On Sept. 15, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. He denounced U.S. policies toward Venezuela, including “internal and external aggressions … a coup d’etat and an oil industry shutdown organized by Washington.”
Beyond the “permanent threat of the empire and its allies, [the U.S.] even [calls] for the assassination of a president,” Chávez charged. “The only country where a person is able to call for the assassination of a head of state is the United States.”
The U.S. government has consistently worked and failed to undermine the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela since the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998. In recent months, the U.S. threats against Venezuela have again intensified.
Pat Robertson: ‘Assassinate Chavez’
One indication of this intensified hostility is right-wing fundamentalist preacher Pat Robertson’s recent call for the assassination of President Chávez. Robertson said, “I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.”
The U.S. government mildly distanced itself from Robertson’s statements. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “Our department doesn’t do that kind of thing. It’s against the law.” (Knight Ridder, Aug. 24)
Although the “Reverend” is not officially connected to the U.S. government, Chávez knows that Robertson is “very close to the White House.” The fact that he could call for the assassination of a sovereign leader and remain a free person, Chávez proclaimed, is “international terrorism.”
In reality, the policy of the U.S. government is to remove independent heads of state by whatever means available, if they dare to challenge U.S. policy.
Eva Gollinger recently published “The Chávez Code,” a book that uses U.S. government documents to prove U.S. involvement in the April 2002 coup that removed Chávez from power for three days. Only the actions of the Venezuelan people and young officers in the military returned Chávez to power and stopped a repeat of the Sept. 11, 1973, coup that ousted progressive Chilean leader Salvador Allende. The coup in Chile—also planned by the United States—initiated a period of brutal dictatorship that repressed, tortured and killed thousands of Chileans.
In an April 8, 2005 interview with reporter Pedro Frisneda, Gollinger described how anti-Chávez groups continue to be financed by the U.S. government through institutions like the National Endowment for Democracy and the United States Agency for International Development.
Attempts to discredit and attack Venezuela
Although Robertson has close ties to the highest levels of the U.S. government and his comments should not be discounted, the real threat emanates from the U.S. Pentagon and State Department. The interim head of the State Department’s Latin American Bureau, Charles Shapiro, threatened Venezuela on Sept. 28, 2005. He claimed that the U.S. government was concerned with Chávez’s “efforts to concentrate power at home, his suspect relationship with destabilizing forces in the region, and his plans for arms purchases.” He argued that Venezuela’s neighbors could not afford to ignore the “implications” of the Bolivarian revolution, and proceeded to threaten “those countries that will not open their economies and political systems” to the United States.
When Venezuela suspended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency after Chávez accused DEA agents with involvement in drug trafficking and espionage, President Bush removed Venezuela from a list of “cooperating” countries in the misnamed “war on drugs.” Bush said that Venezuela had “failed demonstrably” in counter-drug efforts.
Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel called the move hypocritical. He said, “The government of President Bush is interested in maintaining support for subversive groups, terrorists and coup-plotters in Venezuela.” (AP, Sept. 20, 2005)
The issue is not really drug trafficking—Venezuela has doubled its seizures of illegal drugs in the last year. Instead, the United States intends to find any available avenue to discredit and attack Venezuela.
In a Sept. 16 television interview with Ted Koppel on “Nightline,” Chávez revealed that he had obtained evidence of a U.S. plan, called “Plan Balboa,” to invade Venezuela. The show released a rough transcription of the interview. In it, Chávez said: “I have evidence that there are plans to invade Venezuela. Furthermore, we have documentation [of] how many bombers [are] to over fly Venezuela on the day of the invasion, how many trans-Atlantic carriers, how many aircraft carriers need to be sent.”
The threat of expanded U.S. intervention in Venezuela is a real one. The United States has backed a series of attempts by the opposition—led by sectors of the ruling class in Venezuela—to overthrow Chávez and destroy the gains of the Bolivarian revolution. These attempts have been defeated, fracturing the opposition and strengthening the Venezuelan people’s movement.
While the internal opposition remains a danger, the United States is increasingly relying on its domination of international institutions to threaten Venezuela. In the Organization of American States meetings this summer, the U.S. government moved to modify the 1991 Democratic Charter so it could characterize Hugo Chávez as “an authoritarian democracy” and then use the Charter to allow OAS members to directly intervene in Venezuela. However, OAS delegates rejected the U.S. proposal.
U.S. military in South America
The Pentagon maintains a large military presence in South America. Five hundred U.S. troops were flown into Paraguay on June 1. Human rights groups in Paraguay have charged these troops with running secret exercises at the Mariscal Estigarribia base. The Paraguayan Senate has granted the U.S. military immunity from international and national criminal jurisdiction until December 2006. (Green Left Weekly, Sept. 28) These troops, combined with those stationed at the base in Manta, Ecuador, and the 800 military “advisors” in Colombia, form a significant U.S. military force in South America.
The U.S. ruling class has for the last two hundred years looked to dominate Latin America economically and militarily. The revolution underway in Venezuela directly obstructs this hegemonic desire. Venezuela’s vast resources have been redirected to social programs for the people of Venezuela and away from U.S. banks and multinational corporations.
Widening social programs
Chávez summed up the gains of the Bolivarian revolution in his Sept. 16 speech to the UN. “The country will in a few days be declared illiteracy-free territory,” he pledged. “Seventeen million Venezuelans—almost 70 percent of the population—are receiving, and for the first time, universal healthcare … more than 1.7 million tons of food are channeled to over 12 million people at subsidized prices.”
Venezuela represents a real danger to U.S. imperialism because it has the wealth and industrialized economy that allows it a considerable degree of economic self-sufficiency. In particular, Chávez has announced a plan for the economic integration of Latin America, based on solidarity and equality. The Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America (ALBA) and the PetroAmerica regional oil project represent an alternative to the U.S. free market Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.
Thirteen Caribbean countries have already signed onto the PetroCaribe project, which includes preferential economic agreements that will benefit underdeveloped countries. These agreements include promises to help build economic infrastructure in the Caribbean and to invest in social services.
The U.S. State Department accuses Venezuela of employing “oil diplomacy.” In truth, Venezuela is using its oil resources to improve the lives of millions of Venezuelans and Latin Americans across the continent who live in poverty.
Inspiring the world
Since 2000, the Bolivarian process has sought to provide a new political and social framework for the people of Venezuela. For nearly a year, Chávez and other Venezuelan leaders have emphasized that their aim is socialism.
In Latin America and throughout the world, the progressive movement has begun to view Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution as a fighting force against the ever-menacing hand of U.S. imperialism. The 16th World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Caracas in August and the World Social Forum will be held in Venezuela in January 2006.
It is imperative that the social justice movements in the United States continue to recognize Venezuela’s important role in the struggle against world imperialism. For over 45 years, Cuba has demonstrated what societies can do with an economy planned to meet human needs. Although the revolutionary process in Venezuela is far from complete, it too demonstrates the incredible power of a people organized to obtain and defend their full economic and social rights.
Hugo Chávez at the UN, Sept. 15, 2005.
Photo: Matt Campbell
The Venezuelan people returned Chávez to power after a U.S.-sponsored coup, April 2002.
Photo: Daniel Aguilar
