-- Joe R. Golowka JoeG at ieee.org Anarchist FAQ - http://www.anarchyfaq.org
"The great means for the defense of the revolution remain as ever that of depriving the bourgeoisie of the economic means by which they rule, of arming everyone (until such time as they can be induced to toss their weapons aside as useless and dangerous toys) and of interesting the great mass of the population in victory. If to win, we have to set up the gallows in the public square, I would prefer to lose." - Errico Malatesta ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lysander Zimmerman" <LAMZ at sympatico.ca> To: <anarchism at yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 10:00 PM Subject: [Venezuela] "The Scent of Another Coup D'éta
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <shniad at sfu.ca>
> To: <shniad at sfu.ca>
> Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 7:08 PM
> Subject: [R-G] "The Scent of Another Coup" - SF Chronicle
>
>
> > The San Francisco Examiner December 29, 2001
> >
> > "The Scent of Another Coup"
> >
> > by Conn Hallinan
> >
> > There is the smell of a coup in the air these days. It was like this in
> Iran
> > just before the 1953 U.S.-backed coup overthrew the Mossedeah government
> and
> > installed the Shah. It has the feel of 1963 in South Vietnam, before the
> > military takeover switched on the light at the end of the long and
> terrible
> > Southeast Asian tunnel. It is hauntingly similar to early September
1973,
> > before the coup in Chile ushered in 20 years of blood and darkness.
> >
> > Early last month, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon and the
U.S.
> > State Department held a two-day meeting on U.S. policy toward Venezuela.
> > Similar such meetings took place in 1953, 1963, and 1973, as well as
> before
> > coups in Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina. It should send a deep chill
down
> > the backs of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the populist coalition
> > that took power in 1998.
> >
> > The catalyst for the Nov. 5-7 interagency get together was a comment by
> > Chavez in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist assault on the World Trade
> > Center and the Pentagon. While Chavez sharply condemned the attack, he
> > questioned the value of bombing Afghanistan, calling it "fighting
> terrorism
> > with terrorism." In response, the Bush Administration temporarily
withdrew
> > its Ambassador and convened the meeting.
> >
> > The outcome was a requirement that Venezuela "unequivocally" condemn
> > terrorism, including repudiating anything and anyone the Bush
> Administration
> > defines as "terrorist." Since this includes both Cuba (which Venezuela
has
> > extensive trade relations with) and rebel groups in neighboring Colombia
> > (which Chavez is sympathetic to), the demand was the equivalent of
> throwing
> > down the gauntlet.
> >
> > The spark for the statement might have been Sept. 11, but the dark
clouds
> > gathering over Venezuela have much more to do with enduring
matters--like
> > oil, land and power--than current issues like terrorism. The Chavez
> > government is presently trying to change the 60-year old agreement with
> > foreign oil companies that charges them as little as 1 percent in
> royalties,
> > plus hands out huge tax breaks. There is a lot at stake here. Venezuela
> has
> > 77 billion barrels of proven reserves, and is US's third biggest source
of
> > oil. It is also a major cash cow for the likes of Phillips Petroleum and
> > ExxonMobil. If the new law goes through, U.S. and French oil companies
> will
> > have to pony up a bigger slice of their take.
> >
> > A larger slice is desperately needed in Venezuela. In spite of the fact
> that
> > oil generates some $30 billion each year, 80 percent of Venezuelans are,
> > according to government figures, "poor," and half of those are
> malnourished.
> > Most rural Venezuelans have no access to land except to work it for
> someone
> > else, because 2 percent of the population controls 60 percent of the
land.
> >
> > The staggering gap between a tiny slice of "haves" and the sea of "have
> > nots" is little talked about in the American media, which tends to focus
> on
> > President Chavez's long-winded speeches and unrest among the urban
wealthy
> > and middle class. U.S. newspapers covered the Dec. 10 "strike" by
business
> > leaders and a section of the union movement protesting a series of
> economic
> > laws and land reform proposals, but not the fact that the Chavez
> government
> > has reduced inflation from 40 percent to 12 percent, generated economic
> > growth of 4 percent, and increased primary school enrollment by one
> million
> > students.
> >
> > Rumblings from Washington, strikes by business leaders, and pot-banging
> > demonstrations by middle-class housewives are the fare most Americans
get
> > about Venezuela these days. For any balance one has to go to the
reporting
> > of local journalists John Marshall and Christian Parenti. In a Dec. 10
> > article in the Chicago-based bi-weekly, In These Times, the two
reporters
> > give "the other side" that the US media always goes on about but rarely
> > practices: The attempts by the Venezuelan government to diversify its
> > economy, turn over idle land to landless peasants, encourage the growth
of
> > coops based on the highly successful Hungarian model, increase health
> > spending fourfold, and provide drugs for 30 to 40 percent below cost.
> >
> > But the alleviation of poverty is not on Washington's radar screen these
> > days. Instead, U.S. development loans have been frozen, and the State
> > Department's specialist on Latin America, Peter Romero, has accused the
> > Chavez government of supporting terrorism in Colombia, Bolivia and
> Ecuador.
> > These days that is almost a declaration of war and certainly a green
light
> > to any anti-Chavez forces considering a military coup.
> >
> > U.S. hostility to Venezuela's efforts to overcome its lack of
development
> > has helped add that country to the South American "arc of instability"
> that
> > runs from Caracas in the north to Buenos Aires in the south, and
includes
> > Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. Failed neoliberal economic
policies,
> > coupled with corruption and authoritarism have made the region a power
> keg,
> > as recent events in Argentina demonstrate.
> >
> > And the Bush Administration's antidote?: Matches, incendiary statements,
> and
> > dark armies moving in the night.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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