Posted on 05/05/2002 4:06:48 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - Three weeks after a bloody demonstration that led to President Hugo Chavez' brief ouster, efforts to form a "truth commission" to investigate the violence are stalled.
Lawmakers have voted in favor of creating a nine-member commission made up of prominent human rights activists, but credible rights representatives have refused to form part of the commission.
"The participation of the leading human rights groups depends on the approval of a law giving the commission full autonomy," said Marino Alvarado, a representative of the local Provea human rights watchdog. The new law is to be debated this week.
The commission would be charged with investigating 17 deaths that occurred when anti- and pro-government marched clashed on April 11 in downtown Caracas.
Snipers fired on marchers from rooftops. Armed supporters of embattled Chavez, police officers, and National Guardsmen also fired shots during the confrontation.
Although prosecutors have some leads, not a single suspect has been arrested in connection with the events.
Allies and adversaries of Chavez have spent weeks arguing who is responsible for the violence.
Opposition leaders claim Chavez loyalists urged supporters to fire at unarmed marchers, who were calling for the president's resignation. Government spokesmen argue conspirators orchestrated the shootout to prompt a military uprising against the president.
"The government doesn't want the truth to come out, that's why ruling party lawmakers are stalling on the approval the proposed law," said Ramon Medina, a member of the First Justice opposition party.
Tarek Saab, a pro-Chavez lawmaker, denied the ruling party is dragging its feet or standing in the way of an investigation.
"We, more than any other political party, any other group, want the truth to be known. The shootings were part of a plan to topple Chavez," said Saab.
Opposing lawmakers are slated to debate the possibility of granting the truth committee total autonomy, including its own budget, this week in the National Assembly.
Leading rights activists are standing by their decision to decline participation in the commission unless its autonomy is guaranteed by law.
"The committee should have it's own budget, it shouldn't depend on the state or other institutions in any way," said Liliana Ortega, director of the local Cofavic human rights group.
The committee would be in charge of determining who is responsible for 17 death, elaborating a plan for compensating the victim's families, and promoting reconciliation between political opponents.
The committee's findings would be handed over to the Attorney General's Office, which would responsible for bringing criminal charges against suspects.
Family members of the victims are clamoring for justice.
"The truth has to be uncovered," said William Tortoza, whose brother Jorge, a photographer at the local 2001 daily newspaper, was shot dead.
"We need to know the truth regarding my bother's death, and we are counting on the truth committee to find it," said Tortoza.
[Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's military chief, who announced during a failed coup attempt last month President Hugo Chavez had resigned, said on Saturday the leader offered to quit to avoid bloodshed but did not formally submit his resignation.
With Venezuelans deeply divided over whom to blame for the coup, the acknowledgment may help clarify the military's controversial role in the ouster, in which rebellious officers detained Chavez for two days until loyal troops reinstated the leftist leader.
Chavez has denied he resigned.
Gen. Lucas Rincon, who has remained Chavez' armed forces chief, told a legislative inquiry the president -- at his recommendation -- offered to quit on April 11 to stem violence at massive protests against his leadership.
But Chavez, himself the ex-leader of a failed coup, later refused to formally resign when the rebellious officers rejected his terms for quitting, which included guaranteeing his family's safety and allowing him to travel abroad, Rincon said. Rincon added he did not know the deal had collapsed when he publicly announced the resignation.
"I made the recommendation to the president (that he should resign) to calm the situation and avoid bloodshed," Rincon told the special commission investigating the coup.
Rincon said Chavez, who has led one of the world's largest oil exporting nations with a confrontational style and statist policies, told him he "did not want a drop of blood, not even among ourselves" and initially accepted the plan.
"He (Chavez) said as they hadn't accepted these conditions and guarantees he wasn't resigning," the military chief said.
Confusion has surrounded Rincon's role during the coup, especially because Chavez reinstated him as military chief.
"People have been saying that Lucas Rincon is a coward, that Lucas Rincon betrayed the president, that Lucas Rincon is a trickster, that Lucas Rincon had some strategy and this and that, but it is not like that," Rincon said.
Despite Chavez' call for dialogue and reconciliation, his supporters' and foes' differences over events during the coup, including dozens of deaths, have inflamed already deep divisions over his tempestuous three-year-old presidency.
Opponents of Chavez say dissident military officers removed him to prevent him from using troops and tanks against a huge protest by anti-Chavez demonstrators marching to the Miraflores presidential palace. At least 17 people were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the protest. [End]
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