[Marxism] Will US files on Ven voters be used to steal elections?

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I admit that how this operation could translate into successfully
fixing the Venezuela elections -- and whether fixing them at this point
would be a bit of a crazy adventure for the imperialists -- are not
clear to me.  But on the Better Safe than Sorry principle, I am
publicizing it.
Fred Feldman

http://www.gregpalast.com

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=358&row=1

VENEZUELA FLORIDATED
By Greg Palast www.gregpalast.com
Tuesday, August 10, 2004


Will The Gang That Fixed Florida Fix the
Vote in Caracas this Sunday?

by Greg Palast


Hugo Chavez drives George Bush crazy. Maybe it's jealousy:
Unlike Mr. Bush, Chavez, in Venezuela, won his Presidency
by a majority of the vote.


Or maybe it's the oil. Venezuela sits atop a reserve rivaling
Iraq's. And Hugo thinks the US and British oil companies
that pump the crude ought to pay more than a 16% royalty
to his nation for the stuff. Hey, sixteen percent isn't even
acceptable as a tip at a New York diner.


Whatever it is, OUR President has decided that THEIR
president has to go. This is none too easy given that
Chavez is backed by Venezuela's poor; and the US oil
industry, joined with local oligarchs, has made sure a
vast majority of Venezuelans remain poor.


Therefore, Chavez is expected to win this coming Sunday's
recall vote. That is, if the elections are free and fair.


They won't be. Some months ago, a little birdie faxed to
me what appeared to be confidential pages from a contract
between John Ashcroft's Justice Department and a company
called ChoicePoint, Inc., of Atlanta. The deal is part of the
War on Terror.


Justice offered up to $67 million of our taxpayer money
to ChoicePoint in a no-bid deal for computer profiles with
private information on every citizen of half a dozen nations.
The choice of citizens to spy on caught my eye. While the
September 11 highjackers came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Lebanon and the Arab Emirates, ChoicePoint's menu offered
records on Venezuelans, Brazilians, Nicaraguans, Mexicans
and Argentines. How odd. Had the CIA uncovered a Latin
plot to sneak suicide tango dancers across the border with
exploding enchiladas?


What do these nations have in common besides a lack
of involvement in the September 11 attacks? Coincidentally,
each is in the throes of major electoral contests in which
the leading candidates -- presidents Lula Ignacio da Silva
of Brazil, Nestor Kirschner of Argentina, Mexico City
mayor Andres Lopez Obrador and Venezuela's Chavez --
have the nerve to challenge the globalization demands of
George Bush.


The last time ChoicePoint sold voter files to government
it was to help Governor Jeb Bush locate and purge felons
on Florida voter rolls. Turns out ChoicePoint's felons were
merely Democrats guilty only of V,W,B,, Voting While
Black. That little 'error' cost Al Gore the White House.


It looks like the Bush Administration is taking the Florida
show for a tour south of the border.


However, when Mexico discovered ChoicePoint had its
citizen files, the nation threatened company executives
with criminal charges. ChoicePoint protested its innocence
and offered to destroy the files of any nation that requests
it.


But ChoicePoint, apparently, presented no such offer to
the government of Venezuela's Chavez.


In Caracas, I showed Congressman Nicolas Maduro the
ChoicePoint-Ashcroft agreement. Maduro, a leader of
Chavez' political party, was unaware that his nation's
citizen files were for sale to U.S. intelligence. But he
understood their value to make mischief.


If the lists somehow fell into the hands of the
Venezuelan opposition, it could immeasurably
help their computer-aided drive to recall and
remove Chavez. A ChoicePoint flak said the Bush
administration told the company they haven't used
the lists that way. The PR man didn't say if the
Bush spooks laughed when they said it.


Our team located a $53,000 payment from our
government to Chavez' recall organizers, who claim to
be armed with computer lists of the registered. How
did they get those? The fix that was practiced in Florida,
with ChoicePoint's help, conscious or not, appears to be
retooled for Venezuela, then Brazil, Mexico and who
knows where else.


Here's what it comes down to: The Justice Department
is averting it's gaze away from Saudi Arabia while
shoplifing voter records in Venezuela. So it's only fair
to ask: Is Mr. Bush fighting a war on terror -- or a war
on democracy?

---
Greg Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller,
'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.' This commentary
is based on 'Tango Terrorists,' in the new chapter of the
book's Expanded Election Edition (Penguin 2004).

For Palast's reports on Venezuela for the Guardian of
Britain and his exclusive interview for BBC Television
with President Hugo Chavez, go to
www.GregPalast.com.



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