Friends of Hugo

When staffers at the National Endowment for Democracy opened a letter asking about their programs in Venezuela last year, they never expected their response to trigger the persecution of democratic activists in that troubled country. Yet that’s exactly what has happened, as Latin America’s most ambitious strongman, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, has joined forces with American leftists to crack down on grassroots organizations that merely seek to promote free elections.

The story begins with Jeremy Bigwood, a self-described journalist with a history of left-wing activism in Central America. He wanted to take a look at just about every scrap of paper the NED had produced in recent years on its involvement with civic groups in Venezuela. On November 14, 2003, he invoked the Freedom of Information Act in requesting a series of documents from the NED, a nonprofit agency that is funded almost entirely by Congress to promote democracy abroad. Several weeks later, the NED sent Bigwood a thick package of grant approvals, financial reports, and staff evaluations of grant recipients. Much of the basic information was already in the public domain and available in the NED’s annual report and other publications. In 2003, for instance, the NED spent nearly $46 million on its activities, with a little more than $ 1 million going to 15 Venezuelan organizations that focus on education, human rights, and freedom of the press. Bigwood believed that in obtaining this information, he had scored a major coup.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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When staffers at the National Endowment for Democracy opened a letter asking about their programs in Venezuela last year, they never expected their response to trigger the persecution of democratic activists in that troubled country. Yet that’s exactly what has happened, as Latin America’s most ambitious strongman, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, has joined forces with American leftists to crack down on grassroots organizations that merely seek to promote free elections.

The story begins with Jeremy Bigwood, a self-described journalist with a history of left-wing activism in Central America. He wanted to take a look at just about every scrap of paper the NED had produced in recent years on its involvement with civic groups in Venezuela. On November 14, 2003, he invoked the Freedom of Information Act in requesting a series of documents from the NED, a nonprofit agency that is funded almost entirely by Congress to promote democracy abroad. Several weeks later, the NED sent Bigwood a thick package of grant approvals, financial reports, and staff evaluations of grant recipients. Much of the basic information was already in the public domain and available in the NED’s annual report and other publications. In 2003, for instance, the NED spent nearly $46 million on its activities, with a little more than $ 1 million going to 15 Venezuelan organizations that focus on education, human rights, and freedom of the press. Bigwood believed that in obtaining this information, he had scored a major coup.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.