STILL PLOTTING

A terrorist plot during the legislative elections is the tip of the iceberg of a brutal plan seeking to ignite violence in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez said.

Chavez disclosed information gathered by agents infiltrated in extreme rightwing groups, confirming that civilian conspirators, army members and "even people of the Church" and US officials are still holding secretive meetings.

In a phone call to Venezuelan Television "Contragolpe" (counterpunch) program, the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution stated that ex business leader and de facto president during the 2002 coup, Pedro Carmona, also participated in those gatherings.

He said evidence of conspiracy before the December 4 elections forced him to deploy Air Force troops and put military helicopters on alert during those days.

"They will not catch me off guard as on April 22, 2002," pointed out Chavez in reference to the coup that lasted three days.

Chávez said he has handed his Colombian counterpart Álvaro Uribe documents about meetings held in Bogotá to "plot" against Caracas.

"We know that there are people who travel to Bogotá for plotting, including coupster retired military officers and some Church members," Chávez told official TV station Venezolana de Television in a phone interview.

Chávez said he produced such evidence during his last meeting with Uribe -held in Venezuela on November 24th.

Venezuelan businessman Pedro Carmona Estanga, leader of a failed coup d'etat in April 2002 and currently exiled in Colombia, is in the center of such meetings in Bogotá, EFE reported.

Chavez revealed that exiled April 2002 coup leader, Venezuelan businessman Pedro Carmona Estanga has been clearly pinpointed at the center of an anti-government plot ... "we know there is a group of people who travel to Bogotá to attend those meetings, several former military officers and members of the Venezuelan Roman Catholic Church hierarchy."

Chavez wasn’t the only one speaking out.

National Assembly president Nicolás Maduro and parliamentarian Cilia Flores, both members of ruling party MVR, Tuesday filed new evidence of a plan intended to "isolate" and "destabilize" Venezuela, and directly accused a US congresswoman of involvement in said plot.

Flores disclosed a recording of an alleged conversation between two Venezuelan women, Patricia Andrade and Tamara Suju, tuning up details to report false human right violations in Venezuela after December 4th parliament polls. According to Flores, Andrade and Suju had support from US Congress representative Ileana Ross Letinen.

Flores added that they planned to offer a news conference "to demonstrate -based on all the maneuvers of Ms Patricia Andrade-" that "Venezuela has incurred in human rights violations."

"For such purposes, this Ms Patricia Andrade has an alliance or a combination with a Cuban-US congresswoman Ileana Ross, who is widely known because she allegedly works with all the cases of human rights violations. And she is now setting this trap against Venezuela. They planned to show, in the days after December 4, that Venezuela is involved in human rights violations," Flores added.

She insisted that "the US Embassy, President George W. Bush' administration, CIA, and stateless Venezuelans" are involved in this plan and are "plotting to destroy not only democracy but also the peace of Venezuelans."

Flores said Andrade, who has lived in US over the last 10 years, "is an undercover agent with CIA. She has direct contact with destabilizing and terrorist sectors in Venezuela, those who participated in April 11 coup, and who conceived a plan (to prevent) December 4th (parliament polls), as we had previously reported."

Flores said Tamara Suju, a niece of retired general Oswaldo Suju Rafu, is a friend of general Felipe Rodríguez, known as the raven, who has been accused in connection with murder and explosive attacks. Sources: Prensa Latina, Vheadlines, El Universal, EFE