Sarath Fonseka and regime change in Sri Lanka

A.Weerasekera

Recently Minister Maithripala Sirisena made a comment that west is using Sarath Fonseka to bring regime change in Sri Lanka. Could there be any truth behind this claim? In April 2002, Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce president Pedro Carmona led a coup to bring down the Venezuelan head of state, President Hugo Chavez.

Immediately after the coup, members of the military and of the new government said that the decision to force Chavez from power had been made six months earlier by a group of dissident officers in the Venezuelan navy and air force. As the coup was being hatched, the United States met with all the key players, either in Venezuela or in Washington: Pedro Carmona, Vice Admiral Carlos Molina, Air Force Col. Pedro Soto, and several other officers who in February had publicly demanded Chavez’s removal.

A US diplomat revealed that Molina and Soto had each received $100,000 from a Miami bank account for denouncing Chavez.

Later it was found that the U.S. funneled almost a million dollars to the organizations that fomented the anti-Chavez coup, through the auspices of the National Endowment for Democracy. Instead of recognizing the coup, the White House term of choice was “a change of government”. Such incidents are common in Latin American, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

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