The Colegio Hebraica, the private Jewish school in Caracas was raided by Venezuelan police on Monday, November 29. The raid took place at 6:30 AM, just as students were arriving for the start of the school day.

The state media had been trumpeting that the Mossad had played a role in the recent assassination of State Prosecutor Danilo Anderson. Anderson, who was initially charged with prosecuting environmental crimes, was handling all of the high profile political prosecutions - including that of the accused anti-Chavez coup plotters. Arrests related to this investigation have targeted prominent citizens and resulted in several shootouts. The investigation of Anderson's murder is being used as an excuse to crack down on Venezuelan civil society. The putative Mossad connection was the excuse for the raid on the Colegio Hebraica.

Jews have always been the canary in the coal mine. When they are attacked, everyone's freedom is in jeopardy. In the words of prominent Venezuelan journalist Carlos Blanco:

"That this red light be of use for all of those who fight for freedom; when a Jew is attacked for being such, we enter in a zone of total and absolute risk for the free thinking and existence of all, Jews and non Jews alike. Do not believe the official apologies, they are part of the same set up."

This translation is courtesy of my source for all things Venezuelan - Daniel at Venezuela News and Views. Daniel's terrific blog exemplifies what a blog can do to bring critical but overlooked news and intelligent, informed analysis to a broader audience. Daniel has been nominated for the "Best Latino, Caribbean and South American Blog" award and he deserves it. I urge you to vote for him here. You can vote everyday until December 12.

Daniel also correctly pointed out that the raid on Colegio Hebraica occurred while Chavez was visiting Iran. This cannot be a mere coincidence.

Chavez's human rights violations go hand in hand with increased external belligerance. He is purchasing high performance MiGs from Russia, has ignited dormant territorial disputes with his neighbors Columbia, and Guyana, funded far-left movements elsewhere in South America, given sanctuary to Columbian terrorists next door, and plays footsie with all of America's enemies - from Cuba to Libya to Iran.

We have a big, and growing problem to our south.

An excellent summary of Venezuela's unfortunate direction is by the Wall Street Journal's Mary Anastasia O'Grady. She describes how Chavez has been chipping away at liberty in Venezuela and lambasts Jimmy Carter for his role in reinforcing Chavez's rule in "Night Falls on Caracas, With No Carter in Sight." She ends by noting that the Ukranians should be grateful that Carter has not come to Kiev. The full column is available here on another terrific website called VCRISIS.