ChoicePoint in Venezuela - paid for by Ashcroft

[IkeWarnedUs]

Greg Palast talked about this in an interviewed on NPR the other day and I just found it online:

Will Venezuela get the Florida treatment?
Signs say gang that fixed Florida might be fixing the vote in Caracas this Sunday
By Greg Palast 8/11/04

<snip>

Some months ago, a little birdie faxed to me what appeared to be confidential pages from a contract between John Ashcroft's Justice Department and a company called ChoicePoint, Inc., of Atlanta. The deal is part of the War on Terror.

Justice offered up to $67 million, of our taxpayer money, to ChoicePoint in a no-bid deal for computer profiles with private information on every citizen of half a dozen nations. The choice of which nation's citizens on whom to spy caught my eye. While the September 11th highjackers came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and the Arab Emirates, ChoicePoint's menu offered records on Venezuelans, Brazilians, Nicaraguans, Mexicans and Argentines. How odd. Had the CIA uncovered a Latin plot to sneak suicide tango dancers across the border with exploding enchiladas?

What do these nations have in common besides a lack of involvement in the September 11th attacks? Coincidentally, each is in the throes of major electoral contests in which the leading candidates -- presidents Lula Ignacio da Silva of Brazil, Nestor Kirschner of Argentina, Mexico City mayor Andres Lopez Obrador and Venezuela's Chavez -- have the nerve to challenge the globalization demands of George W. Bush.

<snip>

Our team located a $53,000 payment from our government to Chavez' recall organizers, who claim to be armed with computer lists of the registered. How did they get those lists? The fix that was practiced in Florida, with ChoicePoint's help, deliberate or not, appears to be retooled for Venezuela, then Brazil, Mexico and who knows where else.

Link: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=17454

[AirAmFan]

1. The FL 2000 electoral coup was mere 'blowback' of election mischief

techniques perfected in decades of CIA experience overseas, according to some students of US foreign policy.

"Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower". by William Blum (partially online at http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1567511945/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-0477388-6115348 )

has a chapter (chapter 18) listing some of the countries where the US has corrupted elections:

"PERVERTING ELECTIONS ...
.
Philippines (1950s)
Italy (1948-1970s)
Lebanon (1950s)

Indonesia (1955)
Vietnam (1955)
British Guiana/Guyana (1953-64)

Japan (1958-1970s)
Nepal (1959)
Laos (1960)

Brazil (1962)
Dominican Republic (1962)
Guatemala (1963)

Bolivia (1966)
Chile (1964-70)
Portugal (1974-75)

Australia (1974-75)
Jamaica (1976)
Panama (1984, 1989)

Nicaragua (1984, 1990)
Haiti (1987-88)
Bulgaria (1990-91)

Albania (1991-92)
Russia (1996)
Mongolia (1996)

Bosnia (1998)

There have also been the occasions where the U.S., while (perhaps) not interfering in the election process, was, however, involved in overthrowing a democratically-elected government, such as in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), the Congo (1960), Ecuador (1961), Bolivia (1964), Greece (1967) and Fiji (1987).

In other countries, U.S. interventions resulted in free, or any, elections being done away with completely for long stretches of time, as in Iran, South Korea, Guatemala, Brazil, Congo, Indonesia, Chile and Greece.

Source: William Blum, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), 168-178."

From http://www.ecclectica.ca/issues/2003/1/baker.asp

[IkeWarnedUs]

2. Don't forget Haiti in 2004

Under the category of overthrowing a democratically-elected government a striking example is the kidnapping of Aristide of Haiti earlier this year. From the intro to a Democracy Now interview with Rep. Maxine Waters in March 2004:

<snip>

Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.

TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.

<snip>

(from the interview)

AMY GOODMAN: What is the next step…what are you going to do? What do you think the people in this country should being doing about this situation in Haiti?

MAXINE WATERS: First of all I think the people in this country should be outraged that our government led a coup de’tat against a democratically elected President. They should call, write. Fax with their outrage, not only to the State Dept. but to all of their elected officials and to the press. We have to keep the information flying in the air so people will get it and understand what is taking place. And for those of us who are elected officials we must not only get to the President, we must demand that he is returned to claim his presidency if that is what he wants. If you can recall what happened in Venezuela when Mr. Chavez was…they tried to force him out and they had someone step into the presidency and he had not resigned his presidency and he got it back.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0301-05.htm

[Cheswick2.0]

3. Kick

this is something we should be writing letters to the editor about.

[LeftyLou]

5. not unless you want it on your CP profile

[realFedUp]

4. Now where are the mainstream papers on this?

Gads, so many investigations, so few "reporters".

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. Palast never hits the mainstream here - but he's in the mainstream

in the UK

[realFedUp]

7. Yeah....

The Times should hire Palast....