[News] CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela

[Anti-Imperialist News]

CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/print/2914

November 28th 2007, by Eva Golinger
[]

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. The news anchor had been 
narrarating a story about the situation between 
Colombia and Venezuela and then switched to a 
story about an unsolved homicide but - oops - 
someone forgot to change the screen image and 
President Chavez was left with the killing 
statement below. Today they apologized and 
admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes, it was.

On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has 
been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence 
from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a 
very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not 
true - plan to destabilize Venezuela during the 
coming days. The plan, titled "OPERATION PLIERS" 
was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton 
Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General 
Michael Hayden in Washington. Steere is stationed 
at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a 
Regional Affairs Officer. The internal 
memorandum, dated November 20, 2007, references 
the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation 
Pliers", and confirms that the operation is 
coordinated by the team of Human Intelligence 
(HUMINT) in Venezuela. The memo summarizes the 
different scenarios that the CIA has been working 
on in Venezuela for the upcoming referendum vote 
on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as it's 
phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will 
not change substantially before Sunday, December 
2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote in favor of the 
constitutional reform has an advantage of about 
10-13 points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates 
abstention around 60% and states in the memo that 
this voting tendency is irreversible before the elections.

Officer Steere emphasizes the importance and 
success of the public relations and propaganda 
campaign that the CIA has been funding with more 
than $8 million during the past month - funds 
that the CIA confirms are transfered through the 
USAID contracted company, Development 
Alternatives, Inc., which set up operations in 
June 2002 to run the USAID Office for Transition 
Initiatives that funds and advises opposition 
NGOs and political parties in Venezuela. The CIA 
memo specifically refers to these propaganda 
initiatives as "psychological operations" 
(PSYOPS), that include contracting polling 
companies to create fraudulent polls that show 
the NO vote with an advantage over the SI vote, 
which is false. The CIA also confirms in the memo 
that it is working with international press 
agencies to distort the data and information 
about the referendum, and that it coordinates in 
Venezuela with a team of journalists and media 
organized and directed by the President of 
Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell.

CIA Officer Michael Steere recommends to General 
Michael Hayden two different strategies to work 
simultaneously: Impede the referendum and refuse 
to recognize the results once the SI vote wins. 
Though these strategies appear contradictory, 
Steere claims that they must be implemented 
together precisely to encourage activities that 
aim toward impeding the referendum and at the 
same time prepare the conditions for a rejection of the results.

How is this to be done?

In the memo, the CIA proposes the following tactics and actions:
    * Take the streets and protest with violent, 
disruptive actions across the nation
    * Generate a climate of ungovernability
    * Provoke a general uprising in a substantial part of the population
    * Engage in a "plan to implode" the voting 
centers on election day by encouraging opposition 
voters to "VOTE and REMAIN" in their centers to agitate others
    * Start to release data during the early 
hours of the afternoon on Sunday that favor the 
NO vote (in clear violation of election regulations)
    * Coordinate these activities with Ravell & 
Globovision and international press agencies
    * Coordinate with ex-militar officers and 
coupsters Pena Esclusa and Guyon Cellis - this 
will be done by the Military Attache for Defense 
and Army at the US Embassy in Caracas, Office of 
Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO)
To encourage rejection of the results, the CIA proposes:
    * Creating an acceptance in the public 
opinion that the NO vote will win for sure
    * Using polling companies contracted by the CIA
    * Criticize and discredit the National Elections Council
    * Generate a sensation of fraud
    * Use a team of experts from the universities 
that will talk about how the data from the 
Electoral Registry has been manipulated and will 
build distrust in the voting system
The CIA memo also talks about:
    * Isolating Chavez in the international community
    * Trying to achieve unity amongst the opposition
    * Seek an aliance between those 
abstentionists and those who will vote "NO"
    * Sustain firmly the propaganda against Chavez
    * Execute military actions to support the 
opposition mobilizations and propagandistic occupations
    * Finalize the operative preparations on the 
US military bases in Curacao and Colombia to 
provide support to actions in Venezuela
    * Control a part of the country during the next 72-120 hours
    * Encourage a military rebellion inside the 
National Guard forces and other components
Those involved in these actions as detailed in the CIA memo are:
    * The CIA Office in Venezuela - Office of 
Regional Affairs, and Officer Michael Steere
    * US Embassy in Venezuela, Ambassador Patrick Duddy
    * Office of Defense, Attack and Operations 
(DAO) at the US Embassy in Caracas and Military Attache Richard Nazario
Venezuelan Political Parties:
    * Comando Nacional de la Resistencia
    * Accion Democratica
    * Primero Justicia
    * Bandera Roja
Media:
    * Alberto Federico Ravell & Globovision
    * Interamerican Press Society (IAPA) or SIP in Spanish
    * International Press Agencies
Venezuelans:
    * Pena Esclusa
    * Guyon Cellis
    * Dean of the Simon Bolivar University, Rudolph Benjamin Podolski
    * Dean of the Andres Bello Catholic University, Ugalde
    * Students: Yon Goicochea, Juan Mejias, Ronel 
Gaglio, Gabriel Gallo, Ricardo Sanchez

Operation Tenaza has the objective of encouraging 
an armed insurrection in Venezuela against the 
government of President Chavez that will justify 
an intervention of US forces, stationed on the 
military bases nearby in Curacao and Colombia. 
The Operation mentions two countries in code: as 
Blue and Green. These refer to Curacao and 
Colombia, where the US has operative, active and 
equipped bases that have been reinforced over the 
past year and a half in anticipation of a conflict with Venezuela.

The document confirms that psychological 
operations are the CIA's best and most effective 
weapon to date against Venezuela, and it will 
continue its efforts to influence international 
public opinion regarding President Chavez and the situation in the country.

Operation Tenaza is a very alarming plan that 
aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow 
(again) its legitimate and democratic (and very 
popularly support) president. The plan will fail, 
primarily because it has been discovered, but it 
must be denounced around the world as an 
unacceptable violation of Venezuela's sovereignty.

The original document in English will be 
available in the public sphere soon for viewing 
and authenticating purposes. And it also contains 
more information than has been revealed here.

For the full text in Spanish, see: 
<http://www.aporrea.org/tiburon/n105390.html>Operación 
Tenaza: Informe confidencial de la CIA devela 
plan de saboteo al referéndum del 2 de diciembre
Source URL: http://www.chavezcode.com/2007/11/operation-pliers.html
Source URL: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2914
Printed: November 30th 2007




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