On February 20, 2005, President Hugo Chavez dropped a bombshell that sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles. According to Reuters, the Venezuelan leader informed his nation that President Bush had ordered a hit against him.
But as evidence, he merely cited recent declarations by US officials branding him a “negative force” and “source of instability” in Latin America. Understandably, Fidel Castro — that cat of nine lives whom nine US presidents genuinely wanted dead — backed his explosive claim.
You’d be forgiven for dismissing Chavez’s accusation as paranoid theatrics. After all, such an order would brazenly betray Bush’s religious mission to spread “democratic” values worldwide.
But the documented record of US perfidy runs too deep to ignore. Former State Department contractor William Blum’s Rogue State catalogs a blood-soaked trail of CIA assassination operations: Zhou Enlai of China (1950s), Jawaharlal Nehru of India (1955), Gamal Nasser of Egypt (1957), Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia (1959), “Papa Doc” Duvalier of Haiti, Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic (all 1961), Ngo Diem of South Vietnam, Sukarno of Indonesia (1963), Che Guevara (1967), Salvador Allende of Chile (1973), and Omar Torrijos of Panama (1981) — just to name a few.
MIT’s Noam Chomsky has documented similar claims with chilling precision.
Still, like Castro before him, Chavez has become a real pain in America’s elephantine butt. Under the Bush doctrine, he’s eminently deserving of a bullseye on his forehead. Since his 1999 election, Chavez has relished every opportunity to defy America’s presumptive authority throughout the Western Hemisphere.
His fraternizing with Castro is just the beginning of his perceived transgressions:
- He’s befriended unrepentant communists in China and Russia, touting them as worthier partners for exploiting Venezuela’s oil wealth.
- He’s repeatedly threatened to cut off Venezuela’s daily supply of 1.5 million desperately needed barrels to the US.
- He’s flirted with the “hostile” notion of purchasing advanced military jets and helicopters from Russia.
- He’s aided leftist rebels throughout the region, destabilizing neighboring democracies like Colombia.
Given this rap sheet, iPINIONS and devotees of American imperial power wonder why Chavez hasn’t already been eliminated. Bush maintains he has no intention of killing Chavez… but that “all options remain on the table.”
Take cover, Hugo!
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