"Our job has to be as members of this hemisphere to pursue policies that give democracy a chance not just to hold elections but to then actually provide for its people," Ms Rice said.

A CIA spokeswoman contended the agency played no role in the coup and was merely collecting information about political events in Venezuela for top U.S. officials. She said it was up to those officials and not the CIA to determine what to do with the information.

"The CIA was simply doing what it is we do, in terms of analyzing events and providing policy-makers with our best estimate of the events as they unfold," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named. She added that alerting Chávez to the impending coup "would suggest we would meddle in the affairs of another nation."

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, first elected in 1998 made democratic history today (Aug 12 2004) in a triumphant defeat of the recall referendum on his Presidency.

The very Constitution that he championed in 1999, that re-elected him in 2000, allows for a mid-term recall referendum for the President’s term in office. After six years in office, in this recall referendum held on Sunday, August 15th, Chavez lead with a 58% majority. Voters clearly exercised their constitutional right to confirm the President in a historic referenda process, never practiced in the history of this hemisphere.

Under the watchful eyes of over six hundred international observers and media scattered throughout the country, a majority of Venezuelan’s prevented their president from being ousted by a coalition opposition led by Accion Democratica (AD) and the Christian Democrats (COPEI), both parties representing the moderate and ultra right. Renowned international election observer delegations from the Carter Center, Organization of American States (OAS), and European Parliamentarians hailed the referendum process as free and fair.

I'm pretty sure the CIA was actually behind that coup attempt.

Hmm, you're right - he was elected totally democratic and fair.

As a sidenote to that weapons deal: the reason for it is that all the current armed forces rifles will be transfered to militia units (basically a whole lot of farmers that are being taught how to shoot as a countermeasure to the 'approaching US invasion').

Now that may sound innocent enough, but it's gonna create a whole lot of armed people who really like Chavez - which may hamper democracy in the long run.

He also has a habit of interupting TV shows with hours long speeches, but that's more funny than a sign of a nasty individual.

I have a good friend who just did his Poli. Sci. thesis on Chavez. I could probably get a hold of it if you guys are interested.
I got to see this guerilla video of when they essentially kidnapped Chavez. Fucking crazy shit.

You mean it's going to create a whole lot of armed people who will be able to fight for whoever they do really like. Just because he gives them guns doesn't mean they are going to support him for life. Which is the exact reason dictators don't like their populace to have guns.

Hmm yeah... my logic was that only people in support of the current administration will be in these militia units, which is something i'm actually not sure about. It just seems to make sense. Anyway, i really do think it's a bad idea to distribute weapons to the people, i can only see negative things resulting from it.

Also Jackal i might be interested in that too.

This is a really good resource on Venezuela info...

http://www.zmag.org/venezuela_watch.cfm

Nobody can rationally figure out how Cuba is a terrorist threat, especially after the total discrediting of John Bolton's claim in 2002 that Cuba's medical system is a cover for bioterrorism.

Rice openly threatened the elected government of Venezuela when she said she wants the OAS to hold accountable "leaders who do not govern democratically, even if they are democratically elected."

O'Grady calls the Cuban doctors "Fidel's foot soldiers" with "the potential for soft indoctrination, a kind of tilling the soil in the poor countryside so that it is ready when political opportunity presents itself as it has in Venezuela of late."

The U.S. government knew of a plot to oust Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, in the weeks before a 2002 military coup that briefly unseated him, newly released CIA documents show, despite White House claims to the contrary a week after the coup.

Yet the United States, which depends on Venezuela for nearly one-sixth of its oil, never warned Chávez, Venezuelan officials said.

The Bush administration has denied it was involved in the coup or knew one was being planned.

"This is substantive evidence that the CIA knew in advance about the coup, and it is clear that this intelligence was distributed to dozens of members of the Bush administration, giving them knowledge of coup plotting," said Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C.

However, he said that while the documents show U.S. officials knew a coup was coming, perhaps implying tacit approval, they do not constitute definitive proof the U.S. was involved in ousting Chávez.

The Bush administration and Chávez, a fiery former paratrooper, have clashed repeatedly, with Chávez accusing the United States of backing the coup against him.

The documents were obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by Eva Golinger, a Long Island attorney and pro-Chávez activist who also is investigating U.S. funding of groups opposed to him.

Chávez was arrested and overthrown April 12, 2002, after military dissidents blamed him for violence at an opposition protest march that left 19 people dead and 300 wounded. He was returned to power two days later.

But the April 6, 2002, CIA document states that "dissident military factions, including some disgruntled senior officers and a group of radical junior officers, are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Chávez, possibly as early as this month."