Sunday, June 01, 2008
The New Smear Against Chávez
Source: Socialist Worker
WASHINGTON AND its faithful lackeys in the media have launched a new offensive against Hugo Chávez and the government of Venezuela. The recent "discovery" of a laptop computer that allegedly belonged to the FARC guerrilla group has ignited another media-generated scandal, creating a whole new round of accusations against the Chávez government, but without any evidence to support them.
Those who have followed events in Venezuela in recent years shouldn't be surprised by this. Every few months, a new controversy is ignited by the media regarding Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chávez; each time with plenty of distortions, baseless accusations and outright falsehoods.
Late last year, the media "show" centered on a proposed reform to the Venezuelan constitution. The mainstream media repeated endlessly that the constitutional reform would make Chávez "president for life" and would "turn Venezuela into a dictatorship."
In reality, the reform simply proposed the removal of presidential term limits--something that has also been in the works in neighboring Colombia, where it has gotten absolutely zero criticism from the mainstream media. The reason? Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is Washington's closest ally in the region.
Additional Links
Colombia: More Doubts on Interpol’s Laptop Findings
The War Machine: Or How to Manipulate Reality
Interol's Forensic Report on FARC Computers and Hardware Seized by Columbia
