President Hugo Chavez has often denounced Western countries,
mainly the US, for supposed attempts to assassinate him, but in an unusual statement
recently, the Venezuelan president announced that he had credible evidence that
his main rival, Henrique Capriles Radonski, is now the target of these same
intelligence agencies.
On March 20, the Financial Times of London wrote that President
Chavez had presented the uncovering of the alleged plot via telephone on
Venzuelan TV. He went on to say that the assassins were probably foreign intelligence
officers or groups. He also stated that he had already informed Mr. Capriles of
the concern and of the need to take it seriously.
Although President Chavez has often denounced foreign interventions,
most notably American interference, in the internal affairs of his nations, as
well as other Latin American countries, his latest pronouncement doesn't seem
that farfetched.
In early March, Mr. Capriles had narrowly escaped an assassination
attempt at an opposition rally in the slums in Caracas. And in April, 2002,
President Chavez had been briefly overthrown by a group of wealthy Venezuelans
with the probable backing of the US government. Though the coup d'etat only lasted
48 hours, it demonstrated just how far the American government was willing to
go to effect regime change in countries that didn't kowtow to its every demand.
More recently, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa narrowly
survived a coup d'etat and assassination attempt last year by its policemen who
had been armed and directed by the US Embassy in Quito. And just a few days
ago, Bolivian President Evo Morales directed his police to stop a US Embassy
vehicle, driven by Sgt. Garcia of the embassy with chief of U.S. Embassy
security Maj. Costas on board. They found on board three shotguns, a 38-caliber
revolver, and a load of ammunition, even though the American Embassy had not
previously declared their desire to transport arms to the Bolivian government.
In 2009, the Bolivian police had to intercede at the Las
Americas Hotel to thwart a possible coup d'etat and assassination of President
Morales by terrorists sent there by Western European intelligence agencies.
There have also been numerous illegal movements of weapons by US embassy
personnel in Argentina, Chile and elsewhere in Latin America.
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