Paul Crespo writes an article for Town Hall:
| There is no doubt that Chavez - with Fidel Castro's help -- is creating a Cuban-style socialist state in Venezuela. Scholar Maxwell Cameron calls it the world's first "slow-motion constitutional coup." In the process, Chavez also is breathing new life into Fidel Castro's dying and decrepit dictatorship. But what's even more worrisome is the fact that the mercurial Chavez is turning the large, oil rich country into a base for international terrorism. |
Nothing will get you liberated faster than being a base for international terrorism.
I'm sorry, I really cannot provide you with any reason for that claim. Maybe when I visit the country next month, I'll see for myself.
| Chavez has purged and is reorganizing the Venezuelan military, making it personally loyal to him. Thousands of Cuban "teachers, doctors and sports trainers" also have flooded Venezuela. Their real job is to indoctrinate and train fanatically pro-Chavez paramilitary groups known as "Bolivarian Circles" that are part of a new 100,000-person People's Reserve militia recruited from Venezuela's poorest classes. These groups provide alternative armed cadres outside regular military channels loyal to Chavez. |
The teachers, doctors and sports trainers couldn't possibly be just teachers, doctors and sports trainers who are providing what Venezuela is short on in its efforts to bring better health care to Venezuela's masses of poor, raise the literacy rate, educate the poor, and staff the newly constructed largest sports arena in the country.
As for "Bolivarian Circles":
Back to Crespo:
President Chavez has made permanent calls for people to get organised and to fight for their rights. Political parties were not the best way to guarantee people's participation in the democratic process because of their infighting and struggle for positions of leadership. With these problems in mind, in 2000, he specifically called for the formation of Bolivarian Circles and empowered Diosdado Cabello, vice-president of the Republic, to provide all the necessary support to form the Bolivarian Circles as independent cells of support for the revolution.
The fact that Bolivarian Circles were founded under a presidential call has made people think that the Bolivarian Circles are dependent on the government, but, in reality, they are autonomous and do not receive government funds. Bolivarian Circles are not corporations — therefore they cannot access funds directly — but they educate people and communities on how to access credit from different lending institutions. They also allow people with common interests to form co-operatives, associations, non-profit corporations, etc.
...[During the sabotage of the oil industry by the opposition, t]he Bolivarian Circles provided free labour, groups to defend oil installations and connections to former oil workers. In addition, many oil workers are themselves members of Bolivarian Circles, and they created a network of support that allowed the recovery of oil production in record time.
...Through Bolivarian Circles, neighbourhood associations and cooperatives, people can represent themselves before city hall and governors. The citizens' assembly is a constitutional right. Articles 166 and 192 of the constitution establish that governors and mayors must allow for communities to participate in the design and implementation of their budgets. What do you call this? Socialism? Communism? Populism? It's up to you. We just don't care about the name as long as the process works. We call it Bolivarianism and participatory democracy.
...Of course, Venezuela's problems are similar to those of other countries in Latin America and the world. We should be receiving all the support of the world as we try to solve problems in a way that has never been tried before, as we confront powerful forces trying to maintain the status quo.
That support has not materialised yet, and, if anything, our efforts have been received with scepticism. But we just keep going against all the odds trying to create an alternative model for Venezuela and other countries.
...We knew we were confronting powerful interests and powerful forces, we just did not know how powerful they were. Attempts to overthrow the government and to put an end to our struggle continue. More 100 community leaders have been killed, mostly during the days of the coup.
The key has been organisation and community participation in the decision-making process. We do not have great individual leaders and we do not try to create them; we think that communities have their own leaders and that new leaders are emerging all the time. People are not following a leader — they are working for their own projects and trying to build a future of their own.
Hugo Chavez is, without a doubt, a leader for all communities, but we do not depend on him. We accept his leadership at a national level, as the person who has opened the political space and allowed for us — the forgotten, the neglected, the oppressed — to be able to stand up for our rights. ZNet article
| Most prominent in Venezuela's list of friendly terror groups are the communist FARC guerillas (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) who have terrorized Colombia for over 30 years and have killed thousands of people. Gen. Gary Speer, former acting chief of America's Southern Command, said during a Senate Armed Services committee hearing in March 2002 that "we are very concerned about President Chavez ... the FARC operates at will across the border into Venezuela."
"There are arms shipments originating in Venezuela that get to the FARC and the ELN [National Liberation Army]," he added. "We have been unable to firmly establish a link to the Chavez government, but it certainly causes us suspicions. |
And suspicions are all that's necessary for a U.S. liberating force to invade. Just ask Iraqis.
There's an awfully lot of suspicions and innuendos to go around in Crespo's article and apparently amongst U.S. officials, which you are being asked to weigh more heavily than the facts.
| "The company that Chavez keeps around the world, although under the guise of OPEC, certainly causes additional concerns as well." |
Well, geez. I guess an oil producing country's only reason for being a member of OPEC surely must be to support terrorism. Terrorizing America's gasoline prices for certain.
Oh, and here you go - why you need to support the Oaf of Office in November:
| Sadly, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry stated in a February speech in Boston that the murderous FARC guerillas had "legitimate complaints" despite the fact that they have the support of less than three percent of Colombia's citizenry.
...Fortunately, other members of Bush's National Security team such as Presidential Envoy to Latin America, Otto Reich and Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roger Noriega do seem to understand the threat posed by the Chavez-Castro terror nexus. |
Yes, Roger Noriega of arms for Iran Contras fame and Otto Reich of systematic destabilization of Latin America propagandist fame.
....but hey, believe what you want....you will anyway.
Venezuelanalysis response to charges of Venezuelan terrorist support
Previous posts on Venezuela
More information on Venezuela
Update 12:30 pm:
| On January 29, 2003, The U.S. daily, the Wall Street Journal, published an editorial revealing the existence of terrorist training camps in Florida. |
Not to mention, the School of the Americas (now WHISC) and the claims that the FBI was housing suspected WTC plotters - al Qa'ida cell members, and the recently admitted sabotage of a Russian pipeline.
But, you know, any country that harbors or supports terrorists....
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