Thread by @DrJillStein

They lied to you about Vietnam.
They lied to you about Iraq.
They lied to you about Syria.
They lied to you about Honduras.
They lied to you about Libya.

So why would you believe what they're saying about Venezuela?

Venezuela is in crisis. But like the run-up to Vietnam, Iraq, Libya and so many other bloody US foreign policy disasters, we're being bombarded with a one-sided, simplistic, often false narrative. No one claims Venezuela is a threat to us... but they do have LOTS of oil.

Chickenhawks like John Bolton are saying the quiet part out loud on why the ruling class should support the Venezuela coup: “It will make a big difference to the US economically if we could have American oil companies really invest in & produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela."

The politicians screaming "SOCIALISM is DESTROYING Venezuela's economy!" never mention the fact that they've been leading a global economic war to destroy Venezuela's economy. Their plan: make Venezuelans suffer, then swoop in to "rescue" them & their oil. counterpunch.org/2017/08/11/ven…

Who is Juan Guaido, self-proclaimed Venezuelan president? His US-funded Popular Will party is known as the most violent faction of #Venezuela's rightwing opposition, with a history of sabotage, brutal street violence & a nasty habit of burning people alive grayzoneproject.com/2019/01/29/the…

Former President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center specializes in international election integrity, gave his seal of approval to #Venezuela's election in 2013 which Maduro won with 50.6%, saying "Venezuela probably has the most excellent voting system that I have ever known".

The hardline opposition chose to boycott #Venezuela's 2018 election instead of supporting moderate opposition candidates. Turnout was 46% and Maduro got 68%, meaning 31% of Venezuelan voters backed him - a higher percentage than the 25.7% of US voters who elected Trump.

The US is ranked last in the Western world for election integrity, & leading experts still have serious doubts about Trump's win. Millions of Americans consider the unpopular US president an illegitimate authoritarian traitor. Should NATO install Nancy Pelosi as US President?

Journalist @MaxBlumenthal asked members of Congress about #Venezuela. It's embarrassing & disgusting. While US pushes a weaker country toward civil war, our "leaders" are ignorant, indifferent & afraid to take a stand: cowardly puppets of the war machine.

In contrast to the clueless, cowardly war-machine puppets in Congress, 70 Latin American experts & civil society leaders w/ the guts to speak truth to power have published a powerful open letter saying Trump's Venezuela coup will lead to chaos & bloodshed. commondreams.org/views/2019/01/…

Team Trump planned Venezuela coup for Jan. 23, a national celebration in #Venezuela honoring 1958 revolution. Look at CNN’s photo claiming, without evidence, the crowd was anti-Maduro. Then look at some photos from Jan. 23 CNN didn't show you. Notice any Maduro supporters in red?

Let's look at how corporate media reported on the Feb. 2 rally against US-backed regime change in #Venezuela. Check out CNN’s lone picture of the rally in their 37-photo "Venezuela in Crisis" montage. Then look at a photo showing the actual size of the crowd. Notice a difference?

UN expert @Alfreddezayas traveled #Venezuela on a UN fact-finding mission in 2017, today says: "The mainstream media has been complicit in this attempted coup. This reminds us of the run-up to the Iraq invasion of 2003. My concern is to avoid a civil war." democracynow.org/2019/1/24/form…

Media claims 2018 #Venezuela election was "widely seen as fraud." By who? Maduro asked UN observers to ensure fair elections. Hardline opposition backed by US boycotted elections & refused UN observers. 100s of observers came anyway & found elections fair. venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13899