Bulatlat.com

U.S. Knew the Military Plot to Oust Chavez

(With an Alternative Reader on Venezuela)

It is still unclear whether the Bush government had any direct role in the ouster of Chavez. But in the history of Latin America, popular regimes had been toppled either through direct U.S. covert operations or through coups instigated by the various military institutions that had long enjoyed U.S. backing.

By Bulatlat.com

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president whose “Bolivarian revolution” showed that sweeping democratic and economic reform is possible in Latin America, has been ousted in a coup. Reports said he was forced out of office by military pressure on April 12.

Chavez, however, is nowhere to be found. And the man who was supposed to replace him - Pedro Carmona - has resigned, news alerts said.

Months before the coup, several Armed Forces generals had been hinting at a coup against Chavez, who was elected president in 1998 and again in 2000. Some of them had openly asked the president to resign.

U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials had also been privy to the coup threats, wire reports said.

Chavez, a former Army paratroop commander, had introduced what is described as the only democratic constitution in Latin America, a limited agrarian reform and nationalization of industries which angered Venezuela’s powerful oligarchy. But what enraged them most – including the U.S. government – were signs that the Venezuelan president would nationalize the oil industry. Venezuela, a major oil producer, supplies the U.S.’ biggest oil requirements.

Since then, Chavez had been demonized in the U.S. press as an autocratic ruler even as the Venezuelan elite mobilized their “civil society” connections – including labor and media – to depict the president as a “dictator.” Late last year, he joined the U.S. state department’s list of chiefs of state who supported “terrorists.” Plan Colombia, the U.S.-funded counter-insurgency program for Colombia, was expanded to include Venezuela.

The U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF) also made known it would support a “transition” government in the country.

It is still unclear whether the Bush government had any hand in the ouster of Chavez. But in the history of Latin America, popular regimes had been toppled either through direct U.S. covert operations or through coups d’etat instigated by the various military institutions that had long enjoyed U.S. backing.

Bulatlat.com has compiled for its valuable readers a list of articles about the coup against Chavez and the current situation in Venezuela.

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