We’ll be back with more Down The Rabbit Hole on Monday but here’s what we have in the news feed today. Sputnik’s headline read “Permanent Sabotage Plan.” Venezuela’s Interior Minister tells us that the latest power outages are part of the “electric war” which is part of the “multi form war” being waged against Venezuela. If this sounds suspiciously familiar maybe it’s because you’ve heard me mention “la guerra economica”, Maduro’s term for the fictitious economic war being waged against Venezuela by all the usual suspects and the cause of all Venezuela’s economic woes. It certainly couldn’t be his policies that have kept Venezuela in recession every year since he took power, could it?

 In keeping with his “It certainly couldn’t be my fault” stance Maduro said yesterday that Colombia was to blame for the failures of the various utilities including electricity,water,and communications. If it’s not the US imperialists or those greedy right-wing oligarchs it must be the Colombians who are to blame. I would say that if you accept no responsibility for all the problems since taking power in 2013 then you can’t take credit for the successes but, unfortunately for the Venezuelan people, there have been no successes (except holding on to power).

 And what about the migration crisis? Well, it hasn’t gone away and it’s not getting any easier for Venezuela’s neighbors. The President of Ecuador says he wants to legalize 450,000 Venezuelans but he needs help. The same could be said of Colombia …Peru…Chile… and what about Brazil? Folha (Brazil) reports that homelessness in Pacaraima on the Venezuela/Brazil border has shot up 243% since May. This is due to the border being reopened on the Brazil side but not on the Venezuela side so migrants head to the border knowing Brazil will let them in and hoping Venezuela will sooner or later let them out. It does make one wonder why, if things are so bad in the US why is there no US migrant crisis, other than all the people trying to get in?

 And what kind of news day would it be if we didn’t have another investigation being launched against opposition leader Juan Guaido? This guy gets investigated more than Donald Trump and I didn’t think that was possible. Sputnik reports that the Venezuela Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into Juan Guaido for “usurpation of functions(whatever that is),treason,conspiracy,theft of assets, and criminal connections” relating to the Colombia take over of a  petrochemical plant. No mystery here. Colombia recognizes Juan Guaido as the legitimate President of Venezuela and the plant is owned by Pequiven, the Chavistas.

 We also have the LA Times reporting that Venezuela has issued an arrest warrant for MLB player, Luis Rengifo, over alleged forged divorce documents. He must have said the wrong thing to,or about,somebody.

 Graduate Institute Geneva had an interesting article about countries in Latin America with new constitutions in recent years and their effect going forward. For me it highlights the reasons the Founding Fathers made it difficult to change the US Constitution. It’s hard to have a stable democracy if you rewrite the rules every time a new political party takes over the reins of government.

 In keeping with their policy of never reporting anything that’s actually newsworthy, Telesur (government media) reports that OPEC (OIL Producing and Exporting Countries) Secretary General Barkindo visits Venezuela. My question is why? Venezuela is for all intents and purposes out of the oil business, not to mention (and this is rarely brought up) Venezuela,a founding member of OPEC, is in violation of the OPEC charter which requires all member countries to provide for domestic needs before exporting oil. Maybe it’s because we have Venezuela’s Oil Minister (you know, the alleged drug trafficker with terrorist ties) begging OPEC to “help stop US harassment”.

 One more item related to the multi platform war being waged against Venezuela. In order to ensure that we have no details regarding the recent electrical problems in Venezuela,CORPOLEC, Venezuela’s state owned electric utility, has forbidden workers from reporting on electric system failures. The company’s policy must be to keep the people in the dark both figuratively and literally.

 For more Chavista happy talk we can turn to the Education Minister informing us that schools will be open September 16th (yesterday) and that 86% of teachers have been fully vaccinated. Does anyone believe that they actually opened? Does anyone believe that vaccination rate? (the country as a whole stands at under12%)

 But if you really want to feel better about things look to the CNE (electoral council). They inform us that the board is looking into barred candidates and has begun debate on special rules for the upcoming November elections. So let me get this straight. CNE is looking into the status of candidates whose party was reinstated but the candidates weren’t? And there will be special rules for the upcoming elections? I feel so much better about election integrity now.

 And to make us feel even better Maduro tells us that one of the members of the negotiating team for the talks with the opposition in Mexico, the Science and Technology Minister, (these guys have a lot of ministers) has been “devoted to dismantling the lies of the right”. Uhhh…OK..

 And for more positivity we have the Foreign Minister (did I say that these guys have a lot of ministers?) reaffirms that the regime will work with the UN and welcomes the UNHCHR, you know, the Human Rights investigators. I’m sure that’s comforting to the 46 Human Rights activists that CDJ tells us were attacked in August.

 Let’s close out the week with a little something to think about…the truth. I know, as our boy Jack told us “You can’t handle the truth!” I can only hope to recognize it when I see it. I’m sure I’ve told you before that my favorite description of the truth comes from the movie “The International”. Naomi Watts tells her boss she wants to get to the truth to which he responds “There are four things,what we want to hear, what we are willing to believe,then everything else,and then there’s the truth.”

 Have a great weekend everybody!