Posted on 02/18/2002 1:16:03 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Venezuelan navy rear admiral on Monday condemned President Hugo Chavez as unpatriotic and became the highest-ranking armed forces officer to publicly demand the resignation of the outspoken left-wing leader.
The public challenge by Rear Admiral Carlos Molina was another slap at Chavez, himself a former paratroop officer, after two other lower-ranking military officers staged similar highly publicized acts of defiance 11 days ago.
"Venezuelans! For Venezuela, its future and the well-being of our children, we must all demand with a single voice the immediate resignation of President Chavez and his government," Molina, wearing his gold-braided white naval uniform, told a news conference.
Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel said military authorities would review Molina's statement and act with "great seriousness but firmness as well."
"There is absolute calm in the armed forces," Rangel said.
The dissident rear admiral told reporters some 90 percent of the armed forces shared his discontent.
The latest insubordination from inside the armed forces came at a time when the tough-talking Venezuelan president is grappling with a crisis of economic confidence and mounting opposition protests in the world's No. 4 oil exporter.
Venezuela's bolivar currency continued to slide against the U.S. dollar on Monday as businessmen and consumers struggled to adjust to an emergency economic package introduced by Chavez last week to halt escalating capital flight.
Molina, an electronic warfare specialist who trained in the United States, accused the outspoken Venezuelan leader of trying to divide the oil-rich nation and "install an extreme left-wing tyranny."
He also lambasted Chavez, who has developed friendly ties with Iraq and communist China and Cuba, for "seeking links with nondemocratic governments" and for developing a "proven and dangerous relation ... with Colombian terrorist guerrillas."
Chavez has denied his government has a secret pact with Marxist rebels in Colombia.
OFFICER URGES OTHERS TO JOIN HIM
Earlier this month, the two other military officers, Air Force Col. Pedro Soto and National Guard Capt. Pedro Flores, similarly criticized Chavez and demanded he step down.
Their outbursts triggered several days of noisy anti-government protests by opponents of the president, whose popularity has fallen sharply from the high levels of support that swept him into the presidency in 1998.
"I am calling on the national armed forces and the population to publicly demonstrate their rejection of President Chavez' position and to call for his resignation," Molina urged.
Chavez and his aides had dismissed the protests of Soto and Flores, who currently face disciplinary action, as isolated incidents.
His critics say he is trying to install a Cuban-style, leftist authoritarian regime in the country, which combines huge oil wealth with serious poverty, crime and unemployment.
In a broadcast on Sunday, Chavez said world economic woes, especially falling oil prices, had forced his government to introduce the spending cuts announced last week.
[Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A navy vice admiral added his voice Monday to demands that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resign, becoming the highest-ranking officer yet to publicly oppose the leftist president.
The latest challenge to Chavez is likely to produce more turmoil for Venezuela's struggling economy. A call for his resignation earlier this month by two other military officers provoked large anti-Chavez protests and prompted investors to pull hundreds of millions of dollars out of the country.
On Monday, Vice Adm. Carlos Molina Tamayo, a U.S.-trained electronics warfare expert who recently was appointed ambassador to Greece, urged his armed forces colleagues to demand that Chavez step down. If Chavez refuses, he said, the courts and the legislature should initiate impeachment proceedings.
"Venezuelans! For Venezuela, its future and the well-being of our children, we must unite to demand the immediate resignation of President Chavez ... to avoid the civil conflict that is being instigated by the presidency," said Molina Tamayo, who directs Venezuela's naval weaponry program.
Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel insisted the armed forces remain loyal to the president and said Molina Tamayo's dissent will not produce unrest within the ranks. There was no immediate response from Chavez, who is a former paratrooper.
"There is calm in all of country's institutions and barracks," Rangel told state television Venezolana de Television. "Will (Molina Tamayo's dissent) affect the armed forces? No, it won't."
A military investigation will determine whether Molina Tamayo should be sanctioned for his dissent, said the armed forces' inspector general, Vice Adm. Vicente Quevedo Moreno.
Molina Tamayo said Monday he won't serve as envoy in Athens.
He accused Chavez and a National Assembly, Supreme Court, elections board and Finance Ministry dominated by Chavez allies of seeking to impose a totalitarian regime.
He warned that Chavez's divisive rhetoric and pro-government neighborhood committees known as "Bolivarian Circles" could provoke bloodshed.
Molina Tamayo accused Chavez of damaging Venezuelan interests by offending traditional allies such as the United States and cozying up to Cuba and other authoritarian regimes.
He condemned Venezuelan ties to "terrorist Colombian guerrillas," alleged corruption and Chavez's criticism of the news media. He called on Chavez to stop Venezuelan oil sales to Cuba and to revoke 49 economic laws that provoked a general strike Dec. 10 by business and labor groups.
Chavez insists his contacts with the Colombian rebels are meant to help end that nation's 38-year-old civil war and are endorsed by Colombia's government.
On Feb. 7, Air Force Col. Pedro Soto and National Guard Capt. Pedro Flores set off large street protests by demanding the president resign. The protests and counter-protests by Chavez supporters frightened investors.
Partly as a result, Chavez was forced to abandon a costly fixed currency exchange regime last week and let Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, float against the U.S. dollar. The bolivar has lost nearly 15 percent of its value against the dollar.
The dissident officers say Venezuela's military is also upset with being forced into roles such as crime fighting and social work.
Chavez led a failed coup against President Carlos Andres Perez in 1992, accusing the traditional political elites of corruption. He spent two years in prison, campaigned on an anti-corruption and anti-poverty platform and won the presidency with 80 percent of the vote in 1998.
Over the past year, however, his popularity has plunged as his combative rhetoric and unilateral decree of economic laws alienated business, labor, the news media and the Roman Catholic Church.
Support among the poor, his key constituency, could weaken as unemployment persists, crime soars, and Venezuela's oil-dependent economy suffers from the global drop in petroleum prices.
The dissident rear admiral told reporters some 90 percent of the armed forces shared his discontent.Yeah. OK. Pop a few caps into Chavez if you have to. God knows he has it coming. But please return your country to civilian rule when you're through with your coup.
Bump!
He's not acting. Hugo Chavez
That will depend on how much house cleaning they have to do first. As the economy has gone south big time the sad fact is that they might be better off as a dictatorship for a while providing that they get a good free market economist running things.
Let’s just hope that the coup leader has great wisdom, foresight and restraint. The prospect of unlimited power has a way of going to your head.
A. Cricket
When we finish cleaning up the mess in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, and Cuba; we should turn our attention to Venezuela.What about Demoin? They got some real problems in Demoin, man. Like, for one, it's way out in Demoin. So after Venezuela, it's on to Demoin.
... Like, man, you need to take some medication ...Like, so you're one of those sissies who thinks we'll get bogged down in a Demoin quagmire. That Demoin will be our next Viet Nam. That we'll freeze in the harsh Demoin winter. That we shouldn't attack Demoin during Ramadam. That the Arab street will rise up when they hear about our atrocities in Demoin.
Are you smoking crack, or something?Are we not allowed to have fun here?
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