Open letter to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs: Oswaldo Paya and his support for the military coup in Venezuela

Giving Paya the prize would seem remarkable considering the Norwegian committee´s obviously critical stance toward the military dictatorship of Burma. Oswalda Paya supported the military coup in Venezuela that brought Pedro Carmona Estanga to power for two days by sending a telegram of congratulation to the newly installed dictator. Mr. Estanga abolished the consitution and the parliament and sent 400 Cuban doctors home. The latter were for the first time bringing health care to thousands of Venezuelans in poor neigborhoods where the country´s own doctors refuse to work.

There is a reference to Venezuela in your press release. You write that giving Paya the prize would be in line with voter initiatives in Venezuela and California. What Venezuelan voter initiatives? Since Paya supported the attempt of the Venezuelan opposition to seize power by non-constitutional means I suppose you are referring to the opposition´s signature campaign for a recall referendum on president Chavez' rule. If not you must be referring to the petitions for recall referendums against opposition-supporting Governors in Venezuela (some of whom are suspected of serious cases of corruption and/or were involved in a brutal attempt to break down the country's economy in December and January).

I presume you are referring to the petition against Hugo Chavez. Your stance seems illogical to me. You know that the Chavez government is giving credits to thousands of small enterprises all over Venezuela - just the kind of companies you say that Paya is promoting on Cuba. You also know that Chavez is strongly opposed to a largely state-run economy of the kind that exists on Cuba.

You also know that US aggression against Venezuela and its constitution has been stepped up lately. In a recent article in the third largest news magazine of the U.S (US News and World Report) Venezuela is branded a terrorist state withour any further evidence than that there is an Arab minority in the coiunty (for further analysis of the article which wore the head-line "Terror coming closer to home", see Venezuelanalysis.com). Also the United States of America has imposed sanctions against Venezuela: The US no longer gives import- and export-credits to Venezuela. Moreover US pseudo-NGO:s (that receives funds from the US congress) like the IRI has for years been funneling money to the Venezuelan opposition including the corrupt trade union CTV whose then boss spoke in Miami TV and promoted the murder of the democratically elected president Hugo Chavez.

In what way would giving the peace prize to a supporter of the most radical and anti-constitutional sectors of the Venezuealan opposition promote peace in the world? Would it help peace in the world if the US stepped up destabilisation attempts in Venezuela to the same levels that we saw in Guatemala when that country's democratically elected government was overthrown by the CIA in 1955 (resulting in a civil war that cost 200.000 people their lives) or in Chile in 1973 (where the US helped to install a dictator that killed thousands of people) or Nicaragua of the 80s where a democratically elected government had to fight US-sponsored terrorism and the CIA:s criminal mining of harbours.

In your article you mention Brazilian president Lula da Silva. He recently visited Cuba and said no to an invitation from Paya - obviously having Paya's support for the coup in Venezuela in mind.

In your article you reveal that Paya does not support lifting the US blockade of Cuba entirely, only regarding food and medicin. Such a stance is immoral and hypocritical. Being consistent the US and other countries should then blockade and sanction loads of countries that are just as "authoritarian" as Cuba: Singapore where the presidential elections of 1999 were cancelled because there was only one candidate that the Party regarded suitable enough for the job, Malaysia whose president says his people is not mature for democracy yet, Egypt where the president cheats and regularly receives more than 99% of the votes and so forth and so on.

In what way would that make the world better? In what way is Singapore - with well functioning social systems and a corruption level as low as Sweden´s - a less humane country than supposedly democratic Bangladesh which has been branded the most corrupt country on the planet. In what way is Cuba that sends more doctors to other third world countries than the UN a less humane country than democratic Haiti where the rate of AIDS-infection is 100 times higher than in Cuba and life-expectancy much shorter. No, such embargoes and sanctions would only lead to a road of uninhibited self-serving hypocricy of the world's wealthy countries.

Cuba has the right to choose its own political system and to decide its own fate without meddling from other countries. Oswalda Paya - like all other Cubans - has the right to speak his mind and suffers no risk of prosecution as long as he does not take money and instructions from a Government hostile to Cuba (guess which one). But if he receives the Nobel Peace Prize that would be a shame for us Scandinavians.

BJÖRN BLOMBERG (Sweden)