Ilhan Omar Grills Trump’s Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams on His Role in US-Backed Genocide in 1980s

Finally, FINALLY!, these questions are asked and the sociopathic criminality illuminated. Forever and ever those who have committed horrendous crimes against humanity are not held accountable at all. This pattern sickens me. Those who are responsible for the deaths of thousands and millions get off scot free while small time drug offenses get people, mostly people of color, thrown in jail for years. This is madness! Pisses me off! We all need to stand behind those who question our military interventionism. Bless Ilhan Omar and all who courageously expose the truth!! — Molly

The new U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday on U.S. efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Abrams spoke three weeks after the U.S. recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s new president. Since then, the U.S. has placed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run oil company and rejected calls for an international dialogue to resolve the crisis. Elliott Abrams is a right-wing hawk who was convicted in 1991 for lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal, but he was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. Abrams defended Guatemalan dictator General Efraín Ríos Montt as he oversaw a campaign of mass murder and torture of indigenous people in Guatemala in the 1980s. Ríos Montt was later convicted of genocide. Abrams was also linked to the 2002 coup in Venezuela that attempted to topple Hugo Chávez. Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota questioned Abrams about his record on Wednesday during his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Excerpts from this transcript:

REP. ILHAN OMAR: That—that was not a question. Thank you for your participation. On February 8th, 1982, you testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about U.S. policy in El Salvador. In that hearing, you dismissed as communist propaganda a report about the massacre of El Mozote in which more than 800 civilians, including children as young as 2 years old, were brutally murdered by U.S.-trained troops. During that massacre, some of those troops bragged about raping a 12-year-old girl before they killed them—girls before they killed them. You later said that the U.S. policy in El Salvador was a “fabulous achievement.” Yes or no, do you still think so?

ELLIOTT ABRAMS: From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy. That’s a fabulous achievement.

REP. ILHAN OMAR: Yes or no, do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?

ELLIOTT ABRAMS: That is a ridiculous question, and I will not—

REP. ILHAN OMAR: Yes or no?

ELLIOTT ABRAMS: —respond to it. No. I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman, I—

REP. ILHAN OMAR: I will take that as a yes.

ELLIOTT ABRAMS: I’m not going to respond to that kind of personal attack, which is not a question.

REP. ILHAN OMAR: Yes or no, would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, if you believe they were serving U.S. interest, as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua?

Please go here to continue the transcript or to watch the full video: https://www.democracynow.org/2019/2/14/ilhan_omar_grills_venezuela_envoy_elliott?fbclid=IwAR2CUEEKKAt6nE7POqQ6lw724eObaUV7JBHfeOmDfCme5PN4roJ7uoWx9ec