[News] Venezuela gets the Florida treatment

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 01:24:26 -0400
From: palast at gregpalast.com
Subject: Venezuela gets the Florida treatment
To: fcieciorka at humboldt.net


VENEZUELA FLORIDATED
Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Will The Gang That Fixed Florida Fix the Vote in Caracas this Sunday?
by Greg Palast

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% 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 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 to 
spy on 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 it's 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?


---
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 
www.GregPalast.com
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