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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The US Attempted Coup In
Venezuela Uses New Cyber Tools <br>
</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By
Stansfield Smith, Popular Resistance.</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">September 15,
2024<br>
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<p><img
src="file:///C:/Users/claude/Desktop/us-cyber-command.jpg-1.webp"
alt="file:///C:/Users/claude/Desktop/us-cyber-command.jpg-1.webp">Above
photo: <span>US soldiers at the Fleet Operations
Center of the US Fleet Cyber Command headquarters.
US 10th Fleet.</span></p>
<h2>But cannot Break the Chavista Wall.</h2>
<p>The peoples around the world have looked to
Venezuela as a vanguard leading Nuestra América in
its second independence struggle, against the US.
The US rulers operate as the inheritor of the
European colonial empires, assuming the right to
interfere in other countries’ elections, and dictate
who are the winners. No other country – save US
underlings in Europe, and Israel – dares to violate
international law so brazenly.</p>
<p>The Venezuelan right-wing had no real plan to win a
democratic election, but instead prepared for a coup
d’etat even before the polls closed. Working with
the US government and corporate media, they allege
President Maduro stole the July 28 presidential
election, then committed human rights abuses to
crush protests. This opposition declares it beat
President Maduro 70% to 30% but refuses to present
their “evidence” to the National Electoral Council
(CNE) or Supreme Court. The opposition claimed fraud
in every election during the 25-year period of
Chavista rule – except twice, when they won.</p>
<p>The attempted coup bears much in common with recent
US coup attempts in Nicaragua (2018), Bolivia (2019)
and Venezuela (2013, 2014, 2017, 2019). If the
US-backed candidates lose, the election is
“fraudulent.” This scheme drove Evo Morales from
power in Bolivia. The US even appointed its own
president for Venezuela after its 2018 presidential
election, and then proceeded to steal tens of
billions of dollars of Venezuela’s resources held
overseas.</p>
<h3>US coup attempts use new tools besides the
US-trained military as in the past</h3>
<p><strong>First,</strong> the US crushes a country
with sanctions and economic blockades, causing
scarcities and shortages, leading to discontent
among the people over worsening living conditions.
National Security gangster <a
href="https://www.tortillaconsal.com/bitacora/node/4863"
moz-do-not-send="true">John Bolton said:</a>
“Sanctions are a means of repression and coercion
between military warfare and diplomacy.” Richard
Nephew, Treasury deputy secretary, adds: “Over the
past decade, the most important tool for enforcing
American power is the sanctions mechanism.” To
justify sanctions, the US relies on its media,
intellectuals, universities and think tanks, to make
them seem humane to the public. In Venezuela, US
sanctions caused government revenue to collapse by
99%, requiring dramatic cuts in the many social
programs. The sanctions <a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/former-un-rapporteur-on-human-rights-us-sanctions-have-killed-more-than-100-thousand-venezuelans/"
moz-do-not-send="true">killed over 100,000
civilians</a>, Venezuelans knew that voting for
Nicolas Maduro would mean a worsening of the US-EU
economic warfare they face.</p>
<p><strong>Second,</strong> corporate media and social
media now play a coup-making role similar to that of
Pentagon-trained generals in the past. Supervised by
the CIA, this media blanket a targeted country and
the world with disinformation against its
government, seeking to foment a “regime change” mass
movement.</p>
<p><a
href="https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-90-media-america-illusion-choice-objectivity-2020/"
moz-do-not-send="true">Six corporations control
over 90% of the US media</a> and so own the news.
They dominate the world media just as the US dollar
dominates the world financial system. The
all-important weapon, social media, which saturates
billions of mobile phones, are in the hands of <a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-in-the-crosshairs-of-technological-imperialism/"
moz-do-not-send="true">Elon Musk (X, formerly
Twitter)</a>, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook,
WhatsApp, Instagram). Working with the CIA, they can
impose an alternative reality, seen in Nicaragua in
2018, Bolivia during the 2019 coup, and Venezuela
today.</p>
<p>Corporate media describe the elected Maduro
government – and the elected ones in Nicaragua and
Cuba – as dictatorships.</p>
<p>Delegitimizing Venezuelan elections in advance
followed a pattern used in Bolivia (2019) and
Nicaragua (2021). The US created automated networks
of thousands of fake social media accounts to swamp
the public with fake news. These accounts generate
streams of posts in a coordinated manner, creating
the appearance of popular repudiation of Evo
Morales, Nicolas Maduro, or Daniel Ortega.</p>
<p><a
href="https://medium.com/dfrlab/amid-the-crisis-in-bolivia-a-twitter-flood-of-coup-denial-bot-accusations-and-memes-1490b7222c3#id_token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6ImQyZDQ0NGNmOGM1ZTNhZTgzODZkNjZhMTNhMzE2OTc2YWEzNjk5OTEiLCJ0eXAiOiJKV1QifQ.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.Cl-MgC_Wq1grhgux67z6h3LAAkq-UdSx3yG_0VWfJ6ifyQANAqcXaXlxTk8USloqwOPaai-nFG0htYxkBNflXRwNCoEqoip8ocIf5AWM50v3IqSldsyaOBZzE_qDwsdnZ7rULTd1qROV3kDkiXUiiSo-gMh099TaXJV5NCaR6_XxF7Ro3OsUtczrEQSSbgBtTPl7IcCk4MCmoDT5JjKPxv7k__rRa8V-qMBGdUSbkAKmIiVTw9MQKgTvCwE9wx2Y79I_juolfhswAxWORZdBW3biGvU3wfskTgX6GgXLcBjd7MQ0yRy0je7d7BQmklNQ9Idg2T9rEec1QIair3jOSw"
moz-do-not-send="true">Bots were used in a massive
way </a>against Evo’s government. The two main
coup leaders created 95,000 twitter accounts before
the coup to spread the election fraud story and call
for violent protests. <a
href="https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/twitter-flooded-with-thousands-of-fake-accounts-supporting-bolivia-coup/"
moz-do-not-send="true">Over 68,000 false accounts</a>
were set up to legitimize the army’s overthrow of
Morales and justify killing those protesting the
coup.</p>
<p>US social media control in these countries drowns
out pro-government and independent voices not just
by saturating the online conversation, but by
shutting them down. After the US annointed Juan
Guaido the Venezuela president, Twitter closed
thousands of Chavista accounts to foster the
impression that most Venezuelans supported Guaido.</p>
<p>Governments in countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua,
and Bolivia cannot respond effectively to the US
media disinformation warfare against them any more
than to the US blockades imposed on them. It takes
them years to build up national media networks, and
even then, their resources are minor compared to
what the US commands.</p>
<p><strong>Third, </strong>the US relies on
cyberwarfare to incapacitate its opponents. In
Bolivia in 2019 a cyberattack of the electoral
system’s computers disrupted the vote count,
preventing the authentic results being issued. The
US-backed opposition then claimed Evo delayed the
vote count because he was fixing it.</p>
<p>After the July 28 election, <a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/over-120-venezuelan-state-websites-have-suffered-cyberattacks/"
moz-do-not-send="true">126 digital platforms</a>
of the Venezuelan state suffered cyberattacks, the
most significant being the CNE, the constitutional
agency recording the vote. Hacked over 100 times
that night, it could not operate normally, delaying
for days the release of the results. Again, this was
used to claim the vote totals were being fixed.</p>
<p>At times <a
href="https://ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/politica/mas-de-30-millones-de-ciber-ataques-por-minuto-se-han-recibido-desde-el-28j/"
moz-do-not-send="true">30 million cyber attacks
per minute</a> occurred between July 28 and August
9th. Such an attack disables Venezuelan government
computer systems and paralyzes operations. These
large-scale cyberattacks generated hundreds of
gigabytes per second (your laptop system memory may
have 16 gb).</p>
<p>These attacks falsified IP links, duplicated links,
reconfigured government portals and hijacked
information. Names and addresses of government
workers were released on social media to
“comanditos” (opposition gangs), creating a physical
threats for those affected.</p>
<p>The US powerful media and cyber weapons, able to
swamp a country’s airwaves with CIA concocted
“news,” while disrupting the country’s response,
open the door to violent protests against the
government.</p>
<p><strong>Fourth,</strong> having created the
conditions for opposition leaders to assert the
Maduro government stole the election, they then
called people into the streets to protest and create
chaos or guarimbas. <a
href="https://chicagoalbasolidarity.org/2024/08/27/the-venezuela-election-the-comanditosthe-terrorist-network-of-fascism-in-venezuela/"
moz-do-not-send="true">“Comanditos”</a> (small
groups paid to instigate violence), caused
destruction and violence, <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/grupos-delincuenciales-y-comanditos-la-realidad-detras-de-los-asesinatos-postelectorales-en-venezuela/"
moz-do-not-send="true">killed 25 and injured 192,</a>
burned buildings, sacked several regional CNE
headquarters, blocked roads, attacked police and
military, beat up people who “looked” Chavista,
attacked local community leaders, food distribution
centers, public schools, hospitals, offices,
ransacked warehouses, the transportation system, the
electrical grid, all to paralyze the country. The US
media could portray to the world a picture of
national chaos, inviting military intervention to
restore order, meaning a US neo-colonial regime.</p>
<p>These protests (as in Bolivia in 2019 and Nicaragua
in 2018, Cuba in 2021) are portrayed in the
corporate media as peaceful democracy rallies. When
police forces and mobilized Chavista organizations
attempt to stop the violence, the corporate media
charges democracy protests are being repressed. This
has been a habitual corporate media scam in US
regime change operations, yet people still fall for
it. In fact, the strategy was first used in the coup
against the democratic government of Iran in 1953.</p>
<p>National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez noted
the <a
href="https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/news/politics/rodriguez-commandos-were-financed-under-the-guise-of-alleged-NGOs/"
moz-do-not-send="true">comanditos were financed
entirely by NGOs</a>. “When the actions and
financing of these groups were investigated, it was
discovered that they were financed by organizations
of dubious origin from Europe or by the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID)”</p>
<p><a
href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/17/1730002_colored-revolutions-a-new-form-of-regime-change-made-in-usa-.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Eva Golinger</a> wrote
years ago, “Wherever a coup d’etat, a colored
revolution or a regime change favorable to US
interests occurs, USAID and its flow of dollars is
there…The same agencies are always present, funding,
training and advising: USAID, National Endowment for
Democracy [NED], International Republican Institute
[IRI], National Democratic Institute [NDI], Freedom
House, Albert Einstein Institute [AEI], and
International Center for Non-Violent Conflict
[ICNC].”</p>
<p><strong>Fifth,</strong> US coup attempts count on
funding NGOs to carry out “regime change.” Besides
the CIA-controlled USAID, NED, NDI, and IRI, NGOs
receive millions from<a
href="https://realisticobserver.blogspot.com/2017/04/fyi-206-us-organizations-funded-by.html"
moz-do-not-send="true"> Open Society Foundations</a>,
Ford Foundation, and others. The US uses them to buy
an internal opposition, similar to AIPAC in the US –
except here AIPAC works to disenfranchise we the
people.</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202205/08/WS6277847fa310fd2b29e5b4c2.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">NED funds NGOs worldwide</a>
to incite color revolutions against those the US
empire finds not properly subservient. Between
2016-2019 <a
href="https://swprs.org/organizations-funded-by-the-ned/#latin-america"
moz-do-not-send="true">1600 NGOs</a> received NED
grants, highlighting the value the US places on the
NGO coup-making tool. Needless to say, the US does
not tolerate foreign countries funding NGOs pressing
for political change here.</p>
<p>From 2000-2020, the US spent <a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/washington-openly-spent-about-250-million-in-subversive-actions-against-cuba-since-2000/"
moz-do-not-send="true">$250 million</a> funding
“regime change” NGOs in Cuba. Tracey Eaton wrote,
“An extensive network of groups financed by the US
government sends cash to Cuba to thousands of
‘democracy activists,’ journalists and dissidents
every year.” Since 1996, the US spent $20-$45
million dollars a year to fund these Cuban groups.
These NGOs created the CIA Cuban social media
ZunZuneo, and even infiltrated the <a
href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/documents-point-to-us-hand-in-cuba-protests/277987/"
moz-do-not-send="true">Cuban hip-hop scene</a>,
laying the basis for the 2021 protests.</p>
<p>From 2017 through 2019, <a
href="https://resumen-english.org/2020/01/usaid-admits-it-has-given-467-million-to-the-venezuelan-opposition-since-2017/"
moz-do-not-send="true">USAID admitted giving
nearly $467 million</a> to the Venezuelan
opposition. USAID committed another $128 million to
US appointed president Juan Guaidó. In 2006,
Ambassador William Brownfield in 2006 revealed the
goals of USAID <a
href="https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06CARACAS3356_a.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">funding</a>: “1)
Strengthening Democratic Institutions, 2)
Penetrating Chavez’ Political Base, 3) Dividing
Chavismo, 4) Protecting Vital U.S. business, and 5)
Isolating Chavez internationally.” <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5441/"
moz-do-not-send="true">The NED disclosed in 2010
that</a> agencies funded the opposition $40-50
million annually.</p>
<p>Similar US operations against Nicaragua are
revealed in <a
href="https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/06/08/how-billion-dollar-foundations-fund-ngos-to-manipulate-u-s-foreign-policy-a-case-study-from-nicaragua/"
moz-do-not-send="true">How Billion-Dollar
Foundations Fund NGOs to Manipulate U.S. Foreign
Policy</a>, In 2018, in the US attempted coup, <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2020/01/23/usaid-venezuela-regime-change-trump/"
moz-do-not-send="true">USAID spent $24.5 million</a>
and<a
href="https://www.rt.com/news/444172-us-democracy-nicaragua-protest/"
moz-do-not-send="true"> NED $4.1 million</a> to
train and support the opposition movement, while
the <a
href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2021/06/the-cia-attempting-coups-in-nicaragua-with-tax-dollars-through-us-agencies-and-corporate-foundations/"
moz-do-not-send="true">Soros Foundation</a> gave
$6.7 million to propagate fake news.</p>
<p><a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/foreign-minister-gil-us-will-not-be-able-to-fund-terrorism-in-venezuela/"
moz-do-not-send="true">Venezuela</a> and <a
href="https://www.tortillaconsal.com/bitacora/node/4833"
moz-do-not-send="true">Nicaragua </a>recently
passed laws controlling NGOs – which the US painted
as a sign of their dictatorial nature.</p>
<h3>How Venezuela Defeated this Five-Pronged
Coup Attempt</h3>
<p>The Maduro government had campaigned for months
educating and warning the people of opposition
schemes to disrupt the election, refuse to recognize
the results, create new guarimbas, and that united
popular action could stop this. They succeeded. The
violent coup attempt <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/arnold.august.3/videos/1233030510950850"
moz-do-not-send="true">on July 29-30 failed</a><span>;
</span>on July 31 the terrorists were being rounded
up, and calm restored. On August 3, more than half a
million Chavistas marched to support President
Maduro and peace.</p>
<p>Internationally, the Maduro government benefited
from the considerable prestige it had gained
standing up to everything the US rulers threw at it.
The US has likewise lost much credibility,
especially over its full support for the endless
massacres in Gaza. It could not even get the
subservient OAS to condemn Maduro.</p>
<p>Venezuela, like Cuba, has developed a strong
civic-military union supported by thousands of
voluntary militias that has been a bastion against
the war – economic, military, propaganda, and
cyberwar – against the country. Moreover, the
Venezuelan military command, like in Cuba and
Nicaragua, is dedicated to defending the
constitutional order, denying US coup-plotters an
opening. A people’s militia in Bolivia, which did
not and still does not exist, could have maintained
order in October 2019 after the police and military
commands declared they would not stop rightwing
violence.</p>
<p>Besides the mass civic-military union, the
Venezuelan government, like Cuba, relies on
mobilizing the people. President Maduro’s closing
campaign rally culminated in over a million marching
on July 25th. Right after the July 28 election,
hundreds of thousands of Chavistas took to the
streets of Caracas and other cities. This was an
antidote to the coup attempt and violence, since
these mobilizations vastly outnumbered the capacity
of the opposition.</p>
<p>After 25 years of the US forcing the Chavista
leadership live under pressure cooker conditions, it
has been unable to divide them and overturn the
revolution as it has so often elsewhere, such as
Grenada, Burkina Faso, Algeria, the Soviet bloc, and
now threatens Bolivia.</p>
<p>The Maduro government maintains broad popular
support because of its commitment to the people. The
oil industry was nationalized and its income, while
curtailed due to the US blockade, benefits the
people. Mass literacy campaigns ended illiteracy.
Over 5.1 million homes have been built for the poor.
Venezuela has become almost self-sufficient in food
production. The CLAP program distributes discounted
or <a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/president-maduro-venezuela-produces-95-of-products-distributed-in-clap-program/"
moz-do-not-send="true">free food to 7.5 million
families</a> every month. Free health care and
education through university are provided to all.
Venezuela is overcoming the US blockade with the <a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/president-maduro-announces-expected-10-gdp-growth-for-venezuela-in-2024-exchange-rate-issues/"
moz-do-not-send="true">economy expected to grow
10% in 2024</a>, and has the lowest inflation rate
in 14 years. In recognition, about one million
Venezuelans have returned home.</p>
<p>Chavismo defeated this coup because of its organic
connection with the people, because of the class
consciousness that has matured in its citizens since
Hugo Chavez initiated the Bolivarian process, and
because of the political clarity and determination
of the Chavista leadership. Their victory is one for
the peoples of the world.</p>
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