(np) what does Greg Palast know about it?

[Michael Bailey]

[he covered Venezuela] “for BBC television and The Guardian. I knew Hugo
Chavez very well. I also know the current president, Nicolás Maduro, and I
got quite friendly with several of the opposition figures. But I have to
tell you, whether we like it or not, Maduro was fairly elected. We have to
accept that the Venezuelan people chose Maduro. Now I know Maduro, he’s not
necessarily my cup of tea. I think he’s over his head as a leader. I think
he’s screwing this all up, but I’m not a Venezuelan voter. The Venezuelans
have chosen him.

“Trump, and now Biden, of all people, has been recognizing a guy named Juan
Guido as the president of Venezuela. Let me tell you how really a weird
that is. Juan Guido has basically lived his life in Washington, DC. Until
Trump came in, he didn’t even get close to Venezuela. He’s also a very rich
white guy, working for think tanks — and white is an important discussion
here. Because for 400 years white people — they called themselves “the
Spaniards” — ran Venezuela, took all its money, and most people got
nothing. They’re sitting on the world’s largest reserve of oil, according
to OPEC, and yet the people got nothing. Hugo Chavez came in, the first
non-white head of state — as he says, I’m *negro e indio*, I’m black and
Indian — and they didn’t like it. They hate it and they want to force
Venezuela to accept Juan Guido.

“But it’s not like they can claim they stole the election from Guido. He
didn’t run for president, and yet the US and the European Union and the UK
have all recognized Guido as the president. When Venezuela sells oil, we
literally give the money to this guy, Guido. Imagine if in California,
because we’re an oil state in California, we sold our oil to a Japan or
back to Ohio, and we were told, no, you can’t send any money back to
California, forget it. And by the way, we’re not going to let you have food
or medicine, we’re going to cut you off.”