“CREATING CHAOS” AND SABOTAGE IN LEAD UP TO VENEZUELAN ELECTIONS: GOVERNMENT DENOUNCES THE PRESENCE OF FOREIGN “MERCENARIES”

ED Noor: Here we have two articles on the current elections in Venezuela following the wake of Hugo Chavez, after his landslide win. It is not up to me, but if I were a thinking Venezuelan, the only choice is the native son because the Sephardic contender is an international Jew despite his avowed Roman Catholic status. We all know how our dear friends capriciously switch allegiances to gain for their tribe.  

Note also that, in the last elections there was no way that Capriles could contest the win ... or anyone else for that matter... because the Venezuelan election system is regarded internationally as so well defined and organized.  Hilary was biting her tongue in frustration last time because there was nothing for her to grab on to as foul play. NOW Capriles is setting things up to scream irregularities, just like the chosenite he is.  

PART ONE

“CREATING CHAOS” AND SABOTAGE IN LEAD UP TO VENEZUELAN ELECTIONS: GOVERNMENT DENOUNCES THE PRESENCE OF FOREIGN “MERCENARIES”

 

By Chris Carlson

Venezuela Analysis

April 10, 2013

Venezuelan government officials released a recorded conversation on Saturday that allegedly reveals the use of “mercenaries” by the Venezuelan opposition to create chaos in the lead up to elections next Sunday.

Interim President Nicolas Maduro made the announcement at a campaign event on Saturday, assuring that the group of “mercenaries” were already in Venezuela, and are seeking to carry out three objectives before next week’s elections: sabotage the electrical grid, increase the number of murders in the country, and assassinate Maduro.

“From Central America we have gotten information that a group of mercenaries has entered the country, with coordination from the Central American right-wing and some sectors linked to the opposition candidate,” he said.

Maduro said that US officials Roger Noriega and Otto Reich were behind the plan, together with right-wing sectors from El Salvador and Venezuela, and had paid the “mercenaries” to kill him.

“They want to kill me because they know they cannot win the elections on April 14^th,” he said.

Shortly after Maduro made the accusation, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua appeared on news channel Telesur to give more details.

“Through our intelligence agencies, we have recorded conversations among right-wing groups where they discuss using Central American mercenaries to carry out destabilization plans in the country,” he said.

Jaua explained that the groups involved are led by a retired colonel of the Salvadoran armed forces, David Koch Arana, who is allegedly linked to Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, and the operation is coordinated by Salvadoran right-wing politician Roberto d’Aubuisson.
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In a recorded conversation between d’Aubuisson and Koch Arana, vague plans are discussed to engage in activities inside Venezuela, and the conversation would also seem to implicate the Capriles campaign in the plans.

Jaua read a portion of the dialogue that allegedly took place between the two individuals, which went as follows:

Roberto d’Aubuisson: 

“How are things going down south? You haven’t given me the reports…. Are the reports we are sending you useful?”

David Koch Arana:

“I have the reports, but I haven’t sent them to you yet… Supposedly they have informed the Venezuelan government that there are foreigners interfering in the political situation. Capriles has managed to find safe places so that our people can chill. The team already arrived and they are working together. One group is already working in the streets to disorient the vote.”

Roberto d’Aubuisson:

“Did you tell them that it should be like we worked in the campaign here? Just be careful. Remember that they have offered their support if they win, and that would be good for us. I don’t know how the other groups that we sent from here are working, but I hope they don’t clash with each other or have conflicts, because they don’t know each other. I will talk to them to see how we should organize the operations there.

Jaua said that the full audio of the conversation would be made publicly available in the coming days.

He also assured that they were taking immediate action to find and neutralize the alleged “mercenaries”, and that intelligence forces had been deployed around the country. 

“We want to tell the Venezuelan people that they can remain calm. State security forces are after these groups and we hope to identify and neutralize them in the coming days so we can prevent them from generating any turmoil,” he said.

According to Jaua, the plan is part of a larger strategy by the Venezuelan opposition to destabilize the electoral process as a way to delay next week’s elections.

“Remember that just a few days ago some opposition spokespersons suggested to the National Electoral Council (CNE) that the elections should be postponed, because they know that they can’t win on April 14, so they are trying to buy time,” he said.

Nicolas Maduro also claimed to have evidence of a meeting between a US official and a member of opposition political party Primero Justicia in which they discussed causing blackouts in the eastern state of Bolivar, however further details were not provided.

The Capriles campaign has not commented or responded to any of the allegations.

Reuters/Reuters  Venezuela's acting President and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro waves to supporters during a campaign rally in the state of Cojedes April 4, 2013, in this picture provided by the Miraflores …more  

PART TWO

VENEZUELA'S MADURO SAYS CAMPAIGN SABOTAGE SUSPECTS ARRESTED

By Daniel Wallis and Marianna Parraga

Yahoo

April 5, 2013

CARACAS (Reuters) - Acting President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday that Venezuelan authorities have arrested several people suspected of plotting to sabotage one of his campaign rallies before an April 14 election by cutting the power.

Both sides have accused the other of dirty tricks during a bitter run-up to the vote to choose the successor to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

Opinion polls give Maduro a double-digit lead over his opposition rival, Henrique Capriles.

"We've captured some of the saboteurs. ... One was caught red-handed," Maduro said in a televised meeting with commanders of the armed forces.

His late boss often dramatically unveiled alleged plots against his government, ranging from infrastructure sabotage to assassination plans.

"They were going to cut the electricity to the whole of Merida (state) while I was at the rally," Maduro added.

"Who is directing this war against our country? ... There are two options here: you are either for the fatherland or you're against it."

Maduro, who visited Merida on Wednesday, gave no other details about the arrests. He has ordered the military to tighten security at electricity installations.

Both sides are courting the military, which will play an important role in next Sunday's election by guarding the voting materials and polling centers.

Defense Minister Diego Molero has made statements pledging the loyalty of the armed forces to Maduro ~ something Capriles complains is unconstitutional.

Campaigning on the Caribbean island of Margarita this week, Capriles said it was the duty of the armed forces to protect the will of the people on April 14.

He frequently says soldiers suffer from many of the same daily problems that trouble all Venezuelans: high crime rates, inflation, and poor public services.

The vote in the South American OPEC member of 29 million people will decide not only the future of "Chavismo" socialism but also control of the world's biggest oil reserves and economic aid to a handful of left-leaning nations round the region.

The government held a ceremony at a military barracks on a Caracas hilltop to mark the exact one-month anniversary of Chavez's death from cancer. Soldiers played bugles and fired cannons in honour of the leader who was seen as a saviour by millions but derided as an autocrat by his critics.

Maduro stood with top government officials and members of Chavez's family beside a marble sarcophagus where the former president's remains are encased.

FRAUD CLAIMS?

Capriles has also said that if he wins he will end "Cuban meddling" in the military. During his 14 years in power, Chavez forged close ties with communist-led Havana.

Capriles has demanded an explanation from the electoral authorities after the opposition said an audit of the voting system by both sides revealed the ruling Socialist Party had a confidential code to open 45,000 electronic polling machines.

Government officials say such allegations were laying the ground for the opposition to invent fraud claims after the vote, and that the code was only used for maintenance.

As the election nears, Capriles has gone on the attack against Maduro and his top officials, accusing them of being only "skin-deep" socialists who pay lip service to Chavez's ideology but are more interested in lining their pockets.

The government paints him as the puppet of a rich and venal Venezuelan elite and its "imperialist" friends in Washington.

On Friday, dozens of writers, artists and musicians attended an upbeat Capriles rally at a theater in a well-off Caracas neighbourhood, taking the stage to sing, tell stories and read out messages calling for political change.

"I don't want this to end like this: a meeting between friends where we take some photos of each other and that's it," Capriles said, wearing a baseball cap and track suit top in the colors of the Venezuelan flag.

"I need this to go further. We have a historic opportunity."