The Blame America First crowd

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Blame America First crowd - those who blame the United States for anything bad that happens anywhere in the world, no matter what the facts show. In that column I singled out a newspaper letter-writer from Minden for accusing the U.S. government of overthrowing former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. And now, that Minden conspiracy theorist has some well-known allies.

First to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon was Emma Sepulveda, a Chilean-born University of Nevada language professor and occasional columnist for the left-leaning Reno Gazette-Journal. According to Ms. Sepulveda, the U.S. is itching to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela, which is on the brink of civil war thanks to the divisive policies of President Hugo Chavez, a Fidel Castro admirer.

"Why is the government of the U.S. so worried about the outcome of the internal political conflict in Venezuela?" Ms. Sepulveda asked in a recent RG-J column. "It is not ideology but simple economics (oil) that is leading the U.S. to intervene in the political process of another country." Although her column was long on accusations, it was short on evidence.

In biting the hand that feeds her and turning against the country that took her in when she fled Chile during a right-wing revolution 30 years ago, Ms. Sepulveda has burnished her credentials as a card-carrying member of the Blame America First crowd. A follower of Chile's first and only Marxist president, Salvador Allende, she escaped to the "imperialist" nation that she accused of overthrowing Allende. Go figure!

What Ms. Sepulveda fails to mention is that Allende never had the support of more than one-third of Chile's voters when the country was deeply divided between centrist, leftist and rightist candidates in the election that preceded General Pinochet's violent coup d'etat in the early 1970s. And despite a rash of wild charges against the U.S. and the CIA, it was never proven that we overthrew Allende. Since two-thirds of the Chilean electorate was opposed to the president's Marxist policies, it's no surprise that he was deposed in a popular uprising. But don't confuse Ms. Sepulveda with the facts.

Writing about Venezuela, Ms. Sepulveda claims that "it doesn't matter how many people voted for him (Chavez), he won't be in office for long. Sooner rather than later he'll be flying off (again) in a helicopter to some unknown location." The facts are that President Chavez's opponents have collected more than 3 million signatures on recall petitions, many more than the 2.4 million necessary for a recall election. Earlier this month, more than 500,000 people marched through the streets of Caracas to demand a recall election this summer on grounds that Chavez is attempting to turn Venezuela into a Cuba-style dictatorship.

Chavez's hand-picked Supreme Electoral Council ruled against the protesters, however, claiming they had fallen 800,000 signatures short of those necessary to recall the president. But the Venezuelan Supreme Court overruled the Electoral Council last week and ordered the council to accept the disputed signatures. Armed thugs immediately took to the streets to intimidate the opposition, which appealed to the Organization of American States and the (Jimmy) Carter Center of Atlanta, Ga., for assistance. Eight people were killed and hundreds were arrested in mostly peaceful anti-Chavez demonstrations.

And last Tuesday, Chavez offered political asylum to the ex-president of Haiti, calling Aristide a "legitimate president" and repeating the charge that Aristide had been "kidnapped" by the U.S. "He (Aristide) was kidnapped by troops of the country that preaches democracy to the world," Chavez declared.

Joining the anti-American chorus was U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a left-wing Los Angeles Democrat who's never met a conspiracy theory that she didn't embrace. She was on the plane with Aristide when he flew from the Central African Republic to Jamaica last week. Earlier, Ms. Waters had accused the CIA of running drugs through Central America to finance the Nicaraguan "Contras," another oft-repeated charge that was never proven.

U.S. officials described Aristide's kidnapping claim as "nonsense" and dismissed Chavez's reaction. "We're not concerned about Chavez's view on the Haitian presidency," said a State Department spokesman. "Everyone else in the hemisphere recognizes the new government." American troops and diplomats helped Aristide to flee his country after he resigned under intense pressure two weeks ago.

But that won't quiet the Blame America First chorus. They remind me of that old adage, My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts. As someone who lived and worked in Venezuela for seven years (1968-70 and 1986-90), I hope the standoff between President Chavez and his opponents can be resolved peacefully within Venezuelan law because all other options, including violence, are much worse. As for Prof. Sepulveda and Rep. Waters, I wish they'd give the U.S. the benefit of the doubt for a change.

Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City. Write to him at editor@nevadaappeal.com