Venezuela call is lapdog diplomacy

TTHE EDITOR, Sir:

HERE ARE obviously things the Jamaican Government is privy to that the rest of us do not know, but if we are following the international scene, it should be clear to us.

The United Sates is the elephant in the room, and even our so-called free media are not mentioning that sufficiently. Because of the socialist tendencies of Venezuela, the United States has never been comfortable with either the Chávez or Maduro regime. It is evident that blatant attempts to overthrow Chavez early in his term, and the present sanctions, are attempts by the dissatisfied US to have its way, as it has always done in Latin America and the Caribbean.

There is very little to convince me that our Government is acting independently, and I expect a responsible media to unearth the facts. As usual, the United States, which has set itself up as an ideal of democratic values, has never respected any government that does not pander to its exploitative foreign-policy dictates.

I am appalled by the hypocritical reasoning that human-rights abuses and the flouting of democratic principles are the bases on which our Government is alienating Venezuela. Why, then, are we in such a lockstep relationship with China?

Given the many calls internationally for the world to pay attention to the humanrights abuses evident in the decades long oppression of Palestine, why are we seeking to forge better ties with Israel? Cuba has significant international outcry about human-rights abuses, too, so why do we recognise that government?

The fact is that every reason given to the public by this administration is negated by the diplomatic ties that our government maintains with other countries. Where is the consistency?

As always, our logic is based on two things: what the United States wants, and money. As long as we can get benefit from another country, we must be conveniently blind.

When Iraq was invaded by George Bush, human rights and democracy were among his pretext for invasion. Jamaica needs to be careful.

LINVERN WRIGHT Lucea, Hanover