Month: April 2019

US Takes Illegal, Dangerous Actions Toward Regime Change in Venezuela         The United States is taking illegal and dangerous actions to execute regime change in Venezuela. In January, Juan Guaidó declared himself “interim president,” in a strategy orchestrated by the United States to seize power from President Nicolás Maduro. In March, Guaidó announced that “Operation Freedom,” an organization established to overthrow the Maduro government, would take certain “tactical actions” beginning on April 6. Part of the plan anticipates that the Venezuelan military will turn against Maduro. This strategy is detailed in a 75-page regime change manual prepared by the U.S. Global Development Lab, a branch of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The manual advocates the creation of rapid expeditionary development teams to partner with the CIA and U.S. Special Forces to conduct “a mix of offensive, defensive, and stability operations [in] in extremis conditions.” Stay in the loop Never miss the news and analysis you care about. Your Email Some of these actions will, in all likelihood, involve combat operations. A USAID official said, “Anybody who doesn’t think we need to be working in combat elements or working with SF [special forces] groups is just naïve.” The manual was written by members of Frontier Design Group (FDG), a national security contractor whose “work has focused on the wicked and sometimes overlapping problem sets of...

Venezuela Won’t Stop Sending Oil To Cuba Despite New Sanctions   By Irina Slav – Apr 09, 2019, 10:30 AM CDT Cienfuegos Refinery Venezuela will not stop shipping crude oil to its political ally Cuba despite U.S. sanctions, the country’s foreign minister said as quoted by Reuters. “When the conventional power of capitalism attacks you, you have to know how to respond through non-conventional means, always respecting international law,” Jorge Arreaza said. The official’s statement follows the imposition of more sanctions by Washington on Caracas. This time the sanctions targeted 34 tankers owned or operated by PDVSA along with another vessel and two companies involved in shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba. Washington is calling the oil deal between Venezuela and Cuba “oil for oppression”. Cuba is heavily reliant on subsidized Venezuelan oil shipments, which is why Washington is apparently trying to hit two birds with one stone by stopping these shipments. The leader of the Venezuelan opposition, Juan Guaido, last month ordered the suspension of these deliveries, but PDVSA’s management is still loyal to the Maduro government, so the order had more of a symbolic significance than anything else. The Venezuelan crisis has already forced Cuba to adjust its energy sources, and the country increased its imports from Russia and also last year signed a contract for more oil product deliveries from Algeria, another long-term partner. Yet Venezuelan...