More Facts Uncovered in Chavez - Al Qaeda Collaboration

Militares Democraticos ^ | 1/5/03 | By Luis Garcia, in Miami

[shanec]

More Facts Uncovered in Chavez - Al Qaeda Collaboration

Major Juan Diaz Castillo:
Planned $1M support for
Al Qaeda, then defected

By Luis Garcia, in Miami

Whistle-blower Major Juan Diaz Castillo, pilot of the Venezuelan Airforce One, revealed more details of how president Hugo Chavez supported Al Qaeda in the aftermath of 9/11. In statements to the press in Miami Saturday, the defector shed new light on the terrorist support network recently uncovered in the highest level of the Venezuelan government.

Major Juan Diaz Castillo, Chavez's personal pilot, was assigned the job of planning the delivery of the $1 million collaboration to the terrorist group. Now an active member of the country's resistance movement, he is today revealing details of the transfer and of other subversive acts carried out in the name of Chavez's so called "Bolivarian Revolution".

" - They are criminals and killers," he lambasts the inner circle of Chavez cohorts. And he is not afraid of naming names: "The job was given to me by Hugo Chavez. I coordinated with current Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, then Interior Minister Luis Alfonso Davila, and the current Vice President (then Defense Minister) Jose Vicente Rangel. When we determined the difficulty of sending three Hercules C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan, Diosdado Cabello decided to send cash instead.

" - In the last week of September, 2001, one million U.S. dollars was transferred to Dr Walter Marquez, Venezuela's representative for the region. Of that amount, one hundred thousand was used for food and clothing for the Taliban government, and the remaining nine hundred thousand dollars went to the Taliban in cash, with the understanding that it was to support the Al Qaeda terrorists in their relocation efforts."

Cuban involvement: "Chavez is Castro's puppet"

Asked why Chavez would support Al Qaeda, the high-level military defector offered two explanations.

" - First of all, Chavez had for a long time wanted a direct line of communication with Al Qaeda. He had asked Libya for that, but with no success. Then came 9/11 and Chavez was impressed," remembers the pilot of the presidential airplane.

" - Second, Chavez looks up to Fidel Castro. The Cuban dictator has collaborated with terrorist groups for years. Chavez emulates Fidel Casto. It sounds bizarre, but Chavez is a bizarre man. He was already starting to go off the rails in 2001, and he wanted direct contacts to all the major terror groups in the world."

According to Diaz Castillo, Chavez depends on Fidel Castro's advice in governing Venezuela. The pilot revealed that during the last four years, roughly 4,000 Venezuelans have been receiving military and intelligence training in Cuba.

The Cuban communist dictator assists Venezuela's embattled crypto-communist in holding onto power, at whatever cost, because Cuba depends on Venezuela's oil billions to stay afloat. Earlier this year, Fidel Castro said that "for the Cuban revolution to survive, it is necessary for the Bolivarian revolution to survive," in reference to Chavez's Marxist experiment.

Diaz Castillo also documented illegal weapons smuggling from Cuba to Venezuela, a charge which General Nestor Gonzalez Gonzalez of Venezuela's army also leveled against the Chavez administration. The weapons arrive in huge quanties "by boat and by air", from Cuba, even using boats from the stateowned Ferrominera del Orinoco company. Via the Orinoco river, some of these weapons are then shipped directly to the Colombian terrorist organizations, FARC and ELN.

Chavez has a direct line of communications with Castro, and every time there are serious problems in Venezuela, the two get together in secret meetings in Margarita Island or the La Orchila presidential retreat, a sinister island fortress in the Caribbean which is off-limits to the public. They also meet in Cuba.

" - Chavez constantly shuttles to Havana, undercover. Usually after midnight, and returning to Caracas at noon," revealed his former personal pilot.

" - Chavez is Castro's puppet."

After an attempt was made on his life December 16 by Chavez's secret service, friends in the resistance movement smuggled major Diaz Castillo out of the country in the hull of a fishing boat. Now in safety abroad, he is not afraid to reveal what really goes on in the Chavez administration and how Chavez rewarded Al Qaeda with $1M in the weeks after 9/11.

[FreeReign]

...president Hugo Chavez supported Al Qaeda in the aftermath of 9/11.

....and the Clinton machine supported Chavez -- helped in electing him.

[madfly]

fyi

[Centurion2000]

Sounds like Chavez and Castro are both about to get ON THE LIST.

[facedown]

Thanks bump.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Sympathizers of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez carry the flag draped coffins of Oscar Gomez Aponte and Jairo Gregorio Moran, who were killed during political clashes, at a funeral procession in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2003. (AP Photo/Howard Yanes)

Taking lessons from Arafat.

[Bonaparte]

What did Bush say about countries that harbor and abet terrorists?

[livius]

Thanks for the ping. This is a very frustrating moment. I don't want violence to break out in Venezuela (because Chavez still controls much of the Army, and it would be a slaughter), but something has got to happen soon.

I devoutly wish that a Tomahawk would land on Chavez' head. Letting things drag on makes them worse, rather than better, because the bad guys dig in and then they become a status quo situation that nobody feels they have the right to change (witness Fidel).

[shanec]

This going up on www.militaresdemocraticos.com shortly...

---

Chavez in Hiding: Will Not Explain $1M Al Qaeda Financing

In a pattern that closely follows his reaction to 9/11, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has gone into hiding rather than face voter outrage over his Al Qaeda connections.

His usual Sunday morning TV-show, Alo Presidente ("Hello President"), did not air. Viewers who expected an explanation of his $1M Al Qaeda support waited impatiently all morning and most of the afternoon, until finally, at 3 PM local time, it was clear that the president was nowhere to be found. The regularly scheduled program, normally a stable feature of Venezuelan TV's Sunday programming, had to be unexpectedly cancelled. It normally features live-in callers asking questions on the air.

" - The Al Qaeda scandal is today's top news in the nations' newspapers. Voters would have demanded answers. Chavez acts like a dictator. But he is really just a coward. And he is afraid of being held democratically accountable for his acts." said opposition leader Enrique Medina Gomez, a general who was part of the Chavez high command but joined the country's resistance movement in protest over Chavez's totalitarian rule and close ties to terrorism.

Chavez, who privately expressed satisfaction over the attacks at the time, allowed his supporters to burn the American flag in a 9/11-celebration in the main square of Caracas, Plaza Bolivar.

[cocopuff]

Awesome!! Thanks Shane.

[marron]

Your post leads one to think that, no matter how bad you think it is, its really worse.

This is every bit as important a crisis as the one in the Middle East, or Korea, perhaps more so. Perhaps more so by a factor of 2 or 3.

It is absolutely essential that this guy be taken down and soon. But that by itself is not enough. He has to be taken down by the Venezuelans themselves, there must be no US fingerprints on his demise, and he must be thoroughly discredited, especially in the eyes of his natural followers.

This report, on his Al Qaeda funding, is the knife in the ribs, no US fingerprints, his followers are backing away, this is perfect.

I don't believe the military will fire on the crowds. In fact, I would guarantee they will not. That is Chavez' problem, that is the reason he established the Circles, to do what his troops will not. That is why he is alledgedly bringing in Cubans in Venezuelan uniforms, to do what his own troops will not.

Venezuelan troops famously slaughtered hundreds of rioters a few years ago, during the food riots, but it is one thing to shoot violent looters, it is another to shoot at a crowd of a million average peaceful Venezuelans. They won't do it. And if the Circles do, and they will, at some point the military will intervene to stop it. The Army would not hesitate to shoot at other military or police units, but not at peaceful civilians.

So I think, at some point, the people are simply going to have to go over the fence, and take him into custody. They will have to be prepared to handle his immediate circle of bodyguards, who may be foreign or certainly hardened.

[hchutch]

FYI. Hugo Chavez looks clearly eligible for application of the Bush Doctrine.

The "don't intervene" crowd is conspicuous by their absense.

[stocksthatgoup]

Keep the information and documentation coming.

[Dog Gone]

Chavez is definitely on that list. I think the Administration strategy is let the Venezuelans solve this themselves if they can. I'm not sure that we wouldn't be a little more forceful if we weren't so preoccupied right now, but I'm not sure of that.

Clearly, it would be better if Chavez is forced to step down rather than for us to take him on directly, at least for now.

If it looks like Chavez is going to be able to break that strike, I think things might change. This time, if the military wants to stage a coup, they should let us get involved. There will be no third chance for Chavez.

[weikel]

ping

[Austin Willard Wright]

Nuke 'em. Make Caracas glow!

[shanec]

"Nuke 'em. Make Caracas glow! "

No, we need to be a little more selective as we do not want to wipe out the 'good guys', which is the overwhelming majority there.

We could hope here in the USA for no better allies than the Venezuelan people.

According to the just published 2002 Global Attitudes Survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington; 82% have a favorable opinion of the USA, and that is amongst the highest ratings of all the 44 countries surveyed! And, in regard to supporting the US led war on terrorism, 79% favor it while only 20% oppose it! (What's the %'s for/against for that question in the USA right now?!?)

Clearly, no country in South America holds more promise for being a strong and effective ally and supporter of the USA, perhaps none better in this entire Hemisphere, *when* Chavez is gone and remnants of his regime are fully rooted out.

Also, though, there is no current government in this hemisphere that is a more "Clear & Present Danger" to the USA with the continuation and expansion of Hugo Chavez's goals & plans!

-Shane

[support venezuela]

Is there any damn way to enforce the embargo to Cuba?
Do not permit those boats that leave Venezuela of ever reaching Cuba!!!!

[Marysecretary]

GUARD THOSE SOUTHERN BORDERS, DUBYA!!!

[GWB00]

Hey Dude, that is not the way to look at this situation. I know a lot of people from Venezuela and I have traveled there as recently as October 02. You are not going to find a nicer group of people on this earth. There is a political problem in Venezuela and if the opposition maintains its resolve it will be solved (Peacefully? I am not sure). In talking with friends, I have been told that Venezuelans have paid little attention to politics, but this Chavez situation has demonstrated the importance of issues and who is voted into office. If Chavez leaves office, a new leader with more democratic ideals will be demanded by the Venezuelan people.

[Austin Willard Wright]

I was not serious. I was trying to illustrate the double standard which prevails here. Many Freepers have called for nuking Mecca (i.e. killing babies on a massive scale) and few people object. In my view, killing babies is wrong whether it is in Caracas or Mecca.

As to Venezuela, I think you are right. The problem will indeed be solved in the Venezuelians are left alone to solve it.