About Golinger, Wilpert, venezuelanalysis and the Venezuelan Consuls in the US, Mark Weisbrot , etc. [View All]

[spanza]

From 2004:
The Center for Public Integrity
http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid=383

Venezuela Head Polishes Image With Oil Dollars
President Hugo Chavez takes his case to America's streets

Chavez has spent more than $1.6 million from mid-2003 through June 2004 on lobbying the federal government in Washington. The country also created its own Washington mouthpiece called the Venezuela Information Office (VIO) in July 2003 and soon after hired a top U.S. protest organizer as its executive director

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At protests, conferences, and college campuses, VIO employees handed out literature and played The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, a documentary of Venezuela's 2002 aborted military coup. The VIO e-mailed several independent film theaters about showing the movie throughout the year.

The VIO also coordinated a "rapid response" team to combat news articles and editorials critical of Chavez. Eva Golinger, a writer at the pro-Chavez Web site, Venezuelanalysis.com, was asked to be a member of the team in September 2003.

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Some members of the VIO's "rapid response" team were officially connected to the Venezuelan government, such as Antonio Padrino, the press secretary in Venezuela's Miami consulate, while others were part of activist groups, such as Chuck Kaufman, a coordinator of the Nicaragua Network.

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The VIO abruptly ended operations at the end of January 2004, only to reconstitute itself a month later with a reshuffled staff and a budget of $660,000. James was put on the payroll and became executive director of the new VIO. She is currently on leave from Global Exchange. Converse has stayed on at VIO, working on media relations. According to records, the new VIO is incorporated in Florida under the name VIO Investments Corp. and is owned by Isaura and Evelio Gilmond.

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The new VIO signed a $60,000 subcontract with Lumina Strategies in May 2004. Headed by Michael Shellenberger, a former Global Exchange employee, the group plans to oversee media relations and provide strategic counsel to Venezuela's government.