[R-G] 2 arrested in alleged plot to kill Chavez

[Anthony Fenton]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gw2yFZQieQTXHmd_fC4x615HIk7QD93DEHV80

2 arrested in alleged plot to kill Chavez

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER – 15 hours ago

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities have arrested two  
people suspected of plotting to kill Hugo Chavez by blowing up the  
president's plane with an anti-tank weapon, the country's top security  
official said Wednesday.

Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said the suspects were apprehended  
Tuesday during a raid on a house in western Zulia state, where  
authorities found a recoilless anti-tank weapon and four grenades. He  
said the names of the suspects would not be revealed for "strategic  
reasons."

El Aissami did not explain when and where the alleged conspirators  
planned to target Chavez's plane. Zulia is located along Venezuela's  
border with Colombia.

At least six people, including retired and active military officers,  
have been detained so far for alleged links to the plot. Military  
prosecutors are questioning others. None of the suspects has been  
formally charged.

"What was being planned here was the president's assassination ... a  
plan with the objective of sowing violence in our country" and  
stopping the government agenda, El Aissami told Venezuela's state-run  
news agency.

El Aissami said the suspects caught in Zulia could have been planning  
to kill the president by shooting down the presidential jet — a  
possibility that Chavez raised when the purported plot was first  
discovered.

"The cannon we found is for downing planes. It has highly destructive  
power," he said.

Chavez claims that radicals backed by the United States are plotting  
to assassinate him. The socialist leader recently ordered the U.S.  
Ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave Venezuela, accusing the envoy of  
aiding the purported plot.

U.S. officials deny it.

Chavez made the accusations on Sept. 11, after a recording surfaced of  
a purported conversation between conspirators discussing plans to  
assassinate him and topple his government. He claims plotters sought  
to blow up the presidential plane or bomb the presidential palace.

It was not clear when the conversation broadcast on state television  
was recorded. The military officers identified as suspects have not  
responded to the accusations publicly, and some government critics  
suspect the recording is bogus.

El Aissami suggested that officials in Zulia, which is governed by  
opposition leader Manuel Rosales, could be involved in the alleged  
conspiracy and chided government foes for dismissing the plot as a  
ploy to distract attention from domestic problems.

"I don't think anybody can be so naive to think they had this cannon,  
which has a range of 700 meters, to kill a deer," he said.

Chavez has accused Washington of conspiring with his opponents to  
assassinate him or spur his ouster dozens of times since he took  
office in 1999.


...


Venezuela: Probe into Coup Plot Continues
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={F7193BE6- 
E776-4065-8731-608C2B666F7A})&language=EN

Caracas, Sep 24 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan Interior and Justice  
Minister Tarek El Aissami ratified on Wednesday that a plan to attempt  
at President Hugo Chavez' life is being thwarted by authorities.

What we are dismantling is not trivial; the plan is to assassinate the  
head of State to shatter the hopes of an entire people, the minister  
told local journalists.

It is a conspiracy to sow violence in our country and prevent the  
advance of the revolutionary process, added Aissami.

These plans being thwarted by Venezuelan authorities are part of a  
wide-ranging program conducted by different subversive players in this  
country, he noted, and we continue uncovering elements of this  
conspiracy and establishing participants involved.

Deputy Mario Isea, who presides over a fact-finding commission of the  
National Assembly as pat of the investigation, said today that this  
subversive plot continues, and also involves foreign parties.

We are aware that certain invididuals continue their meetings and  
travel to Colombia, the United States and several European countries  
they are trying to link to their destabilizing plans.

The chain of events to attack President Hugo Chavez has not been  
entirely exposed; there are new civil players, new scenes, and we will  
closely follow these plans, Isea stressed.

iom rma jvj

PL-33