The

The Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood. Once again, Behind the News sticks to its knitting. Two guests, two segments. Gabriel Hetland will update us on what's been

happening in Venezuela since the kidnapping of Nicholas Maduro in January, and David Griscombe

will dispel myths around the political history of Texas. The kidnapping and arrest of Venezuelan

President Nicholas Maduro by U.S. forces in January

was an outrageous act of old-style colonialism.

Curiously, though, the move was an act of pure decapitation.

The rest of the government was left in place, though it's running the country largely in accordance with U.S. wishes.

Here to outline these developments is Gabriel Hetland.

He's an associate professor of Latin American

Studies and Sociology at SUNY Albany, an author of Democracy on the Ground, Local Politics

in Latin America's Left Turn. You can find some of his writings on Venezuela on the Intercept site.

Gabriel says things about Maduro and his government that may annoy some listeners, but I have

no reason to doubt their

truth. I admire a lot of what his predecessor Hugo Chavez did when he was president from 1999 to 2013,

but Maduro, who succeeded Chavez and his death, has shown himself to be a far less skilled

and flexible leader. Gabriel Hetland. It's been rather a stark contrast between Iran and Venezuela for the

U.S. to Trump's surprise. What do you think of comparing those two?

Everyone has been making this comparison asking who is the Iranian Delci Rodriguez,

and there isn't one. Or if there was one, they killed them all. I mean, as Trump admitted, you know,

about a month ago that all the people that we thought might take over the leadership in Iran are

dead. So the idea that the Iranian war would be a slam dunk and replicate the tactical,

...