Venezuelan President Carmona Resigns in Face of Riots; At Least 9 More Dead

Bloomberg ^ | 04/13 23:24 | Peter Wilson, Alex Kennedy, Patrick Gordon, and Toby Muse

[RedWhiteBlue]

Caracas, April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's interim President Pedro Carmona resigned after supporters of Venezuela's deposed leader Hugo Chavez seized control of the presidential palace and demanded his return to power.

Chavez's vice president Diosdado Cabello said he was in control until Chavez returned from a military post in the Caribbean.

[RedWhiteBlue]

Just wait until the anti-Chavez protesters regroup. They showed up in far greater numbers than the Chavez supporters.

[rightwing2]

This is insane! This is like a bad reamake of Crimson Tide where control of the ship of state keep shifting from the orginal command to the mutineers. I cannot believe that the counterrevolutionaries and pro-US generals who staged the coup in the first place would give up so easily. Civil war would be preferable than a return to Chavez because heads are going to roll if he comes back. If he does it will mean a bloodbath for the anti-Communist resistance forces.

[UnBlinkingEye]

Where's Alexander Haig when they need him?

[The Giant Apricots]

Chavez should lose. There's a lot more upheaval to go down there.

[Bonaparte]

Carmona has shown that he is definitely not the man to lead this country, not even for a day. Unless the military restores order and declares martial law, Chavez will probably return to power and lock this place down hard. Well, Latinos like their moment of truth and now they have it.

[DB]

It looks like civil war is coming to Venezuela...

Sad day.

[RedWhiteBlue]

I agree. All of the reports Thursday said that the pro-Chavists numbered in the "thousands," while the numbers on the anti-Chavists ranged anywhere from 140,000 to as high as 400,000. (I even saw one that said 2.5 million, but that is so far off from the other reports that I cannot accept it as credible). Today, the pro-Chavist demonstrators numbered in the "hundreds," so it appears they made headway, even though their presence decreased. I can't make heads or tails of that, but I can't see PDVSA, the unions, and Fedacameras saying "oh, never mind." This saga is far from over, even if hugo returns to Caracas today.

[WOSG]

Why did the anti-Chavez protesters leave their posts in the first place????? Sadly, this could have been a rather peaceful 'regime change' for the better, now they have chaos., and possibly a very angry Chavez back in.

[RedWhiteBlue]

It looks like civil war is coming to Venezuela

Sorry to say that I agree with you. Like I said in post #8, I can't see the anti-Chavists, who are greater in number, accepting this turn of events. And the military doesn't seem to be cohesive.

[VA Advogado]

Sounds like the Maxine Waters bunch after Bush won the election here.

[RedWhiteBlue]

Why did the anti-Chavez protesters leave their posts in the first place?????

Great question. I guess they assumed it was a "done deal" and that hugo was under lock and key. My guess is that, bolstered by their recent success, they will come back in greater numbers and they won't make the same mistake again. But then the military seems to be a big wild card, which leaves the possibility of civil war fairly high. As if these people don't have enough problems.

[patriciaruth]

Ping. FYI.

[rightwing2]

Unless the military restores order and declares martial law, Chavez will probably return to power and lock this place down hard.

At this stage, with the military caving to the demands of the Communist protesters giving the Communist salute, waving their red berets and calling for Chavez to return it looks like Chavez is coming back after all. The Military High Command was very unwise to restore the Communist controlled National Assembly who have now restored Chavez' loyal Vice President to power as Acting President until Chavez returns as expected. At this stage, only a drastic action by the military high command will save the situation in Venezuela and save the cause of freedom and counterrevolution against Communist control and prevent the return of Chavez and even more brutal Communist oppression.

[WOSG]

i hope so, for the USA, this country has more oil than palestine. but sadly, if it falters, unless they come back with a general strike and make it stick, they will be back to square one. it might be a tad more important than powell meeting with arafat....

[Bonaparte]

If the military permits Chavez or his people to re-establish themselves, they can expect to be heavily purged. They will deserve it. Coups cannot be carried out half-way, especially against communists like Chavez. Pinochet understood this perfectly.

[Pushi]

Yeah, it's going to be population control at its worst.

[AnnaZ]

Oh, man.

 

I lived there from late '90 to late '93. That place is beautifulbeautiful, but NUTS.

[GeronL]

Geez, do we need to educate these people on carrying out revolutions?? Someone should send the High Command a copy of the Patriot... aim for the officers first, that would be Hugo himself.

[GeronL]

can you believe this mess??