US State Department Bankrolls Young Venezuelans to Slander Chávez in the USA

In the midst of an international
campaign launched against President Chávez, carried out by the extreme
Right from Colombia and supported by Washington, the US State
Department has organized and financed the trip of eight young
Venezuelan politicians to the USA in order to denounce the Venezuelan
government and to strengthen the links between young US Republicans and
the Venezuelan Right. The eight young Venezuelan men and women have
been selected by the US State Department as part of the program
“Democracy for young political leaders”. It is a project of the
interchange program “International Visitor Leaders – Venezuela”, which
is being used by the Washington administration to recruit and train
political actors who would later on promote the North American agenda
in Venezuela.

The trip to the USA, during which the
young Venezuelans were accompanied by US State Department
representatives, lasted three weeks, from August 17th to September 4th.
They visited different US cities, meeting with political groups and
institutions apart from meetings with the communication media and
Washington agencies. The US State Departments' International Visitor
Leadership Program (IVLP) (1) was created by Washington as part of a
propaganda initiative aimed at recruiting spokespersons and
international political actors willing to promote the imperial agenda.
During the program, the participants attended training workshops
conducted by political representatives of the USA on representative
democracy, freedom of the press (à la USA), and reinforcement of
political parties and leadership, amongst other topics.

However, this trip in particular
takes place at a moment when the international Right, together with
Washington, is carrying out a smear campaign against the Venezuelan
government and the Bolivarian Revolution, with emphasis on the figure
of President Chávez. In this context, the young Venezuelan men and
women, paid and accompanied by the US State Department during their
visit, issued statements to the US press, attacking, accusing, and
trying to discredit President Chávez and the policies of the Venezuelan
government. One of the Venezuelan students, Gabriel Alejandro Gallo
Garrido, Director and Coordinator of the National Students Parliament
of the capital district, declared to the US press that “We [in
Venezuela] don't know how a democracy works… the socialist model of
President Hugo Chávez is a joke, and he [Chávez] is lying when he says
that he guarantees medical assistance and health for all citizen… The
Cuban doctors are no specialists and only provide preventive care”.

Also José Igancio Cayetaño Güedez
Yépez, the young vice-president of the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo
in the State of Lara, declared to the US press that “the United States
has the world's best model of democracy…at least [the USA does] have a
system…in Venezuela for someone like me who opposes Chávez, we don't
have anything…”.

The visit of the young Venezuelans
supported by the US State Department takes place exactly at a moment
when the Venezuelan opposition is once again trying to promote
destabilization in the country in order to attract international
attention. They carried out various violent demonstrations against the
recently passed Education Law (Ley Orgánica de Educación, LOE) and a
rally titled “No more Chávez” (“NO MÁS CHÁVEZ”) aimed at inciting
hatred, violence, destabilization, and the assassination of President
Chávez.

It is extremely worrisome that by now
the US State Department would overtly finance young men and women who
belong to the Venezuelan opposition to make them go to the United
States to slander their country and their president. In fact, this is
an act that converts these eight men and women into Washington's
agents, carrying out a US State Department-funded, destabilization
campaign against the Venezuelan government. The young Venezuelans have
also been promoting the NO MÁS CHÁVEZ-rally from the USA during their
visit. This link doubtlessly confirms that Washington actually is
behind the international campaign aimed at vilifying President Chávez
and promoting hatred and violence against him as well as his
assassination. In addition, this confirms that the US State Department
continues to actively finance the opposition's student movement in
Venezuela and the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo. These two
organizations are the main promoters of destabilization in the country.

The eight young Venezuelan men and women who are being financed by the US State Department on this occasion include:

• Zaimar Yulieth Castillo Carvajal,
  Secretary of Inter-Institutional Affairs of the Venezuelan Law Students
  Federation (Secretaria de Asuntos Inter-Institucionales de la
  Federación de Estudiantes de Derecho de Venezuela, FEDEVE);

• Gabriel Alejandro Gallo Garrido,
  Director and Coordinator of the National Students Parliament for the
  capital district (Director y Coordinador del Parlimento Nacional
  Estudiantil por el Distrito Capital);

• José Ignacio Cayetano Guedez Yépez, Vice-President of the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo in the State of Lara;

• Angel de Jesús Paredes Monsalve, member of the Students Council of Political Science, Universidad de Los Andes;

• Victor Martin Pérez Moreno, Founding
  Member, Leader and Coordinator of the Students Movement of the
  Universidad de Oriente (Líder Fundador y Coordinador del Movimiento
  Estudiantíl en la Universidad de Oriente);

• Anais de los Ángeles Plaza
  Izquierdo, Coordinator of the National Student Movement, Un Nuevo
  Tiempo (Coordinadora de Organización del Movimiento Estudiantil
  Nacional, Un Nuevo Tiempo);

• Danny Alejandro Ramirez Contrera, Advisor, Special Security Program of the city of San Cristobal, in the State of Táchira; and

• Aimara Tibisay Rivas Palacios,
  Assistant President of the Federation of University Centers of the
  Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida (Asistente Presidente de la Federación
  de Centros Estudiantiles Universitarios of the Universidad de Los
  Andes, Mérida).

Translator's note:

(1) T.n.: See the information provided at the US State Department's website: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs: International Visitor Leadership Program.

Original Source in Spanish: Rebelión El Departamento de Estado financia jóvenes venezolanos para hablar mal de Chávez en EEUU; published on September 4th, 2009.

This article has been
translated from Spanish into English for Axis of Logic by Iris Buehler
and revised by Les Blough, who are members of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity.