• USA knew beforehand of the coup plot

WASHINGTON, November 25 (PL).— The Central Intelligence Agency was informed of plans for a coup against President Hugo Chávez in April 2002, the U.S. media notes today.

Documents declassified at the petition of a New York lawyer confirm that the CIA informed at least 200 high-ranking U.S. intelligence officers of the coup plot in Venezuela.

U.S. involvement in that attempt to bring down the constitutional Venezuelan government was also revealed yesterday by Newsday.

The exposé unleashed a debate on the role of the Bush administration, which could have alerted the Caracas authorities.

The issue is further complicated by the existence of a telegram sent by José María Aznar, president of the Spanish government and a close ally of Bush, praising the coup against Chávez, which has promoted fierce controversy in Spain.

Dissident soldiers, including discontented senior officers and a group of young officers, are joining efforts to organize a coup against President Chávez, as soon as this month.

Thus advises the Intelligence executive report prepared and distributed by CIA delegates, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. State Department.

The report is datelined April 6, 2002, five days before Chávez was taken prisoner by military coup members and a de facto junta was installed, headed by entrepreneur Pedro Carmona, now a fugitive from justice.

The intelligence report, disclosed by lawyer Eva Gollinger, advises that the coup plot included the detention of Chávez and another 10 senior officials.

In order to provoke military action, the coup plotters could exploit the unrest derived from opposition protests for this month or those underway in the PDVSA state oil company, adds the text, drafted by the Strategic Warnings Committee.

Gollinger affirms that if the United States has informed the Chávez government things would have been different.

(Granma)  November 25, 2004