8-26-05,9:34am
Havana, August 24 (AIN).- International repudiation has erupted over the call made by rightwing religious broadcaster Pat Robertson to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said panellists participating on the Cuban TV and Radio show 'The Round Table' on Tuesday.
Robertson suggested to his viewing audience that US operatives assassinate Chavez to stop his country from 'becoming a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.'
'We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,' Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's 'The 700 Club.'
Commenting on these remarks, the panellists of the Cuban TV show said that even State Department spokespersons were quick to describe such a public statement as 'inappropriate,' while several US lawmakers and officials of the Venezuelan government labelled them as terrorist.
Nonetheless, in recent weeks Bush administration officials have stepped up their public and covert attacks on the Venezuelan government, displeased with the South American country spending its oil profits on social and economic development programs and Chavez's refusal to tailor his foreign policy to US interests.
The analysts noted that the White House is particularly concerned with the democratically elected leader using his financial clout to promote the integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries at the expense of US dominance in the hemisphere.
Latin America is considered the region with the highest inequality in the world. While 96 million people live in extreme poverty and the countries face rampant instability caused by neoliberal policies, a small elite of the population linked to US interests have closely guarded their economic and political power with Washington's assistance.
Illustrating this reality, the panellists pointed to various situations in Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, some of the countries where the US is expanding its mechanisms of domination.
Recent events in the region show a backdrop of protests, corruption scandals and other irregularities that people are increasingly unwilling to cope with. At the same time, they are becoming aware of the social benefits being experienced by the people of Venezuela.
While Caracas is opening up its oil reserves to benefit the peoples of the region, and along with Cuba is spearheading the massive Operation Milagro eye surgery program and other educational projects, the rest of the continent is seeing its natural resources being depleted by big corporations, concluded the Round Table participants.
