WH named a career CIA agent as the "mission manager" to oversee.....

[rodeodance]

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DOLLARS_FOR_DEMOCRACY?SITE=VAWAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-08-26-13-23-43

Aug 26, 1:23 PM EDT

U.S. Aid Stirring Suspicion in Venezuela

By IAN JAMES
Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- The U.S. government is spending millions of dollars in the name of democracy in Venezuela - bankrolling human rights seminars, training emerging leaders, advising political parties and giving to charities. But the money is raising deep suspicions among supporters of President Hugo Chavez, in part because the U.S. has refused to name many of the groups it's supporting.

Details of the spending emerge in 1,600 pages of grant contracts obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request. The U.S. Agency for International Development released copies of 132 contracts in all, but whited out the names and other identifying details of nearly half the grantees.

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Chavez, however, believes the United States is campaigning - overtly and covertly - to undermine his leftist government, which has crusaded against U.S. influence in Latin America and elsewhere.

"The empire pays its lackeys, and it pays them well," he said recently, accusing some of his opponents of taking "gringo money."

While USAID oversees much of the public U.S. spending on Latin America, President Bush's government also has stepped up covert efforts in the region. This month, Washington named a career CIA agent as the "mission manager" to oversee U.S. intelligence on Cuba and Venezuela.