Are foreign state employees agitating in New York?

Over the past several days, anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists, communists, and probably several other varieties of left-wing crackpots have converged in small numbers on New York to protest against Wall Street.  

In the United States, these types of protests are common; to an extent, they’re welcome manifestations of democracy. To be sure, not everybody agrees with the messages portrayed on the streets of Manhattan today, but there is general consensus that it is the people’s right to protest peacefully.

But to the embarrassment of the left-wing Twitterati, details have emerged of cash passing hands from labour unions to protesters. That’s right; a protest supposedly organised against the capitalist system is being run on supply and demand.

But it’s not only trade unions funding pinko activists to kick up a stink.

The presence of Eva Golinger should also be noted. Ms. Golinger has said the aim of her group, the Venezuela FOI Info, is 'to save Chavez'. For this amongst other actions she has been referred to as a key Chavez propagandist.  According to Golinger’s own twitter feed, she has been actively participating in the operation #OccupyWallStreet (that's Twitter-talk for those unfamiliar) while feeding inaccuracies and untruths back to Venezuelan media – mainly through VTV, Venezuela’s state owned channel.  

As an editor of Correo del Orinoco, a Venezuelan state run newspaper, she is an employee of President Chavez. 

The irony, however, is not lost on the careful observer. In Venezuela, Ms. Golinger has made a name for herself by leading a virulent, if relatively unsuccessful attack against Venezuelan civil society organizations.  

She is on Venezuelan government TV several times a week naming Venezuelan citizens who have dared to advocate for human rights or democracy in their country. Her main scapegoats, it would seem, are the National Endowment for Democracy and the United States Agency for International Development; two U.S. government organisations that provide support to civil society in monitoring Venezuela’s democratic collapse; a collapse in which Ms. Golinger is, of course, actively involved. 

Ms. Golinger’s presence in New York is not illegal – although as an employee of the Government of Venezuela, technicalities could emerge regarding the Foreign Agent Registration Act. 

Be that as it may, for Ms. Golinger the inconsistencies are risible. Condemning civil society organizations who receive international cooperation in Venezuela – something that is a mainstream, accepted, common practice for NGO’s everywhere – while serving as an employee of the Government of Venezuela and participating in anti-government protests in New York serves to expose the double standard inherent in Caracas.

Thankfully, the world seems to be losing patience with the antics of Chavez and his “revolutionary” employees. And new revelations that Venezuela is, in fact, a narco-state serve to wrest what little legitimacy remained from the Venezuelan government.  

Add this to the fact that President Chavez appears to be critically ill, and a power struggle has erupted among his inner circle over succession and it would appear that Ms. Golinger should enjoy her last few moments in the sun.  

She may very well find herself shortly unemployed; looking to the US government, who she condemns at every turn, for a welfare check.   

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