The United States of Venezuela

[PaloAltoCougar]

I went to join and the link had expired. Kinda bummed as I was looking forward to this discussion.

Too bad you missed it as it was interesting. A few random snippets...

Venezuela has the election infrastructure (state-of-the art voting machines among other things) to provide for fair elections in the absence of authoritarian overseers.

The transition to a well-functioning democracy may take years as the Maduro machine is well-entrenched at all levels of government. In order for that transtion to occur, the U.S. needs to show full support, even protection, for those working for democratic change. Trump seems more concerned about oil than democracy. The U.S. should be encouraging, including providing protection, Machado to return. I suspect the fact that she received the Nobel Peace Prize Trump thought he deserved doesn't help her chances.

[dabrockster]

Too bad you missed it as it was interesting. A few random snippets...

Venezuela has the election infrastructure (state-of-the art voting machines among other things) to provide for fair elections in the absence of authoritarian overseers.

The transition to a well-functioning democracy may take years as the Maduro machine is well-entrenched at all levels of government. In order for that transtion to occur, the U.S. needs to show full support, even protection, for those working for democratic change. Trump seems more concerned about oil than democracy. The U.S. should be encouraging, including providing protection, Machado to return. I suspect the fact that she received the Nobel Peace Prize Trump thought he deserved doesn't help her chances.

If you get a recording of it, please share! Sounds like to was very informative. I am also infuriated with Trump and his shooting from the hip and then backing off.. This is about oil when it could be about so much more. If you are going to remove the illegitimate President. You need to remove his enforcers as all they have done is clamp down more and they are allowing it.

This could be a defining moment if it succeeds, but he is not interesting in helping the people. At least it seems that way. We shall see.

[dabrockster]

Possible ripple effect impacting Cuba..

Even before the possible cut in Venezuelan assistance, Cuba was mired in its deepest economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Fuel shortages and decrepit infrastructure are leading to massive, economy-crushing blackouts, and about a fifth of the island’s inhabitants don’t have reliable drinking water.

Signs of strain are everywhere, from garbage going uncollected to empty store shelves and soaring rates of mosquito-borne disease in a nation that used to hold up its health sector as a global model.
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Much will depend on the new power structure in Venezuela, where Vice President Delcy Rodríguez took control with Washington’s blessing. It’s unclear how much autonomy she will have to continue Cuban support.
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If Washington does effectively sever Venezuela’s energy and financial ties to the island, it’s likely to lead to even more dire conditions. Locals describe the daily grind searching for affordable food while dealing with hours-long blackouts as exhausting.
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“We’re already living in the dark, but what little electricity we have comes from Venezuela,” said Emilio, who lives in Havana and asked not to be identified with his full name because he’s worried criticism could affect the treatment of relatives who are in prison for political dissent. “It’s us, the people, who are going to have to pay the bill.”

https://financialpost.com/pmn/busine...estroys-morale

To buy gasoline, people have to use an app to sign up for an appointment — at least three weeks in advance. One resident of Havana, the capital, said he joined the queue three months ago, and is now No. 5,052 in line.

The lack of gasoline has led to sporadic trash pickup, which has led to outbreaks of mosquito-born illnesses like dengue and chikungunya. Medicines are nearly impossible to find without relatives abroad to send them.

The blackouts have exacerbated an already bleak situation, particularly in provinces outside the capital, which can go 20 hours a day without power. Experts say that it remains unclear how big an effect the fall of Mr. Maduro will have on Cuba, as the Trump administration exerts more control over Venezuela’s state oil industry. When Hugo Chávez was president, he kept Cuba afloat with some 90,000 barrels of oil daily. In the last quarter of 2025, Cuba received just 35,000.

The resulting power outages have hurt industries like nickel production, because the factories are off when there’s no power.

Another crucial industry, tourism, has also suffered in recent years. Before the Covid pandemic, four million people a year used to visit Cuba; that number has struggled to get back to two million, economists said.

But prices at the private stores are exorbitant, particularly for people who earn salaries in the local currency. A typical monthly pension is 3,000 pesos, less than $7, while a carton of 30 eggs costs 3,600 pesos — $8.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/world/americas/cuba-economy-venezuela-oil.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ClA.c2xi.X4_1uJDj QPSU&smid=url-share

[dabrockster]

Not to lose focus on Venezuela, Reports indicated the repressed nation lead by a puppet President and the remaining regime leaders has not changed anything. This include Cabello who runs the armed militia (Colectivos) who are out terrorizing Venezuelans and looking for any support of the U.S. so they can arrest and jail. An advisory on travel to Venezuela is at the highest level to avoid. Unless the U.S. does the right thing by removing these current regime leaders, nothing will change and any support for what was done will be gone.

"There are reports of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of US citizenship or support for the United States. Remain vigilant and exercise caution when travelling by road. Monitor airlines’ communications and websites for updated information.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...eave-venezuela




Venezuelans who celebrated the removal of Maduro are now slapped with the reality that nothing has changed..

Since last summer, Rodríguez has also been backed by several present and former administration officials close to the White House, who dropped their support for a plan to overthrow the regime entirely and install Machado or her allies as leaders of the country. A source close to the negotiations said: “[Rodríguez] is not a dogmatist by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact, the reason she’s sitting there is because everyone who’s worked with her, including Chevron and other members of the oil industry, went to the administration and said, ‘Look, we can work with Delcy … Delcy is competent and capable’.”

Germán Márquez, a former Venezuelan vice-minister of hydrocarbons, told me that a “channel of understanding and co-operation” had been opened between Venezuela and the US that would allow them to begin investing in improving oil infrastructure.


Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world but production is only a fraction of its potential due to decades of underinvestment, mismanagement, corruption and sanctions.

Yet revitalising the industry would not be a simple process, Márquez said.

“It’s not like you just say, ‘Well, here are billions of dollars’, and then tomorrow we can begin to produce,” he said. “It requires the construction of adequate infrastructure.”

It would, he said, take five to ten years to double production to two million barrels a day, a “titanic” task that would also require many Venezuelan oil experts who had fled the country to return. Other sources in the oil industry played down the difficulties involved and said production could be significantly raised within a year.

As Rodríguez tries to project an image of national unity, however, she is dogged by rumours that other powerful members of the regime could move against her. Diosdado Cabello, head of the state’s feared security apparatus, controls paramilitary groups known as colectivos, who are roaming Caracas on motorbikes stopping civilians and checking their phones for evidence of anti-regime sentiment.

https://www.thetimes.com/world/latin...gime-6k6gk28s2

[myboynoah]

No big surprise here.

[Northwestcoug]

I’m sure Presidente Trump will have this sorted out ahorita:
IMG_0083.jpeg

[frank ryan]

I’m sure Presidente Trump will have this sorted out ahorita:
IMG_0083.jpeg

Is that how the Venezuelan constitution works?

[dabrockster]

Reports the U.S. used civilian-painted planes on the initial drug-boats attacks coming from Venezuela. Interested in the military folks take on this.

The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September, according to officials briefed on the matter. The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings, they said.

The nonmilitary appearance is significant, according to legal specialists, because the administration has argued its lethal boat attacks are lawful — not murders — because President Trump “determined” the United States is in an armed conflict with drug cartels.

But the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, then attacking and killing them. That is a war crime called “perfidy.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...smid=url-share

[Northwestcoug]

I’m no military guy, but this seems like a war crime if the admin had enough courage of their convictions to justify making its case to Congress so they would authorize their extrajudicial killings by calling it a war so then it could be officially branded a war crime.

[falafel]

I’m no military guy, but this seems like a war crime if the admin had enough courage of their convictions to justify making its case to Congress so they would authorize their extrajudicial killings by calling it a war so then it could be officially branded a war crime.

Using civilian-disguised planes is a war crime? I'm interested in what a civilian-disguised B-2 Bomber would look like.

[dabrockster]

Using civilian-disguised planes is a war crime? I'm interested in what a civilian-disguised B-2 Bomber would look like.

Here is a link on Reddit that shows photos of the plane believed to be used.

IMG_7543.jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/s/IuqvpMnDDM

[falafel]

Here is a link on Reddit that shows photos of the plane believed to be used.

IMG_7543.jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/s/IuqvpMnDDM

I can't imagine that thing dropping bombs. I wonder if reddit is mistaken on this. That thing actually LOOKS like a 747. Where are the missiles?

[Bo Diddley]

I can't imagine that thing dropping bombs. I wonder if reddit is mistaken on this. That thing actually LOOKS like a 737. Where are the missiles?

FIFY

[falafel]

FIFY

Shit, I thought about that . At least you confirm it is a passenger airplane!

[dabrockster]

I can't imagine that thing dropping bombs. I wonder if reddit is mistaken on this. That thing actually LOOKS like a 747. Where are the missiles?

if you read the article, it speaks to how there is a door on the belly that allows for bombs to be dropped. This style plane also hides any and all weapons that are usually in plain sight under the wings. Hence the purpose of a covert plane to be used by the military to strike.


NYTimes article quote:

The U.S. military operates several aircraft that are built on civilian airframes — including modified Boeing 737s and Cessna turboprops — and can launch munitions from internal weapons bays without visible external armaments. Such aircraft are usually painted gray and have military markings, but militaryand plane-spotting websites show that a few are painted white and have minimal markings.