Iran Sees U.S. Behind Chavez's Venezuela Ouster

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran, which had built up friendly ties with deposed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said Saturday the fiery populist's ouster by the military was in part hatched by the United States.

State television said Washington was concerned that Venezuela -- the world's No 4 oil exporter and a leading supplier of petroleum products to the U.S. -- would heed a call by Iran to cut oil supplies for one month to countries that support Israel.

Noting that Chavez's foreign policies "were contrary to American interests in Latin America" it said the flamboyant ex-paratrooper's fall "reminds one of the American-backed coup by General Augusto Pinochet in Chile in 1973."

Chavez, whose mandate was due to end in 2006, was forced out of power Friday by the armed forces who blamed him for street violence against a huge opposition protest during a general strike in which 15 people were killed in central Caracas.

Elected in a landslide in 1998 with a pledge to lead a so-called peaceful revolution in favor of the poor majority of Venezuelans, Chavez had angered the U.S. government by his strident anti-American rhetoric and strong ties with Cuba.

He had visited fellow OPEC -member Iran and was warmly received in a country strongly opposed to Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and recently labeled by President Bush part of "an axis of evil."

The White House, clearly pleased by Chavez's departure, said it did not consider his ouster a coup and said the Venezuelan people rose up for the protection of democracy.

But for Iranian television, "the most important reason for America's concern was the issue of oil...There was an increasing probability that Venezuela would also support the stoppage" of supplies, suggested by Tehran.

It provided no evidence however that Chavez's government was indeed considering a suspension of oil exports to countries allied with Israel in protest at its military incursion into Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

Iraq has banned oil exports for one month for that reason but non-Arab Iran said it would do so only if the move found unanimous support among Muslim countries.

"Some reports indicate the United States gave the green light for the coup d'etat and that Chavez was deposed because of his avowed anti-American policies," wrote Resallat, a conservative daily.

For Jomhooriye Eslami, widely seen as the mouthpiece of religious hard-liners, Chavez's ouster was "the culmination of a concerted effort in which the United States played no small part. The deposing of a government that favored a policy aimed at cutting the production and raising the price of oil is no accident."

The credit goes to the people of Venezuela. They'd had enough of Castro II.

4-10-02 San Diego Union-Tribune Ruining Venezuela - An example of how not to help the poor [Full Text] Time may be running out on the stormy tenure of ex-paratrooper Hugo Chavez as Venezuela's president. Rumors of a coup and speculation on constitutional means of removing the autocratic Chavez are common fare on the streets of Caracas these days.

There is an object lesson in all this.

Chavez, elected president in 1998 after failing to seize power in a 1992 coup d'etat, styles himself a left-wing nationalist. He proclaims his admiration for Cuba's Fidel Castro and reportedly aids neighboring Colombia's Marxist guerrillas. Chavez' so-called "Bolivarian revolution" (after Latin America's 19th century liberator, Simn Bolivar) was supposed to raise living standards for the estimated 60 percent of Venezuelans who live in poverty.

But neither Chavez nor his ill-conceived "revolution" has delivered on its promises. Quite the contrary.

Despite oil wealth that makes Venezuela the No. 4 petroleum exporter in the world and the No. 3 exporter to the United States, the country's mismanaged economy is slumping badly. A zero growth rate is likely this year and inflation could reach 20 percent. The government's budget deficit is large and growing, credit is tight, and foreign investment is down.

Amid the political turmoil which Chavez has incited, Venezuela now suffers from capital flight and a brain drain, as some of the country's brightest move to Miami.

Having alienated most of his country''s influential interest groups - business, trade unions, landowners, the military, the Catholic Church and the press - Chavez is fast running out of supporters. His public approval ratings have fallen from 80 percent in 1999 to 24 percent in February.

Chavez' 49 economic laws imposed by decree last year sharply increased government intervention in Venezuela's already over-regulated economy. Chavez' current drive to put his political cronies in charge of the state-controlled oil industry is prompting spreading strikes. His land reform program looks more like organized theft. Private property rights, so essential to economic development, are declining in Chavez' Venezuela.

Chavez' thuggish tactics also threaten his country's political and civil institutions. He bullies political opponents. He incites mob violence against Venezuela's newspapers and broadcast media, which increasingly oppose his destructive strong-arm rule.

In effect, the results are in on Chavez' brand of left-wing populism and strong-arm government as an answer to poverty and social ills in Latin America. It doesn't work: Not in Chavez' Venezuela, not in Argentina under Juan Pern in the 1950s, not in Peru under that country's left-leaning military junta of the 1970s, not in Sandinista Nicaragua in the 1980s nor, indeed, anywhere. [End]

Iran and Cuba bolster ties, strengthen anti-US solidarity [Excerpt] Castro for his part said Havana is not "afraid of America, and the Cuban nation, 40 years after its revolution, is now stronger then ever.

"Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees. The US regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up," Castro affirmed.

During his trip, the Cuban leader also held meetings with Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, parliament speaker Mehdi Karubi, as well as former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

He also received an honorary doctorate from a Tehran university for his "contributions to justice, humanist ideals and the fight against discrimination."

Castro told journalists before leaving Tehran that he was "totally reassured about Iran. There is great hope for the future of relations between Cuba and Iran. I am leaving with many unforgettable memories." [End Excerpt]

Thank you for the job you have done keeping us informed about the breaking news coming out of Venezuela. I believe that the ouster of the leftist-populist chavez was a watershed event in our fight against the forces of world terrorism. Little hugo had thrown his lot in with the ayatollahs and saddams of this world, so he was directly responsible for his overthrow. This is a major setback for opec, and those who support shahids, and hence, a victory for the US and the western world. I hope that they will try chavez in a military court along with many of his top supporters who were instrumental in the deaths of those innocent Venezuelan protestors. They must not allow these beasts to scurry back to the cuban hive. They must meet their end before Venezuealan firing squads.

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