Posted on 04/21/2002 4:34:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - Emerging from hiding after last weekend's failed coup, the leader of Venezuela's largest union confederation on Saturday called on President Hugo Chavez to disarm his supporters and include the opposition in his Cabinet.
"If we Venezuelans can't reach some kind of agreement, we are headed, unfortunately, painfully and irreversibly, toward a civil war," said Carlos Ortega, president of the million-member Venezuelan Workers Confederation, which sponsored the April 11 march that led to Chavez's brief overthrow.
Despite hiding last week to avoid what he described as threats from people linked to Chavez's government, Ortega told a news conference he had a "frank, sincere" meeting Thursday with Chavez's defense minister, who invited Ortega to join talks on reconciliation.
The government has said it is not seeking to arrest Ortega, who urged Chavez to grant amnesty to those involved in the overthrow.
Ortega said Chavez should disarm the militant support groups known as "Bolivarian Circles." The president's critics say those are potential paramilitary groups and some of their members were filmed shooting at demonstrators on April 11.
"These armed groups are the big question," Ortega said, "because with them present, there is no guarantee of safety for any of us."
Ortega won one of the few political victories over the president by defeating Chavez-backed rivals in a union vote last year. Chavez then refused to recognize the union leaders, who were also upset by several laws he enacted by decree.
Ortega on Saturday welcomed Chavez's appointment of Ali Rodriguez, secretary-general of OPEC (news - web sites), as the new head of Venezuela's state oil monopoly. "He has been capable of good work ... we have had a relationship with him in the past," Ortega said.
He demanded that the company's yet-to-be-named board of directors be "broad" and include civic leaders. Chavez sparked a crisis in the company, known as PDVSA, by attempting to pack the previous board with supporters and political appointees.
Ortega confirmed that during a recent labor trip to the United States, the subject of dissatisfaction with Chavez came up, but he said U.S. officials said they would not back a coup.
"The State Department said they wouldn't support any kind of coup, and that any change that occurred in the country had to come from a democratic viewpoint," Ortega said.
He pledged to lead his unions in a traditional May 1 march, but said it would not become the kind of political demonstration held on April 11.
"We're not neighborhood bullies, nor do we take to the streets to provoke anybody. What we want is to give the message of the Venezuelan workers, the worries they have, and that will be our banner."
Unions joined with big business to challenge Chavez with a general strike early this month, but Ortega said the unions were not involved in the one-day government of businessman Pedro Carmona imposed by the overthrow. Carmona hastened his downfall with a decree suspending Congress, the courts and the constitution, alienating most of his supporters.
"I think Carmona lacked political skill," Ortega said. "But Chavez has to understand that the country doesn't belong exclusively to him, or his group."
Stalin would be proud.
That's Senator Christopher I-never-met-a-commie-I-couldn't-love Dodd, to you. =^)
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