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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-269475,00.html The Times (London) April 17, 2002 Bush team met Chavez coup leaders >From Katty Kay in Washington THE Bush Administration met leaders of the ill-fated Venezuelan coup several times in recent months before President Chávez was ousted temporarily last weekend. The Pentagon confirmed that the idea of a coup was raised in a meeting with a Venezuelan military opponent of Señor Chávez in December. The White House also admitted that the discussions had taken place, but said that the Administration had not given direct support to a coup. [sic] The White House spokesman could not rule out, however, that US officials may have offered “a wink and a nudge” to Señor Chávez’s opponents. A Pentagon spokeswoman insisted that the Venezualan delegate was told that it was American policy not to support coups, but she would not comment on reports that the United States provided Intelligence to the coup organisers. There were differing accounts of the meetings with Señor Chávez’s opponents, but the Defence Department is said to have sent sent the strongest signals that America would not oppose the coup. “We were not discouraging people,” a Pentagon official told The New York Times, on condition of anonymity. “We were sending informal, subtle signals that we don’t like this guy. We didn’t say: ‘No, don’t you dare.’ ” Latin American countries have strongly criticised the United States for failing to condemn the coup. The charter of the Organisation of American States, of which the US is a member, expressly condemns the overthrow of democratically elected governments. One senior official said that the US had stopped short of endorsing a coup and told Señor Chávez’s opponents to use constitutional means to get rid of the President. However, when they failed to do that and ousted Señor Chávez by force, Washington refused to recognise that a coup had taken place. The White House appeared to blame Señor Chávez and not the plotters. Washington’s failure to condemn the coup and its public dismay at Señor Chávez’s return to power have angered Latin American governments. Indeed, the Administration’s failure to support democracy in Venezuela is in sharp contrast to the stand it took over Haiti, Peru and Guatemala. In those cases, the United States eagerly called on OAS treaties and agreements in support of democratically elected governments. Señor Chávez angered America with his left-wing politics, close friendship with President Castro of Cuba and visits to Libya and Iraq. He became a bête noire for this White House after he criticised the United States for killing civilians in Afghanistan. He also angered President Bush with threats against the commercial independence of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, the third-largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
