On July 29, the day after Venezuela’s hotly contested election, Western commentators claimed that Caracas had descended into chaos due to protests against an allegedly fraudulent vote.
Yet, while observing the election, I myself saw no evidence of electoral fraud.
Neither did hundreds of other election observers from around the world. They included the National Lawyers Guild. The Guild praised the fairness and transparency of Venezuela’s election. It also condemned the U.S.-backed opposition’s refusal to accept its outcome.
In addition, on the day after the election, Western claims about chaos in Caracas bore little resemblance to reports I was receiving from persons in the field.
Since I myself was in Caracas, I decided to go for a long walk in the central part of the city to see for myself what was happening there.
As I roamed the streets, I felt inspired to rant about the sordid legacy of the “gringos” in Latin America.
The full video of my rant is posted below.
Later that night, our guides urged us to leave immediately for the Caracas airport to avoid anti-government protesters who were expected to block access to the facility. Along with hundreds of other foreign election observers, I heeded their advice.
We arrived at the Caracas airport at 2:30 am last night. We spent the night sleeping on the floor of a large lounge at the airport which is normally used for the reception of visiting dignitaries.
Today, minutes before boarding my flight for Panama City, I delivered my final election report from Caracas. That video report is also posted below.
Thank you, Dimitri. Nice to see a bit of Venezuela. Great to hear your comments. Have a safe trip home.
wow. bold journalism…12 hours in caracas
We are waiting with bated breath for Dimitri’s in-depth in person analysis of the actual poll results as collected by opposition parties from across the country.
Analysis by a spectrum of opposition parties, journalists and outside observers are now showing that Madura was outvoted 2 to 1.
Dimitri may well be able to prove these reports are false, but he has to prove this – just as the others do – prove that his opinions are built on more than wishful thinking.
He needs to answer with facts, not ideology, not with superficial, self- serving adverts for his Dimitri brand.
Given Dimitri’s record – his visit to Russia showed he had zero – I mean zero – expertise in Russian politics (no Russian language skills, no cultural nor historical depth); he was rightly criticized by Russians opposed to Putin as being a “tankie,” a pawn.
I have no idea if Dimitri speaks Spanish. No idea what time he has spent in Venezuela over the years studying the country, taking courses, meeting experts, spending time with working people.
What is clear however is that this seems highly unlikely given the dude’s writing and ranting has no cultural nor historical depth when it comes to helping us understand Venezuela or the region.
Friends, Dimitri is just a wanna be “public intellectual,” (paying out of his own pocket?) to show up in the word’s hot spots and spewing forth whatever he thinks is revolutionary or whatever….
This week he has chosen Venezuela and to back Madura and this week he will defend a failed regime no matter what the facts show.
Dimitri cannot yet be called a Maduro flunkie as there is no final proof that his regime has faked the results. It is still possible – it is – that Maduro won a majority. But the regime is refusing to release proof, refusing to show the world that it is legitimately elected.
No wonder millions of working people have fled, no wonder the streets are filled with folks pulling down pro- regime antaties and confronting the police.
Note – Dimitri does not – the left wing president of Chile has refused to acknowledge that Maduro won. No one questioned his win as election observers and the broad opposition acknowledge his win was real. His government did not hide – as Madura is doing so far – poll by poll results.
All of the governments backing Maduro have their own legitimacy issues.
Dimitry in all of his ranting (his description of what he does) may well be right, Madura may have proof.
But so far that proof is not there, and Dimitry has no skills, no access to results to back up his own conclusions.
Seems Dimitry’s strategy for calling himself a man of the left is wishing his dreams come true no matter how false they are, no matter how much they fuck working people, be they Venezuelan or Russian.
You know, a more patient, humble critic of Mr. Lascaris would wait until conclusive evidence of electoral fraud by President Maduro’s party before coming out with an obnoxious, bellicose, scatological “I told you so” rant.
Until such time, sadly, all we have to go on is history, i.e. the U.S.’ interventionist history in Latin America. You know, minor things like the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S.’ (CIA) bad habit of orchestrating coups and installing right-wing juntas, all the while pretending to be a liberator of (indigenous) peasants and working-class people. When in fact it almost always sides with big business interests at home and abroad.
The U.S. government has interfered in Venezuelan elections for over 20 years. It temporarily ousted President Hugo Chávez in 2002 before a popular counter-revolution brought him back to power. The American uniparty recognized a shadow government a few years back, led by some operative named Juan Guaidó. President Trump even invited Guaidó to his State of the Union address in February, 2020.
Oh yeah, the working people of Venezuela that you claim to care about have been shafted by its ruling capitalist elite. They control 80% of the economy and have been in cahoots with various U.S. administrations to foment dissent via economic sanctions, financial suffocation, and a self-hoarding of essential goods. That’s the main reason so many nationals have left the country, including hundreds of thousands to the U.S. alone.
U.S. business interests crave Venezuela’s oil, gold and lithium deposits. Even Elon Musk in reference to countries like Bolivia and Venezuela has publicly stated that the U.S. will coup any country it wants to coup.
So, we’ll wait to see the outcome of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council’ investigation of the election results. After all, Venezuela belongs to the Venezuelans, does it not?
Gutnick, despite your low opinion of me, you somehow find inordinate amounts of time to write your drivel in the comments section of my website. Do you have nothing better to do with your time? Get a life, man.
I have a lovely life dear Dimitri, thanks for asking.
Unlike you however I am not attempting to make myself a left wing (sic) brand while espousing right wing ideologies, unlike you I do not support dictatorships, unlike you I do not call myself an « eco socialist » while jetting from Lebanon to Greece to Vancouver to Moscow to Caracas and back. Fly as much as you like, absolutely, it is your right to spend your (and others?) but calling yourself « green » while you do is …well …simply silly.
My time is well spent pointing out how your politics have nothing to do with building a better, more human, more compassionate world, instead you stand on soapboxes shouting to your fan club rather than being decent and real. And progressive.
Be well.
I heard that all the horse and buggies to Caracas were taken…
That is actually very funny brother Rahul!