From: "Nicholas Geovanis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: soc.politics.marxism Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 3:05 PM Subject: US-sponsored coup in Venezuala? > > San Francisco Examiner > December 29, 2001 > > The Scent of Another Coup > > By Conn Hallinan > > There is the smell of a coup in the air these days. It was like this in > Iran just before the 1953 U.S.-backed coup overthrew the Mossedeah > government and installed the Shah. It has the feel of 1963 in South > Vietnam, before the military takeover switched on the light at the end > of the long and terrible Southeast Asian tunnel. It is hauntingly > similar to early September 1973, before the coup in Chile ushered in 20 > years of blood and darkness. > > Early last month, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon and the > U.S. State Department held a two-day meeting on U.S. policy toward > Venezuela. Similar such meetings took place in 1953, 1963, and 1973, as > well as before coups in Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina. It should send > a deep chill down the backs of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the > populist coalition that took power in 1998. > > The catalyst for the Nov. 5-7 interagency get together was a comment by > Chavez in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist assault on the World Trade > Center and the Pentagon. While Chavez sharply condemned the attack, he > questioned the value of bombing Afghanistan, calling it "fighting > terrorism with terrorism." In response, the Bush Administration > temporarily withdrew its Ambassador and convened the meeting. > > The outcome was a requirement that Venezuela "unequivocally" condemn > terrorism, including repudiating anything and anyone the Bush > Administration defines as "terrorist." Since this includes both Cuba > (which Venezuela has extensive trade relations with) and rebel groups in > neighboring Colombia (which Chavez is sympathetic to), the demand was > the equivalent of throwing down the gauntlet. > > The spark for the statement might have been Sept. 11, but the dark > clouds gathering over Venezuela have much more to do with enduring > matters--like oil, land and power--than current issues like terrorism. > > The Chavez government is presently trying to change the 60-year old > agreement with foreign oil companies that charges them as little as 1 > percent in royalties, plus hands out huge tax breaks. There is a lot at > stake here. Venezuela has 77 billion barrels of proven reserves, and is > the US's third biggest source of oil. It is also a major cash cow for > the likes of Phillips Petroleum and ExxonMobil. If the new law goes > through, U.S. and French oil companies will have to pony up a bigger > slice of their take. > > A larger slice is desperately needed in Venezuela. In spite of the fact > that oil generates some $30 billion each year, 80 percent of Venezuelans > are, according to government figures, "poor," and half of those are > malnourished. Most rural Venezuelans have no access to land except to > work it for someone else, because 2 percent of the population controls > 60 percent of the land. > > The staggering gap between a tiny slice of "haves" and the sea of "have > nots" is little talked about in the American media, which tends to focus > on President Chavez's long-winded speeches and unrest among the urban > wealthy and middle class. U.S. newspapers covered the Dec. 10 "strike" > by business leaders and a section of the union movement protesting a > series of economic laws and land reform proposals, but not the fact that > the Chavez government has reduced inflation from 40 percent to 12 > percent, generated economic growth of 4 percent, and increased primary > school enrollment by one million students. > > Rumblings from Washington, strikes by business leaders, and pot-banging > demonstrations by middle-class housewives are the fare most Americans > get about Venezuela these days. For any balance one has to go to the > reporting of local journalists John Marshall and Christian Parenti. In a > Dec. 10 article in the Chicago-based bi-weekly, In These Times, the two > reporters give "the other side" that the US media always goes on about > but rarely practices: The attempts by the Venezuelan government to > diversify its economy, turn over idle land to landless peasants, > encourage the growth of coops based on the highly successful Hungarian > model, increase health spending fourfold, and provide drugs for 30 to > 40 percent below cost. > > But the alleviation of poverty is not on Washington's radar screen these > days. Instead, U.S. development loans have been frozen, and the State > Department's specialist on Latin America, Peter Romero has accused the > Chavez government of supporting terrorism in Colombia, Bolivia and > Ecuador. These days that is almost a declaration of war and certainly a > green light to any anti-Chavez forces considering a military coup. > > U.S. hostility to Venezuela's efforts to overcome its lack of > development has helped add that country to the South American "arc of > instability" that runs from Caracas in the north to Buenos Aires in the > south, and includes Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. Failed > neoliberal economic policies, coupled with corruption and authoritarism > have made the region a power keg, as recent events in Argentina > demonstrate. And the Bush Administration's antidote? : Matches, > incendiary statements, and dark armies moving in the night. > > _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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