Recent events in the South American country of Venezuela are
disturbing, or at least they should be to all clear thinking people. While the
Venezuelan regime of strong-man Hugo Chavéz is systematically acquiring absolute
power by nationalizing that country’s industries and resources, and silencing
their free media outlets, Chavéz himself is forging relationships with
totalitarian dictators who routinely call for the demise of the United States.
To dismiss this tin-pot dictator as a clown in a post 9/11 world could be a
fatal mistake.
The sometimes violent
protests fomenting in the
streets of Caracas by outraged students, intellectuals and free thinkers come in
the wake of the Chavéz regime’s closing of a popular opposition television
station critical of Chavéz’s government. Radio Caracas Television was replaced
with state-run programming as the Venezuelan ministry overseeing media licensing
moved to clamp down on CNN and the last opposition owned media outlet
in Venezuela, Globovision.
Chavéz’s attack on the free press in Venezuela is but the most
recent encroachment on the free market in that country.
In May, Chavéz nationalized the last privately owned oil fields in the
Orinoco River basin. While the seizure affected US oil companies in
ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., Britain’s BP PLC, France's
Total SA and Norway's Statoil ASA were also compromised.
On May 3rd, Chavéz gave a
speech in which he forecasted
the nationalization of the country’s banks and its largest steel producing
company. In an indication that he had no plans of throttling-down his advance
toward a pure Socialistic state, Chavéz said, "Private banks have to give
priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost...If banks
don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks
to me, that we nationalize them and get all the banks to work for the
development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits."
Chavéz left the world wondering whether this confiscation of
private financial institutions – which would include all the assets held within
– would include foreign banks.
Earlier this year Chavéz moved to nationalize the utility and
telecommunications industries
of Venezuela. "All of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized," Chavéz
said. "The nation should recover its ownership of strategic sectors."
It would seem that Hugo Chavéz is the star pupil in Fidel
Castro’s tutelage, having learned how to absorb already developed resources,
industries built from the ground up and financial investments that literally
constructed the infrastructure which his totalitarian crusade now calls “the
people’s.”
All of this would almost certainly be just another thorn in the
side of free nations everywhere if it weren’t for Chavéz’s consistent
anti-American rhetoric and the alliances he is forging around the world.
Chavéz has allied himself with fellow South American
Socialists, or Progressives, Rafael Correra of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Nicanor Duarte
Frutos of Paraguay and has
formed a personal relationship with Iran’s Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
One of the reasons these relationships are so disturbing is
that intelligence sources, police organizations and former militia members
report that Hezbollah has set up
operations within the rural
regions known as South America’s Tri-Border Area. This area is located between
Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, and borders Venezuela and Bolivia. All of these
countries face the common enterprise of narco-terrorism.
Many terrorist organizations – among them the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) and the
National Liberation
Army (ELN) – facilitate the
trafficking of narcotics and the laundering of money derived from that
enterprise. Hezbollah, the Iranian created and supported terror organization
that until 9/11 had killed more Americans than any other terrorist organization,
derives funding from these illicit activities as well. These funds are, in turn,
used to wage war against US and Coalition Forces in the Middle East and for
clandestine training of future terrorist operatives in their jihad against the
West.
It should be pointed out that Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda are
all coordinating to affect jihad in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and
South America. Further, many Western intelligence agencies report that al Qaeda
nuclear whiz-kid Adnan el
Shukrijumah has been spotted
throughout South America, the United States and Canada.
Mara Salvatruchas (MS or
MS-13), the ultra-violent
drug gang that originated in El Salvador, and which has a commanding presence
here in the United States, also interacts with the South American drug gangs and
terrorist organizations. They have grown from being simply an effective street
gang to being a full-fledged paramilitary organization, complete with training,
resources and international relationships with some of the most dangerous
organizations in the world.
In a
2005 raid in Houston,
Texas, the FBI and Houston
Police were involved in a paramilitary gun battle with MS-13 gang members who,
“swept through the house like a well-trained assault team, using paramilitary
tactics including perimeter lookouts, high-powered weaponry (an AK-47 rifle was
among the weapons recovered later), and a quick, room-by-room sweep of the house
that was notable for its precision and sophistication,” Houston police spokesman
Alvin Wright said.
It shouldn’t take another 9/11 to see that the relationships
between: MS-13 and South American drug and terrorist organizations such as FARC
and ELN and Islamist terror groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda; add
Hugo Chavéz’s relationships with South American Socialist leaders and Iran’s
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and alarms should sound in every Western intelligence and
law enforcement agency around the world. This pathway to terrorism should be
identified as a major concern and the “dots” connected before the world bears
witness to a crude yet efficient nuclear attack on a major American city.
The United States government would be wise to embrace a 21st
Century version of
The Monroe
Doctrine, discouraging and
thwarting international relationships in the Western Hemisphere derived from a
mutual ideology of hate, conquest, totalitarianism and anti-Americanism. While
the utilization of such a doctrine wouldn’t be a cure-all, it would certainly be
a good place to start.
But, in order to do this the US government – and all freedom
loving nations with the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing – would have
to rise above the politically partisan in-fighting long enough to give a damn
about the survival of the free world. That would require putting good government
before politics, something that is not happening today. This time to not do so
could result in a subservient existence for our children and our children’s
children. I would hope even the most partisan among us would be averse to
that.
Related Reading:
Chavéz
takes over Venezuela's last private oil fields
http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/365327,Chavéz050107.article
Chavéz eyes banks, steel nationalization
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/04/Chavéz.venezuela.ap/index.html
U.S. blasts Chavéz plan to nationalize electricity, phones
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-01-08-venezeula-usat_x.htm
Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/28/ap3763178.html
Chavéz defends shutting down RCTV, ridicules protesters
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/venezuela/venezuela.php?news_id=1785&start=0&category_id=12
Rafael Correra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Correa
Evo Morales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales
Nicanor Duarte Frutos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicanor_Duarte_Frutos
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadinejad
Venezuela: Terrorism Hub of South America?
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2006/68968.htm
Hezbollah builds a Western base
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17874369/
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
http://www.basicsproject.org/terrorism/terror_organizations.htm#Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia_(FARC)
National Liberation Army (ELN)
http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=218
Adnan el Shukrijumah
http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/elshukrijumah.htm
Mara Salvatruchas (MS or MS-13)
http://www.basicsproject.org/terrorism/terror_organizations.htm#Mara_Salvatruchas_or_MS-13
MS-13 gang growing extremely dangerous, FBI says
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-05-gang-grows_x.htm
Monroe Doctrine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_doctrine
Frank
Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media
Journal. He
serves at the Executive Director of the Basics
Project, a
non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His
pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and
internationally. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor. He hosts NMJ Radio
airing on BlogTalkRadio and heard around the world on NetTalkWorld global talk
radio. He is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent
Radio Network and The Captain’s America on the World Internet Radio Network,
heard in Camp Victory, Iraq, as well as an occasional guest on The Bruce Elliott
Show on WBAL AM1090 in Baltimore and numerous radio shows coast to coast. His
organization, Basics Project, is partnered in producing the first-ever national
symposium series on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. His pieces have
been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan
Center for Conflict. Mr. Salvato is available for public speaking engagements.
He can be contacted at newmediajournal@comcast.net.
