………. In statements at a news conference and to local radio, Rondon said two U.S. military officers attached to the embassy, whose surnames he gave as Rogers and MacCammon, had been present at Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters with the leaders of the coup during the night of April 11 and 12. "That is absolutely untrue," a U.S. Embassy spokesman told Reuters. Rondon also accused U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro of involvement in the coup, saying he had met with businessman Pedro Carmona, the interim president who briefly replaced Chavez, at the Miraflores presidential palace April 12.
….. Rondon said Venezuela should ask that the United States recall Shapiro from his post, which he took up last month. The U.S. ambassador has acknowledged that he met with Carmona April 12. He said he had recommended to the interim president that he restore the National Assembly, which Carmona abolished when he took office the previous day. He also urged him to welcome a mission from the Organization of American States. Rondon told reporters that two foreign gunmen, one American and the other Salvadoran, were detained by security police during a huge anti-Chavez protest march April 11 in which 17 people were killed, many of them by unidentified snipers firing from rooftops. ***