Wikipedia

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Wikipedia’s Original Publication 

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Versión en español

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Robert Alonso (born August 23, 1950) is an American-Cuban-Venezuelan writer, editor, TV producer and right-wing activist, also known as “El Padre de La Guarimba”^[1] (The Guarimba’s Father) a political refugee in the United States since 2004 and an American citizen since 2010.^[2][3]

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Early life 

Robert Alonso was born in the city of Cienfuegos, Cuba.  In 1961, at the age of 11 years old, he escaped Cuba with his family: his father Ricardo, his mother Conchita, his brother Ricardo Jose and his sister Maria Conchita.  The Alonso family established in Venezuela.^[2][4]

In 1962 his parents sent him to study in Washington State where he lived with his “American Family”: The Loshes.  He studied at “Deer Park High School”, in Deer Park, Washington and business administration at “Kinman Business University”^[5] in Spokane, Washington. He moved to Germany, where he studied film and TV production in the “Hochschule Für Fernsehen und Film” and journalism at the “University of Aberdeen”, in Scotland.^[6]

Both Alonso’s father and his wife’s parents died in Venezuela and they both were unable to attend their funerals.  At the behest of the Hugo Chavez‘ government, Alonso has an arrest warrant from Interpol, according to Chavez’ government: for attempting to assassinate the president.

Family 

He married a Cuban-born, Venezuelan-American, Siomara Etcheverry with whom he had four children: Maria Carolina, Carlos Alberto, Alejandro and Eduardo.  His sister, Maria Conchita (born June 29th 1955) was “Miss Teenager World” and later competed for the crown of “Miss World”, representing Venezuela in London.  Maria Conchita became a soap opera actress and a singer.  In 1984 she moved to Hollywood, California where she worked in a number of motion pictures.

His brother Ricardo Jose (born May 26, 1948) became a Venezuelan lawyer.

His wealthy father Ricardo who prospered under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, founded an automobile financing company in Cuba which became the competitor of General Motors Acceptance Corporation in the Caribbean islands.^[6]  His mother, Conchita Bustillo, was a physical education teacher in Cuba and established a gymnasium in Caracas.  Everyone in his original family was born in Cuba of Spanish descent.

Books & Publications 

Robert Alonso has written and published seven books: “Regresando del Mar de la Felicidad” (“Returning from the Sea of Hapiness”), “Memorias de Cienfuegos” (“Memories of Cienfuegos”), “Los Evangelicos” (“The Evangelics”),^[7] “Los Generales de Castro” (“Castro’s Generals),^[8] “Como se Perdio Venezuela” (“How Venezuela Was Lost”),^[9] “Estafa Doble y Agravada” (“Double and Aggravated Scam”)^[10] and “Why We Are About to Lose The United States of America to the Claws of Fabianism”.^[11] He was the director of the weekly Venezuelan newspaper in Miami, “Venezuela Sin Mordaza”,^[2] as well as the founder and editor of “Revista Venezuela”.^[12][3] He has written and published hundreds of essays^[13] and produced thousands of clips, videos and documentaries published on social networks or on his website: “Robert Alonso Presenta”.^[14]

TV Production 

Alonso worked as TV producer in Radio Caracas Television (Venezuela), Venezolana de Television (Venezuela) and WAPA TV (Puerto Rico).  In 1984 he established his own TV production company, “Robert Alonso Production”, which operated until he left his adopted country in 2004.^[2]

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Activism 

While living in West Berlin, Robert Alonso was recruited by an anti-Castro organization called “La Guerra por Los Caminos del Mundo”, (“The War Through the Roads of The World”), actively participating in various countries of the world, such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Angola, Grenada, Chile, Nicaragua, among others..^[9][4][15]  When the Cold War was over, he moved with his family to a farm near Caracas  called “Finca Daktari” (Daktari Ranch).^[2]  When Hugo Chavez took power he became active once again. In 2004 he was forced to exile in the United States, where he kept on fighting for the liberation of Cuba and Venezuela. Chavez’ government accused Alonso of being a member of the CIA, although when The Miami New Times called to corroborate those allegations, CIA spokesman George Little. responded: “We do not, as a rule, comment on those kinds of allegations.”^[2]

While in Venezuela he was a member of “Bloque Democratico”, a right-wing organization. In 2007, together with Commander Marlon Gutierrez, leader of the Nicaraguan Contras in exile, created the Inter-American Foundation for Democracy. In 2010 Alonso founded in Miami the National Resistance Movement of Venezuela.^[16]

Commissioner Elections 

In 1995 Robert Alonso ran as a independent candidate for commissioner of the Municipality of El Hatillo.  The bets gave him the winner, however – as he himself accepted – he came in second place in a manual and duly supervised election.  However, the then Supreme Electoral College granted him only three votes.^[17][18]

Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 

On October 6th (1976), a Cubana de Aviación DC-8 plunged into the sea in international waters off the coast of Barbados.  It was initially thought that the accident was due to human error, but it was soon discovered that it was due to a terrorist attack.  Alonso was assigned to investigate the accident, which took him to Angola, Great Britain, Barbados and several Caribbean islands.^[19]

On October 2007, Mambi Watch, a website committed to a demonstration of civility, respectable debate and forming sound arguments on US/Cuba issues, wrote a long article about Alonso and his relation to his investigation about the Cubana de Aviación Flight 455. “Janine Zeitlin of The Miami New Times ran into the name Robert Alonso in 2007 when she wrote the 13-part post called <No Defense for Terror.> <Alonso>, Zeitlin said, “is another, like Humberto Fontova and Enrique Encinosa, who came to the aid of Luis Posada Carriles after he was arrested in 2005, trying to exculpate him in the eyes of the public”. In <No Defense for Terror> Zeitlin confronted some of those arguments that were in favor of Posada Carriles and found out they were either false or exaggerated. <I focused mainly on Fontova and Encinosa after I realized that Alonso was just repeating what the other two were saying, and also because I was getting tired of writing>, Zeitlin said.”^[20]

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Mambi Watch continues: “But, Robert Alonso did add a new twist in the defense of Luis Posada Carriles and his involvement (or non-involvement) in the case of the Cubana flight bombing of 1976. You see, Zeitlin of The Miami New Times leaves out the part when Alonso was a so-called “independent” journalist in Venezuela during the 70’s and 80’s. Working in Venezuela at the time, Alonso began investigating the case of the Cubana flight bombing and the arrest of Luis Posada Carriles, a case he later called “The Trial of the Century”^[21] for a 1985, 50-minute documentary, which can be viewed on Google Videos in five parts (in Spanish). The video (which is very informative) is essentially a soapbox for Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch and their defense team. The documentary ends happily with the news of Luis Posada Carriles having escaped from prison in 1985.”^[20]

“Twenty years later, Robert Alonso, exiled in Miami, appeared on Miami Spanish TV with Maria Elvira Salazar (you can watch the edited version of the interview (in Spanish) on Google Videos, courtesy of Guarimba TV). Alonso comes on the show (August 2005) for one important purpose: to defend Luis Posada Carriles who was arrested on May 2005.  Maria Elvira Salazar gave Alonso an entire show to dust off his 1985 book titled “Los Generales de Castro” (Castro’s Generals)^[8] and to present his version of events that absolve Posada Carriles from the bombing of Cubana flight 455, and instead accused the Cuban government of the sinister plot. (Alonso also admits that he is “very friendly” with Posada Carriles, especially since they both come from the same city in Cuba: Cienfuegos.)”^[20]

“There are four important arguments in Alonso’s defense: 1) the suspicious involvement of Ricardo Morales Navarrete as a possible double-agent and confessed involvement; 2) the forensic results of the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) lab led by Erick Newton; 3) suspicious refusal of the Cuban government to recover the Cuban flight wreckage from the bottom of the sea; and 4) the identification of seven mysterious “generals” from the Cuban military who were supposedly on the doomed flight, but never included within the official list of 73 victims on board.”^[20]

“The first two arguments were repeated by Fontova and Encinosa. Alonso, like the others, failed to mention that Morales Navarrete confessed to being one of many involved in the bombing, or at least knowing those who conspired in it. According to two persons who interviewed him (Diosdado Diaz and Osmeiro Carneiro), Morales Navarrete is as guilty as Luis Posada Carriles for the bombing of Cubana flight 455.”^[20]

“The results of RARDE should also be seriously doubted since the poor lab techniques used and the political influence of a Venezuelan official in the “independent” forensic investigation most likely favored Posada Carriles’ defense.”^[20]

“The refusal of the Cuban government to recover the Cubana flight wreckage from the deep water is suspicious, especially since it could have provided important evidence in the case, but to create a grand conspiracy around this fact alone is irrational. There’s plenty of other important evidence to inquire about in this case”.^[20]

“Finally, Alonso presented a very unique theory. In his interview with Maria Elvira Salazar, Alonso said that the Cuban government very likely blew up the plane because of seven Cuban military officials on board who would threaten Fidel Castro‘s leadership upon their return to Cuba. According to Alonso’s personal investigation of the Cubana flight bombing, he discovered that there were seven unidentified men on board after examining the photo’s taken by Hernan Ricardo inside the doomed plane. (Hernan Ricardo was eventually sentenced to 20 years in 1986 for his involvement in the bombing). Supposedly, Ricardo took enough photos of all the ill-fated passengers for Alonso to conclude that there were seven men left off the <official> death count of 73 passengers. We are to assume further that these seven men secretly boarded the flight and that Ricardo’s film has been concealed by the Venezuelan government, or Cuban government, in a vast conspiracy to completely erase the whereabouts of these seven men (who were supposedly gaining great respect among their men after battles in Angola), and any other person or memory of those who knew them, because Fidel Castro alone feared their possible influence upon their return”.^[20]

“When tried to get a hold of a copy of “Los Generales de Castro”,^[8] the book was out of print. A new edition (in Spanish) is now in Amazon. Unfortunately, the theory of the seven generals has not been reported elsewhere, or on the internet. But, how fortunate for Alonso to have his theory presented to a wide audience with Maria Elvira Salazar, who was delighted in accepting everything Alonso said”.^[20]

“In his much-mingled book, “Los Generales de Castro,”^[8] which was a bestseller in 1985 when it was published, Alonso accuses Cuban-Venezuelan Commissioner General Orlando Garcia – Carlos Andres Perez‘s personal chief of security – of having given the order to exploit the Cubana de Aviacion’s DC-8 on October 6, 1976.  A few months after the publication of the book in 1985, Alonso suffered an attack that led him to his second exile.  He and his family (wife and two children) miraculously survived the intentional explosion of his car with plastic explosive C4.  Alonso attributed the attack to Orlando Garcia, whom he accused in his book of being a double agent infiltrated by Fidel Castro in Venezuela“.^[20]

“If one reads the Miami New Times article on Alonso carefully, one will see that the life of Robert Alonso, told to Janine Zeitlin, is very mysterious itself”.^[20]

La Guarimba 

Genesis 

The word guarimba means refuge, in one of the dialects Venezuelans inherited from the Caribs. Guarimba is the name of a famous children’s street game, especially in times when there were no Internet or electronic games. Two large circles (two large guarimbas) were drawn – with a piece of coal or a chalk – on the pavement of the streets. Between each circle there were about 15 meters. All but one of the boys got into one of those circles and the game consisted of running between the two guarimbas without being touched by the one outside the circles, hunting those who ran from one shelter to another: from one guarimba to the other.^[9][2]

In the time of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, the civic resistance designed a method of subversion where churches were used as shelters, as guarimbas. They operated against the dictatorship and then ran to the safety of the churches: their guarimbas. This strategy of using the churches as a refuge was then called “La Guarimba“. At that time there were no streets barricades. The idea was to do acts of sabotage near the churches and then run to them, where they took refuge before they were “touched” by the henchmen of General Perez Jimenez’ regime. That way they “played” La Guarimba.^[9][2]

Following the “Massacre of April 11” (also called “The Miraflores Massacre”, which occurred on April 11, 2002, where more than 20 Venezuelans were massacred and hundreds were wounded by bullets), Alonso’s group realized that they could not move towards a target, no matter how many they were. They saw how in a matter of seconds, nearly a million opponents marching towards the vicinity of the Miraflores Palace, were dispersed by a handful of snipers who to this day nobody knows where they came from and from where they fired.^[9][2]

It was then that Alonso turned to that concept of refuge he learnt through “La Guarimba” against Marcos Perez Jimenez. So he designed a strategy where the fundamental element of protection was the homes of his guarimberos, how they called Alonso’s followers; that is: their guarimba. The word guarimba doesn’t mean barricade, violence or confrontation. Guarimba means refuge, even though the term has been demonized a billion times by those against the strategy.^[9][2]

However, not all Venezuelans agree with “La Guarimba“. Some even claim that this is an old strategy devised by CIA strategists. Eva Golinger wrote: “La Guarimba” was no new invention of Mr. Alonso, it was an old school spook tactic given a new name. Yet in many instances, the intervention model doesn’t even go so far as to change its name. For example, the U.S. financed and created “democratic opposition” movements in Chile, the Philippines, Panama, Nicaragua and Haiti, that all carried similar names and characteristics”.^[22]

The first Guarimba, between February and March 2004, generated much criticism from opponents of the Chávez government.  Many establishments such as banks, supermarkets, schools, hospitals, gas stations, etc., remained closed for several weeks.  Large numbers of injured were unable to reach the health care facilities.  Chávez’ government had not yet lost as much popularity as it did later.  By 2014, ten years after the first Guarimba, the political, economic and social situation had changed dramatically.^[2][9]

Alonso, who promoted the strategy through more than two million emails, claimed that La Guarimba was non-violent, however, it is estimated that there were several hundred dead, twice as many injured and thousands arrested. The government held Alonso responsible for the material and human damages caused by the uprising, and issued him with an arrest warrant. Many of the victims’ relatives accused Alonso of fomenting the insurrection. As a result, Alonso was forced to clandestinely.^[2][9] Alonso came to his defense by accepting a telephone interview with journalist Oscar Medina of El Universal newspaper, claiming that this was not “La Guarimba.”  The deaths, the maimed and the arrested occurred, according to Alonso, because the “guarimberos” did not observe the sacred rules of the strategy.^[23]

Strategy 

According to Alonso, La Guarimba’s strategy was tremendously simple. It had three golden rules. 1. Interrupt with barricades the intersections closest to the homes of the guarimberos. 2. Not to move away more than 50 meters from the front of the guarimberos’s homes, that is: of their guarimbas, and 3. Not to confront the repressive forces of the government. These simple rules were often not observed, especially by university students, who made up much of La Guarimba’s force.

The Guarimba had two main objectives: to paralyze much of the national territory and to defend the neighbors from the “colectivos‘” attacks. By paralyzing much of the national territory, according to Alonso, the guarimberos could control important cities and even block processes related to the oil industry. During the two weeks of the first Guarimba, many employees of the crude oil refineries were unable to attend their jobs. Gasoline supplies were paralyzed and PDVSA was even unable to meet many crude export commitments. The international insurance companies almost considered unsafe all Venezuelan ports. A widespread insurrection throughout the country would affect the interests of many multinational corporations and that is when – according to Alonso – the international community would begin to pay attention to the real opposition to the Chávez government inside Venezuela.^[2][9]

Faced with such widespread chaos, Alonso counted on the possibility of a military implosion, similar to the one that deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.^[24]

Gene Sharp 

Dr. Gene Sharp became Alonso’s “personal savior” and his strategic mentor.^[2] Dr. Gene Sharp’s Albert Einstein Institution, and Popovic and Djinovic’s CANVAS had up to this point enjoyed minimal public scrutiny. But things started going sideways when, in 2007, Venezuelan-American attorney and dogged reporter Eva Golinger published Bush v. Chavez: Washington’s War on Venezuela. She wrote: “The Albert Einstein Institute’s role in training anti-Chavez activist <guarimbas> like far-right opposition leader Robert Alonso—who would get busted for aiding a plot to assassinate Chavez.  The accusations began snowballing. Chavez himself got on Venezuelan television and accused Sharp of <stirring unrest.>The Asia Times called Sharp the <concert-master> of the failed Saffron Revolution in Burma, where Sharp and the Albert Einstein Institute had been providing trainings to opposition groups since the late 1980s.  Ahmadinejad’s Ministry of Propaganda made a caricaturist video of George Soros, Gene Sharp, and John McCain conspiring against Iran in the White House.  In multiple countries, activists accused of studying Sharp were sent to jail.”^[25]

Sharp’s military advisor was a colonel named Robert Helvey, retired from the US Army, who was sent to Venezuela to instruct Robert Alonso’s guarimberos.  Helvey had studied at the Superior Schools of Staff and the US Navy. He was an expert in asymmetric warfare.  His supposedly non-violent strategy was also called the “Soft Coup“.  In one of the many essays published by Alonso, he claimed to be proud to be advised by Sharp and Colonel Helvey, however, when Sharp was asked about his relations with Alonso, he agreed to have talked to the ideologue of La Guarimba, but that he did not know the Venezuelan strategy in depth.^[25][2]

In 2000 Sharp advised the young leaders of Otpor whom, on his instructions, succeeded in deposing Milosevic in eleven months,^[26] which NATO could not achieve in months of bombing, at the cost of thousands of innocent lives.^[27] In 2007, Hugo Chavez went on national television and explained Sharp’s “soft coup” strategy, warning the opposition that his government was prepared to confront it.^[28]

Alonso based much of his strategy on Dr. Sharp’s famous essay, “From Dictatorship to Democracy.”  Inspired by Sharp’s essay, “The Manifesto of Liberation” written and published by Alonso, was born.^[29] Sharp warned in his essay that the international community would not help any country subjugated by a dictatorship unless two scenarios occurred. The first scenario: that the civil insurrection was affecting the interests of the region.  The second: that the outside world considered that internal insurrection would prevail in a short or medium term. Both scenarios were Alonso’s primary objectives through his strategy.^[9]

First Guarimba 2004 

Venezuela’s 1999 constitution provides for a midterm recall referendum for any elected official, including the president of Venezuela, assuming a specific number of signatures were obtained.^[30] It was time to request the presidential recall referendum and the required signatures were obtained, but Chavez refused to participate in the referendum, claiming that many of the signatures were false or had been tampered with.^[31] Alonso understood that the time had come to summon La Guarimba. On February 24th, 2004, he was invited to Globovisión and explained how east Berliners managed to revolt and tear down the Berlin Wall.  He was not allowed to mention La Guarimba or the political crisis that Venezuela was going through, but millions of Venezuela got the message.^[32] La Guarimba occurred three days later, on February 27 at 6 pm.^[2][9]

Since it was the first time a similar strategy had been implemented in Venezuela, much of the middle class felt deeply affected, generating a great division among Chavez’s own opponents.  Neighborhood residents felt like prisoners within their own sector.  It became difficult to get food.  At least 10 cities joined La Guarimba, and the government began to exert pressure.  There were deaths, maimed and many arrested.  Little by little the morale of the guarimberos was diminishing. But the government felt the heat and considered a negotiation with the main opposition parties to be appropriate. Chavez feared losing governability.  Some senior military officials began to recommend Chavez to accept the terms of the recall referendum, a prime excuse for the uprising.^[9] On March 7th, on radio and television from coast to coast, one of the representatives of the Coordinadora Democratica, which brought together the largest opposition parties, Pompeyo Marquez, announced that the government had agreed to sit down at the negotiating table to discuss the terms of the recall referendum, which took place on August 15, 2004.^[9] La Guarimba had been neutralized, however, thanks to it Chavez had no choice but to agree to measure himself in the recall referendum.^[9]

Chavez was announced as the winner,^[33] but the opposition objected the official results, on the grounds that a “Mega Fraud” had occurred.^[34] When the U.S. government recognized Chávez’s victory, the opposition gave up.  It would take 10 years for the second Guarimba to emerge.^[35]

Second Guarimba 2014 

In 2009 Alonso attempted a second Guarimba in Venezuela. The students of the Metropolitan University of Caracas revolted.  In January of that year, Hugo Chavez, in a speech broadcast on radio and television from coast to coast, warned his entire government train, including the heads of the armed forces, ministers, his attorney general and the directors of the national security forces, that he would defenestrate them all if they allowed a second Guarimba to take hold in Venezuela.  In his speech, Chavez admitted that from four “escualidos” (meaning “scums”, his derogatory way of qualifying the opposition), the country could be shaken up.  In La Guarimba 2004, he understood how easy it could be for the opposition to seize the national territory and control it, so Chavez thought that he could not afford a second uprising: this time with greater support at national level.^[36]

Argentina’s then-president, Cristina Kichner, visited Venezuela in January 2009.  Chavez’s obsession with La Guarimba was so much that in a live broadcast on radio and television, when the Argentine asked him what “La Guarimba” was, Chavez explained it to her in great detail.^[37]

In February 2014, Alonso appealed to his followers from Miami reminding them how to implement La Guarimba.  That video, at the time, broke record for visits with more than 270,000 hits.  Two months later he was interviewed by Fernando del Rincon on CNN, an opportunity he took to keep his strategy alive on the streets of many cities in Venezuela.^[38]

With Chavez dead, Nicolás Maduro became president of Venezuela.  The political, economic and social situation in the country was dramatically unsustainable.  According to Alonso, the objective conditions were given to uplift the majority of the Venezuelan people into a second Guarimba. At that time, the grassroots opposition was better organized.  Millions of “resistance cells“^[39] had been created across Venezuela.

Alonso succeeded in establishing the concept of “shared leadership,” where each Venezuelan became a leader of the resistance, creating – each one – five-member cells that multiplied exponentially throughout Venezuela. Instead of seeking support from the traditional opposition parties, Alonso concentrated on recruiting university leaders who had been elected by their peers.

La Guarimba began on February 12, 2014 at the University of San Cristóbal, in the State of Tachira, bordering Colombia.^[40] Now “the great guarimba” – the “great refuge” – would be the sister republic of Colombian. As soon as La Guarimba broke out, Nicolás Maduro sent General Miguel Rodríguez Torres, who by then was the Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace, to Táchira. After flying over the city of San Cristobal, he called a national press conference in which he described what he had observed from his helicopter. He recounted how almost all interceptions were blocked with barricades and, most importantly; there was no one on the streets.  The guarimberos were observing the rules of La Guarimba to perfection.^[41]

Very soon La Guarimba spread throughout the national territory.  On this occasion Alonso advised to block the roads where the armored units would travel, especially the French AMX30 tanks. That time the repression of the governmental forces increased and the government quintupled the battalions of “colectivos“, which did a lot of damage.^[42] The violence on the part of the government was confronted by the violence of the guarimberos and from then on La Guarimba began to lose effectiveness.  Alonso came to think that many of those who confronted were infiltrating government agents.

Parallel to The Venezuelan Guarimba, there was the uprising of young Ukrainians.  One of them, Dymitro Potekhin, leader of the rebels in Ukraine, declared in Miami that when they learned about La Guarimba, they began to apply it, since they were defending their barricades. As soon as they began running to their guarimbas, they achieved victory.^[43] Incredibly, according to Alonso, while the Ukrainians copied the Venezuelans, the Venezuelans began to copy the bad practices of the Ukrainians.

In June 2014, Nicolas Maduro appeared on television and radio, from coast to coast, accusing Robert Alonso and his sister, Maria Conchita, of sabotaging dialogue with the opposition by financing La Guarimba from the United States.^[44] In 2014, Jorge Rodríguez accused Alonso of planning the assassination of Hugo Chávez. By the way, Rodriguez, who is a psychiatrist, Alonso borders between sanity and psychosis.^[45] On the other hand, General Angel Vivas stated that the word “guarimba” is not even in the dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE).^[46] In 2013, General Miguel Rodríguez Torres, then the Interior Minister, accused Alonso of advising students who months later would rise up in the city of San Cristóbal, in the state of Táchira in Venezuela.^[47]

Then, the government decided to negotiate peace with the university student leaders and sent General Miguel Rodríguez Torres to promise them “five to one” if they stop La Guarimba.^[48] The students were joined by the leaders of the opposition political parties and between the two groups they managed to neutralized La Guarimba that had been cornering the government of Nicolás Maduro for several months. Some of the student leaders, the most important ones, ended up as deputies in the Venezuelan National Assembly, equivalent to the American Federal Congress. To the misfortune of General Rodríguez Torres, years later – in 2018 – he tried to defenestrate President Maduro and ended up in prison, where he is today.^{[49][50][51][52]}

In 2014, the Venezuelan government again requested an arrest warrant for Alonso.^[53]

Zello 

For La Guarimba of 2014, guarimberos had an interesting and important application called Zello.  It was basically a CB radio that worked over the Internet using smartphones. Initially each Zello channel was limited to a certain number of users. To favor the guarimberos, Zello expanded the capacity of users and opened more than 100 channels for them.  It was a very useful tool.^[54]

“El Carrazo” 

During the Venezuelan uprising of 2014, Alonso uploaded to social networks a video that he called “El Carrazo” with more than 200 thousand hits: a true record for a country like Venezuela.  He suggested that Venezuelans should use their vehicles to paralyze the country.^[55]

To prove that “El Carrazo” was effective, he published another video about the uprising in Serbia.^[56]  His call had no success whatsoever.  He also tried to introduce La Guarimba in Cuba: and failed.^[57]

Third Guarimba 2017 

Three years later, in 2017, the third and final Guarimba exploded.  But this time, a large part of Venezuelans was demoralized.  A lot of young people had left Venezuela and many of those detained three years earlier were still in prison. This time Alonso was not as active. He too was demoralized. From the beginning the harsh repression began and this time the fearsome “colectivos” attacked with greater force.  It is said that there were more deaths than in the previous two guarimbas united.^[58]

In his famous essay, “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” Gene Sharp had warned that the first goal of a resistance movements was to raise the oppressed people’s morale.^[59]  By 2017, the morale of the vast majority of Venezuelans was at the lowest level. This time the guarimberos were those who were not old enough to revolt in 2014.  They set about the task of confronting, forgetting one of the three golden rules of La Guarimba.^[9][16][29]

In this Guarimba it was much easier for the government to negotiate “peace,” without major concessions.  Many Venezuelans began to think that a “complacent opposition” or accomplice had been created.  The goal of many of the Venezuelan middle class was busy on how they migrated: and where to!

Daktari Ranch Affair 

Daktari Ranch 

In February 1989, in the middle of “El Caracazo“, Robert Alonso and his family moved to the Daktari Ranch with their two eldest children.  Years later their two youngest children would be born. Alonso was semi-retired and dedicated himself to the breeding of Colombian Paso Fino horses and built a laboratory for the extraction and cryogenization^[60] of equine semen.  The Cold War was coming to an end. The family lived a peaceful life for a period of twelve years, until Chavez came to power. After the Daktari Ranch Affair, May 2004, the ranch was turned to dust and debris.  It was the site of “The Daktari Massacre“.^[61]

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Colombian Paramilitaries 

The news broke record on May 9th 2004, when Hugo Chavez’ government took over the Alonso’s home – Daktari Ranch – where Alonso, supposedly, was training 150 Colombians paramilitaries–mercenaries with the mission to overthrow Chavez from power. Eva Goling wrote: “I believe there was a very strong possibility that President Chavez was assassinated. There were notorious and documented assassination attempts against him throughout his presidency. Most notable was the April 11, 2002 coup d’état, during which he was kidnapped and set to be assassinated had it not been for the unprecedented uprising of the Venezuelan people and loyal military forces that rescued him and returned him to power within 48 hours. I was able to find irrefutable evidence using the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), that the CIA and other US agencies were behind that coup and supported, financially, militarily and politically, those involved. Later on, there were other attempts against Chavez and his government, such as in 2004 when dozens of Colombian paramilitary forces were captured on a farm outside of Caracas that was owned by an anti-Chavez activist, Robert Alonso, just days before they were going to attack the presidential palace and kill Chavez”.^[62]

Immediately Chavez went on national television from his Sunday show – “Alo Presidente” – and accused Alonso of training a Colombian mercenaries force to defenestrate him and assassinate him.^[63] Later, some intelligence reports claimed that Alonso has managed to build a mercenary army of more than three thousand fighters, mainly from Colombia and South Africa. Gene Sharp, claimed to receive funding from the U.S. government, was linked to the plot.^[64] Another associated to Alonso was Venezuelan billionaire Gustavo Cisneros.^[65]

When the alleged Colombian paramilitaries were captured in Daktari Ranch, Alonso had been sheltering for more than a month at his relatives’ home in Miami.  Interviewed by Colombia’s Cadena Caracol about the events at his ranch in El Hatillo, he replied that he did not know about it and said: “It was probably a payback for my tactics”.^[66] The Venezuelan police searched former president Carlos Andres Perez’s estate – “La Ahumada” – located near Alonso’s ranch, were the Colombian paramilitaries were located, to find prove of his link with the plot to assassinate President Chavez. Pérez told the Colombian radio station Caracol: “I believe the capture of the Colombians in Alonso’s ranch, was a set-up by President Chavez.” However, Francisco Ameliach, president of the National Assembly, showed a video of confessions by some of the Colombian paramilitaries captured in Daktari Ranch, who said they were moved from Alonso’s ranch to another property where they were ready to assault an army base in a few days.^[67]

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The Plot 

At least six different versions were published in the media, based on different statements by Chávez government officials. The version with the greatest force had to do with the recruitment of a contingent of Colombian veterans belonging to the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia), hired by Alonso to be trained at his ranch and carry out a paramilitary operation in order to defenestrate President Chávez. There was talk of a mercenary army of up to three thousand paramilitaries operating in Norte de Santander, Colombia.  The mission was to seize an F-16 American fighting aircraft and bomb La Casona (the Venezuelan president’s home), Fort Tiuna and the Miraflores Palace.  The group of about 130 Colombians captured in Daktari Ranch had the mission of attacking a Venezuelan army weapons depot. The plan included capturing one of the F16’s the government had at Palo Negro airbase, an hour’s road from Daktari Ranch.^[68][9]

Chavez denounced the participation of “Don Berna” – Diego Fernando Murillo -, as well as Jorge Noguera, according to him, one of the leaders of the plan. Chavez reported that Alonso was a victim of Operation Pedro Pan. Rafael Garcia, the DAS‘ former director of information technology, implicated President Alvaro Uribe in the conspiracy against Venezuela and claimed that the “Daktari Plan” included the physical eliminations of Hugo Chavez, Jose Vicente Rangel (then-vice president of Venezuela), and, among others, Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez.^[69]

According to Rafael García and Hugo Chavez, Alonso’s sister, María Conchita, was involved in the assassination plan.^[69][70][71]

Hugo Chávez assumed that the Colombian government participated in the “Daktari Plan” to assassinate him.  According to Chávez, when he sent evidence to President Uribe, he did not consider it, so he chose not to continue reporting them.  According to Chavez, the information he sent to the Colombian president was used to cover up for those involved.^[72]

The Capture 

The first group of alleged Colombian paramilitaries was transferred by a contracted bus to the vicinity of the Palo Negro air base.  The bus owner refused to continue transporting the alleged soldiers, disguised in Venezuelan army uniforms, forcing Alonso to hire a bus operating in the town of Baruta, near his ranch. It was already in the early hours of May 9, 2004.  The owner of the bus was drinking alcohol with his girlfriend, who was abruptly taken out of the vehicle.  This lady was suspicious of the alleged military group and alerted the nearest Metropolitan Police module.  The bus was intercepted on its way to Palo Negro air base and the alleged mercenaries were arrested.  Minutes later, government military forces raided Daktari Ranch and arrested several dozen of Colombian citizens, some already in military uniforms and others in civilian clothes. Immediately all hells were unleashed.  The army, the National Guard, and the various military and civilian intelligence departments were present in Daktari Ranch, but Alonso was not captured because he had allegedly arrived in Miami in mid-April, having escaped from Venezuela through the Colombian jungle.^[9][73][67]

The announcement created great confusion, since Chavez insisted that no shots had been fired.  However, one neighbor assured that one or more Colombian mercenaries were gunned down.  Many didn’t believe that only one pistol, military uniforms and a box of croissants were found during the Daktari Ranch raid. It was said that all but one of Alonso’s employees were killed and buried in his garden, including two of Alonso foster sons, ages 12 and 10, who were supposedly slit with sharp machetes.^[74][9]

The Trail 

In the end, there were 130 defendants (including Colombians and five Venezuelan officers), which constituted the largest trial in the judicial history of Venezuela and perhaps in Hispanic America.  In 2012, the military prosecutor of the trial, General Eladio Aponte Aponte,^[75] fled to Costa Rica where he was interviewed by the local press.  He said that President Chavez had put direct pressure on him in order to achieve a favorable end for his government in the case of the alleged Colombian paramilitaries.^[76]

The Extradition 

For a while, Alonso’s whereabout was then unknown. The Venezuelan government  believed that he was hiding in Miami. Bernardo Alvarez, then the Venezuelan Ambassador in Washington said: “once it is confirmed Alonso is in the United States, Venezuela will begin extradition proceedings”.  However, he was never extradited. Alvarez said a warrant for Alonso’s arrest, issued by a military prosecutor, was pending in Venezuela.^[77] Alonso’s attorney, Kendall Coffey, then ex U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, advised him to go as far away from the city of Miami as he could.  Alonso, his wife and their two minor children took refuge near the Washington state city of Spokane until his lawyer assured him that he could safely return home and avoid extradition.^[78] The then-governor of Tachira, José Vielma Mora, declared that Alonso should be tried by the International Criminal Court for his attempt to assassinate then-President Chávez.

Exile 

The Escape 

After La Guarimba in 2004, Alonso was forced to live a clandestine life. Leaving Daktari in April (2004), Alonso said, he lived in friends’ homes or slept in public squares or in buses.  He managed to cross into Colombia on April 27th. Later he traveled to the United States. He crossed the Colombian jungle with the help of a GPS and several contacts he managed to get with one of his former employees.  He crossed dangerous territories of emerald traffickers, but managed to reach Bogota where he took a flight to Miami. He managed to mislead the Venezuelan authorities into believing that he was in Spain.  In Miami he took refuge, first, at the home of a former partner.  He avoided going out during the day and only did so at night, until his whereabouts were discovered.^[2][9]

A New Life 

In his new exile in Miami, Alonso drove an ambulance^[79], was a taxi driver and drove a 16-wheelers^[80], with which he toured much of the U.S. territory and several provinces of Canada.  He was eventually appointed editor of the Venezuelan newspaper in Miami, “Venezuela Sin Mordaza” and founded the magazine “Venezuela”.  His wife got a job as a secretary at UBS.^[2] In June 2010, his daughter, María Carolina, was kidnapped for a few hours by DISIP members to intimidate her father and prevent him from continuing to promote subversions in Venezuela from his exile in Miami.  The next day her daughter, six months pregnant, managed to arrive with her 5-year-old son in the United States, where she was received by her parents.^[81][82]

In 2012 Alonso toured part of the United States with the Tea Party Movement, alerting his audience to the dangers of “electronic elections.”^[83]  That same year he accompanied the then-presidential candidate, John McCain and was the speaker who closed the end of the election campaign of the then-senator and candidate John McCain.^[84]

In 2014 Alonso was recorded on video, by a supposed Cuban intelligence agent infiltrated in Miami, during a meeting with suspected Cuban-American terrorists of the old days. What follow is what Aporrea published: “In a photo published at a time, one can see Reinol Rodríguez, current “military chief” of Alpha 66, along with José Dionisio Suárez and Armando Valladares, three individuals known to belong to organizations formed by the CIA. Reinol (Reynol or Reynold) Rodríguez belonged to the small group of paramilitaries tied then to international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, in Miami. Rodríguez is the killer of Carlos Muñiz Varela, who was shot dead from a car in a march on April 28, 1979. The young Cuban was then director of the Varadero Travel Agency, in the capital of Puerto Rico, and organized visits from exiles to Cuba as part of a process of political rapprochement. Dionisio – “Pool of Blood” – Suárez Esquivel was sentenced for the assassination of former Chilean minister Orlando Letelier, on September 21, 1976. Arrested in 1990, he admitted his guilt. He was freed by George W. Bush in 2001, just a few days before September 11. Armando Valladares was one of the 17 terrorists arrested on Christmas Eve of 1960, in Havana, amid a CIA-directed string of attacks on stores and movie theatres. During the raid, they discovered three bomb-making factories and a large quantity of weapons and explosives. Freed after several years, Armando Valladares went to work for the CIA, who used him in a series of international events as a “Cuban dissident”. In 2009, he joined the authors of a fascist conspiracy in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to assassinate President Evo Morales, and foment a civil war. He later appeared alongside with Honduran putschists Roberto Micheletti’s gang.“^[85]

Death threat 

Alonso was threatened with death by Cuban activist in Miami Darsi Ferrer, who had recently arrived from Cuba.  The complaint was filed by Alonso on April 21st, 2013 and registered by the Coral Gables Police (Fl), under the number 13003073, in charge of Detective Pedro Cuervo.^[86] Ferrer, who had a heated altercation with Alonso via the Internet, died four years later in Palm Beach, Fl.^[87]

Scandal in Doral City 

Alonso Vs. Luigi Boria 

In April 2014, Alonso was the subject of a major scandal in the mayor’s office of Doral.  In early March (2014), the students of San Cristobal contacted him to warn Alonso that they were fed up and that they would give an ultimatum to the “Bolivarian Armed Force” to stand next to Venezuela to defect from its position of defense of the government of Nicolas Maduro.^[88]

In that ultimatum it was assured that the students were willing to fight hand-to-hand in the streets of Tachira, if the Venezuelan officials, pro-government, did not step forward. Alonso advised them to desist from such absurdity and promised to spread the message of the student leaders through the media in Miami, with the intention of attracting attention which he said, it was the only thing he could do for them at the “media level”, to – when the time came – minimize the killing.^[88] Instead of confronting, Alonso advised the students to keep their barricades without confronting the agents of repression.  Still, hundreds were killed and thousands maimed, not counting arrests.^[89]

The mayor of the city of Doral at that time was a Venezuelan named Luigi Boria, who received Alonso, offering the mayor’s office to hold the press conference that the Cuban-Venezuelan activist had hired with an important public relations company.^[88]

Alonso asked then-Mayor Boria to help him promote the ultimatum of the Venezuelan students, on the understanding that the more it was disclosed, the less brutal repression could be that was about to take place if the officers did not take that step forward that the Venezuelan students were demanding.  Alonso thought that, at least, more deaths of young people could be avoided in the Venezuela of those days.^[88]

According to Alonso, then-Mayor Boria was more than a recipient of the idea and did everything relevant for the press conference to take place in the majestic and stately “Session Room of the City of Doral”.   It was agreed that at the event would speak – in addition to Boria – the councilors and the administrator of the city of Doral. The “master of ceremony” would be Roger Vivas, “La Voz de la Poderosa”, a very popular radio station in Miami (670 AM).^[88]

The event, according to Alonso, started badly, very badly.  The media had attended the call, but the then-Mayor Luigi Boria, acting – in addition – as “master of ceremony”, began to speak immediately, without giving the introductory word to Roger Vivas… exiled in Miami since 2004, who was a deputy in Mérida and owner of great credibility in the Spanish-speaking media of Miami.^[88]

Boria talked about everything but the ultimatum. He talked about the economy, about the crime figures in Venezuela of his achievements as mayor of Doral: but not a word in defense of the integrity of the Venezuelan students!^[88]

The press conference ended in a political advocacy event.  When the last of the participants finished speaking, Boria took the microphone and ended the press conference.   Alonso, outraged, raised… and without a microphone he shouted, “Just a moment! I paid for this press conference… which gives me the right to address all of you before you turn off the cameras!“^[88]

Boria left the compound and Roger Vivas read the ultimatum.  At the end began the violent confrontation between Alonso’s group and a group of Venezuelans that Boria had called for the press conference

The scandal, which was covered by the media, surpassed the news of the Venezuelan students’ ultimatum.^[88][90]

Several days later, Alonso lashed out at then-Mayor Boria, accusing him of being a token of the Maduro government and published a document that – according to Alonso – proved the commercial ties between Boria and the Venezuelan government.^[91]

Following Alonso’s confrontation, information was magnified about a case of alleged money laundering in which Boria was involved before becoming mayor; an event that had not come to light in the election campaign that brought the Venezuelan to the mayoralty of Doral.^[92]

Alonso and The Media 

Alonso Vs. CNN 

Due to his frontal and intransigent personality, Alonso has not enjoyed the support of the major social media.  In March 2014 he was interviewed by Fernando del Rincón of CNN en Español.  In the interview, which lasted more than 20 minutes, Alonso accused the press, both domestic and international (including CNN), of “taking care of their business,” stating that journalists kept vital information that could favor the Venezuelan opposition.^[93][94][4]

Alonso Vs. Jaime Bayly 

From 2013 to 2018, Alonso was invited several times by the prestigious Peruvian journalist based in Miami, Jaime Bayly, with whom he had heated discussions.^[95][96][97] In a 2017 interview with Bayly, the journalist called him petty.^[98]

That same year, Alonso accused Bayly on his live TV show of promoting terror among the Venezuelan population, posting photos of some of the boys fallen on the streets of Venezuela. According to Alonso, promoting photos and videos of the government’s atrocities generated a collective depression that minimized the spirit of struggle.^[99][100] Eventually, in 2019, Alonso broke totally and absolutely with Jaime Bayly.^[101]

Alonso Vs. Patricia Poleo 

In August 2013, Venezuelan journalist Patricia Poleo accused Alonso of being an agent of Castro’s intelligence (G2), because he insisted on the presence of a complacent opposition that benefited the interests of the then government of Hugo Chavez.^[102]

Alonso Vs. Everybody 

Alonso has earned a reputation for denouncing or antagonizing many opposition politicians, in some cases: rightly so. Since 2003 he began to warn that to depose the Chávez dictatorship, Venezuelans first had to free themselves from the false opposition.^[103][104]  He recalled the words of the Polish-Soviet, Felix Dzerzhinsky, who recommended to Lenin: “We must organize our own opposition before the real one organizes against us.”^{[105][106][107][108][109][110][111]}

In 2000, he denounced Hugo Chávez’ opposition candidate, Francisco Arias Cárdenas, as a puppet of his opponent.  In 2006, he alerted Venezuelans who read and listened to him about the agreements between Chávez and then-opposition candidate Manuel Rosales.^[112][113] In 2007 he lashed out at the leader of the National Resistance Command, Herman Escarrá.^{[114][115][116][117]}  Because of his insistence on denouncing Escarrá, contumaciously, as part of the Chávez government, he was expelled from the direction of the weekly newspaper “Venezuela Sin Mordaza”, which was published and distributed in South Florida.^[118] That same year he “predicted” that for the 2012 elections, the government had already agreed with Henrique Capriles^{[119][120][121][122]} to be the “opposition” candidate against Chávez.^{[123][124][125]} He has lashed out at many Venezuelan opposition leaders, such as Henry Ramos Allup,^[126][127] Maria Corina Machado,^[128] Alberto Franceschi, General Raul Isaias Baduel, Leopoldo Lopez,^[129] Teodoro Petkoff^[130], Carlos Vecchio, Rafael Poleo,^[131] Herminio Fuenmayor^[132] Carla Angola,^[133] and so many others.^{[134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141]} He also denounced international figures like Luis Almagro,^[142] George W Bush,^[143] Barack Obama,^[144]Daniel Ortega, Arnoldo Aleman, Violeta Chamorro, Eduardo Montealegre, among many others.^[145] In an interview, Alonso said that all Venezuelan opposition leaders have their price.^[146]

In 2013, he denounced the leadership of the Mesa de La Unidad Democrática, which brought together the main opposition parties, for signing an act that he dubbed “The Act of Treason,” which accepted the presence in the Venezuelan electoral registration of more than one and a half million non-existent voters.^{[147][148][149][150][151] [152] [153][154][155]} At an event held by Henrique Capriles in Miami (2013), he was expelled along with his group by the Miami Dade police from the auditorium of the University of Miami, for interrupting the conference of the former presidential candidate, demanding him to explain the act that he called “The Act of Treason”.^[156]

Alonso denounced Cuban military infiltration in Venezuela.^[157] According to him, a Castroist tyranny rules in Venezuela, where no form of true opposition is allowed.^[4] Alonso argues that Venezuela’s regime, like the one in Cuba and Nicaragua, has not failed, since their only goal is to remain in power forever.^[4] Alonso does not believe in any opposition leadership inside or outside Venezuela.  He promotes “collective leadership.”  In this regard, he argues: “Collective leaderships do not arise, they conform over time.  It is not a spontaneous process.  It is formed through a gradual educational process.   The way to create this leadership is through the so-called resistance cells”.^[4][158] Alonso does not consider himself a pacifist activist.  On the difference between pacifism and nonviolence, he has recited on many occasions: “I must clarify that pacifism is a way of life.  The non-violence is a strategy of struggle.  Our struggle is not peaceful: it’s non-violent!“^[4]

When all opposition parties relied on Article 350 of the new Venezuelan constitution^[159], Alonso warned that while that article justified an uprising against an oppressive regime in Venezuela, it was an article taken from a constitution that Alonso and his group did not approve of.^[4] Alonso accused the deputies of the National Assembly (the Congress of Venezuela) of not being diligent in defending the interests of the majority of the Venezuelan people.  That caused him a lot of rejection within the opposition spectrum of his country.^[4] Furthermore, Alonso concluded: “Each and every one of “our” deputies in the so-called “National Assembly”, are part of what is known as the FALSE OPPOSITION, consequently, they are part of the regime: an IMPORTANT part of the regime.  Sin by omission is as serious as sinning by action or, perhaps, worse.  Venezuelans learned of all these laws, when they are already published in the Official Gazette.”^[4] Of course, with his radical postulates, Alonso was so breaking all his ties with Venezuela’s opposition parties. When asked what was his vision of an ideal democratic system, Alonso replied: “My vision, more than democratic, is republican.^[4]

In 2012, Alonso lashed out at Colombia’s then-president, Juan Manuel Santos, accusing him of having been trained in Cuba by Fidel Castro’s regime.^[160]

To Alonso, there was a great similarity between Hugo Chavez’ speech and that of Barack Obama.^[161][162] That comparison did not please the many Venezuelans who supported then-President Obama.

In 2018, Alonso lashed out at all Venezuelan journalists and opposition leaders for failing to pressure any president, from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump, to implement Title III of the Helms Burton Act.^[163][164] However, on April 17, 2019, the Trump Administration announced several decisions that mark a significant shift in US policy toward Cuba, most notably by declaring that the United States will no longer suspend Title III of the Libertad Act of 1996, which is also known as the Helms-Burton Act.^[165] However, even though the Trump administration released Title III of the aforementioned law, in practice it came to nothing.  The Cuban regime moved its keys^[166] and for some reason, the only section of the Helms-Burton act that could make a dent in the Cuban government, Title III, has not been properly implemented, prompting Alonso to criticize what he called “the microphone politic.”  Everything, according to Alonso, became “salt and water.” Once again Alonso earned the repudiation of the vast majority of journalists, opposition leaders and above all, those hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who supported President Trump.

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Expelled by the US Counterterrorism Police 

Alonso Vs. Juan Guaido 

In February 2020, interim President Juan Guaidó gave a lecture at a well-known Miami hotel.  Alonso showed up at the event to accuse him of being a phony and a piece of Maduro’s government.  From the early hours of the morning he dedicated himself to handing out flyers denouncing Guaidó and his close associates of deceiving the Venezuelan people. This caused the counterterrorism police to expel him from the event, even before it began. Alonso was harshly criticized by the vast majority of those attending the event.^{[167][168] [169]}To Alonso’s great surprise, who was allowed to attend Guaidó’s event was Delfin Fernandez (AKA “Agent Otto”) who for 15 years was Castro’s counterintelligence agent and very close to Fidel and Raul.^[170]

Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela on January 23rd, 2019.  Twelve days later, Robert Alonso posted on his Twitter account: “Juan Guaido will be remembered by history with much more contempt than Chavez and Maduro. He awaken the hopes of a besmirched people: only to betray them miserably!“. This generated the anger of the vast majority of Venezuelans who saw in Guaido the salvation for Venezuela.

Alonso harshly criticized Juan Guaidó when in February 2020 he made an official visit to Canada in which he assured that Venezuela’s freedom passed through communist Cuba, wishing that the Castro government be part of the solution of the political, economic and social problem that Venezuela is going through.^[170]

S1867 Law 

From January 2012, Alonso became very active denouncing senatorial law S1867, which later became part of Section 1021 and 1022 of  “Public Law 112-81” (National Defense Authorization Act – NDAA). It is a law that empowers the president of the USA to order the capture, and even physically elimination (inside or outside the USA), of anyone whom the president suspects to be a terrorist, for which it is not necessary to be formally be charged, violating the due process, nor does it contemplate the right to be tried in a court of law.^[171]

Alonso compared S1867 to the “Social Dangerousness Law” enacted in Cuba, which aims to punish a crime before it is committed.^[172] [173]

Fabianism 

In 2012, Alonso began to alert his readers and followers to the danger posed to Venezuela and the world by the “Fabian Society” and Fabianism.^[174]  That same year he published a book in English entitled “Why we are about to lose The United States of America to the claws of Fabianism”.^[175]

Smartmatic 

In 2006, Alonso blew the whistler about Smartmatic in American elections,^[176] and continued his alerts about the Venezuelan company until 2012, when he denounced a yellow button on Smartmatic’s electronic machines, through which voters could vote repeatedly.^[177] Since electronic machines were used in Venezuela in 2004, Alonso began to warn about the easy way to commit fraud.^[83] According to him, both elections in the USA and in Venezuela are fraudulent.  In 2012 he voted in Coral Gables and discovered that he was registered twice to vote.^[178]

But Alonso doesn’t just talk about electoral fraud.  He has denounced the “electoral compromises”, in which the parties agree on a false result.  According to him, this is what happened in 2004 in what he calls “The Bush Vs. Kerry Electoral Farce.”^[179]

The Script 

The narratives about Alonso’s clandestine life could serve as a script for an espionage novel.  The famous French novelist, Gérard de Villiers, creator of the “French Jame Bond“, published a novel in 2006 inspired by the events of the Daktari Ranch Affair: “Let the Beast Die”.  The beast, of course, represented Hugo Chavez.^[2][180] In 2006, TV Japan went to Miami to interview Alonso. With the material collected a documentary was produced called “A Revolution in Danger”.  The danger, precisely (according to TV Japan), was Robert Alonso.^[181]

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Sean Penn’s Affair 

Maria Conchita Alonso, Robert Alonso’s sister, had a scandalous altercation with her former co-star actor in a Hollywood movie in 1988 (“Colors”), Sean Penn, at the Los Angeles airport, where the two met by chance. When interviewed about the altercation, Alonso’s sister said about Penn: “He’s an amazing actor. I can’t take that away from him, It’s just that he has no clue at all what’s going on in Venezuela. He’s been praising Hugo Chavez, who is a dictator and a killer. He should shut up about what he doesn’t know.” Maria Conchita Alonso, who grew up in Venezuela with her Cuban family, born in 1955, was upset by Penn’s article in The Nation Magazine about Venezuela and the charismatic but brutal left-wing dictator Hugo Chavez. For the first time a Hollywood actress had the courage to say what many Americans think. “Left-wing lovers in the movie business should wake up to the real nature of their hero. For one thing, Mr. Chavez throughout his career has criticized Hollywood as a medium of American cultural imperialism“, concluded the Cuban-Venezuelan-American and Hollywood actress. Penn, who after winning an Oscar for his participation in “Milk” became a spokesman for gay rights, must remember that Chavez’s hero, Fidel Castro, sent many gays to prison and went so far as to declare that there were no homosexuals in Cuba. Actress Maria Conchita said that Penn accused her brother Robert of attempting to assassinate Chavez, something that Alonso’s sister said is not true.  Penn called her a “pig” and she in turn accused him of being a “communist and an asshole”.^[182]

Surprisingly, on July 10, 2021, the leftist actor – Sean Penn – spoke out harshly against the left in the United States, claiming that the left political current has gone too far.^[183]

Robert Alonso Vs. Donald Trump 

Alonso Vs. Trump 

On July 18th, 2020, Robert Alonso wrote President Donald Trump a public letter (which was delivered to him by hand by a mutual friend), claiming his support to the Venezuelan socialists.  The letter was copied to many important personalities related to him and was read by more than two and a half million people.^[184]

References