Posted on 04/18/2002 12:26:59 PM PDT by flamefront
Marxist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is back in power, and I hear from friends in Venezuela that reprisals against his opponents have begun in earnest.
Chavez, the ever clever ideologue, has been careful not to go after the leaders of the coup that just ousted him.
But his thugs around the country are making small-business owners and provincial leaders who supported the removal of Chavez pay up in cash or suffer. Already there are reports of looting and attacks on those who opposed Chavez.
The Venezuelan coup and the seemingly easy return of Chavez to power smacked of a Soviet-style provocation.
During the Cold War, the KGB perfected this technique. A new communist leader, not firmly in power, would pretend that he was being ousted in a coup.
As word was announced that the leader was indeed ousted, his opponents, some of whom had been working quietly behind the scenes, would reveal themselves.
Soon, the "coup" would be crushed by forces friendly to the "ousted" dictator.
Once firmly back in power, the dictator would have a list of opponents from which to make reprisals and clean house. His grip on power would be firmer than ever, his opponents would fear him even more.
While there is no evidence that the recent coup in Venezuela was so arranged, the result may be the same. As a result of the coup attempt, Chavez will now have the ability to clearly identify his opposition.
Today, I spoke with a former Venezuelan Cabinet minister who agreed that Chavez is already sharpening his knife.
He also gave me some insight on how the coup unfolded.
The coup was precipitated on April 11 when a massive outpouring of more than 1 million Venezuelans took to the streets. The people were angry about Chavez's growing dictatorship and the country's worsening economic situation.
The protest ? a legitimate form of expression for Americans ? was not taken nicely by the budding dictator Chavez. He callously ordered troops and snipers to fire upon the innocent protesters, as did members of his revolutionary guerrillas that he has been arming.
We now know that 12 people died under his orders.
Little of Chavez?s outrage, and his growing creation of a Marxist state, have made it on to CNN or in to the pages of the New York Times. Instead, the American media says Chavez is a "populist? leader.
As a result of the April 11 massacre, members of the Venezuelan military and civic circles had had enough. Chavez was ousted and a leading businessman, Pedro Carmona, was named interim president.
But key military and civilian supporters of Carmona and the coup felt they were immediately "backstabbed."
Carmona, a member of the Opus Dei group, a conservative Catholic lay order, quickly named all Opus Dei members to his new Cabinet.
Key members of the military and others were outraged. The new government was to be a coalition government of major elements of Venezuelan society.
At that point, key military supporters and political leaders "backed out" of the coup. Carmona no longer had their support. Chavez was back in power, after making promises of no reprisals against the military and coup leaders.
But, as my source notes, "once a liar, always a liar." Chavez, who has cozied up to Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein, can't be trusted and will do anything to keep power.
If Chavez stays in power, he poses danger to the U.S.
Venezuela is the largest exporter of U.S. oil in the Western Hemisphere. How can we allow a country so important to the U.S to fall into the grip of a madman who praises and hugs Castro and Saddam Hussein?
Worse, the Marxist cancer will spread.
"The whole region will go," my Venezuelan friends says, explaining that other countries in the region will fall into the hands of left-leaning demagogues who hate the U.S.
He notes that Chavez has already been supporting Marxist guerrillas in Colombia and a Marxist-led union movement in Brazil. Panama is also vulnerable.
Chavez should be removed from power. Now is the time for the U.S. to move with alacrity and help pro-democracy forces in Venezuela before it is too late.
Chavez reveals himself as a liar whenever he opens his mouth. He will do anything to stay in power.
I'm beginning to wonder, who is pulling the strings in Venezuela, Chavez or Castro?
i see the irony detector at newsmax has gone wonky again.
Every time this story is reported the numbers in the streets rise. Sheesh...Started at 100,000 & now Ruddy says 1 million.
This tells me that the rest of the article is also "inflated" with "facts".
Chavez's real crime was to pass two laws through Venezuela's national assembly. The first ordered big plantation owners to turn over untilled land to the landless. The second nearly doubled, from roughly 16% to 30%, royalties paid for extracting Venezuela's oil. Venezuela was once the largest exporter of oil to the USA, bigger than Saudi Arabia. This explains Chavez's unpopularity - at least within that key constituency, the American petroleum industry.
Also declined US airspace for "drug flights."
He won't last long, but it's up to the voters to hold a referendum & select a new president.
My guess is Castro. I wonder how long it will take Jimmy Carter to make pilgrimage to Caracas to kiss Chavez' ring...
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