Who was bombed in Venezuela: Danilo or Silvino?
By Aleksander Boyd
London 22.11.04 | Aren’t faith and naiveté wonderful things? Last Thursday a couple of bombs exploded in a car somewhere in Los Chaguaramos, Caracas. The driver of the car purportedly died due to the attack. Everyone rushed a la Carter to make all sorts of condemnatory remarks with respect to the vile terrorist act, first of its kind in a number of years. I did not want to comment upon the issue then, although I wanted to, simply because I have come to learn that things in Venezuela are never to be taken at face value. To be absolutely frank, I don’t believe Danilo Anderson was blown to pieces that day, for the same reason I didn’t believe any of the reports of Jimmy Carter; i.e. negligence. Bear with me.
So prosecutor Anderson parks his car near the IUPOL (Institute of Scientific Police) at around 6 PM and leaves roughly at 9.30 PM. The explosion shocks the neighbours of Los Chaguaramos at 9.45 PM. Officials briefing the press say that the body is completely burned and unrecognisable. The car is not destroyed in a typical car-bomb terrorist attack fashion but conserves its original structure -it seems that the perpetrators were economical in the use of explosives. The seats, windows and interior of the SUV however are severely burnt and damaged. Oddly four mobile phones –one of them intact- belonging to Anderson are found, spread in radial pattern near the vehicle. The media calls for Anderson dentist, who is meant to recognise the body. At a latter stage officials confirm that indeed Anderson is the victim according to fingerprints. No DNA test were made to the cadaver, and if they were, the results were not revealed to the press. Minister Chacon informs that 250 grams of C4 were used in the attack. The investigation and the government move rapidly to the camp of speculation as to how the bomb was planted and where. The opposition –all the way to the White House- is promptly accused of having assassinated Anderson, the new martyr of the Bolivarian Revolution.
As I am entitled to my opinion and there exist true freedom of expression here in London, I’d say that this issue stinks all the way to Havana instead. The reasons? Not long ago, a considerable quantity of C4 was stolen from a heavily guarded military facility in Carabobo. As customary, the guardians seemed to have lost their senses; no one saw or heard anything out of the ordinary. Information about a terrorist attack, meant to eliminate Minister of Defence Garcia Carneiro, was leaked to the press not so long ago –after the robbery of the C4. The artefact placed on Garcia Carneiro’s mother’s tomb purportedly malfunctioned. Silvino Bustillos disappeared on October 31. To this day no one has seen him, ergo the hypothesis revealed by Manuel Isidro Molina, whereby Bustillos was tortured and beaten to death by military intelligence is still to be debunked by factual evidence. Anderson had in his hands the fate of 400 hundred political opponents, whose prosecution and imprisonment on trumped up charges would have caused a barrage of international condemnation towards Venezuela, in times when the image of Chavez is at an all time low owing to the recent electoral rigging. As Bustillos disappearance leads to the belief that the regime has entered a new chapter, which includes political assassinations, what better strategy than to kill two birds in one shot?
The regime rolls out Anderson’s character assassination. Firstly it deviates immediately the attention on the Bustillos case. Secondly it creates both a wave of international sympathy and a revolutionary martyr. Thirdly it constructs the perfect excuse to go after those who were being investigated by Anderson. Fourthly it rids itself –in timely fashion before Chavez’ new holyday trip to Spain- from the hassle of being confronted by foreign press about the disappearance of Bustillos and also buries, with national honours, the dead corpse of the first political assassination of this era, Bustillos’ that is.
Wild? Maybe. Have I gone mad? Perhaps. Some things holds true though; Chavez has a history of violence behind him. He has masterminded and commanded coup attempts; he has ordered army generals to deploy the troops to placate peaceful demonstrations; he has allowed for his own soldiers to be set on fire; he has congratulated in public supporters of his caught in camera shooting at unarmed demonstrators; he has instigated hatred and violence; he has encouraged radical followers to defend his revolution by violent means; he has harboured terrorists and he is in bed with one of the most ruthless contemporary dictators.
Based in the aforementioned, I believe that whoever was in that car was already dead before the bombing or perhaps Anderson was disposable. I do not believe for one minute, the allegations of Venezuelan officials. It is a sad realisation that a great proportion of the citizens of a country doubt its government, even in cases such as this.
Acuestate a dormir Hugo, tu fama te precede…
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