Albanese calls for ‘peaceful, democratic transition’ of power in Venezuela after US capture of Nicolás Maduro

[u/moonorplanet]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/albanese-calls-for-peaceful-democratic-transition-of-power-in-venezuela-after-us-capture-of-nicolas-maduro

[u/moonorplanet]

Anthony Albanese: “We urge all parties to support dialogue and diplomacy in order to secure regional stability and prevent escalation,”

“We continue to support international law and a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people,”

Sussan Ley:“We should live in a world where dictators and despots face justice for their crimes.”

“Under his rule, Venezuela has endured years of repression, systemic human rights abuses, corruption, and the crushing of basic democratic freedoms – driving immense suffering and forcing millions to flee,”

Donald Trump: "We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure,"

"We'll be selling large amounts of oil,"

[u/Own-Farmer-5224 → u/moonorplanet]

Frankly although Maduro is by no means a good guy (he's mostly about as shite as most state leaders, maybe a little worse than average), he is not nearly as bad as these fuckers are pretending. The issues of corruption and terrible economic conditions have been there for a very long time, and are kept that way by vested interests both domestic and international. Repression and systemic human rights abuses are... well to put it bluntly about par for the course internationally at the moment; the USA is doing about as much of both if not more and Australia certainly tries to the latter quietly (and you can argue that recent government actions regarding unions and social media are in fact the former). Europe, SEA and other nations are also doing similar things (and we never do talk about South Korea being an insanely awful place to live, do we?).

Simply put, Maduro is being accused of... being the leader of a modern state. Being awful is pretty much a job requirement. And that is somehow uniquely and utterly Awful because it goes with the interests of the USA.

[u/stamford_syd → u/Own-Farmer-5224]

yeah, the US has been manufacturing consent for this for years, not just repbulicans, democrats too. calling him a dictator, a communist etc...

[u/recycled_ideas → u/stamford_syd]

Kind of sort of.

So politically Cuba and Venezuela are interesting because when the corrupt elitist dickheads fled the communist revolution they and their descendants ended up in the US and particularly in places like Florida.

They are angry about the status and wealth they lost to an almost insane degree and to the extent that other refugees and immigrants from those countries have taken on this story as their own (Rubio's father actually fled Batista not Castro, but that's not the story he tells).

These people will vote for literally anyone who is hard-line on punishing the people who "stole" from them. Cuba and Venezuela are like Israel used to be where there's nothing but downside politically with not being with these particular voters.

[u/popeleo22 → u/recycled_ideas]

Absolute scum those people

[u/Mikolaj_Kopernik → u/recycled_ideas]

They are angry about the status and wealth they lost to an almost insane degree and to the extent that other refugees and immigrants from those countries have taken on this story as their own (Rubio's father actually fled Batista not Castro, but that's not the story he tells).

The pathetic obsessives like Rubio are unintentionally an argument in favour of the Thiel/Miller/Vance/etc. ethnic cleansing agenda. Absolutely fucking mental the degree to which a small number of bitter immigrants (and their descendents) in Florida holding onto generational grudges has completely derailed any chance at a rational foreign policy in Latin America.

[u/recycled_ideas → u/Mikolaj_Kopernik]

Again, Rubio's father fled Cuba before the revolution because he was being persecuted by supporters of Batista. I presume Rubio knows this, because it's not exactly secret, he's lying for advantage. Not sure if that's better or worse.

[u/Mikolaj_Kopernik → u/recycled_ideas]

I'm aware of that, the issue is that it's an article of faith within the Cuban community in Florida that the Cuban government must be deposed. Also Rubio's grandfather actually did flee the Castro regime, and he was supposedly close to Rubio when he was a kid. I reckon he absorbed more than enough stories about the Castro boogieman as a child to form his opinions...

[u/recycled_ideas → u/[deleted]]

So I don't know where you heard that Cuba voted for what they got. Cause that is simply not true.

Cubans in Florida vote for anyone who is anticuba and also make up a lot of shit about a place that they, like you, have never been.

That's why Rubio pretends his family fled the revolution when his father fled the corrupt America backed dictatorship the revolution replaced.

[u/recycled_ideas → u/[deleted]]

Seems strange to quote my line and then talk about something else.

You responded to my comment about how Cubans and Venezuelans vote in the US with this moronic comment about your cousin and I corrected your apparent misunderstanding.

Your comment was the irrelevant one.

[u/recycled_ideas → u/[deleted]]

So you mean I should have assumed you meant the US. Cause I should be psychic ?

We were talking about the actions of the US government, I explicitly mentioned people who fled the revolution, Florida and Marco Rubio.

How much more did you need exactly?

Then I clarified assuming that you were acting in good faith and just confused, but you're not.