Sabotaging Venezuelan Democracy

Editor’s Comment: In recent weeks we have been watching Venezuelan students gathering in Caracas for noisy protests against the Constitutional Reform slated for a vote on December 2nd. Two days ago they marched to the National Assembly where they presented a paper documenting their rejection of the reforms. While they performed loudly, the demonstration was carried out without violence. The police and national guard quietly provided security on the perimeter of the crowd without any intrusion into the crowd and without any form of suppression. All of this stands in stark contrast to the many anti-war demonstrations in the U.S. where police brutality and oppression of free speech are commonplace. The participants in these protests are primarily drawn from upper middle class and upper class students who otherwise benefit enormously from the Chávez administration. In an Axis of Logic interview yesterday, Venezuelan journalist Arturo Rosales stated, “These are the people who would have been leaders in government had it not been for the defeat of the U.S.-backed oligarchy in the nonviolent, democratic Bolivarian Revolution.

These Constitutional Reforms have been debated and considered in many open, public meetings throughout Venezuela for months with full participation by the people, members of all political parties and the Deputies from the National Assembly, consistent with Venezuela’s existing democratic constitution. The student protests are broadcast and magnified on a daily basis on Globo-Vision and other anti-government television stations and print media. Meanwhile, authorities have informed us that the people will respond with a massive pro-government demonstration that will dwarf the few hundred students this Sunday in Caracas. Over a million people are expected in this pro-government march and demonstration but we can rest assured that the anti-government media here and in the U.S. will provide little to no coverage of events.

The student protests and media coverage are funded by the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington within the framework of CIA strategies being advanced to interfere in the domestic affairs of Venezuela. This U.S. funding and support for the student demonstrations reveals the continuing attempts by Washington to discredit and bring down the government that has been democratically elected by an overwhelming majority of the people. Most recently, this interference by the U.S. government can be traced directly to the meeting held in Prague by Condaleeza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz and others working for the U.S. State Department.

We thank investigative journalist, Jesús Moreno (author) and Iris Buehler (Tlaxcala translator) for this report.

– Les Blough, Editor