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<h1 class="title">New Evidence Links Ledezma, COPEI to Thwarted Coup
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Lucas Koerner </span>
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<p id="docs-internal-guid-bff5b218-c9ed-1d41-dda9-a8829ad20cff"
style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"><span>Caracas, February 26,
2015 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Speaking on his television program
"Con el Mazo Dando", National Assembly President Diosdado
Cabello released new evidence on Wednesday regarding the
thwarted "Blue Coup" attempt against the government of Nicolas
Maduro on February 12.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Coming in the wake of the arrest of Antonio Ledezma
last Thursday on charges of sedition and conspiracy, these
revelations could lend further support to allegations concerning
both the Caracas Metropolitan Mayor's role in the coup as well
as the advance knowledge and involvement of the opposition party
COPEI.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"><span>A stash of weapons,
including explosives, was also discovered at the political
party's Caracas headquarters on Tuesday. <br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><strong>Ledezma Linked to Coup Plotters Via U.S. Phone
Number</strong><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>According to Cabello, Ledezma allegedly made three
phone calls in December to a New York-based number belonging
jointly to General Eduardo Báez Torrealba (alias "Máximo") and
Carlos Manuel Osuna Saraco (alias "Guillermo"), the latter of
whom is believed to be the "financier" of the coup plot.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>In a two week period spanning from the 25th of
December to the 10th of January, Lieutenant Henry Salazar
Moncada, who has been arrested and formally charged for his role
in the coup attempt, also made three separate phone calls to the
same U.S. number.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>"The evidence is notorious. The proof is extremely
clear [...] It's a coup, and as President Nicolas Maduro said,
there are very few opposition leaders who didn't know anything
[about the coup]," announced the President of the National
Assembly.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Antonio Ledezma was one of three signatories of a
public statement by leaders of the Venezuelan opposition calling
for the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro as part of a
"national transition", which was released just 24 hours prior to
the coup attempt.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>The other signatories were multi-millionaire former
legislator Maria Corina Machado, whose various NGOs have
received millions in funding from the U.S. government, and
Voluntad Popular leader Leopoldo Lopez, who currently awaits
trial for his role in leading violent opposition protests last
year that took the lives of 43 people.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Ledezma has also been linked to extreme right-wing
opposition figures such as Lorent Gómez Saleh, who was
extradited from Colombia and charged with allegedly conspiring
with paramilitaries to launch terrorist attacks as part of a
campaign of so-called "resistance" against the Venezuelan
government.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>COPEI Leaders Discuss Links to Military Officials
"Preparing How to Do the Transition"</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>On his program on Wednesday night, Cabello also
presented a recording of an alleged phone call between the first
COPEI vice-president for Lara State, Jose Cassany, and another
top party official by the name of Antonio Sotillo in which the
two christian democrats appear to discuss preparations for a
coup.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>In a conversation recorded on January 3 of this year,
Cassany informs Sotillo that he is friends with a businessman
who has a relationship "with the civil and military worlds,
active military [officials], including generals."</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>He added that these military officials were
"preparing how to carry out the transition". </span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>In another alleged phone recording highlighted by the
President of the National Assembly, the Caracas president of
COPEI Antonio Ecarri and the secretary general Rogelio Diaz
consider the option of a coup against President Nicolas Maduro.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>In a recording dated February 21, Ecarri asks Diaz if
he received the message from national secretary general Herberto
Diaz and goes on to state,</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">"One cannot have a double
position in life, if you are going to abandon the electoral field,
you are going to call openly for a coup and everything else,
that's fine, that is a path [...] I say we must look for a
different mechanism."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"><span>Diaz agrees with
Ecarri's affirmation that while a coup represents a legitimate
"path", a "different mechanism" is needed, adding that
otherwise, "we put everything on the table and they put us in
jail.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>The conversation ends with the two leaders agreeing
on the need to "promote street activity".</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Nonetheless, since February 2014, opposition "street
activity" has largely taken the form of violent protests, which
resulted in the death of 43 people last year as well as millions
of dollars in damages to public property.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>On Tuesday, Public Ministry officials discovered a
weapons cache at COPEI headquarters in Las Palmas, Caracas.
Among the weapons found were 52 homemade explosive devices
resembling a type of grenade, 32 molotov cocktails, and four gas
masks.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Officials also discovered various pamphlets with
messages expressing support for Metropolitan Mayor Antonio
Ledezma in the wake of his arrest on charges of conspiracy and
sedition.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><strong>Air Force Officer's Confession Confirms Coup Plot
to Bomb Military and Civilian Targets</strong><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>In the same program on Wednesday, Diosdado Cabello
also unveiled a recording of the alleged confession of First
Lieutenant Luis Lugo Calderón, revealing further details
regarding the thwarted coup effort earlier this month.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>During his interrogation, the Air Force Lieutenant
confirmed the existence of a video intended to be the "preamble"
to the coup, "calling on the superior officers to wake up,
asking for the renunciation of the President of the Republic,
and saying that the lower officers were against the government."</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Lugo further elaborated that the video was to be
disseminated outside the country by the Miami-based journalist
Patricia Poleo around the time of Carnival, when vast numbers of
Venezuelans travel to the beach and other parts of the country.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>The officer also substantiated allegations that coup
plotters intended to use a "Super Tucano" counter-insurgency
aircraft to bomb numerous ground targets such as the Miraflores
Palace, teleSur, and the Ministry of Defense.</span><span><br
class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Identifying himself as the intended pilot of the
military aircraft, he added that among the targets were air
force bases located in highly populated cities, including the La
Carlota base in the wealthy Caracas neighborhood of Chacao as
well as the the Sucre base in the city of Maracay in Aragua
State.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span><br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span>Furthermore, the Lieutenant indicated that he had
been approached by an official from the British embassy with an
offer of asylum in the event that the coup failed, though he did
not give further details.</span></p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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415 863.9977
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