Posted on 10/15/2004 6:05:57 AM PDT by OESY
...Chávez has accused four Súmate leaders of treason.... Their crime, according to the president and his henchmen, is accepting funding from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, a bipartisan agency that promotes democracy abroad. Chávez sees the NED as an organ of his enemy, the U.S. government.
For several years now Chávez has been trying to pick a fight with the Bush administration by using hateful rhetoric. The administration, perhaps wisely, has largely ignored the noises coming from Caracas. But with four brave and innocent democrats accused of conspiring with the U.S. to overthrow the Venezuelan government, it's clearly time for a more vigorous U.S. policy. The Súmate four have acted in good faith and undoubtedly believed that the Free World would support their work.
Súmate's real crime has been its effectiveness in challenging Chávez's increasingly authoritarian rule. Two months after the fact, a debate still rages over whether Chávez rigged the August recall vote. What cannot be disputed is that even a minimum standard for transparency was not met. Statistical analyses by researchers at Harvard and MIT show a high level of improbability that the vote samples released by the regime actually reflected the overall count. Since the only independent "oversight" allowed was hopelessly inept, we'll probably never know if the election was stolen.
Chávez in his usual Yankee-baiting style claims that Súmate is backed by regime-change hawks at the U.S. State Department and the NED. Yet neither institution backed the Súmate complaint that the referendum was neither free nor fair.
After the Carter Center and Organization of American States rushed to bless the process and accept the government's tally, Mr. Carter claims he called Secretary of State Colin Powell to advise him that all went swimmingly. The State Department quickly endorsed the government's claim of victory....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Carter declares that Chavez was fairly elected in a democratic election. Assuming this is the case, Chavez has proven that democracy does not necessarily imply freedom.
The State Department quickly endorsed the government's claim of victory....
If the State Department had not forced Bush to retract his support for the group that had Chavez bundled up and sitting at the airport ready to go into exile a couple of years ago, we wouldn't be in this situation now. The State Department is really bungling VZ, and I hope a more aggressive approach is taken. Of course, if Kerry wins, the unfortunate Venezuelans are toast.
hello sir,
I agree 2000% with your indictment of the former president - my feeling on this, I can only best describe in the language of parents:
Carter es un TRAIDOR(!!!) - su vision es ver la derrota y destruccion de mi nacion, los ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA.
To my last breath, I stand completely against him and against all oppose freedom.
CGVet58
Who knew Chavez was a Red Sox fan?
Just like his presidency was.
the only good thing that can be said about the situation is that assuming Chavez is not the Anti-Christ, he is mortal. Of course, so is Castro, and he's been around for almost 50 years now.
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