Révélée au grand jour : l’aide US pour abattre Chavez

L’agence de presse Associated Press (AP) a fait une demande au nom du Freedom Information Act auprès de l’agence gouvernementale US-AID. AP a obtenu communication d’un nombre important de documents qui détaillent l’aide clandestine actuelle consentie par le gouvernement US à des groupes vénézuéliens d’opposition au président Chavez. Tout cela est évidemment présenté sous le label habituel de “soutien à la démocratie”.

Ce n’est en rien une surprise. On sait depuis longtemps que Washington est activement engagé dans la lutte clandestine contre Chavez. Il s’agit d’une confirmation, mais qui a l’avantage de mettre Washington sur la défensive et de rendre plus difficile des actions américanistes plus dures contre le Venezuela. (Il devient de plus en plus difficile pour Washington de nier dans le futur des implications éventuelles dans des actions plus dures de déstabilisation dès lors que l’aide US est devenue une affaire parfaitement documentée.)

Du Guardian de ce matin :

« The US government has been accused of trying to undermine the Chávez government in Venezuela by funding anonymous groups via its main international aid agency. Millions of dollars have been provided in a “pro-democracy programme” that Chávez supporters claim is a covert attempt to bankroll an opposition to defeat the government.

» The money is being provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Office of Transition Initiatives. The row follows the recent announcement that the US had made $80m (£42m) available for groups seeking to bring about change in Cuba, whose leader, Fidel Castro, is a close ally of Mr Chávez.

» Information about the grants has been obtained following a Freedom of Information request by the Associated Press. USAID released copies of 132 contracts but obscured the names and other identifying details of nearly half the organisations.

The Office of Transition Initiatives, which also works in such “priority countries” as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bolivia and Haiti, has overseen more than $26m in grants to groups in Venezuela since 2002.

» Among the grants detailed in the information are: one for $47,459 for a “democratic leadership campaign”; $37,614 for citizen meetings to discuss a “shared vision” for society; and one of $56,124 to analyse Venezuela's new constitution.

» “What this indicates is that there is a great deal of money, a great deal of concern to oust or neutralise Chávez,” said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (Coha) in Washington yesterday. “The US is waging diplomatic warfare against Venezuela.” He said that while the US had accused Mr Chávez of destabilising Latin American countries, the term “destabilisation” more aptly applied to what the US was trying to do to Mr Chávez.

» “It's trying to implement regime change,” Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan-American lawyer who wrote The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela, told AP. “There's no doubt about it. I think the US government tries to mask it by saying it's a noble mission.” She added: “It's too suspicious to have such a high level of secrecy.” »

Mis en ligne le 30 août 2006 à 12H27