Brazen Reich Lectures Chavez on 'Democracy'

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

Reach Out and Overthrow Someone...

source - JosePertierra@aol.com

Financial Times (London) - April 29, 2002


DEFIANT REICH WARNS CHAVEZ ON DEMOCRACY

by Barbara Durr and Andy Webb-Vidal

MIAMI, CARACAS, Apr 29--The US's top Latin America policymaker has
warned Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez to "reach out" to his
opposition to ensure political stability returns following the
country's short-lived coup earlier this month.

However, instructions on democratic process from the Otto Reich,
assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs and a
former US ambassador to Venezuela, were unlikely to be welcomed in
the region given the US State Department's hasty endorsement of the
April 11 coup against Mr Chavez.

Mr Reich stands accused of condemning the power grab in Caracas only
when the interim government of Pedro Carmona, a businessman,
collapsed. Critics saw him taking a step backwards to the days when
Washington encouraged the military overthrow of democratically
elected governments that did not suit its interests in Latin America.

Lino Gutierrez, Mr Reich's assistant secretary, said diplomatic
relations with Venezuela, the third-biggest oil supplier to the US,
would not improve until "full democracy" was re-established.

Speaking at a conference in Miami, Mr Reich vehemently denied that he
or others in the US administration encouraged or approved of
Venezuela's coup-makers. Although he admitted the US had heard coup
rumours for two years, he said the US lacked reliable information
during the April 11-13 coup, when "nobody was in charge for about 48
hours that we could see."

The US ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, had breakfast the
day after the coup with Mr Carmona, asking him to reverse his
decision to dissolve the Venezuelan legislature immediately.

"I believe we did the right things under the circumstances," said Mr
Reich, who is not shy about showing his antipathy for Mr Chavez. He
still charges: "Events were caused by the polarised atmosphere
created by Mr Chavez."

Outlining conditions for what he called the "normalisation" of
relations with Venezuela under Mr Chavez, Mr Reich said the US would
wait to see "a genuine desire for democracy," "no foreign agents in
Venezuela," and "no intervention in other countries."

To critics who consider the Cuba-born Mr Reich a throwback to the
darker days of US policy toward Latin America, he responded: "Get
over it! Get over the '60s and '70s mentality!"

[Otto certainly doesn't have much self-control for a so-called
"diplomat." -- NY Transfer]

Mr Reich's brusque manner is also unlikely to win him many friends in
Congress, where his appointment is expected to be challenged. His
nomination to the post was held up by Democrats in the US Senate, and
was pushed through by President George W. Bush during a congressional
recess.

The Bush administration is again pressing for approval of the Free
Trade Area of the Americas pact, which it calls its cornerstone for
Latin American prosperity. Mr Reich said the administration intended
to complete negotiations on the FTAA by January 2005.

In addition, the administration is asking Congress to approve aid to
Colombia to fight the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, rebels.

 
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nytsa-04.29.02-13:34:05-6642