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posted by martyb on Saturday August 05 2017, @02:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the so-it-doesn't-count dept.

Venezuelan election turnout figures manipulated by one million votes: election company

Turnout figures in Venezuela's Constitutional Assembly election were manipulated up by least 1 million votes, Smartmatic, a company which has worked with Venezuela since 2004 on its voting system, said on Wednesday.

"We know, without any doubt, that the turnout of the recent election for a National Constituent Assembly was manipulated," Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said at a news briefing in London.

Also at Al Jazeera.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Politics: Venezuela Agents Arrest Opposition Leaders in Midnight Raids 68 comments

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Venezuelan security agents arrested two key opposition leaders in a midnight raid on their homes, making good on President Nicolas Maduro's promise to crack down on dissent following a vote that gave him broad authoritarian powers.

In the middle of the night, armed men took Leopoldo Lopez and Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma from their respective homes in the capital. The leaders had been highly critical of Maduro and had only recently been released from jail on politically motivated charges. The two, however, remained under house arrest.

The wife of Leopoldo posted a video on Twitter showing flak-jacketed agents bundling her husband into a vehicle marked "Sebin" — the name of Venezuela's intelligence agency — and then speeding off.

[...] Tuesday night, President Trump condemned "the actions of the Maduro dictatorship."

"Mr. Lopez and Mr. Ledezma are political prisoners being held illegally by the regime. The United States holds Maduro – who publicly announced just hours earlier that he would move against his political opposition – personally responsible for the health and safety of Mr. Lopez, Mr. Ledezma, and any others seized. We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners."

On Monday, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Maduro himself, marking only the fourth time that the U.S. has sanctioned the sitting leader of another country.

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/01/540790886/venezuela-agents-arrest-opposition-leaders-in-midnight-raids

Previously: Voting Company Finds Manipulation in Venezuela Election.


Original Submission

Politics: Turmoil in Venezuela Surrounding Aid Deliveries 56 comments

Venezuela soldiers abandon posts at Colombia border

Soldiers from the Venezuelan national guard have left their posts ahead of an opposition-led effort to bring aid into the country, Colombia's migration agency said. In a separate development, Venezuelan troops have fired tear gas at people looking to cross into Colombia to work. Tensions have been rising over a row about the delivery of humanitarian aid.

President Nicolás Maduro said the border with Colombia is partly closed to stop aid being delivered. But self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó has vowed that hundreds of thousands of volunteers will help bring in the aid deliveries, which include food and medicine, on Saturday. The first delivery of aid has already entered Venezuela through Brazil, Mr Guaidó tweeted. The delivery of aid to the stricken country has proven to be a key area of contention between the two men who see themselves as Venezuela's leader.

National Guard fires tear gas amid Venezuela border tension

Venezuela's National Guard fired tear gas on opposition activists at a barricaded border bridge to Colombia on Saturday, and two protesters were killed near the border in Brazil, as the opposition tried to execute a high-risk plan to deliver humanitarian aid over the obstinate refusal of President Nicolas Maduro.

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  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @07:33PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @07:33PM (#549177)

    Do they have skin in the game? From here it looks like the majority of Venezuelans support their government in spite of the economic difficulties, while the rich elite decry how horrible the current president and government are.
    A bit like the US.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by EQ on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:02PM

      by EQ (1716) on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:02PM (#549222)

      A majority agree with the government? Wrong. Only someone completely uninformed and ignorant of the events of the past couple of years (or else biased, or trolling) would make such a statement. Read the news from people in the country, not the crap biased websites put forth. Its bad in Venezuela. Its been bad for several years. And the Maduro regime has made it worse. Price controls, which are basically government dictation of price below sustainable supply levels, have created massive shortages. And this has been ongoing for a while, and now Maduro wants to revoke the constitution and prevent free and open elections, with his cronies "rewriting" the constitution to give him and them absolute power and no accountability, leaving the people little recourse other than obedience (and continuing starvation). Or else violent revolution, with all the bloodshed and suffering that implies.

      Shortages occur in regulated products, such as milk, various types of meat, chicken, coffee, rice, oil, precooked flour, butter prices; and also basic necessities like toilet paper, personal hygiene products and medicine. Amnesty International, the United Nations and other groups have offered aid to Venezuela. [As of] February 2017, the Venezuela's Living Conditions Survey, managed by a multi-university organization in Venezuela, reported that about 75% of Venezuelans had lost about 8.5kg (19lbs) in 2016. The survey had also stated that 82.8% of Venezuelans were living in poverty, 93% can no longer afford food and that one million Venezuelan school children do not attend classes "due to hunger and a lack of public services". Venezuelans called their weight loss from malnourishment and hunger the "Maduro Diet." The Venezuelan government has refused such assistance

      (references [wikipedia.org])

      In light of that, you may wish to reconsider your statement.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by shortscreen on Saturday August 05 2017, @08:04PM (2 children)

    by shortscreen (2252) on Saturday August 05 2017, @08:04PM (#549192) Journal

    Was it manipulated in favor of the "good guys" or the "bad guys?"

    Since this is being reported by Reuters, I'm assuming that it means USAID dumped all that money into Venezuela and didn't even manage to get rid of the socialists.

    • (Score: 2, Troll) by EQ on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:12PM (1 child)

      by EQ (1716) on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:12PM (#549225)

      Manipulated? Yes in favor of the brutal dictatorship of Maduro, whose policies are demolishing his country and starving the people, while simultaneously eliminating democratic means to change the government. At least from whats going on, the militias beating people, imprisoning political oppenets, and refusing to follow the constitution and allow elections, and thus remaining in power despite the will of the people and the opposition, so I'd say "bad guys". The "socialists" {if they are that, they seem more like typical strong-man wanna-be dictators and his looter cronies) there are doing a very good job of discrediting themselves, no USAID needed to expose that. When you starve more than 2/3 of the citizens, its a pretty good indicator you're doing something wrong.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @03:44AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @03:44AM (#549760)

        Modded troll? Socialists must be around abusing the system. Truth hurts doesn't it you collectivist bastards.

  • (Score: 3, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:56PM (3 children)

    by jmorris (4844) on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:56PM (#549249)

    So you mean to say a Socialist country beloved by American Hollywierd freaks second only to Cuba rigged an election so they could stay the course as they pass the event horizon into full on Failed State Hellhole? That has -NEVER- happened before.

    Largest proven oil reserves and they can't maintain the equipment they nationalized enough to pump enough of the stuff to keep toilet paper on the shelves. Stupid is supposed to hurt, so this is all for the good. Once they throw off the yoke they should be immune to the siren call of the Socialist for a few generations. Much like Eastern Europe is the fiercest enemy of the madness of Merkel and the EU's creeping suffocating Statism, having lived through the consequences already.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @04:52AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @04:52AM (#549383)

      OMG Socialism! Hitler! Stalin! Mao! Pol Pot! Venezuela!

      (Nice nod at OMG Mooooooslims! too.)

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @12:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @12:08PM (#549466)

      I'm surprised your gallbladder hasn't expired from overuse.
      Get it through your thick fucking skull: communism != socialism. In Venezuela's particular case, you're looking at authoritarian communism, i.e. seizing the means of production (communism) and repressing dissent through violence/imprisonment (authoritarianism).

      It was a given that any story about Venezuela would attract Rayntards by the pound and here you are in all your fecal purulence. Typical behaviour for a regressive, of course. Never mind, most of you are old and will die soon, probably sooner than most as no doubt you'll refuse to accept "socialized healthcare" as it's against your principles.

    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday August 06 2017, @12:11PM

      by looorg (578) on Sunday August 06 2017, @12:11PM (#549468)

      It does appear that they wanted to try and go the Cuba way of "democracy". Where the people in power and the military like the great leader, due to them getting or hogging most of the resources. Which tends to be the standard for these countries.

      The problem at large seems to be that it used to work as long as oil prices was high enough. Venezuela more or less just have one source of income and revenue and that was/is oil. So it's not about the ability or inability to pump it up or maintain the equipment but that the price of oil is plummeting. 10 years ago crude oil went for about $140 and today it goes for somewhat shy of $50, there isn't anymore money that can trickle down anymore or be used to large social welfare experiments where housing, food, oil or toilet paper can be handed out or sold on the cheap. So it's not entirely a product of their own fault, they just got hosed by the international market.

      They should have prepared better I guess as other big oil nations seems to have divested or have a large pool of cash to be able to ride out the storm. Not so much for Venezuela apparently. But it's not a surprise perhaps that a lot of oil nations seem to have a somewhat lacking democracy and a large military -- eventually the population might have to be put down before they rise up in rebellion and come to overthrow the glorious leader.

      Probably doesn't help either that Maduro isn't as popular or charismatic as Chavez, all great socialist republics (or whatever) seem to need a strong and glorious leader to build their little cult on.

      http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/crude-oil.aspx?timeframe=10y [nasdaq.com]
      http://oilprice.com/commodity-price-charts?1&page=chart&sym=CL*1 [oilprice.com]

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