Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08CARACAS931
2008-07-03 22:19:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:
GENERAL DISCONTENT AROUND THE HOUSE
how-toVZCZCXRO1085 PP RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHMT RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRG RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC DE RUEHCV #0931 1852219 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 032219Z JUL 08 ZDK ZUI RUEHSG 5358 VOL CORR ALL OTHERS FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1415 INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000931
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2018
TAGS: MARR PGOV VE
SUBJECT: GENERAL DISCONTENT AROUND THE HOUSE
Classified By: Robert Downes, Acting DCM, for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000931
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2018
TAGS: MARR PGOV VE
SUBJECT: GENERAL DISCONTENT AROUND THE HOUSE
Classified By: Robert Downes, Acting DCM, for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d)
1. (SBU) According to local media, following his testimony
on the morning of July 1 before the Venezuelan Supreme Court
(TSJ) at which he requested the court to prohibit the
Chavista slogan "Fatherland, Socialism or Death!" stricken
from military drill and ceremony, Brigadier General (BG)
Angel Omar Vivas Perdomo was intercepted and briefly detained
by agents of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DIM).
The agents questioned Vivas at DIM headquarters for nine
hours.
2. (SBU) BG Vivas was then brought before military
prosecutors and warned that he was under "pre-indictment" for
bringing discredit to the service before the TSJ, as well as
for insubordination and disobedience. (Note: In 2004,
General Francisco Uson was sentenced to five and a half years
for "discredit to the service." He was released after
serving three and a half years. End Note.) Vivas was
released that night. According to his lawyer, Jose Maria
Zaa, as a condition of his release the Brigadier cannot
travel outside Caracas, is prohibited from having contact
with the media and must report before a courts martial every
two weeks. Zaa also noted that "pre-indictment" doesn't
exist under Venezuelan law, calling the process "vindictive."
3. (SBU) On May 15, Vivas had filed the motion to have what
he called "a repugnant Cuban slogan" removed on the grounds
that it violates Article 328 of Chavez' 1999 Bolivarian
constitution which requires the Venezuelan Armed Forces to be
an apolitical, professional institution.
4. (C) Comment: General Vivas' case has brought unwelcome
media attention on tensions between Chavistas and
Institutionalists in the armed forces and the fact that
Vivas, like almost 1000 other officers suspected of
insufficient revolutionary fervor, is unassigned but still
drawing a salary to sit around the house. End Comment.
DUDDY
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2018
TAGS: MARR PGOV VE
SUBJECT: GENERAL DISCONTENT AROUND THE HOUSE
Classified By: Robert Downes, Acting DCM, for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d)
1. (SBU) According to local media, following his testimony
on the morning of July 1 before the Venezuelan Supreme Court
(TSJ) at which he requested the court to prohibit the
Chavista slogan "Fatherland, Socialism or Death!" stricken
from military drill and ceremony, Brigadier General (BG)
Angel Omar Vivas Perdomo was intercepted and briefly detained
by agents of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DIM).
The agents questioned Vivas at DIM headquarters for nine
hours.
2. (SBU) BG Vivas was then brought before military
prosecutors and warned that he was under "pre-indictment" for
bringing discredit to the service before the TSJ, as well as
for insubordination and disobedience. (Note: In 2004,
General Francisco Uson was sentenced to five and a half years
for "discredit to the service." He was released after
serving three and a half years. End Note.) Vivas was
released that night. According to his lawyer, Jose Maria
Zaa, as a condition of his release the Brigadier cannot
travel outside Caracas, is prohibited from having contact
with the media and must report before a courts martial every
two weeks. Zaa also noted that "pre-indictment" doesn't
exist under Venezuelan law, calling the process "vindictive."
3. (SBU) On May 15, Vivas had filed the motion to have what
he called "a repugnant Cuban slogan" removed on the grounds
that it violates Article 328 of Chavez' 1999 Bolivarian
constitution which requires the Venezuelan Armed Forces to be
an apolitical, professional institution.
4. (C) Comment: General Vivas' case has brought unwelcome
media attention on tensions between Chavistas and
Institutionalists in the armed forces and the fact that
Vivas, like almost 1000 other officers suspected of
insufficient revolutionary fervor, is unassigned but still
drawing a salary to sit around the house. End Comment.
DUDDY