"U.S. kept quiet on Chávez plot" [View All]

[annabanana]

Newsday
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wovene244053424nov24,0,4856696.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines

U.S. kept quiet on Chávez plot




BY BART JONES AND LETTA TAYLER
STAFF WRITERS; Jones was reporting from Long Island and Tayler from Caracas.

November 24, 2004

The U.S. government knew of an imminent plot to oust Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, in the weeks prior to a 2002 military coup that briefly unseated him, newly released CIA documents show, despite White House claims to the contrary a week after the putsch.

Yet the United States, which depends on Venezuela for nearly one-sixth of its oil, never warned the Chávez government, Venezuelan officials said.

The Bush administration has denied it was involved in the coup or knew one was being planned. At a White House briefing on April 17, 2002, just days after the 47-hour coup, a senior administration official who did not want to be named said, "The United States did not know that there was going to be an attempt of this kind to overthrow - or to get Chávez out of power."

Yet based on the newly released CIA briefs, an analyst said yesterday that did not appear to be the case.