Elite Democracy: When Washington Reigned Supreme in Venezuela

[Say_What]

<clips>

By: Chris Carlson - Gringo in Venezuela

When Hugo Chávez spoke at the United Nations last September, he accused Washington of promoting "elite democracy" in the world. Most people who heard the speech might not have realized what exactly he meant by the term "elite democracy". Few people probably understood just how relevant his words were. But Chávez was speaking from personal experience. Like much of the world, Venezuela has experienced the frustrations of an elite democracy and its devastating results. Chávez understands that in order to confront the crisis of modern democracy in the world, we must understand the tragedy that is elite democracy.

Throughout history, Washington has been dedicated to the exclusion of the masses and the prevention of true democracy. A long history of installing and supporting dictatorships in countries around the world is evidence enough of this. But when dictatorships become a public relations issue, Washington promotes a form of democracy of the elites, modeled after the system in the U.S., to pacify the population. Both dictatorship and elite democracy play the same role of preventing the "risk" of a truly democratic system. Whether through elite democracy, or dictatorship, the participation of the masses must be minimized. Real democracy must never be allowed to function.

Venezuela is a perfect case study of how this Washington strategy functions. In the 20th century, Venezuela transitioned from dictatorship to elite democracy and, finally, to that other dictatorship known as neoliberalism. The transitions were carefully orchestrated by Washington and the Venezuelan elite. The "risk" of true democracy was carefully avoided. Not suprisingly, U.S. corporations got exactly what they wanted from Venezuela; huge amounts of cheap oil and the best customer for U.S. goods in Latin America.

The brutal dictator and Washington ally, Marcos Pérez Jiménez, gave generous oil concessions to U.S. companies in the 1950's, and, perhaps more importantly, further opened the door to U.S. imports.(1) Although this was very detrimental to Venezuelan national production and industry, U.S. companies and the Venezuelan elite class benefited greatly. The resulting trade balance heavily favored the United States, as the oil money that Venezuela received was circulated back to the U.S. in the import of consumer goods. What more could the U.S. ask for? The system was serving them perfectly, just as long as the excluded majority in Venezuela was kept under control by the dictator and his state police; the infamous "National Security" goons.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1942

[Karenina]

1. K&R!

:kick:

[Missy M]

2. Great article....

wish everyone would read it.

[Vidar]

3. K&R.

[yurbud]

4. and screwing other people like this makes it easier for them to screw us here

they break those countries, pay poverty wages, then when we demand decent wages here, they ship the job to the broken country or threaten to until we shut up.

[Say_What]

5. Precisely!!! murika is on its way to being a Third World Country..

and that's been happening for some decades now.

146 million uninsured and poverty on the rise, and higher education unaffordable for the poor...