Venezuela’s Chavez screws it up, Kerry and Bush take the blame.
By Aleksander Boyd
London 28 Mar. 04 – There has been much talk about the statement posted in John Kerry’s site about Venezuela and Hugo Chavez. The loony left is indignant, outraged by it. Venezuelan government sponsored websites have post comments from activists such as Eva Golinger and Greg Wilpert who pretend, with much candour, to convince US citizens that Chavez is good and Kerry’s demons should be reined, moreover they even dared to suggest he should retract from his views ‘threatening’ not to vote for him. Mind you, these rather disgraceful operators are the voice of, how many Americans?
Let us consider for a moment the Latino communities in the US or better still those whom Senator Kerry is trying to appeal. Cubans and Venezuelans seem to have gathered round a common goal, i.e. to get rid of their dictators. Estimates point the number of Venezuelan exiles in the Carolinas and Florida only at around 300.000. Surely not all of them can vote in the coming election but rather a fraction of that number. What are the political tendencies of that group? Indeed the ones who can vote would be Venezuelan-American citizens whom have emigrated to the US long before Chavez reached power. Most likely they will vote for the candidate that brings about more pressure on Chavez to uphold once and for all the rule of law and the constitution. Why? Quite simple, they have been out of the country long enough to have realised, from a privileged viewpoint, the utmost deterioration in the last 6 years. Most of them would have left relatives and friends behind, who in turn would have asked them in said period for some sort of help to land in the States. Apart from the obvious emotional support that they can give to their compatriots and relatives, what other way have they got to help? The answer lies in Kerry’s message, sensing that the vast majority of the Venezuelan-Americans would love to see Chavez behind bars the candidate reacted accordingly and in so doing has gained, surely, a considerable amount of votes.
There is also the callous issue of American tax payers money being sent to Colombia to combat drug trade and terrorism, effort that has being greatly undermined by Chavez owing to his leniency vis-à-vis the guerrilla.
On the other hand we have got the troop of salaried fans of the Venezuelan President, swimming against the current and trying to hide a mountain of evidence of human rights abuses, making use of the same baseless and indigestible arguments of the NED giving 54K to Sumate to oust Chavez; that the recall referendum has got CIA & Bush written all over it –perhaps Venezuela’s constitution was drafted in Langley instead of Sabaneta- or that “Afro-Venezuelans” (wonder who they are) are being stripped off their rights.
The tragic bombings in Madrid have evidenced two things; first that new-terror won the Spanish elections, working at ease the minds of the electorate in their own advantage and secondly that the left has lost its north. Instead of condemning the brutal act they immediately charged against the usual suspects (Bush & Blair & Aznar) in quite the same way they now want the world to believe that Chavez is in the crosshairs of America. The political divide is quite clear now; to the right pre-emption, war, Guantanamo Bay and iron fist to deal with terror; to the left more retrograde Marxist-socialists rubbish, amicable stances towards dictators, human rights violations colour blindness, and absolute silence in opining about terror. Since the left approach is ever so simplistic, here’s mine; between those who want to eradicate terror by all means and those who condone it or participate directly in it I choose the former.
It seems that John Kerry thinks similarly. And Bush for that matter, ergo whoever wins the race in the US will, hopefully, force Castro’s apprentice to observe the law. Whatever Kerry’s intentions are he may be better suited trying to appeal to the larger numbers; in the US and in Venezuela the majority want to see Chavez leave.
send this article to a friend >>