[www-features] FW: Venezuela gets the Florida treatment

[Tribal Scribal]

FYI



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"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as 
necessary in the political world as storms in the physical world."

                              - Thomas Jefferson
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more rebellion here:
http://concertobi.blogspot.com/

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>From: palast at gregpalast.com
>To: valeoftheoaks at hotmail.com
>Subject: Venezuela gets the Florida treatment
>Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 01:23:57 -0400
>
>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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