Venezuela reports US offer to collaborate in terror probe (???)

[struggle4progress]

An apparently conciliatory element has emerged in what for years has been an antagonistic relationship between the United States and Venezuela, with Caracas saying Friday that Washington has committed itself to arresting and sending back to their homeland for trial two alleged Venezuelan assassins supposedly hiding out in Miami.

But the development also has its enigmatic side, as the same Venezuelan attorney general who reported the U.S. willingness to help has also said the CIA may have been involved in the assassination at the center of the case.

The two men believed to have fled to Florida are suspects in the terrorist attack that killed a prosecutor in Caracas a year ago.

Venezuelan Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez personally received a commitment to help from U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield at a meeting in the prosecutor’s office on Thursday, the department said on its Web page on Friday. <snip>

http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?ArticleId=203086&CategoryId=10717

OK. I'm confused. Yeah, I know: I'm ALWAYS confused. But I mean, now, more than ever. What's going on here?

[whoretaculture]

1. Too many agencies

Looks like a judge stopped action on the hijackers and an ambassador wants to help. No connection there at all. Throw in the CIA and all bets are off at that point.

[struggle4progress]

2. Unlikely that the ambassador wants to help. US has acknowledged ..

.. prior knowledge of the 2002 coup attempt against Chavez (but claims we opposed the coup and warned Chavez in advance -- which is simply laughable, since the US immediately made the embarrassing mistake of recognizing the short-lived coup government). The current US ambassador Brownfield was in the administration during the period leading up to the coup and certainly would not have been promoted to ambassador had he not been a Bush loyalist, so it's extremely unlikely he has any real desire to smooth relations with Chavez. In any case, Brownfield probably isn't in a position to sway a federal judge, who tend to take a dim view of interference.

And welcome to DU! :)

[whoretaculture]

3. Correct

My point was that an ambassador and a judge are unrelated. I think it's unlikely that every decision made by the State Department is narrowly focused. We exchanged captured spies with the USSR after all.