VIO News and Action: Anti-Venezuelan Resolution in Congress as Elections Approach

[magbana]

Venezuela Information Office



VIO Venezuela News and Action

Dear Friends,


As political campaigning wraps up this week in Venezuela, one member of the U.S. Congress is just beginning his campaign against the country. Yesterday, Florida Congressman Connie Mack made the following statements before the House of Representatives:


"Mr. Speaker, this weekend, the Venezuelan people will go to the polls to determine the future of freedom and democracy in their country. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in his continued quest for power, is demanding that the people of Venezuela get rid of presidential term limits. Chavez has just celebrated 10 years in power, and his legacy is clear: Higher poverty, more crime, rampant inflation, growing anti-Semitism, less freedom, alliances with Iran, Russia, and Cuba, and a loss of hope and opportunity for the Venezuelan people. Mr. Speaker, Venezuelans cannot afford to have Chavez leading them into the Communist abyss. Today, I am introducing a resolution calling upon the Members of the House to stand for free and fair elections this weekend in Venezuela. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the important resolution and to stand with the Venezuelan people in their fight for freedom from the iron fist of Hugo Chavez."


As of 10am today, his resolution (H. RES. 161) had no co-sponsors. However, given the wave of anti-Venezuela sentiment in the press this week, we urge you to call your Representative and ask them not to support this resolution. If passed, it would "Express the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need for free, democratic, transparent, and fair elections in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela without threats or intimidation."


Considering that Venezuela has one of the most heavily scrutinized electoral systems in the world, and has consistently been certified by international vote monitoring organizations as having free and fair elections, this resolution is nothing short of ridiculous. Let your members of Congress know this!


WHAT YOU CAN DO


Call your Congressional Representative and tell them not to support H. Res. 161. You can find your representative's phone number here. Remind yourself of the key issues surrounding Sunday's referendum by reading this fact sheet.

You may also want to review what electoral observers have said over the years about Venezuela's electoral system. You can read their statements here.

As always, send us a note to let us know that you have taken action. And as the referendum nears, stay on top of the news by reading the VIO Daily News Roundup, available in blog format. We encourage you to write letters to the editor in response to the most egregious articles you will find on our blog here to make sure the news media is held accountable when they misrepresent the truth about Venezuela and its democracy.


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[EFerrari]

1. Mack had no co-sponsors as of yesterday morning.

I was not happy to see Dennis Blair saying in testimony that the drop in oil prices was a good thing regarding Veneuela. As far as I know, Hugo Chavez never facilitated a MASSACRE as Blair did in East Timor. The hypocrisy is staggering.

[rabs]

2. More on Blair re-Chavez

and disappointing that Obama will be getting his info from this guy regarding Venezuela

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Venezuela serves as a bridge for Iran's influence in Latin America and continues to harbor leftist rebels from Colombia, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the US Senate Thursday.

Blair warned not only about Venezuela, but also its fellow leftist allies Cuba and Bolivia, and about the growing drug problem in Mexico and FARC rebel strength in Colombia, in an annual assessment of global threats to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

A thorn in the US side since President Hugo Chavez first took office 10 years ago, Venezuela took center stage in Blair's assessment of Latin America.

"We assess Chavez is likely to maintain his decade-long ties to FARC by providing them safe haven because of his ideological affinity to the group and his interest in influencing Colombian politics," Blair said.

The intelligence czar said the Chavez-FARC links made public after turning up in the computer files of a rebel commander killed by Colombian troops in Ecuador in March, "forced Chavez, at least rhetorically, to improve relations with Bogota."

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Complete article:

http://www.petroleumworld.com/storyt09021302.htm

[EFerrari]

3. And as we know, those FARC ties were proved to be bullshit.

Thank you for the link, rabs, and bienvenido. :hi:

[Peace Patriot]

4. It is dismaying to see an Obama appointee spouting such twisted lies to Congress.

It's as if the Miami Herald and the anti-Castro Miami mafia--and, indeed, Donald Rumsfeld--wrote Blair's script. It is also extremely worrisome as to potential Obama administration collusion on Rumsfeld & brethren's darker plans, for which the psyops campaign to demonize Chavez as a "terrorist lover" is the likely preliminary. I can only hope and pray that, a) Obama doesn't agree with Rumsfeld, b) is on top of U.S., or U.S.-related private, dirty ops in South America, or gets on top of them before fatal errors are made and he gets dragged into his own "Bay of Pigs."

[Zorro]

5. So are you saying Blair's remarks are inaccurate?

If so, what is inaccurate?