Agitprop
Capital Of The World
(The USA) Exports Its Poison
To Venezuela
By Stephen Lendman
07 November, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Agitprop,
electoral fraud and dirty tricks may not have been invented in the US,
but they certainly were perfected in "the land of the free and
home of the brave" that no longer is except in the mind's eye of
a diminishing number of diehards, true-believers and others still unaware
of the real state of things in America. The clearest evidence was the
theft of the last two presidential elections through a process of massive
voter disenfranchisement, black and Latino intimidation in the inner
cities, assorted other dirty tricks and rigged electronic voting machines
programmed and operated by major corporations to assure the final count
gave their man, George Bush, a manipulated electoral victory both times,
with a little help from five corrupted Supreme Court justices who decided
their votes counted more than those of the public they annulled.
The same fraud was also rampant
in recent congressional elections guaranteeing both houses of Congress
stayed in Republican hands allowing the interests of capital their divine
right to rule the world with their political partner of choice. On the
eve of another US election on November 7, the manipulators of electoral
mischief are at it again, and it hardly matters how things turn out.
Systemic corruption is so entrenched in Washington, it'll be business
as usual on Capital Hill no matter how many end up on either side of
the isle. Little will change when members of the 110th Congress are
sworn in on January 3, 2007, assuring only disappointment for those
believing otherwise.
It's called democracy, American-style
that's now a staple at home but doesn't stop at the border. For many
years, whatever administration's been in power, the US believes it has
a prerogative to decide who holds office anywhere in the developing
world where it routinely meddles in the electoral process through intimidation,
bribery, black propaganda and direct funding of the candidates of its
choice. Those activities are illegal in the US, and it's unimaginable
how loud the wails of protest and outrage would be if it was learned
another country or foreign corporation funded political candidates at
any level here or interfered in any way in this country's electoral
process.
Whatever the rules are for
others, it doesn't deter what Washington claims as its divine right
anywhere in the world. It's done it for decades as it's now been interferring
for months in the run-up to the December 3 election in Venezuela when
the people of the country will decide who will lead them for another
six years. There's no suspense who that will be as the majority of Venezuelans
will never allow anyone but Hugo Chavez to be their president as long
as he wants the job.
So with US meddling now in
high gear, the strategy becomes if you can't beat 'em, first discredit
'em in the run-up to election day, then be ready to roll out whatever
scheme is planned to prevent the people's overwhelming choice from serving
another six years in office. Observers need only watch and read the
daily news reports to follow the scripted made in Washington dirty tricks
campaign as it plays out. Here's a sampling of the agitprop poison spewing
from Washington.
With the US corporate media
as lead agitator and following months of rumors, it was learned the
Bush administration is investigating the privately owned Venezuelan
Smartmatic Corporation's takeover of a leading US electronic voting
machine manufacturer, Sequoia Voting Systems, to learn if the parent
company has links to Hugo Chavez and his government. The Venezuelan
government contracted with Smartmatic to replace the country's election
machinery ahead of the August, 2004 recall referendum but has no ownership
stake in it. That was confirmed by its CEO, Antonio Mugica, who called
the rumors "baseless allegations and conspiracy (that) will be
put to rest" once the investigation is complete, but while it continues
and is in the news is part of the black propaganda campaign to attack
Hugo Chavez as part of Washington's strategy to delegitimize a Chavez
victory in preparation for whatever scheme is planned post-December
3.
The London Independent reports
another Bush administration accusation denouncing the Chavez government
along with Myanmar (formerly Burma) for "failing demonstrably to
make substantial efforts" to meet its international anti-narcotics
agreements obligations to eliminate drugs trafficking. It's another
made-in-America phony anti-Chavez pre-election smear that holds no water
when held to the light. A separate US State Department report shows
that from 1998 to 2004, Venezuelan drug seizures rose from 8.6 to 19.1
tons, and Caracas claims in 2005 the number rose to 58.5 tons of cocaine,
18.3 tons of marijuana, 869 pounds of heroin and 1600 pounds of crack
cocaine. A little egg on the hegemon's face is noticeable, and it looks
like its neocon right hand better check what its State Department left
hand is doing and saying before it makes a bloody fool of itself which
it did.
Venezuela's Minister of Interior
and Justice, Jesse Chacon, slapped down the false accusation and flatly
stated his country is neither a major producer or consumer of drugs
although it's true Venezuela suspended cooperation with the US Drug
Enforcement Agency (notorious for being corrupted as exposed by former
agents who left for that reason) but not because the Chavez government
isn't committed in the "war on drugs." Rather it's because
the DEA routinely breached Venezuelan law acting as a front for CIA
covert mischief to destabilize the Chavez government - another stunt
CIA operatives have been pulling for decades in their role as hired
assassins and masters of strong-arm troublemaking.
It's also an open secret
the CIA, since its inception in 1947, has actively participated in drugs
trafficking worldwide as an important source of its revenue and has
now partnered with the Northern Alliance warlords in Afghanistan to
turn the country into a narco-state. This year alone it brought to harvest
a record 6,100 tons of opium, or 92% of the total world's supply, in
contrast to the Taliban who wiped out practically the entire poppy crop
and in the process angered Washington for destroying this important
revenue source not just for the CIA but also for the major US money
center banks.
According to Washington-think,
drugs trafficking is fine as long as their operatives control and profit
from it, but electoral politics is bad when Hugo Chavez does it in ways
like handing out $3 billion in Christmas bonuses to one million public
workers 6 weeks in advance. That's the charge, and Chavez opponents
spoke of his "spending spree" that included free commuter
train rides, a free rock concert and free T-shirts with pro-Chavez slogans.
Heavens - send the man to the gallows.
What was left out of the
Washington report is that these tactics and much more are routinely
done in the US along with improper and illegal electoral activities
hidden from public view. They include billions of corporate dollars
to buy influence, slush funds for under-the-table handouts, lush jobs
for political relatives who needn't even show up for work and plenty
more. But most important and unmentioned is that Venezuela doesn't interfere
in US or other countries' elections while the US always does it with
a heavy hand as it's now doing in Venezuela. It's poured millions of
dollars into the country funding the opposition, chose the candidate
it wanted to oppose Chavez, and has serious mischief planned ahead to
destabilize the country and likely try again to oust Hugo Chavez after
his reelection and assassinate him to assure he never runs again.
Imagine how Washington would
react if another country meddled in the electoral process here in any
way. It would be condemned as an act of terrorism and likely dealt with
harshly to include economic sanctions or worse - a little "shock
and awe" maybe.
Now the latest Chavez smear
is the phony accusation that the PDVSA state oil company president and
Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Rafael Ramirez, improperly told company
managers to back Hugo Chavez in the December election. A surreptitiously
recorded and leaked video suddenly appeared and was presented by opposition
candidate Manuel Rosales' spokesperson Gerardo Blyde claiming what Mr.
Ramirez said violates the constitutional provision prohibiting state
employees from any involvement in political activities.
Mr. Blyde has good reason
to spew anti-Chavez vitriol because, as VHeadline.com commentator Patrick
O'Donoghue reported on November 4, he was involved in the 2002 US-staged
coup d'etat ousting Hugo Chavez for two days and stood to become Venezuela's
Attorney General in the Pedro Carmona government had it prevailed. He
was also involved in the 2002-03 crippling oil strike that devastated
the country's economy and by those actions committed acts of treason
against a democratically elected government. Despite that, he's a free
man and now has resurfaced as a key player in the opposition's campaign.
Like Carmona, he's a criminal and stooge for Washington and the Venezuelan
oligarchs who'll resort to any underhanded and illegal tactics to discredit
Hugo Chavez and try to prevent his serving another term in office.
It's didn't work before and
won't this time either. Mr. Ramirez is a high-level state minister and
head of the state-owned oil company. He broke no law and did what anyone
loyal to his government and president should do - support them and ask
his employees to do the same thing in a show of solidarity and loyalty
to him and the "Bolivarian project" the Venezuelan people
voted for and rightfully demand. That's how things are supposed to work
in a democracy. Hugo Chavez supports Mr. Ramirez and told him "to
repeat the same message a hundred times in PDVSA" affirming Venezuela
is living a revolution and the state-owned oil company is a revolutionary
institution.
Thousands of PDVSA workers
feel the same way and rallied to support Mr. Ramirez right after the
video's release. Venezuelan parliamentarians in the National Assembly
agree and announced they would endorse a resolution supporting the minister,
rejecting any Washington and oligarch-directed efforts to destabilize
the country's oil industry.
Mr. Blyde feels otherwise
and said he'll complain to the country's National Electoral Council
(CNE), the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union
(EU), and unmentioned, his paymaster in Washington who had to have put
him up to this stunt that hasn't worked. Still Mr. Ramirez, in a show
of magnanimity, said he'll respect and abide by any ruling of the CNE
which is far more than US-oligarch-controlled Blyde and his candidate
would do. The only rule of law for them is what they say it is. It's
the same way things now work in Washington - the HQ of the Venezuelan
branch of the Bush cabal.
Much more is going on besides
what's covered above, most of which is sub rosa, unknown so far and
very sinister and threatening to the "Bolivarian project."
One thing that is known came out in an accusation by the corporate-controlled
Inter American Press Association (IAPA) that the Chavez government restricts
press freedom. It's a resurfaced echo of many similar past oligarch-directed
complaints that are as much bunk now as in the past. Venezuelan Information
and Communication Minister William Lara righteously denounced it and
rightfully said his country is in the top rankings among the nations
of the world with the most press freedom.
The minister got it right,
but might have gone further to contrast how free the press is in Venezuela
compared to the US where the dominant corporate-controlled media function
as a de facto collective state-controlled ministry of information and
propaganda suppressing all information vital to the people and reporting
only what's friendly to a Bush crime syndicate posing as a legitimate
government.
Reports are also emerging
of Chavez slipping in the polls - at least the easily fabricated ones
run by the oligarch opposition in preparation for one of their likely
transparent schemes to be hatched right after Chavez wins big again.
An example is one released by Alfredo Keller's AKSA Partners and reported
by that most reliable of sources - Bloomberg.com run by the same man
who's also mayor of New York. Michael Bloomberg, serving in a dual role
as corporate media tycoon and mayor, suppressed the information he had
after succeeding former mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 2002 about how contaminated
and dangerous many square blocks were around the World Trade Center
site after the 9/11 attack and likely still are as he's done little
to remediate them.
The Keller poll shows Rosales'
support miraculously rising (like the mythical phoenix) to 48% (after
hovering around half that level) against Hugo Chavez who overnight mysteriously
plummeted to just 52%. Anyone believing this also likely thinks the
US financial markets Mr. Bloomberg reports on with religious reverence
are free from manipulation, there really are WMDs in Iraq not yet found,
Saddam brought down the twin towers and the Bush administration supports
democracy, human rights and the rest in the Middle East and everywhere
else. Incredibly some independent polls in the US still show a substantial
percent of the public believes all that which says a lot about how uninformed
and misinformed people in the country are and how dangerous that is
to their own welfare.
What's really going on with
the Keller poll is a set-up plot to cry foul on December 4 when the
election results are tabulated showing Hugo Chavez won another convincing
victory. He'll probably do it with about the same 60% or so majority
he got in 2000 which most independent consensus poll numbers now show
him at, but wait for the protest wails to emerge as soon as the results
are announced along with whatever scheme Washington has cooked up to
prevent another Chavez term in office. This is when the rubber will
meet the road and the fate of President Chavez will be decided in the
next round of Hugo Chavez vs. the Bush neocon cabal determined to oust
him by any means.
And then there's Aleksander Boyd who's built a career out of spewing
hate and lies and never found an indisputable fact about the Chavez
government and Bolivarianism he didn't denounce and try to discredit.
Boyd holds court on his VCrisis web site where any relationship to what
he and his fellow-columnists report and the truth is merely in the eyes
of his jaded beholders. Take a recent column denouncing an October Zogby
poll showing Chavez's approval just below the 60% level and agreeing
with other independent poll results reporting about the same number.
VCrisis calls the poll "fatally
flawed" and that Zogby's client list includes.......are you seated
and ready?......"Islamic fanatics and terrorists who are strategic
partners of Chavez - Yassir Arafat (the writer must have forgotten he
died in November, 2004), Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbollah, the Muslim
Brotherhood, Iran, etc. (the "etc." is unidentified)."
What is evident is how racist Boyd and his crew are along with spewers
of hate, vitriol and lies. With that kind of reporting, we'll breathlessly
await VCrisis post-December 3 cries of fraud claiming those organizations
interfered to put Hugo Chavez over the top, or something like that.
All of the above adds up
to a clear bottom line. With the December election less than a month
away, events are building toward a climax when Washington-orchestrated
fireworks are sure to erupt. Expect them to be even uglier than the
tactics used in the previous three failed attempts to oust Hugo Chavez.
Chavez knows it's coming and is likely well insulated and prepared.
Proud supporters of his "Bolivarian project" stand with him
in a powerful alliance of solidarity, are ready to help him take his
revolution to the next level, and will resist any forces trying to undermine
him. It won't be long to see how things will play out.
Stephen Lendman
lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].
Also visit his blogsite at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights