Turncoat Former Venezuelan Intelligence Chief Turns Propagandist

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

How much cash and other favors does it take to buy the betrayal of an official against his or her government?

Perhaps one day defrocked Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) chief General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera will tell all.

Recruited by the CIA "more a year ago," according to President Maduro, he was one of the masterminds behind the fizzled April 30 coup plot that never got out of the starting gate, the scheme defeated in hours.

Defrocked and expelled with others involved, he found refuge cross-border in Colombia en route to the US, the Trump regime using him for propaganda purposes.

According to Maduro, he was to be replaced by General Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez, saying:

"It was General Padrino Lopez, Maikel Moreno, and General Hernandez Dala who warned me of (Figuera's) strange behavior," scheduled to be "dismissed from office and arrested on Tuesday, 30 April at 9:00 AM."

The episode was prelude to further toughness the Trump regime planned against Maduro and the Bolivarian republic, wanting the nation returned to US client state status, its social democracy destroyed, its oil and other resources looted, its people exploited and immiserated.

Following what happened on April 30, Maduro expelled dozens of high-and-lower-ranking military officers, including Figuera (in exile abroad to avoid accountability), five lieutenant colonels, four majors, four captains, six lieutenants and 35 sergeants. 

Hundreds were arrested. Attorney General Tarek Saab said investigations were conducted to bring charges against individuals involved in the April 30 plot.

According to what the neocon/CIA house organ Washington Post called an "exclusive" report, Figuera provided red meat propaganda for the Trump regime, claiming according to WaPo:

Maduro's government is "filled with plotters, turncoats and thieves," Figuera saying he's "proud of" betraying his country.

WaPo said it spent "12 hours of exclusive interviews with" him, his defection achieving nothing toward returning Venezuela to US client state status.

Claiming the coup plot was homegrown ignored the CIA's longstanding involvement in trying or succeeding to topple over 50 governments worldwide, along with crushing dozens of popular movements, since the agency's September 18, 1947 establishment — a day that will forever live in infamy.

The US crushed dozens of popular movements, responsible for millions of casualties in the post-9/11 alone.

Its ruling authorities interfere in the internal affairs of virtually all other countries, including their elections, wanting their governments bowing to their will, independent ones targeted for regime change by color revolutions, old-fashioned coups, or imperial wars.

Democracy is Washington's deadliest export, wanting the way it should be eliminated everywhere, notably in oil-rich countries like Venezuela.

Sounding like lines written by his US handlers, Figuera falsely accused Maduro of "head(ing) a criminal enterprise."

He lied accusing Venezuela's Minister of Industries and National Production Tareck El Aissami of drugs-trafficking and money laundering, false charges he debunked with hard evidence disproving them.

He lied claiming Maduro gave Colombian paramilitary forces safe haven in Venezuelan territory.

He lied saying Hezbollah operates in the country, repeating Pompeo's Big Lie. No credible evidence suggests it, no reason for Hezbollah to operate far distant from the Middle East. Propaganda claims otherwise are baseless, Figuera repeating them in deference to his Trump regime handlers.

He distorted Cuba's involvement in Venezuela, largely related to providing doctors and other medical professionals in return for oil.

Trump regime economic, financial, sanctions, and propaganda war on Venezuela continues.

After over five months since its designated puppet Guaido self-declared himself Venezuelan president, a flagrant constitutional breach, the best laid plans of US coup plotters failed.

Propaganda services provided by Figuera won't change a thing.

WaPo admitted that it "could not independently confirm (his) allegations."

It didn't deter the broadsheet from publishing what has no credibility.

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