Review of Bush vs. Chavez: Washington’s War Against Venezuela (only published in Spanish, not yet published in English). By Eva Golinger
Published by Monte Avila Editores in Caracas (2006)
Review by Roger Milbrandt
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez should be the most politically secure head of state in the Western hemisphere. He has held office since 1998, having won three presidential elections by impressive margins; thousands of his supporters risked their lives to reverse a U.S.-backed coup in 2002 and he easily triumphed in a recall referendum in 2004.
However, as Eva Golinger shows with sobering and devastating detail in Bush vs. Chavez, the Bush Administration exhibits neither scruple nor restraint in its iron determination to destroy democracy and socialism in Venezuela. Through the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. lavishes cash and counsel on thoroughly discredited opposition groups obsessed with restoring traditional oligarchic dominance. Through the ill-named Albert Einstein Institute, the U.S. supplies direction and likely arms to Colombian paramilitaries who cross the Venezuelan border to kill campesinos who have incurred the wrath of anti-Chavez oligarchists and to plot the assassination of Chavez himself. The current U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela openly champions the independence of the oil-rich prefecture of Zulia, leading Golinger to speculate plausibly that the U.S. military buildup in the neighbouring Dutch island of Curacao may be a prelude to the occupation of Curacao and the eventual invasion of Venezuela itself. As these machinations proceed, a relentless vilification campaign provides covering fire: known falsehoods are circulated through the national and international press, many of which are disproved by internal documents of the U.S. government which Golinger obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
A particularly revealing instance of the ingenuity and cynicism of the anti-Chavez campaign examined by Golinger concerns the claim that Chavez is linked with drug traffickers. Throughout the Chavez years, Venezuela has had an impressive record of seizing illegal drugs. But it became apparent in 2005 that the U.S. agency “assisting” the Venezuelans in the control of the drug trade was in fact sabotaging Venezuelan anti-drug operations. The Chavez government understandably expelled the agency and the unsurprising result was an increase in Venezuelan drug seizures. The astounding U.S. government response was to denounce the expulsion of its saboteurs as evidence of Venezuela’s lack of co-operation in the war against drugs.
The advances towards popular democracy, socialism and regional integration in Latin America in the past decade have been impressive and encouraging. Golinger’s work reminds us that every inch of the political terrain is constantly contested by a powerful, resourceful and pitiless empire.
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Mini review
Music CD: My name is Buddy by Ry Cooder. Nonesuch Records, 2007.
This concept album by American guitarist singer-composer Ry Cooder is set in the dust bowl era and has a clear working-class theme. In “Cat and Mouse,” Buddy learns a valuable lesson about solidarity from Lefty who tells him, “We are many, Buddy, they are few … They’ll tell you lies to make you doubt your fellow man, like cats and mice just can’t get along. It soothes the bosses, Buddy, and it serves them fine ‘cause it keeps us working folks from being strong.” In this parable, Buddy (also known as red cat) is a cat and Lefty is a mouse and the two pop up in songs throughout the album.
“Strike!” tells about a miners’ strike for better pay and safer conditions and their confrontations with police. And since the cops have been ordered to “get all the reds off the street,” red cat ends up in jail along with the miners. The comic song “J Edgar” tells about a pig who “hoovers” up everything on the farm, the morale of the story being that no-one is safe from “J Edgar Hoover.”
So if you like American roots music including blues, bluegrass and gospel sounds—some serious, others lighthearted—I highly recommend this album.
Sandra Sarner
