Venezuela pres: 'Miami lobby' leads US policy

[Zorro]

Source: AP

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Friday that South Florida politicians are leading the United States into an extremist foreign policy against his country and his foreign minister called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a murderer.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are leading a "Miami lobby" trying to influence President Barack Obama, Maduro said in a televised news conference Friday. Rubio and Ros-Lehtinen are co-sponsoring efforts in their respective chambers to impose sanctions on members of the Venezuelan government tied to human rights abuses.

"Obama can't let himself be taken by the Miami lobby," Maduro said. "I call on the United States to take it easy. They're taking President Obama to an abyss and he's going to end up crashing."

Anti-government street protests by Venezuelans fed up with violent crime, shortages of basic items such as flour and cooking oil and annual inflation that rose above 57 for the 12 months ending in February, have roiled Venezuela for more than a month. The Venezuelan government says at least 25 people have died in the turmoil since Feb. 12.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-pres-miami-lobby-leads-us-policy-193114095.html

---

Oh yeah -- I'm sure Obama is looking to Marco Rubio and other Congressional Republicans for advice on his administration's Venezuelan foreign policy...

[bravenak]

1. I watched this today on univision.

I felt bad that anyone could believe that Marco Rubio was in any way going to be able to influence the president.
And they were showing the tear gas canisters that are being used on the protesters, they are made by a company in the united states.

[Cha]

12. That's what I thought right away, bravenak. rubio and his ilk may lead the gopropaganda

machine but not the current Admin.

[bravenak]

13. It was real weird...

I watch in spanish so that i can see whats being reported in the Spanish news and it sounded like these were just known facts. I must be missing the inflections and maybe i missed the joke. He seemed so serious, like he really believed what he was saying. Poor guy.

[Cha]

14. Either he has bad info or he's lying for whatever reason.

[Archae]

2. Maduro and his Cronies are getting more and more desperate.

I'm not going to say I told you so, but I told you so...

The CIA or any right-wing group here in the US isn't needed to drive VN into a right-wing dictatorship.
Maduro is doing just fine on his own.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Certified Right-Wing Extremists Set to Take Control of House Foreign Affairs Panels

Certified Right-Wing Extremists Set to Take Control of House Foreign Affairs Panels
Written by Alexander Main
Friday, 05 November 2010 15:42

In the early years of the past decade, two hard-line Cold Warriors, closely associated with radical Cuban exile groups in Florida, occupied strategic positions in the U.S. foreign policy machine. Otto Reich, former head of the Reagan administration’s covert propaganda operations in Central America, and Roger Noriega, co-author of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, took turns running the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and held other influential administration posts such as ambassador to the Organization of American States and White House Special Envoy to the Western Hemisphere.

During their years of tenure in the George W. Bush Administration, they led a zealous crusade against left-leaning governments in the region and, among other things, actively supported a short-lived coup d’Etat against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002 and a successful coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti in 2004. Ultimately, their extreme views and outrageous antics on the international stage proved to be too much of an embarrassment even for the Bush Administration, and they both eventually were relieved of their government jobs well before the end of Bush’s term.

~snip~

Connie Mack is relatively young and has only been in office since 2005. Consequently, he has had less time to cozy up to terrorists and coup regimes. However, he has made impressive efforts to prove his extreme right-wing credentials. He has focused in particular on the grave “threat Venezuela’s Communist President Hugo Chavez poses to the U.S. and our allies in the region.”

•In March 2008, Mack and Ros-Lehtinen introduced House Resolution 1049 calling on the U.S. administration “to add Venezuela to the list of states which sponsor terrorism…” Realizing that such an initiative would have disastrous consequences for U.S. relations throughout the region, Republican Senator Richard Lugar put out a report criticizing the measure. In the end, Mack managed to muster the support of only 8 other representatives and the resolution was quickly shelved.

•Eager to outdo Ros-Lehtinen on Honduras, Mack engaged in his own intense campaign to support the coup regime, starting with a July 2009 resolution condemning the recently ousted democratic president Manuel Zelaya for having “trampled” his country’s constitution. He went on to write a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her not to accept Zelaya’s return to power and then led a Congressional delegation to Honduras and subsequently criticized the U.S. administration’s official condemnation of the coup.

•Never one to call it quits, in October of 2009 Mack introduced another resolution calling for Venezuela to be placed on the state sponsor of terrorism list and this time collected the co-sponsorship of 37 other Congressional members. It was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and promptly shelved by the Democratic Committee chair.

•Mack has also growled at Bolivia’s indigenous president Evo Morales who, he says, has, together with Chavez, “sought and won constitutional changers (sic) which quash their opposition and concentrate their power.” Similarly he put out a press release on Ecuador’s independence day last year that referred to Ecuadorian President Correa as “nothing more than a pawn for his fellow friend and thugocrat, Hugo Chavez.”

More:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/certified-right-wing-extremists-set-to-take-control-of-house-foreign-affairs-panels

[Archae]

5. And this has what to do with the price of tea in China?

I realize how dreamy Maduro must be, to you.

He just can not do any wrong, correct?

[Judi Lynn]

6. That's an odd attempt at communication. Your hatred just gets the best of you. n/t

[Archae]

7. It's not hatred. It's reality.

Maduro already has had his buddies in the legislature grant him unitary powers of decree.

Soon, he will declare martial law, and then appoint himself "el Presidente" for life.

I'd be willing to bet money on this happening.

I've seen it before, with right-wing AND left-wing dictatorships.

[7962]

15. If your comment was "hatred", then every post on DU should be blocked by jury. nt

[Archae]

18. I know. This blind almost-worship of Maduro just baffles me.

Remember the Cold War?

The US had this policy, of supporting the worst of the worst, as long as they were "anti-communist."

This even extended to anti-Iran as well, when we supported Saddam when he invaded Iran.

I saw this same thing when groups would support really rotten bastards as long as they were "anti-right wing."
I saw people supporting the Ayatollah Khomeni.
Yassir Arafat.

And now, Maduro.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Interesting who the big congressional Maduro haters are.

Ros-Lehtinen Slams Lack of Action on Venezuela: Criticizes Obama administration for failing to engage on human rights abuses

http://freebeacon.com/ros-lehtinen-slams-lack-of-action-on-venezuela/

Rubio Proposes Venezuela Sanctions; Excoriates Clinton Over "Democracy" Remarks

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963080/rubio-proposes-venezuela-sanctions.html

Lawmakers Push for Venezuela Sanctions (Rubio, Bob Menendez)

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/200846-lawmakers-push-for-venezuela-sanctions

The nine cosponsors for Ros-Lehtinen's Venezuela sanctions bill (HR 4229):

Bilirakis, Gus [R-FL12]
DeSantis, Ron [R-FL6]
Deutch, Theodore [D-FL21]
Diaz-Balart, Mario [R-FL25]
Frankel, Lois [D-FL22]
Garcia, Joe [D-FL26]
Salmon, Matt [R-AZ5]
Sires, Albio [D-NJ8]
Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL23]

I wonder what Ileana's DU screen name is?

[EX500rider]

8. "Interesting who the big congressional Maduro haters are."

Ones with a large Latino voting block?

[Judi Lynn]

10. You've never been aware of the difference between Cuban "exile" right-wing reactionaries,

in South Florida, and New Jersey, and the Latino population of the United States?

It's something you'd be well advised to discover.

[EX500rider]

17. The biggest difference is the number of voters.

Most Floridian's are quite aware of the RW Cuban block, so I don't need to "discover" anything about my home State, thanks.

"The geographic settlement patterns are to some degree aligned with the diverse countries of origin of the Hispanic population. For example, Mexican origin Hispanics are the dominant group in the Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area, making up 78% of the area’s Hispanics. They are also the dominant group in many metropolitan areas in the border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. But along the East Coast the composition of Hispanic origin groups differs. In the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are the dominant Hispanic origin groups. In Miami-Hialeah, FL, Cubans are the dominant Hispanic group and in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas, Salvadorans are the largest Hispanic origin group among that area’s Hispanics. Nationally, Mexicans are the largest Hispanic origin group, making up 64.6% of all Hispanics

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. Right-wing Cuban Republicans (and Bob Menendez).

[Judi Lynn]

9. Ileana is called La Loba (She Wolf) in Cuba.

[center]

Sitting with her friend, mass murdering airline bomber, Orlando Bosch, whose re-admittance to the US, aided by
Jeb Bush via his father, was over the formal judgment of Acting US Assistant Attorney General, Joe D. Whitley.





Connie Mack, and Rubio



Connie Mack, Romney, Lincoln Diaz-Balart,
whose father, Rafael was a member of US-
supported torture-loving, murderous
dictator Fulgencio Batista's cabinet.

[7962]

16. I guess we could post pictures of Pres Obama with people of questionable character, too.

That would mean he's just like them, right?

[Kingofalldems]

19. Who would that be?

[7962]

22. depends on who is doing the looking.

Bill Ayers?

[Judi Lynn]

25. Questionable character? Bill Ayers? What kind of Democrat would say that? n/t

[7962]

26. I personally dont know any Democrats who approve of blowing up US Govt buildings.

Guess you're OK with that? You have no problems with what he was involved in?
So you'd have no problem if a bunch of teabag nuts blew up a PP bldg to support THEIR cause? Good lord.

[Judi Lynn]

23. She made getting Orlando Bosch re-admitted to the US part of her campaign

for re-election, using her campaign manager, Jeb Bush to seek support from his father for their cause. It was their intention to override the sane, sober findings of the Asst. Acting Attorney General on his appropriate exclusion from the United States.

Orlando Bosch was not a passing acquaintance as EVERYONE who's heard his name knew a long time ago. He was a serious terrorist and sociopath.

This is the finding from the US Acting Attorney General, Joe D Whitley:

For 30 years Bosch has been resolute and unwavering in his advocacy of terrorist violence. He has threatened and undertaken violent terrorist acts against numerous targets, including nations friendly toward the United States and their highest officials. He has repeatedly expressed and demonstrated a willingness to cause indiscriminate injury and death. His actions have been those of a terrorist, unfettered by laws or human decency, threatening and inflicting violence without regard to the identity of his victims.

The United States cannot tolerate the inherent inhumanity of terrorism as a way of settling disputes. Appeasement of those who would use force will only breed more terrorists. We must look on terrorism as a universal evil, even if it is directed toward those with whom we have no political sympathy. As United States District Court has eloquently states with respect to this very case, "the evils of terrorism do not become less because of the participants and the cause." Orlando Bosch Avila v. Perry Rivkind, 88-973-C.V.-HOEVELER (S.D. Fla. June 1, 1988) (Order On Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus). See also Matter of Rivero-Diaz, 12 I & N Dec. 475 (BIA, 1967).

As a result of this review, the conclusion is inescapable that it would be prejudicial to the public interest for the United States to provide a safe haven for Bosch. I have moreover concluded that he is an alien excludable from the United States under 8 U.S.C.- 1182 (a) (27), (28) (ii), (28) (iii), (28) (iv) and (29), and that his applications for asylum and withholding of
-------------------------
page 3

deportation should be and herein are denied. In addition, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1225 (c), and after consultation with appropriate security agencies of the United States, I conclude that disclosure of the confidential information upon which this decision is based would be prejudicial to the public interest, safety, or security.

More:
http://cuban-exile.com/doc_051-075/doc0054.html

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
[font size=4]Over 30 countries REFUSED to allow Orlando Bosch within their borders, but Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, through the Bushes, got him re-admitted here to live out his days, happy as a clam in Miami, with a day of the year named in his honor by the Miami City Commissioners.[/font]

He is filth, nothing but.

[alp227]

11. more links to this story

AP Original Link

Al Jazeera

Latin American Herald Tribune

El Universal (Venezuelan, in Spanish; English article here)

Miami Herald

[Pterodactyl]

21. Surely Obama can resist them!

[geek tragedy]

24. Same old same old. We hate them, they hate us, we buy their oil, they sell it to us.

Obama should engage with Maduro to the same degree he's willing to engage with similar figures like Ted Cruz and Michelle Bachmann.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua echoed that theme Friday, singling out Kerry as a "murderer of the Venezuelan people."

To be followed by a TOTALLY serious call for dialogue with the US.

We shouldn't be involved with their internal affairs at all. Proper policy for the US government is probably to say nothing to Venezuela's government, say nothing about it.