Untitled Document

[00:00:00] There's a lot of bad people in there. A [00:00:01] lot of bad people that shouldn't be [00:00:02] leading. We're not going to take a [00:00:03] chance that one of those people take [00:00:04] over for Maduro. [00:00:05] >> And that's the problem with a lot of [00:00:06] these nations where a dictator takes [00:00:08] over is that once they get in power, as [00:00:09] soon as it's time for them to die or [00:00:10] leave, they will put other people in in [00:00:12] the place that are part of their either [00:00:14] their power uh vacuum or their criminal [00:00:16] enterprise. The operation to topple [00:00:17] Nicolamuro, the dictator of Venezuela, [00:00:19] began in the early hours after days of [00:00:21] waiting for the right weather. [00:00:22] >> It's absolutely incredible, isn't it? [00:00:24] And we would continue to reserve the [00:00:25] right to take strikes against drug boats [00:00:27] that are bringing drugs towards the [00:00:28] United States that are being operated by [00:00:29] transnational criminal organizations [00:00:31] including the cartel deoul. Of course, [00:00:32] their leader, the leader of that cartel [00:00:34] is now in US custody and facing [music] [00:00:36] US justice. [00:00:36] >> We're going to do something about drugs. [00:00:38] He's acting. We're acting with striking [00:00:39] drugs. This is a president of action. [00:00:41] >> We're going to have our very large [00:00:44] United States oil companies, the biggest [00:00:46] anywhere in the world. We're in the oil [00:00:48] business. This one of the sellers, we're [00:00:49] not going to say we're not going to give [00:00:50] it. [00:00:54] >> Right now, from CNN to the BBC, we're [00:00:56] also being flooded with footage of [00:00:58] wealthy Venezuelan expatriots in Miami [00:01:02] celebrating, cheering, waving flags and [00:01:04] calling this liberation. And across [00:01:06] social media, many of these viral videos [00:01:09] of Venezuelans celebrating Trump [00:01:11] abducting their leader are actually AI. [00:01:14] They're fake and they're being shared by [00:01:16] right-wing influencers like Nick Shirley [00:01:18] to their millions of followers. What [00:01:20] you're not being shown are the millions [00:01:22] of Venezuelans in the streets [music] of [00:01:25] Karakas protesting foreign US [00:01:27] intervention, denouncing sanctions, and [00:01:29] rejecting US interference in the [00:01:31] kidnapping of their elected president. [00:01:33] [music] [00:01:34] Because at the same time that these [00:01:36] images and the same script are repeated [00:01:38] and amplified, corporate media is [00:01:40] recycling the same narrative to justify [00:01:43] a [music] socalled humanitarian [00:01:45] intervention to justify regime change. [00:01:47] We've seen [music] the script before in [00:01:49] Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and across the [00:01:52] global south. First, the leader is [00:01:54] dehumanized. Then the country is morally [00:01:57] simplified and legitimate frustration [00:01:59] with economic issues is weaponized to be [00:02:02] used for calls for regime change. Then [00:02:04] before [music] you know it, [00:02:05] international law disappears. Luxury [00:02:09] watches, starving people, brutal police [00:02:12] committing rape. [music] This is [00:02:13] manufactured consent. And as Nam Chomsky [00:02:16] famously stated, any dictator would [00:02:18] admire the uniformity of the US [music] [00:02:20] corporate media. And while of course [00:02:23] there is legitimate concern for the [00:02:24] economic crisis in [music] Venezuela, [00:02:26] mainstream media is leaving out the [00:02:28] important context that the US maximum [00:02:31] pressure sanctions regime, one of the [00:02:33] most aggressive economic sieges imposed [00:02:35] on any country not at war is to [music] [00:02:38] blame. US officials including figures [00:02:41] like John Bolton have openly stated that [00:02:43] the purpose of economic sanctions [00:02:45] [music] is to create enough suffering [00:02:47] that people turn against their own [00:02:49] government. And that suffering is not a [00:02:51] mistake. [music] [00:02:52] It is the policy. US sanctions against [00:02:55] Venezuela have [music] blocked essential [00:02:57] medicines including cancer treatments, [00:03:00] diabetes medication, [music] diialysis [00:03:02] supplies, food imports, hospital [00:03:04] equipment, and industrial machinery. [00:03:07] Multiple humanitarian studies link US [00:03:09] sanctions to hundreds of thousands of [00:03:11] people dying in Venezuela because of US [00:03:14] sanctions preventing these lifesaving [00:03:16] medicines from entering the country. Yet [00:03:18] CNN and the BBC rarely lead with this. [00:03:22] Instead, they tell you Venezuela [00:03:24] collapsed because of one man, and that [00:03:26] man is Nicholas Maduro. This is the part [00:03:28] corporate media almost never tells you. [00:03:30] As Venezuela was being strangled by US [00:03:32] sanctions, it actually turned to another [00:03:35] sanctioned country, which was Iran. Two [00:03:37] countries under economic siege began [00:03:40] cooperating to keep people alive. Iran [00:03:42] sent in food, fuel, medicine, and [00:03:45] humanitarian supplies. [music] [00:03:47] And this was not an act of charity. It [00:03:49] was solidarity between two countries [00:03:51] punished [music] for resisting US and [00:03:53] Israeli imperial power. And how did the [00:03:56] US respond? They seized Iranian ships [00:03:58] carrying [music] hundreds of tons of aid [00:04:01] to Venezuela in international waters. [00:04:04] This is state piracy. When Venezuela [00:04:07] tried to feed its people, [music] the [00:04:08] ships were seized by the US Navy. When [00:04:11] Iran tried to help, the cargo was taken. [00:04:14] And then corporate media blamed who? [00:04:17] Venezuela for the shortages. And of [00:04:20] course, Venezuela holds the largest [00:04:22] proven oil reserves in Latin America [00:04:25] alongside vast gold and mineral wealth. [00:04:28] But US sanctions have actually prevented [00:04:31] Venezuela from importing refinery parts, [00:04:34] drilling equipment, mining, machinery, [00:04:37] and other things to be able to access [00:04:40] their own resource [music] [00:04:41] wealth. So despite enormous resources, [00:04:44] the country is prevented from accessing [00:04:47] its own wealth. This is not [00:04:48] mismanagement. This is economic [00:04:51] strangulation. And this is where US [00:04:53] intentions become very [music] clear. [00:04:56] The head of the US Southern Command, [00:04:58] Laura Richardson, has openly stated that [00:05:00] Latin America's oil, gold, lithium, and [00:05:03] rare earth minerals are vital to US [00:05:06] military and technological dominance. So [00:05:08] this is about supply chains for weapon [00:05:11] systems, surveillance tech, artificial [00:05:14] intelligence, and electric vehicles. And [00:05:16] it explains why governments that refuse [00:05:18] to open resources to Chevron and Exon [00:05:21] Mobile are targeted. Within 12 hours of [00:05:23] capturing President Maduro, Trump went [00:05:26] on Fox News to say that the US is now [00:05:28] ready to take over Venezuela's oil [00:05:30] industry. Corporate media also insists [00:05:33] Venezuela's elections are corrupt. Well, [00:05:35] I was in Venezuela in 2021 as an [00:05:38] independent international election [00:05:40] observer. I saw the process with my own [00:05:42] eyes along with hundreds of other [00:05:45] observers from around the world to [00:05:47] monitor the elections. [music] [00:05:48] And here's what we found. Venezuela's [00:05:50] elections are among the most transparent [00:05:52] and heavily audited [music] in the world [00:05:55] with biometric verification, paper [00:05:57] trails, public audits, and international [00:05:59] observers. But when elections produce [00:06:01] outcomes Washington dislikes, [music] [00:06:04] they are declared illegitimate. Not [00:06:06] because of fraud, but because of [00:06:08] politics. Meanwhile, US elections [00:06:10] dominated by corporate money, lobbying, [00:06:13] and even foreign influence by countries [00:06:15] like Israel are never sanctioned or [00:06:17] delegitimized. The double standard is [00:06:20] obvious. And notice something else. [00:06:22] Corporate media has largely abandoned [00:06:24] the drug trafficking [music] narrative. [00:06:27] Why? because it collapsed under [00:06:29] scrutiny. If Donald Trump and Marco [00:06:32] Rubio really cared about drug [00:06:33] trafficking, they would examine [00:06:35] political protection and pardons at [00:06:36] home. Like the fact that Trump just [00:06:39] pardoned one of the world's biggest [00:06:40] [music] cocaine traffickers, former [00:06:43] Honduras President Juan Orlando [00:06:45] Hernandez. But the truth is, it doesn't [00:06:48] [music] even matter. For decades, the US [00:06:51] has funded and legitimized [music] [00:06:53] Venezuelan opposition groups, including [00:06:56] factions that engaged in extremely [00:06:58] violent [music] destabilization. Public [00:07:00] records show tens of millions of dollars [00:07:03] funneled through US aid and the National [00:07:05] Endowment [music] for Democracy or the [00:07:07] NED. During the Guarim bus, opposition [00:07:11] linked groups used firearms, Molotov [00:07:13] cocktails, and improvised explosives, [00:07:16] killing civilians and attacking public [00:07:18] institutions. But when violence by [00:07:21] opposition failed, US pressure on the [00:07:23] Venezuelan government escalated. They [00:07:26] increased sanctions, blockades, and [00:07:28] blackouts, and extr territorial threats. [00:07:31] But history seems to have repeated [00:07:33] itself. In 2002, the US backed a coup [00:07:36] against revolutionary leader and [00:07:38] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. [00:07:39] [music] [00:07:40] Chavez was detained, removed, and flown [00:07:43] out in a helicopter by the CIA, replaced [00:07:46] by a USbacked regime that immediately [00:07:49] dismantled democratic institutions. [00:07:50] [music] [00:07:51] What stopped it was not international [00:07:53] law. It was the Venezuelan people. [00:07:57] Millions that supported Chavez and the [00:07:59] Bolivarian Revolution flooded the [00:08:01] streets. The military fractured and the [00:08:04] coup collapsed. Chavez was returned [00:08:07] because popular resistance made regime [00:08:09] change impossible. And of course, we [00:08:12] can't talk about the US plot to [00:08:13] overthrow the Venezuelan government and [00:08:15] topple the Bolivarian revolution without [00:08:18] talking about Israel and Palestine. [00:08:19] [music] The USbacked opposition leader [00:08:22] Maria Korina Machado has openly pledged [00:08:24] to open oil to US corporations, reverse [00:08:28] nationalization of resources, and [00:08:29] establish an Israeli embassy inside of [00:08:32] Venezuela. That would end Venezuela's [00:08:35] historic solidarity [music] [00:08:36] with Palestine, which Yugo Chavez made a [00:08:40] national cause that Maduro carried on. [00:08:43] Now, in the days leading up to [00:08:44] intensified pressure on Maduro, Israeli [00:08:46] officials were engaging regional [00:08:48] partners, including in Paraguay, to [00:08:50] discuss removing Maduro. And leading [00:08:53] Israeli newspapers have called Venezuela [00:08:55] a problem that needs to be solved for [00:08:57] decades for its alliance with Iran and [00:09:00] support for Palestinian liberation. [00:09:02] [music] Now, Venezuela's resistance to [00:09:04] US and Israeli imperialism is not [00:09:07] incidental. It is one of the main [00:09:09] reasons it is being targeted. All of [00:09:12] this leads to one unavoidable [00:09:14] conclusion. This is not a campaign [00:09:17] against a president. It is not even just [00:09:19] a campaign against a government or drug [00:09:22] trafficking. This is a war on the [00:09:24] Bolivarian Revolution itself. The [00:09:27] Bolivarian Revolution represents [00:09:29] something Washington cannot tolerate. [00:09:31] working class independence, national [00:09:33] sovereignty, public control of [00:09:35] resources, and a political project that [00:09:38] openly rejects capitalism, US domination [00:09:41] and Israeli imperialism. [music] It is a [00:09:44] model rooted in the idea that a [00:09:46] country's wealth should serve its [00:09:48] people, not multinational corporations, [00:09:51] not foreign militaries and not global [00:09:54] elites. It is a model that has inspired [00:09:56] countries across the global south to [00:09:59] seek independence and resist US [music] [00:10:01] imperialism. That is the real threat and [00:10:05] that is why Venezuela [music] has faced [00:10:07] sanctions, economic siege, media [00:10:10] demonization, violent opposition [00:10:12] funding, [music] attempted coups, and [00:10:14] now the normalization of abducting its [00:10:17] leaders. What all of this proves is [00:10:19] simple. International law does not stop [00:10:22] the US and Israel from committing war [00:10:24] crimes. [music] These socalled [00:10:26] rules-based international order is [00:10:29] selectively enforced, used against the [00:10:31] global south, and discarded when [00:10:34] inconvenient. The US asserts the right [00:10:36] to [music] sanction populations, starve [00:10:38] economies, remove governments, and [00:10:40] criminalize sovereignty. Corporate media [00:10:43] exists to normalize this. But history [00:10:46] shows us something else. [music] [00:10:47] The Chavez coup failed because the [00:10:50] people refused it. Venezuela's [00:10:52] resistance continues [music] [00:10:54] because the people refuse it. When [00:10:56] international law is ignored, only [00:10:58] popular resistance remains. And that, [00:11:01] not media scripts or propaganda, is what [00:11:04] decides [music] the future. I'm Inar Adi [00:11:06] and this is Behind the Headlines.