Today flipping through Google News I came upon a story written on Al Jazeera English aka “Al Jazeera America”.

An Opinion piece,  the author scoffs at protesters, dismisses them as “getting fatter by the week” and claims most images from protests are from Chile, Colombia and almost all are taken in a winter “Venezuela just doesn’t have”

 “For every year of the revolution, I think that everyone has gained a kilo,” said a surprised American visitor, commenting on my neighbor’s plumper physique.”

The piece is obviously and horrendously clever in its critiques of Venezuela.  It critiques just enough to sound legitimate then comes back around and hits the protesters for their criticisms by effectively saying “can’t we all just get along?”

“Venezuela also faces shortages of staples such as milk and corn flour. Many are to blame. It is the government’s fault for not instituting a policy that promotes national production and makes necessary imports more fluid. But private industry is also to blame for hoarding or exporting products purchased with cheap government-regulated funds.”

So now you’re all probably wondering: “So what gives?  How did they get punked?” Well the answer is simple.

The person who wrote this story does not exist.  It’s not a real person and as far as I can tell from reading their commentary and “opinion” they’re essentially on the payroll of Nicolas Maduro.

Your first indicator that something is amiss is that the author’s name is “Lisa Sullivan” Lisa sounds like it could be a Venezuelan name but Sullivan?

Speaks perfect English?  From Guatemala and Venezuela?  I’m starting to wonder if this is a put-on.  Let’s check her Twitter account age and twitter history (since AJ-US linked her account on the page).

D’oh! Its just what I thought.  The account is ages old and has never tweeted anything.  In the history of its account.  Still not convinced?  Check the accounts it follows.