Stay out U.S.: Top Venezuelan legislator calls for investigation of opposition groups funded by USAID

© AFP

Top legislator Diosdado Cabello: We don't want you here, USAID

The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly Diosdado Cabello called Friday on intelligence agencies to investigate Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the country that are funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Cabello's call comes on the heels of the arrival of a representative of the U.S. government in Venezuela to meet with representatives of NGOs at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.

According to their website, USAID's mission is "furthering America's interests, while improving lives in the developing world."

In practice, much of the work of USAID has been to support the activities of groups that are opposed to democratically elected governments. Cabello pointed to an NGO that has links to "Operation Liberty", the group lead by Lorent Saleh, who is currently in custody on accusations of intent to commit terrorist acts in Venezuela.

Cabello has previously warned of the attempts by the U.S. and its allies to interfere in the internal affairs of Venezuela, saying, "This is one way for imperialism to finance conspiracy [against the government]."

Bolivia expelled USAID and its representatives from that country in 2013 due to their support of opposition groups opposed to the government of Evo Morales.

Comment: More countries can spot a Trojan horse a mile away.

Meanwhile the U.S. accuses Russia that is supplying Eastern Ukraine with real humanitarian aid of invading its neighbor.

When the Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled and shutdown USAID in his country last year for alleged attempts to undermine his leftist government, he wasn't being paranoid after all. As a recent expose by the Associated Press shows USAID's so-called "democracy promotion programs" are designed to foment dissent against governments unfriendly to Washington.

"In a number of countries, including Venezuela and Bolivia, USAID is acting more as an agency involved in covert action, like the CIA, than as an aid or development agency," asserted Mark Weisbrot, an economist with a Washington-based think tank, the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.

In the late 70s, under the headline "Police program is called CIA cover" the revealed that the USAID police training initiative facilitated the CIA to "plant men with local police in sensitive places around the world" as well as recruit "prime candidates for enrollment as CIA employees."