President Hugo Chavez Frias has revealed that his government is in the possession of a secretly recorded video of a US CIA officer giving instruction to would-be Venezuelan coupsters on surveillance techniques ... evidence that the CIA remains involved in clandestine activity (i.e. espionage) in Venezuela even after the US-backed coup attempt in April 2002.  He also says he has clear and certain evidence of US involvement before and during the coup d'etat ... "some day these pieces of evidence will be released to the public."

Chavez Frias says the CIA's surveillance techniques training couldn;t have been very good since his security services were able to film the CIA officer "in action!"

Journalists have probed the reasons why President Chavez Frias had canceled his trip to the United States next week ... he was scheduled to have given a speech at the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York and to visit the projected site of the new PDVSA-owned CITGO HQ in Houston.  He was also to have given a speech in Harlem.

Chavez Frias refused to give details of the "security reasons" which form the basis for the decision to cancel the US trip, but said he regrets having to drop out of the Harlem engagement ... he admitted that he's not bothered about UN speeches other than that he simply doesn't like them:  "I go there, and I don't feel like speaking because practically no one listens ... it's a dialogue of the deaf; it's silly . You go there to listen to one discourse after another, one day after the other and for what? What is the purpose?"

On the home front Chavez says it does not surprise him that an opposition coalition has sent a letter to the Organization of American States (OAS), the UNDP and the Carter Center ... "their problem is that the opposition wants a referendum according to their own preferences ... in the past the National Elections Council (CNE) has been at the behest of Accion Democratica (AD) and the Christian Socialists (COPEI) to organize election fraud. Now there is a significantly independent CNE ... and the opposition complains, since they are not used to that degree of autonomy."

"It is going to be extremely difficult for the opposition to comply with the requirements for a recall referendum," Chavez Frias told reporters.  "Several opposition representatives have told me privately that they are not actually interested in a recall referendum because they would rather concentrate on upcoming elections for state governors in June-July 2004.  I doubts that there's a real will on the part of the opposition to even organize it properly ... but there is nonetheless a possibility that there will be a referendum, but only if the opposition takes its role seriously and puts aside all their illegalities."

Chavez Frias promises to clarify Venezuela's position on the recent World Trade Organization (WTO summit in Cancun (Mexico).  He says it's not the first time there have been contradictions ... along with other third world countries, organized in the "Group of 21", Venezuela's Minister of Production & Commerce (MPC) has taken a strong position on the issue of eliminating agricultural subsidies for first world countries.

Diplomatic relations between Venezuela and Colombia remain complicated because of deeper interests that are more interested in sabotaging any relationship between Bogota and Caracas.  Chavez Frias explains that his government is carrying on a mediatory initiative initiated under the Presidency of Dr. Rafael Caldera and emphasizes that  "Venezuela is not providing any kind of support to Colombian guerillas, despite what the opposition claims ... instead, our position is one of neutrality, neither opposing or supporting the guerillas ... we don't want to support the path of war in Colombia, we want to support the path of peace."