• Kjell@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    a flight of helicopters which could be MH60 Sea Hawk - nothing very impressive, a random civilian filmed them going low and slow, MANPADS fodder but it seems they got lucky on that leg of the run

    It seems like those helicopters carried special forces that are now on the ground and doing what they are there to do.

    • perestroika@slrpnk.net
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      3 days ago

      It seems like those helicopters carried special forces that are now on the ground and doing what they are there to do.

      It actually seems they hit the jackpot - they claim to have taken Maduro prisoner and claim to have taken him out of the country.

      If all of that is true, I’m still not sure if I’m impressed by the operation. A loose grid of guys with shoulder-launched missiles on a few rooftops could have ruined absolutely all of it.

      But if they got in without getting shot down, got Maduro and got out without getting shot down, then luck favoured them and war will hopefully not ensue.

      Maduro had likely built everything on personal loyalty to himself. A normal country would continue fighting and delegate authority downward, but Maduro wasn’t running a normal country, apparently.

      • Kjell@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Seems like everything went smooth and that Maduro is gone from power now. It is good that Maduro is gone but we’ll see what happens with Venezuela now, hopefully it becomes better but I’m far from certain about that.

        • perestroika@slrpnk.net
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          3 days ago

          Since I find that my own optimism was premature (I should cross out my last paragraph), I will cool your optimism too. As much as I currently understand, Maduro is gone, but the ministers of interior and defense, and the vice president, are fine. The figurehead is gone, the regime is armed and retains power.

          • Kjell@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            Didn’t Trump say that US will take control over Venezuela for now? In that case I assume the regime will fall. But he says a lot of things, so who knows what that means? Maybe he made a deal with the vice president etc. that they can rule as long as he gets some money from the oil.