[Peace-discuss] Eva Golinger on Kerry

[Phil Stinard]

Published: Sunday, May 30, 2004
Bylined to: Eva Golinger


Eva Golinger: Salvage your candidacy, Mr. Kerry, if you truly believe in 
democracy

Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 12:25:28 -0400
From: Eva Golinger evagolinger at hotmail.com
To: Editor at VHeadline.com
Subject: Kerry Strikes Again

Dear Candidate Kerry: Political campaigns are difficult ... the upcoming 
2004 Presidential elections in the United States are critical for the 
Democratic Party. Those opposed to the war in Iraq and the interventionist 
foreign policy of the Bush administration consider Bush’s removal from power 
as a matter of life and death, literally. Progressives, liberals, democrats 
and moderates have rallied around campaigns to ensure President Bush does 
not return to the White House for a second term.

Conscious citizens are well aware that a cross section of voters needs to 
support one candidate to oppose Bush in a unified manner, to avoid the 
disaster of the 2000 elections, which resulted from a divide in constituents 
seeking a true alternative to the US political landscape.

Mr. Kerry, the Democratic National Convention has not taken place and you 
have not yet been selected as the Democratic Candidate for the 2004 
Presidential elections. Of course, you are the frontrunner, but you, more 
than most, understand the nature of politics and are well aware that things 
can change dramatically at the drop of a hat.

After your first Statement on Venezuela a couple of months ago, I pondered 
over the reasons behind such blatant inaccuracies and political pandering.

Many came to your defense claiming it was your advisors, not you, who had 
written and made public the statement. Then, I watched you on the Univision 
channel, to my horror, claiming that President Chavez of Venezuela was on 
the path to becoming a dictator. After that interview on Univision, it 
became clear that you truly felt (as true as politicians can feel) that 
President Chavez’ view of democracy was different than yours.

Even so, your statements were written off as mere dirty campaign politics.

For some reason, you think that making extreme statements against President 
Chavez and taking sides in Venezuela’s polarized politics will garner you 
votes from the anti-Chavez and anti-Castro community in South Florida. At 
the same time, it's difficult to believe that you could be so naive as to 
truly think that Jeb Bush’s State would go to you if you make it to the 2004 
elections.

So ...where does that leave your position on Venezuela?

Your recent statement on the Referendum Process in Venezuela (May 27, 2004) 
is a true eye-opener. Mr. Kerry, you have successfully aligned yourself with 
the stance of the Bush Administration with respect to Venezuela and foreign 
policy in general.

Not only do you once again expose your clear lack of knowledge of 
Venezuela’s politics, Constitution and history, but you make such inaccurate 
statements and judgments that your capacity as a potential head of state is 
undermined.

The only answer to why you would make such outrageous claims as stating that 
President Chavez has “undermined the constitution and used his Bolivarian 
Circles to repress peaceful dissent…” is that you care nothing about 
Venezuela and have chosen to use it as a stepping-stone to the Presidency.

You obviously believe that by berating the Bush Administration for not being 
tougher on Chavez, you will appear as a true democrat, a crusader for 
democracy.

While chastising the Bush Administration for its messy war in Iraq, you 
attempt to use Venezuela to evidence some sort of “double standard” it has 
been playing.

Mr. Kerry, Venezuela is not Nicaragua and we are not reliving the 1980s, 
although many of the characters are the same on the US side. Do not think 
that you can correct your errors of the past by using Venezuela as a rug you 
can so dismissingly wipe your feet on.

How righteous of you to claim that Venezuelan people are entitled to a 
“government that respects human rights and the rule of law…”

Apparently, you have no knowledge whatsoever of the Venezuelan Constitution 
and the significant amount of laws that have been enacted and implemented 
during the Chavez Administration that ensure and guarantee a more ample 
gamma of human rights than are even recognized by the United States.

Lest you disregard the guaranteed rights to healthcare, education, housing, 
decent wages, indigenous languages and lands and freedom from discrimination 
of any type as important not only to Venezuela’s growth and future ... but 
also for all those seeking social justice and world progress.

The recall referendum in Venezuela is a constitutional right, but as any 
legal process, rules must be followed and standards met in order to exercise 
this delicate procedure. The two-part process began last November 2003 with 
a signature drive set to collect a minimum of 2.4 million signatures of 
registered voters residing in Venezuela who desired a recall on President 
Chavez’ mandate.

After the drive was complete on December 1, 2003, the opposition group 
Sumate ... a recipient of National Endowment for Democracy funds ... held 
the petitions for 19 days, with no reason offered for such an untimely 
delay.

As such, the petitions were turned in at the commencement of the December 
holidays and the process delayed through January 2004. Once the National 
Elections Council in Venezuela began review of the petitions, questions 
arose as to more than 800,000 signatures that had been filled out with the 
same handwriting, in violation of the referendum rules that had been widely 
advertised in print and on national television, in skillfully-crafted 
commercials created and funded by Sumate.

Additionally, more than 300,000 signatures were immediately disqualified as 
fraudulent use of deceased citizens’ and minors’ identification ... as well 
as duplicates of those eligible to sign. This is an unusually high number of 
outright fraudulent signatures in petitions of this type.

Despite your misinformation, Mr. Kerry, the Government of Venezuela has 
abided by all regulations and guarantees since the beginning of the 
referendum process.

Those clamoring for the recall have done the opposite.

Calls for violence and civil disobedience are frequent by the opposition ... 
attempts to sabotage the process of the referendum have been numerous by 
those calling for the illegal ouster of President Chavez. The process 
underway this weekend, the “reparos”, is an unique chance for those 
requesting the recall to actually revalidate those signatures that did not 
comply with the regulations. In most petitions of this type, signatures 
found to be incompliant would be immediately disqualified. But, due to the 
level of tension and polarization in Venezuela, the Government and 
opposition negotiated an agreement to permit more than 800,000 incompliant 
signatures to be either “repaired” by their signors or disqualified 
permanently.

Yet, Mr. Kerry, you apparently omitted these facts from your “Statement” and 
unabashedly continue to paint the Venezuelan Government as an enemy of 
democracy while lauding the opposition that not only doesn’t represent the 
majority of Venezuelans but also led a brief violent coup d’etat in April 
2002 against President Chavez and has continued to engage in undemocratic 
activities aiming to oust the elected government.

Your advisors on Latin America must be akin to Otto Reich and Roger Noriega, 
as your politics on the region are obviously in line with those desiring 
regime change in a democratic nation against the will of the people.

Mr. Kerry, please take a moment to seek out the facts on Venezuela. 
President Chavez has done nothing to jeopardize democracy. Venezuela does 
not have a Patriot Act that permits silent warrants and detentions without 
due process. There are no political prisoners in Venezuela and there is 
absolute freedom of the press.

These facts have been documented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty 
International.
The opposition you so unconditionally support has committed the most heinous 
crimes against democracy -­ a coup d’etat, the dissolution of all of 
Venezuela’s institutions, an illegal strike that crippled the economy, 
massive electoral fraud and the employment of Colombian terrorists to 
execute an ultimate ouster of Venezuela’s government.

Salvage your candidacy, Mr. Kerry, if you truly believe in democracy.

Stop treating Venezuela as a mere political tool in your ascendancy to the 
Presidency of the most powerful nation in the world ... you won’t get the 
votes of the South Floridians who share these views, but you will lose the 
votes of democrats and progressives who believe in democracy for the people 
and social justice.

Shame on you once again, Mr. Kerry, for playing dirty politics and for 
stepping all over Venezuela’s sovereignty and participatory democracy in the 
name of your own misleading political gain.

Sincerely,
Eva Golinger
evagolinger at hotmail.com
Venezuelan-American in Brooklyn, NY USA