The CIA and Venezuela Coup

MORE PROOF THAT THE U.S. MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS INTO TOPPLING DEMOCRACIES AND "DISSENTING" COUNTRIES. This is worldwide fascism! Only puppet leaders are "permissible" it seems. And what great cover the major media provided. This is an outrage! The question is WHY are G8 and NATO leaders sitting by letting this happen? Are they accomplices to the destruction of civilized world and democracy or have they just been duped, corrupted or blackmailed into silence? Traitors of democracy, and their fascist con artist puppet leaders must be exposed! The lies, the hypocrisy are unprecedented! There is ample evidence of a very clear and distinct pattern of intentional creation of poverty, unemployment, slave labor, despair, illness, humiliation worldwide! It is time to call on Bush and Blair to step down! The people want REAL democracy and PEACE! Not fascism packaged as democracy by con artists!

See two reports below from April 14, 2002 and earlier one in February.

Tina Staik

April 14, 2002
The CIA and the Venezuela Coup
Hugo Chavez: A Servant Not Knowing His Place
by William Blum
http://www.counterpunch.org/

How do we know that the CIA was behind the coup that overthrew Hugo Chavez?

Same way we know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. That's what it's always done and there's no reason to think that tomorrow morning will be any different.

Consider Chavez's crimes:

Branding the US attacks on Afghanistan as "fighting terrorism with terrorism", he demanded an end to "the slaughter of innocents"; holding up photographs of children killed in the American bombing attacks, he said their deaths had "no justification, just as the attacks in New York did not, either." In response, the Bush administration temporarily withdrew its ambassador.

Being very friendly with Fidel Castro and selling oil to Cuba at discount rates.

His defense minister asking the permanent US military mission in Venezuela to vacate its offices in the military headquarters in Caracas, saying its presence was an anachronism from the cold war.

Not cooperating to Washington's satisfaction with the US war against the Colombian guerrillas.
Denying Venezuelan airspace to US counter-drug flights.

Refusing to provide US intelligence agencies with information on Venezuela's large Arab community.
Questioning the sanctity of globalization.

Promoting a regional free-trade bloc and united Latin American petroleum operations as a way to break free from US economic dominance.

Visiting Sadaam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gaddafy in Libya.
And more in the same vein which the Washington aristocracy is unaccustomed to encountering from the servant class.

The United States has endeavored to topple numerous governments for a whole lot less.
The Washington Post reported from Venezuela on April 13: "Members of the country's diverse opposition had been visiting the U.S. Embassy here in recent weeks, hoping to enlist U.S. help in toppling Chavez. The visitors included active and retired members of the military, media leaders and opposition politicians.

MORE:
http://www.counterpunch.org/

HERE'S AN EARLIER REPORT BELOW--FEBRUARY 20, 2002--OF U.S. PLOT TO OVERTHROW VENEZUELA'S DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED LEADER! When will Americans AND journalists begin to demand that the Bush clan's crimes, starting with the election coup 2000, be addressed? It is time to demand Congress rein in covert military intelligence operations that have spread FASCISM AND DEATH worldwide! How many men and women of peace and democracy will we let die at the hands of these greedy, power hungry extremists before we speak out against the injustice of governments turning against their people BECAUSE their people want democracy and justice? John Kennedy. Robert Kennedy. Dr. King, Jr. Malcom. Rabin. Sadat. Ghandi. And many, many more! It is time to demand an end to this madness! It is time to demand this asylum of lunatics in the White House step down. It is time to demand accountability from our military, CIA and FBI for every dime of tax payer money they spend. It is time to demand an end to zealous efforts to refining methods of sabotaging democracy, rigging elections, disseminating propaganda and disinformation! It is time to make it a crime for official leaders and media to intentionally deceive and dupe citizens into submission.

ISubject: Venezuela Faces U.S. Coup Plot

Issue # 18 http://www.narconews.com/
Narco News '02 February 20, 2002

Venezuela Faces U.S. Coup Plot

Washington Seeks End to World's Truest Democracy
By Kim Alphandary


INSTABILITY IN VENEZUELA

The democratically elected, progressive government of
Venezuela has been overtaken by the winds of turmoil
in recent months as the plotting to suffocate the
economy and discredit Chavez have begun to take
effect.
The situation in Venezuela has become very precarious,
both economically and politically.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Chavez won Presidential elections in 1998 and again in
2000 by the largest majority in four decades. He has
been governing Venezuela following the principles of a
new social movement called the Bolivarianism, named
after the South American independence hero, Simon
Bolivar. Nearly all Venezuelans were eager for drastic
change. They wanted a new government that would
eradicate corruption and graft, and redirect the money
from the vast oil fields away from the multinationals
towards the 80% of the Venezuelans living in poverty.

Using his enormous popularity, Chavez has managed to
implement an unprecedented amount of reforms. To
highlight just a few, Chavez has ratified a new
Constitution that now provides guarantees for
indigenous rights and women's rights, free health care
and education up to the university level. To reduce
corruption Chavez has restructured the judicial and
legislative branches. The government serves breakfast
and lunch to schoolchildren year round and enrollment
has increased by over a million students. In a change
that affected the world economy, Chavez reinvigorated
OPEC, raising oil prices from $8 a barrel to $27 -
currently the price is $18 a barrel.

Christian Parenti, professor at the New College of
California believes that "Venezuela is an example of a
people struggling to create an alternative, attempting
to reform capitalism into a more egalitarian,
healthier system." Parenti went so far as to say that,
"In fact, perhaps Venezuela is the truest democracy in
the world today."

CURRENT SITUATION

The country is deeply divided. Foreign interests are
audaciously setting about laying plans for an interim
government. Inside Venezuela the unions, the press,
and the Catholic Church have all begun to call for
Chavez's resignation. Reports of no confidence in
Chavez's Venezuela have come from around the world:
financial institutions, governments, academics, the US

State Department and the CIA.

PLOT, PINOCHET STYLE

Professor James Petras of the State University of New
York, correspondent for the Spanish magazine,
Rebelion, believes that the United States has been
leading a campaign to destabilize Venezuela. "The
tactics being used are very similar to those used in
Chile," Petras explains, "I was in Chile when a very
similar campaign was organized. Civilians are used to
create a feeling of chaos, and a false picture of
Chavez as 'dictator' is established, and then the
military is incited to make a coup for the sake of the
country."

Petras asserts that another important figure in the
foreign-sponsored destabilization campaign is Alfredo
Pena, the Mayor of Caracas, Petras says that "Pena was
in Washington being groomed for the replacement."

A December 9 New York Times report states that,
"Alfredo Pena may just be the mayor of Caracas, but
that did not stop him from visiting the State
Department and the World Bank in Washington ...
antagonizing his rival, President Hugo Chavez."

FINANCIAL PREDICTIONS

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Morgan
Stanley have come out in support of a 'transitional
government' for Venezuela, supporting Chavez's removal
from office. Petras says that " a number of stories
have just come out in the daily La Nacional mentioning
that the IMF is willing to bankroll a transitional
government, a government that will replace Chavez." He
believes that, "the only way you do that is by coup."
(Read these reports in spanish at http://www.rebelion.org and
http://www.el-nacional.com.)

The investment firm Goldman, Sachs and Company
estimates that "Venezuela is entering a profound
recession," stating that "there is fear of a political
and economic collapse, the financial situation is in
chaos, petroleum prices have fallen, the country has
suffered massive capital flight."

Petras believes that "the IMF and financial
institutions are fabricating a crisis. There is no
economic crisis. The economic problems facing Chavez
have always been there, they are problems that Chavez
inherited. Venezuela is an oil rich country that pays
its debts and follows IMF guidelines etc."

FEAR OF FOREIGN POLICY

Criticism by George Tenet, head of the CIA, and US
Secretary of State Colin Powell has intensified, as
Chavez was reprimanded some three times last week.
They stated that Chavez is undercutting American
foreign policy by providing oil to Cuba, opposing US
counter-narcotics aid to Colombia, and giving
political support to guerrillas and anti-government
forces in neighboring Andean nations.

James Petras, believes that "Chavez is an extremely
moderate politician who is being hammered for not
allowing drug-surveillance flights over Venezuela,
being opposed to plan Colombia and working with OPEC."

DICTATORSHIP WANTS BACK IN

In a recent meeting held in New York City organized to
evaluate the delicate political situation, Latin
American experts agreed that, "Hugo Chavez must
resign, and that a transitional government must be
installed." Ricardo Hausmann, minister of Planning for
ex-president Carlos Andres Perez and professor at the
University at Harvard affirmed that "the only possible
solution for resolving the current crisis is for
Chavez to leave the Government."

FEAR OF DOMESTIC POLICY

Fear of Chavez's peaceful revolution becoming a
genuine socialist revolution is escalating. The
Spanish Minister of Exterior, also current
President of the European Union, Josep Pique, has made
a call for Chavez to maintain "democratic institutions
and respect the 'rights of all'. Powell has
reiterated his fears that Chavez is distorting the
democratic free-market model advocated in Washington
by consolidating institutions under his control and
setting himself up as 'elected dictator.'

INSIDE VENEZUELA

Inside the country, the Chavez opposition organized a
general strike in December and a large march last
month. The latest in a series of anti-Chavez actions
was led by two men, Air Force Col. Pedro Soto and
National Guard Capt. Pedro Flores Rivero, held a small
rally to accuse the government of being
'non-democratic' and asked that Chavez resign. They
were sent home in uniform and placed under
investigation by a joint civilian and military board.

Petras believes "Chavez has taken remarkably mild
measures against those officers, officers that were
asking for a military coup. They were interrogated for
one day, and released. They were acting in a way that
goes way beyond the democratic debate. If it happened
in this country they would have been tried as
traitors."