Reply #172: More on the Robinson allegations (which were unsuported by facts)

[AP]

Robinson's article came out on October 6th and is a sample of propaganda- journalism. Among other things, Ms. Robinson claims that the Chavez administration is importing foreigners en masse and giving them Venezuelan passports. She does not provide any factual backing for this statement. The article also mentions the case of Hakim Mamad al Diab Fatah and blames the Venezuelan government for failing to keep tabs on him after the U.S. deported him in 2002. U.S. authorities themselves detained Diab Fatah in the United States, but then deported him (rather than keeping him in jail) because they lacked sufficient evidence to justify holding him. If Diab Fatah was indeed the dangerous character that Robinson's unnamed sources claim, one wonders why the United States set him free in the first place. In the aftermath of September 11, the U.S. government has not been reluctant to hold foreigners in custody on mere suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities.

Ms. Robinson also joined Venezuelan and Colombian politicians and media conglomerates in falsely claiming that the Venezuelan government has been involved in supporting the FARC guerilla organization.

These absurd claims have been proven absolutely false over and over again. For example on August 8, 2003, the Colombian newspaper, El Espectador, published an article that states that Moises Roberto Boyer Riobueno claimed to have been a pilot for Venezuelan vice president Jose Rangel and claimed to have helped ferry FARC commanders in and out of Colombia on Rangel's orders. The Colombian intelligence service later found every one of Boyer's claims to be false and he was deported. Boyer's declarations had appeared in newspapers worldwide. Once it was exposed that his statements were fabricated, his case disappeared from the press without clarification.

None of the statements made by Ms. Robinson can endure the test of validation. What led or misled Ms. Robinson to endanger her career by writing an article of this kind is something to wonder about. The people in the United States are everyday learning more and more about what is really happening in Venezuela and other countries. They have access to alternative sources of information and they are learning to be suspicious of its government's assessments and affirmations (see weapons of mass destruction and Iraq).

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1031