Posted on 05/14/2002 4:03:53 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
LONDON (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Monday he had advance warning of the military coup that briefly overthrew him in April and was able secretly to organize loyal military units that put him back in power.
The left-wing leader of the world's fifth biggest oil producer told BBC Television's Newsnight program he had a phone call from OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez -- a Venezuelan -- warning the United States was fomenting a coup.
"It was a call of alert. That helped me," Chavez, speaking in Spanish, told Newsnight.
He said he had evidence that U.S. military officers visited coup headquarters during the coup and had radar images of a helicopter taking off and flying inland from a foreign naval vessel that illegally entered Venezuelan waters on April 13. "I have for example the proof, the written proof. I have the time of entries and exits of the two military officers from the United States into the headquarters of the coup plotters," he said.
"I have their names, who they met with, what they said. Proof on video and on still photographs," he added.
Newsnight said the logic behind the alleged U.S.-sponsored coup was to prevent Venezuela backing a call by Libya and Iraq for an oil embargo to punish the United States for what they said was its support for the Israeli incursions into the West Bank.
Venezuela broke the 1973 Arab oil embargo by turning on the taps of its own vast oil reserves. But Chavez cut production and helped boost world oil prices when he came to power in 1998.
Prompted by the telephone call Chavez, accused by the United States of trying to create a Cuban-style regime in the oil-rich country, ordered his oil minister to issue a statement saying Venezuela would not take part in an oil embargo.
But by then the coup plot was already under way, Newsnight said.
There has been much speculation about the chaotic coup in which Chavez was ousted by Pedro Carmona -- backed by some army generals -- on April 11 after several days of unrest, only to be returned to power three days later.
Chavez told Newsnight he would repel any further attempt at violently overthrowing him. "We are going to win, don't you doubt it," he said.
So while the Venezuelan media is condemned by Chavez, he is comforted by the international media who are trying to help him save face.
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