The National Endowment for Democracy (NED):
A Funnel for U.S. Taxpayer Dollars to Venezuela Coup Leaders?
“…it is clear
that NED, Department of Defense (DOD), and other U.S. assistance programs
provided training, institution building, and other support to individuals and
organizations understood to be actively involved in the brief ouster of the
Chávez government…”
- United States Department
of State, Office of Inspector General, “A Review of U.S. Policy Toward
Venezuela”[1]
The U.S. National
Endowment for Democracy is funneling U.S. taxpayer dollars to members of Venezuela’s
opposition who were key players in the April 2002 coup against the
democratically elected government. The coup government ordered the abolition of
Venezuela’s democratic institutions, including the Supreme Court, the National
Assembly, and the Constitution.[2]
On April 20, the National
Endowment for Democracy released a memo to the OAS that stated:
One
of the more serious charges leveled against NED in the Permanent Council
meeting of March 31 was the allegation that there was a connection between the
NED and the coup d’etat of April 2002… In a thorough independent review of NED
activities and programs before and during the events of April 2002, the U.S.
Inspector General’s Office concluded “Based on OIG’s review the NED, its core
grantees and discretionary grant recipients were carrying out programs in a
manner consistent with NED grant policies and guidelines and were adhering to
U.S. laws and policies.”[3]
The clear implication is
that, according to the OIG report, groups funded by the NED were not involved
in the coup. This is, for example, how the memo was reported by Bart Jones in
the National Catholic Reporter: “The endowment dismissed the allegations,
saying in the memo that neither it nor the groups it finances had any
connection to the coup. It cited a U.S. Inspector General’s Office review to
back up its assertions.”[4]
Chris Sabatini, the Endowment’s senior program officer for Latin America and
the Caribbean, has stated that there is no evidence that groups backed by the
National Endowment for Democracy participated in the coup.[5]
To reiterate, this is
what the OIG report actually says on whether NED-financed groups were involved
in the coup: “… it is clear that NED,
Department of Defense (DOD), and other U.S. assistance programs provided training,
institution building, and other support to individuals and organizations
understood to be actively involved in the brief ouster of the Chávez
government...”[6]
NED Grantees Who Were Coup Leaders or Public Endorsers
Several past and present
NED grantees played key roles in the April 2002 coup that are documented in
publicly available sources. These include individuals who were officials in the
coup government; individuals who signed the actual coup decree of April 12,
2002 (the “Carmona decree[7]”),
that overthrew the elected President and Vice President, and abolished
democratic institutions such as the National Assembly and the Supreme Court[8];
individuals who signed as witnesses at the “swearing-in ceremony” of the coup
government, an act widely interpreted in Venezuela as tantamount to signing the
Carmona decree itself; and individuals who went out of their way to publicly
proclaim their support for the coup government and its anti-democratic actions
through documents published in the Venezuelan media. Some NED grantees took
more than one of these actions.
NED grantees were named to
ministerial posts in the coup government. NED grantees who were named to such
posts in the coup government included:
·
Leopoldo Martinez, Finance Minister in the coup government,[9]
of the political party[10]
Primero Justicia, which receives training and support from the International
Republican Institute, a direct NED grantee;
IRI received
$300,000 in March 2002 for work involving Primero Justicia[11]
and received $116,000 in February 2003 to continue this work, again involving
Primero Justicia.[12]
·
Leonardo Carvajal, Education Minister in the coup government,[13]
Director of the Asamblea de Educación, which continued to receive direct NED
funding through 2003, well after the coup, and he himself received a direct
salary from the NED as part of this funding.
Carvajal’s group received $55,000 from NED in September 2000[14] and an additional $57,000 in October 2002.[15]
One NED grantee actually signed the coup decree
itself.
Rocío Guijarro, Director of CEDICE, a NED grantee, signed the actual coup decree that abolished Venezuela’s democratic institutions. Her signature, along with Pedro Carmona’s and eight others, appears on the last page of the document,[16] and her signature on the actual decree was noted in the proceedings of the National Assembly Commission that investigated the coup.[17] Together with the Center for International Private Enterprise, CEDICE received funding for the project “Building Consensus on a National Agenda,” for the period September 1, 2002 to November 30, 2003.[18]
Several NED grantees attended, as witnesses, the
“swearing-in ceremony” of Pedro Carmona’s coup government.
NED
grantees in Venezuela attended, as witnesses, the “swearing-in ceremony” of
Pedro Carmona’s coup government. These individuals signed a document titled,
“Witnesses to the swearing-in of the government.[19]”
Presence at this ceremony and signing of this document were understood at the
time in Venezuela to mean endorsement of the coup government and of the Carmona
Decree.[20]
NED grantees who signed as witnesses at the “swearing-in” included:
·
Maria Corina Machado, leader of Súmate (a present NED grantee)
Súmate received a NED grant of $53,400 in
September 2003.[21]
·
Leopoldo López Gil and Leopoldo
Martinez (coup government Finance Minister) of Primero Justicia, which
receives training and support from the International Republican Institute, a
direct NED grantee
IRI received
$300,000 in March 2002 for work involving Primero Justicia[22]
and received $116,000 in February 2003 to continue this work, again involving
Primero Justicia.[23]
·
Maxim Ross and Domingo Alberto Rangel,
Advisory Committee Members on the CIPE-CEDICE project funded by NED, “Building
Consensus on a National Agenda” [24]
This CIPE-CEDICE project was granted $284,270 from
the NED.[25]
NED grantees publicly proclaimed their support for
the coup government and its anti-democratic actions through documents they
published in the Venezuelan media:
·
Leonardo Carvajal, Director of the Asamblea de Educación (coup government
Education Minister) signed the document “Civil Society Salutes the Rebirth of
the Republic of Venezuela,” published in national newspapers on April 12, 2002,
supporting the coup government and demanding the immediate resignation of
officials of the elected government, including members of the National
Assembly.[26]
·
Cipriano Heredia of Visión Emergente, Tomás
Páez of Red Universitaria and Elías
Santana of Alianza Cívica also signed the above-mentioned “Civil Society”
document[27] and were
chosen to lead a major CIPE-CEDICE project funded by the NED, “Building
Consensus on a National Agenda.”[28]
·
Domingo Alberto Rangel (witness to the Carmona decree), Advisory
Committee Member on the CIPE-CEDICE project funded by NED, “Building Consensus on
a National Agenda” [29], signed
this document.[30]
This CIPE-CEDICE project has been granted $284,270
from the NED.[31]
·
Oscar Garcia Mendoza, Director of NED grantee Asociación Civil
Liderazgo y Visión, signed an advertisement published in a national newspaper on
April 13, 2002, that stated “unconditional support” of the coup government and
celebrated its coming to power.[32]
Mendoza’s group received $42,207 in
September 2003 for work with Caracas’ Metropolitan Police Force, known for its
participation in the April 2002 coup d’etat.[33]
Venezuela Information Office
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Washington, DC 20005
(202) 347-8081
The Venezuela
Information Office is dedicated to informing the American public about
contemporary Venezuela, and receives its funding from the government of
Venezuela. Further information is
available from the FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.