Venezuela; not another Libya

By Jody McIntyre
The Indipendent





Before the Libyan blood has even dried from the first few weeks of the Nato-led assault on their country, some politicians are hungry for another bout of foreign intervention.  Last Thursday, US Congressman Connie Mack asked the Obama administration to “put an end” to the government of Venezuela, led by President Hugo Chavez. When will this government learn; you do not rule the world anymore?  Gone are the days of Latin America playing slave to the wishes and needs of the United States.  The people are rising, from Venezuela, to Bolivia, to Ecuador, a new society is being built, based on equality, unity and independence, not subservience to foreign investment.  Naturally, this movement does not bode well for the US government, either militarily or economically.  With industries being nationalised, the profits of oil being shared amongst the masses of poor people, land being more equally distributed, the rights of the indigenous finally being recognised, and President of Ecuador Rafael Correa famously stating that the only way he would allow the US to keep their military base in Manta, would be if Ecuador were given a military base in Miami.  The Manta base was abandoned.
Connie Mack has a very short memory if he does not remember the attempted coup d’état of 2002, which drove Hugo Chavez out of power and out of Venezuela for a grand total of two days.  Millions of Venezuelans from the outskirts of Caracas, most of whom had never voted until the election of Chavez in 1998, came out into the streets to demand the reinstatement of their democratically-elected President.  And they won.
According to Mack, Chavez is a ‘tyrant’.  Irrelevant is the fact that he has been elected as President, democratically, three times.  Irrelevant are the millions of people receiving education and health-care, who never had in the past.  And this is the vital point; this is not the movement of Hugo Chavez, this is not about a cult of personality or hero-worshipping, this is a movement of the Venezuelan people.  They fought long and hard for their revolution, defended it with their lives in 2002, and would do so again in the future if necessary.
In the very first days of the Libyan uprising, British Foreign Minister William Hague said he had heard Gaddafi was heading towards Venezuela. The Venezuelan government confirmed there was no truth in the statement, but the implications of such overture are clear.
Iraq is occupied.  Afghanistan is occupied.  Now, the Ivory Coast is occupied.  Who knows how long it will be until the bombs falling on Libya are supplemented with ground troops?  But for some, the thirst for the resources of the third world can never be quenched.