Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido was sworn in for another term as speaker of parliament on Tuesday after a tense stand-off with the armed forces who initially prevented him from entering Congress.

Former Bolivia president Evo Morales told AFP on Tuesday that he was forced from office by a United States-backed coup d'etat aimed at gaining access to the South American country's vast lithium resources.

Demand for lithium is expected to grow globally as it is one of the key components in batteries used in high-tech equipment such as laptops and electric cars.

Morales resigned as president on November 10 after almost three weeks of protests against his controversial re-election to an unconstitutional fourth term in a poll widely denounced as rigged.

His resignation came after then-chief of the armed forces General Williams Kaliman publicly stated the former trade union leader should step down.

But since then, Morales -- Bolivia's first indigenous president -- has claimed to have been the victim of a coup d'etat.

Shortly after left-wing Bolivian President Evo Morales was ousted in a US-supported coup in November - disguised as a noble reaction to alleged electoral fraud - the self-appointed, fanatically right-wing Bolivian “interim” government announced the renewal of diplomatic relations with Israel.

These had been severed by Morales in 2009 during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 300 children. Though Israel naturally cast itself as the singular victim of the affair, the ratio of Palestinian civilian to Israeli civilian deaths was 400:1.

During a subsequent Israeli-inflicted bloodbath in Gaza in 2014, this one by the name of Operation Protective Edge and entailing the slaughter of 2,251 Palestinians (including 299 women and 551 children), Morales denounced Israel as a “terrorist state” - a perfectly accurate assessment, given the circumstances and Israel’s track record.

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who, after resigning, received asylum in Mexico, arrived on 12 December in the capital of Argentina, where he was granted refugee status.

Bolivia’s new Interior Minister Arturo Murillo has on Twitter published an arrest order for the country’s former President Evo Morales.

According to the text of the document, the decision to issue a warrant was taken as part of a criminal investigation into incitement to rebellion, terrorism, and financing terrorism.

The interior minister has already vowed to detain the former president, accusing Morales of inciting anti-government protests that, as Murillo claimed, amounted to terrorism.

Ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales did not hold back on his criticism of U.S. empire in an interview with Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald in Mexico. Morales was overthrown last month in a U.S.-backed coup that has left dozens dead and a country in upheaval. While faces in the White House may change, the same imperialist policies remain in place, Morales explained. Between Obama, Bush and Trump, he said:

I doubt that there are differences between them. Maybe in their form, but at the end of the day, there are no differences between them. They all speak of peace, but none speak of social justice or the independence of states, the dignity or identity of the people…so, as far as I see, democracy in America deceives its people into voting but neither the people nor the government rule, it is the transnational corporations who govern, whether it’s the Democrats or Republicans.”

SOURCE: THEGRAYZONE.COM
Humiliating scandals are destroying right-wing leader Luis Fernando Camacho and the right is fracturing as a more militant MAS party readies for an uphill election battle

BY WYATT REED
La Paz, Bolivia – Just one month after ruling elites and right-wing politicians seized power in Bolivia with a military coup, the fragile unity they briefly enjoyed has erupted into a bitter public feud.

Local analysts had predicted that coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho and Pumari could unite the right from the country’s east and west, both indigenous and white or mestizo. They were seen as an insurmountable dream team. That alliance now lies smoldering, with the two presidential frontrunners openly airing their dirty laundry amid a vicious power struggle.

TRANSLATED FROM FORBES MÉXICO
Mexico tops the list of the largest lithium deposit in the world , according to the report ranking made by Mining Technology.

The report indicates that the mine of this element located in Sonora is the largest element deposit with proven and probable reserves of 243.8 million tons.

In recent days, members of the Sonora government have met with the Chinese capital mining company Ganfeng Lithium, who are looking to settle and invest in the region.

"They have more than seven thousand employees and are very interested in coming in January, they will come on a commercial mission to Sonora, because they are interested in being here, seeing the possibility of installing and setting up a battery factory," said Jorge Vidal, secretary Sonoran economy.

Authored by Sarah Cowgill via LibertyNation.com,

On the heels of President Donald Trump’s attempts to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), an attack uncomfortably close to U.S. soil has the Mexican government scrambling and the president fuming. At least 22 died over the weekend as rival cartels struggling for Northern Mexico turf dominance clashed with local law enforcement in Villa Union, Coahuila, an hour’s drive from Eagle’s Pass, TX. The brazen attack seemingly was directed at the Mexican government to send a warning as to who is in charge.

President Donald Trump announced that he will designate Mexican drug cartels as “terrorists”, paving the way for a potentially massive increase in American military involvement directly south of its border. “They will be designated,” Trump told ex-Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly during an interview, revealing that he asked the Mexican government for permission to put soldiers on the ground: “let us go in and clean it out,” Trump said, revealing that they have “so far has rejected the offer. But at some point, something has to be done.”

Mexico’s left-wing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, commonly referred to by his initials, AMLO, hit back Friday, insisting that his country had not been invaded for more than a century and that he would not permit an invasion under his watch, revealing exactly how he understood Trump’s offer.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday extended a national emergency declaration for Nicaragua for a year due to the “dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions” by the Government of the Central American country and the alleged repression of activists.

The notice extends for one year the emergency declared on November 27, 2018. The national emergency is intended to broaden the presidential powers to invoke a dozen relevant U.S. laws, however, it is not clear how the declaration would apply to Nicaragua. Trump used a similar emergency statement regarding the U.S.-Mexico border to invoke existing laws that, according to the administration, allow the diversion of money from government programs to build a border wall.

But why has Trump decided to do this?

Guaido proclaimed himself head of state in January and has gone on to lead several unsuccessful efforts to topple Maduro, including a failed military putsch in April.

Trump immediately backed Guaido’s “interim presidency,” handing the Venezuela file to Abrams, a veteran cold warrior infamous for his role in the Iran/Contra scandal, the Reagan administration’s Central America policy, and the Iraq War.

Asked about the efficacy of US sanctions, Abrams assured reporters that the measures are cutting off vital funds for the Venezuelan government. However, he acknowledged that he “would like to see, obviously, the sanctions work better,” adding that “there are plans to reinforce the effort.” He did not offer further details.

What’s the Deal with Sanctions in Venezuela, and Why’s It So Hard for Media to Understand?

President Trump’s move to declare Mexican cartels as terrorist groups is potentially going to be complicated, and Mexican President Obrador sought to establish a red-line, that Mexico will not allow the US to conduct cross-border military operations into Mexico looking for the cartels.

Trump hasn’t said he will send troops, saying that didn’t “want to say what I’m going to do” after the designation of the cartels. He refused to rule out the use of drone strikes in a recent interview, however.

Mexico’s foreign ministry was quick to reject that idea, saying that drone strikes would be a “violation of national sovereignty,” and have contacted the US to seek clarification about what they actually intend to do.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he had information that Colombia and the United States were planning a provocation on the Bolivarian Republic's western border and called on all staff of the country's armed forces to be prepared for battle.

"I have information that Colombia, together with the US Southern Command are planning to launch another provocation at the Venezuelan border with Colombia. All staff of Venezuela's armed forces must be combat ready", Maduro said on Friday during his meeting with the country's transportation employees broadcast via Twitter.

The president added that the provocations served to incite a military conflict on the Venezuela-Colombia border in order to draw attention away from the protests taking place in Colombia

SOURCE: MINT PRESS
BY ALAN MACLEOD
Bolivian President Evo Morales was overthrown in a U.S.-backed military coup d’état earlier this month after Bolivian army generals appeared on television demanding his resignation. As Morales fled to Mexico, the army appointed right-wing Senator Jeanine Añez as his successor. Añez, a Christian conservative who has described Bolivia’s indigenous majority as “satanic”, arrived at the presidential palace holding an oversized Bible, declaring that Christianity was re-entering the government. She immediately announced she would “take all measures necessary” to “pacify” the indigenous resistance to her takeover.
This included pre-exonerating the country’s notorious security services of all future crimes in their “re-establishment of order,” leading to massacres of dozens of mostly indigenous people.

SOURCE: MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
The Israeli government is aiming to increase the volume of Israel’s defence exports, reported Globes, which has revealed the main points of the plan for the first time.

The project, being overseen by the Defence Ministry’s International Defence Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) led by Brigadier General (Res.) Yair Kulas, will begin to be rolled out in early 2020.

According to Globes, the plan is based on “focused seminars for senior commanders in foreign armies”, Israeli military “assistance for promoting sales of Israeli weapons”, and “subsidising small and medium-sized defence companies seeking to sell arms around the world”.

Speaking this week, Kulas said that SIBAT favours a major expansion of agreements between countries, resulting in significant deals for the large defence companies, especially Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.

Trump is weighing a terrorist designation for the cartels, which could open the door for American cross-border attacks on cartel infrastructure and cartel personnel.

According to the Washington Post, under US law, any violent foreign group or individual who "threatens American security" can be designated a terror group and be subjected to sanctions that, in this case, could seriously disrupt commerce between American and Mexican companies.

Riot police were engulfed in flames as demonstrators hurled petrol bombs during continued protests against the Chilean President.

Thousands of people gathered again yesterday in Plaza Italia, the center of the demonstrations in Santiago, Chile, as part of the ongoing protests that have so far left 24 people dead and an estimated 3,000 people injured.

The demonstrators hurled stones and petrol bombs as they clashed with riot police on the streets who in turn responded with equal force by using tear gas and water cannons.

Looting and demonstrations took place in cities across the South American nation, and an agreement on a political roadmap that will see Chile draft a new constitution has halted neither the anger, nor the bloodshed. Furious Chileans have since October 18 been protesting social and economic inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues.

The crisis is the worst in three decades of Chilean democracy and has led to around 2,000 injuries, including some 280 people who suffered eye damage from shotgun pellets.

Colombian President Iván Duque instructed the authorities in Bogota to impose an overnight curfew on the entire Colombian capital, as 20,000 uniformed police were deployed to “establish order” amid anti-government protests.
“What we are facing is not a march,” said Bogota Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, announcing the measure on Friday evening, describing the protesters as a small number of “criminals, vandals, looting, stealing and wanting to practically end our city.”

Initially, the curfew was to apply only to Bosa, Kennedy and Ciudad Bolivar – three districts on the south side of the capital, whose residents are primarily poor and working-class Bogotans. The decision to lock them down was made after violence erupted on the sidelines of mass protests against the government’s austerity policies.

Over 200,000 people rallied in Bogota on Thursday. Another 20,000 rallied in Cali, prompting local authorities to impose a curfew there.

“The CIA is something that we should all not only cherish, but be saying thank you every single day,” Krasinski declared.

“The coolest thing ever for me, I mean I totally nerded out when we got to the CIA,” Krasinski effused. “They were the most unbelievably generous, kind, smart people.”

Krasinski’s comments flowed directly from his experience as the star of the second series of the Amazon series, “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.”

In a new video analysis of the show (embedded at the end of this article), researcher Tom Secker exposed the show as straightforward US imperial propaganda which was produced in direct collaboration with the CIA and Pentagon.

Venezuela will use some 30 million barrels of oil it has in storage as backing for its national cryptocurrency, the petro, Reuters reports, citing a speech by President Nicolas Maduro.

“I will deliver these 30 million of barrels as a liquid, physical, material backing for the petro,” Maduro said on Venezuelan television. “The inventories of crude and products in storage tanks are available for immediate commercialization ... to sustain and back the operations of the sovereign Venezuelan crypto-asset, the petro.”

Earlier this month, Maduro said the petro had more than 27,000 “affiliated businesses” already and the number was expected to increase twofold in the next few months.

Like Túpac Katari, indigenous Aymara leader more than 200 years ago, confronting the Spaniards, Evo Morales was betrayed and ‘dismembered’ by his own people, recruited and paid by the agents of the most destructive, nefarious and murderous dark elite that governs and has governed for over two hundred years our planet, the United States of America. With their worthless fiat-Ponzi-pyramid money, the made-out-of-thin-air US dollar, they create poverty throughout the globe, then buy off the weak and poor to plot against the very leaders that have worked for years to improve their social conditions.

The de facto and unelected president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, signed a decree that exempts all military personnel from being criminally responsible, even in the cases of murder, in the midst of demonstrations against the coup d’etat that ousted democratically elected first Indigenous President of Bolivia, Evo Morales. Effectively, Bolivian security forces have a license to kill now.

A new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has found that tens of thousands of Venezuelans have died as a direct result of Trump administration sanctions put into effect in August 2017, and that tens of thousands more are expected to die as a result of additional sanctions put into place in January of this year.

Independent journalists who are covering protests in Bolivia were accused of carrying out "sedition" by Communications Minister Roxana Lizarraga, who was paradoxically appointed by a US-backed government that emerged from a coup d'etat against the socialist President Evo Morales.

Questions remain about the circumstances that led to Morales’ ouster, and whether foreign governments played a role in it. But recent history provides reason to suspect that Bolivia’s rich natural resources are part of the answer.
In a near empty room, a Bolivian military official placed the presidential sash over Jeanine Anez Chavez, a senator from the Beni region who didn’t run the country’s recent election. The ardently Christian politician carried a Bible with her into the ceremony, which consolidated the coup d’etat in the Andean country.

Father-of-three Alex Nunez was returning from work in October during a military curfew imposed to curb violent protests in Chile’s capital Santiago when, his family say, he was chased by three police officers who beat him badly.

Nunez, a 39-year-old repairman, made it home that night but was rushed to hospital, where he died from his injuries shortly afterwards.

“Only 5% of his brain was working. They couldn’t operate,” his widow Natalia Perez told Reuters at her home in the low-income Santiago area of Maipu.

“He had a brain injury, cerebral edema and fractured skull.”

Police did not respond to a request for comment on the case and Reuters could not independently verify the family’s account.

When Morales was declared the winner in the October 20th elections, violent right-wing protests soon followed. The leaders of the opposition led by mostly fascist elements of Bolivian society including Luis Fernando Camacho who Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton of The Grayzone described him as “a powerful multi-millionaire named in the Panama Papers, and an ultra-conservative Christian fundamentalist groomed by a fascist paramilitary notorious for its racist violence, with a base in Bolivia’s wealthy separatist region of Santa Cruz.”

A late night vote in Bolivia’s Senate, which finally had a quorum after the police stopped blocking the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) party from the chamber, has agreed that all parties will work together toward having new elections as soon as possible.

New elections were promised by former President Evo Morales, and are still the goal despite his ouster and exile to Mexico. A lot of details are disputed between Morales’ MAS and self-proclaimed interim president Jeanine Anez, who was endorsed by the US and Bolivia’s military.

Early, free elections are likely to be a matter of dispute, as Anez insisted that, while she will allow the MAS to run a candidate in the vote, they’d better come up with one soon, and that she would absolutely forbid Morales from running again.

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

I just keep tripping on how dumb this latest US-backed military coup is. It’s in Bolivia in case you’ve lost track, which would be perfectly understandable since US-backed coups have become kind of like US mass shootings — there’s so many of them they’re starting to blend into each other.

I mean, for starters the justifications for this one are so cartoonishly reachy and desperate it boggles the mind a bit. The main argument you’ll see in favor of the coup is that Evo Morales was elected after Bolivia’s high court ruled that he could run for a fourth term, but the (democratically elected) court ruled against a 2016 referendum on presidential term limits.

That’s it. That weird, pedantic appeal to a particular interpretation of bureaucratic technicalities is the whole entire argument in support of a literal military coup backed by the United States.

Commanders of Bolivia’s military and police helped plot the coup and guaranteed its success. Before they were educated for insurrection through the US military’s notorious School of the Americas and FBI training programs.

American taxpayers are now paying the salaries and expenses of dozens of Venezuelan opposition figures who have created a “shadow government” inside Venezuela and abroad. On October 8, USAID signed a bilateral agreement with the faction of the Venezuelan opposition led by National Assembly president Juan Guaidó (whom the Trump administration recognizes as the “interim president” of Venezuela) that includes $98 million in assistance for Venezuelans.

United States President Donald Trump has issued threats Monday against the governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua after Sunday’s coup against President Evo Morales in Bolivia.

"The resignation yesterday of Bolivian President Evo Morales is a significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said in a statement published on the Withe House’s website, adding that “these events send a strong signal to the illegitimate regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua that democracy and the will of the people will always prevail."

The U.S. president also stated his support for the Bolivian military's role in the coup Monday saying that “the United States applauds the Bolivian people for demanding freedom and the Bolivian military for abiding by its oath to protect not just a single person, but Bolivia’s constitution.”

Earlier, several media outlets reported that the embassy had been invaded by people linked to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. The latter proclaimed himself interim president of the country in January 2019 and unsuccessfully tried to oust the elected president, Nicolas Maduro.

Vice Minister for the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, Yvan Gil, has stated that the country's embassy in Brazil suffered an attempted attack by groups supporting Juan Guaido, Venezuela’s self-proclaimed interim president, at 4 a.m. local time (7:00 GMT).

Over the past year, more than fifteen thousand Venezuelans who tried to start a new life in another country have chosen to come back home, taking advantage of a programme that allows them to return.

Venezuelans who fled the country are starting to return home. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, last year more than 15,000 citizens returned to Venezuela. The government has created the “Homecoming Plan” (Vuelta a la Patria Plan), which offers free flights to Caracas from several Latin American countries, however the authorities don’t have time to consider the applications of everyone who wants to use the programme, and the waiting list is growing.

From the claim of a ‘stolen’ election to the opposition burning ballots and the forced resignation of President Evo Morales, the events in Bolivia have followed the script of the original “color revolution” in Serbia.

A politician critical of Washington seeks re-election, and wins the vote in the first round under the existing rules. Opposition parties cry foul and demand a runoff, only to attack the polling stations and burn the ballots, making an accurate count impossible. Then their demands escalate: the “dictator” must resign without a new vote, the “people power” in the streets demands it.

Bolivian President Evo Morales “resigned” at gunpoint Sunday, after army generals publicly demanded his resignation, despite convincingly winning re-election just three weeks ago.

Bolivian coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho is a far-right multi-millionaire who arose from fascist movements in the Santa Cruz region, where the US has encouraged separatism. He has courted support from Colombia, Brazil, and the Venezuelan opposition.

Bolivia’s government has cancelled a joint venture project with Germany’s privately owned ACI Systems Alemania (ACISA), which was seeking to develop a massive lithium project in the country’s southern highlands.

Residents of Potosí, where the partners had planned to build a factory for electric vehicles (EVs) batteries and a lithium hydroxide plant, have been protesting since early October against the project. They claimed the region was not getting enough benefits from the deal and demanded authorities to raise the agreed 3% royalty to 11%, Spanish news agency EFE reported.

A series of 16 audios in which opposition leaders call for a coup against the newly re-elected president Evo Morales were leaked through various social platforms.

Local media point out that the destabilizing plan would have been coordinated by the United States Embassy in Bolivia prior to the elections and cites US senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are said to have direct contact with the Bolivian opposition in the strategy to overthrow Morales.

The plan focuses on the fact that if Evo Morales won the elections on October 20, a civil-military transition government would be established. The new government would allege fraud in the electoral process and would not recognize Morales' electoral victory.

On November 11, following victory in the October 20 presidential election and a vicious right-wing coup attempt, President Evo Morales resigned. Signs that a coup would occur if Morales won re-election surfaced before the election took place. Violent groups burnt buildings of Morales’ MAS (Movement Toward Socialism) Party and tried to cause chaos in the streets.

Immediately after the election, coup-supporters claimed there was election fraud without evidence to support the claim. The Organization of American States (OAS) demanded a recount, which Morales agreed to conduct. Then they called for a new election, which Morales consented to. And finally, as right-wing violence escalated to an extreme level, the head of the military turned against the President.

The resignation of Evo Morales is sending shockwaves across Bolivia, Latin America and around the world. People rallied immediately to reverse this US-supported coup using the hashtag, #EvoElMundoEstaContigo.

I suppose that by now everyone has heard of Trump’s offer to send the American military to “wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,” which he asserts can be done “quickly and effectively.”

If AMLO were to invite the Americans into Mexico, he would be lynched. Few Americans are aware of how much the United States is hated in Latin America, and for that matter in most of the world. They don’t know of the long series of military interventions, brutal dictators imposed and supported, and economic rapine. Somoza, Pinochet, the Mexican-American War, detachment of Panama from Colombia, bombardment of Veracruz, Patton’s incursion – the list could go on for pages. The Mexican public would look upon American troops not as saviors but as invaders. Which they would be.

The resignation of Evo Morales is going to send shockwaves through Bolivia and Latin America. Morales has done amazing work at building democracy in Bolivia and creating a more fair economy. He won the most recent election but a violent coup that began before the election escalated with physical attacks on his political allies and their homes, even his sister’s home was burned. The military urged Morales to resign to restore order. Hopefully, there will be some quick stability and another election.

Emergency protests are being called in Washington, DC and New York City against the coup:

A Bolivian mayor has been doused in red paint and had her hair hacked off by protesters who blamed her for the deaths of two opposition protesters.

Patricia Arce, of the governing Mas party, was dragged out of Vinto town hall on Wednesday and subjected to four hours of degradation in which she was made to kneel and sign her resignation.

Young men carrying batons and wearing masks chanted, 'Murderess, murderess,' as they marched Arce to a platform where they cut her hair before the baying mob.

Bolivia has been gripped by deadly protests following President Evo Morales' election victory on October 20 over claims it was rigged.

Chile’s right-wing President Sebastian Piñera recently declared war. He wasn’t referring to a foreign government, but to his own people. He even ordered tanks and the military to the streets.

An estimated 20 protesters have been killed and over 500 injured.

Opposition politicians held talks with U.S. senators to destabilize Bolivia and organize a general strike after Evo Morales' victory.

The Radio Education Network of Bolivia (Erbol) leaked 16 audios involving opposition leaders who are calling for a coup d'etat against the government of President Evo Morales, a political action which would have been coordinated from the U.S. embassy in the Andean country .
Among those mentioned in the audios are the U.S. senators Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez and Ted Cruz, who have would maintained contact with the Bolivian opposition in order to achieve a possible regime change in the South American country.??????????????

The audios also reveal participation in the political conspiracy of the former prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, who was accused of corruption in 2009 and fled Bolivia to seek asylum in the U.S., where he is currently living.??????????????

BY BEN NORTON
Max Blumenthal, the editor of the news site The Grayzone, was arrested on the morning of October 25 on a fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC that took place between April and May.

A team of DC police officers appeared at Blumenthal’s door at just after 9 AM, demanding entry and threatening to break his door down. A number of officers had taken positions on the side of his home as though they were prepared for a SWAT-style raid.

Blumenthal was hauled into a police van and ultimately taken to DC central jail, where he was held for two days in various cells and cages. He was shackled by his hands and ankles for over five hours in one such cage along with other inmates. His request for a phone call was denied by DC police and corrections officers, effectively denying him access to the outside world.

Protesters, angry over inequality, demand President Pinera's resignation in biggest protests to hit capital in years.

Almost one million protesters took to the streets of Chile yesterday and stayed through the night in the biggest demonstrations since violence broke out in the capital a week ago.

So far at least 18 people have been killed, hundreds wounded, and millions of dollars worth of damage has been caused.

Demonstrators waving national flags, blowing whistles and horns, wafting incense and bearing placards urging political and social change streamed through the streets, walking for miles from around Santiago to converge on Plaza Italia.

The scenes were replicated in cities around the country.

Protests that started over a hike in public transport fares boiled into riots, arson and looting that have killed at least 18 people, injured hundreds, brought more than 7,000 arrests and caused more than $1.4billion of losses to Chilean businesses.

More than 46 years of initially military imposed neoliberalism has finally exploded into widespread frustration, protest and violence. This neoliberalism culminated in 2017 with twelve businessmen, among them Chilean President Sebatián Piñera, monopolizing at least 17% of the national GDP, demonstrating the huge gap in wealth equity. There is little doubt why the latest protests have exploded violently, with 18 dead so far – Piñera had declared war on his own people to protect his lucrative monopoly racket.

It is without surprise he had declared war. The aggressive neoliberalism that has dominated Chile since the 1973 Chilean coup d’état when socialist President Salvador Allende was killed and eventually replaced by neoliberal Augusto Pinochet, with the backing and blessing of U.S. President Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, the CIA and the so-called “Chicago Boys” neoliberal economic team.

Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has said he has moved his government from the capital in Quito to the coastal city of Guayaquil amid violent protests over the end of fuel subsidies.

Images from Quito showed protesters hurling petrol bombs and stones, ransacking and vandalising public buildings as well as clashing with the police in running battles late into the night.

“[This] is not a protest of social dissatisfaction faced with a government decision but the looting, vandalism and violence show there is an organised political motive to destabilise the government,” Moreno said in televised address on Monday, flanked by the vice-president, defence minister and military top brass.

Moreno, 66, who has moved away from the leftwing policies of his predecessor and one-time mentor Rafael Correa, has said he will neither tolerate disorder nor overturn the scrapping of fuel subsidies as part of a package of austerity measures.

SOURCE: FAIR.ORG
Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, people are rising up against right-wing, US-backed governments and their neoliberal austerity policies.

Currently in Chile, the government of billionaire Sebastian Piñera has deployed the army to crush nationwide demonstrations against inequality sparked by a subway fare hike.

In Ecuador, indigenous peoples, workers and students recently brought the country to a standstill during 11 days of protests against the gutting of fuel subsidies by President Lenin Moreno as part of an IMF austerity package.

One might expect these popular rebellions to receive unreservedly sympathetic coverage from international media that claim to be on the side of democracy and the common people. On the contrary, corporate journalists frequently describe these uprisings as dangerous alterations of “law and order,” laden with “violence,” “chaos” and “unrest.”

Authored by J.G.Martinez D. via The Organic Prepper blog,

This week has been “interesting” in South America. Interesting, indeed, but as in the ancient Chinese curse style.

Here are 6 signs that civilian unrest is impending or already occurring.
The first sign, of course, is bad looks when you walk on the street.

The second sign, perhaps this is more subtle, when you see people that normally would be polite or indifferent, as a minimum, starts to look at you in sort of aggressive manner.

The third sign, of course, is people disappearing off the streets.

The fourth sign is (obviously) Law Enforcement Officials (LEOs) presence in massive amounts in the streets.

The fifth sign in modern times would be (because in the demonstrations the uniforms used it massively to identify potential groups as a target) drones flying close to some blockage or LEOs control point.

The sixth sign, and the last one, is when you start seeing people wearing a single color.

The Venezuelan government is readying to hand over control over state oil company PDVSA to Russia’s Rosneft, a local newspaper has reported, citing sources from the industry.

Russian TASS reports, quoting El Nacional, that the radical move is being discussed as a way of erasing Caracas’ debt to Moscow. The debt is sizeable: at the end of June this year, money owed to Rosneft alone stood at $1.1 billion. That’s down from $1.8 billion at end-March.

Two years ago, Caracas and Moscow sealed a deal for the restructuring of another $3.15 billion debt to Russia over 10 years with minimum payments over the first six years. Since 2006, Russian loans to Venezuela have reached more than $17 billion in total.

President Lenin Moreno's government withdrew the neoliberal program which had sparked the massive protests. Indigenous groups remain wary, though, in case the government implements new austerity measures.

Thousands of protesters in Haiti took to the streets to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, setting businesses and government buildings ablaze in chaotic demonstrations prompted by claims of official corruption.
In Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, demonstrators looted a police station and made off with ammunition, ballistics vests and even office furniture on Friday. Elsewhere in the city, homes and businesses were set on fire. A courthouse in the city of Jacmel was also torched.

The Venezuelan government denounced Sunday discovery of more than 54 spy planes of the United States in the country’s airspace throughout September.

The Operational Strategic Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Ceofanb), Remigio Ceballos revealed the airspace violations through his Twitter account.

“Operation Venezuela Sovereignty and Peace. Commander Ceofanb AJ Remigio Ceballos denounced the detection of more than 54 exploration aircraft from the U.S. during the month of September,” said the tweet.

He said the devices were detected “by the radars of the Comprehensive Aerospace Defense Command.”

The Peruvian military and police pledged loyalty to President Martin Vizcarra after he was accused of launching a coup by dissolving parliament. The opposition, meanwhile, voted to remove him from office.
The slow-burning political crisis in Peru reached the boiling point after Vizcarra dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament on Monday and called for a new general election in January.

“May this exceptional measure allow citizens to finally express themselves and decide the country’s future at the polls,” he said in a televised address.

Vizcarra previously threatened to dissolve parliament if the opposition continues to block his anti-graft bills. The president finally decided to make the move after lawmakers voted to replace almost all Constitutional Court judges despite his objections.

The Zionist right-wing of the Illuminati want to remove Daniel Ortega
much like Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. But Gabriel, a longtime
American ex-pat says Ortega has been good for Nicaragua and the US,
as usual, is out of line.

SOURCE: TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG
The Trump administration has reached an accord that could allow the United States to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S. border and send them to El Salvador to seek refuge, pushing migrants into one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The deal between the two governments is the latest in a series of policies aimed at creating new layers of deterrents to the influx of migrants applying for protection on U.S. soil.

Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is scheduled to announce the deal Friday afternoon, according to administration officials with knowledge of the agreement. McAleenan traveled to El Salvador to hash out the accord last month with president Nayib Bukele. News of the accord was first reported by the Associated Press.

SOURCE: TELESURENGLISH.NET

Ecuador’s minister of Defense Oswaldo Jarrin confirmed Thursday that ‘elite’ units of Ecuador’s military will begin training in Israel. Jarrin made the announcement as he hailed a new era of close Israel-Ecuador relations, a turn away from the approach of leftist former President Rafael Correa who cut military ties in 2010, in solidarity with Palestine.

The cooperation will be to ‘modernize’ Ecuador’s armed forces and to take ‘counter-terrorism’ courses, given by Israel’s military. Details also emerged about US$30 million worth of weapons that Ecuador has purchased from Israel in the last year alone.

Israeli officials have told Ecuadorean media that there is now a ‘flourishing relationship’ between the two countries.

Jarrin said this is because there is “now an environment of international cooperation that did not exist before”, in reference to the breakdown in relations that took place under the previous government of Rafael Correa.

Lorenza Romero's stationary shop on Monroe Avenue is painted red on the outside, with a wide window and a glass-covered counter filled with banknotes from around the world. It's her son's collection, and all but one currency is out of circulation - the United States dollar bill.

"That's the one that drives people crazy here," she says. "Their own currency doesn't count for them."

The 72-year-old grandmother's observation exposes what is a raw nerve for many Argentines. The country's official, sovereign currency is the peso - people earn in it, and they spend with it - but it's the US dollar that defines value here.

SOURCE: RT

Juan Guaido may have some explaining to do. Photos have emerged depicting the Venezuelan opposition leader with gang members, confirmed by Colombian police to be leaders in the violent drug trafficking outfit, Los Rastrojos.
The photos first appeared in a tweet on Friday, shared by Wilfredo Canizares of the Fundacion Progresar (Progress Foundation), a Colombian NGO. They depict the US-sponsored “interim president” of Venezuela Juan Guaido posing chummily with two known drug lords, known under the aliases “The Brother,” and “The Minor.”

Canizares said the photos prove that Guaido “coordinated” with the gang to cross the border into Colombia in February, where he attended a Live Aid-style concert organized by billionaire philanthropist Richard Branson, hoping to gin up international support for the opposition’s cause.

Washington wants Bolivarian Venezuela transformed into a US vassal state — to eliminate its social democracy and gain control over its vast oil reserves, the world’s largest.

On Wednesday, the Trump regime earmarked over $120 million for Colombia.

Masquerading as “humanitarian assistance” for Venezuelans in the country, what’s planned may be something similar to US Central American paramilitary wars in the 1980s.

SOURCE: ZEROHEDGE

The US military has effectively surrounded Venezuela, ahead of a possible military intervention.

We've reported in the past that the Pentagon is jointly working with Colombia, Brazil and other regional partners on how to crush Venezuela's economy so that President Nicolás Maduro would step down.

Now there's a new report that the US military has been deployed to the impoverished South American nation of Guyana, the first time in a decade. The country is located on South America's North Atlantic coast and borders Venezuela to the West.

get very nasty here, and very quickly.