International Campaign Around Venezuela's Elections Has Begun

[Judi Lynn]

Posted: March 26, 2010 11:21 AM
International Campaign Around Venezuela's Elections Has Begun

Venezuela has an election for its National Assembly in September, and the campaign has begun in earnest. I am referring to the international campaign. This is carried out largely through the international media; although some will spill over into the Venezuelan media. It involves many public officials, especially in the U.S. The goal will be to generate as much bad press as possible about Venezuela, to discredit the government, and to de-legitimize the September elections - in case the opposition should choose to boycott, as they did in the last legislative elections, or refuse to recognize the results if they lose.

There's no need for conspiracy, since the principal actors all know what to do. Occasionally some will be off message due to lack of co-ordination. A fascinating example of this occurred last week when Sen. John McCain tried to get Gen. Doug Fraser of the U.S. Southern Command to back his accusations that Venezuela supports terrorist activities. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 11, General Fraser contradicted McCain:

"We have continued to watch very closely ... We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection."

Oops! Apparently Fraser didn't get the memo that the Obama team, not just McCain, is in full campaign mode against Venezuela. The next day, he issued a statement recanting his testimony:

"Assistant Secretary Valenzuela and I spoke this morning on the topic of linkages between the government of Venezuela and the FARC. There is zero daylight between our two positions, and we are in complete agreement.
There is indeed clear and documented historical and ongoing evidence of the linkages between the Government of Venezuela and the FARC . ... we are in direct alignment with our partners at the State Department and the Intelligence Community."

Well it's good to know that the United States still has civilian control over the military, at least in the Western Hemisphere. On the other hand, it would be even better if the truth counted for anything in these Congressional hearings or in Washington foreign policy circles generally. The general's awkward and seemingly forced reversal went unnoticed by the media.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/international-campaign-ar_b_514614.html

Editorials:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x526252

[Wilms]

1. ;) n/t

[protocol rv]

2. What counts is what we do in Venezuela

And I do believe most of us are tired of the incompetence of this government - they can't figure out how to fix a power plant, fight a forest fire, pick up the garbage, fight crime, keep the water supply working, keep inflation down, provide for good health care in public hospitals, or keep normal relations with other nations.

They have been in power for 10 years, and it's time to ease them into retirement. Or do you really think it's reasonable for us to put up with poor performance and keep the same people in power year after year, just because they like to wear red and shout communist slogans? Everywhere else in Latin America, governments change. It shall be the same in Venezuela. You happen to support people who just don't make the grade, but we don't think it's reasonable to reward people who we see as failing.

[Judi Lynn]

3. We? What we?

http://www.jeffreyclarke.net.nyud.net:8090/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/three_stooges.jpg

[Wilms]

4. Actually, what the thread is about is the orchestrated and coordinated effort against the VZ gov't.

We see this all the time; on TV, in the papers, and even...hey...wait...:think:

:hi: