Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

"War Game" by NATO involved assassination of Chavez: Lopez Hidalgo

By Venessa Davies & General Lopez Hidalgo
Jun 3, 2004, 12:44


Venezolana de Television (VTV) Vanessa Davies: General Melvin Lopez Hidalgo, secretary of the Venezuelan National Defense & Security Council, holds that some officers who participated in the April 11 coup are also involved in the planting of paramilitaries and assures that the President declined to declare Martial Law. According to Lopez Hidalgo, integral defense is conceived in the Bolivarian Constitution.

You have stated that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in its military exercise of 2001, was considering the invasion of Venezuela by the United States?

When I analyzed the exercise, I was perplexed because they spoke with names and last names: the brown country was Venezuela, the neutral country (Colombia) joined the blue country that would invade us (The United States). The US suggested the exercise to NATO, so that the other countries would practice it. This is very serious. A Venezuelan Armed Forces officer was taking a course during that exercise. He opposed to this activity, which had Venezuela as its objective. Airports were going to be taken over and the bridge over the lake of Maracaibo was going to be destroyed.

How would (the attack) conclude?

Once the country’s military bases had been devastated, a civilian airplane crosses over the waters of the Caribbean Sea and is taken down. The Venezuelan officer asked why, and they answered that the leader of the brown country was on that plane. That’s as clear as it gets.

What should Venezuela do with this information?

We have wanted to verify and investigate. But it must be out and available to the public. Venezuela must ask for explanations to whomever it must. It is a duty that belongs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The evidence is there. This has been extensively analyzed and there must be an investigation. In its deliberations, the National Defense Council – which was activated after the arrest of the alleged Colombian paramilitaries over a week ago – concluded that it was necessary to put Martial Law into practice. President Chavez did not accept that proposal and looked for other measures such as the fight against impunity and integral defense conceived in the Constitution.

The opposition says that popular militias are being formed.

Defense has always been a responsibility of the Armed Forces. That is a grave mistake. Integral defense involves all Venezuelans and foreign residents of Venezuela. Down with the principle of co-responsibility. We are all responsible for the defense of the country.

The president spoke of the incorporation of retired officers.

That is part of integral defense. All retired officers are in reserve situation. A section about reservists is found on the current constitution, and it was also found in the constitution before this one, but it had not been given any importance.

Will popular organizations be receiving weapons?

It’s all about trying to manipulate public opinion by making people believe that weapons are going to be handed out to the general population. That’s not the way it goes. We are talking about instructing people. Each branch of the Armed Forces must train, instruct and organize people. Reserve units will be the ones carrying weapons; at a given moment, if the country is in need of defense, those weapons will be conferred. The other line of action is to improve the weapons and equipment system. It is being evaluated whether to trade arms dealing directly with other governments in order to avoid "war dogs". We do not want to create an arms race, but we should not stop taking care of ourselves.

For what type of scenario are these measures suggested?

For the worst-case scenario, which would be the continuation of an invasion by paramilitaries, or that certain conditions are created so that any country could invade Venezuela.

Paramilitaries for all tastes

You said that there were paramilitary cells in various states of the country.

Regarding the paramilitaries, I see three types of scenarios: the paramilitaries of the Colombian United Auto Defense, organized several years ago from the movement "Death to the kidnappers", who have been permeating the border zone and little by little have been getting involved in the drug trade. But we are also concerned about the dissidents from that group, who engage in activities that are out of their leader’s management, and run to Venezuela territory. The other part is the contract or the use of Colombian (braceros), amongst who there have been some paramilitaries, that go to ranches and farms in zones near the border. That’s how they have been permeating the territory, they have infiltrated into Tachira, Barinas, Apure, and even Sucre. These elements have been tied closely to drug lords, and have established networks in the region

Do we have all these situations present in our country?

Unfortunately, yes, all these scenarios are possible in our country.

How many paramilitaries are there in Venezuela?

I don’t dare give an exact number. I can say, however, that the number of them present in various regions is enough to initiate a situation of instability with the support of Venezuelans. And that’s the other part: people who are opposed to the government, born in this land, have recruited paramilitaries. This is the other scenario: imported political violence, coming from some Venezuelans who try to harvest violence.

[General Lopez Hidalgo highlighted that the president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, ordered for peasants to become soldiers and demobilize paramilitaries. It’s very hard for all to subject to this peacemaking policy. What could happen? They could come to Venezuela.]

How many active officers have participated in these plans?

Some officers, investigated after the April 2002 events, we see them appear again with the case of the paramilitaries. There’s the case of Colonel Pico, who was second commander of the group of F-16 airplanes. During the investigation of those events, it was determined that the F-16s were ready on the night of April 11 to bomb Miraflores and pressure the president to resign.

Why did these officers remain in the armed forces?

Investigations were made. Some accused officers defended themselves, as part of due process. The arguments may have been valid. I don’t want to put them all in the same box. We could not incriminate all the high-ranking officers. At the same time, we found that there had been attempts to damage the image of some officers. It was "step off, so I can get on." (Is there an equivalent for that expression in English?)

How many active officers investigated for their participation on April 11 2002 are involved with the case of the alleged paramilitaries?

More than 10. Some, under pressure, started cooperating. There is a lot of money involved, and wills can be bought.

How much money?

In the case of Altamira, each officer had a price. A Colonel said that he had been offered Bs. 100 million to go to Altamira, and they had to bring another person. The bribery has continued and we don’t overlook robberies of armored trucks.

There was a robbery last week at Avenida Libertador. Is there any link between this and the paramilitaries?

We will not rule that out.

But there was bribery at the beginning

It came from abroad. It came from the U.S., from US organizations. Great investors also contributed great sums of money.

[Lopez Hidalgo assures that the alleged paramilitaries came from the North Department of Santander. Venezuelan and Colombian citizens that have been dealing with violence recruited them. There are recordings. There were many visits. There is an ongoing investigation in Colombia and there is evidence of the recruiting procedure.

In his opinion, the way to solve the border disputes between Venezuela and Colombia is integration. There is no other war. We are clear on what has wanted to be solved in an armed conflict between both countries.]

Would you rule out conflict?

I can’t assure that, but the hypothesis we have is that they want to create a conflict, to brainwash officers about a conflict between Venezuela and Colombia. The countries that need our resources are not interested in a regional integration. They have done it in Venezuela. When you talk about Caracas, it is said that the East belongs to opposition, and the West is pro-Bolivarian. This must be stopped. They have wanted to divide public opinion. We must unite against these pretensions of occupation and violent invasion.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21365


http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_8269.shtml