As April 30, 2019 dawned, Venezuela was the victim of a coup attempt. The leaders were the same coup mongers of 2002, the extreme right-wing. This time, the lie they called “Operation Freedom” marked the escape of today’s fugitive Leopoldo López. The following chronological account shows the key elements of what happened.
The epicenter of this fake news in Venezuela was La Carlota airbase. There, a reduced group of disloyal military officers betrayed the Constitution and their Homeland for a fistful of dollars, and the narrative of a military uprising was sold to the world.
The social media were the bridge to disseminate lies. Businessman and fugitive Alberto Federico Ravell announced at 5:13 a. m. that both López and Juan Guaidó, former member of the National Assembly (AN), and members of the military kept control of La Carlota airbase. At that time, they were selling to the world that a coup was underway.
The Truth of Facts
There was no military uprising, nor was La Carlota airbase under the coup mongers’ control.
Nearby, at the Altamira freeway interchange of the Francisco Fajardo Highway in Caracas, Guaidó and López, who was under house arrest on health grounds and released by then Director of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), General Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, called their followers to terrorist violence, following the same script they used for destabilization in 2014 and 2017 with the guarimbas, and paving the way for a foreign invasion. All this happened outside the military institution.
Again, the White House’s intention to destabilize democracy in Venezuela was more than evident.
To achieve this goal, Figuera was a key element of the coup-mongering plan as he had already been recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), working undercover for over a year. This was revealed by President Nicolás Maduro after thorough investigations.
López was serving time for arson and damages caused as part of a plan called “La Salida” to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro in 2013. López’s criminal record includes incitement to commit an offence, public intimidation, damages against state-owned property and aggravated intentional homicide. Figuera was responsible for his safety and became an easy target of imperial plans, and sold out to the highest bidder.
The Failed Coup
Guaidó, struggling to inflate an imaginary presidency, was pressured by the Pentagon, and the situation required the usual photo used by the extreme right wing to destabilize Venezuela.
The photo soon was spread by international media corporations, which were previously informed about what was going to happen and rushed to publish it.
Guaidó, López and Figuera, in the company of deputies in contempt and a fistful of military officers, 16 in total – the rest of the officers were deceived by a different version of the situation -, stroke a pose for the long-awaited photo, and called to violence on videos as a desperate measure to convince their masters from the North. The rest of the scarce civilian population in the place would later engage in violence.
The 16 military officers took shelter in the Embassy of Panama on April 30 and fled the country that same day. In a visit to the diplomatic mission, the authorities there justified themselves by saying “they were diplomatic guests.”
Figuera, as soon as he released López, took a plane to flee the country and land on U.S. soil.
FANB, loyal to the Constitution
The Vice-president for Political Sovereignty, Security and Peace, and Minister of People’s Power for Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, gave an account of the country’s normality, the loyalty of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) to the Constitution and the Venezuelan right wing’s mediocre coup attempt.
“We hold this fascist, unpatriotic leadership responsible for all the violence, death and bloodshed,” said Padrino López by Wednesday noon, April 30, at the headquarters of the Caracas Battalion.
Padrino López revealed that 80% of the military officers who participated were deceived. “This is all part of a format of compulsive lies to confuse and cause chaos and death,” he said, and added that the deceived military officers left the place as a sign of rejection after the opposition leaders claimed it was time to achieve the end of usurpation.
Meanwhile, then President of the Constituent National Assembly (ANC), Diosdado Cabello, addressed the Venezuelan people on a televised telephone conversation and reaffirmed La Carlota airbase was under the control of the FANB.
Cabello said that “madness has no room in this country. We are going to defeat them and they will be treated as coup mongers. They have to assume their responsibility.”
He added: “Actually, they were never inside the airbase. The media show to incite a coup was staged on a bridge at the Altamira freeway interchange.”
In his statement, Cabello called the people to go to the Miraflores Presidential Palace and defend the Bolivarian Constitution. His call was enough for the popular forces to surround and protect the Presidential Palace.
Late in the afternoon, Cabello wrote on his Twitter account @dcabellor: “Opposition followers, this is another deception. You have been deceived with dates and names. They told you about Operation Freedom. Freedom is something sublime, but they didn’t tell you it was only the freedom of fascist killer Leopoldo López. What a shame. We will defeat.”
It was evident that it was a media coup to help Leopoldo López escape. They didn’t achieve anything else beyond that.
Conspiracy’s Voices
While the people took to the streets to defend their Constitution, violent actions were taking place at the Altamira freeway interchange to try to fuel the new coup from the streets.
The chaos was repealed by security forces for hours, while the world’s media spread lies, trying to maintain Guaidó’s version of a military uprising.
Besides the media scenario, the White House’s allies in the region such as Iván Duque tried their best to legitimate the coup as the Colombian foreign minister called an emergency meeting of the so-called Group of Lima.
At the White House, the Donald Trump’s administration was also giving statements to fuel the coup, and the U.S. president sent a message on his Twitter account: “I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely. The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!”
Trump was followed by his Security Adviser John Bolton, who made several threats against Venezuela’s top officials.
“Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President [Juan] Guaido’s amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship,” he wrote on Twitter.
Also, Trump’s special envoy for war against Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, joined this rhetoric by pretending he was not informed about the situation.
“The situation on the ground remains confused and I have received conflicting information.” Nonetheless, Abrams said he had been in contact with Guaido, described him “buoyant and determined,” but warned about their failed operation: “It seems that today they will not take the step,” he said.
The pieces were fitting together. It was a U.S. sponsored coup attempt.
Military Account
At 10:30 a. m., Army First Lieutenant Jairo Betermini provided an account of events to Telesur.
“At 6:00 in the afternoon of April 29, we were sent to get our uniforms to receive some decorations and life-changing news.”
“At 3:00 in the morning, we were sent to get our rifles. We were told we were going to take control of the Tocoron prison because 1,000 rifles were introduced there and prisoners were going to be released to attack the people.
“The exit point was here in Altamira. When we got here, they told us to block the highway because this was a coup.” The one issuing orders, said Betermini, was the Commander of the National Guard, Rafael Pablo Soto Manzanares, two majors who were brothers and a commander by the name Sánchez.
“This is another plot of the coup-mongering right wing, trying to force us to clash with each other. We already showed them they will not be able to do it,” added Betermini.
Siege against Venezuela
Activists for peace in Venezuela mobilized all around the world.
In Washington, they protected the Venezuelan Embassy, with the permission of President Nicolás Maduro, under the slogan “No coup! No war! No sanctions anymore!” expressing their rejection to the coup attempt and pointing to the White House’s sponsorship.
Around noon, the U.S. Secret Service was sent to arrest those activists who were protecting the Venezuelan diplomatic mission, but they failed.
Escape and Leap in the Dark
With the connivance of the Group of Lima, Leopoldo López planned his escape and, as he had done in previous occasions, he tried to unleash mayhem.
On his Twitter account, the Chilean Foreign Minister, Roberto Ampuero, confirmed that Leopoldo López and his wife Lilian Tintori were in the Chilean Embassy, in Caracas, as “guests.” López’s escape was directly related to the failed coup operation.
Later, Ampuero informed that López and his family moved to the Spanish Embassy.
On April 30, Guaidó continued calling on his followers, taking a leap in the dark, to take to the streets, even though the coup attempt was already revealed and the country remained on track.
Guaidó was cornered as the White House and the Pentagon demanded actions in a desperate attempt to topple the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro.
The People’s Victory
At the Miraflores Presidential Palace, President Nicolás Maduro acknowledged the FANB for defeating the coup attempt by neutralizing actions that may have caused the death of innocent people and adopting military, public order strategies to preserve peace.
The Venezuelan president denounced the plan of the Trump administration to unleash chaos and violence in the country.
President Maduro gave the following details on the operation: Eight tanks were posted at the Francisco Fajardo highway to block traffic in this important road. Also, La Carlota airbase was never taken by the reduced group that was carrying heavy war weapons and supporting Guaidó.
The Venezuelan president said “their goal was to cause clashes, disaster, and 200 deaths.”
Motive for the Coup
Leopoldo López has been the political figure picked by the Central Intelligence Agency years ago to topple the Bolivarian Revolution.
The former mayor and former presidential candidate has been accused of corruption and banned for running for office. He’s also been accused of links with CIA-financed agencies and destabilizing actions.
According to Canadian journalist Jean-Guy Allard, in the 90s, López attended Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, an institution closely linked to the CIA “where many of its agents are recruited.”
There, López met General David Petraeus, former CIA chief and Barack Obama’s right-hand man and expert in intelligence, and Paula Broadwell, a specialist in counterintelligence and military intelligence geopolitical analysis.
López’s and Guaidó’s actions on April 30 were nothing more than the continuation of Washington’s coup script, which failed and was defeated again by the people’s democratic victory.