Súmate put on trial as U.S. puppet

On July 7, the National Endowment for Democracy’s puppet organization in Venezuela, Súmate, was indicted on the charge of treason. According to Venezuelan laws, a non-partisan civil organization cannot either act as a political party, interfere with elections, or take foreign funds.

Súmate openly acquired $53,400 from the National Endowment for Democracy to “conspire against the government,” according to a Venezuelan judge. Further more, the leaders of Súmate, Marina Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz, signed the infamous “Carmona Decree,” the mandate created during the April 2002 failed coup against President Hugo Chávez. Rather than being a civil, non-partisan organization, Súmate had called for the removal of Chávez during a previous recall referendum.

Miseducating thousands by blatantly calling their popularly elected president a “dictator,” Súmate was not enhancing the democracy of Venezuela, as its mission states—rather it represented U.S. interests to destabilize the Bolivarian Revolution.

Marina Machado received an invitation in May to meet with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office. Machado was the first Venezuelan to be received by Bush during his time in office. This fostered outrage in Venezuela that an already anti-Chavista organization, masquerading as a group to promote civil society, was taking funds and orders from the White House.

This crystallized the case against them as being thoroughly pro-imperialist and counter-revolutionary.

After the initial court date was set against Súmate, NED President Carl Gersh man made a visit to Venezuela in a vain attempt to derail the trial of Machado and Plaz, threatening the Venezuelan government with a cessation of aid money by the World Bank. The World Bank has been funding Venezuela’s judicial reform process.

Due to the fact that the revolutionary government held firm, this aid has recently been revoked. This attempted bribe on the part of the NED has certainly not alleviated the crisis for the U.S. imperialist government, but has exacerbated it.

It has shown how the NED and Súmate are hired hands of the U.S. imperialists and have close connections to the World Bank and IMF, whose structural policies are responsible for impoverishing Third World nations.

The NED has never been about “democracy.” Following the April 2002 coup, the NED received a $1-million grant for its “work in Venezuela.” These millions pumped into the NED are pushed into Súmate, which funds groups and parties that consistently work against the mass organizations.

One example is the funding of an opportunist left-sounding group, Bandera Roja or Red Flag, which is responsible for attacks against Commando Maisanta centers (election brigades), the state oil company PDVSA, and the Bolivarian Circles—grassroots organizations that implement social change.

Besides its operations in Venezuela, the NED has been a U.S. tool for destabilization of sovereign nations worldwide under the guise of promoting the “democratic” process. The NED played key roles in the “Orange” and “Gucci” revolutions, which were in reality imperialist interventions in the former Soviet Union and in Syria, respectively.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela says it is perfectly acceptable and legitimate for civil organizations and non-partisan organizations to exist, as they strengthen revolutionary democracy, but not organizations that are a façade and a cover for U.S. imperialist interests and whose real aim is to derail the Bolivarian Revolution and achieve another right-wing coup.