Chavez:Florida-based opposition link to terrorist attack in Venezuela

Danilo Anderson, the Venezuelan prosecutor investigating the 2002 coup attempt by the opposition to Hugo Chavez, was assassinated Thursday evening in Caracas.  Anderson was killed when his SUV exploded in an apparent terrorist act, the Chavez government is already pointing a finger of blame at the opposition.

More on the flip

"The attack against Danilo Anderson is an attack against all of us,'' Chavez said in a televised address to the nation, adding that it was also an attack on Venezuelans' dreams of democracy.

The president's spokesman, Andres Izarra, earlier accused expatriate ``terrorists'' of being behind the assassination. ....

Izarra said the assassination was aimed at attacking the judicial branch and derailing Anderson's investigations and prosecutions of those who supported the coup against Chavez, in which 19 people were killed and almost 300 wounded.....

``The fascists and terrorists that acted against the prosecutor'' want to derail Chavez's social revolution, Chavez's spokesman told a news conference. ``Some of them train and constantly make pronouncements from Florida, United States.''

Venezuela is pretty much mixed nuts, and Chavez is hardly an angel, still....

Much of the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein was harboring terrorists.  

Political violence of this sort is despicable, and it raises serious questions about the intergrity of the war on terror if the Bush admnistration has allowed American territory to be used as a base of terrorist operations against the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The AP has the story.  It will be interesting to see if this has legs, because this could do tremendous damage to President's standing in the war on terror.

•  Innocent until proven guilty.

  Chavez has been exemplary in his leadership of Venezuela. It's not necessary to call him hardly an angel. While some here think he may yet turn bad, he has been extremely careful to do things by the book, and so deserves the benefit of doubt.

  Otherwise, thanks for the post.

  by wegerje on Fri Nov 19, 2004 at 10:15:32 PM PDT

  •  the influence of Armando

    the hardly an angel comment was armando's influence.  Chavez has done much good for the native and poor in Venezuela, but his 1992 coup attempt is a blemish.  That and the bolivarian circles have the feel of nascent Red Guards.  It's not the end, it's the means that make Chavez somewhat less than fully democratic.

    by ManfromMiddletown on Fri Nov 19, 2004 at 10:33:25 PM PDT

    •  I know the Armando influence

      and the benefit of doubt is what Armando withholds. I'm coming from the other influence Al Giordano who would see the means as so far so much to Chavez's credit. The coup from his perspective (and mine) is to Chavez's credit. It was not from the usual South American coup tradition of a coup for personal power but rather for power for the powerless. His actions so far support that frame.

      Will he become corrupted by the power? We won't know until it happens. Is Bush becoming corrupted by his power. Will he declare himself dictator for life. You and I both doubt it because we are giving him the benefit of doubt, even with the blemish of the stolen 2000 election. Granted it's a weak analogy.

      I too have found myself phrasing things to give a nod to Armando's strongly held opinions.

      by wegerje on Sat Nov 20, 2004 at 07:40:38 AM PDT

•  The US Government...

  ...is actively hostile to Chavez, is it not? The disappointment in his election was palpable. (Why didn't we just send them Diebold machines, so we could get the result we want?)

  I hope very strongly that our Goverment has no connection with anyone who would do something so heinous.

  Hey, apropos of nothing, and in no way connected to the above post, what is Ollie North doing these days? There's a character for you....

  by Bensdad on Fri Nov 19, 2004 at 10:25:50 PM PDT

  •  Irony

    Exit poll follies in Venezuela.  It's delicously ironic to see the Newsmax folks using exit polls to alledge fraud in the referendum.

    by ManfromMiddletown on Fri Nov 19, 2004 at 10:39:17 PM PDT

•  The Revolution will not be Televised

  http://www.lokitorrent.com/download.php?id=17477
  Download this movie with Bit Torrent.
  Everyone must watch it.

  by qw3rty on Fri Nov 19, 2004 at 11:04:21 PM PDT

•  Chavez

  Chavez is more democratically minded then our current leadership. He's won at least three national elections, and stomped the opposition in the recall. His party also just won 20 of 22 governships.  

  Really, it's Bush who is no angel. It's the U.S. government who is no angel. Let's no kids ourselves.

  by bigbay on Sat Nov 20, 2004 at 12:17:42 AM PDT

•  The U.S. has harbored Cuban Terrorists

  for years. They are our own, outsourced (off-the-shelf, in ollie north lingo) dirty work team, handling everything from Florida politics to bombings. Just Google for Luis Posada Carriles, for example.  
  The U.S. tried to oust Chavez with a coup, then they tried with a schwarzenegger-style putsch-by-plebiscite. Remember how Otto Reich sent a cable welcomong the new leadership in venezuela before the coup had been announced?

  by Cache on Sat Nov 20, 2004 at 12:31:16 AM PDT