Otto Reich

Everything his name brings to mind.

Thankfully, this man has resigned as envoy to Latin America. But what angle is he playing by doing that?

Former US Envoy to Latin America Otto Reich told the BBC that he would like to see President Hugo Chavez out of power because he’s “not a democratic leader.”

“Now that I’m not a part of the (Bush) government, I can tell you that we (the US government) would like to see him out of power. That’s no secret, because he’s not a democratic leader, and he has done much damage to Venezuelans,” asserted Reich.

  VHeadline article

I don't quite get that. As he says, it's not as though it were a secret that "we (the US government) would like to see him out of power". And how does his waiting until he's no longer part of the government to say so absolve the government? By technicality, I suppose - no "official" from the government is saying we want a democratically elected leader ousted.

“We don’t like what Chavez is doing, but the United States didn’t play any role in his overthrow,” said Reich with respect to the April 2002 coup d’etat that removed Chavez from power for 48 hours.

This is of course patently false. Reich himself was on the phone "two or three times" (as Reich admitted) with the Golpistas, including usurper president Pedro Carmona, immediately after they took the palace and kidnapped Chávez. Reports are that he (along with U.S. ambassador Charles Shapiro) was trying to tell them it was a stupid (not to mention illegal - but, hey, they'd already illegally taken over the country) idea to dissolve the National Assembly and the Constitution. Coup leaders met with U.S. officials inside the U.S. numerous times in the days just prior to the coup. Two U.S. military officers were at Ft. Tiuna while Chávez was being held prisoner there. A private plane with a U.S. license was there. All U.S. officials immediately recognized the "new government" as soon as the coup was effected. And other bits of "incidental" links.

Please. No role.

With respect to the upcoming August 15 presidential recall referendum, Reich, of Cuban origin, said that Chavez “has tried to prevent the referendum from taking place for the last two years through all kinds of maneuvers. The most recent one has been to try to put his people on the Supreme Court so they can decide in his favor. One can be democratically elected, but later act against democracy. He’s not the first person who’s tried to do that.”

If he did do that, Reich is correct - he wouldn't be the first. And in some cases, at least in one case in recent history, someone even used the Supreme Court of the land to install him in office even though he wasn't democratically elected, and has been acting against democracy ever since.

And I've said this before - Chávez has never tried to prevent the referendum from taking place, and the truth is exactly the opposite. Anti-Chávez voices continue to repeat this bald faced lie over and over and over.

The Supreme Court complaint is a real hoot, even aside from the fact that ours tossed aside the Constitution and installed a president, when you consider how the Supreme Court in the U.S. is set up. Democratic? Do you get to vote for justices? I think not. If packing a court that will get you into the president's seat is undemocratic in Venezuela, it's undemocratic in the U.S.

At least in Venezuela there's some legitimate reason to add more justices to the court (they are backlogged with cases). And, as Al Giordano mentions in his dialogue with a Human Rights Watch intern, the Supreme Court justices who have been sitting since the 2002 coup are the same people who found the coup leaders not guilty of any crime against the state. Those justices are the obviously corrupt people, acting against democracy.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.


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