[Green-Activist] Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela - Stephen Lendman

[Anne Goddard]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Lendman" <lendmanstephen at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Anne Goddard" <anne at globalclimatechangeaction.org>
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 9:36 PM
Subject: Re: venezuelasolidarity.org


Hi Anne -

Here's my new Venezuela article - with a scary title.

Steve

Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela - by Stephen
Lendman

The Bush administration tried and failed three prior
times to oust Hugo Chavez since its first aborted
two-day coup attempt in April, 2002. Through FOIA
requests, lawyer, activist and author Eva Golinger
uncovered top secret CIA documents of US involvement
that included an intricate financing scheme involving
the quasi-governmental agency, National Endowment of
Democracy (NED), and US Agency for International
Development (USAID). The documents also showed the
White House, State Department and National Security
Agency had full knowledge of the scheme, had to have
approved it, and there's little doubt of CIA
involvement as it's always part of this kind of dirty
business. What's worrying now is what went on then may
be happening again in what looks like a prelude to a
fourth made-in-Washington attempt to oust the
Venezuelan leader that must be monitored closely as
events develop.

Since he took office in February, 1999, and especially
after George Bush's election, Chavez has been a US
target, and this time he believes credible sources
point to a plot to assassinate him. That information
comes from Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh, president of the
Hugo Chavez International-Foundation for Peace,
Friendship & Solidarity (HCI-FPFS) in a November 11
press release. Sankoh supports Chavez as "a man of
peace and flamboyant champion of human dignity (who
persists in his efforts in spite of) growing US
blackmail, sabotage and political blasphemy."

HCI-FPFS sources revealed the plot's code name -
"Operation Cleanse Venezuela" that now may be
unfolding ahead of the December 2 referendum on
constitutional reforms. According to Sankoh, the
scheme sounds familiar - CIA and other foreign secret
service operatives (including anti-Castro terrorists)
aiming to destabilize the Chavez government by using
"at least three concrete subversive plans" to destroy
the country's social democracy and kill Chavez.

It involves infiltrating subversive elements into the
country, inciting opposition within the military,
ordering region-based US forces to shoot down any
aircraft used by Chavez, employing trained snipers
with shoot to kill orders, and having the dominant US
and Venezuelan media act as supportive attack dogs.
Chavez is targeted because he represents the greatest
of all threats to US hegemony in the region - a good
example that's spreading. Venezuela also has Latin
America's largest proved oil reserves at a time
supplies are tight and prices are at all-time highs.

Sankoh calls Washington-directed threats "real" and to
"be treated seriously" to avoid extending Bush's
Middle East adventurism to Latin America. He calls for
support from the region and world community to
denounce the scheme and help stop another Bush
administration regime change attempt.

More information on a possible coup plot also came
from a November 13 Party for Socialism and Liberation
article headlined "New US plots against the Venezuelan
Revolution." It states Tribuna Popular (the Communist
Party of Venezuela) and Prensa Latina (the Latin
American News Agency) reported: "Between Oct. 7 and
Oct 9, high-ranking US officials met in Prague, Czech
Republic, with parts of the Venezuelan opposition
(where they were) urged to convene social uprisings,
sabotage the economy and infrastructure, destroy the
food transportation chain and plan a military coup."
It said Paul Wolfowitz and Madeleine Albright attended
along with Humberto Celli, "a well-known coup-plotter
from the Venezuelan party Accion Democratica."

The article further reported Tibisay Lucena, The
National Electoral Council chairman, said the
Venezuelan corporate media was "stoking a mood of
violence amongst right-wing students" through a
campaign of agitprop, and Hermann Escarra from the
"pro-coup" Comando Nacional de la Resistencia openly
incited "rebellion" last August and then called for
constitutional changes to be stopped "through all
means possible."

The Venezuelan news agency, Diaria VEA, also weighed
in saying "anonymous students planned on committing
acts of destabilization" as the December 2 vote
approaches. Venezuelan Radio Trans Mundial provided
proof with a recorded video of a youth dumping
gasoline into an armored vehicle, ramming metal
barricades into police on top of other vehicles, and
knocking them from their roofs and hoods onto the
ground.

The Threat of Street Protest Violence

For weeks, protests with sporadic violence have been
on Venezuela's streets as anti-Chavistas use middle
and upper class students as imperial tools to
destabilize the government and disrupt the
constitutional process. The aim is to discredit and
oust the Chavez government and return the country to
its ugly past with Washington and local oligarchs in
charge and the neoliberal model reinstated.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, weighed
in on this on November 8. He accused Washington of
meddling by staging violent Caracas street protests
against proposed constitutional reforms to extend the
country's participatory social democracy. Referring to
a November 7 shootout at Caracas' Central University,
he said: "We don't have any doubt that the government
of the United States has their hands in the scheme
that led to the ambush yesterday" that Chavez calls a
"fascist offensive." Several students were wounded on
the streets from a clash between pro and anti-Chavez
elements.

"We know the whole scheme," Maduro added, and he
should as it happened before in 2002, again during the
disruptive 2002-03 oil management lockout, and most
often as well when elections are held to disrupt the
democratic process. These are standard CIA operating
tactics used many times before for 50 years in the
Agency's efforts to topple independent leaders and
kill them. Chavez understands what's happening, and
he's well briefed and alerted by his ally, Fidel
Castro, who survived over 600 US attempts to kill him
since 1959. He's now 81 and very much alive but going
through a difficult recovery from major surgery 15
months ago.

Chavez has widespread popular support throughout the
region and from allies like Ecuador's Raphael Correa
and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega who expressed
his "solidarity with the revolutionary people of
Venezuela and our friend Hugo Chavez, who is being
subjected to aggression from a counterrevolution fed
by the traitors from inside the country and by the
empire (referring to the US)." He compared the
situation to his own country where similar efforts are
being "financed by the United States Embassy" in
Managua to support elements opposed to his Sandinista
government even though it's very accommodative to
Washington.

Even Brazil's Lula chimed in by calling Chavez's
proposed reforms consistent with Venezuela's
democratic norms, and he added: "Please, invent
anything to criticize Chavez, except for lack of
democracy."

Constitutional Reform As A Pretext for Protests

Washington's goal from all this is clear, but why now?
Last July, Chavez announced he'd be sending
Venezuela's National Assembly (AN) a proposed list of
constitutional reforms to debate, consider and vote
on. Under Venezuelan law, the President, National
Assembly or 15% of registered voters (by petition) may
propose constitutional changes. Under articles 342,
343, 344 and 345, they must then be debated three
times in the legislature, amended if needed, and then
submitted to a vote that requires a two-thirds
majority to pass. Finally within 30 days, the public
gets the last word, up or down, in a national
referendum. It represents the true spirit of democracy
that's unimaginable in the US where elitists control
everything, elections are a sham, and the people have
no say.

That was true for Venezuela earlier, but no longer. In
its history, there have been 26 Constitutions since
its first in 1821, but none like the 1999 Bolivarian
one under Chavez that's worlds apart from the others.
It created a model participatory social democracy that
gave all citizens the right to vote it up or down by
national referendum and then empowered them (or the
government) later on to petition for change.

On August 15, Chavez did that by submitting 33
suggested amendment reforms to the Constitution's 350
articles and explained it this way: The 1999
Constitution needed updating because it's "ambiguous
(and) a product of that moment. The world (today) is
very different from (then). (Reforms are) essential
for continuing the process of revolutionary
transition" to deepen and broaden Venezuelan
democracy. That's his central aim - to create a "new
geometry of power" for the people along with more
government accountability to them.

Proposed reforms will have little impact on the
nation's fundamental political structure. They will,
however, change laws with regard to politics, the
economy, property, the military, the national
territory as well as the culture and society and will
deepen the country's social democracy.

The National Assembly (AN) completed its work on
November 2 adding 25 additional articles to Chavez's
proposal plus another 11 changes for a total of 69
articles that amend one-fifth of the nation's
Constitution. The most important ones include:

-- extending existing constitutional law that
guarantees human rights and recognizes the country's
social and cultural diversity;

-- building a "social economy" to replace the failed
neoliberal Washington Consensus model;

-- officially prohibiting monopolies and unjust
consolidation of economic resources;

-- extending presidential terms from six to seven
years;

-- allowing unlimited presidential reelections so that
option is "the sovereign decision of the constituent
people of Venezuela" and is a similar to the political
process in countries like England, France, Germany and
Australia;

-- strengthening grassroots communal councils,
increasing their funding, and promoting more of them;

-- lowering the eligible voting age from 18 to 16;

-- guaranteeing free university education to the
highest level;

-- prohibiting foreign funding of elections and
political activity;

-- reducing the work week to 36 hours to promote more
employment;

-- ending the autonomy of Venezuela's Central Bank to
reclaim the country's financial sovereignty the way it
should be everywhere; today nearly all central banks
are controlled by private for-profit banking cartels;
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul wants to
end that status in the US and correctly explains the
Federal Reserve Bank is neither federal nor does it
have reserves; it's owned and run by Wall Street and
the major banks;

-- adding new forms of collective property under five
categories: public for the state, social for citizens,
collective for people or social groups, mixed for
public and private, and private for individuals or
private entities;

-- territorial redefinition to distribute resources
more equitably to communities instead of being used
largely by economic and political elites;

-- prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination and
enacting gender parity rights for political
candidates;

-- redefining the military as an "anti-imperialist
popular entity;"

-- in cases where property is appropriated for the
public good, fair and timely compensation to be paid
for it;

-- protecting the loss of one's home in cases of
bankruptcy; and

-- enacting social security protection for the
self-employed.

The National Assembly also approved 15 important
transitional dispositions. They relate to how
constitutional changes will be implemented if approved
until laws are passed to regulate them. One provision
is for the legislature to pass 15 so-called "organic
laws" that include the following ones:

-- a law on "popular power" to govern grassroots
communal councils (that may number 50,000 by year end)
that Chavez called "one of the central ideas....to
open, at the constitutional level, the roads to
accelerate the transfer of power to the people (in an)
Explosion of Communal (or popular) Power;" five
percent of state revenues will be set aside to fund
it;

-- another promoting a socialist economy for the 21st
century that Chavez champions even though he remains
friendly to business; and

-- one relating to the country's territorial
organization; plus others on education, a shorter
workweek and more democratic changes.

Under Venezuelan law, and in the true spirit of
democracy, these proposed changes will be for citizens
to vote up or down on December 2. The process will be
in two parts reversing an earlier decision to do it as
one package, yea or nay. One part will be Chavez's 33
reforms plus 13 National Assembly additions, and the
other for the remaining 23 articles.

Coup D'Etat Rumblings Must Be Taken Seriously

Now battle lines are drawn, opposition forces are
mobilized and events are playing out violently on
Venezuela's streets. The worst so far was on November
7 when CNN falsely reported "80,000" anti-Chavez
students demonstrated "peacefully" in Caracas to
denounce "Hugo Chavez's attempts to expand his power."
The actual best estimates put it between 2000 and
10,000, and long-time Latin American expert James
Petras calls the protesters "privileged middle and
upper middle class university students," once again
being used as an imperial tool.

In their anti-government zeal, CNN and other dominant
media ignore the many pro-Chavez events writer Fred
Fuentes calls a "red hurricane" sweeping the country.
An impressive one was held on November 4 when the
President addressed hundreds of thousands of
supporters who participated in an 8.5 kilometer
Caracas march while similar pro-reform rallies took
place at the same time around the country. They're the
start of a "yes" campaign for a large December 2
turnout that's vital as polls show strong pro-reform
support by a near two to one margin.

In an effort to defuse it, orchestrated opposition
turned violent and officials reported eight people
were injured in the November 7 incident. No one was
killed, but one was wounded by gunfire when at least
"four (masked) gunmen (who looked like provocateur
plants, not students) fir(ed) handguns at the
anti-Chavez crowd." In an earlier October
demonstration, opposition students clashed with police
who kept them from reaching the National Assembly
building and a direct confrontation with pro-Chavez
supporters that might have turned ugly.

It did on November 7 when violence erupted between pro
and anti-government students, but it wasn't as
reported. Venezuelan and US corporate media claimed
pro-Chavez supporters initiated the attack. In fact,
they WERE attacked by elements opposing the President.
They seized this time to act ahead of the referendum
to disrupt it and destabilize the government as
prelude to a possible planned coup.

One pro-Chavez student explained what happened. She
and others were erecting posters supporting a "yes"
referendum vote when they were attacked with tear gas
and crowds yelling they were going to be lynched.
Avila TV had the evidence. Its unedited footage showed
an opposition student mob surrounding the School of
Social Work area where pro-Chavez students hid for
safety. They threw Molotov cocktails, rocks, chairs
and other objects, smashed windows, and tried to burn
down the building as university authorities
(responsible for security) stood aside doing nothing
to curtail the violence. Another report was that
corporate-owned Univision operatives posing as
reporters had guns and accompanied the elements
attacking the school in an overt act of complicity by
the media.

The pattern now unfolding on Caracas streets is
similar to what happened ahead of the April, 2002
aborted coup attempt, and Petras calls it "the most
serious threat (to the President) since" that time.
The corporate media then claimed pro-government
supporters instigated street violence and fired on
"unarmed" opposition protesters. In fact, that was
later proved a lie as anti-Chavez "snipers" did the
firing as part of the plot that became the coup. A
similar scheme may now be unfolding in Caracas and on
other campuses around the country as well.

In his public comments, Foreign Minister Maduro
accused the major media and CNN of misrepresenting
events and poisoning the political atmosphere. It's
happening in Venezuela and the US as the dominant
media attacks Hugo Chavez through a campaign of
vilification and black propaganda.

US Corporate Media on the Attack

On November 12, The Venezuela Information Office (VIO)
reported that growing numbers of "US print newspapers
lodged attacks against Venezuela" using "outdated
cold-war generalizations" and without explaining any
of the proposed democratic changes. Among others, they
came from the Houston Chronicle that claimed:

-- constitutional reforms will "eliminate the vestiges
of democracy" in Venezuela when, in fact, they'll
strengthen it, and the people will vote them up or
down;

-- Chavez controls the electoral system when, in fact,
Venezuela is a model free, fair and open democracy
that shames its US equivalent. The Chronicle falsely
said reforms will strip people of their right to due
process. In fact, that's guaranteed under article 337
that won't be changed.

VIO also reported on a Los Angeles Times editorial
comparing Chavez to Bin Laden. It compounded that
whopper by claiming reforms will cause a global
recession due to higher oil prices that, of course,
have nothing to do with changes in law. In another
piece, the LA Times inverted the truth by falsely
claiming a public majority opposes reforms. Then
there's the Miami Herald predicting an end to freedom
of expression if changes pass and the Washington Post
commenting on how high oil prices let Chavez buy
influence.

The Post then ran an inflamatory November 15 editorial
headlined "Mr. Chavez's Coup" if which it lied by
saying November 7 student protesters "were fired on by
gunmen (whom) university officials later
'identified'....as members of government-sponsored
'paramilitary groups' when, in fact, there are no such
groups. The editorial went on to say Chavez wants to
"complete his transformation into an autocrat (to be
able to) seize property....dispose of Venezuela's
foreign exchange reserves....impose central government
rule on local jurisdictions and declare indefinite
states of emergency" as well as suspend due process
and freedom of information. Again, misinformation,
deliberate distortion and outright lies from a leading
quasi-official US house organ.

Rupert Murdock's Wall Street Journal weighed in as
well with its lead anti-Chavez attack dog and
all-round character assassin extraordinaire, Mary
Anastasia O'Grady. This writer has tangled with her
several times before and earlier commented how one day
she'll have a serious back problem because of her
rigid position of genuflection to the most extreme
hard-right elements she supports. Her latest November
12 column was vintage O'Grady and headlined "More
Trouble for Chavez (as) Students and former allies
unite against his latest power grab."

Like most of her others, this one drips with vitriol
and outrageous distortions like calling Chavez a
"dictator" when, in fact, he's a model democrat, but
that's the problem for writers like O'Grady. Absent
the facts, they use agitprop instead. O'Grady writes:
"Mr. Chavez has been working to remove any
counterbalances to his power for almost nine years
(and) has met strong resistance from property owners,
businesses, labor leaders, the Catholic Church and the
media." Now add opposition well-off students. Omitted
is that the opposition is a minority, it represents
elitist interests, and Chavez has overwhelming public
support for his social democracy and proposed reform
changes including from most students O'Grady calls
"pro-Chavez goons."

Once again, she's on a rampage, but that's her job.
She claims the absurd and people believe her - like
saying the media will be censored, civil liberties can
be suspended, and government will be empowered to
seize private property.  He's a "demagogue," says
O'Grady, waging "class warfare," but opposition to
reform "has led to increased speculation (his) days
are numbered." Wishing won't make it so, and O'Grady
uses that line all the time.

The New York Times is also on the attack in its latest
anti-Chavez crusade. It's been a leading Chavez critic
for years, and Simon Romero is its man in Caracas. On
November 3, he reported "Lawmakers in Venezuela
Approve Expanded Power for Chavez (in a)
constitutional overhaul (to) enhance (Chavez's)
authority, (allow) him to be reelected indefinitely,
and (give) him the power to handpick rulers, to be
called vice-presidents, (and) for various new regions
to be created in the country....The new amendments
would facilitate expropriations of private property
(and allow state) security forces to round up citizens
(stripped of their) legal protections" if Chavez
declares a state of emergency - to make him look like
Pakistan's Musharraf when he's mirror opposite.

Romero also quoted Jose Manuel Gonzales, president of
Venezuela's Fedecamaras (chamber of commerce), saying
"Venezuelan democracy was buried today" and
anti-Chavez Roman Catholic church leaders (always
allied with elitists) calling the changes "morally
unacceptable." Then on November 8, Romero followed
with an article titled "Gunmen Attack Opponents of
Chavez's Bid to Extend Power" and implied they were
pro-Chavez supporters. Again false. Still more came on
November 10 headlined "Students Emerge as a Leading
Force Against Chavez" in an effort to imply most
students oppose him when, in fact, these elements are
a minority.

His latest so far is on November 17 titled "Chavez's
Vision Shares Wealth and Centers Power" that in
fairness shows the President addressing a huge crowd
of supporters in Maturin on November 16. But Romero
spoiled it by calling his vision "centralized,
oil-fueled socialism (with) Chavez (having)
significantly enhanced powers." Then he quotes Chavez
biographer Alberto Barrera Tyszka who embarrassed
himself and Romero saying the President is seizing and
redirecting "power through legitimate means (and this)
is not a dictatorship but something more complex," the
'tyranny' of popularity." In other words, he's saying
democracy is "tyranny." The rest of the article is
just as bad with alternating subtle and hammer blow
attacks against a popular President's aim to deepen
his socially democratic agenda and help his people.

Romero's measured tone outclasses O'Grady's crudeness
that's pretty standard fare on the Journal's notorious
opinion page. He's much more dangerous, however, with
a byline in the influential "newspaper of record"
because of the important audience it commands.

One other notable anti-Chavez piece is in the November
26 issue of the magazine calling itself "the
capitalist tool" - Forbes. It shows in its one-sided
commentary and intolerance of opposing views. The
article in question, headlined "Latin Sinkholes," is
by right wing economist and long-time flack for
empire, Steve Hanke. In it, he aims right at Chavez
with outrageous comments like calling him a "negative
reformer (who) turned back the clock (and) hails Cuba,
the largest open-air prison in the Americas, as his
model. His revolution's enemy is the marketplace." He
then cites a World Bank report saying "Venezuela is
tied with Zimbabwe as this year's champion in
smothering economic freedom," and  compounds that lie
with another whopper.

Point of fact - Venezuela and Argentina have the
highest growth rates in the region and are near the
top of world rankings in recent years. Following the
devastating oil management 2002-03 lockout,
Venezuela's economy took off and grew at double digit
rates in 2004, 05 and 06 and will grow a likely 8%
this year. Hanke, however, says "Venezuela's economic
performance under Chavez has been anemic (growing) at
an average rate of only 2% per year. In the same
article, he aims in similar fashion at Ecuador's
Raphael Correa calling him "ruthlessly efficient (for
wanting to) pull off a Bolivarian Revolution in
Ecuador." Hanke and most others in the dominant media
are of one mind and never let facts contradict their
opinions. Outliers won't be tolerated even when it's
proved their way works best.

There's lots more criticism like this throughout the
dominant media along with commentators calling Chavez
"a dictator, another Hitler (and) a threat to
democracy." Ignoring the rules of imperial management
has a price. This type media assault is part of it as
a prelude for what often follows - attempted regime
change.

Further Venezuela Information Office (VIO)
Clarification of Facts on the Ground

On November 15, VIO issued an alert update to dispel
media inaccuracies "about Venezuela's constitutional
reforms and the student protests" accompanying them.
They're listed below:

-- Caracas has a student population of around 200,000;
at most 10,000 participated in the largest protest to
date, and VIO estimates it was 6000;

-- the major media ignore how the government
cooperates with students and made various
accommodations to them to be fair to the opposition;

-- Venezuelan police have protected student
protesters, and article 68 of the Constitution
requires they do it; it affirms the right of all
Venezuelans to assemble peacefully;

-- in addition, student protest leaders linked to
opposition parties were granted high-level meetings
with government officials to present their concerns;

-- on November 1, their student representatives met
with directors of the National Electoral Council (CNE)
and presented a petition to delay the referendum;

-- on November 7, they again met with National
Tribunal of Justice officials and presented the same
petition;

-- on November 12, Minister of Interior and Justice
Minister, Pedro Carreno, met 20 university presidents
to assure them the government respects university
autonomy and their students' right to assemble
peacefully;

-- VIO reported what really happened at another
November 1 protest after students met with CNE
officials; some of them then tried to chain themselves
to the building while others charged through police
lines and injured six officers; in addition, one
student had 20 liters of gasoline but never got to use
it criminally; after the incident, the CNE president,
Tibisay Lucena, issued a public statement expressing
his disappointment about this kind of response to the
government's good faith efforts; and

-- VIO said students and university presidents from
across the nation filed a document with the Supreme
Court on November 14 supporting constitutional reform.
Chief justice Luisa Estela Morales praised their
coming and said the court's doors are open to anyone
wanting to give an opinion. The dominant media
reported nothing on this. It also ignored the
government's 9000 public events throughout the country
in past weeks to explain and discuss proposed reforms
and that a hotline was installed for comments on them,
pro or con.

-- finally, when protests of any kind happen in the
US, police usually attack them with tear gas, beatings
and mass arrests to crush their democratic spirit and
prevent it from being expressed as our Constitution's
First and most important amendment guarantees. In
Venezuela, the spirit of democracy lives. It never
existed in the US, and we want to export our way to
everyone and by force if necessary.

Here's a November 15 breaking news example of our way
in action. At 8:00AM, 12 FBI and Secret Service agents
raided the Liberty Dollar Company's office in
Evansville, IN and for the next six hours removed two
tons of legal Ron Paul Dollars along with all the
gold, silver and platinum at the location. They also
took all location files and computers and froze
Liberty Dollar's bank accounts in an outrageous police
state action against a legitimate business. This move
also seems intended to impugn the integrity of a
presidential candidate gaining popularity because he
defies the bellicose mainstream and wants more people
empowerment.

Chavez champions another way and answered his critics
at a November 14 Miraflores Presidential Palace press
conference where he denounced them for lying about his
reform package. He explained his aim is to strengthen
Venezuela's independence and transfer power to the
people, not increase his own. "For many years in
Venezuela," he said, "they weakened the powers of the
state as part of the neoliberal imperial plan....to
weaken the economies of countries to insure
domination. While we remained weak, imperialism was
strengthened," and he elaborated.

He then continued to stress his most important reform
"is the transfer of power to the people" through an
explosion of grassroots communal, worker, student and
campesino councils, formations of them into regional
and national federations, and the formation of
"communes (to) constitute the basic nucleus of the
socialist state." Earlier Chavez stated that
democratizing the economy "is the only way to defeat
poverty, to defeat misery and achieve the largest sum
of happiness for the people." He's not just saying
this. He believes and acts on it, and that's why
elitists target him for removal even though he wants
equity for everyone, even his critics, and business
continues to thrive under his government. But not like
in the "good old" days when it was all one-way.

Venezuelan Business is Booming - So Why Complain?

Business in Venezuela is indeed booming, and in 2006
the Financial Times said bankers were "having a party"
it was so good. So what's the problem? It's not good
enough for corporate interests wanting it all for
themselves and nothing for the people the way it used
to be pre-Chavez. Unfair? Sure, but in a
corporate-dominated world, that's how it is and no
outliers are tolerated. Thus Hugo Chavez's dilemma.

Last June, Business Week (BW) magazine captured the
mood in an article called "A Love-Hate Relationship
with Chavez - Companies are chafing under the fiery
socialist. But in some respects, business has never
been better." Writer Geri Smith asked: "Just how hard
is it to do business in Venezuela" and then
exaggerated by saying "hardly a day passes without
another change in the rules restricting companies."
Hardly so, but what is true is new rules require a
more equitable relationship between government and
business. They provide more benefits to the people and
greater attention to small Venezuelan business and
other commercial undertakings like an explosion of
cooperatives (100,000 or more) that under neoliberal
rules have no chance against the giants.

Nonetheless, the economy under Chavez is booming, and
business loves it even while it complains. It's
because oil revenues are high, Chavez spends heavily
on social benefits, and the poor have seen their
incomes more than double since 2004 when all their
benefits are included. The result, as BW explains:
"Sales of everything from basics" to luxury items
"have taken off....and local and foreign companies
alike are raking in more money than ever in
Venezuela." In addition, bilateral trade has never
been higher, but American business complains it's
caught in the middle of a Washington - Caracas
political struggle.

The article continues to show how all kinds of foreign
business is benefitting from cola to cars to computer
chips. Yet, it restates the dilemma saying "As Chavez
continues his socialist crusade, there are signs of
rising discontent," and it's showing up now on the
country's streets with the latest confrontation still
to be resolved, one way or another.

Events Are Ugly and Coming to A Head

Through the dominant media, Washington and Venezuelan
anti-Chavez elements are using constitutional reform
as a pretext for what they may have in mind - "to
arouse the military to intervene" and oust Chavez, as
Petras notes in his article titled "Venezuela: Between
Ballots and Bullets." He explains the opposition "rich
and privileged (coalition) fear constitutional reforms
because they will have to grant a greater share of
their (considerable) profits to the working class,
lose their monopoly over market transactions to
publicly owned firms, and see political power evolve
toward local community councils and the executive
branch."

Petras is worried and says "class polarization....has
reached its most extreme expression" as December 2
approaches: "the remains of the multi-class coalition
embracing a minority of the middle class and the great
majority of (workers) is disintegrating (and)
political defections have increased (including 14)
deputies in the National Assembly." Add to them former
Chavez Defense Minister, Raul Baduel, who Petras
believes may be "an aspirant to head up a US-backed
right-wing seizure of power."

The situation is ugly and dangerous, and lots of US
money and influence fuels it. Petras puts it this way:
"Venezuelan democracy, the Presidency of Hugo Chavez
and the great majority of the popular classes face a
mortal threat." An alliance between Washington, local
oligarchs and elitist supporters of the "right" are
committed to ousting Chavez and may feel now is their
best chance. Venezuela's social democracy is on the
line in the crucial December 2 vote, and the entire
region depends on it solidifying and surviving.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen at sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour
on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US Central time.





--- Anne Goddard <anne at globalclimatechangeaction.org>
wrote:

> Make sure I am on the receiving list for
> distribution please Stephen.
> :-)
> Your wonderful.
> Warm regards
> Anne
> ps ...original article (which appears to have been
> snipped due to length)
> pasted below for your information...
>
> Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, November 8,
> 2007
>
> www.venezuelasolidarity.org
>
> New attacks on Venezuela's democratic revolution
>
> The corporate-owned media internationally is at it
> again. A new round of
> lies and distortions are being spread about the
> peaceful and democratic
> revolution in Venezuela being led by the government
> of Venezuelan President
> Hugo Chavez. The catalyst for this campaign is the
> democratic process in
> Venezuela to reform the existing constitution. The
> media, ignoring the
> content of the proposed reforms that would
> significantly extend democracy
> and social justice, have, by taking a tiny minority
> of proposed changes out
> of context, presented this as moves by Chavez to
> establish himself as a
> ``dictator-for-life''.
>
> This media campaign coincides with a fresh offensive
> inside Venezuela by the
> privileged elite that, failing to defeat pro-Chavez
> forces at the ballot box
> (which have won 11 straight election victories
> nationally since 1998, most
> recently with Chavez being re-elected president last
> year with the largest
> number of votes in Venezuelan history) have resorted
> to violent campaigns to
> overthrow the government.
>
> Strong evidence suggests a fresh campaign is
> underway. According to the
> October 24 edition of Venezuelan newspaper Dario
> Vea, opposition leaders had
> held a meeting with US officials (the US government
> backed an opposition-led
> coup in 2002 and continues to provide millions of
> dollars of funding to
> opposition groups), where the officials urged the
> opposition to ``organise
> acts of economic sabotage against infrastructure,
> destroy the food transport
> and delivery chain . and organise a military coup
> with all means possible,
> including bloodshed by means of paramilitary
> force''.
>
> Reports emerged on November 7 of shootings related
> to protests on at least
> one university campus leaving at least two students
> injured. On November 5
> there was a carefully timed press conference by
> former defence minister and
> ally of Chavez, retired General Raul Baduel, to
> which only pro-opposition
> media were invited, where he not just argued against
> the constitutional
> reforms, repeating opposition claims that they
> amount to a "constitutional
> coup", but urged those in the military to study the
> proposals and act to
> stop them. This is widely interpreted as an
> incitement for a coup, although
> the government insists the military remains loyal
> and that the people are
> prepared to resist attempts to topple Chavez.
>
> The corporate media have provided out-of-context
> footage and accounts of
> demonstrations by right-wing students, who have
> organised violent riots that
> have seen parts of Caracas torched, and have
> deliberately attempted to
> provoke security forces to create the impression of
> a "crackdown" on
> opposition. Chavez has accused the opposition of
> attempting to cause a death
> that could be blamed on the government. The
> corporate media has largely
> ignored the massive demonstration, in the hundreds
> of thousands and
> completely dwarfing the right-wing student protests,
> in support of the
> reforms on November 5.
>
> Democratic and progressive changes
>
> The proposed changes to constitution are being
> carried out democratically
> and in accordance with the existing constitution,
> adopted in a national
> referendum in 1999 after Chavez was first elected.
> The National Assembly
> (AN) has debated the proposals, and added 36
> proposals to Chavez's initial
> list of 33, and adopted the proposals with the
> necessary two-thirds
> majority. Now, the proposals will go the Venezuelan
> people to reject or
> accept in a referendum to be held on December 2. The
> proposals have been
> thoroughly debated through out all Venezuelan
> society, with AN deputies
> participating in popular assemblies that have
> debated and made proposals
> relating to the reforms. From August 16 to October
> 7, some 9,020 public
> meetings were held and over 10 million copies of the
> proposals have been
> distributed.
>
> The media have ignored the profoundly democratic and
> progressive nature of
> the proposed changes. These include the
> institutionalisation of new
> institutions of popular power based on direct
> democracy, such as the
> communal councils, as well as a series of new
> measures to allow people to
> directly manage resources and decision making in
> their communities. While
> respecting the right to private property, it
> recognises new forms of
> "social" property run by and for the people
> themselves, and gives further
> recognition to the growing number of cooperatives.
>
> If adopted, the reforms would make Venezuela the
> first country in South
> America to recognise the rights of gays and lesbians
> in its constitution.
> The voting age would be reduced to 16. The measures
> to protect the rights
> and culture of Afro-Venezuelans and indigenous
> people will be strengthened.
> Governments would be obliged to ensure free
> university education to the
> entire population. Workers' rights will be
> significantly extended, including
> a reduction in the working week from 44 to 36 hours,
> and the provision of
> social security and pensions to workers in the
> so-called informal economy.
>
> The media have focused overwhelmingly on two
> proposed changes: the proposal
> to allow a president to stand for elections for more
> than two terms, and a
> new proposal from the AN giving the government the
> ability to call a ``state
> of emergency''. The media ignore the fact that many
> nations around the world
> allow a president to stand for re-election either
> for a number of terms or
> indefinitely, and the Venezuelan constitution grants
> people the ability to
> recall any elected official, including the
> president, before their term
> finishes. Chavez faced a such a recall referendum,
> after 20% of the
> population signed a petition calling for it, in
> 2004, which he won with
> nearly 60% of the vote. The measure to call a state
> of emergency, which was
> enshrined in Venezuela's 1961 constitution, is not
> fundamentally any
> different to similar measures in many countries,
> including both the US and
> Australia.
>
> Powerful interests threatened
>
> Behind this campaign is the hand of the US and
> corporate interests, who
> stand to lose the wealth and control. The
> constitutiona l reforms will
> provide a legal framework for significant advances
> towards empowering the
> majority, which explains the increasing desperation
> for US and Venezuelan
> elites.
>
> Chavez told supporters of the reform at a mass
> meeting on November 6 that
>
=== message truncated ===


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\f0\fs36 \cf0 Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela - by Stephen Lendman\
\
The Bush administration tried and failed three prior times to oust Hugo 
Chavez since its first aborted two-day coup attempt in April, 2002. Through 
FOIA requests, lawyer, activist and author Eva Golinger uncovered top secret 
CIA documents of US involvement that included an intricate financing scheme 
involving the quasi-governmental agency, National Endowment of Democracy 
(NED), and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The documents 
also showed the White House, State Department and National Security Agency 
had full knowledge of the scheme, had to have approved it, and there's 
little doubt of CIA involvement as it's always part of this kind of dirty 
business. What's worrying now is what went on then may be happening again in 
what looks like a prelude to a fourth made-in-Washington attempt to oust the 
Venezuelan leader that must be monitored closely as events develop. \
\
Since he took office in February, 1999, and especially after George Bush's 
election, Chavez has been a US target, and this time he believes credible 
sources point to a plot to assassinate him. That information comes from 
Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh, president of the Hugo Chavez International-Foundation 
for Peace, Friendship & Solidarity (HCI-FPFS) in a November 11 press 
release. Sankoh supports Chavez as "a man of peace and flamboyant champion 
of human dignity (who persists in his efforts in spite of) growing US 
blackmail, sabotage and political blasphemy." \
\
HCI-FPFS sources revealed the plot's code name - "Operation Cleanse 
Venezuela" that now may be unfolding ahead of the December 2 referendum on 
constitutional reforms. According to Sankoh, the scheme sounds familiar - 
CIA and other foreign secret service operatives (including anti-Castro 
terrorists) aiming to destabilize the Chavez government by using "at least 
three concrete subversive plans" to destroy the country's social democracy 
and kill Chavez.\
\
It involves infiltrating subversive elements into the country, inciting 
opposition within the military, ordering region-based US forces to shoot 
down any aircraft used by Chavez, employing trained snipers with shoot to 
kill orders, and having the dominant US and Venezuelan media act as 
supportive attack dogs. Chavez is targeted because he represents the 
greatest of all threats to US hegemony in the region - a good example that's 
spreading. Venezuela also has Latin America's largest proved oil reserves at 
a time supplies are tight and prices are at all-time highs. \
\
Sankoh calls Washington-directed threats "real" and to "be treated 
seriously" to avoid extending Bush's Middle East adventurism to Latin 
America. He calls for support from the region and world community to 
denounce the scheme and help stop another Bush administration regime change 
attempt.\
\
More information on a possible coup plot also came from a November 13 Party 
for Socialism and Liberation article headlined "New US plots against the 
Venezuelan Revolution." It states Tribuna Popular (the Communist Party of 
Venezuela) and Prensa Latina (the Latin American News Agency) reported: 
"Between Oct. 7 and Oct 9, high-ranking US officials met in Prague, Czech 
Republic, with parts of the Venezuelan opposition (where they were) urged to 
convene social uprisings, sabotage the economy and infrastructure, destroy 
the food transportation chain and plan a military coup." It said Paul 
Wolfowitz and Madeleine Albright attended along with Humberto Celli, "a 
well-known coup-plotter from the Venezuelan party Accion Democratica."\
\
The article further reported Tibisay Lucena, The National Electoral Council 
chairman, said the Venezuelan corporate media was "stoking a mood of 
violence amongst right-wing students" through a campaign of agitprop, and 
Hermann Escarra from the "pro-coup" Comando Nacional de la Resistencia 
openly incited "rebellion" last August and then called for constitutional 
changes to be stopped "through all means possible."\
\
The Venezuelan news agency, Diaria VEA, also weighed in saying "anonymous 
students planned on committing acts of destabilization" as the December 2 
vote approaches. Venezuelan Radio Trans Mundial provided proof with a 
recorded video of a youth dumping gasoline into an armored vehicle, ramming 
metal barricades into police on top of other vehicles, and knocking them 
from their roofs and hoods onto the ground. \
\
The Threat of Street Protest Violence \
\
For weeks, protests with sporadic violence have been on Venezuela's streets 
as anti-Chavistas use middle and upper class students as imperial tools to 
destabilize the government and disrupt the constitutional process. The aim 
is to discredit and oust the Chavez government and return the country to its 
ugly past with Washington and local oligarchs in charge and the neoliberal 
model reinstated.\
\
Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, weighed in on this on November 
8. He accused Washington of meddling by staging violent Caracas street 
protests against proposed constitutional reforms to extend the country's 
participatory social democracy. Referring to a November 7 shootout at 
Caracas' Central University, he said: "We don't have any doubt that the 
government of the United States has their hands in the scheme that led to 
the ambush yesterday" that Chavez calls a "fascist offensive." Several 
students were wounded on the streets from a clash between pro and 
anti-Chavez elements. \
\
"We know the whole scheme," Maduro added, and he should as it happened 
before in 2002, again during the disruptive 2002-03 oil management lockout, 
and most often as well when elections are held to disrupt the democratic 
process. These are standard CIA operating tactics used many times before for 
50 years in the Agency's efforts to topple independent leaders and kill 
them. Chavez understands what's happening, and he's well briefed and alerted 
by his ally, Fidel Castro, who survived over 600 US attempts to kill him 
since 1959. He's now 81 and very much alive but going through a difficult 
recovery from major surgery 15 months ago.\
\
Chavez has widespread popular support throughout the region and from allies 
like Ecuador's Raphael Correa and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega who 
expressed his "solidarity with the revolutionary people of Venezuela and our 
friend Hugo Chavez, who is being subjected to aggression from a 
counterrevolution fed by the traitors from inside the country and by the 
empire (referring to the US)." He compared the situation to his own country 
where similar efforts are being "financed by the United States Embassy" in 
Managua to support elements opposed to his Sandinista government even though 
it's very accommodative to Washington.\
\
Even Brazil's Lula chimed in by calling Chavez's proposed reforms consistent 
with Venezuela's democratic norms, and he added: "Please, invent anything to 
criticize Chavez, except for lack of democracy." \
\
Constitutional Reform As A Pretext for Protests\
\
Washington's goal from all this is clear, but why now? Last July, Chavez 
announced he'd be sending Venezuela's National Assembly (AN) a proposed list 
of constitutional reforms to debate, consider and vote on. Under Venezuelan 
law, the President, National Assembly or 15% of registered voters (by 
petition) may propose constitutional changes. Under articles 342, 343, 344 
and 345, they must then be debated three times in the legislature, amended 
if needed, and then submitted to a vote that requires a two-thirds majority 
to pass. Finally within 30 days, the public gets the last word, up or down, 
in a national referendum. It represents the true spirit of democracy that's 
unimaginable in the US where elitists control everything, elections are a 
sham, and the people have no say. \
\
That was true for Venezuela earlier, but no longer. In its history, there 
have been 26 Constitutions since its first in 1821, but none like the 1999 
Bolivarian one under Chavez that's worlds apart from the others. It created 
a model participatory social democracy that gave all citizens the right to 
vote it up or down by national referendum and then empowered them (or the 
government) later on to petition for change.\
\
On August 15, Chavez did that by submitting 33 suggested amendment reforms 
to the Constitution's 350 articles and explained it this way: The 1999 
Constitution needed updating because it's "ambiguous (and) a product of that 
moment. The world (today) is very different from (then). (Reforms are) 
essential for continuing the process of revolutionary transition" to deepen 
and broaden Venezuelan democracy. That's his central aim - to create a "new 
geometry of power" for the people along with more government accountability 
to them. \
\
Proposed reforms will have little impact on the nation's fundamental 
political structure. They will, however, change laws with regard to 
politics, the economy, property, the military, the national territory as 
well as the culture and society and will deepen the country's social 
democracy.\
\
The National Assembly (AN) completed its work on November 2 adding 25 
additional articles to Chavez's proposal plus another 11 changes for a total 
of 69 articles that amend one-fifth of the nation's Constitution. The most 
important ones include:\
\
-- extending existing constitutional law that guarantees human rights and 
recognizes the country's social and cultural diversity;\
\
-- building a "social economy" to replace the failed neoliberal Washington 
Consensus model;\
\
-- officially prohibiting monopolies and unjust consolidation of economic 
resources;\
\
-- extending presidential terms from six to seven years;\
\
-- allowing unlimited presidential reelections so that option is "the 
sovereign decision of the constituent people of Venezuela" and is a similar 
to the political process in countries like England, France, Germany and 
Australia;\
\
-- strengthening grassroots communal councils, increasing their funding, and 
promoting more of them;\
\
-- lowering the eligible voting age from 18 to 16;\
\
-- guaranteeing free university education to the highest level; \
\
-- prohibiting foreign funding of elections and political activity;\
\
-- reducing the work week to 36 hours to promote more employment;\
\
-- ending the autonomy of Venezuela's Central Bank to reclaim the country's 
financial sovereignty the way it should be everywhere; today nearly all 
central banks are controlled by private for-profit banking cartels; 
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul wants to end that status in the 
US and correctly explains the Federal Reserve Bank is neither federal nor 
does it have reserves; it's owned and run by Wall Street and the major 
banks;\
\
-- adding new forms of collective property under five categories: public for 
the state, social for citizens, collective for people or social groups, 
mixed for public and private, and private for individuals or private 
entities;\
\
-- territorial redefinition to distribute resources more equitably to 
communities instead of being used largely by economic and political elites;\
\
-- prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination and enacting gender parity 
rights for political candidates;\
\
-- redefining the military as an "anti-imperialist popular entity;"\
\
-- in cases where property is appropriated for the public good, fair and 
timely compensation to be paid for it; \
\
-- protecting the loss of one's home in cases of bankruptcy; and\
\
-- enacting social security protection for the self-employed.\
\
The National Assembly also approved 15 important transitional dispositions. 
They relate to how constitutional changes will be implemented if approved 
until laws are passed to regulate them. One provision is for the legislature 
to pass 15 so-called "organic laws" that include the following ones:\
\
-- a law on "popular power" to govern grassroots communal councils (that may 
number 50,000 by year end) that Chavez called "one of the central 
ideas....to open, at the constitutional level, the roads to accelerate the 
transfer of power to the people (in an) Explosion of Communal (or popular) 
Power;" five percent of state revenues will be set aside to fund it;\
\
-- another promoting a socialist economy for the 21st century that Chavez 
champions even though he remains friendly to business; and\
\
-- one relating to the country's territorial organization; plus others on 
education, a shorter workweek and more democratic changes.\
\
Under Venezuelan law, and in the true spirit of democracy, these proposed 
changes will be for citizens to vote up or down on December 2. The process 
will be in two parts reversing an earlier decision to do it as one package, 
yea or nay. One part will be Chavez's 33 reforms plus 13 National Assembly 
additions, and the other for the remaining 23 articles.\
\
Coup D'Etat Rumblings Must Be Taken Seriously\
\
Now battle lines are drawn, opposition forces are mobilized and events are 
playing out violently on Venezuela's streets. The worst so far was on 
November 7 when CNN falsely reported "80,000" anti-Chavez students 
demonstrated "peacefully" in Caracas to denounce "Hugo Chavez's attempts to 
expand his power." The actual best estimates put it between 2000 and 10,000, 
and long-time Latin American expert James Petras calls the protesters 
"privileged middle and upper middle class university students," once again 
being used as an imperial tool. \
\
In their anti-government zeal, CNN and other dominant media ignore the many 
pro-Chavez events writer Fred Fuentes calls a "red hurricane" sweeping the 
country. An impressive one was held on November 4 when the President 
addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters who participated in an 8.5 
kilometer Caracas march while similar pro-reform rallies took place at the 
same time around the country. They're the start of a "yes" campaign for a 
large December 2 turnout that's vital as polls show strong pro-reform 
support by a near two to one margin.\
\
In an effort to defuse it, orchestrated opposition turned violent and 
officials reported eight people were injured in the November 7 incident. No 
one was killed, but one was wounded by gunfire when at least "four (masked) 
gunmen (who looked like provocateur plants, not students) fir(ed) handguns 
at the anti-Chavez crowd." In an earlier October demonstration, opposition 
students clashed with police who kept them from reaching the National 
Assembly building and a direct confrontation with pro-Chavez supporters that 
might have turned ugly.\
\
It did on November 7 when violence erupted between pro and anti-government 
students, but it wasn't as reported. Venezuelan and US corporate media 
claimed pro-Chavez supporters initiated the attack. In fact, they WERE 
attacked by elements opposing the President. They seized this time to act 
ahead of the referendum to disrupt it and destabilize the government as 
prelude to a possible planned coup.\
\
One pro-Chavez student explained what happened. She and others were erecting 
posters supporting a "yes" referendum vote when they were attacked with tear 
gas and crowds yelling they were going to be lynched. Avila TV had the 
evidence. Its unedited footage showed an opposition student mob surrounding 
the School of Social Work area where pro-Chavez students hid for safety. 
They threw Molotov cocktails, rocks, chairs and other objects, smashed 
windows, and tried to burn down the building as university authorities 
(responsible for security) stood aside doing nothing to curtail the 
violence. Another report was that corporate-owned Univision operatives 
posing as reporters had guns and accompanied the elements attacking the 
school in an overt act of complicity by the media.\
\
The pattern now unfolding on Caracas streets is similar to what happened 
ahead of the April, 2002 aborted coup attempt, and Petras calls it "the most 
serious threat (to the President) since" that time. The corporate media then 
claimed pro-government supporters instigated street violence and fired on 
"unarmed" opposition protesters. In fact, that was later proved a lie as 
anti-Chavez "snipers" did the firing as part of the plot that became the 
coup. A similar scheme may now be unfolding in Caracas and on other campuses 
around the country as well.\
\
In his public comments, Foreign Minister Maduro  accused the major media and 
CNN of misrepresenting events and poisoning the political atmosphere. It's 
happening in Venezuela and the US as the dominant media attacks Hugo Chavez 
through a campaign of vilification and black propaganda.\
\
US Corporate Media on the Attack\
\
On November 12, The Venezuela Information Office (VIO) reported that growing 
numbers of "US print newspapers lodged attacks against Venezuela" using 
"outdated cold-war generalizations" and without explaining any of the 
proposed democratic changes. Among others, they came from the Houston 
Chronicle that claimed:\
\
-- constitutional reforms will "eliminate the vestiges of democracy" in 
Venezuela when, in fact, they'll strengthen it, and the people will vote 
them up or down;\
\
-- Chavez controls the electoral system when, in fact, Venezuela is a model 
free, fair and open democracy that shames its US equivalent. The Chronicle 
falsely said reforms will strip people of their right to due process. In 
fact, that's guaranteed under article 337 that won't be changed.\
\
VIO also reported on a Los Angeles Times editorial comparing Chavez to Bin 
Laden. It compounded that whopper by claiming reforms will cause a global 
recession due to higher oil prices that, of course, have nothing to do with 
changes in law. In another piece, the LA Times inverted the truth by falsely 
claiming a public majority opposes reforms. Then there's the Miami Herald 
predicting an end to freedom of expression if changes pass and the 
Washington Post commenting on how high oil prices let Chavez buy influence. 
\
\
The Post then ran an inflamatory November 15 editorial headlined "Mr. 
Chavez's Coup" if which it lied by saying November 7 student protesters 
"were fired on by gunmen (whom) university officials later 
'identified'....as members of government-sponsored 'paramilitary groups' 
when, in fact, there are no such groups. The editorial went on to say Chavez 
wants to "complete his transformation into an autocrat (to be able to) seize 
property....dispose of Venezuela's foreign exchange reserves....impose 
central government rule on local jurisdictions and declare indefinite states 
of emergency" as well as suspend due process and freedom of information. 
Again, misinformation, deliberate distortion and outright lies from a 
leading quasi-official US house organ.\
\
Rupert Murdock's Wall Street Journal weighed in as well with its lead 
anti-Chavez attack dog and all-round character assassin extraordinaire, Mary 
Anastasia O'Grady. This writer has tangled with her several times before and 
earlier commented how one day she'll have a serious back problem because of 
her rigid position of genuflection to the most extreme hard-right elements 
she supports. Her latest November 12 column was vintage O'Grady and 
headlined "More Trouble for Chavez (as) Students and former allies unite 
against his latest power grab." \
\
Like most of her others, this one drips with vitriol and outrageous 
distortions like calling Chavez a "dictator" when, in fact, he's a model 
democrat, but that's the problem for writers like O'Grady. Absent the facts, 
they use agitprop instead. O'Grady writes: "Mr. Chavez has been working to 
remove any counterbalances to his power for almost nine years (and) has met 
strong resistance from property owners, businesses, labor leaders, the 
Catholic Church and the media." Now add opposition well-off students. 
Omitted is that the opposition is a minority, it represents elitist 
interests, and Chavez has overwhelming public support for his social 
democracy and proposed reform changes including from most students O'Grady 
calls "pro-Chavez goons."\
\
Once again, she's on a rampage, but that's her job. She claims the absurd 
and people believe her - like saying the media will be censored, civil 
liberties can be suspended, and government will be empowered to seize 
private property.  He's a "demagogue," says O'Grady, waging "class warfare," 
but opposition to reform "has led to increased speculation (his) days are 
numbered." Wishing won't make it so, and O'Grady uses that line all the 
time. \
\
The New York Times is also on the attack in its latest anti-Chavez crusade. 
It's been a leading Chavez critic for years, and Simon Romero is its man in 
Caracas. On November 3, he reported "Lawmakers in Venezuela Approve Expanded 
Power for Chavez (in a) constitutional overhaul (to) enhance (Chavez's) 
authority, (allow) him to be reelected indefinitely, and (give) him the 
power to handpick rulers, to be called vice-presidents, (and) for various 
new regions to be created in the country....The new amendments would 
facilitate expropriations of private property (and allow state) security 
forces to round up citizens (stripped of their) legal protections" if Chavez 
declares a state of emergency - to make him look like Pakistan's Musharraf 
when he's mirror opposite. \
\
Romero also quoted Jose Manuel Gonzales, president of Venezuela's 
Fedecamaras (chamber of commerce), saying "Venezuelan democracy was buried 
today" and anti-Chavez Roman Catholic church leaders (always allied with 
elitists) calling the changes "morally unacceptable." Then on November 8, 
Romero followed with an article titled "Gunmen Attack Opponents of Chavez's 
Bid to Extend Power" and implied they were pro-Chavez supporters. Again 
false. Still more came on November 10 headlined "Students Emerge as a 
Leading Force Against Chavez" in an effort to imply most students oppose him 
when, in fact, these elements are a minority. \
\
His latest so far is on November 17 titled "Chavez's Vision Shares Wealth 
and Centers Power" that in fairness shows the President addressing a huge 
crowd of supporters in Maturin on November 16. But Romero spoiled it by 
calling his vision "centralized, oil-fueled socialism (with) Chavez (having) 
significantly enhanced powers." Then he quotes Chavez biographer Alberto 
Barrera Tyszka who embarrassed himself and Romero saying the President is 
seizing and redirecting "power through legitimate means (and this) is not a 
dictatorship but something more complex," the 'tyranny' of popularity." In 
other words, he's saying democracy is "tyranny." The rest of the article is 
just as bad with alternating subtle and hammer blow attacks against a 
popular President's aim to deepen his socially democratic agenda and help 
his people.\
\
Romero's measured tone outclasses O'Grady's crudeness that's pretty standard 
fare on the Journal's notorious opinion page. He's much more dangerous, 
however, with a byline in the influential "newspaper of record" because of 
the important audience it commands. \
\
One other notable anti-Chavez piece is in the November 26 issue of the 
magazine calling itself "the capitalist tool" - Forbes. It shows in its 
one-sided commentary and intolerance of opposing views. The article in 
question, headlined "Latin Sinkholes," is by right wing economist and 
long-time flack for empire, Steve Hanke. In it, he aims right at Chavez with 
outrageous comments like calling him a "negative reformer (who) turned back 
the clock (and) hails Cuba, the largest open-air prison in the Americas, as 
his model. His revolution's enemy is the marketplace." He then cites a World 
Bank report saying "Venezuela is tied with Zimbabwe as this year's champion 
in smothering economic freedom," and  compounds that lie with another 
whopper. \
\
Point of fact - Venezuela and Argentina have the highest growth rates in the 
region and are near the top of world rankings in recent years. Following the 
devastating oil management 2002-03 lockout, Venezuela's economy took off and 
grew at double digit rates in 2004, 05 and 06 and will grow a likely 8% this 
year. Hanke, however, says "Venezuela's economic performance under Chavez 
has been anemic (growing) at an average rate of only 2% per year. In the 
same article, he aims in similar fashion at Ecuador's Raphael Correa calling 
him "ruthlessly efficient (for wanting to) pull off a Bolivarian Revolution 
in Ecuador." Hanke and most others in the dominant media are of one mind and 
never let facts contradict their opinions. Outliers won't be tolerated even 
when it's proved their way works best.\
\
There's lots more criticism like this throughout the dominant media along 
with commentators calling Chavez "a dictator, another Hitler (and) a threat 
to democracy." Ignoring the rules of imperial management has a price. This 
type media assault is part of it as a prelude for what often follows - 
attempted regime change.\
\
Further Venezuela Information Office (VIO) Clarification of Facts on the 
Ground\
\
On November 15, VIO issued an alert update to dispel media inaccuracies 
"about Venezuela's constitutional reforms and the student protests" 
accompanying them. They're listed below:\
\
-- Caracas has a student population of around 200,000; at most 10,000 
participated in the largest protest to date, and VIO estimates it was 6000;\
\
-- the major media ignore how the government cooperates with students and 
made various accommodations to them to be fair to the opposition;\
\
-- Venezuelan police have protected student protesters, and article 68 of 
the Constitution requires they do it; it affirms the right of all 
Venezuelans to assemble peacefully;\
\
-- in addition, student protest leaders linked to opposition parties were 
granted high-level meetings with government officials to present their 
concerns; \
\
-- on November 1, their student representatives met with directors of the 
National Electoral Council (CNE) and presented a petition to delay the 
referendum;\
\
-- on November 7, they again met with National Tribunal of Justice officials 
and presented the same petition;\
\
-- on November 12, Minister of Interior and Justice Minister, Pedro Carreno, 
met 20 university presidents to assure them the government respects 
university autonomy and their students' right to assemble peacefully;\
\
-- VIO reported what really happened at another November 1 protest after 
students met with CNE officials; some of them then tried to chain themselves 
to the building while others charged through police lines and injured six 
officers; in addition, one student had 20 liters of gasoline but never got 
to use it criminally; after the incident, the CNE president, Tibisay Lucena, 
issued a public statement expressing his disappointment about this kind of 
response to the government's good faith efforts; and\
\
-- VIO said students and university presidents from across the nation filed 
a document with the Supreme Court on November 14 supporting constitutional 
reform. Chief justice Luisa Estela Morales praised their coming and said the 
court's doors are open to anyone wanting to give an opinion. The dominant 
media reported nothing on this. It also ignored the government's 9000 public 
events throughout the country in past weeks to explain and discuss proposed 
reforms and that a hotline was installed for comments on them, pro or con.\
\
-- finally, when protests of any kind happen in the US, police usually 
attack them with tear gas, beatings and mass arrests to crush their 
democratic spirit and prevent it from being expressed as our Constitution's 
First and most important amendment guarantees. In Venezuela, the spirit of 
democracy lives. It never existed in the US, and we want to export our way 
to everyone and by force if necessary.\
\
Here's a November 15 breaking news example of our way in action. At 8:00AM, 
12 FBI and Secret Service agents raided the Liberty Dollar Company's office 
in Evansville, IN and for the next six hours removed two tons of legal Ron 
Paul Dollars along with all the gold, silver and platinum at the location. 
They also took all location files and computers and froze Liberty Dollar's 
bank accounts in an outrageous police state action against a legitimate 
business. This move also seems intended to impugn the integrity of a 
presidential candidate gaining popularity because he defies the bellicose 
mainstream and wants more people empowerment.\
\
Chavez champions another way and answered his critics at a November 14 
Miraflores Presidential Palace press conference where he denounced them for 
lying about his reform package. He explained his aim is to strengthen 
Venezuela's independence and transfer power to the people, not increase his 
own. "For many years in Venezuela," he said, "they weakened the powers of 
the state as part of the neoliberal imperial plan....to weaken the economies 
of countries to insure domination. While we remained weak, imperialism was 
strengthened," and he elaborated.\
\
He then continued to stress his most important reform "is the transfer of 
power to the people" through an explosion of grassroots communal, worker, 
student and campesino councils, formations of them into regional and 
national federations, and the formation of "communes (to) constitute the 
basic nucleus of the socialist state." Earlier Chavez stated that 
democratizing the economy "is the only way to defeat poverty, to defeat 
misery and achieve the largest sum of happiness for the people." He's not 
just saying this. He believes and acts on it, and that's why elitists target 
him for removal even though he wants equity for everyone, even his critics, 
and business continues to thrive under his government. But not like in the 
"good old" days when it was all one-way.\
\
Venezuelan Business is Booming - So Why Complain?\
\
Business in Venezuela is indeed booming, and in 2006 the Financial Times 
said bankers were "having a party" it was so good. So what's the problem? 
It's not good enough for corporate interests wanting it all for themselves 
and nothing for the people the way it used to be pre-Chavez. Unfair? Sure, 
but in a corporate-dominated world, that's how it is and no outliers are 
tolerated. Thus Hugo Chavez's dilemma.\
\
Last June, Business Week (BW) magazine captured the mood in an article 
called "A Love-Hate Relationship with Chavez - Companies are chafing under 
the fiery socialist. But in some respects, business has never been better." 
Writer Geri Smith asked: "Just how hard is it to do business in Venezuela" 
and then exaggerated by saying "hardly a day passes without another change 
in the rules restricting companies." Hardly so, but what is true is new 
rules require a more equitable relationship between government and business. 
They provide more benefits to the people and greater attention to small 
Venezuelan business and other commercial undertakings like an explosion of 
cooperatives (100,000 or more) that under neoliberal rules have no chance 
against the giants.\
\
Nonetheless, the economy under Chavez is booming, and business loves it even 
while it complains. It's because oil revenues are high, Chavez spends 
heavily on social benefits, and the poor have seen their incomes more than 
double since 2004 when all their benefits are included. The result, as BW 
explains: "Sales of everything from basics" to luxury items "have taken 
off....and local and foreign companies alike are raking in more money than 
ever in Venezuela." In addition, bilateral trade has never been higher, but 
American business complains it's caught in the middle of a Washington - 
Caracas political struggle.\
\
The article continues to show how all kinds of foreign business is 
benefitting from cola to cars to computer chips. Yet, it restates the 
dilemma saying "As Chavez continues his socialist crusade, there are signs 
of rising discontent," and it's showing up now on the country's streets with 
the latest confrontation still to be resolved, one way or another. \
\
Events Are Ugly and Coming to A Head\
\
Through the dominant media, Washington and Venezuelan anti-Chavez elements 
are using constitutional reform as a pretext for what they may have in 
mind - "to arouse the military to intervene" and oust Chavez, as Petras 
notes in his article titled "Venezuela: Between Ballots and Bullets." He 
explains the opposition "rich and privileged (coalition) fear constitutional 
reforms because they will have to grant a greater share of their 
(considerable) profits to the working class, lose their monopoly over market 
transactions to publicly owned firms, and see political power evolve toward 
local community councils and the executive branch." \
\
Petras is worried and says "class polarization....has reached its most 
extreme expression" as December 2 approaches: "the remains of the 
multi-class coalition embracing a minority of the middle class and the great 
majority of (workers) is disintegrating (and) political defections have 
increased (including 14) deputies in the National Assembly." Add to them 
former Chavez Defense Minister, Raul Baduel, who Petras believes may be "an 
aspirant to head up a US-backed right-wing seizure of power." \
\
The situation is ugly and dangerous, and lots of US money and influence 
fuels it. Petras puts it this way: "Venezuelan democracy, the Presidency of 
Hugo Chavez and the great majority of the popular classes face a mortal 
threat." An alliance between Washington, local oligarchs and elitist 
supporters of the "right" are committed to ousting Chavez and may feel now 
is their best chance. Venezuela's social democracy is on the line in the 
crucial December 2 vote, and the entire region depends on it solidifying and 
surviving.\
\
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at 
lendmanstephen at sbcglobal.net.\
\
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Steve 
Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US 
Central time.\
\
\
\
}


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