Comments on Postcards from the Revolution: OPERATION "PLIERS"

Eva, great blog. I am interested in how you got i...

2008-01-07T02:19:00.000-04:30

Eva, great blog. I am interested in how you got involved in the Bolivarian movement and made the move to Caracas, and how you are finding life now that you are there. Did you have connections previously? Is there a program for interationalists to wish to participate?

Found the original document yet? We'd love to see ...

2007-12-10T10:46:00.000-04:30

Found the original document yet? We'd love to see it.

Interesting article evaits quite a clever strategy...

2007-12-03T11:32:00.000-04:00

Interesting article eva

its quite a clever strategy the US are employing. Destabilise the country through propaganda that argues that Chavez is an opponent of democracy (mixed with more insidious attempts at destabilisation, threats of violence, attacks on democratic processes etc) and then when destabilisation does occur and Chavez is forced into a situation where he has to declare a state of emergency- bang- the US appear to have been right all along. from there we presume less clandestine operations can begin

Please post a copy of the original before it gets ...

2007-12-03T09:44:00.000-04:00

Please post a copy of the original before it gets "lost".

What a joke you have become.

Thank you for revealing this. The CIA has used a s...

2007-12-02T15:33:00.000-04:00

Thank you for revealing this. The CIA has used a similar strategy in Ayiti. We have posted on HaitiAnalysis.com

Further to my last comment; it appears that U.S. c...

2007-12-02T15:05:00.000-04:00

Further to my last comment; it appears that U.S. companies are behind much of the anti-reform propaganda that was spread prior to the referendum vote.

One of the most scandalous was an anonymous two-page spread in the country’s largest circulation newspaper, Últimas Noticias, which claimed about the Constitutional Reform:

“If you are a Mother, YOU LOSE! Because you will lose your house, your family and your children (children will belong to the state).”

The illegal ad, which was caught and suspended by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) after a few days in the press, has received relatively high-profile attention in the Venezuelan press, and even Chavez joked about it last Friday on the nightly pro-Chavez talk show, La Hojilla. What appears to have gone completely ignored, however, is the fact that the ad itself was placed by an organization which has at its core, dozens of subsidiaries of the largest US corporations working in Venezuela.

The problem appears to be that many thousands of Venezuelans, many of them Chavez supporters, have bought the exaggerations and lies about Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform that have been circulating across the country and the impact that this propaganda has on today’s vote could be key.

As I said earlier, my own family in Caracas have been frightened by the exaggerations enough to turn against the reforms and withdraw their support.

For more info see http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2904

Tio

Further to my last comment; it appears that U.S. c...

2007-12-02T15:02:00.000-04:00

Jason,The problem is not so much that the state ta...

2007-12-02T10:59:00.000-04:00

Jason,
The problem is not so much that the state takes your children at a certain age but its more that they eat them after they have been educated.

And doesn't that really point out the fundamental difference between Chavez and someone much better like Carlos Andres Perez.

Andres always ate them uneducated. To waste educational resources like that is just ridiculous

By all means, you and your Caracas family scurry on out and vote a big "NO" to eating educated children

Hello EvaI have a lot of respect for you and the w...

2007-12-02T09:17:00.000-04:00

Hello Eva

I have a lot of respect for you and the work that you are doing. I wanted to ask you something...

I spoke to the side of my family in Caracas who are pro-Chavez yesterday and they surprised me as even they were against the proposed changes to the constitution and said they would be voting NO. There is a lot of anxiety surrounding some of the proposals that are maybe just too radical for people to ratify. The idea of the State taking kids away from their parents when they reach a certain age and having state control over the kids in order to educate them is causing particular alarm and outrage it seems. I must admit I am still trying to find more info on this proposal to understand just exactly what has been proposed. Can you shed some light on this proposal?

Many thanks for your time

There is no "Democracy" in the USA, it is a place ...

2007-12-02T01:42:00.000-04:00

There is no "Democracy" in the USA, it is a place where a small elite class imposes its will on the majority. This was not the case after the US Revolution.

It has gotten to the point where Mayors and Governors impose taxes and the middle class is disappearing. Jobs are going to other countries. No vote by the people is ever taken on any of these issues. Look at the immigration debate, no one is listening to the people and the people are starting to become violent towards Latinos, all over the country. No one is listening to the people about the war either. No one in the US listens to the people anymore.

Venezuelans, whether you vote "Si" o "No", you get what we in the US do not; a vote that matters.

In the years I lived in Central / South America, in all the years under real Dictators, even under the US system; there is one thing neither me nor my family ever got to do ... vote for something that counts. You do not have to pay lobbyists to pay Officials for a decision. YOU get to vote.

Make your vote count.

A Dios te pido.

Perdoneme Eva for the multiple posts, there seems to be something wrong on my end today.

Where will the original document be published? Is ...

2007-12-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

Where will the original document be published? Is a Spanish transcription available? Is there any information on the provenance of the document? The CIA has called it a "fake," State has denied -- after April 2002, how much credibility does State have on the issue? -- and Jeremy Bigwood is quoted in the NY Times as casting doubt on it because "There’s not an original version in English, and the timing of its release is strange." That seems like a fair point, at any rate. The NY Times is the only major news organization I can find that even mentions the matter. It is also charged that SIP-IAPA is cooperating in falsifying opinion poll results. (Headline in EL TIEMPO the other day: "5 of 6 polls indicated advantage for NO," while other papers are reporting "a technical tie.") After the Casas Memorandum incident in Costa Rica, and the behavior of Susan Schwab, and other peculiar incidents of weirdly slanted reporting from the likes of AP and Reuters, this sort of claim seems plausible. But it needs solid documentary backing, preferably before the vote, if the Hugoites want to dispel charges that this is an "October surprise"-style publicity stunt. Personally, as a member with full privileges myself (well, maybe not FULL privileges -- I am not a Bush Pioneer), I would just like to know if it is a fact that we pay gazillions in taxes to these people to keep secrets, and then they prove to be unable to (Valerie Plame). Look, I would not vote for Chávez myself, for mayor of New York City, say (I voted Bloomberg). But then again, I am not Venezuelan, so I figure it really isn't any of my business. I would just like to know what my tax dollars are paying for, if not dropping a smart bomb on Osama bin Laden. Now THAT I would be willing to pay for.

The oligarchy's massive propaganda system is hard ...

2007-12-01T13:20:00.000-04:00

The oligarchy's massive propaganda system is hard at work in the USA in their efforts to destroy democracy in Venezuela. The ignorant fools have no love in their hearts for the people. Morally they are bankrupt, and their are destined to fall. Chavez should kick out those who are trying to disrupt government by and for the people. It's time to get tough with the bastards.

Well, aporrea.com posted something on what Chavez ...

2007-11-30T22:56:00.000-04:00

Well, aporrea.com posted something on what Chavez has replied. Basically:

-Any media outlet found to be involved in this type of subversive activity will be closed down, foreign media will be expelled.

-If such a thing does occur with US backing, he will suspend gas shipments to the US.

Even a co-worker with Eva Gollinger ("Jeremy Bigwo...

2007-11-30T11:10:00.000-04:00

Even a co-worker with Eva Gollinger
("Jeremy Bigwood & Eva Golinger: the shady duo"
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200503250937 )
thinks the document is a fake.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/world/americas/30venez.html
>...Reports of such plots are not in short supply here. The main state
television network broadcast coverage this week of a memorandum in
Spanish that it claimed had been written by the C.I.A. in which
destabilization plans against Mr. Chávez were laid out. American
involvement in Venezuelan politics remains a particularly delicate issue
here, after the Bush administration tacitly supported a coup in 2002
that briefly ousted Mr. Chávez.

"We reject and are disappointed in the Venezuelan government's
allegations that the United States is involved in any type of conspiracy
to affect the outcome of the constitutional referendum," Benjamin Ziff,
a spokesman for the United States Embassy here, said in a statement.

A C.I.A. spokesman called the document "a fake," while analysts,
including investigators who had previously uncovered financing of
Venezuelan opposition groups by the United States government, expressed
doubts about the authenticity of the memo.

"I find the document quite suspect," said Jeremy Bigwood, an independent
researcher in Washington. "There's not an original version in English,
and the timing of its release is strange."

Dummies,If this were an actual operation it would ...

2007-11-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

Dummies,

If this were an actual operation it would not be "Memorandum Confidential". As it is listed on the website. It would be "TOP SECRET". Get a clue. The Perp’s of this silly little story do not even know protocol.

"...Or that artificial price controls on everythin...

2007-11-30T02:19:00.000-04:00

"...Or that artificial price controls on everything from food to currency is sound economic policy?"

Oooooh.. so TWR is a neoliberal, then?
Afraid to see another nation succeed under a mixed economy, are we?
Afraid that the world will take notice and make the disaster capitalists compete with the rest of us smart, creative, innovative working people?
Face it, fascists can't compete unless the game is rigged and neoliberals are just fascists in better suits.

Venezuela News And Views: Miguel is sending his pi...

2007-11-29T16:15:00.000-04:00

Venezuela News And Views: Miguel is sending his pictures from Bolivar avenue, at the Students March
http://tinyurl.com/3ymons

Venezuela's Constitutional Reform http://tinyurl.c...

2007-11-29T16:14:00.000-04:00

Venezuela's Constitutional Reform
http://tinyurl.com/2p9o45

"Menshevik" is the responder when the Peter Acker...

2007-11-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

"Menshevik" is the responder when the Peter Ackerman/Jack DuVall/International Centre on Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC)group or the Gene Sharp/Robert Helvey/Albert Einstein Institution group are exposed. This must be one of their memos.

If Menshevik is a Marxist, then I am the King of Spain. Why don't you shut the f#ck up.

http://tinyurl.com/2be9r6 for the daily kos diary

2007-11-29T12:34:00.000-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/2be9r6
for the daily kos diary

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/28/18227/641...

2007-11-29T12:33:00.000-04:00

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/28/18227/641
A CIA plan to destabilize Venezuela...
Permalink | 112 comments

http://www.marxmail.org/msg34091.html Re: [Marxism...

2007-11-29T12:22:00.000-04:00

http://www.marxmail.org/msg34091.html
Re: [Marxism] CIA Operation "Pliers"???

* To: "'Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition'"
* Subject: Re: [Marxism] CIA Operation "Pliers"???
* From: "Joaquin Bustelo" jbustelo@gmail.com
* Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:31:22 -0500
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* Reply-to: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
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Golinger is quoted as saying: Last night CNN en Español aired the above
image, which captions at the bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The
image of President Chavez with the caption about killing him below, which
some could say subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production
error" mistakenly made in the CNN en Español newsroom.

* * *

It was a production error, and not an uncommon on live TV. What was involved
war not stories but a sequence of headlines at the top of the show. The
anchor reading the headlines made it clear at the time, indicating those
were the wrong pictures and re-reading the headline emphasizing "in the
United States" there is an investigation about this guy's death (I think his
name was Taylor, a famous sports guy if I remember right).

The reality is that news channels like this ideally would have someone
dedicated, or at least in a position, to systematically double check the
scripts and sequencing of video clips. However, automation has replaced the
people who would have done that in the past -- the people loading cassettes
with videos into players and cuing them for playback -- and as a result you
see an increased number of such errors, not just on CNN en Español but on
all news channels and local news, as anyone who watches it can testify.

For a CIA conspiracy to exist behind this, it would have to extend to
encompass everyone in an operation where there is a diversity of points of
view, including some who everyone knows are sympathetic to Chavez, as well
as a bunch of people who plain don't care. As for one or a couple of
individuals making the mistake consciously, at least half the time or more,
in my experience, such mistakes are avoided by an alert person in the
newsroom who sees the cued video in the preview monitor and looks at the
prompter display and sees it is Taylor not Chavez or Uribe coming up, and
then there's always the alert anchor, like the one last night, who saw it
was the wrong video out of the corner of his eye on the air monitor next to
the prompter display and corrected it.

The excerpt from the show is on youtube and people can check it out for
themselves.

Joaquin

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* References:
o [Marxism] CIA Operation "Pliers"???
+ From: Jon Flanders jonathan.flanders@verizon.net

I love how all of you accept this b.s. lock, stock...

2007-11-29T10:37:00.000-04:00

I love how all of you accept this b.s. lock, stock and barrel. You really think Chavez's call girl has access to internal CIA documents that are barely a week old? I suppose you all believe that CNN is trying to assassinate Chavez as well? Or that artificial price controls on everything from food to currency is sound economic policy? Or that borrowing billions of dollars from abroad even though oil is hovering at $100 a barrel is good fiscal management? Or burning bridges with every leader with whom you have a disagreement is good diplomacy?

Please, don't question my intelligence. You are the ones who are blind to the reality on the ground in Venezuela. Oh and btw, just because someone thinks Chavez is a dangerous buffoon driving the nation into the ground doesn't mean
that person is a Bush supporter. On the contrary, most intelligent thinkers in the US who oppose the policies of the current US administration also are against authoritarian regimes that threaten opposition with jail or hanging...

Babu,I think you are right although I think Chavez...

2007-11-29T04:02:00.000-04:00

Babu,

I think you are right although I think Chavez should be prepared for anything because there was a shipment of weapons confiscated.

That communique is odd being written in spanish it should not be discounted but it may be to elicit a harsh govt response to the opposition which could then be used to condemn the pro-Chvez people.

If what I am doing is not getting the results I want, I would leak something as this and wait to see if it brings the response I want.

Moreover, just as in the west, leading candidates ...

2007-11-29T03:56:00.000-04:00

Moreover, just as in the west, leading candidates from both/all major parties are but pawn puppets of the PTB, so too on a grander scale are both Chavez and Ahmedinajad, inter many alia, too but "role-players" for the self same PTB. Oh I guess but this is too advanced craft for many to comprehend. (remember Hitler?)