From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 05:10:23 -0700 To: "CubaNews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CubaNews] Rangel: Venezuela opposition seeks "Bay of Pigs" Posted at 9:31 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 29, 2001 Defense minister: opposition wants ``Bay of Pigs'' invasion of Venezuela CARACAS, Venezuela -- (AP) -- Venezuela's defense minister warned on Monday that foes of President Hugo Chavez are trying to orchestrate a U.S. military invasion of the country modeled after the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Jose Vicente Rangel said clandestine groups believe they can ``promote a coup d'etat, an American invasion or even kill Chavez.'' He assured that the plot would fail, adding that U.S. President George Bush's government is not participating in it ``for now.'' ``Reality itself is going to thwart them,'' Rangel said in a press conference. ``Meanwhile, we're staying alert.'' Rangel said the government is still trying to identify the subversive groups. Chavez, who is traveling through Asia, has dismissed recent rumors of planned coups. Chavez's opponents criticize the president's friendliness toward countries including Cuba, Iraq and Libya, saying he is unnecessarily alienating the United States, the largest importer of Venezuelan oil. On Saturday, protesters rallied outside the Cuban Embassy, accusing Cuban doctors and sports trainers working in Venezuela under an oil-for-services trade pact of secretly spreading communist ideology. The protesters were chased away by a bigger crowd of Chavez supporters, who burned an American flag. Chavez, who is traveling through Asia, condemned both groups and urged Venezuelans not to ``import'' the conflict between Cuban President Fidel Castro and Cuban exiles and Cuban Americans in Miami. ``I saw images of some young people burning an American flag ... We're not going to import a problem that is not ours ... We respect all flags and all peoples,'' Chavez said over the weekend in a televised speech from China. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
