#weisbrot

[elijah-loyal]

whenever i'm devastated that dyinglikeicarus no longer posts les mis art, i immediately run to weisbrot's page to endlessly scroll the stunning delicious beautiful art they post. for free!!

[sniigura-archive]

niemand frag mich was mein lieblingsbrot ist

[r0entgen]

"Why won't Venezuelans just address the blockade?"

If you're wondering why, read below.

Let me start by saying that I wrote this after I finished work, with less than three hours of sleep and a single meal in my body, so if you find any grammar mistakes, my apologies.

This is the comment that kickstarted this post. I believe I've mentioned this before, but when you're living in a country that weaponizes propaganda and hijacks every single media outlet, you have to master the fine arts of fact checking and cross-referencing. Which is exactly what we're going to do right now, addressing the claim that 40,000 Venezuelans have been killed by the US sanctions, and why We Won't Engage with You In This Particular Argument.

*Note: click the underlined text for links and sources.

In the paper Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela by Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs (who will be referred to as WS in this post), WS mention that between the years of 2017-2019, the economic sanctions caused a 31% increase in the general mortality rate in Venezuela, a number that they calculate may be of about 40,000 deaths. While they cite ENCOVI and a UN report from 2019 as the sources of this statistic, they clarify the following in the footnotes:

The ENCOVI 2018 survey has not been made public, the mortality statistic cited here is from the UN Report (2019).

As of this date, WS has not made public the data source for this estimate, and the UN report used as a source (Venezuela: Overview of Priority Humanitarian Needs, March 2019) is not publicly available.

So let's take a look at some sources that ARE publicly available.

The World Bank Group World Development Indicators registers at least a 30% increase in the infant mortality rate in Venezuela from the dates of 2013 to 2016. Similar numbers are reported in this paper, seeing a 40% increase in the infant mortality rate in Venezuela between the dates on 2008-2016. Here's an excerpt from the paper Impact of the 2017 Sanctions on Venezuela:

While different than other overall mortality rates, increases in infant mortality rates are generally interpretable as a preventable consequence of inadequate pre- and post-natal care for otherwise healthy but vulnerable infants. Thus, infant mortality is often recognized as a good proxy measure of the quality on overall public health provision.

What this tells us is that THERE HAS BEEN an increase in general mortality rate - one that started long before the 2017 sanctions.

However, this doesn't mean that in the periods of 2017-2019 there wasn't a high death toll. Let's look at another publicly available source.

The National Hospital Survey (2019) found that between November 2018 and February 2019, 1557 people died owing to the lack of supplies in hospitals [...]. 40 patients died as a result of the power outages in March 2019.

We see the first mention of a number in the 2019 Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Something interesting this report mentions is that 40 deaths were caused by the blackout in March 2019. A blackout that lasted 7 days and affected our 23 states.

The energy crisis which caused this nationwide blackout started in 2010. The Wikipedia article is a good summary, if a bit simple, of the events that led to and took place during and after the energy crisis (which affects us Venezuelans living in the country to this day)

Back to the UN Report. Something else this report indicates is the following:

In 2018, the Government registered 5,287 such killings, while the non-governmental organization Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia reported at least 7,523 killings under this category. Between 1 January and 19 May 2019, the Government reported 1,569 killings for resistance to authority. The Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia reported at least 2,124 such killings between January and May 2019. Information analysed by OHCHR suggests many of these killings may constitute extrajudicial executions.

[...] Six young men executed by the Special Action Forces (SEBIN) in reprisal for their role in anti-government protests in 2019.

This means that between the dates of 2018-2019, there have been approximately 9,647 deaths in the context of security operations - which includes Venezuelans that took part of the protests in 2019. Very similar to what we have been reporting since after the elections in July 28.

2017 to 2019 was one of the most difficult periods in Venezuelan history, marked by the sanctions imposed by Trump which affected oil export, access to diesel, and food and medicine imports. Some people argue that the economic recession in Venezuela was caused by the sanctions - failing to notice the negative trends in the years prior to these.

Bahar, Bustos, Morales and Santos (who will be referred to as BBMS in this post) conclude in their paper, Impact of the 2017 Sanctions on Venezuela, that while the sanctions had a negative effect in the oil production, "it is quite impossible to attribute the fall [...] to one single event (i.e., the sanctions), when many other confounding events were happening at the same time."

Oil production: Oil prices dropped during 2015, and oil production decreased as a result of lack of maintenance and investment.

Energy crisis: By 2009, when the energy crisis was first declared, the electrical grid had already been suffering from the lack of maintenance and investment since 1998. The Chávez administration distributed million dollar contracts [...] that enriched high officials of his government and the works were never built. [1] [2] [3]

Economic decline and hyper-inflation: Actions taken by the Chávez administration such as expropriation and price control, as well as the PDVSA purge in 2002 led the country to depend almost entirely on its already declining oil industry, causing shortages and price rises in common goods, food, medical supplies and so on. By 2015, 60% of the Venezuelan population was living in poverty. [1] [2] [3] [4]

From only these three points, we can establish a negative trend starting way before the first US Sanctions. Thus, we can conclude that by the time the devastating 2017-2019 sanctions took place, Venezuela was already deep in a state of generalized crisis.

WS conclude in their paper:

[...] One of the most important impacts of the sanctions is to lock Venezuela into a downward economic spiral. [...] An economic recovery could have already begun in the absence of economic sanctions.

While Bahar, Bustos, Morales and Santos declare:

[...] Our analysis finds insufficient evidence to conclude that they [sanctions] were responsible for the worsening of the socio-economic crisis. [...] The weight of evidence seems to indicate that, rather than being a result of US-imposed sanctions, much of the suffering and devastation in Venezuela has been, in line with most accounts, inflicted by those in power.

In conclusion - both papers seem to agree that the crisis in Venezuela started before 2017, but where WS claim that it worsened due to US sanctions, BBMS place a higher blame on the deterioration caused by the Venezuelan government.

Now, you may keep whichever analysis you prefer, but one thing we know for sure: the 40,000 Venezuelans that WS claimed died due to the sanctions cannot be found in any public report, while the death toll of protests and extrajudicial killings has been extensively reported.

Why is this relevant?

Contrary to what some people on this site would say, Venezuelans generally agree on the negative impacts of US-imposed sanctions (note: this poll accounts only for Venezuelans in Florida, as polls aren't often published inside Venezuela). However, the general consensus is that US-sanctions only added up to a crisis that had been building up since Chávez rose to power, and rather than the cause, it was yet another symptom.

Yes, the US is the Big Bad, but placing the blame solely on the sanctions only takes the responsibility away from the government and diverts the attention from the poor governance, rampaging corruption, violent repression and denialism that we've grown used to in the last 25 years.

So if you ask "why don't you address the blockade?", my response is: why don't you address the 9,647 extrajudicial killings, the 40 deaths caused by the energy crisis, the energy crisis itself, the economic decline, the lack of maintenance in the infrastructure, the violent repression, the forceful abductions and the censoring?

What we want you to understand is that when you center the US as the cause of the crisis, you are actively participating in our state-funded propaganda and knowingly turning a blind eye on the suffering of all Venezuelans. You are no better than imperialists - you ARE participating in imperialism.

Remember:

Last, but not least - be careful with your sources. This Venezuelanalysis article was written by Andreína Chávez, former editor-in-chief of TeleSUR, a government-funded news channel known for spreading Maduro propaganda. One of their most recent claims: dead Venezuelans are shown as having voted in the ballots shown in resultadosconvenezuela.com. Needless to say, this is false. This news portal is what some people would call, BIASED.

For more information, please read the amazing analysis written by @systhemes HERE.

A more direct response by @achillesmonochrome HERE.

For other sources, check HERE.

*Fellow Venezuelans, feel free to include anything I might have missed.

[memecucker]

Most in US want arms shipments to Israel to stop, poll says

A narrow majority of U.S. adults, 52%, said American arms shipments should be stopped until Israel ends its attacks in Gaza, according to a YouGov poll released on March 11. Less than one-third of respondents, 27%, said the shipments should not be halted, and 21% were unsure.

The poll, commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) — a think tank in Washington, D.C. — sampled 1,000 U.S. adults, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The question over additional military aid revealed a strong partisan divide among respondents.

The majority of respondents, 62%, who said they voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 agreed with the statement “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while 14% disagreed.

On the other hand, 30% of respondents who said they voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 supported stopping the shipments, while 55% opposed it.

Additionally, 60% of respondents who said they sat out the 2020 election favored stopping shipments, 17% were opposed and 23% were unsure.

“The support for halting weapons shipments is specific and unambiguous,” Mark Weisbrot, Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said in a CEPR news release.

The U.S. has sent Israel tens of thousands of arms — including precision-guided missiles and bombs — since the Oct. 7 attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead, according to The Wall Street Journal. Many of the shipments have been green-lit through a process that avoids congressional review and public disclosure.

[profoundphilosophertimemachine]

FIC SEARCH

Les mis fandom help me out here, I found this image on one of my old laptops and it reminded me of the fic it was based on but i CANNOT find the fic. It was a roylaty au where Enjolras is Grantaire's knight and they obviously fall in love. I've scoured a03s filters, tried reverse searching the image and nothing. Anyone remember or known this fic? OR recognise the art?

EDIT: THIS fandom is amazing ask and ye shall receive art is @weisbrot and the fic is here

[eelhound]

"We live in a time of crisis. Consider three interwoven ones.

First, climate change. Every year brings more forest fires and less breathable air, the result of an economic system predicated on burning fossil fuels and working long hours to fuel energy-intensive consumption.

Second, overwhelmed families. Even though people in the Global North live in the richest societies the world has ever known, the majority still find themselves overworked and overwhelmed. Practically every family, especially with young kids, is stressed and strained, struggling to balance the unbalanceable demands of care with no support and work with no flexibility.

Third, millions of poor and working-class people are profoundly unfree in that they have no time for anything but the constant scramble to stay ahead of the bills. In Europe, the average woman in a couple with children works a massive seventy-one hours per week when you include her unpaid care labor. In New York, a single mother on minimum wage would need to labor for an astounding (and impossible) 117 hours every week to meet her basic needs. We live in an epidemic of time poverty, where compulsory overwork defers dreams and crushes aspirations under the relentlessness of Sisyphean toil.

Imagine, for a moment, a different kind of society where the standard job was part-time, but also a good job, offering decent pay and benefits as well as flexibility and career advancement. Public provision of essential services would provide a background of economic security: from health care to childcare, pensions to transit (and, ideally, a basic income as well). With their basic needs met, individuals wouldn’t have to rely on their jobs nearly as much to get by — and working substantially less than forty hours would be something to be desired rather than feared.

The Research on Part-Time Work

Recent scholarly evidence shows that slashing work hours is key to confronting climate change. For example, Jonas Nässén and Jörgen Larsson find that “a decrease in working time by 1% may reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by about 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.” David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot find that if the United States were to slash its working hours to Western European levels, energy consumption would drop by 20 percent. The most rigorous study to date is probably that of Jared Fitzgerald and colleagues, who performed a longitudinal study on fifty-two countries. They confirmed the results of other studies that more working time leads to more energy consumption, and that this relationship is intensifying over time for both rich and poor countries.

We know that under regular conditions, capitalist economies grow and grow, but so far only by producing more and more emissions. Global emissions have only fallen four times over the last sixty years — 1981, 1992, 2009, and 2020 — precisely when the world was in the throes of economic recession. This is the cold reality of neoliberal capitalism: it forces us to choose between environmental destruction or the social misery of mass unemployment.

Good part-time work offers us a structural escape hatch — a new model to immediately reduce emissions without putting people out of work.

Of course, part-time work isn’t enough by itself. A pro-worker climate agenda must also include national and global agreements on carbon caps, a Green New Deal that unleashes massive state investment fueling decarbonization (for instance, shifting toward clean energy and building new public transit infrastructure), and so on. But good part-time work is a necessary, if insufficient condition, for preventing ecological disaster.

In terms of work-life balance, the evidence is even stronger. The academic literature finds again and again that bringing down work hours alleviates family stress and strain. To cite one of many examples, Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette report in a 2006 paper that in every one of the five countries they studied, “working hours were the most significant predictor of work-life conflict.”

We also know that free time is foundational for individual freedom. To live the life one wants, free time is essential to devise and accomplish any of one’s life goals. One cannot be deeply engaged with family, friends, art, activism, sport, music, education, or any of the variegated projects that animate people’s aspirations if one is always on the clock.

The US vs. Western Europe

For hundreds of years, a vibrant strand of socialism has aspired to build a world with substantial freedom from toil — a world where machines do much of the work so humans don’t have to, freeing us to pursue our aims, develop our capabilities, and flourish in whatever directions we see fit. This is a world where artificial intelligence and robots actually make human life better and easier, rather than ushering in unemployment, fear, and inequality.

But is good part-time work really possible?

For those of us living in North America, part-time employment usually means poorly paid and precarious, with few benefits and even less autonomy. However, there’s nothing inevitable about this. Western European examples show that it’s completely possible to transform crappy part-time jobs into good, secure jobs.

In Denmark, for example, part-time work is usually good work. Whereas the hourly wage gap between full-time and part-time women is more than 20 percent in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, in Denmark, it is about zero. Danish part-timers also enjoy robust benefits and pensions; a person who works part-time at 75 percent for ten years then full-time for the rest of their career, will end up with a pension worth 98 percent as much as someone who worked full-time their whole career.

A single mother working at the lowest wage (there is no official minimum wage in Denmark, since wages are set through collective bargaining) for thirty hours per week earns €27,600, while the living wage is roughly €15,000. Danish part-timers appear to be very happy with their situation. The percentage of part-time women who say they are “dissatisfied” with their job is only 4 percent, and the percentage of part-time workers who are dissatisfied with their life as a whole is just 0.4 percent.

The Netherlands is another illuminating example. It is the world’s first so-called “part-time economy,” with the highest proportion of part-time jobs in the world. Amazingly, close to 50 percent of the entire labor force works part-time (compared to only 18 percent in the EU27).

Since implementing the Equal Treatment (Working Hours) Act in 1996, it has been illegal for Dutch employers to discriminate between full- and part-time workers in the provision of pay, benefits, holidays, and employment opportunities. Part-time jobs are mostly open-ended contracts, not a precarious form of nonstandard employment — part-timers are not significantly more likely to work unsocial hours like evenings, nights, or weekends — and the country boasts the highest proportion of firms in Europe with part-time positions at high levels of qualification (47 percent). The result is that the gap between hourly part-time and full-time wages is only about 5 percent, with very little part-time work being involuntary (only 5 percent of female and 10 percent of male part-timers would prefer to be full-time).

Crucially, the cluster of policies boosting part-time work exists against a background of relatively robust economic security. The country’s National Old Age Pension guarantees every citizen a flat-rate pension by sixty-five, regardless of previous employment or earnings. A living wage for a single mother in the Netherlands is today about €15,000, whereas her income from working thirty hours per week on minimum wage is roughly €19,000. A family with two adults, both working thirty-hour weeks, earns a median income of roughly €60,000 — easily surpassing the living wage floor for the whole family (two adults, two kids) of €43,000. Part-time work, in other words, is perfectly feasible for everyone.

Things could hardly be more different in the United States.

In California, a living wage for a four-person family is roughly $110,000. If both adults worked part-time (thirty hours per week) the family would take in a median income of just $70,000. If part-time work is unattractive for the bottom half of the population, the situation is far worse for the poorest. A single mother in Los Angeles working thirty hours per week at a minimum wage job will bring in only $24,180 — pitifully short of a living wage, which for such a family is more than three-times greater, at over $80,000.

The reason the living wage in the United States is so much higher than in Europe is because social democratic welfare states provide their citizens with free or subsidized health care, childcare, transport, housing, etc. The amount of private money that anyone needs to acquire their basic needs (the “living wage”) is therefore much less. A good life based on part-time work is completely feasible in many parts of Europe.

Germany is another example. Although the country has many fewer part-time jobs than the Netherlands, they have done an excellent job of shrinking the number of hours worked in standard full-time jobs. Germany currently has the shortest working hours in the world — an average of 1,341 a year — which is, remarkably, 26 percent, or the equivalent of eleven full working weeks, shorter than in the United States. In Berlin, a living wage today is about €15,000 — within reach of anyone on a part-time income, since even a minimum-wage part-time worker makes €18,720.

A Transformative Demand

The bottom line is that constructing an economic system where part-time jobs are both good and widely available is possible. Doing so requires the standard social democratic tools of unions, high taxes, and progressive governments willing to regulate the market on behalf of workers. None of this is easy to achieve, particularly in countries with as weak a labor movement and as powerful a business class as the United States. But political will, not technical feasibility, is what is standing in the way of a good life for the majority.

In these times of crisis, it is easy to feel dispirited and hopeless. And when hope departs, cynicism grows. The vision of a freer society built around good part-time work is one antidote to such cynicism. It is a bold, feasible demand — at once radical and realistic in the medium term. The elements that are required already exist in various places around the world.

The result would not be a utopia. It would not solve all our problems. But it could transform our lives."

- Tom Malleson, from "We Should All Be Working Part Time for Full-Time Pay." Jacobin, 22 November 2023.

[ange-de-la-mort]

Current collection of stuff I'm probably gonna keep, plus cat because she just likes to be involved. Descriptions under the cut.

Official mag: 16 of 24(?) issues, Only read the fan letters so far that are 99% "Xena and Gabrielle should kiss because I'm queer and want to be represented" versus "Xena and Gabrielle should NOT kiss because that would be giving in to the gay agenda, think of the children", and I'm tired that we still have the same annoying debates in 2023.

Fanclub Newsletter: #5 - #28 of ???, So far only read the issue about Kevin Smith's death and everyone recounting their fav memories of him. Ngl, I cried.

Robert Weisbrot, "The Official Guide to the Xena verse", only covers the first 2 seasons. Still neat. Has some interesting background stuff and interviews.

K. Stoddard Hayes, "The Complete Illustrated Companion", covers all seasons, talks about character profiles, has interviews. Also neat.

5 of... 9(?) novels that I'll have to review on my blog at some point, sigh. And I own more of the comics, but tbh I'm not into most of them, so right now I just wanna keep the ones with the gorgeous water colour colours. Also, Xena and Gabrielle are finally allowed to be lesbians in them.

... I'm trying to find a way to upload the magazines and newsletters in a way for preservation's sake, but I also wanna avoid a copyright lawsuit, so idek what to do yet =/

[tricksterdraws]

wip it out!

I was tagged by @thisliminalspacedaydreams (like a million years ago I'm sorry I took this long haha) Mine's just a quick warm up project after recovering from an injury on my wrist

omgosh what is this golden trio era fanart in this economy???? Who would have guessed???

no pressure tagging: @nicollini, @yesnoidkiguess, @tenakiie, @squintclover, @weisbrot, @fallonkristersonnkristerson, @octopuscatopuscato and anybody else who wants to do this. Probably forgetting

[breath-of-fresh-grantaire]

When one is truly in love, one not only says it, but shows it.

My part of the @drinkwithme-exchange ! I'm gifting this to @weisbrot and shaking in my boots like a pathetic little chihuaha. It's a fic of Prouvaire and Enjolras, childhood friends!! hooray!

[pumpkinspice-prouvaire]

i only just got into les mis but the fandom is so intimidating skjdgj qwq any tips

hi!!!! welcome to the fandom!!! Don't be intimidated I promise we're all really nice!!!

I think my top tip would be if you're consuming content by creators in the fandom, interact with it, whether that's through comments on ao3 or reblogging art on tumblr and leaving lots of screaming in the tags or anything else. As a fic writer I remember the names of my regular commenters, and when I see them on my dash my immediate reaction is :D friend! :D And if you're a content creator yourself, post your stuff and tag it! I can't speak for artists and other content creators, but in terms of fics kudos and comments can sometimes be slow to come (especially if you're not writing ExR) but the right people will find it and love it!

Also from personal experience I've found those reblog ask games really effective for making friends, if you reblog and send the person you reblogged from an ask, a lot of the time they'll send one back. Yay, communication!!!

The fandom is sort of split into canon content and modern au/fanon content. Everyone has a preference, and you'll find that group of blogs you enjoy the most soon, but if you are chill, you can enjoy both. This goes without saying, and I hope I'm not being condescending, but if you disagree with an opinion/post/ship/person, you are under no obligation to interact with it. Block the tag and or blog and move on, PLEASE be chill.

You've also joined at a good time, because we're part way through Les Mis Letters! We're a good bit through Volume II by now, but if you've read the book previously orrrr can just Sparknotes Volume I (or be completely unhinged and do a mega catchup over the next few days- let me know if you achieve this and I'll make you a cake), you can totally join and post commentary/meta/jokes anything else! The blog is @lesmisletters , I believe there's also a Discord server

One that note, there's plenty of Discord servers if that's your thing! I can name a couple off the top of my head (Hoes for Enjolras, Lame Mis, Discorinthe) but don't have links, I know there's a post out there somewhere I will try to find it when I have time!

You've also joined at a good time because there's plenty of fandom events coming up soon! It's too late to sign up, but the ExR Big Bang is in a few weeks, Barricade Day aka the biggest Les Mis event of the year is 5th-6th June, Drink with Me aka the platonic Les Mis exchange normally happens in August time (Although I'm not positive if it's happening this year yet), and I believe Logic and Philosophy week aka Enjolras and Combeferre week is in September time? There's probably more that I'm missing out but those are the one I know are happening soon!

I think all that's left now are some blog recs 😌😌😌

@/pilferingapples @/alicedrawslesmis @/thecandlesticksfromles mis @/shitpostingfromthebarricade @/hfullofblagden @permit-it @/unicorngunter @/weisbrot @/thelawsofdaylight @/butts-of-the-barricade @/fuckyeahlesmiserables @/guide-ferre @/secretmellowblog @/barricade-blondes @/aromantic-enjolras @/p-trichor @/wild-oats-and-cornflowers @/everyonewasabird @/juliensorelisoverparty @/see-you-on-the-barricade @/probably-enjolras @/jesuisserieux @/cx-shhh @/ueinra @/kjack89 @/shamedumpster @/dolphin1812

I'm definitely missing some great blogs there but at least you have a starting point lmao I hope you enjoy!!!

[hanzajesthanza]

hi it's me again! :)

I suppose it's about time I've updated you on the stuff I've been up to lately.

Translation is now my major, and I've been lucky enough to snatch a videogame-themed research proposal – of course I'm doing it about The Witcher 3. I'm hoping to include a section on whether translation of names, toponyms, etc. was loyal to E. Weisbrot's translation. (I haven't gotten to the Hussite Trilogy yet, but Wikipedia says Sapkowski dedicated "Light Perpetual" to him, woah)

In other news, I ordered a Witcher wall calendar, but didn't realise it was game-based arts, it's fine I guess. My next thought was "Well clearly the publisher gives no shit about Witcher because May has 'Gaunter at the wedding' art and not Ciri/Yennefer art. Also there's rowan with berries at the wedding, so it's not even goddamn spring.....

Love your new blog header 💙❄️

xoxo

wow!! i love this, these are such great updates. i'd love to hear more about your translation work witcher or not witcher related :) pity about the calendar being more game-based than expected, but i bet it will still be super cool.

(also this is me realizing i still never published your asks from burnfalka as my askbox is still bugged! i'm going to do that right now, posting it on this blog)

[itrulyhavenothingtodo]

tagged by@softofheart (!!!! thank you!!! love love love tag games) to post my wallpaper, last image i saved, and the last song I listened to:

(my wallpaper is by the amazing @the-march-hair btw!!)

tagging @yayee-prsp @weisbrot @korianderbandit @saint-rouge @p-tired @p-trichor @maxvantisio

(if you want to! don't feel burdened)

[lightdancer1]

Ending this with an article that accurately indicts American imperialism in Haiti:

[ferrolano-blog]

La guerra ilegal contra Venezuela de la que no se habla... Contra Venezuela se ha ejecutado una auténtica «guerra de hambre»... Los economistas Mark Weisbrot y Jeffrey Sachs calcularon los efectos de esa guerra económica: 40.000 muertes solo entre 2017 y 2018. Y la relatora especial de Naciones Unidas Alena Douhan informó que unos 2,5 millones de venezolanos sufrían de inseguridad alimentaria y 300.000 estaban en peligro de muerte por haber caído las importaciones en un 73%, debido a las sanciones y a pesar de que Venezuela tenía recursos para pagarlas... las sanciones provocaron que sólo pudiera funcionar el 20% del equipo hospitalario del país. Incluso se bloqueó el pago de vacunas contra el Covid para que el gobierno de Maduro no pudiera contar con ellas. Como dijeron Weisbrot y Sachs en su informe, las potencias occidentales han aplicado un «castigo colectivo de la población civil», algo condenado por las convenciones internacionales de Ginebra y de La Haya, contrario a las leyes internacionales y a la propia legislación interna estadounidense... Uno de los principales objetivos de la guerra económica contra Venezuela fue atacar y sabotear la labor de los llamados Comités Locales de Abastecimiento y Producción de Alimentos (CLAP), que trataban de proporcionar alimentos a bajo coste a la población. En 2016, 2019 y 2020 Estados Unidos estableció sanciones a las empresas que suministraran bienes o recursos a esos Comités... Si Venezuela se ha convertido en una especie de ogro o diablo al que se combate con tanta intensidad desde que Hugo Chávez comenzó a gobernar es, sencillamente, por algo que se oculta: Venezuela tiene las reservas de petróleo y de oro más grandes del planeta... lo que buscan quienes hacen la guerra contra Venezuela no es esto último, democracia y libertad, sino apoderarse de nuevo de sus inmensas riquezas naturales (Juan Torres López)

[plethoraworldatlas]

The Biden administration on Sunday faced calls to demand the immediate release of Ecuador's former vice president after Ecuadorian police stormed Mexico's embassy in Quito and forcibly seized the ex-official, a flagrant breach of the 1961 Vienna Convention.

"Ecuador's government has committed a very serious crime, one that threatens the security of embassies and diplomats throughout the world—not least those of the United States, which has threats to its embassies in much of the world," said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). "The international community cannot allow this to happen."

The move sparked a diplomatic crisis and global outcry, with Latin American leaders slamming the right-wing Ecuadorian government for its "unacceptable infringement" on Mexico's sovereignty and "kidnapping" of Jorge Glas, who served as vice president under Ecuador's leftist former president Rafael Correa. Glas has reportedly been transferred to a maximum-security prison.

Correa supported lawmaker Luisa González in Ecuador's 2023 presidential contest, which she lost to President Daniel Noboa, the son of the richest man in Ecuador.

The illegal raid of Mexico's embassy late Friday came hours after the Mexican government granted political asylum to Glas, who has been living in the embassy since December, when he announced he would appeal a judge's decision ordering him back to jail. Glas has been convicted of corruption and imprisoned repeatedly in recent years; the former vice president has said the charges are politically motivated.

CEPR noted Sunday that Ecuadorian Attorney General Diana Salazar "has long engaged in a campaign of lawfare and political persecution against former president Rafael Correa and other figures from the former Correa government."

"The charges against Correa have been shown to have so little credibility, and the evidence is so lacking, that Interpol for years has refused to act on Ecuador's red notice against him," the group said. "Belgium has granted him political asylum, and he can travel freely to almost anywhere in the world without fear of extradition. And last year, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge annulled evidence against Glas after authorities admitted it may have been tampered with."

...

As the Financial Timesreported Sunday, Ecuador's right-wing president "is enjoying soaring popularity among Ecuadoreans and strong support from Washington after declaring an all-out war on drug trafficking." In February, the Biden administration declared its "unwavering support" for Ecuador's government and announced "$2.4 million in additional vehicles and security equipment to support the work of police."

FT noted that Noboa, the scion of a banana empire, has invoked "emergency powers to put troops on the streets and sent the army to take control of gang-ridden jails, using tactics partly borrowed from El Salvador's strongman leader Nayib Bukele."

While Noboa's "aggressive response initially reduced violence and brought a precarious sense of safety to places like Guayaquil," The New York Timesobserved, the "stability did not last."

"Over the Easter holiday, there were 137 murders in Ecuador, and kidnappings and extortion have worsened," the Times reported.