Posted on 04/24/2002 2:23:38 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
MARACAY, Venezuela - Venezuelan news media released an audiotape Wednesday in which President Hugo Chavez is heard ordering troops and tanks into Caracas' streets to confront a massive opposition demonstration that ultimately ended in a blood bath.
In the tape, Chavez orders the activation of "Plan Avila," a state security emergency plan, to contain hundreds of thousands of civilians who marched on the presidential palace April 11 to demand Chavez resign.
"I order you to start Plan Avila. The first move we must make is to send the Ayala Battalion," Chavez tells an unidentified officer via radio.
Venezuelan generals have said they refused to obey the order requiring them to use force against unarmed civilians. At least 17 people died that day anyway, and several investigations are underway to determine who is to blame.
The bloodshed led disgusted generals to oust Chavez on April 12. Loyalist troops and thousands of Chavez militants rebelled April 13, and Chavez was restored to power on April 14.
A radio journalist, Marianela Salazar, initially released the tape but declined to say how she obtained it. The tape was widely reported by news media Wednesday.
Carlos Rojas, a spokesman for the presidency, refused comment on the tape but said it was "a communication between the defense ministry and the president."
Venezuelan generals didn't deny the tape's authenticity at a ceremony Wednesday in the central city of Maracay, where most of Venezuela's armed forces are concentrated.
Gen. Lucas Rincon, Venezuela's top officer, defended Chavez's order, saying Plan Avila "isn't to mistreat and repress the population. No, it's to guarantee security." He spoke during the installation of a new Air Force chief, Gen. Angel Valecillo, after former chief Gen. Luis Acevedo died in a helicopter crash April 19.
Gen. Luis Camacho, former vice security minister and one of the officers who rebelled against Chavez, said Wednesday he had refused to obey the president's order.
"The pure presence of the police and National Guard would have resolved" security problems posed by the demonstration, Camacho said.
Analysts said the tape will further hurt Chavez, who since his temporary ouster has adopted a conciliatory tone toward opponents and has changed his high command to bolster his support.
The tape shows that Chavez was prepared "to shoot against the protesters as a last resort," said Fausto Maso, a columnist with El Nacional newspaper.
There was no immediate comment from the presidency.
Congress is trying to establish its own truth commission to investigate the April 11 deaths and subsequent violence that killed more than 50 people, wounded more than 400 and destroyed hundreds of stores.
Also Wednesday, National Assembly Vice President Rafael Jimenez said it was possible Chavez might soon shuffle his Cabinet to placate the opposition.
November 2001 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday dismissed rumors of a possible military coup in his South American nation, but warned that if there were any such insurrection he would meet it with ``my rifle in hand.'' Asked if he had considered resigning in the face of bitter media criticism of his government and protests from many sectors of society, Chavez said: ``No way. There is no reason for that.'' ``If one day, I realize that I am doing harm to the country, then I would be the first to go far away,'' he said.
November 2001 - ``I dare them to have that strike. We will see who has more strength, [business] or the sovereign people,'' Chávez said while inaugurating a transportation law. ``I'm the head of state. You're not going to put me against the wall; you're not going to blackmail me.''
January 2002 - Opposition lawmakers attacked by supporters of Venezuela's President Chavez : Chavez called the violence a "warning" to the opposition "and its absurd and evil intention" of trying to destabilize his government. He threatened to deploy supporters on "every street corner" to "defend the revolution," as the leftist leader refers to his policies.
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April 2002 ***- "Comandante" Lina Ron, who considers herself a modern version of "Tania," a woman who fought alongside Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, says she is a willing martyr for Chavez's cause. She was arrested after leading a violent pro-Chavez counter-protest against demonstrating university students. Ron suggested that violence is needed to quash mounting opposition to Chavez - whose combative rhetoric has contributed to a precipitous decline in popularity polls. It's needed, she said, to allow Venezuela's majority poor a stake in the country's governance for the first time in history. Ron attributes her growing flock of supporters to a "gift that God gave me" so that "the people follow me and believe in me. ... We're ready for the Fatherland to call us."
Now Ron has become a focal point for debate about Chavez's "Bolivarian Circles," which the government calls self-help neighborhood groups. Chavez opponents call them a violent threat to democracy styled after Cuba's Revolutionary Block Committees. Created after Castro urged Venezuelans to "organize" to defend Chavez's revolution, the committees are forming street tribunals to demand Ron's release - and to symbolically prosecute government opponents as "traitors." In recent months, the 42-year-old Ron has organized and led street marches - called "countermarches" here - to stop or intimidate demonstrations by civilians and a disorganized opposition to Chavez. Two December marches to Miraflores, the presidential palace, were stopped by Ron's "countermarches." A February march to the National Assembly to commemorate Venezuelan democracy was similarly met - and diverted - by a countermarch.
Ron and her followers burned a U.S. flag in Caracas' central Plaza Bolivar just after the September terrorist attacks in the United States. The anti-Washington demonstration appalled many Venezuelans. More recently, Ron's followers threatened journalists at El Nacional newspaper in Caracas. Chavez has called Ron a political prisoner. "We salute Lina Ron, a female soldier who deserves the respect of all Venezuelans," he said recently.***
Chavistas Attack Venezuela's Congress - Bolivarian neighborhood groups inciting wholesale violence*** "We've been forced to suspend the sessions because nobody can work like this, trying to vote while knowing that armed thugs are waiting outside," Cesar Perez, a member of the Social Christian Party, said Friday. More than 200 riot police and National Guardsmen were sent to the assembly on Thursday night to protect lawmakers from rowdy "Chavistas" who threw rocks and bottles when opposition legislator Pastor Heyra tried to enter the elegant assembly building.***
Venezuelan journalists under siege by Chavez: Incendiary attacks stir Chavistas*** But Chavez still refuses to let up on his harangues against the press -- in his radio show last Sunday, for instance, the targets were the Spanish and Colombian media -- and he lauds his most radical supporters as true "revolutionaries." ***
The overheated atmosphere has alarmed international organizations. The Organization of American States in January ordered the government to take precautionary measures to protect journalists after Chavez's followers gathered outside the offices of El Nacional, banging pots and pans and shouting slogans for three hours. Employees were afraid to leave the premises. Officials responded by stationing police at newspaper office entrances. After receiving numerous complaints, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission last month sent representative Santiago Canton to Venezuela for a report. Canton witnessed the tension firsthand -- raucous Chavistas disrupted his concluding press conference and refused to let him speak, forcing him to abruptly cancel the event.***
What a doubleplusgood explanation!
Thanks for the info. I knew it was low. The media usually says "his popularity has fallen below 30%. Real helpful that!
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