*Venezuela in the Eye of the Hurricane*
Eva Lacoste
Translated by * Alex
Cachinero-Gorman<http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/biographie.asp?ref_aut=1696&lg_pp=en>
*
Washington continues its policy of destabilization in South America to the
tune of millions of dollars, this year preparing to finance the
presidential campaign opposing President Chávez with the intention of
retaking control of Venezuela's oil resources and consolidating its
influence in the region.
This February, President Obama set aside an advance payment of five million
dollars from the 2012 national budget to support groups opposing Hugo
Chavez, at a time when the crisis has 43.6 million United States citizens
living below the poverty line. And that is just a tiny part of the funding
being planned for 2012, when two Venezuelan electoral processesthe
presidential and regional electionswill begin.
The revolution will not be televised, by Kim Bartley and Donnacha O
Briain, who were in place (the Palace of Miraflores) doing a report on
Chavez when the focus of the conflict exploded with the dismissal of the
staff of PDVSA. They stayed during the days of the general strike recording
party members and Chavez's cabinet, and the successes of April 11th. Images
captured during the films shooting corroborate the coup d'état theory,
leaving to aside (retrospective) explanations concerning a power vacuum.
The documentarys conclusion is that the coup d'état was planned and
carried out by a section of the Venezuelan right and with external action
by the United States and the Venezuelan media (Wikipedia).
On April 11th, 2002, President Chávez found himself up against an attempted
overthrow of his government backed by the country's private media. The coup
d'état, which was put down after 48 hours, was recognized by the United
States and the European Union, both of which ended up having to swallow
their disappointment at the result. Since then, the United States embassy
in Caracas has become the center for distribution and coordination of funds
granted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is in
turn an agency of the National Endowment for Democracy, a front for the CIA
financed by the U.S. Department of State. Until now, USAID distributed its
millions among three subcontractors: the International Republican
Institute, the National Democratic Institute, and, especially, Development
Alternatives Inc.all of which are catalogued as non-governmental
organizations. What's more, it is worth remembering that USAID, created in
1961 by Kennedy, has lent its support to the worst dictatorships and has
been accused by Friends of the Earth (« Les États-Unis jouent avec la faim
», 23 de mayo de 2003) of supplying GM corn to southern African countries
for the benefit of agrobusiness. USAID also dedicates itself to espionage,
in Iraq as much as in Latin America. In 2009, Venezuela was the country in
which the National Endowment for Democracy (CIA) invested the mostover
1,800,000 dollars, repeating the figure for the previous year. All, without
a doubt, in anticipation of the December 2010 law against foreign funding
for political purposes
After its enactment, the three agencies cited above had to leave Venezuela;
now there is an ongoing case against the officials of Sumate, a Venezuelan
civil association that received 53,400 dollars to teach democracy. Its
leader, Maria Corina Machado, was received by George W. Bush at the White
House in 2005, which goes to show the relationship between the opposition
and United States power at the highest level.
After the three implicated agencies left, the U.S. embassy in Caracas was
doomed to take on a more important role. Proof of this was that its budget
rose to 24 million dollars, which entails an increase of close to nine
million with respect to the previous year (15.9 million)and this being
only a modest portion of the amount destined for the opposition. It is
difficult to attribute this budget increase to operational costs: the
number of people employed by the embassy is the same as in 2010, and there
isn´t even a resident ambassador. And now relations between the United
States and Venezuela are tenser than ever, after Hugo Chávez opposed the
naming of Larry Palmer as ambassador to Caracas, and after the visa of the
Venezuelan ambassador in Washington was revoked on January 3rd, 2011. In
truth, Palmer's past doesn't speak in his favor: cooperation with
oligarchies propped up by the U.S. in Honduras, Paraguay, Dominican
Republic, South Korea, Sierra Leon...with all that these relations entail.
One of persona non grata Larry Palmer's pledges was to promote the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), also known as the Free Trade Area of
the Americas or (FTAA), an economic community that would be a prolongation
of NAFTA signed in 1994 between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
One of Larry Palmer's pledges was to promote the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), also known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas or
(FTAA), an economic community that would be a prolongation of NAFTA signed
in 1994 between the United States, Mexico and Canada. In the case of
Mexico, NAFTA favored a veritable dumping of U.S. corn, at the expense of
the viability of campesino food crops. That agreement served to eliminate
any juridical obstacle to dismantling collective land ownership. If it were
applied in all of Latin America, banning GMOs would be practically
impossible. NAFTA also favored the privatization of state companies under
the guise of needing to balance the budget, an excuse backed up by
financial capital´s blackmail calling for a drastic reduction in Mexican
salaries in 1994. So it is not hard to understand that Larry Palmer is a
persona non grata in Venezuela, the country that spearheaded the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America in 2005 with the goal of reducing
dependence on the United States. And Chavez doesn't stop there, as he is
now arguing for a Southern Bank (over and against the International
Monetary Fund), a television station, and oil company for the South. In a
word, they accuse the great upsetter of economic liberalism and
decades-long U.S. neocolonialism (Golias Hebdo #166), this Hugo Chavez, of
being an enemy of freedom. And let's be clear, he is an enemy of freedomof
free markets. Now recently, Cardinal Archbishop of Caracas, Jorge Urosa
Savino, has been accusing the Venezuelan president of moving the country
towards a dictatorship.
Joining him is Baltasar Porras Cardoso, archbishop of Mérida and close to
the Opus Dei, who does not beat around the bush and has compared Hugo
Chavez to Hitler and Mussolini. Like Oscar Maradiaga (Honduras), Julio
Terrazas (Bolivia) and others, these prelates consider it more appropriate
to stand on the side of the local oligarchs and the CIA, who willingly
participate in the work of the parish. The reduction of social
inequalities, the near disappearance of illiteracy and the implementation
of a system of social security doesn´t really interest these personalities.
What's more, Hugo Chavez had the nerve to ask in July 2010 for a revision
of the concordat with Vatican. Chavezwho calls himself a Marxist and a
Christianbelieves that the current arrangements violate the Constitution
of a secular state. Until now, he has not been excommunicated.
Hugo Chavez's Venezuela is not the only one in the eye of the hurricane.
Ecuador was the object of another destabilization attempt in 2010, backed
by private radio and television; the previous year a successful coup was
carried out in Honduras, and in 2007, the attempted secession of the
richest part of Bolivia.
Nationalizing ´black gold´, in a country whose reserves represent more than
a third of the world's total reserves, is intolerable for the U.S., which
constantly threatens the state company, Petróleos de Venezuela, Inc., with
sanctions (see map). This wicked Chavez also wants to reform the financial
system, with the help of a new law voted in by the National Assembly in
which banks must contribute to social programs and to efforts to build
homes...better yet, 5% of all bank profits before taxes (314 million
bolivars in 2009, which is to say 73.1 million dollars) must be used to
support projects determined by municipal councils, and 10% of their capital
must be set aside to finance pensions and salaries in case of a crisis.
Thats one way to control highly disturbing speculation that could give
ideas to the people of the United States and many others.
Hugo Chavez's Venezuela is not the only one in the eye of the hurricane.
Ecuador was the object of another destabilization attempt in 2010, backed
by private radio and television; the previous year a successful coup was
carried out in Honduras, and in 2007, the attempted secession of the
richest part of Bolivia...preceded in 2006 by Evo Morales's will to
nationalize hydrocarbons. At the beginning of September 2011, Hugo Chavez
evoked the possibility of a foreign intervention. His anxieties should not
be taken lightly, as they are evidenced by a politics and policy that never
ceases to demonstrate its efficacy. Throughout 2012, the Venezuelan
government will no doubt suffer turbulence...Whatever the case may be,
Washington strives to make this so, and it distributes its millions of
dollars despising the people and their aspiration for peace and a good life.
------------------------------
Courtesy of Golias Hebdo <http://www.golias-editions.fr/>
Source: http://www.golias-editions.fr/article5032.html
Publication date of original article: 19/01/2012
URL of this page: http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=6804
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
