Rebel Venezuelan Ex-Military Officers ask for a U.S. Military Invasion of Venezuela
Appearing on a Miami talk show, two of the military officers who tried to overthrow Venezuela's government in 2.002, expressed their desire to see their motherland invaded by U.S. forces in order to remove President Hugo Chavez from office.
Miami, January 12 2004 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- On Monday, a group of Venezuelan ex-military officers opposed to the democratic government of President Hugo Chavez, openly called for the intervention of the U.S. Army to stop the process of change occurring in Venezuela.
On the local television program Maria Elvira Confronta, hosted by Maria Elvira Salazar on channel 22 in Miami, rebel Venezuelan officer Luis Piña was asked if he would agree with a military invention in Venezuela by the United States and if he would like to see the U.S. Marines walking on his native Venezuelan territory with the intention of overthrowing President Hugo Chavez.
Mr. Piña, who is now retired Sergeant and representative of the anti-Chavez organization, Todos por Venezuela (All for Venezuela), responded that he would agree with such action by the US military, “along with 80% of Venezuelans that are hoping for that U.S. intervention to happen.” A person who accompanied Piña at the show seemed also pleased with his response.
Later on the debate show Descalzi Vs. Brown, broadcasted in the same channel, invited guest Silvino Bustillos, a Venezuelan retired Colonel (Aviation), also expressed his desire to see his native country invaded by the U.S. and asked also for an intervention by United Nations forces.
Ex-Colonel Bustillos was one of the protagonists of the April 11, 2002 failed coup d’etat against the democratic government in Venezuela, and resulted in the brief dictatorship led by businessman Pedro Carmona. Bustillos, Carmona and other coup participants today enjoy their freedom in various foreign countries after escaping from Venezuelan authorities.
The astonishing comments by these Venezuelan military officers, give credibility to recent reports indicating that the possibility of a U.S. invasion in Venezuela is a wish shared by a significant percentage of those in Venezuela that oppose the democratically elected President. Some local analysts have argued that a foreign invasion seems to be the only chance left for those who have tried almost everything to overthrow Chavez and install a dictatorship that will repress the poor majority, as has been discussed by prominent opposition leaders such as the ex-president of the corrupt trade union federation CTV, Carlos Ortega, and by opposition financier Carlos Dorado.
Intellectuals sympathetic to the process of change championed by Chavez, have affirmed that due to the imminence of the unveiling by the National Electoral Council of the massive fraud committed during the signature drive petitioning for a referendum against Chavez, desperate sectors of the opposition will opt for more radical solutions to stop the new changes that are developing in Venezuela, and throughout Latin America. These changes are the result of the failures of prior administrations in the region that followed the U.S. government plans and its neo-colonial policies.
The statements made by the rebel military officers confirm reports that a series of alleged conversations have taken place between representatives of the opposition coalition Democratic Coordinator and upper-class organizations in Venezuela with members of the U.S. government. These meetings appear to have achieved interventionist declarations against Venezuela, such as those made by Condoleezza Rice, the Cuban-Americans Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, and US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
The Maria Elvira Confronta program is one of the most watched shows by the Hispanic population in Southern Florida. The program has interviewed individuals such as former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet, who, despite clear and convincing evidence of his genocidal acts, described himself as “angel who acted out of love for his country,” during his interview.
The appropriate Venezuelan authorities will decide whether an investigation will be conducted regarding the alarming requests of the rebel Venezuelan military officers living in Miami. Calling for or collaborating with foreign invasions on Venezuelan territory constitutes the crime of treason in Venezuela, as well as in many countries around the world.
Last December, Venezuelan police authorities requested the cooperation of Interpol in the United States for the capture of fugitive anti-government military rebels German Rodolfo Varela and Jose Antonio Colina. The fugitive rebels have been charged in connection with the terrorist attacks to the Embassy of Spain and the Consulate of Colombia in Caracas, on February 26, 2003. On December 20th, they requested political asylum in Miami.
Translation by Eva Golinger