U.S.-Netherlands Plan Military Attacks on Venezuela From Caribbean

Netherlands and U.S. Planning Military Aggression Against Venezuela from Dutch Antilles

by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Merida, December 18th 2009 – During a meeting with trade unions, political organizations, and social movement leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark on Thursday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the Netherlands of allowing the United States military to plan a future attack against Venezuela from its island territories in the Caribbean, known as the Dutch Antilles.

“I am accusing the Kingdom of the Netherlands together with the Yankee empire of preparing a military aggression against Venezuela,” said Chavez, who came to Copenhagen to participate in the XV United Nations International Conference on Climate Change this week.

“The islands of Aruba and Curacao, both of which belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, have permitted the installation of United States military equipment on their soil, placing Venezuela under the watch of the United States,” Chavez explained. “It would be good for Europe to know that the North American empire is arming these islands Aruba and Curacao to the teeth, filling them with war planes, war ships, and CIA spies.



















“Since the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of the European Union, I would like to see what the European Union has to say about this,” Chavez declared.

In response, a spokesperson for the Netherlands Foreign Ministry, Bart Reis, called the accusations “groundless.”

“As Venezuela knows,” said Reis, “the United States only uses civilian airports” and “unarmed planes for the fight against drug trafficking” in the Dutch Antilles.

Reis said the Netherlands Foreign Ministry would seek a meeting with Venezuelan government officials to discuss the issue.

President Chavez emphasized that the U.S. military presence in the Dutch Antilles, which are located approximately one hundred kilometers off the Venezuelan coast, is only part of broader U.S. strategy to expand its military power in Latin America in order to crush the socialist movements and progressive governments that have been democratically elected in countries across the region over the past ten years.

Last year, the U.S. military re-activated the Fourth Naval Fleet of its Southern Command. In October of this year it signed a military pact to use seven Colombian military bases as a launching pad for “full spectrum operations” across the South American continent, according to U.S. Air Force budgetary documents.

“This new Yankee military deployment that is now in full scale development threatens not only Venezuela,” but also other countries whose governments openly support socialism and are members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), Chavez said on Thursday. Several of the nine ALBA member countries, including Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, sent representatives to Thursday’s meeting with social movements in Copenhagen as well.

Shortly after Chavez made his announcements in Copenhagen, U.S.-Venezuelan lawyer Eva Golinger testified to the truth of Chavez’s accusations on a nightly Venezuelan talk show.

The U.S. has had a “contract” with the Dutch government since 1999 to use air and seaports in the Dutch Antilles for what the U.S. military calls “advanced operations,” said Golinger, who has used the U.S. Freedom of Information Act many times to find information on U.S. intervention in Latin America.

Since the creation of the ALBA in 2004, the re-election of Chavez to a second presidential term in 2006, and Chavez’s increasing advocacy of “21st Century Socialism”, the U.S. has placed more than a hundred warships in Aruba and Curacao, an increase of 1000%, said Golinger, holding up newspapers from 2005 and 2006 in Curacao as evidence of her assertion.

Time Running Out for Climate Change Solution

Venezuela: What’s Happening in Copenhagen is Unacceptable”Developed nations will be judged by the world for what they are doing at the moment … we are not going to let them get away with it.”

December 15, 2009 - The Venezuelan delegation to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, denounced Tuesday the attitude of developed countries in the world meeting for not committing to reduce emissions of polluting gases because this would presumably affect their economies. The delegation said that developing nations “will not let them get away with it” because it is unacceptable that they do not take into account that they are responsible for the future of the planet.

In an interview with Telesur, Claudia Salerno, director of the Venezuelan Environment Ministry’s Office of International Cooperation, explained that the 30 industrialized countries have the potential to “change the destiny of the world, but today they are telling us that it is too expensive and they are unwilling to let the GDP of their economies be impacted by the response measures to climate change.”

“That is unacceptable, I not only point out to them, but I accuse them … not only are they going to be responsible for climate change but they will be responsible for the future of this planet,” said the official

She said that developed nations “will have to be judged by the world for what they are doing at the moment…we are not going to let them get away with it.”

The delegate announced that Venezuela, failing an agreement, will stay there [in Copenhagen] until the 18th or until Christmas if necessary.
The [representative of the] Caribbean country said that nothing will happen in the Copenhagen Summit unless the commitment that developed nations must assume is taken as the starting point
She disagreed with the statement by UN Secretary General (UN), Ban Ki-Moon, saying that the problem is not about “pointing fingers” at polluting countries, and said “with respect”, that it is just to accuse the 30 countries that are destroying the worldThe Venezuelan delegation criticised that the meetings are closed and without access to the press and international observers. “They are getting away with it without letting the world know … the world has its eyes on us. Let the discussions become more open and let the press into the discussions to make the world know what is happening here,” she said.

She welcomed the decision of the African delegations on Tuesday to pull out of negotiations because of the intention of the developed countries to discard the Kyoto Protocol.

”The industrial nations can not continue to sabotage the process and break the UN rules on the discussion of the issues, here are the 130 nations which are still developing because there is no time for more … they should make a commitment to reduce emissions and provide funding for developing nations so that we can take action together to improve climate change alleviation.”

The 15th United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen (COP15) counts with the attendance of representatives of 192 countries. The meeting will last eleven days and it is expected that 100 heads of state and government will be at the closing ceremony. Published by Telesur, December 15th 2009. Translated by Kiraz Janicke for Venezuelanalysis.com;Also see: climateandcapitalism.com

More Needs to be Done to Deepen This Social Process Across Latin America

Hugo Chavez: Evo Morales' Electoral Victory in Bolivia is a Victory for Latin America
by Kiraz Janicke

Caracas, December 8, 2009 -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez congratulated his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales for his landslide electoral victory on Sunday saying it was a victory for all of Latin America.

"Yesterday there was jubilation throughout the continent," Chavez said Monday during his speech at the First International Conference celebrating ten years since the adoption of the Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela.

Chavez said he was sure Morales would continue "fighting without rest to diminish poverty" and improve the welfare of his people, "based on indigenous philosophy."

Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, was re-elected with 63% of the vote, 35% ahead of his nearest rival Manfred Reyes Villa.

Popular constitutionalism
Chavez said that governments like that of Morales embody a social movement which he dubbed "popular constitutionalism," that exists throughout Latin America is also promoted by the governments of Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Cristina Fernandez (Argentina).

"This process that I dare to call constitutionalism is a new force," and "I say with humility that the initial outbreak began here in Caracas," he said, referring to the adoption of the new constitution in 1999, which many refer to as the beginning of the popular constitutionalism, as the process of progressive social change underway in Venezuela is known.

Constitutionalsim Born in Venezuela
"Here in Caracas was where it was born and I believe we must stay strong and I think the [U.S] Empire is clear on that and that's why it has concentrated its fire on Venezuela," he added.

He stressed that more needs to be done to deepen this social process across Latin America "with the variations of each case, of each country... to build a new path in peace...The other way would be to take up arms. I think that is what the bourgeoisie wants but they are at a disadvantage even though they count on the support of the Empire."

In Honduras, There is Terror of Popular Constitutionalism Chavez pointed out that when the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, made the proposal to consult the people about the possibility of convening a Constituent Assembly; he was deposed in a military coup, which, according to the Venezuelan president demonstrates "the terror of the Honduras bourgeoisie has of popular constitutionalism."

Alerts on Threats of Coups to Stem the Rising Tide As in Honduras, the threat of a military coup also exists in Bolivia and Ecuador, in order "to stem the rising tide" of independent governments Chavez said.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4992