Venezuelan army general condemns President Chavez for 'passive' attitude toward Colombian rebels -- Wed Apr 10, 3:22 PM ET By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Writer [Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela - Two Venezuelan military officers rebelled Wednesday against President Hugo Chavez, one of them claiming Chavez had ordered the National Guard to use force to remove protesters from oil monopoly headquarters.
National Guard Gen. Rafael Damiani Bustillos claimed Chavez had ordered guardsmen to remove thousands of protesters who are supporting dissident executives at the oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela. The executives want Chavez to rescind top managers he appointed on Feb. 25.
Government officials couldn't immediately be reached by telephone to comment on Bustillos' claim.
Guard troops took positions around the building in eastern Caracas on Tuesday to protect it.
"The president of the republic ordered the National Guard to use force to remove people in front of (the building)," Bustillos told Associated Press Television News.
He urged officers not to obey "a presidential lunacy that is going to (ruin) the name of the armed forces, especially the National Guard." He also appealed for calm, both from the opposition and the government.
Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin said earlier Wednesday the government would take any action "under the law" to preserve order.
Also on Wednesday, an army general whose duties included patrolling part of the western border with Colombia accused Chavez of taking a "passive" attitude toward leftist Colombian guerrillas.
Brig. Gen. Nestor Gonzalez Gonzalez said at a Caracas news conference that Colombian guerrillas maintain camps along the remote frontier and that Chavez's government was lying when it denied such camps exist inside Venezuela.
Gonzalez Gonzalez accused Chavez of refusing to govern democratically, of sympathizing with the rebels and politicizing Venezuela's military.
"Mr. President, you have betrayed the country," he said. "Respect the national armed forces."
Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel said he had no immediate comment.
Gonzalez Gonzalez is a former commander of army schools and of forces operating in the western state of Tachira, along the Colombian border. He was relieved of his command in January after news reports that he urged fellow generals to refrain from politics.
Last month, Colombian Gen. Martin Carreno said rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had camps inside Venezuelan territory and had attacked his forces from the other side of the border. The March 20 battle left at least 41 soldiers and rebels dead. [End]
Foes of Venezuela's Chavez Call Indefinite Strike - General..."Don't obey presidential lunacy"***In a surprise appearance on national television, army Gen. Nestor Gonzalez made a blistering attack against Chavez, accusing him of dividing the nation with his policies and of showing disrespect to the armed forces. "We are a worthy country which deserves someone better than you ... Mr. President, go," Gonzalez said. The call follows criticism from a group of military officers in February who called on Chavez to resign. The president played down the criticism at the time, insisting he had the military's support. Another officer, National Guard Gen. Rafael Damiani, also appeared on television to appeal to the military high command not to use force against opposition protesters.***
Venezuela's turmoil is disrupting oil supplies *** The oil company told its international clients Wednesday morning that it could not meet its export commitments. Workers have refused to load tankers with oil and other products since April 3. A New York trader told The Herald that over 28 tankers were waiting offshore for loading. ''They have shut down oil production completely because they do not have anywhere to put the oil,'' the trader said on condition of anonymity. ``Only two tankers have been dispatched since Wednesday, one to Cuba, and the other I don't know where.''***
EX-president of Venezuelan state oil company accuses government of eroding morale ***Other bones of contention were the central government's demand that the company hand over $4.4 billion in dividends last year, forcing PDVSA to borrow $500 million to pay the bill; and the oil sales to Cuba, whose leader, Fidel Castro, is Chavez's longtime mentor. · Chavez has insisted that oil sales continue to Cuba, despite an unpaid $97 million bill for past sales. ***
(April 11, 2002) Chavez Foes March in Venezuela, Head for Palace - 500,000 march
Venezuela President Resigns in Tumult - asks for exile in Cuba *** CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez, the former army paratrooper who polarized Venezuela with his strongarm rule and whose friendship with Cuba and Iraq irritated the United States, resigned under military pressure Friday after a massive opposition demonstration ended in a bloodbath.
Chavez, 47, presented his resignation to three officers after he was confronted by the military high command at the presidential palace, said the Air Force chief, Gen. Regulo Anselmi, who was present at the time.
At 3 a.m. Friday, Chavez, wearing military fatigues and a red beret - as he did when he led a failed 1992 coup against then-President Carlos Andres Perez - left the palace for Caracas' Fort Tiuna army base. He was being held there while investigators decide what charges he could face for Thursday's violence, said army commander Gen. Efrain Vasquez Velasco.
Chavez asked to be allowed to go into exile in Cuba, but the miltiary turned him down, army Gen. Roman Fuemayor told Globovision television. "He has to be held accountable to his country," Fuemayor said.***
Update: Venezuela Leader Hugo Chavez Resigns (Chavez faces charges)
U.S. Says Chavez Provoked Crisis in Venezuela - pleased with outcome
No Bolivar***There followed the politicisation of all aspects of society by his Fifth Republic movement. The military was drafted in to his social experiment, required under his signature "Plan Bolívar" to work on building clinics, schools and roads for the poor. He infuriated parents and teachers with a national education project designed to inculcate the young with what he called "Bolivarian" values, an eclectic blend of Cuban-style socialism, which he greatly admired, updated by a diffuse distrust of "globalisation". He began to form "Bolivarian Circles" of neighbourhood vigilantes, modelled on Castro's neighbourhood watch committees.***
Venezuela's Power Shift Condemned
Cuban Embassy in Venezuela Besieged
Iran Sees U.S. Behind Chavez's Venezuela Ouster
Venezuela Picture Show (long download warning) Photo essay of the Chavez's ouster.
Cuba protests ouster of Venezuela's Chavez*** Rodriguez criticized the United States for not condemning Chavez's overthrow, saying that "the Yankees are almost always behind coups ... and install dictators."***
Protests erupt against Venezuela's new government; new foreign minister seeks close US ties***CARACAS, Venezuela - The businessman chosen by army commanders to lead Venezuela postponed the swearing-in of his new Cabinet on Saturday as protesters in some cities demanded the return of ousted leader Hugo Chavez and soldiers in one city rebelled against the new government. A high-ranking official in the new government said talks to quell a rebellion in the central city of Maracay were "difficult." Venezuela's armed forces, including its air force, are concentrated in Maracay. One of the rebelling officers was identified as Air Force Gen. Raul Baduel, who commands the F-16 air base, the official said.***
Friday April 12, 2002 -Venezuela Online News
Chronology of Chávez's fall 10:26 am (Caracas and EDT) - The opposition march sets off from the Parque Del Este metro station in direction of PDVSA's secondary Chuao headquarters.
11:50 am - More demonstrators swell march to an unexpected 200,000.
12:14 pm - President Hugo Chávez suspends his trip to Costa Rica.
12:55 pm - In view of larger than expected crowd Pedro Carmona Estanga asks marchers to head for downtown's Avenida Bolivar demanding Chávez's resignation.
13.15 pm - Caracas Metropolitan Police (PM) declares incapacity to protect marchers all the way to the presidential palace where they now plan to head to.
13:45 pm - Adan Chávez discards the possibility of his brother renouncing.
14:25 pm - The military high command denies that Chávez in their custody.
15:36 pm - Protester and government forces begin their clashes near the presidential palace.
16:42 pm - Chávez goes on the air, accuses media and opposition of provoking an insurrection.
16:45 pm - While TV stations are obliged to transmit presidential address snipers posted on buildings near the palace open fire on demonstrators killing two persons and wounding another six. At the same time Chávez announces the closing down of private television stations.
15:50 pm - Television stations are off the air, but their satellite signal can still be received through Direct TV satellite link.
16:20 pm - While violence continues opposition denounces that pro-Chávez elements and presidential guards are responsible for the shooting of unarmed protesters.
17:30 pm - Metropolitan Police officials say that shooting has caused the death of 10 people and 94 wounded.
18:25 pm - Military armored cars surround presidential palace.
19:16 pm - Army chief and army generals hold Chávez responsible for violence.
20:12 pm - Government officials accuses opposition of arming protesters.
20: 15 pm - Clashes end with officials reporting 11 killed and 98 wounded.
20:40 pm - A group of National Guard generals denounces Chávez ordered the use of firearms to prevent demonstrators from reaching the palace.
21:25 pm - Army Chief Gen. Efraín Vasquez declares that "the Army is in control"
22:20 pm - State TV channel 8 is abandoned by all its personnel.
23:11 pm - Air Force, Political Police and National Guard declares it is siding with the Army.
00:30 am - The military high command asks Chávez to resign.
01:07 am - Chávez/military officials begin palace talks.
01:35 am - Gen. Vasquez says Chávez has agreed to resign.
02:50 am - Several ministers and Chávez aides abandon palace.
03:10 am - Chávez is taken from presidential palace to military headquarters
03:50 am - High command announces that Chávez has signed resignation and that they will in turn resign.
04:10 am - Vasquez announces that a temporary government headed by Pedro Carmona Estanga had taken over.
(April 13, 2002)Washington Post Chavez's Gloomy Legacy for The Left Now Colombia's government-sanctioned guerrilla haven is gone. So is Chavez after three tumultuous years of leftist agitating, class warfare and a spasm of violence on the streets of this capital, suggesting that leftist revolutions waged even by elected leaders are not the choice of a region still highly susceptible to populist appeals. Or at least not the way Chavez carries out revolutions.
"The lesson here is that charismatic demagogues can still win elections in poor countries," said Anibal Romero, a political science professor at Simon Bolivar University here. "The economic and social instability is still with us. The field is still open for the successful appearance of these figures that, by distorting reality and securing the hearts and minds of the uneducated,win elections."
…………..Part of the problem is the way people such as Chavez, who had been on the outside of a corrupt two-party lock on power for years, play the game once they take office. After his failed 1992 coup, Chavez served a two-year prison sentence and then began a journey of discovery on horseback across Venezuela's countryside. He was accompanied by an Argentine neo-fascist, Norberto Ceresole, who believed that a leader should rule with the army at his side.
After his election, Chavez set out to weaken Venezuela's institutions, first by engineering a new constitution that bolstered his power and then by appointing loyal military officers to run its independent agencies. Chavez set out to run a country with a sophisticated economy, based primarily on its vast oil reserves, as a one-man show. He employed the military to carry out social projects, and passed by fiat such important legislation as a land reform measure that would confiscate private property. [End Excerpt]
(April 13, 2002) - New York Times - Manager and Conciliator Pedro Carmona Estanga -By JUAN FORERO [Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela, April 12 - In one day, the man in charge in the presidential palace went from a strong-willed populist known for his rambling speeches to a mild-mannered businessman who chooses every word carefully.
The new leader, Pedro Carmona Estanga, 60, head of Venezuela's most powerful business group, was installed today as president of an interim government that succeeded President Hugo Chávez, who was forced to resign early today.
Mr. Carmona promised "freedom, pluralism and respect for the state of law" and said general elections would be called within a year.
"It is not a responsibility I have sought," Mr. Carmona, dressed in a sport jacket and casual shirt, told a quickly improvised news conference early this morning. "And I want to tell the country that all the actions I took as a representative of civil society were never done with the goal of reaching this position."
Mr. Carmona was tapped by military officers and leaders of the anti-Chávez movement to take the helm after he had been leading the opposition. Since last summer, Mr. Carmona has headed Fedecámaras, an association of leading businesses. Mr. Chávez's left-leaning economic policies and autocratic style antagonized much of the business class.
Mr. Carmona could not be more different from Mr. Chávez. Although Mr. Chávez cherished attention from the news media and world leaders, Mr. Carmona has never been comfortable in the limelight. Mr. Chávez sought power, even starting a failed coup in 1992, when he was an army colonel, before winning office in an election in 1998.
"This has never been his aspiration," said Rafael Sandrea, a friend who is in Mr. Carmona's business group. "He fell into it because of the circumstances."
Mr. Carmona, experts said, is a level-headed manager who is also known as a conciliator. He was chosen to head Fedecámaras as someone who could negotiate with Mr. Chávez. One of Mr. Carmona's unusual achievements was forging an alliance with the one million-member Venezuelan Workers Confederation, the largest labor group.
"He's a guy who's looking for compromises and solutions that everyone can work with," said Robert Bottome, editor of Veneconomía, a business newsletter here. "He has the style of personality that is exactly right for this moment."
As protests mounted, Mr. Carmona became the most prominent spokesman for the anti-Chávez cause. Slight and meek, he often appeared sitting behind a desk, reading a statement or giving a precise response to the reporters' microphones that surrounded his baldish head.
He would sometimes seem overwhelmed, but he always managed to remain calm. Yet as efforts to prod the government to negotiate failed, Mr. Carmona became ever more steadfast in his pronouncements against Mr. Chávez.
Mr. Carmona was born on June 6, 1941, in Barquisimeto, 155 miles southwest of Caracas. He has been married 25 years and has one child.
An economist educated at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas and in Belgium, he headed a large petrochemical company, Venoco, that processes automotive oils. A major stockholder in the company, Mr. Carmona resigned as its president last summer to run Fedecámaras.
Mr. Carmona, an avid flier, is known in Caracas business society as a taskmaster who has worked hard to get where he is.
"Carmona is not a mega-industrialist in his own right," a political consultant, Eric Ekvall, said. "Carmona is a man who's always worked in and been involved in the business sector, but always as a manager. He's not one of the landed elite, with his own fortune, his own bank."
His supporters hope that his negotiating abilities will help him mend the wide gulf between Mr. Chávez's supporters, mostly poor Venezuelans, and the middle and upper classes that strongly backed the turnover.
Mr. Carmona will have to work hard. Many of the poorest people will see him as part of the "squalid oligarchy" that Mr. Chávez derided.
"There are still 15 to 20 percent of the people who think Chávez is god," Mr. Bottome said, "and the biggest challenge between now and Christmas is for this transition government to be able to respond to their needs." [End]
CNN: Chavez returns for Venezuela role - Behind the scenes puppet master? ***Ousted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned to the presidential palace, just two days after he was forced from office. In a televised address he promised to unite the country although it was unclear whether he has returned to Caracas as president or to support his former vice-president, Diosdado Cabello, who has been sworn in as the head of government. Cabello is Venezuela's second interim leader in as many days since the military withdrew its support for Chavez.*** (Venezuela Chavez Officially Sworn In Again As President - Sun Apr 14, 4:48 AM ET - (This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires) *** CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Hugo Chavez was officially sworn in again as president of Venezuela after proclaimed temporary president Diosdado Cabello handed over power to Chavez early Sunday morning. Chavez had been ousted by military early Friday morning.***)
Iraq hails the restoration of Venezuelan President Chavez as defeat for U.S. policy
CNN rejoices.
What a tragedy. There can be only bloodletting and suffering now. WHAT A TERRIBLE TERRIBLE REVERSAL.
I’m going to try and be philosophical about this (Chavez’s return):
1. The fat lady never sang.
2. The CIA mucked up. And if they didn’t, it sounds good anyway.
Very, very bad.
According to the official, Ali Rodriguez was "offered the job last night," by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but declined because of his commitments to OPEC.
Rodriguez has extended his stay in Venezuela by another week, OPEC's official said, a move which one OPEC source said could suggest that he is reconsidering the offer.***
RID the World of his type of evil.