US embassy cable - 04CARACAS1510

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001510 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, VE 
SUBJECT: PRO-CHAVEZ GROUP PLANS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST 
AMBASSADOR 
 
Classified By: AMB. CHARLES S. SHAPIRO FOR REASONS 1.4 (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  The pro-Chavez human rights group ASOVIC delivered a 
letter to the Director General of the Office of the Foreign 
Minister Demir Porras declaring its intention to begin legal 
action against the Ambassador for alleged involvement in the 
April 11, 2002 events.  The group cites alleged training of 
various Venezuelan police forces, recordings of police radio 
transmissions, and the alleged presence of U.S. ships in 
Venezuelan water during the April 2002 events. 
Paradoxically, the letter says ASOVIC will join in the law 
suit against President Chavez currently in the International 
Court of Justice in the Hague, as an interested party.  Asked 
how the MFA will assist the group with the case, MFA official 
Rebeca Guevara (protect) told us the Ministry planned to take 
no action.  ASOVIC joins the chorus of pro-Chavez voices that 
insist on repeating allegations, despite their being refuted 
by the OIG, of Embassy and USG direct involvement in the 
April 2002 events.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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ASOVIC 
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2.  (C)  On April 11, the human rights group ASOVIC delivered 
a letter to the Director General of the Office of the Foreign 
Minister Demir Porras communicating its intention to pursue 
legal "actions" against the Ambassador. ASOVIC alleges that 
the Ambassador conspired in the deaths and injuries incurred 
by the victims of the April 11, 2002 events.  ASOVIC is the 
National Association of Victims of the Coup d'etat, a 
pro-Chavez human rights group formed after the restoration of 
Chavez to power in April, 2003.  The group blames the 
Metropolitan Police (PM) for the killings on April 11, and 
claims that most of the victims were Chavez supporters. 
Carlos Correa, Coordinator General of the independent human 
rights group PROVEA, told PolOff on April 28 that ASOVIC 
tends to support the government, and does not cooperate with 
other human rights groups on any projects. 
 
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Suit against the Ambassador? 
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3.  (U)  In the letter, the group says it is informing the 
MFA of the next international actions to be carried out 
against the Ambassador.  ASOVIC asserts it has enough 
evidence to carry out legal actions in U.S. courts, and/or 
international courts.  The only specific action referred to, 
however, is the intention to make itself a party to the suit 
that has been brought against President Hugo Chavez in the 
International Criminal Court in the Hague (using their 
accusations against the Ambassador to defend Chavez).  The 
suit against Chavez has been brought by the human rights 
group VIVE, which PROVEA, the Vicariate on Human Rights, and 
the human right group COFAVIC, also criticized as 
politicized, for its association with the opposition. 
 
4  (C) According to reports on the pro-GOV website 
aporrea.org, Porras told the representatives of ASOVIC that 
the social movements should act autonomously to support the 
GOV's international actions to show the world their version 
of what happened in April 2002.  PolOff asked MFA North 
America bureau Chief Rebeca Guevara April 23 how the Ministry 
intended to handle the matter. Guevara said the MFA was not 
intending to take any action. 
 
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The evidence 
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5.  (U)  ASOVIC uses several standard Chavista accusations to 
support its case.  The first piece of "proof" is alleged 
training courses in assault given to the PM Fenix Group, and 
the municipal police of Chacao and Baruta, two opposition 
controlled municipalities of greater Caracas.  The second 
"proof" is alleged recordings from the Operations Control 
room of the PM on April 11, which supposedly make reference 
to the Ambassador (allegedly code named "Zeus 32 Americana"). 
 The tapes purport to be communications among senior PM 
 
 
officials and the officers in the field on April 11, 2002. 
Pro-GOV groups have claimed that the references to "Zeus 32 
Americana" somehow prove U.S. involvement.  Other "proof" is 
the alleged presence of U.S. ships in Venezuelan waters on 
April 11, 2002 and the presence of U.S. military personnel at 
Fuerte Tiuna the same day.  ASOVIC calls these "Acts of 
State" which led directly to the deaths of their family 
members. 
 
6.  (U) ASOVIC also criticizes statements by NSC Advisor 
Condoleeza Rice, A/S for WHA, and the head of the Southern 
Command accusing the GOV of having totalitarian tendencies, 
and violating human rights. ASOVIC asserts the statements lay 
the groundwork for the coup, along with financing of 
pro-democracy (seen as pro-coup) NGOs.  The association 
presents all this as a plot to overthrow the democratically 
elected constitutional government of Venezuela. 
 
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Groundless 
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7.  (U) These allegations are part of the standard GOV 
propaganda line. They are baseless.  A special report by the 
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found: 
 
-- The USG gave no training to the Chacao, Baruta or 
Metropolitan Caracas police forces. 
 
-- "Zeus 32 Americana", if it exists, has nothing to do with 
the Ambassador or the Embassy. 
 
-- "Nothing to indicate that the Department or Embassy 
Caracas planned, participated in, aided, or encouraged the 
overthrow. The record shows that the Department and the 
embassy consistently discouraged the use of undemocratic and 
unconstitutional means to remove the democratically elected 
Chavez government. Similarly, OIG found that U.S. assistance 
programs in Venezuela, including those of National Endowment 
for Democracy (NED), were consistent with U.S. laws." 
 
-- There were two US Coast Guard cutters engaged in anti-drug 
exercises with a Dutch cutter on April 11, 2002, and the 
Dutch cutter had a helicopter airborne. But these units were 
100 miles off Orchila Island, not off the mainland coast of 
Venezuela. The exercise was known to Venezuelan officials, 
and had taken place in the past. They had nothing to do with 
the events going on in Venezuela. 
 
-- US military personnel left Fuerte Tiuna on April 11, and 
returned on April 13, 2002 to try to find out who was in 
charge, and had nothing to do with the coup. 
 
-- The OIG report finds "There was never any attempt to 
advise, support, or otherwise cooperate with, members of the 
opposition." 
 
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Metropolitan Police 
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8.  (U) Much of ASOVIC's alleged evidence is related to the 
GOV view that the killings in April 2002 were the 
responsibility of the opposition controlled PM.  The only 
people in jail for the events of April 11 today are eight PM 
officers in prison awaiting trial.  A court absolved the 
pro-Chavez gunmen who fired weapons Puente Llaguno at the 
opposition marchers on April 11, 2002, and President Chavez 
declared them heroes of the Revolution in 2003. The court 
that is holding the PM officers is the court that ASOVIC says 
has accepted the alleged PM recordings from April 11, 2002, 
as a valid piece of evidence.  The policemen are being 
charged under a Venezuelan law conspiracy provision.  The 
opposition claims the film of the PM firing on Chavez 
supporters, which is one of the main pieces of evidence 
against the PM, actually shows them defending protesters from 
attacks by Chavez supporters. 
 
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COMMENT 
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9.  (C) ASOVIC's evidence is specious and the threat of 
beginning a case against the Ambassador is part of the GOV's 
 
 
campaign to use anti-U.S. rhetoric, and attacks on the 
Ambassador, as a distraction from the presidential recall 
referendum (septel).  The GOV's charges are baseless and they 
know it, but the GOV repeats them, presumably in hopes of 
convincing voters that Chavez and the GOV are the defenders 
of Venezuelan sovereignty against an invented US threat. 
ASOVIC has no credibility whatsoever in independent human 
rights circles, and is 100 percent identified with the 
Bolivarian revolution. It is a stalking horse for the 
Bolivarian revolution. 
SHAPIRO 
 
 
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      2004CARACA01510 - CONFIDENTIAL