Oppose Stepped Up US Provocations against Cuba and Venezuela

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Oppose Stepped Up US Provocations against Cuba and Venezuela

Caracas Rally Marks 12th Anniversary of February 4 Rebellion

US Gives Award to Venezuelan Coup Leader Gustavo Cisneros

US Considers Granting Asylum to Venezuelan Terrorism Suspects

Videotape Shows Secret Meeting Between CIA and Venezuelan Opposition

The Cynical Campaigns of the US Government - Granma

Miami Herald Makes the Case for Suspected Venezuelan Terrorists

With the New Year, the Bush administration's policy of provocations against Cuba and Venezuela took a new dimension. The US is spreading disinformation that the two countries are interfering in the affairs of Latin American countries in order to destabilise their democracies and that Cuban-Venezuelan trade relations are suspect. All of it is a clear attempt to provide a justification for US intervention. While the US speaks about defending the Organisation of American States and constitutional democracies in the region, it is openly interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign nations and plotting to justify aggression against them.

In this regard, WDIE opposes the British government’s silence on these provocations and refusal to condemn them. The government on its Foreign Office website hypocritically and spuriously claims to have supported "the Bolivarian independence movement in the nineteenth century". Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office Minister responsible for Latin America, writes that the government has continued the long-established strong economic and political links through the twentieth and into the twenty-first century and is working to strengthen these links. The government is as silent on Britain’s colonial past as it is hypocritical in its words on independence and its defence of sovereignty in the present.

The Cuban Miami mafia and the Bush administration have been waging a disinformation campaign on the issue of Cuba's so-called "dissidents" and its execution of hijackers last year. This is done in order to facilitate the pretext of the US that Cuba violates human rights. Cuba has time and again presented the evidence that they were US-sponsored mercenaries and that Cuba has the sovereign right to defend itself from US subversion.

The US provocations and coup attempts against Cuba and Venezuela must be activity opposed, and the right of all nations to choose their own path to development defended. The British working class and people must condemn and dissociate themselves from the stand of the British government in this regard also, which is and has been one of the greatest violators of sovereignty and independence of peoples and a staunch supporter of US imperialism.

In this issue, WDIE is posting material that highlights the US disinformation campaign against the governments of Cuba and Venezuela and other related material.

On February 4, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led one of the largest political rallies in the history of Caracas. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans donning red berets flooded the streets to mark the 12th anniversary of the nationalist military uprising on February 4, 1992, led by Chavez to overthrow the corrupt government of Carlos Andres Perez. The rally was said to be one of the largest demonstrations of support for the Chavez government during its five years in power.

Calling the anniversary a "day of national dignity", Chavez said the uprising 12 years ago was an historical event that signalled the beginning of end of the corrupt two-party system that had ruled Venezuela since 1959 and plunged the large majority of Venezuelans into abysmal poverty. Chavez added that the uprising was a rebellion against "the dictatorship of the International Monetary Fund, the dictatorship of the Punto Fijo Pact and the dictatorship of the Venezuelan oligarchy". The Punto Fijo Pact was an agreement signed in 1958 by political figures representing the Venezuelan oligarchy to share power; it entrenched the two-party system. 

He said that the 1992 uprising was inspired by the massacre of 1989. That year, an estimated 2,000 people were killed after Perez ordered the military to repress actions taking place against IMF-imposed austerity policies. Perez's actions caused outrage in the military and among the poor population. "The armed forces shall never be used the way it was used by the local oligarchy and its international allies," Chavez said, referring to the 1989 massacre and the coup attempt against his government in 2002.

Chavez and his comrades, part of an organization called Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement 200 (MBR-200), were arrested after the uprising and released in 1994 by President Rafael Caldera. From there they went on to build a grassroots movement to come to power by peaceful means and Chavez was elected president in 1998. Chavez told the rally that without the events of February 4, 1992, there would have been no constituent assembly, no Bolivarian Constitution giving birth to the 5th Republic and no thriving health, education and job-creation programs for millions of Venezuelans. 

Chavez further said that he and his comrades-in-arms were not coup plotters, but revolutionary soldiers heeding the plea of the downtrodden. The real coup plotters, Chavez said, are those who tried to overthrow his government in 2002 and late 2003 and who continue in their attempts to undermine his administration. He warned that if the National Electoral Council dismisses as invalid the current opposition effort to convene a recall vote against his presidency, those same coup plotters – with the support of their co-conspirators in private media outlets – could try to stage another uprising. 

Chavez said that he and his supporters will abide by whatever decision the electoral authorities make. He said, however, that he doubted a referendum would go forward after his government demonstrates petition by petition the fraud committed by the opposition, which includes using the signatures of deceased persons.

On January 29, the Inter-American Economic Council gave an award to Gustavo Cisneros, a Venezuelan billionaire identified by sources such as Newsweek, local Venezuelan publications and analysts as one of the leaders and financiers of the April 11, 2002, coup d'etat against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It is reported that the award was presented to Cisneros by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who according to declassified documents headed the CIA operation to overthrow Chilean democratically-elected President Salvador Allende in 1973.

It is reported that Cisneros was also one of the driving forces behind the December 2002 lock-out and sabotage of Venezuela's oil industry. Instead of ousting Chavez from his elected office, this action drove the Venezuelan economy into the ground by causing an historical drop of 27 per cent in the country's GDP in the first trimester of 2003.

Cisneros is president of the Cisneros Groups of Companies which owns AOL, Coca-Cola, DirecTV and Pizza Hut in Latin America, Univision in the US and Venezuela's biggest TV network Venevision.

A press release issued by Global Women's Strike states that the presentation of the award to Cisneros "shows once more the total contempt of the US administration for people's right to elect their own government. To recognise as a person who 'has consistently sought to create an environment where business and government can work together in meaningful ways for the betterment of society', a man who has systematically used his corporate wealth and media monopoly to illegally and violently attempt to force from office the democratically-elected government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is particularly cynical. 

"It is women in particular who elected and have overwhelmingly defended President Chavez, and women from the poorest areas who have most to gain from and have been most involved in the economic and social reforms Venezuela is undertaking to tackle poverty and corruption despite constant coup and assassination attempts from the likes of Cisneros."

The statement points out, "Gustavo Cisneros' record is one of working for the 'betterment' of the white, racist elite of Venezuela against the interests of the vast majority of Venezuelans who are people of colour, and who, in oil-rich Venezuela, were left mired in poverty after 40 years of rule by the Venezuelan elite:

"He played a leading role in the bloody April 11, 2002, coup d'etat against the government of President Hugo Chavez – a coup planned and carried out with the support of the US administration. The coup was defeated within days by millions of grassroots people taking to the streets to demand the return of their elected President and Constitution.

"He was a leader in the December 2002-February 2003 nationwide big-corporations' lock out aimed at forcing President Chavez from office, which brought more suffering to grassroots Venezuelans. Again, grassroots people, starting with the oil workers themselves worked overtime to save their valuable resource, and defeated the new attempt of overthrowing President Chavez.

"He has used his media power in relentless campaigns of lies, disinformation, distortion and racist insults against President Chavez and his supporters. On the day of the coup he even used his television station, Venevision, as the meeting place for top coup supporters, reportedly including the dictator illegally installed as President, Pedro Carmona.

"The Cisneros Group has been implicated in the December 2003 illegal shipment of US$2.5 million in cash seized aboard an American Airlines flight from Miami Florida to Caracas, no doubt intended to help finance another attempted coup against the Venezuelan people.

"Gustavo Cisneros personally spoke with the US State Department's former Latin American Affairs Chief, Otto Reich, and the US Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro (currently under fire for hosting a puppet show ridicule of President Chavez in his home in Caracas), on the day of the coup, an event reported in Newsweek magazine (April 29, 2002, p.10).

"To add insult to injury, Henry Kissinger will be presenting this obscene award. Kissinger is himself a war criminal and a man reviled all over Latin America, the Caribbean and the world for leading the CIA overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973. He justified the coup which led to the disappearances of thousands of people and the exile of hundreds of thousands with the infamous statement: 'I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.' Kissinger is also responsible for similar US policies in Indonesia and Cyprus. He recently had to withdraw his appointment by President Bush to head a commission investigating 9/11 because his reputation was too unsavoury to give any credibility to the findings. He cannot travel to many countries for fear of arrest."

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the division of the Department of Homeland Security that handles asylum petitions and immigration matters, is currently considering asylum applications filed by two suspects wanted for terrorism-related charges in Venezuela. Venezuelan National Guard lieutenants Jose Antonio Colina Pulido and German Rodolfo Varela are suspects in the terrorist attacks against the Spanish Embassy and Consulate of Colombia in Caracas in February 2003. They are being held at the Krome Detention Centre in Florida, news sources report. They are seeking asylum in the US, claiming they are suffering from "political persecution". A request by the suspects for conditional release was recently denied by US Immigration authorities. 

"These asylum seekers are fierce opponents of the progressive government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez," writes Martin Sanchez of Venezuelanalysis.com. "For months before being charged in connection with the terror attacks, the rebels gave public speeches wearing their military uniforms and urging their fellow military officers to use force to topple the Venezuelan government. In a public display of tolerance, the government did not detain or harass these rebels for their seditious speeches, something that no US government would tolerate," he adds.

At the end of January, Venezuela ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism which the US has yet to ratify. The US therefore claims it is not obligated to turn in the suspected terrorists to Venezuela. A warrant for the arrest of Colina and Valera was issued on November 14, 2003, in Venezuela and the government has requested that the US State Department extradite the suspects to Venezuela.

The US-based alternative news website on Venezuela, Vheadline, reported that video-taped images of a meeting between CIA agents and the Venezuelan opposition are to be screened in Los Angeles, California this month under the title: "Agenda Oculta," or "Hidden Agenda." Filmed by Venezuelan intelligence agents, the video shows one of the most recent secret conspiracy meetings planning another coup d'etat against the democratically-elected government of President Hugo Chavez. 

The Spanish-language presentation with English subtitles will be at the Echo Park Film Centre in Los Angeles at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Thursday, February 26. One of the most astonishing moments in the video is when someone says that "we cannot walk around telling everyone we're with the CIA..." The video maps a series of references made to the US Embassy in Caracas and US Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro. 

It verified the attendance of a US Embassy staffer and a former US Army Colonel, identified only as a Colonel Corry, speaking of operative modes and discretion. The video was sent to the US Congress by the Venezuelan National Assembly deputies Nicolás Maduro and Juan Barreto, but Washington has not commented. It will be re-screened in Los Angeles in March as part of a series of recent videos from Venezuela, in a venue to be announced shortly.

(Radio Havana Cuba, February 7, 2004)

- Granma International, February 3, 2004 -

This past February 1, The Wall Street Journal published an article under the headline "Venezuela and Cuba strengthen ties and US fears anti-trade influence" signed by Alexei Barrionuevo in Houston and José de Córdoba in Caracas.

This article says, among other things:

"Without making a lot of noise about it, Venezuela's leftist government has become the main means of financial support for Cuba since the Soviet Union withdrew its support for Fidel Castro more than a decade ago.

"During the last three years, Cuba has accumulated a debt of US$752 million by way of oil sent by Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

"This means that the oil shipments have become a key subsidy that is helping to keep the island afloat as it faces difficulties such as the fall in sales of sugar and the prolonged US economic sanctions.

"Washington believes that the combination of billions in oil from Venezuela and Castro's well-honed political skills could create problems for the US in a restless Latin America.

"Concern over the two leaders' closeness has grown since radical indigenous groups forced the resignation of Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada last October. Evo Morales, leader of the Bolivian coca farmers and one of the architects of Sánchez de Lozada's fall, also has close relations with Chávez and Castro.

"'We can certainly see that the Cuba-Venezuela axis is deepening and broadening, which is not propitious for the promotion of democracy and human rights,' says Otto Reich, White House special envoy for the Western Hemisphere.

"The election of Chávez in 1998 was positive for Cuba. Chávez has never concealed his admiration for Castro.

"Once in power, Chávez adopted Castro's revolutionary framework while consolidating his popularity among Venezuela's poorest people. In an act of solidarity, Cuba sent 12,000 teachers, doctors and sports trainers to Venezuela, many of whom worked in the most depressed neighbourhoods.

"In October of 2000, Castro and Chávez signed the so-called Integral Cooperation Agreement, which provides Cuba with up to 53,000 barrels of crude per day and refined products under preferential conditions.

"This year, the PDVSA plans to cut investment in exploration and production while increasing spending on social programmes, including the construction of homes for the poor and combating illiteracy. According to the company budget, it is to spend US$1.2 billion this year on those activities.

"The original agreement established that Cuba would deduct for the services of doctors, teachers and sports trainers from its debt payment, but to date, it has not happened like that, sources say.

"Although Cuba has contrived ways to double its oil production since 1991, growth has flattened out. The country is offering large incentives to foreign oil companies to take part in deep-sea drilling.

"However, the island's economy is fragile. 'If Chávez loses in Venezuela, it would mean complete devastation for the Cuban economy,' says Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, a Cuba expert at Florida International University in Miami."

As can be appreciated, this article inserts statements by notorious terrorist Otto Reich, whose felonies led to his rejection by the US Congress when that country's government proposed him as deputy secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Today he is desperately trying to provoke an armed conflict between the US and Cuba.

Although this surely was not the intention of that newspaper, there is a certain coincidence between the article and the perfidious and reiterated statements of Otto Reich and Mr Noriega – one of the drafters and promoters of the extraterritorial Helms-Burton Act – aimed at creating an artificial climate of hysteria that, combined with vile pretexts, would justify a military adventure against our country, including the physical elimination of compañero Fidel and other Cuban leaders in the eyes of US public opinion. One of these pretexts is the cynical accusation that Cuba and Venezuela are engaged in actions aimed at destabilizing Latin America.

Another objective of Otto Reich and Roger Noriega is to escalate the campaign of calumnies against the Bolivarian process, given the growing popular support for President Chávez that is generating such disquiet among the extreme right in US government circles.

Cuba has not merely doubled its oil production since 1991, but has multiplied it by 7.6. Another important fact is the utilization of a large part of the natural gas emanating from the wells – that previously escaped into the atmosphere – for the generation of electrical energy via the combined cycle process, thus considerably lowering the cost of electricity production. In its turn, as a result of investment in the island's thermoelectric plants, the electricity industry is now using domestic oil to generate 90 per cent of its output.

On the other hand, Cuba has met its financial obligations with Venezuela and has every intention of paying to the last cent for oil that it has received and continues to receive from that country in virtue of the agreements signed by the two governments.

It is understandable that, in face of the resounding failure of the neo-liberal model in Latin America, the current US government feels obliged to desperately find guilty parties to blame for such a colossal disaster. But the times have changed and if Latin America today is a restless and unstable region, the reason for that does not need to be sought in imaginary macabre plans on the part of Cuba and Venezuela, but in the real results of the decades-old imperialist policy of imposing a perverse model of the most savage capitalism on the peoples of Latin American and the Caribbean. As compañero Fidel has reiterated, this is not just unsustainable, but also completely intolerable. Life has demonstrated that he is right.

- Martin Sanchez* -

On February 2, 2004, the Miami Herald ran an editorial about petitions for asylum by two Venezuelan rebel military officers who escaped to Miami after investigations linked them to terrorist attacks against the diplomatic buildings of Colombia and Spain in Caracas in February 2003.

Venezuelan National Guard lieutenants Jose Antonio Colina and German Rodolfo Varela belong to a group of military officials that rebelled against the Venezuelan government by holding a protest camp in a Caracas plaza and making public speeches calling for the overthrow of the government.

The Herald editorial's overall tone is one in defence of the terror suspects. The suspects' political opposition to the government of President Hugo Chavez is obviously the reason why the newspaper bothered to address the case in an editorial. 

The Herald's editorial line opposed to the twice-elected Venezuelan President is well known, and an editorial defending some of Chavez's political opponents should not surprise anyone. The Herald runs anti-Chavez news and articles on a daily basis. However, this case deserves special attention because even though the Herald claims to make "no judgment on whether these men are guilty or innocent", it is clear that they are trying to persuade or to pressure US immigration officers to grant asylum to two individuals who face serious terrorism charges. 

The editorial calls for US Immigration officials to "give them an opportunity to make their case for asylum", as if this was not the normal procedure in these cases. Telling the US Citizenship and Immigration Services how to do their job is inappropriate. The Herald itself reported in January 22 that there were 899 applications for asylum by Venezuelans in 2003, of which 168 were accepted. 

The issue is a "hot potato for the US government no one wants to put at risk relations with one of our largest suppliers of petroleum" continues the editorial, putting the US on the defensive in another clear attempt at pressuring US officials. Perhaps a phrase such as "don't let the oil distract you from following US law" would have been more direct. However, Venezuela's increasing sales of oil to the US in spite of the well known efforts by the Bush administration to destabilise the government of Venezuela makes it obvious that granting asylum to these individuals won't stop that flow of oil. Giving shelter to more terror suspects in US soil would just help expose the US government's double standards when dealing with terrorism. 

Additionally, the Herald claims that the anti-Chavez military protest camp held at the Caracas plaza where the two terror suspects participated "continues to this day". As inhabitants of Caracas well know, and as reported by the Venezuelan media, the Plaza Altamira no longer houses the rebel camp. This lie can be attributed to simple lack of information, but it is inexcusable for a newspaper that covers Venezuelan developments on a daily basis. On a side note, the low attendance at the political acts staged there in months prior to its dismantling, evidences an overall disagreement with the criminal and morally questionable activities that according to court witness testimony are linked to the camp. 

But perhaps the most disturbing paragraph of the Herald's piece includes suggestions for the terror suspects on possible arguments to make in their asylum request, and suggests that the death penalty is practiced in Venezuela; "They may even choose to ask for protection from deportation under the Convention Against Torture. They could argue that they would be executed in Venezuela on trumped-up charges." In contrast to the US, Venezuela stands proud as one of the first countries in the world to abolish capital punishment by doing so in 1899. 

With regard to the charges, the evidence presented by the prosecutor is compelling enough to prompt Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice to back the detention request for extradition recently made by the Venezuelan government against these two individuals. The Supreme Court of Justice is clearly not controlled or influenced by the executive branch, as evidenced by the Court's exoneration of all charges against those involved in the 2002 coup d'etat against Chavez. 

Newspapers must have total freedom to express their views about particular issues, but making false claims such as hinting at the existence of the death penalty in Venezuela is a matter that perhaps should merit an official request for apology and retraction by Venezuela's government. There is clear intent here to harm Venezuela's democratic government, not with facts, but with lies. 

The Herald is right on something though, calling people "terrorists" doesn't make them so, as the three children, aged 13 to 15, recently released from the US terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, can assert. In this case, Venezuelan authorities base their claims on the results of police investigations, witnesses’ testimony and a court order, most of which have been made public and it is verifiable, unlike recent claims made by authorities in some other countries to justify their military actions. 

With this incident, the Herald does a dirty job for Venezuelan opposition leaders who have abstained from defending these individuals publicly as part of an insincere effort to distance themselves from radical sectors of the opposition and to try to clear their image as coup plotters. 

Siding with terrorism suspects just on the basis of their opposition to Chavez makes a dent on the Herald's already damaged credibility as a reliable source of news and opinion on contemporary Venezuelan issues. 

Those who wish to get some background on the case might want to read "Terror Attacks and Murders are Perpetrated by Anti-Chavez Militants, According to Investigations" (www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1118) or check out some more related information at www.venezuelanalysis.com/antiChavezterror/ 

If you disagree with the Herald's position on this case, write a letter to the editor or contact them at HeraldEd@herald.com (305) 376-3512.

* Martin Sanchez is co-editor of Venezuelanalysis.com. (February 4, 2004)