DRANT #276: PROOF OF CIA COUP AGAINST CHAVEZ

Venezuela’s D-Day: Democratic Socialism or Imperial Counter-Revolution
The December 2, 2007 Constituent Referendum
By Prof James Petras
Global Research, November 28, 2007
(excerpt below. PLEASE access the entire article at http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7470

On November 26, 2007 the Venezuelan government broadcast and circulated a confidential memo from the US embassy to the CIA which is devastatingly revealing of US clandestine operations and which will influence the referendum this Sunday (December 2, 2007).

The memo sent by an embassy official, Michael Middleton Steere, was addressed to the head of the CIA, Michael Hayden. The memo was entitled ‘Advancing to the Last Phase of Operation Pincer’ and updates the activity by a CIA unit with the acronym ‘HUMINT’ (Human Intelligence) which is engaged in clandestine action to destabilize the forth-coming referendum and coordinate the civil military overthrow of the elected Chavez government. The Embassy-CIA’s polls concede that 57% of the voters approved of the constitutional amendments proposed by Chavez but also predicted a 60% abstention.

The US operatives emphasized their capacity to recruit former Chavez supporters among the social democrats (PODEMOS) and the former Minister of Defense Baduel, claiming to have reduced the ‘yes’ vote by 6% from its original margin. Nevertheless the Embassy operatives concede that they have reached their ceiling, recognizing they cannot defeat the amendments via the electoral route.

The memo then recommends that Operation Pincer (OP) [Operación Tenaza] be operationalized. OP involves a two-pronged strategy of impeding the referendum, rejecting the outcome at the same time as calling for a ‘no’ vote. The run up to the referendum includes running phony polls, attacking electoral officials and running propaganda through the private media accusing the government of fraud and calling for a ‘no’ vote. Contradictions, the report cynically emphasizes, are of no matter.

The CIA-Embassy reports internal division and recriminations among the opponents of the amendments including several defections from their ‘umbrella group’. The key and most dangerous threats to democracy raised by the Embassy memo point to their success in mobilizing the private university students (backed by top administrators) to attack key government buildings including the Presidential Palace, Supreme Court and the National Electoral Council. The Embassy is especially praiseworthy of the ex-Maoist ‘Red Flag’ group for its violent street fighting activity. Ironically, small Trotskyist sects and their trade unionists join the ex-Maoists in opposing the constitutional amendments. The Embassy, while discarding their ‘Marxist rhetoric’, perceives their opposition as fitting in with their overall strategy.

The ultimate objective of ‘Operation Pincer’ is to seize a territorial or institutional base with the ‘massive support’ of the defeated electoral minority within three or four days (before or after the elections – is not clear. JP) backed by an uprising by oppositionist military officers principally in the National Guard. The Embassy operative concede that the military plotters have run into serous problems as key intelligence operatives were detected, stores of arms were decommissioned and several plotters are under tight surveillance.

Apart from the deep involvement of the US, the primary organization of the Venezuelan business elite (FEDECAMARAS), as well as all the major private television, radio and newspaper outlets have been engaged in a vicious fear and intimidation campaign. Food producers, wholesale and retail distributors have created artificial shortages of basic food items and have provoked large scale capital flight to sow chaos in the hopes of reaping a ‘no’ vote.
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OTHER IMPORTANT ARTICLES:

WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING IN VENEZUELA?
An eyewitness report from Venezuela on political developments and conflicts as a national vote approaches on Hugo Chávez's constitutional reforms.
http://www.socialistworker.org/2007-2/654/654_06_Venezuela.shtml
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What is Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform Really About?

November 23rd 2007, by Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com



Only an understanding of the political project that Chavez plans to develop in the country, and the specific political, economic, and social structure that it entails, allows us to fit the constitutional reform into the larger context and understand the real role it plays in laying the groundwork for the future plans of the Chavez government.

Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform: An Article-by-Article Summary

November 23rd 2007, by Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com
The following is an article-by-article summary of the changes being proposed to Venezuela's 1999 constitution. Venezuelans will vote on the reform on December 2nd and will do so in two blocks. Block "A" includes President Chavez's original proposal and 13 articles introduced by the National Assembly. Block "B" includes another 26 reform articles proposed by the National Assembly. Voters may vote "Yes" or "No" on each block.

Venezuela: Still A Democracy

November 22nd 2007, by Mark Weisbrot - New Statesman

Planned Venezuelan constitutional reforms are portrayed as 'another Chavez power grab', a notion challenged by Mark Weisbrot of US thinktank CEPR