CIA Activity in Venezuela Caught on Video

Video shows U.S. officials discussing clandestine activity to help the opposition. Pro-Chavez deputies Maduro and Barreto accuse the opposition of planning destabilization tactics for the late November signature collection drive.

Pro-Chavez National Assembly deputies Juan Barreto, Ismael Garcia, and Nicolas Maduro held a press conference today, in which they released a video recording that shows, according to them, a CIA agent instructing Venezuelans how to carry out clandestine attacks.

The videos were filmed in July of this year in a security company. According to Maduro, the films were passed on to them by someone who disagreed with being put at the service of foreign agents. The video appears to show a meeting with police officers of the Metropolitan Police, individuals from the security company “Empresas de Vigilancia,” a staffer from the U.S. embassy, and a retired colonel of the U.S. Army.

Juan Barreto denounced that there is a “triangle of death,” which is aiming to cause disturbances in Venezuela in December, immediately following the recall referendum petition drive. This triangle involves an “international spy agency,” the opposition coalition Democratic Coordinator, and dissident military officers. According to Barreto, “A good part of these accusations emerge from these videos. We want to point out that in the coming hours we will release more evidence which incriminates numerous citizens who have betrayed the country.”

Barreto named several leaders of the opposition as being involved in the December destabilization plot, explaining that they are aiming for a general destabilization of the country in order to cover up their inability to collect enough signatures for a recall referendum against President Chavez. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has scheduled November 28 to December 1 as the four days in which the opposition may collect signatures for a recall referendum.

Another aspect of the opposition’s plans, according to Nicolas Maduro, is a call for a general strike in December, which is being organized by the opposition leaders Enrique Mendoza and Antonio Ledezma.

After showing the video, Maduro said, “We’ll see who is being ridiculous, Mr. Reich.” Last week Otto Reich, an advisor to President George Bush, had said that Maduro’s earlier claims of CIA involvement in Venezuela were “ridiculous.”

A second video released at the press conference showed, according to Maduro, the confessions of those who are implicated in the murder of three dissident soldiers earlier this year and the placement of several bombs in Caracas. These individuals are connected to the opposition.