Posted on 02/24/2003 1:24:30 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his government of using inflammatory rhetoric, possibly contributing to violence between opponents and supporters of the populist leader.
"Inflammatory statements such as those attributed to President Chavez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue between the government of Venezuela and the opposition," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
"We are concerned that heightened political rhetoric has contributed unnecessarily to some of the recent violence in Caracas," the spokesman added.
On Sunday Chavez warned the world to stop meddling in the affairs of his troubled South American nation and Venezuelan police locked up a strike leader on "civil rebellion" charges.
He accused the United States and Spain of siding with his enemies, warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations, and reprimanded the chief mediator in tortuous peace talks for stepping "out of line."
Last week he said he was going on the offensive against the "terrorists" and "fascists" who have defied him.
Reeker said: "What we ... remain concerned about is the government's rhetoric and some of the actions that have been undermining the dialogue process."
He said the United States continued to favor the dialogue mediated by Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the of American States, who spent weeks in Venezuela trying to arrange an end to a strike by Chavez's opponents.
Opponents of the president, who they accuse of disregarding democracy and ruining the economy, are waging a campaign to pressure him into accepting elections.
The opposition strike, which fizzled out during the first week of February, severely disrupted the nation's oil exports in the world's No. 5 exporter. Oil exports account for half of state revenues and Venezuela's economy, already deep in recession, contracted by nearly 9 percent by the end of last year.
The Venezuelan government has fired more than 12,000 oil company employees who joined the strike. It is now using replacement workers to help restart the industry, undermining the opposition's campaign which Chavez charges is trying to drive him from office.
The United States complained on Thursday about the arrest of business leader Carlos Fernandez, the head of the Fedecamaras business chamber and one of the strike leaders.
Reeker added: "We would note that according to Venezuela's constitution, the judiciary, not the president, decides what charges to bring in criminal cases."
Venezuelan labor boss who predicted Chavez's imminent downfall goes underground *** CARACAS, Venezuela - Every night for two months, Venezuelans knew where to find Carlos Ortega. The labor leader was sure be standing before cameras in Caracas, predicting the imminent downfall of President Hugo Chavez.
"The dictator's days are numbered," Ortega would thunder at his news conferences, flanked by business leader Carlos Fernandez.
Now Ortega, the leader of the strike that failed to oust Chavez, is in hiding, charged with treason and rebellion. Fernandez, accused of similar crimes, was seized by federal agents last week and is under house arrest.
Chavez wants both men sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for inflicting pain and suffering on Venezuelans with a strike that crushed the economy.
"See how the others are running to hide," he mocked in a speech after Fernandez's arrest.
Hiding is uncharacteristic of Ortega, the most visible and pugnacious of Chavez's opponents. He is the only government opponent to claim a measure of victory against Chavez since the leftist president was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000.
As president of Venezuela's biggest oil workers union, Fedepetrol, Ortega led a four-day strike in 2000 for back pay and a collective contract for 20,000 workers. Chavez ceded on both counts.
Ortega subsequently rose to the top of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, or CTV, which boasts 1 million members. In a bid to grasp control of the labor movement, Chavez called a nationwide election for CTV leaders over the protests of the International Labor Organization, which argued union elections were a private matter. ***
"I ask all of the countries of this continent and of the world ... are you going (to) stop this meddling?" Chavez asked angrily, during his state-sponsored television show 'Alo Presidente.' "This is a sovereign nation." The tongue-lashing followed a recent flurry of diplomatic communiques expressing concern over Carlos Fernandez, a strike leader and prominent businessman who was yanked out of a Caracas steakhouse on Thursday at gunpoint by police.***
The Destruction of Petroleous de Venezuela*** The new dictatorship indirectly has promoted privatization of the only well run and efficient state industry in Venezuela. The Chavez government has destroyed PDVSA and now is forced to bring in foreigners to restart its major resource. Another irony is that the Chavez Constitution forbids the privatization of PDVSA, and requires it to hold a majority stake in oil sector projects with foreign energy firms. But never mind, Chavez writes constitutions and carries his around in his pocket, but does not follow any constitution.
Having fired over 700 of PDVSA's top executives and most of its middle managers, PDVSA is a company without a brain. With the upper level management removed, PDVSA headquarters in Caracas, in La Campina, has been taken over by the Minister of Energy and Mines, now in place to execute government orders. The new Petroleos de Chavez will try to raise production using foreign companies, whose workers do not strike!
Which foreign companies are willing to come into Venezuela, under the new currency and price controls, unattractive royalties and tax regime, and a country full of potholes and beggars? Will these companies be from the United States, Europe, China, Nigeria or Russia?
The Chavez government is rumored to be preparing an attractive offer to present to foreign companies to come in and restart Venezuela's oil and gas production - using foreign companies' financial strength and technology.
Gustavo Coronel, former PDVSA Board member, wrote the following in a January 28, 2003 article: "With the collapse of PDVSA, we are witnessing the collapse of the country . . . when the time comes, if I am still around, I hope to be a witness for the prosecution. Why? Because when I was building pipelines for a better PDVSA, Ali Rodriguez, the current President of the "revolutionary" PDVSA, was blowing them up, as the main dynamite expert of the Cuban-supported guerrillas which failed in Venezuela during the 1960s." (VHeadline.com)
It is Ali Rodriguez who now has complete control of PDVSA: financially and contractually. Ali Rodriguez Araque not only fires and hires, moves PDVSA funds around, but also can sign contracts like the one with Pepex.com (Herb Goodman, CEO) to take over PDVSA's oil trading. There is no longer any transparency. Those who work for PDVSA now work for Petroleos de Chavez, the fully credentialed People of Petroleum having been replaced by the mediocre, and now led by an "Oil Commander-in-Chief" (Chavez), with no auditing, or transparency.
Venezuelans are living in a war economy - in an internal war - a civil war, which could last a long time. Over 12,000 commercial establishments have closed, and 5,000 businesses are bankrupted. The Chavez government is now using currency controls and price controls to attack the only remaining productive sector remaining.
The Opposition, led by Carlos Ortega, the brave President of the CTV (Confederation of Venezuelan Workers), is going to continue to march, by the hundreds of thousands of families, demanding that Chavez resign. But he will not resign. These millions of brave Venezuelans refuse to live under a corrupt, Cuban dictatorship, and refuse to give up their country to a man who intentionally is destroying Venezuela.***
Kinda reminds me of Demonicrat Dicktator Davis in CA!
Chavez couldn't care less about the Venezuelan constitution. He is a tyrannical dictator in search of power, and the constitution doesn't matter to him.
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