Source: islamtimes.org

By: Cindy Sheehan
3/8/2010

Recently, I was given the honor of going to Venezuela to interview its President, Hugo Chavez, and I also had some extraordinary experiences and interviews along the way.

I was able to travel to Uruguay with Chavez and his team to attend the inauguration activities of President Jose Mujica. I traveled with and got to know some amazing revolutionaries and dedicated public servants.

Trust me, these people work hard and they are extremely dedicated to the revolution and devoted to President Hugo Chavez. We were constantly on the move and things changed by the minute. Spending two days traveling with this crew was exhilarating but also extremely fatiguing—I can’t even imagine doing it everyday!

Anyway, one of the people we traveled with was Temir Porras, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of Asia and the Middle East. I asked Temir if he would sit down with us for an interview. When I made the request I said, “Temir, I would love to interview you to ask you what you would do differently in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine if you were president of the United States.” He agreed to the interview but said the answer to that question was easy, “Everything!”

Temir speaks perfect English, so no interpreter was required and we sat down with him for about 40 minutes in my hotel room in Caracas.

The entire, wonderful interview will be broadcast on my radio show: Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox soon, but I wanted to write about the highlights.

I asked him some easy questions to begin the interview to highlight the difference between an aggressive and violent foreign policy, like the US has, and the foreign policies of a so-called Dictatorship.

ME: Temir, how many illegal foreign wars of aggression is Venezuela currently involved in?

TEMIR: None.

ME: Thank you. Temir, how many countries has Venezuela invaded lately?

Temir: None.

ME: Temir, how many wars of any kind is Venezuela involved in?

Temir: Zero.

In stark contrast to the Empire where I was born and currently reside—the US is presently in the midst of two very illegal and immoral invasions and is regularly bombing in Pakistan and Yemen—Venezuela has a foreign policy based on “respect for sovereignty.” The only time the US Empire respects a nation’s sovereignty is if that nation carries water for the corporations, IMF or World Bank.

Not only is the US involved in its own military misadventures, but it is also the foundation and support for Israeli aggression and occupation against Palestine. Again, Venezuelan policy on this issue is, in my opinion, the more principled one.

In 2006 when Israeli invaded Lebanon, (with military hardware purchased by and through the US), Venezuela recalled its Ambassador in Tel Aviv. Then when Israel slaughtered Gazans at the end of 2008, Venezuela expelled Israel’s Ambassador and totally closed its embassy in Tel Aviv. There was not even a peep from official US channels against this aggression—as a matter of fact, we have officially supported the atrocities with giving trite li-service to “human rights.”

Vice Minister Porras was very generous with his time and very articulate in explaining Venezuelan foreign policy to us, but I was particularly interested in its Middle Eastern views.

The policies of Venezuela and my own are very similar—Nations should completely honor and respect the sovereignty of other nations.

Troops and independent contractors should be immediately and totally withdrawn from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Palestinians deserve their own sovereign state within Palestine.

Temir was also very concerned with US aggression towards Iran and did not support sanctioning Iran saying that it is up to the government of Iran whether it should have nuclear power and even a nuclear bomb. No one likes nukes, but Iran’s close regional neighbor is Israel, and everyone knows that Israel has many nuclear bombs—the only way to forestall that problem would be if every nation disarmed and conformed to IAEA regulations, inspections and controls.

Towards the end of the interview, I asked Temir if he felt that the US occupations all over the world, but especially in Afghanistan, would cause the collapse of the US Military Empire as it did the Soviet Union’s—his answer was immediate and brief:

“I hope so.”

I hope so, too—the only unfortunate thing is that when the Empire collapses it will cause turmoil and sorrow all over the world.

Temir had (in my opinion) unfounded optimism in the people of the United States that we will be able to turn this trend around before the collapse of the Empire takes the rest of the world down with it.

In solidarity with our children and the children of the world—I HOPE that Temir is correct.

I was born in the U.S. in 1957.

I was born a subject of the world’s most lethal Empire.

When did the U.S. become an Empire? Ask our indigenous people that question.

I was also born in a Myth-ocracy, where we are propagandized from Day One about how we live in the “Greatest Nation in History” and that our neighbors in Latin America are lucky to have the U.S. so close in proximity so we can “save” the people from their “dictators.” Also, here in The Empire, many people believe that the “commons” that exist in Latin America are not really for the people in that region, but for the U.S.—and we will be happy to “liberate” the resources and land from our poorer and less intelligent Latin brothers and sisters. These myths need to be dispelled—and very quickly.

If you asked me even five years ago what I thought I would be doing today, one of those things would not have been writing a weekly column for a newspaper in Venezuela!

Of course, after Casey was killed and after I started to school myself on the true nature of the U.S.—Venezuela and her outspoken leader started to enter my circle of concern.

Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela is universally known for his justified criticism of former (p)resident George W. Bush. However, now under the new U.S. regime, it appears to me that The Empire is trying hard to provoke Venezuela into a war.

Venezuela does have a large reserve of oil and the Venezuelan people have an “un-American” mis-perception that their oil belongs to them and not Exxon or the Rockefellers. The Obama regime has signed a new pact with Colombia to put bases (ostensibly to fight the drug war and left-wing opposition groups—yeah, right—The Empire is a drug lord) there and recently, drones and fighter jets have been spotted flying over Venezuelan air space. The Empire never outright rejected the coup in Honduras and, in fact, probably supported it.

In response to the deadly earthquake in Haiti, the Obama administration sent thousands of troops, ships and secured the airport—look on a map and check out how close Haiti is to Venezuela.

I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to educate my fellow USAians about the true nature of the Bolivaran Revolution in Venezuela and its implications for the Americas and the world. Don’t form an opinion before you learn the truth—and trust me—the U.S. “news” media DOES NOT give you a non-biased reporting of events on any issue, really.

Obviously, Venezuela’s continuing successes in empowering the poor are spreading to the rest of Central and South America. U.S. corporations and the crimes of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are being regularly rejected, populist leaders are being elected, and the grass-roots struggle is very inspiring to those of us trying to stimulate a popular uprising here in The Empire.

The U.S. must stop meddling in South American affairs and must stop treating that region like it is our pathetic neighbor and start treating it with respect and fairness.

Unfortunately, one day I was on the Sean Hannity show on Fox News and Sean told me that President Chavez was “anti-American.” I said, “but Sean, he is an American”—Hannity was non-plussed and looked like he may have a hemorrhagic event–But, Venezuela is populated with our American brothers and sisters and understanding each other is the key imperative to guarantee peace between our nations.

I hope my new column Postcards from The Empire will help build a pan-Americanism that recognizes and celebrates our differences and our similarities and will help foster tolerance and respect for each other.

My column will appear weekly in: Correo del Orinoco International (English language) and Correo del Orinoco (Spanish language).

Click here to download the PDF of this week’s edition.

My column is on Page 7.

CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON CINDY’S LATEST BOOK

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq on 4 April 2004. She is the author of five books, the host of her radio show: Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox and weekly columnist for Correo del Orinoco. Cindy is the Executive Director of Peace of the Action. Her favorite role is being the Gigi of Jonah and Jovie—and making the world a better place for all the children.