Posted on 02/28/2004 11:16:14 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Clashes between police and thousands of protesters pressing for the recall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez overshadowed the opening of a summit of developing nations, with at least one man killed and several injured. The confrontation came Friday as Chavez opened a two-day summit with the leaders of 18 other developing nations in Caracas, urging them to reject free-market policies imposed by industrialized nations. "Globalization has not brought expected independence. It has increased dependence. ... It has extended poverty," Chavez said. "Free market ideology was created by the North to serve its own interests." Near the summit site at the downtown Hilton Hotel in the capital, guard troops fired dozens of tear gas canisters at the jeering crowd of anti-Chavez protesters, who responded by throwing rocks. Some in the crowd set trash and tires ablaze and blocked a highway. A 65-year-old man was killed and at least 26 people were injured, including two guard troops, hospital officials said. A cameraman for Televen TV was shot, according to the Caracas fire department. There was no immediate word on how the man died or who fired the shot. Dozens of opposition protesters blocked a Caracas highway late Friday with burning tire barricades, while others banged pots and pans to protest the violence. The military had put 50,000 troops and police on the streets for the summit and warned it would not tolerate opposition protests. Venezuela's government cut live TV and radio broadcasts of the violence on private channels and replaced it with summit coverage. At the summit, Chavez accused the United States and the European Union of spending billions of dollars on subsidies that shut out Third World products while demanding that poor countries eliminate any barriers to their imports. Since his 1998 election, Chavez has emerged as one of the Third World's fiercest critics of U.S. economic and political domination. He is a vocal opponent of U.S.-led negotiations to establish a free trade zone throughout the Western Hemisphere. Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel accused an "aggressive, coup-plotting and terrorist" opposition of provoking Friday's violence. He said a house owned by a pro-government party was burned. A government statement claimed radicals from the leftist Red Flag party and the center-right Democratic Action party triggered the confrontation. Manuel Cova, head of the Venezuelan Labor Confederation, and other opposition leaders said the protests would continue. Chavez insists an opposition petition for a recall referendum - being scrutinized by elections officials - is ridden with fraud. Elections officials have suggested they may toss out the petition for technical reasons. The Organization of American States, the EU and the U.S.-based Carter Center have urged Venezuela to ignore technical glitches in favor of voters' apparent intent. Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 to a six-year term. Relations between Venezuela, a top U.S. oil supplier, and the United States have been strained over Chavez's friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro and his criticism of free market policies. Fighting poverty with oil wealth, dismantling industrialized nations' protectionist trade barriers and reducing foreign debt were central themes contained in a draft summit declaration circulated Friday. Formed in 1989 and still known as the Group of 15, the summit actually includes 19 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The group's influence and work have waned in recent years, and a summit was canceled last year because of unrest in Caracas. --
The bad news is, Chavez wound up back in power shortly after being removed. He and his cadre should have been tried for treason and executed on TV.mid chaos, generals turn on ChavezThe sudden collapse of Chavez's three-year-old rule came after a three-day national strike that culminated Thursday with mass demonstration by hundreds of thousands of government opponents. As protesters neared the palace, government troops opened fired with live rounds and tear gas, according to eyewitnesses. "No one was expecting it. It was an ambush," said local journalist Euridice Ledezma, who described seeing plain-clothed snipers firing from the roof of the Caracas town hall, a bastion of government supporters... At one point in the afternoon, it seemed the country was sliding into dictatorship. Chavez responded to the protests by ordering the signals of all independent television stations shut down. In a national address, he vowed to remain in power, blaming the protest on "irresponsible" media provocation... Dissenting military officers also took over the government TV station, Channel 8, and began broadcasting messages calling on the president to resign. Soon after, in an emotional television address, army chief Gen. Efrain Vasquez apologized to the country for the bloodshed. "Today all human rights were violated," he said standing with other members of the High Command. "The honor of the armed forces has been stained. We ask for forgiveness from the Venezuelan people."
by Phil Gunson
and David Adams
St. Petersburg Times
April 12, 2002
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