Declassified CIA
Documents Show United States
Had
Detailed Information Regarding The April 2002 Coup In Venezuela
“’This
is substantive evidence that the CIA knew in advance about the coup, and it is
clear that this intelligence was distributed to dozens of members of the Bush
administration, giving them knowledge of coup plotting.’”[1]
''The
United States had the option through diplomatic channels of telling Chávez that
the coup plot appeared to be imminent but they didn't,'' said Peter
Kornbluh, an analyst at the National Security Archive, an independent group
that collects declassified U.S. documents. 'To
have done that would have damaged their relationship with those people who were
coming to them and saying,`We're working on this.' ''[2]
“The CIA was simply doing what it
is we do, in terms of analyzing events and providing policy-makers with our
best estimate of the events as they unfold," said [a CIA] spokeswoman, who
declined to be named. She added that
alerting Chávez to the impending coup "would suggest we would meddle in
the affairs of another nation."[3]
According
to recently declassified CIA documents, the United States government had
detailed information regarding the April 11th, 2002 coup in
Venezuela, just one week prior to the events that led to the brief overthrow of
democratically-elected President Hugo Chávez.
Despite
this information provided by the CIA, detailing how a coup would likely unfold,
the Bush Administration claimed that details of events occurring were unclear,
and even went so far as to blame President Chávez, a legitimately elected head
of state, for his own overthrow. On April 12, 2002, during a White House press
briefing, Spokesperson Ari Fleischer conveyed the following:
“Let me share with you the administration's thoughts about what's taking place in Venezuela. It remains a somewhat fluid situation. But yesterday's events in Venezuela resulted in a change in the government and the assumption of a transitional authority until new elections can be held. The details still are unclear. We know that the action encouraged by the Chávez government provoked this crisis. The results of these events are now that President Chávez has resigned the presidency. According to the best information available, the Chávez government suppressed peaceful demonstrations … The results of these events are now that President Chávez has resigned the presidency. Before resigning, he dismissed the vice president and the cabinet, and a transitional civilian government has been installed. .. That is what took place…”
During a White House Press Briefing on April 16th,
Fleischer again contended that the U.S. remained in the dark about the events
in Venezuela, saying that “…events were combustible, events were fluid…
Those events were not anticipated….”
Yet,
a CIA Senior Intelligence Brief dated
April 6, 2002 ( MORI DocID:1136214), reads, in pertinent part: “Dissident
military factions, including some disgruntled senior officers and a group of
radical junior officers, are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against
President Chávez, possibly as early as this month…To provoke military action,
plotters may try to exploit unrest stemming from opposition demonstrations
slated for later this month or ongoing strikes at the state-owned oil company
PDVSA.”[4]
The
United States publicly applauded the coup, reversing its position only after
becoming internationally isolated in its support of the coup leaders. Reports have
recently surfaced that the United States openly led efforts to win regional
support for the coup government of Pedro Carmona. Jorge Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico under
President Vicente Fox, told the press in November that “Effectively, there
was a proposition made by the United States and Spain, to issue a declaration
with Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and France recognizing the government of Pedro
Carmona.”[5]
Earlier last week, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told
a Spanish television station, "Under the previous government, in an
unprecedented move for Spanish diplomacy, the Spanish ambassador (in Caracas)
received instructions to support the coup."[6]
As pointed out by State
Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli on November 24, 2004, citing a 2002
report of the Office of Inspector General on US policy toward Venezuela in the
run-up to the coup, the U.S. Government contends that it had alerted the
Government of Venezuela of possible coup attempts, and a credible assassination
threat.[7]
Mr. Ereli, however, did not clarify in
his statements whether he was referring to having shared the detailed evidence
contained in the CIA documents dated April 6, 2004. According to
press reports, information about a coup plot was shared with Venezuela by State
Department officials on Feb. 27, 2002, two months before the
detailed information in question was provided by the CIA.[8]
The statements made by the U.S. Administration purporting a lack of knowledge or understanding surrounding events leading to and during the coup d’etat in Venezuela that briefly deposed democratically-elected President Hugo Chávez are starkly contradicted by these CIA documents.