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Chavez Consolidates Power With Castro Agents NewsMax .comVenezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, is consolidating power by attaching dozens of Fidel Castro's "advisers" to his intelligence services and key ministries, reveals a Page One report in the Miami Herald this past weekend. The paper noted that the move by Chavez, a militant pro-Castro leftist who has flouted his nation's constitution and shown little regard for democratic processes, has worried U.S. officials. Recently, Roger Noriega, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said that Venezuela and Cuba have created an axis of subversion to destabilize democratic pro-U.S. governments in the region. The disturbing development of Cuba's interference in Venezuelan domestic affairs was gleaned from foreign diplomats and former Venezuelan government officials. The assignment of Castro agents to Venezuela hallmarks a significant expansion of Cuba's influence over security and government affairs in Venezuela. Already of concern was the ominous occasion of Chavez's brother, Adan, arriving in Havana last month as Caracas' new ambassador. The latest arriving cadres join an estimated 10,000 Cuban doctors working in poor neighborhoods and scores of sports coaches, said the report. "We see a very worrisome spread in Castro's infiltration of Venezuela under Chavez. Cuban advisers are always something more sinister than simple technicians," said a State Department official. This unwelcome news adds to the U.S. chagrin that accompanied Venezuela's recent withdrawal of its military contingent from the U.S. Army’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Foreign diplomats in Caracas said they had verified with their own contacts in the government that Cuban advisers have been posted at an array of ministries:
"Don't worry," Venezuelan ambassador Bernardo Alvarez Herrera said in an Agence France-Presse report. "These people who are there are fundamentally doing social work." But Chavez opponents counter the ambassador's spin, arguing that the cadres are there to shore up the government's security and intelligence capabilities and guide the development of its leftist and strong anti-American policies. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega recently commented: "It is fairly apparent that President Chavez does not consider himself the best friend of the United States. But as for Fidel Castro, it is very clear that he is increasingly active in the region. And this has stirred great concern among Latin American leaders ... because they understand that he's not committed to the democratic process and may be trying to undermine it in their countries." Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Peter DeShazo opined: "Some of them are involved in health and education. It's to be hoped that their activities are limited to that." However, the developments seem to mark a dramatic shift for Venezuela, which at one time was on the American team in both foreign policy and security – with U.S. military and intelligence advisers regularly working closely with their Venezuelan counterparts. Apparently forgotten in the new wave of Cuban-Venezuelan friendship are the old days when Cuba armed and trained several Venezuelan leftist guerrilla movements. Anti-Cuban sentiments began changing with pro-Castro Chavez's election in 1998. But Chavez's ties with Castro have angered many Venezuelans. The oil-rich nation has been shipping billions of dollars' worth of the commodity to bolster Cuba's ailing economy – with little in return to Venezuela. Castro has been brazen about his country’s new alignment with Venezuela: U.S. officials "are saying that I will die soon and that once the dog is dead the rabies dies," Castro said. "Well, now Venezuela has turned into a dog."
Editor's note:
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