> Eric's comment was a reaction to what Chavez' gov said about
> Iran, not anything the U.S. is doing in Latin America.
I think we can take for granted that the main source of the opposition in Iran is endogenous. But that does not exclude that the CIA and the Mossad may be trying to exploit the situation to advance their agendas. In fluid situations, a little push well applied can precipitate a cascade of events. That's what these "services" do for a living. The government of Venezuela believes (and probably has some evidence to back it up) that the CIA and the Mossad are doing some work there. If history matters, the suspicion is *not* far-fetched. It's been amply documented the role that CIA operations in Iran have played in destabilizing the country's political institutions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'état
A lot of Venezuelans believe (on solid grounds, IMO) that the CIA assisted their domestic opposition to carry out the 2002 (failed) coup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d'état_attempt
I'm willing to learn otherwise, but to my knowledge, there's *no reason* to believe that the CIA and the Mossad are deliberately taking action anywhere to advance the most progressive causes of humanity. That by itself doesn't necessarily disqualify the opposition in Iran, but if the suspicion is validated, then it is an additional fact to consider. Life doesn't have to be neat.