Venezuelan authorities detained a high-ranking navy officer on Friday on suspicion of involvement in a purported plot to overthrow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Chavez insisted the US was behind the conspiracy and predicted the “plans of the empire, the CIA ... trying to topple the government are going to continue.”
Authorities detained Venezuelan Vice Admiral Carlos Millan and turned him over to military prosecutors, Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami told state television.
He said Millan was the fifth detained in a group of current and former officers.
The government has released what it says are recordings of the suspects discussing plans for deposing Chavez.
Chavez also denied US government accusations that three members of his inner circle had aided Colombian rebels by supplying arms and facilitating drug trafficking. He called the accusations “completely absurd.”
Chavez defended former justice minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin saying he was responsible for rescuing hostages held by Colombian rebels, at times “risking his own life.”
He denied that Venezuelan officials had aided drug trafficking or terrorism, saying “It’s them [the Americans] who support these activities of terrorism.”
“They’re the ones who give millions of dollars to terrorist groups in Venezuela, in Ecuador in Bolivia,” Chavez said, apparently referring to US aid to opposition-leaning nongovernment organizations.
US drug czar John Walters has said Venezuela, which suspended cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005, is failing to take action against a sharp rise in cocaine smuggling.
By US estimates, the flow of Colombian cocaine through Venezuela has quadrupled since 2004, reaching an estimated 256 tonnes last year.
US officials said the sanctions had been in the works for some time and are unrelated to the diplomatic dispute.
Chavez said he made a “necessary” move in expelling the US ambassador in solidarity with Bolivia, whose president expelled the US envoy accusing him of inciting protests.
But he said the diplomatic sparring shouldn’t affect US-Venezuela trade or travel between the countries, “unless the United States government decides to have it affect them.”
Venezuela is the fourth-largest oil supplier to the US.
Meanwhile, Washington slapped new sanctions on three aides close to Chavez and called him weak and desperate.
The Venezuelan ambassador also got ejected from the US, a move that was purely for show as Chavez had already brought his man home.
“Those who shout the loudest are not making the real news in the Americas,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said after Chavez used bathroom profanity to accuse the US of meddling in Latin America.
McCormack adopted a grave tone to read a long defense to reporters on Friday.
“The only meaningful conspiracy in the region is the common commitment of democratic countries to enhance opportunities for their citizens,” he said. “The only overthrow we seek is that of poverty.”
US diplomats say Chavez and Morales are punching the US to distract attention from mismanagement and unpopularity at home.
“This reflects the weakness and desperation of these leaders,” McCormack said.
Not long after he spoke, Honduras announced that it will hold off on the accreditation of a new US ambassador in solidarity with Venezuela and Bolivia.
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said the Central American country was not breaking relations with the US.
Zelaya said small countries need to stick together.
“The world powers must treat us fairly and with respect,” he said.
Zelaya previously planned to receive credentials on Friday from US diplomat Hugo Llorens.
Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, a close ally of Morales, has not announced yet whether he would take any action against the US ambassador in Nicaragua.
“Dark forces of the empire are conspiring against the government of Morales,” Ortega said on Thursday, referring to the US.
By the end of the week, it was clear that the second-term strategy of the US President George W. Bush administration to get along with many left-leaning governments in Latin America while saying as little as possible about Chavez had fizzled.
Chavez and Morales suggested they had no interest in improving ties with Washington until a new administration takes over in January.
Chavez has made a specialty of anti-US broadsides, including an infamous 2006 reference to Bush as the devil.
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