[News] court cases against US Ambassador to Venezuela

Tue Apr 13 08:53:30 EDT 2004

International court cases to be brought against US Ambassador to Venezuela, 
Charles S. Shapiro

<http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=17335>http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=17335

VHeadline.com correspondent Philip Stinard writes: On April 11, in Caracas, 
the Venezuelan group ASOVIC (Association of Victims of the April 11, 2002 
coup against Hugo Chavez) announced that they would file charges in US 
courts, and in the World Court in the Hague, against US Ambassador to 
Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, for his involvement in sniper shootings at the 
Llaguno Bridge during the coup at the Miraflores Palace that left several 
people dead, including a journalist.

According to a statement released by Merly Morales, a spokeswoman for the 
lawyers representing ASOVIC, there are elements for conviction, which in 
our judgment, serve as evidence to ask for the opening of an inquiry before 
US courts and the appropriate international tribunalsagainst Ambassador 
Shapiro. Such evidence ranges from special courses in assault given by US 
authorities to members of the Caracas Metropolitan Police Phoenix Group and 
Chacao and Baruta municipal police in the months of October 2001 and with 
greater frequency in March and the first days of April 2002, to 
conversations recorded in the Center of Operations of the Metropolitan 
Police on April 11 of that year (2002) between Commissioner Forero and 
Ambassador Shapiro during the hours of greatest intensity of shots fired by 
members of the aforementioned police institution (Caracas Metropolitan 
Police) against people concentrated in the areas immediately surrounding 
the Miraflores Palace.

In addition, there is also evidence presented by the (Chavez) 
administration relating to the presence in Venezuelan territory of US ships 
on April 11, as well as (US) military personnel in the military 
installations at Fort Tiuna that would lead one to believe that there was 
an act of State committed against the constitutional government of 
Venezuela that directly affected members of our association that were 
injured and killed.

With reference to a court case brought against Hugo Chavez before the World 
Court in The Hague by opposition groups, Morales continues, a group of 
Venezuelan citizens, tied to international conspiratorial factors that 
participated in, and still participate in, plots against the President, 
asked for an investigation before the Prosecutor of the World Court in The 
Hague against our Head of State and other high officials for supposed 
crimes against humanity; this obligates us to take part in these legal 
processes because we are direct victims of these processes, and (we do 
this) in honor of dismantling the international judicial landscape 
activated by the coup leaders, who were the true ones responsible for those 
occurrences (the shootings).

Zeus 32 Americana, aka US Ambassador Charles Shapiro

The tapes of Caracas Metropolitan Police conversations referred to in the 
complaint to be filed by ASOVIC were made available to Radio Nacional de 
Venezuela (RNE) by Commissioner Leonardo Navas (Metropolitan Police) in 
November last year. In an interview broadcast on Venezolana de Television 
(VTV), Navas denounces the involvement of the Metropolitan Director of 
Police, Henry Vivas in a conspiracy that sought the overthrow of President 
Hugo Chavez, and states that the police kept Ambassador Shapiro informed of 
all occurrences that took place with respect to the assault on the 
pro-Chavez demonstrators near the Palace as they happened.

Navas states first of all, I want to say that I appeal to the freedom of 
conscience that is established in Article 61 of the National Constitution, 
and then I must state that what you are going to hear on this tape are 
several things that are very delicate, and which implicate several police 
authorities in a conspiracy in the acts which occurred on April 11 (2002)."

"It is important that these be made known, and I come here to make this 
(tape) public because I dont want to be involved in the cover-up of 
criminal activities. On the tape, it is clearly evident how the 
Metropolitan Police participated in the crucial moment of the 11th of 
April, and several things that they have tried to cover up will be revealed.

As the tape plays, one can hear a conversation between various police 
officials, who indicate that they have taken various roof tops of buildings 
in the center of Caracas, in the vicinity of the opposition march. One can 
also hear the voice of a person who identifies himself as Sun 1... who in 
this case is Metropolitan Police Director Vivas ... talking to Sun 2... 
Lazaro Forero, current Commander of this police force ... asking for 
updates. Forero informs Vivas that the talibans(referring to the pro-Chavez 
demonstrators on Llaguno Bridge), are shooting back at them, and the police 
cant leave their current location. He adds that, the Phoenix Group must arm 
itself with long-range riflesto neutralize those people.

Navas continues: This is a 120 minutes tape and I selected the most 
relevant parts, but I must say that you can hear that they were stationed 
on the rooftops of the buildings on Baralt Avenue. Some people have said 
that, hours before, in the morning or at noon on April 11, there were 
supposedly snipers ... and if that theory were true, how is it that you 
hear that the Metropolitan Police are on these same roofs and that there 
are no people being detained?  That shows that it was the police who were 
on the roofs, (not snipers). Furthermore, the police indicate that they 
were being shot at from below. All of this is clear evidence that the 
(Metropolitan Police) institution was loaned to a sector of the population, 
in this case the opposition.

Later, one can hear on the tape a voice asking someone to call Zeus 32 
Americana... the code word for US Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro. 
Nava continues this raises suspicion or calls attention to the fact that, 
in this crucial moment, when they should be paying more attention to what 
is happening on Baralt Avenue, they ask to speak to someone who has nothing 
to do with this ... this is interference in the internal affairs of the 
country.

All of this will be public proof, well-known and widely communicated, that 
any prosecutor can use officially to initiate a criminal investigation; and 
we can demonstrate that, truly, some members of the (police) institution 
were involved in the situation that occurred on April 11; and with the 
deaths and injuries, we are looking at several crimes. Commissioners 
Forero, Vivas, and Delgado must know that the police ... by acting in a 
disproportionate manner ... entering forcefully to neutralize people who at 
that moment were not using their guns or presenting any resistance, 
increasing the activity of an institution that, rather than reestablishing 
public order, subverted public order.

The tapes can be heard at: 
<http://rnv.gov.ve/noticias/?act=ST&f=28&t=1742>http://rnv.gov.ve/noticias/?act=ST&f=28&t=1742

Footage of the assault can be viewed in the documentary "The Revolution 
Will Not Be Televised." A second documentary on the rooftop assault: 
Llaguno Bridge: Keys to a Massacreis in production and will cover some 
aspects not covered in the first documentary.

This report was compiled with information
from Venpres and Radio Nacional de Venezuela.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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