Goin' After Hugo (Prize offer at the end of this post)
This is going to be a long and involved post. It starts out with a movie called "The Revolution Will Not be Televised." If you haven't seen it already, before reading on, go here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144
Even though Hugo Chavez is my #1 friend on myspace, there are problems with the man. The Zapatistas, who serve as the Northern Star on my moral compass have some very serious contentions with him.
As do the indigenous people of Venezuela:
Last 19th July, during the 2nd meeting of the Zapatista People with the Peoples of the World, the “wayuus” indigenous people of Venezuela criticized the Bolivarian government of Chavez, accusing him of implementing Neoliberal policies on indigenous territories, and using manipulation and a double discourse, in what they consider a genocide of the indigenous cultures in Venezuela. "The representatives of the State, have pacted with the Imperialist transnationals to give them oil, mining, and gas concessions against the will of the indigenous communities of Venezuela”.
(http://redamazon.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/chavez-holds-the-controversial-south-gas-pipeline-project/)
Chavez represents a population, that's what I like about him. That's it, plain and simple. Perhaps at this point in history, he is getting fat and hungry on power, but the model of government he leads is one that would well serve almost any population on the planet. It is a one-size-fits-all model for social democracy - a democracy that involves society on every level. When I saw "the Revolution Will Not be Televised" I got SO JEALOUS of people carrying around their constitution in their pockets. I could not even imagine a democracy where the citizens read their constitution and kept it onhand. This close proximity probably has to do with the fact that every article of their constitution was voted on by referendum. Every voting citizen in Venezuela was potentially personally invested in the creation of their constitution. I cannot imagine such a thing in my country. And certainly, my government does not want me imagining such things, either. I am not Samuel Adams and this is not the 1770s. Democracy has already been created here in the U.S. and who do I think I am that I could tinker with the ideas of my forefathers? Get back to work. There are to be no more imaginings from my quarter.
Stan Goff sent me one of his recent articles and it inspired me to set up this little Hugo Chavez Primer.
Here's that article:
A CIA plan to destabilize Venezuela...
by Stan G
Wed Nov 28, 2007 at 03:04:05 PM PST
Stan G's diary :: ::
...is in progress right now.
A memo from CIA officer Michael Middleton Steere, addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington DC, has been intercepted by Venezuelan counter-intelligence; and it shows that the US plans to attempt another coup d'etat against the democratically elected government of Venezuela on the eve of a historic constitutional referendum that will democratize political power to the grassroots of the majority more thoroughly than anything we have seen in this hemisphere... ever. This outcome by a major oil producing nation that has confronted the US government is intolerable to the American political class, not merely the Bush administration. It is part of a continental drift of Latin America away from US domination; and it has world historic significance.
It is very important that this CIA plot get maximum exposure immediately across the net, because the US media, the Republican and Democratic Parties, and the US dominant class, will do everything in their power to assist the desired outcome of this illegal and immoral interference by the United States government in the democratic self-determination of Venezuela.
Widespread, rapid distribution via alternative media has the potential to expose and disrupt this CIA plot. You can do something right now. Get the word out.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/11/28/18227/641
So I read the article that Stan referred to. I'm pasting it below, but there are some photos (I do not know how to post photos or make hyperlinks) of a teevee grab saying that Chavez has been killed that on this link:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7475
CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela
Psyop aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow President Chavez
by Eva Golinger
Global Research, November 28, 2007
venezuelanalysis.com
Last night CNN en Español aired the above image, which captions at the bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The image of President Chavez with the caption about killing him below, which some could say subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production error" mistakenly made in the CNN en Español newsroom. The news anchor had been narrarating a story about the situation between Colombia and Venezuela and then switched to a story about an unsolved homicide but - oops - someone forgot to change the screen image and President Chavez was left with the killing statement below. Today they apologized and admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes, it was.
On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not true - plan to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled "OPERATION PLIERS" was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington. Steere is stationed at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a Regional Affairs Officer. The internal memorandum, dated November 20, 2007, references the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation Pliers", and confirms that the operation is coordinated by the team of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in Venezuela. The memo summarizes the different scenarios that the CIA has been working on in Venezuela for the upcoming referendum vote on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as it's phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will not change substantially before Sunday, December 2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote in favor of the constitutional reform has an advantage of about 10-13 points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates abstention around 60% and states in the memo that this voting tendency is irreversible before the elections.
Officer Steere emphasizes the importance and success of the public relations and propaganda campaign that the CIA has been funding with more than $8 million during the past month - funds that the CIA confirms are transfered through the USAID contracted company, Development Alternatives, Inc., which set up operations in June 2002 to run the USAID Office for Transition Initiatives that funds and advises opposition NGOs and political parties in Venezuela. The CIA memo specifically refers to these propaganda initiatives as "psychological operations" (PSYOPS), that include contracting polling companies to create fraudulent polls that show the NO vote with an advantage over the SI vote, which is false. The CIA also confirms in the memo that it is working with international press agencies to distort the data and information about the referendum, and that it coordinates in Venezuela with a team of journalists and media organized and directed by the President of Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell.
CIA Officer Michael Steere recommends to General Michael Hayden two different strategies to work simultaneously: Impede the referendum and refuse to recognize the results once the SI vote wins. Though these strategies appear contradictory, Steere claims that they must be implemented together precisely to encourage activities that aim toward impeding the referendum and at the same time prepare the conditions for a rejection of the results.
How is this to be done?
In the memo, the CIA proposes the following tactics and actions:
*Take the streets and protest with violent, disruptive actions across the nation
*Generate a climate of ungovernability
*Provoke a general uprising in a substantial part of the population
*Engage in a "plan to implode" the voting centers on election day by encouraging opposition voters to "VOTE and REMAIN" in their centers to agitate others
*Start to release data during the early hours of the afternoon on Sunday that favor the NO vote (in clear violation of election regulations)
*Coordinate these activities with Ravell & Globovision and international press agencies
*Coordinate with ex-militar officers and coupsters Pena Esclusa and Guyon Cellis - this will be done by the Military Attache for Defense and Army at the US Embassy in Caracas, Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO)
*To encourage rejection of the results, the CIA proposes:
*Creating an acceptance in the public opinion that the NO vote will win for sure
*Using polling companies contracted by the CIA
*Criticize and discredit the National Elections Council
*Generate a sensation of fraud
*Use a team of experts from the universities that will talk about how the data from the Electoral Registry has been manipulated and will build distrust in the voting system
*The CIA memo also talks about:
*Isolating Chavez in the international community
*Trying to achieve unity amongst the opposition
*Seek an aliance between those abstentionists and those who will vote "NO"
*Sustain firmly the propaganda against Chavez
*Execute military actions to support the opposition mobilizations and propagandistic occupations
*Finalize the operative preparations on the US military bases in Curacao and Colombia to provide support to actions in Venezuela
*Control a part of the country during the next 72-120 hours
*Encourage a military rebellion inside the National Guard forces and other components
Those involved in these actions as detailed in the CIA memo are:
The CIA Office in Venezuela - Office of Regional Affairs, and Officer Michael Steere
US Embassy in Venezuela, Ambassador Patrick Duddy
Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO) at the US Embassy in Caracas and Military Attache Richard Nazario
Venezuelan Political Parties:
Comando Nacional de la Resistencia
Accion Democratica
Primero Justicia
Bandera Roja
Media:
Alberto Federico Ravell & Globovision
Interamerican Press Society (IAPA) or SIP in Spanish
International Press Agencies
Venezuelans:
Pena Esclusa
Guyon Cellis
Dean of the Simon Bolivar University, Rudolph Benjamin Podolski
Dean of the Andres Bello Catholic University, Ugalde
Students: Yon Goicochea, Juan Mejias, Ronel Gaglio, Gabriel Gallo, Ricardo Sanchez
Operation Tenaza has the objective of encouraging an armed insurrection in Venezuela against the government of President Chavez that will justify an intervention of US forces, stationed on the military bases nearby in Curacao and Colombia. The Operation mentions two countries in code: as Blue and Green. These refer to Curacao and Colombia, where the US has operative, active and equipped bases that have been reinforced over the past year and a half in anticipation of a conflict with Venezuela.
The document confirms that psychological operations are the CIA's best and most effective weapon to date against Venezuela, and it will continue its efforts to influence international public opinion regarding President Chavez and the situation in the country.
Operation Tenaza is a very alarming plan that aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow (again) its legitimate and democratic (and very popularly support) president. The plan will fail, primarily because it has been discovered, but it must be denounced around the world as an unacceptable violation of Venezuela's sovereignty.
So here we have a very detailed plot to upset the coming constitutional referendum vote and hopefully oust/kill Hugo Chavez in the process. But this is the thing about Venezuela that the white imperialists have the dangedest time understanding: Hugo Chavez has been a very important factor in the creation of a deomcratic model. He is a factor, nonetheless. If the CIA and corporate and political interests kill/oust him, the people will rise up, as was evidenced in "The Revolution Will Not be Televised." It is a government by the people and they are quite happy with its possibilities. If Chavez dies, someone representing the same model will simply replace him.
Hopefully you've watched the movie and read all this information and thought about it. Your assignment now, is to read the following article and recontextualize by utilizing everything you've just taken in.
The first person to email me a compelling analysis of the U.S. government influenced article below will receive a bunch of Cunt stickers.
Venezuela threatens to expel US official
By EDISON LOPEZ, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 29, 1:18 AM ET
Venezuela threatened Wednesday to expel a U.S. Embassy official for allegedly conspiring to defeat a referendum championed by President Hugo Chavez, accusing the diplomat of plotting to sway public opinion.
The allegation comes ahead of a fiercely contested referendum on reforms that would allow Chavez indefinite re-election and help him establish a socialist state in Venezuela. Sunday's vote has generated large pro- and anti-Chavez rallies and Chavez kept the rhetoric high on Wednesday by repeating his charge that Washington is plotting to kill him.
In Caracas, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro showed state television a document that he claimed was written by the unnamed embassy official and was to have been sent to the CIA as part of a plan to help ensure that Venezuelans vote against the proposed constitutional overhaul.
"It's a script from the CIA to try to generate a block of opinion among Venezuelans that would give a sure victory to the 'No' vote," said Maduro. "We will investigate and if it's that way, we'll remove this person from here as a persona non grata."
He did not provide more details of the alleged plot.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said he was unaware of the document.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said officials there were looking into the reports.
Chavez, an ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has had a friction-filled relationship with Washington. The Venezuelan leader accuses the U.S. of supporting a 2002 coup that ousted him from office for two days, while U.S. officials call Chavez threat to the region's stability.
In February 2006, Venezuela expelled naval attache John Correa for allegedly passing secret information from Venezuelan military officers to the Pentagon.
On Tuesday, Chavez accused the CNN news network of "inciting" an assassination attempt against him. On Wednesday, Chavez said Washington is also seeking to kill him — a claim he has made in the past.
"Before the world, I accuse the imperialist government of the United States of promoting my assassination," Chavez told supporters in the southwestern city of Merida. "If anything should happen to me, the president of the United States will be responsible for my death."
U.S. officials have in the past denied they are plotting to assassinate Chavez.
In Sunday's referendum, Venezuelans will vote on proposed changes to 69 amendments of the nation's 1999 constitution. If approved, the revisions would allow Chavez indefinite re-election, create forms of communal property and further his plans to establish socialism in Venezuela.
On Wednesday, hundreds of stone-throwing students clashed with police and the Venezuelan National Guard in a protest against the constitutional overhaul. Security forces responded with water cannons and tear gas.
At least 600 students from the private Metropolitan University took part in disturbances that lasted more than four hours.
"We're doing this because we're sick of Chavez, sick of his government, sick of the way he governs," said Roberto, who covered his face, leaving only his eyes visible. He gave only his first name because he feared reprisals from the security forces.
On Monday, a man was shot to death after he tried to cross a protest, near the city of Valencia. Chavez blamed violent elements within the opposition for the killing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_constitution_19&printer=1;_ylt=AtBEqvT2NR1_nD02xYhMmm69IxIF
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144
Even though Hugo Chavez is my #1 friend on myspace, there are problems with the man. The Zapatistas, who serve as the Northern Star on my moral compass have some very serious contentions with him.
As do the indigenous people of Venezuela:
Last 19th July, during the 2nd meeting of the Zapatista People with the Peoples of the World, the “wayuus” indigenous people of Venezuela criticized the Bolivarian government of Chavez, accusing him of implementing Neoliberal policies on indigenous territories, and using manipulation and a double discourse, in what they consider a genocide of the indigenous cultures in Venezuela. "The representatives of the State, have pacted with the Imperialist transnationals to give them oil, mining, and gas concessions against the will of the indigenous communities of Venezuela”.
(http://redamazon.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/chavez-holds-the-controversial-south-gas-pipeline-project/)
Chavez represents a population, that's what I like about him. That's it, plain and simple. Perhaps at this point in history, he is getting fat and hungry on power, but the model of government he leads is one that would well serve almost any population on the planet. It is a one-size-fits-all model for social democracy - a democracy that involves society on every level. When I saw "the Revolution Will Not be Televised" I got SO JEALOUS of people carrying around their constitution in their pockets. I could not even imagine a democracy where the citizens read their constitution and kept it onhand. This close proximity probably has to do with the fact that every article of their constitution was voted on by referendum. Every voting citizen in Venezuela was potentially personally invested in the creation of their constitution. I cannot imagine such a thing in my country. And certainly, my government does not want me imagining such things, either. I am not Samuel Adams and this is not the 1770s. Democracy has already been created here in the U.S. and who do I think I am that I could tinker with the ideas of my forefathers? Get back to work. There are to be no more imaginings from my quarter.
Stan Goff sent me one of his recent articles and it inspired me to set up this little Hugo Chavez Primer.
Here's that article:
A CIA plan to destabilize Venezuela...
by Stan G
Wed Nov 28, 2007 at 03:04:05 PM PST
Stan G's diary :: ::
...is in progress right now.
A memo from CIA officer Michael Middleton Steere, addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington DC, has been intercepted by Venezuelan counter-intelligence; and it shows that the US plans to attempt another coup d'etat against the democratically elected government of Venezuela on the eve of a historic constitutional referendum that will democratize political power to the grassroots of the majority more thoroughly than anything we have seen in this hemisphere... ever. This outcome by a major oil producing nation that has confronted the US government is intolerable to the American political class, not merely the Bush administration. It is part of a continental drift of Latin America away from US domination; and it has world historic significance.
It is very important that this CIA plot get maximum exposure immediately across the net, because the US media, the Republican and Democratic Parties, and the US dominant class, will do everything in their power to assist the desired outcome of this illegal and immoral interference by the United States government in the democratic self-determination of Venezuela.
Widespread, rapid distribution via alternative media has the potential to expose and disrupt this CIA plot. You can do something right now. Get the word out.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/11/28/18227/641
So I read the article that Stan referred to. I'm pasting it below, but there are some photos (I do not know how to post photos or make hyperlinks) of a teevee grab saying that Chavez has been killed that on this link:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7475
CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela
Psyop aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow President Chavez
by Eva Golinger
Global Research, November 28, 2007
venezuelanalysis.com
Last night CNN en Español aired the above image, which captions at the bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The image of President Chavez with the caption about killing him below, which some could say subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production error" mistakenly made in the CNN en Español newsroom. The news anchor had been narrarating a story about the situation between Colombia and Venezuela and then switched to a story about an unsolved homicide but - oops - someone forgot to change the screen image and President Chavez was left with the killing statement below. Today they apologized and admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes, it was.
On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not true - plan to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled "OPERATION PLIERS" was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington. Steere is stationed at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a Regional Affairs Officer. The internal memorandum, dated November 20, 2007, references the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation Pliers", and confirms that the operation is coordinated by the team of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in Venezuela. The memo summarizes the different scenarios that the CIA has been working on in Venezuela for the upcoming referendum vote on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as it's phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will not change substantially before Sunday, December 2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote in favor of the constitutional reform has an advantage of about 10-13 points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates abstention around 60% and states in the memo that this voting tendency is irreversible before the elections.
Officer Steere emphasizes the importance and success of the public relations and propaganda campaign that the CIA has been funding with more than $8 million during the past month - funds that the CIA confirms are transfered through the USAID contracted company, Development Alternatives, Inc., which set up operations in June 2002 to run the USAID Office for Transition Initiatives that funds and advises opposition NGOs and political parties in Venezuela. The CIA memo specifically refers to these propaganda initiatives as "psychological operations" (PSYOPS), that include contracting polling companies to create fraudulent polls that show the NO vote with an advantage over the SI vote, which is false. The CIA also confirms in the memo that it is working with international press agencies to distort the data and information about the referendum, and that it coordinates in Venezuela with a team of journalists and media organized and directed by the President of Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell.
CIA Officer Michael Steere recommends to General Michael Hayden two different strategies to work simultaneously: Impede the referendum and refuse to recognize the results once the SI vote wins. Though these strategies appear contradictory, Steere claims that they must be implemented together precisely to encourage activities that aim toward impeding the referendum and at the same time prepare the conditions for a rejection of the results.
How is this to be done?
In the memo, the CIA proposes the following tactics and actions:
*Take the streets and protest with violent, disruptive actions across the nation
*Generate a climate of ungovernability
*Provoke a general uprising in a substantial part of the population
*Engage in a "plan to implode" the voting centers on election day by encouraging opposition voters to "VOTE and REMAIN" in their centers to agitate others
*Start to release data during the early hours of the afternoon on Sunday that favor the NO vote (in clear violation of election regulations)
*Coordinate these activities with Ravell & Globovision and international press agencies
*Coordinate with ex-militar officers and coupsters Pena Esclusa and Guyon Cellis - this will be done by the Military Attache for Defense and Army at the US Embassy in Caracas, Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO)
*To encourage rejection of the results, the CIA proposes:
*Creating an acceptance in the public opinion that the NO vote will win for sure
*Using polling companies contracted by the CIA
*Criticize and discredit the National Elections Council
*Generate a sensation of fraud
*Use a team of experts from the universities that will talk about how the data from the Electoral Registry has been manipulated and will build distrust in the voting system
*The CIA memo also talks about:
*Isolating Chavez in the international community
*Trying to achieve unity amongst the opposition
*Seek an aliance between those abstentionists and those who will vote "NO"
*Sustain firmly the propaganda against Chavez
*Execute military actions to support the opposition mobilizations and propagandistic occupations
*Finalize the operative preparations on the US military bases in Curacao and Colombia to provide support to actions in Venezuela
*Control a part of the country during the next 72-120 hours
*Encourage a military rebellion inside the National Guard forces and other components
Those involved in these actions as detailed in the CIA memo are:
The CIA Office in Venezuela - Office of Regional Affairs, and Officer Michael Steere
US Embassy in Venezuela, Ambassador Patrick Duddy
Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO) at the US Embassy in Caracas and Military Attache Richard Nazario
Venezuelan Political Parties:
Comando Nacional de la Resistencia
Accion Democratica
Primero Justicia
Bandera Roja
Media:
Alberto Federico Ravell & Globovision
Interamerican Press Society (IAPA) or SIP in Spanish
International Press Agencies
Venezuelans:
Pena Esclusa
Guyon Cellis
Dean of the Simon Bolivar University, Rudolph Benjamin Podolski
Dean of the Andres Bello Catholic University, Ugalde
Students: Yon Goicochea, Juan Mejias, Ronel Gaglio, Gabriel Gallo, Ricardo Sanchez
Operation Tenaza has the objective of encouraging an armed insurrection in Venezuela against the government of President Chavez that will justify an intervention of US forces, stationed on the military bases nearby in Curacao and Colombia. The Operation mentions two countries in code: as Blue and Green. These refer to Curacao and Colombia, where the US has operative, active and equipped bases that have been reinforced over the past year and a half in anticipation of a conflict with Venezuela.
The document confirms that psychological operations are the CIA's best and most effective weapon to date against Venezuela, and it will continue its efforts to influence international public opinion regarding President Chavez and the situation in the country.
Operation Tenaza is a very alarming plan that aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow (again) its legitimate and democratic (and very popularly support) president. The plan will fail, primarily because it has been discovered, but it must be denounced around the world as an unacceptable violation of Venezuela's sovereignty.
So here we have a very detailed plot to upset the coming constitutional referendum vote and hopefully oust/kill Hugo Chavez in the process. But this is the thing about Venezuela that the white imperialists have the dangedest time understanding: Hugo Chavez has been a very important factor in the creation of a deomcratic model. He is a factor, nonetheless. If the CIA and corporate and political interests kill/oust him, the people will rise up, as was evidenced in "The Revolution Will Not be Televised." It is a government by the people and they are quite happy with its possibilities. If Chavez dies, someone representing the same model will simply replace him.
Hopefully you've watched the movie and read all this information and thought about it. Your assignment now, is to read the following article and recontextualize by utilizing everything you've just taken in.
The first person to email me a compelling analysis of the U.S. government influenced article below will receive a bunch of Cunt stickers.
Venezuela threatens to expel US official
By EDISON LOPEZ, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 29, 1:18 AM ET
Venezuela threatened Wednesday to expel a U.S. Embassy official for allegedly conspiring to defeat a referendum championed by President Hugo Chavez, accusing the diplomat of plotting to sway public opinion.
The allegation comes ahead of a fiercely contested referendum on reforms that would allow Chavez indefinite re-election and help him establish a socialist state in Venezuela. Sunday's vote has generated large pro- and anti-Chavez rallies and Chavez kept the rhetoric high on Wednesday by repeating his charge that Washington is plotting to kill him.
In Caracas, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro showed state television a document that he claimed was written by the unnamed embassy official and was to have been sent to the CIA as part of a plan to help ensure that Venezuelans vote against the proposed constitutional overhaul.
"It's a script from the CIA to try to generate a block of opinion among Venezuelans that would give a sure victory to the 'No' vote," said Maduro. "We will investigate and if it's that way, we'll remove this person from here as a persona non grata."
He did not provide more details of the alleged plot.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said he was unaware of the document.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said officials there were looking into the reports.
Chavez, an ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has had a friction-filled relationship with Washington. The Venezuelan leader accuses the U.S. of supporting a 2002 coup that ousted him from office for two days, while U.S. officials call Chavez threat to the region's stability.
In February 2006, Venezuela expelled naval attache John Correa for allegedly passing secret information from Venezuelan military officers to the Pentagon.
On Tuesday, Chavez accused the CNN news network of "inciting" an assassination attempt against him. On Wednesday, Chavez said Washington is also seeking to kill him — a claim he has made in the past.
"Before the world, I accuse the imperialist government of the United States of promoting my assassination," Chavez told supporters in the southwestern city of Merida. "If anything should happen to me, the president of the United States will be responsible for my death."
U.S. officials have in the past denied they are plotting to assassinate Chavez.
In Sunday's referendum, Venezuelans will vote on proposed changes to 69 amendments of the nation's 1999 constitution. If approved, the revisions would allow Chavez indefinite re-election, create forms of communal property and further his plans to establish socialism in Venezuela.
On Wednesday, hundreds of stone-throwing students clashed with police and the Venezuelan National Guard in a protest against the constitutional overhaul. Security forces responded with water cannons and tear gas.
At least 600 students from the private Metropolitan University took part in disturbances that lasted more than four hours.
"We're doing this because we're sick of Chavez, sick of his government, sick of the way he governs," said Roberto, who covered his face, leaving only his eyes visible. He gave only his first name because he feared reprisals from the security forces.
On Monday, a man was shot to death after he tried to cross a protest, near the city of Valencia. Chavez blamed violent elements within the opposition for the killing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_constitution_19&printer=1;_ylt=AtBEqvT2NR1_nD02xYhMmm69IxIF
posted by ingalagringa at
Thursday, November 29, 2007
<< Home