Posted on 12/08/2002 2:05:13 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez made a defiant speech Saturday before tens of thousands of supporters gathered outside Miraflores, the presidential palace, in which he urged them to stay in the streets ''night and day'' to defend the state-owned oil corporation, PDVSA, against a ``terrorist attempt to sabotage the heart of the economy.''
After a violent attack against opposition protesters Friday night during which five people were killed and more than 25 injured, military and city police officers patrolled the streets in downtown Caracas where crowds gathered for competing demonstrations. Many officers kept watch from rooftops with rifles while those walking the streets carried tear gas.
………..Meanwhile, on the other side of the capital, thousands more gathered at the plaza that has served as a base for the opposition and where shots rang out Friday night. A somber mood prevailed at Plaza Francia in the Altamira neighborhood as Chavez opponents filed past three cordoned-off areas where the victims fell to their deaths.
Some crossed themselves and whispered prayers as they passed by. Others wiped away tears. At 7:15 p.m., the time when at least one gunman emptied his pistol, the crowed hushed for a minute of silence. They held up Venezuelan flags. All that could be heard was the distant barking of dogs.
''What happened here was truly a disaster,'' said Alexis Urbina, a 34-year-old housewife. ``These people died because of a president that is worthless. He has stained our flag with blood.''
(Excerpt) Read more at miami.com ...
Hopefully this precedes:
Chavez: ``The hour seems to have arrived where my head parts from my body for regions unknown."
At any rate, they should know enough this time to leave him in a state where it would be somewhat "inconvenient" to return. The only good commie...
No Peace In Venezuela: Chavez Presidency Drives Wedge Between Families***The family division reached Chavez himself in May, when his wife, Maria Isabel de Chavez, announced that she had filed for divorce, taking their child with her to live in the interior of Venezuela. ***
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