Saturday, February 18, 2006
The New York Times via Reuters reports Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice recently declared Pres. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela must be confronted by the international community (i.e. lovers of freedom) and exposed as a tyrant.
Of course, Chavez has been inconveniently elected by the people twice, lest we forget the Bush administration endorsed the illegitimate coup against him only a few years ago.
The latest not-so-brilliant plan by Rice is to "inoculate" the administration from Venezuelan high jinks by beseeching the world to speak out with one voice against the agent provocateur and his un-democratic government.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, the United States continues to trade with Venezuela to the tune of 55.6 percent of that country's total exports and 28.8 percent of total imports, according to the latest statistics by the CIA.
Apparently Rice has been calling and asking countries that have friendly relations with Venezuela to stop being so chummy.
"She's calling foreign ministers, she's called Spain, she has called Brazil, good friends of ours, and Austria, to warn them about Venezuela, to form a block against Venezuela,'' Chavez told reporters outside Miraflores Presidential Palace.As one can imagine, Chavez is not a happy trading partner; and with this latest verbal strike, he has decided to do some striking on his own. ABC, once again via Reuters, quotes Chavez warning the US to back off.
Prensa Latina, a Latin American news agency also offers proof positive that Venezuela is equal to the task of framing an issue as anything conceived by Karl Rove.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on Friday that the United States would get no more Venezuelan oil if Washington "crossed the line" as relations between the two governments deteriorated in an escalating war of words.
[...]
The U.S. government should know that if they cross the line they will not have any Venezuelan oil," Chavez said at a public event. "I have started taking measures in that respect. I'm not going to say what," he said.
Rice is "urg[ing] labor movements to back striking [trucking] workers" and has condemned Chavez for bringing to justice the people who tried to overthrow him; they have been charged with treason.Venezuelan National Assembly President Nicolas Maduro exposed a US plot to generate chaos in his country by manipulating the transportation sector.
Maduro said no foreign news agency has referred to the matter, and added the issue to the list of deceptions orchestrated by the Bush Administration.
He wondered aloud if the US is paying to organize a strike, as they did a few years back in Chile. The leader hinted they may be hiring assassins to kill drivers and worsen the conflict.
The murder of a driver by organized crime led to a partial strike and a meeting in Congress with 1,500 drivers.
[...]
Transportation leaders from opposition Accion Democratica Party, facing a poor turn-out, urged for an alliance with the US, a gesture considered an attempt to provoke chaos.
But according to Venezuelan authority, there is no strike; and Rice's statements are simply a call to chaos.
"Venezuela’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Relations with North America, Mary Pili Hernandez, responded to Rice’s comments today, denying that there currently is a truckers' strike in Venezuela," reported Venezuelananalysis.com, a news Web site dedicated to news, views and analysis from a Venezuelan perspective.I suppose one country's "inoculation" could be another country's incitement to "chaos." It just depends on who is doing the talking. But one can certainly understand why Chavez might want to charge the good folks who tried to overthrow him with treason, no...?
On their Web site, Truthout has a series of links with articles about Venezuela.
