After spending hundreds of hours analyzing the Venezuelan opposition’s data and finding tally sheets that cannot be validated, it’s becoming clearer by the day that the apparent fraud was intentional and coordinated. The Department of State, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press refuse to clarify exactly why they can’t validate the authenticity of the data even after my findings highlight why they can’t. That in itself speaks volumes.
My work was validated by other journalists, digital forensics experts, and data analysts.
Immediately after publishing my report on the findings, the so-called “president-elect” Edmundo González Urrutia distanced himself from the data through a statement by his lawyer. Two days later, he fled for Spain after sitting president Nicolás Maduro negotiated his safe passage out of the country. Western media has failed to report any of this aside from Urrutia leaving for Spain.
“Edmundo González Urrutia did not have anything to do, in any way, with the collection of the copies of the tally sheets to scrutinize, the digitization to scrutinize, or the uploading to a webpage those tally sheets to scrutinize [the election],” said Urrutia’s lawyer via a press conference on Sep. 4, 2024.
President Maduro seems to have bought Urrutia’s claim of ignorance as evidenced by his efforts to secure his safe passage to Spain. According to the Venezuelan government, Urrutia signed a letter while at the Spanish embassy in Caracas, Venezuela stating that he would respect the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice's finding President Maduro won the election after an extensive review of individual audits by 9 of the 10 presidential candidates.
As news of this statement broke, the Department of State Matt Miller’s office said Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a phone conversation with Urrutia and opposition leader and multiple failed coup plotter Maria Corina Machado on Tuesday. The day after the call, Urrutia claimed his statement was signed under duress and attempted to retract it.
“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Venezuelan democratic opposition leaders Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado today,” reads the statement. “Secretary Blinken commended their courage and commitment to democratic principles in the face of brutal repression and adversity. The Secretary assured them the United States would continue to champion a return to democratic freedoms in Venezuela, strive to ensure the will of Venezuelan voters is respected, and hold Nicolás Maduro and his representatives accountable for their actions.”
During that time, several U.S. citizens, one a Navy sailor who was on active duty and not on leave, were arrested in Venezuela along with two Spanish citizens and others from around Europe. Those arrests accompanied a seizure of weapons and ammunition followed by a second seizure days later. The weapons intercepted by the Venezuelan government were military-grade weapons used by the U.S. military and manufactured in the U.S.
Highlighting the failure and possible implications of Western media is the lack of questioning about these events. Only one reporter asked a question about the arrests but only framed the question around whether State Spokesperson Matt Miller thought the arrest of the two Spanish citizens was in retaliation to Spain granting Urrutia political asylum.
No one has yet to ask about the seizures of weapons nor the claims made by the Venezuelan government of what now appears to be a clear and failed coup attempt. While Miller claims the Venezuelan government is making false claims, It’s no secret that Erik Prince of Blackwater fame had made comments on social media that freedom was coming to Venezuela just days before the arrests and weapons seizures. He also offered to “topple” Maduro in 2019.
The use of private contractors in Venezuela, like in other countries, isn’t a new phenomenon. Opposition leader Machado once helped a private military contractor who trained dozens of fighters in Colombia attempt a coup in 2020. That attempt was part of an operation by Silvercorp, a Florida-based private security firm operated by Jordan Gioudreau, a former U.S. special forces operative. I covered all of this in my previous reports over the last two months.
Today, we find ourselves witnessing the ramping up of propaganda from the Department of State and other Western nations as the will of voters in Venezuela who seem to have reelected President Maduro continues to be ignored. There is no credible evidence that the far-right opposition won the election yet the U.S. and its partners continue to push the narrative that Urrutia won.
Even if Maduro lost, he remains in office until January – another fact being left out by the Department of State State its cohorts in U.S. media. Meanwhile, they’re trying to remove him months in advance. Win or lose, that’s a blatant violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law. But as we have all seen in the last several years, the U.S. does not care about the law.
It does what it wants as we have all seen with the genocide in Palestine. As long as it gets what it wants, the U.S. nor the highest-ranking government officials care about how many people they kill in the quest to take control of vast resources. Such has been the case under every president since the advent of the Monroe Doctrine which clearly states that the U.S. is taking control from Spain and Portugal and the Roosevelt Corollary which expanded the Monroe Doctrine to control the entire hemisphere and the vast wealth it holds.
“Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to come to them. While they thus obey the primary laws of civilized society they may rest assured that they will be treated by us in a spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy.” – The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
Right, ”obey … civilized society” – where white people are civilized and others are not. So goes the history of the United States and the millions it continues to murder as it claims to be “civil”.
I’m a freelance writer and journalist for The Antagonist Magazine and Unicorn Riot. Find me on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work become a paid subscriber or donate on Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp
Most Democratic voters do not fully trust either Trump or their own party leaders on voting irregularities, success or the right to intervene in Venezuela; or the right to murder fishermen under false pretenses and are skeptical of Dick Durban Adam Smith Charles Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries who’ve displayed a pattern of inaction despite vocal criticism. They also see their leadership’s inaction as purchased by MIC lobbying and oil and that it’s fueling the opposition KKK.
I haven’t heard about this before. Thanks for reporting about it.