But it's not just Trump and the Republicans, although they do go to extremes. I
mean yes, they're doing this, but the Democrats are going along with it,
including many of those new progressive faces who are supposed to be our hope
for changing the party. And the reporting on NPR and the New York Times!
It's the oil. Venezuela, I learned on The Real News Network, has more oil than
Saudi Arabia. Every time the US does this thing, goes into a country to spread
democracy, there's oil involved and what the US wants is for its oil companies
to get control of the oil!
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2019 9:02 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for
Democracy in Venezuela
I'm really coming close to the edge. By that I mean, the edge of losing my
self control.
Every time one of the American Empire's Trumpsters sounds off about our need to
support democracy in Venezuela, I see red and hear a roaring in my ears. Then
I discover that the roaring is me.
There are Senators and Representatives whom I respect, but the president, vice
president and the entire Trump Cabinet are as disgusting a bunch of liars as
we've ever placed in office...and our history is certainly full of them. But
in my lifetime I have never seen such a glut of two-faced lackeys at one time.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/28/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy in Venezuela
January 28, 2019 Written in 2014 during the Obama adminstration, this
article by Eva Golinger gives insightful background to the current
crisis in Venezuela and Washington’s role in stirring it up.
By Eva Golinger
Chavezcode.com
Anti-government protests in Venezuela that seek regime change have
been led by several individuals and organizations with close ties to the U.S.
government.
Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado- two of the public leaders
behind the violent protests that started in February (2014) – have
long histories as collaborators, grantees and agents of Washington.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for
International Development
(USAID) have channeled multi-million dollar funding to Lopez’s
political parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and Machado’s
NGO Sumate and her electoral campaigns.
These Washington agencies have also filtered more than $14 million to
opposition groups in Venezuela between 2013 and 2014, including
funding for their political campaigns in 2013 and for the current
anti-government protests in 2014. This continues the pattern of financing
from the U.S.
government to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela since 2001, when
millions of dollars were given to organizations from so-called “civil
society” to execute a coup d’etat against President Chavez in April
2002. After their failure days later, USAID opened an Office of
Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Caracas to, together with the NED,
inject more than $100 million in efforts to undermine the Chavez
government and reinforce the opposition during the following eight years.
At the beginning of 2011, after being publicly exposed for its grave
violations of Venezuelan law and sovereignty, the OTI closed its doors
in Venezuela and USAID operations were transferred to its offices in the U.S..
The flow of money to anti-government groups didn’t stop, despite the
enactment by Venezuela’s National Assembly of the Law of Political
Sovereignty and National Self-Determination at the end of 2010, which
outright prohibits foreign funding of political groups in the country. U.S.
agencies and the Venezuelan groups that receive their money continue
to violate the law with impunity. In the Obama Administration’s
Foreign Operations Budgets, between $5-6 million have been included to
fund opposition groups in Venezuela through USAID since 2012.
A Principal Financier of Destabilization
The NED, a “foundation” created by Congress in 1983 to essentially do
the CIA’s work overtly, has been one of the principal financiers of
destabilization in Venezuela throughout the Chavez administration and
now against President Maduro. According to NED’s 2013 annual report,
the agency channeled more than $2.3 million to Venezuelan opposition
groups and projects. Within that figure, $1,787,300went directly to
anti-government groups within Venezuela, while another$590,000was
distributed to regional organizations that work with and fund the
Venezuelan opposition. More than
$300,000 was directed towards efforts to develop a new generation of
youth leaders to oppose Maduro’s government politically.
One of the groups funded by NED to specifically work with youth is
FORMA, an organization led by Cesar Briceño and tied to Venezuelan
banker Oscar Garcia Mendoza. Garcia Mendoza runs the Banco Venezolano
de Credito, a Venezuelan bank that has served as the filter for the
flow of dollars from NED and USAID to opposition groups in Venezuela,
including Sumate, CEDICE, Sin Mordaza, Observatorio Venezolano de
Prisiones and FORMA, amongst others.
Another significant part of NED funds in Venezuela from 2013-2014 was
given to groups and initiatives that work in media and run the
campaign to discredit the government of President Maduro. Some of the
more active media organizations outwardly opposed to Maduro and
receiving NED funds include Espacio Publico, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad
(IPYS), Sin Mordaza and GALI.
Throughout the past year, an unprecedented media war has been waged
against the Venezuelan government and President Maduro directly, which
has intensified during the past few months of protests.
In direct violation of Venezuelan law, NED also funded the opposition
coalition, the Democratic Unity Table (MUD), via the U.S.
International Republican Institute (IRI), with $100,000 to “share
lessons learned with [anti-government groups] in Nicaragua, Argentina
and Bolivia…and allow for the adaption of the Venezuelan experience in
these countries.” Regarding this initiative, the NED 2013 annual report
specifically states its aim:
“To
develop the ability of political and civil society actors from
Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia to work on national, issue-based
agendas for their respective countries using lessons learned and best
practices from successful Venezuelan counterparts. The Institute will
facilitate an exchange of experiences between the Venezuelan
Democratic Unity Roundtable and counterparts in Bolivia, Nicaragua and
Argentina. IRI will bring these actors together through a series of
tailored activities that will allow for the adaptation of the Venezuelan
experience in these countries.”
IRI has helped to build right-wing opposition parties Primero Justicia
and Voluntad Popular, and has worked with the anti-government coaltion
in Venezuela since before the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez. In
fact, IRI’s president at that time, George Folsom, outwardly applauded
the coup and celebrated IRI’s role in a press release claiming, “The
Institute has served as a bridge between the nation’s political
parties and all civil society groups to help Venezuelans forge a new
democratic future…”
Detailed in a report published by the Spanish institute FRIDE in 2010,
international agencies that fund the Venezuelan opposition violate
currency control laws in order to get their dollars to the recipients.
Also confirmed in the FRIDE report was the fact that the majority of
international agencies, with the exception of the European Commission,
are bringing in foreign money and changing it on the black market, in
clear violation of Venezuelan law. In some cases, as the FRIDE
analysis reports, the agencies open bank accounts abroad for the
Venezuelan groups or they bring them the money in hard cash. The U.S.
Embassy in Caracas could also use the diplomatic pouch to bring large
quantities of unaccounted dollars and euros into the country that are
later handed over illegally to anti-government groups in Venezuela.
What is clear is that the U.S. government continues to feed efforts to
destabilize Venezuela in clear violation of law. Stronger legal
measures and enforcement may be necessary to ensure the sovereignty
and defense of Venezuela’s democracy.
This article was republished with permission of the author.
Read this interview with Eva
