A US officer has been accused of being involved with Venezuela's failed coup against President Hugo Chavez, a charismatic left-leaning populist.
A source close to the official investigation told journalists that US Army colonel Ronald MacCammon was with the military coup leaders who briefly managed to topple Chavez, only to have him return amid a swell of support fewer than 48 hours later, the source said.
US military and State Department officials swiftly denied MacCammon had anything to do with the failed ouster.
A Pentagon spokesman acknowledged MacCammon, the US army attaché in Caracas, and his deputy James Rodgers, had offices at Fort Tiuna, the military headquarters here, but denied they had anything to do with the failed overthrow.
Chavez, an ex-paratrooper, was ousted following three days of upheaval that included a nationwide joint labor-management strike.
The US State Department issued a communiqué that day, decrying "undemocratic actions committed or encouraged by the Chavez administration" that "provoked" the crisis.
Fewer than 48 hours later, the interim government of right-wing businessman Pedro Carmona buckled under intense pressure from other Latin American nations for dissolving Venezuela's National Assembly and Supreme Court, and Chavez was back in power after his supporters took to the streets.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a State Department official in Washington acknowledged the United States had a military group liason at Fort Tiuna until Thursday morning, but added that "at some point Thursday they were told by the Venezuelans to leave and they did, along with all the other foreign military officials."
Earlier, a military source told AFP in Caracas that US Army Lieutenant Colonel James Rodgers, an aide to the US military attache, was present at Fort Tiuna in Caracas before Chavez was brought to that installation after the coup, and remained there until the self-proclaimed provisional government fell apart.
Some Venezuelan military officers interpreted Rodgers' presence as a green light from Washington to unseat Chavez, the Caracas source said.
AFP