The political party of Juan Guaido — Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) — was never all that popular to begin with. The sixth largest political party in Venezuela, Popular Will is heavily financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Now, a recently exposed embezzlement scandal in Colombia risks to further alienate the party from the Venezuelan people. What was supposed to be Guaido’s watershed moment has instead turned out to be a public-relations failure far worse than his quickly quelled attempted military coup, which MintPress News reported caused even the New York Times to describe Guaido as “deflated.”

THE INTERCEPT BRASIL today published three explosive exposés showing highly controversial, politicized, and legally dubious internal discussions and secret actions by the Operation Car Wash anti-corruption task force of prosecutors, led by the chief prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, along with then-Judge Sergio Moro, now the powerful and internationally celebrated justice minister for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

By Alexander Rubinstein - While the U.S. contends that “all options are on the table,” the media is starting to take notice of Guaido’s repeated failures. At first, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido was characterized by the mainstream media as the eighth wonder of the world. But now, after his failed military revolt, it seems ‘Coupbama’ (as Guaido is known) is being treated more harshly by the press. In the immediate aftermath of the attempted military coup, the mainstream media launched into a defense of the maneuver, admonishing anti-war activists and intellectuals alike for correctly identifying it as a coup attempt.

In 2015 the opposition used its support from large producers, importers and distributors to create artificial scarcity of food and hygiene products. The government responded by creating the Local Provision and Production Committees (CLAPs) which deliver monthly packages to more that 6 million families: The CLAP program is an arrangement between the government and grassroots groups aimed at distributing subsidised food and other basic household goods to low income Venezuelan households.

This is an excerpt of The Daily Wrap Up 5/19.