On the heels of Hugo Chavez’s death, civil rights groups file FOIA to find information on potential assassination plots
Just hours after the announcement out of Venezuela that their president of 14 years had succumbed to cancer, civil rights groups in the United States filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and the Defense Intelligence Agency to determine if any information or documentation existed
Hugo Chávez in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Jan/26/2003 photo Victor Soares
concerning a possible assassination plot against the Venezuelan dictator, according to a Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) press release Tuesday.
Joining the PCJF on this quest for information is the anti-war group, ANSWER Coalition and Liberation Newspaper. The groups say they are seeking information and documents that “relate to or reference or discuss any information regarding or plans to poison or otherwise assassinate the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.
Venezuelan officials have said repeatedly over time that they believe Chavez’s cancer was a result of plot by the US government. A spokesman for the State Department calls the assertion “absurd”.
The following are excerpts from the FOIA request:
Image/Computer Screen Shot
Image/Computer Screen Shot
The full FOIA letter is available here.
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) is a not-for-profit constitutional rights legal and educational organization which, among other things, seeks to ensure constitutional accountability within police practices and government transparency in operations, according to their website.
