"The growing threat to Venezuela" - by Jennie Bremner

The growing threat to Venezuela
By Jennie Bremner, Unite AGS & VSC Chair

In 1998, Hugo Chávez won the presidential election in Venezuela for the first time. Whilst many didn’t realise its huge significance for the Left across the world at the time, the period since has seen Venezuela become a beacon of social progress across the world. Chavez was followed in the region by a wave of governments which refused to accept US domination, meaning that over the past decade the US military presence in Latin America has been steadily eroded.
In 1999, the year Chavez came to power, the US base in Panama was closed. Then in 2004 its 50-year presence in Venezuela was ended.
Last year Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa refused to renew the agreement on the US base in his country.
But the US is far from pleased about these developments and is stepping up its efforts to roll back the progressive tide - no doubt with one eye on south America's vast oil and gas reserves, not only in Venezuela but also Bolivia, Brazil and elsewhere.
Part of this counter-offensive has seen the US secure - and in the future probably further expand - the number of military bases it has access to in the region.
Last year the Pentagon announced it would open seven new bases in Colombia and four new bases have been agreed in Panama, with possibly more on the way.
In a sinister warning sign, the US has also reactivated its Fourth Naval Fleet, which was taken out of service in 1948, in order to patrol the Atlantic coast of south America.
In 2008 Colombian forces violated neighbouring Ecuador's territory. Although this intervention was roundly condemned, it was seen by many on the left as a signal of further US or US-backed interventions in the future.
With last summer's coup in Honduras, many of those who'd raised concerns felt vindicated - the coup-plotters made use of the US base in Soto Cano, despite Barack Obama publicly claiming opposition to the president's overthrow.
This year further coup plots have been discovered in Paraguay and Ecuador, with Correa stating that the Ecuadorian government has received "intelligence reports that support with data and figures that conspirators have being receiving help not just from the US government but from US right-wing organisations."
Correa argued that "this is the new method for destabilising progressive governments that don't want to follow orders from a foreign master."
Such warnings have particular resonance in Venezuela, not only because of the temporarily successful coup in 2002 but also because of President Obama's hostile public position towards the country's elected government.
Last month national director of intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair presented the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community to US policy-makers.
The report details the perceived threats to US interests and security around the world.
This year, in addition to the usual suspects, such as Iran, Afghanistan and al-Qaida, the report dedicates significant space to Venezuela, arguing that "Hugo Chavez has established himself as one of the US's foremost international detractors, denouncing liberal democracy and market capitalism and opposing US policies and interests in the region."
US writer Eva Golinger has taken the report to indicate that "operations against the Chavez government will substantially increase this year."
Alongside this escalation of hostility, corporate media stories across the world have falsely claimed that, among many other things, Venezuela "supports terrorism."
Acclaimed film-maker and writer John Pilger has argued that, when considered alongside the new US militarisation of the region, this media propaganda has "laid the ground" for intervention against Venezuela.
The labour movement and progressives of all kinds in Britain have a proud history of support for the people of Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador and, most recently, Honduras.
We must now fully support Venezuela and other progressive governments and raise awareness of the new threats they face.

* Jennie Bremner is assistant general secretary of Unite and chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. She will be one of the speakers at the Venezuela Under Threat event on March 27 at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way W1T 5DL from 11am to 5pm.
The event is followed by a fundraising dinner in Islington with special guests Ambassador Samuel Moncada, Tony Burke (Unite AGS) and local Labour MP Emily Thornberry.

Visit http://www.vicuk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=656 to register online today!