"I quit my job when I got tired of doing dirty work for Chavez with the Cubans looking over my shoulder," Ferreira tells Insight, claiming that Interior Minister Rodriguez Chacin and other presidential aides repeatedly pressured him to launder the identities of terrorists and narcotraffickers transiting through Venezuela. He also was ordered to deceive U.S. authorities on the activities of a Hezbollah financial network whose files were requested by the FBI following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Chavez gave instructions to destroy records on 10 suspected Hezbollah fund-raisers conducting suspicious financial transactions in the islands of Margarita, Aruba and Curaçao, and the cities of Maracaibo and Valencia, according to Ferreira. The Venezuelan president also dissolved key military counterterrorist units by firing 16 highly experienced, U.S.-trained intelligence officers at the time of the terrorist plane attacks in New York City and Washington. Circulos Bolivarianos leader Lina Ron celebrated the event by burning an American flag in the center of Caracas.***
Castro, Chavez Attending Brazilian Inauguration - "Jan. 1 is no longer a Cuban monopoly" [Full Text] BRASILIA, Brazil - Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived Tuesday in Brazil to attend the inauguration of Luiz Inacio da Silva, the country's first leftist president in 40 years. Castro, dressed in trademark green uniform, was driven in a motorcade to a Brasilia hotel amid tight security. "I am happy to be in Brazil, and happy to say that Jan. 1 is no longer a Cuban monopoly," Castro told reporters. Jan. 1 is the anniversary of the Cuban revolution that brought Castro to power. A serious leg infection kept Castro out of sight in Cuba for nearly two weeks in December, but he showed no difficulty walking as he entered the hotel.
Silva takes over Wednesday for outgoing president Fernando Henrique Cardoso in an inaugural ceremony expected to attract presidents from at least six other Latin American countries and 100,000 or more Brazilians. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was also expected to attend. But the four-week-old strike in Venezuela aimed at ousting him was expected to delay him. Earlier this month, Chavez said until the last minute that he would attend an economic summit in Brasilia, but never showed up. Silva, a 57-year-old former union leader, will govern Latin America's largest country and counts Castro and Chavez among his friends. [End]
Three years after a coup attempt former colonel takes reins in Ecuador***Seven Latin American presidents were among the guests at the inauguration, including the region's top leftist leaders, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Gutierrez has frequently expressed his admiration for Chavez, raising fears among some Ecuadoreans that he may seek to emulate Chavez, a former paratrooper and coup leader whose leftist rhetoric has divided Venezuela and produced growing political instability.
Gutierrez thrust himself into the national spotlight in January 2000, when he led a group of disgruntled junior army officers and 5,000 Indian protesters in an uprising that drove the widely repudiated Jamil Mahuad from power in the midst of the country's worst economic crisis in decades. Gutierrez was imprisoned for six months after the coup and expelled from the army.
In his address Wednesday, he said he would take strong steps against "the corrupt oligarchy that has robbed our money, our dreams and the right of Ecuadoreans to have dignified lives." "If sharing and showing solidarity, if fighting corruption, social injustice and impunity, means belonging to the left, then I am a leftist," he said, drawing cheers. But he added: "If generating wealth and promoting production means belonging to the right, then I am a rightist." That remark drew fewer cheers.***