U.S. Is the Primary Loser in Failed Venezuelan Coup Posted: Sunday, April 21, 2002
By Larry Birns and Alex Volberding Newsday
THE RECENT FAILED coup against President Hugo Chavez launched at the behest of Venezuela's powerful business and labor groups - and with the knowledge, if not eager acquiescence, of U.S. officials - tested the political will of that nation, as it should ours.
In an amazing turn, Chavez was restored to power as a result of the resolve of his diehard supporters to maintain constitutional rule and prevent the return of the country's discredited elite. Chavez's election in 1998 had been directly due to the angry repudiation of the venality fathered by the country's two dominant political parties, Democratic Action and the Christian Democrats, which had permeated its other public and private institutions. More
|