By Haider Rizvi
NEW YORK, May 16 2008 (IPS)

“Shame, shame,” an angry crowd of protesters shouted from across the street as a group of affluent U.S. citizens wined and dined their Venezuelan friends at the Waldorf Astoria, one of Manhattan’s most luxurious hotels.

“Traitor, traitor,” they chanted in unison, referring to Yon Goicoechea, a Venezuelan student leader, who was invited to the dinner arranged by the Cato Institute, an influential U.S. policy think tank.

On Thursday night, Goicoechea, 23, received the institute’s 500,000-dollar “Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty”, for playing “a pivotal role in organising and voicing opposition to the erosion of human and civil rights in his country”.

Goicoechea, a law student, has become a prominent figure since May 2007 when he led a series of student rallies in protest against the government’s crackdown on a pro-opposition private television station, RCTV.

“[He] is making an extraordinary contribution to liberty,” said Edward Crane, president of the Cato Institute, in admiring Goicoechea’s political work, especially his role in blocking the government’s move to make constitutional changes.

In 2007, the government refused to renew RCTV’s license apparently because it had participated in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chaves, Venezuela’s popularly-elected left-wing leader. Chavez returned to power in less than 48 hours after a massive public uprising in his support.

Though critical of the George W. Bush administration in other foreign policy areas, analysts at the Cato Institute appear to be in full agreement with the hard-liners in Washington.

“I hope the Friedman Prize will help further his non-violent advocacy for basic freedoms in an increasingly militaristic and anti-democratic Venezuela,” added Crane in a statement.

But critics of U.S. foreign policy towards Venezuela denounce such statements. In their view, the award is a surreptitious way for the U.S. to continue funding the Venezuelan opposition.

“The award legitimises capital that will be used to destabilise governments in Latin America,” said Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan American lawyer. “It’s a way to filter money through supposedly clean institutions.”

The socialist-leaning government of President Chavez has repeatedly accused the U.S. of funding the political opposition. Washington denies that charge.

The institute’s award is named after Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning conservative economist who died in 2006. It is widely believed that his ideas greatly influenced many governments in the developing south in the 1980s and 1990s.

To Golinger, the award money is “stained with the blood of millions of Latin Americans who have suffered the hunger and misery implanted by economic packages that only benefit the giant corporations.”

At the demonstration Thursday night, in interviews with IPS several protesters expressed similar views on the awarding of Milton Friedman prize to Goicoechea.

“Here in the U.S., there are thousands of students who are buried in debts, but here we see someone receiving half a million dollars. For democracy? That is shocking,” said William Camacaro, a student of fine arts, who came on crutches.

“This is a contradiction at best,” added Carina Soulfec, a graduate student of Latin American Studies, who charged that the U.S. was trying to “get into Venezuela because it doesn’t want to see that things are fine there.”

Standing next to Camacaro and waving a placard, Stephen Durham, a labour activist, agreed with Soulfec. “Venezuela is free and happy,” he said. “This kind of activity is just a cover to advance the anti-Chavez political agenda. This money is going to buy votes of the poor.”

For his part, Goicoechea said he plans to use the award money to start a new “leadership school for freedom” which will offer political training to young people, including youth from Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia.

Noting that tensions are running high between Washington and Venezuela, many protesters charged the Cato Institute was aiding those trying to install a pro-U.S. government that supports the interests of big business.

The Cato dinner Thursday cost each guest 500 dollars. In 2006, the institute, which is funded by corporations and individuals, had a budget exceeding 20 million dollars.

The Cato Institute says it stands for entrepreneurship, free markets and lower taxes, “with strict respect for civil liberties and scepticism about the benefits of both the welfare state and foreign military adventurism.”

But military adventurism is what most Venezuelans are expecting from the U.S. On Tuesday, Chavez reiterated his concerns about a possible U.S. military threat to his country. “If there’s a war against Venezuela,” he warned in a speech, “with the oil in this soil, it won’t depart from the Venezuelans, it won’t go to anyone.”

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