Activist Post
February 26, 2019
While the United States has done everything in its power to turn Syria into Libya 2.0, it appears the U.S. is now attempting to turn Venezuela into Libya 3.0. Using many of the same tactics utilized in Syria and Libya, the US is utilizing political pressure, sanctions, and the establishment of a parallel government to weaken and overthrow the Maduro government in Venezuela. Now, however, there is evidence that the U.S. is going further and adding the arming of “rebels” to its toolkit in South America.
According to a report by McClatchy, a North Carolina-based freight company has been implicated in an arms smuggling operation to Venezuela. After McClatchy’s report was published, the company halted flights to the country.
This revelation comes after Venezuelan authorities claimed to have discovered 19 assault weapons, 118 ammunition cartridges, and 90 military-grade radio antennas on board a U.S.-owned plane that had flown into Valencia from Miami. The Boeng 767 is owned by 21 Air which is based in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Interestingly enough, the plane made around 40 round trip flights between Miami and various locations in Venezuela and Colombia since January 11, the day after Maduro was sworn in to a second term as President. However, the flights abruptly ended after McClatchy first reported on them.
In a surprisingly coherent interview, Democracy Now! talked to Tim Johnson, the McClatchy reporter who broke the story. The transcript of that interview is below: