Drug War, or Just War?
Chris Herz - 31.03.2004 17:20
The war on drugs remains the official justification for the presence of US military forces on the southern Netherlands Antilles.
That US forces, covert and overt alike, have used your territory in the Netherlands Antilles against Venezuela is plain and indisputable.
So, I must ask Dutch citizens if it is part of their national policy to support the violent over-throw of democraticly elected leaders?
During the coup of April 03 against President Hugo Chavez Frias, US ships and aircraft operating from the bases on the Antilles were observed on Venezuelan territory. Do Netherlands interests really want to join in US attempts to destabilize and suppress the democratic hopes of the people of that country?
In Iraq, promised rewards even for British companies in a re-colonized Iraq have by and large failed to materialize. Instead, the whole economy there is now falling under the dominance of politically connected US interests.
In the event of a successful suppression of Venezuela, it might be safe to expect that Netherlands business will be similarly left out in the cold. Why your country, safely ensconsed in Euro-land would ever want to help shoulder the political and economic costs of yet another hostile take-over of yet another country by the fascists ruling here in Washington utterly escapes me.
Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao remain, of course still in use for not only this Venezuelan project, but also for similar death-squad efforts in Peru, Bolivia and most of all in Colombia.
The purported justification for all of this is of course the defense of democracy in Venezuela, and the war on drugs in the Andean region.
Yet your territory remains in play as a money-laundering center for the big druggies. The Financial Action Task Force of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reports that while new laws against such financial dealings have been put in place, there are no reported prosecutions or audits under way. Surely in a sincere effort against trafficking this would have been step number one.
The country which proposes to defend democracy in Venezuela does not enjoy it in its own homeland. The Supreme Court here in the USA, as the result of the election dispute of 2000, has openly declared that that my country is not a democracy. How can collaboration with the USA advance a democratic project in Venezuela or anywhere else?
The US CIA and State Department fact sheets on the Antilles describe their sole resource as "beaches". Why then should not the only Americans permitted there be tourists?
Chris Herz
35 Sombrero Boulevard
Marathon, FL 33050
USA
 E-Mail: cdherz
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