Buying Venezuela’s Press With U.S. Tax Dollars https://nacla.org/node/6663

The U.S. State Department is secretly funneling millions of dollars to Latin American journalists. Newly released documents reveal that between 2007 and 2009, the State Department channeled at least $4 million to journalists in Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela through the Washington-based Pan American Development Foundation (PADF).

Thus far, only documents pertaining to Venezuela have been released. They reveal that the PADF, collaborating with Venezuelan NGOs associated with the country’s political opposition, has been supplied with at least $700,000 to give out journalism grants and sponsor journalism education programs. In funding the Venezuelan news media, the United States is funding one of the opposition’s most powerful weapons against President Hugo Chávez.