http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/us_intelligence_report_classifies_venezuela_as_anti_us_leader.htm

The article I have chosen is about the USA’s intelligence agencies annual report on current affairs around the world. Specifically, on the report’s classification of Venezuela as being as much of a threat to the US as Al-Qa’ida. The reason that I find this article especially interesting and relevant is the fact that the author is an American, named Eva Golinger, who has been living in Venezuela for the last 5 years. It would therefore be expected for her to take the American point of view, yet this article is very anti-American and heavily criticises the US government. It could therefore be argued that her point of view is more reliable, and less biased, because of the fact that she has lived for significant times in both countries. For example, part of the report claims that Chavez has “curtailed free expression” by shutting down various news outlets. However Ms Golinger denies this is true at all saying that no news outlets have been shut down. She then goes on to attack the US saying that Chavez himself has ordered his police force to use restraint and not to use deadly weapons when dealing with anti-government protesters, while she claims American protesters are often treated violently by police and often denied the right to protest near government buildings. She suggests that this year “a lot of US dollars” are going to go into getting Chavez out of power. This makes America look very bad if everything she says is true and he is a democratic leader. She writes that they also use Chavez’s disagreements with the US friendly Colombian government, as a reason to claim he is starting an anti-US movement in South America. The report also links Chavez to the infamous Columbian revolutionary group FARC, a claim which Ms Golinger dismisses as being unproven. Finally she explains that the US do see Chavez as a very dangerous threat, and suggests that the fact that the report focuses on Hugo Chavez himself as the problem, rather than his government or his country in general is very dangerous for him. She even goes so far as to suggest the possibility of an American assassination attempt.