The premise is: Hugo Chavez's government in Venezuela, as many other democratically elected governments in Europe, USA and developed world, is far from perfect. But...my question is: do the Americans, the Europeans, and the Canadians know that their governments spend $40 million dollars to fund propagandistic projects in a foreign sovereign country, with the aim to provoke regime change? And, is this the international law?
I suggest you to read, and discuss, this article from Eva Gollinger on Znet, an independent non-corporated network of writers, journalists, and experts.
http://www.zcommunications.org/buying-the-press-by-eva-gollinger
Here some abstracts. I'd like to underline the fact that one ageny involved is "Freedom House", which is supposed to be independent (ah ah), and yearly gives a mark for the freedom of expression all over the world.....
US State Department documents declassified under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) evidence more than $4 million USD in funding to journalists and private media in Venezuela during the last three years. This funding is part of the more than $40 million USD international agencies are investing annually in anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela in an attempt to provoke regime change.
Today, corporate media outlets and their journalists use communications power to publicly promote the overthrow of the Venezuelan government. The owners and executives of these media corporations form part of the Venezuelan elite that, under the reigns of Washington, ran the country for forty years before Chavez won the presidency in 1998.
What these documents demonstrate is that Washington not only is funding Venezuelan media, in clear violation of laws that prohibit this type of “propaganda” and “foreign interference”, but also is influencing the way Venezuelan journalists perceive their profession and their political reality.
I'd like to ask to my American friends if this piece of news, which is quite serious politically, has been presented and discussed in any television news. About Italy, nothing has been said. They are so busy talking about Berlusconi (as always), hot weather, bikinis and beaches. In our case Freedom House is right: we are a partly free country.
