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AFP. 26 April 2002. Venezuelan businessman accused of plotting against Chavez. CARACAS -- Venezuelan Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin on Friday accused a local businessman of conspiracy to overthrow President Hugo Chavez, after a cache of weapons had been discovered in the man's home. "I have always said there was a conspiracy," Rodriguez Chacin told reporters here. "It has always been known that Perez Recao was part of a conspiracy." The charges came after a search in the home of 32-year-old businessman Isaac Perez Recao conducted on the night from Wednesday to Thursday yielded heavy weapons, ammunition and other military hardware. "You've seen the photos of these sophisticated arms," said the minister. "They were in the hands of people linked to the conspirators who were behind the coup d'etat." Rodriguez Chacin also cited a published photograph that showed Pedro Carmona, head of the civilian-military junta that briefly seized power in Caracas earlier this month, flanked by a bodyguard with a rifle. "The weapon held by Marcela Sanabria, the man standing behind Carmona, is very sophisticated," the minister explained. "It's an M-16 rifle with a telescopic sight and a grenade launcher. Very few members of the armed forces have it in our country." Perez Recao, a scion of a prominent Venezuelan oil family, has fled Caracas with his private jet and his bodyguards. He is currently hiding in Miami, where he arrived from Aruba on April 20. According to Manuel Corao, Miami correspondent of the Venezuelan weekly Al Dia, the businessman is now trying to obtain political asylum in the United States with the help of a lawyer. He has an entry visa to the United States, which is valid until 2007. According to Venezuelan media reports, Perez Recao, who is known for his weakness for fast cars, weapons and hunting, was in charge of a security firm that employed agents of the Israeli secret service Mossad. Licenses allowing Perez Recao to import weapons were secured for him by Rear Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo, who prior to the coup headed the explosives directorate of the armed forces, the reports said. Molina Tomayo, who took part in the coup attempt and was appointed by Carmona head of the presidential guard, is being held under house arrest pending trial. Carmona himself was reported to have ties to one of the oil companies controlled by the Perez Recao family. According to media report in Florida, other people associated with the Venezuelan coup attempt have been sighted in that US state. They include Jose Rodriguez Iturbe, the foreign minister in Carmona's short-lived government, and attorney Roberto Carmona Borjas, who helped the junta produce some of its decrees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --------------------------- 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 ==^================================================================
