In 2004, an investigative report was published regarding the Venezuelan Information Office (VIO). Public records from the Foreign Agents Registration Unit of the U.S. Department of Justice show that VIO is nothing more than the propaganda arm of Hugo Chávez on American soil. Since then, it has been a proven fact that much of the benign literature and positive coverage about the Venezuelan coup leader comes from employees of the Venezuelan Information Office, such as Eric Wingerter from BOREV.NET, or individuals with questionable connections to VIO, like Mark Weisbrot from CEPR.
These propagandists, none of whom are Venezuelan, feed off each other and cite one another in an attempt to present a coherent, objective image. Most of the time, when they defend Chávez’s stance in international media, they are presented as “independent analysts” to mislead the public. This controversial case of distortion is particularly significant concerning one Gregory Wilpert from Venezuelanalysis.com.
Gregory Wilpert is a German-American sociologist who landed in Venezuela at some point in the early years of this decade. In May 2002, just after the April coup that saw Hugo Chávez ousted for three days, a site called Aporrea (http://aporrea.org) was registered by Martín Sánchez, a Venezuelan who was supposedly studying computer science in the U.S. (Chicago) at that time. Aporrea became Chávez’s voice on the internet, receiving public funding, although it is published in Spanish. Therefore, an English-language site was also needed, and Venezuelanalysis.com was registered in August 2003, likely by Martín Sánchez. Soon after, Gregory Wilpert joined Sánchez at Venezuelanalysis, who since November 2004 has been cited in various online publications, including his own, as the Consul of Venezuela in Chicago. Venezuelanalysis is also funded by the Chávez regime, according to another apologist.
There is a clear conflict of interest, highlighted by the fact that Wilpert has yet to publicly disclose his relationship with the Chávez regime. During his time in Venezuela, Wilpert literally married the revolution. Carol Delgado Arria, Wilpert’s spouse, has had a rather interesting and meteoric rise. Mrs. Wilpert has taken on various roles for the revolution, from Coordinator of International Relations at the National Council for Children’s Rights in Venezuela to local contact for the polling firm Evans & McDonough, where she shared responsibilities with another VIO contractor, the ‘environmentalist’ Michael Schellenberger, and acting as a representative of PDVSA and special advisor to the Venezuelan ambassador in Colombia.
Following in Sánchez’s footsteps, Carol Delgado Arria de Wilpert has recently been appointed Consul General of Venezuela in New York, where Wilpert will serve as Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College. Every one of Greg Wilpert’s opinions about Venezuela, be they in speeches, online articles, or books, should be evaluated in this light; that is, he is married to a Venezuelan public official and his work at Venezuelanalysis has been funded by Venezuelan public funds. Like anyone else, Wilpert has the right to his opinions. What is genuinely despicable, intellectually dishonest, and unworthy of someone in academia is to cloak clearly biased viewpoints under a guise of independence. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common trait among Chavistas: I recall the case of the fraudulent attorney Eva Golinger, who distorted facts until evidence surfaced. Interestingly, while the evidence of Mrs. Wilpert’s official appointment suggests a lack of knowledge regarding Venezuelan and U.S. legislation, there isn’t a single reference, official or otherwise, concerning Martín Sánchez’s designation as consul of Venezuela in Chicago. Furthermore, it is highly probable that both Martín Sánchez and Carol Delgado Arria de Wilpert have violated U.S. travel regulations for diplomats and officials of foreign governments.
There is nothing wrong with being an apologist or a politician. Gregory Wilpert can claim to be independent as much as he likes. However, it remains a fact that, beyond Wilpert’s marriage to a Venezuelan official, his work is aimed at exalting a regime led by a military coup leader who finances and protects narcoterrorists and whose disdain for human, civil, and political rights is well-documented.