Gregory Wilpert has written to clarify for me and my readers that he has not misrepresented himself. His ‘clarification’ follows:
Just so you and your readers are aware: Saying that I work for Brooklyn College is not a misrepresentation. The Graduate Center for Worker Education is part of Brooklyn College. My department chair is Sally Bermazohn, from the Political Science department at BC. The people you spoke with simply clarified that the physical location where I teach is not on the Brooklyn College campus, but I remain an employee of CUNY’s Brooklyn College. The only reason I do not provide the full name of the place where I teach is that it is just incredibly long: Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College.
Frankly, I don’t know where to start. Since he became involved with Venezuela around 2002-2003:
Gregory Wilpert still hasn’t admitted that he is married to a Chavista official (Carol Delgado de Wilpert, consulate of Hugo Chávez in NY); Gregory Wilpert has not acknowledged that he edits a website created by a Chavista official (Martin Sanchez, Hugo Chavaz Consul in San Francisco, previously in Chicago). Gregory Wilpert still hasn’t admitted that this website is funded by Venezuelan public money. Gregory Wilpert has yet to acknowledge that he acts as a propaganda agent for Hugo Chávez on U.S. soil. Gregory Wilpert still does not concede that each and every one of his opinions regarding Venezuela is compromised by his marital and professional relationships.
Nevertheless, Gregory Wilpert wants us to believe that he is not deceiving and that he is not misrepresenting himself. Gregory Wilpert once wrote to me saying he was doing what he did “because he believed in it.” After I repeatedly questioned his true motives, after all he is a German-American, he remained silent about his personal and professional relationships with the Chavez regime. To me, that is indicative of complete intellectual dishonesty. Moreover, I still don’t understand why it’s so hard for these bloodthirsty defenders of Chávez to admit their connections to their paymaster, lest they maintain a façade of independence and individuality for credibility in their propaganda. If HRW received a letter from a group of people who, without an official connection to Chávez, protested a report exposing serious human rights violations occurring in Venezuela, they would surely address it on its merits, as they have done. However, that was not a letter written out of genuine concern; it was a concerted effort led by propaganda agents like Gregory Wilpert, similar to the many cases where “angry readers” wrote letters to media editors to criticize coverage when it was actually a response to emails sent from the Venezuelan Information Office to their “rapid response” team, instructing them to do so.
These individuals are very vocal in their support but will deny until their last breath, unless evidence arises, that they are in any way connected to the Hugo Chávez regime. This has been the case for Eva Golinger, Michael Shellenberger and his buddy Ted Norhaus, Roy Carson, Eric Wingerter, and all the propagandists from the now-defunct Venezuelan Information Office, Ken Livingstone (until evidence emerged that he worked as a consultant for Hugo Chávez), Calvin Tucker, Mark Weisbrot, Joe Kennedy, and Sean Penn (until he admitted he traveled on PDVSA planes). Notice that they all deny having anything to do with Chávez, yet evidence shows that they have all, in one form or another, benefited from Venezuelan taxpayer money, be it in flights, salaries, paid travels, hospitality, funds, donations, energy business, publications, advertising, etc.
Is there fear in showing friendship, admiration, and support for a man who calls the terrorist Carlos El Chacal a national hero? Is there fear of the maxim “guilty by association” or “tell me who your friends are…”? Do these people fear the conclusions that any rational individual would reach upon discovering their fanaticism for a warmongering and militaristic dictator who supports and befriends terrorists and brigands, has brought Venezuela to its knees, and follows the example of some of the world’s most brutal dictators?