Publisher’s Note: Given the US Empire’s pervasive “news” media propaganda re: current economic and political realities on the ground in Venezuela, here are some indy news perspectives to contextualize what’s happening down south. All three of our US journalists featured here  – Stephen Lendman, Abby Martin, and Mike Prysner – have extensive experience covering Venezuelan politics and culture, and all understand how the US Empire has engineered dozens of coup d’etats and attempted coups around the world over the past seven decades. Here’s RT on The Bank Of England “freezing” the gold assets of the Maduro government – multiple POVs. And James Corbett weighs in with some context. One more thing – here’s FORBES magazine on the integrity of Venezuela’s electoral system, one of the world’s most reliable. 

When is a coup not one? A rose is a rose is a rose, not something else.

Things are what they are by whatever name. A coup by any other name doesn’t change things. US efforts to topple a sitting government have nothing to do with democracy building, humanitarian intervention or responsibility to protect – anathema notions in Washington, despite using them as pretexts for lawless actions.

Coups are unlawful interventions by one country against another, a flagrant violation of core international law.

No such thing as extrajudicially intervening with good intent exists, never by the US throughout its history – a coup d’etat nation since the 19th century against scores of countries worldwide.

Coups play out in different forms, most often violently. What’s ongoing in Venezuela has its own characteristics.

The Trump regime’s appointment of an interim puppet president, short of toppling democratically elected Nicolas Maduro forcefully so far at least, is an attempt to replace him by enlisting popular and military support, while waging and likely escalating political, economic, financial, and sanctions war on the country.

US military intervention remains an option if other tactics fail. According to AP News, an “anti-Maduro coalition (sic) grew from secret talks,” including with designated puppet Juan Guaido in Washington last month, other fascist elements in Venezuela and nations abroad.

Most Latin and Central American countries, European ones, and others were enlisted or pressured to back the coup attempt. US-led Western media strongly support it to their disgrace.

Maduro’s military attache in Washington Col. Jose Luis Silva betrayed his country and rule of law, siding with the Trump regime’s aim to topple Maduro, issuing a statement urging members of Venezuela’s armed forces to back the coup against democratic governance.

His support for wrong over right was likely bought, selling his soul for the right price.

Senator Marco Rubio is a right-wing extremist. He praised Trump’s appointment of convicted felon Elliot Abrams as point man for regime change in Venezuela, turning truth on its head, saying he “support(s) democracy (and) human rights…”

He supports tyranny, assassinations by death squads, coup d’etats, wars of aggression, and other lawless actions. The same goes for Rubio and the vast  majority of others in Washington.

On Sunday, he turned truth on its head, claiming what’s going on in Venezuela isn’t a coup attempt, saying:

What’s happening “is not a US-backed anything…Juan Guaido (is) follow(ing) the Constitution…(Maduro’s) swearing-in in January was invalid because the election that put Maduro there was invalid.”

“When there’s a vacancy in the presidency, the president of the National Assembly, which happens to be Juan Guaido, becomes the interim president.”

“The US simply supported the democratic institutions. So this is not a US-sponsored anything. This is us supporting the people of Venezuela who want their constitution and democracy followed. That’s a fact.”

“That’s a” Big Lie, along with Rubio’s other remarks. Maduro was democratically elected and reelected, a process international monitors called scrupulously open, free, and fair – mocking US money-controlled sham elections.

No presidential “vacancy” exists. Nothing in Venezuela’s Constitution justifies what’s going on. Guaido is a US-designated usurper with no legitimacy.

Rubio claimed “I don’t know of anyone who is calling for a military intervention” – ignoring Trump saying last week that “all options are on the table,” including the military one.

According to Rubio, the US has the right to defend “our national security in cases where it’s threatened. (The US) always retains the right, always, anywhere in the world, in any instance, to protect its national security…”

No threats to US security by any countries exist, just invented ones. Republicans and Dems only recognize foreign elections as valid if regimes subordinating their national sovereignty to US interests win.

Government of, by, and for everyone equitably isn’t tolerated anywhere, neither at home or abroad.

That’s the American way, how it’s always been from inception, stealing indigenous land to expand the nation “from sea to shining sea,” half of Mexico taken in the mid-19th century, waging war on humanity ever since at home against its most vulnerable people, abroad to transform all countries into US vassal states.

Its quest for global dominance took countless millions of lives, a small price to pay, according to its leadership.

Endless political, economic, financial, sanctions, and hot wars rage. That’s what the US rage for hegemony over planet earth is all about – why my country is humanity’s greatest threat.

Republicans and undemocratic Dems are united for flagrantly unlawful regime change in Venezuela – ignoring the UN Charter, other international law, and the US Constitution.

There’s no ambiguity about the rule of law. UN Charter Article 2 states “(a)ll Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…”

Except in self-defense if attacked, clearly not the issue in Venezuela, no nation may legally interfere in the internal affairs of others – what the US does repeatedly by naked aggression, color revolutions, and old-fashioned coup d’etats, what’s in play against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

International laws, treaties, conventions, and agreements are automatically US law under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2).

Republicans and Dems operate by their own rules alone. On Venezuela, their preferred regime change tactics alone differed so far, their objective the same.

Trump hardliners appear willing to stop at nothing to achieve their aims, Dems supporting the coup, perhaps by military intervention if other tactics in play fail.

Events ahead will determine Venezuela’s future. At stake is protecting and preserving Bolivarian social democracy or its destruction by US rage to control the country and its vast oil reserves, the world’s largest, the main reason for what’s going on.

Key for democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro is maintaining military support. Losing it would mean game over, the US gaining another imperial trophy, a repeat of what’s gone on since the 19th century in most hemispheric countries and many others worldwide.

Washington aims to control all countries, their resources and populations, its back yard considered planet earth, not just Latin and Central America, how both extremist wings of its war party operate.

Trump regime hardliners and their designated puppet Juan Guaido are pressuring Venezuela’s military commanders to support the US attempted coup, Guaido saying:

“We have been in talks with government officials, civilian and military men…This is a very delicate subject involving personal security. We are meeting with them, but discreetly.”

Separately via Twitter he said “(o)n Wednesday, a mass public demonstration will be held, and I call on the people of Venezuela to take to the streets” – more rallies to follow, key for Maduro is mobilizing larger ones, supporting his legitimacy as president and Bolivarianism.

During Saturday’s Security Council session, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia denounced the Trump regime’s coup attempt, demanding an answer from Pompeo he didn’t get, saying:

Senior US officials “have been dropping clear hints about the use of force (against Venezuela), speculating about ‘options on the table.’ ”

“Taking advantage of Mr. Pompeo’s presence, we want to ask directly whether it means that the United States is ready to use military force against a sovereign state under a bogus pretext.”

“It is here in this hall we need to hear a definite answer: if Washington intends once again to violate the UN Charter?”

That’s precisely what’s going on by failing to recognize Maduro’s legitimacy, illegally designating Guaido as interim puppet president.

The Trump regime’s military option is ominously on the table. Senator Lindsey Graham said the following about a conversation he had with Trump in mid-January:

“(Trump) said ‘(w)hat do you think about using military force?’ I said…you need to go slow on that. That could be problematic. (H)e said…I’m surprised. You want to invade everybody.’ ”

“And I said, ‘I don’t want to invade everybody. I only want to use the military when our national security interests are threatened.’ ”

Separately, Graham stressed that DLT is “really hawkish” on Venezuela. So far, events are playing out short of a military option.

Clearly Trump regime hardliners, and their new point man for regime change in Venezuela, convicted neocon Iran/Contra co-conspirator, death squad supporter Elliot Abrams, aim to get the country’s military commanders on board against Maduro, an objective not achieved so far.

Pushing for this will surely continue, using time-tested tactics, including bribes, pressure and threats – what hasn’t worked in Venezuela for the past 20 years. It’s unknown if they’ll succeed in the coming days, weeks or longer.

Much rides on how things play out ahead. Washington’s military option is always on the table, notably when publicly declared like now, the scenario by brute force having played out many times before.

Trump’s hawkish geopolitical team threatens all sovereign independent countries. DLT is in trouble at home. With Dems controlling the House, his domestic agenda is stymied.

The vast majority of Republicans and Dems, along with the US major media, support regime change in Venezuela, including by what’s unfolding – an old-fashioned coup d’etat attempt, a longstanding US specialty.

Small numbers of Dems alone oppose Trump’s recognition of Guaido as interim (puppet) president, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard saying:

“The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our leaders — so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”

She and a few other Dems are voices in the wilderness, a US coup attempt overwhelmingly supported in Washington.

America’s most popular con man Bernie Sanders has been saying one thing and doing another for over 30 years in public office, proving he’s a self-serving dirty politician like virtually all others in Washington.

His revolutionary, man-of-the-people rhetoric is empty, his soul for sale at the right price, voting nearly always with other undemocratic Dems, supporting what he rhetorically opposes.

Earlier he called democratically elected and reelected Hugo Chavez a “dictator.” He opposes democratically elected and reelected Maduro.

Last week he falsely accused him of “waging a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violat(ing) the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly, and was re-elected last year in an election that many observers said was fraudulent.”

All of the above are shameful Big Lies. Sanders rhetorically stopped short of supporting Trump’s coup attempt. Given his hostility toward democratically elected Venezuelan leaders, he’ll like endorse Guaido if Maduro is toppled, violently or otherwise.

For the past 20 years, US regimes since the Clinton co-presidency sought to replace Bolivarian social democracy with US-controlled fascist tyranny.

What’s going on now represents the most serious threat to its survival. A separate article stressed the importance of organized people resistance against what’s going on.

It’s the most effective way, likely the only way, to preserve and protect Venezuelan social democracy – as long as the country’s military commanders remain on board.

Since the 1999 birth of Venezuela’s Bolivarian social democracy, a model for other nations, the threat of a good example for Washington, Republicans and undemocratic Dems sought to destroy it.

One of my earliest articles was on Venezuela, discussing the promise and perils of Bolivarianism, its spirit under Hugo Chavez – based on the vision of Simon Bolivar.

He defeated the Spanish, liberated half of South America, and believed in the redistributive policies that characterize what Venezuelan social democracy is all about.

Its ruling authorities use most of the countries wealth for people needs, waging peace, not war, seeking cooperative relations with other nations, dominance over none.

Chavistas aim to overcome what Bolivar called the imperial curse “to plague Latin America with misery in the name of liberty.”

Chavez carried the torch for social justice, a populist hero with mass public support, other than from well-to-do Venezuelans, corporate interests, and the scourge of Washington’s aim to eliminate him and Bolivarian fairness.

He implemented what’s unthinkable in America, letting Venezuelans decide by national referendum on whether to convene a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution, reflecting Bolivarian social democracy.

Overwhelmingly passed, National Assembly elections followed three months later, Chavistas winning 95% of seats, enabling them to draft a new Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Constitution, setting the nation on a course for revolutionary change – including benefits for everyone Americans can’t imagine.

Based on the principle of participatory democracy for all Venezuelans, discrimination is banned, speech and other fundamental freedoms affirmed, benefits including education to the highest levels and healthcare for everyone mandated.

Over a decade ago, I wrote my most important article on Venezuela titled The US and Venezuela: Constitutional Worlds Apart. Differences between democracy the way it should be in Venezuela and America’s fantasy version couldn’t be more stark.

Unlike how ordinary Venezuelans got to vote up or down on their new Constitution, “we the people” in America were never consulted, nor about anything today. The so-called framers controlled the process, individuals today we’d call a Wall Street crowd.

They included bankers, merchants, planters, ship owners, lawyers, politicians, judges, slave owners and traders, speculators, smugglers, privateers, and other type wheeler-dealers – polar opposite what democracy is supposed to be all about, an anathema notion in the USA throughout the country’s history.

After declaring independence from Britain on July 4, 1776, everything changed but stayed the same – under new management.

From inception, democracy was a figure of speech, nothing else, nothing real, rights of ordinary people not considered.

Black Americans were commodified as property. Women were disenfranchised until 1920. For nearly a century-and-a-half after the nation’s establishment, they were considered homemakers and child rearers alone.

Venezuelans are enfranchised at birth under a national standard, what doesn’t exist in America, no constitutionally mandated system for everyone. As a result, disenfranchisement is rife.

Things today are the worst in US history. Ruling authorities in Washington allied with corporate interests run things, gangsterism on steroids, exploiting ordinary people everywhere for personal gain.

Hypocrisy, not democracy, defines the American way, an increasingly totalitarian plutocracy, oligarchy and kleptocracy. Washington’s criminal class represents humanity’s greatest threat.

From inception, America has been a nation of men, not laws, women coming to the table belatedly. Ruling authorities do what they please operating ad libitum by their own rules, serving themselves and their cronies.

“We the people” means them, the nation’s privileged class, not us, others to be exploited for their benefit.

Pompeo is a fascist extremist wrapped in the American flag. The same goes for other Trump regime hardliners, notably John Bolton and newest addition to DLT’s team – convicted neocon Iran/Contra co-conspirator, death squad supporter, Elliot Abrams, appointed point man for regime change in Venezuela.

Pompeo used the Security Council as a platform for an imperial rant, a grandstanding stunt, one of countless examples of why America is hated worldwide, supported by authorities in colonized countries, despised by ordinary people harmed by its agenda worldwide.

Pompeo: “We’re here because Maduro has reduced ordinary Venezuelans who once lived in prosperity to rooting through dumpsters to find something to eat.”

“We’re here because scores of Venezuelan women, some of them teenagers, have fled Maduro’s madness to other countries, and in desperation turned to prostitution to survive.”

“The United States is helping to recover a brighter future for Venezuela. We’re here to urge all nations to support the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people as they try to free themselves from former President Maduro’s illegitimate mafia state.”

What’s wrong with the above remarks? Everything! Maduro’s legitimacy is indisputable. US interests are responsible for causing enormous harm to countless millions of people worldwide. What Pompeo suppressed is most important to explain.

Washington is making Venezuela’s economy scream the way Nixon attacked Chile, harming ordinary people most, regime change the aim both times, harshness made in the USA, not Caracas or Santiago, other than the effects of low oil prices today.

What’s going on constitute high crimes against humanity, repeated by US regimes time and again against one country after another. Tactics include political, economic, financial, sanctions, and hot wars – the human toll of no consequence.

Washington bears full responsibility for the suffering of millions of Venezuelans, countless millions more worldwide, imperialism’s fallout wherever it shows up – mass slaughter, vast destruction and human misery what it’s all about.

Pompeo and Bolton are Trump’s point men for waging war on humanity, Elliot Abrams charged with eliminating Venezuelan social democracy, replacing it with fascist tyranny – by whatever dirty tricks in the book it takes to achieve this objective.

People have power when they use it. In April 2002, Venezuelans returned Hugo Chavez to power, aborting Bush/Cheney’s coup attempt, the nation’s military the deciding factor, supporting democracy over toppling it.

What worked then can work now. Dark forces can be challenged and beaten. Maduro is Venezuela’s democratically elected president, Juan Guaido a US designated usurper.

Support from Venezuela’s military along with people power can preserve and protect Bolivarian social democracy. The latest attempt by US dark forces to impose their will on the country can be defeated.

The way to beat Washington’s dirty game is with organized people. United for a just cause is a powerful deterrent, collective defiance against its rage to dominate all other nations, their resources and people – what the scourge of imperialism is all about.