Venezuelafoia

THE PROOF IS IN THE DOCUMENTS: THE CIA WAS INVOLVED IN THE COUP AGAINST VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT CHAVEZ

by: Eva Golinger

On April 12, 2002, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer stated:

“Let me share with you the administration's thoughts about what's taking place in Venezuela. It remains a somewhat fluid situation. But yesterday's events in Venezuela resulted in a change in the government and the assumption of a transitional authority until new elections can be held.

The details still are unclear. We know that the action encouraged by the Chavez government provoked this crisis. According to the best information available, the Chavez government suppressed peaceful demonstrations. Government supporters, on orders from the Chavez government, fired on unarmed, peaceful protestors, resulting in 10 killed and 100 wounded. The Venezuelan military and the police refused to fire on the peaceful demonstrators and refused to support the government's role in such human rights violations. The government also tried to prevent independent news media from reporting on these events.
The results of these events are now that President Chavez has resigned the presidency. Before resigning, he dismissed the vice president and the cabinet, and a transitional civilian government has been installed. This government has promised early elections.

The United States will continue to monitor events. That is what took place, and the Venezuelan people expressed their right to peaceful protest. It was a very large protest that turned out. And the protest was met with violence.”

On that same day, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Philip T. Reeker, claimed: “In recent days, we expressed our hopes that all parties in Venezuela, but especially the Chavez administration, would act with restraint and show full respect for the peaceful expression of political opinion. We are saddened at the loss of life. We wish to express our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and look forward to working with all democratic forces in Venezuela to ensure the full exercise of democratic rights. The Venezuelan military commendably refused to fire on peaceful demonstrators, and the media valiantly kept the Venezuelan public informed."

Yesterday's events in Venezuela resulted in a transitional government until new elections can be held. Though details are still unclear, undemocratic actions committed or encouraged by the Chavez administration provoked yesterday's crisis in Venezuela. According to the best information available, at this time: Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans gathered peacefully to seek redress of their grievances. The Chavez Government attempted to suppress peaceful demonstrations. Chavez supporters, on orders, fired on unarmed, peaceful protestors, resulting in more than 100 wounded or killed. Venezuelan military and police refused orders to fire on peaceful demonstrators and refused to support the government's role in such human rights violations. The government prevented five independent television stations from reporting on events. The results of these provocations are: Chavez resigned the presidency. Before resigning, he dismissed the Vice President and the Cabinet. A transition civilian government has promised early elections."

FOIA

Freedom of information Act (FOIA): On March 12, 1997, the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight approved and adopted a report entitled A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes the presumption that all persons have access to documents in the possession of the distinct agencies and departments of the U.S. Government by following FOIA regulations to request such documents and information. Supposedly, documents in the possession of other entities associated with the Federal Government are also subject to FOIA, including private entities that receive government funding. Nevertheless, FOIA also includes a series of exemptions that enable any agency or entity to deny the release or declassification of information in the name of national security, to protect the privacy of individuals or trade secrets, the functioning of the government or other important interests.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a body of US law passed after the end of the Nixon administration to enable journalists and others to access and declassify secret US government documents.

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	Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947 under the National Security Act. Its responsibilities go beyond the simple collection of information. It is also called upon to intervene in nations where diplomacy has resulted insufficient and a military action would be counterproductive or inconvenient. Its activities include, psychological warfare, financing pro-US political parties abroad, provocations, actions against unions, parties or groups opposed to US foreign policy, supporting and fomenting coup d’etats, training mercenaries and armed groups. Secret special operations increased without limits during the early 1950s. The Iran-Contra scandal (financing the contras in Nicaragua by illegally selling arms to Iran) and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal, the preferred bank of the Agency but also of the Medellín drug cartel, placed the CIA in the eye of the hurricane. The CIA was later discredited by revelations made during the Clinton Administration regarding the promulgation of torture techniques to diverse police, military and intelligence organisms throughout the continent provided through manuals produced by the Agency (for example, Training Manual for the exploitation of human resources) and the atrocities committed by the CIA in Guatemala made public through hard evidence and documents (proof that the Agency utilized and protected torturers). At the end of the Cold War, because of the lack of enemies, the CIA oriented its actions towards the collection of economic information, protecting U.S. interests in emerging markets and waging the war against terrorism and drug trafficking. While throughout Latin America amnesty laws that protect the dictators of the past are being questioned and reviewed for legality, the CIA remains unable to escape or accept the past. In August 2000, the Agency denied the release of files proving its role in the coup d’etat against Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973, at the hand of Augusto Pinochet.

	View the CIA documents
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	National Endowment for Democracy (NED): Officially created on November 6, 1982, the NED was established by statute as a non-profit organization, yet its financing is approved by Congress and included in the chapter of the Department of State budget destined for the U.S. Agency for International Development-USAID. In order to maintain the illusion that it is a private organization, the NED also receives very small donations from three associations, which are also indirectly financed by federal contracts: the Smith Richardson Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The majority of the historic figures linked to clandestine CIA actions have at some time been members of the Board of Directors or the Administrative Council of the NED, including Otto Reich, John Negroponte, Henry Cisneros and Elliot Abrams. The present Chairman of the NED Board of Directors is Vin Weber, founder of the ultraconservative organization Empower America, and campaign fundraiser for George W. Bush in 2000. NED’s president is Carl Gershman, an ex-Trotskyist gone awry, and once a member of the Social Democrats, USA who later joined the growing club of neo-conservative and Reagan-Bush “hawks”.

	View the NED documents
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	United States Agency for International Development (USAID): The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) functions as an instrument of CIA penetration into civil society, by enabling the “legitimate” funding of millions of dollars to promote U.S. foreign policy abroad and influence internal politics of foreign nations while avoiding Congressional scrutiny.

	View the USAID documents
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Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA): Coming soon!

The Defense Intelligence Agency was created in 1961 and coordinates intelligence information from various branches of the US Armed Services (Army, Navy, Air Force).

View the DIA documents

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	The United States Department of Defense (DOD): Coming soon! The Department of Defense directs and oversees all military intelligence and command activities. The Defense Intelligence Agency, the top US intelligence force, is under the authority of DOD. The current Secretary of Defense under the George W. Bush administration is Donald Rumsfeld, considered a “war hawk” and the primary person responsible for the failed war in Iraq. DOD activities are divided into five geographically unified commands. The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) is the unified command responsible for all U.S. military activities on the land mass of Latin America south of Mexico; the waters adjacent to Central and South America; the Caribbean Sea, with its 13 island nations, and European and U.S. territories; the Gulf of Mexico; and a portion of the Atlantic Ocean. Since 26 September 1997, the command headquarters has been located at Miami, Florida. Southern Command's area of responsibility encompasses 32 countries (19 in Central and South America and 13 in the Caribbean) and covers about 14.5 million square miles (23.2 million square kilometers). USSOUTHCOM currently maintains military bases in Texas, Arizona, Miami, Key West, Puerto Rico (special operations), Honduras, Guantánamo, Aruba/Curaçao (Forward Operating Location (FOL)), Manta, Ecuador (FOL), El Salvador (FOL) and 26 Security Assistance Organizations and Military Groups throughout the region. Venezuela falls under the responsibility of USSOUTHCOM.
	View the Department of Defense documents
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	The Department of State (DoS): It is the US Department of Foreign Affairs and it has its own intelligence department, but as in many cases, its agents are not exactly spies, rather, analysts and brainy specialists who deliver reports that enable the secretary of State to “ hear what must be known,” as started in its official description. This department is intertwined with the rest of the intelligence community in order to digest all the information produced, but they do not collect data on the spot, thy basically receive this information sent to the department of state by the other spy agencies. View the State Department documents
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	Carmona Decree: Decree for the Constitution of a Transitional Government of Democratic and National Unity The Carmona Decree was the document introduced by “dictator for a day” Pedro Carmona during the April 2002 coup d’etat against President Chávez. The Decree dissolved all of Venezuela’s democratic institutions, including the Supreme Court, the National Assembly (Congress), the Constitution, a set of 49 new laws, and it deposed the elected President, Vice President, Ombudsman, Attorney General, Public Defender, and all elected congress members of their positions, as well as altered the name of the country. Go to the full Carmona Decree
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	The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): Coming soon! The DEA was unceremoniously removed from Venezuela after their agents were allegedly caught undertaking operations other than drug control - spying.
	View the DEA documents
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	The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Coming Soon! The FBI operates out of the Legal Attaché's office at the US Embassy in Caracas.
	View the FBI documents
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