Posted on 04/23/2002 12:11:49 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
ASHINGTON, April 22 — The Pentagon has ordered a review of its actions during the 48-hour ouster of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela earlier this month to ensure that American military officials did not encourage a coup, a senior Defense Department official said today.
The official stressed that the Pentagon has no evidence, nor even a suspicion, of American involvement in the brief removal of Mr. Chávez by a coalition of Venezuelan business leaders and dissident military officers. But he added that a review has been ordered to ensure no American officers were encouraging or supporting a coup on their own.
"We are conducting our own review, just to make sure there were no freelancers here," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
The Bush administration has vigorously denied any suggestion that it gave a green light, tacit or otherwise, to the forces that tried to seize power from Mr. Chávez. But in remarks to the press, at least one of the anti-Chávez leaders, Rear Adm. Carlos Molina, said he believed that he was acting with American support.
Pentagon officials have largely kept a low profile in recent days, as their counterparts at the State Department and the White House fielded criticism that they were too quick to accept Mr. Chávez's ouster and embrace his self-styled and short-lived successor, Pedro Carmona Estanga, a businessman.
The Pentagon confirmed last week that Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs, met with the chief of Venezuela's military high command, Gen. Lucas Romero Rincón, on Dec. 18. General Rincón announced Mr. Chávez's resignation in the early hours of April 12 after apparently refusing to fire on anti-Chávez protestors the day before. The general retained his post after Mr. Chávez reassumed power.
In the meeting, Mr. Pardo-Maurer, who spoke in Spanish, exclaimed, "Nada de golpes," insisting that "no coups" would be acceptable to the United States, according to an official who was present. Mr. Pardo-Maurer insisted that "the only thing that will suffice is the strictest adherence to constitutionality," the official said.
General Rincón, who was accompanied by a large entourage, also met with Gen. Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the official said.
Another Venezuelan officer who was involved in the takeover, Col. Pedro Soto, had sought a meeting with Bush administration officials just days before Mr. Chávez's ouster. Earlier that week, the Air Force colonel had asked for an appointment with, among others, the American ambassador to the Organization of American States, Roger Noriega.
"Our view was that it was entirely inappropriate" to meet with Colonel Soto, who had publicly demanded Mr. Chávez's resignation in February, an American diplomat said.
The State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, today denied a press report that American military personnel were on the scene at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, where Mr. Chávez was briefly held. Although the American military attaché has an office at the Tiuna base, the only United States officers in the area drove by for a look but never left their car, Mr. Boucher said.
Don't you just love those "When did you stop beating your wife?" headlines?
The two countries also have joint annual exercises in navy and coast guard maneuvers. The Pentagon is watching how the situation in Venezuela develops day to day, defense officials said. "We are postponing military-to-military activities there until the situation on the ground stabilizes," said Capt. Riccoh Player, a Pentagon spokesman for hemisphere issues.***
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