When in 2005 Bush ally and Christian fundamentalist Pat Robertson called for
Chavez's assassination ("It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war"), public
outcry forced some questions: Was that, in fact, a CIA goal? Did the US have
plans to invade Venezuela (as Chavez alluded to receiving intelligence about on
Nightline in September 2005)? And exactly what was the extent of US knowledge of
or involvement in the April 2002 coup against Chavez? (He was back in power
within two days, after 250,000 took to the streets in Venezuela to protest.)
Venezuelan-American attorney Eva Golinger and journalist Jeremy Bigwood have
used the US Freedom of Information