GET CHAVEZ: “Hopeless”
Venezuela Analysis: US State Dept.’s Roger Noriega Says Venezuela Could Soon be “Hopeless”
Noriega went on to say that the U.S. government “will support democratic elements in Venezuela so they can fill the political space to which they are entitled.” He did not specify what form this support would take, but recent investigations have shown that the U.S. Congress, via the National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development is spending an average of $5 million per year to support opposition groups in Venezuela.
Posted on March 15th, 2005 at 8:59 am

I especially like the sidebar to the piece on Venezuelanalysis you linked. The CIA have apparently identified Venezuela as the top ‘potentially unstable’ country in Latin America for 2005. Wonder how they know that? I didn’t realise the policy had changed to publicizing CIA-backed coups before they even attempted them.
J&J asked, “Wonder how they know that?”
It’s really not that difficult. Try these for starters:
http://val.dorta.com/archives/000172.html
http://val.dorta.com/archives/2004_01.html Go to 28th Jan 2004 “Hugo Chavez’s Plan B”