Still At It in Venezuela.

US Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, acknowledged the US financed certain sectors of the opposition taking part in the presidential referendum on August 15.  Ambassador Shapiro made the statement based on declarations emitted by the Sub Secretary of State for US Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roger Noriega, who acknowledged that his government had invested great quantities of money in the Venezuelan referendum. Shapiro said the money was not for a political campaign but for "specific programs." One way the US funds anti-Chavez forces is via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).  The NED has and is funding many of the same groups which took part in the failed coup against Chavez back in 2002. Some 2,000 pages of newly disclosed documents show that the little-known National Endowment for Democracy is financing a vast array of groups: campesinos, businessmen, former military officials, unions, lawyers, educators, even an organization leading a recall drive against Chávez. [more ]