WASHINGTON -- December 17 -- The United States-based Latin America Solidarity Coalition sent a letter today to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed by 139 organizations and individuals who urged Venezuela to continue to expose illegal activities by the US taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

James Jordan, a Tucson, AZ activist and facilitator of the Latin America Solidarity Coalition's NED Task Force, said, "It's been freely admitted that NED does overtly what the CIA used to do covertly. We don't think US taxpayer's money should be used to subvert other countries' elections. That would be illegal if they did it in our elections."

The letter to Chavez and the people of Venezuela was circulated in response to an October letter to Chavez from 31 international "leaders" including former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright. That letter and a full page ad in Venezuelan newspapers paid for by NED, called on Chavez to stop Venezuela's courts from prosecuting organizations and individuals that had accepted NED money to work on the recall election in August. Chavez handily survived the challenge.

Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinator of the Nicaragua Network, said, "The National Endowment for Democracy is a profoundly anti-democratic institution and we need to ax it from the budget. In 1990 NED led the US campaign to defeat the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. What they spent to distort that election would be the equivalent of $2.5 billion poured into a US election. Would we tolerate that from a foreign country? Hell no."

The text of the letter, signers, and background information is attached.

Open Letter to President Hugo Chavez, and to the People of Venezuela:

President Hugo Chavez
Office of the President
Caracas, Venezuela

Esteemed President Chavez,

We urge you, in the name of democracy and the people's will, to hold fast in your struggle against the manipulation of Venezuela's electoral process by foreign agencies. We urge you to continue to expose abuses by the National Endowment for Democracy.

We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the international struggle for real democracy. We are persons and organizations who hunger for people's democracy here in our own countries, particularly the United States of America. We are inspired in our struggle by the powerful victories of the Venezuelan people against all efforts to undermine representative government there.

We understand well that the struggle for voting and civil rights, and for responsive and representative government, is an international struggle. An advance anywhere is an advance for all people, everywhere. Throughout the world, people are inspired by the tremendous witness of the Venezuelan people in electing a representative government and in standing strong against all attacks and attempts to bring that government down.

When we see a nation rising up and thwarting all attempts to derail people's government, the inspiration and motivation we derive is inexpressible. We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela not just because we care about Venezuela -- but we are inspired in our struggle for democracy right here in our own land!

The National Endowment for Democracy does not represent the will of the American people. It is an organization funded by our tax dollars -- but it does not receive any meaningful oversight or review from Congress or any elected body. In fact, though created and funded by Congress, the NED is considered a "private" organization precisely in order to keep its activities in the shadows, hidden from the American people, hidden from the world. This is why we are so grateful to the Venezuelan people for exposing this abuse of US taxes and taxpayer confidence!

Indeed, the NED has little to do with promoting fair elections, representative government, or any of the ideals and institutions one would normally associate with democracy. What the NED promotes is US corporate globalism. In fact, the main political agenda of the NED is the derailment of people's democracy whenever it is in conflict with U.S. commercial interests. [See attachment for a brief overview of the activities of the NED.]

As Allen Weinstein, the NED's theoretical planner, noted in a 1991 Washington Post interview, "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." In many respects, NED-sponsored groups are even freer of congressional monitoring than those of their CIA predecessors!

In a letter to Mr. Vin Weber, chair of the Board of Directors for the National Endowment for Democracy, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, clearly states the illegal nature and the extent of the NED's interference in Venezuela's internal affairs. Mr. Alvarez writes:

"As you know, it is illegal for foreign governments and organizations to finance political campaigns in the United States. It would be illegal, for instance, for Democratic Party activists to accept money from a foreign government to gather signatures to recall California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The same is true in Venezuela. It is illegal for Venezuelans to accept foreign financing to intervene in internal democratic political processes in Venezuela. I am sure you would agree that it would be a very serious matter if NED grantees violated Venezuelan law, and more so if NED funding was linked directly to the breach of our laws or used in ways that may not have been represented forthrightly to the NED. You may also be aware that shortly after the 2002 coup, the State Department gave the NED a $1 million special fund that was distributed to organizations in Venezuela, some of whose leaders supported the coup and even participated in the coup government. This has been widely documented....."

The National Endowment for Democracy awarded $53,400 to Súmate for the promotion of the recall. No matter how much NED functionaries try to say otherwise, there was no purpose for this award other than to influence Venezuela's democratic processes and institutions. Súmate itself existed ONLY for that purpose--so there is really no valid argument to defend this NED funding.

In Fiscal Year 2005, the NED will receive $80 million from US taxpayers, double the previous year's allocations. Much political and media manipulation is carried out under the auspices of the NED and its core granting organizations: the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE—affiliated with the US Chamber of Commerce), and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS, also known as the Solidarity Center, and affiliated with the AFL-CIO).

The entire 100% increase in next year's NED funding is being allocated to the Middle East, mainly to Iraq. This funding will go toward the building political parties that are amenable to the presence of US military bases and corporate development. The NED is a political trailblazer for neo-liberalism and, thus, for neo-colonialism. For that reason, proponents of real democracy who love peace and justice must work together to demand the de-funding and the closing of the NED. Venezuela is showing the rest of the world that it does not have to tolerate US interference in its electoral processes.

Again, we urge you to stand firm! Your struggle is a light to us all!

Thank you,

Latin America Solidarity Coalition
James Jordan, Turnwinds, Tuscon, AZ
Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinator, Nicaragua Network
WaBunInini, Ojibwe Nation, aka, Vernon Bellecourt, Director of International Relations, American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council

Tom Ricker, Quest for Peace, Brentwood, MD
Burke Stansbury, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), New York, NY
Olivia Burlingame Goumbri, EPICA (Ecumenical Program On Central America & the Caribbean), Washington DC
Tom Hansen, Mexico Solidarity Network
Peter and Gail Mott, Co-Editors, INTERCONNECT, Rochester, NY
Paul Baizerman, Director, TECNICA, Queens, NY
Sarah Aird, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), Washington, D.C.
Patricia Dahl, Coordinator, Colombia Support Network New York City
Lisa Sullivan, Maryknoll Lay Missioners, Maryknoll, NY
Megan Kennedy, Program Coordinator, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN), Chicago, Illinois

Kenneth Kennon, Tucson SOA Watch, Tucson, AZ
Nathan M. Gant, Carlos Baliño Institute for Advanced Cuban Studies, Oviedo, Florida
Finian Taylor, Hilton Head for Peace, Hilton Head SC
Anne Lamb, Latin@s por Mumia, Iglesia San Romero de las Américas, Bronx, New York
Charlotte Kates, New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine, New Brunswick, NJ
Joyce Smith, Tucson Community Project to Free Lori Berenson Now, Tuscon AZ
Julie A. Charlip, Associate Professor, Department of History, Whitman College,
Walla Walla, WA 99362
Catherine M. Stanford, CWA Local 1104/Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU)*, Albany, New York
Pat Birnie, acting facilitator, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom- Tuscon, Tuscon, AZ
Tim Jeffries, Bend-Condega Friendship Project, Bend, OR
Jean Pauline, San Francisco Neighbor to Neighbor, San Francisco, CA
Tom Brown, Francisco Neighbor to Neighbor, San Francisco, CA
Chester Chambers, Toledo Area Committee on Central America, Toledo, OH
Kathie Sherman, chair, Latin American Action Team, Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery, St. Louis, MO
Susan Severin, Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas, San Anselmo, CA
Diana Bohn, Co-coordinator, Nicaragua Center for Community Action, Berkeley, CA
Rev. Deacon Arthur C. Donart, Ph.D., Social Justice and Peace Committee, JesusChrist, Prince of Peace Parish, Clinton, Iowa

Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), New York, New York
Renate Bridenthal, Emerita Professor of History, Brooklyn College, the City University of New York*
John Mineka, Department of Mathematics, Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY
David "Punch" Worthington, IUPAT retired, Salem, Oregon
Alfred L. Marder, President, US Peace Council
Asociacion Mujer y Comunidad, San Francisco Libre, Nicaragua
Rita A. Clark, Nicaragua - U.S. Friendship Office, Washington, DC
Dale Sorensen, Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas, California
Victoria Cervantes, La Voz de los de Abajo, Chicago, Illinois
Midge Quandt, Princeton-Granada Sister Cities, Princeton, New Jersey
Rayen Russell, Phoenix, AZ
Bartlett Harvey, Exeter NH
Harold F. Leahy, Dayton, Ohio
Debra Wilmer, AZ
Jeff Bogdan, Red Bank, NJ
Hannah Walsh, Chicago, IL
Clyde Appleton, Tucson, AZ
Mike Fox, San Francisco, California
(Sister) Deanna Rose Von Bargen, rscj, Lewiston, Idaho
Mary Hurley, Elyria, OH
Paul Meyers, Jersey City, New Jersey
Frank Kromkowski, Helena, Montana
Rene V. Arcilla, Professor, New York University, New York NY
Debra Neyman, Westminster, Colorado
Elmer Armstrong, Boulder, Colorado
Jean Pauline, Oakland, California
Thomas G. Brown, Jr., Oakland, California
Garry Fry
Andrea Valverde, Berkeley, California
Rachel Greenwood, Williamsburg, MA
Maurita Bernet, Phoenix AZ
Cecilia Girz, Boulder, Colorado
Kathleen M. Burke, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Martha Nagy, Truro, MA
Jennifer Cyr, Bolton, CT. USA
Jack Bopp, Henniker, NH
Raymond Giraud, Palo Alto, California, USA
Lise Giraud, Palo Alto, California, USA
Dr. Arthur C. Donart, Ph.D., Thomson, Illinois 61285
Jeff Mezzocchi, San Francisco, CA
Jim Bier, Ferrum, VA
Elaine Novak, Sacramento California
Courtenay White, Golden, Colorado
Gaia Mika, Ph.D., Boulder, CO
Patricia A. Yager, Tacoma, Washington
Richard Weiner
Martha Nagy
Tom Baker, Chicago, IL
Bentley Davis, Rockland, ME 04841
John W. Murphy, Miami, FL
John Smartt
Malcolm Donald
Chris Kaihatsu, Chicago, IL
Susan Thorpe
Lorna Thorpe
Mary Jane Walz
Ada Taylor
Meripat Bowman
Anne Lively, New York, NY
Courtenay White, Golden, Colorado
Rachel Greenwood, Williamsburg MA
Ann Mulrane, Washington, DC
Walter Tillow, New York, NY
Wayne Alt
Martha Bushnell, Ph.D., Boulder, CO
Kevin Uhl
Yann Kerevel, Albuquerque, NM
Mary Munch, Albany, NY
David Rohrlich, Boston, Massachusetts
Erik Bowen, Lake Bluff, Illinois
Arthur Kennedy
Mary Jane Schutzius, Florissant, MO
Arnold H. Matlin, M.D., Linwood, NY 14486
Joan Malerich, St. Paul, MN
Catherine Goodman, Green Brook, NJ
Laura Tabili, Tucson, Arizona
Alexandra Hernandez, San Francisco, CA
Ben O'Shaughnessy, Albany, NY
Joe Callahan, Tuscon, AZ
Bill Koehnlein, New York, New York
Marie-Claire Picher, New York, New York
Ronald E Rosenberg, Tucson, Arizona
Jean Eisenhower and Asante, Elfrida, Arizona,
Raquel Mogollon, Tucson, AZ
Richard Boren, Tucson, AZ
Dr. J. Richard Weaver, Bluffton, Ohio
Mallory Clarke, Seattle, Washington
Richard Greene
Rev. Henry Atkins, Lucy Treadwell Atkins, New Hampshire
Martha Bushnell, Ph.D., Boulder, Colorado
Rev. Sue Wagner Fields
Edwin M. Moser, Roosevelt, New Jersey
Frank Kromkowski, Helena, Montana
Evangelos Kalambokidis, Fridley, Minnesota
Marcel Hatch, Education Coordinator, Cuba Education Tours, Vancouver, Canada
B.A.E.van der Wal-Kijlstra, The Hague, Netherlands
Charlie and Colleen Withall, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Denise van Wissen, Ocotal, Nicaragua
Joachim Holstein, Hamburg, Germany
Paul Volgyesi, Budapest, Hungary
Marque Brill, Toronto, ON, Canada
Marthe Ruth Wolfe Raymond, MFA,Ciudad Ayala, Morelos, Mexico
Aldo Zanchetta, Fondazione Neno Zanchetta, Lucca - Italia
Fiona Mary Graham, Brussels, Belgium
B.A.E.van der Wal-Kijlstra, The Hague, Netherlands
Dr. Ralf Hedwig, Jena, Federal Republic of Germany
Nan McCurdy, Managua, Nicaragua
Karen Huggins, University of Calgary*, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

organization named for identification purposes only

ATTACHMENT:

National Endowment for Democracy is Anything but Democratic!
By James Jordan and Chuck Kaufman

[James Jordan works with Turnwind in Tucson, AZ; Chuck Kaufman works with the Nicaragua Network in Washington, DC.]

The National Endowment for Democracy has a history of undermining democracy around the world. In Nicaragua, 1990, the NED invaded the political scene, spending $20 per voter, in support of rightist presidential candidate, Violeta Chamorro, who ran against incumbent Sandinista President Daniel Ortega. The Nicaraguan media were saturated with empty promises, lies, and, most notably, the threat of a continuation of the devastating US proxy Contra war, should Chamorro lose the election. After years of enduring this war, the people capitulated and, although to this day the Sandinistas are the largest political party, Chamorro won; and the progressive direction of Nicaragua was derailed.

The NED pursued similar efforts supporting the Venezuelan opposition to the Bolivarian Revolution and to President Hugo Chavez. NED monies directly funded organizations and individuals behind the failed coup of April 2002, as well as the subsequent failed work stoppages, and the failed referendum of August 2004. Fortunately, in this case, public support continues to be so strong that the opposition, even when well funded, has had no significant, lasting successes.

Not so in Haiti. The IRI conceived, convened, coordinated, and funded the foundation of an opposition umbrella group, Democratic Convergence, whose members were involved in the coup d'etat and the kidnapping and exile of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, with US troops taking part in and supporting this process. This coup is now being consolidated with the mass arrests, torture, and murder of Aristide supporters.

The NED has given over $30 million to dissident groups in Cuba over the last 20 years. And the NED is a major source of funding for the Cuban American National Foundation. From 1981 till his death in 1997, CANF was headed by Jorge Mas Canosa, veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and close associate of Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch. Both Posada and Bosch were responsible for blowing up a Cuban passenger plane in 1976, killing all 73 persons on board. In turn, Mas made a special project of advocating for Bosch' release from detention. Directorio is another organization of right wing Cubans living in the US that is funded by the NED through the IRI. According to an IRI release, "An example of the pro-democracy movement's gains is detailed in Directorio's annual Steps to Freedom report which documents acts of civil resistance in Cuba. According to the report, there were 44 such events in 1997, and 600 in 2000."

Not only in Latin America, but throughout the world, the NED pursues similar efforts. The NED manipulated elections in Mongolia in 1996 and helped to overthrow governments in Bulgaria in 1990 and Albania in 1991 and 1992, all of which had been democratically elected. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, its fourth largest recipient of NED funds, the NED spent $1,558,990 in FY2003. One can be certain that the region's huge oil and mineral wealth has caught the attention of corporate globalists.

The NED has even given funding to right wing movements among NATO allies in Western Europe. In the 1980's, the NED gave $830,000 to the anti-communist French trade union, Force Ouvriere, which the CIA had been financing beginning in the 1940's. The National Inter-University Union, an organization of extreme-right French citizens with paramilitary and criminal backgrounds, received $575,000. These grants would never have been made public were they not exposed by French journalists in 1985.

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