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U.S. report: Chavez subverting regional governments
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Special to World Tribune.com
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Friday, March 17, 2006
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Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, and Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez in front of a painting of Venezuela's independence hero Simon Bolivar, in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 14. AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch
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U.S. government analysts say Venezuela’s leftist leader Hugo Chavez is working to subvert other governments in Latin and South America by supporting political candidates in regional elections.
Chavez has endorsed Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala and also is supporting Sandinista communist Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua’s upcoming election. Chavez donated a helicopter that is being used by Ortega as part of his campaigning around Nicaragua for the November presidential elections.
The effort is “an apparent effort to bolster the perception of a Caracas-based political movement on the rise,” said a U.S. government report on the Chavez political program, known as Bolivarism.
“Chavez's support base in these countries consists mainly of prominent political parties, labor unions, and social activists who can mobilize large numbers to support Chavez-backed presidential candidates or protest US policies in the region,” the report said.
The report said that Chavez is backing a Mexican candidate Lopez Obrador.
“Open sources indicate Venezuelan Embassy officials have a major role in fomenting the Bolivarian movement and supporting pro-Chavez groups in Latin America,” the report said. “Their activities often prompt charges by the host government of interference in domestic affairs.”
The activities were detected in Bolivia, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, El Salvador, as well as in other countries.
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