Venezuela Accuses U.S. of Instigating Student Violence

Mérida, November 9, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)- Venezuelan Foreign
Minister Nicolas Maduro rejected statements from the US State Department
yesterday, and accused the government of the United
States of being involved in the violent events in Caracas. US spokesperson Sean McCormack had criticized
the recent student violence in Venezuela,
calling it "appalling," but Maduro claimed that the statement from
the US
is proof of their involvement in the acts.

"We don't have any doubt
that the government of the United States
has their hands in the scheme that led to the ambush yesterday," said Maduro,
referring to a shootout between students at Caracas'
Central University on Wednesday. Opposition
groups quickly blamed the Chavez government after several students were wounded
at the university, including at least one from gunshot wounds, after a violent
clash between pro-Chavez and anti-Chavez students.

"We know this whole
scheme. And the people of Latin America have reached a level of maturity about
the politics of the empire, so that we know when a high-ranking official comes
out about something happening in the world, in some country, that it means that
the government of the United States is involved in some way or is looking to
produce a further action," said Maduro.

The US State Department
criticized Wednesday's violent events at a press conference on Thursday. Upon
being questioned by reporters, State Department Spokesperson Sean McCormack
labeled the events in Caracas
"an appalling act."

"It's just an appalling
act, and just another indication of the kind of atmosphere that you're seeing
in Venezuela,"
he said, although he admitted that they do not know who is responsible, or who fired
the shots. McCormack emphasized that violence had occurred against "peaceful
protesters" who were expressing themselves against the proposed
constitutional reform.

But the Venezuelan foreign
minister rejected the claim and assured that the event at the university was
"a vile attack" on a group of students that was meeting and
organizing peacefully in support of the constitutional reform. Maduro accused
both the US
government and major media such as CNN of misrepresenting the events.

"It is obscene the role
that CNN is playing right now, to attempt the impossible: the destabilization
of the political atmosphere," he said.

Maduro accused the United States
of playing a destabilizing role in the world, and assured that their discourse
proves it.

"The desperation in the
face, expressions, and language of this member of the state department that
came out against our country, shows that their hand is behind all of these
events." Maduro assured that the only
thing that is "appalling" is the "criminal government" of
the United States.

Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega also claimed that the government of the United States is behind the
Venezuelan opposition movement, and offered his solidarity with the Venezuelan
president.

"What we can do is express
our solidarity with the revolutionary people of Venezuela and with our friend Hugo
Chavez, who is being subjected to aggression from a counterrevolution fed by
the traitors from inside the country and by the empire."

Ortega made the comparison to
his own country, stating that the United States is also organizing opposition
movements in his country that are "financed by the United States
Embassy" in Managua.

But the Venezuelan minister
discounted opposition efforts to defeat the upcoming referendum on the constitutional
reform proposal, assuring that the Chavez government would win the election.

"We have no doubt that, as the surveys show, a
huge majority of Venezuelans will vote 'yes' on the reform. And that moment on
December 2nd, will be the moment that the Venezuelan people will cut down the declarations
of the State Department, and we will teach them a lesson."