Free Republic

Venezuela’s congressional election on Sunday will almost certainly give President Nicolás Maduro control over the country’s last major independent institution, but will do little to improve his image at home and abroad. Maduro, who already has the loyalty of the courts, the military, prosecutors and other institutions, seeks to load the National Assembly with members of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Critics say he’s guaranteed that by rigging the system to smother the last remnants of democracy in Venezuela. An opposition coalition led by U.S.-backed politician Juan Guaidó is boycotting the vote. The European Union, the U.S. and several...

Allies of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won a majority of votes in a parliamentary election that saw scant participation due to a boycott by the opposition, which said Sunday’s event was a farce meant to consolidate a dictatorship. The elections council said that 67.6% of the 5.2 million votes cast in Sunday’s election went to an alliance of parties called the Great Patriotic Pole that backs Maduro – but that only 31% of eligible voters participated. Voting centers were left barren in an embarrassment to the ruling Socialist Party, but the results nonetheless return congress to Maduro’s control despite an...

America’s Future? Marxist Tyrant Maduro Looks to Capture National Assembly — Will Complete Stranglehold on Venezuelan People Since Rigged Smartmatic Election for Chavez Back in 2004.. Joseph Stalin famously said: “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” Stalin was right. Smartmatic, a UK based company, is a George Soros linked company that has provided voting technology in 16 states including battleground zones like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The company was formed in 2000 and a Chavez campaign adviser was placed on the board as well. The chairman of Smartmatic...

CITGO employees Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Alirio Jose Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Angel Pereira were sentenced to between 8 and 13 years, the source said. The guilty verdicts punctuate a years-long saga that began in November 2017 when the men received a call from the head of Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA summoning them to Caracas for a last-minute budget meeting. When they arrived, armed and masked security agents arrested them on embezzlement charges stemming from a never-executed proposal to refinance some $4 billion in CITGO bonds by offering a 50% stake in the company as collateral....

[excerpt] "...while Black Lives Matter claim to oppose police abuse and racism around the world, the organization is simultaneously a great supporter of some of the world’s most brutal and repressive dictators. In particular, the founders of BLM have been staunch supporters and allies of the sanguinary Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro and of the Castro regime in Cuba. In December 2015 Black Lives Matter sent a delegation, headed by the organization’s co-founder, Opal Tometi, to act as observers during the Venezuelan Parliamentary elections of that year. The Maduro regime did not allow accreditation for observers from the Organization of American...

[excerpt] "...while Black Lives Matter claim to oppose police abuse and racism around the world, the organization is simultaneously a great supporter of some of the world’s most brutal and repressive dictators. In particular, the founders of BLM have been staunch supporters and allies of the sanguinary Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro and of the Castro regime in Cuba. In December 2015 Black Lives Matter sent a delegation, headed by the organization’s co-founder, Opal Tometi, to act as observers during the Venezuelan Parliamentary elections of that year. The Maduro regime did not allow accreditation for observers from the Organization of American...

President Trump announced on Thursday morning that his team of attorneys will hold a press conference today at noon Eastern on the “clear and viable path to victory.”

Trump Attorney Sidney Powell joined Mark Levin on Monday to discuss the latest evidence the ballot fraud in the 2020 presidential election. During their discussion Sidney DROPPED A BOMB! The Trump campaign has a witness who was present for the creation of the Smartmatic system when it was used to steal at least one election for Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Sidney Powell: I’ve got a firsthand witness. In fact I’ve just emailed you an affidavit from a witness who can now be used publicly. It’s redacted in some places but he was present for the creation of the system for...

Earlier today the fake news media including FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, and the alphabet channels announced that Joe Biden — after his truly miraculous comeback — won the 2020 election.Biden was behind on Election night but he somehow was able to pick up MILLIONS of new votes to swing several states where Donald Trump had amassed an insurmountable lead. Hah! Faux FOX, AP, CNN, Alphabet Media Call Race for Biden after President Trump Goes Golfing in Coordinated Propaganda Assault Sleepy Joe pulled it off. The fake news declared Joe Biden winner after he squeaked out a “win” in Pennsylvania...

One of the most prominent leaders in the faltering movement to overthrow President Maduro has secretly fled Venezuela. Leopoldo López, 49, Venezuela’s best-known political prisoner is no longer in the country, officials have confirmed. His final destination was confirmed by Spanish authorities as Madrid, where his wife, their three children and his father, who is a member of the European parliament, reside. The decision to leave Venezuela “has not been an easy one,” Mr López said on Twitter, while insisting he could continue efforts to oust President Maduro from exile. “We will not rest, and we will continue working day...

Leave it to The New York Times (The Times) to publish a 1,000-plus-word story on the failed state of Venezuela’s collapsing oil sector without saying anything about socialism. In the story headlined “Venezuela, Once an Oil Giant, Reaches the End of an Era,” The Times blamed America and made it appear that the Venezuelan oil sector was imploding due simply to “gross mismanagement.” “Venezuela’s colossal oil sector, which shaped the country and the international energy market for a century, has come to a near halt, with production reduced to a trickle by years of gross mismanagement and American sanctions,” The...

For the first time in a century, there are no rigs searching for oil in Venezuela. Wells that once tapped the world’s largest crude reserves are abandoned or left to flare toxic gases that cast an orange glow over depressed oil towns. Refineries that once processed oil for export are rusting hulks, leaking crude that blackens shorelines and coats the water in an oily sheen. Fuel shortages have brought the country to a standstill. At gas stations, lines go on for miles. Venezuela’s colossal oil sector, which shaped the country and the international energy market for a century, has come...

Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro attempted to send well-wishes to President Donald Trump during his regular Sunday night television broadcast, blaming Trump for testing positive for the Chinese coronavirus and expressing hope that the virus will make him “more human.” SNIP “We do not wish for any human to be infected,” Maduro said during his broadcast, referring to Trump’s diagnosis. “We send our human solidarity. We hope he recovers his health and his life.” “Hopefully all this will lead him to be more reflexive and more human for the protection of the people of the U.S. and for him to...

Ana Nuñez, a 62-year-old retired municipal worker in western Venezuela, says her meals often consist of just a few corn-flour pancakes, known as arepas. Even when she has money to buy groceries in the city of Maracaibo’s teeming flea market, she said that “instead of quality food they sell garbage, like animal hides and rotten cheese.” A widespread scarcity of gasoline is the latest blow to domestic food production in Venezuela, preventing goods from getting to market and farmers from filling up their tractors. Food production in this oil-rich nation, led by its socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, had already been...

1. Venezhela blames the...US for its economic problems. Says it's cruel... 2. These days, when you put "gasoline" in your car, it's mostly... water. Time stamp: 9:30-10:30 https://youtu.be/aRsZqyla6CE (Jaime Bayly)

Peruvian American, Jaime Bayly: The one weeknights show in Spanish exposing corrupted cruel Maduro regime. Watched in various countries in south America He is on Miami's megaTV 9PM ET https://www.youtube.com/c/JaimeBaylyShowtv

During an interview with Noticias Telemundo released on Friday, President Trump stated that “Something will be happening with Venezuela” and that the United States will “be very much involved.” Trump also vowed to “take care of the people of Venezuela” and support whoever the people of Venezuela elect and support as their leader. Host Jose Diaz-Balart asked, “For you, Venezuela, is it Guaido, is it Maduro, is it U.S. intervention?” Trump responded, “It’s freedom for their people. It’s freedom. Venezuela was a rich country 15 years ago, and it’s been destroyed by two people, but a system, a horrible system....

CARACAS, Venezuela — (AP) — Venezuela's Supreme Court, loyal to President Nicolás Maduro, on Tuesday ordered the takeover of two influential political parties opposed to the socialist government ahead of parliamentary elections expected this year. The court suspended and replaced the board of directors for the Justice First party a day after the same move against the Democratic Action, one of the nation's oldest and largest parties. It was part of a “necessary restructuring process,” the court said in rulings posted on Facebook. No legal action was taken, however, against Popular Will, the party of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who...

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden attacked President Donald Trump on Monday for claiming to be open to meeting Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro — something Trump appeared to be mulling, but which Biden has actually done. The former vice president, who played a central role in crafting the Obama administration’s foreign policy, criticized Trump on Monday for appearing to reverse his position on Maduro’s legitimacy in Venezuela.

One of the most high-profile founders of the Black Lives Matter organization – now one of the most influential and powerful political movements on the planet – has a long history of supporting Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro. Maduro has presided over one of the world’s most repressive regimes since 2013 when his predecessor Hugo Chávez died. Under Maduro, Venezuelan police forces have committed a long list of human rights atrocities including the torture, kidnapping, rape, and killing of unarmed protesters. Under Maduro, Venezuela has become an especially dangerous place for minors. In light of the prominence of Black Lives...