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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Tracing the Aristide and Chavez money trails in DC |
| 2004-04-12 |
| EFL Venezuela has retained the Washington law firm Patton Boggs to give its image a Washington make-over. "We are advising them to improve U.S.-Venezuelan relations," a consultant at the firm says. -snip- U.S. Justice Department records show that the firms of Mr. Dellums and of Ms. Ross-Robinson and Mr. Kurzban’s law firm were all big beneficiaries of Mr. Aristide’s influence buying in Washington. The Washington Times has reported that Mr. Dellums, who threw his weight around with the Congressional Black Caucus on Mr. Aristide’s behalf, received $571,326 in 2001 and 2002 from the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. The story also said that Ms. Ross-Robinson took in $367,967. Still, those two were under-performers compared to Mr. Kurzban, whose work for Mr. Aristide from 1997 through 2002 yielded, according to the Times report, $5.38 million. Lobbyists make their livings lobbying, of course. But these sizable fees paid by a desperately poor nation hearken back to Christopher Caldwell’s observations on Mr. Aristide as a Washington operator in the July 1994 American Spectator. In that story Mr. Caldwell detailed the Haitian’s skill in working the U.S. capital: "How the administration came to condone and promote this kind of slow-motion Great Terror -- that is, how Aristide’s policy became our policy -- is a story of the distortions that result when virtually the entire budget of a sovereign nation is funneled into a massive Washington lobbying and public-relations campaign." Mr. Chavez has big bucks too and far more dangerous predilections. Like Mr. Aristide he has armed paramilitaries to enforce his rule. But there are also reports that he has been giving safe haven to Colombian guerrillas inside the Venezuelan border, and that he has been funding radicalized Indian militants in Bolivia. The evidence spilling out in Washington suggests that the Patton Boggs strategy involves getting policy makers to disbelieve what has been reported from the region. The consultant I spoke to said the plan involves lobbying U.S. congressmen and "could" involve calling on the State Department, the Department of Defense, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. It’s pretty clear, though, that Patton Boggs sees Senate Democrats as the flabby, soft underbelly of U.S. foreign policy, starting with Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd. As the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Dodd defended Mr. Chavez in April 2002 when the Venezuelan military removed him rather than follow his orders to attack a crowd of civilian demonstrators. When an Inspector General’s report cleared the Bush administration of any role in that event, Mr. Dodd retreated in silence on the subject of Venezuela. Dispassionate observers give chances for the Patton Boggs mission long odds. U.S. policy makers will balance the lobbyist claims against all the evidence that trusting Hugo Chavez is a bad idea. Nevertheless, it’s an election year and Democrats have a mighty interest in restoring their power. That means they need money and they need to show that George Bush is in trouble in the world. What is worrying is that Mr. Chavez might be able to help them with both. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #2 It’s pretty clear, though, that Patton Boggs sees Senate Democrats as the flabby, soft underbelly of U.S. foreign policy That certainly describes their role for the last thirty-odd years. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-13 3:48:46 PM |
| #1 If I were in Las Vegas - I'd see Mr. Chavez as a reeeally big long shot with a teeny tiny payout compared to the bid. I guess the world is full of idiots willing to piss away their money. |
| Posted by: B 2004-04-13 3:27:58 PM |