Venezuela: 5 Shocking Photos Target Snowden Advocate Pres. Maduro

A Before It’s News article Friday by this author shows how and why America’s media machine is demonstrating pro-regime change In Venezuela, swaying public opinion to favor of the U.S.-supported opposition against President Nicolas Maduro, and how faked photos are being used for the same end. PolicyMic reporter Cameron Combs has provided more samples of the fake photos, detailing the hoaxes. 

Lest we forget: Maduro publicly defended and advocated for a citizen persecuted as a terrorist Edward Snowden, offering safe haven to him, and in the same speech, ridiculed Obama’s ”empire.”  

Predictable US-backed chaos, dirty tricks in Venezuela after Modura advocated for Whistleblower Edward Sowden

Maduro has now publicly accused President Obama of promoting ongoing protests and rightly so, according to a Before It’s News report Friday. 

Aside from Venezuela being the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the U.S. and having the second largest oil reserves in the world, and having kicked out foreign oil companies, lest we forget that its president was one of the first to stand up to President Obama after Edward Snowden fled for his life. 

Maduro offered humanitarian safe haven to Snowden to protect him from America’s brutal regime persecution of the whistleblower.In July, Maduro declared in a speech: 

As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live in the homeland” of independence leader Simon Bolivar and the late President Hugo Chavez without ‘persecution from the empire,’ Maduro said, referring to the United States.

[See: S. America Countries Uniting For Snowden’s Escape From ‘Empire Persecution’]

According to the empire’s war on terror, [as fake as the recent "Venuzuelan government" photos being circulated] Maduro is a “terrorist,” since he attempted in July to aid and abet a “terrorist,” Snowden.

Now, just over six months later, Maduro’s nation faces bloody streets, covert tactics by the mainstream opposition force trying to overthrow him. One way to discredit any individual is to spread lies and rumors, backed with doctored photos.

Horrendous photos that have appeared (or reappeared in some instances) and been circulated to galvanize hatred of Maduro.

“A slew of phony images has emerged since the protests began, some of which have been shared thousands of times,” Combs says. “Though it is impossible to know the extent to which these hoaxes have fueled the conflict in Venezuela, they demonstrate that social media are fertile ground for spreading rumors and hysteria.”

From Dupré’s article, that details evidence of the U.S. supporting the Venezuela opposition and regime change:

‘Unflattering pictures of Argentine, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Chilean, Egyptian, Greek, and Singaporean police and military forces in crowd control mode and anti-protest operations have been circulated through mass communication and social media by Venezuelan opposition forces as actions taking place in Venezuela during February 2014,’ says Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya reporting for Global Research.

Combs provides the following examples of faked photos with text showing how they are being distributed to, more than likely, fuel anti-Venezuela sentiment and pro-opposition regime change. 

In other cases, images of Venezuela’s past demonstrations are being recycled.

“Many of these false images are spread, presumably, by unsuspecting parties,” Combs says. “But there are also examples of people intentionally posting photos for political gain, or simply for attention.”

“So while the protests in Venezuela have served as yet another potent reminder of the watchdog function of social media – especially in countries with stifled press freedom – they have also exhibited the susceptibility of these online tools to misinformation,” Combs writes.

The unwitting and/or paid infiltrators are spreading anti-Venezuela propaganda. 

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya flat out blames US backed mainstream opposition forces for the fake photos: ”Opposition forces are using ‘doctored images and false stories” to depict Venezuela’s government as an authoritarian regime using brutal violence against unarmed civilian protesters.

This phenomenon is not limited to Venezuela, this year, or photos for that matter. US Government leaders repeatedly fake reasons to overthrow other nation’s leaders, even assassinate them if doing so means easier control of those countries and their resources. That’s what the war on terror has been about since 9/11.

Faked photos are just part of the psychological operation (PSYOP) needed mainly for a naive American public. 

RT reports that in the Ukraine, doctored photos of the Statue of Liberty and the Christ the Redeemer basked in blue and yellow light were circulated as proof of foreign solidarity with the country’s protesters.

Rumors of imminent Russian invasions keep spreading through social media, stoking already high tensions.

Two years ago, fake photos and messages of looming attacks in one area of India caused mass panic among migrants fearful of sectarian violence. The resulting chaos led to deaths and injuries.

Photo credit: Twitter user @SergeiVesnovei

In the US, social media hoaxes are rampant, Combs reminds the reader. “A tweet erroneously attributed to Paris Hilton that confused Nelson Mandela with Martin Luther King Jr. made the rounds last year, as did a fabricated battle between two disgruntled plane passengers flying home on Thanksgiving.”

Many people prey on disinformation and we know many paid disinformationists exist. The Koch brothers have deep pockets used for this. Combs reminds about just how destabilizing false information has become in the U.S.

When the AP’s Twitter account was hacked last year, a tweet was sent saying the White House had been bombed and the president injured. The news sent the stock market into freefall. While the error was corrected only minutes later, the episode was a sobering reminder that just 140 characters, when sent from the right person, can instantly erase billions of dollars from the U.S. economy. 

The past few years have powerfully demonstrated that in times of protest fake photos and disinformation text are used to justify violence and genuine injustices – including  illegally invading and occupying nations as well as even targeted assassinations of their leaders. 

“Let us work to ensure that social media continue to be a force for democracy and accountability, not chaos,” Combs says.

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