Did Venezuela's Opposition Meet with US Officials in Puerto Rico?

[Joanne98]

Even by Venezuelan standards, the story seemed implausible. On January 9, a young reporter Pedro Carvajalino, from community television station Ávila TV, filmed four leading figures of Venezuela's right-wing opposition returning from Puerto Rico. They had just arrived by private jet from the U.S. territory, where they had purportedly met with representatives of the U.S. Department of State.

According to emails obtained by the reporter, officials held the meeting to plan strategy and secure funding aimed at defeating a proposed amendment to the Venezuelan constitution that would allow elected officials, including President Hugo Chávez, to seek reelection.

The story first broke on Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), a government television channel. The brewing scandal has quickly become a centerpiece of a debate over U.S. interference in the internal affairs of the country as it prepares to vote on the re-election referendum in February.

Visibly surprised by Carvajalino's presence, the four individuals included three members of opposition parties: Jorge Borges a leader of Primero Justicia; Luis Planas, Secretary General of the Christian Democratic Party (COPEI); and Emilio Barboza, President of Un Nuevo Tiempo. The fourth was Alberto Federico Ravell, the director of Globovisión, a more strident local version of Fox News in Venezuela. Globovisión's editorial line and 24-hour programming are vehemently opposed to the Chávez government.

Ravell refused to give responses to Carvajalino's questions and then proceeded to verbally spar with the young reporter who repeatedly asked about the purpose of the trip to Puerto Rico. When Carvajalino labeled Ravell a “palangrista” (a journalist who receives bribes in exchange for published materials), the media mogul exploded and started yelling obscenities at the reporter, threatening him physically and reportedly blurting out homophobic comments. While this exchange unfolded, the other three leading figures of the Venezuelan opposition remained largely silent; one opted to take pictures with his cellular phones.

http://nacla.org/node/5415

[OregonBlue]

1. Good article. Thanks. K & R

[Judi Lynn]

2. Can't wait 'til Bush is gone. He's tried to trash the elected government of Venezuela from his first

day in his stolen Presidency. That's how much he respects democracy, and respects the rights of people to have their own votes count in their own sovereign nations.

He is filth, and his supporters are filth, and they can NEVER have left nearly soon enough.

Hopefully there isn't a shadow government planning to continue _Bush's plan to destroy the leftist leaders in Latin America.

Thank you for posting this article.

That referendum is coming up fast. That's why they are desperate.

[L. Coyote]

8. One more thing to call Bush, "Overthrow Bungler" but they keep trying nonetheless.

on edit, albeit they did make off with the White House before bungling the Venezuela coup!

[bvar22]

9. Hillary, Obama, and John Kerry have ALL trashed Chavez....

Obama and Hillary included Chavez on the list of the World's Worst dictators during the debates.

Kerry has also voiced his opposition to Chavez.

[Hannah Bell]

13. telling, isn't it? but on who?

[slipslidingaway]

3. Interesting, thanks for posting n/t

[IndianaGreen]

4. They are CIA agents and should be arrested and shot for treason!

I am counting on Obama doing a 180 on our Latin America policies.

[slipslidingaway]

5. kick n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. U.S. governments have a long history of supporting right-wing factions in Latin America

Anyone who makes life easy for U.S. business interests is "a friend of democracy." Anyone who tries to control or experiment with their own economy is "a brutal dictator."

I'm 58 years old. When the usual suspects rag on Hugo Chavez here, all I can think is, "I've heard this song before." Only the names of the countries and rulers change. The charges are the same.

[sduke97]

7. kik!

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. You bet. Hilarious to watch though! Watching Ravell become all unraveled.

Loved the way they seemed to hustle him away, as an embarrassing old git. Nothing too robust. More like "shepherding".

The "palangrista" thing is very strange though. Presstitution is normal in the UK and US. Always has been to a large extent.

I wonder if the Russians and/or Chinese have been helping Ugo to monitor potentially traitorous communications. Kind of like in the US all kinds of communications.

[DCKit]

11. I have to wonder when this traverses the line from political opposition to treason.

Chavez is a blowhard, but it's difficult to critize the good he's done for his people - especially the poor.

If our unfettered access and control of oil is so damned important, then getting off imported oil must be our #1 national security issue.

[Judi Lynn]

12. It would sound as if any other President is a loudmouth, as well, if our corporate media chose to

trumpet every utterance Presidents of other countries make? Chavez' remarks are published often completely out of context, sometimes completely inaccurately, (as was their claim he said Noam Chomsky was dead, when he absolutely did NOT say that, he reccommended Chomsky's book, but said he regretted he hadn't been able to meet John Kenneth Galbraith before he died) and surrounded by reworked, rehashed crap they've beaten to death over and over, as in always being sure they bring up anything they've used against him before, again and again. How many times WILL they inform us how he claimed it smelled like sulphur when he made a speech at the UN General Assembly (to an outburst of laughter throughout the room, which they ALWAYS neglect to mention)?

[genna]

14. Hasn't dollar diplomacy for South American been the U.S. policy for 50 years

regardless of party in power?


Politics ended where the borders began. I thought the human rights struggle for the base of the Democratic-Progressive alliance pushed the government in both parties to be an honest broker.

What has changed in our dollarism agenda?