22/03/2010

US researcher writes Guardian article on "The anti-Venezuela  election campaign"

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, has written a powerful article outlining attempts made by the international media and the US government to discredit the Venezuelan government in the run-up to the National Assembly elections in September. Weisbrot writes that the goal is to "delegitimise the September elections".
 
The Washington-based researcher highlighted a slip-up by of General Doug Fraser of the US Southern Command who affirmed that he had not seen any "connections specifically that I can verify" between the Venezuelan government and the Colombia rebel group FARC.  However the next day, as Weisbrotinforms, General Fraser was forced into an embarrassing U-turn and declared, "There is indeed clear and documented historical and ongoing evidence of the linkages between the government of Venezuela and theFarc".  Weisbrot also noted that this reversal went largely unnoticed by the media. 
 
Weisbrot draws attention to the misrepresentation of Venezuela in the US media and lamented that this is likely to escalate in the form of "hate-filled editorials" as the September elections approach.  Weisbrot, who accuses the US State Department of "playing an ugly and dangerous game", also highlights the US government's worrying trend of pouring millions of dollars into Venezuela to undisclosed recipients.

Here is the link to the article by Weisbrot: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/mar/18/venezuela-election

Press Unit of the Venezuelan Embassy in London

Monday 22 March 2010