Now Venezuela is running out of toilet paper

[Judi Lynn]

36. What a shock, a government the US hates having shortages. Amazing.

What is clearly a destabilization tactic, given ample media amplification, produces scoffing among the right-wingers, waiting with baited breath to see another leftist administration go up in flames.

That's the way it works, if things go as planned.

Was expecting to see this crap article slimed into view by one of the DU hitchhikers from the right. What a shame.

Does anyone recall the events orchestrated by Nixon's CIA in Chile, after Republican President Richard M Nixon told his CIA head, Richard Helms, that he wanted to "make the economy scream?" Does anyone recall what happened when they went about achieving that goal?

It would make so much sense if people took a tiny bit of time to research, then it wouldn't be possible to get all flipped out about a misunderstanding of events when they see them happening AGAIN.

Nixon/CIA's manipulation of Chile's economy as it pertained to the ordinary citizens, and the food supply:

~snip~
Why was it so vital to the USA that the Government of Salvador Allende NOT continue to function? So important that the US had to resort to bribing the Truckers Union, threatening legislators, laundering secret money and encouraging Chilean military officers to rebel? By 1970, the US had already engaged in numerous political, economic and military interventions in Latin America. Much has been written about the overthrow of Árbenz in Guatemala, the serial occupations of Haiti, the hundreds of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro in Cuba and the military occupation of Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, Chile in the early 1970s represented a totally new type of threat, a socialist government, which had come to power peacefully through a democratic election. The danger of a good example—should the pacific, intellectual, humanistic and avowedly socialist Salvador Allende succeed in empowering the working people of Chile in transforming their society and establishing a socio-economic model independent of the US power—was too much of a risk to leave to chance.

Therefore, the United States embarked upon a crusade of destabilization (a recurring theme in the United States’ intervention in Chile and in Latin America) that would topple Allende’s regime and his proposed “Chilean road to Socialism.” Much like the case of Guatemala, when the US Government allied with the United Fruit Company in bringing down the democratic government of Jacobo Árbenz, the Nixon administration at the highest level collaborated with U.S. based multinational corporations such as International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) company and Anaconda Mining Company to topple Allende.[17]

~snip~
Chief among these efforts figured the financial incentives provided to the Truckers Union to halt distribution of basic foods and household products. Chile’s very geography requires smooth transportation of produce; sandwiched between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, it is a long, narrow country measuring over 6,000 kilometres in length and barely 90 kilometres in breadth in some parts. Capital-centric like so many Latin countries, Santiago has always been the hub and Valparaiso constitutes the chief port for importation and subsequent distribution of goods. In the early 1970s, right-wing groups organized the closing of stores and the hoarding of goods. By the final months of the Allende Government, working class families survived thanks to monthly ration cards and long lines formed at central distribution centres. The relatively small investment by the US Government in the truckers union, to persuade them to park their vehicles and block highways between major metropolitan areas, was sufficient to wreak havoc in local stocks of basic supplies, access to markets and levels of household food security in urban areas. US President Nixon notoriously instructed the CIA to, “make the economy scream” in Chile.[19]

U.S. ambassador to Chile in the early 70s, Edward Korry emphasised, “Once Allende comes to power, we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and the Chileans to utmost deprivation and [poverty].”[20] CIA analysts predicted that to engineer a coup in Chile there must be “dire economic conditions throwing the country into chaos,” while also finding a military leader that was supported by most of the armed forces. By cutting all foreign aid, funding massive disinformation campaigns through right wing newspapers, and paralysing the Chilean economy through a countrywide truckers strike subsidised by the CIA, the United States Government created the conditions and general environment for a coup. Although Allende managed to retain popular acceptance for the most part of his time in power (1970-1973) the crashing economy orchestrated by the United States set up the coup in September of 1973.[21]

More:
http://stnfrdstatic.com/2012/01/26/the-danger-of-a-good-example-us-involvement-in-911-1973/

[center]~~~~~[/center]
~snip~
Despite failing to prevent Allende's election to the presidency, The CIA nor the United States government stopped working against Allende. Henry Kissinger was the architect of the idea of an economic blockade of Chile. As Chile depended largely on the US dollar and US materials for its industries, The United States was able to cut loans, foreign aid, financing and materials, plunging Chile into an economic crisis.[15] President Nixon's order to “make the economy scream” was becoming a reality.[16] In August of 1972, a series of strikes began in Chile. At the head of these actions were the truck drivers. Chile had little in the way of a railway system so the vast majority of goods had to be moved by truck. The stop work action crippled the Chilean economy, stopping the delivery of food and sowing discontent amongst the population. According to a CIA intelligence bulletin, the Chilean Department of Investigation had received requests to investigate foreigners living in Chile who were manipulating the strikes.[17] It has since been discovered that the CIA were manipulating the strikes as part of the Track II plan to cripple Chile's economy.[18] The PDC was a strong supporter of the strikes and had been receiving funds from the CIA since Track I was put in place. These funds were passed onto the strikers, prolonging the strikes and bringing the Chilean economy to a halt. Striking truck drivers interviewed by Time Magazine admitted that money for food came from the CIA.[19] As a result of the strike, Allende was forced to use the military to bring an end to the strikes, reopen roads and stores who's owners had joined the truckers.[20] This hardline approach was not received well and Allende popularity fell as a result. It didn't help that the strikes had affected the planting of crops, causing a decrease of 16 percent in harvest forcing Chile to import more food, adding to the already mounting debt the country had.[21] While the CIA continued to strangle the Chilean economy, the US military continued to provide arms and armament to the Chilean military.

Despite a promise from US Ambassador Korry to Allende's predecessor Eduardo Frei in 1970 that “not a nut or bolt would be allowed to reach Chile under Allende,”[22] the US continued to provide assistance to the Chilean military in the form of hardware and training. This has been interpreted as encouragement for the Chilean military to intervene in the government.[23] This interpretation is strengthened by the actions of the Nixon administration in March of 1970. The Chilean military presented a shopping list of weapons and vehicles to the US valued at seven million dollars. This list included recoilless rifles, helicopters, artillery pieces and C-130 Hercules aircraft. Kissinger advised Nixon to offer the requested items to the military on credit as a refusal to supply the weapons could “cause resentment in the Chilean armed forces and sever our tenuous relations with them while there is still a possibility they might act against Allende.”[24] It is clear that the Nixon administration was planning to use the military against Allende. In direct violation of their own policy of strangling Chile's economy, the US increased assistance to the Chilean military from 3,221 million dollars in 1970 to 13,540 million dollars in 1972.[25] Assistance from the US government to the Chilean military was not only in the form of money but in training as well. Joint naval manoeuvres were held annually with the United States Navy and the training of Chilean personnel in the Panama Canal Zone.[26] Figures garnered from the Church report into the CIA's covert operations state that the number of Chilean
personnel trained in Panama increased in each consecutive year of Allende's term.[27] It is certain that the cooperation between the US and the Chilean military allowed the CIA to gather intelligence on possible coup plotting as well as approach Chilean officers about the possibility of organising a coup.[28]

More:
http://historum.com/blogs/son+of+cathal/396-united-states-responsible-1973-coup-chile.html

There's an enormous fund of references you can draw from, describing the fact that the truck strike kept the food from getting to the stores, and other strikes resulted in imported food supplies, and other regularly used products delivered by ship, merely sitting in the water, waiting helplessly until the dock workers would decide to get back to work and unload their merchandise. Even products like cigarettes, and booze became scarce, just as a kicker, to drive some Chileans wild, until there was horrendous discomfort felt by a large part of the population.

It's all right there, within your reach, and should be noted by the same people who won't take the time to realize this has ALL HAPPENED BEFORE, and the same idiotic media trumpeted it loudly, playing to the idiot gallery, expecting them to simply REACT rather than to think about it. For those with short attention spans, specifically.