CIA
Chief Hints Agency Is Working To Change
Venezuelan Government
The US has a long and bloody history of meddling
in Latin America's affairs
By Andrew Buncombe
July 26,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- The
head of the CIA has suggested the agency is
working to change the elected government of
Venezuela and is collaborating with two
countries in the region to do so.
In one of
the clearest clues yet about Washington’s latest
meddling in the politics of Latin America, CIA
director Mike Pompeo said he was “hopeful that
there can be a transition in Venezuela and we
the CIA is doing its best to understand the
dynamic there”.
He added: “I was just down in Mexico City and
in Bogota a week before last talking about this
very issue, trying to help them understand the
things they might do so that they can get a
better outcome for their part of the world and
our part of the world.”
Mr Pompeo’s comments, delivered during a Q&A
session at a security forum organised by the
Aspen Institute think tank, have sparked outcry
among supporters of Venezuela’s government.
President Nicolas Maduro, who was elected in
2013, has denounced Mr Pompeo’s remarks and hit
out at the governments of Mexico and Colombia.
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In
Venezuela, it has sought to weaken the elected
governments of both Mr Maduro and his
predecessor Hugo Chavez, who was briefly ousted
in a 2002 coup. Some of the effort has been in
distributing funds to opposition groups through
organisations such as the National Endowment for
Democracy, while some has been in the form of
simple propaganda.
In May
2016 unidentified US officials told reporters in
a background briefing that Venezuela was
descending into a deepening “crisis” that could
end in violence. They said they doubted Mr
Maduro was not likely to be able to complete his
term, which is due to end after elections in
late 2018.
Mark
Weisbrot, co-director of the Centre for Economic
and Policy Research in Washington, said that for
the past 15 years of so it had been US policy to
seek a change of government in Caracas.
“They
have been trying to get rid of this government
for a long time and they feel they are getting
closer then ever,” he told The Independent.
The
development comes as both Mr Maduro and his
country face mounting problems. Against a
backdrop of food shortages, soaring inflation
and civil unrest, the president has been accused
of resorting to mounting authoritarianism. The
opposition has called for him to stand down and
there have been widespread protests.
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