Earlier this week, the United States issued a proposal to create a committee at the Organization of American States that would evaluate and monitor governments in South America.

The Organization of American States is composed of countries in the Western Hemisphere with the goal of promoting democracy through common agreements.

Billed as a noble-hearted effort by the U.S. government to ensure democracy, the proposal can really be interpreted as an attempt to justify U.S. tinkering and subversion in South America. Specifically, the United States is offering this proposal with an eye on Venezuela.

Venezuela supplies the United States with 13 percent of its daily imports of oil and is the fifth largest exporter of oil in the world. The United States has a problem with Venezuela’s leader Hugo Chavez. The leftist Chavez has great support among Venezuelans and has started reclaiming oil profits with Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm, to the chagrin of international corporations.

The entire continent of South America is covered with the fingerprints of U.S. subversion, exploitation and strong-armed tactics. As far as U.S. history in South America goes, it is a deepening filth mine. The more you dig, the more you find.

For South America to trust the United States is a bit like a pig trusting a butcher with a knife in his hand.

From the Monroe Doctrine to the Panama Canal to Augusto Pinochet’s Chile to former President Ronald Reagan’s support of death squads in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, it is clear the United States cannot be trusted when dabbling in South American politics.

The proposal to create a committee at the Organization of American States is a minor one, but it signals the continuing interest the United States has in dabbling with South

American governments. Ultimately, the United States cannot be trusted with its definitions of democracy in South America.