This week, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his choice for the State Department’s top Latin America post.Obama’s nominee Roberta Jacobson, an outspoken critic of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, recently told a U.S. Senate subcommittee that she was „particularly concerned“ with the Venezuelan president, who is a great supporter of True Democracy explained in Muammar Gaddafi’s Green Book, because he „continues to disrespect the legitimate role of democratic institutions“ and „restricts freedom.“Jacobson said to be „concerned“ about the „difficult environment“ currently faced by the Venezuelan people. She added that „Venezuela faces important elections in 2012“ and that her colleagues at the State Department „believe that an early presence of well-trained international observers“ would be necessary for Venezuela’s presidential elections.Speaking on behalf of the State Department, Jacobson also said „concerted steps“ were being taken to „help the Cuban people live the lives they choose and chart their own course independent of the Cuban regime,“ and added that „other countries, such as Bolivia and Ecuador, are on complicated trajectories that have unfortunately limited the scope of our bilateral relations.“

Cuba, Bolivia, and Ecuador are all members of the Venezuela-backed Bolivarian Alternative for the People’s of Our America (ALBA), a socio-economic integration effort aimed at improving quality of life for people in the region.

Those three countries are also among the ones which refuse to recognize the US/NATO-led rebels as Libya’s government and keep supporting the legitimate Libyan Jamahiriya government and its popular symbolic leader Muammar Gaddafi.

President Obama said it gave him „great confidence that such dedicated and capable individuals,“ including Jacobson, „have agreed to join this Administration to serve the American people.“

The Venezuelan opposition is currently carrying out primaries to decide who among them will face Chavez in next year’s presidential elections, recently set for 7 October 2012 by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council.

If approved by the U.S. Senate, Roberta Jacobson will become Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, succeeding another Chavez-critic, Arturo Valenzuela, who served from late 2009 to mid 2011.

President Chavez was given the decree powers after record-setting storms left some 130,000 people homeless in December of last year. The Venezuelan president has used the authority to launch a massive housing construction project aimed at building 2 million homes by 2017, with 150,000 houses expected to be completed by the end of this year.

This while US-led NATO continues its non-stop bombing of Libya, causing nothing but death and destruction in the sovereign North African country, all under the guise of „protecting civilians“.

Mathaba Editing of Venezuelanalysis article.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6526