[Peace] Coup news: Grayzone covering Lula on Venezuela where other English-language media won't

[J.B. Nicholson]

Ben Norton of The Grayzone filed 
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/03/30/brazil-lula-maduro-guaido-us-blockade/ which is 
certainly worth reading. Here's the first part:

> In comments ignored by English-language media, Lula da Silva slammed the US coup
> attempt against Venezuela, calling Nicolás Maduro a democratic leader who has
> supported dialogue while blasting Juan Guaidó as a criminal.
> 
> The far-right government of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is one of
> Washington’s closest allies in Latin America. It has played a major supporting
> role in the Donald Trump administration’s coup attempt against Venezuela, even
> supporting a terror plot against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
> 
> This March, the Bolsonaro administration signed a historic military agreement,
> bringing Brazil directly into the US imperial sphere of influence, essentially
> merging the country’s defense industry with Washington’s military-industrial
> complex.
> 
> Days before the deal was finalized, however, Brazil’s former president, the
> left-wing labor organizer Lula da Silva, spoke out vociferously against US
> meddling in Latin America, harshly criticizing Washington’s putsch against Evo
> Morales in Bolivia and its ongoing coup attempt against Venezuela.
> 
> In an interview with Brazilian media that has yet to be covered in the
> English-language press, Lula condemned US-backed Venezuelan coup leader Juan
> Guaidó as a warmongering criminal who should be in prison. He went on to emphasize
> that President Nicolás Maduro is a democratically elected leader who has
> encouraged peace and diplomacy.
> 
> “Europe and the United States can’t recognize a fraud who declares himself to be
> president,” Lula said, referring to Guaidó. “It is not right. Because if fashion
> takes over democracy, it is thrown in the garbage, and any scammer can declare
> themself president. I could declare myself president of Brazil, but where would
> democracy go?”
> 
> Lula was interviewed by Folha de S.Paulo, the most widely circulated Brazilian
> newspaper, which is owned by an elite family of billionaire media oligarchs.
> 
> When the paper pushed back against his comments, calling Maduro a “dictator,” Lula
> stressed that the Venezuelan president was elected, and has shown the kind of
> patience and restraint that no other leader would in similar circumstances.
> 
> “He [Guaidó] should be in prison,” Lula said. “And Maduro was so democratic and
> did not arrest him when he went to Colombia to try to instigate an invasion of
> Venezuela.”
> 
> “The one who is taking the initiative to talk is Maduro, not Guaidó,” Lula stated.
> “Guaidó would like the Americans to invade Venezuela — in fact, he even tried to
> force it.”
> 
> The newspaper pushed back again, saying Maduro has presided over an economic
> crisis in Venezuela.
> 
> “Whether his government is doing well or not, that’s another story. But you aren’t
> going to attack all of the countries that aren’t doing well,” Lula responded.
> 
> “People can’t criticize Maduro and not criticize the blockade. The blockade
> doesn’t attack soldiers, it doesn’t kill the guilty, the blockade kills
> innocents,” the former Brazilian president said.
> 
> These remarks from Lula received virtually no coverage in the English-language
> press, although they were widely covered in Portuguese- and Spanish-language
> media.