Ex-US Ambassador: Venezuela's New President May Have Cheated to Win

Ex-US Ambassador: Venezuela's New President May Have Cheated to Win
Tuesday, 16 Apr 2013 01:29 PM
By Bill Hoffmann and Kathleen Walter

The squeak-by election of Nicolas Maduro to succeed Hugo Chavez sits
under "a dark cloud'' of manipulation that doesn't bode well for U.S.
relations with Venezuela, a former U.N. ambassador to Venezuela says.

"Maduro has insulted the United States and has expelled American
diplomats under false charges from our embassy as foreign minister,''
Otto Reich told Newsmax TV.

"He presided over alliances between Venezuela and countries like Iran,
Russia, Belarus, Syria, and others that are enemies or adversaries of
the United States, or at the very least are criminal enterprises.

"Many of them [are] brutal killers like (Bashar) Assad in Syria and
before Assad, (Moammar) Gadhafi in Libya. … So there's reason to be
concerned.''

Reich — a senior official to Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush,
and George W. Bush — said he doubts Maduro, who was Chavez's handpicked
successor and took just 50.7 percent of the vote, actually "won.''

"The electoral commission called the election for Maduro, but what a lot
of people may not know is that four out of the five members are Chavez
appointees, who are not professionals,'' Reich said.

"They are all ideological supporters of Mr. Maduro. So what they have
done is to simply announce a result that may or may not be supported by
the facts.''

Henrique Capriles, who lost the election, has demanded a recount — but
Reich is skeptical it will go forward.

"Maduro is alleged to have said he will support the recount, but now the
very same electoral commission … four of whom are Chavistas, haven't yet
said whether they're going to allow the recount or not,'' he said.

"So the whole thing is under a very dark cloud. … It's very possible
[fraud was committed] because you're not dealing with a normal
democratic and open and transparent government.

"The Maduro forces have manipulated the system. … They prevented the
opposition from, for example, access to the news media, so it was not a
free or fair election.''

Reich, who also served as assistant secretary of state for the Western
Hemisphere, said there are doubts whether other Latin American countries
can pull any weight in reforming Venezuela.

"Most Latin American countries have proven themselves, to put it in the
state department double negative, uncourageous. Not exactly brave in
standing up to the thugs that run these governments like Cuba's and
Venezuela's,'' he said.

"They're frankly afraid of them because these are violent people, many
of whom, by the way, in the government of Venezuela have been designated
as drug kingpins by the U.S. Treasury Department.

"We're talking here about narcotics traffickers in control of the
government of Venezuela. So it's understandable why the neighboring
countries are afraid of them.''

Reich said the international community should put pressure on Venezuela
for a recount and demand it take place under international observation.

"These votes have to be counted in plain sight with observers from all
the political parties in Venezuela and ideally with international
observers as well,'' he said.

"I don't think the world community can trust the government of Mr. Maduro.''

He said he is sure Maduro will continue Chavez's controversial plan of
sending oil to Cuba.

"The value of the oil shipments to Cuba from Venezuela is estimated at
over $4 billion a year. Compare that with the Soviet subsidies to Cuba
of $5 billion and that gives you an idea of how important the Venezuelan
gift is to the Castro brothers,'' Reich said.

"They could probably not survive without Venezuelan charity in the form
of oil.''

He said that if by some miracle, Capriles was declared the winner in a
recount, the practice would end immediately.

"Capriles says that he will stop the shipments of oil to Cuba because
they represent a drain on the Venezuelan treasury that the Venezuelan
people cannot afford,'' Reich said.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/venezuela-maduro-chavez-election/2013/04/16/id/499749