Venezuela arrests 2 in alleged assassination plot

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela arrests 2 in alleged assassination plot
CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer


September 24, 2008 2:35 PM

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan authorities have arrested two people suspected of plotting to kill Hugo Chavez by blowing up the president's plane with heavy artillery, the country's top security official said Wednesday.

Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said the suspects were apprehended Tuesday during a raid on a house in western Zulia state, where authorities found a cannon and four grenades. He said the names of the suspects would not be revealed for ''strategic reasons.''

At least six people, including retired and active military officers, have been detained so far for alleged links to the plot. Military prosecutors are questioning others. None of the suspects has been formally charged.''What was being planned here was the president's assassination ... a plan with the objective of sowing violence in our country'' and stopping the government agenda, El Aissami told Venezuela's state-run news agency.

El Aissami said the suspects caught in Zulia could have been planning to kill the president by shooting down the presidential jet - a possibility that Chavez raised when the purported plot was first discovered. ''The cannon we found is for downing planes. It has highly destructive power,'' he said.

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[Judi Lynn]

1. New Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela

09/25/08
06:28:02 am
New Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela
Stephen Lendman

~snip~
On September 10, Venezolana de Television's (VTV) La Hojilla program disclosed a recording (from an undisclosed source) of a planned military coup against Chavez - by active and retired plotters. Participants named were Vice Admiral and National Guard Forces Inspector General Carlos Alberto Millan Millan. National Guard General Wilfredo Barroso Herrera, and retired Air Force General Eduardo Baez Torrealba (involved in the April 2002 aborted coup). Unknown is who else is behind this and how deep the suspected plot runs.

Conversations recorded were about "tak(ing) the Miraflores (presidential) Palace (government headquarters and) the TV installations....that is all effort towards where (Chavez) is. If he's in Miraflores, the effort goes toward there." Talk also was about seizing the "command headquarters (with) the troops inside" and about Maracay, Aragua state's Air Base Libertador where Venezuela's F-16s and other planes are based.

Baez Torrealba was heard saying: "We are divided into four zones....east, west, and two in the centre" and have an F-16 pilot. He mentions either attacking Chavez's plane or capturing it. Possibly the presidential palace the way the CIA engineered it in Chile for Augusto Pinochet against Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 - with bombs, rockets and tank fire. Open warfare on Santiago's streets. Whether planned for Caracas is anyone's guess but it certainly is possible.

Chavez knows the history as well as past conspiracies against himself. He said on-air that his government "infiltrated the most radical and fascist movements (and have) known for a long time that they are looking for land and air rockets and sophisticated equipment to blow up the presidential plane" and that past plans were to bomb the Miraflores. He also knows that CIA is behind them and said if there's a coup, "the counter-coup would be overwhelming" - meaning a mass popular uprising to reverse it with military support, similar to 2002.

Chavez then confirmed the detentions of several suspected coop plotters and said others fled the country. He also expelled US ambassador, Patrick Duddy. Gave him 72 hours to leave, and recalled his Washington envoy, Bernardo Alvarez, in sympathy with Bolivia's Evo Morales. On September 10, he declared US ambassador, Philip Goldberg, persona non grata. Accused him of supporting eastern Bolivian fascist elements and working with them to plan a coup against his presidency.

On September 20, another incident occurred, so far unexplained. In west Caracas, a grenade was thrown from a residential building, killing two and injuring 19 others. A 23-year old man was identified as the perpetrator, who then, it was claimed, jumped to his death from the building's eighth floor. No further information is available at this time but authorities are investigating.

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http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/09/25/p28995