A highly mediocre piece on Venezuela

 

The Washington based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, COHA, has recently published a highly mediocre piece on Venezuela, so sugary and admiring of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime  that it should not be read by diabetics. The piece is titled: “Time to renew constructive diplomacy with Venezuela”, September 24, 2013, and can be read in: http://www.coha.org/ . I will comment on some of its assertions:

(1), “it would be mutually advantageous for Washington [and who else?]  to dispense with its political sniping against the leftist Venezuelan government”. Apart from the doubtful syntax this statement contains two inexactitudes because (a), the political sniping dominantly exists from the Maduro regime to the U.S., not the other way around, and (b), the regime of Maduro is typically fascist, more so than leftist.  

(2) , “The recent incident with regard to Maduro’s plane accessing U.S. airspace over Puerto Rico was later explained by State Department officials as a paperwork mishap but initially interpreted as a diplomatic affront. Whichever the case…”. This statement is also inexact. The permit for the plane to fly over Puerto Rico was not requested in time by the Venezuelan authorities. The plane, a Cubana de Aviacion aircraft, was not readily identified as the presidential plane of Venezuela. Venezuelans are amazed to see that Maduro has to rent an airplane from Cuba, having an Airbus of $78 million at his disposal. They are also amazed to know that this plane, a Russian made Iliushyn, was bought by Venezuela's President Chavez and given to the Castro brothers as a gift. To top the ridiculous affair, Maduro did not have to fly over Puerto Rico to go from Venezuela to Beijing . He unnecessarily added about 100 miles to his route.   

(3), “To restore this previous show of goodwill, the Obama administration could start now by formally acknowledging the internationally recognized presidency of Nicolas Maduro, providing the standard expedited assent to grant the right to presidential flights over U.S. airspace, and respecting the sovereignty of the Venezuelan nation”. 

This paragraph is full of bullshit. The presidency of Nicolas Maduro is illegitimate since it was the product of an electoral fraud. Lately, information has surfaced that Maduro is not even Venezuelan born but Colombian, which would further invalidate his position as president. Unfortunately for Venezuela, Maduro is  internationally recognized, yes, but as a buffoon.  It is obvious that COHA staff writers have never heard him talk.

The COHA article reads like a commissioned piece, in the same line of articles on Venezuela in Les Blough’s www.axisoflogic.com  or  Mark Weisbrot’s  enthusiastic endorsements of the disastrous Venezuelan regime.