hello kos world. i have been a frequent lurker here for some time and felt i should finally contribute to the conversation. this is my first diary so please go easy on me.
since the name monkey was taken i picked just another vet because that is what i feel like. just another guy who served his country and now feels detached from it. this isn't the america i served for. this is a bad dream. unfortunately we are already awake.
this diary entry is crossposted from my blog. it is an ongoing rant. this entry is about venezuela and our governments meddling in their politics.
that other place oil comes from
still following the venezuela story. it would seem that the economy there is picking up inspite of what the opposition proclaims. i hope so. the nations of south america went through hell during the cold war. i do find it amusing that the us supports democracy far away in the middle east while fighting against it closer to home. well maybe not amusing but sad.
i think this is extremely important because venezuela is one of our chief sources of oil in this hemisphere. if shit does hit the fan in the middle east, we will be all the more dependant on venezuela for oil.
so how does our government treat the democratically elected venezualian government? well by calling them terrorist supporters of course! hmm, call them terrorist lovers, try to disrupt their elections, then impose sanctions based on falsehoods, sounds pretty compassionate to me. man, i wish someone would make a documentary about what happened during the coup. wait, someone did! need a copy, anyone know where to get one?
meanwhile, guerilla forces attacked venezuela yesterday on the colombian border. hmm, i wonder if the us government is behind this? there are oil interests involved after all.
on another note, i have been looking for this article for a while and want to share it right now. it is long, but it is also the most informative article i have ever read about the atrocites our government is commiting in central and south america. the drug war is all about oil. sadly i am not surprised. and if you dare threaten the flow of oil, you are a terrorist!
UPDATE: i was not aware of terrorists in south america. but apparently they are there. who knew? i mean, its not like our media would take the time to report about this.
earlier posts
ok, what the fuck
.......so venezuela had their referendum vote and chavez is still in. but it seems there was some controversy.
U.S. firm at center of Venezuelan voting controversy
Associated Press
August 20, 2004
CARACAS, Venezuela -- A U.S. firm's exit poll that said President Hugo Chavez would lose a recall referendum has landed in the center of a controversy after his resounding win.
The survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, forecast as Sunday's voting was still taking place that Chavez would suffer a major defeat. But the opposite was true -- Chavez trounced his enemies and received 59 percent of the vote.
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Election officials banned publication or broadcast of any exit polls during the vote on whether to oust Chavez, a populist who has sought to help the poor and is reviled by the wealthy.
But results of the Penn, Schoen & Berland survey were sent out by fax and e-mail to media outlets more than four hours before polls closed. It predicted just the opposite of what happened, saying 59 percent had voted in favor of recalling Chavez. A company employee familiar with the poll declined to comment.
i guess this falls under "media guidance":
PSB has conducted polling in more than 450 political campaigns in 43 states. Overseas, from the foothills of the Andes in Bolivia to the Caribbean basin, from Eastern Europe to Asia, we have been at the forefront of innovative polling techniques in hard-fought campaigns. We understand how to win elections.
Our political solutions include:
Image Consulting
Advertising Campaigns
Issues Testing
Message and Media Guidance
Political Advice
Opposition Assessment
Debate Preparation
Voter Demographic Studies
but that is not all. there is more controversy.
Penn, Schoen & Berland had members of Sumate, a Venezuelan group that helped organize the recall initiative, do the fieldwork for the poll, election observers said.
and who is sumate?
The documents on this site reveal the intimate economic and political relationship between the National Endowment for Democracy ("NED") and the Venezuelan opposition group Súmate. NED approved a grant of $53,400 to Súmate on September 12, 2003, for a one-year duration, under the pretense of promoting "Electoral Education". The grant proposes to utilize Súmate to conduct a national propaganda campaign in Venezuela, garnering support for a recall referendum against democratically-elected President Chávez. Specifically, the grant states that Súmate will "train citizens throughout Venezuela in the electoral process and will promote participation in a recall referendum".
and the National Endowment for Democracy seems to have a checkered past:
The NED regularly provides funding to opposition candidates in elections in countries other than the USA. According to left-wing critics, the NED only supports candidates with strong ties to the military and who support the rights of US corporations to invest in those countries. They claim that the NED does not support candidates who oppose investments by US corporations or who promise restrictions on investment rights of US corporations.
and of course there is the republican tie in:
In a stunning revelation the New York Times reported on April 24, 2002 that the US-government funded nonprofit agency called the National Endowment for Democracy - whose board chairman is former Republican Congressman/Super Lobbyist Vin Weber, had funnelled more than $877,000 into Venezuela opposition groups in the weeks and months before the recently aborted coup attempt.
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The endowment also gave money to the US Republican and Democratic political parties for work in Venezuela (!) The International Republican Institute, apparently an arm of the US Republican party that has an office in Venezuela, recieved a grant of $339,998 for "political party building." On the day of the coup, this group that received money from the US government to promote democracy, hailed the takeover. The former president of the Institute has close ties to the Bush administration, and is now the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor! The Institute itself also embraced the coup.
and Vin Weber knows who?
Vin Weber, an "outside lobbyist" with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and Alan F. Holmer, the president of the same organization, met with pResidential advisor Karl Rove last month in his White House office. At the time Rove owned $240,000 worth of stock in two of the nation's largest drug companies...
and wouldn't you know it, he's involved with PNAC too. joy.
oh, and he works for the bush campaign. of course.
and, can't leave this out. the formentioned International Republican Institute, does in fact play a role in venezuelen politics.
man, seems we are playing our little games with who ever we can.
thanks to fitzov rules from the daily kos comments section for this update to this post.
follow up
United States government tries to cover up covert financing to the Venezuelan opposition and Sumate to the tune of US$10 million...
Venezuela Solidarity Committee (New York) Eva Golinger-Moncada writes: Documents recently obtained from the US Department of State under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by www.venezuelafoia.info demonstrate that during the past 2 years more than US$5 million annually was given by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to various organizations in Venezuela, many of which are aligned with the opposition.