☫ US regime change attempts

Retransmissions  Because it is always OK when we do it | by Eva Golinger

Washington sets up Venezuela, Iran    regime change student networks [1]

During last year, different Washington agencies have been financing, promoting and organizing youth associations in Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba, to establish opposition groups against their governments. The three countries --two of which are considered as "enemies" by the US government-- have suffered an increase in Washington's aggressions, which seeks to create a "regime" change favorable to its interests.

This week, the offensive opened up a new chapter, with a visit to the United States by Roderick Navarro. Navarro, president of the Federación de Centros Universitarios of Universidad Central de Venezuela, traveled to Miami to meet with the "Venezuelan student movement overseas" and to work in the creation of an "international network including students from Iran and Cuba." According to Navarro, the purpose of the network will be "for the world knows about the human rights violations of our countries."

Ever since 2005, Washington has been re-orienting resources through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID, towards the Venezuelan student sector. Of the $15 million dollars invested and conducted by these American agencies in Venezuela, more than a 32% is directed to the youth. The main program focuses on "training in the use of new technologies and social networks to organize politically", according to the own USAID reports on its activities in Venezuela.

The role of web 2.0

In October of 2009, Mexico City hosted the second Summit for the Alliance of Youth Movements (AYM). Sponsored by the US Department of State, the event was attended by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and various "delegates" invited by the American diplomacy, from Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, India, Canada, England, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Ireland, Turkey, Moldova, Malaysia, the United States, and Mexico.

Along with representatives from agencies as Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the World Bank, and the US Department of State, the youth guests received workshops on "training and formation" from the American officials and the creators of technologies like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube.

According to AYM, the entity was born in 2008 due to the rise "... in the international scene [of] a group of almost unknown, generally youth [who] dominated the most recent technologies and had worked some wonders. They caused amazing transformations throughout the world in countries like Colombia, Iran, and Moldova, making use of those technologies to mobilize the youth. And this has just been the start."

The opposition student movement, "manos blancas" (white hands), in Venezuela, financed and raised by the American agencies; the protests in Moldova; the demonstrations against the Iranian government, and the virtual protests against president Chavez, are examples of how this strategy has been executed.

While web 2.0 technologies --Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others-- are the main weapons, the traditional media still plays a role helping exaggerate the actual impact of these movements, promoting unreal opinion platforms that distort their importance and legitimacy.


Cyber dissidence

In April of 2010, the George W. Bush Institute, along with the Freedom House organization, called for a summit of "activists for freedom and human rights" and "Internet experts" to analyze the "worldwide movement of cyber dissidents."

Some of the guests of the meeting hosted in Dallas, Texas, were Rodrigo Diamanti of the organization Futuro Presente of Venezuela; Arash Kamangir, from Iran; Oleg Kozlovsky, from Russia; Ernest Hernández Busto, from Cuba; Isaac Mao, from China; and Ahed Alhendi, from Syria.

Other attendants were members of the US government and other organizations linked to the intelligence community of Washington.

The purpose of the summit was to "coordinate an international campaign through Internet to denounce the governments of Iran, Venezuela, Russia, China, Syria and Cuba" about supposed "violations of human rights" and freedom of expression.

Notes

[1] Translation of original article by Eva Golinger, Co-founder and Director General of the Centro de Estudios Estratégicos (Center of Strategic Studies) of Caracas, Venezuela