Chavez Pressured to Drop NED Lawsuit

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

WASHINGTON – International pressure is mounting on Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, to end his government’s prosecution of the group that launched the petition to have a referendum on his presidency in August.

Thirty-one international leaders have signed a letter to Mr. Chavez asking him to drop the government’s case against Sumate, which the courts charge with conspiracy against the government, citing its receipt of $31,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy.

The letter, which is expected to be sent next week at the latest, ahead of the November 2 trial date for Sumate’s leadership, says, “As democrats, we are appalled that this group is being singled out for punishment, a group whose deep commitment to democratic principles we share and applaud.”

The signatories of the public letter include President Clinton’s second secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, President Reagan’s last national security adviser, Frank Carlucci, and the former prime minister of Bulgaria, Philip Dimitrov. The letter goes on to say, “We are equally troubled that this prosecution appears to be just the beginning of a larger effort to criminalize the receipt of foreign funds by Venezuelan NGOs.”

The trial for Sumate’s leadership is scheduled to start on November 2, the day Americans take to the polls. Last week The New York Sun first reported the pending trial, noting that recipients of grants from the National Endowment for Democracy had not faced legal penalties in even more repressive political environments.

Yesterday, the NED took out a full-page advertisement in el Nacional, the Venezuelan paper of record, trying to explain that its work was not political, but rather aimed at strengthening democratic institutions in the country. The advertisement was an open letter from two members of its board, Rep. Christopher Cox, a Republican from California, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York. Mr. Meeks was one of the election monitors who declared the vote that kept Mr. Chavez in power free and fair.

“Perhaps because the NED is little known in Venezuela, it has been subject to a number of misconceptions that unfortunately have created a highly misleading image,” the two lawmakers wrote. “Among these myths is that NED is an arm of the United States Government, which in fact it is not. Additional misperceptions about NED include that it operates covertly, that it is linked to U.S. intelligence agencies, or that its purpose is to destabilize governments around the world unfriendly to U.S. interests. Although none of these charges is the least bit accurate, they have the effect of tainting upstanding civic groups who have received the Endowment’s support in order to strengthen democratic processes and institutions in Venezuela.”


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