Venezuela Floridated
Greg Palast, August 13, 2004
Hugo Chavez drives George Bush crazy. Maybe it's
jealousy: Unlike Mr. Bush, Chavez, in Venezuela, won his Presidency
by a majority of the vote.
Or maybe it's the oil. Venezuela sits atop a
reserve rivaling Iraq's. And Hugo thinks the U.S. and British oil companies
that pump the crude ought to pay more than a 16% royalty to his nation
for the stuff. Hey, sixteen percent isn't even acceptable as a tip at
a New York diner.
Whatever it is, OUR President has decided that
THEIR president has to go. This is none too easy given that Chavez is
backed by Venezuela's poor; and the U.S. oil industry, joined with local
oligarchs, has made sure a vast majority of Venezuelans remain poor.
Therefore, Chavez is expected to win this coming
Sunday's recall vote. That is, if the elections are free and fair.
They won't be. Some months ago, a little birdie
faxed to me what appeared to be confidential pages from a contract between
John Ashcroft's Justice Department and a company called ChoicePoint,
Inc., of Atlanta. The deal is part of the War on Terror.
Justice offered up to $67 million of our taxpayer
money to ChoicePoint in a no-bid deal for computer profiles with private
information on every citizen of half a dozen nations. The choice of
citizens to spy on caught my eye. While the September 11 highjackers
came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and the Arab Emirates, ChoicePoint's
menu offered records on Venezuelans, Brazilians, Nicaraguans, Mexicans
and Argentines. How odd. Had the CIA uncovered a Latin plot to sneak
suicide tango dancers across the border with exploding enchiladas?
What do these nations have in common besides
a lack of involvement in the September 11 attacks? Coincidentally, each
is in the throes of major electoral contests in which the leading candidates
-- presidents Lula Ignacio da Silva of Brazil, Nestor Kirschner of Argentina,
Mexico City mayor Andres Lopez Obrador and Venezuela's Chavez -- have
the nerve to challenge the globalization demands of George Bush.
The last time ChoicePoint sold voter files to
government it was to help Governor Jeb Bush locate and purge felons
on Florida voter rolls. Turns out ChoicePoint's felons were merely Democrats
guilty only of V,W,B,, Voting While Black. That little 'error' cost
Al Gore the White House.
It looks like the Bush Administration is taking
the Florida show for a tour south of the border.
However, when Mexico discovered ChoicePoint had
its citizen files, the nation threatened company executives with criminal
charges. ChoicePoint protested its innocence and offered to destroy
the files of any nation that requests it.
But ChoicePoint, apparently, presented no such
offer to the government of Venezuela's Chavez.
In Caracas, I showed Congressman Nicolas Maduro
the ChoicePoint-Ashcroft agreement. Maduro, a leader of Chavez' political
party, was unaware that his nation's citizen files were for sale to
U.S. intelligence. But he understood their value to make mischief.
If the lists somehow fell into the hands of the
Venezuelan opposition, it could immeasurably help their computer-aided
drive to recall and remove Chavez. A ChoicePoint flak said the Bush
administration told the company they haven't used the lists that way.
The PR man didn't say if the Bush spooks laughed when they said it.
Our team located a $53,000 payment from our government
to Chavez' recall organizers, who claim to be armed with computer lists
of the registered. How did they get those? The fix that was practiced
in Florida, with ChoicePoint's help, conscious or not, appears to be
retooled for Venezuela, then Brazil, Mexico and who knows where else.
Here's what it comes down to: The Justice Department
is averting it's gaze away from Saudi Arabia while shoplifing voter
records in Venezuela. So it's only fair to ask: Is Mr. Bush fighting
a war on terror -- or a war on democracy?
Greg Palast is author of The New York Times bestseller,
'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.' This commentary is based on 'Tango
Terrorists,' in the new chapter of the book's Expanded Election Edition
(Penguin 2004). For Palast's reports on Venezuela for the Guardian of
Britain and his exclusive interview for BBC Television with President
Hugo Chavez, go to http://www.GregPalast.com
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