Venezuela

Venezuela is a country in South America whose president, Hugo Chavez, was a close ally of Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president of Honduras. Chávez stated he would consider it an "act of war" if there were hostilities against his diplomats and put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert. Chávez reportedly had close ties to Iran and offered military support to Iran in the event of a war with the United States.¹

Luis Posada Carriles

Venezuela was where Luis Posada Carriles was imprisoned for his involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner and from which he escaped before resurfacing at Ilopango Air Base in San Salvador as Felix Rodriguez's right-hand man. Posada was sent to Venezuela and began working as an official of the Venezuelan intelligence service, DISIP, while maintaining his Central Intelligence Agency connections. He was arrested in Venezuela for the Cubana Airlines bombing that killed 73 people but escaped from prison in 1985.²

Posada resurfaced at Ilopango in early 1986, where he managed the cash disbursements for the Contra resupply operation, telling associates "the money came from Washington." His journey from Venezuelan prisoner to Contra operative illustrated the revolving door between terrorism and U.S.-backed covert operations, demonstrating how the CIA protected operatives with histories of terrorism and drug trafficking when they were useful for the Contra war.²