CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 a.m. local time Saturday in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. The government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations in multiple states.

[…]

Venezuela’s government, in the statement, called on its supporters to take to the streets.

“People to the streets!” the statement said. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”

The statement added that President Nicolás Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.” That state of emergency gives him the power to suspend people’s rights and expand the role of the armed forces.

  • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Well, that remains to be seen. To be honest, I can’t imagine anyone being prosecuted for their crimes, even with the best will in the world. I’m not a U.S. citizen, but from a distance, it looks to me as if your systems are infiltrated to a degree that they no longer function properly - starting with the fact that the Democrats are merely the lesser of two evils, to the fact that your law enforcement system, even under their control, actively protects child molesters, if not actually empowering them to commit their crimes, to the fact that your highest legal authority, the Supreme Court, is so obviously corrupt that it places the president above the law in a supposedly democratic country, which is completely incompatible with any democratic constitution.

    Of course, I’m rooting for you, but I think it’s naive to put your faith in a system that has proven time and again that it represents the interests of the powerful rather than those of the people. The proof of this is the fact that large sections of the population in the richest country in the world have to live as if they were in a third world country - for a European like me, it is incomprehensible how one can not only allow this, but also approve of it.

    Edit: Just to illustrate what I mean: if your legal system worked even halfway properly, your president would have gone to prison long before he became president - he has committed so many serious crimes that it is more than telling that he was not already sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1990s.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      4 days ago

      The Dems blew it badly during the Biden administration, and they either learned their lesson, or they didn’t. They better have learned their lesson, because they only have the next two elections to turn this around, and if they don’t, then America is finished.

      I’m always hoping for the best, but if we keep going in the same direction, with the same proven losing strategies, then the future belongs to MAGA. This will be the final opportunity to save America, and Dems have to step up. There are those who are willing, let’s see if the Dem leadership can grow a spine and support them.

      • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        As I said, I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but when you consider how the progressive wing of the Democrats is demonized by their own people, even though it’s so obvious that the people want these policies, I have very little hope.

        Just to illustrate how difficult it is for a European to understand the US mentality: Sanders, AOC, and Mamdani would be moderate center-left politicians in Europe, not at all “extremists” as they are apparently portrayed in the US.

        • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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          4 days ago

          We have two serious foundational issues in our nation that must be addressed, or we will never move beyond where we are right now.

          The first is what you referred to: the Conservative Propaganda Machine, which is an amazingly effective operation. They brutally abuse the First Amendment, knowing it is difficult to regulate it, but that is exactly what we have to do. The Conservative Propaganda Machine operates entirely in bad faith, and is the mouthpiece for MAGA, a domestic terrorist organization, and this nation’s biggest national security threat. Under those circumstances, MAGA’s dissemination of disingenuous speech can be controlled.

          The second is Campaign Finance Reform, which is the issue from which ALL other issues flow. It allows Sociopathic Oligarchs to control our government through legal bribery and corruption by BOTH sides. We must reconfigure our entire election system so that it filters OUT the worst and most corrupt candidates, instead of washing out our most responsible candidates by bad-faith, disingenuous campaign rhetoric.

          As long as those two situations remain in force, we will always have problems with the worst of our nation gaining power. We have to put ALL candidates on equal, fair footing, so the best candidates can be elevated to positions of RESPONSIBILITY, and keep criminals and traitors from gaming our system to gain power to exploit our nation.

          • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            Thank you very much for the information. Although I only know the US system from afar and through observation, I come to the same conclusion.