Anyone familiar with American foreign policy won’t be too surprised that the US is now accused of trying to oust Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez by funding anonymous anti-Chavez groups through an international aid agency. $26 million has been provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2002. Another $80 million has been available to pro-American groups in Cuba, and large sums given to groups in “priority countries” such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bolivia, and Haiti.

Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) said, “What this indicates is that there is a great deal of money, a great deal of concern to oust or neutralize Chavez. The US is waging diplomatic warfare against Venezuela.” While the US accuses Chavez of “destabilizing” Latin American countries, Birns contends that the term is more aptly applied to what the US is doing. Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan-American lawyer who wrote The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela, said, “It’s trying to implement regime change. There’s no doubt about it. I think the US government tries to mask it by saying it’s a noble mission.”

The row comes just as China has agreed to invest $5bn in energy projects in Venezuela, including the building of 13 oil rigs and 18 oil tankers. Last week Mr Chavez announced that China was endorsing Venezuela’s bid for the rotating Latin America seat on the 15-member security council, a candidacy strongly opposed by the US. The commercial arrangements with Beijing are seen as part of the Chavez government’s strategy of establishing new links so as to lessen the country’s dependence on US trade.

With hypocrisy as his main weapon, a USAID official said, “The goal of the program is to strengthen democracy, which is consistent with President Bush’s ‘Freedom Agenda’. A strong civil society is a critical part of any healthy democracy, just as it is in the United States, England or anywhere else in the world.” I wonder if this official also considered 9/11 to be part of a “healthy democracy”? Wasn’t that event orchestrated by a small group funded by foreign interests? Hypocrisy is when you claim you’re spreading “democracy” by overthrowing democratically elected leaders in other countries. $26 million (ALMOST as much as the US gives to Israel within a 4 day period) is a serious amount of money towards the funding of terrorism in Venezuela. It’s infuriating to think that on the anniversary of Katrina, with almost 20 percent of America in 2006 living below the poverty level, and 1 out of every 100 Americans incarcerated, that our government is using OUR tax dollars to erode the freedoms of millions more people beyond our borders.
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