Introduction
In a previous publication we discussed US attempts to topple president Hugo Chavez of Venezuela through various agencies within the country, aided and abetted by external (US) monetary and organizational support [1]. In the past few years one coup de etat by the Venezuelan military, four general strikes to disrupt its economy and a Recall Referendum on August 15, 2004, which allows a President to be removed from his /her office after mid-term, have failed. Now the imperialist forces are left with few avenues of toppling him. One of them is a military intervention, on some excuses(s) and through a shill or proxy country. But what excuses and which country? The two most likely ones are “war on terrorism (counterinsurgency) and war on drugs”; and the country likely to spearhead the military intervention is Colombia-a neighbor of Venezuela, struggling to defeat its own internal Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, and others) who control a considerable part of Colombia. (See below).
To date Colombia has received the largest amount of US military aid in Latin America. The aid has grown ten-fold since 1995. Since 2003 there are 800 US military trainers and 600 civilian contractors. The US has provided $3 billion in military aid to Colombian in the past three years [2A] . An armada of 60 US made Huey II and Blackhawk attack helicopters are the main weapons bought for quick deployment of Colombian troops in FARC controlled southern Colombia to provide security for the planes doing aerial spraying of drug crops (coca plants) [3]. To protect the pipelines owned by the US-based Occidental Petroleum in Arauca department (province) on the land of indigenous U’wa tribe, a $98 million aid was given in 2002 for the purchase of 12 surveillance and attack helicopters. Occidental has spent years lobbying for military assistance to Colombia [4]. In July 2002 another $35 million was allocated for operation in Peru and areas of Paraguay, Argentine and Brazil where drug smugglers presumably operate [5].
