Um... my original comment was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I should have made that clearer.

I don't agree. If Obama had even tried to fund his re-election campaign using the White House budget, he'd be in prison or worse right now. During the campaign, Maduro literally forced ALL TV and radio media to transmit pro-government events and messages FOR HOURS EVERY DAY. No joke.

The govt probably doesn't intend the censorship to be long term, just until "the protest is quelled".

Nope. Venezuela imports everything and local currency is pretty much worthless on the outside.

Not easy to fight oppression when the other side has all the media, all the money, all the weapons. It can be done, but the cost of lives would be in the thousands at least and will likely leave a permanent rift and hate among venezuelans. I would like to avoid that, and the OAS is supposed to be in place for exactly that reason.

To be fair, at the moment the Ukraine revolt is far more bloody and destructive. At the moment.

Not to mention his election was highly suspect and not under fair conditions, just like the FAQ I posted states.

This is very hard to predict. Foremost, I think there's no going back to the status quo. Either Maduro leaves office or is forced to make major concessions (tho some argue that the radicals in his clique simply won't let that happen), or the govt just plain completes its transition into overt military dictatorship with death squads and all.

Yes, the govt has shown every intention of escalating. Barring a military revolt, protesters simply don't have the weapons to match the level of force, but some are already becoming desperate and this could very well turn into a civil war soon.

There is a BIG difference between effective fundraising for your party and outright stealing from the STATE to fund your campaign. On top of that, Maduro moving up from VP to President after Chavez died, broke several major laws in the run-up to the election, including one that explicitly says he couldn't campaign from office. Also, Maduro barred segments of the population where he was weak from participating in the election (Miami residents, 30K+ and 18-yr olds, 100K+). On top of that, the Govt barred the oppo candidate from TV, both covertly and overtly.

And as the other reply stated, you completely omitted the part about irregularities.

State-controlled media, which is all most people have access to, have kept pumping propaganda about how the downturn is due to an "economic war" waged by the capitalists to damage the government. Over 15 years the govt has managed to create a polarized climate where, if you disagree with the government, you're lying b/c you're a CIA shill. The poor are inclined to believe the government not just because of the 24/7 propaganda, but because they're uneducated and the government very overtly gives them minor aid (while screwing them behind their backs using mechanisms they don't understand). It's a tragedy.

The Venezuelan regime treats every problem as a nail to be hammered, so it THINKS the Internet shutdown will help them. And if the OAS and the rest of the Latin American governments don't see this as "crossing the line" and start treating Maduro like the tyrant he is, the regime might as well be right.

I have no idea of what other party are you implying might benefit? Is Google expanding Fiber to South America?

It depends on location and ISP. I'm guessing your ISP isn't CANTV.

I'm from Venezuela. Ask me anything. :)

Most of what you may want to ask is probably already covered here, tho: http://caracaschronicles.com/2...

BTW, full Internet shutdown seems to be in effect only in San Cristobal. In most other places, you can bypass the blocks by using the Tor Browser.

Still done that way in Japan. Then again, maybe the country with the world's highest teen suicide rate isn't the best example.