enceladus
2004-08-16 03:42:39 UTC
Will Venezuela get the Florida treatment?
Greg Palast - GregPalast.com
08.11.04 - 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 US and British oil companies that pump the crude ought
to pay more than a 16 percent royalty to his nation for the stuff. Hey, 16
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 US 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 which nation's
citizens on whom to spy caught my eye. While the September 11th 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 11th 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 W. Bush.
The last time ChoicePoint sold voter files to our 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 lists? The fix that was practiced in
Florida, with ChoicePoint's help, deliberate 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 averts its gaze
from Saudi Arabia but shoplifts voter records in Venezuela. So it's only
fair to ask: Is Mr. Bush fighting a war on terror -- or a war on democracy?
URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17454
Greg Palast - GregPalast.com
08.11.04 - 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 US and British oil companies that pump the crude ought
to pay more than a 16 percent royalty to his nation for the stuff. Hey, 16
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 US 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 which nation's
citizens on whom to spy caught my eye. While the September 11th 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 11th 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 W. Bush.
The last time ChoicePoint sold voter files to our 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 lists? The fix that was practiced in
Florida, with ChoicePoint's help, deliberate 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 averts its gaze
from Saudi Arabia but shoplifts voter records in Venezuela. So it's only
fair to ask: Is Mr. Bush fighting a war on terror -- or a war on democracy?
URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17454