Thousands Protest against Venezuela dictator Chavez, while media obsesses about Enron- w/ photos

AP Photo, El Universal ^ | February 7, 2002 | AP Photo

[j_accuse]

	Venezuelans opposing President Hugo Chavez protest in front of the La Casona, the presidential residence in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb.7, 2002. Hundreds of Venezuelans took the streets in the middle and upper class Altamira district as Air Force Col. Pedro Soto led thousands along Francisco de Miranda Boulevard to rally at the president's residence. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch) - Feb 08 12:36 AM ET
	Venezuelan Air Force Col. Pedro Soto and the National Guard Capt. Pedro Jose Flores stand in front of the La Casona, the presidential residence in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Hundreds of Venezuelans took the streets in the middle and upper class Altamira district as Air Force Col. Pedro Soto led thousands along Francisco de Miranda Boulevard to rally at the president's residence. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero) - Feb 08 12:33 AM ET
	An opposition activist of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hits a pot and holds a poster that reads "Brave Soto" during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Col. Pedro Soto's call for Chavez to resign was the strongest sign yet of growing resentment among the military toward the leftist Chavez. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch) - Feb 07 11:29 PM ET
	An opposition activist of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez waves a national flag during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Venezuelans took the streets in the middle and upper class Altamira district as Air Force Col. Pedro Soto led thousands along Francisco de Miranda Boulevard to rally at the president's residence. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch) - Feb 07 10:57 PM ET
	Opposition activists of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wave national flags during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Hundreds of Venezuelans took the streets in the middle and upper class Altamira district as Air Force Col. Pedro Soto led thousands along Francisco de Miranda Boulevard to rally at the president's residence. (AP Photo/Fernando LLano) - Feb 07 10:52 PM ET
	Opposition activists of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez bang pots and pans and hold posters that read "Chavez Out, Out Already!" during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Col. Pedro Soto's call for Chavez to resign was the strongest sign yet of growing resentment among the military toward the leftist Chavez. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) - Feb 07 10:49 PM ET
	Opposition activists of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hold posters that read "Chavez Out!" during a protest on a street in Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Col. Pedro Soto's call for Chavez to resign was the strongest sign yet of growing resentment among the military toward the leftist Chavez. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) - Feb 07 10:22 PM ET
	Venezuelan Air Force Col. Pedro Soto, wearing his uniform, is surrounded by supporters during a protest at the Altamira Plaza in Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002. Soto's call for Chavez to resign was the strongest sign yet of growing resentment among the military toward the leftist Chavez. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) - Feb 07 10:03 PM ET

[j_accuse]

From Venezuelan daily El Universal: Thousands gathered spontneously at Plaza Altamira to cheer Colonel Pedro Vicente Soto, who hours before became the highest-ranking officer in the Venezuelan military to criticize the totalitarian tendencies of the Chavez dictatorship. First the crowd saw Soto at a convenience store where they started cheering `Al loco, le queda poco´ ("little is left for the crazy" referring to the insanity of Chavez).

Soto on top of a van calmed addressed the demonstators, some of which later headed for La Casona presidential residence, singing the Venezuelan anthem.

Military and National Police awaited the group that broke off. Some demonstrators headed for a park to avoid being crished while others met the sticks Chavez supporters. Througout the city, many unknown Chavez opponents banged pots, making their insatisfaction with the dictator known. Protests ended around midnight.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I understand the poor neighborhoods beat their cook ware to protest Chavez. The well-off can buy cassette tapes of pot and pans being banged together...

[Kermit]

"Like Chaves said, this is a "Burgeous Uprising" of the 20 % who are rich , it is dooomed to fail."

Sounds like they're ready for the "Atlas Shrugged" solution. If the 20% go on strike, it's over.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I thought the opposition to Chavez was broadly based. I correspond via e mail with a former business associate now living there with his wife and two kids.

[j_accuse]

Like Chaves said, this is a "Burgeous Uprising" of the 20 % who are rich , it is dooomed to fail 2 posted on 2/8/02 5:23 AM Pacific by Roger Young

So getting cuddly with Castro-Communist advisors and Colombian FARC narcoguerrillas, instigating squatters to take over lands in the name of the "Revolution" and destroying free enterprise is justified in the name of "the poor"? That is the thesis that the leftist media and faculty in the US used to support abuses by Castro in Cuba and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and to criticize initiatives by the US in favor of democratic forces.

The Soto incident is remarkable because in a few hours thousands gathered with no previous notice to protest the seemingly irreversible trend towards a Leftist dictatorship in Venezuela. Let's see how long his silver tongue keeps him in power...

---

December 2001

Venezuela: Storm Clouds Gathering
By Mark Falcoff

Now comes the winter of his discontent for Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. After a solid string of victories at the ballot box, including a constitutional change that makes it possible for him to extend his presidency to 2013, he now faces a darkening public mood, declining oil prices, dwindling resources, growing international isolation, and at long last the emergence of a potential rival. To be sure, Chávez still enjoys a hard core of popular support, variously estimated at between 20 and 50 percent. It is also true that certain institutional factors—including the continuing discredit of traditional political parties and his apparent control of the military—give him considerable defense in depth. But the context, both local and international, has altered considerably in recent weeks. None of this means—in spite of constant rumors in Caracas and elsewhere—that Chávez’s days are necessarily numbered. But it seems likely that never again will he govern under circumstances as favorable as the ones that originally brought him to power.

Pulled Down with the Price of Oil

... After his three years in power, the economic conditions of ordinary Venezuelans have not improved; nearly eight out of ten are still living in poverty. Moreover, physical security in Venezuelan cities continues to deteriorate sharply, a problem that particularly afflicts people in lower income brackets. According to a report published in the Washington Post on November 26, 5,000 people have been murdered so far this year (in a country of 24 million). Some Venezuelans are beginning to complain that Chávez seems more interested in talking (endlessly) on television or traveling abroad than attending to the business of improving their lives. ...

Centers of Opposition

Venezuela’s economic stagnation, combined with the prospect of a further decline, comes at a time when many sectors of civil society are rising to challenge the president. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the most influential and most prestigious institution in the society, has already expressed its distaste for the president’s incendiary rhetoric and tendency to demonize his critics. The media remains largely free and is uninhibited in its criticism. Business and ranchers’ groups are organizing to oppose his policies of tax and land reforms. And several weeks ago Chávez suffered a stunning defeat when the leader of the oil workers’ union soundly defeated his candidate to head organized labor. Neighborhood groups and middle-class professionals are organizing a grass-roots opposition, and there is even a movement to gather signatures on a petition that would require the supreme court to appoint a board of physicians to pass judgment on Chávez’s mental state. (Because the court is now made up of Chávez appointees, this effort is rather quixotic, but it underscores a view widespread among middle-class Venezuelans that their president is insane. Some of his actions and comments appear to support their perceptions.)

---

Venezuela's poor take over vacant buildings, lots

CNN March 18, 1999

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Thousands of homeless Venezuelans, energized by a new president who champions the rights of the poor, are taking over vacant buildings and lots, provoking concern about respect for private property.

President Hugo Chavez's refusal to call in the National Guard has outraged state governors and local police who say they don't have enough manpower to evict the squatters. Critics say the president, a former coup leader vowing to shake up the country's institutions, is sending the wrong message: that it's OK to skirt the law. ...

Antonio Jose Bastide, a 32-year-old magazine vendor, owns a house in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Caracas that has been invaded. He said he complained to three different government offices.

"The law here has not lent me a hand," he said. "So I've been thinking about taking the law into my own hands" and setting the house on fire.

[j_accuse]

Photo: Arrival of Col. Soto at Altamira Plaza demonstation Feb. 7
Spanish text of his full speech here

Latest from Venezuela:

Protests against Chavez were also reported in Western cities of Valencia, Barquisimeto and the oil center of Maracaibo, where largest urban concentrations are located, and also ceased at midnight. National Guard captain Pedro José Flores Rivero declared his opposition to Chavez (Dow Jones Newswires)

Colonel Soto maintained his opposition to Chavez by failing to show up at "Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda" Airbase, at La Carlota for an 8 AM meeting today. His superiors issued a citation for him to show up in 72 hours or be declared AWOL. (Globovision)

For more updates in Spanish:

Live TV feed from Globovision in Real Audio
Editorial from Tal Cual in Windows Media

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Things seem to be gaining steam.

Dissident Venezuelan Colonel Emboldens Chavez' Foes --Cuban President Fidel Castro a friend and ally of Chavez, came to the defense of the Venezuelan leader on Friday, describing him as "the greatest democrat in South America". Soto was joined in his demonstration on Thursday by another military officer, a uniformed National Guard captain.

[lavaroise]

Like Chaves said, this is a "Burgeous Uprising" of the 20 % who are rich

First of, the middle class is not rich, secondly Chavez has no right whatsoever to discriminate against a rich minority if it ever were there. Good people, rich or poor, are able to see that.

Chavez is prosecuting the human dignity of 100% of his nation. He is a butcher. There are other ways to effectively raise money or conceive healthy children. Butchery of the money maker or of the woman bearer is not an option.

[colorado tanker]

The US press are vaccous morons. If they don't get a DNC talking points sheet or press release they're clueless.

The Venezuela situation is very tense. Chavez want's to be a Fidel-style dictator. He is stripping away civil rights and ruining the economy. There could well be a civil war.

The situation in Argentina, with an IMF-dictated depression coming on is also bad. Colombia is powerless against its rebels. But the press ignores all this because as far as they're concerned Fidelista governments in Latin America would be just fine.

Of course, the press continues to ignore the war in Afghanistan, 3000 Marines poised to go into Somalia and the indications there will be a campaign mounted against Iraq.

But the American people are demanding to know if Lay and Skilling knew Enron wasn't complying with GAAS on SPE's. Now THAT is important.

[KC Burke]

I hope this guy can resign his commission and take his stand as a private citizen. Anyone know if the Venz AF will allow such a resignation?

[Chapita]

bttt