appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

SCMP Reporter

Briefs contradict claims 2002 coup was a surprise

The US knew about the 2002 coup attempt that briefly unseated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez days before it happened, despite official claims to the contrary.

Recently obtained CIA documents do not suggest the US government participated or supported the  April coup, but Washington did nothing to prevent it and failed to denounce it publicly.

The CIA papers obtained under the Freedom of Information Act contradict statements made by  officials after the coup, when the Bush administration refused to acknowledge it had taken place.

White House and State Department spokesmen blamed Mr Chavez for the violence, claimed he had resigned and endorsed the de facto regime that had taken over.

The documents consist of Senior Executive Intelligence Briefs, which are distributed daily to top officials at the White House, the State Department and the Defence Department.

One brief from April 6  - five days before the coup  - describes  military officers' plans to remove   the president: 'Dissident military factions, including some disgruntled senior officers and a group of radical junior officers, are stepping up efforts to organise a coup against President Chavez, possibly as early as this month'.

It went on to say: 'To provoke military action, plotters may try to exploit unrest stemming from opposition demonstrations slated for later this month or ongoing strikes at the state-owned oil company PDVSA.'

The brief states that 'repeated warnings that the US will not support any extra-constitutional moves to oust Chavez probably have given pause to the plotters'.

On April 11, an opposition march broke from its planned route and collided with Chavez supporters near the presidential palace. Gunfire erupted and 19 people were killed, including  pro-government and opposition demonstrators.

The opposition blamed Mr Chavez, and later that night military officers detained  him.

Two days later, massive protests by the poor and a revolt among Chavez loyalists in the military brought him back to power.

Since assuming office in 1999, Mr Chavez has rankled policymakers in Washington with his close ties to Cuban President Fidel Castro and his frequent and loud critiques of US foreign policy.

He has accused the CIA of scheming to overthrow him and has decried US-government financing of opposition groups.

The CIA documents were obtained by Venezuelan-American lawyer Eva Golinger and Washington-based journalist Jeremy Bigwood and are posted at the website www.venezuelafoia.info.

The papers were posted last weekend, a few days after a prosecutor loyal to Mr Chavez was assassinated in the middle of an investigation into 400 business leaders and political figures who backed the coup.



Bush knew of plot to depose Chavez, CIA papers show