Dear Richard: Unfortunately, I didn’t get your email address when we met at Quinta Esmeralda in Caracas on December 3rd last year, so an open letter will have to suffice.
I see you will be part of a debate on Chávez and Venezuela, which seems to be sponsored by the FT. While I commend you for such an initiative, assuming it was your idea, I fail to understand why you would include Mark Weisbrot in a debate titled “Ask the Expert…”
Let it be perfectly clear that Mr. Weisbrot is far from being an expert or an authoritative source on anything related to Venezuela. Rather, Mr. Weisbrot is nothing more than a well-known apologist for Hugo Chávez with questionable ties to the Venezuelan Information Office in DC. Mr. Weisbrot has not registered his lobbying efforts on behalf of the dictator Hugo Chávez with the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Unit and has yet to clarify his relationship with that regime.
If your intent is to create a forum where a healthy and meaningful debate about Venezuela can take place, I’m quite sure you could do better by choosing credible parties with opposing viewpoints.
Best regards,
Alejandro Boyd