Chavez and Supporters Condemn Destabilization Plans for Venezuelan Elections

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan officials, and others denounced over the past week that they believe there are plans to destabilize the Venezuelan Presidential Elections, which is set to be held in less than six weeks.
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Caracas, October 25, 2006 (Venezuelanalysis.com)— Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan officials, politicians and others denounced over the past week, what they believe are plans to destabilize the Venezuelan Presidential Elections, which is set to be held in less than six weeks, on December 3rd.

Last Sunday, President Chavez once again warned of destabilization activities and an assassination plot against him. Chavez further pointed out that the opposition has attempted to fix opinion polls to make it appear as though opposition candidate Manuel Rosales was gaining ground.

While the most reliable polls, including a recent survey from the University of Miami, consistently show Chavez with a 30% advantage over opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, other polls have been released over the last couple of weeks, which suggest that Rosales is actually tied or ahead of Chavez in the race for President.

“Operación Amanecer Rojo”

Lina Ron, head of the pro-Chavez, Popular Venezuelan Union (UPV) party, condemned the “electoral coup” Monday on VTV, which she said was taking place and consists of the goal to sabotage the elections through the manipulation of the polls and through the convoking of violent street demonstrations accusing electoral authorities of “fraud.”

Ron also condemned the existence of what she called “Operación Amanecer Rojo” (Operation Red Sunrise), which she said was designed by the United States, and includes the participation of paramilitaries paid by the State Department and the CIA. The Venezuelan National Assembly Commission of Foreign Affairs is currently analyzing these denouncements.

Maracaibo Destabilization Plan

Last Wednesday in an interview with Panorama, Maracaibo mayor, Giancarlo Di Martino, also condemned and outlined a destabilization plan that he had been made aware of, “with the goal of attacking the National Government and causing violence before the elections.” Di Martino acknowledged that the plan was brought to his attention by people at the University of Zulia (LUZ) and informants from Venezuelan Armed Forces at the Colombian border.

According Di Martino, “a student would be assassinated by paramilitaries” during one of a number of opposition marches that would be held at the University of Zulia a few days before the close of the electoral campaign in late November..

“The conspiracy is coordinated by the candidate Manuel Rosales together with the North American Government, in the figure of the CIA and the Dean Leonardo Atencio,” said Di Martino.

According to Di Martino, “the paramilitaries would follow the orders of Rosales and would be dressed as students. The death of the student would be blamed on the national guard or a metropolitan police official.”

“This would be an ideal scenario in order [for Rosales] to convoke his follows to civil disobedience and unleash a wave of undetainable violence from the University,” said Di Martino.

“Salvemos el Proceso”

The alternative media website, Aporrea, recently condemned “the manipulation of sectors of the opposition, who are working for the empire and for the group of Yankee psychological warfare advised by the CIA, a campaign that is being carried out in the internet with the sending of messages of intimidation and/or the utilization of false identities to emit judgments that have nothing to do with the true identification of the signer, with the only goal of creating an environment contrary and negative of the Government of President Chávez.”

According to the editors of Aporrea, an article was published titled “Salvemos el proceso” (“let’s save the process”), signed by an email account identified to be the leader of the Miranda Electoral Campaign, Fernando Bianco. However, in a phone call to Aporrea, Fernando Bianco “categorically denied that the article had been written by him.” Bianco further denied that he had a yahoo.com email account and resented that his name had been used to “carry out a proposal that doesn’t have anything to do with my convictions.”

Although the article was taken off the Aporrea website, it appears to have at least also been published with the Diario de Guyana, where it is still available on the website and where, by reading the comments, it appears to have succeeded in its mission to cause a wave a resentment against Bianco and the Bolivarian Process.

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