Russian mercenaries reportedly in Venezuela to protect Maduro.

Pedro_P

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Contractors linked to the Wagner group, which has carried out missions in Ukraine and Syria, reportedly travelled to Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro gestures to military leaders to keep their eyes open at the end of a press conference inside the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on 25 January. Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/AP
▼ Russian private security contractors have travelled to Venezuela to provide security to the embattled president Nicolás  Maduro, the Reuters news agency has reported.
Citing three sources, the news agency said that the mercenaries are linked to the Wagner group, which has carried out missions in Ukraine and Syria and is now reportedly active in countries in  Africa, too.
If it is confirmed that contractors from the group traveled to Venezuela, this would be their first known deployment in the western hemisphere.
“The order came down on Monday to form a group to go to Venezuela. They are there to protect those at the highest levels of the government,” Yevgeny Shabaev, a Cossack leader with ties to military contractors, told the Guardian by telephone.
Shabaev, one of the sources cited by Reuters, is a campaigner for the rights of veterans, a group that overlaps heavily with those who join mercenary groups in Russia. He said he had been told about the trip by the relatives of the military contractors. A government spokesman did not immediately respond for comment about the report, although he had earlier told Reuters that the Kremlin had “no such information”.
The report comes after the US threw its support behind opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself president on Wednesday.
Russia and China, both of which have invested heavily in the country, have attacked the US for encroaching on Venezuela’s sovereignty. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday accused the US of “destructive interference from abroad.” The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, called it a “quasi-coup”.
The crisis has produced a familiar standoff, with a US-led coalition on one side and Russia and China on the  other. But the distances involved have made the conventional wisdom here that Russia is unlikely to provide direct military support to Maduro’s government to avert a US military intervention.
Russia is an important source of financial support to the Venezuelan government, providing billions of dollars in loans, some as pre-payment for future deliveries of oil. Last month Russiadispatched two nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers to the country in a further show of support.
While Shabaev said that the deployment of military contractors could be as large as 400 people, other sources cited by Reuters suggested the groups were smaller. There were conflicting reports about when the mercenaries may have arrived as well.
One of Reuters’ two anonymous Russian sources, who the news agency said is close to the Wagner group, said the contractors first arrived in advance of the May 2018 presidential election, but another group arrived “recently”.

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soothsayer

Now who said the War is over? It continues and does so in new geographies!All wars were expansionist in land but now it is resources whereever they are

Pedro_P

soothsayer 26-1-2019 01:35 AM
Now who said the War is over? It continues and does so in new geographies!All wars were expansionist ...

In fact, Maduro uses a speech in which he lies when he says that an "imperialist" power wants to seize Venezuelan oil.
The truth is that the oil industry is on a downward path, new technologies in the generation of energy are displacing the use of oil. And for that reason, with a lower global demand for oil, the price of a barrel of oil will fall even more.
Here, the main problem is the political and economic model applied by the tyrant Maduro, which is a socialist/communist model, to simulate the Cuban model.
Under that model, the State seeks to be the sole owner of absolutely everything, that is, there would be no private property, also the civil and economic freedoms would be eliminated, as is already happening now. And then, the existence of a single political party, without the possibility of multiple political platforms.
What kind of democracy is that in which people can only choose a single model and a single political party? For there to be a real choice, there must be options, but socialism/communism does not contemplate options, it only allows the existence of a single socialist/communist party.
Then, war is not a war for resources, it is a war for freedom and democracy, freedom for people to have options, and democracy so that people can decide the path they wish to travel.
Chavismo and its socialist/communist ideology has turned the Venezuelan State into a Totalitarian State, has destroyed the economy and has eliminated civil and economic liberties.
What happens in Venezuela, is a well-known failure story, the socialists/communists, make the State the great provider, turn people into dependent and lazy/idle, and end up ruining a country.
Never people should lose their freedom, so it is important and necessary to overthrow the tyrant, not by resources, but rather by freedom.
Freedom is the supreme purpose.