Conspiracy theories threat to critics
Coups, plots accusations
CARACAS, Venezuela, July 23, (AP): Roderick Navarro was in class when he got the news that a high-ranking minister had accused him of plotting to assassinate Venezuela’s president. His first thought was, “Not again.” The 26-year-old student leader had already been accused by the ruling socialist party for collaborating with the US to overthrow Venezuela’s thenleader Hugo Chavez in 2010. But as messages from friends lit up his phone, Navarro began to worry that it was more serious this time. The denunciation came on live TV, with orders to appear before the national intelligence service.
Announcements of foiled coups and plots against the government have long been a part of the Chavista discourse. A study by the Caracas-based newspaper Ultimas Noticias counted 63 alleged assassination plots between when Chavez took office in 1999 and his death in 2013. Since then, such claims have come even more frequently. President Nicolas Maduro’s government has denounced more than a dozen purported plots since coming to power 15 months ago, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
While the Chavez administration tended to point fingers at the CIA or shadowy outside groups, Maduro’s accusations often target local opposition figures, who say they face imprisonment, constant surveillance and the threat of vilification or violence from pro-government groups.
The most serious recent allegations came in late May, as authorities tried to mop up dissent that led to a three-month wave of deadly anti-government protests. Top officials accused a handful of opposition leaders of working with the US ambassador in neighboring Colombia to “annihilate” Maduro.
During a news conference that all broadcasters were required to carry live, officials showed heavily annotated slides of emails that they said the plotters had sent each other.
It was a bizarre tableau even by Venezuelan standards, prompting a popular television comic to create a 10-minute spoof. His show was shut down days later in what fans believe was a reprisal, a reminder that the accusations may not be believed by government critics, but can’t be laughed off either.