Venezuela

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I don't think even Venezuelans know... other than to say the Election was Stolen.

pretty sure its just

Elon must be the Svengali for the entire Globe.

Venezuela is what we'll look like if trump wins.

nationalize the industries? wtf I love Trump now.

The pro business nominee being affront to an free market economy.

LOL... that's some funny stuff.

jeebus. He isn't pro anything other than pro-trump.

I don't know what happened but it's hard to imagine that Maduro would win in a fair election. From the Venezuelans that I've talked to, Maduro does still have some support but I don't think it's the majority.

Although my understanding is that conditions have improved there in recent years. The economy is now dollarized which has helped stabilize inflation.

it's the size of the difference that does it for me..

"Independent exit polls pointed to 65% support for Gonzalez and between 14% and 31% backing for Maduro."

opposition saying they have up to 71% of the vote.. and Maduro's side saying he reached 51% at midnight on election day..

Didn’t the exit polls say John Kerry would have a decisive victory over Bush in 2004? Then Bush ended up clearly winning. How much do the exit polls really tell us?

Is there evidence of widespread fraud in this election? I don’t trust the results but where is the proof that it’s rigged?

I watched most of this last night. It's in Spanish obviously and Colombian news isn't going to be too sympathetic to Maduro. Can use auto translate with YouTube.

After the 2018 election which was mired in its own problems and credible accusations about unfair play, Venezuela has gone your typical increasingly autocratic path. First installation of courts loyal to the government, then legal verdicts and constitutional amendments that secure more power in the executive. Finally the government uses its now largely unchecked power to persecute, jail and remove political rivals.

So it was not really a good look going in to the election. It was unfair and undemocratic to begin with.

However, to make matters worse, right before the election, Venezuela rejects independent observers access to the election. This is also a very typical sign of an autocratic takeover, where independent observers are blocked entry and only loyalists are allowed to conduct oversight.

So, if you want to down the route of philosophical skepticism, then we don't know exactly what went down, but it doesn't look good.

If you want a less naive take, Venezuela is in the final phase of becoming fully fledged dictatorship.

From a meta perspective I was listening to a podcast where the question was posed why every autocratic regime supports the Maduro regime; even those with radically different ideologies.

And the answer was given that Westerners (pre Trump at least) take democracy and liberalism for granted and dont even really think about it as a contagious, inspirational movement. If anything, we are overly cynical and just want to criticize its imperfections.

But autocratic dictators are extremely sensitive towards other autocracies being challenged, because they recognize that liberalism and democracy can be contagious; and they dont want the (hopeful) downfall of Maduro to give their own people ideas.

I'd say that it is a pretty good take. Though there is often a geopolitical component to these statements, as support can come from convenience as well. Put some economy or geography into the mix, and you'll see peace-loving democracies shake hands with brutal totalitarian regimes.

But yes, I think there is a good portion of truth in what you say. A lot of boils down to free speech. Those of us who have grown up with free speech don't really consider how impactful it is. Free speech is extremely dangerous: It can topple governments, render the powerful impotent and greatly accelerate societal shifts.

I just got an email from Rick Scott. Apparently this whole Venezuela thing is Biden's/Harris' fault.

Which is why it's truly dramatic that Spain vice president Yolanda Díaz (a communist) congratulated Maduro election win the same day the result came out.

To note, Diaz is on video claiming that "from river to the sea palestine will be free" recently.

Thanks. This was my assumption as well. I just didn't know the specifics.

I think this is an interesting perspective and almost certainly more right than wrong.

Thanks. You are the most reliable poster in these parts when it comes to stuff like this.

Of course the MAGA crowd is trying to say all that stuff happened in the US.

I wonder how much support Maduro would get if the US didn’t inflict that country with sanctions.

Is the opposition party in Venezuela to be trusted? I know Maduro and his supporters are calling them Fascists, which I’m sure is bs.

Well, the irony is that that they aren't completely off the mark. It is just that the timeline was flipped on its head, and the people behind it weren't the leftists / communists / liberals / lizard people they were so afraid of.

The recent SCOTUS verdict that basically gives US Supreme Court the power to determine which president gets away with doing what he wants (and you don't need to be a genius to figure out which side of the aisle he would have to come from) is pretty much straight out of the autocracy 101 handbook. This is exactly the type of power-grab you see from the Erdogans, Maduros, Netanyahu, Orbans and Putins of the world.

However, it came at the wrong time in the script. What the autocrat wants is for this type of powergrab to come when he is already the head of state. It is easy to see why. If you get this kind of power when year are already in charge of executive, you can start breaking whatever laws and norms your loyalist courts is willing to let slide and thus cement your power via undemocratic means.

The verdict also means that every aspect of the deep state that could normally stop you (technocrats, bureacrats, agencies, watch dogs, law enforcement) is rendered irrelevant. Their power is wholly usurped by the courts in an extreme legal maneuver.

However, in this case the verdict came before the election, perhaps hurried through by the prospect of Trump going to jail or having to be held responsible for his crimes. So, unlike many of these hybrid or failing states, the US actually gets a shot at avoiding the fallout from this verdict at the election booth. Well, at least for a four year period.

If it is going to matter in the election booths is another matter entirely. Human rights and democratic ideals can be rather abstract, and perhaps not easy to sell in the age of 10-second videos and headline ideology.