Venezuela's Political Disaster - July 14, 2006
Dear Journalists,
While there is a declaration of Open War in the Middle East, there are news reports that Chavez is providing Venezuelan passports to Islamic activists as reported on CNN by Lou Dobbs "Venezuela Fueling Illegal Immigration Crisis." :
DOBBS: The United States is warning tonight that Venezuela is now actively fueling this nation's illegal immigration crisis. With the help of Fidel Castro's Cuba, Venezuela's counterfeit document industry could also be helping potential radical Islamist terrorists gain entry into this country. Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Terrorist groups like al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah may be no further away than 1,400 miles from Florida, with the front door to America open in Venezuela. In no uncertain terms, the State Department made it clear to Congress, it considers the increasing discovery and growing use of fraudulent documents bearing the state seal of Venezuela to be a serious threat to the United States.
AMB. CHARLES SHAPIRO, DEP. ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: I would be willing to bet that just about anybody in this room, except for me, could probably obtain a Venezuelan passport, a legitimate Venezuelan passport, within a short period of time, in Venezuela.
TUCKER: The implications were obvious to the committee's chairman.
REP. EDWARD ROYCE, CHAIRMAN, INTL. TERRORISM SUBCOMM: Let me just make the observation that news reports reflect that thousands, thousands, of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon. This is certainly not in the best interests of the United States.
TUCKER: In the opinion of those concerned about security, this is a problem that will not go away until passports are made more secure.
JANICE KEPHART, FORMER COUNSEL, 9/11 COMMISSION: We have these threats all over the world, in different ways, with passports, with travel documents. We have not had a worldwide effort as of yet to go after the issue head on. And until we do, we will continue to have serious vulnerability.
TUCKER: Neither the State Department nor the Department of Homeland Security will comment on the numbers of fraudulent documents they have discovered. (END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Officials so far are also unwilling to say that the document fraud has the official blessing of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But they do note, with admitted concern, that Venezuela has signed a contract turning over the office that issues those documents, the identity cards and the passports, Lou, to Cuba.DOBBS: Communist Cuba. TUCKER: Communist Cuba.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/14/ldt.01.html
And, by Fox News yesterday on the Neil Cavuto Report "Hugo Chavez: Growing Threat:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203418,00.html
Next, is link to opinion written by Ambassador Adolfo Taylhardat commenting on Chavez's interest with North Korea's missiles and his upcoming trip to Pyongyang:
http://opinion.eluniversal.com/2006/07/12/opi_art_12591B.shtml
In the meantime, Chavez is considering imprisoning leaders of Sumate, an independent democratic civil society group in Venezuela, who is trying to save democracy:
http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/07/14/en_pol_art_14A745211.shtml
Please make sure to read http://www.vcrisis.com/ where you will find numerous reports on Chavez's activities, and run a search on its data base.
Cordially,
Maru Angarita
My blog is: http://maruangarita.blogspot.com/
Resources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/images/20050531_p44959-105jasjpg-2-515h.html
www.sumate.org
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200607130551
www.adolfotaylhardat.net
http://www.vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200601131013
While there is a declaration of Open War in the Middle East, there are news reports that Chavez is providing Venezuelan passports to Islamic activists as reported on CNN by Lou Dobbs "Venezuela Fueling Illegal Immigration Crisis." :
DOBBS: The United States is warning tonight that Venezuela is now actively fueling this nation's illegal immigration crisis. With the help of Fidel Castro's Cuba, Venezuela's counterfeit document industry could also be helping potential radical Islamist terrorists gain entry into this country. Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Terrorist groups like al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah may be no further away than 1,400 miles from Florida, with the front door to America open in Venezuela. In no uncertain terms, the State Department made it clear to Congress, it considers the increasing discovery and growing use of fraudulent documents bearing the state seal of Venezuela to be a serious threat to the United States.
AMB. CHARLES SHAPIRO, DEP. ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: I would be willing to bet that just about anybody in this room, except for me, could probably obtain a Venezuelan passport, a legitimate Venezuelan passport, within a short period of time, in Venezuela.
TUCKER: The implications were obvious to the committee's chairman.
REP. EDWARD ROYCE, CHAIRMAN, INTL. TERRORISM SUBCOMM: Let me just make the observation that news reports reflect that thousands, thousands, of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon. This is certainly not in the best interests of the United States.
TUCKER: In the opinion of those concerned about security, this is a problem that will not go away until passports are made more secure.
JANICE KEPHART, FORMER COUNSEL, 9/11 COMMISSION: We have these threats all over the world, in different ways, with passports, with travel documents. We have not had a worldwide effort as of yet to go after the issue head on. And until we do, we will continue to have serious vulnerability.
TUCKER: Neither the State Department nor the Department of Homeland Security will comment on the numbers of fraudulent documents they have discovered. (END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Officials so far are also unwilling to say that the document fraud has the official blessing of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But they do note, with admitted concern, that Venezuela has signed a contract turning over the office that issues those documents, the identity cards and the passports, Lou, to Cuba.DOBBS: Communist Cuba. TUCKER: Communist Cuba.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/14/ldt.01.html
And, by Fox News yesterday on the Neil Cavuto Report "Hugo Chavez: Growing Threat:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203418,00.html
Next, is link to opinion written by Ambassador Adolfo Taylhardat commenting on Chavez's interest with North Korea's missiles and his upcoming trip to Pyongyang:
http://opinion.eluniversal.com/2006/07/12/opi_art_12591B.shtml
In the meantime, Chavez is considering imprisoning leaders of Sumate, an independent democratic civil society group in Venezuela, who is trying to save democracy:
http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/07/14/en_pol_art_14A745211.shtml
Please make sure to read http://www.vcrisis.com/ where you will find numerous reports on Chavez's activities, and run a search on its data base.
Cordially,
Maru Angarita
My blog is: http://maruangarita.blogspot.com/
Resources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/images/20050531_p44959-105jasjpg-2-515h.html
www.sumate.org
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200607130551
www.adolfotaylhardat.net
http://www.vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200601131013
posted by Maru Angarita at 8:45 PM
<< Home