WATCH: New Paths Require a New Culture on the Left [Spanish]

Discurso de Marta Harnecker al recibir el Premio Libertador al Pensamiento Crítico 2013

Published on Aug 15, 2014

“El libro Un mundo a construir (nuevos caminos), ganador del premio Libertador al Pensamiento Crítico 2014, no se hubiese podido escribir sin la intervención del líder de la Revolución Bolivariana, Hugo Chávez y su participación en la historia de América Latina, destacó este viernes la investigadora chilena, Marta Harnecker, autora de ese texto.”

[Full text in English courtesy of Monthly Review. Adapted from the translation by Federico Fuentes for Links.]

Apr 23

2014

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The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, Whiteness & Aversive Racism

Albert Einstein Institute CANVAS Gene Sharp Otpor Venezuela

Terrorism franchise: The Gene Sharp Method

Printed in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

April, 2014

Gene Sharp is a former American military who nowadays teaches political sciences at the University of Massachusetts. He founded the Albert Einstein Institute and is the author of an essay entitled From dictatorship to democracy, which is the result of a pragmatic and political analysis of supposedly non-violent actions as a means to undermine the stability of the constituted power. The work, translated in more than 30 languages, describes methods to overthrow governments; these methods are divided into three big stages: the protest, the non-cooperation, and the intervention, which are always carried out after electoral processes. These three stages are subdivided into five stages that, as it will be seen, have been rigorously applied in Venezuela after the lack of acknowledgment from the opposition of the results obtained during the presidential elections on April 14, 2013.

1. SOFTENING (by means of 4th Generation War): development of opinion matrix focused on real o potential deficit; promotion of conflicts and dissatisfaction; promotion of uneasiness factors, mainly: shortage, criminality, citizens’ safety, dollar manipulation, lockout strikes, corruption complaints; promotion of sectarian intrigues, and unity fracture.

2. DELEGITIMISING: manipulation on anticommunist or antipopulist prejudices; propel of advertising campaigns to defend freedom of press, human rights, and public freedom; accusations of totalitarianism and single systems of values; ethical-politic fracture.

3. STREETS WARMUPS: promote of street mobilization; creation of a fighting platform that globalizes political and social demands; generalization of all kind of protests, propel of government failures and mistakes; coordination of protests, blockage, and take of public institutions (disrespect towards institutions) that turn the confrontation into radical.

4. COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT WAYS OF FIGHTING: organization of loutishes and take of emblematic institutions, with the aim to turn them into advertising platforms; development of operations of psychological war and armed actions in order to justify repressive measures and create an atmosphere of ungovernability; propel of rumors campaigns among military forces and try to demoralize the security bodies; promotion of international isolation and economic siege.

5. institutional fracture : based on street actions, take of institutions, and military uprising, the President is forced to quit. In the case of failure, the pressure on the streets is maintained and armed resistance is assumed, preparing the stage for a military intervention or a prolonged civil war.

This coup protocol has been applied several times around the world against governments that oppose Washington’s rulings with different levels of success. It is clear that in Venezuela this plan is currently in its fourth stage, the most powerful of all since it includes violence by means of armed actions and permanent provocation towards the police forces in order to promote repression.

The main protagonists of this subversive script in Venezuela are the members of a varied group of students referred to as manitas blancas (white hands), made up of youth of the extreme right wing, mainly of private universities.

The students of public universities in Venezuela, which surpass the private universities in enrolments, have had little or none participation in the violent actions, despite their traditions of fight and historical sense of their communities.

The visible heads of the movement known as manitas blancas (their hands are painted white according to the soft coup handbook) are supposedly young people (some of them older than 40 years) who have made student representation in the universities their way of living and have studied endlessly in their institutions, as are the cases of Gaby Arellano and Vilcar Fernández; these two are experts in destabilization thanks to the advices received in training sessions on the soft coup designed by Gene Sharp.

Those are the “students” that, by late January 2014, began a series of so called aggressive actions simultaneously in different regions of the country, which lead to violent actions near the universities chosen to activate the street warm-ups stage of the coup plot. The white hands had received the express order of mobilize from the right-winged leaders Leopoldo

López and María Corina Machado in a bizarre press conference that took place on January 23, and that, at that moment, was seen by distracted analysts as an untimely, politically incompressible act. “The streets must be set on fire”, Machado said to her supporters, while López urged them to keep the protest actions until Nicolás Maduro would leave the Presidency; it happened in a moment of quietness after the widely positive results for the Government during the “plebiscite” that had taken place on December 8.

Download the full document: respect_venezuela1-2

Respect Venezuela

Nicolás Maduro Moros

President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Delcy Rodríguez

Minister of People’s Power for Communication and Information

Rolando Corao

Vice-Minister for Communication and Information

William Castillo

Vice-Minister for Television

Francisco Pérez Santana

Vice-Minister for Radio

Felipe Saldivia

Vice-Minister for Printed Media

José Miguel España

Vice-Minister for Social Networking

Apr 04

2014

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The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, USAID, Whiteness & Aversive Racism

Bolivia Cuba Freedom House Haiti USAID Venezuela

USAID Subversion in Latin America Not Limited to Cuba

cepr

April 4, 2014

by Dan Beeton

A new investigation by the Associated Press into a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project to create a Twitter-style social media network in Cuba has received a lot of attention this week, with the news trending on the actual Twitter for much of the day yesterday when the story broke, and eliciting comment from various members of Congress and other policy makers. The “ZunZuneo” project, which AP reports was “aimed at undermining Cuba’s communist government,” was overseen by USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI). AP describes OTI as “a division that was created after the fall of the Soviet Union to promote U.S. interests in quickly changing political environments — without the usual red tape.” Its efforts to undermine the Cuban government are not unusual, however, considering the organization’s track record in other countries in the region.

As CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot described in an interview with radio station KPFA’s “Letters and Politics” yesterday, USAID and OTI in particular have engaged in various efforts to undermine the democratically-elected governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti, among others, and such “open societies” could be more likely to be impacted by such activities than Cuba. Declassified U.S. government documents show that USAID’s OTI in Venezuela played a central role in funding and working with groups and individuals following the short-lived 2002 coup d’etat against Hugo Chávez. A key contractor for USAID/OTI in that effort has been Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI).

More recent State Department cables made public by Wikileaks reveal that USAID/OTI subversion in Venezuela extended into the Obama administration era (until 2010, when funded for OTI in Venezuela appears to have ended), and DAI continued to play an important role. A State Department cable from November 2006 explains the U.S. embassy’s strategy in Venezuela and how USAID/OTI “activities support [the] strategy”:

(S) In August of 2004, Ambassador outlined the country team’s 5 point strategy to guide embassy activities in Venezuela for the period 2004 ) 2006 (specifically, from the referendum to the 2006 presidential elections). The strategy’s focus is: 1) Strengthening Democratic Institutions, 2) Penetrating Chavez’ Political Base, 3) Dividing Chavismo, 4) Protecting Vital US business, and 5) Isolating Chavez internationally.

Among the ways in which USAID/OTI have supported the strategy is through the funding and training of protest groups. This August 2009 cable cites the head of USAID/OTI contractor DAI’s Venezuela office Eduardo Fernandez as saying, during 2009 protests, that all the protest organizers are DAI grantees:

¶5. (S) Fernandez told DCM Caulfield that he believed the [the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps’] dual objective is to obtain information regarding DAI’s grantees and to cut off their funding. Fernandez said that “the streets are hot,” referring to growing protests against Chavez’s efforts to consolidate power, and “all these people (organizing the protests) are our grantees.” Fernandez has been leading non-partisan training and grant programs since 2004 for DAI in Venezuela.”

The November 2006 cable describes an example of USAID/OTI partners in Venezuela “shut[ting] down [a] city”:

11. (S) CECAVID: This project supported an NGO working with women in the informal sectors of Barquisimeto, the 5th largest city in Venezuela. The training helped them negotiate with city government to provide better working conditions. After initially agreeing to the women’s conditions, the city government reneged and the women shut down the city for 2 days forcing the mayor to return to the bargaining table. This project is now being replicated in another area of Venezuela.

The implications for the current situation in Venezuela are obvious, unless we are to assume that such activities have ended despite the tens of millions of dollars in USAID funds designated for Venezuela, some of it going through organizations such as Freedom House, and the International Republican Institute, some of which also funded groups involved in the 2002 coup (which prominent IRI staff publicly applauded at the time).

The same November 2006 cable notes that one OTI program goal is to bolster international support for the opposition:

…DAI has brought dozens of international leaders to Venezuela, university professors, NGO members, and political leaders to participate in workshops and seminars, who then return to their countries with a better understanding of the Venezuelan reality and as stronger advocates for the Venezuelan opposition.

Many of the thousands of cables originating from the U.S. embassy in Caracas that have been made available by Wikileaks describe regular communication and coordination with prominent opposition leaders and groups. One particular favorite has been the NGO Súmate and its leader Maria Corina Machado, who has made headlines over the past two months for her role in the protest movement. The cables show that Machado historically has taken more extreme positions than some other opposition leaders, and the embassy has at least privately questioned Súmate’s strategy of discrediting Venezuela’s electoral system which in turn has contributed to opposition defeats at the polls (most notably in 2005 when an opposition boycott led to complete Chavista domination of the National Assembly). The current protests are no different; Machado and Leopoldo López launched “La Salida” campaign at the end of January with its stated goal of forcing president Nicolás Maduro from office, and vowing to “create chaos in the streets.”

USAID support for destabilization is no secret to the targeted governments. In September 2008, in the midst of a violent, racist and pro-secessionist campaign against the democratically-elected government of Evo Morales in Bolivia, Morales expelled the U.S. Ambassador, and Venezuela followed suit “in solidarity.” Bolivia would later end all USAID involvement in Bolivia after the agency refused to disclose whom it was funding in the country (Freedom of Information Act requests had been independently filed but were not answered). The U.S. embassy in Bolivia had previously been caught asking Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbright scholars in the country to engage in espionage.

Commenting on the failed USAID/OTI ZunZuneo program in Cuba, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) commented that, “That is not what USAID should be doing[.] USAID is flying the American flag and should be recognized around the globe as an honest broker of doing good. If they start participating in covert, subversive activities, the credibility of the United States is diminished.”

But USAID’s track record of engaging in subversive activities is a long one, and U.S. credibility as an “honest broker” was lost many years ago.

Feb 22

2014

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Foundations, Non-Profit Industrial Complex, Otpor | Canvas, The International Campaign to Destabilize Bolivia, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, The Occupation of Haiti, Whiteness & Aversive Racism

Bolivia CANVAS Freedom House Haiti International Republican Institute (IRI) National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Orange Revolution Otpor Serbia Stratfor Ukraine USAID Venezuela ZIMBABWE

How Oppositionist Organizations Act Worldwide – From Egypt to Venezuela

The American Revolution

The American Revolution (June 18, 2012) | Written by Natalia Viana of Pública | Republished in English on the website In Serbia by Vladimir Stoiljkovic on Nov 24, 2013.

[*This article has been translated by a volunteer translator. Read the original article in Portuguese here. ]

In one of the Wikileaks leakage – in which Pública (not-for-profit investigative journalism center in Brazil, founded by a team of women journalists) had access – shows the founder of this organization communicating often with analysts from Stratfor, an organization that mixes journalism, political analysis and espionage methods to sell “intel analysis” to clients such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Coca-Cola and Dow Chemical – who monitored environmentalists’ activities who opposed them – as well as U.S. Navy. →

Feb 22

2014

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Foundations, Non-Profit Industrial Complex, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, Whiteness & Aversive Racism, Wilderness Society

USAID Venezuela

FLASHBACK: Um espiao indiscreto contra Chavez

Publica

March 18, 2013

Por Natalia Viana

Pública segue o rastro de um espião machista e temperamental enviado pela USAID para distribuir dinheiro à oposição venezuelana e dividir o chavismo

Eduardo Fernandez é um nome comum. Tão comum que é impossível encontrar informações sobre um determinado Eduardo dentre milhares deles em dezenas de países da América Latina. Mas o argentino-americano Eduardo Fernandez não é um homem nada comum. Entre 2004 e 2009, era ele quem dirigia o Development Alternatives (DAI) em Caracas, que recebia milhões de dólares da Usaid para seguir o plano estabelecido pelo Departamento de Estado dos EUA para a Venezuela: fortalecer grupos de oposição, dividir o chavismo e isolar Hugo Chávez internacionalmente. (Leia mais sobre a estratégia da USAID)

O papel de Fernandez talvez passasse despercebido como o nome comum, não fosse o seu temperamento explosivo, desbragadamente machista e indiscreto – o que o levou a ser investigado por comportamento impróprio na empresa em que trabalhava – e seu sumiço da noite para o dia da Venezuela.

Como relataram seus ex-funcionários, ele era do tipo que se referia às mulheres colocando as mãos sobre os próprios peitos, para sugerir seios fartos, e chegou a dizer que o escritório da DAI em El Rosal, Caracas, era “ineficiente como um bordel”. Diante do caso de uma funcionária grávida, reagiu: “Se vocês conseguissem segurar uma pílula entre os joelhos, eu não teria que gastar dinheiro pagando por licença-maternidade”. Outra funcionária ficou tão desconcertada com os olhares sedentos do chefe à sua saia, que resolveu fechar a fenda com um clipes de papel. Dias depois Fernandez perguntou quando ela iria usar “aquela saia com o clipes” de novo.

Mas Fernandez é assim mesmo e não pretende mudar, como afirmou durante a investigação interna da DAI. De tão indiscreto, foi ele quem deixou o rastro das atividades da DAI na Venezuela, três anos depois de sua equipe ter se retirado às pressas do país, em 2009. Graças e ele uma longa lista de documentos que revelam em detalhes o trabalho da DAI pode ser consultada na internet, no processo de US$ 600 mil que a ex-diretora Heather Rome move contra a empresa por não ter tomado nenhuma atitude contra Fernandez apesar de suas repetidas reclamações. Os documentos da justiça de Maryland, nos EUA, foram vazados pelo jornalista americano Tracey Eaton, do blog Along the Malecon.

São mais de 300 páginas de documentos sobre o diretor da empresa que atuou num dos principais QGs anti-Chávez plantados pelos EUA em Caracas. “As reclamações que eu recebia das funcionárias venezuelanas iam ao ponto de elas virem chorar em meu escritório, o que reduzia a produtividade”, conta Heather no seu depoimento. “Várias pessoas falavam que seu sentimento era: ‘temos orgulho de estar trabalhando neste projeto, nós preenchemos os cheques e sabemos quanto dinheiro está sendo gasto. O governo dos EUA está trabalhando muito duro, e a DAI está nos ajudando a mudar a situação do nosso país para torná-lo mais democrático do que Chávez quer. Mas não entendemos como eles podem fortalecer a sociedade civil quando temos nosso próprio mini-Chávez aqui no escritório, e eles não ligam’”.

Alan Gross: sua prisão em Cuba revelou a existência da DAI

Entre 2002 e 2009 a Usaid distribuiu cerca US$ 95,7 milhões de dólares a organizações de oposição venezuelana através do seu Escritório de Iniciativas de Transição (OTI, em inglês), aberto no país dois meses após o fracassado golpe de estado contra Hugo Chavéz.

Simultaneamente, instalou-se no país a empresa Development Alternatives, uma das maiores contratistas da Usaid para gerenciar fundos de assistência no exterior, o que desde o governo Bush vem sendo feito pela iniciativa privada. A empresa, que costuma atuar nos bastidores, passou a ser conhecida no cenário latinoamericano em dezembro de 2009, quando Alan Gross, um de seus funcionários, foi preso em Cuba ao distribuir celulares e equipamentos de comunicação via satélite à dissidência cubana. Gross foi condenado a 15 anos de prisão por atos “contra a segurança nacional” de Cuba.

Na Venezuela, a DAI, cujo slogan é “moldando um mundo mais habitável”, foi a principal responsável pela distribuição de pequenos financiamentos da Usaid a diversas organizações da sociedade civil, seguindo a estratégia traçada pelo Departamento de Estado e pela missão diplomática no país de dividir o chavismo, infiltrar-se na sua base política e isolar Chávez internacionalmente.

No escritório em Caracas, situado entre a rua Guaicaipuro e a Mohedano, trabalhavam 18 venezuelanos de tendência anti-chavista e dois diretores americanos – Eduardo Fernandez era um deles e passou a dirigir o escritório em 2004. O currículo de Heather Rome, anexado ao processo, explica que a diretora assistente, também americana, chegou ao país em julho de 2005 para supervisionar a administração das doações a ONGs em um programa de US$ 18 milhões de dólares. Segundo seu currículo, Heather, que era subalterna a Fernandezn trabalhava “em colaboração com o embaixador americano William Brownfield”. Brownfield ocupou o cargo entre 2004 e 2007 e elaborou uma sucinta estratégia de 5 pontos para acabar com o governo Chávez em médio prazo.

Os programas mantidos pelas doações destinavam-se principalmente a “facilitar o diálogo entre segmentos da sociedade que dificilmente se sentariam juntos para discutir temas de interesse mútuo”, segundo um documento diplomático enviado ao Departamento de Estado em 13 de julho de 2004. Ou seja, unir a oposição. Um dos principais projetos era o “Venezuela Convive” que, segundo o documento diplomático, buscava “encorajar o conceito de convivência pacífica entre indivíduos e organizações com fortes opiniões contrastantes – um valor que a maioria dos venezuelanos respeita e que é considerado sob ataque no atual clima de intolerância política” – promovida pelo governo Chávez, segundo a embaixada.

Em 24 de fevereiro de 2006, em outro despacho diplomático, o ex-embaixador Brownfield explica que os financiamentos da DAI “apoiam instituições democráticas, incentivam o debate público, e demonstram o engajamento dos EUA na luta contra a pobreza na Venezuela”. Para William Brownfield, fortalecer a sociedade civil era essencial para isolar Chávez internacionalmente, levando para a arena internacional “os sérios problemas de direitos humanos no país”. Dois exemplos neste sentido, que receberam financiamento através da DAI, são o Centro de Direitos Humanos da Universidade Central da Venezuela e os projetos do IPYS, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad de jornalismo investigativo e de uma Lei de Acesso à Informação venezuelana.

Grosso e machista, o chefão da DAI tinha apoio da Usaid

O temperamental Eduardo Fernandez era uma peça fundamental nessa engrenagem, e contava com o apoio incondicional da Usaid. Tanto é que, mesmo depois de uma investigação interna da DAI em 2008 ter comprovado que Fernandez, no mínimo, assediava moralmente seus funcionários, gritando com eles, e que “destrataria um homem tão rapidamente quando uma mulher”, a DAI resolveu mantê-lo no cargo. E demitir Heather Rome. “A última coisa que eu preciso é ter de novo caos e desobediência no escritório”, escreveu Fernandez em um email à gerência da empresa.

No final de abril de 2008, o supervisor da Usaid para o programa da Venezuela, Russel Porter, ligou pessoalmente para o diretor da DAI, Mike Godfrey, para congratulá-lo pelo trabalho na Venezuela. Godfrey descreve, em um email constante no processo, que Porter voltara de uma visita ao país bastante satisfeito. “Russel queria especificamente relatar sua satisfação com o time sênior em Caracas – Erin Upton-Cosulich e Eduardo Fernandez. Fez questão de destacar que eles trabalham bem juntos, que o ambiente está mais harmonioso e que os dois conseguiram engajar toda a equipe de modo mais eficiente. Ele tem esperanças que isso continue”.

Eduardo Fernandez, portanto, seguiu sendo o chefe.

Um ano depois, porém, as coisas não estavam tão “harmoniosas” no escritório. O governo venezuelano acabava da abrir uma investigação contra empresa e contra seu diretor. No dia 27 de agosto de 2009, um consternado Eduardo Fernandez se reuniu com o pessoal da embaixada americana para pedir socorro.

A polícia bate à porta da empresa de Fernandez

No dia anterior, uma quarta-feira, policiais venezuelanos bateram à porta da DAI com intimações para que Eduardo Fernandez e Heather Rome prestassem depoimento na semana seguinte perante a divisão de Crimes Contra a Riqueza Nacional do Corpo de Investigações Científicas, Penais e Criminalísticas (CICPC).

Os policiais – que foram “profissionais” e “educados” segundo Fernandez – disseram que a investigação fora iniciada pela Superintêndencia de Bancos após a detecção de “transferências incomumente grandes” de dinheiro em 2007 e 2008, conforme o despacho diplomático do embaixador dos EUA na Venezuela durante o governo Bush, Patrick Duddy, que já havia sido embaixador antes de Brownfield, mas fora expulso do país por Hugo Chávez antes de voltar como enviado de Obama.

“Isso [as grandes transferências de dinheiro] coincidiu com o referendo constitucional de 2007 e com as eleições nacionais, estaduais e locais em 2008”, escreveu Duddy.

O foco da investigação venezuelana era a origem dos fundos, os objetivos da DAI no país, seu status fiscal e o destino do dinheiro. Segundo os policiais, a investigação seria “longa e profunda” e envolveria também as autoridades fiscal e imigratória do governo venezuelano.

Fernandez estava em Caracas com um visto oficial cedido a pedido da diplomacia americana, porém vencido desde março de 2009. A embaixada pedira sua renovação, mas o passaporte foi retido sem explicações pelo Ministério de Relações Exteriores até o final de agosto. “Fernandez não tem outra forma de identidade venezuelana. Ele continua com seus passaportes americano e argentino”, escreveu o embaixador, pedindo orientações sobre o caso ao Departamento de Estado americano, então comandado por Hillary Clinton.

E explicava: “Como parte dos seus acordos de financiamento, a DAI se compromete a proteger a identidade de todos os beneficiários. Os arquivos da DAI são estruturados de maneira que a informação financeira pode ser liberada sem comprometer as identidades”, detalhava Duddy. “Dito isso, a DAI tem 50 caixas de arquivos no seu escritório que contêm informações sensíveis e que podem ser apreendidas”, alertava.

“As ruas estão quentes”, dizia Fernandez sobre protestos de financiados da DAI

Fernandez acreditava que o objetivo da investigação era coletar informações sobre as organizações financiadas pela DAI e, ao mesmo tempo, interromper o fluxo de recursos para elas. “As ruas estão quentes”, disse ele ao pessoal da embaixada, sobre crescentes protestos anti-Chávez. “Todas essas pessoas (organizando os protestos) são nossos financiados”. E afirmava que não queria abandonar o time, deixando o país, avisando que iriam pedir uma extensão de prazo para se apresentar à polícia.

No seu despacho, o embaixador pede orientações bem específicas a Washington, perguntando se Fernandez tinha “alguma imunidade baseada em seu passaporte oficial e em seu visto, ou se ele deveria comparecer ao CICP ou diante de outras autoridades venezuelanas”; e “se o Sr. Fernandez deveria revelar alguma informação, e se sim, qual”.

Duddy também queria saber “o que a DAI deveria fazer com suas 50 caixas de documentos, alguns dos quais contém nomes das pessoas que dirigem as organizações financiadas pela DAI”. E, por fim, pergunta se a embaixada deveria ajudar Fernandez a fugir: “Se o Sr. Fernandez é considerado alguém que trabalha em nome dos EUA, ele deve permanecer no país ou tentar sair da Venezuela antes da entrevista com a polícia em 1 de setembro?”.

Aonde anda Eduardo?

Não há registro da resposta de Hillary Clinton nos documentos do WikiLeaks nem no site da DAI. Mas, no processo movido por Rome, a advogada da empresa não poderia ter sido mais clara a respeito da final da missão de Fernandez na Venezuela. No final de agosto do ano passado, em uma audiência em Maryland, nos Estados Unidos, onde o caso se desenrola, Kathleen M. Williams alegou que por se tratar “de um cliente novo” seria muito difícil levantar documentos relativos a seu período de trabalho na Venezuela: “A DAI abandonou o local muito apressadamente em 2009. Muitos arquivos não estão mais lá.” E volta a insistir no assunto, na conversa com o advogado de acusação: “Não sei se esses documentos existem. Não sei se eles foram abandonados da Venezuela. Eu sei que eles abandonaram um montão de informação na Venezuela”.

No mesmo diálogo, transcrito no processo, o advogado da acusação diz que o maior problema é que “Fernandez desapareceu”. Kathleen interrompe: “Não é verdade. Ele está neste país. Ele vive em Maryland”. A advogada, no entanto, nega estar em contato com ele e recusa uma intimação em seu nome.

É a ultima menção oficial da DAI a Eduardo Fernandez, o homem incomum de nome comum que tinha papel tão relevante nas tentativas dos EUA de desestabilizar o governo venezuelano. Outro Eduardo Fernandez foi contratado pela DAI, em março de 2012, para seu escritório no México. O homônimo, ex-ministro de finanças da Colômbia, herdou o email oficial do argentino-americano Fernandez que atuou na Venezuela até o escritório fechar: deste não há nenhuma notícia no site da DAI que, contatada pela Pública, não se pronunciou até a publicação desta reportagem.

Também não há menção a ele nos sites da USAID ou da OTI. O mesmo nome, Eduardo Fernandez, porém, figurou no site de outra empresa que faz trabalho semelhante à DAI – a Casals & Associates -, principal contratista da Usaid no Paraguai, encarregada deadministrar mais de US$ 30 milhões em doações antes da destituição de Fernando Lugo. Fundada por uma dissidente cubana, a Casals já havia distribuído mais de US$ 13 milhões para projetos que fortaleciam a oposição a Evo Morales na Bolívia.

No site da Casals o nome Eduardo Fernandez aparece em janeiro de 2012 e some em junho de 2012 – mês em que foi decretado o impeachment de Lugo no Paraguai. Um mês depois foi a vez da própria Casals desaparecer do bonito casarão que ocupava na rua Bernardino Caballero 168, em Assunção, aparentemente com a mesma pressa que a DAI desocupou suas instalações na Venezuela.

Feb 22

2014

newWKOGadnim

Otpor | Canvas, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela

CANVAS JAVU Otpor Soros Venezuela

Internazionale: In Venezuela, Otpor e Javu

Ingerenze. Gli scontri del 12 febbraio richiamano tattiche già viste nella ex-Jugoslavia

February 17, 2014

by Geraldina Colotti

*Militante di Javu, il cui nome e numero telefonico compaiono nelle reti sociali*
Chi si rivede, Otpor, o meglio Javu, a cui il gruppo venezuelano dice essere «orgogliosamente» affiliato. Javu (Juventud Activa Venezuela Unida) è un gruppuscolo di estrema destra, in prima fila nelle violenze postelettorali del 14 aprile, e ora nelle manifestazioni per la «salida» di Maduro. Otpor si dette da fare nel 2000 nell’allora Jugoslavia, sospinto da un finanziamento Usa multimilionario, ed è tornato in scena nelle «primavere arabe». E ora è in Venezuela, osannato da quei grandi media che chiedono la forca contro i «violenti» di casa propria.

OtporInVenezuela — *Militante di Javu, il cui nome e numero telefonico compaiono nelle reti sociali*
Chi si rivede, Otpor, o meglio Javu, a cui il gruppo venezuelano dice essere «orgogliosamente» affiliato. Javu (Juventud Activa Venezuela Unida) è un gruppuscolo di estrema destra, in prima fila nelle violenze postelettorali del 14 aprile, e ora nelle manifestazioni per la «salida» di Maduro. Otpor si dette da fare nel 2000 nell’allora Jugoslavia, sospinto da un finanziamento Usa multimilionario, ed è tornato in scena nelle «primavere arabe». E ora è in Venezuela, osannato da quei grandi media che chiedono la forca contro i «violenti» di casa propria.

Feb 22

2014

newWKOGadnim

Non-Profit Industrial Complex, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, Whiteness & Aversive Racism

International Republican Institute (IRI) National Democratic institute (NDI) National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI) US Agency for International Development (USAID)

Venezuela Beyond the Protests: The Revolution is Here to Stay

Postcards from the Revolution

February 20, 2014

By Eva Golinger

Hundreds of thousands march against US-backed destabilisation in Venezuela.

For those of you unfamiliar with Venezuelan issues, don’t let the title of this article fool you. The revolution referred to is not what most media outlets are showing taking place today in Caracas, with protestors calling for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The revolution that is here to stay is the Bolivarian Revolution, which began in 1998 when Hugo Chavez was first elected president and has subsequently transformed the mega oil producing nation into a socially-focused, progressive country with a grassroots government. Demonstrations taking place over the past few days in Venezuela are attempts to undermine and destroy that transformation in order to return power to the hands of the elite who ruled the nation previously for over 40 years.

Those protesting do not represent Venezuela’s vast working class majority that struggled to overcome the oppressive exclusion they were subjected to during administrations before Chavez. The youth taking to the streets today in Caracas and other cities throughout the country, hiding their faces behind masks and balaclavas, destroying public buildings, vehicles, burning garbage, violently blocking transit and throwing rocks and molotov cocktails at security forces are being driven by extremist right-wing interests from Venezuela’s wealthiest sector. Led by hardline neoconservatives, Leopoldo Lopez, Henrique Capriles and Maria Corina Machado – who come from three of the wealthiest families in Venezuela, the 1% of the 1% – the protesters seek not to revindicate their basic fundamental rights, or gain access to free healthcare or education, all of which are guaranteed by the state, thanks to Chavez, but rather are attempting to spiral the country into a state of ungovernability that would justify an international intervention leading to regime change. →

Feb 10

2014

newWKOGadnim

Foundations, Non-Profit Industrial Complex, The International Campaign to Destabilize Bolivia, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, Whiteness & Aversive Racism

Bolivia Carlos Alberto Montaner CELAC Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) CIA Cuba International Republican Institute (IRI) Julio Rodriguez Salas Omega 7 Ramon Saul Sanchez Venezuela

U.S. Turning into Latin America’s Backyard

Strategic Culture Foundation Feb 2, 2014 by Nil NIKANDROV

President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro speaks during the second Summit of The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in Havana, Cuba, on Jan. 29, 2014. The CELAC has declared the region a nuclear-free zone, Cuban leader Raul Castro announced Wednesday on the final day of the summit in Havana. (Xinhua/AVN)

The second summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) January 28-29 aroused great interest, first and foremost because this organization of Western Hemisphere countries does not include the U.S. or Canada. The Community was created after multiple attempts by countries in the region to democratize the Organization of American States (OAS), which is under the strict control of the U.S. and has more than once been used for repressive purposes against regimes undesirable to Washington. Attempts by the Bush and Obama administrations to use the OAS to «finish off the Castro regime», «neutralize» Hugo Chavez, etc. totally compromised this previously reliable tool of the Empire. It was Chavez who in the last years of his life worked on reforming regional organizations and creating counterweights to the United States in the Western Hemisphere. In accomplishing this complex task he was assisted by Argentinian leader Nestor Kirchner, Brazil’s Inacio Lula da Silva, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, Bolivia’s Evo Morales and other statesmen of Latin America. The first CELAC forum, in which 33 countries participated, took place in Caracas in December 2011, and Chavez, in a speech at its opening, plainly declared that this political alliance was being created in order to «become the most influential center of power in the 21st century». He was supported by many presidents. Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega spoke the most decisively, stating that the existence of CELAC is «the death sentence for the Monroe Doctrine». The State Department declared its position with regard to CELAC in 2011 as well, stating that it would continue «to work through the OAS as the preeminent multilateral organization speaking for the hemisphere». Washington is trying not to permit the formation of competing centers of power in the region. It is using all the means at its disposal and focusing on the tried and true strategy of «divide and conquer». There is a «fifth column» of conservative presidents who serve the interests of the oligarchs and monopolies and, keeping their own personal interests in mind, follow in the wake of Washington. When needed, these U.S. allies can be used to block any decision of CELAC, considering the principle of unanimity set down in the founding documents. Raul Castro, president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba, became the president of CELAC in 2013. When taking the reins from his predecessor, Chile’s Sebastian Pinera, Castro stated that he would work for the good of peace, justice, development and mutual understanding between all the peoples of the Latin American continent. «We will act in full accordance with the norms of international law, the Charter of the UN and the basic principles of interstate relations», said Castro. The Cubans have worked fruitfully to prepare around thirty documents for the summit in Havana. Of great significance for the strengthening of CELAC’s authority is a declaration affirming that Latin America and the Caribbean Basin remain a zone free from nuclear weapons. Of great significance for the strengthening of CELAC’s authority is a declaration affirming that Latin America and the Caribbean Basin remain a zone free from nuclear weapons.This document was adopted in addition to the Treaty of Tlatelolco (1967), which prohibited nuclear weapons in the region. This is because the treaty was being systematically violated by the United States and England, whose atomic submarines would anchor off the coast of the continent fully armed. Information that nuclear warheads are being stockpiled at the English military base at Mount Pleasant on the Maldives, with the agreement of the Pentagon, is also troubling. The 70 U.S. military bases located in the region are a threat to peace as well. Some of them are functioning at full capacity (for example, in Colombia and Honduras), while others have been set aside for the future. The base at Guantanamo, Cuba has long ago become a symbol of the «fascisization» of the United States. The prisoners there, who are being held without due process, are subjected to physical and psychological torture. Many have urged the Obama administration to stop this inhuman practice, but as always, there has been no reaction. It was confirmed at the summit that controversies and conflicts between CELAC member countries would be resolved through negotiations in order to be permanently rid of the use of force in regions where there are old territorial disputes. There were also discussions, traditional for Latin American conventions, of such topics as fighting hunger, poverty, social inequality and drug trafficking. Here there have been positive changes, first of all in the countries of ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America. Solidarity with Cuba and the condemnation of the U.S. economic blockade is another constant topic of Latin American forums. This fundamental position is also set down in the documents of the summit. Several speeches condemned U.S. mass espionage, especially by the NSA. Surveillance was (and is) being conducted of all the countries of the region without exception. Even such seemingly trusted allies as Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica are under the magnifying glass of U.S. intelligence. The necessity of creating an electronic communications system which is well-protected from outside intrusion and a «Latin American Internet» was spoken of in particular by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. The creation of a China-CELAC forum was approved. The topic of China at the summit testifies to the great success of China’s financial and economic penetration into the region. The scale of Beijing’s work toward undermining U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere is stunning. Practically all of the countries on the continent, from Belize to Uruguay and from Mexico to Chile, have thrown open their doors to Chinese capital. More and more frequently the opinion is heard that the U.S. is a colossus with feet of clay. Therefore the stake of both «right» and «left» Latin American governments on China is justified. The Latin Americans are deftly making use of the geopolitical confrontation between the old (decrepit) and new superpowers for their own interests. The discussion at the summit of the possibility of granting Puerto Rico full membership in CELAC also has negative implications for the U.S. This is practically a declaration of the need to grant Puerto Rico independence. Its semi-colonial status as a «free associated state» is a holdover from the past. Patriotic forces in Puerto Rico have been resisting imperial dictates for decades. The support of CELAC gives them additional opportunities to debunk manipulations in the propaganda war trying to prove that the citizens of Puerto Rico «en masse» are in favor of turning their country into yet another U.S. state. The Obama administration organized a counter-summit in Miami using ultra-right activists in order to distract attention from what is going on at the Havana forum.The Obama administration organized a counter-summit in Miami using ultra-right activists in order to distract attention from what is going on at the Havana forum. The initiators of the event were the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL), organizations created by the CIA for conducting subversive operations. In this particular case, people who have long ago been revealed to be terrorists and paid agents of U.S. intelligence are doing the Empire’s dirty work, attacking Cuba and Latin American «populists». Among them is Carlos Alberto Montaner, who calls himself a «publicist». His career as a «bombista» began in the first years of the Cuban revolution. Many people in movie theaters and shopping centers in Havana have died by his hand. Ramon Saul Sanchez is no different; he is a former member of the terrorist group Omega 7 who organized a bombing at the Cuban consulate in Montreal and threw explosives into the car of the Cuban Ambassador to the UN. Julio Rodriguez Salas, a former Venezuelan military officer and an agent of U.S. military intelligence, can boast of similar feats; he participated in the plot to overthrow Chavez in April 2002. →

Feb 05

2014

newWKOGadnim

Human Rights Watch, Humanitarian Agencies, Imperialist Wars/Occupations, Non-Profit Industrial Complex, The International Campaign to Destabilize Bolivia, The International Campaign to Destabilize Syria, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela

Bolivia Coloured Revolutions Cuba Destabilizations Egypt Eritrea Imperialism Seychelles Syria Thailand Ukraine ZIMBABWE

How the West Manufactures “Opposition Movements”

WKOG admin.: Feb 6, 2014. Due to conflicting assessments of the complicated political situation in Thailand, we would like to share with our readers alternative analysis that differ, or are in stark contrast from, the authors assessment in the article below.We welcome your comments.

Dec 3, 2013: THE ROVING EYE, Thai protests turn a darker color, by Pepe Escobar

Feb 5, 2014: Thailand: The People Have Spoken – No Confidence in Regime or System, by Tony Cartelli

From Egypt, Ukraine, the Turkish-Syrian border, Cuba and Thailand

Counterpunch

FEBRUARY 03, 2014

by ANDRE VLTCHEK

Government buildings are being trashed, ransacked. It is happening in Kiev and Bangkok, and in both cities, the governments appear to be toothless, too scared to intervene.

What is going on? Are popularly elected administrations all over the world becoming irrelevant; as the Western regime creates and then supports thuggish ‘opposition movements’ designed to destabilize any state that stands in the way of its desire to fully control the planet? →

Feb 05

2014

newWKOGadnim

Foundations, Human Rights Watch, Non-Profit Industrial Complex, The International Campaign to Destabilize Venezuela, Whiteness & Aversive Racism

Human Rights Watch Venezuela

Latest Human Rights Watch Report: 30 Lies about Venezuela

El espíritu del 4F es idealismo, coraje, decisión para la lucha por la causa popular.

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM

January 23, 2014

By TAMARA PEARSON

Jose Vivanco, HRW Americas division head (archive)

In the six pages that HRW dedicates to Venezuela in its World Report 2014, released this week, it manages to tell at least 30 serious lies, distortions, and omissions. Pointing out these lies is important, because many people believe that HRW is a neutral authority on human rights, and the mainstream press publish articles and headlines based on HRW report conclusions. Here are some of the headlines in both English and Spanish (translated to English) that have come out of the 2014 report:

Global Post – Venezuela intimidates opponents, media: HRW report , PanAm Post – Human Rights Watch: A black eye for Latin America , AFP – HRW criticises Venezuela in its annual report on human rights, El Economista – HRW: Democracy in Venezuela is fictitious, El Universal – Human Rights Watch report denounces persecution of media in Venezuela, El Siglo – Human Rights Watch: Venezuela is an example of “fictitious democracies”, El Colombiano: HRW describes Venezuela as a fictitious democracy , NTN24 – HRW warns that Venezuelan government applies “arbitrary” measures against media that is critical of its policies

The headlines which talk about a “fictitious” or “feigned” democracy, are referring to the start of the report, where HRW put Venezuela, along with other countries, under the category of “abusive majoritarianism”. There, HRW provides a very limited definition of democracy; “periodic elections, the rule of law, and respect for the human rights of all” and argues that Venezuela has adopted “the form but not the substance of democracy”. HRW cites Diosdado Cabello not letting legislators who didn’t recognise democratically elected President Maduro speak in parliament – yet the punishment seems soft, considering the crime. →

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Discurso de Marta Harnecker al recibir el Premio Libertador al Pensamiento Crítico 2013

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Ingerenze. Gli scontri del 12 febbraio richiamano tattiche già viste nella ex-Jugoslavia

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