[NYTr] Chavez: US Trying to Foment Rebellion in Military

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via Yahoo - Oct 4, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us


Chavez accuses US of military rebellion

By JORGE RUEDA
Associated Press Writer 

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez accused the U.S. on
Wednesday of trying to spur a military rebellion, saying the CIA is
behind the distribution of leaflets inside army barracks calling for
his ouster.

Speaking to dozens of army officers at Venezuela's largest military
base, Chavez urged soldiers to resist calls for a coup from "oligarchs
and their imperialist masters," a reference to the United States.

"They will always try to divide us and confuse us to weaken us, and
thereby dominate us," said Chavez, who weathered a short-lived coup in
2002.

Noting that leaflets calling for a rebellion have been circulating in
army barracks recently, he said: "That's why they have the CIA."

State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper declined to comment on
Chavez's statements. The Venezuelan leader has accused opposition
leaders and U.S. officials of involvement in coup-related plots many
times before, and both have repeatedly denied them.

Government opponents argue Chavez uses repeated warnings of alleged
uprisings to divert public attention from domestic problems such as
soaring crime or his proposed constitutional reforms that would abolish
limits on re-election.

There have been no signs of discontent within Venezuela's military
since the 2002 coup, which was led by dissident generals who accused
Chavez of ordering soldiers to shoot anti-government protesters. Chavez
denies the accusations.

Chavez himself led a botched coup as an army lieutenant colonel in
1992, arguing that widespread corruption warranted ousting
then-President Carlos Andres Perez. More than 80 civilians and 17
soldiers were killed before troops loyal to Perez quelled the
short-lived putsch.