Two Officers Arrested in Plot to Assassinate Chavez

Two suspects, including a captain of the Venezuelan National Guard, were arrested for their alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate President Hugo Chavez. Chavez stated that plots to kill him are increasing.

State television channel VTV aired a recorded telephone call in which one of the suspects talks about planning to assassinate the president. General Ramon Guillen Davila and his son Capitain Tomas Guillen were arrested by Military Intelligence for conspiring to kill the president, a crime that could land them in prison for five to ten years. That amazes me, as anyone caught plotting the assassination of President Bush would never be free again. Five to ten seems like a very reasonable sentence to me. In the recorded phone call, Tomas Guillen reveals that he and his father, along with other military officials--including one with the last name "Serruti"--have been meeting to discuss the assassination of Chavez. Chavez stated that plots to kill him are increasing. He cited the appointment of John Negroponte as deputy to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as one reason. He called Negroponte a "professional killer" because of his actions as US Ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s. Thousands of leftists and students were killed by US-backed government forces. Negroponte helped run the contra war in Nicaragua. I do not understand why many in the United States take offense at anti-American sentiment in Latin America. Do we expect everyone to just forget the American atrocities committed there? Chavez also stated that the CIA has increased its activities in Venezuela. The United States does not have a good record when it comes to interfering in the affairs of Latin American countries. Anti-American sentiment all around the world is becoming more vocal, and Americans need to pay attention. We need to take more responsibility for the out-of-control politics and foreign policy of our country. Surely, anti-American sentiment in Latin American should come as no surprise.