New Strike Is Threatened in Venezuela

Time is running out for the strikers. Businesses can only survive so long with their doors closed, and the oil workers are being replaced by Arab and Iranian oil workers.

Which means that ultimately their effort to end this thing by peaceful means will fail.

They have a few things in their favor. The Army will not fire on civilians, nor will the city police. But Chavez has armed a parallel civilian militia that will shoot to kill and already has repeatedly. He is salting the ranks of his military with Cubans in Venezuelan uniforms, who can be expected to perform functions his own soldiers will not.

Democracy has no meaning separate from the rule of law. Once a lawless government has taken power, even having done so by legal means, you are in a new, revolutionary circumstance. The law that makes democracy possible, and meaningful, has already been superceded, and there is no law. Constitutional law effectively ended the day Chavez took office, when he canceled the Constitution, and disbanded the Supreme Court, and the elected Congress, and replaced them with his own hand-picked toadies. It ended legally when his new Congress handed him a law authorizing him to rule by decree. He is now no longer bound even by his own "constitution", nor is he bound by his own hand-picked Supreme Court, nor by his well-packed Congress.

He answers now to no one.

If Venezuelans had hoped that their military would rescue them, they have been disappointed. Officers loyal to constitutional rule have been sidelined, or cashiered, and replaced by officers loyal to Chavez. Cuban observers have been assigned to every military post in the country, to give him a parallel source of information on his troops. As mentioned, he has also begun salting his forces with Cuban soldiers in Venezuelan uniforms. Iraqi agents have been brought in, along with suspected Al Qaedists on the run from the US.

The window of opportunity for a bloodless solution has already closed. Chavez is not leaving. He has proven his willingness to kill civilians to stay in power. He has proven his willingness to jail, and torture, his opponents. His goons have targeted journalists for special attention, beatings and shootings which have driven his natural followers in the press into a frightened opposition.

The Army is not going to move. There is only one chance to take him out, and that is to march on the palace and take it. Chavez's foreign body guards will not hesitate to shoot,nor will his civilian goons. But they will not be able to hold off a million people if they are determined not to go home until Chavez is gone.

People will die, but unless they do this they will not get another chance. He is rounding up his opposition now. When the leaders are all in dungeons, the people who did not dare to act now will not dare to act later. This is their last chance.

GETTING OUT LIKE CUBANS DID WITH CASTRO
New Web Site Helps Venezuelans Emigrate
August 1, 2001 Author: Pascal Fletcher
[Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelans wanting to flee the crime, poverty and political turbulence of their homeland can now visit a new Web site, aptly named ``I want to leave,'' to help them seek a new life abroad.

The site, http://Mequieroir.com, which means ``I want to leave'' in Spanish, was launched this month and offers advice on foreign visa regulations, work permits and even culture and climate for citizens of whatever age who are considering emigrating.

Its creators say the private initiative aims to satisfy the needs of growing numbers of Venezuelans seeking to leave the South American nation, which is oil-rich but suffers chronic poverty, political jitters and violent crime.

``Every day there are more people seeking opportunities to study and work abroad. It's not just our site mequieroir.com saying that, its a reality, and that's what we're responding to,'' project manager Esther Bermudez told Reuters.

Mequieroir.com currently concentrates on the United States, Canada and Australia as the most popular destinations for Venezuelans, but Bermudez said the site was also preparing pages, by popular demand, on Spain, Italy and Britain.

Its pages cite recent opinion polls that show that more than 30 percent of Venezuela's 24 million inhabitants would emigrate if they had the opportunity. This figure is reported to be even higher -- 51 percent -- for those aged 15 to 24.

JOBS, SECURITY AT ISSUE

``Recent polls show the biggest reasons for people leaving are unemployment, personal insecurity and not being able to see a promising future in their country,'' Bermudez said.

Emigration by Latin Americans, especially to the United States, has accelerated in recent decades.

But Venezuela's history is one of incoming migration and it has large communities of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and other European immigrants who flocked there in the last century, especially during and after the 1940s and 1950s oil boom.

However, the country was now experiencing the reverse phenomenon and the Web site quotes unofficial estimates saying 150,000 Venezuelans emigrated over the last 18 months to seek a new life elsewhere, especially in the United States.

Opponents of left-leaning President Hugo Chavez say his revolutionary rhetoric and public diatribes against wealthy ''oligarchs'' are fomenting class war in Venezuela, convincing many upper- and middle-class professionals to emigrate.

Chavez, an ex-paratrooper who won a landslide 1998 election six years after staging a failed coup bid, denies this and says his ``peaceful, democratic revolution'' aims to correct social, economic and political ``chaos'' inherited from previous rulers.

Bermudez deflected suggestions that the mequieroir.com Web site could be considered ``unpatriotic''.

It quotes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Venezuela's own 1999 constitution as upholding the right of individuals to seek their future anywhere opportunities lie.

``We don't want to demonize the theme of emigration, we want it to be seen as something normal,'' Bermudez said.

The site includes a questionnaire to help would-be emigrants make up their minds and offers a chat page where Venezuelans already living abroad can offer advice.

``Carolina'' urges would-be emigrants to think twice. ``I've been living in Miami for six years and the truth is it's not the paradise that people think... Compatriots, if you don't have your papers in order, take my advice, don't come,''

``Sam'' is more upbeat. ``Take the plunge and don't waste more time thinking about it,'' he wrote. [End]

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January 15, 2003 Venezuelans savor solace in Miami - Others go home prepared *** Fearing the worst, Venezuelans in South Florida who plan to return home to join antigovernment street protests are stocking up on protective material at security stores. On the streets of Caracas, opposition demonstrators clash almost daily with riot troops equipped with tear gas. Several people have died in shootings. "People are afraid," said Josephina Capriles, the Venezuelan-born owner of Spytrix, a North Miami security store where sales of bullet-proof jackets and gas masks are booming. "I used to sell two bulletproof jackets a month but now I sell three a day," she said, adding that the extra sales were to Venezuelans.

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.***

***Opposition leaders called for street protests and appealed to the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former President Jimmy Carter, which have brokered talks here. One opposition delegate to those talks, Rafael Alfonzo, said Fernandez's abduction made a mockery of a "peace pact" renouncing violence that government and opposition negotiators signed on Wednesday. "This government doesn't want to negotiate. It only wants conflict. We won't back down," Alfonzo said.***

VENEZUELA: Government and Opposition Sign No-Violence Pact - Humberto Márquez,Inter Press Service [Full Text] CARACAS, Feb 18, 2003 (IPS) - The government and the opposition in Venezuela signed a joint declaration Tuesday against political violence, the first tangible achievement since César Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, began as mediator more than three months ago in negotiations for a way out of the country's political crisis.

In the eight-point 'Declaration against violence and in favor of peace and democracy,' the two sides announce their commitment to dismantle the tensions that have pervaded the political sphere in Venezuela over the last few years, and reiterate their commitment to the Constitution and democratic law.

In the statement, representatives of the Hugo Chávez administration and of the opposition reject verbal "intemperance," mutual recriminations, hurtful language and "rhetoric that in any way encourages confrontation."

The two sides propose instead "a language of mutual respect, tolerance, consideration of others' ideas, and the supreme appreciation of human life and dignity."

The tripartite group, comprising the OAS, the U.S.-based Carter Center, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is facilitating the dialogue, had repeatedly urged the two sides to "lower their tone" and "moderate the language" of their political discourse.

Similar efforts were made by the so-called "Group of Friends," countries backing the OAS effort in Venezuela. The group was established in January by the foreign ministries of Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

The second point of Tuesday's joint declaration states that violence in any form, regardless of who perpetrates it, is "absolutely unjustifiable."

The two sides "summon all authorities and competent administrative and juridical bodies to act to investigate and penalize the loss of human lives."

In the last year, the death toll resulting from political violence in Venezuela has reached more than 80, with hundreds of people injured. During the social chaos associated with the failed coup d'état in April 2002, 61 people died, according to the non-governmental Venezuelan Human Rights Education-Action Program.

Street demonstrations or political rallies in Caracas, whether supporting the Chávez government or the opposition, another 10 people have died. In rural Venezuela, several peasant leaders have been assassinated.

Tuesday's declaration rejects all expressions of violence, intolerance or vengeance.

Six government delegates and six delegates from the opposition Democratic Coordinator, the document's signatories, exhorted the Venezuelan people to cease any "direct or indirect attitude of aggression, threat, harassment or violence," and urged churches, trade unions and all social organizations to help in the effort.

During the past year, opposition protesters and pro-Chávez demonstrators have clashed in the streets of Caracas, and military officials are staying away from certain public places, such as restaurants in middle-class neighborhoods, because they are subjected to insults or surrounded by crowds of residents banging pots and pans.

The point in the declaration that required most effort to achieve consensus is about the communications media. The text calls on journalistic enterprises to "promote peace, tolerance and peaceful coexistence" in their programming and to comply with and exercise their constitutional and legal rights and duties.

The privately owned media championed the cause of the opposition during the two-month anti-Chávez strike that ended earlier this month. Television stations, for example, replaced normal advertising for political propaganda against the government.

And the government followed suit, using state-run television and radio stations to disseminate its messages.

The declaration's signatories are now obligated "to maintain and improve the work" of the negotiations panel, which "with this declaration approaches the possibility of an electoral way out" of the crisis, opposition leader Humberto Calderón told IPS.

The delegates also agree to take up related issues, such as setting up a Truth Commission to clear up the events surrounding the April 2002 coup and deaths, and disarming the civilian population--demanded by the opposition, which claims that many government supporters are carrying weapons illegally.

"The dialogue had started at the end, and with the Tuesday declaration we have returned to the beginning, and the road has been cleared so we can discuss anything," commented Vice-President José Vicente Rangel.

He was referring to the opposition's insistence on an "electoral" way out of the political crisis--such as a referendum on Chávez's mandate--while the word order in the declaration is "peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral."

Andrés Cova, representing the anti-Chávez trade unions in the negotiations, says he is confident that "with this accord we can find an electoral solution in the middle term."

The opposition is seeking a constitutional amendment to declare an end to Chávez's presidential term, which lasts until 2006, and to convene new elections this year.

After the six delegates from each side signed the joint declaration, representatives from the OAS, the Carter Center and UNDP added their signatures. [End]

Chavez arresting opposition - allies say more arrests pending - Chavez: "I went to bed smiling"*** CARACAS, Venezuela - Thousands of government opponents staged a street rally on Thursday to protest the arrest of opposition leader Carlos Fernandez, who faces charges of treason and instigating violence. Chanting "Free Fernandez!" and "This is a dictatorship!" while waving red, yellow and blue Venezuelan flags, angry demonstrators marched round an air force base in eastern Caracas. Songs calling for peace boomed from loudspeakers while motorists honked horns.

President Hugo Chavez, speaking at the presidential palace, said he gave secret police the green light to detain Fernandez. "One of the coup plotters was arrested last night. It was about time, and see how the others are running to hide," Chavez triumphed. "I went to bed with a smile." Chavez said judges shouldn't "be afraid to issue arrest warrants against coup-plotters." Government opponents at the rally accused the former paratroop commander of trying to establish a Cuban-style dictatorship in this South American nation of 24 million.

"This is an escalation of violence by the government, which has arrived at the extreme of repression," said Carlos Feijoo, 88, a retired oil worker at the demonstration. "He wants to copy Fidel (Castro)." Government allies warned that more than 100 opposition leaders - ranging from labor bosses to news media executives - who supported a two-month strike to oust Chavez could also be arrested. The work stoppage ended on Feb. 4 in all sectors except the oil industry. "More than one hundred are on the list to be captured," said Luis Velasquez, a ruling party lawmaker. It could not be immediately confirmed if such a list existed. Eight armed secret police agents seized Fernandez at about midnight Wednesday as he was leaving a restaurant in Caracas' trendy Las Mercedes district, said his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Fernandez. He said the men fired in the air when patrons tried to stop them from taking Fernandez.

Fernandez and Carlos Ortega, president of the country's largest labor union, called the strike on Dec. 2 to demand Chavez's resignation and early elections. Fernandez's wife, Sonia, spoke briefly with her husband by telephone and said that he was in good condition at secret police headquarters. Fernandez was meeting with his attorneys, she said.

Ortega was ordered to surrender, also on treason and instigating violence charges, said magistrate Maikel Jose Moreno. The tough-talking labor boss said he wouldn't turn himself in. "We have nothing to fear," Ortega said in a telephone interview with the local Globovision TV channel. "The only one who has a date with justice is the president." ***

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