March 16, 2004

US Government Provided Millions in Funding to Venezuelan, Haitian Opposition Groups

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the US government provided over a million dollars in funding to the Venezuelan opponents of President Hugo Chavez in 2002. The funds were channeled through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-profit agency with a congressional mandate to "encourage democracy".

Among the groups receiving funding are those collecting signatures for a referendum on Hugo Chavez's presidency, and the people who unseated the president in a short-lived coup two years ago.

The NED also provided funds to opposition groups in Haiti opposed to the recently-deposed president Aristide. Critics have claimed that the funding, along with a major aid embargo, was part of a successful attempt to systematically destabilize the country.

» Independent: US revealed to be secretly funding opponents of Chavez 

» William Blum: Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy

» National Endowment for Democracy: official web site

» Media Transparency: National Endowment for Democracy Funded Venezuelan Coup Perpetrators: Someone should tell the NED that a coup is the opposite of democracy