Colombia is a “puppet” of U.S. efforts to gain control in the region, according to film director Oliver Stone, who is currently promoting his new feature length documentary, “South of the Border,” reports El Espectador.
Stone’s latest outing documents the rise of leftist movements and governments in Latin America and is critical of U.S. foreign policy and the mainstream media’s coverage of the region.
The documentary features leaders from several South American countries, but focuses on Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, who Stone openly respects and admires.
“I interviewed Chavez because I thought he’s an underdog and he’s getting the shaft … because he’s a democratically elected leader and he’s getting a bum rap. The elections in Venezuela have been monitored to death. They have electronic and paper ballots. It’s the cleanest system I’ve ever seen. And we’re condemning them? After how Bush got elected in 2000? It makes me angry, this double standard, this hypocrisy,” Stone said.
On the subject of human rights abuses in Venezuela, Stone concedes that there are problems, yet claims that Colombia’s record is worse but receives far less coverage as it is an ally in U.S. government’s “war on drugs.”