Behind the Coup in Ecuador

Behind the Coup in Ecuador – The Rightwing Attack on ALBA - español

By Eva Golinger

Translation: Machetera

The latest coup attempt against one of the countries in the Bolivarian Alliance For The People of Our America (ALBA) is attempt to impede Latin American integration and the advance of revolutionary democratic processes.  The rightwing is on the attack in Latin America.  Its success in 2009 in Honduras against the government of Manuel Zelaya energized it and gave it the strength and confidence to strike again against the people and revolutionary governments in Latin America.

Vicky Peláez caught in U.S. dragnet

Vicky Peláez was the only Spanish language journalist in New York worth a damn.  So naturally something had to be done about her.  She and her husband are the sore thumbs in this story and you have to wonder if the mighty U.S. Justice Department wasn’t running a twofer (or in this case a ten-fer) that swept Vicky off the press desk at El Diario/La Prensa so that even if she is ultimately exonerated, her career will be destroyed.  Eva Golinger has the story.

BREAKING NEWS: United States Arrests Ten Supposed “Russian Spies,” a Journalist Among Them - español

Eva Golinger

English translation: Machetera

Caracas, June 28, 2010 – Last week, President Barack Obama shared a typical “American” meal with the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitri Medvedev.  Between hamburgers and Coca-Colas, the two heads of state smiled and proclaimed their relationship “stable” and “better than ever.”  Medvedev even sent photos via Twitter of his pleasant meal with his U.S. counterpart.  He didn’t expect that just a few days later, the Cold War would be resuscitated.

DAI’s not so invisible puppet show

As we wait to learn the identity of the mystery Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) “subcontractor” who was handing out cellphones and laptops like Santa Claus in Cuba this December, let’s deconstruct the recent statement by Dr. James Boomgard, DAI Chief Executive Officer, denying DAI’s relationship to U.S. intelligence services.

Boomgard said: “The detained DAI subcontractor was not working for any intelligence service.”

In this post Clinton “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” world, perhaps that was meant as some kind of denial.  What Boomer did not say was that the detained subcontractor was not doing the work of U.S. intelligence.

In an interview the former CIA agent Phil Agee gave to Dennis Bernstein of the Flashpoints radio program in March 2005, he explained how intelligence work came to be shifted from the CIA to contractors such as the National Endowment for Democracy and their associated subcontracting NGOs such as DAI, Chemonics International (“an international development consulting firm that promotes meaningful change to help people live healthier, more productive, and more independent lives”), Partners for Democratic Change, Albert Einstein Institution, Freedom House and countless others.  Agee was speaking specifically though not exclusively of Venezuela on that occasion.

Obama’s non-non-interference pledge

Spanish translation by Atenea Acevedo available here.

Obama’s Non-non Interference Pledge

With apologies to Gertrude Stein.

Oh, the irony.

Today, at the “New Economic School” in Moscow, Russia, which President Obama himself pointed out was “founded with Western support,” Obama recurred to a phrase we’ve come to hear from him with some frequency: “Let me be clear.”

Now let me be clear: America cannot and should not seek to impose any system of government on any other country, nor would we presume to choose which party or individual should run a country. And we haven’t always done what we should have on that front. Even as we meet here today, America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies. We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not.

But the President’s actions are anything but clear.  If people are still confused about how to “read” Obama, Machetera has a suggestion. Watch what he does, not what he says.