Stuart Munckton
In April 2002, shortly after the military coup that temporarily overthrew Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, author William Blum asked on the counterpunch website: "How do we know that the [Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)] was behind the coup that overthrew Hugo Chavez? Same way we know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning."
Blum proceeded to list the anti-imperialist policies of the Chavez government and commented that the United States "had endeavoured to topple numerous governments for a whole lot less". He concluded "overthrowing...Chavez...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." The US was the only country in the Americas to recognise the coup-installed illegal military junta led by chamber of commerce head Pedro Carmona, which lasted just two days before a popular uprising forced the triumphant return of Chavez. The New York Times (NYT) opined in an editorial on April 13 before the coup unravelled, "Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator".
With the rapid overthrow of the military junta, the US was forced to retreat from its support. The NYT was even forced to issue a written apology for its editorial in support of such a blatantly undemocratic coup. However the US Congress-controlled National Endowment for Democracy (NED), whose stated role is to help "further democracy in the region", actually increased its funding to groups that helped organise the coup in its immediate aftermath. Now, documentary proof has emerged that the CIA was not only fully aware of the plans for a coup in advance, but also knew how it would unfold. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act prove that the US lied when it pretended not to know of coup plans. An April 6, 2002, a top-secret intelligence brief headlined "Venezuela: Conditions Ripening for Coup Attempt" posted at <http://www.venezuelaFOIA.info>, a site dedicated to exposing US interference in Venezuela, states, "Dissident military factions... are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Ch vez, possible as early as this month, [CENSORED]... To provoke military action, the plotters may try to exploit unrest stemming from opposition demonstrations slated for later this month..." This is exactly what happened. Unknown snipers fired on opposition and pro-government demonstrators. The plotters exploited the killings as the pretext to seize power. To pretend it wasn't a coup, the lie was circulated, including by US officials, that Chavez had resigned.
When asked why the CIA had not warned the president of the impending coup, a CIA spokesperson made the breathtaking statement that it "would suggest we would meddle in the affairs of another nation". While the CIA is denying that it was directly involved, it is highly unlikely that the CIA could have known of the plans in such detail unless they were intimately involved.
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
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