#Chavez protege #Maduro election result is not recognized by #Capriles

(Nicolas Maduro), a former bus driver and protege of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has been declared the narrow winner of that country's elections. But the opposition is not accepting the results.Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles said he did not recognize the official results that gave Maduro 50.7 percent support versus 49.1 percent for him, a difference of just 235,000 ballots."Mr. Maduro, if you were illegitimate before, now you are even more loaded with illegitimacy," Capriles said, adding that his team had identified more than 3,000 "incidents" during the voting.Capriles' refusal to accept the result raised fears of political unrest in Venezuela, an OPEC nation with the world's biggest oil reserves.
It would be dangerous to question Maduro. Something tells me that this election really was rigged. Something also tells me that there have been other elections that have been rigged, inside of Venezuela and outside.

Being a Jew in Venezuela

Israel Matzav: Being a Jew in Venezuela

Venezuela Reportedly Spying on Jewish Community

Reports that the Venezuelan intelligence agency is targeting and spying on the Venezuelan Jewish community as well as on Venezuelan companies and organizations with ties to Israel is deeply troubling, asserted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

(Jew walks next to synagogueFlash 90)

“We are deeply troubled by a recent news report alleging that the Venezuelan Intelligence Service (SEBIN) is spying on the Venezuelan Jewish community,” said ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman.
“Venezuela under the regime of Hugo Chavez has a history of harassing the Jewish community in that country,” he said. “It is chilling to read reports that the SEBIN received instructions to carry out clandestine surveillance operations against members of the Jewish community, as described in detail in documents leaked by the Argentinean web site, Analisis24.”
The Analisis24 report, which has since been republished on at least one web site in Venezuela, included several documents, mainly from 2010, with specific, private and official information about Jewish Venezuelans.  For instance, among the documents posted are the official passport information of members of an NGO related to Holocaust remembrance, including all entry and exits from the country and where the members traveled.
“In a country where the government and some of its followers have publicly accused the Jewish community of disloyalty and where the community’s institutions and houses of worship have been attacked, reports of this kind of surveillance add fuel to an already incendiary atmosphere inciting prejudice and hate,” said Foxman. “For more than a decade, elements of the Venezuelan government-run media and the so-called ‘alternative’ media operated by Chavez government supporters have regularly engaged in spreading anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes.”
“The Analisis24 article suggests there is an official government policy targeting Venezuela’s Jewish community,” Foxman added. “We strongly condemn these dangerous intimidation tactics and call on the current leadership of the Venezuelan government to immediately cease targeting the Jewish community.”
The League has monitored and issued reports on anti-Semitism in Venezuela in the past several years and criticized the government of President Hugo Chavez for promoting anti-Semitism in Venezuela for political purposes. 

via israelnationalnews.com

breathing machine is involved

(Simply) The history of this part of the world shows that close associates are often the initiators of coups and army, swearing loyalty to the current government, forgets the oath. In addition to the multibillion dollar arms contracts, Russia has also invested in the oil industry in Venezuela. Russia plans to set up a consortium to develop oil fields in the country, the project involving all major Russian oil and gas companies. The project is estimated at $ 20 billion. The sources cited by Stratfor reported that the candidate favored by Chinese, Russians and Brazilians is Nicolas Maduro, while Cubans tilt more toward Chávez’s brother Adam, mainly because they don’t believe Maduro will guarantee the oil subsidies they have enjoyed so far.

Obama Admin “Congratulates” Venezuela For Electing Hugo Chavez

Nothing like congratulating a country for electing one of the world’s most anti-American leaders.
Via Weekly Standard:

Yesterday, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez “won” reelection. Today, the White House is congratulating Venezuela on that out come.
From the pool report, which details a gaggle held by White House spokesman Jay Carney:
-Carney said US congratulates Venezuelan people on its election, while noting the US has its differences with Chavez.
Keep reading…

via weaselzippers.us

How Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez is Using Anti-Semitism to Maintain His Power—Against a Challenger Who Isn’t Even Jewish

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles delivers a speech in Caracas on June 10, 2012 (Leo Ramirez/AFP/Getty Images) The Dispossessed (Tablet/By Matthew Fishbane) Hugo Chávez is ramping up his assault on Venezuela’s upper class, and now a rare Jewish paradise is squarely in his sights. Can it be salvaged? Four days ago, Henrique Capriles, the youthful governor of Miranda state in Venezuela, launched his campaign to rid the country of Hugo Chávez at the presidential election scheduled for October this year. Joined by thousands of supporters, the newly minted candidate led a six-mile procession through the capital city, Caracas. Their final destination was the office of the national election board, where Capriles formally registered his candidacy. The march showcased Capriles, whose Jewish origins have been mercilessly attacked by the Chavistas, as the anti-Chávez—not just figuratively, but literally as well. By marching for a long distance over a short space of time, Capriles wanted his fellow Venezuelans to see him as the picture of health, in marked contrast to the ailing Chávez. For more than a year now, Chávez’s physical condition has been subjected to the sort of rolling speculation typically reserved for dictators. Until Saturday, Chávez had released virtually no information about the terminal cancer he is widely believed to be suffering from. Then, one day before the Capriles march, he summoned journalists to his presidential palace to tell them, “I feel very good.” The following day, Chávez held a buoyant election rally of his own.
The rally didn’t disguise the fact that Chávez, who is currently serving his third term as president, has never looked so vulnerable. His failing health is only part of the story; in the six years that have passed since the last election, the country has become mired in poverty, violent crime, and corruption. Fired by the high price of oil, Venezuela’s principle export, Chávez lavished cash on social spending, while the underlying economy suffered from inflation and capital flight. These days, Venezuela looks less like a socialist version of Singapore and more like the Latin American equivalent of Zimbabwe. According to Sammy Eppel, the head of the Human Rights Commission of the Venezuelan Bna’i Brith and a frequent commentator on Venezuelan affairs, not even the 8 million beneficiaries of Chávez’s grandiose social justice programs, who combined make up nearly half of the electorate, can be relied upon to cast their votes for the commandante. Capriles, a moderate leftist who leads a coalition of 30 opposition parties, plans to capitalize on this uncertainty.
Yet in a country like Venezuela, where infrequent elections are the only glimmer of democratic hope in the face of a regime that has acquired the core features of a dictatorship, no opposition candidate can be considered a shoo-in. Most polls show Chávez comfortably in front; nonetheless, the regime has several options up its sleeve in the event of a Capriles victory.
There is the prospect of Chavismo without Chávez, whereby a handpicked successor continues the path of the revolution; Chávez’s daughter and brother are spoken of as possible candidates, as is current Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro. There is the constantly swirling talk of a military coup, a measure that the country’s generals, who are immersed in drug trafficking worth hundreds of millions of dollars, might decide is a preferable alternative to being arrested and imprisoned by a democratic government. In addition, Chávez could follow the example of his close ally Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and simply steal the election. “We do not have an electoral arbiter,” I was told by Diego Arria, a leading opposition figure and former Venezuelan U.N. ambassador. “We have what I call the ‘Ministry of Elections of Mr. Chávez.’ And they will do whatever they have to in order to prevent a defeat.”
Lastly, and arguably most importantly, Chávez can marshal his extraordinary media and propaganda resources to pound away at Capriles’ reputation. Central to that effort is the demonization of Capriles as an agent of capitalism, gringoism, imperialism, and—critically—a concoction of conspiratorial tropes that point to the greatest lurking danger of all: “Zionism,” which for many is interchangeable with “Judaism.” As a recent headline in the weekly pro-Chávez rag Kikiriki so elegantly put it, “We are fucked if the Jews come to power.”
***
Henrique Capriles may be a devout Catholic, but he comes from Jewish stock. His mother’s family, the Radonskis, were Jewish émigrés from Poland; his great-grandparents were exterminated in the Treblinka concentration camp; and his grandmother spent nearly two years in the beleaguered Warsaw Ghetto. His father, meanwhile, is descended from the long-established Sephardic community on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Although Capriles has expressed pride in his background, his family never considered themselves part of Venezuela’s diminutive Jewish community. For the purposes of the regime’s propaganda operation, that brooks no difference.
“The best opposition candidate for Chávez is Capriles,” said Sammy Eppel. “Any other candidate, like Diego Arria, would be different—they couldn’t call him a Zionist. But Capriles fits the bill perfectly.” Eppel points out that the cartoons lampooning Capriles in the Chávez-controlled press invariably feature him wearing a Star of David. And because Capriles is unmarried, the Chavistas can’t resist a homophobic swipe either; in many of these same cartoons, he wears a pair of pink shorts.
“There is no anti-Semitic tradition in Venezuelan culture,” asserts Daniel Duquenal, one of the few dissident bloggers in Venezuela. “But Chávez has been systematically developing anti-Semitism in Venezuela.” All of which is eerily reminiscent of “anti-Semitism without Jews,” a phenomenon that emerged in the eastern bloc and in certain Arab countries following the Second World War. Absent a numerically significant Jewish community, anti-Semitism becomes a largely ideological weapon, designed to stoke fears of shadowy outside forces hatching conspiracies.
What, if any, are the potential gains of such a strategy for Chávez? Diego Arria is adamant that while the regime is unambiguously anti-Semitic, its deployment of anti-Semitic discourse will yield few concrete advantages. “Capriles says, ‘I am a mariano, a follower of the Virgin Mary,’ ” says Arria, who attended school with Capriles’ father. “People in Venezuela do not see him as a Jew. I don’t believe that an anti-Semitic campaign will have much impact on the Venezuelan population.”
Contrastingly, Duquenal argues that the value of anti-Semitism lies outside the domestic arena, pointing to Chávez’s geopolitical calculations. Chávez has actively promoted a close commercial and political relationship with the mullahs in Iran. He has established himself as a loyal ally of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad going so far as to dispatch 300,000 tons of diesel, which arrived on a Venezuelan freighter, La Negra Hipolita, two days before the gruesome massacre in the town of Houla. Last week, Chávez ended another long period out of public view by publicly welcoming a delegation from Belarus sent by that country’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, who plans to visit Caracas personally in a few weeks from now.
“Anti-Semitism has been created artificially because Chávez wants to align himself with radical regimes against the United States,” Duquenal said. “That’s the only logical explanation I can find for why Chavismo has deliberately decided to become an anti-Semitic political movement.” Continue reading: ‘The Jewish Problem’ Both Duquenal and Sammy Eppel point to the enduring influence over Chávez of Norberto Ceresole, the late Argentinian fascist intellectual with whom he struck up a friendship. “Ceresole was like the parrot on Chávez’s shoulder,” Eppel says. “He wanted bring the far left and the far right together, and he persuaded Chávez that he was the man to do that.” Once Chávez, following Ceresole, aligned the dregs of fascism with those of communism, anti-Semitism became the ideological glue binding the Chavismo model of government, in which the relationship between the leader and his people is central, unencumbered by pesky interferences like an independent judiciary. It is no accident, Eppel believes, that the first chapter of a book by Ceresole extolling this model was titled “The Jewish Problem.”
Occasionally, the vulgar rhetoric of Venezuelan anti-Semitism has strayed into physical attacks. In January 2009, an armed gang stormed the Tiferet Israel synagogue in Caracas, spraying choice slogans like “Damned Israel, Death!” on its walls. This particular theme echoed a speech that Chávez delivered in China in 2006, in which he claimed that Israel had “done something similar to what Hitler did, possibly worse, against half the world.”
In a monograph published in April, “Chávez, The Left and The Jews,” the academics Claudio Lomnitz and Rafael Sanchez contend that in Chávez’s Venezuela, “politics and political life represent a kind of hand-to-hand combat between the ‘people,’ united by ‘love,’ and its enemies, united by hatred—the ‘ire’ that Ceresole imputes to the Jews.” Such cloyingly emotional, anti-rational politics are the perfect breeding ground for the fantasies about Jewish power that Chávez has actively promoted and that will doubtless be wheeled out against Capriles as the election approaches.
***
For Venezuela’s remaining Jews, these anti-Semitic fantasies underline their own harsh reality. Diego Arria describes the community as having been “decimated”; under Chávez, its numbers have declined from a height of 30,000 to just 9,000. Moreover, the Chavista bureaucracy seemingly delights in placing obstacles in the community’s way. Just before Passover this year, the interior ministry announced that extra sanitary permits would be needed if the importation of matzo, the unleavened bread consumed during the festival, was to be approved. And when the Jewish community needs to make official representations, its leaders are directed to the Foreign Ministry—proof, Sammy Eppel asserts, that the regime fundamentally regards Jews as aliens, not Venezuelan citizens.
All the indicators are that Venezuelan Jews will continue to leave the country, heading for more benign destinations like Colombia, Mexico, and Miami. “They are an integrated Latin community, so they go where there is a Latin culture,” says Eppel. “This isn’t a Polish shtetl.” It is possible that a Capriles victory will stem the tide of emigration, but even then, the years of destruction wrought by Chávez will remain a powerful push factor for Jews and non-Jews alike.
***

Bonyads: Iran's Greatest Strength against Sanctions

(Iranian charitable trusts control an estimated 20–40% of Iran's GDP. Subsidized by the government,)(American Thinker)Bonyads provide plenty of strategic and tactical advantages to anyone willing to do business with Iran. Not only does the Iranian Supreme Leader control the Bonyads, but allies in Venezuela and even Argentina and Brazil have been known to implement and adhere to Iranian Bonyad ventures. In Venezuela alone, there are at least ten manufacturing plants whose shareholding distribution is 49% Iranian businesses connected with Bonyads, leaving 51% within the Venezuelan state.

Tactically, Bonyads are often related to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC). Operatives from the IRGC along with members of Al-Quds and Hezbollah go undercover, portraying themselves as employees or officials of trading companies, banks, and cultural centers, or as representatives for the Foundation of the Oppressed and Dispossessed (Bonyad-e-Mostazafan), or the Martyrs Foundation.

How serious is Venezuela's Bonyad approach? Note the executive board members within their Banco Internacional de Desarrollo -- Rahim Faramarzi, Kourosh Parvizian, Reza Raei, Parvin Tavallaeizadeh, Samad Vafaee, Mohsen Bolhasani, Ssan Shokrian. Of note, all of these directors are Iranian. Their backgrounds make them out to be high-profile businessmen, but some are known either to have previously operated or to currently operate directly for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp.

If the United States intends on imposing sanctions on Iran, it will need to impose such sanctions on Venezuela as well, along with a handful of other nation-states and privately owned global banking industries. Needless to say, this won't happen -- and such a move would not be successful anyway, considering how the Bonyad systems work.

Bonyads are funded both actively and passively. Islamic almsgiving, known as Zakat, often flows into Bonyads. The mysterious Islamic Hawala system has been known to funnel money into established Bonyads as well.

Hawala, for its part, is an informal underground monetary transfer system. Think of Western Union on steroids, but without any oversight. Completed 100% on trust, Hawala involves money exchanges among multiple entities. Some players need money now, others loan the money, an intermediary handles the transactions, and interest is paid through monetary means or through goods and services. The system never ends because payments must be made to those in need and to those who loan.

The assets of many Iranians whose ideas or social positions ran contrary to the new Islamic government were also confiscated and given to the Bonyad without any consequence.Today, there are over 100 Bonyads, and they are criticized for many of the same reasons as their predecessors. They form tax-exempt, government subsidized, consortiums receiving religious donations and answerable directly (and only) to the Supreme Leader of Iran. The Bonyads are involved in everything from vast soybean and cotton fields to hotels to soft drinks to auto-manufacturing to shipping lines. The most prominent, the Bonyad-e Mostazafen va Janbazan, (Foundation for the Oppressed and Disabled), for example, "controls 20% of the country's production of textiles, 40% of soft drinks, two-thirds of all glass products and a dominant share also in tiles, chemicals, tires, foodstuffs." Some economists argue that its chair, and not the Minister of Finance or president of the Central bank, is considered the most powerful economic post in Iran.In addition to the very large national Bonyads, "almost every Iranian town has its own bonyad", affiliated with local mullahs Estimates of how many people the bonyads employ ranges from in excess of 400,000 to "as many as 5 million". 

Chavez Sought Blessing from Munkatcher Rebbe in Exchange for Helping Yanky Ostreicher

(Gestetner Updates/matzav.com) Hugo Chavez, the crazed South American leader who is struggling with cancer for more than a year now, sought a blessing from the Munkatcher Rebbe of Brooklyn.
Chavez himself did not visit the Rebbe, but a top Venezuela diplomat and lead Council official both slipped into the  Rebbe’s house a while ago asking that the  Rebbe  pray for Chavez’s well-being. The  Rebbe, in exchange, asked that Venezuela, one of a few countries to have full contact with Bolivia, should persuade Bolivia to free Yanky Ostreicher, the Jewish American businessman incarcerated there for almost a year now.
It is unclear if the diplomat and Council official channeled the message to Chavez.

Iran, Venezuela Plotting Attacks "Worse than 9/11"

(Livia Acosta Noguera, the Venezuelan consul in Miami)

Anna Mahjar-Barducci (stonegateinstitute.org) Tensions are mounting between the U.S. and Venezuela as the State Department decided to expel Livia Acosta Noguera, the Venezuelan consul in Miami, declaring her "persona non grata." The Venezuelan consul was implicated in an alleged plot to launch cyber attacks on U.S. nuclear power facilities. The decision was taken as a direct result of the revelations made by the documentary The Iranian Threat, aired by the U.S Spanish language channel Univision.
In the film, the Venezuelan consul was caught on camera backing Iranian-sponsored cyber-attack against U.S. targets in 2007, when she was vice-secretary in the Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico. According to the documentary, these cyber-attacks would be "worse than 9-11." The State Department did not want to comment on this decision. However, a U.S. high official stated that this expulsion is a serious issue, as "we do not take it lightly when we declare somebody persona non grata."
Before the expulsion, four members of the Congress -- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican), Mario Diaz-Balart (Republican), David Rivera (Republican) and Albio Sires (Democrat) -- wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, expressing their "grave concern" over the "diplomatic credentials" of the Venezuelan Consul. "According to a documentary by Univision Network titled 'The Iranian Threat' […] [the Venezuelan consul] interacted with members from the Iranian and Cuban embassies and with students posing as extremists […] in order to coordinate a cyber attack against the United States Government and our critical infrastructure systems at the White House, FBI, and CIA. If true, these actions demonstrate [Venezuelan consul's] willingness to undermine U.S. interests and potential threat to our national security posed by [Venezuelan consul's] activities. With this is mind, we respectfully request the Department of State to investigate these allegations, and if found true, declare her a persona non grata and require her immediate departure from the United States," they wrote.
Congressman David Rivera also revealed that Washington has information that members of the Venezuelan diplomatic corps are also active officers of the Venezuelan intelligence services. This would mean that Venezuelan spies are allegedly acting freely in the U.S soil. Congressman Rivera warned that there should be an immediate investigation into further Venezuelan threats to the U.S. national security, especially given the cooperation between the Venezuela's intelligence and Iran's.
It seems clear that the State Department found these allegations to be true. According to Venezuelan media, the Venezuelan consul has been in Venezuela since December, having left the U.S. soon after the airing of the documentary. "We already knew that this was going to happen, and so she has been in Caracas in order to avoid situations, possibly even dangerous ones," said the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, during a press conference.
Chavez added that the expulsion is a demonstration of "the ridiculous empire's arrogance…..[The Venezuelan consul] is a very dignified professional, who was attacked, slandered and demonized by extremist groups and now by Barack Obama's government," he said, adding that - "She will continue working for our foreign service as she has done for many years." Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro further stated that Venezuela is going to give a clear, firm and timely response about the issue.
The U.S. action against the Venezuelan Consul comes exactly at the time Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela. It therefore seems a clear signal of disapproval that Washington wanted to send to Venezuela, given that the Venezuelan consul is accused of having backed an alleged Iranian plot to attack the U.S.
Ahmadinejad's visit indicates the further strengthening of relations between Venezuela and Iran. During the visit, Ahmadinejad and Chavez took the opportunity to laugh at the U.S.'s concern over Iran's nuclear program. "They accuse us of being warmongers," said Chavez. "They, the Americans, are the threat." Chavez also commented o being honored by Ahmadinejad's visit. "Now Washington's spokespersons are saying that it is not convenient for any country to get close to Iran. Well, the truth is that this makes us laugh,"Chavez said.
In a Univision interview, U.S. President Barack Obama declared that the Venezuelan government's relations with Iran did not serve the interests of the Venezuelan people. "Ultimately, it is up to the Venezuelan people to determine what they gain from a relationship with a country that violates universal human rights and is isolated from much of the world. The Iranian government has consistently supported international terrorism that has killed innocent men, women and children around the world – including in the Americas. It has brutally suppressed the Iranian people simply for demanding their universal rights. And Tehran continues to pursue a nuclear program that threatens the security of the Middle East. Here in the Americas, we take Iranian activities, including in Venezuela, very seriously and we will continue to monitor them closely," Obama said.
Chavez, however, seems not at all worried, and is evidently willing to keep on cooperating with Iran, even if this will lead to more U.S. sanctions. During the meeting with Ahmadinejad, the two heads of state agreed to expand cooperation in the fields of industry, science and nano-technology, as well as economy. They also called on the "imperialist and extremist powers to stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries."
It is clear, that despite the expulsion of the Venezuelan Consul, the U.S. should keep high alert, as other threats against the U.S. can come from Venezuela, in cooperation with Iran.

WMAL Exclusive: Cuba Actress Calls Sean Penn 'Communist A**hole,' He Cal...

(Patriot Update) Today I went to the airport to pick up my mom and guess who was on the same plane with her? Sean Penn… I almost died when I saw him, I was hesitant to go talk to him because he was on the other side of the carousel, but… God did want for this to happen.

Many suitcases did not arrive, my mom’s and Sean’s were nowhere to be found, so a lot of people went to the AA baggage claim desk along with about 50 more people. My mom was on a wheelchair and she entered first, we were on the right side of the desk, and Sean was on the left, so…. I could not take it anymore so I walked towards him, at first he did not recognize me (I had big glasses on) and smiled, but then he says “Oh, it’s you” and I told him, calmly, that I wanted to talk to him peacefully, but he was angry and told me that I have said a lot of things on the press and TV against him.

I told him that it was the truth, that how can he defend someone like Chavez? He then mentioned things my brother has been accused of (which are not true) and I just said, (and all of this was very loud with everybody listening…) YOU ARE A COMMUNIST! How can you like and defend Chavez and Ahmadinejad!?


He said he has never defended Ahmadinejad, and then he called me a PIG, and I answered and you are a Communist ass*%&$! You come from a communist background, your father was one and you were raised like a communist. He tells me that I have no idea who his father was or their background, I said, “Oh yes I do” (his father was blacklisted in Hollywood years ago and could not work because his political stance), I continue, and I stated to him, “how comfortable it is living the way you do being a communist…”


He responds, “you are harassing me.” I replied: “No, you are the one who called me a PIG, I just said you are a communist ass$%&*…. anyway, I walked away from him, towards my mom and from the other side of the counter, he yells something at me, which I don’t remember ’cause I was soooo angry!


And I shouted back to him, very loud, “AND YOU ARE A COMMUNIST ASS$%&*!… That was the end of it, he passed by me to leave and did not look at me or say another word. Maybe ’cause of my mom. So, what do you all think? I want everybody to know about this incident! Too bad my boyfriend was not with me and it was not filmed… well, now I feel great! And who knows? More to come…

via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

Nuclear Cooperation between Argentina and Iran?

an ineffective foreign policy... obviously! The Ladies are all smiles, but they bite and scratch when backs are turned.
Kirchner and Clinton... Ha ha ha ha ha.....

With the help of Venezuela, there is reason to believe that Argentina is cooperating with Iran on its the nuclear issue in a deal that involves Argentina's willingness to drop the accusations against Iran for the 1994 bombing in return for business.

In a confidential letter that was sent by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Committee, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ros-Lehtinen sought to establish "status of any possible economic projects Argentina may be engaged in with Venezuela that may involve Iran." Ros-Lehtinen also sought to establish "the extent of any nuclear cooperation that may be at play between Argentina, Venezuela and Iran." The letter was co-signed by Florida's Republican Congressmen Connie Mack and David Rivera. "We are writing to express our concerns about information that our offices have received about potential efforts by Iran of nuclear cooperation with Argentina, using Venezuela as its intermediary," the three legislators wrote.
The existence of economic projects linking Iran, Venezuela and Argentina have long been known. Univision, a Spanish-language television network in the United States, mentions that, in the framework of this cooperation, Venezuela has launched a program for the development of at least 200 "socialist factories" through agreements with Iran and Argentina -- mainly food processing plants and industrial equipment factories. Although the funding involved about $300 million, most of these factories have not been built and, very likely, will never be built. The suspicion is that financial resources have been diverted for different purposes: in particular that the so-called agricultural program is a cover-up operation to hide payments that have nothing to do with food factories.
In the past, Argentina and Iran maintained a nuclear cooperation agreement that, under pressure from U.S. President George Bush, was suspended in the early 1990s by then-President Carlos Menem, But more recently, Iran has become interested in acquiring scientific know-how and technology from the Argentine nuclear program. The Miami Herald reports that in 2007 Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had asked Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on a personal basis, to to use his good relations with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner to convince her to restart nuclear cooperation with Iran. Further, the website La Patilla published information about a meeting on February 6, 2010 between the Venezuelan vice President Elias Jaua and the Argentinean Planning Minister, Julio De Vido, close assistant to President Fernandez Kirchner, in which they discussed nuclear cooperation. Though the evidence implicating Argentina with Iran in nuclear development is yet not clear, last April the Argentinean paper Perfil reported that in a meeting last January with Iran's ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Argentinean Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman, offered to drop investigations in Iran relating to the 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA). In return, it seems, Timerman's desire was to deepen economic relations between Buenos Aires and Teheran.
According to Perfil, Syria then passed the Argentinean FM's offer to Iran. In a leaked cable quoted by the newspaper, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi allegedly told the Iranian President that "Argentina is no longer interested in solving those two attacks, but in exchange prefers improving its economic relations with Iran."
The AMIA bombing
This year marks the 17^th anniversary of the AMIA bombing, which killed 87 people and injured more than 100, in 1994. Argentina was also hit by a terrorist attack in 1992; the bombing targeted the Israel Embassy in Buenos Aires, killed 29 people and wounded 242. In both events, Hezbollah and Iran are suspected of having perpetrated the terrorist attacks. To date, however, there has been no justice.. The person believed to be the bombings's planner is Ahmad Vahidi, the current Iranian Defense Minister, who recently visited Bolivia after a controversial official invitation by Bolivian President Evo Morales.
The Iranian government recently said that is offering its help to "uncover the truth" behind the AMIA bombing. The Iranian Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement that "the ministry denounces the fact that the truth about the criminal action has become the target of plots and political games and that Argentine officials at the time, whose illegal actions have been disclosed and convicted by the court in this regard, misled judicial investigation and set the stage for the escape of real culprits behind the atrocity from the hands of justice through pointing a finger of blame at a number of nationals of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Despite these hypocritical remarks, and despite the fact that Iran says that the Argentinean justice leveled false allegations against Hezbollah and Iran, the current Argentinean government thanked Iran for offering its help. Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said that Iran's offer is "an unprecedented and very positive step." The Associated Press reported that Iran, which denies that Iranian citizens were involved, is even preparing its own report on the bombing and wants to begin a dialogue with the Argentines to help solve the case. Given the fact that in the past the Iranian government has accused the "Zionists" of perpetrating the 1994 bombing, the report will most likely bring paradoxical allegations that the "Jews" committed the attack against the Jewish center in Buenos Aires.
Still, the Argentinean FM Timerman said he is optimistic that Iran will help solve the case: "There is sufficient evidence to bring to trial various Iranian citizens, and we want to see if, through this dialogue, they will understand that we all have to submit ourselves to justice." As some Argentinean media recently put it, Buenos Aires is apparently more interested in pursuing a rapprochement with Tehran, with all the good business that will follow, than pursuing the cause of justice. It is clear from Timerman's words of appeasement that even a country such as Argentina, which suffered from terrorist attacks inspired by Iran, is willing to turn the page and open its doors to doing business with the Ayatollahs. What then are the chances for trade and military sanctions against Iran to succeed?
Iran looks to diversify allies in Latin America
The worries expressed by Ros-Lehtinen and her colleagues only add another tessera to the mosaic that Iran is preparing south of America's doorstep. In response, the U.S. State Department answered Ros-Lehtinen with the following statement: "We have no evidence to support the claim that Venezuela serves as an interlocutor between Iran and Argentina on nuclear issues, nor that Argentina is granting Iran access to its nuclear technology. Argentina has long maintained a constructive position at the International Atomic Energy Agency with respect to Iran's nuclear program". There is no reason, unfortunately, to be reassured by the words of the State Department.
Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli political analyst, points out that, as Iran's staunchest ally in Latin America, Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, was diagnosed with a cancer, which means that the Venezuelan President might move further down in his alliance with Iran on its priority list. Chavez's illness may be why Iran could try to forge a strong alliance with another important Latin American country:: Argentina. Although it is not yet clear whether Argentina is sending nuclear technology to Iran with the help of Venezuela, it is a reality that Teheran wants to diversify its relations in Latin America away from Venezuela.
For now, the Argentinean government is responding exactly as Iran wishes, as can bee seen in the Argentinean FM's warm and friendly statements on Iran's cooperation in the case of AMIA. Argentina is not just helping the mullahs' regime by opening new doors in Latin America, it is also whitewashing Iran's terrorist record, would leave hundreds of victims and their families permanently deprived of justice.

via hudson-ny.org

What incentive could the United States give Argentina to keep her from working with Iran? Follow the money! Good foreign policy would be to engage with Argentina as opposed to directly with terrorist groups.
image via hillary.foreignpolicy.com

Hugo Chávez hospitalized in critical condition in Cuba

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez was hospitalized in critical condition in a Cuban hospital on Saturday, according to a report in El Nuevo Herald. (Ynet) and image via blabbeando.blogspot.com

Here, Mr. Emanuel, are the tests that Obama will fail:

1. Will the United States government call for the overthrow of the anti-American Syrian dictatorship?

2. Will the U.S. government take strong action as Egypt moves to become a radical state and stop observing the U.S.-guaranteed peace treaty with Israel?
3. Will the U.S. government take strong action to stop helping the Fatah-Hamas government, incorporating terrorist and genocidal forces?
4. Will the U.S. government take strong action to stop the fundamental transformation of Turkey into a semi-Islamist, anti-democratic, antisemitic, anti-American regime allied with Iran and Syria?
5. Will the U.S. government reverse its policies so that once again America is a world leader that will protect its allies in Latin America (against radical regimes in Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, and Cuba); Central Europe and the south Caucasus (against Russia); and elsewhere?
Since the answer to all of those questions is “no,” why the Hell should Israel risk its existence on your (bad) ideas and your (worthless) promises? via rubinreports.blogspot.com

Venezuela: Anti-Semitism Keeps Escalating

The Jewish Community Confederation of Venezuela (CAIV) filed a complaint to the Venezuelan attorney general to denounce the promotion of the pamphlet The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by the main state-owned radio.

On April 4, the known radio host of National Venezuelan Radio (NVR), Cristina Gonzalez, in her program 'La noticia final' highly recommended that her listeners read the anti-Semitic pamphlet. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fraudulent anti-Semitic text -- one of the main proponents of which was Adolf Hitler -- that was put into circulation in Russia around the turn of the 20th century by the czarist secret police, with the goal of spreading the idea of world-wide Jewish conspiracy.
During her broadcast, Gonzalez said she admires the Jewish community and the "non-Zionist" Israelis, before illustrating what she called "little pearls" from the Protocols to explain why Zionists have concentrated so much power and wealth. Gonzalez, convinced of the veracity of the Protocols, also suggested that the "Zionists," because of their alleged control of finance and media, were to blame for recent events in the Middle East.
The CAIV released a statement which stated that the Venezuelan Jews "know that the promotion of this anti-Semitic leaflet only generates hatred and discrimination, therefore violating the constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela." The Anti Defamation League (ADL) joined in solidarity the CAIV in denouncing the Venezuelan radio host. "President Hugo Chavez has not lived up to his word to denounce anti-Semitism in Venezuela," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL's National Director. "It is shocking that the Venezuelan state-owned radio would promote the Protocols as if it were an accurate and factual description of Jews, when in fact it is the worst manifestation of conspiratorial anti-Semitism. It is irresponsible for any government to allow its airwaves to be used to promote a conspiratorial anti-Semitic tract used to vilify Jews through history. […] Unfortunately, Gonzalez's broadcast proves that the twin hatreds of Zionism and Judaism continue to converge and co-mingle in Venezuela."
In 2009, Chavez severed diplomatic relations with Israel, in protest of the military actions in the Gaza Strip. During the same month, a synagogue in Caracas was vandalized, and swastikas were sprayed on the walls. Later on, authorities arrested eleven people, including eight police officers. A few days later after the act of vandalism, speaking at the World Jewish Congress conference in Jerusalem, Abraham Levy Ben Shimol, president of the Jewish community in Venezuela, accused Chavez of promoting anti-Semitism and giving it legitimacy. As stated by Tel Aviv University's annual report on anti-Semitism, in Venezuela, "Ant-Semitic allegations are an integral part of the extreme anti-Israel propaganda of governmental and pro-Chavez circles."
A year later, in 2010, during an interview to the Atlantic magazine, Cuban Leader Fidel Castro said that the Iranian President should stop denying the Holocaust and that the Jews have lived a hard existence. "There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust," he said. Several days later, Chavez wanted to show himself to be no less than his mentor. On September 8 2010, Chavez said that "We respect and love the Jewish people;" and announced that he wanted to meet with the leaders of the Venezuelan Jewish community, perhaps thinking that this move would improve his political image abroad.
In September 2010, therefore, Chavez met with CAIV's representatives to discuss their concerns about anti-Semitism in the Venezuelan state media. "We reviewed the negative consequences that hateful expressions can lead to and how they can affect the security and integrity of the institutions and individuals that make up the community of Venezuelan Jews," the CAIV stated after the meeting. Subsequently, the Jewish confederation said that "there was a noticeable decrease in anti-Semitic rhetoric." The Chavez government then even decided to increase security at synagogues and Jewish community centers for the Jewish festivities.
However, anti-Semitism seems to be still a tangible phenomenon among government supporters and in the State-controlled media. The Simon Wiesenthal Center called for the Organization of American States (OAS) to intervene against renewed State anti-Semitism in Venezuela. In a letter to OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, Shimon Samuels (Director for International Relations of the Wiesenthal Center) and Sergio Widder (Director for Latin America) wrote that the promotion of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by the Venezuelan radio host is yet another example of Venezuela's State driven anti-Semitism. "The worsening situation not only endangers Venezuela's Jews, it violates the delicate fabric of human rights in the Americas," Samuels and Widder concluded.
The promotion of the Protocols by a Venezuelan state-run media is not an isolated incident. In 2008, a radio host from the same radio station, NVR, said that: "Hitler's partners were Jews…like the Rockefellers, who were Jews [Editors' note: The Rockefellers are not Jews]. These were not the Jews murdered in the concentration camps. [Those killed] were working-class Jews, Communist Jews, poor Jews, because the rich Jews were the ones behind the plan to occupy Palestine." In 2010, the pro-Chavez website Aporrea published an anti-Semitic article echoing the Protocols' rhetoric: "The essence of Judaism is not to be found in the Pentateuch or in the Torah, but in the realities of capitalism. […] This means that Judaism will reach its end with the advanced realities of communism, in which there won't be a State, social classes, antagonist contradictions. […] And, most importantly, money and usury, which are at the base of Judaism, will disappear."
This anti-Semitic propaganda is the core of Chavez's political thinking and propaganda. It comes as no surprise, then, that the intellectual circle surrounding the Venezuelan president is made by notorious anti-Semitic figures.
One of Chavez's advisors and close confidantes was Argentinean sociologist, Norberto Ceresole, who passed away in 2003, and was known for being a Holocaust denier. Ceresole's writings appear to have had a strong influence on Chavez. One of the books that gave the Argentinean sociologist an important standing among pro-Chavez supporters was "The Falsification of Reality," which claimed that the Holocaust is a "myth," and that the 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires against the Israeli Embassy and the AMIA were the products of Jewish infighting.
Thus the slander against the Jews continues to escalate – with the complicity of Venezuela's government.

via hudson-ny.org and image via blog.camera.org

German paper Die Welt says Iranians paid cash to build mid-range missile launch pads on Paraguana Peninsula; Iranian engineers visited site in February.

The question is: What is badass President Gutsy going to do about it?

BERLIN (JPost) – The Iranian government is moving forward with the construction of rocket launch bases in Venezuela, the German daily Die Welt wrote in its Friday edition.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is Teheran’s most important South American ally.

Iran is building intermediate- range missile launch pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, and engineers from a construction firm – Khatam al-Anbia – owned by the Revolutionary Guards visited Paraguaná in February. Amir al-Hadschisadeh, the head of the Guard’s Air Force, participated in the visit, according to the report. Die Welt cited information from “Western security insiders.”

The rocket bases are to include measures to prevent air attacks on Venezuela as well as commando and control stations.

The Iranian military involvement in the project extends to bunker, barracks and watch tower construction. Twenty-meter deep rocket silos are planned. The cost of the Venezuelan military project is being paid for with Iranian oil revenue. The Iranians paid in cash for the preliminary phase of the project and, the total cost is expected to amount to “dozens of millions” of dollars, Die Welt wrote.

The Paraguaná Peninsula is on the coast of Venezuela and is roughly 120 kilometers from America’s main South American partner, Columbia.

According to Die Welt, the clandestine agreement between Venezuela and Iran would mean the Chavez government would fire rocket at Iran’s enemies should the Islamic Republic face military strikes.

More...

via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

Hizballah in Venezuela: The Man Who Knows Too Much

Obama has destroyed the ability to influence it's allies. note Columbia will not extradite a Syrian drug lord to the U.S.... even though he wants to go... because he has information on Hezbollah selling drugs with Chavistan help. not just low level. Chavez wants to torture and kill this Syrian so Walid Makled doesn't rat him out.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's biggest problem was named Walid Makled. The Colombian government just confirmed, however, in an announcement from its Minister of the Interior and Justice, Hermán Vargas, that Venezuelan drug trafficker Walid Makled -- wanted by both Washington and Caracas -- will be extradited to Venezuela, not to Washington as the US had hoped.
This is a big victory of Venezuela over the US. Colombia, which had been the main ally of the US in Latin America, had good reason to feel abandoned by the Obama Administration and preferred to pursue its own interest with Venezuela. The Obama administration has still not ratified the free-trade agreements with Colombia; and President Obama avoided visiting Colombia on his recent, first Latin American tour.
Makled made it clear that he wanted to be extradited to the U.S., and has said he would give answers to most questions only to the U.S. prosecutor. Given the policy of rapprochement between the two Latin American countries, however, it seems that the Colombian government preferred to extradite Makled to Venezuela, where the wealth of information that Makled could have provided on drug trafficking, on Chavez's links with terrorism and on Hezbollah's operations in South America will be lost for good. The Venezuelan regime can now easily "silence" the drug kingpin, who fears for his life.
Makled, alias "El Arabe," a Syrian-born Venezuelan citizen, labelled by the U.S. government one of the world's top three drug kingpins, was arrested in Colombia last August in a joint operation of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Colombian police. Ever since, he has become the object of battle between the United States and Venezuela: both countries were asking for Makled's extradition to their soil.
Makled, whom the US Drug Enforcement Agency has accused of shipping up to 10 tons of cocaine a month from Venezuela to the United States, acknowledged bribing and collaborating with highest officials of Venezuela's government — including the general-in-chief, the head of military intelligence, the commander of the Navy and some 40 generals.
In the many interviews Makled has given from his prison in Colombia, he says he has videotapes and other evidence documenting his transactions with Venezuelan generals and senior government officials, provincial governors, members of Venezuelan Congress, cabinet secretaries. He describes making payments of about $1 million a month to Venezuelan high-ranking civilian and military officials. "If I am a drug trafficker, everyone in the Chavez government is drug trafficker," Makled has said.
Further, Makled claims to have information on Chavez's help to Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups operating in the Venezuelan soil. Makled stated in an interview that Hezbollah is "absolutely" active in Venezuela. He also has information on the flights between Venezuela and Teheran -- a serious source of concern for the US.
As the Washington Post puts it: "The Obama administration is about to lose an extraordinary opportunity to prosecute one of the world's biggest drug traffickers. It will fail to break up a network that annually smuggles hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States. And it will miss delivering a devastating blow to the most dedicated U.S. adversary in Latin America, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez."

via hudson-ny.org

image via connect.in.com

Obama pisses off allies. Why would Columbia cooperate with him?

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Chavez Defends Gaddafi, Tries to Save Assad

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez can be counted on always to stand on the side of radicals and dictatorships. After defending the Libyan regime, Chavez is now trying to save Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The Venezuelan leadership is openly supporting the Syrian regime, accusing Western countries of using a "new imperialist format" to topple his friend, Assad. According to Chavez, it is the West that foments revolts in the Arab world to loot Arab resources. "The attack on Syria has begun, there have been some supposedly peaceful protests and some deaths (...) and they are accusing the president [Assad] of killing his people (…) And then the Yankees come in to bomb the people in order to save them. What cynicism on the empire's part," the Venezuelan President said.

Chavez depicted Assad as a "socialist Arab leader, a humanist and a brother," "with a great human sensibility," and who is "in no way an extremist." Chavez made also a comparison between what is happening in Syria and the situation in Libya: "It's the same format … They generate violent conflicts, bloodshed in a country, and subsequently they under take military intervention, in order to take possession of its natural resources and convert it into a colony."
In a recent press release by the Venezuelan press agency (AVN), Chavez said he is convinced that the US wants to generate a revolt in Venezuela similar to those that are taking place in Arab world. In that case, Chavez said, the Venezuelan regime will not keep "its arms crossed;" it will use -- as Assad and Gaddafi are doing -- military weapons, to repress any threat against the Venezuelan regime.
From the press:

• Chavez: "Old, mad imperialism, your days are numbered!"
• Chavez :The US is plotting to topple Assad to loot the resources of the Arab state
• Chavez calls Assad a "humanist"
• Venezuelan FM: Colonial powers have only one objective and it is to take ownership of the oil

March 28, 2011
Chavez: "Old, mad imperialism, your days are numbered!"
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said [...] that the colonialist invasion of NATO and the United States against Libya "will turn back against them. I've said this even before the madness of the bombing began." Chavez stated that imperialism's attitude is cynical, since [the Western countries] say that the bombing against the Libyan people does not mean intervention. "How cynical can they be? How much disrespect for the world! They believe they are the Almighty. The world will turn back against them. Note it down." [...]
According to Chavez, NATO maintains a plan to bomb Venezuela, but - the Venezuelan President says - imperialism won't have nor time neither the circumstances to carry out a military attack against Venezuela. [...] "Old, mad imperialism, your days are numbered!" said President Chavez, adding that when this century ends, Imperialism will disappear and the sovereign will of the people will prevail. AVN (Venezuela)
March 27, 2011
Chavez :The US is plotting to topple Assad to loot the resources of the Arab state
Syria has been hit with a fresh wave of anti-government protests during the past week that left scores of people dead. "The attack on Syria has begun; there have been some supposed peaceful protests and some deaths (...), and they are accusing the president [Assad] of killing his people," AFP quoted Chavez as saying on Saturday at a political event. "And then the Yankees come in to bomb the people in order to save them. What cynicism on the empire's part," he noted. […]
Comparing the Syrian situation to the crisis in Libya, Chavez said, "It's the same model." A NATO-led coalition is enforcing a UN-approved no-fly zone over troubled Libya by striking forces loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. "Generate internal conflicts, bloodshed, in a country in order to then step in, seize its natural resources and make it a colony. It is a new model they have come up with," Chavez said. The Venezuelan president also said that he had spoken with Assad by phone. […] Press TV (Iran)
March 27, 2011

Chavez calls Assad a "humanist"

[…] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the United States and other nations are seeking to intervene militarily in Syria using the same strategy as in Libya. "The supposedly peaceful movements have already begun, and then there will be some deaths and they'll be accusing the Syrian president of killing his people. Later, the Yankees come and want to bomb the people in order to save them, imagine that," said President Chavez.
"What shameless cynicism! It's a new strategy they've invented, to generate violent armed conflicts and spill blood in a country in order to then bomb it and intervene and take ownership of its natural resources and convert it into a colony," Chavez said. […] Chavez also defended Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, calling him a "humanist" and pointing out that he is "a doctor educated in London; he is no extremist." […]

Venezuelan FM: Colonial powers have only one objective and it is to take ownership of the oil

Meanwhile, Venezuela continues to denounce the international military operation in Libya, which has now been taken over by NATO commanders. "These colonial powers have only one objective and it is to take ownership of the oil and riches of our brotherly people of Libya," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told a state-owned radio program.
Venezuela supports the African Union's proposal for a plan for peaceful mediation, Maduro said. "The empire desperately bombs the Libyan people every night. They want to destroy Libya before arriving at a peace accord," he said.
"All the world is seeing lessons we are learning about the way the former colonial power act desperately when presented with an opportunity. They speak of democracy and human rights, but until yesterday they flattered Gaddafi, they were really courting the oil," Maduro said.
Before the military intervention in Libya began, Chavez proposed a multi-national commission to mediate the conflict between Gaddafi and the rebels and forge a peaceful solution. The Chavez administration has forged unprecedented diplomatic and economic ties with Middle East and African countries to form what Chavez calls a "multi-polar world," not subject to domination by any superpower. Venezuelan Analysis

via hudson-ny.org

by Anna Mahjar-Barducci

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

image via hurryupharry.org

Chavez Says Capitalism May Have Destroyed Life On Mars

United Nations astrophysicist
to act as Earth's first contact for
any aliens that may come visiting.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez thinks capitalism may be responsible for the lack of life on the planet Mars.  "I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in a speech on Tuesday. The socialist president has been a fierce opponent of capitalism, and during his World Water Day speech, Chavez blamed capitalism for destroying Earth's water supplies as well.  "Here on planet Earth, where hundreds of years ago or less there were great forests, now there are deserts. Where there were rivers, there are deserts," Chavez said. Guy Webster, a spokesman with the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, noted: "Water has been discovered on Mars." But whether the planet ever supported life has yet to be confirmed. The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.  Reuters via foxnews.com ...seriously

Chavez, FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces), ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom), and Muammar al-Gaddafi

Although Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered to mediate an eventual peace negotiation for the Libyan crisis, as the Spanish court keeps providing clear evidence that the Venezuelan President sponsors terrorist groups such as ETA and the FARC, which are responsible for killings, kidnappings and plots to kill former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, among others, it is becoming clear to the International community, especially in Europe, that Hugo Chavez cannot be considered a serious mediator to stop the Libyan massacres or any other crisis.
Recently, Chavez's his credibility and credentials have been even more undermined: a Spanish court has just indicted a Venezuelan high official as being a leading figure of the Basque terror organization ETA.
Spanish Judge Eloy Velasco, of the Spanish National Court, is investigating whether the ETA cooperated with the FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces), and whether this alliance was sponsored by the Venezuelan government. In a video-conference with judge Velasco, two ex-FARC guerrillas, admitted that they had been trained by ETA members between 2002 and 2008 in the Venezuelan forest and Colombia. The training was in the preparation of explosives, car and motorcycle bombs, the use of watches and mobile phones as timers, and detonating various types of explosives (R2, TNT and C4).
Top ETA terrorist leaders find safe haven in Venezuela
Velasco ordered the prosecution of ETA member Arturo Cubillas Fontan, head of security at the National Lands Institute (INTI), an agency attached to the Venezuelan Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Cubillas, who was born in Spain, has lived in Venezuela since 1989. According to the investigation, Cubillas had a constant, permanent and direct relationship -- at least between 2004 and 2008 -- with ETA's leadership, and has coordinated and executed directive duties, such as training and weapons' improvement, and terrorist techniques. Further, Cubillas - against whom an arrest warrant was already issued in 1985 for murder charges - is accused of being the leader of the group on the American continent.
The list of ETA refugees in Venezuela is not closed. Last week, the Spanish magazine Tiempo revealed that the veteran gunman, José Luis Eciolaza Galán, alias "Dienteputo," who is presently the topmost leader of ETA, has also been hiding in Venezuela at least for the last year. According to the Spanish Ministry of Interior, Eciolaza Galán is still guiding the military apparatus of the terrorist organization, and fled to Venezuela where apparently he can enjoy "a certain degree of impunity" in an environment in which he and his kind can thrive dedicating themselves to "training, logistics and communication duties."
According to former Ambassador to the United Nations, Diego Arria, who became the first Venezuelan deposed on alleged links between ETA and the FARC, Cubillas and other ETA terrorists managed to carry out activities such as training, provided they could count on the support of Venezuelan military forces.
The "Yankee's plot"
Venezuela reacted strongly to the case. "The Venezuelan government found out about it the ruling by way of the [Spanish] press coverage of the ruling, in which it makes unacceptable, politically motivated allusions to the Venezuelan government," a statement read. The statement also said the ruling made several disrespectful references to Chavez, and unfounded and tendentious allusions about the Venezuelan government.
On previous occasions, Chavez declared that these accusations are part of plot in which "on one side you have the 'Royal' Spanish Judiciary and on the other hand you have Washington… Everything is orchestrated. And, behind this, there is the Yankee Empire, obviously."

via hudson-ny.org
Yesterday, reports came across Twitter that Libyan revolutionaries in Benghazi renamed “Hugo Chávez Stadium” to “Feb17 Martyrs Stadium.”

The soccer stadium, named after the Venezuelan President by Qadhafi’s Libya, was a testament to the friendship Chávez and Qadhafi enjoyed as long-time allies against US imperialism.
Clearly, the new Libya will not be kind to Hugo Chávez. And neither should we.
The revolutionaries’ understandable shunning of Chávez began last week when Chávez broke his silence on Libya over Twitter:

“Viva Libia y su Independencia! Kadafi enfrenta una guerra civil!!” [Long live Libya and her independence! Qadhafi is facing a civil war!!]

If it was ambiguous to anyone whose side Chávez was on with this statement, yesterday he made it clearer. “I’m not going to condemn him,” he said about Qadhafi. “I’d be a coward to condemn someone who has been my friend.”
Unfortunately, Chávez then proceeded to provide a spot-on analysis:

The United States has already said it’s ready to invade Libya, don’t you see? And almost all the countries of Europe are condemning Libya … What do they want. They are rubbing their hands together. Oil is what’s important to them.

via kabobfest.com

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

Obama’s moment of truth

Outstanding essay on the disaster in Libya and President Obama’s failure to act, by Larry Diamond in The New Republic. Diamond mainly discusses the consequences for the Libyan people, but I think that the harm will be global. Barack Obama’s America is showing itself to be a paper tiger; and every one of America’s enemies, especially the tyrants in Iran and Venezuela, are realizing that they can step up their aggression. If Gaddafi stays, he will resume his nuclear and chemical warfare plans and his support of global terrorism, secure in the knowledge that this American President will do nothing to stop him, unless the Russians and Chinese give permission.

via volokh.com

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