DISINFO: Former Colombian ambassador confessed Washington was involved in destabilisation of Venezuela and Haiti
SUMMARY
The firm that hired the Colombian mercenaries to murder Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was also involved in the assassination attempt against Nicolás Maduro in August 2018. There was another planned attempt on July 5 of this year, as shown by footage taken from the cell phone from one of the terrorists involved in the intense shootings with the ‘Koki’ criminal gang. The Venezuelan government denounced that most weapons seized in Caracas during a security operation against the ‘Koki’ criminal gang came from the US and Colombia, with the goal of generating violence and unleashing a civil war.
The former Colombian ambassador to the US Francisco Santos confessed the criminal plan against Haitian president Jovenel Moïse. In an interview, Santos talked about the visit of a top US official to establish “a delicate mission”. Later, it was revealed that this official was the CIA director William Burns and his stay in Colombian territory took place days before the magnicide in Haiti and the violent events in Venezuela. Everything is related to the Colombian government.
RESPONSE
After intense street battles erupted in Caracas in mid-July between the notorious ‘Koki’ criminal gang and Venezuelan security forces, the Venezuelan government rushed to blame Colombia and the US without showing any evidence. Pro-Kremlin disinformation amplified these unsubstantiated claims and took them a step further, framing these countries as responsible for recent violent events in Latin America including gang shootings in the Venezuelan capital and the murder of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse.
Venezuelan authorities haven’t presented any actual proof to back the affirmations that Miami-based CTU Security - the firm that hired Colombian mercenaries allegedly involved in the murder of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, owned by Venezuelan exiled Antonio Emmanuel Intriago - also took part in the 2018 assassination attempt against Nicolás Maduro; that the US and Colombia supplied weapons to criminal gangs to unleash a civil war; or that the ‘Koki’ gang was planning another attempt on Maduro’s life.
Contrary to the claim, the mentioned interview with former Colombian ambassador to Washington Francisco Santos makes no mention of any criminal plan or any US participation in it. While referring to the visit of a top US intelligence official to Bogota, later identified by Colombian TV channel NTN24 as CIA director William J. Burns, Santos’s exact words were: “We have been working directly with this agency, we had three meetings where we explained where are we heading, what is going on, and I think the presence of this top US official is going to be very important.” Asked about it, he replied: “I prefer not to say more because it is a delicate mission, an important intelligence mission that we managed to coordinate”. Despite this lack of concretion, Venezuelan officials have flimsily referred to these words as evidence of a US plot against their country, including plans to murder president Nicolás Maduro.
By throwing together seemingly unrelated elements only backed by the word of Venezuelan authorities, and linking them to the alleged “confession” of Santos, this disinformation narrative aims to build a case against the US and Colombian governments. However, the allegations are piled up only to sustain each other and don’t resist any serious scrutiny.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives about Latin America, such as claims that there is a Western media campaign against Nicaragua, that a UN human rights report on Venezuela aims to de-legitimise the upcoming legislative elections, that violent pro-Maduro thugs are Western media propaganda, that a Twitter campaign against Evo Morales may be run by the CIA, that the West refused to call the coup attempt in Venezuela ‘a coup’, or that an alleged US dirty war in Facebook against Venezuela, Bolivia and Mexico is a new Condor Plan.