Dangerous Diplomacy: US Praises Mexico and Honduras, Targets Venezuela

Dangerous Diplomacy: US Praises Mexico and Honduras, Targets Venezuela
Tuesday, 17 March 2015 00:00
By Heather Gies and Cyril Mychalejko, teleSUR | News Analysis

President Barack Obama declared Venezuela an "extraordinary threat to national security" March 9 on the basis of alleged human rights abuses and political corruption.

This is part of an ongoing U.S. campaign of aggression toward Venezuela, which includes actively supporting right-wing Venezuelan opposition forces in fomenting chaos and instability in attempts to execute a coup against President Nicolas Maduro.

But while the most recent statements are consistent with the U.S. position on Venezuela, they are nevertheless hypocritical in the larger context of U.S. relations in Latin America. Human rights, democracy, and anti-corruption are supposedly core values of U.S. foreign policy, yet these buzzwords are reduced to little more than rhetorical tools for the U.S. in crafting its own narrative about the countries in the region to suit its own political and economic agenda.

"The U.S. puts itself in the position of arbiter and judge of human rights in Latin America. But it doesn't hold itself accountable to the same standards," said Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of Latin American History at Pomona College.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/29689-dangerous-diplomacy-us-praises-mexico-and-honduras-targets-venezuela