Ep 89 The Real Story of Venezuelan Elections feat Dan Kovalik

Dan Kovalik joins us today to talk about the situation in Venezuela. US officials and almost all media outlets have made claims about the illegitimacy of the Venezuelan presidential election last May, using that claim to recognize a little known opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as the new interim president, replacing President Nicolás Maduro. Dan begs to differ with that characterization, having witnessed that election process, up close, while he was on the ground in Venezuela as an election monitor. He shares that experience with us today and many other insights on the country, the region, and the media coverage and politics around it here in the United States. Daniel Kovalik is a labor and human rights lawyer, a peace activist, an author and a college professor. He teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The Christian Science Monitor described him as "one of the most prominent defenders of Colombian workers in the United States" in reference to his work defending Colombian unionists under threat of assassination. He is the recipient of the Project Censored Award for his work exposing the killing of trade unionists in Colombia. He has done interviews and written articles for many different media sites including Counterpunch and the Huffington Post. He has recently written three books, including The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World, which was published last November. Find Dan's work at Counterpunch and the Huffington Post and look for his informative interviews on various alternative media channels.  FOLLOW him on Twitter @danielmkovalik. Around the Empire is independent media supported by our listeners. You can pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or at aroundtheempire.com. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire. Follow Joanne Leon at @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, Facebook. Recorded on February 5, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey. Reference Links: The Real Venezuela Is Not What You Think: Human Rights lawyer Daniel Kovalik tells of his recent trip to Venezuela as part of the international electoral accompaniment mission, Venezuela Analysis Book: The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World (2018), Dan Kovalik Book: The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran (2018), Dan Kovalik Book: The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin (2017) Book: Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to Sell War, Jean Bricmont Film: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003) Goodbye Middle East, Hello Latin America: The Coming Destruction of the Caribbean Basin, Thierry Meyssan, MintPress News