[Peace-discuss] Operation Balboa: NATO war games simulated attack on Venezuela

[Phil Stinard]

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21173

Published: Saturday, May 15, 2004
Bylined to: Philip Stinard

Operation Balboa: NATO war games simulated attack on Venezuela

VHeadline.com's Philip Stinard writes:  Extracts from a longer article by 
Eleazar Díaz Rangel -- Between May 3 and May 18, 2001, the Spanish Armed 
Forces, fed with abundant, detailed, and secret information about 
Venezuelan, Colombian, and Panamanian military and defense, conducted a 
simulated land, air, and sea assault in which US and allied countries, 
authorized by the United Nations, attacked the western part of Venezuela 
from bases in Panama and Colombia.

These are what military and geopolitical analysts call “war games,” which 
simulate scenarios and situations that permit the participating forces to 
practice advanced attack and defensive techniques.

In this case, the exercise “presented a fictitious situation, the product of 
the evolution of imaginary happenings, although they are adapted to 
real-life situations,” according the “General Rules of Simulation” and the 
“Specific Exercise Plan for Operation Balboa.”

It’s surprising to learn how much information, supposedly confidential and 
secret, about Venezuela, was provided by US officials to NATO and was used 
in this simulation conducted by 36 Lieutenant Colonels and other officials 
from the Spanish Air Force and other countries.

These and other participants in the “war games” were organized in two 
groups, and the ones in the Air Force were directed by Commanders Juan Ramon 
del Rio Nieto and Julian Roldan Martinez from the General Air Command in 
Moncloa. One can infer from the classified document to which we have access 
that the exercises were completed with the participation of land and sea 
forces.

Scenario: The participating countries are shown on a map: A blue country, 
the United States; a white country that needs to be protected, Colombia; a 
light blue neutral country dependent on the blue country, Panama; and 
purple, Venezuela; with a black zone of conflict. These countries are 
described with interesting deformations to exalt the blue and white 
countries, and indicate the negative aspects of the purple country. For 
example, it explains that by nationalizing the oil industry, Purple “needs 
foreign personnel, particularly from the Blue country, to maintain the 
rhythm of production and operation of these installations.”

The intervention

Operation Balboa then goes into great detail into the hypothetical political 
situation of Venezuela. It posits the existence of a radical People’s Party 
that “proposes actions against the interests of the legally constituted 
government” and against properties of the Blue Country (United States). The 
Venezuelan Revolutionary Force (VFL), exists in the west, with support of 
the White (Colombian) guerrillas, popular groups, and some of the Armed 
Forces, and practically controls the western part of Purple (Venezuela).

“Given the escalating crisis and impossibility of controlling it, the 
Venezuelan government has asked for international help.”

The United Nations Security Council calls upon the VLF to abandon its 
belligerent actions and make peace with the Purple government. Peace talks 
between the groups fail, and Blue residents of the Black area are 
threatened. The UN authorizes the creation of an Allied Joint Combined Force 
to rescue the foreign residents.

Colombia’s role

The White country (Colombia) declares itself neutral in the conflict, but 
fearful that the conflict could extend inside its borders where guerrilla 
forces are aiding the VLF, they offer the use of their territory and their 
air force bases to the UN Forces. Light Blue (Panama) also offers the use of 
its territory.

The UN makes a statement

Naturally, armed intervention, supposedly requested by a government, needs 
to cover its appearances. That’s where the UN comes in, although it’s not 
certain that the National Security Council will support this position.

They could appeal to the Organization of American States (OAS) and ask for 
application of the Interamerican Charter, but since they are working with 
NATO, they decide to go through the UN.

The UN Security Council emits a resolution asking the VLF to abandon the 
occupied territories and give up control to the Purple government. It 
authorizes the Blue country and its allies to use force if the VLF does not 
meet a certain deadline, and authorizes forces to conduct rescue missions 
for Blue citizens within the Purple country. Air forces are authorized to 
control the VLF areas, and the Allied Joint Combined Force is authorized to 
be made up of forces mainly from the Blue country and its allies.

Operation Balboa

On April 30, 2001, the VLF ignores the UN and continues to occupy its 
territory. “Their military situation is excellent because they have an 
increased number of air force personnel, completely dominating the Air Bases 
and civilian airports in the Black area, which also includes the capital.”

“The VLF have threatened to destroy Purple’s petroleum resources in case 
their installations are attacked. They are expecting hostile actions and 
sabotage operations by the guerrillas against their own bases located in the 
White country.”

The Operation Balboa plans then go into great detail about how the Blue 
forces are deployed, and how they conduct the war. The oil facilities are to 
be protected at all costs. The goal is to “destroy the enemy air force’s 
potential, support the ground troops, occupy the northwest part of the 
Purple country to recover the (petroleum) capital, blockade the main ports 
in the occupied territory, and secure land communications to maintain 
logistic flow and military control of the area.”

    * The operations are conducted in four phases, completely detailed in 
Eleazar Diaz Rangel’s original report, complete with maps and drawings.

How did it end?

Since the documents in our possession only cover Air Force operations, with 
frequent allusions to land and naval forces, it’s logical to assume that 
Operation Balboa ended in “victory,” the attainment of the proposed 
objectives, security in the White country, and consolidation of the central 
Purple government after the liquidation of the VLF forces.

Some questions

The reader must be left with many questions. For example: Why was Venezuela 
chosen as the principal objective in this “war game?” How is Operation 
Balboa related to the April, 2002 coup? What did this “simulation” have to 
do with the presence and activity of US military officials during the coup? 
Why wasn’t Cuba involved? How far did NATO intervention go? What was the 
participation by the Spanish Armed Forces? What country proposed this war 
game, the US, Spain, or some other NATO country? And, supposing that the 
Venezuelan National Armed Forces (FAN) military intelligence knew of these 
war games, what was the reaction by the High Military Command and the 
highest echelons of the Venezuelan government? Have they asked for an 
explanation? How did so much classified information about the Venezuelan 
military and government leave the country?

>From Operation Balboa to April, 2002

Eleven months later, there was a coup in Venezuela, and for 47 hours, we had 
a dictatorial government. On that occasion, evidence surfaced implicating 
the US government. I wrote on this subject in my Sunday column (May 3, 
2003), “April in Washington,” where I showed how US Naval Captain David 
Cazares, at a reception in the Melia Hotel on April 8, 2002, approached a 
Venezuelan general, whom he had mistaken for someone else he was conspiring 
with, and asked him about the lack of contact that he had with a submarine 
and two war ships deployed in Venezuelan waters.

    On April 12, 2002, US Colonel Donald F. MacCarty made an irregular 
request for authorization to fly US Galaxy C-17 and Hercules C-130 airplanes 
over Venezuela. During those lays, instead of the four F-16 airplanes that 
the US had permanently stationed in Curacao after they abandoned their bases 
in Panama, there were 16 of those powerful hunter/bomber aircraft in 
Curacao.

    On March 28, 2002, Colonel Michael Rhea, of the US Military Mission in 
Venezuela, strangely offered a workshop on the use of night-vision visors to 
be held before April 10. The offer was accepted by US officials, and they 
came to Venezuela in advance of the workshop. In Ultimas Noticias, we 
reported on how a US ship penetrated our territorial waters on April 12, 
2002 near Falcon, and from there, a helicopter flew in circles near Orchila 
Island, where President Chavez was being held prisoner.

Finally, we also published photos of US Colonel J. Rodgers driving a small 
truck at Fort Tiuna, where he was stationed on April 11, 12, and 13, almost 
always hanging out on the fifth floor where the Army Command, command center 
for the coup, was located.

Military experts call the war games a “continuing situation,” because these 
simulations are almost never divorced from reality. On the contrary, they 
reflect, and often encourage, the development of real situations.