As US
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton led a team committed to
delegitimising the politics of the late socialist president Hugo
Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution, secret emails published by
WikiLeaks reveal.
Clinton
publicly welcomed improved relations with Venezuela as Secretary of
State, but she privately ridiculed the country and continued to
support destabilisation efforts, leaked emails show.
In 2010,
Clinton asked Arturo Valenzuela, then assistant secretary of state
for Western Hemisphere affairs, how “to rein in Chavez”.
Valenzuela responded: “We need to carefully consider the
consequences of publicly confronting him but ought to look at
opportunities for others in the region to help.”
His answer
was in line with the US Embassy strategy in 2006, also revealed in
WikiLeaks intelligence cables. A confidential cable from the embassy
said: “Creative U.S. outreach to Chavez' regional partners will
drive a wedge between him and them.”
“By
refusing to take each of Chavez's outbursts seriously, we frustrate
him even more, paving the way for additional Bolivarian
miscalculations. We also allow room for other international actors to
respond.”
Spain was
among the countries willing to help the US in its subversive foreign
relations strategy. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright
passed on a message from the administration of conservative Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2012 expressing intentions “to re-orient
Spanish foreign policy so that it can work with the U.S. in Latin
America, especially on Venezuela and Cuba ...
Full
report:
Comments
Post a Comment