Posted on 04/14/2002 4:01:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
LINKS to Hugo Chavez's "government" June 2001 - March 2002
I'm keeping track of Hugoland formally known as Venezuela. Please LINK any stories or add what you wish to this thread. The above LINK takes you to past articles posted before the new FR format. Below I'll add what I've catalogued since that LINK no longer could take posts.
(March 1, 2002)-- Venezuela's strongman faces widespread calls to step down
By Phil Gunson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
[Full Text] CARACAS, VENEZUELA - The man who won Venezuelan hearts three years ago as a strongman who could deliver a better life to the masses is now facing them in the streets.
More than 20,000 people turned out this week calling for the resignation of President Hugo Chávez, while some 2,000 supporters marched in a rival demonstration of support. The demonstrations come after months of building discontent with a president who has managed to alienate the labor class, the media, business groups, the church, political parties, and the military.
Four military leaders have publicly called for his resignation.
In November, Chávez introduced 49 "revolutionary" decrees. The package of laws - affecting everything from land rights and fisheries to the oil industry - unified virtually the whole of organized society in a nationwide business and labor stoppage that paralyzed the country on Dec. 10.
The protests this week have a note of irony, because they started out as a commemoration called by President Chávez. In his eyes, Feb. 27 is a milestone of his so-called revolution - "the date on which the people awoke" in 1989. That is when thousands of rioters and looters took to the streets in protest of an IMF-backed austerity plan, in which the government hiked gas prices.
In what became known as the caracazo, or noisy protest, thousands of rioters and looters were met by Venezuelan military forces, and hundreds were killed. Three years later, Chávez and his military co-conspirators failed in an attempt to overthrow the government responsible for the massacre, that of President Carlos Andres Perez. Chávez was jailed for two years.
"But the elements that brought about the caracazo are still present in Venezuela," says lawyer Liliana Ortega, who for 13 years has led the fight for justice on behalf of the victims' relatives. "Poverty, corruption, impunity ... some of them are perhaps even more deeply ingrained than before."
Chávez's supporters consist of an inchoate mass of street traders, the unemployed, and those whom the old system had marginalized. This, to Chávez, is el pueblo - the people.
"But we are 'the people' too," protests teacher Luis Leonet. "We're not oligarchs like he says. The oligarchs are people like Chávez, people with power."
On Wednesday, Leonet joined a march led by the main labor confederation, the CTV, to protest what unions say is a series of antilabor measures, including one of the 49 decrees dealing with public-sector workers.
Chávez won't talk to the CTV, whose leaders, he says, are corrupt and illegitimate. So he refuses to negotiate the annual renewal of collective contracts with the confederation, holding up deals on pay and conditions for hundreds of thousands of union members like Leonet.
Across town on Wednesday, a progovernment march sought to demonstrate that the president's popularity was as high as ever.
"For the popular classes, Chávez is an idol," says marcher Pedro Gutierrez.
Pollster Luis Vicente Leon, of the Datanalisis organization, warns that marches are no measure of relative popularity. "There is a lot of discontent among ... the really poor," Leon says, adding that so far the protests are mainly among the middle class.
But the middle class can be a dangerous enemy. It includes the bulk of the armed forces, and the management of the state oil company, PDVSA.
This month, four uniformed officers, ranging from a National Guard captain to a rear-admiral and an Air Force general, called on the president to resign, while repudiating the idea of a military coup of Chávez, himself a former Army lieutenant-colonel.
But senior "institutionalist" officers "are under severe pressure from lower ranks frustrated at the lack of impact" that these acts have had, a source close to military dissidents says. In other words, a coup cannot be ruled out, although the United States publicly denounces the idea.
Meanwhile, the president's imposition of a new board of directors on PDVSA this week sparked a virtual uprising by the company's senior management. In an unprecedented public statement, managers said the government was pushing the company "to the verge of operational and financial collapse" by imposing political, rather than commercial, criteria.
The political opposition remains relatively weak and divided. But in the view of many analysts, a president who offends both the military and the oil industry is asking for trouble. In the bars and restaurants of Caracas, the debate is no longer over whether Chávez will finish his term, which has nearly five years to run. It is when and how he will go - and what comes next. [End]
The crisis, which shows no sign of abating, is exacting a particularly heavy toll on South Florida's trade sector. ''We have merchandise sitting in warehouses without possibility of shipping it,'' said Alberto Villegas, president of Pantrade, a Miami importer-exporter who relies on Venezuela for about 40 percent of his business. ``The shipping lines don't want to go there.'' The trade flow has dried up so completely that Xiomara Castillo decided to temporarily shutter her Hialeah export firm, Transoceanic Trade, which sends heavy machinery and parts to the country's state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela and mining firms.
''It's not safe to send the shipments,'' she said. ``The situation is very volatile, you don't know if the ports and customs are working or if there's gasoline for the truckers to deliver the goods.'' Ports are in fact technically open, said Bruce Brecheisen, vice president of Seaboard Marine in Miami, but that did not keep the shipping line from suspending sailings. ''We had to divert Venezuela-bound cargo to Cartagena, Colombia, and Río Haina in the Dominican Republic,'' he said. ``We're waiting for the situation to improve.'' The one item that Venezuelans are sending abroad is money. Coral Gables-based Commerce Bank, owned by Caracas' Mercantil Servicios Financieros, has recently seen a 25 to 50 percent spike in deposits from Venezuelan clients.***
Opponents cite an article in the constitution that allows citizens to petition for a referendum on "matters of national importance" at any time. The also cite an article that allows citizens to disown governments that threaten democracy. The Supreme Court has not said when it will rule on the referendum. Strike leader Julio Brazon, president of Venezuela's largest chamber of commerce, warned the court not to make a decision that "goes against the majority of this country's courageous citizens." ***
But Venezuela's history does not parallel that of the United States. While slavery existed here until the mid-1800s, Venezuela does not have a legacy of state-mandated segregation. And Mr. Chavez, who is of mixed African, European and Native American descent, is not his country's first dark-skinned president. Venezuela's single dominant religion helped negate social barriers between the races, creating a different social history than in the United States, as a glance at the many shades of any Venezuelan crowd makes clear. Venezuelans speak with pride of their nation's racial mix, referring to their varied skin tones as "caffe con leche" - literally "coffee with milk." Caracas sociologist Mercedes Pulido points out that many of the nation's Supreme Court justices and other officials have been of mixed race. "It's all caffe con leche," she said - "sometimes with a little more coffee, sometimes with a little more milk."
During Venezuela's long oil boom that began in the 1930s, waves of southern Europeans migrated to this country and often flourished as professionals or business owners, leapfrogging other groups that had lived here for centuries. Caracas political scientist Anibal Romero said Mr. Chavez seeks to foment racial tensions. The president "has said many times that he is the son of Indians and black people, trying to convey the message that those are the only legitimate Venezuelans," Mr. Romero said. That message has not struck a chord, he added.***
"We don't understand this action," Vivas told Union Radio. "This leaves us at a tremendous disadvantage against criminals. Instead of disarming criminals, they disarm the police. It's outrageous." Also seized was anti-riot equipment like tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. Vivas said the confiscation violated a Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to return the force to the control of Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena, a staunch Chavez foe. Vivas said he would challenge the seizure in court. A Defense Ministry spokesman declined to comment.***
A media report earlier said Carter would be heading to Venezuela this weekend at the invitation of media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, who has significant interests in Venezuela and elsewhere in the Americas. El Nuevo Herald daily said Carter would be making a mainly private visit to the protest-stricken nation. The former president was recently involved in unsuccessful attempts to mediate in the nation's bitter division. [End]
We were part of a peaceful demonstration of several hundred thousand Venezuelans who were marching to demand early elections as a democratic solution to the current political crisis. Near the end of the route, we were ambushed by armed civil groups who attacked us with tear gas, stones, sticks and guns. All of this took place before the indolent eyes of the military police, who at first were just strolling along as the armed gangs were shooting. But soon we saw with astonishment that the police were handing more tear-gas grenades to our attackers and coordinating their moves. When I later saw the events reported by CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press and The New York Times as a ''confrontation'' between government supporters and the opposition, I was appalled. What confrontation? I said to myself while remembering the terror in my daughter's eyes and in the thousands of unarmed demonstrators who were forced to flee.
Armed civilian groups responding to government orders are not new. Fascist and communist regimes have used them for the same purpose as the Chávez government: to intimidate opponents and to disguise government repression under a civilian facade. The armed Bolivarian Circles have already been denounced by Organization of American States Secretary General César Gaviria, who has found deaf ears not only in Chávez and his cabinet members but in the attorney general and the ombudsman as well.
The foreign press has failed to report the truth about events in Venezuela such as the march in which I participated. On Christmas Day, Boston Globe correspondent Marion Lloyd described the Circles as ''watchdog groups to support the Chávez government.'' No mention was made of their role as an illegal armed militia. The Circles terrorize those who dare to dissent with the government.***
Capriles offers discounts to Venezuelan clients. An Italian-made jacket costs $375, reduced from $498. Gas masks go for around $140. Other popular items include Mace, stun guns and more powerful electromuscular disruption devices, which can put down a human target at 20 feet. "We are going back, but we have to be prepared," said Leopoldo Baptista, the 60-year-old owner of a major Venezuelan construction company. Baptista spent several thousand dollars at Spytrix on protective gear for his wife and children.***
The action also reflects concern that Petroleos de Venezuela, Citgo's owner, may have to rely on the refiner to pay off $500 million of debt due in August, Moody's said. Citgo spokesman Kent Young declined to comment. Citgo, which operates six U.S. refineries, including two asphalt plants, gets about half its crude supplies under long-term contracts with Petroleos de Venezuela. Its refineries are operating at normal levels as Citgo buys crude on the spot market at higher cost to replace the lost supply from Venezuela, Moody's said.
The price of crude rose Tuesday as the disruptions in Venezuela and threats of a U.S. attack on Iraq signaled that supplies may be low in coming months. Crude oil for February delivery rose 12 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $32.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is up 71 percent from a year ago. Heating oil surged 0.78 cent to close at 89.16 cents a gallon. Gasoline dropped 0.74 cent to 89.16 cents a gallon.
Natural gas for February delivery fell 14.4 cents to close at $5.107 per thousand cubic feet. Lower heating demand earlier this month helped ease concerns over frigid weather settling into much of the East Coast. In London, the February Brent crude contract rose 41 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $30.61 a barrel. [End]
They have not moved one inch from their original Marxist ideas. They even admit that their intention is to resort to violence in order to reach their goals of socializing the country. The party program also declares that the PT party is just a branch of the international socialist program. Though all over the world communism is seen as a black page of history, marked by bloodshed and economic failure, in Brazil it is being hailed as the solution of all problems of the country, strictly in accordance to Marxian canons. Certainly the communists will not succeed in establishing a clone of soviet or Cuban regimes, but surely they will lead Brazil to very serious social, political and economic crisis, with dire consequences to all citizens.***
On Friday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration was looking for ways to support mediation efforts currently under way by Organization of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria, including through the creation of a "Friends of Venezuela" group of interested countries. U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro said yesterday in Caracas that presidents from the region would discuss the crisis when they meet in Quito tomorrow for the swearing-in of new Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez. "They will hold conversations and I think that we will reach some agreement on the group of friends. This is very important," Mr. Shapiro said. Meanwhile, there were new clashes yesterday between Chavez supporters and opponents.
At his Jan. 1 inauguration, Brazilian populist President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva proposed a "group of friends" initiative, in which outside nations would help mediate an end to the strike. Mr. Chavez hailed the Brazilian proposal and the United States rejected it, fearing the group could be stacked with supporters of Mr. Chavez. The U.S.-supported group would continue to be directed by Mr. Gaviria, who has been working for months to end the stalemate. The United States is proposing a timetable for new elections and an end to the strike by opponents of Mr. Chavez.
"We have been working with people in the region, talking with people for several weeks now. There is an effort to try to energize things," said a State Department official yesterday, on the condition of anonymity. The official said that the United States would be a part of a "Friends of Venezuela" group that might include Brazil, Mexico, Chile and maybe Spain as well as the United Nations. "The value of a friends group is that you can demonstrate to the government and to the opposition that we are neutral," the official said.
The United States imports about 15 percent of its oil from Venezuela. Before the strike, which began Dec. 2, reduced Venezuelan oil exports to a trickle, the United States received 1.5 million barrels of Venezuelan crude a day. Now, with possible war on Iraq looming and prices at the pump rising, the United States is hoping to help broker a resolution. Venezuela has been in crisis since a short-lived military coup last spring. Because the United States at the time gave tacit backing to Chavez opponents, it had been reluctant to become involved. But that has changed.
"Chavez got a real boost from his visit to Brasilia [in early January for Lula da Silva's inauguration] and came back thinking that if he just dug his heels in he would win," the State Department official said. "Both sides have been unwilling to move. There is a potential for deepening violence if the strike goes on." [End]
Gutierrez thrust himself into the national spotlight in January 2000, when he led a group of disgruntled junior army officers and 5,000 Indian protesters in an uprising that drove the widely repudiated Jamil Mahuad from power in the midst of the country's worst economic crisis in decades. Gutierrez was imprisoned for six months after the coup and expelled from the army.
In his address Wednesday, he said he would take strong steps against "the corrupt oligarchy that has robbed our money, our dreams and the right of Ecuadoreans to have dignified lives." "If sharing and showing solidarity, if fighting corruption, social injustice and impunity, means belonging to the left, then I am a leftist," he said, drawing cheers. But he added: "If generating wealth and promoting production means belonging to the right, then I am a rightist." That remark drew fewer cheers.***
Former paratrooper Chavez said he would discuss Venezuela's conflict with the region's presidents later Wednesday. Venezuela's opposition strike, which began Dec. 2, has threatened to engulf the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter in economic turmoil and pushed up global oil prices to two-year highs. Strikers, including rebel state oil firm managers, have vowed to keep up the stoppage until Chavez quits. ***
Designed to add muscle to efforts by the Organization of American States to mediate the crisis between Mr. Chavez and a powerful opposition group demanding his ouster, the Friends of Venezuela will also include Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Portugal, diplomats said. The group will sit at the negotiating table to aid so-far fruitless talks led by the head of the OAS, Cesar Gaviria. "We're looking for a solution that is peaceful, constitutional, democratic," Mr. Gaviria said.
But Brazil, spearheading the group, said there was no quick fix and warned that clashes between the Venezuelan opposition and pro-Chavez militants could easily escalate. "There are no magic solutions. On the contrary, aiming for magic solutions could lead to more violent conflicts," said Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim. The impasse has reached a climax with a 46-day strike in the oil industry that has punished consumers and crippled the leading export industry of South America's third-largest economy.
Although originally cool to the proposal, the United States now "would expect to be part of it and others would expect us to be part of it," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday, just hours before it was announced. While Mr. Chavez opposed any U.S. role, some opposition leaders had said they did not want Brazil's new leftist government included in the new grouping. The populist Mr. Chavez, who was in Ecuador yesterday but did not attend the meeting approving the new effort, ridiculed President Bush for failing to take part personally in the Quito discussions and called his Venezuelan opponents "fascists." "My understanding is that the United States did not ask for this meeting," Mr. Chavez told reporters. "It is a meeting between presidents. Is Bush here?"
Mr. Chavez travels to New York today for talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Mr. Chavez has rejected opposition demands to resign and hold immediate new elections, just two years into his six-year term. Despite Mr. Bush's absence, U.S. officials in recent days have made clear they take a keen interest in the unfolding drama in Caracas. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil supplier at 3 million barrels a day and provides more than 10 percent of the petroleum imported into the United States annually. Production cuts due to the strike have sent world oil prices to a two-year high of $31.15 a barrel. Mr. Chavez has also repeatedly challenged U.S. policy in the region, showcasing his close friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and reportedly offering aid and shelter to leftist rebels fighting the U.S.-backed government in Colombia.
After failing to take power in a coup in 1992, Chavez was elected by the country's poor, and took a grand tour of America's "Fan Club" - Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. The Axis of Evil became the "Axis of Oil."
Eighty-two billion dollars, the combined 2002 revenue of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq - the OPEC's Top Three - can buy lots of terrorism, and lots of weapons of mass destruction. At least Saudi Arabia and Russia are willing to step in when Chavez's Venezuela is losing its market share. At its January 12 meeting, OPEC oil ministers recommended hiking the cartel's production by 1.5 million barrels a day. We won't have to push our SUVs this winter - and we won't be sending our troops to Iraq on bikes. I guess it's time to send those thank-you notes to King Fahd.***
Strike leaders are demanding Chavez agree to a plebiscite in February on his presidency. Although the vote would be nonbinding, strike leaders believe Chavez would be so embarrassed by the outcome he would step down. But Chavez, who was elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2000, said Thursday at the United Nations that it will be "virtually impossible" to hold the vote on the scheduled date.
Chavez said any plebiscite held before August would be unconstitutional. Venezuela's constitution allows for a binding recall referendum halfway through the presidential term, which would be August. "I think this Group of Friends will present an electoral proposal in a relatively short time," said Juan Rafalli, an opposition leader. Chavez, who met U.N. Secretary-General Kofi at the United Nations on Thursday, said the initiative should be expanded to include Russia, France, Algeria, and China - nations he considers allies. "We think it is still an embryo and that it should be broadened," he said. ***
Chavez's "constitution" is a farce instituted by Chavez himself in December 1999, a year after he was elected, to extend his hold on power. Chavez supporters, who controlled 121 of 131 National Assembly seats, rammed the document through the legislature. It was later approved in a national referendum in which over half of the electorate stayed away from the polls. The new "constitution" dissolved the senate, extended the president's term from five to six years, gave greater power to the military, tightened state control over the oil industry, and limited the central bank's autonomy.
The document includes a "truthful information" press provision. It also allows the president to run for a second term, so Chavez can stay in power "legally" for up to 13 years. What happens at the end of the 13 years? No one knows, but it's important to remember that Chavez has tried to take power by force before, staging two failed coups in 1992.
Chavez's contempt for the rule of law is astounding. In the ongoing general strike, he has sent out troops to seize private gasoline-delivery trucks and ordered military commanders to ignore court orders to return the trucks to their owners. He has also seized control of the Caracas police department and defied a court order to return the department to the city's mayor's control. "A country where the judicial system is not autonomous and must submit to the executive is not democratic," said strike leader Carlos Ortega, president of the country's largest labor federation. "Listen well, Venezuela and the world: There is no democracy here."
There is little doubt how most Venezuelans feel about Chavez: They hate him, and for good reason. Many of his former supporters now consider him a dictator. His approval ratings have fallen to around 30 percent from a high of 80 early in his regime. His statist policies have brought the country to the brink of ruin. During Chavez's tenure, the Venezuelan economy has taken and nosedive -- GDP shrank by 7.1 percent just in the first half of this year -- and continues its descent. Meanwhile, his government has been selling 53,000 barrels of oil to Cuba a day at bargain-basement prices.***
Former paratrooper Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a brief coup in April, said Annan had agreed to send a personal envoy to take part in the peace negotiations. Chavez suggested the "friends" group be widened to include countries such as Russia, France and China, as well as Algeria, which like Venezuela is a member of the oil exporters' cartel OPEC. "The group should be expanded and that's what I told the (U.N.) Secretary General," Chavez said. "I'm sure that once it's set up, this group can help Venezuela."
Venezuelan opposition leaders in Caracas, who have accused Chavez of deliberately blocking and dragging out talks on an electoral solution, also welcomed the formation of the group. "We think the 'friends group' is an excellent idea, as long as it backs Dr Gaviria," Americo Martin, a negotiator for the Coordinadora Democratica opposition coalition, told Reuters. After more than two months, the OAS-brokered talks have failed to break the deadlock between Chavez, who refuses to quit and has vowed to break the strike, and opponents, who accuse him of dragging Venezuela toward Cuba-style communism.
SOLUTION NOT CLOSE
OAS chief Gaviria said in Caracas after the latest round of government-opposition discussions on Thursday he believed the "group of friends" would strengthen the negotiating process. But he told reporters: "If you ask me whether we are close to a solution, I would have to say 'no."' Despite the hopes generated by the increased international support for the peace talks, Chavez offered no concessions to his opponents after his meeting with the U.N. chief. He repeated his government's objections to opposition plans to hold a nonbinding referendum on his rule scheduled by electoral authorities for Feb 2. "Today's the 16th of January. I think it is nearly impossible to have a referendum in February," Chavez said.***
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