Venezuela: Opposition Burns Pro-Maduro Man Alive. Media Remains Silent

It's common that when the world's ruling class makes a decision, say, the necessity of regime change in Venezuela in order to access its oil wealth, that any story counter to that interest gets buried, drowned out or outright censored.

If you search the following terms in Google, you will find only opinion pieces and news articles denouncing the Maduro regime as a dictatorship.

"Venezuela news man on fire opposition".

You'd think, given these entities espouse a rhetoric of human rights and freedom and democracy, that a story of a man being set on fire in a brutal politically-motivated attack, then left to die, would make headlines. You'd think that these entities would want to show the horror and violence ongoing in Venezuela, to try and get to the truth of things.

Well you'd be wrong. Those search terms do not bring you this story.

Greg Grandin, writing for The Nation, says it well:

The other day, anti-government protesters in Venezuela set a man on fire, severely burning nearly 80 percent of his body. The man had brown skin, and government supporters say he was a Chavista, to highlight the racist savagery of their adversaries. The opposition says he was a thief.

The video of the incident—which shows an anti-government protester throwing accelerant on the man, who then bursts into flames and runs down the street as other protesters, rather than help douse the fire, let him burn—is horrific. It obviously doesn’t fit the narrative of brave, virtuous, democratic activists facing down a tyrannical government. News wires have a curious framing: They decided that the point of the story isn’t “opposition protesters on Sunday set a man on fire” but rather “Maduro excoriated opposition protesters on Sunday for setting a man on fire.” Choose the correct lede, and you too can become a foreign correspondent: Man sets off bomb outside arena; or: Theresa May excoriates man for setting bomb off outside arena? US is blamed after bombs hit Afghan hospital, or: US is blamed after bombs hit Afghan hospital?

It's wrong to bring in a theory or racism fit for the USA and place it on other countries. But there is a level of racism in South America, and a part of that is white/dark skin. Not always, but alongside this, is the economic divisions. The 'opposition' is far more likely to be wealthy or middle class, and these elements are more likely to be racist and dark skin people.

So there's a number of elements in this horrific attack. What's more is the blatant silence about it in mainstream news, because it doesn't fit with the rosy picture they want to paint, one that aligns with their plans to invade and seize Venezuela's oil resources for themselves