Yesterday we had a piece regarding Nicolas Maduro’s “economic recovery” in Venezuela. It seemed pretty grounded in reality. Today we have the counterpoint. I know…it’s another Kool-Aid article but this one was a bit over the top. It’s from Morning Star and the title says it all. “Maduro’s Success : Principled Resistance To Imperialism Pays Off” (Any time I see the words imperialism or colonialism I know where they’re coming from)

The article touts a “miraculous economic recovery” and then offers proof like this of Maduro’s success… “The Economic Commission For Latin America And The Caribbean has reported that it expects the Venezuela economy to grow for the first time since 2014.” Yes…”FIRST TIME SINCE 2014″!! He makes it sound like someone else  was at the helm since 2014 when it was Maduro’s 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism that destroyed the economy of a once prosperous nation. Since he took power in late 2013 the economy has contracted more than 80%. The article says analysts estimate (I repeat ESTIMATE) growth this year at 5%. So… 80% down …5% up… not good by any stretch of the imagination.

In another surreal boast for Maduro’s economic prowess he mentions how Venezuela’s inflation rate has come down from over a million percent in 2019 to an “incredible 1.4%”. He even mentions the CNBC article calling Maduro’s 2019 economy “the biggest economic disaster in modern history”. The fact that he would bring up Venezuela’s inflation rate reaching over 1 million percent under Maduro’s economic stewardship is incredible. Not exactly a stellar achievement. As further evidence of Maduro’s economic incompetence I would add that Venezuela’s over four year bout of hyperinflation is the second longest in the history of inflation. FYI, the last reliable figure on Venezuela’s current inflation was from a few weeks ago. The Venezuela Observatory of Finance reported a rate of 172%.

The article goes on with more of the same. It’s all numbers showing some improvement from horrific numbers caused by Chavismo’s 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism. It’s the economic version of a quote I saw a couple of years ago. “The Chavistas broke both my legs…but they gave me a free wheelchair.”

After wading through paragraph after paragraph of Chavista talking points, none of which make any sense, and Marxist propaganda, which makes even less sense, he mercifully brought his piece to a close with this : “In case there is any doubt about the socialist direction of Bolivarian Venezuela there are well over 4 million citizens organized in the people’s militia to assuage anybody’s misgivings.” Oh, that would be the inorganic, Chavista supported, militia comprised primarily of senior citizens and children (did I mention criminals?) …and no mention of the 6.2 million Venezuelans that have fled the disaster that is 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism.

Note : I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you of Nicolas Maduro’s boast when he announced his new currency, “The Sovereign Bolivar”, and complete new economic configuration, in 2017. I’ll paraphrase, “…arrived at without any input from economists or anyone in the business or financial community” as if that was a good thing. His plan was ideologically pure…and it failed miserably.

Moving on…we have Fars News reporting that the Iranian Oil Minister says Iran will now own shares in three oil refineries in Venezuela (2) and Nicaragua (1) in return for supplying Iranian heavy crude.

Then we have Mehr News reporting that the Venezuela Deputy Health Minister is asking for Iran “know how” in vaccine production and must discuss barter mechanisms for transactions. (Is that because of sanctions or because the Maduro regime has no money?)

And we have Iran Front Page reporting that Iran’s Health Minister says Iran is sending 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Venezuela. It’s been a while but we can add these vaccines to the millions…and millions…and millions of vaccines shipped to Venezuela from Russia, Cuba, China, and even the international COVAX system. They’ve received enough vaccines to vaccinate every man, woman, child, …dog…cat…and every other living thing in Venezuela.

Then we have People’s Daily telling us that Diosdado Cabello (Venezuela’s number two man…maybe number one?) says “The United States is bent on invading Venezuela… It should be known and discussed in every corner of the country.” I think this is another one of those “They want to bring down the ‘Glorious Revolution’ “things. The Chavistas never let up on that one or the “They want our oil” thing. Even though they have destroyed their oil production capabilities and as crazy as it sounds, they might be right with Joe Biden at the helm in the US.

And we have La Prensa Latina reporting that 300 LGBTI (I thought it was LGBTQ) protesters marched in Caracas to protest the Maduro regime’s homophobic practices and discrimination. With Chavismo constantly reminding us how much they support the LBGTI (Q?) community, why all the protests?

And speaking of protests, we have ACLED saying that teachers and university workers are protesting…again. They want to draw attention to the fact that Maduro’s new minimum wage law, while it may increase wages, removes their benefits.

Then we have KCNA telling us that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the DPRK (that would be the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, not to be confused with Kim Jong Un’s Dictatorship of North Korea) says “US is the number one sponsor of terrorism” in response to the US State Department re-designating North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela as countries not cooperating fully in the fight against terrorism.

And we have an interesting item in TwinFinite. Microsoft’s flight simulator of the Caracas airport is now available for those who would like to visit the Simon Bolivar airport virtually. It only costs $20 and sure beats flying there.

More tomorrow….