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<h1 id="reader-title">Clinton Emails Reveal Direct US Sabotage
of Venezuela</h1>
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<p>July 26, 2016<br>
</p>
<p>While Hillary Clinton publicly welcomed improved
relations with Venezuela as secretary of state, she
privately ridiculed the country and continued to support
destabilization efforts, revealed her emails leaked by
WikiLeaks. </p>
<p>In 2010, Clinton asked Arturo Valenzuela, then
assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere
Affairs, how “to rein in Chavez.” Valenzuela responded
that, “We need to carefully consider the consequences of
publicly confronting him but ought to look at
opportunities for others in the region to help.” </p>
<p>His answer was in line with the U.S. embassy strategy
in 2006, also revealed in WikiLeaks intelligence cables:
“Creative U.S. outreach to Chavez' regional partners
will drive a wedge between him and them,” said the
confidential cable from the embassy. “By refusing to
take each of Chavez's outbursts seriously, we frustrate
him even more, paving the way for additional Bolivarian
miscalculations. We also allow room for other
international actors to respond.” </p>
<p>Spain was among the countries willing to help the U.S.
in its subversive foreign relations strategy. Former
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright passed on a
message from the administration of conservative Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2012 expressing intentions “to
re-orient Spanish foreign policy so that it can work
with the U.S. in Latin America, especially on Venezuela
and Cuba ... As a transition in Cuba and something
significant in Venezuela (and possibly the Andes) loom,
a stronger working relationship between the U.S. and
Spain could be very helpful.” </p>
<p>When keeping an eye on regional meetings, Clinton was
especially concerned with Venezuela. Responding to a
United Nations statement against the coup in Honduras in
2009—that <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Hillary-Clinton-Forgot-That-She-Supported-a-Coup-in-Honduras-20160309-0047.html">she
supported</a>—Clinton shifted the attention to
Venezuela: “Ok—but have they ever condemned Venezuela
for denying press freedom?” she wrote to Deputy Chief of
Staff Jake Sullivan. </p>
<p>He responded “I highly doubt it. And that is just the
tip of the iceberg,” to which Clinton wrote, “Ah, the
proverbial iceberg.” </p>
<p>Clinton was cautious not to respond to all of Hugo
Chavez’s “antics,” but her staff insisted that
Venezuelan politics were a threat to U.S. interests. </p>
<p>An email advising how to spend USAID funds strongly
suggested refraining from backing leftist states like
Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba because the money
“could undermine real democratic development to hand
over ‘ownership’ to populist centralizers.” </p>
<p>Clinton should use language like “‘local ownership’ in
a nuanced way” to avoid having her words “used against
her by demagogues and kleptocrats,” said the email. Any
funds channeled into such unreliable states, it added,
must be accompanied by “(h)uman behavioral changes.” </p>
<p>International aid to Venezuela was siphoned off, but
broadcasts to counter local “propaganda” were amplified.
</p>
<p>The Broadcasting Board of Governors—which runs the
Marti stations, Voice of America, Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle
East Broadcasting Networks—requested more funding in a
2010 email forwarded to Clinton to “combat the public
diplomacy efforts of America's ‘enemies,’ which he
(chairman Walter Isaacson) identifies as Iran,
Venezuela, Russia, and China.” </p>
<p>The BBG, with a US$700 million annual budget—now
increased to over US$750 million—was “facing increased
competition from other governments' forays into
international broadcasting ... including Venezuela's
teleSUR.<span>”</span> </p>
<p>A month later, when the board was facing cuts,
Cuban-born Florida Senator Ileana Ros-Lehtinen suggested
focusing resources on high-priority countries like Cuba,
Venezuela and Ecuador. </p>
<p>“Let the fun begin—and let's keep going w(ith) our
plans,” responded Clinton. </p>
<p>Another leaked email from Stratfor described the BBG as
“responsible for the radio and TV aggressions against
Cuba,” which received its own category of state funding
of nearly US$40 million. The board separated from State
Department control in 1999, officially becoming an
independent agency. “Congress agreed that credibility of
U.S. international broadcasting was crucial to its
effectiveness as a public diplomacy tool,” according to
Congress’s 2008 budget on foreign operations. </p>
<p>While giving the cold shoulder to Venezuela, Clinton
was cozy with Latin American players that opposed the
country's leftist politics. </p>
<p>Her counselor and chief of staff, Cheryl Mills,
forwarded her a recommendation for Mari Carmen Aponte to
be appointed as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador. Aponte,
noted the email, “has consistently fought Cuba and
Venezuela's efforts to gain influence in Central America
and as a result of her negotiating skills, the U.S. and
El Salvador will open a new, jointly-funded, electronic
monitoring center that will be an invaluable tool in
fighting transnational crime.” </p>
<p>She won the appointment and later became assistant
secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs. </p>
<p>Clinton also drew fire for saying, "We're winning!"
when the Venezuelan opposition won a majority of seats
in parliament in 2015 and for serving as secretary of
state while the National Security Administration <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/NSA-Spies-on-Venezuelas-Oil-Company-Snowden-Leak-Reveals-20151118-0010.html">regularly
spied on Venezuela</a>. </p>
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