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Fear of Chavez is fear of democracy
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
GregPalast.com - Dec 3, 2007
http://www.gregpalast.com/fear-of-chavez-is-fear-of-democracy/
Fear of Chavez is fear of democracy
Bush: "If its our oil, why do Venezuelans get to vote on it?"
GOP panicked that counting votes in Venezuela will spread to Florida
By Greg Palast
The Family Bush can fix Florida. They can fix Ohio. But its just
driving them crazy that they cant fix the vote in Venezuela.
The Bush Administration and its press puppies - the same ones who
couldnt get enough of the purple thumbs of voters of Iraq - are
absolutely livid that this weekend the electorate of Venezuela had the
op****tunity to vote.
Typical was the mouth-breathing editorial by the San Francisco
Chronicle, that the referendum could make Hugo Chavez, Venezuelas
President, a constitutional dictator for life. And no less a freedom
fighter than Donald Rumsfeld, from the height of the Wa****ngton Post,
said that by voting, Venezuela was receding into dictator****p. Oh, my!
Given that Chavez referendum was defeated at the ballot box, we now
know that, as a dictator, Chavez is a flop. Of course, without meaning
to gainsay Secretary Rumsfeld, maybe Chavez is not a dictator.
Lets get clear exactly what this vote was about. Firstly, it was a
referendum to change the nations constitution to end term limits for
President.
Oh, horror! Imagine if we eliminated term limits in the US! We could
end up stuck with a president - like Franklin Roosevelt. Worse, if Bill
Clinton could have run again, wed have missed out on the statesman****p
of Junior Bush. While US media called Chavez a tyrant for suggesting
an end to term limits, they somehow forgot to smear the tyrant tag on
Mr. Clinton for suggesting the same for the America.
We were not told this weekends referendum was a vote on term limits,
rather, we were told by virtually every US news outlet that the
referendum was to make Chavez, President for Life. The President for
Life canard was mis-re****ted by no less than The New York Times.
But ending term limits does not mean winning the term. As Chavez
himself told me, Its up to the people whether he gets reelected. And
that infuriates the US Powers That Be.
Secondly, beyond ending term limits, the referendum would have loaded
the nations constitution with changes in property law, work hours and
so many other complex economic adjustments that the entire referendum
sank of its own weight.
Its the Oil.
Term limits and work hours in Venezuela? Why was this a crisis for
Wa****ngton?
Why is the Bush crew so bonkers about Hugo? Is it because Venezuela
sits on the worlds largest reserve of
coconuts?chavezisakillerwtext-copy.jpg
Like Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) - its all about the crude,
dude. And lots of it. The US Department of Energy do***ents I obtained
indicate that the guys holding Bushs dipstick figure that Venezuela is
sitting on 1.36 trillion barrels of crude, five times the reserves of
Saudi Arabia.
Chavez continuing tenure means that Venezuelans huge supply of oil
will now be in the hands of... Venezuelans!
As Arturo Quiran, resident of a poor folks housing complex, told me,
Ten, fifteen years ago... there was a lot of oil money here in
Venezuela but we didnt see it. Notably, Quiran doesnt particularly
agree with Chavez politics. But, he thought Americans should
understand that under Chavez Administration, theres a doctors office
in his building with free operations, x-rays, medicines. Education
also. People who never knew how to read and write now know how to sign
their own papers.
Not everyone is pleased. As one TV news anchor, violently anti-Chavez,
told me in derisive tones, Chavez gives them (the poor) bricks and
bread! -- how dare he! -- so, they vote for him.
Oil has better ideas for Venezuela, best expressed in several Wall
Street Journal articles attacking Chavez for spending his nations oil
wealth on social programs rather than on more drilling platforms to
better fill the SUVs of Texas.
Chavez has committed other crimes in Wa****ngtons eyes. Not only has
this uppity brown man spent Venezuelas oil wealth in Venezuela, he
withdrew $20 billion from the US Federal Reserve. Weirdly, Venezuelas
previous leaders, though the nation was dirt poor, lent billions to the
US Treasury on crap terms. Chavez has said, Basta! to this game, and
has called for keeping South Americas capital in... South America! Oh,
no!
Oh, and did I mention that Chavez told Exxon it had to pay more than a
1% royalty to his nation on the heavy crude the company extracted?
And thats why they have to kill him. In 2002, "The New York Times"
sickeningly applauded the coup detat against Chavez. But that failed.
Therefore, as the electorate of Venezuela is obstinately refusing to
vote as Condi Rice tells them, theres only one solution left for
democracy-loving Bush-niks, the view express out loud by our
Presidents spiritual advisor, Pat Robertson:
We have this enemy to our south controlling a huge pool of oil. Hugo
Chavez thinks were trying to assassinate him. I think we ought to go
ahead and do it.... We dont need another $200 billion war... Its a
whole lot easier to have some covert operatives do the job.
But Hugos not my enemy. Indeed, hes made a damn good offer to the
American people: oil for $50 a barrel -- nearly half of what it sells
today. By locking in a long-term price, Venezuela loses its crazy Iraq
war oil-price windfall. In return, we agree not to let oil prices fall
through the floor (it dropped to $9 a barrel in 1998) and bankrupt his
nation. But Saudi Arabia doesnt like that deal. And Abdullahs wish is
George Bushs command. (Interestingly, Chavez fellow no-term-limits
dictator Bill Clinton endorsed the concept.)
I dont agree with everything Chavez does. And Ive found some of his
opponents [points] well taken. But unlike Bush, I dont think I should
have a veto over the Venezuelan vote.
And the locals sentiments are quite clear. I drove with one opposition
candidate, Julio Borges, on a campaign stop to a small town three hours
from Caracas. We met his sup****ters -- or, more accurately, his lone
sup****ter. The rally was in her kitchen. She served us delicious
arepas.
The next day, I returned to that very same town when Chavez arrived.
Nearly a thousand screaming fans showed up -- and an equal number were
turned away. (The British Telegraph laughably re****ts that Chavez
boosters appear under duress.) Youd think they were showing for a
taping of South American Idol. (Well, the Venezuelan President did
break into song a few times.)
Its worth noting that Chavez personal popularity doesnt extend to
all his plans for Bolivarian socialism. And that killed his
referendum at the ballot box. I guess Chavez should have asked Jeb Bush
how to count votes in a democracy. So there you have it. Some guy who
thinks he can take Venezuelas oil and oil money and just give it away
to Venezuelans. And these same Venezuelans have the temerity to demand
the right to pick the president of their choice! What is the world
coming to?
In Orwellian Bush-speak and Times-talk, Chavez referendum was
****trayed before the vote as a trick, a kind of Saddam goes Latin.
Maybe their real fear is that Chavez has brought a bit of economic
justice through the ballot box, a trend that could spread northward.
Think about it: Chavez is funding full health care for all Venezuelans.
What if that happened here?
*
Palast Links:
Greg Palast has just returned from South America. Catch his
investigations for BBC Television
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7113903.stm
and Democracy Now! in the newly released DVD, "The Assassination of
Hugo Chavez," including Palasts interviews with Chavez, his opponents
- -- even the man who kidnapped Chavez.
http://www.palastinvestigativefund.org/
Watch the trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYHtctwucCc
Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, "The Best
Democracy Money Can Buy" and "Armed Madhouse." This week, Palast will
release his new film on DVD, "The Election Files: Theft of 2008," with
music by Moby. http://www.palastinvestigativefund.org/the-election-files
These films are made available only as gifts to donors to the Palast
Investigative Fund, a not-for-profit charitable foundation sup****ting
investigative re****ting.
More information at http://www.GregPalast.com
or
http://www.PalastInvestigativeFund.org
*
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