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Opposition discusses plans with foreign diplomats

T/ COI

P/ Agencies

Over the weekend, investigative journalist Jose Vicente Rangel warned of

backroom opposition attempts to prevent another election win for Venezuelan

President Hugo Chavez. Citing a private meeting between members of

opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) and Caracas based

diplomats from the United States and Spain, among others, Rangel warned of

ongoing efforts to convince the international community that anti -Chavez

candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski is set to win the October 7th election.

Inflating expectations in the press, Rangel explained, MUD strategists intend tocarry out the recently-uncovered Rapid Reaction Plan, a violent post-election

strategy made public late last week by Chavez Campaign Coordinator Jorge

Rodriguez. Speaking to viewers on Sunday during his weekly television

program Jose Vicente Hoy, former Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente

Rangel warned of suspicious opposition positioning in the final weeks of the

2012 presidential campaign. Referring specifically to a September 12 meeting

held at the private residence of opposition gubernatorial candidate RichardMardo, Rangel explained

How representatives of the Venezuelan opposition tried convincing foreign

diplomats that Capriles is set to win the October 7 election, even if only by a

small margin. According to the investigate journalist, special guests at the

private meeting included Paolo Serpi, Antonio Perez- Hernandez, and Luis

Raygada Souza- Ferreira, the Caracas based Ambassadors of Italy, Spain,

and Peru, respectively. James Der ham, the top US diplo mat in Venezuela, as

well as Pietro Parolin, the Vaticans highest authority in country, also attended

the luncheon. Brazils Ambassador in Caracas, Jose Antonio Marcondes de

Carvalho, turned down the invitation. In addition to Richard Mardo, the MUDs

candidate for Governor of Aragua State, those representing the Venezuelan

opposition at the meeting were Luis Miquilena, an open supporter of the 2002

coup d etat against President Chavez, Marcel Granier, Managing Director of

radical opposition media network Radio Caracas de Televisin (RCTV), and

Carlos Bardasano, member of private media giant Venevisins Board of

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Directors. According to Rangel, Mardo used the backroom meeting to express

his total lack of confidence in the National Elections

Council (CNE) and promise those present that he and his people are

prepared to take to the streets, using both motorcyclists and civilian groups to

combat the Chavistas. What was most surprising about the meeting, Rangel

said, was how some of those in attendance cautiously requested further

information while others made worrying affirmations and expressed their firm,

radical positions.

Private news media including opposition dailies El Universal and Noticias 24

also reported on the meeting, stating that Mardo and the others simply had

gathered to analyze Venezuelas electoral situation. RAPID REACTION

PLAN In addition to the troubling talks between foreign diplomats and the

MUD, National Coordinator for the Chavez Campaign Jorge Rodriguez recently

denounced what he called n irresponsible right-wing extremists within the

(oppositions) Campaign who have developed and circulated a document that

details plans to cause political unrest in the aftermath of next months

presidential election. Titled the Rapid Reaction Plan, the document is said to

have been prepared by Alejandro Plaz, former Director of Sumate, the US

financed NGO tasked with

Fomenting a greater opposition presence in Venezuelan politics.In the context

of next monthsvote, the authors of the Rapid Reaction Plan discuss criteria for

selecting key sites to be taken over, Rodriguez explained. These sites include

national and regional freeways, major avenues, emblematic plazas, Governors

and Mayors offices, strategic non-civilian pointsmeaning military installations

news media offices, ports, and airports. What do ports and airports have to do

with voting centers? he asked. What do military installations have to do with

an election booth, with an electoral contest?

Warning the Venezuelan people to watch out for possible opposition violence,

Rodriguez added, this plan describes nothing more than a desperate minority

looking to react to a pending Chavez victory. MAJORITY WITH CHAVEZ

Consistent with polls reflecting a double-digit lead for President Chavez, butsurprising to many in Venezuelas anti-Chavez minority, Rodriguez also made

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public an email written by opposition lawmaker Julio Borges in which the

Capriles ally affirmed the majority of peopleare with the ruling candidate

(Chavez), and this is something that cant be denied. Not just any politician,

Borges is the National Coordinator of Capriles Primero Justicia (PJ) Party. Sent

to Miami-based, anti-

Chavez blogger Eric Ekvall, who suggested to Borges that the opposition

should claim fraud after the October election, the email includes Borges telling

Ekvall that, in Venezuela, claims of fraud are simply an urban myth elections

are won through the vote. Henrique (Capriles) is struggling against a tide that

doesnt allow itself be penetrated, Borges wrote. In response to the messages

content, Borges denied having any contact at all with Ekvall and claimed the

email address cited by Rodriguez (julioaborges@gmail.com) is an account that

doesnt exist, and never has. Investigative journalist Mario

Silva, on the other hand, followed up on Borges denials by showing two

different articles written by the right-wing lawmaker and published in

Venezuelan dailies El Universal (23 April 2008) and

Ultimas Noticias (19 July 2009). Both pieces, analyses that advocate an end to

the Chavez administration, were signed by Borges and included his

aforementioned email address.