BoRev.Net

Buried in an AP story on incoming House Intelligence Chair Silvestre Reyes priorities for next year is this inscrutable, yet ominous line:

Reyes also hopes to renew the committee's focus on diversity in the spy agencies and on Latin America, particularly Venezuela.

So on the heels of yet another democratic election in Venezuela, the new Democrat-controlled Congress plans to… spy more on Chavez. So much for promoting democracy. Or perhaps AP is saying that the Intel Committee is simply focusing on bringing more minorities to Venezuela.

Blog Critics just dug up this kick-ass quote from Henry Kissinger from back in 1975, soon after the CIA helped assasiante Chilean President Salvador Allende and instated dictator Pinochet:

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves."

Sort of puts some things into perspective, doesn’t it?

After years of treating readers to bizarre conspiracy theories, torture fantasies and general right-wing commentary, Alek Boyd hangs up the gloves and retires his freaky VCrisis website. Returning to live in Venezuela after a decade abroad, Boyd realized that he’d been listening to a bunch of whack jobs all along and, um… “there’s no crisis here” after all. Boyd notes:

Many opposition folks, for all their bitching, lead a life that certainly is above regular European middle class standards, surely way above mine.

Oh, and his wealthy relatives are enjoying the fruits of the Social Missions, even while railing against the government. Viva la BoRev.

Still, Boyd has teased us with this sort of thing before. Last summer, he “retired” from blogging, citing personal issues. A year ago, he did the same, blaming his loss of hope in the Venezuelan people. So he’ll probably be back, but we can enjoy the respite in the meantime.

The world hasn’t seen the last of Doug Schoen. AP reports that the disgraced pollster is picking up some big-name clients, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For many years, Schoen has been traveling the world setting up phony exit polls in developing nations to discredit candidates opposed by the United States. He was the tool behind the undemocratic takeovers in Serbia and the Ukraine, and was recently stopped in his tracks attempting a similar coup in Venezuela.

Here’s how it works: The U.S. pours millions of dollars into localized “social movements” who float the idea to the press and the international community that upcoming elections will be rigged. Pre-election polling conducted by Mr. Schoen shows that the current president is widely unpopular. On election day, his exit polls mysteriously portray the incumbent losing by a wide margin. When the official tallies give the opposite outcome, opposition groups hit the streets to decry the “fraud,” creating chaos and civil strife. The ensuing violence sets the stage for an armed takeover of government, and a new leader, more in step with U.S. interests, is installed.

The Oakland, California based think-tank describes its mission to “transcend the all-too-common politicization and superficiality of public policy research and debate,” and “adhere to the highest standards of independent scholarly inquiry.” Ok.

A couple weeks ago the Institute published a commentary on Latin America, with the non-politicized and super-rigorous title “Chavez and the Fascist Left in Latin America.” In it, “adjunct fellow” William Radcliffe argues that the so called left in Latin America actually adhere to Freidman-esque economics and only seem leftist because they hate Americans. He goes on to describe Chavez as a throwback to past Latin strongmen and demagogues who only care about their own power rather than the needs of the people.

As evidence, Mr. Radcliffe cites the latest round of polling by Latinobarometro, a Chilean polling firm that just released its annual survey of country-by-country perceptions in Latin America. Specifically, he cites a survey question that reveals that “some 69% of Latins said their countries are mainly governed by powerful groups in their own interests.” “That,” he argues, “is Latin history in a nutshell.”

Problem is, that when you look at the actual report, Venezuela is the one country that actually bucks this trend, with more Venezuelans reporting that their country governs “for the good of all the people,” rather than “for the benefit of powerful interests.”

· No matter what Condoleezza Rice says, Venezuelans are far more likely than most other nationalities in the region to say that their country is "totally democratic." On a scale of one to ten, Venezuelans rate their country a solid seven. US allies in the region fare far worse by their own electorate: Colombians give their country a 5.9, and Salvadorans rate a pitiful 4.8 on the democracy meter.

· Venezuelans tie for first place when asked whether democracy is the best form of government. Along with Uruguayans, a full 89% of the country support democracy. Only 60% of Salvadorans, and 54% of Paraguayans share their enthusiasm.

· Support for democracy has dramatically increased during the Chavez administration. Back in ’96 and ’97 only thirty-five percent (!) of Venezuelans were satisfied with their democracy. Today, that number is in the high-fifties
—the second highest in Latin America (yes, Uruguay again).

* Note, the assosiated charts are mine. If you want to look at the raw numbers, here's the Latinobarometro report.