Venezuela's sovereignty must be respected by Noam Chomsky*, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel*, José Saramago*, Salim Lamrani*, Nadine Gordimer*

The legislative elections held on December 4, 2005, confirmed the term granted by the Venezuelan people to the party of president Hugo Chávez. The authenticity of the elections was certified by a pluralist group of international observers, among them, a special representative from Voltaire Network. However, the US has threatened openly to overthrow the democratic regime and replace it with a lackey one. Five important personalities sent us the following call.

Since Mr. Hugo Chávez was elected president of the Republic, the attacks against Venezuelan democracy have multiplied, with flagrant interference by the United States.

On April 11, 2002, president Chávez was the victim of a coup d' état promoted by the Bush administration with the complicity of the most anti-democratic sectors of Venezuelan society. Less than 48 hours later, the junta of coup plotters was rejected by the people's demonstrations that demanded without delay the successful return of the legitimate representative of the nation.

But the opposition, not happy with the failure of their coup, tried in December 2002 to sabotage the oil industry, which is vital for the successful operation of the country, and caused major damage to the Venezuelan economy.

In August 2005, during a high-rating TV program in America, the ultra-conservative reverend Pat Robertson, very close to the White House, made a call for the assassination of Mr. Hugo Chávez without facing any consequences from US justice. His assassination "would be far less expensive than initiating a war", he said.

In September 2005, president Hugo Chávez publicly denounced the existence of several plans by the US military forces to invade Venezuela. Washington has not stopped stigmatizing the Venezuelan leader as if he were "a negative force" for the security of the American continent.

In November 2005, the government of Mr. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was subject to tough pressure from the US for Spain not to sell weapons to Venezuela. Washington has shown a clear disregard for international diplomatic rules.

Over the past six years, the Venezuelan opposition has suffered 11 electoral defeats in a row, despite the media campaigns it has orchestrated against the legitimate government of Mr. Hugo Chávez.

In view of these uninterrupted actions in all directions, the opposition, which has lost popular support, decided to boycott the latest parliamentary elections in order to undermine the democratic process. The US is a prime suspect, and considered the promoter of this new attempt at destabilization.

The Venezuelan opposition, partly funded by Washington, and which refuses to conform with electoral rules, has then taken democracy as a hostage. That is unacceptable!

The sovereign decisions of the Venezuelan people have to be respected, because the future of the nation is not decided in the offices of the White House, but in the Bolivarian polling stations!

Noam Chomsky
Professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author, most recently, of Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance.