MACHADO
This is almost too perfect for the hacks at Faux: an attractive heroine-in-distress who is also an ally of Bushco.
A couple of months back, Bush, in a highly visible photo-op at the WH, welcomed Maria Corina Machado, 37, leader of a Venezuelan NGO called Sumate which opposes Hugo Chavez. The meeting was in keeping with Bushco's patented Boltonation (TM) diplomacy. Under this scheme, the best way to obtain some sort of concessions or friendly interchange is to fling monkey feces at the object of your affections. In this case, the prize was the upcoming OAS meeting. Bush therefore invited Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez' nemesis to the White House.
The Boltonation succeeded marvelously, as it always does. The OAS gave Condi Rice and the US policies in South/Central America an extended digit, diaried here.
Today we learn from the NY Times that Maria Corina Machado will stand trial in Venezuela.
MORE BELOW
BOGOTÁ, Colombia, July 7 - A judge in Caracas on Thursday ordered that an opposition leader be tried on charges of conspiring to overthrow the Venezuelan government with American assistance.
The issues relate to "attempted overthrow" and "foreign intervention" laws. The outcome is in doubt, other than it seems likely that Machado is gonna be some sort of political football.
Ms. Machado, though, said in a telephone interview from Caracas that Venezuela had no law that expressly forbids foreign financing of groups like hers. The $31,000 her organization received, she said, was used to run 24 workshops that last year educated Venezuelans about the electoral process, the Constitution and other legal issues.
Reuters writes that the US State Department (surprise) and
Human Rights Watch have spoken out:
"The Venezuelan government's charges against Maria Corina Machado, Alejandro Plaz, Luis Enrique Palacios and Ricardo Estevez are without merit," acting State Department spokesman Tom Casey said...
"Prosecuting people for treason when they engage in legitimate electoral activities is utterly absurd," the [Human Rights Watch] Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said in a statement.
If convicted, Machado and Plaz could face up to 16 years in prison. The other two accused face possible lesser sentences.
Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister for North America Mari Pili Hernandez said Sumate was presenting itself as a nongovernmental organization while involving itself in party politics.
According to this source,
Sumate directors were accompanied by lawyers from the US Northwestern University, Douglas Cassel and Carlos Maria Pelayo, appointed to follow the case through at first hand.
Chavez certainly has issues: Amnesty International is also concerned about his policies. But I think that this showdown has been engineered by both sides (including the US). I hope Ms. Machado and her co-defendants will not be forced to take the fall in this high-stakes game of Boltonation; 16 years in prison is not faux distress.
In the meantime, I imagine that the Faux All-Stars will be livin it up. At least she isn't blonde.
UPDATE
A leftwing later article provides further information:
On July 7, the National Endowment for Democracy’s puppet organization in Venezuela, Súmate, was indicted on the charge of treason. According to Venezuelan laws, a non-partisan civil organization cannot either act as a political party, interfere with elections, or take foreign funds.
Evidently, the visit to Bush's office sealed the deal for prosecutors, since the issue was whether Machado was acting as an agent of a foreign country:
"Marina Machado received an invitation in May to meet with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office. Machado was the first Venezuelan to be received by Bush during his time in office. This fostered outrage in Venezuela that an already anti-Chavista organization, masquerading as a group to promote civil society, was taking funds and orders from the White House.
This crystallized the case against them as being thoroughly pro-imperialist and counter-revolutionary.
The article gives some interesting information about Wolfowitz' role in the deal, which had not been previously publicized.
After the initial court date was set against Súmate, NED President Carl Gersh man made a visit to Venezuela in a vain attempt to derail the trial of Machado and Plaz, threatening the Venezuelan government with a cessation of aid money by the World Bank. The World Bank has been funding Venezuela’s judicial reform process.
Due to the fact that the revolutionary government held firm, this aid has recently been revoked. This attempted bribe on the part of the NED has certainly not alleviated the crisis for the U.S. imperialist government, but has exacerbated it."....The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela says it is perfectly acceptable and legitimate for civil organizations and non-partisan organizations to exist, as they strengthen revolutionary democracy, but not organizations that are a façade and a cover for U.S. imperialist interests and whose real aim is to derail the Bolivarian Revolution and achieve another right-wing coup.
Again, it looks as though the clumsy maneuvers of the Bushies have added to the legal woes of this unsuspecting woman.
The
Christian Science Monitor gives the rightwing spin to the story, painting Machado and Bush as champions of freedom. Both sources, however, agree, that Bush has created the problem, and it is his to solve. Machado's trial date is uncertain.
CHAVEZ
Relations between the US and Venezuela have continued to deteriorate. Venezuela has decided to boot the US DEA over issues which have not been thoroughly explained. The US is considering starting propaganda broadcasts into South American to counter the effects of the new collaborative television initiative Telesur, which seems to be effectively under the control of Hugo Chavez.