November 17, 2014
Tiwy.com
Weapons and Manpower for a Color Revolution in Venezuela
Nil Nikandrov - http://www.strategic-culture.org
Weapons and Manpower for a Color Revolution in Venezuela
Reports surface in the Latin American media with alarming regularity about seizures by law-enforcement agencies of large shipments of US-made weapons. Such events are becoming noticeably more frequent in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Argentina - countries that the Obama administration considers unfriendly. But most often, news of the discovery of arms caches comes from Venezuela.

Overthrowing that Bolivarian regime remains one of Washington’s strategic objectives, and US intelligence agencies are using many different channels to sneak small arms, ammunition, and explosives into the country, in anticipation of the appointed hour - «Hour X».

Drug cartels controlled by the CIA and the DEA are often used as cover for these operations, as well as Colombian paramilitary groups created to fight FARC and ELN guerrillas. Once the violence in Colombia began to subside, the Americans redirected troops of paramilitares to the combat theater in Venezuela. A fleet of light aircraft was brought in via the CIA, in order to provide the US with an uninterrupted supply of drugs from South and Central America. These planes were also used to transport small shipments of weapons and ammunition to the remoter regions of Venezuela, especially the states of Apure, Amazonas, and Bolivar, where secret warehouses were established. But Venezuela has a law requiring the country to defend its airspace, and pilots from the Venezuelan air force track down airplanes that violate that statute. The last such American-made plane, a King 200, was shot down in early November in the state of Apure, on the border with Colombia - where some of the aircraft used by the CIA for special operations are clustered at US military bases.

And there are many more weapons that are not sitting in secret stockpiles. José Guillen, a captain in the Bolivarian National Guard, was killed on March 17 in the city of Maracay. He was shot in the head, just below the brim of his cap, from a long distance away. Experts claimed this had to be the work of a professional sniper. Purportedly an M24E1 rifle was used, which has an effective range of up to 1,300 meters. Captain Guillen had been leading a crackdown on extremists who were terrorizing the city, beating supporters of Chavez and Maduro, erecting barricades, and setting fire to government buildings, shopping centers, and schools.

An investigation was launched immediately after his death, which identified the names of a few militants from the ranks of the radical opposition. A series of terrorist attacks against members of the National Guard and other government groups indicated that this act of provocation had been carefully planned. Its organizers had safehouses and modern arsenals at their disposal. Agents from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) detained several individuals. When some of their homes were searched, they found firearms, telescopic sights, a military uniform, and equipment for eavesdropping on official police conversations. During the investigation, evidence was found proving that Carlos Yánez, a professional actor who had repeatedly made threats against the government, was guilty of criminal activity. When his apartment was searched they found a rifle with a telescopic sight and ammunition. Investigators identified and arrested Luis Raúl Ramírez, a contact of Yánez and the custodian of the underground arsenal, who was supplying firearms to other conspirators. The investigation into the murder of Captain Guillen continues ...

The latest report about illegal arsenals in Venezuela came to light quite recently: in a secret repository in Maracay belonging to one Eduardo José Guerreiro, 68 rifles (most with telescopic sights), approximately 15,000 rounds of ammunition, and 200 kilos of gunpowder were discovered. Apparently there are many such «Guerreiros» hiding underground. The weapons were in readiness for Hour X.

The CIA station in Venezuela is trying to kindle an explosion of discontent that will provoke a color revolution, after which blood must certainly be shed. And the more that is shed - the more convincing the lesson for the Latin American «populists».

The media have come into possession of facts that expose the plans of the Venezuelan conspirators. The Colombian Migration Service has turned over Lorent Gómez Saleh - the head of the NGO Operation Liberty - to the Venezuelan justice system. The evidence of Saleh’s revolutionary activity presented by the Venezuelans was sufficiently conclusive that even unprecedented pressure from the US embassy on Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, was not enough to help him. In Colombia, Saleh received military training from paramilitaries, and in Venezuela he recruited young people to join militant groups. He prepared his initiates for an armed struggle, and in conversations with those he trusted, he was open about the fact that his work was funded by the CIA and Venezuelan oligarchs living in Miami. His plans include bombings, attacks on government agencies, and mobilizing Colombian paramilitaries for combat operations in Venezuela. The first Colombian recruits have already received Venezuelan identity cards from Saleh. «We have everything we need to inflict powerful blows on the regime,» he reassured the militants, «including diplomatic cover».

By «cover» he meant the support of far-right groups in Colombia, and primarily from former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, with whose help the so-called Frente de Héroes del Norte was created. Under the guise of finding work in Colombia for Venezuelan students, the Frente helped Lorent Gómez Saleh create an infrastructure for revolutionary activity along the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

Speaking recently on television, the chairman of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, once again stated that revolutionary activities were continuing in Colombia that were directed against the government of Venezuela. Diosdado said that the US embassy in Caracas, with the help of the NGO Un Mundo Sin Mordaza, continues to administer their Young Ambassadors program (Jovenes embajadores). Handpicked young people are sent to attend special courses at American universities. The goal is not only to brainwash them, but to train activists to fight the regime.

The previous levels of staffing at dozens of NGOs have greatly dwindled, compromised by the numerous revelations exposing their ties to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the NGO Freedom House, and other emissaries of US foreign policy.

The assembly-line system to train a new generation of young leaders is up and running. Various techniques are being used to change perceptions and to indoctrinate the youth, to wit: all of Venezuela’s woes come from the Bolivarian regime that spurns Washington’s counsel.

At the same time, US intelligence services are taking steps to eliminate promising young leaders in what the Americans see as the hostile camp. Lorent Gómez Saleh told his accomplices how «exhibition killings» of mid-level Bolivarian politicians are used to undermine the regime. Robert Serra, a 27-year-old member of parliament from the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (for whom Hugo Chavez himself had predicted a bright future) was assassinated in his own home in October. His girlfriend, Maria Herrera, was also killed. The Venezuelan minister of internal affairs claimed that this act of terror had been planned in Colombia and that a gang of mercenaries had trained for it for about three months.

President Maduro accused Colombian paramilitaries and Venezuelan far-right militants of the murder of Robert Serra. He alleges that the crime originated as part of a wide-ranging plan to politically destabilize the country between November and December 2014.