Venezuela is a fairly small country that poses no danger to the United States. But that hasn't stopped the Bush administration from picking on Venezuela every opportunity they get. It really bugs Bush that there's a Latin American country that won't kiss his ass and do whatever the U.S. wants -- even if it's not in their best interest.
The Bush administration pays lip service to democracy and self-determination, but they don't really mean it. For rational people, self-determination and democracy means the people of a country have the right to choose their own government and leaders. But for Bush, it means they must choose leaders who will follow the policies and wishes of the United States.
Venezuela isn't playing that game any longer. They have elected a leader who does what is good for Venezuela -- Hugo Chavez. In fact, Chavez has been elected twice by large margins.
But that hasn't stopped Bush from trying to label Chavez as a dictator. Bush has made all kinds of false accusations against Chavez because he won't climb on the American imperialistic bandwagon. Since the "dictator" accusations aren't working, the Bush administration is now shifting the accusations against Chavez.
They now want to tar Chavez with the "drugs" brush. U.S. director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, John Walters, claimed recently that Chavez is aiding drug traffickers by allowing them to use his country to ship Columbian drugs to Europe and America. Walters said, "It goes beyond 'I can't do it' to 'I won't do it'. And 'I won't do it' means that 'I am colluding'."
The BBC's South American correspondent, Jeremy McDermott, says the accusation serves two purposes. The first is to show support for Columbia's president, who doesn't like Chavez. He was recently embarrassed by Chavez getting Columbian rebels to release some hostages they were holding.
The second is to pressure Chavez to cooperate with U.S. Drug enforcement policy, although I'm not sure what that's supposed to accomplish. The Columbian president has fully cooperated with U.S. drug agents, but it hasn't seemed to slow up the Columbian cocaine traffickers at all. Why would we think they could accomplish in Venezuela what they can't accomplish in Columbia?
I'll bet the U.S. government would get a lot more cooperation out of Chavez if they would stop the wild accusations and support for Chavez's opponents, recognize the right of Venezuelans to choose their own leaders, and make a real attempt to get along with the Venezuelan government -- without trying to strong-arm it.
whatever, dude
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