From Media War to Armed Struggle in Venezuela?
Thursday, Jun 17, 2004 Print format
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By: Aram Aharonian - Question“The Andean region, from Colombia to Venezuela, is a very probable objective of a U.S. invasion, whose project needs new invasions.”
—Noam Chomsky
Beyond the latest pronouncements of Roger Noriega or Colin Powell and the “repair” just completed process, all indications are that the most radical sectors of Venezuela’s opposition intend to repeat a similar script to the one of April 2002. To organize a massacre and, with the support of the mass media, to accuse the Venezuelan armed forces—and in this way the commander in chief, Hugo Chavez—of genocide, so as to appeal for a foreign intervention.
These groups—encouraged by the fact that they were the ruling class in Venezuela for over forty years—have various problems. First, they have no concept of nation or sovereignty and a total lack of patriotism. Since they did not achieve a landing of U.S. marines (which more than one businessman called for via the private mass media), are now trying to incite such an action via Colombian assassins.
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Permanent low-intensity conflicts, the installation of Colombian phenomena such as assassins (“sicarios”)—over 80 peasants and community leaders assassinated—and the paramilitary forces, along with appeals to terrorism as a political weapon—bombs placed in foreign representations, assassination attempts on the President, assassination of peasant leaders—confirms a climate that is rarefied and hardened by a private press that spreads as valid all test balloons of the Colombian military intelligence service, and the participation of Colombian businessmen (the same ones who for over five decades have profited from the violence in their country) in Venezuelan political life.
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The Paramilitaries
The capture of Colombian paramilitary forces in a hacienda, a mere 20 kilometers from Caracas—headed by three “comandantes” accustomed to crime, 40 reservists, around 20 professional soldiers who are active in the military, and a contingent of young unemployed novices, including nine minors who were turned over to Colombian authorities—proves that various factors such as Cuban exiles, narco-traffickers, the Colombian oligarchy, “hawks” from the United States, and the owners of the private mass media are making efforts to destabilize and militarily occupy Venezuela, one of the countries with the largest oil reserves in the western hemisphere.
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http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1199~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~The Democratic Block, which enjoys relatively little public media presence in Venezuela, has been publishing pamphlets and printing full page newspaper ads, calling for the population to join the military in a coup against the Chavez government. Several of its members, especially Roberto Alonso, the wealthy Cuban-Venezuelan on whose ranch the paramilitary group was discovered, have been linked to the paramilitary plot.
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It is difficult to imagine that 130 paramilitary fighters could overthrow a government. However, what they could have done is spread confusion, chaos, and instability using urban guerilla warfare tactics against the government, placing bombs and assassinating political leaders on both sides. Their aim, presumably, was to cause enough instability so that Chavez would issue a state of siege, which would then be the necessary pretext for outright intervention by the Colombian armed forces, U.S. Plan Colombia “advisors,” and/or more paramilitary mercenaries. Such a scenario might seem far-fetched, but the recent efforts of the Colombian government to purchase Spanish tanks that could only be used for a land invasion do not bode well. Also, U.S. efforts to diplomatically isolate the Chavez government on the thin pretext of human rights violations (which bear no comparison to those of U.S. ally Colombia), appear to be preparing the ground for tougher measures against the Chavez government.
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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=5612