Exposing Global Exchange

The American Thinker ^ | Dec. 14, 2004 | A.M. Mora y Leon

[Kitten Festival]

As television and radio reel from new censorship laws in Venezuela, there are also signs of intimidation appearing against Venezuela's bloggers. We've recently reported that "media" like VHeadline* aligned with Venezuela's dictatorship have targeted the fearless Aleks Boyd, whose blog VCrisis.vom is a thorn in the side of the Chavez regime.

They've now taken aim at essayist Gustavo Coronel, a retired Venezuelan oil executive who writes graceful, informative essays on VenezuelaToday. Coronel's deep well of knowledge has drawn the invective of chavistas in the past, but his latest work, directed at Global Exchange and at the Sandalista political tourists who patronize them, seems to have hit an especially sensitive nerve. And so we recommend his essay, "Political tourism: Venezuela the new fraudulent destination" highly.

Coronel writes:

I would suggest that Katie and Mamie take a real tour of Venezuela, by going to see the sub-human prisons where political dissidents are kept without legal sanctions. They should also visit Sabana Grande, the Caracas shopping district converted into a Calcutta-like horror, where people defecate in the streets and abandoned street children sell themselves. They should take a tour of the invaded areas of Carabobo and Lara, where vandals protected by the regime build their shacks on private property. ....

[Kitten Festival]

The huge growing political tourism racket is questioned by a Venezuelan blogger and the leftist rackets waste no time in striking back. This is their rice bowl, their cash cow. They actually make their money off political tourism. Venezuela's locals cannot stand this.