Three Venezuelan Officers 27 Colombians Sentenced for Assassination Plot

[callady]

Three Venezuelan Officers and 27 Colombians Sentenced for Assassination Plot

Thursday, Oct 27, 2005

Caracas, Venezuela, October 27, 2005—A Venezuelan military court sentenced three Venezuelan military officers and 27 Colombians to two to nine years of prison for plotting an assault on Venezuela’s presidential palace and the assassination of President Hugo Chavez. Another 73 Colombians and 3 Venezuelan officers, who had also been suspected of participating in the plot, were freed after spending 17 months in prison.

118 Colombians were captured in May 2004 on a ranch just outside of Caracas, wearing Venezuelan military fatigues. Many of them appeared to be Colombian paramilitary fighters who had been recruited for a mission in Venezuela to attack the Chavez government and to kill the president. Six Venezuelan officers were also arrested in the course of the investigation.

Some of the Colombians were peasants who had been lured to come to Venezuela with the promise of jobs. Upon arriving, though, they were forced to engage in paramilitary training exercises and were forbidden to leave the ranch. 18 of the Colombians were released immediately after the capture and returned to Colombia because they were minors between 15 and 17 years. The ranch belongs to Roberto Alonso, a prominent Cuban-Venezuelan opposition activist.

The highest level officer to be sentenced was General Ovidio Poggioli, who had been charged with military rebellion and was sentenced to 2 years and ten months of prison. The other two Venezuelan officers are Colonel Jesús Farias Rodríguez and Captain Rafael Farias Villasmil, who were each sentenced to nine years of prison. The 27 Colombians were each sentenced to six years prison.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1798

[Cha]

1. Light sentencing for the

conviction of an assassination plot of my HERO!

[Bacchus39]

2. Chavez received only two years as well

for his coup attempt in 1992.

[1932]

3. He was pardoned by his godfather.

He would have served a longer prison term had he not been pardoned.

One of the results of Chavez's coup was that a liberal government won the next elections. The guy who won was, IIRC, Cardenas, who was an 82 year old former president. Cardenas had been a university professor, an author and a poet before winning his first election (which is probably how he knew Chavez's schoolteacher father and became Chavez's godfather). He won the '92 or '93 elections on essentially the same platform on which Chavez won the '98 election.

At least that's what they say at wikipedia.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Here's more about that coup attempt.

One voice in the anti-Chavez chorus has a familiar ring to his voice. Former President Carlos Andres Perez gives TV and newspaper interviews as an authority on democracy and good government. Convicted of embezzlement and having given the command for army troops to fire at his own people, this mass murderer somehow claims to occupy moral high ground. And the media accepts him as if the Venezuela conflict boils down to questions of procedure, not real democracy: majority rule.

Venezuelans overwhelmingly chose Chavez in 1998 and again in 2000, because they remembered what former presidents did--a memory that neither the media nor human rights groups seem to possess.

On February 27, 1989, Perez increased the price of gasoline and the cost of public transportation. Following an IMF model to garner foreign investment, his austerity policies hit the poorest people hardest. But Perez apparently did not expect Venezuelans to respond to "economic shock" programs with spontaneous protests, which erupted throughout the country. In some areas, rioters torched shops and set up roadblocks.

When the police went on strike, the government lost control. Perez called for a state of emergency. The soldiers fired into crowds. By March 4, the government claimed that 257 lay dead. Some non-governmental sources estimated the death toll at over 2000. Thousands were wounded.

Perez, who called himself a socialist, first imposed draconian measures on the poor and then had them shot when they objected. The Caracazo as the event became known, not only destroyed Venezuela's aura of stability but put an end to the political system that had replaced the ousted military dictator Perez Jimenez in 1958.
(snip)

The Caracazo also had a profound impact on sectors of the Armed Forces. Some younger officers who opposed the neo-liberal policies had joined the popular uprising when Perez ordered troops to open fire. Officers like Hugo Chavez saw the Caracazo as a learning experience. Four years later, in 1992, he led a military coup against another corrupt civilian government. It failed, but Chavez gained sympathy from fellow officers and the government felt pressured to release him in 1994 after he served a short prison sentence.
(snip)

http://counterpunch.org/landau07022004.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Timeline:

.....1989 - Carlos Andres Perez (AD) elected president against the background of economic depression, which necessitates an austerity programme and an IMF loan. Social and political upheaval includes riots, in which between 300 and 2,000 people are killed, martial law and a general strike.

1992 - Some 120 people are killed in two attempted coups, the first led by future president Colonel Hugo Chavez, and the second carried out by his supporters. Chavez was jailed for two years before being pardoned

1993-95 - Ramon Jose Velasquez becomes interim president after Perez is ousted on charges of corruption; Rafael Caldera elected president.

1996 - Perez imprisoned after being found guilty of embezzlement and corruption.

1998 - Hugo Chavez elected president.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1229348.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apparently the people who know him better than you do have elected him as the President of their country. It's their business.

Intelligent people don't butt in where they are not wanted, or needed. Idiots who keep agitating against the leaders of other countries have too much time on their hands. They'd be in more familiar surroundings at the message board at the Miami Herald.

[Bacchus39]

6. excuse me but why the personal insult??

my extremely brief message noted Chavez served two years in prison for treason. do you dispute that or do you need to go back and read your own post?

yeah, so Perez was convicted, so was Chavez. corruption in latin america, wow there is something new.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. Your extremely brief message twisted the truth.

His SENTENCE wasn't two years. He as PARDONED. But you knew that already, didn't you?

[Bacchus39]

8. oh ok, he was pardoned after just 2 years

n/t

[Judi Lynn]

5. Here's a very recent Venezuela thread for any Venezuela-watching DU'er

who may have missed it a couple of days ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x167178

[goforit]

9. Hmmm....Seriously working hard against imperialism.

This is jungle country. I really feel that given how
miserable we did in the jungle of Vietnam we certainly will not
succeed in Venezuela or any part of South america for that matter.
Mountains and Jungles will be a clear disadvantage.

It behoove the US to adopt a foriegn policy that uses
kindness to achieve their goals as opposed to brutal force.

"kill em with kindness"....a great motto