“Either we will have a coup, quick and dry, or another kind, or the proposal we’re making [for the Chávez government to step down]. There’s no other way to get past the deadlock being played out here in Venezuela.” – Venezuelan rightwing opposition leader Leopoldo López, April 11, 2002This statement from an interview on a morning talk show is quoted in Roberto Lovato’s Foreign Policy article, “The Making of Leopoldo López.” Lovato was interviewed yesterday on Democracy Now!:
The full transcript is here, but the interview is a bit rushed and potentially confusing to anyone unfamiliar with the context. Better to read the FP article itself. (I do wish citations or video links had been provided for all of the quotations. That really should be standard practice.) A couple of thoughts:
The US rightwing propaganda and psyops experts, aided by the US media, have convinced our resident dupes that these people are progressive democratic activists and not far-Right, fat cat, violent coup-plotters. It’s the Cold War all over again.
And speaking of which, what is it with Kenyon College? The evidence presented in Frances Stonor Saunders’ The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters was surprising given my previous image of the school. And now I learn that López and several rightwing figures in the US involved with the Venezuelan opposition are alumni…
Just wanted to thank you for your posts on "mental disorders" on Butterflies and Wheels--that's fascinating stuff and I appreciated being exposed to it.
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