How to Justify Attempted Coup d'Etat in Venezuela Using Fake News?

During the Second World War, US soldiers raised their flag over Iwo Jima. The Vietnam War was memorialised through a photo of an execution in Saigon, and then a photo of a helicopter taking American diplomats out of the city. As for the crackdown in Tiananmen Square, which occurred 30 years ago, people remember only the image of a man in a white shirt standing in front of armoured vehicles.

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South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of the National Police, fires his pistol into the head of suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem (also known as Bay Lop) on a Saigon street, Feb. 1, 1968, early in the Tet Offensive

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"Tank Man" blocks a column of Type 59 tanks heading east on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. This photo was taken from the sixth floor of the Beijing Hotel, about half a mile away, through a 400 mm lens. The name and fate of the man is unknown

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The current attempt to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela shows that almost all Western media outlets have unanimously decided what image should be remembered forever — the bridge over the Colombian-Venezuelan border where humanitarian aid could have entered if the Venezuelan government hadn't decided to "block" it. For some people, the bridge has become the symbol of Maduro's decision to let his people go hungry for the sole purpose of staying in power.

It should first be noted that this bridge hasn't been used since 2015 and that is the responsibility of Colombia as well, meaning Maduro hasn't blocked the supply.

Secondly, who are the people wanting to cross the border to "help the Venezuelan people"? Of course, it's not the United Nations or the Red Cross who condemned Washington's unilateral decision to send humanitarian aid without the consent of the legitimate Government of Venezuela. The humanitarian mission has been organised by the Colombian Government in collaboration with the US Embassy in Bogota and USAID (US Agency for International Development).

What cannot be seen in the photo? The photograph, for example, doesn't show that the Venezuelan government has been receiving humanitarian aid from the UN through legal channels for months.

Nor can we see that US humanitarian aid, which is about $20 million, is nothing compared to the losses caused by sanctions introduced by Washington. According to data from the Latin American Geopolitical Strategic Centre (Celag), the damage to the Venezuelan economy is estimated in the billions of dollars. It's expected to continue growing at enormous speeds as the country's economy is totally dependent on oil sales.

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This means that while the United States threatens to cause a severe famine in the country by destroying its only source of income, the international media present Maduro as a person who refuses to import medicines and food.

Whatever the point of view of the president of Venezuela, a sovereign state has the right to control its borders, especially when neighbouring states are openly talking about a possible military intervention. This is particularly true when information comes up that a few days ago a supply of illegal weapons to Venezuela had been discovered.

Thus, behind the symbolic photo of the bridge on the Colombian-Venezuelan border there is another important message: forget the sovereignty of the state. Your borders must be closed only when migrants and refugees want to leave your country, but they must be open to capital and so-called "humanitarian aid".

By Aris Chatzistefanou, Greek director, journalist, founder of Info-War

The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.