US academic says targeted by FBI over Venezuela

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060311/pl_nm/venezuela_usa_fbi_dc;_ylt=Aq_e1Bb4Yl0_04akrB.0WFas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-



US academic says targeted by FBI over Venezuela

By Saul Hudson Fri Mar 10, 10:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. academic accused the
FBI on Friday of trying to silence his criticism of Bush administration policy toward Venezuela, further straining ties between Washington and the major oil supplier.


Venezuela seized on agents' questioning of the professor, condemning it in a statement as "a violation of the freedoms of expression, thought and academic inquiry, and ... a desperate attempt to link Venezuela to terrorism."

The FBI did not address the accusations directly but said in a statement it had conducted an "informational interview" ofMiguel Tinker Salas, a history professor at Pomona College, a liberal arts university in California.......

Tinker Salas said two agents of an FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force questioned him this week at his offices about his contacts with the Venezuelan Embassy.

"The intent was to intimidate," the Venezuelan-born American citizen told Reuters......

and continues to use bully tactics to try to suppress individual freedoms of expression.

.....He said the agents asked if his opinions about U.S. policy had been influenced by the embassy and told him Venezuelans living in the United States were "of interest" to the task force, whose job is to prevent terrorist attacks.

Jonathan Knight, who directs a national program to protect academic freedom, said that if the allegations were true, it appeared the FBI wanted to silence a professor using tactics that he had not seen since the persecution of academics perceived as pro-Communist in the 1950s.

"A faculty member being confronted by two law enforcement agents could have a cautionary effect because what he can expect is that the U.S. government is watching his views," said Knight of the American Association of University Professors. "This is treading very much on his freedom."

Tinker Salas, whose recent work includes a book analyzing Venezuelan politics since President Hugo Chavez was first elected in 1998, said he would not be cowed.

I wonder if the FBI has someone tailing Mariah Carey because her father was Venezuelan? That sounds like something stupid that this mal-administration would do.:+

thought police... and that is not an American value or a family value... and it certainly doesn't offer any "value added" imho.

:applause:

giving the FBI the power to do precisely what they are now doing with people that disagree with Bush's policies in Latin America.

Bush did not become a dictator with only GOP support, he had plenty of help from the "opposition" party.

Thank G-d for people like Russ Feingold!

war profiteering corporate news monopolies. They are hilarious. Here's Yahoo's*:

"Chavez, an ally of U.S. foe Cuban President Fidel Castro, has insulted senior U.S. officials and, flush with windfall oil revenue, galvanized popular anti-American sentiment in the region by opposing American policies, particularly on trade."

I especially like, "...and, flush with windfall oil revenue...."

I don't think Chavez has a lot of trouble galvanizing "popular anti-American sentiment" in South America. Chile, for instance--which just elected socialist Michele Batchelet, its first woman president, who was tortured by the US-backed dictator Pinochet; and whose democratically elected president, socialist Salvador Allende, was assassinated with CIA help in the '70s--has it own reasons for despising the US. Actually, none of these peoples are anti-American. They are anti-Bush and anti-US Corporate Rulers. Bolivia, for instance--which just elected its first indigenous Indian as president, socialist Evo Morales--preceded the election by throwing the Bechtel Corporation out of Bolivia, in a grass roots uprising (Bechtel had privatized the water in a Bolivian city and jacked up the price to the poor). True also in all the other South American countries which have elected leftist governments in the last several years (virtually the entire map of South America*)--Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay: anti-US Corporate/World Bank, anti-imperialist/anti-Bush. But, in following So. American news, I have not discerned ANY hatred of the people of the U.S. They seem to pity us more than anything else--and are well aware that we are suffering a fascist junta and have no power to stop it.

Also, in typical fashion, Yahoo presumes that "American" (as in "anti-American") means north America/the United States. South Americans are Americans, too.

**(--the result of years of hard work by So. American grass roots organizations, local civic groups, the OAS, EU election monitoring groups and the Carter Center on TRANSPARENT elections. Transparent elections = good, leftist government of, by and for the people. Non-transparent elections = fascist junta (i.e., the Bush Cartel). Take note!)

Note: www.venezuelanalysis.com is an excellent source of info on the Bolivarian revolution in So. America.


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* IS Yahoo a war profiteering corporate news monopoly? My general impression of them is that they follow the AP/NYT line on most things (on what constitutes news; on how to frame news to favor fascists and corporate/military profiteers; on who is the enemy this week, etc.). But I'm willing to be corrected--I don't follow Yahoo that closely.)

bit of its shit. They let nothing go by. They refuse to suffer slander in silence. During Katrina, they immediately offered help to the poor people of the Gulf Coast whom Bush was letting rot and die, and followed this by the offer of cheap heating oil to the poor of the U.S. whom the U.S. oil giants are gouging during a cold winter. And every time Bush, Rice & Co. opens its mouth, Venezuela is there to put a sock in it.

They immediately saw what this FBI incident was about, and wasted no time in throwing it right back in Bush's face.

Venezuela is speaking from a position of strength. Virtually the whole of South America has arisen against U.S. Corporate Rule. This peaceful, democratic revolution is spreading north as well. Mexico is likely going to elect the leftist mayor of Mexico City as president this year. The common theme of this historic and profound rebellion is SELF-DETERMINATION, and at long last throwing off U.S. domination. Chavez is by no means alone. The left/center Argentinian government has paid off its World Bank loans early and sworn never to get in hock to U.S./World bank financial barracudas again. Brazil (former steel worker as president) led the third world country revolt at the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun a few years ago. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia--all leftist governments--and Peru will likely be next. These governments have their own independent view of Cuba (and other U.S. Corporate targets like Haiti). Fascist pro-Bush regimes like Columbia are becoming very isolated.

The times they are a-changin'.