EEUU

The imperial eagle persists on its dreadful flight

Manuel E. Yepe

12/03/2015

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In his new defense doctrine (National Security Strategy), President Obama issued a clear warning: "We are on the side of citizens whose full exercise of democracy is in danger, as is the case of Venezuelans." The warning presaged serious threats to Venezuela's efforts for independence and the redistribution of its national wealth.

These are the views of Voltaire Network Director, Thierry Meyssan –presently residing in Damascus, Syria– expressed in an article entitled "Obama’s Putsch in Venezuela Fails", published on February 23.

Meyssan recalls Washington’s grim history seeking a regime change in Caracas since it organized, in 2002, a coup d’état against the democratically-elected president, Hugo Chávez Frías, until the recent manipulation of anarchist groups that performed countless acts of vandalism that Venezuelan citizens know as the Guarimba.

Meyssan describes the new aggressive exercise against Caracas this way: Operation Jericho would begin on February 12th. It would be overseen by the National Security Council (NSC).

Washington, as usual, tried to make the world believe it was not involved in the event it had orchestrated. The CIA organized and directed the coup through NGOs: the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and the International Center for Non-Profit Law.

The United States resorted to the use of contractors from several of its allies for certain aspects of the putsch. Germany would be in charge of protecting NATO countries’ citizens during the coup; Canada would control the civil airport in Caracas; Israel would guarantee the assassination of “Chavista” important persons, and the United Kingdom would handle pro-coup propaganda.

It also mobilized political networks that would provide legitimacy recognition for the coup: Sen. Marco Rubio in Washington; former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera; former Colombian presidents Alvaro Uribe and Andres Pastrana; former Mexican presidents Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox; and in Spain, former Prime Minister José María Aznar.

Large Venezuelan companies were asked to hold back huge amounts of staples in their warehouses to cause long lines at shops and riots that would be promoted by actions of provocateurs infiltrated among disgruntled customers.

For their services attacking the forces of order, gang members were paid four times the average income of Venezuelan workers. These false students killed 43 people and created terror in the streets of Caracas.

The military action was to be overseen by General Thomas W. Geary, from SOUTHCOM headquarters in Miami, and Rebecca Chavez, from the Pentagon's Academi private army (formerly known as Blackwater), a firm currently managed by Admiral Bobby R. Inman (former head of NSA) and John Ashcroft (former Attorney General of the George W. Bush administration) who was subcontractor for the whole operation.

A military plane owned by Academi –diguised with the insignia of the armed forces of Venezuela– taking flight from Colombia, would bomb the Miraflores Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Defense, the Intelligence Directorate and the seat of Telesur channel. The putsch headquarters had been set up at the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Several senior officers, active and retired, involved in the coup had recorded a message to the Nation [Venezuela] announcing that they had taken power to restore order in the country. On February 12th, a Transition Plan drafted by the US State Department would be released. The plan included the formation of a new government, headed by former parliamentarian Maria Corina Machado.

According to Meyssan, it was while investigating a previous plot to assassinate President Maduro that the Venezuelan Military Intelligence discovered "Operation Jericho".

On the night of February 11th, the main leaders of the conspiracy, and an agent of the Israeli Mossad were arrested. Protection of the air space of the Venezuelan capital was reinforced. Other persons involved in the coup were arrested on February 12th. On February 20th the Mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, was arrested. He was the liaison officer with Israel and had secretly travelled there in 2012.

There is no doubt this was a blow to the imperial eagle; but no one expects that this will make it change its dreadful flight.

"For those who still mistakenly believe that the US has ceased to be an imperialist power and now defends democracy in the world, "Operation Jericho" is an obligatory subject for reflection" concludes Meyssan.

March 7, 2015.

- Manuel E. Yepe http://englishmanuelyepe.wordpress.com/

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann. http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs4303.html

https://www.alainet.org/es/node/168249