During a public National Assembly hearing, Vasquez Velazco said he was physically present at several meetings in which Chavez and other senior government officials discussed using Bolivarian Circle militia members -- combined with soldiers supported by tanks -- to provoke a violent confrontation with anti-Chavez groups and then use the National Armed Forces (FAN) to restore order under martial law. Vasquez Velasco testified that he met with Chavez on Jan. 23 to discuss domestic national security issues and became "very worried" by the president's remarks, but he declined to elaborate further in his testimony. He also said that two weeks later, on Feb. 7, he attended a security planning session in then-Vice President Diosdado Cabello's office, which also included then-Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel and then-Interior and Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, the FAN's top commanding officers, and several senior members of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party.
Vasquez Velasco testified that he attended a second planning session at Miraflores presidential palace during the height of the Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) strike on April 7. At that meeting, which included ministers like Cabello and Rangel as well as the attorney general, senior FAN officials and MVR leaders, the Chavez regime's Political Committee of the Revolution -- which is headed by a former Marxist guerrilla -- was assigned the task of controlling the Bolivarian Circles and public sector unions charged with disrupting the PDVSA strike and any resulting anti-Chavez protests. The Bolivarian Circles were given the mission of occupying areas around the presidential palace and PDVSA's office buildings throughout Caracas, while "regional commands" in the interior were tasked with transporting Bolivarian Circle members to Caracas to heighten the public's confusion by spreading oil and nails in the streets to tie up vehicle traffic.***
Gen. Guillermo Rangél, once regarded as a radical Chavista, sparked a standoff last week when he refused to turn over command of the 41st Armored Brigade to a colonel. Eventually, he turned it over to his immediate superior, who then turned it over to the colonel.
Chávez, who under his tailor-made 1999 constitution has the power to make all military assignments and promotions, appears to have tried to appoint loyalists to the newly vacant slots.***