Venezuela keeps rooting for Syrian dictator

Andres Oppenheimer: Venezuela keeps rooting for Syrian dictator
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
AOPPENHEIMER@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Much of the world is demanding greater pressure on Syria following a
United Nations inspectors' report hinting that Syrian strongman Bashar
al-Assad used chemical weapons in his country's civil war, but —
amazingly — Venezuela and some of its Latin American allies are still
passionately defending Syria's dictator.

Earlier this week, after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon presented
the U.N. inspectors' report concluding that there is "clear and
convincing" evidence that chemical weapons were used in an Aug. 21
incident on the outskirts of Damascus, Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro lashed out against the U.N. chief for allegedly siding with the
enemies of the Syrian people.

"Why is the U.N. secretary general lending himself (to plans to attack
Syria,) as if he were a prosecutor and judge of the world's people,
putting himself at the service of the strategy of war, instead of being
at the service of peace?" Maduro asked in a speech Monday in the state
of Miranda.

In a speech last month more than a week after the Aug. 21 attack with
chemical weapons, Maduro said, "Venezuela is with Syria, and with
President Bashar al-Assad, and with the Syrian people."

A day later, on Aug. 31, Maduro issued an official statement stating
that Venezuela stands by "the Syrian people" in their fight against
"unjustified war-mongering aggressions."

Venezuela's government-run media, meantime, has turned Assad into a hero
and is blaming the United States and Israel for allegedly trying to
invade Syria.

A cartoon in Venezuela's state-run daily Correo del Orinoco this week
shows a plane dropping hearts over Syria with the legend "to the Syrian
people from the people of ALBA." ALBA, which stands for the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas, is an organization formed by
Venezuela that is it made up of nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Venezuela's daily Vea, which like other government-backed newspapers
often publishes anti-Semitic cartoons, ran a cartoon on May 9 showing a
black-robed skeleton representing death, with a star of David and this
legend: "Since we got tired of killing Palestinians, we are now going to
finish with the Syrians."

What's most amazing about the pro-Assad statements in Venezuela's
official media is that they are still appearing after the U.N.
inspectors' report — which clearly suggests, without saying so
explicitly, that Assad's forces were responsible for the Aug. 21
chemical gas attack.

While it doesn't officially take sides, because that wasn't within the
inspectors' scope, the U.N. report shows that the rockets that carried
Sarin gas are weapons that are not in the hands of Syria's rebels, and
that they were launched from several government-controlled points.

Although less strenuously, Venezuelan allies such as Cuba and Bolivia
also have come out in support of Assad even after the U.N. findings.
Most other Latin American countries have supported the Geneva agreement
between the United States and Russia to demand that Syria destroy its
chemical weapons.

But U.S. officials say major Latin American countries such as Mexico and
Brazil have been late in joining the international community's demands
that Syria comply with the Geneva agreement.

Roberta Jacobson, the top U.S. State Department official in charge of
Latin American affairs, told me Wednesday that "there is disappointment
that more countries (in the region) would not have put out stronger
statements condemning the Assad government's use of Sarin gas, and
supporting the Geneva U.S.-Russia agreements."

Jacobson added that "countries in the Western Hemisphere want to be, and
increasingly are, global actors. (But) If countries want to be global
players, they should step up and confront challenges to the
international community."

My opinion: It's entirely legitimate for Latin American countries to
oppose a unilateral U.S. intervention in Syria, or even a U.S.
intervention with dozens of allied countries but without the blessing of
the United Nations. I myself have serious doubts about the wisdom of an
intervention to stop Syria's war crimes without some sort of U.N. cover.

But defending a dictator who has massacred a sizable part of the 100,000
people who have died in Syria's civil war, and who according to all
available evidence is responsible for the Aug. 21 attack with chemical
weapons, is outrageous.

Maduro may be over-reacting on Syria because he needs to keep his
Chavista radical base behind him after his dubious and narrow election
victory April 14. His almost daily blunders, alongside Venezuela's steep
economic decline, are seriously weakening his government. And his
adoration for dictators may explain his natural sympathy for Assad.

Still, Venezuela's enthusiastic support for the Syrian regime after the
Aug. 21 attack with chemical weapons should be denounced by everybody
for what it is: an open defense of crimes against humanity

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/18/v-fullstory/3635418/andres-oppenheimer-venezuela-keeps.html