The Unmaking of Leopoldo Lopez

[Judi Lynn]

The Unmaking of Leopoldo Lopez
By Joe Emersberger, teleSUR
Wednesday, Aug 5, 2015

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has tried to prevent victims of the violent protests that were led by the jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in 2014 from being forgotten – specifically the police officers and government supporters who were murdered and who account for about half the protest-related deaths. Victims like Gisella Rubilar, mother of four, who was killed by a gunshot to the head while clearing away a barricade erected in her neighborhood by protesters, have been made invisible by the international media – rarely registering as statistics much less as people. Lopez, on the other hand, has constantly been portrayed as a pro-democracy hero and as a victim.

That is why I was shocked that Foreign Policy published Roberto Lovato’s lengthy and devastating exposé of Leopoldo Lopez. When Desmond Tutu, a decent person who is not on the far right, compares Leopoldo Lopez to Martin Luther King, that tells you how comically one-sided and dishonest the international media’s portrayal of Lopez has been. A recent, and vastly more typical Foreign Policy piece about Lopez ran with the title “Venezuela’s Last Hope”. The title summarizes that piece perfectly but it also shows how the international press has depicted the Venezuelan opposition since at least 2001.

In the UK Guardian, which is about as liberal as a corporate outlet gets, coverage was about 85% hostile to the Venezuelan government from 2006 to 2012. The publication of Lovato’s piece is a small crack in a propaganda edifice that has been constructed over many years. Some of the Venezuelan opposition’s reactions to the Lovato piece show how completely they have come to regard the international media as their turf. The reactions have also exposed the divisions within the opposition that Lovato described.

Lovato explained that Lopez and his close allies participated in a military coup in 2002 that for two days ousted the late Hugo Chavez - Venezuela’s democratically elected president at the time and mentor to Nicolas Maduro. Lovato describes how Leopoldo Lopez led the “arrest” of a government minster during the coup. Here is a video of Lopez leading the kidnapping. Another video shows Lopez proudly giving reporters a detailed account of it. At about the 19 second mark of yet another video, Lopez is at the scene of the kidnapping telling journalists that “President Carmona has been updated”. “President” Pedro Carmona was the business federation leader who had just anointed himself dictator of Venezuela.

More:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_71197.shtml

[Marksman_91]

1. Absence of Logic again? Looks like I'll be skipping this one. n/t

[COLGATE4]

2. Fiction and fact, from Judy's Almanac. nt

[Peace Patriot]

3. Yup, if you don't want to learn anything, don't read Foreign Policy's article...

...on Lopez, and don't read the Axis of Logic's article (the OP) that references it. That's the advice of dumb people who post at this open forum, DU--openness that I truly believe in (I never "ignore" or seek to ban anybody). If you follow such advice--not to read either article--you can be dumb, too.

I've just read both articles, and I find both of them fascinating--not the least because Axis of Logic (a pro-Chavez, leftist site, whose title is a play on the Bush Junta's "axis of evil" bullshit) is favorably citing Foreign Policy, the organ of the U.S. military-industrial complex/CIA! Wow! That IS fascinating!

What's going on here? The MIC/CIA seems to be jettisoning one of their operatives in Venezuela, Leopoldo Lopez, a dangerous and violent fascist. It could be that this is a result of Obama (or the CIA faction behind Obama) finally getting control of the U.S. operations in Latin America, similar to Obama's opening to Cuba and support of the peace talks, taking place in Cuba, for ending the 50+ year Colombia civil war. Both punishment/attempted isolation of Cuba, and the Colombia civil war, are key U.S. warmonger policies, highly promoted by the Bush Junta. But they have inflicted huge damage to the U.S. reputation (and corporate/military opportunities) in Latin America--a reality that the Obama faction of the MIC/CIA appears to be trying to address.

The writer of the Axis Of Logic article (Joe Emersberger) seems well aware of the irony of Foreign Policy exposing a violent fascist politician in Venezuela, and says to expect a counter-article attacking the FP author (Roberto Lovato) and/or attempting to restore the corporate-made luster of the rightwing opposition's murderous "martyr." He doesn't expect it to change the corporate media's 100% hostile treatment of Venezuela's left. He's probably right about that, but I think he may be wrong about FP publishing a counter-article or even a retraction. But we shall see. Lopez no doubt has quite a contingent of hidden backers among the warmongering faction of the MIC/CIA. Will they strike back? Or will they let it slip into the corporate media river of forgetfulness?