The New York Times recently published an article in the context of Trump authorizing a CIA war on Venezuela about the history of CIA coups in South America.
But the article focused almost entirely on decades-old CIA plots while leaving out the more recent history of CIA interference in South America.
More recent CIA interference has been done primarily through two cutouts of the agency’s regime change programs, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
CIA whistleblower Philip Agee revealed that the CIA began running their regime change operations through the NED, describing it as a “mega conduit” for “the millions or the tens of millions that are set aside for the meddling in the internal affairs of other countries”.
He noted that from the NED the money goes to the Democratic Party’s National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Republican Party’s International Republican Institute (IRI), the AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, adding that “these groups then pass it out to recipients in foreign countries”.
This interference includes the 2004 coup against Haiti’s president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
As Mother Jones reported at the time, when “a rebellion erupted against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide”, “Several leaders of the demonstrations — some of whom also had links to the armed rebels — had been getting organizational help and training from a U.S. government-financed organization,” referring to the International Republican Institute (IRI), a subsidiary of the NED.
Mother Jones noted, “In 2002 and 2003, IRI used funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to organize numerous political training sessions in the Dominican Republic and Miami for some 600 Haitian leaders. Though IRI’s work is supposed to be nonpartisan — it is official U.S. policy not to interfere in foreign elections — a former U.S. diplomat says organizers of the workshops selected only opponents of Aristide and attempted to mold them into a political force” adding that, “In 2004, several of the people who had attended IRI trainings were influential in the toppling of Aristide”.
Similarly, in 2002, as Mother Jones reported, the U.S. “increased funding for IRI’s activities in Venezuela sixfold, from $50,000 to $300,000”, adding that “In April 2002, a group of military officers launched a coup against (then Venezuelan president Hugo) Chavez, and leaders of several parties trained by IRI joined the junta.”
The coup against Chavez was soon reversed when his supporters took to the streets and reversed it.
The CIA also used the NED to interfere in the Venezuelan national Assembly elections of 2015.
As Jacobin Magazine reported, in 2013, the U.S. gave $300,000 to the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the NED’s other subsidiary in order to “mobilize a voter database that identified and targeted swing voters through social media” running up to the 2015 election.
Jacobin noted that, “indeed, in December 2015, the opposition won a majority in the Venezuelan National Assembly for the first time since Chávez came to power in 1999” adding that, “the NDI claims credit for the opposition’s success, writing that this strategy ‘ultimately played an important role in their resounding victory in the 2015 election’ and that a ‘determining factor in the success of the coalition in the parliamentary elections of 2015 was a two-year effort prior to the elections”.
The NED also sent millions of dollars to NGOs in Nicaragua, which eventually spurred violent riots against the country’s president, Daniel Ortega.
The outlet Global Americans reported that the NED funding, “laid the groundwork for insurrection” in Nicaragua, noting that “Since 2014, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), has spent $4.1 million on projects in Nicaragua” and adding that, “the NED has funded 54 projects in Nicaragua between 2014 and 2017”.
The outlet noted that, “it is now quite evident that the U.S. government actively helped build the political space and capacity in Nicaraguan society for the social uprising that is currently unfolding”.
The “uprising currently unfolding” was a reference to the violent riots in the country that year (2018) sparked by NED funding.
Journalist John Perry, who reported on the ground during the riots, wrote, “Public buildings and the houses of government supporters were burnt down by protesters; shops were ransacked; most businesses and all banks and schools were closed,” adding that “The main secondary school for 3,700 pupils was burnt out twice. The police station was under siege for 45 days, so no police were on patrol. No cars or taxis could use the streets; passing the barricades on foot involved being checked by youths with weapons and on occasion threatened. Dissent was met with violence (before the barricades went up, I took part in a ‘peace’ march which was pelted with stones). At first protesters had homemade mortars, but later many acquired more serious weapons such as AK-47s; paid troublemakers manned the barricades at night-time. A police official captured nearby was tortured and then killed, his body burnt at a barricade.”
The NED also backed the 2019 military coup against Bolivia’s president Evo Morales.
The military coup took place after the Organization of American States (OAS) falsely claimed that the 2019 election in Bolivia was rigged.
The New York Times later admitted that, “Bolivian election data suggests an initial analysis by the O.A.S. that raised questions of vote-rigging — and helped force out a president — was flawed”.
Journalist Yanis Iqbal reported that the NED funded a long slew of NGOs that pushed the lie about the election being rigged, which was used to justify the coup, writing, “In 2019, NED ran programmes such as Countering Disinformation in the Political Process, Informing Citizens Via Digital Platforms, Monitoring the National Electoral Process, Promoting an Informed Electorate, Providing Independent Analysis and Information, Providing Independent Political News and Election Information and Stimulating an Informed National Debate. These NED tactics conclusively point towards a scheme of carefully choreographed propaganda and electoral interventionism which contributed to the 2019 Bolivia coup”.
The U.S.-backed government that took power after the coup- led byopposition politician Jeanine Áñez- went on to open fire on Evo Morales supporters who opposed the coup.
The NED and USAID have also interfered in Cuba.
Foreign Policy Magazine reported that, through USAID, “the United States covertly launched a social media platform in Cuba in 2010, hoping to create a Twitter-like service that would spark a ‘Cuban Spring’ and potentially help bring about the collapse of the island’s Communist government”.
As journalist Alan Macleod reported in 2021, “grant publications of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) show that Washington is trying to infiltrate the Cuban arts scene in order to bring about regime change”.
Macleod went on to note, “For instance, one project, entitled ‘Empowering Cuban Hip-Hop Artists as Leaders in Society,’ states that its goal is to ‘promote citizen participation and social change,’ and to ‘raise awareness about the role hip-hop artists have in strengthening democracy in the region.’ Another, called ‘Promoting Freedom of Expression in Cuba through the Arts,’ claims it is helping local artists on projects related to ‘democracy, human rights, and historical memory,’ and to help ‘increase awareness about the Cuban reality’” adding that “Other operations the NED is currently funding include enhancing Cuban civil society’s ability to ‘propose political alternatives’ and to ‘transition to democracy.’”
Macleod also noted, “Other areas in which U.S. organizations are focusing resources include sports journalism — which the NED hopes to use as a ‘vehicle to narrate the political, social, and cultural realities of Cuban society’ — and gender and LGBTQ+ groups, the intersectional empire apparently seeing an opportunity to also use these issues to increase fissures in Cuban society.”
While the New York Times is able to report on CIA plots from the 60s and 70s, it refuses to write about the more recent CIA interference in South America to give the impression that CIA meddling is a thing of the past.
As journalist Ali Abunimah put it, referring to the New York Times article, “This is so typical of American liberal propaganda: We’re allowed to talk about CIA regime-changes and murder from decades ago, but if you talk about the covert and overt crimes the US is perpetrating now, the same mouthpieces will label you a ‘conspiracy theorist’”.
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