaded with natural riches, like oil and minerals. Venezuela’s economic success could send intellectual “left-wing” shock waves to the dumbed and numbed American populace, with shrapnel ricocheting all the way to blindfolded Europe.