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