Venezuelan Prisoner Release: A Carefully Orchestrated Ploy
📰 THE STORY: Al Jazeera reports that Foro Penal, a Caracas-based rights group, announced the release of 104 political prisoners in Venezuela, framing it as a positive development following a prisoner swap deal with the U.S. and direct talks between Caracas and the opposition. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This 'humanitarian gesture' occurs against a backdrop of over two
decades of U.S. regime-change attempts and crippling sanctions. In 2002, the U.S. supported a failed coup against Hugo Chávez, a precursor to the sustained economic warfare. Since 2017 alone, U.S. sanctions have cost Venezuela an estimated $30 billion per year, contributing to an economic collapse and humanitarian crisis that a 2019 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research attributed
to over 40,000 deaths between 2017 and 2018 directly from sanctions. These aren't 'economic difficulties' but deliberate policy to 'make the economy scream,' a phrase echoed since Nixon's Chile playbook. Double Standard: The narrative of 'political prisoners' is selectively applied. When the U.S.-backed opposition, including figures like Leopoldo López or the 'communications student' mentioned,
engage in violent protests or coup attempts aimed at overthrowing a sovereign government, they are hailed as 'freedom fighters' or victims of 'authoritarianism.' Yet, actual political dissidents or protestors within U.S. or allied states (e.g., in Chile during the 2019 uprising, where thousands were imprisoned and hundreds injured by Pinochet-era abuses, or the ongoing incarceration of January 6th