[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Venezuela's 'Anti-Bush' Fears Assassination
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 03:39:48 +0100
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41572-2005Mar16.html
Venezuela's 'Anti-Bush' Fears Assassination
By Jefferson Morley
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, March 17, 2005; 9:01 AM=20
When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez charged last month that the United St=
ates was developing plans to assassinate him, the U.S. State Department rej=
ected the accusation as "wild."=20
Last week, Felix Rodriguez, a former CIA operative and prominent Bush suppo=
rter in south Florida, told Channel 22 in Miami that he had information abo=
ut the administration's plans to "bring about a change" in Venezuela, possi=
bly through "military measures."=20
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Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, shown here speaking in Paris,=
says the United States has plans to assassinate him. His supporters say te=
levised remarks of a former CIA officer in Miami last week lend credence to=
his fears. (Jack Guez - AFP/Getty Images)=20=20
Felix Rodriguez appears on Miami's Channel 22 during a news tal=
kshow. (
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A video clip provided by Channel 22 shows host Maria Elvira Salazar pressin=
g Rodriguez to be more specific. He makes clear he thinks the Bush administ=
ration will physically eliminate Chavez.=20
The pro-Chavez media jumped on the story. Venezuelanalysis.com, a leftist W=
eb site, noted that Rodriguez had cited the Reagan administration's 1986 bo=
mbing raid on Libya that sought to kill Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi as an=
example. "If they are going to do it, they are going to do it openly," Rod=
riguez said.=20
Salazar denied the Venezuelan government's charge that the station was prom=
oting assassination, according to Unionradio.net (in Spanish), the Web site=
of a Venezuelan radio network. Salazar said the accusation was "propaganda=
."=20
Nontheless, Rodriguez's remarks cannot be dismissed as bombast. He is well =
known in Latin America for his role advising a Bolivian military unit that =
captured and executed Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara in 1967. He is well-c=
onnected with the Bush family. The memory of various White House-approved, =
CIA-sponsored conspiracies to assassinate Fidel Castro in the 1960s may hav=
e faded in Washington but they have not been forgotten in Havana or Caracas=
.=20
Yesterday, El Espectador (in Spanish), a leading daily in Colombia, reporte=
d that Chavez has beefed up his personal security detail amid "fears for th=
e president's safety."=20
The point is not that Washington is murderous or that Chavez is paranoid. T=
he talk of assassination, whether idle or not, reflects the reality that th=
e stakes are high in the power struggle between Chavez and the Bush adminis=
tration. Six Latin American countries are now at odds with Washington polit=
ically. As The Washington Post's Kevin Sullivan put it earlier this week, C=
havez is positioning himself as the "anti-Bush" of the hemisphere.=20
The international online media is full of signs that both sides are fortify=
ing themselves for a fight.=20
"Bush Orders Policy to 'Contain' Chavez," reported the Financial Times (by =
subscription) on Sunday. Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary for=
western hemisphere affairs at the Department of Defense, told the London d=
aily that President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had asked =
the Pentagon to help develop a strategy to "contain" Chavez.=20
"Chavez is a problem because he is clearly using his oil money and influenc=
e to introduce his conflictive style into the politics of other countries,"=
Mr Pardo-Maurer said. "He's picking on the countries whose social fabric i=
s the weakest. In some cases it's downright subversion."=20
"A tougher stance from the US already appears to be in the offing, a move l=
ikely to strain relations further," the FT reported.=20
In Venezuela, Pardo-Maurer's remarks were picked up by El Universal (in Spa=
nish) and Tal Cual (in Spanish), two leading anti-Chavez news outlets in Ca=
racas.=20
Another sign of Pentagon activism in Venezuela: Gen. Brantz Craddock, the c=
hief of U.S. Southern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Wed=
nesday that neighboring countries are worried about Venezuela's recent purc=
hase of Russian rifles and helicopters. "We don't want an arms race in the =
region," Craddock said, according to a front page story in El Universal (in=
Spanish).=20
Venezuelan Army Commander Ra=FAl Baudel brushed aside Craddock's concerns, =
insisting "Venezuela is pacifist" and asking the United States "to respect =
our decisions," according to another Venezuelan daily El Nacional (in Spani=
sh).=20
The United States is especially worried about Chavez's so-called "Bolivaria=
n Revolution" spreading to neighboring Bolivia. There a grass- roots social=
and political movement has shut the country down for weeks in an effort to=
force the government of President Carlos Mesa to dramatically raise taxes =
on foreign energy investors.=20
Evo Morales, the former coca grower who leads the opposition, denies that t=
he Bolivian protests are funded or directed by Venezuela. But he does not h=
ide his admiration for Chavez, according to La Cronica de Hoy (in Spanish),=
a leading daily in Mexico City.=20
"Chavez is not alone. He has the support of the Latin American people," Mor=
ales is quoted as saying. He also described Chavez as "one of the greatest =
leaders ever in the history of Bolivia."=20
Yesterday, the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies approved a smaller energy tax i=
ncrease than the one supported by Morales, according to Bolpress.com (in Sp=
anish), a leftist news site supportive of Bolivia's social movements. But t=
he opposition says it will not lift its blockade of the country's highways =
until an even higher rate is approved.=20
That is the "conflictive style" that the Pentagon worries Chavez is spreadi=
ng in Latin America, the style that Washington would like to "contain" befo=
re it spreads further.=20
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