Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez "won the backing of 58% of voters, with 42% supporting the opposition's drive to recall him. But the opposition, which soon after the polls closed at midnight had giddily predicted victory, said that the government had cheated and that it had won by a wide margin.. 'We categorically reject the results,' Henry Ramos, spokesman for the Democratic Coordinator... Crude oil futures fell from record highs after the vote was announced. There had been concerns in the oil markets that a defeat would have disrupted supplies from this country, the world's fifth-largest exporter of oil and a key supplier to the United States... Mr. Chavez's government pledged that it would continue with its so-called Bolivarian revolution, named after the country's independence wars hero, Sim�³n Bolivar, purging elites from institutions and funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into health and social programs." When will Bush's CIA start another coup?

Vheadline.com writes "US President George W. Bush has sent a clear warning to anti-democratic rebels in Venezuela, asking Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner to advise the Venezuelan government that the United States will not stand idly by and accept electoral fraud in any eventual revocatory referendum against President Hugo Chavez Frias... Speaking just a day before the Monterrey Summit in Mexico, Bush told Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner that it would be 'very difficult' for the United States to stand idly by of electoral fraud were to be proven." I never knew you cared so much about election fraud Mr. (p)Resident. If you want to see real election fraud, take a close look at Florida. Look at the issues that occured in California. And by the way, how did 3 republicans in Texas get the exact same # of votes in the 2002 election in different districts?

"Dear Mr. Kerry: The US citizen members and supporters of the International Bolivarian Circles of the US would like to openly express our support for your candidacy, and assure you that we will go to the polls this November to welcome you into the Whitehouse. As you stated so clearly in your May 27, 2004 statement on Venezuela - [the Bush administration's ] tacit support for the ill-conceived April 2002 military coup against Chavez determined this long ago... We would like to take this opportunity to: first, give you a glimpse at the goals and early achievements of Bolivarian Revolution; second, address two assertions made in your statement on Venezuela; and lastly, direct your attention to some informational materials that may help you understand the Bolivarian Process further."

VHeadline.com: "Public Defender German Mundarain has stated categorically that there is well-founded historical evidence to suspect that the US State Department participated in the paramilitary operation frustrated last Sunday by state security agencies... The US State Department needs to explain its complicity with this modus operandi of attacking governments in order to change the peoples of the Third World...'The gravity of the case endangers peace and national security. Mundarain said that the Venezuelan government would go to the Iberoamerican Federation Ombudsman and to the United Nations to denounce US interference in Venezuelan politics.' "

VHeadline.com: "Venezuela's Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Jorge Valero has told OAS delegates that Miami-based anti-Castro groups, mercenaries and Venezuelan coup-plotters are trying to foment chaos in Venezuela by hiring right wing Colombian mercenaries to do their dirty work for them. Valero says some 100 paramilitaries are currently in Venezuelan custody and that they were hired by 'the same coup-mongering and terrorist sectors, civilian and military, that hatched the failed coup d'etat against President Hugo Chavez Frias on April 11, 2002.' He said the captures paramilitaries have already confessed that they were in training to carry out terrorist objectives against the stability of the Venezuelan government ... including the assassination of reformist President Hugo Chavez Frias."

Radio Nacional de Venezuela reports, "The terrorist plan consisted of attacking a military installation in Caracas this week, possibly the Urban Security Command of the National Guard. On Monday, the paramilitaries were to be taken to another ranch, where they would receive final training with arms and ammunition, and do the assault on Wednesday. 'We were going to attack a military base that has tunnels underneath containing arms,' said the presumed paramilitary. The purpose, according to one of the anti-Chavez 'generals,' was to steal arms from the base to give to a 3,000 strong paramilitary group who were to come to Venezuela in 8 days. The final objective of the trained paramilitary group was to overthrow Venezuela's Bolivarian government." The plot was foiled when 55 paramilitaries were captured on a ranch in El Hatillo (Caracas) owned by opposition leader Robert Alonso. Was Undersecretary of State Otto Reich involved again? We demand an investigation!

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, at the end of a three-day visit to Venezuela on Saturday, blasted President Hugo Chavez for aiding Colombian guerrillas, blocking a recall referendum sought by the opposition and ignoring a flourishing black market for passports and other official documents that could fall into the hands of terrorists.''We may reach the point where the U.S. has to treat this government as a hostile and unfriendly government to the U.S. and the U.S. interests,'' said Nelson, a Democratic member of the Senates Foreign Relations Committee...Venezuelan officials denied those allegations. ''U.S. intelligence has failed in the past. I wouldnt trust 100 percent what American intelligence said,'' said Bernardo Alvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington, reached by phone. ``There is no evidence of Venezuela helping the FARC.''Alvarez also denied that Chavez was acting to block a recall effort against him.

Venezuela's Electronic News: "On April 13, the Colombian senate approved a resolution ... that condemns the 'dictatorial regime' of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias and calls for the Organization of American States to apply the Interamerican Democratic Charter to Venezuela. According to Article 21 of the Charter any member state... may request the immediate convocation of the Permanent Council to undertake a collective assessment of the situation ...and make decisions. What is mean by 'such decisions' is not specified in the Charter, but it is generally accepted to include all actions up to and including military intervention by OAS states... The most notable Venezuelan response to the Colombian resolution came from Jose Vicente Rangel, Executive Vice President of Venezuela... Senator Gomez Hurtado's proposal has as its basis the United States government's campaign against Venezuela and the geo-strategic development of Plan Colombia."

"The Venezuelan group ASOVIC (Association of Victims of the April 11, 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez) announced that they would file charges in US courts, and in the World Court in the Hague, against US Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, for his involvement in sniper shootings at the Llaguno Bridge during the coup at the Miraflores Palace that left several people dead, including a journalist."

"The Venezuelan government has complained to the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council that the USA has interfered in Venezuela's domestic affairs for the sole purpose of ousting President Hugo Chavez Frias...Appealing to OAS Democratic Charter Articles 3 and 19, Ambassador Valero has told the council that US State Department officials and NED supported the April 11, 2002 (11A) coup and that they also carried out an intense lobby at the OAS Council on April 12, 2002 to justify the ousting of President Chavez Frias...Valero states, the US Agency for International Development (US AID) handed out $2 million to opposition leaders and institutions, characterized as 'moderate' but opposed to Chavez Frias."

"John Kerry is accusing the White House of failing to promote democratic reforms in Venezuela, focusing attention on an issue that Democrats believe could hamper President Bush's quest for Hispanic votes in Florida.Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, issued the statement on his campaign website, charging that Bush's passive approach to backing opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reflects a larger record of 'sending mixed signals by supporting undemocratic processes in our own hemisphere.'.. In his new statement, Kerry lumped Castro and Chavez together, accusing the Venezuelan leader of punishing political opponents and aiding drug traffickers. ''His close relationship with Fidel Castro has raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic government,' the statement said. Chavez has accused the Bush administration of sponsoring the April 2002 coup d'etat."

"Washington has been channelling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - including those who briefly overthrew the democratically elected leader in a coup two years ago... The funding has been made by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) a non-profit agency financed entirely by Congress. It distributes $40m a year to various groups in what it says is an effort to strengthen democracy. But critics of the NED say the organisation routinely meddles in other countries' affairs to support groups that believe in free enterprise, minimal government intervention in the economy and opposition to socialism in any form. In recent years, the NED has channelled funds to the political opponents of the recently ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the same time that Washington was blocking loans to his government." The NED was a key part of the Iran-contra network.

"The government of President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday it will file a complaint with the Organization of American States, accusing the United States of meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs. Venezuela's ambassador to the OAS, Jorge Valero, said he plans to present proof that Washington has given financial and logistical support to opposition groups pushing for Chavez's ouster."

"National Elections Council (CNE) president Francisco Carrasquero has announced that there are only 1,832,493 valid signatures gathered by the political opposition to President Hugo Chavez Frias in a nationwide signature campaign last November 28-December 1 to petition a revocatory referendum against the President of the Republic... Carrasquero said 'there are insufficient signatures at this time to launch a revocatory referendum under the 1999 Constitution. To be precise we need to have 2,437,080 signatures... If we can validate 500,000 more signatures and reach the 20% dictated in Article 72 of the Constitution we will go ahead with the referendum.'"

Bill Berkowitz writes: "One of the recipients of U.S. taxpayer money is a Venezuelan company called Sumate, the organization that has provided much of the logistical support for the signature collection process. Between September 2003 and September 2004, Sumate received more than $50,000 from the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy. The 'NED Report to the U.S. Dept. of State on Special Venezuela Funds,' documents that the organization received a million dollars in April 2002, and since June of that year it awarded more than $800,000 to organizations working in Venezuela... According to William Blum's book 'Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower,' the NED 'played an important role in the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s'... In President Bush's State of the Union address, he pledged to double the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy." Worth mentioning is that Thomas Kean, the 9/11 Commission Chairman, was on the board of the NED.

"Venezuela's election authorities have again postponed an announcement on a decision on a revocatory recall petition against President Hugo Chavez Frias. As National Guard (GN) and violent opposition elements clashed, Monday, as National Elections Council (CNE) director Jorge Rodriguez told reporters that the council had decided to postpone the decision for the second day in the hope that it would allow Venezuela to 'move away from violence'... Meanwhile opposition leaders are calling for more protests to force their unilateral demand that election officials approve a Presidential recall petition whether they have enough signatures (as demanded by the 1999 Constitution) or not... the opposition fears that if a larger number of those who signed do not come forward to authenticate their signatures, the signature campaign will fall short of the 2.4 million required."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush an 'a--hole' on Sunday for meddling, and vowed never to quit office like his Haitian counterpart as troops battled with opposition protesters demanding a recall referendum against him...the firebrand populist vowed to defeat any attempt to unseat him and threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States from the world's No. 5 crude oil exporter should Washington try an invasion or trade sanctions. 'Venezuela is not Haiti and Chavez is not Aristide' he said.

"Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel says radical forces in the opposition are attempting a coup d'etat against Venezuela's democracy ... 'the third coup against the Constitution and democracy is underway in Venezuela ... the warning lights are on!... Rangel, who battled corruption as a leading TV investigative journalist before joining President Hugo Chavez Frias' reform government, emphasizes that 'once the National Elections Council made its decision to send the forms containing signatures with the same handwriting to be revised -- which is an impeccable ruling from a legal and procedural point of view -- the opposition immediately started to announce that they will not recognize the CNE and launched a fierce campaign against it ... just like they did on April 11 and December 2, 2002 ... this is just another coup d'etat and terrorist venture.'"

"The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez,... angrily accused the United States of being behind a 2002 coup and of helping continuing opposition attempts to overthrow him. Mr Chavez said the US Government was providing millions of dollars to Venezuelan groups... A visit to Venezuela on Monday by Peter DeShazo, US deputy assistant Secretary of State for western hemisphere affairs, was part of the campaign 'to try to destabilise Venezuela', Mr Chavez said. The US official urged the election authorities not to use technicalities to invalidate petitions demanding a recall referendum that could lead to a new presidential election... Mr Chavez said he had evidence that Washington was involved in an April 2002 coup that ousted him for two days. President George Bush's administration 'had a responsibility in the massacre' that helped trigger the coup in which 19 died and US military personnel were involved, he said." Otto Reich and the CIA were exposed as being a part of the 2002 coup attempt.

Editor and Publisher Roy S. Carson writes: "Sources in Washington D.C. have revealed that Bush 2 administration officials are again seeking to 'stimulate' a regime change in Venezuela after a USA-backed coup d'etat against democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez Frias failed in 2002...Venezuelan nationals, recruited on the promise of fast-track US citizenship and benefits, have been trained in the arts of USA terror tactics at the US Army School of Americas... and relocated to training camps at Iquitos in the northern jungles of Peru under the direction of US Southern Command."

Venezuelan "Lawmakers allied with President Hugo Chavez showed a videotape Wednesday which they claimed was evidence that the CIA was working with Venezuelan dissidents to overthrow the government. The video, shown at a news conference at Congress, displayed three men speaking in Spanish about espionage, making contacts with an unspecified embassy, and avoiding detection... Nicolas Maduro said the video showed U.S. secret agents training dissident military officers and municipal police in espionage and 'terrorist' tactics. He said it was filmed in Venezuela in June... Maduro said that dissident soldiers trained by the CIA were responsible for the bombings of two diplomatic missions in Caracas in February and another Caracas building in April... The video was given to Chavez allies by a police officer who decided to abandon the alleged CIA training program, Maduro said. He said the tape would be turned over to the U.S. Congress." We demand prosecution of American sponsors of terrorism!

AFP reports: "More US dirty trick attempts to destabilize the government of democratically elected Hugo Chavez--same thing happened with Allende in Chile. Tensions mounted in Venezuela Monday after bombings rocked the capital and an ally of President Hugo Chavez accused the CIA of backing opponents trying to oust the beleaguered leader. Two fuel tankers exploded late Sunday at the capital's municipal airport, 36 hours after the presidential guard barracks and the national telecommunications offices were bombed. Lawmaker Nicolas Maduro said he would lobby US legislators to open any CIA files on Venezuela. 'Let them declassify the secret documents on CIA involvement and their financing of undercover activities during 2002-2003 because we have hard evidence that the terrorist attacks were planned,' he said. He did not mention which US lawmakers would be asked to help. He said the records would reveal CIA funding links to Venezuelan opposition groups seeking to oust Chavez."

Reuters: "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday blamed his political enemies for an explosion that blew out windows at the Caracas barracks of his presidential guard but caused no injuries. Chavez, a leftist firebrand who often reports vague coup plots, said security police were investigating dissident military officers for Friday's blast, which rattled his honor guard headquarters nearby Miraflores Presidential Palace. 'These terrorists set off a bomb against my presidential guard ... and now they will get their response,' Chavez said." Gee, we've been wondering what Otto Reich's been up to lately, apparently he's been very busy.

"Details behind the sudden decision to cancel President Hugo Chavez Frias' next-week trip to Washington D.C. and New York (to deliver a speech to the United Nations) are being revealed by security services who say they have 'overwhelming evidence' of a CIA-backed plan to 'bring down' the Chavez Frias' airplane during the scheduled flight to the United States from Caracas. Sources in Venezuela's Military Intelligence Directorate (DIM) have told VHeadline.com that 'presented with overwhelming evidence of Washington's planned attack on the Presidential flight, it was decided that the President's personal security was preeminent and that he should not go!'"

LA Times: "While the economy is still suffering badly, President Hugo Chavez's promised revolution to improve the lives of Venezuela's millions of poor is finally beginning to take off. In the past few months, more than half a million illiterate Venezuelans have received basic reading and writing instruction. Hundreds of thousands of poor children have begun attending school for the first time in their lives. Doctors imported from Cuba as part of a petroleum deal are paying house calls to poor neighborhoods. Perhaps most important, tens of thousands of people have been given title to land that their families have been squatting on for generations... Using new government credits, poor families are planting crops, organizing businesses, fixing up their homes and redesigning their neighborhoods. 'There is an incredible flowering of activity in the communities that are participating,' said Gregory Wilpert, an American sociologist living in Venezuela."

"In a three-hour lunch meeting with foreign journalists yesterday, Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez roamed over a wide variety of topics, from the cancellation of his trip to the U.S., to the recall referendum, to the WTO meeting in Cancun, and to Venezuela-Colombia relations, among other issues.... On the international front, Chavez revealed that his government is in the possession of a video, which his security forces secretly recorded, of a CIA officer giving a class to Venezuelans on surveillance. Joking he said, 'The technique could not have been very good, since we did manage to film him.' He argues that this is evidence that the CIA is involved in clandestine activity in Venezuela, after the coup attempt, in addition to the evidence he has of U.S. involvement before and during the coup; but his government has so far not issued a formal complaint to the U.S. government. Some day, he said, these pieces of evidence will be released, but he does not know when."

AP reports: "Election officials rejected a petition Friday signed by millions of Venezuelans calling for a referendum on Hugo Chavez's presidency, a major setback in opposition efforts to oust the leftist leader. The petition was thrown out because the signatures were gathered before the midpoint of Chavez's term, an election rule violation, said National Elections Council President Francisco Carrasquero. The council is considered an impartial body by rival political groups. Thousands of Chavez supporters outside the council headquarters cheered and pumped their fists upon learning of the decision. Dozens of National Guardsmen surrounded the building to keep order. The decision dampened opposition chances of holding a vote by the end of the year. Many Chavez supporters believe that such a vote could now be put off indefinitely."

"Opponents of Hugo Chavez turned in 2.7 million signatures yesterday to demand a referendum on ending his tumultuous presidency, but the Venezuelan leader vowed the only recall this year would be in California," reports Newsday. "Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets chanting 'Chavez, go!' in the first large opposition protest since a two-month strike failed to topple the leftist leader earlier this year. Their pursuit of a referendum renews a power struggle that promises more unrest in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. During a visit to Argentina, Chavez vowed to defeat any bid to remove him and insisted the signatures were fake." We have no doubt they are - rigged by Bush operatives, just like the earlier coup effort. Guess we know the REAL reason Rummy is in South America - as an informal "advisor" to the recall operatives.

In a Truthout Interview with Greg Palast, author of 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy', says, "And some of the lies are brilliantly crafted. Let me give you an example: The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle and god knows how many others ran a photo in June 2001 under the screamer, '100,000 March Against Venezuelan President.' Hugo Chavez. It had to be true: there was the photo. And I was there, in Caracas, so I know it was true. But what the Times and Chronicle DIDN'T show you was the demonstration, nearly twice as large, of Venezuelans marching IN SUPPORT of their President. So the Dependent Media effectively Stalinized the photos."

"Andean region of northern and western South America will undoubtedly become increasingly important to the Bush administration and its foreign policy focal point, the 'war on terror,' as instability in the region continues to spread and oil production is expected to increase... Such events and formulaic reactions to them illustrate how any region, any conflict in the world, can be neatly molded and packaged to interface with the 'war on terror' paradigm. For Bogota's part, the Uribe administration knows it can most easily gain Washington's attention through its use of the rhetorical lexicon of the 'war on terror' -- all one need do to emphasize the seriousness of a given situation or to justify one's actions is to dub one's enemies 'terrorists.' Chavez, Rangal, and other outspoken members of the Venezuelan leadership are also well familiar with the usefulness of such propaganda, albeit from the other side as they defend themselves against various allegations of 'terrorism.'"

"A senior Venezuelan army general said the government of the South American country has proof the United States was involved in a short-lived coup against President Hugo Chavez last year. Army Gen. Melvin Lopez, secretary of Venezuela's National Defence Council, said Tuesday 'proof exists' the U.S. administration was involved in the mid-April putsch. He declined to give further details. 'We have the evidence,' Lopez said... Following his return, Chavez said 'worrying details' had emerged suggesting a foreign country might have been involved in his temporary overthrow. Chavez said a coastal radar installation had tracked a foreign military ship and helicopter operating over Venezuelan waters a day after his ouster."

Marcela Sanchez writes for the Washington Post: "With so many in the Bush administration able to speak Spanish, the phrase 'No aprende ni a palos' should have a familiar ring. If not, one need only examine the White House's recent actions regarding Venezuela to understand that the words refer to someone who never learns--just doesn't seem to get it--even when hit upside the head with a stick. How else to explain why for the second time in eight months, the administration recklessly threw its weight behind the political opposition in that very volatile country at a moment when choosing sides threatened to trigger an explosive reaction. By forcefully calling on Friday for early--and therefore unconstitutional--presidential elections, the administration jeopardized the delicate balance developing in Caracas after weeks of negotiations between President Hugo Chavez's government and its democratic opponents."

Reports the Washington Post Foreign Service: "A four-day-old general strike called to push President Hugo Chavez from office disrupted Venezuela's vital oil industry today, and the streets of Caracas filled with rival partisan crowds, leading Chavez to warn of an imminent coup attempt and urge supporters to stand by his government. The president's comments demonstrated the escalating rhetoric on both sides of a broad ideological divide that has brought Venezuela, the United States' third-largest oil supplier, to the brink of more political violence. After tacitly endorsing the failed coup carried out by senior military officers in April -- and making clear its distaste for Chavez and his class-based populism -- the Bush administration has been careful in public to urge a peaceful and legal resolution of the crisis this time, preferably through new elections." The fingerprints of Under-Secretary of State Otto Reich, an Iran-Contra criminal, were all over the last coup attempt.

It looks like Bush and his crew are looking for any excuse to depose leaders they don't like - especially if they're sitting on oil. "Warning of the formation of a potential 'Axis of Evil' in the Americas, an influential lawmaker has called on...George W. Bush to support the ouster of left-wing Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Just days before Brazilians elected radical populist Lula da Silva as their president on Oct. 27, House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) sent...Bush a powerfully phrased letter warning that a triumvirate of political extremists leading economic powerhouse Brazil, oil giant Venezuela and the terrorist-sponsoring regime of Cuba constitute an emerging 'Axis of Evil' that the United States must stop." From Reverend Moon's Insight Magazine.

Writes Mark Weisbrot: "Last April the Bush Administration sent a powerful message not only to Venezuelans but to all of our Southern neighbors: if we don't like the presidents you elect, we will use our muscle to get rid of them. By any means necessary. That is what was understood when the Administration endorsed the attempted military coup on April 11 against the elected president of Venezuela…Now we will see whether the Democratic-led US Senate will object to this 1950s-style foreign policy. On May 3, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requested an investigation from the US State Department, to find out what it did wrong in Venezuela. What he got was a complete whitewash -- which was turned over to the Senate last week. The…Department's supposedly independent Office of the Inspector General didn't even interview a single Venezuelan, but relied on US embassy officials and others who had a direct career interest in covering up what happened."

"We are being reminded, daily in the popular press, that evidence of terrorist activity usually emerges slowly, after the fact, in tiny bits and pieces. The pundits and politicos tell us that intelligent people must somehow 'connect the dots' to create the pattern which reveals hidden truths. Few of these pundits have spotted the latest pattern, bits and pieces of which, when connected like a dot puzzle, directly link the Bush administration, and U.S. intelligence agencies, to the attack on democracy that violently ejected Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez from his elected office on April 12, 2002." So writes Christopher Reilly in the Yellow Times.

"'You're either with us or against us,' as uttered by U.S. President [sic] Bush, when viewed in light of the CIA's extensive 'Coups 'R Us' history of governmental overthrows, belies its singular reference to his war on terrorism and unwittingly reveals a deeper, prevailing U.S. attitude towards other nations in general, and towards democratically elected leaders of foreign countries in particular. It seems the only form of government the U.S. recognizes and is willing to support is that which unequivocally bows to the supremacy of U.S. economic and political interests. How else does one rationally explain the apparent hypocrisy between the U.S. 'pro-democracy' rhetoric and its covertly sanctioned, CIA-directed attempt to oust Venezuela's democratically elected President Hugo Chavez?" (Doreen Miller, The Yellow Times).

Greg Palast has done it again! Palast has scooped the US (and global) media by getting the inside story on the failed US-engineered coup in Venezuela. The US started planning this coup nearly a year in advance; the plot included funding 3 simultaneous efforts to assassinate Venezuela's elected President. US efforts gained urgency when Libya and Iraq threatened an oil embargo to protest Israeli actions in Palestine. The US needed to control Venezuela's oil to undermine any embargo. The Secretary General of OPEC, Ali Rodriguez, warned Hugo Chavez of the planned coup, so Chavez deployed his troops to foil the coup. His "Plan A" - surrounding the palace with tanks - failed because the tank commander disobeyed Chavez's orders (no doubt he was paid handsomely to do so). But his "Plan B" - filling the palace with hidden troops, thereby taking the coup leader hostage - succeeded brilliantly. We demand Senate hearings on Bush's illegal coup!

"Imagine, for a moment, the utterly imaginable: that the plotters of the Venezuelan coup did work hand-in-glove with Otto Reich, the Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, and his merry band in planning what became the two-day overthrow of President Hugo Chavez… Reich certainly has credentials… Earlier this year, in light of his Iran-Contra exploits and his Castro-centric view of the Hemisphere, the Senate refused to confirm his appointment as Our Man Overseeing Latin America. No matter: Bush gave him a recess appointment -- essentially, an appointment by executive fiat -- that's good for at least a year… Reich may well have been the U.S. official most supportive of their cause, but that didn't mean he was the U.S. official best able to ensure their success… In hindsight, the plotters' fatal mistake was their failure to hook up with the real state-of-the-art coupsters: James Baker, William Rehnquist, and Antonin Scalia." So writes the American Prospect.

Duncan Campbell writes in the UK Guardian, "The United States had been considering a coup to overthrow the elected Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, since last June, a former US intelligence officer claimed yesterday. It is also alleged that the US navy aided the abortive coup which took place in Venezuela on April 11 with intelligence from its vessels in the Caribbean. Evidence is also emerging of US financial backing for key participants in the coup." Where is the outrage? George W. Bush is the so corrupt - he even makes Nixon look good. His administration lied through its teeth when it denied involvement in the Venezuelan coup. We demand impeachment - NOW!!!

Sustainable development champion Hazel Henderson visited Venezeula many times, and personally witnessed US businessmen plotting the overthrow of Hugo Chavez. She writes, "Keys to the US's increasing irritation with Chavez' populist Bolivarian revolution were his re-invigorating of OPEC, opposition to US-backed corporate globalization and free trade, oil and competing visions of development." Chavez embraced "global grass-roots activists opposed to further globalization of corporate power, who gathered at the World Social Forum in 2001 and 2002 under the vision 'Another World is Possible' (i.e. to globalize human rights, workplace standards, social justice and environmental protection while curbing the power of global finance). Typical of this vision is well-known Venezuelan author and diplomat Frank Bracho's 1998 book, 'Petroleum and Globalization: Salvation or Perdition' which struck a deep chord with President Hugo Chavez, elected in 1998 with an unprecedented popular mandate."

The federally-funded National Endowment for Democracy funneled nearly $1 million to American and Venezuelan groups opposed to President Hugo Chavez… "The International Republican Institute, which has an office in Venezuela, received a grant of $339,998 … On April 12, the day of the takeover, the group hailed Mr. Chávez's ouster" in a statement by George A. Folsom, President of IRI and an close associate of Brent Scowcroft. "Advocates say the agency's independent [sic] status enables the US to support democratic [sic] actors in nations where American government aid might be cumbersome or unwelcome." Yeah, right! "Everybody knew it was directly funded by Washington. That didn't fool too many people. But it wasn't really accountable." Rather like Homeland Czar Ridge's billions of unaccountable funds? Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says, "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law" Why not ask your Congress what they are doing?

Team Bush continues to deny its involvement in the Venezuelan coup, but the official Venezuelan investigation of the coup is starting to name names. Agence France Presse reports, "A source close to the official investigation told journalists that US Army colonel Ronald MacCammon was with the military coup leaders who briefly managed to topple Chavez... Earlier, a military source told AFP in Caracas that US Army Lieutenant Colonel James Rodgers, an aide to the US military attache, was present at Fort Tiuna in Caracas before Chavez was brought to that installation after the coup, and remained there until the self-proclaimed provisional government fell apart." The Pentagon "denied they had anything to do with the failed overthrow." Time will tell...

As if the Bush administration didn't already look complicit enough in the now failed overthrow of a democratically elected leader! The Times of London is reporting that several alleged Venezuelan coup leaders fled to Miami when it became apparent that their plans to overthrow Chavez were going south. The alleged plotters - Isaac Perez Recao, a reputed arms dealer and heir to a Venezuelan oil fortune, and his brother Vicente - have recently been spotted in Miami where they both own property. Secretary of State Colin Powell has the power to deny entry visas, or revoke their issuance to persons deemed to have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the US, but as of yet no such action has been taken against the two brothers. US officials have declined to discuss the involvement of Señor Pérez Recao in the Venezuelan coup attempt, saying that they are "still investigating what went on." ( Maybe they should ask themselves! )

The anti-Chavez coup in Venezuela is looking more and more like a redux of the infamous Reagan-Bush anti-democratic meddling in Latin American affairs. The U.K. Observer reports that officials at the Organisation of American States and other diplomatic sources have contradicted Bush's lies and confirmed that not only did the administration have prior knowledge of the coup, they sanctioned it! "The visits by Venezuelans plotting a coup, including Carmona himself, began, say sources, 'several months ago', and continued until weeks before the putsch last weekend. The visitors were received at the White House by the man President [sic] George Bush tasked to be his key policy-maker for Latin America, Otto Reich." The unholy trinity involved in the coup are Reich, Elliot Abrams, and John Negroponte - all traitors with felonious histories and blood on their hands. We demand an investigation - quickly - before Bush gets the U.S. embroiled in Iran Contra, the Sequel!

In the NY Observer, Joe Conason asks tough questions about Venezuela: "Who was killed in the violent street demonstrations of April 11? Who did the shooting? When did the State Department learn that a coup was imminent? What did our diplomats (and military attachés) say to the plotters? Why did the White House and the National Security Council ignore our treaty obligations to oppose the unlawful overthrow of an elected President?... There was something surreal about the official U.S. response to this chaotic situation, coming as it did from an administration that had actually lost the popular vote in the last election here and only attained power by judicial intervention. Of course, no one is supposed to dwell on the 2000 election and its disputed aftermath anymore, irresistible as such comparisons may be... Once again, the supposed masters of foreign policy serving Mr. Bush have displayed their own arrogance and incompetence." Right on, Joe!

The Thief in Chief said to reporters, "It's very important for him (Chavez) to embrace those institutions which are fundamental to democracy, including freedom of the press and freedom for the ability of the opposition to speak out." Remember when Bush's Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, "they need to WATCH WHAT THEY SAY, watch what they do." Along with this, the protests around Bush are NEVER shown or talked about though they happen in large numbers wherever he goes, and police have arrested many people for holding anti-Bush signs in places where he speaks. And then there are those First Amendment Zones. Once again George, your words have no meaning and no sincerity.

Bush today advised President Chavez: "It's very important for him to embrace those institutions which are fundamental to democracy, including freedom of the press and freedom for the ability of the opposition to speak out," Bush told reporters. "And if there's lessons to be learned, it's important that he learn them." Will Bu$h remember the freedom of the opposition to speak out this weekend in Washington DC? And how about the right to have EVERY VOTE COUNT? Why does the media let Bush get away with his endless platitudes about "democracy," when he never won his own election???

US officials deny playing a role in the Venezuelan coup, although a deputy assistant defense secretary did meet with the chief of the Venezuelan armed forces and Chavez's usurper. Pentagon denials of a US role in the Venezuelan coup attempt fail to explain why a senior defense official would discuss the possibility of a coup with a Venezuelan military officer. Neither does it explain why Otto Reich, the US assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, would phone the usurper and plead with him not to dissolve the National Assembly because it would provoke an outcry. Provoke an outcry? Never mind that there's a coup, but don't provoke an outcry! Senate Majority Leader Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) said "I'm very concerned about what message it sends about our support for democracy. We've got to be supportive of democratic principles even when [other nations] choose to elect people we do not like."

Investigative journalist Greg Palast interviewed Hugo Chavez a few weeks before the failed coup. Here Palast reveals the real reasons for the failed US-supported Chavez coup attempt. "What neither Bush nor the papers told you is that Chavez's real crime was to pass two laws through Venezuela's national assembly. The first ordered big plantation owners to turn over untilled land to the landless. The second nearly doubled, from roughly 16% to 30%, royalties paid for extracting Venezuela's oil. Venezuela was once the largest exporter of oil to the USA, bigger than Saudi Arabia. This explains Chavez's unpopularity - at least within that key constituency, the American petroleum industry."

The man in charge of Bush's Latin American policies - Assistant Secretary of State Otto Reich - has bloodstained hands from his past support for terrorism (enter "otto reich" in our search engine). So it comes as no surprise that Reich tried to mobilize international support for the Venezuelan coup only hours after it happened, as revealed by Joshua Micah Marshall in Salon. Reich lied to a roomful of Latin American ambassadors by "handing out copies of a State Department press release that blamed Chavez's overthrow on Chavez himself and denied that any coup had even occurred. Reich then gave a tortured reading of the Venezuelan constitution in an attempt to illustrate that Chavez's apparent military overthrow really wasn't unconstitutional at all." Reich's nomination was so controversial that he was never confirmed by the Senate - instead, Bush arrogantly appointed him while the Senate was in recess. We demand Reich's immediate removal from office!

SOA Watch writes, "Army Commander in Chief Efrain Vasquez and General Ramirez Poveda, two of the major military backers of a transitional government, received training at the notorious US Army School of the Americas (SOA). Vasquez attended the school from January 23rd to December 2nd, 1988, taking a course called "Command and General Staff Officer Training". General Ramirez took a course called "Auto Maintenance Officer Training" from May 8th to August 11th, 1972... The SOA, renamed in 2001 the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. SOA graduates are consistently involved in human rights abuses and atrocities throughout Latin America." Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) has led the fight to close the SOA. Is it any wonder Karl Rove is trying to smear her as "nutty"?

Wayne Madsen and Richard M. Bennett write, "The one important thing to be learnt from the Venezuelan coup is that the United States has not changed its view that only Governments acceptable to Washington can be allowed to survive in Latin America and that like it or not, the United States will undermine and help overthrow even legally elected administrations if it so chooses. This became obvious when Pentagon sources gleefully revealed that the United States provided critical military and intelligence support to the Venezuelan military coup against President Hugo Chavez on Friday 12th April." US support included US Navy signal intelligence, the National Security Agency, CIA and US contract military personnel in Colombia (DynCorp), the CIA's Special Operations Group personnel. Nevertheless, Bush insists the US was not involved. We demand an investigation of US support for the Venezuelan Coup!

"The Bush administration did not seem to understand what was at stake in Venezuela. Deviating sharply from the policies of its predecessors, and confusing the understandable dislike of a particular leader and his policies with the importance of supporting democracy, it publicly countenanced the military action. The administration was visibly out of step with other hemispheric leaders who condemned the military coup… Rather than categorically condemn the military coup in Venezuela, official White House and Department of State statements appeared to justify military intervention by arguing that people were killed in anti-Chavez demonstrations, that the president had ordered the closing of television broadcasts, and had been acting in an increasingly authoritarian manner." So writes Arturo Valenzuela in the Washington Post.

Following reports in the NY Times that US officials met with leaders of the failed coup in Venezuela, Ari Fleischer repeatedly insisted that the administration absolutely did not encourage the coup. We guarantee that story will prove to be a lie within a matter of weeks, if not days. Even as Fleischer spoke, Reuters reported that Chavez saw a mysterious US-registered airplane on the island of Orchila, where Chavez was held prisoner for a day. "I saw the plane. It bore the markings of a private plane from the United States, not an official plane. This is being investigated. What was it doing there?" Chavez asked. No doubt, we will learn that this plane belonged to a CIA "proprietary" like Caribe Air or Dyncorp, or another company run by Rudi Dekker out of Venice, Florida. Stay tuned for the next episode of the ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC drama, "The Secret Government" ...

Paul Krugman writes, "Surely the worst thing about this episode is the betrayal of our democratic principles; 'of the people, by the people, for the people' isn't supposed to be followed by the words 'as long as it suits U.S. interests.' But even viewed as realpolitik, our benign attitude toward Venezuela's coup was remarkably foolish. It is very much in our interest that Latin America break out of its traditional political cycle, in which crude populism alternated with military dictatorship. Everything that matters to the U.S. -- trade, security, drugs, you name it -- will be better if we have stable neighbors... Yet there we were, reminding everyone of the bad old days when any would-be right-wing dictator could count on U.S. backing. As it happens, we aligned ourselves with a peculiarly incompetent set of plotters... (The short-lived coup included) big business and the wealthy -- full stop. No wonder the coup collapsed."

"The failed coup d'etat against Venezuela marks a turning point not just for authentic democracy in our América, but also for authentic journalism. The remote-control attempt by Washington and commercial interests - including various media giants within and outside of Venezuela - to topple the government of President Hugo Chávez by force has only made him stronger...The Chávez government emerges as more popular than ever, and Venezuelan democracy the strongest in América to withstand future authoritarian ambushes like the failed plot of these three fateful days... AP, Reuters, the New York Times, and CNN, the worst offenders in the English-language media among many others, have had to radically adjust their coverage of the events in Venezuela precisely because online journalists worked overtime in recent days to break the information blockade and get the true facts to the international public." So writes Al Giordano in Narco News.

According to the NY Times, senior members of the Bush administration met several times in recent months with leaders of a coalition that carried out the now failed coup against Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, and agreed with the coalition that he should be removed from office. During the two day ouster of Chavez, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer signaled that the administration was pleased that Venezuela's democratically elected leader had been toppled from power. Asked whether the administration now recognizes Mr. Chavez as the legitimate president of Venezuela, one administration official replied, "He was democratically elected. Legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority or the voters, however." (Finally a member of the Bush administration admits that in their eyes democratic leaders are best "selected," not elected!)

The Times of London reports, "After a battle with Señor Chávez over press freedom in recent months, media owners leapt to back Friday's coup... In the few hours that a provisional government led by a businessman, Pedro Carmona, was in power, the top media barons were among the first to visit him at the presidential palace to offer support. 'It was a media coup,' said a disgusted María Lilibeth Da Corte, a veteran palace reporter for Unión Radio, who said her editors censored all negative reporting on the coup... One photographer heard other journalists being told by their bosses to 'forget being journalists for the next week, we're all working for the government now.'" That sounds exactly like the orders handed down on November 8, 2000 at FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, the NY Times, and the Washington Post. It's time for Americans to rise up against the Bush/Media Coup - just like the Venezuelans!

Venezuela has experienced "a successful countercoup in the face of an oil-media conspiracy to seize power, overturn the constitution and roll back social reforms, backed by the Bush family. A democratically elected government has been restored, albeit one chastened by its close brush with death. However, the current US Government's eagerness to back a coup, and its labeling of a corporate-military coup as 'tranquility and democracy' (in George Bush's own words) should raise alarms. It is doubtful that Venezuela under Chavez will see the US as a beacon of Democracy and the Rule of Law. It is also doubtful that he will be inclined to ease on his policy of forcing oil prices higher. It is also unlikely that OPEC, having been stung by US non-intervention in Israel, threats made against some of its member governments, and having had one of its own the target of a pro-US corporate coup, will think kindly of US interests when they next meet." So writes Stirling Newberry.