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Terrific description of the comic-opera fiasco in Venezuela. Of course, it comes from England and not from the U.S. media, which is still trying to figure out how to spin Colin Powell's Middle East Bogus Journey into a triumph:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,689522,00.htm l
Mind the space. From the article:
President Bush said after Chavez's return that he hoped he had "learned the lesson", but the main lessons need to be learned further north in Washington itself. The precise part played by the US in the coup remains unclear. What is known is that in January Mr Bush appointed, against the advice of the senate foreign relations committee, a man with a shabby record of covert meddling in Latin American politics: Otto Reich. Reich, a Cuban-American who was once the US ambassador to Venezuela, is now the assistant secretary at the state department for the western hemisphere and as such calls the shots for the US - almost literally - in Latin America.
In the Pentagon, the man with responsibility for Latin America is Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, who was the aide to the head of the Contras when they were waging their US-backed war against the elected leftwing Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Two of the Venezuelan military who supported the coup, General Efrain Vasquez and General Eddie Ramirez Poveda, are graduates of the US Army School of the Americas in Georgia, where many members of the Latin Ameri can military have been trained in how to deal with troublesome lefties.
The tycoon who led the media onslaught that preceded the coup and whose television station announced it, Cuban- American Gustavo Cisneros, is an old fishing pal of Bush senior.
While the US may not have been involved in the final timetable for the coup, it knew that one was imminent and clearly gave it a green light. While the world's attention was on the Middle East, the coup was greeted with speedy acceptance by the White House. One wonders if a Zapatista force had overthrown the elected Mexican President Fox whether Mr Bush would have responded by saying that he hoped Mr Fox had "learned his lesson".
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Well, there it is, U.S. media, all spelled out for you in four neat paragraphs. Otto Reich, Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, and Papa Doc's favorite fishing buddy Gustavo Cisneros all with their grimy little fingers in this pot. But since it doesn't involve Bill Clinton's penis, what's the big deal? As we know from Nick the Knucklehead (and where'd he go anyway?), it's BORING to talk about overthrowing governments!
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