Above photo: Police officer forcibly handcuffs a woman during a protest in Nottingham, England’s Market Square Saturday Aug. 3, 202. Jacob King/PA via AP.
Over the weekend, there were riots and violence on the streets.
The head of the government said, ‘This is violence, it is not protest'(1) and signaled that he had lost patience with “the far-right thugs” who caused civil unrest around the country. He said they were not peaceful protesters but demonstrating pure violence…and that they would have a standing army of specialist public duty officers…to deal with this where we need them.(2)
Furthermore, the government leader said they would “ramp up criminal justice. There have already been hundreds of arrests, some have appeared in court this morning…I have asked for early consideration of the earliest naming and identification of those involved in the process who will feel the full force of the law.(3)
Another government spokesperson promised “There will be a reckoning for criminals and thugs who took part in violence on streets, burning buildings, attacks on mosques, looting shops and the whipping up of racist violence online.” And the mayor of one of the towns where hotels were attacked attributed the violence to “far-right thugs…who attacked some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and there is absolutely no excuse.” (4)
Can you guess in which country these riots happened? England
However, the UK had very little sympathy when far-right thugs set fire to the streets of Venezuela last week, following an election which they lost. They were deemed “protestors” not terrorists. The public forces keepers of the peace were chastised but not the criminal gangs paid to create chaos. At least in the UK they were genuine people expressing their loathsome ideology, but in Venezuela, the fascist elites hid in their safe homes while the common criminals they paid in dollars and drugs did their dirty work.
The BBC had this to say: “Security forces in Venezuela have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at people protesting Sunday’s disputed election result…A heavy military and police presence was on the streets of Caracas with the aim of trying to disperse protesters and prevent them from approaching the presidential palace…Crowds of people chanted “freedom, freedom!” and called for the government to fall. Footage showed tyres burning on highways and large numbers of people on the streets, with police on motorbikes firing tear gas.” (5)
As reported in the Orinoco Tribune, on 2 August, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro presented a report on the material and human losses caused by the far-right post-electoral violence at the beginning of this week. These peaceful protestors attacked the following:(6)
- 12 universities including the Central University of Venezuela,
- seven pre-schools,
- 21 primary schools,
- 34 high schools,
- six diagnostic clinics,
- one specialty health center,
- 30 outpatient clinics,
- one pharmacy,
- six public food storage and distribution centers,
- one community radio station
- 11 subway stations of the Caracas Metro
- one train set on fire in Valencia,
- 38 buses,
- 27 monuments and statues,
- 10 offices of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), some with people inside,
- A sewage treatment station in Nueva Esparta state,
- 10 military barracks
- Headquarters of the Ministry of Housing in Caracas was attacked with bullets and Molotov cocktails. Inside there were ministry employees with their children, who were there because they were on vacation and their parents took them to their workplace.
- 10 offices of the National Electoral Council in 10 states. The violent gangs had plans to burn the main headquarters of CNE, but that was prevented.
- On Monday, July 29, there were two attempts to storm the Miraflores Palace, seat of the Venezuelan presidency. When the violent mob was restricted by security forces in O’Leary square, armed men shot at the CNE headquarters in the centre of Caracas
- 60 international observers, who were in the tent of international observers in Plaza Caracas, were attacked by a “bullet bath from thugs and delinquents.” The Bolivarian National Guard protected the observers, the CNE headquarters, launched a counter-offensive, and captured 20 members of the “comanditos”(gang units)
- Mayor’s offices in Carirubana, Quíbor and other municipalities were set on fire.
- El Valle public square and metro station in Caracas were vandalized.
- The Maracay zoo was attacked.
- At least 5,000 community and social leaders were threatened.
- There are reports of deceased bystanders: people who were going home, who were attacked and their vehicles were burned.
- Two soldiers of the Bolivarian National Armed Force were killed.
- A brigadier general, a lieutenant colonel, a first lieutenant, 21 soldiers, and 120 officers of the Bolivarian National Police were injured.
- An unprecedented cyberattack on the CNE transmission system which is still ongoing with hundreds of simultaneous cyber attacks
- Cyberattack on the Patria System that provides Venezuelans with bonuses.
- Cyberattacks on 25 domains of several State institutions.
And here is the epitome of Western hypocrisy: the United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk was concerned about “reports of disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials along with violence by armed individuals supporting the government, known as “colectivos”…Those responsible for human rights violations must be held to account, Turk said.
In other words, blame the victim, blame the community organizations, blame the government authorities trying to subdue the drugged and vile criminals, but they consider these far right terrorists running rampant with guns and arson on the streets of Venezuela as government victims.
Not to be outdone in mendacity, that Pharisee Joseph Borrel, the EU’s foreign policy satrap said: “The European Union calls on Venezuelan authorities to put an end to arbitrary detentions, repression and violent rhetoric against members of the opposition and civil society, and to release all political prisoners.” (7)
And in the USA, never missing an opportunity to yet again threaten Venezuela, its spokesman John Kirby said that the US and other nations share “serious concerns of the reports of casualties, violence and arrests, including the arrest warrants that Maduro and his representatives issued today (Wednesday) for opposition leaders. Alongside the international community, we are watching, and we are going to respond accordingly.”(8)
No wonder more than half the world holds the USA, its allies and the institutions of the West in great disdain.
As for Venezuela, its clean, transparent, fair elections results and its re-elected president Nicolás Maduro has been recognized and congratulated up to now, by at least 45 countries including Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and by OPEC and the BRIC.(9)
Notes
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iOqhGDpcaE
- https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/08/05/uk-pm-starmer-vows-specialist-police-standing-army-to-battle-far-right-unrest-gripping-bri
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-standing-army-specialist-police-riots-b2591415.html
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-standing-army-specialist-police-riots-b2591415.html
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5yze5k500o
- https://orinocotribune.com/president-maduro-presents-report-on-human-and-material-losses-caused-by-far-right-post-electoral-violence/
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/05/nicolas-maduro-venezuela-election-crackdown
- https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/americas/maduro-revolution-venezuela-intl-latam/index.html
- Palestina, Argelia, República Popular China, Federación de Rusia, República Islámica de Irán, Qatar, Cuba, Honduras,Bolivia, Nicaragua, Serbia, Belarús, Burkina Faso, República Democratica Popular de Corea, Eritrea, Guinea Ecuatorial, Mali, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Siria. Zimbabwe, Namibia, Antigua y Barbuda, Grenada, Santa Lucía, San Cristóbal y Nieves, Dominica, República Árabe Saharaui, Democrática, República Socialista de Vietnam, Djibouti, Libia, Laos, Abjasia, Myanmar, Madagascar, Gabón, Arabia Saudita, Angola, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Kuwait, Nigeria, República del Congo, Indonesia.