In the midst of an international campaign launched against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, carried out by the extreme right from Colombia and supported by Washington, the US State Department has organised and financed the trip of eight young Venezuelan politicians to the US.
The trip's purpose is for these Venezuelans to denounce the Venezuelan government and strengthen links between young US Republicans and the Venezuelan right.
The eight young Venezuelan men and women have been selected by the US State Department as part of the program "Democracy for young political leaders". It is a project of the interchange program "International Visitor Leaders — Venezuela", which is being used by Washington to recruit and train political actors to promote Washington's agenda in Venezuela.
The trip to the US, during which the young Venezuelans were accompanied by US State Department representatives, lasted three weeks from August 17 to September 4. They visited different US cities, meeting with political groups and institutions apart from meetings with the communication media and Washington agencies.
The US State Departments' International Visitor Leadership Program was created by Washington as part of a propaganda initiative aimed at recruiting spokespersons and international political actors willing to promote the imperial agenda.
During the program, the participants attended training workshops conducted by political representatives of the US on representative democracy, freedom of the press (US-style) and reinforcement of political parties and leadership, among other topics.
However, this trip takes place at a moment when the international right, together with Washington, is carrying out a smear campaign against the Venezuelan government and the Bolivarian revolution, with emphasis on Chavez.
In this context, the young Venezuelan men and women, paid and accompanied by the US State Department during their visit, issued statements to the US press, attacking, accusing, and trying to discredit Chavez and the pro-poor policies of the Venezuelan government.
One of the Venezuelan students, Gabriel Alejandro Gallo Garrido, director of the National Students Parliament of the capital district, told the US press: "We [in Venezuela] don't know how a democracy works ... the socialist model of President Hugo Chavez is a joke, and [Chavez] is lying when he says that he guarantees medical assistance and health for all citizen ...
"The Cuban doctors [providing free health care to Venezuela's poor] are no specialists and only provide preventive care."
Also Jose Igancio Cayetano Guedez Yepez, the young vice-president of the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo in Lara state, told the US press: "The United States has the world's best model of democracy … at least [the US does] have a system … in Venezuela for someone like me who opposes Chavez, we don't have anything …"
The visit of the young Venezuelans supported by the State Department takes place exactly at a moment when the Venezuelan opposition is once again trying to promote destabilisation in the country to attract international attention.
It carried out various violent demonstrations against the recently passed education law and a rally titled "No more Chavez" aimed at inciting hatred, violence, destabilisation and Chavez's assassination.
It is extremely worrisome that by now the US State Department would overtly finance young men and women who belong to the Venezuelan opposition for them to go to the US to slander their country and president. In fact, this is an act that converts these eight men and women into Washington's agents, carrying out a US State Department-funded, destabilisation campaign against the Venezuelan government.
The young Venezuelans have also been promoting the "No more Chavez" rally from the US during their visit. This link doubtlessly confirms that Washington is behind the international campaign aimed at vilifying Chavez.
In addition, this confirms that the State Department continues to actively finance the opposition's student movement in Venezuela and the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo. These two organisations are the main promoters of destabilisation in the country.
[Eva Golinger is the author of the best-selling books, The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela and Bush vs. Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela This article has been translated from Spanish into English for Axis of Logic by Iris Buehler and revised by Les Blough. It is abridged from Axis of Logic.]