Called the "El Cato-CEDICE University" it is a combined initiative of the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. and the Venezuelan organization, Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge for Freedom (CEDICE). It also has the support of Venezuelan organizations including the Future Present Foundation, which was created by Yon Goicochea, a leader of the Justice First political party; National Unity, the coalition of opposition political parties created in 2008; and New Bases, the opposition student movement of the Metropolitan University.

The El Cato-CEDICE University is planning a seminar that will last three days, from Sunday May 24 to Tuesday May 26, 2009. The headquarters of this subversive event is the La Escondida ranch, one hour from Caracas. The participation fee is 150BsF (US$ 70). According to the material published by the Cato Institute, the event will cover themes such as "the new global agenda, the world financial crisis, populism in Latin America, youth as defenders of freedom, poverty and violence, rights to property, the challenges of institutions in the 21st century, among others."

The "teachers" at the El Cato-CEDICE University include Gabriela Calderon, editor of the website ‘elcato.org' and columnist for the rightwing newspaper El Universo in Ecuador; Daniel Cordova, dean of the Economics Department at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences and also director of Pro-Capital Investment Project, an NGO financed by the United States; Otto Guevara, a Costa Rican politician and president of the party Free Movement and the Liberal Network of Latin America (RELIAL); Martin Krause, lecturer in the Higher School of Economics and Business Administration in Buenos Aires; Carlos Sabino from the Center for Global Prosperity of the Independent Institute in the U.S.; Jose Toro Hardy, Venezuelan economist for CEDICE; Alvaro Vargas Llosa from the Center for Global Prosperity of the Independent Institute in the U.S and a columnist for the Washington Post; and Yon Goicochea, a leader of the Justice First party and founder of the Future Present Foundation, an organization dedicated to training youth in the tactics of "gradual coup"[1] and subversion.

The seminar has scheduled conferences by the guest lecturers around themes such as "Economic Freedom and Human Progress", given by Jose Toro Hardy, "Promoting Ideas in Non-Free Countries" by the Ecuadorian Gabriela Calderon, and "Liberalism in the Political Arena" by the Costa Rican Otto Guevara, among others.

The Cato Institute is the entity which granted the "Milton Friedman Prize" to the leader of Justice First, Yon Goicochea, in 2008. As part of this recognition by one of the most ultra-conservative and neo-fascist institutions of the United States, Goicochea received US$ 500,000, part of which he used to create his Future Present Foundation. The Cato Institute was founded on the economic theories of the ultra-liberal Milton Friedman of the U.S., who was economic advisor to the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. This institute also served to promote the conservative ideology of the 80s promoted by Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and the group of the "Chicago Boys" who later implemented these policies in Latin American, causing a lot of misery and poverty and less progress and human prosperity. The Cato Institute is closely linked with the Military Industrial Complex and the security and defense agencies in Washington.

CEDICE is one of the organizations that have received the most financing from the agencies in Washington over the last 8 years, like [National Endowment for Democracy] NED, [U.S. Agency for International Development] USAID, and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), an entity of the State Department. Its director, Rocio Guijarra, signed the infamous Carmona Decree during the coup d'etat of April 2002 against the Venezuelan government, which resulted in the dissolution of the democratic institutions of Venezuela.

The fact that this "university" is opening its doors within Venezuelan territory is an indication of the destabilizing and subversive actions that the radical sectors of the opposition in Venezuela continue to conduct. The general population and the state security bodies should be alarmed that these foreign actors have come to this country to train a group of 50 young people in neoliberal doctrines and strategies of subversion. These organizations aren't filled with good intentions, but rather they are groups and political figures who have shown over the last few years that their principal objective is to other throw the revolutionary socialist government of President Hugo Chavez and implement a neoliberal-capitalist system in the country, subordinated to the interests of Washington.

In the past, leaders of the opposition like Yon Goicochea, have traveled overseas, financed by Washington agencies, to receive training and indoctrination in strategies of subversion and "gradual coup" tactics. Now, they want to give these workshops on Venezuelan soil, with the intention of capturing and recruiting Venezuelan youth to execute their undemocratic and ill-fated plans. This initiative is in addition to the dozen United States and European organizations and foundations such as USAID, NED, Freedom House, the International Republic Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (German), the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (German), FOCAL (Canadian), that have financed political parties and NGOs of the opposition with over $50 million over the last 8 years, promoting their actions of destabilization. The state security bodies should take appropriate actions to impede these foreign agencies from continuing to threaten the stability and progress of the country. And even less should they allow them to act in this manner on Venezuelan territory.

[1] Gradual coup, or golpe suave in Spanish, is the idea of incremental acts of sabotage, fear mongering, and media warfare to obstruct the government's policies.

Translated by Tamara Pearson

Venezuelanalysis