CIA against Chavez: deepened shadows of “white revolution”
June 14, 2009
Chavez never had any illusions about relations with the U.S. He and his allies believe that for the Obama administration one of the key tasks is to defeat the “non-friendly regime” in Venezuela. But those strategies which were used against Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 and Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973 are outdated. Today Latin America is strong enough to oppose the U.S. interference in Venezuela`s policies. Chavez warned: “If you dare, you`ll get involved in a thousand years of battles on the continent, from Rio Negro to Tierra del Fuego”.
Latin American political experts (both right-wing and left-wing) think that the Obama administration aims to solve the “Chavez issue” by means of 'color revolution'. This is what the CIA HQ in Langley focuses on. Venezuelan special agents say half of the U.S. CIA agents currently working in Venezuela (some 50-55 people) have been implementing this very program.The U.S. Embassy in Caracas turned into a kind of the CIA HQ affiliate. The U.S CIA station in Bogota (Colombia) focuses on the main task though its major mission is to take part in urgent operations together with the agents of th Colombian counterintelligence service and paramilitary groups. CIA agents in Peru, Costa Rica, Salvador, Guatemala, Chile and Mexico are also involved in the Venezuelan campaign. Some operations are carried out on the Carribean Islands.
It appears that CIA prepares a 'white revolution' in Venezuela. Under George W. Bush, the opposition in Venezuela used to wear white clothes as a symbol of hope to be freed from dictatorship. In the past 2-3- years white clothes could be seen on the students from prestigious universities who took part in the rallies but were able to express their dissatisfaction with Chavez policies only by means of vandalism: they put trees on fire and insulted Chavez supporters. The student leader, Yon Goicochea, received $500,000 from the Milton Friedman Foundation but still was not recognized by his fellows as an absolute leader of the opposition students.
It did not take much time to organize the first 'white revolution' campaign in Venezuela. In late May Caracas held an international forum “Latin American challenge: freedom, democracy, property and fight against poverty”. In the run-up to the forum pro-western mass media persuaded the society that Chavez would do his best to ban the forum: “He won`t approve the forum! There is no freedom of speech in Venezuela!”
This is what Mario Vargas Llosa, a writer from Peru, said on arriving in Venezuela: “Freedom in this country depends on what is going on here now...Venezuelan people are struggling for democracy, that is why Venezuela has not become a new Cuba...I want the opposition to know that I sympathize with them. Chavez`s regime has only put Venezuela on the way to destruction but this won`t last for ever”. Llosa did not bother chosing proper words either for Chavez or for the Bolivar revolution. It seemed that he wanted the authorities to expel him from the country but the leaders tolerated his provocations.
The forum took place at Caracas Palace hotel, known before as Four Seasons, a notorious place since after the failed coup army dissidents found shelter there. Of course, the decision to hold discussions at this very hotel was symbolic: “We failed then but we are ready to try once again”.
The opposition in Venezuela could never avoid clashes between its members. The forum in Caracas proved that now the issue was handled by true professionals “from abroad”-they gave money and urged the participants to work jointly and not seek personal leadership.
Radical Chavists described the participants of the forum “dregs of international ultra-right front”. Peruvian author Llosa was accompanied by his son Alvaro, a neo-liberal journalist; Eduardo Montealegre (who lost to Daniel Ortega in the presidential race in Nicaragua); a politician Jorge Quiroga (who lost to Evo Morales); Jorge Castaneda, Mexican ex-foreign minister and, they say, a CIA agent. Members of some pro-American non-parliamentary organizations and journalists also attended the forum. The forum was organized by the Venezuelan NPO “CEDICE” (it distributed rumors tha Chavez would seize all property) and the Washington-based Cato Institute which promotes conservative ideas in the countries with 'unstable situation'.
FIL (Fundacion Internacional Libertad) also coordinated the work of the forum in Caracas. The foundation is run by Mario Vargas Llosa and Gerardo Bongiovanni, who work in close contact with CIA. FIL works under the aegis of the Cato Institute and receives money through USAID-NED channles. The following organizations also support FIL: Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, Atlas Reserach Foundation and also some Ibero-American partners-Fundacion Iberoamerica Europea (Spain), Fundacion Libertad (Argentine), El Instituto Atlantico (Brazil), El Instituto de Political Publicas (Ecuador), Instituto Libertad y Desarollo and Centro de Estudios Legales (Chile).
Active opposition supporters represented Venezuela: Antonio Ledezma, Emilio Grateron, Leopoldo Lopez, Henrique Capriles Radonski,Yon Goicochea, Miguel Henrique Otero, Carlos Ocariz, Marcel Granier, Americo Marti and others. Almost all of them welcomed the coup in Bolivar State in April of 2002. Now these men are pretending to be democrats ready to fight Chavez authoritarian regime in accordance with the Constitution. They dream of taking revenge, and if they succeed, the country will be doomed for long bloody clashes. Chavez supporters call them “fascists who changed their colors” and remind them atrocities they committed in Chile, Guatemala, Colombia, Salvador, Honduras, Argentine and Venezuela in 2002.
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The forum focused on a 'deadly threat' to the freedom of speech in Venezuela 'for Chavez`s dictatorship became stronger each day'. Originally, the forum in Caracas was plotted as a large-scale provocation aimed to impel the Venezuelan leader to demonstrate his intolerance towards any manifestation of freedom of speech. The organizers expected the Bolivar authorities to ban the forum and impose sanctions against the participants. But nothing of this happened.
Chavez made an unexpected step and invited the right-wing opponents to come to the Miraflores presidential palace to debate with the leftists, who hosted an international conference in Caracas on that very day. Chavez made his proposal in “Allo, Presidente” TV show. He said he was ready to monitor the debates on the issues proposed by Llosa: “superiority of capitalism over socialism” and “Venezuela`s way to dictatorship”. Chavez said he used to read books by Llosa at school and while a student at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences. In recent years Llosa often spoke disrespectfully about Chavez (even compared him to Hitler) and said his population support was false since “even peoples can be mistaken”. Llosa was invited to express his opinion live on a TV broadcast from the Miraflores Palace.
But the organizers of the forum thought there was something tricky about all this. They were ready to debate with Chavez but they did not even think about the talks with the leftists. 'Who are they?- Llosa asked.- We do not know anyone of them!” But among those whom Chavez offered for the debates were Fernando Buen Abad, a Mexican thinker, and a Venezuelan novelist Luis Brito Garcia. It was clear that Llosa just did not want to debate. This is how Chavez explained his position: “I do not think I am an intellectual person, I am just a soldier and president of Venezuela. He (Llosa) wants to debate as equals? If so, he should return to Peru, restore his citizenship, put forward his candidacy at presidential elections and win. Then we`ll talk as equals”.
After that Llosa lost control of emotions and called Chavez a 'liar'. “He never was able to speak seriously, did not even have such intention. He prefers to deliver monologs of a deaf person. Unfortunately, this is what always happens to ambitios leaders. They do not know how to hold dialogs”, Llosa siad.
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As part of the forum, fifty Venezuelan students, active opposition supporters, were invited to undergo a three-day training to be able to take part in the 'white revolution'. The list of the students was made by a CIA youth department in Caracas. CIA assigns the work with the students to those have already received such kind of experience in Eastern Europe and the CIS.
When the forum kicked off, the oppositon media intensified their propaganda against the Bolivar leaders and its socialist regime, and accused Chavez of having usurped power and pursuing dissidents.
The opposition organized a massive media attack on the Venezuelan leader. They predicted him “a fate of Mussolini”. Chavez reacted promptly and said he was deeply concerned about the situation. “This has already become a matter of public health. We can no longer tolerate this. This is a threat to our society. What they are saying is dangerous. People may listen to them and commit very grave crimes. I cannot solve this problem alone. The whole society is in charge”. Chavez urged all state institutions to adequately react to such provocations in accordance with the Constitutions and Criminal Code.
Above all this, I should mention that while preparing 'color revolutions' Americans never rule out a possibility of murdering unwanted leaders. In ealry June Hugo Chavez had to turn down for security reasons an invitation to attend the inaugural ceremony of President of Salvador Mauricio Funes after his guards received information that a plane Chavez and his Bolivian counterpart Morales were going to board would have been attacked by air-to-ground missiles.