Sanders on Venezuela (Trigger warning: It's Not pretty)

--Editors Note: Recently a friend of mine sent an email to the campaign of Bernie Sanders--my friend has given me permission to repost as long as I keep it anonymous. This content is legitimate as far as I can ascertain. My contact is a trusted source and a Sanders' supporter.)

25 February: Email from Sanders' supporter to the campaign:

He needs to change his position on Venezuela.  We Berniecrats were embarrassed by his tweet  on Saturday and were discussing it at a rally.  Jimmy Carter certified Maduro's election and says VZ has the most legitimate elections in the world and that Marduo is the most legitimate democratically elected leader in the world.  Greg Palast says the opposition is based on "white supremacy."  You are white and so am I.  I don't want to be aligned with white supremacists.  Guaido belongs in prison for life for his crimes against humanity. 

Maduro has done in VZ what Bernie promised to do here.  If Bernie is against Maduro, he's against everything he pretends to support.  VZ  had received 933 tons of legitimate humanitarian aid from honest countries in the last week.  Even the Red Cross told VZ that the USA aid was not humanitarian and not to accept it.  Bernie needs to fix his position because people on FB are talking about holding back their donations until his position changes.  He'll still get donations but not anywhere near as many as he would get if he came out in support of Maduro.

30 March: Finally, my friend receives this message from the campaign:

Team Bernie (Bernie Sanders)

Mar 30, 3:32 PM EDT

Dear Friendly,

Thanks so much for reaching out, and for your important question regarding Bernie’s stance on the complex and evolving situation in Venezuela. We apologize for the delay; we’ve been working around the clock to respond to the thousands of emails we receive each day.

Sen. Sanders has called for internationally supervised free elections in order to allow the people of Venezuela to democratically elect their leaders. His position is that President Maduro must refrain from any violence against protestors, and humanitarian aid should be allowed into Venezuela via international organizations like the UN or ICRC. Senator Sanders’ office released the following official statement regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela:

“The Maduro government in Venezuela has been waging a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violated the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly and was re-elected last year in an election that many observers said was fraudulent. Further, the economy is a disaster and millions are migrating. The United States should support the rule of law, fair elections and self-determination for the Venezuelan people. We must condemn the use of violence against unarmed protesters and the suppression of dissent. However, we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups – as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. The United States has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries; we must not go down that road again.”

As a larger issue, Sen. Sanders opposes the U.S. pursuit of regime change, the unintended consequences of which have created turmoil throughout the world. Again, we are sorry for the delay in responding to you.

In solidarity,

Team Bernie

 This is my most recent piece on Venezuela, which destroys all of the lies from Sanders and, also, the "Dictator X is a really bad guy, but we must oppose US intervention" cop out: 


One Big Happy War Party: US Hands off Venezuela

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