Operation Pliers

Operation Pliers, also known as Operación Tenaza or Operation Pincers is the name of an alleged CIA plan to incite insurrection following the December 2, 2007 referendum on constitutional changes in Venezuela. According to the Venezuelan government, the plan was discovered in an internal memo uncovered by Venezuelan counter-intelligence operatives on November 26, 2007; thus far the text of the memo has been published in Spanish only. The memo purports to be a communication from a CIA officer named Michael Middleton Steere, employed at the US embassy in Caracas, to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington, D.C. It allegedly details measures taken and planned to destabilize Venezuela during and after the referendum. The document is dated November 20.
Alleged plan
Curaçao and Colombia
Military measures are mentioned, coordination with ex-military officers and "coupsters" Pena Esclusa and Guyon Cellis through the Military Attaché for Defense and Army at the US Embassy in Caracas Defense Attaché Office (DAO), encouraging a possible military rebellion inside the National Guard. The document also mentions a possible US attack of Venezuela by asking to complete the operative preparations on the US military bases in Curaçao and Colombia to provide support to actions in Venezuela.
US and Venezuelan response
Venezuelan response
The response of the Venezuelan government to the alleged discovery of the memo has been to attempt to dissuade the US from bringing the plan into action by threatening to cut off oil supplies if it does so.
US response
The US has called Venezuelan accusations of a CIA conspiracy "ridiculous" . According to the International Herald Tribune, an embassy spokesman said "We reject and are disappointed in the Venezuelan government's allegations that the United States is involved in any type of conspiracy to affect the outcome of the constitutional referendum" and a CIA spokesman called the memo "a fake".

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