Daily News – eluniversal.com

http://www.eluniversal.com/2006/03/16/en_pol_art_16A683669.shtml (1 of 2)3/16/2006 5:43:37 PM

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is “a demagogue” who uses oil revenues to undermine democracy in Latin America, said the White House Thursday in a document where it also

accused Cuban leader Fidel Castro of “subverting freedom” in the region.

“In Venezuela, a demagogue awash in oil money is undermining democracy and seeking to destabilize the region,” said the White House National Security Strategy for 2006, a 49-

page document intended to warn against the regional changes demanding world attention, AFP reported.

“In Cuba, an anti-American dictator continues to oppress his people and seeks to subvert freedom in the region,” the White House added. People living in nations such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Burma, and Zimbabwe know firsthand the meaning of tyranny; it is the bleak reality they endure every day.”

“Tyrants and those who would follow them belong to a different era and must not be allowed to reverse the progress of the last two decades” in Latin America and the Caribbean, the document stressed. The White National Security Strategy also warned against the dangers of increasing populism in the region, and called the hemisphere to stop its progress.

“The deceptive appeal of anti-free market populism must not be allowed to erode political freedoms and trap the Hemisphere’s poorest in cycles of poverty.”

“If America’s nearest neighbors are not secure and stable, then Americans will be less secure.”