Looks like they're taking a more extreme approach:
http://www.miamiherald.com/new...rticle151329772.html

In secret recording, Venezuelan general pushes for snipers to control demonstrators

Claiming to be primed for civil war, a Venezuelan general issued orders to prepare for the future use of snipers against anti-government protesters, according to a secret recording of a regional command meeting held three weeks ago at a military base in the northwestern Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto.

......In the end, “it will only be us [the military] that pulls through because … once people start to see dead bodies, and dead bodies begin to appear, then everyone will begin to stay at home,” Torrealba said. “You will remember my words, the armed forces are the ones that have to solve this problem.”

================================================

I hope the Antifa idiots here realize a similar option could await them in the US in the near future......likely police based and not military!

Venezuela’s opposition leader barred from leaving the country

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles said he was barred from leaving the country Thursday as he planned to address a United Nations session in New York about the country’s escalating violence.

In a video posted on Twitter, Capriles said his passport had been “stolen” from him by Venezuelan immigration authorities at Caracas’ international airport. In a subsequent release, he said authorities had annulled his passport, even though it was valid through 2020.

Capriles, the governor of Miranda State and a two-time presidential candidate, had planned to meet with the U.N. human rights commission to talk about the deaths and detentions that have taken place during national protests that began April 1.

Those protests, which have left more than 40 dead on both sides of the political divide, were sparked, in part, by the government’s decision to bar Capriles from elected office for 15 years.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he hoped the passport revocation was not a “reprisal” linked to his scheduled meeting with Capriles on Friday. And Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro took to Twitter to call the government’s move “unacceptable” and a “flagrant violation” of human rights.

Amid growing calls for general elections, the Nicolás Maduro administration has been sidelining key opponents — most notably, politician Leopoldo López, who has been in jail since 2014.

Other opposition leaders have also said that they’ve had their passports revoked by the government.

“I apologize to all the people at the United Nations but I won’t be able to travel,” Capriles said. Instead of traveling, he said he would return to Caracas to join in ongoing protests Thursday.

http://www.miamiherald.com/new...rticle151267432.html

Just a matter of time before the country implodes.
Hopefully it won't kill to many innocent people and they can end up with a government that will end their totalitarian/socialist nightmare.
Neighboring countries run by leftists should wise up and change direction too, before it's too late for them.
On the other hand, the socialist life hasn't been too bad for Hugo Chavez daughter, alleged to be worth a little over 4 billion US dollars.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Just a matter of time before the country implodes.
Hopefully it won't kill to many innocent people and they can end up with a government that will end their totalitarian/socialist nightmare.
Neighboring countries run by leftists should wise up and change direction too, before it's too late for them.
On the other hand, the socialist life hasn't been too bad for Hugo Chavez daughter, alleged to be worth a little over 4 billion US dollars.

Bet she never gets out alive...

Protesters hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces who retaliated with water cannons and tear gas as the violent clashes which have claimed 59 lives continue in Venezuela.

Police used the increasingly forceful measures to disperse tens of thousands of opposition protesters heading towards the foreign ministry as the Organization of American States held another meeting on the continuing crisis.

Two months of protests against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government have convulsed the South American OPEC nation, with at least 59 people killed in the unrest.

In the latest uprising, opposition supporters demanding elections, freedom for jailed activists, and foreign humanitarian aid, marched onto Caracas' main highway aiming to reach the ministry.


Demonstrators look on as motorcycles belonging to riot security forces are set on fire during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas
+17

Demonstrators look on as motorcycles belonging to riot security forces are set on fire during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas

A police officer in a tear gas mask carried away an injured opposition protester on a motorbike as the riots continued


Demonstrators ready to fire a home made mortar against government security forces amid the violent clashes



An opposition activist wearing a helmet and gas mask stands near a burning motorbike. Two months of protests against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government have convulsed the South American OPEC nation, with at least 59 people killed in the unrest

But as happens near-daily with rallies trying to reach government offices, National Guard soldiers blocked their way and drove them back with volleys of gas and shoots of water.

Masked youths hurled stones and Molotov cocktails in return.

'It's always the same. We set off peacefully and they attack us. We have to respond, we're human beings,' said law student Brian Suarez, 20, holding a homemade wooden shield depicting a shooting target with the faces of Maduro and other officials.

'Here are the faces of the people who have led us to ruin,' he added, as some women handed food, shoes and other supplies to the young men battling the security forces.

With international pressure mounting on Maduro, foreign ministers from the 34-nation OAS bloc were to meet in Washington, D.C., later on Wednesday to debate the situation in Venezuela.

When that meeting was announced last month, Venezuela said it was withdrawing from the OAS in protest.

Maduro, 54, accuses opponents of seeking his violent overthrow with U.S. support, similar to a short-lived 2002 coup against his popular predecessor Hugo Chavez.

He has called for the creation of a super-body, or constituent assembly, with powers to rewrite the constitution, in voting set for the end of July.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...s.html#ixzz4ilK1Nk3Q

Inside Venezuela: The Socialist Haven on the Brink of Total Collapse

CARACAS, Venezuela – Even at Bogotá airport in Colombia, the closest major capital city to Venezuela, a look of curiosity comes over the faces of staff when you tell them you are heading to Caracas.

Entry visas into Venezuela remain fairly accessible, although journalists are not allowed without a special visa. Although I claimed I was there as a tourist, this seemed far-fetched even to the likely pro-government immigration authorities. “What is the real motive of your visit?” the officer asked me. “Seeing my girlfriend,” I replied.

She smiled. “Welcome to Venezuela.”

As you travel down from Simon Bolívar International Airport into the city center, the difference between Caracas and Bogotá – formerly one of the world’s major drug war battlegrounds – is stark.

Armed police stand on almost every street corner. Every physical space is dedicated to promoting the success of the late Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution and Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime. The opposition undermines official government propaganda with its own graffiti, effectively accusing the regime of destroying the country with the highest oil reserves in the world.

The rise in anti-government messaging stands out compared to my visit last November. Pro-government propaganda shares the streets with graffiti denouncing the regime on nearly every block.

“This is the new Bolivarian toilet paper” – a reference to Maduro’s proposed changes to the Venezuelan constitution, rejected by the people in a vote last year. Maduro is depicted holding a pocket constitution.

“If hunger kills the people, the people will take out the government.”

A billboard calls for the release of opposition Leopoldo López, who was imprisoned by the regime in 2014 for organizing a peaceful assembly against Maduro.

Nearly every day, anti-government marches take place across Venezuela, nearly all of which attract violence. So far, as many as 84 protesters have been killed since daily protests began in late March, as police use water cannons, rubber bullets, and smoke bombs to control the situation.

Protests have the feel of an out-of-control soccer crowd. There is a feeling of solidarity among people, most of whom are wearing Venezuelan flags. On the side of the street, salesmen sell what can only be described as protest merchandise, including Venezuelan flags, horns, and t-shirts.

Below, the shirts read from left to right: “S.O.S. Venezuela;” “Whosoever Tires Will Lose;” “Resistance: Don’t Surrender!”

Closer to police and military barriers, the protests become more tense, with the menace of violence constantly present. Many of those protesting are boys and young men in their mid-teens.

“This is a fight for our families, for our future,” a group of masked protesters tell me. “We will risk our lives every day for as long as it takes to bring down this dictatorship.”

On a visit to the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the country’s biggest university, something seemed not quite right. The university itself seems like any other, with department buildings scattered around a campus, as well as grandiose facilities such as sports stadiums and a stunning concert hall.

Yet, despite it being a Wednesday, there are barely any students around. “The situation is too serious right now for students to dedicate sufficient time to studying,” English professor Lilliana Céspedes tells me. “Many prioritize attending anti-government marches or trying to earn money to support their families. During some of my classes, just a handful of students turn up.”

One of the most frustrating things about trying to understand Venezuela is the high level of security at places the regime would like to hide. As I enter a government-run supermarket, security guards check my pockets to see what I am carrying. They find my camera. “No photos here,” they say. A similar routine takes place on the way out.

I also tried my luck at a Venezuelan state hospital, although this time armed guards asked me to put the camera away. Nearly every public place in Caracas is guarded by police keeping a watchful eye over the situation. Most are very meagerly paid, but still officially remain supportive of the government.

Sitting in a hospital waiting room, armed guards soon ask me to put away my camera. Failing to comply would likely mean facing arrest.

Amid the crisis, some Venezuelans have accused others of not doing enough to fight the Maduro regime. “The only way I see out of the current regime is a military coup,” my taxi driver, Nelson Álvarez, tells me. “Some people have accused me of indifference towards the current political situation, but I have a family to look after. No matter how many or how violent the opposition protests, the key to bringing down this government are the military.”

Everything about Venezuela suggests this is a nation on the brink of collapse. Whether it is the ongoing violence, the extreme poverty, or the enormous piles of garbage in the street, nothing is working as it should be. In January, inflation reached over 800 percent, while some analysts predicting it could reach 1500 percent by the end of the year. Even at one of the city’s most exclusive hotels, breakfast offerings remain scarce and electricity and internet connection regularly cut out.

While some still solely blame the current crisis on the collapse in oil prices in 2012, a vast majority of Venezuelans believe the country needs serious economic reform. After 17 years of hardcore socialism, egged on by left-wing elites around the world, many in leadership appear hesitant to accuse the socialist system itself – and not the people running it – of being the problem.

Many within the opposition’s leadership structure are members of the Socialist International (SI). Popular Will, the party led by Leopoldo López before his arrest, belongs to the SI. López’s colleagues often find it easier to lay the blame at Maduro’s feet and call for elections, rather than demand a free, capitalist society, rebuilt from the ground up.

Yet the students and street protesters, who have put their lives on pause to fight Maduro, seem to understand that the institutional rot goes way beyond Maduro.

As one student put it to me: “Chávez succeeded in creating an equal society by making everyone poor.”

http://www.breitbart.com/natio...rink-total-collapse/

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:/snip

As one student put it to me: “Chávez succeeded in creating an equal society by making everyone poor.”

http://www.breitbart.com/natio...rink-total-collapse/

That is the ONLY way socialism works.

quote:

“What is the real motive of your visit?” the officer asked me. “Seeing my girlfriend,” I replied.

She smiled. “Welcome to Venezuela.”

Cool. Venezuela has officially become just like Cuba.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

quote:

“What is the real motive of your visit?” the officer asked me. “Seeing my girlfriend,” I replied.
She smiled. “Welcome to Venezuela.”

Cool. Venezuela has officially become just like Cuba.

Take me down to the paradise City /
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty ...

I seriously want to know why Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Bernie Sanders, and every American Socialist is NOT down there right now showing their undying support for the great things that Socialism is doing to Venezuela right now......

There's something (s) kinda not right about the homemade mortar in that picture.

In a hold my beer and watch kinda way(s).

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
I seriously want to know why Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Bernie Sanders, and every American Socialist is NOT down there right now showing their undying support for the great things that Socialism is doing to Venezuela right now......

Because they're smarter than they look--or sound?

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by roberth:

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:/snip

As one student put it to me: “Chávez succeeded in creating an equal society by making everyone poor.”

http://www.breitbart.com/natio...rink-total-collapse/

That is the ONLY way socialism works.

However, some animals are more equal than others.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
I seriously want to know why Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Bernie Sanders, and every American Socialist is NOT down there right now showing their undying support for the great things that Socialism is doing to Venezuela right now......

Lip service does not require the assumption of any personal risk.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
I seriously want to know why Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Bernie Sanders, and every American Socialist is NOT down there right now showing their undying support for the great things that Socialism is doing to Venezuela right now......

It's just not run by the right people....

This author asks the same question:

June 14, 2017
Chavista celebrities refuse to say they were wrong about socialism
By John Dietrich

The New York Times published an article on Venezuela titled “Dying Infants and No Medicine: Inside Venezuela’s Failing Hospitals.” It reads like an apocalyptic horror story and begins, “By morning, three newborns were already dead.” The author provides an explanation for this tragedy: “This nation has the largest oil reserves in the world, yet the government saved little money for hard times when oil prices were high. Now that prices have collapsed — they are around a third what they were in 2014 — the consequences are casting a destructive shadow across the country.” No other explanation is offered. Perhaps we will be receiving report of massive starvation in Saudi Arabia soon.

The article is a far cry from the glowing reports that greeted the assumption of power by Hugo Chavez. When Chavez was elected Venezuela’s people were the wealthiest in Latin America. Celebrities flocked to Caracas to pay homage to the new socialist leader. Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Danny Glover, and Harry Belafonte are just a few of the entertainers who have visited. Oliver Stone has made a film, Mi Amigo Hugo, about the Venezuelan leader. Now Venezuela appears to be suffering a food shortage. A survey by three universities found 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average 19 pounds this year.

Have the Venezuelan revolution’s early supporters admitted they were wrong? Are they at all embarrassed? According to John Stossel they believe they were right to praise Venezuela’s move to socialism. Stossel corresponded with college professor Noam Chomsky. Chomsky’s reply to Stossel’s question about his support for Chavez was, “I was right." Chomsky blamed Venezuela’s problems on capitalists: “Capitalists were free to undermine the economy in all sorts of ways, like massive export of capital." Stossel quotes Marian Tupy, editor of HumanProgress.org. who said, “More countries will refuse to learn from history and give socialism 'a go.' 'Useful idiots,' to use Lenin's words ... will sing socialism's praises until the last light goes out."

Socialism has failed repeatedly. How can apparently well-educated intelligent people maintain their faith in a failed system? The answer is that in spite of their claims of being based on science, socialism is a religion. It is the official religion taught in many public schools in the U.S. It is a form of Christianity without Christ. Millions of adherents will swear a vow of poverty to further their programs. The socialist elite, however, is another matter. This brings us to Maria Gabriela Chavez, Hugo’s daughter. According to Diario las Americas she has $4.2 billion in American and Andorran banks. The socialist elite does very well for itself. They apparently see no contradiction in living well as others starve. Communist defector Victor Kravchenko described this phenomenon when he was a member of the Soviet elite: “I found myself among men who could eat ample and dainty food in full view of starving people not only with a clear conscience but with a feeling of righteousness, as if they were performing a duty to history.”

Reuters published an article describing the role played by social media in the opposition to the government. Activists are posting details of the lifestyles of government officials and their families. They expose them as thriving from corruption while the “common man” is starving. One estimate suggests that $350 billion dollars have been misappropriated by Venezuelan officials. The Atlantic reported on a blog, “Relojes del Chavismo” that lists the brands and prices of watches worn by the Venezuelan elite. Vladimir Lopes, the Minister of Defense sports a $11,900 Rolex while the President of a state TV channel wears a $12,600 watch. Still these officials may be considered frugal compared to our own champions of the downtrodden. Former member of the House of Representatives, Jesse Jackson Jr., reportedly had a $43,000 Rolex.

The success of socialism seems to depend upon having the “right people” running the government. Are our advocates of wealth redistribution setting a good example for their followers? Do Bernie Sanders, Mark Zuckerberg, and the hundreds of entertainers and academic who advocate for socialism, wear hair shirts? Or do they live lives of incredible opulence maintaining several residences that remain vacant in their absence?

http://www.americanthinker.com...about_socialism.html

quote:

Originally posted by divil:
I hope the commie, mouth-breathing, third world scum enjoy thier recently completed utopian workers paradise to its fullest.

Speeking of which, we should send Sean Penn and Danny Glover down there to help set up a Paradise they thought the country was like under Hugo.

There you go. When they come home they'll be "veteran facilitators" and shit.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
There's something (s) kinda not right about the homemade mortar in that picture.

In a hold my beer and watch kinda way(s).

I was thinking the same.

Yep. Amateur night at the Improv but between liberty and socialism, I'd make do too.

I suspect that many Venezuelans would be quite happy to welcome some good old capitalist overlords. Assuming of course they got fed.

There is nothing surprising here. Given human nature, the current condition of Venezuela is the inevitable consequence and destination of their past choices.

As others have implied, the (somewhat of a) surprise is now many notable people were some mix of ignorant, apathetic, complicit as to how this would turn out.