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Today's
Stories
December
2, 2004
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
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December 2, 2004
The Coup That
Keeps On Ticking
The
Assassination of Danilo Anderson
By
SAUL LANDAU
The November 18 car bombing of Danilo
Anderson in Caracas brought back vivid memories. When I read
that two explosions tore through the Venezuelan prosecutor's
SUV, I flashed back 28 years to a traumatic event in my life.
I met Orlando Letelier in 1971 when he served as President Allende's
Ambassador in Washington. In 1972, he joined Allende's Cabinet
until his arrest on September 11, 1973. Defense Minister Letelier
knew General Augusto Pinochet, who led the coup that day and
ordered Letelier's guards to arrest him. "An obsequious
and untrustworthy man," Letelier described Pinochet, "the
guy who earns tips in the barber shop by helping you into your
jacket and brushing off the hair."
I didn't know Anderson. But like Letelier, he had information
on coup plotters, those who tried to oust Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez in April 2002. Neither Anderson's nor Letelier's
assassination required Sherlock Homes to guide police in their
hunt.
Letelier in exile represented elected and recognized government.
For Pinochet, the illegitimate coup maker, Letelier loomed as
commander of a massive exile army, not as a single individual
trying to educate Congress and the public about massive human
rights violations in Chile.
After the Letelier assassination, the CIA tried to cover up the
hit to protect their illegitimate progeny. But an informant told
FBI Bureau agents that a Chilean secret police official had contracted
with a New Jersey based anti-Castro gang to kill Letelier. The
Cubans detonated a car bomb by remote control, similar to the
technique that killed Anderson 28 years later.
The Anderson assassins must have had "experience" in
building such devices, a retired FBI agent told me. Indeed, Venezuelan
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon declared that the
whackers used military-grade C-4 plastic explosives and a remote
control device. The explosions broke windows in nearby buildings.
I remember on September 21, 1976 the FBI vacuuming the broken
glass on Embassy Row's Sheridan Circle, after the bomb ripped
through Letelier's car. "These people are pros," an
FBI agent commented.
The FBI arrested two of the Letelier-Moffitt killers, years after
the murder. They pled guilty, got twelve years, served seven
and got paroled. The INS then re-arrested them as undesirables,
but in August 2001 George W. Bush insisted over strong
objection from the INS and FBI -- that these "Cuban patriots"
deserved to return to civilian life in Florida.
Good terrorists receive US hospitality. Bad terrorists, those
with Arab names, feel the wrath of US bombers, troops and prison
guards at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, whether or not they did
anything criminal.
Ironically, the prissy John Ashcroft ordered the arrest and confinement
of thousands of innocent people. They did not know the nature
of the charges against them, much less have access to an attorney.
Yet, Ashcroft refused to sign the indictment of Pinochet, the
initiator of the 1976 car bombing in Washington. If doubts existed,
prosecutors and FBI investigators said publicly: it was "inconceivable"
that the Letelier assassination could have occurred without Pinochet's
authorization. A US intelligence memo cites Pinochet boasting
in 1981 that "There is not a leaf in this country which
I do not move."
High level hits occur when high level officials authorize them.
Who wanted Anderson eliminated? Anderson's investigative portfolio
included some 400 individuals who during the coup signed a declaration
supporting self-proclaimed President Pedro Carmona, the President
of the Chamber of Commerce. Chavez's opponents charged that Anderson's
probe amounted to political persecution. The prosecutor's office
pointed to the 19 people who had died and the 300 wounded during
the coup: criminal acts. The culprit list included former Caracas
Mayor Alfredo Pena, still in hiding, and some 60 military officers
who both participated in the coup and in last year's Caracas
bombings of the Colombian Consulate and the Spanish Embassy.
Anderson apparently had also developed a case that linked US
agencies to the coup. Otto Reich, then Assistant Secretary of
State for Inter-American Affairs, had met repeatedly with the
coup plotters before their failed attempt to oust Chavez as had
Elliot Abrams, of the National Security Council. Like Reich,
Abrams led the ideological charge in the 1980s "dirty wars,"
in which US policy became linked to Central American death sq
uads. The April 21, 2002 Observer, citing OAS sources,
states that Abrams and Reich discussed the coup "in some
detail, right down to its timing and chances of success, which
were deemed to be excellent."
Reich had invited opponents of Chavez to the White House, including
Carmona, who later installed himself as head of a junta. General
Lucas Romero Rincon, head of the Venezuelan military, conferred
with Pentagon officials in the pre coup months. In addition,
anti-Chavez groups sponsored by National Endowment for Democracy
(NED) agencies also traveled to Washington during the weeks before
the coup. Last week, documents revealed that the CIA knew of
the planned coup and did not inform the Chavez government. Shocking!
Anderson's list included people who had received NED money. Congress
funds NED to promote democracy; thus, Carl Gershman, NED chief,
declared that his organization only promoted democracy in Venezuela.
How plotting military coups fell within NED's view of democracy
remained a mystery. Anderson also probed bank accounts of NED
conduits to see if the US agency had actually bankrolled coup
plotters.
The April coup provoked Reich to call a meeting of Latin American
and Caribbean ambassadors. Chavez's ouster, he informed them,
didn't signify a break of democratic rule. Since Chavez had supposedly
resigned, he was therefore "responsible for his fate."
Reich offered immediate support for the Carmona government. He
never inquired about why the elected Vice President didn't assume
power, which he should have under Venezuela's constitution if
the president resigned.
Reich could not cover the "backed by Washington" label
on the Caracas coup. Chavez himself mentioned that an airplane
with US registration numbers had parked at one of the locations
to which his captors brought him during the coup. White House
spokesman at the time, Ari Fleischer, "did not know"
whether Washington had provided a plane to fly the Venezuelan
President into exile.
Even after the failed coup, Washington turned a blind eye to
Venezuelans training in Florida for the express purposes of invading
their country and assassinating Chavez. The United States refused
to extradite three officers subpoenaed by Venezuelan courts to
answer charges of having plotted terrorist bombings.
Amateur sleuths will conclude from this that the list of probable
assassins of Danilo Anderson should include those who initiated
the coup and their allies in Washington, especially those ring
leaders who feared that the prosecutor had enough evidence to
convict them. Venezuelan officials implicitly cast the blame
net abroad.
Venezuelan authorities displayed a video tape played on Miami
TV of "Commando F4," Venezuelans and anti-Castro Cubans
training with guns in the Everglades. Retired Captain Luis García
of Venezuela's National Guard pledged to return to his country
with a "violent solution."
Another tape showed Orlando Urdaneta, a former Venezuelan TV
personality involved in the coup, boasting to a Miami Channel
41 that "Venezuela's problems could be resolved by means
of a rifle with a telescopic sight and good aim."
Venezuelan Information Minister
Andres Izarra declared: "We want the government of the United
States to explain how it is that these terrorist groups that
act with total freedom in Florida ... make these statements through
the media under the government's nose."
"Chavez must die like a dog, because he deserves it,"
said two time Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez in a July
25, 2004 interview published in El Nacional, a Venezuelan daily.
"I am working to remove Chavez [from power]," Perez
continued. "Violence will allow us to remove him."
Such language should have drawn a rebuke, but instead the Bush
government, which admitted that it knew about the coup plans
and did not inform President Chavez, simply reiterated its commitment
to democracy. Few editorials challenged the contradiction between
commitment to democracy and backing a coup against an elected
president who won overwhelmingly in 1998. Indeed, after the coup
failed, the Chavez opposition demanded a referendum. Chavez won
58% in August 2004.
Washington has relied on obedient governments in Latin America
for decades of Gunboat Diplomacy, Dollar Diplomacy and Good Neighbor
Policies. No matter the nomenclature, the United States continued
to extract wealth from Latin America. After World War II, Washington
unfurled the ideological Cold War banner. The CIA used the anti-communist
epic as a pretext to engage military and civilian thugs to knock
off disobedient governments. These "contract agents"
in a US supported coup in Guatemala in 1954 proceeded to slaughter
more than 100,000 mostly Indian peasants. In 1964, the US backed
a military coup in Brazil to replace an elected government. In
Chile, with a US green light, tanks fired cannons and military
jets fired rockets into the presidential palace of President
Salvador Allende.
When the Cold War umbrella collapsed as the Soviet Union imploded,
Washington erected a new heroic rationale for its eternally innocent
intervention: terrorism. Anderson's corpse adds to the immense
pile of the dead in Washington's quest to bring democracy in
Latin America by thwarting all efforts at democracy.
Saul Landau is the Director of Digital Media and
International Outreach Programs for the College of Letters, Arts
and Social Sciences. His new book is The
Business of America.
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|