At first, the official U.S. line -- both publicly and privately -- was that there would be no retaliation against countries that did not support the war. Washington would not give leaders of these countries the cold shoulder, nor suddenly find previously undetected bugs in their countries' fruit exports, officials said. But now that the war is in full swing -- and Mexico is scheduled to take over the chairmanship of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday -- the hard-liners within the Bush administration are taking their gloves off. Countries that support Bush will be rewarded, and those that don't will get the cold treatment, the hawks say.***
Gunfire broke out April 11, 2002, when a massive opposition march clashed with a pro-government rally in downtown Caracas. The shootings spurred a bloodless military coup that briefly ousted the leftist Chavez. Loyalists in the military returned Chavez to power two days after the uprising.
Venezuela remains divided over Chavez's continued rule since the mid-April rebellion. Government opponents accuse the former paratrooper of riding roughshod over democratic institutions and dragging this South American nation of 24 million into chaos with ill-defined economic policies. Chavez claims Venezuela's opposition, including leading labor and business groups, are leading an "economic coup" with the intention of overthrowing his revolutionary government. The judges on Tuesday did uphold lesser charges - of improper firearm use and public intimidation - against the four. But defense attorney Amado Molina said they were granted conditional freedom. [End]