Colombia: A Stepping Stone for U.S. Operations against Venezuela [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia: A Stepping Stone for U.S. Operations against Venezuela
Nil NIKANDROV | 20.06.2013 | 00:00

The arrests of Colombian paramilitares on the territory of Venezuela are not seen as anything sensational. There are more and more cases like that. And nobody asks why the fighters are methodically infiltrating the country, cleverly disguised as seasonal workers or tourists. They are being used by the enemies of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as part of a wide-reaching conspiracy, coordinated by U.S. and NATO intelligence agencies, to overthrow the lawfully elected authorities.

Earlier the paramilitares fought in the ranks of the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia), created by Colombian military intelligence to combat the leftist-Marxist partisan groups FARC and ELN. The formal «disarmament» of the AUC in Colombia did not lead to their full demobilization. Now they are used to fight against «populist» regimes. A significant number of the subdivisions of the AUC were «redirected» by the CIA field station and advisors of the U.S. military mission to specific assignments for destabilizing Venezuela. In June alone in the states of Tachira and Portuguesa, two groups of paramilitares whose leaders were well known in Colombia for their bloody exploits were captured. An active search for a third group operating in Caracas is underway. Information about other armed cells of the AUC operating in the country has been coming in. As Venezuelan Minister of Internal Affairs Miguel Rodriguez Torres has stated, the investigation has shown that the paramilitares had maintained connections with the ultra-right-wing circles of the Venezuelan opposition and were preparing an attempt against President Nicolas Maduro. The confiscated explosives; firearms, including a Bushmaster rifle with a telescopic sight; dozens of cases of cartridges; grenades and Venezuelan military uniforms are direct proof of this.

Similar events had taken place previously in Venezuela in 2004, when law enforcement agents arrested 150 paramilitares in the vicinity of Caracas who had infiltrated the country to attack the presidential palace, kill Hugo Chavez and fake a military «uprising» in order to make it easier for the radical opposition to seize power. Currently the domestic and foreign conspirators are focusing on fomenting dissatisfaction among the populace through an artificial shortage of staple commodities by hiding them in secret stockpiles or smuggling them to neighboring countries, mostly to Colombia. As before, the Venezuelan media is blowing such topics as «rampant crime» and «the inability of the Nicolas Maduro government to deal with it» out of proportion. In particular, falsified «murder statistics» are used for this purpose. The numerous instances of the involvement of professional Colombian killers in murders in Venezuela's border states are covered up. According to the evaluations of Venezuelan police and counterintelligence agencies, terrorist acts of this kind in Caracas and other large cities are encouraged by U.S. intelligence.

The «fifth column» has been especially active in the oil state of Zulia, which is traditionally considered «separatist». In recent years the CIA and U.S. military intelligence field stations in Colombia have been implementing measures to reinforce «centrifugal tendencies» in the state, spur on conflicts between the local elite and the central authorities, and promote the idea that the «Republic of Zulia» would have a higher standard of living as an independent state among the «masses». The sabotage in Zulia has really become quite alarming. President Maduro has met several times recently with the state's governor, Francisco Arias, to discuss measures to stop the smuggling of gasoline and food products and establish uninterrupted energy delivery, which is extremely important for the hottest region of the country.

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