Posted on 04/20/2002 6:22:12 AM PDT by rightwing2
What Really Happened in Venezuela
Christopher Ruddy
Thursday, April 18, 2002
Marxist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is back in power, and I hear from friends in Venezuela that reprisals against his opponents have begun in earnest. Chavez, the ever clever ideologue, has been careful not to go after the leaders of the coup that just ousted him.
But his thugs around the country are making small-business owners and provincial leaders who supported the removal of Chavez pay up in cash or suffer. Already there are reports of looting and attacks on those who opposed Chavez.
The Venezuelan coup and the seemingly easy return of Chavez to power smacked of a Soviet-style provocation.
During the Cold War, the KGB perfected this technique. A new communist leader, not firmly in power, would pretend that he was being ousted in a coup.
As word was announced that the leader was indeed ousted, his opponents, some of whom had been working quietly behind the scenes, would reveal themselves.
Soon, the "coup" would be crushed by forces friendly to the "ousted" dictator.
Once firmly back in power, the dictator would have a list of opponents from which to make reprisals and clean house. His grip on power would be firmer than ever, his opponents would fear him even more.
While there is no evidence that the recent coup in Venezuela was so arranged, the result may be the same. As a result of the coup attempt, Chavez will now have the ability to clearly identify his opposition.
Today, I spoke with a former Venezuelan Cabinet minister who agreed that Chavez is already sharpening his knife.
He also gave me some insight on how the coup unfolded.
The coup was precipitated on April 11 when a massive outpouring of more than 1 million Venezuelans took to the streets. The people were angry about Chavez's growing dictatorship and the country's worsening economic situation.
The protest – a legitimate form of expression for Americans – was not taken nicely by the budding dictator Chavez. He callously ordered troops and snipers to fire upon the innocent protesters, as did members of his revolutionary guerrillas that he has been arming.
We now know that 12 people died under his orders.
Little of Chavez’s outrage, and his growing creation of a Marxist state, have made it on to CNN or in to the pages of the New York Times. Instead, the American media says Chavez is a "populist” leader.
As a result of the April 11 massacre, members of the Venezuelan military and civic circles had had enough. Chavez was ousted and a leading businessman, Pedro Carmona, was named interim president.
But key military and civilian supporters of Carmona and the coup felt they were immediately "backstabbed."
Carmona, a member of the Opus Dei group, a conservative Catholic lay order, quickly named all Opus Dei members to his new Cabinet.
Key members of the military and others were outraged. The new government was to be a coalition government of major elements of Venezuelan society.
At that point, key military supporters and political leaders "backed out" of the coup. Carmona no longer had their support. Chavez was back in power, after making promises of no reprisals against the military and coup leaders.
But, as my source notes, "once a liar, always a liar." Chavez, who has cozied up to Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein, can't be trusted and will do anything to keep power.
If Chavez stays in power, he poses danger to the U.S.
Venezuela is the largest exporter of U.S. oil in the Western Hemisphere. How can we allow a country so important to the U.S to fall into the grip of a madman who praises and hugs Castro and Saddam Hussein?
Worse, the Marxist cancer will spread.
"The whole region will go," my Venezuelan friends says, explaining that other countries in the region will fall into the hands of left-leaning demagogues who hate the U.S.
He notes that Chavez has already been supporting Marxist guerrillas in Colombia and a Marxist-led union movement in Brazil. Panama is also vulnerable.
Chavez should be removed from power. Now is the time for the U.S. to move with alacrity and help pro-democracy forces in Venezuela before it is too late.
Chavez--"Let's put our house in order,"
"Translation--Let's purge the military of all possible future opposition to my planned Communization of the country. I still think that Chavez used an agent provocateur to incite certain generals to rebel against him with the knowledge that his paratroop brigade commander would and other loyal Army units would ensure that he was almost immediately "returned to power". Ultimately, the Washington Times reported today that it was the generals who forced their own interim President to surrender power to Chavez's Communist Vice-President in preparation for his swift return. Now, why exactly would the coup instigators do that when they knew that they would be held accountable and go to prison. Either they were promised amnesty or they were part of the Chavez instigated conspiracy from the start.
Ultimately, this was a standard Communist strategic deception operation with the aim of identifying all potential opponents to Chavez' Communist rule so that they could be effectively purged and his control of the country, which up to now has seemed uncertain, could be made more complete. Chavez planned to use this coup as a pretext for his coming crackdown on any and all political and military leaders who opposed them (and perhaps citizens and business leaders as well). He's not going to kill them. He's just going to eliminate them from power and imprison them. By talking in a conciliatory manner and calling for national unity rather than appearing vindictive, he is trying to regain the people's support. If Chavez had not chosen this rather drastic action, his position would have continued to deteriorate. As I said on Sunday night, now his position in power will be stronger than ever which of course was the planned result of this Chavez instigated "coup against himself" all along."
Communist Cuba, whose veteran president Fidel Castro has, to Washington's chagrin, become a close friend of Chavez, hailed his swift return to power as a "revolutionary victory" over a "fascist and reactionary counterrevolutionary coup."
"Castro was probably in on it from the start as well and provided support in terms of agent provacateurs and instigators of mass protests to give it legitimacy."
Post 14 of "Venezuela's Chavez Conciliatory, Supporters Loot" at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/666050/posts
We in America cannot take to the streets like this.It takes a few months of "planning". Little things like a permit must be obtained before americans can express their first amendment rights in this manner.
Of course, this was NOT a KGB 'perfected' technicque. In fact, I'm not sure that anything like this ever happened IN REALITY.
But, what the heck, like some old revolutionary used to say, 'if the reality contradicts the theory, too bad for the reality'. Why be accurate when it's a lot more convenient and a lot easier to make such claims that look good and make the author look like a student of history - which he most likely isn't.
Another example is found in the ABC television network owned by Disney and the holding company is leaking money like a barrel with a hole at the bottom. .... ABC news has always been supportive of the Democratic Party and their pandering for Clinton was shameless. I see ABC news shifting further to the left as it blindly follows the CNN socialist agenda in an attempt to bring in more viewers ... Any bets on what Disney stock will be trading at in two years?
I agree.
Planning this kind of operation to weed out the faithful from the unfaithful is a sophisticated operation, and too many things can go wrong even under the best plans. Chavez is an ignorant and overall uneducated nonhuman as well as the goons that surround him. They are dumber than dirt with massive egos. Venezuelans now have their own Noriega and cronies to deal with.
The opposition didn’t do their homework either. It looks like they had no careful planning and no real leadership.
you're correct again. That's why the President of Panama hasn't been kicked out. Her Vice President is worse. And as you said, the next time a new president is voted in (as in Panama), it will be the same dang thing -- corruption, corruption, corruption.
It is my personal feeling that it won't be so easy to get rid of Chavez any time soon now because the opposition really goofed. He must have his Bolivian Circle thugs on full alert and is probably increasing their number as we speak, along with his neighborhood snitches. These neighborhood snitches are very effective. They work well in Cuba...Just my thoughts.
The media has an ideological trap door for them. They're blatant advocates for the extreme Left.
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