November 13, 2005

CIA ex machina

One thing the Anderson Case has made clear is how the Chavez government intends to put its anti-gringo rhetoric to work. See, from now on, everything bad that happens in Venezuela is the CIA's fault. It's fantastic! Any hole in any official story can be papered over with that old fidelista standby - the vague allusion to the CIA.

Say the Anderson conspirators have alibis. No problem! The CIA instructed them to get dopplegangers to fake them! Say there are no records of them being in Panama or Miami on the dates of the supposed conspiracy? Of course! The CIA obviously helped them to get around undetected!

It's so simple, yet so effective. There's no need to prove anything. Just say the magic word, and all your problems magically disappear!

Too good to be true? It's even better than that. It's not just that you can justify any authoritarian excess with some murky CIA allegation, it's that the International Ñángara Batallion eats it up with mustard! They love it! They'll line up behind you, endorse any unhinged theory you want to throw at them! They'll toast you as a revolutionary! Folks...authoritarianism has never been easier...