{"id":1100479,"date":"2023-06-22T21:59:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T21:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fair.org\/?p=9034091"},"modified":"2023-06-22T21:59:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T21:59:39","slug":"as-venezuela-mends-ties-with-latin-neighbors-western-media-turn-up-the-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/06\/22\/as-venezuela-mends-ties-with-latin-neighbors-western-media-turn-up-the-propaganda\/","title":{"rendered":"As Venezuela Mends Ties With Latin Neighbors, Western Media Turn Up the Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Venezuela’s Maduro government has slowly and steadily regained its diplomatic standing in recent years, overcoming US endeavors to turn the country into a pariah state as part of its regime-change efforts.<\/p>\n

\"WaPo:

Reading coverage of Venezuela in outlets like the Washington Post<\/strong> (5\/30\/23<\/a>), it’s good to remind yourself that Nicol\u00e1s Maduro is president because he got the most votes.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Nevertheless, Washington remains hell-bent on ousting the democratically elected<\/a> Venezuelan authorities, and has kept its deadly sanctions program virtually intact. And Western media, which have cheered coup attempts at every step of the way (FAIR.org<\/b>, 6\/13\/22<\/a>, 5\/2\/22<\/a>, 6\/4\/21<\/a>, 4\/15\/20<\/a>, 1\/22\/20<\/a>), remain committed to endorsing US policies to the bitter end.<\/p>\n

This commitment was on full display recently when President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was hosted by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, in a major blow against the campaign to isolate Venezuela. Lula added insult to injury by condemning what he called<\/a> the “narrative” of authoritarianism and lack of democracy that had been built around Venezuela to justify sanctions and regime change.<\/p>\n

The Western media establishment’s initial reaction was straight from the five stages of grief. The New York Times<\/b>, with its unenviable Venezuela reporting record (FAIR.org<\/b>, 3\/26\/19<\/a>, 5\/24\/19<\/a>), was in denial, not reporting on the meeting at all. The Financial Times<\/b> (6\/4\/23<\/a>) had a depressed tone, citing the fading hopes of a return to”free and fair elections” in the wake of the Brasilia meeting. The Washington Post<\/b> (5\/30\/23<\/a>) flared in anger, claiming that by hosting Maduro, Lula had betrayed his promise to \u201csave democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reporting around the latest developments saw corporate pundits showcasing a full array of journalistic con artistry to defend their “narrative,” including dubious sources, inaccurate conclusions and dishonest context.<\/p>\n

Undemocratic references<\/b><\/h3>\n

Corporate media’s effort to dismiss Maduro’s legitimacy is heavily built around the use of negative labels. For example, “authoritarian” appears almost like an auto-fill suggestion at this point, given its prevalence (Financial Times<\/b>, 6\/4\/23<\/a>; BBC<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Reuters<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>; AP<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Washington Post<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Bloomberg<\/b>, 5\/31\/23<\/a>). Outlets like the Economist<\/b> (6\/1\/23<\/a>) and the Miami Herald<\/b> (6\/3\/23<\/a>) go straight to \u201cdictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Economist:

The Economist<\/strong> (6\/1\/23<\/a>) countered Lula’s defense of Maduro by pointing out that Venezuelan president “in 2020 had a $15 million bounty placed upon him by the United States government for ‘narco-terrorism'”\u2014as though Donald Trump putting prices on foreign leaders’ heads discredits anyone but the United States.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Another dishonest hallmark is casting aspersions on Maduro\u2019s 2018 reelection, with a varied array of labels that go from \u201cdisputed\u201d (Financial Times<\/b>, 6\/4\/23<\/a>) and \u201ccontested\u201d (BBC<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>) to \u201ccondemned\/regarded as a sham\u201d (Le Monde<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Bloomberg<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>), all the way to \u201cviewed\/declared as fraudulent\u201d (Washington Post<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Economist<\/b>, 6\/1\/23<\/a>). We have tackled the unsubstantiated “fraud” claims in previous posts (FAIR.org<\/b>, 1\/27\/21<\/a>, 5\/2\/22<\/a>, 1\/11\/23<\/a>).<\/p>\n

To challenge Maduro’s recognition as Venezuela’s democratically legitimate leader, Western outlets were willing to platform the most undemocratic voices. Brazil\u2019s former President Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>, for example, was used as a yardstick on Maduro\u2019s legitimacy. Numerous sources repeated that the far-right leader had \u201cbanned\u201d the Venezuelan president from entering the country (BBC<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Reuters<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>; Al Jazeera<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>; AP<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This framing is odd, given that Venezuela closed its border with Brazil in February 2019, six months<\/a> before Bolsonaro\u2019s \u201cban,\u201d in anticipation of a large-scale operation<\/a> to violate Venezuelan territory. It’s not as though Maduro had been eager, anyhow, to visit a country that didn’t recognize his government\u2014to attend the Rio Carnival, maybe?<\/p>\n

What makes it more remarkable is that many of the same outlets have previously described Bolsonaro as a threat to democracy, given his attacks against the country\u2019s elections and his supporters mimicking the \u201cJanuary 6\u201d playbook in the Brazilian capital (Washington Post<\/b>, 9\/30\/22<\/a>; Financial Times<\/b>, 9\/28\/21<\/a>; BBC<\/b>, 8\/12\/22<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/b> (5\/30\/23<\/a>) saw no issue in quoting Bolsonaro’s son, a Brazilian senator, despite the numerous accusations<\/a> of corruption against Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, and Brazil\u2019s electoral authorities fining<\/a> him for spreading fake news in the 2022 presidential race.<\/p>\n

And if there is a character with arguably worse democratic credentials than the Bolsonaro clan, that is former judge and Bolsonaro Justice Minister Sergio Moro. His leading role in the \u201cOperation Car Wash\u201d judicial proceedings has been publicly exposed<\/a> as unethical and politically motivated, designed<\/a> to put Lula under arrest and bar him from running in 2018. Still, a number of outlets were happy to simply quote him as an \u201copposition senator,\u201d who criticized Lula for \u201chosting a dictator\u201d (BBC Mundo<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Al Jazeera<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>; Le Monde<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>, AFP<\/b>, 5\/29\/23<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Marred journalism<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"AP:

North American readers would have no way of knowing from this AP<\/strong> article (5\/30\/23<\/a>) that one of the two featured critics of Lula\u2014Chilean President Gabriel Boric\u2014joined<\/a> Lula’s call for an end to US sanctions against Venezuela.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Lula\u2019s meeting and joint presser with Maduro were followed by a summit of South American presidents in Brasilia the next day, the first of its kind in many years, with the goal of kickstarting the regional integration agenda.<\/p>\n

Corporate pundits were ready to use Maduro\u2019s presence and Lula\u2019s statements to spin and downplay the meeting, claiming that they had \u201cmarred the unity\u201d (AP<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>), \u201cproven divisive\u201d (AFP<\/b>, 5\/31\/23<\/a>), \u201cclouded the summit\u201d (Bloomberg<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>) or caused \u201cdivergent views\u201d (Reuters<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The reports relied on public comments from Uruguay\u2019s Luis Lacalle Pou and Chile\u2019s Gabriel Boric, who disagreed with the \u201cnarrative\u201d comments but distorted them, making it sound like Lula was claiming that issues like migration or human rights violations were made up. Bloomberg<\/b> went as far as saying the meeting \u201cmade little progress on any substantive issues\u201d as a result of Lula backing Maduro.<\/p>\n

However, there are plenty of elements that contradict the media\u2019s precooked conclusions. First off, Lacalle and Boric were only two of the 12 heads of state present. Second, all the representatives, including the two critics, signed the final \u201cBrasilia consensus<\/a>,\u201d which, among other things, called for an integration roadmap within 120 days (Venezuelanalysis<\/b>, 6\/1\/23<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Finally, there was also a careful cherry-picking of Boric\u2019s statements. From the outlets mentioned above, Reuters<\/b> and AP<\/b> chose not to mention the Chilean president\u2019s call<\/a> for US and EU sanctions against Venezuela to be lifted. It would have been more accurate to headline that the summit had found unity in opposing sanctions.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, none of the outlets referenced Boric saying<\/a> he was \u201chappy to see Venezuela return to multilateral instances\u201d where problems can be jointly solved.<\/p>\n

Whitewashing sanctions<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"CEPR:

The most relevant part of the Brazil summit for readers in the Global North was its strong stand against US sanctions\u2014yet press reports went out of their way to downplay this opposition. (See CEPR, 5\/23<\/a>, for an overview of sanctions’ human cost.)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Though opposition to US sanctions were a key issue, stressed in the summit declaration (which refers to them as “unilateral measures”), Lula\u2019s speech and even Boric\u2019s comments\u2014corporate media did their best to downplay or sometimes endorse the deadly unilateral measures.<\/p>\n

The mentions of sanctions were virtually devoid of context, be that detailing what US sanctions entail<\/a> (an oil embargo, trade hurdles, loss of access to financial markets, etc.), referencing studies<\/a> on their impact (more than $20 billion in yearly losses, over 100,000 estimated deaths<\/a>), or mentioning criticism from UN experts, multilateral organizations or, most recently, a group of Democratic House members (Venezuelanalysis<\/b>, 5\/11\/23<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The measures that groups like the Washington, DC\u2013based Center for Economic and Policy Research class as \u201ccollective punishment<\/a>\u201d against the Venezuelan people were described as sanctions \u201con [Maduro’s] government” (BBC<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>; Washington Post<\/b>, 5\/30\/23<\/a>) or against \u201cMaduro and his inner circle\u201d (AFP<\/b>, 5\/31\/23<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Equally misguided were some attempts to justify the punishing coercive measures, with the BBC<\/b> (5\/30\/23<\/a>) stating that they were a response to a \u201ccrackdown on opposition activists,\u201d and the Associated Press<\/b> (5\/30\/23<\/a>) reporting they were intended to \u201cget Venezuela to liberalize its politics.\u201d Even US officials have stated on the record that sanctions are meant to “accelerate the collapse” of the Maduro government (Voice of America<\/b>, 10\/15\/18<\/a>)\u2014evoking President Richard Nixon’s command<\/a> to \u201cmake the economy scream\u201d in Salvador Allende’s Chile.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times <\/b>(6\/4\/23<\/a>), to its credit, admitted openly that sanctions were \u201cintended to force regime change in Caracas.\u201d It then proceeded to inaccurately claim that the Biden administration has \u201cshifted away\u201d from Trump\u2019s \u201cmaximum pressure,\u201d when the only difference thus far is a limited license<\/a> granted to the oil giant Chevron, which places all sorts of hurdles for the Venezuelan state to receive revenue.<\/p>\n

Endorsing exceptionalism<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"WaPo:

Washington Post<\/strong> columnist Fareed Zakaria (6\/2\/23<\/a>), while accepting the framing that Maduro is a “dictator,” recognizes that many countries “don\u2019t believe the United States when they hear it speak in favor of a rules-based international order…. America applies rules to others but breaks them itself in its many military interventions and unilateral sanctions.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The Financial Times <\/b>piece also brought up another common feature of foreign policy pieces: the full endorsement of US exceptionalism. It cited former State Department official Thomas Shannon blaming Lula for having \u201creally undermined the approach that the Biden administration has\u201d by hosting his Venezuelan counterpart. Somehow the Brazilian leader was expected to get Washington\u2019s blessing before meeting the president of a neighboring country.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, Bloomberg<\/b> (5\/31\/23<\/a>) accused Lula of \u201cundermining Brazil\u2019s power to influence its neighbors\u201d by presenting Maduro as \u201ca kind of champion of democracy.\u201d The second part is patently false, as Lula made no judgments of Venezuela\u2019s democracy. Instead, he sought to make the point<\/a> that it was \u201cinexplicable\u201d for Venezuela to be targeted because \u201canother country does not like” its government.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian leader\u2019s noninterference stance is in line with past comments. For example, in August 2022, the very same Bloomberg<\/b> (8\/22\/22<\/a>) reported Lula saying he wanted Venezuela to be \u201cas democratic as possible,\u201d while demanding that the country be treated with respect.<\/p>\n

As for Lula undermining Brazil’s influence, the claim is based on the delusion that he will only be respected in the region if he does the US\u2019s bidding. Corporate journalists ought to read Fareed Zakaria\u2019s Washington Post<\/b> column (6\/2\/23<\/a>), where he is somehow surprised to find out that the US \u201ccan no longer assume that the rest of the world is on its side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corporate media have been given plenty of chances to take note of a world where more countries are pursuing independent foreign policy paths. The Brasilia Summit was a great example, with leaders betting on regional integration and opposing unilateral measures. The ensuing coverage has shown that Western outlets will stop at no length to defend Washington\u2019s agenda, even if that means reheating debunked narratives, platforming the most extremist characters, making up controversies and whitewashing deadly sanctions.<\/p>\n

The post As Venezuela Mends Ties With Latin Neighbors, Western Media Turn Up the Propaganda<\/a> appeared first on FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on CounterSpin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western outlets will stop at no length to defend Washington\u2019s agenda, even if that means reheating debunked narratives.<\/p>\n

The post As Venezuela Mends Ties With Latin Neighbors, Western Media Turn Up the Propaganda<\/a> appeared first on FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1303,1006,259,4772,55,59,262,263],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100479"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1673134,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100479\/revisions\/1673134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}