IAC Condemns Pat Robertson's Statements on Venezuela/ Demands Immediate Retraction and calls for an end to U.S. Hostility against Venezuela

August 23, 2005--The International Action Center strongly condemns Pat Robertson's recent public statements on Venezuela. Robertson is a founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate.

On August 22, Robertson openly called for the assassination of the popular and democratically elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frías. He stated on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club" that President Chavez is a "terrific danger" to the United States and is turning Venezuela into a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism". The U.S. has the "duty" to stop him he continued.

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war…" he declared. "We have the ability to take him out, and…the time has come that we exercise that ability." "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one…strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

These statements from a national public figure are not only disgraceful they are dangerous. They should be seen as constituting terrorist threats against another head of state, giving a green light to far-right ideologues in this country. Most important they are a predictable by-product of the campaign of hostility that the U.S. government has orchestrated against the sovereign Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ever since President Chavez' election. These inflammatory statements go a long way in laying the basis among the population in this country as well as around the world to go along with U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. According to Robertson's official website the Christian Broadcasting Network "is one of the world's largest television ministries and produces programming seen in 200 nations and heard in 70 languages including Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French and Chinese. CBN's flagship program, The 700 Club, which Mr. Robertson hosts, is one of the longest running religious television shows and reaches an average of one million American viewers daily (IAC emphasis)". The perilous campaign of lies and defamation against President Hugo Chavez by President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others, has been constant and in recent months has intensified.

Charges from the Bush administration include accusing President Chavez of "being a negative force and destabilizing the region", "promoting unrest" and "financing terrorist organizations in Colombia and Bolivia". These charges constitute terrorist actions and are a grave danger to the continent's stabilization as well as to good neighbor relations.

The U.S. funding of groups in Venezuela opposing President Chavez such as that of Sumate, is part of this hostile campaign. It is designed to remove a democratically elected President who has won nine electoral processes in only seven years.

The threat of Venezuela as the Bush administration and friends see it is that for the first time the profits of the national oil industry are being used to finance free programs of education and health for the majority of the poor who constitute 80% of the population. Venezuela is now a sovereign nation, working on behalf of its people, not for the benefit of U.S. oil companies. The Venezuela government has proposed a program of integration of the region based on solidarity, economic cooperation and respect for social values, not gross profits. International financial institutions no longer have free reign to carry out policies that bring immeasurable damage to the population such as seen in other nations of the region.

The International Action Center demands:

1.         An immediate public retraction from Mr. Robertson, the Christian Broadcast Network as well as the Disney Corporation. The Disney Corporation owns the Family Channel that carries the 700 Club. It makes huge profits and boasts constantly of "family values." Assassination threats against a sovereign head of state should conflict with these values.

2.         That President Bush and his administration cease its campaign of hostility against Venezuela. In recent months plans precisely of assassination attempts against President Chavez have been discovered.

3.         Respect for international law, which demands that good relations be established with all nations including the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chavez Frías.

In the last several weeks, the IAC has been able to gauge public support against U.S. aggression in Venezuela. Last month, the IAC initiated a national email campaign that sent over 25,000 signed letters in just a couple of days to the Bush Administration and Members of Congress demanding hands off Venezuela.

The IAC and the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle is working along with others to organize a mass public event in solidarity with Venezuela for this fall at a venue in Broadway's theatre district in Manhattan, New York City.