Eva Golinger

{{Short description|American Writer And Former Venezuelan Advisor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Eva Golinger | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Eva Golinger 2012.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1973|02|19}} | birth_place = Hampton, Virginia, United States | alma_mater = Sarah Lawrence College, City University of New York School of Law | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = Gustavo Moncada {{small|(divorced)}} | partner =  }}

'''Eva Golinger''' (born 19 February 1973) is an American lawyer, writer and journalist. She practices law in New York and specializes in immigration and international law. She is the author of several books about Hugo Chávez, of whom she was an outspoken supporter,<ref>Romero, Simon, (26 October 2009). [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/americas/26venez.html "Michael Moore Irks Supporters of Chávez".] ''The New York Times''</ref> and his relationship with the US. Chávez called her ''La novia de Venezuela'' ("The Bride of Venezuela"),<ref name=Novia>Golinger, Eva (10 January 2010). [http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january102010/venezeula_eg.php Eva Golinger Describes Curacao as the Third Frontier of the United States.] Salem-News.com. Retrieved 22 February 2010</ref> and she served as a foreign policy advisor to his government.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.answercoalition.org/la/events/venezuelas-revolution-in.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427054852/http://www.answercoalition.org/la/events/venezuelas-revolution-in.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2011-04-27 |title = Venezuela vs. The Empire: A Night with Eva Golinger in Los Angeles}}</ref> The ''National Catholic Reporter'' wrote that Golinger headed the "pro-Chávez" Venezuela Solidarity Committee in 2004.<ref>Jones, Bart (2 April 2004). [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_22_40/ai_n5994685/ "U.S. funds aid Chavez opposition: National Endowment for Democracy at center of dispute in Venezuela".] ''National Catholic Reporter''. Retrieved 21 February 2010.</ref> Her website, venezuelafoia.info, aimed to shed light on what she called links between US government agencies and Venezuelan organizations by publishing documents obtained using the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).<ref name=DocumentsShow>Forero, Juan (3 December 2004). [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/international/americas/03venezuela.html?pagewanted=print&position= "Documents Show C.I.A. Knew of a Coup Plot in Venezuela".] ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 21 February 2010.</ref>

She previously edited the ''Correo del Orinoco International'', a newspaper financed by the Venezuelan government,<ref name=WhyBeing/> and wrote for the pro-Bolivarian Revolution website Venezuelanalysis.com.<ref name=Bogardus/>

==Early life and education== Golinger was born on 19 February 1973<ref name=Escribir>{{cite web|url=http://www.monteavila.gob.ve/2014/autor-mes/autor-mes-golinger.php|title=Eva Golinger: "Escribir me rescata de la soledad"|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104100200/http://www.monteavila.gob.ve/2014/autor-mes/autor-mes-golinger.php|archive-date=4 January 2015|date= 2014 |publisher= Government of Venezuela|language=es}}</ref> in Langley Airforce Base, Virginia to Ronald Golinger, a US Air Force psychiatrist, and Elizabeth Calderon, an American born attorney.<ref name=venroots>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/americas/05venezuela.html?_r=0 |title= In Venezuela, an American Has the President's Ear |author= Romero, Simon |date= 4 February 2011 | access-date= 4 January 2015 }} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iopsociety.org/profile/evagolinger |title=Eva Golinger Profile on the International Organization for a Participatory Society|author=International Organization for a Participatory Society}}</ref><ref name=Carroll>{{cite book|last1=Rory|first1=Carroll|title=Comandante : Hugo Chavez's Venezuela|date=2014|publisher=New York|location=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0143124887|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SB7QT1PSoREC&q=Eva+Golinger 196–99]}}</ref> At a young age, Golinger was introduced to progressive causes, with her mother Elizabeth bringing her to marches for women's rights.<ref name=Carroll/> She graduated in 1994 from Sarah Lawrence College with a liberal arts degree.<ref name=agresion/>

==Venezuela== After college, Golinger moved to the city of Mérida in Venezuela. While residing in Mérida, Golinger experienced a struggling Venezuela. Chávez was still in jail for the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts and students were protesting against government austerity; she taught English, sang in a band, and described Venezuela as "an adventure", saying she "fell in love with the country".<ref name=Carroll/> In 1998, Golinger returned to New York with the band's guitarist as her husband<ref name=Carroll/> and completed her Juris Doctor (JD) in international human rights law in 2003 at City University of New York School of Law.<ref name=agresion>{{in lang|es}} Allard, Jean-Guy and Eva Golinger (2009), [http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/libro_completo_la_agresion_.pdf La Agresión Permanente: USAID, NED y CIA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122062705/http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/libro_completo_la_agresion_.pdf |date=22 November 2010 }} (PDF), Caracas: Ministerio del Poder Poder Popular para la Comunicación y la Información, p5</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=May 2021}} She then began to develop an interest in what she said was the role of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in regime change around the world.<ref name="Gol">Golinger, Eva (18 November 2008). [http://www.chavezcode.com/2008/11/my-new-book-is-out-empires-web.html My new book is out! The Empire's web: encyclopedia of interventionism and subversion.] Postcards from the Revolution. Retrieved 22 February 2010.{{Primary source inline|date=March 2022}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=May 2021}}

Golinger has been described as pro-Chávez.<ref>Romero, Simon, (26 October 2009). [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/americas/26venez.html "Michael Moore Irks Supporters of Chávez".] ''New York Times''</ref><ref name=Novia>Golinger, Eva (10 January 2010). [http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january102010/venezeula_eg.php Eva Golinger Describes Curacao as the Third Frontier of the United States.] Salem-News.com. Retrieved 22 February 2010</ref><ref name=Bogardus>Bogardus, Keven (22 September 2004). [http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid=383 Venezuela Head Polishes Image With Oil Dollars: President Hugo Chavez takes his case to America's streets.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004222044/http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil//report.aspx?aid=383 |date=4 October 2011 }} Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved 22 February 2010.</ref><ref>Jones, Bart (2 April 2004). [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_22_40/ai_n5994685/ "U.S. funds aid Chavez opposition: National Endowment for Democracy at center of dispute in Venezuela".] ''National Catholic Reporter''. Retrieved 21 February 2010.</ref>

=== Chávez and Venezuela activism === Following the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Golinger grew concerned about the United States' knowledge that a coup was possible and gave information to pro-Chávez organizations with research taking much of her time.<ref name=Carroll/> In early 2004, going into the 2004 Venezuela recall elections, Golinger found what she said was evidence that the US was funding opposition groups.<ref name=Carroll/> She traveled to Venezuela to show Chávez her work and became a naturalized Venezuelan citizen shortly thereafter.<ref name=venroots/><ref name=Carroll/> She wrote that the US was opposed to Chávez because it wanted oil and because he was "an ideological challenger".<ref name=Carroll/> [[File:Eva Golinger and Nicolas Maduro.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Golinger meeting with President Nicolás Maduro during a ceremony of the Presidential Honor Guard, SEBIN and DGCIM]]

For a time, Golinger edited the ''Correo del Orinoco International'', a web- and print-based newspaper which was financed by the Venezuelan government.<ref name=WhyBeing>{{cite news| url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/07/satirist-hugo-chavez-venezuela-opposition |title=Why being a satirist is no joke in Hugo Chávez's Venezuela |author= Carroll, Rory |publisher= Guardian online |date= 7 March 2010 |access-date= 10 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Carroll|first=Rory|date=9 March 2010|title=Chavez in driver's seat as he silences his critics|work=The New Zealand Herald|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10630946}}</ref> She was also a writer for Venezuelanalysis.com.<ref name=Bogardus>Bogardus, Keven (22 September 2004). [http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid=383 Venezuela Head Polishes Image With Oil Dollars: President Hugo Chavez takes his case to America's streets.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004222044/http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil//report.aspx?aid=383 |date=4 October 2011 }} Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved 22 February 2010.</ref> A 2011 profile in ''The New York Times'' described her as "one of the most prominent fixtures of Venezuela's expanding state propaganda complex", and ''Correo del Orinoco'' was described as "Venezuela's equivalent of the Cuban newspaper Granma".<ref name=venroots/> "I'm a soldier for this revolution," she said.<ref name=venroots/>

''The New York Times'' described Golinger's website, Venezuelafoia.info as "pro-Chávez" and wrote in 2004 that she uncovered " ... documents [that] form part of an offensive by pro-Chávez activists who aim to show that the United States has, at least tacitly, supported the opposition's unconstitutional efforts to remove the president. Golinger ... obtained reams of documents from the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit agency financed by the United States government, that show that $2.2 million was spent from 2000 to 2003 to train or finance anti-Chávez parties and organizations."<ref name=DocumentsShow/> According to ''The New York Times'', "The documents do not show that the United States backed the coup, as Mr. Chávez has charged. Instead, the documents show that American officials issued 'repeated warnings that the United States will not support any extraconstitutional moves to oust Chávez.'"<ref name=DocumentsShow/> The documents also showed that American officials knew a coup attempt was brewing.<ref name=DocumentsShow/>

==== Relationship with Chávez ==== Golinger was close to the Chávez administration, and accompanied Chávez on diplomatic missions to Iran, Libya, and Syria. She traveled extensively with President Chávez on foreign trips, including a seven-country tour in 2010. She dined with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and gave him a copy of her book describing him as "gentle" at their meeting. "Chávez presented me as his defender to Ahmadinejad", she told ''The New York Times''.<ref name="venroots" />

In the film ''Revolution in Ruins: The Hugo Chavez Story'', Golinger described a private interview with Chávez in which she asked a question which "set him off". Chávez said "I am the president, I do not have to explain my actions". Chávez turned off the tape and said: "My neck is sore. Do you give massages?" Golinger said she found the experience "very uncomfortable and unpleasant".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ramaswamy |first1=Chitra |title=Revolution in Ruins: The Hugo Chávez Story review – essential, chilling viewing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/16/revolution-in-ruins-the-hugo-chavez-story-review-essential-chilling-viewing |website=the Guardian |access-date=2 February 2021 |language=en |date=16 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=¡Le salió cuaima! Marisabel le reclama a Eva Golinger el "parampampán" con Hugo |url=https://www.lapatilla.com/2019/01/24/le-salio-cuaima-marisabel-le-reclama-a-eva-golinger-el-parampampan-con-hugo/ |access-date=24 January 2019 |work=La Patilla |date=24 January 2019 |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Eva Golinger relató la "situación incómoda" que tuvo con Hugo Chávez |url=http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/eva-golinger-relato-situacion-incomoda-que-tuvo-con-hugo-chavez_267270 |access-date=24 January 2019 |work=El Nacional |date=20 January 2019 |language=es}}</ref>

===Post-Chávez===

Rory Carroll wrote in ''The Guardian'' that Golinger said there was "circumstantial evidence" of US involvement in the death of Chávez from cancer—a claim the US State Department said was "absurd".<ref name=Allies>{{cite news |title= International: Allies blame CIA |author= Carroll, Rory |work= The Guardian |location= London |date = 8 March 2013 |page= 26 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title= Maduro promises to investigate Chavez 'assassination' |author= Dewey, Caitlin |date= 5 March 2013 |newspaper= The Washington Post |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/03/05/maduro-promises-to-investigate-chavez-assassination/ |access-date= 25 April 2018}}</ref>

Following the 2017 Venezuelan constitutional crisis, where the Supreme Court of Venezuela took over the democratically elected National Assembly, BBC Monitoring Americas wrote that Golinger, "one of the staunchest defenders internationally of left-wing Chavist rule in Venezuela", agreed that the takeover was "a rupture of the constitutional order".<ref name=Defender>{{cite news |title= Defender of Chavism Eva Golinger faults Supreme Court move |work= BBC Monitoring Americas |location= London |date= 31 March 2017 }}</ref>

== Books == Golinger is the author of several books on Chavez's relationship with the United States such as The Chavez Code and/or Confidete Of Tyrants, based on research using the U.S. Freedom of Information Act on what she describes as links between US government agencies and Venezuelan organizations, particularly in relation to the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt. Her books are published in multiple languages by different publishers in over eight countries and were both celebrated and launched at events that often included the participation of high level Venezuelan government officials.<ref name="minci.gob.ve">{{Cite web | url=http://www.minci.gob.ve/noticias/1/3006/bautizado_libro_el.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716200503/http://www.minci.gob.ve/noticias/1/3006/bautizado_libro_el.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2011-07-16 | title=Bautizado libro "El Código Chávez"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.minci.gob.ve/noticias/1/193772/bautizado_el_libro.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220104405/http://www.minci.gob.ve/noticias/1/193772/bautizado_el_libro.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2009-12-20 |title = Bautizado el libro "USAID, NED y CIA. La agresión permanente"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.minci.gob.ve/noticias-minci/1/193746/mincibautizarel_libro_//la.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222043641/http://www.minci.gob.ve/noticias-minci/1/193746/mincibautizarel_libro_//la.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2012-02-22 |title = MInCI bautizará el libro "La agresión permanente" en la Filven 2009}}</ref>

===''The Chávez Code''=== Her first book, ''The Chávez Code'' (2006), was initially presented in Havana at the Havana International Book Fair in Santiago de Cuba; its preface was co-authored by Rogelio Polanco, Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://cubapolidata.com/tag/rogelio-polanco/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727055408/http://cubapolidata.com/tag/rogelio-polanco/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=2011-07-27 |title = C U B a P O L I D a T A · Rogelio Polanco}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archivo.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=4556 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728101029/http://archivo.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design%2Fespeciales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=4556 |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 July 2013 |title=Cuba - Contra la guerra y el terrorismo mediático. Noticias, debate, opinion |publisher=Archivo.cubadebate.cu |access-date=2012-10-29}}</ref> It has been published in eight languages, and was optioned for a feature film.<ref name=Gol/> This book was introduced by the Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.<ref name="minci.gob.ve"/> A review by ''Choice'' recommended the book but cautioned readers that it was "not written by a scholar" and described the book as "almost painfully one-sided and full of knee-jerk liberal outrage". ''Choice'' said it "lays bare yet another counterproductive attempt to intervene where many believe the US has no moral or legal right to do so".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Duff|first1=E. A.|title=The Chávez code: cracking US intervention in Venezuela|date=March 2007|volume=44|issue=7|pages=1239–1240|journal= Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries }}</ref>

A Veneconomy review stated that it found dozens of instances of what they considered sloppy work, manipulation of sources, false and chronologically inaccurate claims, and amateur historiography.<ref name="Vene">{{cite web|url=http://www.veneconomy.com/site/files/articulos/artEsp4402_3089.pdf|title=Articulos|publisher=Veneconomy.com|access-date=2012-10-29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319104842/http://www.veneconomy.com/site/files/articulos/artEsp4402_3089.pdf|archive-date=19 March 2013|language=es}}</ref>

===''La Agresión Permanente''=== In 2009 Golinger co-authored with Jean-Guy Allard the book ''La Agresión Permanente'' ("The Permanent Aggression"), published by the Venezuelan-based publisher Perro y La Rana and the Venezuelan Ministry of Information.<ref>{{in lang|es}} [http://www.filven.gob.ve/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=134:-presentado-libro-la-agresion-permanente-de-eva-golinger-y-jean-guy-allard-en-feria-del-libro-de-venezuela-&catid=7:noticias&Itemid=60 Presentado libro "La agresión permanente" de Eva Golinger y Jean-Guy Allard en Feria del Libro de Venezuela.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305111122/http://www.filven.gob.ve/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=134%3A-presentado-libro-la-agresion-permanente-de-eva-golinger-y-jean-guy-allard-en-feria-del-libro-de-venezuela-&catid=7%3Anoticias&Itemid=60 |date=5 March 2012 }} Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN), 21 November 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2010.</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=May 2021}}

==Publications== * ''Confidante of 'tyrants': The Story of the American Woman Trusted by the Us's Biggest Enemies'', New Internationalist (16 Oct. 2018) * ''The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela'', Pluto Press, 2006 * ''Bush Versus Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela'', Monthly Review Press, 2008<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Dinneen | first1 = Mark | year = 2009 | title = Bush Versus Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela - by Golinger, Eva | journal = Bulletin of Latin American Research | volume = 28 | issue = 2| pages = 287–288 | doi = 10.1111/j.1470-9856.2008.0298_3.x }}</ref> * ''Bush Vs. Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela'', Aakar Books, 2008,<ref>{{cite web |author=Browse by Authors |url=http://aakarbooks.com/content/bush-vs-chavez-washingtons-war-venezuela |title=Bush Vs. Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela |publisher=aakarbooks.com |access-date=2012-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324045246/http://aakarbooks.com/content/bush-vs-chavez-washingtons-war-venezuela |archive-date=24 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> * {{in lang|es}} ''La Telaraña Imperial: Enciclopedia de Injerencia y Subversión'' (Empire's Web: Encyclopedia of Interventionism and Subversion), Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores, 2008<ref name=Gol/> * {{in lang|es}} (with Jean-Guy Allard), ''La Agresión Permanente: USAID, NED y CIA'', Caracas: Ministerio del Poder Poder Popular para la Comunicación y la Información, 2009<ref>{{Cite web|title=NUEVO LIBRO: LA AGRESIÓN PERMANENTE: USAID, NED y CIA | Centro de Alerta para la Defensa de los Pueblos | Eva Golinger|url=http://www.centrodealerta.org/noticias/nuevo_libro_la_agresion_per.html|url-status=dead|access-date=21 February 2010|archive-date=28 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128153517/http://www.centrodealerta.org/noticias/nuevo_libro_la_agresion_per.html}}</ref> * {{in lang|es}} ''La Mirada del Imperio sobre el 4F: Los Documentos Desclasificados de Washington sobre la rebelión militar del 4 de febrero de 1992'', Caracas: IDEA Fondo Editorial, 2009

==See also== *Bolivarian Revolution

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Eva Golinger}} {{wikiquote}} * [http://www.evagolinger.com www.evagolinger.com] * [http://www.chavezcode.com www.chavezcode.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golinger, Eva}} Category:American women writers Category:American women journalists Category:Naturalized citizens of Venezuela Category:American people of Venezuelan descent Category:Living people Category:CUNY School of Law alumni Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni Category:1973 births Category:21st-century American women lawyers