US freezes assets of Chavez aides

Yesterday, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez gave the US amabassador there 72 hours to close the US mission there and recalled his own ambassador. Prior to the announcement, Chavez manufactured a rally and assembled a crowd of supporters and told them that he had successfully twarted another coup attempt, ostensibly backed by the US. Jungle Mom posted this video in which Chavez called Americans “Yanquis de mierda” saying “we’ve had enough of your shit…” More of that excellent diplomacy to which we’ve become accustomed from Banana Boy. Val Prieto at Babalu Blog does a better translation than i can.

As I wrote yesterday on my Latin American blog, Tall & Rich, the Venezuelan blog, The Devil’s Excrement, saw no evidence of a coup. It also comes the day after the legislature gave Chavez the authority to toss out foreign oil companies.

The Miami Herald this morning, reports that the US retaliated by accusing thee Chavez aides of supporting the Colombian narco-terrorist group FARC.

The move by the U.S. Treasury Department, a day after Chávez announced the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy, freezes any assets the three men may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

Rodríguez Chacín is accused of helping the FARC obtain weapons, while the other two allegedly protected drug shipments. There was no immediate reaction to the sanctions from Venezuelan authorities.

This all comes as Bolivia’s communist President Evo Morales expelled the US ambassador there for supposedly lending aid to the autonomy movement there;

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington ”regrets” the expulsions, which ”reflect the weakness and desperation” of the Chávez and Morales governments.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said McCormack’s statement was an attempt to ”cover up the reality of the decadent government of the United States.” A foreign ministry statement accused Washington of “repeated demonstrations of hostility.”

It also comes on the day that a Miami judge is scheduled to sentence two Chavez agents in the maleta-gate scandal involving illegal campaign contributions to the Argentine elections from Chavez (el Universal link);

A judge is to sentence on Friday, September 12 Venezuelan Moisés Maionica and Uruguayan Rodolfo Edgardo Waseele Paciello, who are accused of conspiring to act as covert agents of the Venezuelan government in US territory without Washington authorization in the so-called suitcase scandal, reported on Monday court sources.

While part of the Russian Navy sails into Venezuelan waters, Chavez welcomed two Russian bombers to his country on Wednesday (France24 link);

Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers were in Venezuela on Wednesday for “training flights,” Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said, adding he would be piloting one of the aircraft.

“I hope that stings, ‘pitiyanquis’,” he said, using a derogatory term for Venezuelan opponents who have perceived US sympathies.

“What’s more, I’m going to take the controls of one of these monsters,” boasted the president, a former paratrooper and left-wing politician who has avowed antagonism towards the United States.

Manuel at The Devil’s Excrement says there’s no evidence of Chavez actually piloting either of the aircraft yet…just more bluster from the little pudgy weasel.

As I wrote yesterday, if I were Venezuelan, I’d be worried about who Chavez will accuse of undermining the Bolivarian Revolution after he tosses the yanquis out. The Real Cuba reports that the Bolivian Army has announced to Chavez that they won’t allow ANY foreign intervention;

“To the President of Venezuela, Mr Hugo Chavez, and to the international community, we say that the armed forces (of Bolivia) emphatically reject any foreign intervention of any kind, wherever they be from,” Armed Forces Commander in Chief Luis Trigo said in a televised statement. “We will not allow any foreign soldier or armed force to set foot on our soil,” he added.

In Latin American, the military defends the respective constitutions of their nations, not the political leaders. The Bolivian Army allows Morales to be President – that makes this pronouncement much more ominous than it seems.

Thanks to Jimmy Carter…the gift that keeps on giving.

Crossposted at Tall & Rich

Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez, Politics, Terror War