Chavez Says He Has WH Informant Who Told Him Of Threats To Kill Him

[kpete]

Chavez says he has a White House informant who told him of threats to kill him or topple his government.
Chavez says he has White House informant
Updated 10/2/2006 5

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he has received warnings from within the White House that the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his left-leaning government.
Citing what he said were warnings from an alleged White House informant, Chavez told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally that President Bush has ordered him to be killed before he leaves office in 2008.

Bush "has said that before he goes, Hugo Chavez shouldn't be the president of Venezuela," Chavez told the crowd. "The president of the United States has said it, especially in recent days. What he doesn't know is that I have friends in the White House."

The Venezuelan leader has claimed before that the U.S. government is out to kill him — allegations that U.S. officials deny.

more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-10-02-chavez-plot_x.htm?csp=24

[wakeme2008]

1. IMHO Not a smart move Chavez....

Do not show all your cards..... Bush will now be looking for your "friend".

[The Deacon]

4. Actually, That IS A Smart Move -

They'll look so hard for the "traitor" (who probably doesn't exist) that they'll tear themselves apart - and they won't dare move on Venezuela until they've found the "traitor." Makes Chavez nearly bulletproof.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

5. No lose for Chavez

He will claim that * himself spearheaded a search for the nonexistent "friend." Since said "friend" does not exist, they will never find him. Since they never find him (i.e. no public announcement of a Venezuelan mole/leak in the WH) tin-horn Hugo will claim that his intelligence service is smarter than *.

Watch how this unfolds. Hoepfully this will stop with this stupid claim, but I doubt it, Hugo will keep pressing.

[EFerrari]

13. Why would you insult Hugo Chavez? He's the most progressive

leader in the Americas.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

17. Right I shouldn't insult him

because I might get arrested in Venezuela for it. You know, that whole "desacato" law and all.

[OneBlueSky]

20. actually, it's a fairly brilliant move by Chavez . . .

he's gonna drive the White House bat-shit crazy trying to figure out who the informant is . . . he's ratcheting up their paranoia a couple of notches -- if only for his own amusement . . .

it's even more brilliant if there IS NO informant -- which I strongly suspect may be the case . . . :evilgrin:

[alfredo]

41. I think what he said was for domestic consumption. You never

confirm the existence of a mole. You make your target wonder if there are moles. I think he was just blowing smoke.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. I'd Like To Think Chavez is Batshit Crazy

But at this point, I really can't think that.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

3. Chavez is off his meds again

This is an idiotic story about an idiot despot clamoring for significance in the world.

Why does the MSM keep giving this fool coverage?

"Friends in the WH" RIIGGGGHHHHTTTT. More like imaginary friends in his head.

[madokie]

6. hhmmmmm

http://www.nirvani.net.nyud.net:8090/misc/$87,000,000,000/dubya.jpg

[The Deacon]

7. Just Like Bush Didn't Spend USAID Money To Have A

US Government contractor advise the Right Wing in Venezuela on the recall election (which Chavez won handily - guess the Venezuelan Right Wing will have to go back to raping & pilaging in the back country, since Chavez closed off their access to the National bank account & oil revenues.) US Government was probably involved in the coup attempt as well.
Wake up - Chavez was a friend until Junior & Deadeye Dick formed a partnership with the Venezuelan fascista to protect the Carlyle Group's business in South America.

[rman]

11. The idiot despot is in the WH

Chavez otoh has been democratically elected and unlike the Chimp he has not spend the past years taking away the freedoms from the people of his country.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

12. Why do you

Keep trying to position the straw-man that criticizing Chavez is defending ****?

There is room for more than one despot in the world.

[EFerrari]

14. You don't know a thing about Chavez or Venezuela, do you?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

18. You chose to be blind to it

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aLgo.iOdQ3tI&refer=latin_america

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the country's constitution needs to be changed to ``deepen the revolution'' and gave no details as to possible amendments.

rewrite the constitution to allow him to serve through 2031 if the country's opposition parties boycott elections scheduled for December.

[rman]

21. "rewrite the constitution to allow him to serve through 2031"

is only part of the story. Maybe you don't know the other part of the story, but most here do. So i'm not going to bother to explain it to you. If you're curious about it, it's easy to find via google.

[EFerrari]

25. What a crock. n/t

[bananas]

29. The Official DU Hugo Chavez Right-Wing Falsehood Debunking Thread!!!

"I hereby RESURRECT the Official DU Hugo Chavez Right-Wing Falsehood Debunking Thread!!!"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2199484&mesg_id=2199484

[rog]

34. Man ... talk about selective quoting.

Can I post the complete sentence you quoted above?

The former military officer has previously threatened to rewrite the constitution to allow him to serve through 2031 if the country's opposition parties boycott elections scheduled for December.

And the previous paragraph is interesting also:

Chavez rewrote Venezuela's constitution after he was elected president in 1998. Voters overwhelmingly approved the new constitution, which included a name change for the country and reorganized the Venezuelan Congress, in December 1999.

There's lots of information out there. Just search on: Chavez rewrite constitution. Here's one short but good article that came up, from the NY Times.

New President in Venezuela Proposes to Rewrite the Constitution (1999)
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/venezuela/rewrite.htm

CARACAS, Venezuela -- In his first hours in office, President Hugo Chavez Frias sent tremors through the political establishment by moving to rewrite the Constitution in a process that is highly likely to replace the newly elected Congress with one that has more of his allies.

For Chavez and his supporters, the 1961 Constitution is a symbol of a corrupt political system that has fed popular resentment and apathy. It was written by leaders of the two traditional parties, Accion Democratica and Copei, to keep Marxist groups aligned at the time with Cuban-backed guerrillas out of the political process.

Now, Marxist and socialist groups in the coalition that elected Chavez sorely want to replace the document. As he took his oath of office on Tuesday, Chavez called the Constitution moribund even as he pledged to uphold it.

And he ran for election ... in which he won a landslide victory ... on a platform that replaced the ban on presidential re-election. That opened the door for him to be re-elected to another 5-year term.

It seems that Venezuela has a system of checks and balances, and a process for things like this. It was hardly a unilateral move by Chavez.

Chavez also said he hoped that a new Constitution would take politics out of the judiciary by replacing the congressional appointment of judges with one based on selection by a board of legal scholars. He expressed hopes that a new Constitution would also replace the system in which party bosses manage the selection of congressional candidates and then control their votes.

In the campaigns last year, Chavez's opponents said that a referendum to form an assembly with powers to draft a new constitution would be unconstitutional. But last month the Supreme Court backed Chavez's position, and congressional leaders said that Congress should call for the referendum.

On Tuesday, Chavez issued the referendum decree, saying that Congress should focus its energies on economic policy. His decree set in motion a year of campaigning over three referendums, one on whether to rewrite the Constitution, a second to elect delegates to the assembly that would rewrite the Constitution and a third on ratifying it.

It's a very interesting article.

.rog.

[rman]

23. I'm not saying you're defending Bush, i'm just pointing out the facts.

[Judi Lynn]

31. It seems they think that if they claim they aren't defending the Blob

in the White House, it's going to have to be o.k. if they spew absolute rot about _Bush's "enemies."

That's not NEARLY good enough.

Another shoddy habit they've got is claiming anyone who despises what _Bush has done hates "America," rather than allowing the truth to stand just as it is, without trying to bend it.

[Generic Other]

8. Chavez will be in office long after we've finally shed ourselves

of the Bush administration. If Bush is involved in the assassination of foreign heads of state, he deserves to go to jail for murder.

[mod mom]

9. Those "quaint" laws are so pre 911. It's a brave new world.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

15. Exactly, he'll just rewrite the Constitution again to serve his needs

N/T

[Judi Lynn]

16. Maybe you'll post those links to information on how he rewrote the

Venezuelan Constitution. You'd be doing everyone a favor.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

19. Sure

See Post #14.

[rman]

24. We've been over that about a million times

You're either blind, stupid, a disinfo op, or you've been on vacation for the past year or so.

[Lars39]

27. You need to post a link to source your assertion.

[Judi Lynn]

30. It's doubtful you should turn to BLOOMBERG to explain Venezuelan law

to you!

Try taking a quick glimpse at this link for a look at how Amendments are added, or the Constitution is reformed in Venezuela:

http://www.embavenez-us.org/constitution/title_IX.htm

Don't even think you're going to float absolute crap past DU'ers.

[woodsprite]

10. It's Mrs. Beasley! n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. He doesn't need an "informant" to tell him the obvious.

Given the sterling record of our "democratic" government's role in subversion and assasination of democratically elected leaders having someone in the WH confirm it is kinda like having someone in the Mafia confirm that they break laws.

[EFerrari]

26. The latest I heard from the Venezuela Info Office is

the CAbal is funding rightwing polls that show Hugo's opposition "gaining in popularity".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. They're doing it for "our" good.

Just like they did in Chile, Angola, Guatamala, Iran, Honduras, Vietnam, Iraq, and countless other countries to "preserve freedom".

They make Al-Queda look like a bunch of bumbling amateurs.

[EFerrari]

38. They really do. They make al Qaida look like gnats.

I'm grateful to Chavez for being a huge pain to them. I wish he would give speeches every day.

[rman]

33. lemme guess: phone polls

?

[Judi Lynn]

35. No doubt, since most of the Venezuelan poor don't have phones.

That would get them the results they would crave.

I've also read that the neighborhood canvassers don't go up into the barrios because they are afraid of the poor people! They just don't bother, like the Venezuelan doctors.

[EFerrari]

39. Those people love Chavez. That's where Greg Palast filmed

and it was interesting to see how well informed the people in one of the poorest hoods in Caracas were.

[EFerrari]

37. Sorry - I zoned out. Here's the notice:

While President Chavez was delivering his speech before the United Nations last week, polling firms in Venezuela were publicizing their latest findings. Unfortunately, the results were highly contradictory.

The poll results, detailed below, reflect Venezuela’s polarized political discourse in general, and follow a pattern we saw before the recall referendum in which individual polling firms artificially inflated support for the opposition movements and attempted to discredit the referendum’s results.

Poll #1: Penn, Schoen & Berland
Released on September 22, results from a Penn, Schoen & Berland poll show Chavez opponent Manuel Rosales surging in the polls, rising more than 25 percentage points in just a matter of weeks. Unlikely? Of course, but it’s Penn & Schoen, the company responsible for the phony exit polling during the 2004 recall referendum that nearly set the country into chaos. Among other things, Penn & Schoen’s 2004 polls:

* Were conducted not by independent pollsters, but by hard-core opposition activists from the organization Sumate;

* Were illegally released hours before polls closed in a move described by former President Jimmy Carter as an attempt “to build up, not only the expectation of victory, but also to influence the people still standing in line;” and

* Were found by a Washington think tank to be almost certainly manipulated intentionally. In fact, the independent analysis described the odds that Penn & Schoen got the numbers wrong by mistake as “less than one in 10 to the 490th power.” To put this into context, these are similar odds to one person winning the lottery every week for an entire year.

Poll #2: Hinterlaces
Hinterlaces had inoculated itself from charges of bias earlier this summer, when its previous poll results showed Chavez leading Rosales 55% to 7%. But results released last week show Rosales’ popularity climbing dramatically to 30%, while Chavez’s support suspiciously falls below the 50% mark.

Like Penn & Schoen, the Hinterlaces team has close ties to the opposition. While in its most recent round of polling, the firm has refused to disclose its funding and methodology, in the past it has been underwritten by a consortium of Venezuelan business interests. Earlier this year Hinterlaces entered into a partnership with the hard-core opposition tabloid “Descifrado en la Calle” to publicize their results in opposition circles.

More Accurate Polling
In contrast, Venezuela’s largest independent polling firm, Datanalisis, showed the President’s popularity holding steady at 58% while Rosales support comes in at 17%. This is a 30 point spread, compared with the 13 to 18 point spread presented by opposition pollsters.

A recent Reuters article argues that whether the opposition polls are accurate or not, they will likely help Rosales gain momentum. “any voters who feel a vote for Rosales is a waste may turn to him if they start to think the polls show he can win, according to political analysts,” they write. l

With the presidential elections just two months away, it is important that Venezuela watchers know where the numbers are coming from. Please keep an eye on your local media and contact them when they report poll numbers from disreputable polling firms.

Chavez’s UN Speech
By now you have read many news reports about President Chavez’s controversial speech before the United Nations last week. While the headlines often obscure the context, you can form your own opinions by reading the full transcript (translated) or watching the video (dubbed) on our website.

New Venezuela Website
Last March, six hundred academics, activists, faith leaders and public figures gathered in Washington, DC to form an alliance to support Venezuela’s right to democracy and sovereignty. This September, the newly-formed Venezuela Solidarity Network launched their new website, complete with background materials, delegation information, action alerts and a Venezuela-themed blog.

Elections Information
Be sure to check out all the latest on the Venezuelan presidential elections by visiting our website: http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/back/back.html

[leftchick]

45. exactly what I was thinking

I thought it was obvious that the bush cabal has been wanting to off Chavez for years now.

[rman]

32. Have there ever been so many leaks during any presidency before W?

[Gregorian]

36. If so, then bombing Iraq was not about Saddam.

They could have gotten rid of Saddam with one bullet.

[EFerrari]

40. For this crew any war is about profiteering. That's why they don't care

about troop strength or about equipping the troops or about a post war plan or about how much money they spend or how many people they kill. I don't think they care if we "win" the war, any way, or not as long as their contracts keep moving.

They are strip mining the world.

[Gregorian]

42. The most difficult thing for me is to stay optimistic.

I'm just sitting here shaking my head in disbelief. But then I've been doing that since Reagan took office.

I'd like to wish you well. I read your post regarding Oaxaca. I may not have relatives there, but I spent a summer in 1974 living with a family in Oaxaca. And even from that, I have a special place in my memories for that little town.

It's all very frightening. I hate guns. And malignant machinery. But somewhere, as we see on DU, there is something that can never die. I'm not sure what it is. It's rather dim right now. I spent yesterday thinking about my will. I don't have one. But to even think about that is really dark. Today is brighter.

[jeanarrett]

43. Sfexpat, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to "Google" your

"comment."

:rofl:

[earth mom]

44. Kick!

:kick: