Venezuela:
Terror networks strike at the Bolivarian Revolution

Bob Briton

Opponents of the thoroughgoing changes taking place in Venezuela 
have struck a well-directed blow against the Bolivarian 
Revolution with the recent assassination of an investigating 
magistrate in charge of several prominent cases. Danilo Anderson 
died when two packets of C4 plastic explosive attached to his car 
were detonated remotely. The courageous magistrate had been 
involved in one of the central tasks of the latest stage of the 
revolution — to intensify the struggle against corruption and to 
end the gross inequalities before the law and impunity of the 
wealthy elites.

Anderson had been pursuing the highly placed individuals involved 
in the coup attempt of April 2002, including those who led an 
assault on the Cuban Embassy, the owners of the pro-coup mass 
media and the heads of the supposedly impartial CIA-linked NGO 
called Sumate. This last mentioned body played a major role in 
the campaign for a referendum to recall President Hugo Chavez. 
The vote was eventually held in August and was an overwhelming 
vote of confidence in the radical government and its President.

However, frustration that the legal system has remained unchanged 
has been growing. The poor in Venezuela still get little 
consideration before the courts while the rich are rarely brought 
to justice. The first cases against the leaders of the sabotage 
of the PDVSA — the country's state-owned oil industry — have 
been thrown out because of the incompetent or deliberately 
inadequate preparation of the cases. It is this "go slow" in the 
workings of the justice system that Danilo Anderson had dedicated 
himself to rectify.

Early investigations of the murder led police to opposition 
lawyer Antonio Lopez. The suspect died in a gun battle that was 
sparked when he fired on the police sent to arrest him. Officer 
Alberto Pavon died later in Caracas Hospital. Police found guns, 
grenades and other explosives in the Lopez' car and another cache 
of weapons at his residence.

Evidence of the operation of well-organised and resourced terror 
networks is mounting. It has now been revealed that an attempt on 
the life of Defence Minister Jorge Garcia Carneiro in August was 
thwarted when security discovered C4 explosive attached to a 
headstone adjacent to the grave of the minister's mother. The 
minister was due to visit the grave on the anniversary of his 
mother's death. Details of the case were not made public so as 
not to cloud the referendum debate taking place at the time.

While many of the coup plotters — including some of those who 
signed coup-leader Carmona's treasonous decree of April 12, 2002 
— continue to live unperturbed in Venezuela, others have 
relocated in neighbouring Colombia and in Miami, Florida. In 
Miami, the Venezuelan exiles have been flaunting their links with 
Cuban terrorist organisations by appearing with their spokesmen 
on TV. Actor Orlando Urdaneta has publicly called for the 
assassinations of leading figures in the Venezuelan government. 
No action has been taken against Venezuelans training with Cubans 
at their camps in Florida.

There have been a number of incursions into Venezuela by terror 
squads from Colombian territory already. This situation is set to 
worsen following meetings between US President George W Bush and 
his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe in a brief visit to 
Colombia by the US head of state last week. There has been talk 
for some time of extending the reach of Plan Colombia beyond that 
country's borders. The "Plan" was originally promoted as a joint 
offensive against Colombia's drug trade but is, in fact, a war 
against leftist guerrillas active in Colombia. It is not likely 
that the chance to create difficulties for the Bolivarian 
revolution will be passed up.

In other developments, US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld 
visited Nicaragua recently on his way to Ecuador. His message to 
the region is for governments to batten down the hatches to 
resist the gains being made by popular movements all over Latin 
America. He wants the military to take up civilian policing 
roles.

And of course, on November 16 Bush appointed Condoleeza Rice as 
Secretary of State — surely the only such office holder to have 
a Chevron oil tanker named after them for services to the oil 
industry. She has been a long-term critic of President Chavez, 
his economic "failures" and his denial of the democratic rights 
of the Venezuelan people — at least according to her. State 
control of the country's oil industry would not meet with her 
approval, either.

The job of rooting out corruption and reforming Venezuela's 
judicial system has been made harder by the callous killing of 
Danilo Anderson. It has exposed the extent of the plans for a 
campaign of terror against the Bolivarian Revolution. However, 
the government has pledged to keep pressing ahead with the work 
Anderson had started. Writer and academic Heinz Dietrich summed 
up this contribution:

"The menace of Danilo for Washington's terrorist project was two-
fold — he threatened one of its main instruments of power, 
Venezuela's corrupt class justice system and too was becoming a 
symbol of the honest patriot and servant of the majority of the 
new Bolivarian nation."

So far, US authorities have ignored a call from Venezuela's 
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon to work together to 
overcome the growing terrorist threat.