Skip to content
December 7, 2023
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
  • Discord
Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas

Primary Menu
  • News
  • Opinion
  • About us
    • About us
    • Who we are – Becoming a Volunteer
    • Editorial guidelines for contributors
    • Our Sources
      • Venezuelan Sources
      • International Sources
    • Contact us
  • Categories
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Security and Defense
    • International
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe
      • Oceania
      • US/Canada
    • Latin America and ALBA-TCP
      • South America
      • Central America and the Caribbean (+Mexico)
    • Ideology-Commune-Labor
    • Health-Education-Sport-Culture-Technology
    • Solidarity and Social Movements
    • OT Specials
  • Support Us
Light/Dark Button
YouTube Channel
  • Home
  • News
  • Sing a Song of Regime Change: US Funded Venezuela Rock Bands to Dent Chávez (NED)
  • International
  • News

Sing a Song of Regime Change: US Funded Venezuela Rock Bands to Dent Chávez (NED)

May 28, 2020

Partially redacted grant application shows scheme involved paying 10 groups to write songs promoting ‘freedom of expression’

The United States funded rock groups in Venezuela to record songs promoting democracy – and undermine the rule of Hugo Chávez – according to documents released after a Freedom of Information Act request.

More than 10 bands were contracted in 2011 to produce new songs promoting freedom of expression in the oil-rich nation. The $22,970 scheme, which was to culminate in a battle-of-the-bands style concert, was approved by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-governmental agency responsible for promoting democracy abroad.

The partially redacted grant application was uncovered by Tim Gill, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and shows the efforts of US officials “to promote greater reflection among Venezuelan youth about freedom of expression, their connection with democracy, and the state of democracy in the country”.

RELATED CONTENT: USA Registers More Than 100,000 Coronavirus Deaths (One Day After Memorial Day)

Have to share this.

Going through documents I FOIA’d from the government.

In 2011, the U.S. through the National Endowment for Democracy funded “rock groups” in Venezuela to write songs about freedom of expression. It paid a producer, recorded the songs, and distributed them. pic.twitter.com/UZJJNCDPia

— Tim Gill (@timgill924) May 27, 2020


Gill said the revelations were unorthodox but unsurprising. “The NED supported many causes in order to promote democracy, not all of them nefarious,” the academic said. “But the issue is that it has the ability to fund some voices instead of others.”

Successive US governments sought to unseat Chávez, whose self-styled Bolivarian revolution was in part built on anti-American sentiment.

The populist leader was briefly unseated in 2002 by a military coup. It later emerged that the administration of George W Bush had known about the coup beforehand, although Washington distanced itself publicly from involvement.

RELATED CONTENT: Xi Jinping Orders the Army to Increase its Combat Readiness and Visualizes the Worst Scenarios

“I can’t imagine they thought this alone was going to bring down the government,” Gill said. “But is music important and does it shape people’s views? I could draw a straight line from listening to punk rock to reading Noam Chomsky and learning about stuff about revolutions and interventions that they don’t teach in schools.”

It is not the only time the US has attempted to spark unrest through music in adversarial Latin American countries. In 2014, it was revealed that USAid, the American development aid organisation, had been secretly attempting to infiltrate Cuba’s underground hip-hop scene.

Neither plot appears to have yielded many tangible results. Nor was it clear why the Venezuela plan focused on rock music in a country whose airwaves are dominated by salsa, merengue and reggaeton.

Chávez died of cancer in 2013, bequeathing a collapsing economy to Nicolás Maduro, his successor. And attempts to oust Venezuela’s leader have continued apace.

A 2019 plot to trigger a military uprising in support of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó fizzled out within hours, and earlier this month, American mercenaries led a botched raid to capture Maduro.

The latest plan quickly fell apart with two Americans captured, allowing Maduro to appear triumphant on state TV.

 

Featured image: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez who died in 2013, was the subject of numerous US-backed efforts to destabilise or overthrow him. Photo: © Jorge Silva / Reuters | Credit: REUTERS

Source URL: The Guardian

 

Don't want to be a victim of the Algorithm?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR WEEKLY DIGEST WITH ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VENEZUELA AND BEYOND

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

orinocotribune
Website | + posts
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    Former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori during a court hearing in 2022. Photo: AFP/File photo.
    December 7, 2023
    Peruvian Government Releases Dictator Alberto Fujimori, Brutal Police Repression After Public Protests
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    A man walks in front of a mural of a map of Venezuela that includes the Essequibo territory within it, in Caracas, Wednesday, 29 November, 2023. Photo: Matias Delacroix/AP.
    December 7, 2023
    Amid Strong Differences, Guyana Agrees to Open Communication Channels with Venezuela (+Condemnation of Threats)
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    Dozens of soldiers from the Venezuelan Bolivarian Armed Force (FANB) marching in a military parade. Photo: AFP/File photo.
    December 5, 2023
    President Maduro Announces Creation of Guayana Esequiba State (+Annexation vs. Incorporation)
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, speaks during an event at the National Electoral Council after the Essequibo referendum in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo: Rayner Peña/EFE.
    December 5, 2023
    President Maduro: Essequibo Referendum is Binding and I Will Enforce People's Decision
Tags: CIA FOIA NED NGO for Imperialism and Regime Change US Imperialism USAID Venezuela

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Continue Reading

Previous Previous post:

Tanker Petunia Docks at El Palito Refinery: Third from the Iranian Tanker Flotilla

Next Next post:

Debunking the New York Times Story on Mexico and COVID

Subscribe to Weekly Digest

We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible. Read our Privacy Policy.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

NEWS: MOST POPULAR

Calendar

December 2023
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Nov    

Categories

OPINION: MOST POPULAR

We are on Telegram


Receive our news directly in your cell phone or PC, join us on our TELEGRAM channel.

 

We are on Discord


Join our Discord server to check our content without algorithms and to interact directly with our team.

The original content by Orinoco Tribune is free to share and it is licensed under CC BY 4.0

We are on Reddit

If you are more into REDDIT, join our Orinoco Tribune subreddit.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
  • Discord
Copyleft, No rights reserved.

Orinoco Tribune celebrates its 5th anniversary. We are not funded by ads, governments, think tanks, or large institutions. Our operations are entirely funded by readers like you.

We are urging our readers and supporters, especially those not currently doing so, to help us with small donations (such as US $5 or $10/month) via Patreon, via Paypal/Credit-Card/crypto or via paper checks.

Let us reach our anniversary goal of $750 in monthly Patreon donations. We are counting on you as our only source of financial support! You can also help us by volunteering with us or by helping us get much necessary equipment.