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In Venezuela, the arrests of the coup leaders have begun
Hot Air.com ^ | May 9, 2019 | JAZZ SHAW

Posted on 05/09/2019 4:07:11 PM PDT by Kaslin

Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is sending out the goon squad this week to quietly begin rounding up the people who participated in the attempted coup last week. While he’s not yet going after the person who actually sent out the call to revolt, his secret police force started with someone very close to the top. National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano was picked up last night after leaving his office. (Associated Press)

Security forces arrested the No. 2 leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress Wednesday as President Nicolás Maduro’s government began going after foes tied to a failed attempt to stir up a military uprising last week.

National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano was leaving his Democratic Action party’s headquarters when he was surprised by a commando unit from the feared SEBIN intelligence agency who surrounded his car.

A half hour later, the officers towed the vehicle away with the lawmaker still inside, at the same that Maduro was speaking live on state TV inaugurating an agricultural project. Neighbors looking on shouted “assassins” as the heavily armed agents pulled away.

It seems that Zambrano was unwilling to get out of his car and go along quietly so SEBIN called for a tow truck and dragged the entire vehicle off to some unknown destination. The rest of the Assembly leadership that spoke out in favor of Guaido’s attempted uprising have clearly been put on notice and are probably getting their affairs in order.

The SEBIN intelligence agency is also known as the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service. They’re described as an “internal intelligence service.” In other words, they’re the secret police who check up on the affairs of their own citizens on behalf of the regime and are empowered to make troublesome citizens disappear if it suits the whims of the dictator. They technically report directly to the Vice President of Venezuela, but it’s Maduro’s world, so he’s calling all the shots.

Thus far Maduro has held off from arresting Juan Guaido himself. The interim president was on the road this week, giving speeches in several different locations. The fact that he’s still not behind bars could be a sign that Nicolas Maduro isn’t quite as sure of his absolute authority as he was a year ago. The United States has been warning him of “grave consequences” if any harm comes to Guaido, so I suppose it’s possible that he’s tempering his response to the coup to avoid trouble with us.

Then again, Maduro may simply be taking his time and having his lawyers make sure he has all his ducks in a row before they arrest him. After all, the guy did stand up on an automotive overpass with some soldiers and call for the military to depose the president. Seems like Maduro could definitely come up with some charges based on that. In any event, the military clearly isn’t ready to abandon Maduro yet and the attempted ouster of Nicolas Maduro has failed… for now.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: arrests; coup; juanguaido; nicolasmaduro; venezuela
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To: teevolt

Guess who may well have not received the covert assistance they were promised at the tipping point. Just like the Cubans on the beach under Kennedy with their “air cover”. America has a sad and undeniable history if this.


21 posted on 05/09/2019 4:32:07 PM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Brilliant ++4-D Chess++, my a++. About to see a Queen or a Bishop unceremoniously overturned.)
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To: wgmalabama

drop them grenades, tear gas, machine guns, bazookas, armor-piercing ammo, grenade launchers, c4 plastic explosive, thousands of hand guns with ammo...


22 posted on 05/09/2019 4:35:27 PM PDT by Stayfree (Liberalism is a mental disease caused by stupidity and elitism!!)
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To: Trump Girl Kit Cat
The people have no way to take their country back they have been disarmed, a true eye opener for Americans!!!

Besides diplomacy coming from the barrel of a gun ; so doesn't freedom. - Tom

23 posted on 05/09/2019 4:35:53 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
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To: Kaslin

the Guiado Coup has failed. There will be a very bloody end for the boy. The US media has fallen so silent that it is quiet as a funeral.
This was a colossal failure of the State Department. The Blundering john bolton now trying to get us to fight the 93 million people of Iran over some nebulous bs about a boat carrying the missile belonging to this sovereign country, dropped the ball in our own back yard. Our great president must run Bolton ( and I am beginning to think Pompeo) ) OUT ON A RAIL. Venezuela was so easily taken if we had moved before the Chinese and Russian surrounded Maduro. Now , we are frozen in fear and defeat.


24 posted on 05/09/2019 4:37:35 PM PDT by bingoplayer (MAGA)
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To: Capt. Tom

I think that n’t what you meant.


25 posted on 05/09/2019 4:43:32 PM PDT by Hieronymus ("I shall drink--to the Pope, if you please,-still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.")
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To: Kaslin

The true Coup leader is Maduro.

The replacement regime went through all the legal loopholes to replace him. He’s the one refusing to honor the legitimate government as I understand it.


26 posted on 05/09/2019 4:45:57 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Can I get a shout out for the person(s) who donated $2,000.00 from France? Thanks so much! Wow!)
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To: Hieronymus
I think that n’t what you meant.

You are right.

What I meant to say was:Freedom comes out of the barrel of a gun.

27 posted on 05/09/2019 4:51:48 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
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To: Kaslin

When is the arrests of the DNC coup leaders gonna start in our country?


28 posted on 05/09/2019 4:56:23 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: teevolt
the attempted coup last week.

I thought Giuido was properly elected? Coup?

29 posted on 05/09/2019 5:00:38 PM PDT by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
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To: DoughtyOne

He has the guns


30 posted on 05/09/2019 5:04:04 PM PDT by 38special (For real, y'all.)
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To: DoughtyOne

*** The replacement regime went through all the legal loopholes to replace him. He’s the one refusing to honor the legitimate government as I understand it. ***

Read the Venezuelan Constitution. Even stretching it beyond the furthest limits of reading comprehension, at this point in time, Guaido is nothing.


31 posted on 05/09/2019 5:06:36 PM PDT by sockmonkey (I am an America First, not Israel First FReeper.)
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To: Don Corleone

*** I thought Giuido was properly elected? Coup? ***

Elected by whom? He never ran for the Presidency of Venezuela. He was not elected by the citizens of VZ.


32 posted on 05/09/2019 5:09:15 PM PDT by sockmonkey (I am an America First, not Israel First FReeper.)
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To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

Very true. It’s a living, suffering visual aid that must be kept in the forefront in the future to remind Americans socialism is no panacea.


33 posted on 05/09/2019 5:10:53 PM PDT by ScottinVA (The most urgent gathering threat to America: the Democrat Party)
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To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

They can if they want. It’s just not bad enough there for them to want to do so.


34 posted on 05/09/2019 5:17:54 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: teevolt

if you take a shot at the king...


35 posted on 05/09/2019 5:19:59 PM PDT by Samurai_Jack (War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.)
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To: Jim Noble

I am not saying I think in anyway WE should intervene in Venezuela, I am saying the citizens there let themselves be disarmed AND voted for what they have now, HOWEVER by letting themselves be disarmed they now have no way to overthrow the tyrannical government they at one time voted for!!! This IS EXACTLY why we should never give into being disarmed by our government!!! We should NOT intervene in Venezuela not no but HELL NO!!!!


36 posted on 05/09/2019 5:27:10 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: AmericanInTokyo

“It’s not like they deserve freedom or anything like that.”

It’s also not like they bothered to turn out to make a statement for freedom when big numbers were needed.


37 posted on 05/09/2019 5:29:48 PM PDT by ScottinVA (The most urgent gathering threat to America: the Democrat Party)
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To: MeganC

Our “progressives” will be cheering when the Venezuelan dictator starts executing dissidents.


38 posted on 05/09/2019 5:30:36 PM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: Kaslin

Is the CIA even trying anymore?

I’ve never seen a more pathetic attempt at a regime change than that.


39 posted on 05/09/2019 5:36:17 PM PDT by Shadow44
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To: MeganC

Paging Judge Freisler.


40 posted on 05/09/2019 5:37:16 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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