Though I can’t stand First Look and The Intercept, it would pay to be careful - there is a history of American interests spinning all sorts of bullshit against the Venezuelan government. Much of the deaths are related to the drug war, remember, Not due to any sort of government. Is the Mexican death spiral due to any type of government? o. It’s about warring factions killing each other over who gets America’s drug business. There is ONE country that holds the keys to this issue - we need to remember that.
And we also need to remember that America’s right wing, their business interests(which have never been threatened by the Venezuelan government) and their ideological counterparts in Venezuela attempted a violent coup against Chavez, firing on their own ideological allies during a protest to try to stir up revolution. Bush and co were on board, as we now know, even initially allowing the kidnapped Chavez to be taken to America or an American base - when Bush and co realized just how amateurish and against the people’s wished the coup was, they pulled their support, and the coup fell apart. That happened. But now we’re supposed to believe those same people are all about freedom? Yeah - sure. And the Washington Post is, too. Really.
So laugh all you like at the suggestion(yes, in this case by a bunch of nutcases) that there is dishonest blaming going on with regards to the apparently entertaining Venezuelan death count(rather like Palin’s glee over Ukraine) - but it’s not a black and white issue, to those who make the effort to think it through.