Veenzuela: gornalista USA accusa il venezuela di aiutare i terroristi, commenti dal paese caraibico

["nello margiotta" <nellomargiotta55@virgilio.it>]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/031006/usnews/6venezuela.htm
Nation & World 10/6/03
Terror Close to Home
In oil-rich Venezuela, a volatile leader befriends bad actors from the
Mideast, Colombia, and Cuba
By Linda Robinson
Editor's note: a map graphic accompanied the print version of this story.
The FARC's principal camp in Venezuela is in the Perija mountains near an
Indian village called Resumidero, according to maps and testimony from FARC
deserters (location: Latitude: N 10` 29'56''; Longitude W72' 44'56'')
The oil-rich but politically unstable nation of Venezuela is emerging as a
potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, providing assistance
to Islamic radicals from the Middle East and other terrorists, say senior
U.S. military and intelligence officials. Bush administration aides see this
as an unpredictably dangerous mix and are gathering more information about
the intentions of a country that sits 1,000 miles south of Florida.
One thing that's clear is that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is fast
becoming America's newest nemesis, U.S. officials say. He has forged close
ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro and has befriended some of America's other
notorious enemies, traveling to Saddam's Iraq and Qadhafi's Libya. Now,
after surviving an attempted coup and a nationwide petition demanding his
recall, Chavez is flirting with terrorism, and Washington is watching with
increasing alarm.
"We are not disinterested spectators," says Roger Noriega, the new assistant
secretary of state for Latin America. "Any actions that undermine democratic
order or threaten the security and well-being of the region are of
legitimate concern to all of Venezuela's neighbors." U.S. officials are
monitoring three sets of developments: Middle Eastern terrorist groups are
operating support cells in Venezuela and other locations in the Andean
region. A two-month review by U.S. News, including interviews with dozens of
U.S. and Latin American sources, confirms the terrorist activity. In
particular, the magazine has learned that thousands of Venezuelan identity
documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations,
including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon.
Venezuela is supporting armed opposition groups from neighboring Colombia;
these groups are on the official U.S. list of terrorist organizations and
are also tied to drug trafficking. Maps obtained by U.S. News, as well as
eyewitness accounts, pinpoint the location of training camps used by
Colombian rebels, a top rebel leader, and Venezuelan armed groups.
Cubans are working inside Venezuela's paramilitary and intelligence
apparatus. The coordination between Cuba and Venezuela is the latest sign
that Venezuelan President Chavez is modeling his government on Castro's
Cuba.
The Venezuelan government denies supporting Middle Eastern terrorist groups
and says that no Cubans are operating inside its intelligence agencies.
Venezuela has long denied providing aid to the Colombian guerrilla groups.
Venezuela is providing support--including identity documents--that could
prove useful to radical Islamic groups, say U.S. officials. U.S. News has
learned that Chavez's government has issued thousands of cedulas, the
equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba,
Colombia, and Middle Eastern nations that play host to foreign terrorist
organizations. An American official with firsthand knowledge of the ID
scheme has seen computer spreadsheets with names of people organized by
nationality. "The list easily totaled several thousand," the official says.
"Colombians were the largest group; there were more than a thousand of them.
It also included many from Middle Eastern `countries of interest' like
Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon." The official adds: "It was shocking to see
how extensive the list was." U.S. officials believe that the Venezuelan
government is issuing the documents to people who should not be getting them
and that some of these cedulas were subsequently used to obtain Venezuelan
passports and even American visas, which could allow the holder to elude
immigration checks and enter the United States. U.S. officials say that the
cedulas are also being used by Colombian subversives and by some Venezuelan
officials to travel surreptitiously.
The suspicious links between Venezuela and Islamic radicalism are
multiplying. American law enforcement and intelligence officials are
exploring whether there is an al Qaeda connection--specifically, they want
to know if a Venezuelan of Arab descent named Hakim Mamad al Diab Fatah had
ties to any of the September 11 hijackers. The United States deported Diab
Fatah to Venezuela for immigration violations in March 2002. A U.S.
intelligence official says that Diab Fatah is still a "person of interest"
and that his family in Venezuela is "a well-known clan associated with
extremist and illicit activity" in northern Venezuela. But when U.S.
officials sought Diab Fatah for further questioning, they were told by
Venezuelan officials that he was not in the country. Diab Fatah may also be
tied to the Caracas mosque of Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz, which has caught
investigators' attention. One of the mosque's officials, also a Venezuelan
of Arab descent, was recently arrested in London for carrying a grenade on a
Caracas-London flight.
Sympathy. Latin America's Arab communities are also becoming centers for
terrorist sympathizers. A Venezuelan analyst who recently visited Margarita
Island, a free zone on the north coast of Venezuela run largely by Arab
merchants from Lebanon and Iran, described the Venezuelan-Arab Friendship
Association as a "fortress" with armed guards outside. A U.S. official says
the association has been long known as a location of illicit activities. In
addition, support "cells" for the groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamiyya al
Gammat are active on Margarita, according to Gen. James Hill, the head of
the U.S. Southern Command. In a speech last month, Hill said: "These groups
generate funds through money laundering, drug trafficking, or arms deals and
make millions of dollars every year via their multiple illicit activities.
These logistic cells reach back to the Middle East."
Venezuela's support for terrorist organizations isn't limited to those based
in Lebanon or Egypt. Colombia's complaints that Venezuela is actively aiding
two Colombian armed groups on the U.S. State Department's terrorist
list--the FARC and the ELN--have been met by heated Venezuelan denials. But
U.S. News has obtained detailed information demonstrating that camps used by
the Colombian rebels exist inside Venezuela; maps actually pinpoint the
location of the camps, and firsthand reports describe visits by Venezuelan
officials. The armed Colombian groups, though they have waged no attacks on
U.S. soil, are among the most active terrorist groups in the world, and
several of their leaders have been indicted in the United States for the
killings and kidnappings of Americans and for drug trafficking.
The FARC's principal camp in Venezuela is in the Perija mountains near an
Indian village called Resumidero, according to maps and testimony from FARC
deserters. The Resumidero base is home to one of the FARC's top leaders,
Ivan Marquez, and can accommodate 700 people. Marquez commands 1,000
fighters and, according to one deserter's account, oversees the training of
hundreds more would-be guerrillas. A clandestine FARC radio station is
located about 30 miles away, on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Resumidero,
which has 100 huts and three houses for Marquez and other leaders, is two
days' walk from another camp called Asamblea, near the city of Machiques,
which is about 35 miles inside Venezuelan territory. That camp, which has 25
houses and even Internet access, is used to train still more more fighters.
U.S. News has also obtained documents that offer firsthand accounts--from
people inside the camps--that illustrate the extent of Venezuela's backing
of the Colombian rebels. According to debriefings of former rebels, some 60
Venezuelan soldiers, plus two Venezuelan officers, provide training to the
FARC rebels at the Resumidero camp. Visitors to the camp have included
Venezuelan civilians and Europeans. A 31-year-old FARC deserter who spent
seven months at FARC camps inside Venezuela, says he witnessed Venezuelan
officers arrive by helicopter. He says his unit twice ambushed the Colombian
Army and then fled to sanctuary in Venezuela. He also asserts that "abundant
ammunition"--a cache in April included 2,500 rounds of 7.62mm and
.223-caliber ammunition for automatic rifles--has been shipped across the
border to Colombia. Another guerrilla who turned herself in last July says
she saw FARC leaders heading for a camp called Rio Verde in Venezuela. And a
former guerrilla, a 32-year-old man, says he fled from battle to a camp
called Sastreria in Venezuela.
Drug money helps fuel the fighting. Another FARC source told U.S. News that
he witnessed a FARC logistics chief trade 8 kilograms of cocaine and cash
for guns from a Venezuelan colonel, who arranged the shipments from
Venezuelan Army stocks. Colombian officials have documented many such
guns-for-drugs trades; they also confirm the existence of training
camps--and even spots where hostages are held--along Venezuela's frontier
from the flatlands of Arauca northward to the mountains of Perija. Adds a
U.S. official: "It's no secret the level of cooperation that the Venezuelan
government is giving to the Colombian groups, from the shipment of arms in,
to the shipment of drugs out, to the movement of people in and out of
Colombia." During an August visit to the region, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, went so far as to suggest that
Venezuela's support for terrorists in Colombia was like Syria's support for
terrorists in Iraq. "It is simply not helpful when countries don't fully
support the antiterrorist fight."
The Chavez government's support of the Colombian guerrillas is no act of
charity. After he was elected in 1998, Chavez vowed to bring about a
"Bolivarian revolution" in Venezuela; the movement is named for Simon
Bolivar, the 19th-century hero who defeated the Spanish in South America.
But Chavez's popularity has plummeted, and Venezuela's economy is troubled.
In April 2002, he survived a military coup--one that the United States
prematurely applauded. Chavez has since purged the military.
The armed Colombian groups are helping Chavez create a force loyal to his
regime. The FARC and ELN were "instrumental" in the formation and training
of a 200-man Venezuelan armed group called the Frente Bolivariano de
Liberacion that operates in western Venezuela, according to U.S. officials.
The FARC has also provided training to the so-called Bolivarian Circles, an
urban organization that Chavez set up to defend and promote his revolution.
Senior U.S. officials are concerned about the growing Cuban presence inside
Venezuela. All told, some 5,000 Cubans have traveled to the country; in
particular, many are turning up inside Venezuela's intelligence and
paramilitary apparatus. Says one U.S. official: "The Cubans are deeply
embedded in Venezuela's intelligence agency." Castro and Chavez are so
close, they are said to talk by phone every day. Cubans also form part of
Chavez's personal bodyguard detail. There is ample evidence, officials say,
that "Cuba provides military training to pro-Chavez organizations" that have
been set up to safeguard Chavez from coup attempts like the one he survived
last year. None of this surprises U.S. officials who have been watching
Chavez. "He decided to follow the Cuban model long ago," says one, citing
speeches he made in 1994 and 1998. Chavez is sending some 53,000 barrels of
oil monthly to help Castro's cash-strapped Cuba. And large numbers of
Venezuelan military personnel have also been sent to Cuba for training.
Given all that is happening in Chavez's Venezuela, some American officials
regret that terrorism is seen chiefly as a Middle East problem and that the
United States is not looking to protect its southern flank. "I'm concerned
that counterterrorism issues are not being aggressively pursued in this
hemisphere," one U.S. intelligence official said. "We don't even have
flyovers" of Venezuela. Another intelligence official complains that terror
suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. base in Cuba, are not being
interrogated about connections to Latin American. The bottom line, when it
comes to terrorism so close to U.S. shores, says the official: "We don't
even know what we don't know."



Reporteros con fronteras o EEUU cocina una intervención a Venezuela
Reinaldo Bolívar

Una "periodista" estadounidense, de nombre Linda Robinson ha escrito para la
revista U.S Noticias un trabajo, "Terror cerca de casa", cuyo propósito, no
oculto, es del contribuir a crear una imagen internacional negativa para
Venezuela al vincularla con terrorismo internacional. Intento similar al
realizado en meses posteriores a septiembre 2001 y que devino en el paro del
10 de diciembre, en los pronunciamiento militares de enero y en el golpe de
estado de abril de 2002, celebrado por el embajador Shapiro y funcionarios
de su país, que de acuerdo a serias investigaciones tenía barcos de guerra
acechando las costas venezolanas. Una campaña similar hicieron para
relacionar al expresidente Manuel Noriega de Panamá (antiguo agente y aliado
de EEUU) con el narcotráfico, una vez que aquel perdió el apoyo
norteamericano. Después vino la sangrienta invasión de los marines en
diciembre de 1989 que acabó con la vida de más de 2000 civiles. Noriega fue
derrocado y llevado a EEUU para s er juzgado. Estados Unidos actuó como
dueño del destino de Panamá.

El absurdo escrito de Robinson se publica luego que el Presidente Chávez
solicitará una explicación al gobierno de Bush de las prácticas
paramilitares que realizan venezolanos antinacionalistas en Miami. Chávez
citó una publicación de Florida en la cual se mostraban fotos de esos
"venegringianos" uniformados con declaraciones sobre sus intenciones de
eliminar al mandatario venezolano. En una alocución anterior, el Presidente
venezolano reclamó a la administración Bush la presencia en territorio
estadounidense de participantes del golpe de estado de abril 2002 y del paro
golpista de diciembre-enero. Como se recordará en esos meses los
oposicionistas venezolanos radicados en Miami, con vínculos muy cercanos a
la fracasada contra anticubana (llevan 45 años enriqueciéndose y
apoderándose de Florida con la bandera de que están a un paso de derrocar a
la revolución cubana -bobos los gringos que se lo creen y le dan millones de
dólares con los ojos cerrados), recibieron a personaje s como Carlos Ortega,
que en acto público llamó a asesinar a Chávez.

El artículo de U S News, basado en chimes anónimos, no hace más que repetir
mentiras como las presentadas por las cuestionadas periodistas venezolanas
Pacheco (botada de su periodicucho, quien perdió un juicio por difamación e
injuria y está siendo demandada por causas similares) y Poleo (candidata a
jefe de la Oficina de Información en el breve gobierno dictatorial de
Carmona e hija adoctrinada de uno de los más férreos aliados del prófugo
Carlos Andrés Pérez), como el video montaje de los comacates o el falso
testimonio de un ciudadano que se hizo pasar por piloto presidencial y que a
la postre ocasionó la ética renuncia del editor del Espectador de Colombia
(pero que no hizo mella en los diarios El Universal y Nacional de Venezuela,
que calcaron al carbón al Espectador), o como la del arrepentido y falso
expía cubano pagado por los cubanos anticastristas en Venezuela, los mismos
que asediaron durante tres días, junto con el Alcalde de Baruta, Capriles
Radonki, la embajada cubana, cortándole la electricidad, suministros
(incluso a niños y mujeres) y destruyendo los vehículos diplomáticos en una
violación flagrante del derecho internacional que no fue condenada ni por la
OEA ni por la ONU ni siquiera por Amnistía Internacional.

Las mentiras de la periodista (¿?) norteamericana son tan débiles que afirma
disparates como: que el gobierno de Chávez otorga documentos para conseguir
visas de Estados Unidos, lo cual deja muy mal parada a la embajada de EEUU
que siempre se ha preciado de ser estricta en sus procedimientos; que hay 50
mil cubanos armados en Venezuela, como si fuese tan sencillo y clandestino
alojar a tal cantidad de personas. Tómese como referencia que Venezuela
posee una Fuerza Armada de unos 90 mil hombres y para ello son necesarios
como mínimo de 3 a 4 instalaciones por entidad federal, cuyas inmensas
dimensiones son por todos conocidas. En Venezuela lo que hay son unos 1000
médicos cubanos ayudando a los más pobres en las barriadas de Caracas, dónde
no quieren ir los cómodos galenos de la Federación Médica Venezolana;
también hay entrenadores antillanos, pero deportivos, que han contribuido al
aumento del medallero en juegos como los Panamericanos; que Chávez es
terrorista porque visitó Siria, Irán o Libia y es amigo de Fidel, lo que
quiere decir que ahora Aznar es terrorista pues hace dos semanas estuvo
reunido con el Presidente Mohamed Kadafi, y que hasta el Papá y Arnold
Schwarzenegger lo son por haber visitado Cuba. Además, por carambola los
muchos presidentes que han recibido a Chávez (solo el G77, al que presidió,
tiene 135) son terroristas y de ello no escapan los presidentes de Francia,
Gran Bretaña, Rusia y la Reina Isabel los cuales han recibido en visita
oficial al Presidente de Venezuela o lo han visitado como el de Colombia y
Brasil. En fin, si es esa ilógica tesis fuera válida, todos los mandatarios
del mundo son terroristas y están agrupados en la ONU.

El tema de la presencia guerrillera, suena tan simulado que sólo es
presentado como una suposición "porque la frontera con Colombia y Venezuela
es porosa". Por otra parte, la guerra de posiciones en Colombia entre el
ejercito oficial contra la FARC y el ELN se hace con tanta intensidad que
esas organizaciones mal podrían distraerse en nuevos frentes.

Sobre el argumento fascista y racista de los ciudadanos árabes en Margarita
no podemos más que decir que sencillamente denota una carencia de
creatividad tan solo comparable a la gigantesca carencia de seguridad en las
escuelas de Estados Unidos en las que la violencia infantil sigue dejando
víctimas sin que el gobierno busque las verdaderas causas e implemente
correctivos distintos a los de encarcelar infantes de por vida, antes bien
disminuyó el presupuesto en educación y los trasladó a gastos de guerra.

En conclusión, una bazofia de escrito firmado con un apellido tan insigne
para los venezolanos, como el de Robinsón, sinónimo de Simón Rodríguez que
le dio nombre a la más grande cruzada contra el analfabetismo de la que se
tenga conocimiento en el país.

Ahora bien, detrás de ese artículo, que sale a la luz en el momento que se
produce una escalada terrorista en Caracas contra sitios públicos
(embajadas, Palacio Blanco, CONATEL, bases militares) evidentemente por
sectores interesados en desestabilizar (solo hacen terrorismo quienes
quieren asaltar el poder constituido, es decir, una oposición fuera de la
ley) acompañada de precipitadas declaraciones de funcionarios yanquis
anticubanos de Miami, está el enfermizo intento de aplicar a Venezuela la
Doctrina Bush (http://www.geocities.com/reinaldobolivar/doctrinabush.htm)
que califica unilateralmente a un país de terrorista para así intervenirlo
violando los principios de soberanía y autodeterminación. Siempre nos
preguntaremos ¿Por qué esos paladines contra el terrorismo no condenaron las
acciones de saboteo que realizaron (y realizan) los ex pedevecos de Juan
Fernández contra las instalaciones de PDVSA? Tomando prestadas las palabras
del Diputado Nicolás Maduro "¿Será que hay terrorismo bueno y terrorismo
malo?". Más bien, Diputado, EEUU aplica su teoría del derecho a la defensa,
por la cual justifica que Israel, en una acción de terrorismo de Estado,
bombardea refugios en Damasco porque allí hay palestino, o el propio EEUU
arrasa con Afganistán en la creencia de que una de sus bombas de 10 mil
kilos pueda matar a su viejo amigo Osama. Pero, parafraseándole Diputado,
¿Será que hay derecho a la defensa bueno y derecho a la defensa malo? Porque
en este país los oposicionistas pretenden que el gobierno legítimamente
electo le permita hacer todos sus actos de terrorismos y de ilegalidades sin
decir pío no vaya a ser que el los batisteros de Miami se enojen y nos
invadan.

No podemos subestimar ese artículo por absurdo que sea. No olvidemos que la
invasión a Irak se basó en un informe falso, en un trabajo de un estudiante
universitario, en el razonamiento hormonal de un el presidente designado
(por una corte estatal) de EEUU que quiso cobrarle a Hussein el haber
ofendido a su papá (el ex director de la CIA y ex presidente Bush). Al
menos, queda el consuelo de que esa mentira le costará el poder a Tony
Blair, Bush y al partido de Aznar por haber mentido descaradamente a sus
congresos y pueblos para invadir a un país indefenso cobrando a diario vidas
iraquies y de jóvenes soldados enviados como carne de cañón.

Y aunque estamos seguros, que la potencia está económicamente, moralmente
debilitada e internacionalmente cada vez más aislada (hasta la ONU le sacó
la silla), tiene gran poder de fuego y la desesperación de la fiera herida
que en cualquier momento puede lanzar un zarpazo. Así que mucho cuidado. Hay
que meterle más el ojo a sus objetivos en Venezuela: PDVSA y las FAN, "ojo e
garza que gallina no ve de noche" y hay mucho camaleón suelto.

Ese es el mensaje para los venezolanos y su Presidente. Para los señores del
norte el siguiente:

No olviden los halcones de la guerra ni sus títeres con nacionalidad
venezolana que la República Bolivariana de Venezuela no es el Chile de 1973
ni la Nicaragua ni la Panamá de los 80.

reibol@cantv.net
www.geocities.com/reinaldobolivar