CIA activities in Venezuela

Main article: CIA activities in the Americas

1960s

CIA trains police and military of Venezuela 1965-67,^{[citation needed]} and had links with the DISIP secret police, not least via Luis Posada Carriles.

2000s

2002

Further information: 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt

Ed Vulliamy of the British newspaper, The Observer, wrote that Washington approved and supported a coup against the democratically-elected Venezuelan government, acting through senior officials of the U.S. government, including Special Envoy to Latin America Otto Reich and convicted Iran-contra affair figure and George W. Bush "democracy 'czar'" Elliott Abrams. Vulliamy said both have long histories in the U.S. backed "dirty wars" of the 1980s in Central America, as well as links to U.S.-supported death squads working in Central America at that time.^[1] In Vulliamy's article, he makes no mention of the CIA.

Top coup plotters, including Pedro Carmona, the man installed during the coup as the new president, began visits to the White House months before the coup and continued until weeks before the putsch. The plotters were received at the White House by the man President George W. Bush tasked to be his key policy-maker for Latin America, Special Envoy Otto Reich.^[1]

Former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Wayne Madsen, told the British newspaper the Guardian that American military attaches had been in touch with members of the Venezuelan military to explore the possibility of a coup. "I first heard of Lieutenant Colonel James Rogers [the assistant military attache now based at the U.S. embassy in Caracas] going down there last June [2001] to set the ground," Mr. Madsen reported, adding: "Some of our counter-narcotics agents were also involved." He claims the U.S. Navy assisted with signals intelligence as the coup played out and helped by jamming communications for the Venezuelan military, focusing on jamming communications to and from the diplomatic missions in Caracas. The U.S. embassy dismissed the allegations as "ridiculous".^[2] Madsen made no reference to the attaches being associated with the CIA, although he did mention that the Navy may have provided SIGINT assistance, normally an NSA function.

In the year leading up to the coup the U.S. also funded groups, opposed to President Hugo Chavez, including the labor group whose protests sparked off the coup. The funds were provided by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED),^[2] a nonprofit organization whose roots, according to an article in Slate trace back to the late 1960s when the public learned of CIA machinations to covertly fund parties and activists opposing the Soviets. Congress created the NED in 1983 which disburses money to pro-democracy groups around the globe and do so openly.^[3] The State Department is now examining whether one or more recipients of the NED money may have actively plotted against the Venezuelan government.^[4]

Bush Administration officials and anonymous sources acknowledged meeting with some of the planners of the coup in the several weeks prior to April 11, but have strongly denied encouraging the coup itself, saying that they insisted on constitutional means.^[5] The BBC article makes no reference to the CIA.

Because of allegations, Sen. Christopher Dodd requested a review of U.S. activities leading up to and during the coup attempt. The OIG report found no "wrongdoing" by U.S. officials either in the State Department or in the U.S. Embassy.^[6]

2005

In Porter Goss' statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he said "President Hugo Chavez is consolidating his power by using technically legal tactics to target his opponents and meddling in the region, supported by Fidel Castro."^[7]

2007

Venezuela claimed that the US embassy had sent a memo on Operation Pliers to the CIA, on November 26, 2007, which provided details on the activity of a CIA unit engaged in covert action to destabilize the national constitutional referendum. This unit was also alleged to be coordinating the civil and military overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Venezuela.

The memo, entitled "Advancing to the Last Phase of Operation Pincer," was sent by Michael Middleton Steere addressed to the Director of CIA, Michael Hayden.^[8] The US has called Venezuelan accusations of a CIA conspiracy "ridiculous".^[9] Having an operations officer, such as Middleton, bypass several levels of management is not unprecedented, as with some of the Bay of Pigs operations bypassing the Western Hemisphere Division chief in the Directorate of Plans (now the National Clandestine Service). Nevertheless, that is unusual, and even in the Cuba case, the division chief was directly informed, but the addressee was the Deputy Director for Plans. See a description or the information flow on the Cuban operation. While the NCS organization is not public information, from past examples, it would not be unreasonable for this report to bypass a station chief in Caracas, the Venezuela branch, the Western Hemisphere Division (however currently organized), and possibly some immediate deputies of Hayden.^[10]

Benjamin Ziff, an embassy spokesman said:^[11] "We reject and are disappointed in the Venezuelan government's allegations that the United States is involved in any type of conspiracy to affect the outcome of the constitutional referendum." A CIA spokesman called the memo "a fake", while independent analysts and researchers doubt its authenticity. Jeremy Bigwood, an independent researcher in Washington, agreed:"I find the document quite suspect. There's not an original version in English, and the timing of its release is strange. Everything about it smells bad."^[11]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Vulliamy, Ed (April 21, 2002). "Venezuela coup linked to Bush team". The Observer (London). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Campbell, Duncan (April 29, 2002), "American navy 'helped Venezuelan coup'", The Guardian (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,706802,00.html 
3. ^ Koerner, Brendan I. (22 January 2004), "Bush Aims To Raise Whose Budget? The skinny on the National Endowment for Democracy.", Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2094293 
4. ^ Campbell, Duncan (April 29, 2002), "American navy 'helped Venezuelan coup'", The Guardian (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,706802,00.html, retrieved April 30, 2010 
5. ^ "US denies backing Chavez plotters", BBC News, 2002-04-16, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1933526.stm, retrieved 2010-01-02 
6. ^ US Department of State and Board of Broadcasting Governors, Office of Inspector General (July 2002), A Review of US Policy toward Venezuela, November 2001-April 2002, United States Department of State, 02-OIG-003, http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/13682.pdf 
7. ^ Goss, Porter (16 February 2005), Global Intelligence Challenges 2005, http://www.acronym.org.uk/docs/0503/doc09.htm 
8. ^ Petras, James (November 28, 2007). "Counterattack as Fateful Referendum Looms: CIA Venezuela Destabilization Memo Surfaces,". Counterpunch. http://www.counterpunch.com/petras11272007.html. 
9. ^ "Venezuela waits for reform result". BBC News. December 3, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7123365.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-04. 
10. ^ Golinger, Eva (28 November 2007), "CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela: Psyop aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow President Chavez", Global Research, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7475 
11. ^ ^{a b} Romero, Simon (November 30, 2007). "In Chávez territory, signs of dissent". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/30/news/venez.php. Retrieved 2007-12-04. 

External links

• Venezuelanalysis.com, 22 March 2005, The Nature of CIA Intervention in Venezuela - interview with Philip Agee