"US May Assassinate Chavez"

Fidel Castro has penned an editorial in Granma (November 30) in which he warns Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, that the US may seek to assassinate him.

Castro adds that such an "irresponsible" act would be detrimental to the world's economy.

In the article Castro writes:

"The most sophisticated media developed by technology, employed to kill human beings and to subjugate or exterminate the peoples; the mass implantation of conditioned reflexes of the mind; consumerism; and all available resources are being used today against the Venezuelan people in an attempt to shred apart the ideas of Bolivar and Martí.

The empire has created conditions conducive to violence and internal conflicts. I spoke with Chávez very seriously during his most recent visit on November 21 about the risk of assassination for anyone who is constantly exposed in open vehicles. I did so based on my experience as a combatant trained in the use of a telescopic sight and an automatic weapon, and likewise, after the triumph, as someone who was the target of assassination plots directly ordered or induced by almost every U.S. administration since 1959.

The irresponsible government of the empire does not stop for a minute to think about how the assassination of the president or a civil war in Venezuela, with its enormous hydrocarbon reserves, would lead to an explosion of the globalized world economy. These circumstances have no precedent in human history."

The US would most likely scoff at Castro's warning in public but I can't hardly see why 'removing' Chávez would not be desirable to some in the Bush administration.

We are, afterall, talking about an administration that is beset by real politik reasoning and its narrow fixation on national interests to the detriment of just about anything else.

I think it is reasonable to expect that the US may want to assassinate Chávez, and who should know better than Castro. Read this somewhat amusing article from the Guardian that covers some of the US attempts on Castro's life here.

Chávez should watch his back just in case greed and imperial fancy is mobilized even further.