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From: AII The News That Doesn't Fit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: CIA Coup a One-Day Wonder? Chavez Set to Return in Triumph
Newsgroups:
alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.org.cia,alt.politics.republicans,alt.politics.usa.republican,soc.culture.usa
CIA Coup a One-Day Wonder? Chavez Set to Return in Triumph
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
[We hope Hugo Chavez (the "fiery populist" - cliche alert!) returns
to
office, and that the courage of his Venezuelan supporters is not
betrayed by any weakness on his part from here on in. There is no
way to play nice with the CIA or the DIA or the NSA or any of the
USA's alphabet soup of Murder, Inc. agencies. We hope President
Chavez cleans house very thoroughly indeed, and that he sweeps
the place completely clean of vermin, especially those with US
passports. Next time, it won't be quite so easy or so bloodless.
The
monster to the north is humiliated now, and even more dangerous. --
NY Transfer]
Sun Apr 14, 1:43 AM ET (via Yahoo)
Venezuela's Chavez Looks Set to Return in Triumph
By Jason Webb
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Fiery Venezuelan populist Hugo Chavez
seemed set for an improbable but triumphant return to power on
Sunday
after a government set up following Friday's military coup collapsed
in the face of a rebellion by loyalist troops and massive protests.
Chavez was expected to fly back to the mainland from the Caribbean
island of La Orchila where he had been imprisoned after the smoothly
executed coup that briefly installed mild-mannered businessman Pedro
Carmona as leader of the world's fourth-largest oil-exporting
country.
"We guarantee that the president of the republic, Hugo Chavez Frias,
will soon assume his functions as constitutional president," said
Diosdado Cabello, who was Chavez's deputy until Friday but was sworn
in as temporary president late on Saturday to cover the gap until
his
boss's return.
Carmona, seeing power slip away from his inexperienced grasp amid
military rebellions and street protests, had quit hours earlier.
"A few minutes ago, we were informed that (Chavez) is in the hands
of
armed forces troops who are backing the re-establishment of our
institutions and in a short while he will be with us," Cabello told
reporters at the Miraflores presidential palace.
Tens of thousands of angry Chavez supporters took to the streets of
Venezuela's chaotic tropical capital on Saturday to demand the
return
of a leader they said had stood up for the poor. In a day of chaos
in
which it was seldom clear who was running the country, they clashed
with police -- at least one person was killed -- and stormed
anti-Chavez television stations.
CHAVEZ'S CAREER SEEMED OVER
Loyalist troops took control of the Miraflores palace and waved
their
berets and weapons in salute as massive crowds cheered them on.
Chavez's career had seemed to be finished early on Friday, when the
heads of the armed forces announced he had agreed to resign at their
request following the deaths of at least 11 unarmed anti-government
protesters.
The demonstrators -- among hundreds of thousands who marched to call
for Chavez's resignation on Thursday -- were killed by gunmen in
civilian dress. The protest had been sparked by a strike called by
powerful state oil company employees, who objected to Chavez's
decision to fire their board of directors.
Carmona's interim government blamed Chavez for the deaths, said it
was dismissing Congress and the Supreme Court and would hold
elections within a year.
The United States, which disliked Chavez for his friendship with
Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) and fretted about
his
populist leadership, was clearly pleased to see the back of him.
U.S.
officials said they considered there had been no coup.
The military officers behind Chavez's overthrow said they merely had
done their duty by protecting unarmed civilians.
Chavez, the 47-year-old son of poor teachers, first came to national
prominence when, as a young paratroop officer, he led troops in a
failed coup attempt in 1992.
After his release from prison he launched a legal political career
that swept him to power in a landslide election victory in 1998.
Often opting to continue to wear his paratrooper colonel's red
beret,
Chavez delighted the poor but infuriated the rich and the powerful
news media with his rambling, often folksy speeches that denounced
the wealthy elite.
As he amassed more power, his critics said he was leading Venezuela
down the road toward a Cuban-style authoritarian government. His
failure to cut levels of corruption or poverty also eroded much of
his support in his power base among the poor, and his approval
rating
had fallen to about 30 percent by the time of the last opinion poll.
TROOPS LOYAL TO CHAVEZ
While many of the top generals turned against him on Thursday and
Friday, his supporters had what seemed to be the last laugh and
boasted that most of the troops remained loyal.
As more and more television stations had their signals hijacked by
Chavez loyalists on Saturday, the ousted president's followers told
the cameras that most of the country's military units had come out
in
support of their man.
At the end of what should have been his first full day in power,
Carmona resigned after closed-door negotiations with top brass at
the
Fuerte Tiuna military base.
A few hours earlier, he had made a statement from military
headquarters saying that Chavez would shortly be leaving the
country.
But the game was up for the interim government.
Chavez backers displayed a handwritten faxed message, which they
said
was signed by Chavez, that denied he had resigned from the
presidency
as had been reported by military officers on Friday.
"I, Hugo Chavez Frias, a Venezuelan and the president of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela have not renounced the legitimate
power that the people gave me," the message read.
Cabello said he would soon be handing over power to Chavez once
again.
"We hope he is in good shape," he said, adding there would be no
reprisals for the turbulent events of the past few days but that
those who had taken part in the coup would suffer the full weight of
the law.
*
source - Bill Blum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hugo Chavez: A Servant Not Knowing his Place
by William Blum
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.
"The opposition has been coming in with an assortment of 'what
ifs',"
said a U.S. official familiar with the effort. "What if this
happened? What if that happened? What if you held it up and looked
at it sideways? To every scenario we say no. We know what a coup
looks like, and we won't support it."
Right. They won't support a coup. So what happens when a coup
occurs which they want to support? Simple. They don't call it a
coup. They call it a "change of government" and say that Chavez was
ousted "as a result of the message of the Venezuelan people."
Veritable grass-roots democracy it was.
Opposition legislators were also brought to Washington in recent
months, including at least one delegation sponsored by the
International Republican Institute, an integral part of the National
Endowment for Democracy, long used by the CIA for covert operations
abroad.
Overthrowing a man such as Hugo Chavez, guilty of such
transgressions, was a duty so "natural" for the CIA that the only
reason it might not have been intimately involved in the operation
would be that the Agency had been secretly disbanded.
*
William Blum is the author of "Killing Hope: US Military and CIA
Interventions Since World War II" and "Rogue State: A Guide to the
World's Only Superpower"
Portions of the books can be read (with a link to Killing Hope)
at: http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm
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