Episode 51 - Abby Martin Meets the Venezuelan Opposition

Empire Files

News

4.9 • 784 Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2017

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Abby Martin goes on the deadly front lines of the anti government protests in Venezuela and follows the evolution of a typical guarimba—or opposition barricade. She explains what the targets from the opposition reveal about the nature of the movement and breaks down the reality of the death toll that has rocked the nation since the unrest began, and how a lynch mob campaign came after her and the Empire Files team for reporting these facts. Hearing from peaceful opposition marchers, to Chavistas to violent protesters at the guarimbas, this must-watch episode exposes the dark reality on-the-ground that is completely obscured from Western media. FOLLOW // twitter.com/empirefiles LIKE // facebook.com/theempirefiles

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin. This is the audio version of each episode of the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English. You can watch every episode at the Empire Files. TV.
0:15.6	Venezuela, a country painted as a failed state by U.S. politicians and corporate media, one that is under a
0:21.9	total dictatorship, brutally repressing free speech and the right to protest. The protests, which have been
0:28.2	going on for three months, are across the board uncritically romanticized and celebrated by the mass
0:33.7	media. Many outlets are openly calling for regime change. Since President Chavez was elected
0:39.3	in 1998, the U.S. government has paid over $50 million to the opposition movement. Now,
0:45.6	Senator Marco Rubio just spearheaded a bill pledging another $20 million to, quote, defend
0:50.6	human rights, among other types of aid. Long wanting to overthrow the democratically
0:55.5	elected socialist government. U.S. politicians are seizing the moment of unrest for regime change.
1:02.0	The stable and peaceful Venezuela is in the best interest of the entire hemisphere. We will be working
1:09.7	with Colombia and other countries on the Venezuelan problem.
1:14.2	It is a very, very horrible problem. And from a humanitarian standpoint, it is like nothing we've seen in quite a long time.
1:24.5	With new U.S. sanctions, direct threats from the Trump administration overthrow another
1:28.7	sovereign government and corporate media painting a one-sided narrative, I wanted to go see
1:33.5	the reality on the ground for myself.
1:35.9	During my investigation in Venezuela, spending nearly three weeks in Caracas, one thing was
1:40.8	a constant, traffic jams from Guadimbas or protest barricades, intended to disrupt life in the city.
1:48.0	While most things carried on like normal, some parts of the city were always inaccessible,
1:53.0	with police and military constantly scurring to whatever streets were shut down that day.
1:58.0	Knowing how much mass protests define life in Venezuela, as well as the media coverage,
2:04.1	I attended an opposition protest in Miranda State near Caracas.
2:08.1	The demonstration, which consisted of thousands of people, was a peaceful gathering,
	...

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