Venezuela's Military Parade cancellation: The more that is explained, the more implausible it gets
By Miguel Octavio | The Devil's Excrement
15.06.05 | Chavez confirmed tonight that the military parade of June 24th. was cancelled for security reasons. According to the President, the Army detected a plan to kill him during the parade. He added that this is not the first time that the parade is cancelled, which I do not recall ever being cancelled. Chavez even said that we have too many parades. This from the same man that loves to play soldier, wear uniforms and hold parades as he did during the first few years in office, when he was not afraid to go out in public.
Well, the June 24th. parade takes place in Campo Carabobo, some 30 Kms. away from the city of Valencia, and it is a monument built in remembrance of the last battle for the independence of Venezuela, which took place right there. Now, this is the most unlikely place to attempt an assasination. It is essentially a park with monuments, mostly open air, explicitly delineated which could be easily sealed and surrounded by military a couple of days before. And nothing should happen to the President or those participating in the parade. You can see pictures of Campo Carabobo here or here.
Of course, all of the above is true unless those trying to kill Chavez will be the same ones that are participating in the parade. Unless they are themselves members of his beloved military, which nobody has said. There are many problems within the military today. Some groups are upset over the cubanization of Venezuela, others at the levels of corruption reached out and within the military, others at how PDVSA has been weakened to what they think is dangerous levels and even some others at the destruction of the military institution and the attempt to create alternate parallel structures like the reserves. In fact, rumors are going around that over half of the officers in the Chiefs of Staff course have resigned because of the imposition of Fidel Castro as the godfather/sponsor of their graduating class by Chavez himself. This out of no more than fifty members, the cream of the crop of each year's military class. By resigning, you destroy your military career, you will never go above the level of Lieutenant and you will likely be retired anyway.
You can do so much positive spinning of the news. But the stories are getting too implausible to be believable. This is very dangerous, there are some real nuts (Yes, even more than the current ones, believe it or not!) in the Venezuelan military. Very scary indeed!
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