INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Súmate put on trial as U.S. puppet |
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by Evan Sarmiento Axis of Logic Entered into the database on Tuesday, July 26th, 2005 @ 07:50:41 MST |
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On July 7, the National Endowment for Democracy's puppet organization in Venezuela,
Súmate, was indicted on the charge of treason. According to Venezuelan
laws, a non-partisan civil organization cannot either act as a political party,
interfere with elections, or take foreign funds. Súmate openly acquired $53,400 from the National Endowment for Democracy
to "conspire against the government," according to a Venezuelan judge.
Further more, the leaders of Súmate, Marina Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz, signed the infamous "Carmona Decree,"
the mandate created during the April 2002 failed coup against President Hugo
Chávez. Rather than being a civil, non-partisan organization, Súmate
had called for the removal of Chávez during a previous recall referendum. Miseducating thousands by blatantly calling their popularly elected president
a "dictator," Súmate was not enhancing the democracy of Venezuela,
as its mission states--rather it represented U.S. interests to destabilize the
Bolivarian Revolution. Marina Machado received an invitation in May to meet with President George
W. Bush in the Oval Office. Machado was the first Venezuelan to be received
by Bush during his time in office. This fostered outrage in Venezuela that an
already anti-Chavista organization, masquerading as a group to promote civil
society, was taking funds and orders from the White House. This crystallized the case against them as being thoroughly pro-imperialist
and counter-revolutionary. After the initial court date was set against Súmate, NED President Carl
Gersh man made a visit to Venezuela in a vain attempt to derail the trial of
Machado and Plaz, threatening the Venezuelan government with a cessation of
aid money by the World Bank. The World Bank has been funding Venezuela's judicial
reform process. Due to the fact that the revolutionary government held firm, this aid has recently
been revoked. This attempted bribe on the part of the NED has certainly not
alleviated the crisis for the U.S. imperialist government, but has exacerbated
it. It has shown how the NED and Súmate are hired hands of the U.S.imperialists
and have close connections to the World Bank and IMF, whose structural policies
are responsible for impoverishing Third World nations. The NED has never been about "democracy." Following the April 2002
coup, the NED received a $1-million grant for its "work in Venezuela."
These millions pumped into the NED are pushed into Súmate, which funds
groups and parties that consistently work against the mass organizations. One example is the funding of an opportunist left-sounding group, Bandera Roja
or Red Flag, which is responsible for attacks against Commando Maisanta centers
(election brigades), the state oil company PDVSA, and the Bolivarian Circles--grassroots
organizations that implement social change. Besides its operations in Venezuela, the NED has been a U.S. tool for destabilization
of sovereign nations worldwide under the guise of promoting the "democratic"
process. The NED played key roles in the "Orange" and "Gucci"
revolutions, which were in reality imperialist interventions in the former Soviet
Union and in Syria, respectively. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela says it is perfectly acceptable and legitimate
for civil organizations and non-partisan organizations to exist, as they strengthen
revolutionary democracy, but not organizations that are a façade and
a cover for U.S. imperialist interests and whose real aim is to derail the Bolivarian
Revolution and achieve another right-wing coup. |