The Strange Death of Hugo Chavez: an Interview with Eva Golinger
April 22, 2016
The Strange Death of Hugo Chavez: an Interview with Eva Golinger
by Mike Whitney
“Hugo Chavez defied the most powerful interests, and he refused to bow down….I believe there is a very strong possibility that President Chavez was assassinated.”
— Eva Golinger
MW– Do you think that Hugo Chavez was murdered and, if so, who do you think might have been involved?
Eva Golinger– I believe there is a very strong possibility that President Chavez was assassinated. There were notorious and documented assassination attempts against him throughout his presidency. Most notable was the April 11, 2002 coup d’etat, during which he was kidnapped and set to be assassinated had it not been for the unprecedented uprising of the Venezuelan people and loyal military forces that rescued him and returned him to power within 48 hours. I was able to find irrefutable evidence using the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), that the CIA and other US agencies were behind that coup and supported, financially, militarily and politically, those involved. Later on, there were other attempts against Chavez and his government, such as in 2004 when dozens of Colombian paramilitary forces were captured on a farm outside of Caracas that was owned by an anti-Chavez activist, Robert Alonso, just days before they were going to attack the presidential palace and kill Chavez.
There was another, lesser-known plot against Chavez discovered in New York City during his visit to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2006. According to information provided by his security services, during standard security reconnaissance of an event where Chavez would address the US public at a local, renowned university, high levels of radiation were detected in the chair where he would have sat. The radiation was discovered by a Geiger detector, which is a handheld radiation detection device the presidential security used to ensure the President wasn’t in danger of exposure to harmful rays. In this case, the chair was removed and subsequent tests showed it was emanating unusual amounts of radiation that could have resulted in significant harm to Chavez had it gone undiscovered. According to accounts by the presidential security at the event, an individual from the US who had been involved in the logistical support for the event and had provided the chair was shown to be acting with US intelligent agents.
There were numerous other attempts on his life that were thwarted by the Venezuelan intelligence agencies and particularly the counterintelligence unit of the Presidential Guard that was charged with discovering and impeding such threats. One other well known attempt was in July 2010 when Francisco Chavez Abarca (no relation), a criminal working with Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, responsible for bombing a Cuban airliner in 1976 and killing all 73 passengers on board, was detained entering Venezuela and later confessed he had been sent to assassinate Chavez. Just five months earlier, in February 2010, when President Chavez was at an event near the Colombian border, his security forces discovered a sniper set up just over a quarter of a mile away from his location, who was subsequently neutralized.
While these accounts may sound like fiction, they are amply documented and very real. Hugo Chavez defied the most powerful interests, and he refused to bow down. As head of state of the nation without the largest oil reserves on the planet, and as someone who openly and directly challenged US and Western domination, Chavez was considered an enemy of Washington and its allies.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/22/the-strange-death-of-hugo-chavez-an-interview-with-eva-golinger/
= new reply since forum marked as read
On Sun Apr 24, 2016, 08:35 AM an alert was sent on the following post:
Oh, great. Here are the tinfoil-wearing conspiracy nuts believing that paid shill for Chavismo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1108&pid=49628
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
Calling fellow DUers 'tinfoil-wearing conspiracy nuts' just because someone disagrees is getting really old.
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Apr 24, 2016, 08:48 AM, and the Jury voted 3-4 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I don't think we should censor an opinion--however wrong or borderline sexist it is ("hag?"
--because it's "getting really old," or because we disagree. I disagree with this attack on Eva Golinger, who is a very good investigative journalist and political analyst from a leftist perspective. But I think that it's useful to see how those who oppose leftists express themselves and what kinds of rightwing propaganda they are promoting on a progressive web site.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: the post is rude.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
