Showing posts with label Magnicidio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magnicidio. Show all posts

Monday, August 31, 2015

Magnicidio is back!

The last time president Maduro claimed to have evidence of a plot to assassinate him was December 14, 2014. From Ecuador, where he was attending UNASUR meeting, Maduro said that a sicario had been sent form Central America to kill him. No evidence was ever shown of the magnicidio attempt supposedly foiled by Venezuela’s secret services.

Today from Vietnam, where he is signing several agreements, Maduro said this: “We are being attacked from Bogotá. I have the evidence, and I will show how from Bogotá there is a campaign to kill me, [a campaign] of hatred, such as we had not faced in 15 or 16 years of Bolivarian Revolution (…). Unfortunately the Colombian government is giving its consent [anuencia] and turning a blind eye [to this campaign],” he added.    

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The CIA-Leamsy Salazar conspiracy according to Aporrea

PSUV deputy Pedro Carreño was one of the first to claim that Leasmy Salazar had been paid by the CIA to defect to the United States.

Several articles in the pro-government portal Aporrea go a step further and argue that Salazar had been infiltrated years ago by the CIA inside the inner security ring of president Chávez. Some even claim that he may have had a hand in the death of the president.

Juan Martorano is one of the most interesting and consistent authors in Aporrea. An unapologetic conspiracy theorist he has written many articles (19 according to his own count) trying to prove that Chávez did no die of cancer, but was assassinated by his enemies. His theory can be basically reduced to the belief that Chávez was killed by “inoculating” him with cancer through chemical, bacteriological, or radiological weapons.

However, in his latest piece Martorano complains that he has always been aware that the weak point of his research rests in the fact that all his hypothesis need an inside person to actually carry out the assassination. Now he has connected the dots and proposes that Leamsy Salazar is that missing link. The main evidence for this is, according to Martorano, the fact that a twitter account @leamsysalazar, opened in October 2013, only has a handful of followers, including Nelson Bocaranda, Leopoldo López, Maria Corina Machado, and Rocío San Miguel.

Excerpts from Martorano’s article:

Pero no hay crimen sin victimarios, y dentro de mi investigación sobre las causas como pudo haber fallecido Hugo Chávez, y que me han permitido sostener junto a otros la posibilidad del magnicidio biológico del Comandante, no nos permitía avanzar mucho, puesto que no teníamos ni siquiera alguien a quien por lo menos investigar o sospechar. Pienso que, para la comisión de este hecho abominable, tenía necesariamente que infiltrarse alguien en el entorno más cercano de Chávez…
Hoy podemos señalar, sin que nos quede nada por dentro, luego de la desacertada afirmación de la DEA sobre el caso de este ex escolta del Presidente Chávez quien tenía más de cinco años trabajando para ellos; no queda la menor duda de quienes son los responsables de este asesinato biológico al líder de la Revolución Bolivariana, quedando al descubierto, al intentar tapar la infame campaña de descalificación moral contra Diosdado Cabello, a una persona que luego de tanto tiempo de hacer espionaje solamente pudieron atribuirle un par de chismes sin coherencia ni fundamento.
Leamsy Salazar se dice, fue jefe del primer anillo de seguridad de nuestro Comandante Hugo Chávez, y al igual que Diosdado Cabello, no nos cabe la menor duda de que él estuvo infiltrado al lado del comandante durante muchos años, y si no tiene responsabilidad directa en su muerte, algo debe saber sobre las verdaderas causas de la misma, y no ha dicho nada hasta ahora. Ahora, no sabemos si algo dirá, puesto que estaría siendo protegido por los presuntos autores intelectuales de ese horrendo crimen.

Another Aporrea columnist, Oscar Jiménez, also believes that Salazar “was the hand that poured the poison” that killed Chávez. He finishes his article asking for a reform of the Constitution to allow for the death penalty to punish crimes as the one supposedly committed by Salazar:

Para asesinar a una figura pública importante sin causar revuelo necesario es infiltrar elementos en su entorno intimo; hace falta comprar y corromper al que tiene acceso al vaso de agua, a la aspirina, a la cama, a la ropa, a todo; para asesinar a alguien de manera solapada hace falta un cómplice muy cercano al objetivo.
Hace falta la mano cercana que pueda verter el veneno, que pueda dar la pastilla necesaria, que pueda colocar en la cama el elemento necesario para ocasionar la muerte.
El comandante Chávez dejó abierta la posibilidad de que a él le hubiesen inoculado algo que le causo esa terrible enfermedad que lo llevó a la tumba y que misteriosamente alcanzó a algunos presidentes que estuvieron a su alrededor en aquella fatídica cumbre de Trinidad y Tobago.
“Esto es muy, muy, muy extraño, que nos haya dado cáncer al presidente (de Paragay), Fernando Lugo, a Dilma (Rousseff, presidenta de Brasil) cuando era candidata, después vengo yo y pum entrando en año electoral, a los pocos días Lula, y ahora Cristina” "¿Sería extraño que hubieran desarrollado una tecnología para inducir el cáncer y nadie lo sepa hasta ahora y se descubra esto dentro de 50 años o no sé cuántos?"
¿Nos tendremos que preguntar dónde estaba Leamsy Salazar en aquella época? ¿Qué tan cerca estaba, el ahora reconocido empleado de la CIA, del comandante supremo?
La fiscalía de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela debe actuar hasta donde tenga capacidad y más allá para que ese traidor a la patria venga a dar declaraciones, que nos acercaran a lo que le sucedió al gigante de América, al libertador del siglo 21, al comandante Hugo Chávez.
Venezuela no contempla la pena de muerte para delito alguno, pero si este, mal nacido colaboró en el evento que acabó con la vida del comandante Chávez, necesaria será una reforma de las leyes. 
O quizás lo mas apropiado sea lo que sugiere el poeta en mi venganza personal y lo hagamos ir de rodillas ante al altar de la patria per secula seculorum, mientras ve como sus hijos disfrutan de la Venezuela Bonita que el quiso ayudar a destruir.

In his piece for Aporrea, Pedro Marillán Sánchez, calls for a “Giant Movement of the People” in response to the mounting evidence against Salazar and his allies (Imperialism and its lackeys). He thinks the time has come to “darles en la madre” to the enemies of the people:

Dicen que la verdad tarda, pero un día llega y de acuerdo a los últimos acontecimientos que estamos observando desde adentro y fuera de Venezuela, pareciera que nos acercamos a los actores materiales del Asesinato a Nuestro Comandante Eterno, diseñado por el imperialismo yankee, las piezas de este hecho abominable en contra del Líder Universal por la Justicia y el Socialismo, comienza a hilvanarse, los twiters desde hace algún tiempo hasta los recientes de Leamsy Salazar, lo vinculan seriamente.
Creo sin lugar a dudas que ha llegado LA HORA SEÑALADA para actuar y responder con un movimiento Gigante de Pueblo, al imperialismo y sus lacayos, es la oportunidad de Oro, para salirle al paso a quienes pretenden desestabilizarnos, Presidente MADURO, es la hora del GOLPE DE TIMÓN, Salvar a la Revolución es nuestro deber, pero Usted Presidente tiene el mando, el Pueblo solo espera la orden, YA BASTA YA de Guabineos, a la sedición golpista, con todos sus apellidos debemos darle en la Madre, no hay más tiempo que perder, Mañana es Tarde.

In her Aporrea piece (originally published by RT), Eva Golinger, author of “The Chavez Code”, does not go so far as to claim that Salazar was the agent behind Chávez supposed magnicidio, but she does suggest that he was an infiltrated agent. Her evidence is mostly historical associations with what she says is a “painful and shocking tradition” of infiltrating agents by, in this case, the FBI. She also thinks that it is not by chance that the Salazar case has been exposed to coincide with an international “media campaign” against the government:

‘The New York Times’ tiene una historia vergonzosa cuando se trata de Venezuela. El Consejo Editorial aplaudió felizmente el violento golpe de Estado en abril de 2002 que derrocó al presidente Chávez y resultó en la muerte de más de 100 personas. Cuando Chávez regresó al poder dos días después, gracias a sus millones de seguidores y las Fuerzas Armadas leales, el ‘Times’ no se retractó por su error anterior, sino que con arrogancia imploró a Chávez a "gobernar responsablemente", alegando que él era el responsable por el golpe. Pero el hecho de que el ‘Times’ ha comenzado una persistente campaña directa contra el actual Gobierno de Venezuela, con artículos distorsionados y claramente agresivos -editoriales, blogs, opinión y noticias- indica que Washington ha colocado a Venezuela en la vía rápida del "cambio de régimen".
El momento de la llegada de Leamsy Salazar en Washington como un presunto colaborador de la DEA, y su exposición pública, no es casual. Este mes de febrero se cumple un año desde que las protestas antigubernamentales violentamente trataron de forzar la renuncia del presidente Maduro, y grupos de la oposición están actualmente tratando de ganar impulso para volver a encender las manifestaciones. Los líderes de las protestas, Leopoldo López y María Corina Machado, han sido elogiados por el ‘The New York Times’ como "luchadores por la libertad", "verdaderos demócratas", y el ‘Times’ se refirió recientemente a Machado como "una inspiración". Incluso el presidente Obama pidió la liberación de López (fue detenido y está siendo juzgado por su papel en los levantamientos violentos) durante un discurso el pasado septiembre en un evento en las Naciones Unidas. Estas voces influyentes deliberadamente omiten la participación de López y Machado en actos violentos, antidemocráticos e incluso criminales. Ambos participaron en el golpe de 2002 contra Chávez. Ambos han recibido ilegalmente fondos extranjeros para actividades políticas para derrocar a su Gobierno, y ambos lideraron las protestas mortales contra Maduro el año pasado, pidiendo públicamente su derrocamiento por vías ilegales.
La utilización de una figura como Salazar, que era conocido como alguien cercano a Chávez y uno de sus leales guardias, como una fuerza para desacreditar y atacar al Gobierno y sus líderes es una táctica de inteligencia de escuela vieja, y muy eficaz. Infiltrar, reclutar, y neutralizar al adversario desde dentro o a través de uno de los suyos -una dolorosa, chocante traición, que crea desconfianza y miedo entre las filas-. Aunque no ha surgido evidencia para respaldar las acusaciones escandalosas de Salazar contra Diosdado Cabello, el titular en los medios sirve para hacer una historia sensacional y crea otra mancha contra Venezuela en la opinión pública. También causa un gran revuelo entre los militares venezolanos y puede dar lugar a nuevas traiciones de oficiales que podrían apoyar un golpe de Estado contra el Gobierno. Las acusaciones infundadas de Salazar también apuntan a neutralizar una de las más poderosas figuras políticas del chavismo, y tratan de crear divisiones internas, intriga y desconfianza.
Las tácticas más eficaces que el FBI usó contra el Partido de las Panteras Negras y otros movimientos radicales que luchaban por cambios profundos en Estados Unidos, fueron la infiltración, la coerción y la guerra psicológica. Infiltrar agentes en esas organizaciones, o captarlas desde adentro, que luego fueron capaces de obtener acceso y confianza a los más altos niveles, ayudó a destruir esos movimientos desde adentro, desglosándolos psicológicamente y neutralizándolos políticamente. Estas tácticas y estrategias encubiertas fueron exhaustivamente documentadas y evidenciadas en documentos del Gobierno estadounidense obtenidos a través de la Ley de Acceso a la Información (FOIA) y publicados en el excelente libro de Ward Churchill y Jim Vander Wall ‘Agentes de Represión: las guerras secretas del FBI contra las Panteras Negras y el Movimiento indio Americano’ (South End Press, 1990).

Friday, January 23, 2015

Maduro asks congress to investigate the “economic war”

Maduro addressed a crowd a followers today and asked them to be on the lookout for conspirators whom he claims are waging an “economic war” against the country.

The war has lately turned into an “economic coup” warned the president: “In Venezuela there is an ongoing economic coup. I call the people to a battle to face this coup.”

He said that in the next few days he will make public new evidence of this conspiracy and will ask the National Assembly to launch an investigation on the issue: “We will open an investigation on the coup and the actors that have been planning it,” he told the crowd.

Maduro also referred to an announced visit by three Latin American ex-presidents: Sebastian Piñera (Chile), Felipe Calderon (México), and Andrés Pastrana (Colombia). This group of ex-president plans to meet prominent opposition leaders in a forum organized by Maria Corina Machado. The group also plans to visit Leopoldo López in military prison of Ramo Verde, where he is being held for allegedly instigating the violence during the opposition protest of 2014.

Maduro told the ex-presidents that they are free to visit Venezuela but that they should be aware that they will be meeting with an “ultra-rightist” group and that therefore they are complicit in the coup against him: “they should be clear as to the fact that they are coming here to support a coup d’état,” he said.

He also said that this “ultra-rightist” group had plans to assassinate him.

Note how the Agencia Venezolana de Noticia frames Maduro’s declarations on its report. La Salida is considered a “coupist group” and it is responsible for all the 43 death during the 2014 protest. In fact AVN states that the group murdered the 43 in “terrorist acts”:
Ex presidentes de derecha apoyan a grupo golpista
Durante su alocución, el presidente Maduro denunció que tres ex presidentes de derecha vendrán a Venezuela para apoyar a un grupo golpista, responsable de actos terroristas en el año pasado denominado "La Salida" que asesinó a 43 venezolanos.
Sebatián Piñera, (ex presidente de Chile), Felipe Calderón (México) y Andrés Pastrana (Colombia) vendrán al país a un foro que organiza un sector de la ultraderecha del país, que promueve abiertamente un golpe de Estado y el camino de la violencia para llegar al poder.
"Ustedes deberían estar preocupados por las crisis de sus países, y no meter sus narices en Venezuela", dijo el Jefe de Estado.
Denunció que este grupo golpista, encabezado por la ex diputada María Machado, organiza un foro, financiado con recursos del narcotráfico y la ultraderecha estadounidense.
El Presidente dijo que a los ex presidentes "le debe quedar claros que vienen a apoyar un golpe de Estado".
Asimismo, anunció que en los próximos días presentará nuevas pruebas sobre conspiraciones de la derecha, que buscan desestabilizar al país e intentar derrocar al legítimo Gobierno.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Magnicidio attempt against Maduro in Ecuador

“During the UNASUR meeting we received the information, [including] name and bank account, and how much they paid him, of a sicario who was sent from Central America in an operation against me in Ecuador,” declared Maduro today.

According to El Universal, Maduro said that he had immediately informed Ecuador´s president Rafael Correa of the threat, so that security could be “reinforced.”


According to Maduro, the sicario sent to assassinate him had arrived in Ecuador the day before, but added that “we are looking for him in Venezuela, and Ecuador´s authorities already have the information.”

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Maria Corina Machado charged with conspiracy

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has formally heard charges of “conspiracy to destroy the republican way of politics” from the Prosecutor’s office today. Her lawyer, Tomás Arias says that the charges do not mention magnicidio (attempt to kill the head of state), but that Machado could face a prison sentence of 8 to 16 years for conspiracy.

El Nacional has a good summary of the case up to today.

Caracas Chronicles has a live blog of today’s events. 

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Magnicidio is back

Via her twitter account (@MariaCorinaYA) opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has informed that the SEBIN has handed her the official notification from the Prosecutor’s office accusing her of a being part of a plot to assassinate president Maduro.

She has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s office to hear the formal accusation on December 3.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Will magnicidio theories make a comeback?

Early July this year was the last time the government claimed that there was an extensive plot to assassinate president Maduro. The recent murder case of the National Assembly representative Robert Serra seems to be reviving claims of “selective killings,” and Maduro suggested yesterday that the list of supposed targets could be longer.

Despite recent police investigations that point to Serra’s security circle, Maduro insisted that the murder of the PSUV leader had political motives and that it’s part of a series of selective killings which could next target “a very important leader of the Revolution.”

Friday, August 29, 2014

What happened to the Magnicidio conspiracy?

By this blog’s count, July 3 was the last day an important government official mentioned the plot to kill president Maduro. Since then, conspiracy claims by the Venezuelan government have focused on the Economic War, and more specifically on the supposed links between the opposition and “smuggling mafias.”

Claims by the government that the opposition and the Empire were plotting to kill the President have been recurrent since Chávez. Last year the end of July saw a surge of magnicidio plots claims by government officials and public media. Almost daily revelations of details of a plot to kill Maduro continued during September, but then faded and by October 2013 gave way to a change of focus on the Economic War.

I expect the stories of magnicidio plots to come up again in the next few months; perhaps if street protests flare up again, or the “anti-smuggling crusade” runs out of steam...

In the meantime, here is a translation of a remarkable press note published by Telesur  in its Web page back in 28 May this year. It presents a “timeline” form of the magnicidio plot to kill Maduro, from May 2013 to May 2014.

Especially noteworthy is how the report is framed in the first paragraph: the “extreme Right” has seen its plans fail and therefore it has little option but to resort to a magnicidio. Since it covers up to May, it does not include the June and July story, but it ends with a foreboding “Latent conspiracy” entry.

The glossary presented at the end, serving as “historical context” for the note, is also very interesting. The author of the article felt the need to include, not only terms strictly related to the magnicidio narrative, but also other issues and people mentioned in other government conspiracy theories, such as the “Fiesta Mexicana”, Vicente Fox, Leopoldo López, and even the Aviador. Old stories, such as the paracachitos of 2004, are also included as the first signs of subversive plots.

In all, the article is a very complete report on the magnicidio story from the government’s perspective.

Historical timeline: The magnicidio plan against Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela

May 28, 2014

Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has been the focus of magnicidio conspiracies since he took power. The extreme Right –both national and international- has realized the total failure of its interventionist and disruptive plans against the Bolivarian Revolution, therefore attempting to kill the head of State is the only option left for them.
2013

Uribe implicated: May 3. President Nicolás Maduro announced that he has information about magnicidio plans against him, and directly blamed the rightist Colombian ex-president Álvaro Uribe. He also pointed to Roger Noriega and Otto Reich as part of the plan from Miami.

Paramilitaries: July 10. Venezuela’s Interior minister, Miguel Rodríguez Torres, informed that according to investigations, the two Colombian paramilitary groups that had been arrested the week before had plans to try to kill Maduro.

More implicated: July 31. Diosdado Cabello informed that businessman Eduardo Macaya Álvarez, the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, and Álvaro Uribe are some of the persons that are plotting magnicidio plans against Nicolás Maduro. Rodríguez Torres also informed that the first meetings of the conspirators were in Miami and Bogota in April. Uribe, the de facto ex-president of Honduras Roberto Micheletti, an envoy of Posada Carriles, a Colombian active armed forces officer, and a CIA officer, participated in those meetings.

Sicarios: August 26. Two Colombian nationals–Victor Joan Gueche Mosquera and Erick Leonardo Huerta Rios- are detained on August 15 near Caracas carrying orders to assassinate Maduro, or if that were not possible, assassinate the president of Parliament (Diosdado Cabello). The name of the operation was “Carpeta Amarilla”.

Officers expelled: September 30. Maduro orders the expulsion of three officers from the US embassy –Elizabeth Hundeland, David Mutt, and Kelly Kaiderlinh- for their implication in destabilizing actions against the country.

New arrests: December 20. The Colombian police arrests Alejandro Caicedo Alfonso, alias “Scooby” in Antioquia (Colombia). He stands accused of participation in a plot to assassinate Nicolás maduro and Diosdado Cabello in August 2013.

2014

Generals Implicated: March 25. Maduro announces the arrest of three Air Force generals, allied to the Venezuelan extreme right, who were planning to execute a coup d’état against his government.

Latent conspiracy: May 28. Mayor of Libertador municipality Jorge Rodríguez presented evidence of a plan to assassinate Maduro and other high executive officials. The plot includes Venezuelan opposition members and business people with the support of the US Department of State and the Ambassador of the US in Colombia.

Historical context:

Plan País: a plan by Humberto Prado (director of the NGO Observatorio de Prisiones) to destabilize the country from prison facilities.
Foreign groups: NED, Freedom House, Canvas, AEI, and OTPER, all finance destabilization plans.
Fiesta Mexicana: A meeting of extremist organizations: JAVU (Juventud Activa Venezuela Unida), Movimiento 13, and element s of Voluntad Poplar, including the ex-mayor of Táchira [sic] Daniel Ceballos.
Leopoldo López: Chosen as leader to unite the opposition.
Vicente Fox: Photographs link rightist leaders with the ex-president of México, Vicente Fox. Gustavo Tovar Arrollo, a Venezuelan lawyer that is seen in the pictures, also has links to Uribe.
Tew Cardenas Law Firm: Has a team linked to the US extreme right, works or the Republican Party, and give legal counseling to extremists.
Daktari Camp (2004): Was a magnicidio plan that included 100 paramilitaries. It was one of the first signals of subversive actions.
JAVU Camp (2012): The purpose of the camp was to topple the Chavez government. They were trying to stage a second coup d’état to weaken Chávez in the presidential elections of that year.

Funding: The authorities have seized envelopes with money to finance the so called “guarimbas”. The money is to pay violent protestors to destabilize the country under the leadership of “El Aviador”.


Sunday, August 3, 2014

Who believes in magnicidio?

The June poll by Consultores 21 included this question:

In the past days the government has announced there is a plan by some sectors of the opposition to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro. In your opinion, this is true or is it something invented by the government?

34.6% answered it is true
55.2% answered it is an invention by the government
10.2% did not know or didn’t answer.


A third of Venezuelans do believe the magnicidio stories. It’s about the same percentage of people (35.9%) who believe that Maduro is not responsible for the problems of the country. 41% responded they have a positive evaluation of the Maduro government. 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Arrest warrants issued on magnicidio case

Diosdado Cabello, President of the National Assembly, Vice-President of the PSUV, and host of the Venezolana de Televisión weekly show “Con el Mazo Dando,” announced yesterday that warrants have been issued for the arrest of Henrique Salas Römer (ex-governor of Carabobo), Gustavo Tarre (constitutional lawyer), and Robert Alonso (opposition activist), for their participation in a plot to kill President Maduro.

Cabello also alerted that the “Venezuelan right is still promoting international contacts to gain support for their magnicidio and coup plans.” As an example of this he mentioned that Adriana Chacín, leader of opposition party Voluntad Popular, and David Smolansky, opposition mayor of El Hatillo, traveled recently to Panama in order to “acquire financial support for [violent] street actions.”


Cabello made several more accusations of conspiracies by the opposition, for example: the opposition is planning to barricade streets on 5 July (Venezuela’s Independence Day). The opposition is also, according to Cabello, calling on people to attend a ceremony to “soil the flag to the nation.”


(Image from El Universal)

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Evidence of magnicidio plot under scrutiny



Pedro Burelli, who according to the Venezuelan government is one of the masterminds of a plot to kill Maduro, has hired the services of cybersecurity experts Kivu Consulting to study a series of e-mails presented by the government as evidence of Burelli’s participation in the plot.

According to Winston Krone of Kivu Consulting, Google has no record of the e-mails were ever been sent by Burelli, therefore Krone concludes that the e-mails were fabricated by the Venezuelan government.

Find here, in Pedro Burelli’s blog, a link the report by Kivu Consulting, here is the Wall street journal article reporting on the issue, here the report by Reuters, and here an article by Alek Boyd.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Luisa Ortega Díaz is convinced that there is a magnicidio plot

Today, Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz told reporter José Vicente Rangel in an interview that she has no doubt that there is a plot (conjura) to kill President Maduro.

“Undoubtedly there is a national and international plot against the Venezuelan State, the plot includes the assassination of the President of the Republic, a magnicidio, and attacks against [government] institutions. (…) We are investigating and we still have not reached the bottom of this problem because it is much more serious than revealed by the [initial] investigations, but we will continue investigating and taking measures,” said Ortega Díaz.

She linked the alleged plot against the government with the street protests of the last months, calling them “terrorist acts executed by ultra-rightist groups.”


Ortega Díaz also called on the central government to strengthen its “media defenses.” “This has to be a State policy,” she remarked, “because the [media] attack against Venezuela has been fierce.”  

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Government silent on Magnicidios and Coups

The 193rd anniversary of the Batalla de Carabobo was commemorated with the usual patriotic and militaristic discourses common in these events.

Maduro and other orators insisted on the need for “unity and loyalty” in the face of internal and external threads. The emphasis however was on the “internal” front, as the government has been receiving strong criticisms from its own left flank.

But the most notable issue, at least from this blog’s perspective, was the absence from the government’s rhetoric yesterday of any claims of supposed plots to kill the President or of an on-going coup d’état. In fact the official media has been almost completely silent for some days on the issue.


Instead, the current leading discourse this week seems to be this: The Empire is using “dissolving tactics” against the Revolution by “inoculating” internal divisions. Ranks are to remain united and trust their leader with “maximum loyalty” in the face of these threats.     

Friday, June 13, 2014

Hyper-magnicidio

Public media is now devoting most of its attention to elaborate on a supposed plot to assassinate president Nicolas Maduro and stage a coup d’état against the government.

Yesterday, in the Venezolana de Televisión TV show hosted by president of the National Assembly Diosdado Cabello “Con el Mazo Dando,” Jorge Rodríguez and Tareck El Aissami revealed what they claim is new evidence on the case.

Rodriguez made public what he claims are voice messages sent by one of the plotters, Pedro Burelli, to an undisclosed Armed Forces official. In the recordings the voice argues that the only missing piece of the plot is for a part of the army to “make the decisions it needs to make,” in order to “clean the scum of chavismo.”

So far the plot to kill Maduro includes, according to the government: Gustavo Tarre, Maria Corina Machado, Pedro Burelli, Henrique Salas Romer, Diego Arria, Ricardo Koesling, and US ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz has issued arrest warrants for Pedro Burelli, Ricardo Koesling and Diego Arria. The three are out of the country and Ortega Díaz says her office has petitioned Interpol to arrest them. Machado has been cited to the Attorney’s office as a witness on 16 June. She has declared she will attend.

   
Tarek El Aissami, Jorge Rodríguez, and Diosdado Cabello explain the plot. Image from AVN. 

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Experts advise the government against coups and magnicidio



Several “experts” met yesterday the Political High Command of the Revolution to, according to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, talk about “the evidence of a recent plan of magnicidio [assassination of Maduro], and continued coup d’état that involves leaders of the right, among them Diego Arria, Maria Machado, and Henrique Salas Romer.”

After the meeting, Óscar Shemel, president of the pro-government polling agency Hinterlaces, said that “the evidence of a magnicidio plan, immersed in a much broader plan of destabilization and neurotization of society, are convincing [contundente].”

Constitutional lawyer Hermann Escarra claimed that there is “evidence of electronic character [e-mails] that prove that there are sectors that are interested in advancing violence, (…) even in attempting against the integrity of the Chief of State.”