Reviewed by Roberto Jorquera
Eva Golinger's latest installment in the battle between Bush and the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela is a fascinating account that looks behind the scenes of US policy towards the Chavez government. The book is a brilliant sequel to her previous book The Chavez Code. Combing through thousands of documents attained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the U.S., Golinger is able to bring to light the facts behind U.S. Policy towards Venezuela throughout the Presidency of Hugo Chavez.
Golinger particularly focuses on the role of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and their subsidiary organisations scattered throughout Latin America.
Throughout the first section of the book Golinger provides a historical look at U.S government intervention in Latin America and how its policy has developed in Venezuela learning from past interventions such as in Chile, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti to name but a few. From the information that Golinger has been able to access via the FOIA a clear pattern is unveiled and it is clearly shown how the political developments against Chavez since 1998 have had their roots directly in the above mentioned U.S. Government bodies. Golinger is able to provide the evidence that the major political events that have occurred against the Bolivarian revolution have been orchestrated in the U.S. These include the December 2001 one day strike organised by the bosses, the April 2002 coup attempt, the December – February 2003 lockout of PDVSA workers and the shut down of the oil industry, the Guarimba of February of 2004, the recall referendum of August 2004, the continued build up of U.S. Military troops in the Caribbean and in Colombia and numerous other events.
Golinger notes that ''For the Fiscal year 2003 USAID's OTI office requested $5,074,000 for its Venezuela operations''...In Fall 2003, the OTI requested an additional $6,345,000 for use in Venezuela during 2004. USAID also gave the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) more than $2 million for “strengthening political parties” and “promoting electoral processes” in Venezuela during 2003-04. The NDI's grant specifically mentioned collaboration with Sumate”.
The Guarimba of Feb March 2004 called for widespread civil disobedience in an attempt to provoke the Venezuelan authorities to react and crack down. Similar activities had been organised in Chile during the Allende period and in Nicaragua during the Sandinista government of the 1980's
Golinger writes,”The information about the actions-many of them illegal- of the U.S. Government in Venezuela, through the Central Intelligence Agency , the State Department, and other entities operating within Venezuela and strategically from inside Washington, is voluminous and overwhelming.
“Since the publication of the Chavez Code in early 2005, we have witnessed a serious and scary shift in U.S. Policy toward Venezuela. Three major fronts of attack have been launched and are rapidly taking form: the financial, the diplomatic and the military. These have become the battlefields for which a new form of war – asymmetric warfare – is being waged on the Venezuelan people and their government. This is a war with no clear lines , a war without frontiers, and a war, it seems , with no end.”
“The financial front commenced in 2001, when the National Endowment for Democracy quadrupled its annual funding to anti-Chavez groups that later used those same funds to plan and execute the coup against Chavez”. “President Bush requested Congress to double NED's budget for its work in Venezuela during 2005-6, and again for the fiscal year 2007-08.” At the same time funding has grown for USAID and the Office for Transitional Initiatives that operates out of the U.S embassy in Caracas.
In 2006, George Bush asked Congress to increase its funding for “democratic initiatives” in Latin America. “Since 2005, NED and USAID funding in Venezuela has remained substantial. The total sum invested in the years 2000-4 in opposition groups in Venezuela was approximately $27 million in U.S. Taxpayer dollars. For the year 2005-7, NED was granted more than $3 million for its Venezuela activities and USAID issued approximately $7.2 million for its Caracas based Office of Transition Initiatives and other Venezuela programs.”
These funds where shared amongst a variety of organisations including the International Republican Institute to “promote more responsive political parties'', Sumate “to educate citizens on the election law and to encourage and provide them with the tools to claim their right to free,open and transparent elections” and Press and Society Institute-Venezuela “to promote freedom of expression and journalist professionalisation and safety”.
Not surprisingly many of the representatives of these organisations openly supported and in some cases put their signature to the Carmona degree, which was the documents that ousted Chavez in April 2002.NED continues to classify Venezuela as a country that has moved away from democracy and engages in human rights abuses against its own citizens.
Washington has consistently argued that Venezuela has not moved to stop drug trafficking, that it has not done anything against the trafficking of people and that it has not condemned terrorism.
The U.S. Administration has repeatedly claimed that Venezuela is a heaven for middle east “terrorist groups” and that the Venezuelan government provides “operational and financial support” to these groups.
Successive U.S. Ambassadors to Venezuela have repeated these unsubstantiated remarks. The U.S. Administration has also campaigned hard in the international community to create a front against what it calls, “the growing threat of Hugo Chavez”. Rice continued to classify Venezuela as a : threat to democracy” and a “destabalising negative force” in the hemisphere.
Condoleezza Rice stated during her confirmation hearing in Jan 2005 that, “ I think that we have to view at this point the government of Venezuela as a negative force in the region”
“Asymmetric warfare is the new terminology used to describe what in the past century was referred to as “low -intensity conflicts”... This type of war may be military or nonmilitary, lethal or nonlethal, or a mix of everything- all rules apply and there are no rules at all. It can involve everything from diplomatic strategies (trying to build international coalitions against the nation state), financial backing of opposition movements, direct military threats, and electoral interventions. In sum all the tactics the U.S. Government is employing today against Venezuela”.
Golinger also explores the new CIA agency the National Clandestine Service which directly aims to gather intelligence on Cuba and Venezuela.
Golinger makes special mention of the report titled “What to do about Venezuela” authored by the Centre for Security Policy's Vice President for Information Operations J. Michael Waller. This report which was published in May 2005 has become the premise for U.S. Policy towards Venezuela. In its opening paragraph the report states “Nowhere is the lack of a U.S. Strategic approach to the Western Hemisphere more evident than in the unchecked rise of a self-absorbed, unstable strongman in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who has made common cause with terrorism and the regimes that support him, and has developed a revolutionary ideology that has begun to plunge the Americas again into violence and chaos. It is necessary for the democratic nations of the hemisphere to come together and stop this rising threat to peace before it is to late”.
The Centre also lays out a 6 point plan for regime change in Venezuela including promoting the continuation and establishment of anti Chavez organisations within Venezuela.
Golinger argues that 2006 was a transitional year for U.S. Policy towards Venezuela changing from a “negative force” to a “threat to national security” and firmly placing it on the same raider as Iran, North Korea and Cuba all of which the U.S continues to consider the option of military intervention. In conclusion Golinger writes, “Washington's war against Venezuela will continue to increase as it loses its grip on power in the region..The people of the United States have the choice of supporting Washington's unjust and dangerous war against a peaceful nation or actively taking the initiative to halt any further efforts to violate Venezuela's sovereign right to self -determination. People around the world are already rising up against such aggressions and defending their right against U.S. Domination and bullying tactics”.
Roberto Jorquera is on the Management Committee of the Centre for Latin America Solidarity and Studies based in Melbourne and Co-National Convener of the Australia – Venezuela Solidarity Network.
No comments:
Post a Comment