Before we get to our Down The Rabbit Hole segment there’s something I found kinda’ humorous.Telesur had this headline, “Venezuela Ratifies to the EU It’s Readiness for Dialogue.” No real surprise here. They’re ready to talk to anyone,the US or EU, anywhere,any time for sanctions relief (despite what they said about not talking sanctions relief until the US released Alex Saab,architect of Maduro’s fraudulent financial schemes).What got me was the language used by Telesur relating to Venezuela’s Foreign Minister meeting with EU’s Josep Borrell. How’s this for a mouthful:

 “This action ratifies the principles of Bolivarian diplomacy of being peace-oriented towards respect for the self-determination of peoples and the promotion of a multicentric and pluripolar world. (My spell check had issues with multicentric and pluripolar) We can now remove any doubt, Telesur is not the independent media outlet they claim to be (We already knew that) but are just shills for the Maduro regime. I mean really, who talks like that other than those Marxist Chavistas? (Maduro does it all the time) What actually is the relevance of “multicentric and pluripolar world” to anything?

 Moving on…NGO Una Ventana por la Libertad reports that in 2021 at least 123 died in preventive prison centers (pretrial detention). 95 of them due to health related complications.

 The Director of Coalition por los DOHH says there are currently over 300 political prisoners in Venezuela.

 Then we have some potential good news. PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) reports that Venezuela will receive 6.5 million Covid-19 vaccines through the COVAX system. Once again I had to use the term “possible good news” as the Chavistas are prone to use anything they get their hands on for corruption/ coercion/ extortion purposes. It’s who they are and what they do.

 And in another humorous…ish comment we have Maduro saying in reference to Ukraine, “There’s a danger a military war will come.” Oh…right… What is it you call what’s going on over there right now…a ‘special military operation’. I’m sure it’s a comfort to families of those dying from Russia’s bombing of hospitals etc. that it’s not a real war …only a special military operation.

 And CBS Miami reports that Marco Rubio introduced a bill in the Senate to ban oil and gas imports from Venezuela and Iran. How crazy is it that the government needs to be prevented from actions counter to it’s own sanctions?

 Oh, and Forbes tells us that the White House denies talks about lifting sanctions. There sure are a whole lot of people talking about something they’re not talking about.

 And in geopolitical news , from La Prensa Latina  we have Biden saying he intends to make Colombia Washington’s main non-NATO ally in South America. Maduro is not happy.

We also have La Prensa Latina telling us that Senator Chuck Schumer says, “I think Maduro is a bad guy…I don’t like dealing with him.” Does that mean you wont?

 And from Routes we have the announcement that Venezuela’s Conviasa Airlines will be the first international airline to service Mexico’s new airport.

 Then we have Caracas Chronicles telling us that the Maduro regime has a new narrative they’re promoting on social media, “War means peace” I’m not sure I get it but I’m all for things like ‘world peace’…and air conditioning…and world peace with air conditioning…but I digress…Social media watchdog, Pro Box reports that the Ministry of Information’s #1 media topic is condemning ‘ Western disinformation against Russia’. Social media trending on this topic is 68% bots. The Ministry’s #2 trending topic is the ‘rejection of aggression against Russia’. That one is 61% bots. Contrast those with civil society’s #1 trending topic, ‘rejection of Maduro’s support of Russia’ which is 97% real users. Their #2 trending topic is ‘Venezuela is with Ukraine’ which has 91% real users.

 Then we have an interesting piece from Daily Mail saying that with the latest sanctions on Russia  the Russians will now be the Maduro regime’s #1 competitor on the oil black market…Hmmm… maybe that’s why they’re so opposed to sanctions against Russia?

 And we have Political Wire saying lawmakers in both political parties signal “no deal for Venezuela oil.”

 And the Miami Herald says that after political blow back the US pauses talks with Venezuela on oil. Pauses? There sure is a lot of talk about something the White House says they’re not talking about…again.

 Then we have something we’ve told you about before. Open Democracy reports that the Brookings Institution tells us “The Venezuela refugee and migrant crisis is the most under-funded in modern history.” I applaud them for saying what we’ve known (and said) for quite some time. Despite the over 6 million people that have fled 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism, nobody really cares about the plight of the Venezuelans. Their slow motion starvation and death under the Maduro regime just isn’t as sexy a story as war in Syria of Ukraine. I don’t mean to diminish what’s going on in Ukraine but after things die down over there the Maduro regime will continue killing Venezuelans without anyone seeming to notice.

 Now’s as good a time as any to head Down The Rabbit Hole…

 Without the missing MPs the opposition had an imposing majority in the National Assembly but fell short by a seat or two of the 2/3 requirement for super majority powers.They couldn’t unilaterally oust TSJ judges nor Maduro through a recall election. When the new assembly took office the next month things would get contentious.

 The action began just before the new assembly was slated to be sworn in. The outgoing MPs, in a last minute preemptive strike, replaced 13 judges on the TSJ that they (Maduro) considered not sufficiently pro-Chavista even though they always ruled pro-Chavista. The good old days of Chavismo being in total control of the three main branches of government were coming to an end, at least temporarily. Maduro also issued some last minute decrees utilizing his emergency powers granted him by the outgoing National Assembly, perhaps fearing resistance from the new assembly.

 The games really kicked into high gear when the new assembly took office. They refused to acknowledge the TSJ ruling and swore in the 4 disputed members anyway. The minority party, PSUV (the Chavistas), protested and a protracted back and forth began. The TSJ ruled that any laws passed by an assembly containing a disputed membership would be annulled and so on and so on. This continued for the next year or so and meanwhile conditions for the Venezuelan people continued to worsen. Then the TSJ went too far which for Venezuela is saying something.

 In 2017 the TSJ announced that the National Assembly would be stripped of it’s powers and they would be assumed by the TSJ. Although this was a blatant violation of the constitution, Maduro and the Chavistas violated the constitution constantly so it’s hard to figure out why everyone went crazy, but they did. I guess Maduro didn’t want any competition for his rule by decree due to the emergency powers that were no longer granted by the assembly but but powers that he granted to himself and were confirmed by the TSJ.Like so many things Venezuelan, it was a combination of the classic Laurel and Hardy routine, “Who’s on first?”,with a little Marx Brothers thrown in.

 With nobody, Maduro included,in favor of the TSJ being the most powerful entity in the country (this may be the only time Maduro sided with the international community),the TSJ quickly reversed itself. “Just kidding folks…”,but it was too late. The people were fed up with the whole situation. The various factions vying for power while the Venezuelan people were dying by greater numbers every day for a variety of reasons all related to inept governance or lack of governance. They took to the streets…again. It was all the same issues as the “Guarimba” of 2014, hunger at the forefront, with the lack of medicine,healthcare, and pretty much everything else right behind.

 More tomorrow….