Ever wondered what makes the sinews of one the world’s foremost enemies of freedom move? It’s money of course, $500,000 of it in oil-rich Venezuela’s case, but how it happens is what’s most in need of some daylight. Alek Boyd at VCrisis has gotten hold of new Freedom of Information Act documents on the Venezuela Information Office, the propaganda arm of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. He has a 31-page file filled out by the VIO in Washington itself, detailing the people it met, the ways it preoccupied itself, and the reporters it courted and harassed. It’s pretty creepy reading – apparently they’ve set themselves up as a journalism-intimidation unit on behalf of the Venezuelan dictatorship. It’s a heavy download but you won’t get it anywhere else. Read the whole thing here.

UPDATE: Alek has an additional item with photos of more documents here. This is one seamy crew of communists operating with the intent of crushing Venezuela’s democratic revolution. It’s worth watching.