Taking Note Regime Change in Venezuela?
GL
The Bush administration's regime change policies are creating, or exacerbating, instability in an increasing number of countries around the globe. In the Middle East, the United States is...
...An ABC World News Tonight segment broadcast in March laid blame on Venezuela for the high cost of gasoline...
...Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez when he stated that Venezuela was in crisis because of "Chivez's increasingly antidemocratic actions...
...foreign policy goals continue to receive funding from the United States...
...policies have destabilized the country...
...Will the intensification of the Bush administration's regime change policies in Venezuela result in the Venezuelan people enduring the same degree of disorder currently reigning over Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti...
...ChevronTexaco, for example, recently reported that it earned more profit in the fourth quarter of 2003 than in all of 2002, while ExxonMobil's 2003 earnings moved the company up to second place on Forbes' annual Fortune 500 list...
...Last year, the NED gave $53,400 to the Venezuelan organization Sfimate, which exists for the sole purpose of campaigning for the referendum drive intended to oust Chavez...
...In early April, the latest criticism of Chdvez by the Bush administration came from U.S...
...4 offshore oil vendor, experienced a crippling oil strike in 2002 and is undergoing new unrest and protests against its erratic president, Hugo Chivez...
...A far cry from current prices-$37 in early April...
...foreign policy, often verbalizing what many other leaders likely think, but dare not say...
...While a front page New York Times article said, "Crude oil prices, the most important factor in the price of gasoline, are expected to remain high, perhaps to climb still higher, as concern grows over the possibility of disruptions in the oil industry of Venezuela...
...Probably not, but the global policies of the Bush White House have made it abundantly clear that the installation of friendly regimes takes priority over stability and democracy...
...The Venezuelan president's oil policies and his friendly relationship with Fidel Castro also irk Bush and his former cold warriors...
...Also in March, an editorial published in the Miami Herald and Baltimore Sun noted, "One reason why oil costs may not relax this summer: Venezuela, the United States' No...
...The Times also noted "signs of renewed assertiveness in OPEC," in which the "Venezuelans, among the largest OPEC producers, have been an outspoken supporter of high prices...
...As in Haiti, Venezuelan opposition groups sympathetic to U.S...
...oil companies as a result of gasoline price increases over the past year...
...Closer to home in the Caribbean, a coup d'6tat has left the Bush White House presiding over chaos in Haiti...
...Congress with taxpayer dollars-continued its long history of undermining democracy by providing close to $1 million to Venezuelan opposition groups in the months prior to the failed April 2002 coup...
...military intervention...
...Instead of asking why he doesn't move closer to work or buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle, the ABC reporter focused on OPEC production quotas and political unrest in Venezuela as two of the principal causes of this Texan's economic inconvenience...
...Alvarez failed to mention how U.S...
...The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)-funded by the U.S...
...Many are now asking if Venezuela could be next on the Bush hit list...
...In actuality, President Hugo Chivez's government has been on the Bush administration's regime change list for years, it just hasn't been the target of direct U.S...
...In the Middle East, the United States is currently bogged down in quagmires in Afghanistan and Iraq where anarchy rather than democracy are the order of the day...
...Much to the chagrin of the Bush administration, ChAivez has exhibited a willingness-even an eagerness-to criticize U.S...
...After assuming office, Chivez's revitalization of OPEC led to global oil prices not dipping below $22 a barrel, compared to $11 a barrel when he was elected in 1998...
...Sitting in his massive SUV, an overweight Texan who drives 40 miles each way to work everyday said he is "really angry" at having to pay such high prices for gasoline...
...Meanwhile, the mainstream media has focused little attention on the skyrocketing profits of U.S...
...The NED also gave $116,000 to the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, which organized a work stoppage in an attempt to paralyze Venezuela's economy and force Chivez to resign...
...Growing public anger in the United States over the dramatic rise in gasoline prices during an election year may lead Bush to intensify his attempts at provoking regime change in the oil-rich South American country...
Vol. 37 • May 2004 • No. 6
