Will Venezuelan Destabilization Follow the Honduran Coup?

After ten and a half years in office, Hugo Chavez is very savvy about America's intentions. On January 17, even before Obama's inauguration, he said "Barack Obama has the 'stench' of his predecessor as US president and was at risk of being killed if he tries to change the American 'empire.' "

He added that frayed ties with Washington were unlikely to improve despite the departure of Bush, the man he  called the 'devil.' Now there's a new "devil" with his fingerprints all over the June 28 Honduran coup. More on that below.

At a January political rally on a historic Venezuela battlefield, Chavez said "I hope I am wrong, but I believe Obama brings the same stench, to not say another word" and do little to change his predecessor's policies.

After earlier hoping for better US - Venezuelan relations,  he reacted to Obama's rhetoric, accusing him of obstructing Latin American progress and exporting terrorism. In late March on his Sunday radio/television  program (Alo Presidente), he voiced the same concern in calling Obama an "ignoramus" and suggested "he should read and study a little to understand reality....the obstacle to development in Latin America has been the empire (he) preside(s) over today."

Its State Department February 25, 2009-released "2008 Human Rights Report: Venezuela" provided more proof. While calling Venezuela a "constitutional democracy," it accused the government of outrageous, groundless offenses:

(1) Numerous human rights abuses, including:

On July 20, AP reported that a "US congressional report on drug trafficking in Venezuela charges that corruption within the government and military led to a permissive environment that allows smuggling to flourish." Released by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), it also charged the government with "extend(ing) a 'lifeline' to Colombian rebels and other illegal armed groups that rely on drug sales for financing 'by providing significant support and safe haven along the border.' " 

In addition, the GAO said "available data indicate that drug trafficking through Venezuela is increasing," the police and National Guard are involved, bribes facilitate it, and cooperation between Washington and Caracas has decreased because fewer DEA agent visas were approved.

Chavez called the report "a new lie," like so many others, and another effort to vilify him and his government. He also accused America of being "the top drug trafficking country on this entire planet" and added that recent large drug seizures and arrests show his resolve to fight Colombian cocaine smuggling.

The recent mid-April Summit of the Americas highlighted growing regional disenchantment with Washington under a new administration no different from its predecessor and in some respects worse. It demands everything and offers nothing but failed policies and rhetorical promises that leaders like Chavez and others know are hollow.

James Petras is a long-time Latin American expert. In his new book due out in August titled "Global Depression and Regional Wars," he addresses what he also discussed in his May 21 article, "Obama's Foreign Policy Failures: Diplomacy, Militarism and Imagery." 

He explained that the US financial collapse and "accompanying economic depression has led to a major crisis and conflict between North and South America with profound long-term consequences," including hundreds of billions of repatriated US dollars harming regional countries dependent on American capital, "financial protectionism," and the virtual "de-capitalization of Latin America" to the detriment of credit-starved regional exporters and importers.

America first policies and stepped-up militarism are contrary to "any 'harmonization of interest' and strengthen nationalist, regionalist and statist political and economic policies and governments in Latin America." Like his predecessor, Obama's policies have "accelerat(ed) the shift in Latin America away from US dominance." It's evident in Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, for half a century in Cuba, and the reason their governments are targeted. 

Spinning the News - Dominant Media Efforts to Vilify Chavez

In America, Chavez bashing remains in vogue with major media contributors especially vocal after he accused the State Department, CIA, and Pentagon of being behind the Honduran coup with clear evidence it's true after decades of US meddling in the region.

A July 31 Washington Post editorial headlined "Rockets for Terrorists" in accusing Chavez of supporting FARC-EP "insurgents." It cited "extensive evidence that the government of Venezuela had collaborated with a Colombian rebel movement known for terrorism and drug trafficking....The evidence was contained on laptops captured (from) a guerilla base in Ecuador."

In fact, none existed, according to INTERPOL's forensic experts after examination discovered "no evidence of modification, alteration, addition or deletion in the" supposed user files from "three laptop computers, three USB thumb drives and two external hard discs seized during a Colombian anti-narcotics and anti-terrorist operation on a FARC camp on 1 March 2008." INTERPOL also acknowledged that Colombia likely manipulated the contents, rendering them bogus and fraudulent. 

At the time, Chavez denounced the documents as forgeries to vilify him. But like indigestion, they've resurfaced with new charges, that, according to the Post, "will be even more difficult to ignore" even though they're as baseless as earlier ones.

This time they're over late July claims that "sophisticated Swedish-produced antitank rockets" sold to Venezuela years ago were captured in a raid on a FARC-EP camp. Supposedly, the same laptops referred to "a FARC operative in Caracas" discussing them in 2007 "with two top Venezuelan generals, including the director of military intelligence, Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios."

Calling Chavez a "caudillo," (a strongman or military dictator), the editorial accused him of "public bluster" after withdrawing his ambassador and diplomatic staff from Colombia and "threaten(ing) to close the border to trade" for reasons the Post omitted.

Colombia is a corrupted narco-state and the region's most repressive death squad democracy that targets unionists, human rights activists, and legitimate resistance groups like the FARC-EP. Chavez acted in response to America's stepped up military presence there and intention to supply the government with new weapons and technology plus billions through Plan Colombia in support of the "Uribe doctrine" that's hard right, corporate-friendly, and militarized for enforcement.

Stepped Up Gunboat Diplomacy 

During his late June White House visit, president Alvaro Uribe gave the Pentagon access to seven new military bases - three airfields, two naval installations, and two others later revealed. The largest is Palenquero Air Base, north of Bogata. Another is the Malambo Air Base near the Venezuelan border. The two navy bases are at Cartagena and Bahia Malaga, and the Florencia army base as well, near the Ecuadorean border, along with nine other military installations currently stationing US forces supplemented by the reactivated Fourth Fleet in April 2008 (headquartered at Florida's Mayport Naval Station) after a 60 year hiatus.

It was created during WW II for Latin America and the Caribbean, disbanded in 1950, and now again operating to "conduct varying missions including a range of contingency operations, counter narco-terrorism, and theater security cooperation activities." According to US Naval Forces Southern Command chief Adm. James Stevenson last year, "the Fourth Fleet will send a message to Venezuela and the region." Commandant of the National War College, General Robert Steel, said at the time: