by Stephen Lendman

On September 10 in Caracas, justice was served. Anti-Bolivarian fascist coup plotter Leopoldo Lopez was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for his leading role in inciting months of violence and related crimes last year, resulting in 43 deaths, many injuries and destruction of public property.

He got off lightly. In America, he’d likely have been charged with sedition, convicted offenders sentenced to decades or life in prison.

President Nicholas Maduro compared him to the 2002 coup plotters - calling him “the face of fascism.”

Along with defrocked National Assembly member Maria Corina Machado and other co-conspirators, he launched a US supported La Salida (the Exit) campaign, openly calling for ousting Venezuela’s government, inciting street violence to replace Bolivarian social democracy with money-controlled business as usual.

Washington’s response to Lopez’s sentencing was predictable. The State Department ignored his criminality, irresponsibly calling Venezuela’s “judicial process and verdict” politically motivated - “to suppress and punish government critics.”

“We call on the Government of Venezuela…to guarantee fair and transparent public trials, consistent with the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Venezuela’s Constitution.”

Fact: Venezuela is a model social democracy. America is polar opposite.

Fact: No nation did more harm to more people at home and abroad over a longer duration than America - the world’s leading human and civil rights abuser, waging longstanding war on humanity, systematically breaching core rule of law principles repeatedly, responsible for global mass murder, running the world’s largest gulag filled with political prisoners, the last nation on earth to criticize the policies of others.

Media scoundrels responded as expected. New York Times editors want Lopez’s crimes ignored. Free him, they said, repeating one Big Lie after another.

Calling justifiable charges based on clear, verifiable evidence “scurrilous,” describing Venezuelan judicial fairness as “authoritarian…brazen,” claiming accusations against Lopez were “preposterous.”

Saying he was “persecut(ed),” blaming Maduro as expected, ludicrously claiming he acted in “desperation.”

Times editors, correspondents and contributors waged war on Venezuela since Hugo Chavez took office in February 1999.

After his landslide December 1998 election, The Times outrageously called him a “populist demagogue, an authoritarian, a caudillo (strongman).”

Following what became an aborted two-day April 2002 US-orchestrated coup attempt, Times editors viciously lied, saying:

“With yesterday’s resignation of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator.”

“Mr. Chavez, a ruinous demagogue, stepped down after the military intervened and handed power to a respected business leader, Pedro Carmona.”

Bush administration officials plotted with Venezuelan oligarchs, handpicking Carmona to rule by decree, replacing democracy with despotism - cheered by New York Times editors, continuing their war on Bolivarian fairness.

Wall Street Journal editors bashed Lopez’s conviction, ludicrously saying “Venezuela long ago became a one-party state,” ignoring America’s longstanding money-corrupted duopoly governance, assuring business as usual always wins, compared to Venezuela’s electoral process Jimmy Carter calls the world’s best.

They lied claiming Lopez was convicted and sentenced on “trumped up charge(s)” - absurdly comparing him to Nelson Mandela and saying right-wing, pro-business politicians they called prominent leftists support him.

They accused Maduro of perhaps planning to “cancel or rig” upcoming December parliamentary elections - ignoring polls showing Bolivarian candidates likely to retain majority rule.

It’s hard believing anyone takes rubbish US media scoundrels report seriously - a lying machine supporting wealth, power and privilege exclusively along with endless imperial wars, at the expense of long denied social, political and economic justice.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.