Venezuela and America have had a very rocky relationship in recent years. Historically, the two have depended on each other for trade and investment for many years, and while at times the relationship has been strained, the two have always managed to maintain a fairly healthy relationship. That was however, until Hugo Chávez assumed power in 1999. A notoriously out-spoken figure and never one to shy away from controversy, Chávez has never been a fan of the U.S, something which came to a head in the failed coup d'état of 2002. Accusing the U.S of involvement in the failed attempt, Chávez's anti-American rhetoric has only gotten worse, more personal, and in the ultimate show of resistance, Venezuela has now warmly opened up talks with the old enemy Russia, and new enemy Iran, to the extent where there has been talk of opening a Kalashnikov rifle factory and Iranian tractors are being assembled in Venezuela*. So, one could imagine that after accusing the ever-popular former president George W. Bush of being 'stupid' and a 'devil', Chávez would be pleased to see a new president, one in the form of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Barack Obama. Initially, opinion polls in Venezuela rated him very highly, and Chávez himself hoped that U.S - Venezuelan relations would ease. However, true to form, Chávez has begun attacking the Obama administration, and this article from the Venezulan government, is just everybit ridiculous as anything Chávez has ever claimed.
Taking its 'facts' from a Russian report, this news article claims that the U.S was behind the devastating Haitian Earthquake, which displaced a million people, killed a quarter of a million, and injured 300,000.
"Since late 1970, the United States has "tremendous progress" state of its weapons of earthquakes and, according to these reports, now employs a technology devices using Pulse, Plasma and Sonic with Tesla Electromagnetic bombs wave shock. "
This quite blatantly false report, which if true would have been covered by the world media, was unsurprisingly ignored by major news outlets, and in fact, I'd never heard of such a fantastical machine before today. I think that the outlandish statement made in this article is quite telling of the foreign policy of Venezuela, especially when it comes to the U.S. The website that the article is from is actually a government funded/run news organization, so in reality, the article is propaganda. The fact that Venezuelan officials feel the need to run propaganda regarding the U.S is also telling, as many of the most recognisable culinary exports of America such as Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King and KFC are visible in major cities like Caracas, and many popular U.S shows are re-dubbed in Spanish, also the need for American produced items such as cars has grown. So, perhaps the main purpose of this article is rooted in more cultural reasons, as previously stated, Venezuela has started to open itself to Iranian and Russian machinery, so maybe the point is to alienate the U.S from Venezuelan people, and bring in more, as the NY Times put it '...toward what he considers more like minded nations'.
Primary Sourch - http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vive.gob.ve%2Finf_art.php%3Fid_not%3D15464%26id_s%3D3
* secondary source - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/world/americas/16venezuela.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
No comments:
Post a Comment