It has been just over two years since the U.S-backed Coup, and what the U.S. couldn’t achieve by coup d’etat, it now seeks by the ballot box. The Americans have targeted the Chavez regime, ostensibly, because of the anti-democratic nature of the regime. In fact, as in a nation on the other side of the world, rap about democracy masks something else. Venezuela matters to Washington because of one thing: oil.
And it isn’t that Venezuela isn’t interested in selling its prized natural resource to the Americans. It is. It’s that a truly independent Venezuela, one which chooses its own friends, which dares to establish its own foreign relations, creates a bad example for other Latin American nations, which are almost all under the heel of U.S business and International Monetary Fund domination.
In April 2002, the U.S. backed a military business coup against President Hugo Chavez. When the nation’s leader was taken prisoner, and wealthy oil interest named Pedro Carmona to head an unconstitutional military backed government, Venezuelans wouldn’t accept it and took to the streets in massive numbers to oppose the Carmona dictatorship. Two days later, Chavez was back in power.
The Bush regime, which recognized Carmona immediately, has seethed, ever since, at Chavez’s reinstatement. Venezuela matters to the U.S. because it’s the fourth largest supplier of crude oil to the U.S. Consider this, when you think of OPEC, what nations come to mind? Most of us would think Saudi Arabia or perhaps Kuwait. But no, OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was formed back in 1960 at the initiative of Venezuela. The capitalist oil consuming countries have never liked the development of this cartel and have sought to undermine it ever since.
Consider the Imperial arrogance of George W. Bush announcing that he wants an honest and open vote in Venezuela. How many millions of Americans, especially Black Americans, can say the same thing about the presidential elections of 2000 in Florida? This is but another attempt of modern day exponents of the Monroe Doctrine to put a Latin country back in its place. We shall know soon whether Venezuela will join the U.S. as another stolen democracy, or we shall learn that the masses support the Venezuelan popular resistance.
Not content with raising hell in the Middle East, the neo-cons in Washington want to sink their fangs into the oil-rich resources of Venezuela. We shall soon learn what the people have to say about the matter. For Free Speech Radio News, from death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are produced by Noel Hanrahan for Prison Radio.
