Contradictory US Policy Towards Venezuela by Andy Goodall

In the wake of declarations made by US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld likening President Chavez to Hitler and Intelligence Chief John Negroponte saying that Venezuela posed the most serious threat to U.S. interests in Latin America and was seeking closer ties with North Korea and Iran, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has now thrown her hat into the ring.

Yesterday Rice, after several months of silence on Venezuela, stated that the trial against the civil organization, Sumate was “disgraceful” and called for an international mobilization to support a movement in Venezuela similar to Solidarity which ended communism in Poland.

Rice also stated that Venezuela was on fire due to a transport strike which needed international support. The international media did not publish these remarks since it has been interpreted that the black hand of the CIA could be infiltrating transport groups as they did in Chile in the 1970’s, in other words financing the strike in Barlovento, Miranda State.

Rice’s attack follows the broad demonstration of support in favour of President Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution on Wednesday in London. Venezuela Solidarity Campaign backed by Hands off Venezuela read a statement of support for Venezuela, its social, health and education programs in front of the Venezuelan Consulate and in the presence of Venezuelan Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Alfredo Toro Hardy.

The very same day 66 Labour MP’s signed a document supporting Venezuela and the NUJ headed by Jeremy Dear, issued an official statement condemning the criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair towards Venezuela, and lauding the social advances being made there.

On Thursday, Labour MP Colin Burgon introduced an early day motion in parliament to discuss “Developments in Venezuela” signed now by 72 Labour MP’s. HoV

In the light of Rice’s latest statement, it goes without saying that the support being generated in the UK, across grassroots, trade union and political sectors for Venezuela and President Chavez in particular is growing in importance. A broad based active front is emerging in the UK against the imperial and multinational pretensions of the extreme right wing administration currently occupying the White House.

In Washington, the Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez has initiated a series of meetings with US State Department Latin American Chief, Thomas Shannon. The meetings were aimed at lowering tension between Venezuela and the US administration by opening up an official diplomatic dialogue between both parties.

However, just as there were positive signs emerging from the first meeting. Ms. Rice opens up another front using “microphone and media diplomacy” designed to derail these important talks. The obvious question is: “What is happening in Washington?”

At best there appears to be no communication between given levels of government there and at worst, it is a pre-conceived plan to confuse diplomatic efforts and keep up the pressure on Caracas by whipping up international criticism of President Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution.

The other interpretation is that the US is reaching a stage of desperation in its foreign policy dealings with Venezuela and this has fostered a lack of control, leading to a bipolar or schizophrenic foreign policy attitude that is impossible to decipher by any sane human being.

Last night President Chavez stated that Bush did not have control over his government and that other factors were now governing the US which he called the “hawks”. He also quipped that perhaps the popular chant of “Chavez is driving them crazy” could now be applied to US functionaries. Finally he stated that the US “did not have a foreign policy” and that “this is not government, it’s madness”.

Attempts to isolate Venezuela internationally

Rice revealed that she had spoken to European Union foreign ministers, including the foreign ministries of Austria, Spain and Brazil to inform them that, “they really have to pay attention to what is happening in Venezuela”.

This is very vague but what Rice really means is that the US has lost control of Venezuela, its oil reserves and the political stage there as the Bolivarian Revolution is consolidating and its philosophy spreading around the South American sub continent, the Caribbean and Central America.

At the UN, US Ambassador Thomas Bolton is working overtime to prevent Venezuela taking its seat on the UN Security Council in another attempt to isolate Venezuela. The UN is important but ineffective since it did not prevent Bush and Blair invading Iraq.

There are several ways the US can go in this situation. Dialogue, isolate Venezuela diplomatically and internationally – or at least try – organize an invasion using its own troops or mercenaries to secure the oil reserves, economic sabotage again, electoral fraud to stop Chavez being re-elected or try and assassinate Chavez himself.

Continued interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs

Rice, through her influence is trying to save the skin of the Sumate directors due to go to trial in the coming months. Sumate is an NGO which received funds from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the US supposedly to “educate Venezuelans about the democratic process”.

Instead Sumate used these funds to organize the signature collection drive to trigger the recall referendum against President Chavez in late 2003 and monitor the referendum process, which is the exclusive territory of the Venezuelan National Elections Council (CNE), and effectively set itself up as a parallel CNE.

Previously, Sumate presented 27 million signatures (Venezuelan voters at that time amounted to less than 12 million!!) to the CNE in March 2003 to trigger a consultative referendum disguised as a recall referendum to oust Chavez. It transpired that most of the signatures were photocopies. This is electoral fraud.

The charge levelled against the Sumate directors Maria Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz is “conspiracy to overthrow the democratic system of Venezuela.” Both are facing 20 to 30 years behind bars since these charges are classified as “high treason” in the Venezuelan Penal Code.

Machado went to the White House and was photographed with President Bush in the Oval Office last year. She has also had meetings with Rice herself. This indicates to any right thinking person that Machado, Plaz and Sumate are working with the US government, the US Embassy in Caracas using NED funding to depose President Chavez in any way possible. They represent US interests in Venezuela much as the US Interests Office in Havana.

Rice’s initiative to set up a “united international front to oppose the type of things Venezuela is involved in” is lacking any definition. She also talked about the need for international support to help relieve official pressure on the free trade union movement in Venezuela. If Rice is referring to the discredited Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CVT), then it is worth pointing out that the CVT is nothing more than an empty shell without wide grassroots support and has been supplanted by the National Workers Union (UNT), both in Venezuela and internationally at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva almost two years ago.

Rice is betting on the formation of a movement in Venezuela similar to Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement in Poland in the early 1980’s from which to build an opposition base against President Chavez. She may be correct, since the traditional political parties which misruled the country for 40 years have discredited themselves and all but vanished, in the wake of the revolutionary fervour of the Venezuelan people, workers, students and farm workers.

What can be done?

Venezuelan diplomats are very skilled in heading off isolation efforts in the OAS and the UN and the government’s management of the media has improved significantly, especially with the advent of TeleSur reaching the whole of the Americas and most of Europe as a counter weight to CNN, Fox News and even the BBC.

Internally, President Chavez’ security is second to none but the Bolivarian Revolution needs wider and more intense international support.

In Britain we have shown that support is growing at all levels of the Labour movement, and we now have a block of support in the House of Commons. Venezuela is a beacon against imperialism and exploitation for the poor and excluded in the world and even a brief comparison with the UK is an eye opener.

Venezuela is constructing a 100% free-of-charge national health service and forcing privatisation to back off. In the UK we are heading in the opposite direction due to the acceptance of neo-liberal policies by Blair’s government with creeping privatisation eventually going to make health care a luxury rather than a basic human right.

VSC is aware that we must intensify our efforts to draw even more people into supporting Venezuela and its people against any international aggression, wherever it emanates. Public meetings are vital in this process in order to drum up more support in both the UK and internationally

Currently, the identifiable threat is the US and we must work with progressive solidarity groups there to help build resistance. However, it is also clear that powerful forces in Britain support these aggressive right wing elements. It is our duty therefore to make our voice heard to prevent government support for illegal and unjust interventions and help build solidarity amongst workers within Britain and Venezuela and the Latin America Continent.

This year will be a critical year for Venezuela since presidential elections are due to be held on December 3rd 2006.