IMO there’s 3 major points in the current discourse, but these are reflections of previous media cycles on Venezuela that tend to repeat similar themes:

1. General poor conditions in Venezuela
2. 2024 elections
3. Gusano effect

Anyone who pays attention to geopolitics discourse from a leftist perspective will know that the poorer the country, the more likely that it will be considered a dictatorship for doing the same things any “democratic” country does (and the dissatisfaction people feel with the general state of things helps make this case). This is part of why US sanctions work, you force the country into a catch 22 where they either compromise with US imperialist interests, or their people will suffer to the point that you may as well have been exploiting them all along.

The 2024 Presidential Elections were scandalous in Venezuela. There were accusations made by Western NGOs and the Venezuelan neoliberal parties that Maduro rigged the election. In my opinion there’s no substantial evidence that this is the case. Most of the media attention in the scandal went to the accusations from Edmundo González (neoliberal opposition candidate) that the government tampered with the ballots or the counting directly. Western NGOs/think tanks that were casting doubt on the election’s legitimacy didn’t go that far, though, and Edmundo González never presented the evidence that the election has been stolen.

Finally there’s the perpetual issue of revolutions causing a lot of people to be pissed off when their privileged class status is revoked. There’s also a particular issue where a lot of Venezuelan gusanos aren’t even the usual case of bourgeois exiles/fleeing with their wealth, but working class people that have left the country over time because of the poor economic situation (though these are still people who have the means to reach whatever country they end up in—never the poorest of the poor). These people who already have negative opinions of their country join communities that reinforce that negative image, and get all their news from right wing sources. This means that imperialist media actually can readily find some people who didn’t quite get their servants snatched from them by Chávez, the stereotypical Cuban style gusano, but working class people who will say that Maduro is the reason for all their problems.

He was mean to Chevron

Which btw is an imprisonable offence in the US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Donziger

Liberals of lemmy, this is your best chance

Come give us tankies your best arguments you cowards

1. 15 years of vuvuzela no iphone propaganda.

2. The media cycle that attempted to get Juan Guaido into power on the back of national unrest that occurred over sanctions, which was paired with some sus attacks and I suspect an attempt to convert it into a colour revolution.

3. The 2024 media cycle with the election being so close and accusations of fixing it.

The most prominent factor is probably because Venezuela has been suffering, a lot of politically inclined people see that and look for answers to why, the propaganda machine tells them it’s because evil regime. Tucking on their emotional heart strings.

If someone is politically illiterate, it’s better if they do not listen to the news at all.

I had gone to visit my babushka for new years and when I heard her mention there’s a new channel on her TV called “Freedom” …

Thing is-I can do counter-propaganda to get someone to change sides potentially, but that won’t teach people to think critically. You can tell them why maduro is not a dictator, but teaching them to figure it out by themselves is much more difficult.

I only recently had a change of mind so it really is because, (1) Venezuela has been utterly ravaged economically each sanction, (2) the internet has been astroturfed to hell and back and (3) it causes some cognitive dissonance and uncomfortable feeling when people imagine it is false, and if you’re in the belly of the empire, and don’t gain anything from accepting this reality, you would rather benefit from being ignorant

There’s more foreign observers making the Venezuelan elections ‘fair’ by international standards than the US’s elections, but it’s still authoritarianism if they don’t sell the US everything at discount prices

Effective propaganda

He told the exploiters no. The crapitalists can’t sell that truth. Therefore “Dictator”.

Propaganda, I think. People dont know anything about the political systems of most other nations, especially not designated enemies. Ask someone about how chinas elections are run or how Irans government is structured.

He’s a dictator because he wasn’t elected or the elections were fraudulent. How do we know that? The un says so. Or independent experts. Or the refugees.
The late Obama run - early trump coup attempt with guaido is not remembered, but the propaganda from then is still what is gripping people

Westerners are great enemy and they must be destroyed

Even if he lost 2024 election he had good reason to stay especially after they tried to coup him with Guido. The opposition are dogs of the empire, literal foreign agents

And how is an opposition that says our way or we get the US to sanction cripple and invade the country not authoritarian.

his country has oil

Does it mean anything other than leader I don’t like?