CHAVEZ SAYS US EMPIRE HAS FALLEN,MUST DRAW UP A NEW CONSTITUTION

This guy is speaking the truth people whether you like it or not. We have been shafted by those who were put in place to protect this country’s interest and they did nothing but rob and pillage our economy for their own greediness. For an in depth look at this crisis Read RIP USA: Dissecting The Death of a Dynasty by Paul Moreland.

Venezuela

via Yahoo

Speaking to reporters in Lisbon on the last leg of a tour that included visits to China and Russia, he said: “I think the United States should start a constituent process to create a constituent assembly, a new truly democratic model.”

A constituent assembly is a body elected to draft and sometimes adopt a new constitution.

“It was capitalism that caused the ruin” in the United States, said Chavez, who is one of Washington’s fiercest critics, calling the financial crunch “the worst financial crisis in history”.

“Let the U.S. empire end and let a great nation and great republic rise from the ruin … It’s time to shout ‘Liberty!’ again in the United States,” Chavez said, calling for a new government to be free of the “dictatorship of the elite” such as big banks and corporations.

Critics accuse Chavez of running an authoritarian, Cuban-style regime in oil-rich Venezuela.

Chavez, who has signed various deals from weapons to energy this week in China and Russia also signed an agreement with Portugal’s Socialist government on Saturday to buy 1 million ultra-cheap laptops for schools and 50,000 pre-fabricated houses in deals worth $3 billion.

They also signed a draft deal between Energias do Portugal and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA for the development of a liquefied natural gas project from the Blanquilla Este reserve in northern Venezuela.

The computers, which the government started distributing in Portuguese primary schools this week at a subsidised price of 50 euros , will be delivered to Venezuela from December. They cost 285 euros in stores in Portugal.

The laptop is based on Intel Corp’s Classmate PC, a cheap computer that has been adopted in various formats in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia

NEW COUP D'ETAT RUMBLINGS IN VENEZUELA

By Stephen Lendman

9-25-8

Since taking office in January 2001, the Bush administration targeted Hugo Chavez for removal. It tried and failed three previous times: -- in April 2002 for two days; aborted by mass street protests and support from many in Venezuela's military, especially from its middle-ranking officer corp; -- the 2002 - 2003 general strike and oil management lockout causing severe economic disruption; and -- the August 2004 national recall referendum in which Chavez resoundingly prevailed with a 59% majority. Other disruptions have occurred since and now may again be ongoing. US intervention is innovative and determined to regain control of Venezuela and its vast hydrocarbon resources, the largest by far in the hemisphere after Canada. Perhaps the world with the US Department of Energy's estimate of 1.36 trillion extra-heavy oil barrels included besides its proved 80 billion barrels of light sweet reserves, ranking it seventh overall behind the five largest Middle East producers and Canada. Throughout most of his tenure and since the Bush administration took over, CIA and various misnamed US quasi-governmental agencies have been active in Venezuela. Ones like the National Endowment of Democracy (NED). The International Republican Institute (IRI) with John McCain as its chairman and its ties to extremist Republican party elements, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). All are imperial instruments. Undemocratic and for rule by the power of money. They fund opposition groups and coup supporters. Arrange (staged for media) anti-Chavez marches and street protests. Spend millions to subvert democracy to return the country to its past. Oligarchs who once controlled it. Washington and Big Oil that control them. They plot assassination attempts, according to Chavez to remove him. To reverse Bolivarianism and its socially beneficial gains in health care, education, housing, feeding the hungry, lifting millions out of poverty, and enfranchising all Venezuelans in the country's participatory democracy. Strengthening it at the grassroots. Recent Disturbing Events On September 10, Venezolana de Television's (VTV) La Hojilla program disclosed a recording (from an undisclosed source) of a planned military coup against Chavez - by active and retired plotters. Participants named were Vice Admiral and National Guard Forces Inspector General Carlos Alberto Millan Millan. National Guard General Wilfredo Barroso Herrera, and retired Air Force General Eduardo Baez Torrealba (involved in the April 2002 aborted coup). Unknown is who else is behind this and how deep the suspected plot runs. Conversations recorded were about "tak(ing) the Miraflores (presidential) Palace (government headquarters and) the TV installations....that is all effort towards where (Chavez) is. If he's in Miraflores, the effort goes toward there." Talk also was about seizing the "command headquarters (with) the troops inside" and about Maracay, Aragua state's Air Base Libertador where Venezuela's F-16s and other planes are based. Baez Torrealba was heard saying: "We are divided into four zones....east, west, and two in the centre" and have an F-16 pilot. He mentions either attacking Chavez's plane or capturing it. Possibly the presidential palace the way the CIA engineered it in Chile for Augusto Pinochet against Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 - with bombs, rockets and tank fire. Open warfare on Santiago's streets. Whether planned for Caracas is anyone's guess but it certainly is possible. Chavez knows the history as well as past conspiracies against himself. He said on-air that his government "infiltrated the most radical and fascist movements (and have) known for a long time that they are looking for land and air rockets and sophisticated equipment to blow up the presidential plane" and that past plans were to bomb the Miraflores. He also knows that CIA is behind them and said if there's a coup, "the counter-coup would be overwhelming" - meaning a mass popular uprising to reverse it with military support, similar to 2002. Chavez then confirmed the detentions of several suspected coop plotters and said others fled the country. He also expelled US ambassador, Patrick Duddy. Gave him 72 hours to leave, and recalled his Washington envoy, Bernardo Alvarez, in sympathy with Bolivia's Evo Morales. On September 10, he declared US ambassador, Philip Goldberg, persona non grata. Accused him of supporting eastern Bolivian fascist elements and working with them to plan a coup against his presidency. On September 20, another incident occurred, so far unexplained. In west Caracas, a grenade was thrown from a residential building, killing two and injuring 19 others. A 23-year old man was identified as the perpetrator, who then, it was claimed, jumped to his death from the building's eighth floor. No further information is available at this time but authorities are investigating. Then around the same time in London, Samuel Moncada, Venezuela's UK ambassador, attended a fringe Labour Party meeting and expressed "fear(s) that the next few weeks will be very dangerous for us." He believes that the Bush administration may try to oust Chavez in its remaining months. Others in Venezuela also think something is going on to destabilize the country. Possibly a plot to assassinate their president and bring down his government. Disturbing Latin American stirrings in the final Bush administration months along with all else on their plate and planned in the Middle East, Central Asia and elsewhere. Plus the November presidential and congressional elections and a hugely calamitous financial crisis commanding daily headlines and top- level meetings as first order of business because of its seriousness. Nonetheless, the Bush administration expelled Venezuela's Washington ambassador after he'd been recalled following Chavez saying "When there is a new government in the United States, we'll send an ambassador." Given the campaign rhetoric by both US presidential candidates, he may have a change of heart. Both promise permanent wars. New fronts to wage them on, and an uncompromising pro-corporate agenda. Not good news for independent democrats like Chavez, especially ones in oil-rich countries like Venezuela. Separately on September 12, the Bush administration went further with US Treasury officials announcing sanctions and the freezing of assets against Hugo Carvajal Barrios and Henry Rangel Silva, both Venezuelan intelligence chiefs. Also named was Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, the country's former Justice and Interior Minister. Serious and unwarranted accusations against high government officials for supporting drugs trafficking and supplying arms to Colombia's FARC- EP resistance. On September 17, Washington also blacklisted Venezuela (for the fourth time) and Bolivia (for the first time) for not cooperating in the "war on drugs" and designated both countries and Burma as "hav(ing) failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements," in a statement released by the White House. The State Department listed 20 countries as illicit major drugs producers or transit sites. It omitted what scholar/researcher Peter Dale Scott calls "Deep Events (or "deep politics" that governments try to suppress) and the CIA's Global Drug Connection" in his article by that title. The "complex geography or network of banks, financial agents of influence and the 'alternative' or 'shadow' CIA" and its possible involvement in major "deep events" like the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. A "global financial complex of hot money uniting prominent business, financial and government (elements) as well as underworld figures." An "indirect empire (between) CIA, organized crime, and their mutual interest in drug-trafficking." For the enormous profits that CIA uses for its operations and helps it plot coups against countries like Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Venezuela (2002) and maybe again in 2008 along with Bolivia and the current Iranian government. For state terrorism like Operation Condor (in Latin America in the 1970s). Iranian and Pakistani incursions currently. All its other nefarious activities, including "strengthening drug networks....in Laos, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, Columbia," Thailand and Afghanistan - the world's largest by far opium producer after Washington replaced the Taliban and allowed regional "warlords" to ramp up replantings. Also its involvement in a possible plot against Chavez. At the least, the latest Bush administration efforts to tarnish and disrupt his democratic government with considerable media support for its accusations and much more. The Corporate Media on the Attack A New York Times September 18 Simon Romero article is headlined: "Alleging Coup Plot, Chavez Ousts US Envoy." In it he suggests the accuracy of a Human Rights Watch's (HRW) biased 2008 Venezuela report discussed below. That "into its 10th year (Chavez's) government has consolidated power by eliminating the independence of the judiciary, punish(ed) critical news organizations, and engag (ed) in wide-ranging acts of political discrimination against opponents." Leaving mentioned the Chavez government's views to suggest his own and HRW's. Do it in spite of its tainted state. An example is how it "condemn (es) human rights abuses in Colombia." Not the repressive government. The most fascist in the region, but the FARC-EP and ELN resistance against it. More on HRW below. A Miami Herald op-ed piece is headlined: "Expulsions Underscore Chavez's Intolerance for Dissent" and states that expelling "two respected human rights monitors from Venezuela is the latest evidence that President Hugo Chavez is determined to muzzle dissenting views....Mr. Chavez never misses an opportunity to rail against the United States, but his real enemies are those who dare to take issue with his politics. His anti-democratic agenda has restricted legitimate political activity by his opponents for years, and his arbitrary behavior is getting worse." The most far right US elements couldn't say it better or be more mirror opposite the facts. A Los Angeles Times August 9 editorial accused Chavez of a "power grab (and) attack(ing) democracy." The Washinton Post calls him a Venezuelan caudillo or strongman. So does the Wall Street Journal repeatedly. Reckless commentaries accuse him of rigging elections. Excluding his most formidable opponents. Violating Venezuelan law, and now engaging in drugs trafficking, terrorism, and delivering a suitcase with $800,000 in slush money to Argentina's Cristina Kirchner for her 2007 presidential campaign. The Inter-American Dialogue's Peter Hakim has "no doubt" this latter charge (playing out in a Miami courtroom) is politically motivated and "is coming from the US government." So are all the others. The Journal's Mary O'Grady wages constant war against Chavez, and her latest September 15 op-ed refers to his "Russian Dalliance." His holding joint exercises with Moscow's "flotilla." Russia "evoking memories of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis by playing war games with another would-be Latin strongman." Chavez "only too happy to be used." Suggesting he and Evo Morales are communists and all the negatives that implies. That Chavez is a "dictator." That his "economy (is) in shambles" when, in fact, it's had 19 consecutive impressive quarters of growth and grew at 7.1% in the second quarter - compared to America's unprecedented economic crisis and contraction. That Chavez is so worried about a "serious challenge to (his) chavismo (that he) trotted out the Uncle Sam boogeyman, called in the Russians, and (sent) Washington's ambassador packing." Human Rights Watch on the Attack Too often, Human Rights Watch (HRW) fails to practice its stated mandate - that it's "dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world....stand(ing) with victims and activists....upholding political freedom (and) bring(ing) offenders to justice." Instead it functions the way James Petras characterizes similar NGOs as the "executing agents of US imperialism." Its support for the oppressed is dubious at best. Tainted at worst, and its latest September 18 Venezuela report is disturbing, biased, and inaccurate. It's not dissimilar to how it covers the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. Distorting it to downplay Israeli violence. Playing up to the Israeli Lobby, and operating more by a political agenda than as a credible human rights organization. Clearly with its funding sources in mind that must be placated and never offended. HRW does it skillfully. From its 1978 beginnings as the US Helsinki Watch Committee (or Helsinki Watch), HRW advanced America's interests as a propaganda instrument against Soviet Russia. Despite occasional good work, too often it's "serv(ed) as a virtual public relations arm of the (US) foreign policy establishment," according to Edward Herman, David Peterson and George Szamuely in their 2007 report titled: "Human Rights Watch in Service to the War Party." Exhibits A and B: against Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam at a time "the United States and Britain were clearly planning an assault on Iraq with a 'shock and awe' bombing campaign and ground invasion in violation of the UN Charter." HRW ignored the impending onslaught. The "supreme international crime," and focused on Saddam's much lesser ones. A "valuable public relations gift to US and British leaders" instead of denouncing them. When the Pentagon-led NATO countries bombed Yugoslavia in 1999, HRW attacked the victim and absolved the aggressor. It supported regime change "either through (Milosevic's) indictment or a US war (for) the same outcome." It blamed him for the conflict America began and waged throughout the 1990s with its NATO allies. It ignored Washington's imperial aim to dismantle Yugoslavia. Its outrageous war crimes in doing it, and instead cited Serbia's "vicious wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo." It demanded responsible Serbs be held to account before the kangaroo International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTW). Run by made-in-Washington rules to avoid any prosecution of its own role. It showed HRW's commitment to human rights is hollow and hypercritical. Its analysis opposite of the truth. Its disdain for the rule of law, and its judgment fully supportive of its funding sources. Organizations like: -- the Ford Foundation; -- the Rockefeller Foundation; -- the Carnegie Corporation of New York; and -- Time Warner. Individuals like: -- Edgar Bronfman, Jr., corporate CEO and member of one of Canada's most wealthy and influential Jewish families; -- Katherine Graham (now deceased) of the Washington Post Corporation with her son and current chairman, Donald Graham, likely continuing her support; -- and George Soros who was active in founding HRW jointly with the US State Department. Some of its Americas Advisory Board members are also closely linked to the National Endowment of Democracy (NED) and its anti- democratic agenda. Figures like George Soros and Robert Pastor, Jimmy Carter's Latin American National Security Advisor and Senior Fellow at the Carter Center on Latin America and the Caribbean. HRW failed to denounce CIA's 2002 coup attempt against Chavez or the 2004 one against Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The thousands of Lavalas supporters murdered in its aftermath. The continuing daily human rights abuses committed by so-called UN Peacekeepers, police and other security forces. The unconscionable human misery in the coup's aftermath. It said nothing about Venezuelan dominant media's advance knowledge about and support for the 2002 coup. The air time they gave plotters. Their virulent propaganda and calls for people to take to the streets "for freedom and democracy" by ousting Chavez. Their suppressing all pro-government reports and opinions. Their falsely reporting that Chavez resigned when, in fact, he was forcibly removed and was being held against his will. They knew because they were briefed in advance and were part of the scheme. When hundreds of thousands of Chavez supporters were on the streets demanding his reinstatement, they ignored them and aired old movies and cartoons. Even when the coup was aborted, they maintained strict censorship in a further act of defiance. Yet, when Chavez refused to renew RCTV's VHF license (a mere slap on the wrist for an act of sedition), HRW vehemently complained and denounced the act as censorship. It continues to criticize Chavez, most noticeably in its 230 page 2008 report titled, "A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela." The report is unfairly one-sided and biased by criticizing the "government's willful disregard for the institutional guarantees and fundamental rights that make democratic participation possible." In response, the government expelled two HRW employees - America's Director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, and his Deputy, Daniel Wilkinson. A Foreign Relations Ministry press release stated: Vivanco and Wilkerson "have done violence to the constitution (and) assaulted (Venezuela's) institutions (by) meddling illegally in (its) internal affairs." The statement added that HRW is linked to America's "unacceptable strategy of aggression" and expelling them was done to defend "the people against aggressions by international factors." Not accidently was the report released two months before Venezuela's November 23 regional and local elections for governors and mayors. HRW did the same thing previously to sway voters away from Chavez candidates and issues and toward ones embracing a pro-Washington agenda. In October 2007, ahead of the December constitutional reform referendum, it criticized the measures and warned about the loss of freedoms if the vote was positive. Its latest report also comes at a time of increased tension between Washington and Caracas ahead of elections in both countries. The Washington-based Venezuela Information Office (VIO) released an analysis of HRW's report titled: "The Truth Suffers in Human Rights Watch on Venezuela." It's summarized below and can be read in full along with other current Venezuela information on: rethinkvenezuela.org. VIO is blunt and accurate in calling HRW down on its blatantly biased account. Not surprising given its history as explained above. It exaggerates and lies about human rights deficiencies, and at the same time, ignores Venezuela's impressive social and other advances under Chavez. Unparalled in the country's history. Nothing comparable in America where human rights and social gains are vanishing under both parties. Along with democracy that's pure fantasy. Facts that HRW is loath to point out nor would it dare at the risk of offending its funding sources. VIO deconstructs the HRW report by stating "myths," and "facts". HRW myth: political discrimination defines the Chavez presidency. VIO fact: HRW mischaracterizes Chavez's condemnation of the aborted 2002 coup as "political discrimination" against the plotters. An absurdity on its face, but not to HRW. HRW: Chavez disdains the separation of powers and an independent judiciary. VIO: Chavez inherited a government for the rich. Mass poverty, and (according to an earlier HRW report) a judiciary plagued by "influence-peddling, political interference, and, above all, corruption....In terms of public credibility, the system was bankrupt." Since 1999, Chavez made great strides in cleaning it up. He still has a long way to go, but he's heading in the right direction. HRW: Chavez "shifted....the mass media in the government's favor." VIO: In print and electronically, Venezuela's corporate media are dominant. The five leading private TV channels control 90% of the market and most viewers. They operate freely with no government censorship. Are unrestrained in their one-sided anti-goverment reporting, including "calling for the overthrow of elected leaders" as they did in 2002. All major newspapers are corporate-owned. TVes (Venezuela's first public broadcaster) and TeleSur (the regional, multi-nation supported operation) reach much smaller audiences. HRW: Chavez "has sought to remake the country's labor movement in ways that violate basic principles of freedom of movement." VIO: In fact, Chavez is actively pro-labor. Supports unions and collective bargaining on equal terms with management. In 2003, pro- government workers founded the National Workers Union (UNT). Chavez is responsive to its rights and equitable demands. HRW: Chavez has been "aggressively adversarial....to local rights advocates and civil society organizations." VIO: Chavez is responsive to local leaders. Promotes the creation of community councils to address their own needs and find solutions free from federal government control and influence. The idea is democracy at the grassroots, and it works. VIO concludes that HRW systematically mischaracterizes the Chavez government. Wrongly accuses it of political discrimination and targeting opponents. The truth is mirror opposite even to the extent of pardoning coup plotters and promoting open dialogue. In addition, Venezuela has a vibrant and improving participatory democracy, anchored at the grassroots. Each government branch provides "strong checks and balances" against the others. The nation is a free and open society. The Bolivarian Constitution respects and guarantees human and labor rights for all Venezuelans equally. Social ones also, including healthcare, education, food, housing, jobs, security and more. In its biased and inaccurate account, HRW reports none of this and all other impressive achievements under Chavez. Doing so would offend its corporate and other backers. They want Chavez ousted. Bolivarianism ended, and Venezuela returned to its past. HRW is an imperial agent. On board to make it happen. Targeting Latin American Democracy Subversion in Venezuela and possible civil war in Bolivia threaten Latin America's democracy. Fascists never rest and now control five of Bolivia's richest states, according to long-time regional expert, James Petras. They "forcefully oust(ed) all national officials, murder(ed), injur(ed) and assaulted leaders, activists and voters who have backed the (Morales) national government - with total impunity." Why so? Because, in nearly three years in office, Evo Morales tried to bargain with the far right. Be conciliatory and compromising. Back down from even "the mildest social reforms." Favor business over progressive social change in spite of winning a nearly 70% majority in an August 10 recall election. Allowed the opposition to be "aggressive(ly) violent." Seize power in Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni, Tarija and Chuquisaca. Rule by thuggery and intimidation. Head the country toward fascism. Erase the few social reforms achieved in the past three years. Hand the country back to oligarchs and their Washington bosses. Threaten to take the model to Venezuela. End the region's most impressive participatory democracy. Its social gains, and a leader who's committed to improving them. Stand up against the same dark forces targeting Bolivia. Refuses to surrender the way Morales has done. Share power with the fascist right. Give in to their demands. Back their neoliberal agenda. Betray the people who elected him overwhelmingly. And face the possibility of what Michel Chossudovsky calls the "Kosovo Option." Break up Bolivia by the Yugoslav model. Use extreme violence to do it. It made Kosovo an independent state. Planning the same scheme for Bolivia's resource-rich states. Perhaps the same fate for Venezuela and extinguishing all Latin American democracy. A very disquieting option. Unthinkable but possible under the current US administration and which ever new one succeeds it. More conceivable given a shaky world economy and how that distracts away from politics. Even the most destructive kind. Allowing democracy to be lost without even noticing. Unlikely? Who back in summer 2007 imagined the kind of financial crisis that emerged. A potential economic armageddon. An unprecedented situation with no rules around to address. The possibility that nothing can stop a meltdown. And if it happens that democracy may go with it. Preventing a similar Latin America outcome is crucial. Confronting the region's dark forces to stop them. Understanding, as Petras states, that "you cannot 'make deals' with fascists." You don't defeat them "through elections and concessions to their big property-owning paymasters." You confront them head on. Forcefully. Expose and denounce them. Ally with a democratic constituency and beat down their threat that's real, menacing and must be stopped or its heading everywhere. Maybe sooner than anyone imagines. Some hopeful signs, however, are present, and maybe more will follow. In mid-September, nine South American presidents held a crisis summit in Santiago, Chile and expressed "their full and firm support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales (and) reject(ed) and will not recognize any situation that attempts a civil coup (or) rupture of (Bolivia's) territorial integrity." Let's hope they mean what they say and will back their words with resoluteness. Except for Chavez away on foreign tour, they met again on September 24 at the UN in New York to continue discussions. In addition, on September 17, the National Coalition for Change (CONALCAM indigenous, campesino and urban movements) signed a pact with the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) to "defend the unity of the homeland that is being threatened by a civil coup lead by terrorists and fascists" directed out of Washington. Events are fast-moving. They affect Venezuela and the region, and Roger Burbach, Director of the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA), reports that 20,000 miners, peasants and coca growers marched on Santa Cruz. The "bastion of the right wing rebellion" against Morales. He calls it a "popular upheaval" sweeping the country. But it's too soon to predict an outcome, and much to worry about given Morales' weak-kneed approach and reluctance to be as resolute as his supporters. Burbach calls it "restraint." For Petras, it's capitulation, surrender, and a doomed strategy. But not if mass protests can help it with Joel Guarachi, head of the National Confederation of Peasant Workers, saying 600,000 protesters are located throughout the 16 Santa Cruz provinces alone. Venezuelans share a common interest and may react the same way if Bolivarianism and their president are threatened. Let's hope so. With a few months left in office, the Bush administration may be unleashing its last hurrah in Latin America. A "hail Mary" effort to reclaim the region. Remove its weak democracies in countries like Bolivia and strong ones in Venezuela. And do it in the face of overwhelming domestic problems at home and lost wars abroad. Will it work? Not if Bolivians and Venezuelans have anything to say about it, and they're saying plenty. Stay tuned. Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on Republic Broadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM - 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10270

DANNY GLOVER'S "HAITI" FILM NOT SUPPORTED BY MAJOR STUDIES DUE TO LACK OF "WHITE HEROES"

Danny Glover's Haiti film lacked 'white heroes', producers said


Published on Saturday, July 26, 2008 Email To Friend Print Version

PARIS, France (AFP): US actor Danny Glover, who plans an epic next year on Haitian independence hero Toussaint-Louverture, said he slaved to raise funds for the movie because financiers complained there were no white heroes.

"Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project... where are the white heroes?'" he told AFP during a stay in Paris this month for a seminar on film.

"I couldn't get the money here, I couldn't get the money in Britain. I went to everybody. You wouldn't believe the number of producers based in Europe, and in the States, that I went to," he said.

"The first question you get, is 'Is it a black film?' All of them agree, it's not going to do good in Europe, it's not going to do good in Japan.

"Somebody has to prove that to be a lie!", he said. "Maybe I'll have the chance to prove it."

"Toussaint," Glover's first project as film director, is about Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803), a former slave and one of the fathers of Haiti's independence from France in 1804, making it the first black nation to throw off imperial rule and become a republic.

The uprising he led was bloodily put down in 1802 by 20,000 soldiers dispatched to the Caribbean by Napoleon Bonaparte, who then re-established slavery after its ban by the leaders of the French Revolution.

Due to be shot in Venezuela early next year, the film will star Don Cheadle, Mos Def, Wesley Snipes and Angela Bassett.

"I wasn't the first one who had this idea," he said. "Sergey Eisenstein had the same idea, Anthony Quinn had this idea, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, and this goes on."

The "Lethal Weapon" co-star, just turned 62, finally raised 18 of the 30 million dollars needed from a Venezuelan cultural body set up in 2006 by his friend President Hugo Chavez to counter what he termed "the Hollywood film dictatorship".

Venezuelan filmmakers last year slammed the investment.

"It is Mr Glover who should be bringing dollars to Venezuela," the National Association of Film Makers and the Venezuelan Chamber of Film Producers said in an open letter.

Glover, a longtime activist, has supported Chavez's political revolution since he was first elected in 1998.

After making his debut with a bit role in 1979 movie starring Clint Eastwood, "Escape From Alcatraz", Glover played in films such as "Silverado" and "Witness" but grabbed wide attention after Steven Spielberg's 1985 movie "The Color Purple".

He is probably most widely known as "Lethal Weapon" co-star with Mel Gibson.

Born in San Francisco, he enrolled at the Black Actors Workshop there and is known for his stand against discrimination as well as for his activism against the Iraqi war and anti-personnel mines.

An admirer of the Senegalese writer-filmmaker known as the father of African cinema, Ousmane Sembene, Glover has helped produce African films, including the recently-acclaimed arthouse movie "Bamako" by Abderrahmane Sissako.

"The first African films that I saw were films that portrayed Africans as savages, ignorant and uncivilized, and I wanted to know something else," he said. "I was very fortunate, I had the chance to read writers like Mariama Ba, Aime Cesaire ... and Leopold Sedar Senghor. I read him when I was 20."

"When I saw Sidney Poitier on screen, I was probably 10 or 11," he added. "That was a different image, an image I had never seen before, on screen.

"The African-Americans I saw, they danced, they were buffoons, that was the image. So Sidney brought another image."

History, Glover said, had enabled him to play a wide range of roles because of the changes taking place in society.

"I think cinema has played a great role in our re-imagining ourselves," he said.
_________________
I freed a thousand slaves, I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.
Harriet Tubman

HUGO CHAVEZ: PART 2 THE RISING NEOSOCIALIST FACE OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN UNION

by Stefan Fobes

Several comments that I have seen on The South American Union and Hugo Chavez showing his true stripes, and elsewhere, have inspired me to write this up. Let’s take a look at Hugo Chavez, the great “liberator”….

The most common response you get when you question Hugo Chavez’s motives is that he has done much for the poor. I don’t like the tiny elite which has been leeching off the fruits of the backbreaking labor of the South American masses for centuries. However, when you gain something through violence or theft, such as taking in that manner the land that the Venezuelan oligarchs held, it lowers the roof on what can be allowed to be done to anyone else. People must appreciate the fact that since these people’s land has been taken away from them, it opens the door for all Venezuelan freedoms to be taken away. This is a classic Illuminati tactic. When you want to start up controlling all the people, you first target an unpopular or hated minority, and then you slowly but surely inch forward into repression of more mainstream people such as small business owners, middle income earners, and teenagers. Much of the public, including those who read conspiracy sites, by and large, seem to have little knowledge of intrigue or tactics, or even any interest in studying these topics. The Illuminati know that the South Americans know they want to control them. That is one of the reasons communism/socialism was created, as David Icke, Alex Jones, and Antony Sutton have documented. It’s to con the slaves back onto the plantation. And since most people, to some degree, give their minds over to whoever puts themself up as authority and never hold in their minds the truth that leadership positions are always gravitated to by the corrupt who develop great acting skills to that end, the agenda, up till the present day, has largely been wildly successful.

A little advice to young people, don’t join any of those anarchist or communist groups. The controlled intelligence agencies and the cops always find those, infiltrate their people in as the leaders, steer the members natural desire for freedom towards violence, and use them for their purposes. You will only end up fighting for the Illuminati’s freedom. If it doesn’t involve peaceful, nonviolent nonparticipation, it won’t be effective because if you come at them with a uzi, they’ll come at you with a swat team. You come at them with an army, they’ll drop a nuke. If everyone stood up together one day and said they wouldn’t pay a cent in taxes, and didn’t care about the consequences, what could the Illuminati do? Kill them? Then they’d have nobody to control. That’s why every week you see on TV every so often the stories of Black on White or Mexican on whoever violence. It’s to maintain the division by any means possible and prevent just this outcome, which is their worst nightmare.

Here are some examples of cops caught red handed engaging in agent provacateur activity.

There were plenty of ways to get the land peacefully. Tax incentives, generous buy offers, so many things. They must demand that the criminality never be allowed to go beyond what it already has, because they, down the road, will end up being the victims of that same violence they thought would forever be exclusively to their own benefit. And put those who ordered this away while they’re at it. This is exactly how Nazi Germany started up. First the insane and retarded, then the Jews, then it was all Germans who wouldn’t dare say peep about HItler for fear of a Gestapo visit. You’ll see. Pretty quick.

Chavez last year tried to amend the constitution to be president for life. Does this sound like freedom to any of you?

The Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has anointed himself president for life by proposing sweeping changes to the country’s constitution.

Setting out his plans for completing his socialist revolution in the oil-rich Latin American nation, he proposing radical constitutional reform which has at its centre indefinite re-election for himself.

In a rambling televised speech reminiscent of his close ally and friend Fidel Castro, Mr Chavez told the national assembly of 33 changes he plans to make to the constitution he introduced in 1999 which will cement his grip on power.

“We have broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system,” said Mr Chavez. The state now has the obligation to build the model of a socialist economy.”

Oh? I guess he means a Russia or China style socialist economy. Yeah, real chain breaking there. Label it whatever, but the agenda is always the same. Control. He has the farmers working on collective farms now. Which are state controlled, as the New York Times article reports. That’s the big trick. You own the land, but you don’t control it. Big State does. They have nowhere near the oppressive circumstances as a China or a Soviet Russia yet of course, but, just look at the company he keeps. An energy alliance with Russia, a country synonymous with everything police state, whose agents definitely killed the Russian spy Litivenko and all those reporters who expose the corruption of Putin. He speaks glowingly of his friend Fidel Castro, him and his family living in luxury while the vast majority of the Cuban people live in fear of him and the people always have much less food than they should. An ally of Iran, a country with numerous dress, free speech, and internet restrictions. He is a supporter of Daniel Ortega, the President of Nicaragua. Remember him? Ex-Sandinista leader? Mass killings? He’s also best buds with Robert Mugabe, who rules with an iron fist and has brought starvation and poverty to Black and White alike to Zimbabwe, a country which, by virtue of its natural resources at the least, should have one of the highest standards of living in the world. Chavez has called Mugabe a great freedom fighter. Oh it’s so funny.

Another person commented that red is the color of freedom fighters. You ever asked yourself why that is? No, man. The Illuminati love the color red not just because it is the color red, but because it represents a specific vibrational frequency. The meaning of red colorwise is that of the base instincts, anger, frustration, sexuality, survival instincts and fury. This are all the aspects of the reptilian brain. The Illuminati mind right there. Obsessed with sex and surviving and filled with hate and anger. And I can see the Spanish speakers shaking their heads, automatically editing out what I’ve wrote without checking the facts. Do you know what the Illuminati thinks of you? American Free Press reported about how the European elite who have ruled Mexico in an unbroken line since colonial times, calls the Mexican illegal immigrants “their secret cockroach army“. Here’s some of these golden children (ahah) over here protesting for amnesty. Click to enlarge.

Europeans off Mexico? We are indigenous? There must be a brown skinned person underneath those Nordic masks. My made in China computer mouse is more indigenous than that family.

It’s all a big game. Just look at Chavez laughing it up with the king of Spain.

** FILE ** Venezuala's President Hugo Chavez, right, talks with Spain's King Juan Carlos, center, as Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in this Oct 14, 2005 file photo. Spanish King Juan Carlos on Saturday Nov. 10, 2007, angrily told President Hugo Chavez to shut up as the Venezuelan leader was involved in a heated verbal exchange with the head of the Spanish government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The unusual incident during the final plenary session of the Ibero American summit here was triggered by strong criticism by Chavez of former Spanish president Jose Maria Aznar, whom he repeatedly called a fascist. Zapatero addressed the session to tell Chavez he should respect, even in spite of political differences with Aznar, a conservative who was a close allied of U.S. President George Bush and strongly supported the war in Iraq. Aznar "is a fascist," said Chavez. "Fascists are not human. A snake is more human than a fascist."

You and him both look pretty reptilian, now that I think about it. Venezuela’s still owned by Spain. Chavez is just the puppet put in to rule on their behalf. People will accept the fact that the US is the only one involved in the conspiracy, but you mention their home countries, it’s instant shutdown. “I don’t see how this guy could be Illuminati when he’s against this, or being attacked by…”

From my research, Planet Earth is dominated by a group of families or factions, making and breaking alliances at times, and each having differing levels of clout in world affairs based on the outcomes of the wars they have had amongst themselves over the millenia, using the people as their pawns. The Rothschilds are one of them, and have a large degree of influence, controlling the country of Israel through Zionism and various minions, and several others. Another seems to be the Windsors, and I’ve read references by Stewart Swerdlow to a Yakuza and North Korea controlling Yamato line of Japan, and a Romanov line controlling Iran and Russia. Perhaps Cuba too, due to Russian involvement there. That would mean that when there is a flap about a country being a rogue state, it would just mean that particular nation is the object of a power grab by the USA controlling Windsors or the Israel controlling Rothschilds, and rogue state is just a cover story agreed upon by all involved to hide what is really going on.

The official story about how the United States “won” the Revolutionary War is garbage. Only 3% of the whole colonial population fought. Sure, they were great guerilla fighters, but the European colonial powers were brutal and greedy and utterly ruthless in pursuit of money and natural resources, and still are, albeit in a different way. The USA has vast amounts of natural resources. It is like fighting a war against a vicious enemy who is famous for doing anything to win, and then one day just walks away and says, “you can have this territory”! The people fighting this enemy would naturally be confused and suspicious. Yet this is, to a tee the story presented as fact in the history books. Harold Brooks-Baker, the publishing director of Burke’s Peerage, the encyclopedic bible of aristocratic genealogy, said in 2004 that every single president has been closely related to European royalty. Obama is a 10th cousin once removed of George W. Bush, and McCain is the 6th cousin of Laura Bush. And George W. Bush is the 13th cousin once removed of Queen Lizard II of England. George II’s mom’s maiden name was Barbara Pierce, as in Franklin Pierce. Direct descent. Why is this? Because the pullout by the colonial powers was a con job to fool the disgruntled public while they left the royal bloodlines (Washington, Bolivar, Mandela) as viceroys and the secret society networks behind as their eyes, ears, and hands to manipulate these bloodlines into power and carry out other aspects of the agenda. That’s why you see the top dogs in banking, politics, the military, and entertainment all can claim close blood links with European royalty, and why there is such a high ratio of people in these top positions that are secret society initiates compared to those who aren’t. Simon Bolivar was a mason, initiated in Spain. Admitted by Canadian masons. For you, South Americans.

And a couple more things about Chavez. He came out with an idea to create a Bank of the South to “counter the IMF and World Bank”. This is planned to evolve into the South American Central Bank, similar to the EU central bank. And I bet Chavez will soon introduce the idea to have a single South American army and currency. To fight off the US, of course. He’s probably shooting for South American president or some other top position in there. So easy. Get the US military to make threatening gestures, leak the fact that they were involved in planning the coup to get Chavez out, and as long as the masses don’t question why he wasn’t killed or put under house arrest or something, when those carrying out the the coup had the perfect opportunity to do so, then the Illuminati planned Union of the Americas is good to go.

Posted in Political Manipulations. Tags: ahmadinejad, barack obama, bush, chavez, colors, communism, cuba, daniel ortega, Freemasonry, genealogy, george bush, hugo chavez, illuminati, iran, john mccain, latin america, mahmoud ahmadinejad, mccain, mexico, mugabe, new world order, news, nwo, obama, putin, robert mugabe, rothschild, russia, sau, socialism, south america, south american union, spain, venezuela, vladimir putin, windsor, world news.

HUGO CHAVEZ AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN UNION-NEW WORLD ORDER??

The South American Union and Hugo Chavez showing his true stripes
May 25, 2008 — Stefan Fobes

by Stefan Fobes

Many have said over the years that Hugo Chavez is an Illuminati puppet, citng his capture during the Venezuela coup back in 2002 and his still being here with us among the living, but have not really gone into or been able to go with something of substance, really because he hasn’t done anything blatantly NWO-like. Now, his real function has come into view.


Novinite.com reports that twelve South American nations have come together to form Unasur, a regional union. They are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. They even plan to have their own president and elections. Just another step to making a world government with the continents as superstates controlled by it. David Rockefeller, Chase Manhattan Bankster, says in his book Memoirs on p. 405:

For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

Back to Chavez. During the 2002 Venezuelan military coup, Hugo Chavez said that when he was captured and taken by the military high command to the Venezuelan island of Orchila, he saw a private plane with US markings on it ready to take him away to exile. Now I won’t take just his word for it, but given the fact that those carrying out the coup said that they did it because they blamed him for the killing of 11 anti-government demonstrators, I think that there might be something to this statement. What is possibility turns into certainty after eyeing this New York Times piece:

Senior members of the Bush administration met several times in recent months with leaders of a coalition that ousted the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, for two days last weekend, and agreed with them that he should be removed from office, administration officials said today.

Of course the government spun it, saying that the opposition leaders came to them and the government agreed with them that he should be removed from office. Well, if the Venezuelan military guys were doing it on their on dime and time, why would they need to go to the US for anything?

Still, critics say, there were several signs that the administration was too quick to rally around the businessman Pedro Carmona Estanga as Mr. Chávez’s successor.

One Democratic foreign policy aide complained that the administration, in phone calls to Congress on Friday, reported that Mr. Chávez had resigned, even though officials now concede that they had no evidence of that.

And on Saturday, the administration supported an O.A.S. resolution condemning ”the alteration of constitutional order in Venezuela” only after learning that Mr. Chávez had regained control, Latin American diplomats said.

How would they know that Chavez resigned when he hadn’t? With past circumstances similar to this, such as running the Pinochet and other military coups across the world, why should we believe that the same was not the case here?

Before the coup, Chavez had brought the country’s inflation rate down from 40-12%, an awesome feat for any nation, and upped primary school enrollment by 1 million.

Maybe the mass protest that got Chavez back in was instigated by the Illuminati, maybe not, but whatever the case, he is in now. The Illuminati are masters of deception and long-term planning. Staged incidents, fake opposition, and good cop/bad cop scenarios are their bread and butter. Another favorite of theirs is the two steps forward, one step back technique. They knew that a superstate of the Americas, both North and South America was way too big a job, so they used him to kill the Free Trade Area of the Americas, wait things out a couple of years, and then roll this out. What they have done here is use him, under a sort of neo-socialist track, to get the people on his side. The Venezuelan people know from hard experience that the European and US powers wish to control and exploit them, and so the anti evil US empire banner is used in combination with this to build strong rapport with him and thus keep him, or someone else with the same rhetoric, in power until the final world government trap can be sprung. Out of the BBC:

Prior to the Brasilia summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez described the “empire” of the United States as Unasur’s “number one enemy”.

The Brazilian president boasted that this showed that South America was “becoming a global player”. You wish, bud. You wish.

But…perhaps Hugo Chavez is just a guy who is just looking out for his fellow Venezuelans, and just sees this as a way to counter out of control US imperialism. Ok. However, It is admitted by the Freemasons themselves that many US presidents, bankers, media barons, businessman, and other famous people have held high places in their ranks. Secret handshakes and signs too, they also admit they have. Here’s one of them, displayed on a proud “e-Mason” site.

Seinfeld star Michael Richards, and 33rd degree Freemason.

And compare to this photo of Chavez, dressed in the much beloved ritual Illuminati color red. This one would fit so well in Texe Marrs’ Codex Magica. Knowing that these secret society initiates have these handsigns, and that they often can be found in positions of leadership and influence, it is impossible to a fully functional logical mind to just dismiss this straight off. Have you ever seen anyone you know, other than gang members, (bigger gangs such as the Crips and Bloods do have intelligence agency liasons and connections by the way) put their hands in anything resembling these positions?

Is he or isn’t he? Is he really saying, I love your nice hair? You decide.

ARMED REVOLUTION IN LATIN AMERICA IS OFFICIALLY OVER,SAYS CHAVEZ

Armed revolution in Latin America is over, says Chavez

By David Usborne
Tuesday, 10 June 2008

Hugo Chavez said Farc guerrillas should lay down their arms

The armed revolutionary has no place in modern Latin America, the Venezuelan President has declared. Catching his critics off guard, Hugo Chavez called on the Marxist rebel army in neighbouring Colombia to lay down its arms and release its hostages, declaring that guerrilla armies are now "out of place".

Adopting the mantle of international statesman, the Venezuelan President appeared to be stepping forward finally to turn a page of history for a continent that for decades has been blighted by eruptions of insurgent violence, not just in Colombia but also Nicaragua and El Salvador. As most of those conflicts have come to an end, Colombia has been alone in failing to end its own internal strife.

"At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place," Mr Chavez said. "The guerrilla war is history," he asserted in his weekly television address, prompting expressions of both surprise and welcome among government leaders in Colombia. They have recently accused Venezuela of running a clandestine campaign of support for the Marxist rebels.

Mr Chavez is no stranger to the revolutionary mantle. In 1992 his Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement – inspired by the 19th century independence guerrilla Simon Bolivar – made a doomed attempt to overthrow the government. Even now, having made the transition from rebel to politician, Mr Chavez is still the staunchest of supporters of the world's most famous revolutionary, Fidel Castro. Whether his latest comments represent a profound change of heart or not, they may help open a path to long-term peace in Colombia after 40 years of bloodshed.

It is a time of deepening difficulties for Farc, the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which recently confirmed that its founder and top commander, Manuel Marulanda, also known as "Sureshot", had died of a heart attack at a jungle base in March. It has lost several other members of its top leadership in recent months.

"I think the time has come for the Farc to free everyone they have in the mountains. It would be a great, humanitarian gesture in exchange for nothing. That is what I propose to the new [Farc] leader."


Since the death of Mr Marulanda, who instigated his Marxist-inspired struggle in Colombia with a group of armed peasants in 1964, the group has been led by Alfonso Cano, a man described as being more bookish and potentially more moderate than the man he replaced.

His statement on Sunday marked the first time that the Venezuelan leader had addressed Mr Cano directly. "I say to Cano, let's go. Release those people," Mr Chavez said unambiguously.

Farc is believed to be holding as many as 750 hostages in remote jungle areas of Colombia. For much of its existence, it has relied on taking citizens captive in the hope of extracting large sums in ransom – a practice that became known as "miracle fishing". For years, Colombians lived in terror of Farc roadblocks when any of them could have found themselves snatched from their cars. A few dozen of those still in captivity are considered high-profile hostages. They include three military contractors from the United States and the former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt. Believed to be in poor health, Ms Betancourt holds joint French-Colombian citizenship. Her plight has been the subject of persistent lobbying by the French government for her release.

Since coming to office in 2002, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe has waged a determined effort to restore order to the country and end civil war. Over four decades, tens of thousands of lives have been lost as Farc battled it out against right-wing paramilitary groups that sprung up to combat its grip on the country as well as government forces.

Last year, he invited Mr Chavez to help mediate with the group for the release of its hostages but withdrew that invitation in November, claiming that the Venezuelan leader was not sticking to his side of the bargain. The breach triggered a deep chill in relations between the two leaders as Mr Chavez loosed a string of derogative remarks about Mr Uribe's competence. Tensions spiked further when a computer belonging to Farc's second-in-command was found, which Colombia said showed Mr Chavez had funnelled $300m (£152m) to the group.

There was no concealing the surprise in Bogota at the switch Mr Chavez seems to be making. "He was their defender and ally and so it's surprising that he has acted like this," said Carlos Holguin, Colombia's Interior Minister. "I hope Farc hears him – that all of Latin America hears him."

Indeed, while Colombia may retain some scepticism about Mr Chavez's motives, its government also knows that Farc has a long history of ignoring all outside appeals for an end to its struggle. However, Mr Chavez, who has been leading his own "socialist revolution" in Venezuela, may be the one leader able to bring influence on them.

In his statement, Mr Chavez offered a reason of his own to bring Farc's campaign to an end, pointing to the US. "You in the Farc should know something," he offered. "You have become an excuse for the empire to threaten all of us." He often uses the term "empire" to refer to the United States. Washington has made no secret of its desire to isolate Mr Chavez from other governments in Latin America.

A revolutionary region

*Caracas' most famous son, Simon Bolivar, led the charge in Hispanic America's struggle for independence. He is remembered across Central and South America as El Libertador after defeating the Spanish colonialists, and establishing the Gran Colombia federation in 1821 that would bring independence to Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama.

*Mexico's revolution began with a letter. Thrown in jail in 1910 for declaring his intention to run against the dictator of 30 years Porfirio Diaz, Francisco Madero issued a note from his cell calling for revolt. A bloody decade of civil war ensued.

*Guatemala's 'October Revolutionaries' – a group of dissident military officers, students and liberals – struck in 1944, overthrowing the military junta that had ousted dictator Jorge Ubico. Guatemala was to experience a decade of change known as the "Ten Years of Spring".

*Aided by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Fidel Castro landed in eastern Cuba in 1956 and over the next two and a half years rolled his '26th July Movement' across the country and into Havana, toppling the US-backed Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

*Nicaragua's Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1979. They lost elections in 1990, but returned to power in 2006 with the former guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega once more at the helm.

WASHINGTON PLANNING TO "CHECKMATE" CHAVEZ

Washington planning to
'Checkmate' Chavez
By Stephen Lendman
6-2-8


So says Heinz Dieterich Steffan - German sociologist, economist, political analyst and Hugo Chavez consultant who claims he coined the phrase "21st century socialism" in the mid-1990s. He currently teaches at the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City and writes often on Latin American issues.

In a May 21, 2008 Kaosenlared.net article and follow-up Montevideo, Uruguay debate, Dieterich was blunt. He said "Washington does not want to lose (Latin America) in competition with India, China and Europe." He called the situation "life or death" and that a military attack against Venezuela from Colombia is possible. Maybe likely, and Ecuador and Bolivia are also targeted.


He laid out a "checkmate" scenario:

-- weaken and destroy FARC-EP and ELN resistance; under Clinton in 1999, Plan Colombia was launched to do it; the Uribe government's March 1 attack against the FARC-EP camp was part of it; all regional aggression has Washington's stamp on it, especially when Alvaro Uribe is involved; he's the Bush administration's closest regional ally and willing co-conspirator;

-- neutralize Evo Morales in Bolivia as well, divide the country, and create a parallel state in its resource-rich provinces;

-- use these successes to "checkmate" Chavez and Ecuador's Raphael Correa; take further measures to do it; use Uribe's military and gunboat diplomacy after the Fourth Fleet becomes active July 1 - after a 60 year hiatus and no regional threat to warrant it;

-- since taking office in 2001, the Bush administration targeted Venezuela for regime change; it extended the timeline after its April 2002 coup failed; it made destroying Colombian resistance more urgent so Washington could use the country unimpeded as a launching platform against Chavez much like Honduras in the 1980s against Nicaragua's Sandinistas; the scheme is vintage Washington; it's still unfolding; it involves waging a "widespread offensive against Chavez and the Bolivarian forces from 2008 - 2009;"

-- regime changes in Bolivia and Ecuador will follow; in Bolivia "through separatism, the Trojan Horse of the Constituent Assembly and the 2006 formation of CONFILAR" - an International Confederation for Regional Freedom and Autonomy; in Ecuador by fostering discontent in the CONAI indigenous movement and weakening the government through destabilization; also by stoking secessionist stirrings in Guayas, the country's most affluent province.

Dieterich says Washington believes that "FARC and Evo Morales (weakening) are irreversible." Time will tell if it's so. That reasoning sets the stage for "subversion and paramilitary-military (actions) from Colombia (and) Fourth Fleet (aggression) against Venezuela and Ecuador." In his judgment, an operation may be "close" with the Bush administration's tenure winding down. He calls America a "bestial enemy" and this moment a "dangerous juncture." He hopes Chavez, Correa, Morales and other Latin American leaders are up to the challenge. The threat is that Venezuelan generals will buckle under a US incursion and not sacrifice themselves "in a war against the gringos."

He envisions a scenario much like against Cuba that led to the 1962 missile crisis - a naval blockade and sees "no cohesion" in Venezuela's military as there was in Cuba. The antidote is Latin American unity. The entire region is targeted. "It's time to seek what unites us," he says, and urges a democratic alliance among regional governments and social forces. "There is no other way because the enemy is very powerful and is made up of the alliance between the oligarchies and the gringos, and backed by Europe and Japan."

Dieterich says efforts in this direction have been proposed and rejected. Nonetheless, the n
'eed is urgent because failure is unthinkable - the end of participatory democracy and resurgence of neoliberal triumphalism throughout the hemisphere.

There's hope and opportunity to head it off. He calls the Colombian March 1 incursion "a serious political mistake," and that Bogota and Washington "underestimated the cost of this action." It will strengthen calls for negotiation and "will be capitalised on by the forces that (want) a peaceful solution to Colombia's armed conflict." It will also improve chances for "South American integration aims of progressive countries like Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela." Ecuador and Bolivia as well. Uribe came out of this politically weaker. He'll "feel isolated diplomatically (and) will have to tone down his" belligerency. That remains to be seen for a hard right leader firmly in Bush's camp with "billions" in "inducements" to stay there.

The stakes for Washington and the region are huge. A rerun of the 1990s "Golden Age of Pillage" is unthinkable. So is another defeat for the Bush administration. With a scant eight months left, it may try anything to reverse its losses. It makes for very scary prospects:

-- saber rattling writ large;

-- regional gunboat diplomacy; -- a naval blockade against Venezuela and Ecuador;

-- a ground incursion from Colombia;

-- three Latin American leaders targeted for removal;

-- Cuba also;

-- possible assassinations as well; CIA is expert at it; their agents infest the region, and Target One is Chavez; and

-- according to an unidentified retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state, a planned air attack against Iran by summer; the idea is long-standing and goes back to the Clinton years; more recently, hawkish commanders replaced more hesitant ones; Congress is supportive, and, in an election year, major contenders practically preach it, at least in their rhetoric; they're also hostile to Chavez and comfortable with his removal.

He's alerted and revamping his intelligence services accordingly. The Interior and Justice Ministries will oversee a new General Intelligence Office and Counterintelligence Office in place of the current Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP). Similar military intelligence and counterintelligence components will replace the Military Intelligence Division (DIM) and will be under the Defense Ministry. Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin announced the changes on May 28, and said they're to counter US espionage and destabilization efforts. They're operative under the newly enacted Law on Intelligence and Counterintelligence. It was passed on May 28 by presidential decree under the legislatively-granted enabling law.

They'll be needed and lots more. According to Venezuelan Popular Unity (UPV) leader Lina Ron, the Chavez government is threatened. She cites a coup d'etat scheme called "Choquinaque" to oust it. It involves economic financing, psychological manipulation, and efforts to destabilize Venezuela's economy. Senior military commanders are being enlisted and bribed and opposition candidates promoted. The aim is to influence the outcome of the November 23 regional elections for mayors and governors. Pro-Chavez officials hold most posts, and Washington-backed subversion aims to unseat enough of them to change the balance of power.

Similar schemes back secessionist movements in the most affluent parts of Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador in its Guayas province. It has regional leaders alarmed and Chavez outraged and vocal. On his weekly radio and television program, he blamed "oligarchs" and "fascists" for targeting Bolivia after its most resource-rich state (Santa Cruz) supported more autonomy in a (largely symbolic) May 4 referendum. "The CIA and its lackeys (want regional control) but we will defeat that plan through integration, political union and ideological strength."

It's vital because Venezuela is also threatened. It's oil-rich Zulia state has similar secessionist ideas. Big Oil exploits them, and their local allies in the past supported a referendum to choose independence from Caracas. Its governor is Manuel Rosales. He ran against Chavez in 2006 and lost big. He backs the idea, is close to the Bush administration, and signed the infamous "Carmona Decree" after the April 2002 coup. It dissolved the National Assembly and Supreme Court, erased the Constitution, and ended Bolivarianism for the people. For now, more autonomy is enough for Rosales but unthinkable if Chavistas can help it. They condemn the idea and will fight it.

Stay tuned. November approaches in both countries. The Bush administration's tenure is short. But it's got plenty of time left to incinerate two continents and end the republic if that's its plan. An inert public needs arousing. Michel Chossudovsy says we're "at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history." It's part of a "war and globalization" process. The stakes for humanity are incalculable, but rogue states don't weigh them. World communities better while there's time.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening.