The Colonels Corner-Corporate Coup (Venezuela) Part 13

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Transcript

0:00 I must be back on the naughty list. I got kicked out twice while I was waiting. Too many truth bombs. See, that's what you get. Yep. When you drop too much truth, it's just going to blow our heads apart and get you on the do not call list. Well, I'm not sure I'm on that list. Can you add SRS co-host as well? Sure.

0:27 I'm going hunting, so later on I won't be able to speak, but I will be here in years. Okay. Come on. Fair enough. All right. Because I can't miss any of this awesomeness. Thank you. Yeah. We're going to go ahead and get started. Let me get my video and there we go. All right. So we are talking, obviously, about Venezuela.

0:59 And the real deal as opposed to what we're told in the news. All right. We're on Chapter 13. We did two chapters yesterday. So this chapter starts off. And remember, we were talking about the U.N. In the months leading up to the September 2019 U.N. General Assembly session, a covert diplomatic war unfolded in the halls of New York headquarters.

1:29 According to Venezuela's real U.N. ambassador, Samuel Moncato, he said the following. We are battling, he told Anya, because as we know, this is the forum in which Vice President Mike Pence had addressed the Security Council earlier, just before this meeting, and basically said that he was going to ask the entire General Assembly.

2:00 to recognize Juan Guaido. He went on to say, quote, battling, meaning campaigning. We are talking, persuading, convincing the world, and we are right now pretty sure they don't have the numbers, unquote. And that would mean the numbers to recognize the fake government as opposed to the real government.

2:27 Even as the U.S. lobbied his colleagues to betray him, Mankato kept a level of faith in the U.N. system. He asserted most countries understood that if the U.S. achieved his removal, the precedent would apply to all of them as well. What would stop the U.S. from then imposing unelected regimes in all of the other countries they didn't like?

2:55 Only about 55 of the U.N. 193 member states recognized Juan Guaido's legitimacy. It was unlikely the U.S. would succeed in dismissing him. To remove him and install a Guaido representative, Washington would have to rally the support of two-thirds of the voting delegates. Yet, precedent offered the U.S. a possible opening.

3:25 In 2009, Madagascar then President Andre Rajolina was prevented from addressing the U.N. General Assembly after a simple majority of the delegates present when he took the floor voted to block his right to speak. Mankato anticipated the U.S. would try to obstruct his government's.

3:53 U.N. General Assembly participation in a similar fashion, triggering a game of numbers between Caracas and Washington in the months leading up to the U.N. meeting in September. Throughout this period, Washington worked to ensure delegates of all 55 Pro-1 Guaido member states would be present at the General Assembly for this event.

4:20 This meant that Caracas had to guarantee at least 55 of its own friends also attended. Or the U.S. would call to block their representative from speaking when, by a simple majority, initiate the process of removing Maduro's government from the U.N. Venezuela's moment arrived on the afternoon of Friday, September 27th.

4:45 Tasked with addressing the UN General Assembly on the country's behalf was Vice President Dele Rodriguez. As with Ariza and his staff who arrived in New York prior, U.S. sanctions had barred Rodriguez from chartering a plane to the U.S. and forced her to fly commercial. Rodriguez was fit for the task before her. Making up for what she lacked in height, she had...

5:16 a very enduring personality. Usually dressed in very brightly colored suits, Rodriguez was uniquely effective at communication, regularly spouting off rapid-fire statistics to reinforce her political point of view before officials and television cameras. When she entered the UN headquarters that afternoon,

5:46 She wore a royal blue pantsuit with white stripes. As Rodriguez greeted those of us in the U.N. press gaggle with a smile, we noticed that she was holding a large photograph. Someone asked, tell us about the photograph. We're going to talk about this photograph, Rodriguez said. Anya immediately recognized the photograph.

6:15 Days before the U.N. General Assembly kicked off, images of Juan Guaido posing with members of a Colombian drug gang called Las Rastrosas had surfaced online. Subsequent media reports revealed that the notoriously violent narco paramilitary group had arranged Guaido's illegal passage to Colombia in February of 2019.

6:44 when he participated in the U.S.'s botched attempt to move the humanitarian aid across the border. So they were going to use some of the paramilitary folks as part of that campaign. For the coup leader and his backers in Washington, the image could not have come at a worse time. In a hopeful sign for Venezuela, international delegates packed the gallery below.

7:11 When Rodriguez finally took the podium, US officials were forced to confront reality. The world had rejected their fanatical Venezuela regime change. Rather than call for a vote to block her from speaking, US representatives and their allies stood up and left. In her distinctively raspy voice, Rodriguez proceeded to denounce the US interference in her country and charge governments.

7:43 that had recognized Guaido's authority with committing one of the worst mistakes in diplomatic history, characterizing the coup leader as a criminal element who had been introduced to breach the peace in Venezuela. She held up a picture of Guaido palling around with Colombian narco-traffickers before the world. This member of Congress

8:10 is an imperial puppet, she informed everybody. He does not exist in Venezuela politics. Rodriguez's address marked the formal defeat of Guaido's coup at the UN. Moments following its conclusion, a normally subdued Ariza was uncharacteristically excited as he recorded a video message for Venezuelans back home.

8:42 was quoted as saying, they could not, nor will they. They could not with Chavez, they cannot with Maduro, and they cannot with the Venezuelan people, not anyone. Indeed, though U.S. officials often referred to the international community as a united front in support of Guaido, the 2019 U.N. General Assembly session told a different story. As the U.N.

9:13 It turned out the international community consisted of more than just the West. Africa's role in defending Venezuela was particularly significant. The 54 nations of the African continent account for roughly one-third of the UN members, and they had remained unified in their rejection of Juan Guaido, because they've all experienced the same thing happening to them. Following Caracas' win at the UN,

9:42 Anya spoke with Venezuelan Vice Minister for African Affairs, Yuri Penentral, about his government's relationship with the African continent. In relations of the Venezuelan government with the African continent are very strong, and it's not something that began two days ago. Since the beginning of the Chavismo movement,

10:11 The late president, Hugo Chavez, always told us that we had to strengthen our relations with Africa. For Chavez, establishing ties with the continent he routinely called Mother Africa was a top priority. When he took office in 1999, Venezuela had an official diplomatic relationship with 20 African states. By 2019, that number was 54.

10:42 I speak about 54 countries, even though one of them is not recognized by the UN because we recognize the Western Sahara as an independent country. He's referring to the Northwest African territory that has struggled against Moroccan occupation since the 1970s. In Pimentel's view, the legacy of Chavez, Chavismo, had enabled Venezuela to triumph.

11:14 The defeat was a huge defeat to U.S. diplomats. Clearly, they underestimated all of the work that the diplomats of Venezuela had been doing in regards to this situation. The majority of U.N. countries clearly understand what the U.S. is trying to do in Venezuela and they cannot support it because we know that today it is Venezuela and tomorrow it could be one of them.

11:43 Though the U.S. failed to officially install Guaido's allies at the U.N., a handful of his representatives were granted U.N. General Assembly credentials by U.S.-allied Latin American countries, including Colombia, Brazil, and Honduras. Among them was Diego Arria, a pre-revolution Venezuelan politician who once represented Caracas at the U.N.

12:11 and who accused Hugo Chavez of crimes against humanity. One year after Venezuelan's government moved to ex-appropriate his private ranch as part of its efforts to expand domestic agricultural capacity. Also present was Guaido's U.S. quote-unquote ambassador, former Exxon lawyer Carlos Becchio. This is really incredible how some countries

12:42 by U.S. instruction, agree to accredit Venezuelan opposition members as part of their delegations. It really illustrates to the world the power of U.S. political warfare. One member of the actual Venezuelan delegation, Gessie Gonzalez, tweeted a photo of Aria seated behind the Honduras placard.

13:10 juxtapose the image of a vanquished former diplomat with one showing Venezuela, Vice President Rodriguez, UN Ambassador Mankato, and the foreign minister Ariza smiling proudly in their proper Venezuelan seats. For those who had any doubt about who represents Venezuela, here is the true delegation and put the other ones as the fake ones.

13:40 They are wandering around like ghosts at the UN, Ariza told reporters. They are wandering around with credentials from a foreign government. It's the most absurd thing, absolute desperation, Vecchio said. Three days before Venezuela took to the UN General Assembly floor, U.S. President Trump delivered his own address to the international dignitaries gathered in New York, talking about

14:09 the importance of Washington's pro-Guido minority coalition. And this is a quote from Trump. Since I last spoke in the hall, the U.S. and our partners have built a historic coalition of 55 countries to recognize the legitimate government of Venezuela. Throughout the entirety of the U.S. president's speech, Venezuela diplomat Daniela Rodriguez sat behind her country's placard.

14:38 on the General Assembly floor. So even though they played that speech from Trump, Venezuela did not get up and walk out. In the aftermath of Venezuela's meeting at the UN, it seemed Washington forgot all about its coup in Caracas. In October, the U.S. set its sights on Bolivia and supported the ouster of longtime President Evo Morales through a military coup.

15:08 Venezuela's extremist opposition welcomes the development, even as it underscored their own failure to seize power. Now, this is very, very important because remember Evo Morales and we're dealing with Bolton and his sidekick, Elliot Abrams. Evo Morales is the guy that we learned a few months ago was the only guy that got Bolivia's.

15:37 cultivation of the coca plants down to almost nothing, where none of it was being shipped out of Bolivia illegally. It was being used for their customary teas and products that were legitimate. So we got rid of the one guy like we got rid of the Taliban after 9-11 that had eradicated all of the opium in Afghanistan. Again, patterns.

16:07 Bolivia took 18 days. We have been at it for years, Guaido said. By then, his future in the fast-approaching New York looked bleak. Each day that President Maduro remained as president weakened Guaido's position even among the ranks of the Venezuelan opposition. As his star faded in the final months of 2019, he renewed a call for street protests.

16:34 If you're not going to have Christmas, neither will they, he said. But Venezuela proceeded to have Christmas anyway. Families received their government-subsidized Christmas hams in their clap food program as 2019 came and went. Even mainstream media were forced to acknowledge the Guaido abating popularity in the final months of 2019.

17:05 Reuters described one of his November rallies as significantly smaller than those earlier in the year, with participants less optimistic about any change. The Associated Press made similar observations, noted that the gathering had significantly reduced in size and their combatedness of demonstrations had faded away. That question would be.

17:34 Talking about the momentum that was addressed on January 5th, 2020, when Guaido's term as president of Venezuelan's National Assembly was set to expire. Considering he based his entire claim to being the president as his role as part of the legislature. So, again, this is like the Speaker of the House just standing up one day and saying, I'm president. No election.

18:01 No nothing. He just stands up and says, I'm president and 55 other countries recognize him. If that was allowed to happen, it would be a crazy precedent. But that's exactly what the U.S. was advocating. But even that was getting ready to expire unless he extended his participation as the president.

18:30 of the political party that supposedly put him in that position, he was going to be on significantly shaky grounds. The scenes that emerged from the January 5th vote for the AN political party were some of the most infamous of the entire Juan Guaido saga. As legislatures gathered to elect their new leader, an opposition lawmaker named Luis Parra,

18:59 declared his last-minute candidacy for president. Not president of the country, president of the political party. A member of the Primero-Justica party, Pereiro's 11th-hour challenge from within the halls of the legislature came as a surprise to fellow legislatures and outside observers alike, especially Guaido and his allies. Along with Guaido's

19:28 volunteer popular party, the Un Novo Tempio and Ascension Democratica, Primo Justica was part of a G4 coalition that they all had joined as quote-unquote opposition. G4 was only historically aligned itself with U.S. objectives in the country, but

19:55 provided the base of Guaido's support in the legislature following his initiation of his self-declared presidency. Though Primero Justica had expelled Pera weeks before the AN vote because they were afraid of him, his willingness to break with Guaido suggested that nearly a year into Washington's failed coup, the opposition was less unified than ever.

20:22 It's important here to understand the rules and numbers of how Venezuela's legislature worked. In 2020, the National Assembly consisted of 167 lawmakers and required an 84-person quorum to carry out its function. To secure the AN presidency, either Guaido or Parra had to win a simple majority of votes present once a quorum was established.

20:50 Seeing as Parra announced his candidacy mere minutes before the scheduled vote, however, Guaido did not have time to make the temperature of his peers or whip up support for his own leadership. Of course, simply refusing to show up for the election would have displayed major weakness. Rather than openly boycott the vote, he attempted to sabotage it by staging a made-for-foreign media stunt

21:20 designed to cast himself as a victim of a repressive regime rather than a political insecure showman. Faced with possible defeat, he launched a panicked attempt to deny his colleagues the 84-person quorum needed to proceed with the election. As the vote approached, Guaido materialized outside of the legislated building alongside two legislatures from two different areas.

21:50 who had been banned from the National Assembly over allegations of voter fraud in their respective region. When security forces predictably blocked the banned lawmakers from entering the legislature, Guaido's plan went into effect. In video of the incident, Guaido jostled his way towards the legislative building with his shoulders squished together, body swaying from side to side.

22:19 with the people that weren't going to be allowed in. He rolled his eyes, shook his head, appearing miffed when a reporter asked him why he was trying to enter the General Assembly with people that weren't going to be allowed in. Don't even reply, his cohorts told him. Either we all go in or no one goes in. But he knew that they couldn't go in because they had been banned, because they weren't duly elected. And this had been the case for months.

22:50 dealing with this election fraud had went on for months. Guaido's strategy was obvious. By insisting to enter the legislature with banned lawmakers, he directed a scene that appeared to prove that Maduro's government was preventing him from seeking a second term. The drama reached its unintentionally hilarious apex when Guaido ran along the perimeter of the legislature.

23:19 and attempted to climb over its protective fence. Supporters boosted the politician's feet as he clung on to the iron barrier and struggled to mount it. Security forces yanked the wannabe president's coattails while their colleagues on the other side of the fence blocked him from leaping into the assembly grounds. While Guaido scaled the fence outside, the scene within the chamber was equally chaotic.

23:46 as warring lawmakers exchanged charged words and resorted to physical blows. Parra declared victory amid the mayhem, claiming he had secured 81 of the 150 votes cast. Parra's swearing in was less than ceremonial. As he raised a hand and made his stately vows, nearly every lawmaker present was screaming at someone else in the room.

24:16 Parra's promise to uphold his civic duties were drowned out by the chaos. Though Guaido's attempt to prevent the vote was unsuccessful, his degrading show at the fence achieved a more important objective. Below are samples of the foreign media headlines summarizing what I just told you. France reported Guaido says Venezuelan police blocked his access to the parliament.

24:49 Voice of America, the CIA rag. Venezuela's Guaido blocked from Congress as rival lawmaker claims speaker's post. The Washington Post, another CIA rag. Venezuela's last democratic institution falls as Maduro's attempts de facto takeover of the National Assembly. Yet video of the incident demonstrated without question that Venezuelan authorities had not prevented Guaido from entering the National Assembly.

25:20 As he approached the building spread door with the band legislatures, security guards instructed Guaido's companions to wait outside. In the meantime, the rest of you could go in, the guard clearly said on video. No, no, we're all going in or no one's going in. One of the legislatures, William Davala, further contradicted Guaido's narrative, telling the media later that the afternoon.

25:52 That only Kazandila and congressman from a congressman and another congressman from the Amazon area were not allowed inside. Other than that, everyone else got in that wanted to go in through the front door, not over the fence. The lawmakers lack of sympathy for Guaido was revealing. Like Parra, Davila was a member of the once solidly pro Guaido's.

26:19 G4 coalition, so he was even losing support among his own opposition leaders in Venezuela. Yet, as is customary with Venezuela politics, the AN leadership vote was a complicated affair. Opposition analyst Francisco Rodriguez produced a thorough investigation of the election days later, noting that while Parra

26:47 declared victory. He did not provide attendance records to certify his claim to the AN presidency. Rodriguez thus determined that since no roll call vote was taken, the vote was by a show of hands only. There was no direct way to verify the number of legislators present and the number of votes obtained.

27:11 Guaido and his allies capitalized on this sloppiness of the vote within minutes of its conclusion, accusing Parra of collaborating with Maduro and his party to carry out a parliamentary coup against the Venezuelan opposition bloc. But Parra is a member of the opposition bloc. Hours after Parra's hasty swearing in, they convened their own shadow session of a national assembly.

27:41 in the offices of a local newspaper that had been on the payroll of the CIA and decided at the end of that fake meeting that Guaido was still in charge of a political party. Though 100 legislatures participated in the vote at this fake meeting, several were in fact substitute lawmakers.

28:14 who were only authorized to vote in the event that their principal member was absent. So an unauthorized meeting, not in the legislature. Rodriguez broke through the confusion by analyzing both vote counts to determine who would have won the election if it had all been done together. Based on the public statements of lawmakers ahead of the vote,

28:38 Rodriguez said that he estimated under normal conditions, not when they're having knock down, drag out brawls in the legislature, Guaido would have won reelection of the National Assembly by an 86 vote to Parra's 71. However, he noted that three of those votes came from the banned legislatures that weren't allowed to vote, meaning without them, Guaido lacked the quorum needed to validate his victory.

29:08 So no matter what, he wouldn't have won. The 2020 vote for the AN president left Venezuelans' opposition permanently disfigured. Following the events of January 5th, 2020, contradictions between its competing factions were on permanent display within the legislature. From that point on, lawmakers outside of the hardcore G4 coalition launched an official boycott of committee hearings.

29:39 protest of Guaido's claim to authority. So basically, they disassociated themselves with him. While generating sympathy from the international press, Guaido's exhibition at the National Assembly fence left his colleagues in Venezuela unimpressed. In fact, any self-respecting person who watched the scene unfold must have wondered what in the heck was going on.

30:06 Here's this guy trying to climb over the fence. It was hysterical. Perhaps he hoped that the foreign media, eagerly documenting his humiliation from below, might at the very least still consider him president of something. That's just crazy. Like, literally crazy. Okay. So, we're going to talk about Sitco.

30:37 Chavez's command to nationalize the property of foreign country companies in Venezuela's domestic oligarchy were often dictated on his weekly Sunday programs. He would talk about he had rambling like sometimes as much as eight hours of conversations with the country. He asked his local government companions during one episode.

31:09 On February 7, 2010, in this building, Chavez pointing to a multi-storefront situated on the corner in Caracas, emblazoned with the words gold market in English. His colleagues informed him the building was the site of several jewelry stores. He just declared, ex-appropriate it. They obviously are not marketing to Venezuelans or the name would not be in English.

31:40 His government later alleged the building had been a black site for money laundering. Television was a central means of communication for Chavez, a medium through which he unveiled policy initiatives, engaged with constituents, and articulated his agenda. A platform for unscripted fireside chats.

32:04 The show produced a total of 378 episodes between the years 1999 and 2012, each one running between four and eight hours. So he was not shy to talk to the people in Venezuela. While Maduro quickly rose to the occasion and won the Venezuelans presidency, the void left by Chavez's stamina and enthusiasm before the media was a stark.

32:34 At some point then, around February of 2014, a military captain turned Chavista politician named Dios Dado Cabala established a new program. In launching the program, he inherited the task of communicating the actions of the Maduro government.

33:10 Chavez before him, like Chavez before him, Cabello relied on blue collar humor and a seemingly endless supply of energy to fuel marathon broadcast. The weekly program set up shop in a variety of public venues, such as state universities, schools and national military academies. In between Cabello's politically charged conversations.

33:41 There were on-set music performances. One of them featured Cabello standing before a bulletin board decorated with dozens of printed tweets and headlines. The tidbits typically consisted of Twitter declarations from opposition politicians and their attack on the Maduro government in international media and news updates on U.S. foreign policy.

34:10 He dissected the stories one by one during his show, mocking many of the opposition leaders. Cabello underlined the media's outlet's logo in red pen during each segment so that they understood where the dialogue was coming from. Under one specific one where he was talking about Russia, he jokingly quipped, and it must be causing tremors in Putin.

34:43 The set, constructed in the headquarters of Venezuelan's oil company on one show, Anya went to this show, had the logo, loyal always, traitors never. When he appeared on stage for his opening monologue, Cabello took aim at the U.S. media for their portrayal of Venezuela's collective votes as criminal gangs that kidnapped and intimidated opponents.

35:15 During this episode and the bulletin board segment, a guy by the name of Jose Ignacio Hernandez was mentioned. Though Guaido had tapped the young lawyer as his attorney general, in the initial days of his quote unquote presidency, Hernandez avoided media scrutiny throughout the early months of the Washington coup attempt.

35:46 His distaste for public examination was well-founded. Anya discovered that behind his demeanor, Hernandez served as one of the most consequential members of Venezuela's U.S.-backed shadow administration. While chronicling his role in Guaido's puppet regime, Anya discovered a hidden motivation behind Washington's seemingly failed regime change push, a conspiracy to rob Venezuela.

36:15 of an international asset. Amid the global economic crash of 2008, Venezuela's government moved to exappropriate a gold mine located in the southeast area of the country. Due to the financial crisis that has expanded on a worldwide scale, it is necessary to recoup our gold and increase our international reserves, the minister said.

36:44 The decision dealt a major blow to a Canadian mining company called Crystallix, which had signed an exclusive contract to develop and exploit the mine in 2002. On the website, Crystallix boasted that this mine was one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in the world and home to an estimated 20 million ounces of gold.

37:12 At the time, valued at $550 an ounce. When Venezuela's government rejected the final approval for the project in 2008 and proceeded to cancel the contract altogether three years later, Cristelex took Caracas to court. The multinational corporation seeking favorable rulings against sovereign governments for a crime of reclaiming their land or resources, the venue,

37:42 is always a D.C.-based entity called the International Center for Settlement and Investment Disputes. It's a tribunal. Warhamster and I talked about this very early on in our conversations because that's how United Fruit, when they took Guatemala to court.

38:06 When Guatemala offered them the million dollars that they had been paying taxes on when they demanded 20 million dollars to get kicked out of the country, they went to the same entity. And it always, 100 percent of the time, rules in favor of the United States because it's not an international body. It's a U.S. court that does whatever the U.S. government wants it to do. And it always protects Western corporations.

38:37 Though the ICSID describes itself as an independent, depoliticalized and effective institution, it is always favoring Western financial interest. Andres Aruz, an economic and former Ecuadorian presidential candidate who narrowly lost to multimillion dollar banker Guillermo Lasso in 2021, became well acquainted.

39:08 with the ICSID's inner workings during his tenure in the government of Rafael Correa. The ICSID is not an independent arbiter of justice. He said it's a neocolonial gatekeeper of transnational corporations and their impunity. The tribunal deference to international capital was baked into its structure. It was established in 1966.

39:38 as a subsidiary of World Bank Group and the president of the World Bank. You just can't even make this up. Historically, a former U.S. official or banking executive always serves as the president. The ICSID's investor state disputes are overseen and resolved by three arbiters, one selected by the state, one selected by the investor.

40:07 and a third typically selected by the World Bank president. And the World Bank president is always representing the West. So you're always, and the company, the World Bank rep, and the company's always on the same sheet of music. So the other arbiter will always get screwed. It's never going to be done in your favor, ever. Arbiters are heavily biased towards commercial, not.

40:37 public law and are mostly from law firms heavily associated with the transnational corporation, of course. The cases are almost always against the states of the global south, where we've been working to exploit them forever. Aruz noted that according to the ICSID's treaties, corporate entities are allowed to initiate

41:07 arbitration against foreign states, yet states cannot file arbitration against corporations, like Guatemala wanting to sue United Fruit for undertax. No, you're not allowed to do that. There's no form to do that. These rules structurally demonstrate that the ICSID is intentionally designed to protect transnational corporations.

41:37 Cristillex initiated arbitration against Venezuelan's government in February 2011, asserting Caracas owed $3.16 billion plus interest for ex-appropriating a mine they didn't own. They had a concession that was canceled and they had never mined the gold there.

42:08 They just had a concession. They didn't have infrastructure. They didn't have anything. They had a piece of paper. They never broke ground to mine the gold. They had a piece of paper and demanded $3.16 billion for that piece of paper. It's a way of holding these countries hostage. You get a corrupt government in that will sign that piece of paper.

42:38 And no one else is allowed to mine it, not even the country. So they can starve to death with, I don't know, do the math. 20 million ounces of gold at 550 ounces apiece in the ground. They're not allowed to touch. This is ludicrous. So to no one's surprise, ICSID sided with Chrysalis and ordered the Venezuelan government to pay 1.2.

43:12 billion plus interest, declaring Caracas's decision to nationalize the gold mine, which literally consisted of tearing up a piece of paper, was for purely political reasons. When Venezuela's government failed to comply with the decision, Cristillex claimed was placed in jeopardy, even with the favorable ruling.

43:38 They had no authority to force Caracas to satisfy the debt and no legal avenue to collect. That's where Guaido comes into play. Unlike his colleagues in the Guaido shadow government, Attorney General Jose Ignacio Fernandez avoided the limelight, while former Exxon lawyer and Guaido's ambassador, Carlos Vecchio, was a social media butterfly.

44:09 regularly posting photographs of himself with US officials and Venezuelan expats in the US. Hernandez's Instagram was switched to private. The only insight it offered into his personality was the revelation that he listened to the Beatles. Though he was an underling of a notoriously outspoken and attention-hungry economic guru,

44:39 Ricardo Haasman. Remember Ricardo Haasman, the guy that was texting all night with her? That was the father of the chick that was doing the video saying, I'm just telling you the facts when she lied out her ass. That Haasman, the Harvard Haasman, the guy that was going to be the economic advisor to Guaido, him. Hernandez dodged the international speaking circuit and rarely, if ever, spoke to the media.

45:11 Hernandez's name first made national headlines in July 2019, days after a U.S. court ruled that Crystilex could collect upon the 2016 ICSID award by seizing shares belonging to Sitco Petroleum, a completely separate company. It was a U.S.-based company.

45:42 private subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company. Following the ruling, news reports revealed that before Hernandez took over as Guaido's top prosecutor, fake, he had served as an expert witness in the Criscax case for opposing Venezuela's claim.

46:09 In other words, Hernandez had provided material support for a lawsuit filed against the very government whose legal strategy he would go on to direct in the fake government. So he's an opposing witness while pretending to be a part of the fake government. It's exactly like the case of Carlos Vecchio, Cabello told his audience during his broadcast.

46:40 He is also over there in the U.S. Carlos Vecchio is a lawyer from Exxon. Carlos Vecchio is not an ambassador of Juan Guaido. He's an ambassador of Exxon. Cabello gestured towards his bulletin board and placed a hand on Hernandez's photo. Just like this man is not an attorney general of Guaido, he's an attorney general of Christelix.

47:12 Año first spoke to Rodriguez, who was at the time in Switzerland in August of 2019. He said to her, I'm 110% against Maduro. But Rodriguez, as an influential member of Venezuela's opposition party, had uncovered a scandal brewing in the Guaido camp. He told Año.

47:45 that in early months of 2019, he warned Venezuela lawmakers about the conduct of Guaido's officials. Above all, he listed Jose Inacio Hernandez on matters related to the Cristilex case. According to Rodriguez, throughout that time, Hernandez appeared to quietly set the stage for Cristilex's July 2019 legal victory.

48:16 A ruling that placed Sitco, Venezuela's most valuable international asset, on the verge of liquidation. For those of us in the U.S., Sitco was just another gas station. For Venezuelans, however, the company was a national pride. Venezuelan state oil company Petrolas PDVSA has owned and operated Sitco since 1990. They placed its value.

48:47 At $7.8 billion, it was the crown jewel of Venezuela's international wealth. Sitco's predicament began just before the initiation of the Guaido's coup. In August of 2017, when the executive order was issued that banned all transactions with the Venezuelan government and PDVSA within the U.S. financial markets, it

49:17 prevented Sitco from issuing dividends back to its parent company, PDVSA. The order effectively blocked the government in Caracas from accessing its U.S. revenue. Washington turned up its assault on Venezuelan oil industry within days of recognizing Guaido, unrolling sweeping sanctions targeting PDVSA U.S. assets. In January of 2019,

49:46 The restrictions not only banned the sale of Venezuelan oil in U.S. markets, but officially placed the country's U.S.-based financial accounts, including those belonging to Sitco, under the authority of Guaido's fake government. Venezuelan's government hastily condemned the action, accusing the U.S. of trying to steal Sitco. Yet even as Caracas' denounced a plot to pilfer its international wealth, the full depth of the Sitco

50:14 remained from public view. By the time Anya began investigating the Crystilex case in August of 2019, Sitco's survival was officially on the line. The previous month, a Delaware court had authorized Crystilex to seize the $1.2 billion worth of company's assets to satisfy the ICSID's arbitration order against the Venezuelan government.

50:43 Following the Delaware decision, Anya became acquainted with Rodriguez and the other members of the Venezuelan opposition who helped her understand the link between Guaido's coup and Kristillic's billion-dollar triumph. I discovered that while Guaido's U.S.-based representatives were nominally tasked with fighting Kristillic in court, not the actual Venezuelan government, the fake one, was representing Venezuelans.

51:14 interest in a government that didn't actually exist. They had actively enabled its legal victory over the government they claimed to represent. At this point, readers should know that the rest of this part of the story contains a crash course in business law, at times very technical.

51:42 Though ICSID ordered Venezuela's government to pay Cristilex $1.2 billion in April of 2016, the firm's ability to collect that debt was constrained due to a legal concept called limited liability. A claimant like Cristilex could not foreclose upon assets of a state-run entity to satisfy debt. This precedent was well established in international law by a high-profile incident,

52:12 involving billionaire U.S. hedge fund manager Paul Singer's firm, Elliott Capital Management, and the Argentina government. In October 2012, Guyana's government apprehended a Argentine warship as it passed through the territorial waters. The seizure came after a local Guyana court ruled in favor of Elliott Capital Management subsidiary that had claimed the ship as collateral for a

52:42 $370 million debt owed by the government of Buenos Aires. Two months into Guyana's custody before the UN tribal ordered the ship be released, leaving Elliott Capital empty-handed. In theory, the concept of limited liability applied to Sitco as well. Chrysilic should not have been allowed to seize assets belonging to Sitco because

53:12 It was actually owned by the Venezuelan state. To win the favorable Delaware ruling, Crystal X had to persuade a judge that Sitco's assets were fair game under a concept called alter ego. In business law, alter ego is understood as lifting the corporate veil. Basically, I'll save you the Reader's Digest version. That's exactly what they tried to do.

53:44 In the Delaware court, the job was left to a 43-year-old Venezuelan lawyer and professor of administrative law. He filed a sworn declaration in April of 2017, asserting his country's government had instrumentalized PDVSA, Sitco's major shareholder, into a political tool, not a gas station. It's all about politics.

54:11 At the time of Hernandez's 2017 testimony, Sitco was technically shielded from accusations of instrumentality under Venezuelan law. The president of the republic only appointed the board of PDVSA. The board in turn selected the board of the company in Delaware, PDVSA Holdings, which then chose the board of Sitco Holdings.

54:41 Sitco Holdings appointed a board of Sitco Petroleum. These rules placed a comfortable distance between the Venezuelan state and Sitco's day-to-day operations, making it difficult to claim the U.S.-based company was simply an instrument of Maduro. That whole chain of command was upended immediately following the launch of Guaido's self-declared presidency. In February 2019, Venezuelan opposition-controlled national...

55:13 directly appointed not only an ad hoc PDBSA board, but also the top executive of all three of the U.S. subsidiaries. This meant that under Guaido's leadership, Venezuela's National Assembly placed a government hand smack in the middle of three private U.S.-based corporations, which he had no authority to do. They legitimized Chris Dillick's legal argument that Sitco was in fact

55:42 an alter ego of Venezuela. Critics, like opposition-aligned engineer Rodriguez, argued that the Guaido top legal advisor, it was up to Hernandez to prevent the National Assembly from appointing Sitco's boards, thereby jeopardizing Venezuela's defense in the Christelix case. It was absolutely unacceptable for him to proceed with the appointment.

56:10 no matter what the National Assembly would have said. You are pretending to be the Attorney General. You have duties. You don't do something that goes against the rules of the nation. So, in other words, they did this in order to set the whole thing up, while all pretending to be the Venezuelan government protecting Venezuela. They literally gave away the bank.

56:41 On July 29th, 2019, a U.S. district court in Delaware ruled in favor of Kristillek's alter ego argument, legitimizing the Canadian corporation's claim to $1.2 billion in Sitco assets. Two days later, Venezuelan government announced a criminal investigation into Hernandez over his ties to Kristillek's, accusing the lawyer of a conflict of interest that violates all judicial ethics and treason.

57:12 towards his fellow citizens. Outrage towards Hernandez was not confined to Venezuelan's government. Having squandered their country's most valuable international asset less than a year into their political project, Guaido's officials began to draw heat even from all of the opposition. In an attempt at damage control, Hernandez turned to the

57:42 a television station in Miami sporting an unkept beard and dismissed the accusations against him as false and asserted that by the time he entered the shadow government, the Christelix case was in its final stages, which is a flat out lie. According to Hernandez, it was Maduro's government, not Guaido's.

58:10 that crafted the legal strategy of the Chrysillics case. They weren't allowed to participate. While that claim, Hernando's version of the events overlooked several facts presented before the court. On April 10, 2019, Chrysillics submitted a court filing lambasting the Guaido-led National Assembly complete disregard for corporate formalities when

58:43 They directly appointed the board members of the subsidiaries because, again, that was not legal, according to Venezuelan law. Imagine that the fake president not paying attention to his country's law. In addition to presenting a dishonest timeline, Hernandez deflected responsibility by claiming that he had recused himself from the case.

59:15 Back in March of 2019, while the attorney produced no evidence to back that claim up, he privately forwarded a recusal level letter dated March 13th to Venezuelan lawmakers. Though Hernandez hoped the document would salvage his reputation, it ultimately produced more controversy after a group of skeptics led by Rodriguez analyzed the metadata of the file and found out.

59:44 that it was actually composed on July 31st after it was all over. And on the same day he sent it. So he lied again. Guaido's officials accounted for the inconsistency by claiming the document's metadata merely reflected the time that they had converted it to a PDF. Not the date it was actually prepared. According to standard government practices, however, a document of such importance should have been signed.

1:00:16 In hard copy and stamped with a date. If Guaido's team had been maintaining government records, according to Venezuelan law, which they were not, they should have been able to verify the letter with a hard copy wet signature. But they never did. Anya obtained a copy of the document and published it in the gray zone. And on top of that, an individual with personal knowledge of the Guaido fake regime.

1:00:46 has since informed Anya that Hernandez was actively directing their legal strategy during the entire time. Regardless, the letter itself was very significant because it offered an inside glimpse into a very weird chain of command. Hernandez had not addressed his recusal letter to the quote-unquote fake President Guaido.

1:01:18 but to Carlos Vecchio, who was really a nobody in the fake government. The curious act was tantamount to the Attorney General of the U.S. submitting a recusal letter to the Washington ambassador in London, rather than the U.S. president. Hernandez and Vecchio provided no explanation as to why that happened. Hernandez later spoke and said,

1:01:52 When my name started to float as attorney general, I spoke with Ambassador Carlos Vecchio. I prepared him a memo, but you don't work for him. You're the attorney general of a fake president that you actually work for, not his ambassador. As news of this problematic relationship surfaced, Vecchio, the Exxon attorney, turned cooperative.

1:02:22 emerged among the most prominent defenders. Hours after the Venezuelan Attorney General opened a criminal investigation into Hernandez's relationship with Christilix, Guaido's U.S.-based fake government circled the wagons for their embattled colleague, Ricardo Haussmann, the college professor who was supposedly

1:02:48 the Inter-American Development Bank representative who then had to resign because he got outed, says, quote, in my professional career, I have never worked with someone more capable, more hardworking, more dedicated, more knowledgeable about legislation and more honest than the Attorney General Hernandez, except for he lied, he lied, he lied, and he isn't even the Attorney General and doesn't know who his boss is.

1:03:21 Anyway, Vecchio would go on to echo Hosman's adoring tribute to the fake attorney general, because after all, he thinks he works for him. So I'm going to stop right there because we're at an hour and we'll pick up with this tomorrow. Because I want to obviously tell you guys how it all ends.

1:03:55 We know how it ends. They freeze all of the assets of Venezuela, steal them and use puppets in order to do it for a Canadian based company. And in the hopes of Exxon's role in this, of getting back some piece of the Venezuelan oil industry. So anyway, it's also predictable. But I thought I would share.

1:04:21 this inside baseball so that you guys actually understand how they actually do this. So in the future, when things like this happen, we know where to look and under what rocks to look in order to prove it. I guess Bridget left us. She's out hunting. SR? Afternoon, Colonel Linden. And thank you, everyone here on Rumbling on X's.

1:05:00 As you listen to this, I'll say this much at this point. The Sitco situation still hasn't been resolved. That's still in court, for one. But it is amazing to me how you can take one item and tie that, specifically Chris Licks, and tie it to Sitco so that you're handling all of this in one fell swoop.

1:05:29 Neither one had anything to do with the other when you really look at it. Correct. Save the fact that somebody wrote a law in the U.S. that says, oh, yes, we can do it. But the funniest part out of all of this and the way I see it at this point in time is that we're looking at a situation where even the U.S. recognizes a Venezuelan law.

1:05:55 Had been violated and did nothing to resolve that fact, which is why we're at where we're at. Correct. So the illegitimate government violates their own law. And even there still was no there's no law in the United States that says that you can for a Chris Lex claim that you can take Sitco assets.

1:06:26 What they did was say that Sitco, through this sleight of hands, had been used politically by Chavez, and therefore they were able to sever that and then lien Sitco assets for a completely separate lawsuit, which literally had nothing to do.

1:06:56 with Crystalix. It's a gold mine that never existed. And you have an oil company that the only way they were able to violate that bail was to do something illegally. And then a Delaware court awarded Crystalix access to a completely separate entity that has nothing to do with a gold mine or anything else assets.

1:07:26 So it would literally be like a sister and a brother and the sister goes and does something stupid and they steal all the brother's assets as a result of that. That's literally how retarded it is. And that's the least of it. The worst of it is this fucking international bullshit thing.

1:07:51 that sets themselves up as the overarching god of the world that says every U.S. company or Western company that does business anywhere in the world, we're going to exploit you in a quote-unquote tribunal if you ever try to go back on or reclaim your resources. The deck is stacked against all of them. It's crazy.

1:08:23 Looking at that, Colonel, and the way they tied this together, as you mentioned, politically wise, it seems to me that China and Russia and anybody else that does business with the U.S. could do the same in reverse order. No, they can't. Because the only recognized venue to take this shit to is that dumbass thing in D.C. They're never going to win. My whole point.

1:08:56 If China like and that just happened in France, when France took over that software chip, whatever it was, they just took over. Where are they going to go? They just said it's mine now. Where's China going to go? The only international venue is that bullshit thing that's ran by the World Bank, who hates China, ran by and you'll get a representative from the French government in there. And then you get one vote.

1:09:26 For China. It's two to one every single time. There's no other forum. And there's no way to win. No way to win. They can steal all the shit. So the only way out of this is what Burkina Faso just did and said, everybody get out. We ain't got anything. We're going to build something. Do whatever you want, but get the hell out of my country. And so it doesn't ever matter in the future if you keep all your shit yourself.

1:10:02 and you produce your own gold out of your own gold mine, and you sell it on an international market, they can't ever do this to you. That's the moral of the story. Because even when the IMF would, and this is another trap they set. Okay, so pretend Burkina Faso has this gold, and they want to start mining it themselves.

1:10:38 Well, you have to have the infrastructure to do that. And let's just say they found a brand new gold mine. They don't have any of the mining stuff there or whatever. So how do you get the resources to do that? Well, in theory, the whole reason the IMF was set up is to loan countries the money, but it doesn't come free. It comes with austerity measures. That means basically you have to starve everybody and you have to allow private investment. So they get you coming and going.

1:11:07 And you have to take this $10 billion loan. Well, generally, the IMF only loans money to corrupt leaders. They're not going to loan it to somebody who actually has a viable project to do because they don't control them. So other people come in, like other governments that don't do this shit to them, like China.

1:11:31 And then all of a sudden, oh, my God, but Kina Fossa is going to be communist because they took money from the Chinese government or from the Russian government. So literally in the international forum, you cannot win with the current rules of engagement. And that's the reason why you have this entire unaligned movement that wants to collectively. That's why BRICS became famous, because they're sick of being dictated to.

1:12:08 It's like getting on a scale and there's, you know, a hundred pound person on one end and, you know, a thousand pound brick on the other. You're never going to win. You're never going to get that thousand pound brick off the ground because everything is slated against you in the international community as it exists today. And it was by design. I mean, that's the whole reason.

1:12:39 We had World War I and set up the Bank of International Settlements. And then World War II, where they set up the IMF and the World Bank. It was to control the globe. And they've done it successfully all of these years. As a little bit of information for the rest of the people in this discussion, Warhamster did an excellent job of breaking down how these international settlements work. Yes.

1:13:11 And what goes on with them. Unfortunately, I can't remember which show it was. It was one of the very first shows Warhamster and I did together. Yes, it was. And if you follow Warhamster, you'll get an eye opener. Yeah, because he was a banker. He understands exactly how all of this works. Yep. Highly encourage you guys to follow him. And I know all of you do already because you watch our Thursday show. But yeah, it's crazy.

1:13:44 So anyway, all right. I have my grandson today. So I'm going to go ahead and sign off a little early. And I'll be on X shit posting as usual. But I need to go rescue my husband. He's already taken him for two walks. Because as soon as I get in here and get on the podcast, he wants to come in through my French doors here. And he just stands there with this little face plastered on the glass.

1:14:13 Renee, go ahead. Hey, Colonel. Hey, everybody. Just had kind of like a vision perhaps of the direction of how things may go. How am I going to say this? Because my brain is spinning with these thoughts. Because of all that we've learned and how these multinational corporations

1:14:43 go in, have gone into Latin America, whether via the coups or before that, you know, the, well, no, the mining companies, they go in for the natural resources, then the world banks and all those guys get in there, they give them the loans, et cetera. So currently it seems that Trump is trying to undo

1:15:12 All this damage in our hemisphere. We have the Operation Southern Spear going on. He's dismantling all this because of how they went in there. They take advantage of the governments, the media, the whole enchilada. And we're focused on Latin South America now.

1:15:37 in the guise of going well they are going after the the narcos and everything but that is one part of the onion and as we peel that back because most likely the original hoo-hahs that went in there were for the natural resources and the mining companies right the mining companies the big agro etc so forth and with this chapter and talking about the um the gold which

1:16:05 It's crazy. I posted in the Purple Pill because the UK, the Bank of England, still has Venezuela's gold, which is weird. But I started thinking because I don't know if y'all know, but Canada has the most mining companies in the world, right?

1:16:24 And OK, so and where are those mining companies majority at? They're in British Columbia, in Vancouver. Vancouver has the largest amount of mining companies in the world. Who is the who? What is he, president, prime minister of Canada right now? Right. What's his name? I don't remember. But the guy that's crazy.

1:16:48 Right. The guy who's crazy and Pierre Polyev, who ran against him in that presidential election, actually called him out because he doesn't want to invest in domestic mining. Yes. This guy who won. They want everybody else's. Right. Exactly. And Pierre Polyev called him out. Some of the best.

1:17:15 video clips in the world because Pierre Parlieu is such a dry sense of humor going after him. And he exposes him for having investments in Latin America with the mining companies. And this fool also worked for the Bank of England. So I think it's going to be a grand finale after we secure and dismantle all the shenanigans of Latin America.

1:17:42 We're going to expose the whole British Columbia and this guy. I mean, I just see it coming up. And that will then stabilize the Western Hemisphere. That's my vision. Anyway, I just wanted to share. No, I agree with you completely. There is a plan unfolding that is going to give sovereignty back to countries. Hallelujah. I'm here for it.

1:18:12 One hundred percent. OK, so thank you for that vision. All right, guys, take care. I will see you tomorrow and tomorrow night. We have Alpha Warrior. So at 930. So mark your calendars. Take care, everybody.

Entities here

Venezuela31 United States28 Juan Guaidó25 Crystallix25 National Assembly (Venezuela)22 United States government21 Jose Ignacio Hernandez20 Crystallix v. Venezuela arbitration18 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt18 Citgo Petroleum17 2020 Venezuelan National Assembly Election12 International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes11 Hugo Chavez10 Luis Parra10 Delcy Rodríguez9 Nicolás Maduro9 Carlos Vecchio9 2019 UN General Assembly Session8 ExxonMobil6 PDVSA6 Anya6 Jorge Arreaza4 Ricardo Hausmann4 Delaware4 José Rodríguez4 Samuel Moncada4 Francisco Rodriguez4 G4 Coalition4 Diego Arria3 William Davila3 Colombia3 Bolivia3 Canada3 Bank for International Settlements3 Chavismo2 Yuri Pimentel2 Argentina2 Evo Morales2 Primero Justicia2 Guyana2

Claims made here

Mike Pence ordered_assassination_of Juan Guaidó host_asserted ▶ 1:29

“According to Venezuela's real U.N. ambassador, Samuel Moncato, he said the following. We are battling, he told Anya, because as we know, this is the forum in which Vice President Mike Pence had addres…”

Hugo Chavez appointed Samuel Moncada book_quoted ▶ 1:29

Nicolás Maduro appointed Delcy Rodríguez book_quoted ▶ 4:45

“Tasked with addressing the UN General Assembly on the country's behalf was Vice President Dele Rodriguez. As with Ariza and his staff who arrived in New York prior, U.S. sanctions had barred Rodriguez…”

Las Rastrosas supplied_arms_to Juan Guaidó book_quoted ▶ 6:15

“Days before the U.N. General Assembly kicked off, images of Juan Guaido posing with members of a Colombian drug gang called Las Rastrosas had surfaced online. Subsequent media reports revealed that th…”

United States funded Juan Guaidó host_asserted ▶ 6:44

“when he participated in the U.S.'s botched attempt to move the humanitarian aid across the border. So they were going to use some of the paramilitary folks as part of that campaign. For the coup leade…”

United States targeted_for_regime_change Venezuela host_asserted ▶ 7:11

“When Rodriguez finally took the podium, US officials were forced to confront reality. The world had rejected their fanatical Venezuela regime change. Rather than call for a vote to block her from spea…”

Juan Guaidó attempted_coup_against Nicolás Maduro host_asserted ▶ 8:10

“is an imperial puppet, she informed everybody. He does not exist in Venezuela politics. Rodriguez's address marked the formal defeat of Guaido's coup at the UN. Moments following its conclusion, a nor…”

United States funded Juan Guaidó host_asserted ▶ 8:42

“was quoted as saying, they could not, nor will they. They could not with Chavez, they cannot with Maduro, and they cannot with the Venezuelan people, not anyone. Indeed, though U.S. officials often re…”

Hugo Chavez founded Chavismo book_quoted ▶ 10:11

“The late president, Hugo Chavez, always told us that we had to strengthen our relations with Africa. For Chavez, establishing ties with the continent he routinely called Mother Africa was a top priori…”

United States targeted_for_regime_change Venezuela book_quoted ▶ 11:14

“The defeat was a huge defeat to U.S. diplomats. Clearly, they underestimated all of the work that the diplomats of Venezuela had been doing in regards to this situation. The majority of U.N. countries…”

United States funded Juan Guaidó host_asserted ▶ 12:42

“by U.S. instruction, agree to accredit Venezuelan opposition members as part of their delegations. It really illustrates to the world the power of U.S. political warfare. One member of the actual Vene…”

Nicolás Maduro appointed Jorge Arreaza book_quoted ▶ 13:10

“juxtapose the image of a vanquished former diplomat with one showing Venezuela, Vice President Rodriguez, UN Ambassador Mankato, and the foreign minister Ariza smiling proudly in their proper Venezuel…”

United States targeted_for_regime_change Venezuela host_asserted ▶ 14:09

“the importance of Washington's pro-Guido minority coalition. And this is a quote from Trump. Since I last spoke in the hall, the U.S. and our partners have built a historic coalition of 55 countries t…”

United States targeted_for_regime_change Bolivia host_asserted ▶ 14:38

“on the General Assembly floor. So even though they played that speech from Trump, Venezuela did not get up and walk out. In the aftermath of Venezuela's meeting at the UN, it seemed Washington forgot …”

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) host_asserted ▶ 17:34

“Talking about the momentum that was addressed on January 5th, 2020, when Guaido's term as president of Venezuelan's National Assembly was set to expire. Considering he based his entire claim to being …”

Luis Parra member_of Primero Justicia book_quoted ▶ 18:59

“declared his last-minute candidacy for president. Not president of the country, president of the political party. A member of the Primero-Justica party, Pereiro's 11th-hour challenge from within the h…”

Acción Democrática member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 19:28

“volunteer popular party, the Un Novo Tempio and Ascension Democratica, Primo Justica was part of a G4 coalition that they all had joined as quote-unquote opposition. G4 was only historically aligned i…”

Voluntad Popular member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 19:28

Primero Justicia member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 19:28

Un Nuevo Tiempo member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 19:28

Juan Guaidó member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 19:55

“provided the base of Guaido's support in the legislature following his initiation of his self-declared presidency. Though Primero Justica had expelled Pera weeks before the AN vote because they were a…”

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 21:20

“designed to cast himself as a victim of a repressive regime rather than a political insecure showman. Faced with possible defeat, he launched a panicked attempt to deny his colleagues the 84-person qu…”

Juan Guaidó attempted_coup_against Nicolás Maduro book_quoted ▶ 22:50

“dealing with this election fraud had went on for months. Guaido's strategy was obvious. By insisting to enter the legislature with banned lawmakers, he directed a scene that appeared to prove that Mad…”

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 23:46

“as warring lawmakers exchanged charged words and resorted to physical blows. Parra declared victory amid the mayhem, claiming he had secured 81 of the 150 votes cast. Parra's swearing in was less than…”

Luis Parra succeeded Juan Guaidó book_quoted ▶ 23:46

Juan Guaidó attempted_coup_against Nicolás Maduro book_quoted ▶ 24:16

“Parra's promise to uphold his civic duties were drowned out by the chaos. Though Guaido's attempt to prevent the vote was unsuccessful, his degrading show at the fence achieved a more important object…”

William Davila member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 25:52

“That only Kazandila and congressman from a congressman and another congressman from the Amazon area were not allowed inside. Other than that, everyone else got in that wanted to go in through the fron…”

Luis Parra member_of G4 Coalition book_quoted ▶ 25:52

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 27:11

“Guaido and his allies capitalized on this sloppiness of the vote within minutes of its conclusion, accusing Parra of collaborating with Maduro and his party to carry out a parliamentary coup against t…”

Juan Guaidó attempted_coup_against Luis Parra book_quoted ▶ 27:11

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 27:41

“in the offices of a local newspaper that had been on the payroll of the CIA and decided at the end of that fake meeting that Guaido was still in charge of a political party. Though 100 legislatures pa…”

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 28:38

“Rodriguez said that he estimated under normal conditions, not when they're having knock down, drag out brawls in the legislature, Guaido would have won reelection of the National Assembly by an 86 vot…”

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 28:38

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 29:08

“So no matter what, he wouldn't have won. The 2020 vote for the AN president left Venezuelans' opposition permanently disfigured. Following the events of January 5th, 2020, contradictions between its c…”

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 29:08

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 29:39

“protest of Guaido's claim to authority. So basically, they disassociated themselves with him. While generating sympathy from the international press, Guaido's exhibition at the National Assembly fence…”

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 29:39

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 30:06

“Here's this guy trying to climb over the fence. It was hysterical. Perhaps he hoped that the foreign media, eagerly documenting his humiliation from below, might at the very least still consider him p…”

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 30:06

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 30:37

“Chavez's command to nationalize the property of foreign country companies in Venezuela's domestic oligarchy were often dictated on his weekly Sunday programs. He would talk about he had rambling like …”

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 30:37

Luis Parra member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 31:09

“On February 7, 2010, in this building, Chavez pointing to a multi-storefront situated on the corner in Caracas, emblazoned with the words gold market in English. His colleagues informed him the buildi…”

Juan Guaidó member_of National Assembly (Venezuela) book_quoted ▶ 31:09

Hugo Chavez appointed Nicolás Maduro host_asserted ▶ 32:04

“The show produced a total of 378 episodes between the years 1999 and 2012, each one running between four and eight hours. So he was not shy to talk to the people in Venezuela. While Maduro quickly ros…”

Hugo Chavez ordered_assassination_of Nicolás Maduro host_asserted ▶ 32:04

Diosdado Cabello succeeded Hugo Chavez book_quoted ▶ 32:34

“At some point then, around February of 2014, a military captain turned Chavista politician named Dios Dado Cabala established a new program. In launching the program, he inherited the task of communic…”

Juan Guaidó appointed Jose Ignacio Hernandez documented ▶ 35:15

“During this episode and the bulletin board segment, a guy by the name of Jose Ignacio Hernandez was mentioned. Though Guaido had tapped the young lawyer as his attorney general, in the initial days of…”

Jose Ignacio Hernandez member_of 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt host_asserted ▶ 35:46

“His distaste for public examination was well-founded. Anya discovered that behind his demeanor, Hernandez served as one of the most consequential members of Venezuela's U.S.-backed shadow administrati…”

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes member_of Bank for International Settlements documented ▶ 39:38

“as a subsidiary of World Bank Group and the president of the World Bank. You just can't even make this up. Historically, a former U.S. official or banking executive always serves as the president. The…”

Venezuela funded Crystallix v. Venezuela arbitration documented ▶ 41:37

“Cristillex initiated arbitration against Venezuelan's government in February 2011, asserting Caracas owed $3.16 billion plus interest for ex-appropriating a mine they didn't own. They had a concession…”

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes funded Crystallix v. Venezuela arbitration documented ▶ 42:38

“And no one else is allowed to mine it, not even the country. So they can starve to death with, I don't know, do the math. 20 million ounces of gold at 550 ounces apiece in the ground. They're not allo…”

Juan Guaidó appointed Carlos Vecchio documented ▶ 43:38

“They had no authority to force Caracas to satisfy the debt and no legal avenue to collect. That's where Guaido comes into play. Unlike his colleagues in the Guaido shadow government, Attorney General …”

Jose Ignacio Hernandez spied_on Crystallix v. Venezuela arbitration host_asserted ▶ 46:09

“In other words, Hernandez had provided material support for a lawsuit filed against the very government whose legal strategy he would go on to direct in the fake government. So he's an opposing witnes…”

Carlos Vecchio member_of ExxonMobil host_asserted ▶ 46:40

“He is also over there in the U.S. Carlos Vecchio is a lawyer from Exxon. Carlos Vecchio is not an ambassador of Juan Guaido. He's an ambassador of Exxon. Cabello gestured towards his bulletin board an…”

Jose Ignacio Hernandez covered_up Crystallix v. Venezuela arbitration guest_asserted ▶ 47:45

“that in early months of 2019, he warned Venezuela lawmakers about the conduct of Guaido's officials. Above all, he listed Jose Inacio Hernandez on matters related to the Cristilex case. According to R…”

Venezuela member_of Citgo Petroleum documented ▶ 48:16

“A ruling that placed Sitco, Venezuela's most valuable international asset, on the verge of liquidation. For those of us in the U.S., Sitco was just another gas station. For Venezuelans, however, the c…”

United States targeted_for_regime_change Venezuela host_asserted ▶ 49:17

“prevented Sitco from issuing dividends back to its parent company, PDVSA. The order effectively blocked the government in Caracas from accessing its U.S. revenue. Washington turned up its assault on V…”

Delaware funded Crystallix v. Venezuela arbitration documented ▶ 50:14

“remained from public view. By the time Anya began investigating the Crystilex case in August of 2019, Sitco's survival was officially on the line. The previous month, a Delaware court had authorized C…”

Jose Ignacio Hernandez covered_up Citgo Petroleum host_asserted ▶ 1:00:46

“has since informed Anya that Hernandez was actively directing their legal strategy during the entire time. Regardless, the letter itself was very significant because it offered an inside glimpse into …”

Ricardo Hausmann member_of 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt host_asserted ▶ 1:02:48

“the Inter-American Development Bank representative who then had to resign because he got outed, says, quote, in my professional career, I have never worked with someone more capable, more hardworking,…”