A money funnel to Venezuela
The Christian Science Monitor has a story up about the Office of Transition Initiatives which appears to be a funnel for funds to Venezuelan opposition groups. There has been a fair amount written on the NED and its involvement in "reinforcing democracies," but this is the first I've read of OTI, a branch of USAID.
This is just the kind of story we see very rarely. It is exceedingly unusual for a US news organization to report on agencies which serve to subvert other nation's governments.
posted by mikevotes at
9:09 AM
9 Comments:
We support Democracy when it is one wwe like. We don't want uppity leaders from upstart South American countries subsidising our poor with cheap heating oil.
By
Yukkione, at 11:25 AM
Wonder if this is connected to the organizations operating in Haiti (I'm linking to us since the original went behind the paid firewall). Here is a mention (third paragraph under "The USAID Program").
And the US is planning for Cuba too:
" The three countries targeted for major U.S. democratization programs under its Office of Transition Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean are Bolivia, Haiti, and Venezuela. As part of its democratic transitioning planning, Cuba is also a prime focus for USAID, although Cuba programs are handled by a special initiative called the Program to Promote Cuban Transition to Democracy, which allocates $6-7 million a year to Cuban groups planning for a post-Castro government."
I'm sure that warms the cockles of Evo Morales' heart.
By
Anonymous, at 12:54 PM
Yeah, this is a really intentionally murky area in how the US funds these things. These are just the above board directly traceable monies.
And, I don't know about Venezuela, but in alot of these countries, you will also find activities by the IRI (International Republican Institute) which is a little more shady.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 12:58 PM
Right. The IRI was the one "profiled" in the NYT Haiti piece.
I did find it interesting that the transition targets mentioned in that one link were Haiti, Venezuela and Bolivia, and that there was implied threat to "populist" movements in Brazil and elsewhere.
What is this? Guatemala 1954?
By
Anonymous, at 1:05 PM
Brazil is the Big dog in that it has teamed with Russia India and China (BRIC) to block several actions the US has tried to implement on trade and international relations. Brazil is now receiving cover from these other nations, so a coup there would be nearly impossible.
And, yes, this is 1954 in that these guys are the ideological children of the foreign policy "experts" of the 50's.
Free markets aren't free.
Something like that.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 2:38 PM
There are plenty of internal reasons why the coup wouldn't work now in Brazil anyway. And the electorate finally believes it. In the run up for the election of Collor too many people said "well, I want to vote for Lula but..." which obviously isn't the case now.
By
Anonymous, at 4:52 PM
I'm not a Brazil expert, but I did hear the other day that they officially achieved energy independence this year.
After a twenty five year program developing ethanol and other programs, they no longer are a net importer of oil.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 5:02 PM
I am. :)
And they also made a commitment to a gas pipeline through the Amazon with Venezuela and Argentina.
By
Anonymous, at 5:20 PM
i have a new poll on this very topic
By
michael the tubthumper, at 5:54 AM
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