IPS-English POLITICS-US: Venezuelan Student Feted - and Faulted
 
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 16:16:16 -0700

 
Haider Rizvi

NEW YORK, May 16  (IPS)  - ”Shame, shame,” an angry crowd of protesters
shouted from across the street as a group of affluent U.S. citizens
wined and dined their Venezuelan friends at the Waldorf Astoria, one
of Manhattan's most luxurious hotels.

”Traitor, traitor,” they chanted in unison, referring to Yon Goicoechea,
a Venezuelan student leader, who was invited to the dinner arranged
by the Cato Institute, an influential U.S. policy think tank.

On Thursday night, Goicoechea, 23, received the institute's 500,000-dollar
”Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty”, for playing ”a pivotal
role in organising and voicing opposition to the erosion of human
and civil rights in his country”.

Goicoechea, a law student, has become a prominent figure since May
2007 when he led a series of student rallies in protest against the
government's crackdown on a pro-opposition private television station,
RCTV.

”[He] is making an extraordinary contribution to liberty,” said Edward
Crane, president of the Cato Institute, in admiring Goicoechea's political
work, especially his role in blocking the government's move to make
constitutional changes.

In 2007, the government refused to renew RCTV's license apparently
because it had participated in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chaves,
Venezuela's popularly-elected left-wing leader. Chavez returned to
power in less than 48 hours after a massive public uprising in his
support.

Since 2002, Chavez and his supporters have hardened their stance
against Washington because it is believed to have played a major role
in the efforts leading up to the coup. The U.S. administration had
immediately recognised the new government after the coup.

Though critical of the George W. Bush administration in other foreign
policy areas, analysts at the Cato Institute appear to be in full
agreement with the hard-liners in Washington.

”I hope the Friedman Prize will help further his non-violent advocacy
for basic freedoms in an increasingly militaristic and anti-democratic
Venezuela,” added Crane in a statement.

But critics of U.S. foreign policy towards Venezuela denounce such
statements. In their view, the award is a surreptitious way for the
U.S. to continue funding the Venezuelan opposition.

”The award legitimises capital that will be used to destabilise governments
in Latin America,” said Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan American lawyer.
”It's a way to filter money through supposedly clean institutions.”

The socialist-leaning government of President Chavez has repeatedly
accused the U.S. of funding the political opposition. Washington denies
that charge.

The institute's award is named after Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning
conservative economist who died in 2006. It is widely believed that
his ideas greatly influenced many governments in the developing south
in the 1980s and 1990s.

To Golinger, the award money is ”stained with the blood of millions
of Latin Americans who have suffered the hunger and misery implanted
by economic packages that only benefit the giant corporations.”

At the demonstration Thursday night, in interviews with IPS several
protesters expressed similar views on the awarding of Milton Friedman
prize to Goicoechea.

”Here in the U.S., there are thousands of students who are buried
in debts, but here we see someone receiving half a million dollars.
For democracy? That is shocking,” said William Camacaro, a student
of fine arts, who came on crutches.

”This is a contradiction at best,” added Carina Soulfec, a graduate
student of Latin American Studies, who charged that the U.S. was trying
to ”get into Venezuela because it doesn't want to see that things
are fine there.”

Standing next to Camacaro and waving a placard, Stephen Durham, a
labour activist, agreed with Soulfec. ”Venezuela is free and happy,”
he said. ”This kind of activity is just a cover to advance the anti-Chavez
political agenda. This money is going to buy votes of the poor.”

For his part, Goicoechea said he plans to use the award money to
start a new ”leadership school for freedom” which will offer political
training to young people, including youth from Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia,
and Bolivia.

Noting that tensions are running high between Washington and Venezuela,
many protesters charged the Cato Institute was aiding those trying
to install a pro-U.S. government that supports the interests of big
business.

The Cato dinner Thursday cost each guest 500 dollars. In 2006, the
institute, which is funded by corporations and individuals, had a
budget exceeding 20 million dollars.

The Cato Institute says it stands for entrepreneurship, free markets
and lower taxes, ”with strict respect for civil liberties and scepticism
about the benefits of both the welfare state and foreign military
adventurism.”

But military adventurism is what most Venezuelans are expecting from
the U.S. On Tuesday, Chavez reiterated his concerns about a possible
U.S. military threat to his country. ”If there's a war against Venezuela,”
he warned in a speech, ”with the oil in this soil, it won't depart
from the Venezuelans, it won't go to anyone.”



*****
+ POLITICS-US: New Approach Awaited on Latin America, Cuba (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42375)
+ ECONOMY: U.S. Woes, Anti-Immigrant Moves Hit Latin America (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42349)
+ SOUTH AMERICA: Leaders Warn of Autonomy Attempts in Venezuela,
Ecuador (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42261)


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