Venezuela Has State Dept. Concerned

Chavez has reflected on his mistakes and is prepared to "make corrections," Herrera Marcano said in a panel joined by Gutierrez at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.

When pigs fly!

Chavistas Still Committed - While Chavez Accumulates Power

For the U.S.-Venezuela relationship to thrive again, it is essential to revitalize Venezuela's democracy," Gutierrez said

i find it refreshing that the US again considers DEMOCRACY something worth fostering in Latin America.

Good morning, CW

Some comments from this AP story.

U.S. officials were criticized across Latin America after they showed little initial remorse about Chavez's ouster and blamed the leftist Venezuelan leader for his own downfall.

I’m not sure this is a true statement. I got the impression everybody was pretty happy he was out. Panama found itself backpedaling. Right after Chavez’s temporary disappearance, the government stated it would not give refuge to Chavez, his family, or his lackeys. Then, when he reappeared, Panama said they never officially approved of his replacements. Of course. Everything happened too fast. Also, Panama depends on Venezuelan oil. (Gas is up to almost $2.00 a gallon now. It was about $1.55 before this “problem.”)

The White House later said its reaction was based on its perception that Chavez had resigned. Military generals who arrested Chavez announced he had resigned, but Chavez later confirmed he had not. He was reinstated two days later.

AP didn’t do it’s homework. Or maybe they are trying to make the White House look foolish by not giving their readers the true story. I have a copy (only one page) of the draft Chavez wrote dated 13 April in his own infantile handwriting stating he has resigned. Things happened so rapidly that there was no time for the “finished product,” a letter without the droodles and without phrases lined through and rewritten.

CW, please understand I’m not criticizing the poster in any way. I appreciate all the articles you post. What stuns me is that AP and the rest have no shame.

What stuns me is that AP and the rest have no shame.

They've been this way for a long, long time now. Reuters is even worse than AP!

All these newspaper people know if the reader doesn't live within proximity of the action, they can say anything they want and nobody would be the wiser.

Whatever happened to a U.S. backed coup? I think it was Carter who made that "illegal," at least assassinating a country's leader, but I know Bush was talking about situations under which that didn't apply. You know what a president (who is a strong leader) needs to do? He needs to do whatever the situation calls for at the time and then just do it and the hell with what the critics say. A strong leader acts and doesn't worry about the ramifications. Bush has the strong support of the American people in fighting terrorism so he should fight it and hard. South American countries have long had these communist leaders who need to be deposed for the good of the hemisphere and the good of the U.S. This guy in Venezuela is a supporter of terrorist regimes (Cuba, Iraq and others) so if the Bush doctrine of "you're with us or with the terrorists" applies, then this guy is with the terrorists. If he was deposed once he must be on shaky ground, so he can be deposed again. The oil is what makes this country important.

The Web of Terror

Castro, the Carribean, and Terrorism

He needs to do whatever the situation calls for at the time and then just do it and the hell with what the critics say.

I agree with you 100%.

Sometimes, though, people like Boxer scare me because they have no understanding of other cultures, and this is where big mistakes are made. I'm still laughing at Boxer and her frijole brigade -- taking beans to Castro. When I mention this to my Panamanian friends, their reaction is the same. First they say, "what?" They know they misunderstood me. I repeat it again. Their next reaction is the eyebrows dart upwards and connect with the hairline and the jaw drops in total disbelief. After the third repetition, there comes a howl of laughter which goes on forever.

I would think that another country going Marxist would make the state dept quite happy. What gives? Isn't it their job to undermine the interests of the US where ever possible?

Chavez Ordered Tanks During Protest March - Tapes
Wed Apr 24,12:42 PM ET

By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - As unarmed civilian protesters marched against him on April 11, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and troops to protect the presidential palace, according to taped radio conversations broadcast by local television and radio stations on Wednesday.

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Reuters Photo

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In the recordings, Chavez's calm-sounding voice can be heard clearly using his code name "Shark One" and giving precise military orders. The private TV and radio stations said the recordings were made by amateur radio enthusiasts living around the Miraflores Palace during the huge April 11 march.

The left-wing former paratrooper, who survived a short-lived coup against him this month, has ordered an official inquiry into the deaths of more than 40 people during street protests and violence that accompanied the coup.

The broadcast of the tapes was likely to inflame a growing controversy surrounding the four days of violence that accompanied the coup and subsequent restoration of Chavez, who has ruled Venezuela since winning a landslide 1998 election.

Opponents of Chavez, including military officers who staged the brief putsch, had accused him of deploying tanks and troops against the April 11 anti-government march by tens of thousands of civilian protesters in which 17 people were shot dead.

The tapes appeared to indicate the president's willingness to use military force against the unarmed protesters.

Senior military officers involved in the coup have said they removed the president and replaced him with an interim government because they could not accept Chavez's order to use the armed forces against an unarmed civilian demonstration. At least five of the military coup plotters are facing rebellion charges.

Supporters and foes of Chavez accuse each other of the killings in the march. Anti-Chavez protesters were fired on by as-yet unidentified gunmen.

Chavez, who was reinstated by loyal troops and civilian supporters early on April 14, has not specifically denied ordering out the tanks and troops. But he has denied any responsibility in the deaths of the April 11 protesters and has promised a full and impartial investigation into the violence that has shaken the world's No. 4 oil exporter.

'THIS IS CHAVEZ SPEAKING'

In one of the tapes broadcast on Wednesday, an unidentified officer refers to Chavez clearly as "Mr. President." In another, the president says: "This is Chavez speaking."

"Look, I am ordering you to apply the Avila Plan and the first movement we are going to make is for the Ayala Battalion (of light tanks) to take up positions ... send it here to the palace, to take up positions around it," Chavez, using the code name "Shark One," said in the recordings.

"Copy you, copy you, Shark One," acknowledges the unidentified officer from Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters.

Local military analysts said the so-called Avila Plan foresees the deployment of troops when the normal forces of law and order, such as the police and the National Guard, are unable to control a situation of emergency or civil unrest.

In another of the radio conversations, the president, in a calm-sounding voice, asks for reports on the situation around Miraflores palace and military headquarters during the protest by Venezuelans clamoring for his resignation. He is heard ordering troops to protect the state-owned television station Channel 8.

At another point, he is advised that a dissident general, whose name is given as Lugo Pena, has appeared on a local radio station calling for a rebellion against him.

"OK, find out where he is," Chavez says. "OK, understood, Mr. President," the officer reporting replies.

A close Chavez ally, Freddy Bernal, the mayor of the Libertador district of Caracas, defended the president's ordering of the Avila emergency plan.

"He has the power to use military force as a deterrent," Bernal said in an interview with Globovision television.

Chavez's popularity has fallen sharply since his election as opponents from different sectors of society have questioned his self-proclaimed "revolution" and accused him of trying to install a Cuban-style, left-wing regime in Venezuela.

Since his reinstatement, Chavez has extended an olive branch to opponents. But human rights groups and opponents such as business chiefs, opposition parties and dissident military officers say reconciliation will be impossible unless the April 11-14 killings, mostly of civilians, are cleared up.

Thank you all for your posts. A large area lost phone service this morning after I posted.

Bump!