Ex-President Carter shuts down electoral office in Venezuela

[Archae]

Source: WBAY, ABC affiliate in Green Bay, WI

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A pro-democracy foundation run by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has shut down its 13-year-old electoral observation office in Venezuela as the South American country gears up for closely watched legislative elections.

Read more: http://wbay.com/ap/ex-president-carter-shuts-down-electoral-office-in-venezuela/

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Hmmm...

[msanthrope]

1. I think that's a pretty unsubtle way of saying there's no fair election to monitor. nt

[NobodyHere]

2. Well they were CIA agents

What did you expect?

[msanthrope]

3. Dafuq? nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. That's not what the Carter Center says:

From the article:

"In a monthly report on Venezuela’s political outlook published Wednesday, the Carter Center said it closed its Caracas office May 31 to concentrate its limited resources in other countries that have solicited its help. It said it would continue to monitor events from the center’s headquarters in Atlanta."

You know who's happy about this?

"The Carter Center has been a frequent observer of elections in Venezuela and it mediated talks between the socialist government and opposition following a 2002 coup that briefly unseated then President Hugo Chavez.

"But members of the Venezuelan opposition have long viewed its activities and access to the government with mistrust, a sentiment reflected in hard-liners’ celebration of its departure on social media. Particularly irksome was the center’s validation of a 2004 recall referendum won by Chavez amid complaints that the process leading up to the vote heavily favored the government and his 2012 declaration that Venezuela’s election process was the “best in the world.”"

[msanthrope]

6. Um, that backs what I'm saying--there's no fair election to monitor, resources will be used

elsewhere.

The opposition is polling to win big, CG. It was Maduro who doesn't want monitors.....

“Venezuela isn’t monitored and won’t be monitored by anyone,” Maduro snapped at journalists during a visit to the United Nations in New York last week when asked whether he would allow international observers.

[christx30]

8. At the rate Maduro is excluding

opposition candidates, he won't have to worry about fixing the election.
Your side will win the election if your's is the only group that is allowed to show up.

[lostnfound]

7. Carter has confidence in the fairness of Venzuela elections, and wants to apply resources elsewhere

To de-spin the corporate, pro-oligarchy, anti-socialist position of US media reporting on Venezuela, I googled Chomsky, elections and Venezuela, and came up with this quote..

Jimmy Carter praised Venezuela’s elections, among the 92 the Carter Center has monitored, as having "a very wonderful voting system." He concluded that "the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world." https://nacla.org/blog/2013/5/14/noam-chomsky-and-scholars-ask-ny-times-public-editor-investigate-bias-honduras-and-ve

Venezuelan opposition and the corporatist media are so tedious in their tired song.

[Archae]

9. Jimmy Carter also had confidence in the Shah of Iran.

Wonder how that turned out?

Carter botched a lot of things when he was President, it's one of the main reasons a doofus like Reagan could beat him in 1980.

Looks like Carter can still botch it up.

Maduro is like the Shah in a number of ways.

[No Vested Interest]

5. President Carter just had liver surgery the other day.

He has often been on the scene for elections, but likely not available for this one.
Therefore, he would not be able to make a statement in which he would have absolute confidence.