As soon as I read it, I knew!
Masked figures discrediting an enemy of the U.S.?
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!
Didn't they try this with him once before?
"Eight Venezuelans are injured in anti-Chávez demonstrations; 80,000 march in protest of bid to increase power" by Sandra Sierra/Associated Press November 8, 2007
CARACAS - Gunmen opened fire on students returning from a march yesterday in which 80,000 people denounced President Hugo Chávez's attempts to expand his power. At least eight people were injured, including one by gunfire, officials said.
Photographers for The Associated Press saw at least four gunmen - their faces covered by ski masks or T-shirts - firing handguns at the anti-Chávez crowd. Terrified students ran through the campus as ambulances arrived.
Fe, fi, fo, fum, it's the smell of agent provocateurs of scum!
National Guard troops gathered outside the Central University of Venezuela, the nation's largest and a center for opposition to Chávez's government.
The violence broke out after anti-Chávez demonstrators - led by university students - marched peacefully to the Supreme Court to protest constitutional changes that Venezuelans will consider in a December referendum.
Typical! Yeah, our student agents are always peaceful!
Hundreds of National Guard members and police in riot gear were posted along the march route to prevent clashes between protesters and Chávez sympathizers, but they were restricted from entering the campus."
Here's how the NYT plays it:
"Gunmen Attack Opponents of Chávez’s Bid to Extend Power" by SIMON ROMERO
CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov. 7 — Masked gunmen shot into a group of students on Wednesday at this country’s most prestigious university. The students were returning from a march here protesting changes to the Constitution proposed by President Hugo Chávez that could allow him to remain in power indefinitely.
At least eight people were injured in the mix of gunfire and rock-throwing at the Central University of Venezuela, including two who were shot, according to Antonio Rivero, the national director of civil protection. The violence followed a march by tens of thousands of students to the Supreme Court.
Rock-throwing? I heard it was peaceful?
Mr. Rivero, in comments broadcast on the radio here, said of the assailants:
"At the moment the students arrived, they were attacked by others wearing hoods. We do not know what faction they belong to.”
Protests and counterprotests intensified throughout Venezuela ahead of a referendum on the president’s 69 amendments scheduled for a Dec. 2 vote.
The president’s supporters also control the federal bureaucracy and every state-controlled company and are trying to exert greater control over universities, touching a nerve among an increasingly defiant student movement. Students also protested Wednesday in interior cities, including Mérida, Barquisimeto and San Cristóbal.
Cable broadcasters updated viewers throughout the day on the march against the proposed amendments and the ensuing violence, but state-controlled news media here offered a different view.
The main government television channel interspersed coverage of the clash with images of a pro-Chávez march in the city of Maracay. The official news agency said anti-Chávez students had attacked pro-Chávez students with tear gas canisters and threatened them with lynching."
That's always an afterthought, though!
