U.S. Congress votes to suspend all aid to Venezuela if links to FARC are p

[Say_What]

Dirty tricks continue...

<clips>

An article in the foreign appropriations bill for 2004 stipulates that if the Secretary of States finds evidence that the Venezuelan government is supporting the Colombian guerillas then all U.S. aid to the Venezuelan government will be cut and instead directed towards support of Venezuela’s “civil society.” The bill was passed by the House of Representatives last July and by the Senate last Friday. It now awaits final approval by both houses after differences between the two bills have been ironed out.

Article 687 of the bill (S.1426) states, “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant by this Act may be made available for assistance for the central Government of Venezuela if the Secretary of State certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that the central Government of Venezuela is assisting, harboring, or providing sanctuary for Colombian terrorist organizations.”

The Venezuelan government is supposed to receive approximately $5 million for fiscal year 2004, mainly for anti-drug trafficking aid and for strengthening Venezuela’s judicial system. If the aid is cut, then the $500,000 intended for strengthening Venezuela’s “civil society” would be increased to $5 million.

According to various investigations, Venezuelan opposition organizations already receive several million dollars of U.S. aid indirectly, mostly via foundations supported by the U.S. government, such as the National Endowment for Democracy. Sumate, an oppositional organization that is working to support the referendum against President Chavez, for example, recently disclosed in a press conference with international journalists that much of its funding comes from the National Endowment for Democracy.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1090

[DCDemo]

1. Well fine..we give Chavez more street cred

And he hikes up the cost of oil, or institutes some small tax, and they still get their money....they have US by the balls, not the other way around. Without their crude oil, we'd be shopping in Saudi 24-7...which we don't want to do.

[Say_What]

2. Language from the bill as I read it includes funding for opposition

meaning that the US government will continue to attempt to distablized the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chavez.
:puke:


Article 687 of S.1426:
VENEZUELA

SEC. 687. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant by this Act may be made available for assistance for the central Government of Venezuela if the Secretary of State certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that the central Government of Venezuela is assisting, harboring, or providing sanctuary for Colombian terrorist organizations.

(b) The provision of subsection (a) (shall not apply to democracy and rule of law assistance for Venezuela.

(c) Of the funds appropriated by this Act under the heading `Economic Support Fund', not less than $5,000,000 shall be made available for democracy and rule of assistance for Venezuela.

<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c108:1:./temp/~c108ChO5HQ:e195174:>

---

NED funding to opposition groups:

http://www.ned.org/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll

[Judi Lynn]

4. Since the original attempts to remove Hugo Chavez

from his heavily supported elected position failed, _Bush is simply looking for another way to do it.

The Chavez government has been arresting FARC people who come across any time they find them. This is a scam, another route to overturn the twice elected President of Venezuela, nothing less.

Hugo Chavez is an honorable President and patriot, as any one who bothers to read already knows.

[jmcgowanjm]

3. Venezuela votes to suspend all oil shipments to US if links to KenLay

Cheny/Ledeen/Kristol/KarlRove/AndyCard
and especially Rummy(Sweep it all Up)
are found.

[loudnclear]

5. It's all part of the "agenda" We will find something...just like WMDs

Our Congress is a sham of democracy. Venezuela is a democratic nation, one which we tried to overthrow their duly elected government and install members of the Venezuelan oligoarchy because the vnezuelan President, Chevez is not kissing Bush's ass.

America has truly reached new lows under the Bush regime. Remember the Contras--part of the story the neocons fought successfully to keep CBS from showing in the mini series about the Reagans? If the truth were shown about the Reagans and his terms in office it would be more disgusting than any fiction that could be written about that era.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. And, of course, the standard of proof will be...

...the Iraq WMD one. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[knowledgeispower]

7. Fuck the U.S.

That's right, I am an America-hating liberal. When you see shit like this, can you blame me? And its not like I am unreasonable in hating America, I hate all evil empires equally. We just happen to be the only one left on Earth. May that change soon.

[Minstrel Boy]

9. oh dear - whatever will Andrew Sullivan say???

:eyes:

Viva Chavez, and fuck anyone who says different.

[paradisiac]

8. The NED money

is fueling the Chavez opposition. See this article on Foreign Policy in Focus:

Questions Regarding NED Activities Remain Unanswered
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/americas/commentary/2002/0212ned.html

[Judi Lynn]

10. It would seem that the Bush people are using information taken

from the Venezuelan press, dominated by Bush's good friend Gustavo Cisneros and cohorts as the official authority on Hugo Chavez' government and his own political position. This will ALWAYS be utterly bogus.

The latest info. on FARC connections in Chavez' government appear to come from an Irish writer you may have heard about recently who works for El Universal in Venezuela:

(snip)

Irish expert claims Venezuela is helping terrorists via China and North Korea

According to El Universal, Irish writer Gordon Thomas claims that Venezuela has links with terrorism.

Attending an Iberian American Intelligence Services seminar in Bogota organized by Colombian secret service (DAS), Thomas says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias is "quite an unusual President, who allows links with North Korea to supply arms to terrorist groups, such as the 35-year old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)."

The expert warns about the role of Venezuela in the increase of international terrorist groups in Latin America, especially because of that country's relation with China and North Korea.

(snip/...)
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=12187

A quick trip to google provides this peek at the Venezuelan media, including El Universal:

After Chávez came to power in 1998, the five main privately owned channels - Venevisión, Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Globovisión and CMT - and nine of the 10 major national newspapers, including El Universal, El Nacional, Tal Cual, El Impulso, El Nuevo País, and El Mundo, have taken over the role of the traditional political parties, which were damaged by the president’s electoral victories. Their monopoly on information has put them in a strong position. They give the opposition support, only rarely reporting government statements and never mentioning its large majority, despite that majority’s confirmation at the ballot box. They have always described the working class districts as a red zone inhabited by dangerous classes of ignorant people and delinquents. No doubt considering them unphotogenic, they ignore working class leaders and organisations.

Their investigations, interviews and commentaries all pursue the same objective: to undermine the legitimacy of the government and to destroy the president’s popular support. "In aesthetic terms, this revolutionary government is a cesspit," was the delicate phrase used by the evening paper Tal Cual. Its editor, Teodoro Petkoff, is a keen opponent of Chávez. Petkoff is a former Marxist guerrilla who became a neo-liberal and a pro-privatisation minister in the government of rightwing president Rafael Caldera. The Chávez government is not, of course, above criticism. It makes mistakes, and the civilian and military personnel who surround it are tainted by corruption. But the government was democratically elected and still has the backing of the majority. It can also be credited with successes, nationally and internationally. (snip/...)

http://mondediplo.com/2002/08/10venezuela

[Say_What]

11. Articles from mainstream press just before the COUP started this fiasco

Can't find the actual articles except on freerepublic.com but the entire articles are there. Apparently the Freepers aren't familiar with copyright laws. LOL

In retrospect now, reading the second article, the US put out a warning to citizens to avoid traveling to Venezuela less that 2 weeks before the failed coup!! Don't wanna have anymore Charles Hormans or Frank Terruggi's like they had in Chile when they overthrew democratically elected Allende!!

Also, just last month UPI ran a story titled Venezuela accused of al-Qaida link. All of this is part and parcel of the destabilizing efforts of the US. :puke:

---

Colombia 'Worried' FARC Crossing Into Venezuela
March 24, 2002 | Reuters
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Colombian President Andres Pastrana said on Saturday he is worried that FARC guerrillas may be crossing into Venezuela, from where his government alleges they launched an attack on Colombia this week.

"Yes, logically we are worried," Pastrana told reporters in Lima in answer to a question about the attack, in which 38 Colombian troops and rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, died in clashes.

It was the heaviest death toll in an attack since peace talks with the Colombian Marxist rebels collapsed last month.

Venezuela said on Friday it was "insulted" by allegations that the attack was launched from its territory.

"The main thing is for there to be clarity," said Pastrana, who was in Lima for talks with President Bush, the leaders of Peru and Bolivia and Ecuador's vice president.

Pastrana praised Venezuela for taking swift action as soon as the incursion was reported and said authorities from both countries were "permanently in touch to clear up this issue."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/652856/posts

US Sees Terrorist Risk on Venezuela-Colombia Border
March 26, 2002
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - The U.S. government is warning its citizens to avoid traveling to Venezuela's western border with Colombia because of the risk of kidnapping by Colombian "terrorist groups," the U.S. Embassy in Caracas said on Tuesday.

The warning indicated that Colombian leftist rebels, which Washington categorizes as "terrorists," were capable of operating across the border in Venezuelan territory, despite strenuous Venezuelan government denials of their presence.

A State Department travel advisory for Venezuela said the risk was particularly high in the southern Venezuelan jungle state of Amazonas, where the department had received "credible information that Colombian terrorist groups are increasingly targeting U.S. citizens" for kidnapping.

"The embassy recommends that United States citizens avoid travel to Amazonas State, and to any area within 50 miles along the Venezuelan border with Colombia until further notice," the statement said.

An embassy spokeswoman told Reuters she could not give details about the basis for the warning but said the information received was reliable.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/654303/posts

[9215]

12. An earlier thread on this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=176590

[Say_What]

13. Thanks!! I completely forgot about that.