KW: With various copies..

Congratulations to Jacinda Adern for standing independently for New Zealand from being bulldozed by the U.S. into becoming another country recognising the self appointed new president of Venezuela. American media and as result our media have been, ever since Trump was elected President of the United States complaining, without providing a mere scrap of evidence, of Russia meddling in US elections. Any thinking person would think that the last thing Washington would do would be to meddle in other countries’ elections.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. There isn’t a nation in the Western Hemisphere that hasn’t at one time or another found itself caught in the far-reaching tentacles of US imperialism. The United States has almost always opposed —whether by slaughter, spies or sanctions —any government or movement that seeks to freely choose its own political and economic path if it diverges from the corporate capitalist order backed by Washington and Wall Street. Venezuela is certainly no exception. Washington routinely meddles but now has gone far beyond mere meddling. Washington has now declared that the elected president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, is no longer the Venezuelan president. Washington, not the Venezuelan people, has decided who is Venezuela’s president. Declaring the elected government to be “illegitimate,” President Trump elected by diktat the Venezuelan president: “Today, I am officially recognizing the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela. Clearly, Gaido is in Washington’s pocket or Washington would not have chosen him.

Maduro, like Chavez before him, has committed the unpardonable crime of representing the Venezuelan people instead of American corporate and financial interests. Washington simply does not tolerate Latin American governments that represent Latin American people. Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, as well as several rightwing Latin American governments have harped on the same talking points issued by the US: Maduro is “illegitimate”, a “usurper”; the opposition leader Juan Guaido is the authentic president, even though Maduro won with an overwhelming majority in last year’s election.

So, now Venezuela has two presidents. One elected by the people, and one appointed by Washington. Washington using sanctions and economic punishments has been trying for years to destabilize Venezuela in order to bring down the government and install Washington’s agent as president. This policy has cruelly punished the Venezuelan people, but nevertheless they have clung to their indigenous leadership. The other day Washington organized a military coup, but few participated and it was easily put down.

Juan Guido has never before stood for election, never stood for President or led a party in elections, he is pure stooge or puppet and thank goodness that New Zealand Prime minister Jacinda Adern has stood her ground and not been forced to side with American imperialism in a public display of hypocrisy that defies understanding and shame with the only goal being the pillaging and theft of Venuzuelan oil assets to American corporations