U.S. Ambassador Denies Existence of U.S. Plan to Invade Venezuela

[dutchdemocrat]

U.S. Ambassador Denies Existence of U.S. Plan to Invade Venezuela
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By Christopher Toothaker Associated Press Writer

Published: Sep 29, 2005
2317EDT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The United States is not planning to invade Venezuela, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela said Thursday, disputing claims by President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez has said his government has documents showing Washington has a "Plan Balboa" to invade his oil-producing countrywide aircraft carriers and planes. He said Venezuela is preparing to repel any attack.

"No 'Plan Balboa' exists," Ambassador William Brownfield said.

Brownfield told reporters that Spain, not the United States, had included Venezuela in a simulated military exercise titled "Operation Balboa" more than four years ago. Relations between Washington and Caracas have been tense in recent months. Chavez has accused the United States of meddling, while Washington has criticized Chavez's decision to buy 100,000 Russian-made Kalashnikov assault rifles.

SNIP

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBUAF0W7EE.html

[RaRa]

1. Therefore, the plan certainly does exist.

This administration is ALWAYS saying the oppposite of reality.

[Lerkfish]

6. you beat me to it....in fact, this CONFIRMS they plan to invade.

[krkaufman]

7. I'm sure the Ambassador is telling the truth.

I expect they've already changed the name of the plan from 'Plan Balboa' to something more creative, like 'Plan Castroate' -- so the Ambassador isn't lying when he says "there is no 'Plan Balboa'."

[3days]

2. Well there you go

I'm glad the honest administration cleared that up.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. The Pentagon has contingency plans for EVERY country in the world....

...in case something happens, they just dust off the appropriate country-specific operation plan and put it into action.

The ambassador is lying through his teeth...jus what we've come to expect from any official of the NeoCon Junta.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Exactly; we even have plans to attack The Hague.

Personally, I don't want to rule the world; these people are filth.

[Say_What]

19. Tio Sam ain't that bright....

they have a cookie cutter plan that they've used over and over around the globe.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Cards_Index.h...

[soup]

4. Plans???

We don't need no steenkin plans! Plans are for girliemen.

Bush: 'No war plans on my desk' for Iraq
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/gen.war.on.terror /

Why go to the bother when a little meme will do?

fer us or aginst us
terra terra terra
axis of evil
let's roll
shock and awe
cakewalk
USA USA USA

exit strategy? If we told them when we're leaving, it would empower them.

What? Venezuela thinks it's SPECIAL? Plans - jeesh, get real.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Hey, soup! You got me laughing at 5 o'clock in the morning!

Did you know that the 49ers slaughtered 30,000 California Indians? I was blown away by that stat. And we thought the Mexican banditos were uncivilized!

[Tight_rope]

10. LMBAO...Thanks...I needed that laugh this morning!...n/t

[krkaufman]

8. Most ironic excerpt from the story....

Differences between Venezuela and the United States were exacerbated this week when a U.S. immigration judge ruled against the deportation of a Cuban militant wanted in Venezuela for a 1976 airliner bombing.

The judge in El Paso, Texas, cited conventions against sending a person to a country where he could face torture - a claim made by 77-year-old Luis Posada Carriles that Venezuela has strongly denies.

It's the consistency of these guys that you've gotta love.

[Spazito]

14. Geez, it makes perfect sense to me!

Ya see the difference is: the US charters planes to send people to a country where they DO face torture, quaintly called 'extraordinary rendition', and they do it without any petty interference by the courts or due process.

Here, the US would be expected to use one of it's own planes to extradite Mr. Carriles to face an actual court, that cannot be allowed!

[redqueen]

15. Any excuse to protect terrorists we like. n/t

[krkaufman]

17. There's the rub.

If you blow-up an airplane in the name of a cause with which America agrees, you're a freedom fighter. "Terrorist" is reserved for selective application to those fighting against real American values (i.e. free market capitalist hegemony).

[tainowarrior]

9. U.S. denies existence of coup attempt

oopsy daisy! Did a Coup just happen? Gee...where did that come from? It surprised even us. /sarcasm

[yurbud]

11. that settles it, doesn't it? Does that meant the troops are on the way?

[boise1]

12. It's now 'Operation Petroleo' n/t

[Terran]

13. Of course they HAVE a "plan"

The US military has plans ready to invade every country on earth. They spent the whole Cold War doing nothing but planning and planning and planning for things that never happened. And most assuredly they do have a plan to invade oil-producing countries.

[CatholicEdHead]

20. But do we have the resources?

after Iraq, I would say no.

[Judi Lynn]

18. The LAST U.S. ambassador was involved in the coup against Chavez

Creepy old Charles Shapiro. From a Guardian article:

........In Caracas, a congressman has accused the US ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, and two US embassy military attaches of involvement in the coup.

Roger Rondon claimed that the military officers, whom he named as (James) Rogers and (Ronald) MacCammon, had been at the Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters with the coup leaders during the night of April 11-12.

And referring to Mr Shapiro, Mr Rondon said: "We saw him leaving Miraflores palace, all smiles and embraces, with the dictator Pedro Carmona Estanga ... satisfaction was obvious. Shapiro's participation in the coup d'état in Venezuela is evident."
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,70...

Wealthy Venezuelan opposition members were only too happy to gloat to the rabid opposition right-wing press about a party Shapiro had at his residence which featured a Venezuelan comedian who performed a vicious skit with Chavez as the butt of many nasty jokes. You might notice a vague resemblance in the crude puppet shown below.



He threw this dinner, chose this entertainment for these guests, acting in our names, spending our taxpayers' dollars. Smoooth, aren't these Neocon creeps?



He also told Venezuelan Vice-President Rangel (above) that he knew of a plot to assassinate Hugo Chavez.

He ran to throw his arms around the coup President Carmona on the day he seized office, representing the U.S., of course. This is LOW.

If the LAST ambassador was this compromised by his anti-Chavez activities, why would anyone imagine the current one, Brownfield, is a clean man, either?

[IndianaGreen]

21. Rumsfeld threatened Venezuela when he was in Paraguay

Pentagon chief escalates threats against Venezuela
By Bill Van Auken
26 March 2005

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used his brief three-nation tour of Latin America this week to step up US threats against Venezuela and pressure the region’s governments into joining Washington’s campaign to isolate the government of President Hugo Chavez.

Echoing US rhetoric from the Cold War, Rumsfeld described Venezuela’s agreement to buy military hardware from Russia as a threat to the hemisphere. “Certainly I’m concerned,” he said, referring to the arms deal, which involves the purchase of 100,000 AK-47 rifles as well as 10 military helicopters from Moscow.

<snip>

The orchestration of propaganda campaigns over arms deals to justify US military aggression is an old game in Washington. In 1954, the news that the nationalist government of President Jacabo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala had purchased small arms from Czechoslovakia provided the pretext for a CIA-orchestrated coup that reversed land reform efforts and ushered in more than 30 years of dictatorship and repression.

Then, the intervention was directed at restoring the United Fruit Company’s monopolization of the country’s most fertile land and its ability to reap profits without the encumbrance of labor laws and taxation.

Today, similar considerations of corporate profits and US strategic interests are involved. The left-nationalist government of Chavez has become an impediment to the US-backed drive to privatize Venezuela’s considerable oil resources as a step towards their takeover by Washington and the US-based energy conglomerates.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/mar2005/rums-m26.shtm...