US continues to send mixed signals on the Venezuelan crisis

www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, March 17, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

As usual, the United States has been sending mixed signals on the Venezuelan crisis ... the US Embassy in Caracas has congratulated Banking Superintendent (Sudeban) Irwin Ochoa for the Venezuelan government’s support of the international effort against the funding of terrorists … “with its help we have been able to make positive advances towards our objectives.”

On the other hand, US military commanders have been attacking the Chavez Frias administration for its alleged scaling down of borderland sorties against Colombian guerrilla movements. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has dismissed charges from Venezuelan Foreign Minister (MRE) Roy Chaderton Matos that Bush administration's special envoy to Latin America, Otto Reich is promoting a “silver bullet solution" to the Venezuelan political crisis on … “it’s a ridiculous lie.”

Wall Street Journal analyst Mary Anastasia O’Grady has published what she says are details of the Venezuelan government’s alleged links with terrorist States such as Iraq and Libya, as well as contacts with Colombian guerrilla, Castro and rogue state security agents. O’Grady also suggests that, apart from placing Cuban security agents inside Venezuelan security forces, Chavez Frias has allowed agents from Middle East rogue states to join up.