Posted on 12/20/2002 1:25:13 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition, ignoring a temporary Supreme Court order to restart the strike-hit oil industry, planned on Friday to intensify street protests and keep a clamp on oil operations in a drive to pressure President Hugo Chavez to resign.
The actions signaled no let-up in the crippling 19-day-old opposition strike that has hit oil production, choked off exports and caused unprecedented food and gasoline shortages in the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter.
Leftist former paratrooper Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, has vowed to break the strike and has given the armed forces powers to help him do this. He is refusing opposition calls to quit and hold early elections.
His strike-breaking efforts, which have been largely unsuccessful so far, received a boost from a temporary Supreme Court ruling Thursday ordering a resumption of normal operations in the crippled giant state oil company PDVSA.
The restart order would apply until the court made a final ruling on the legality of the oil shutdown.
But strike leaders brushed aside the decision by the country's top tribunal, saying it would not affect their determination to continue the stoppage started Dec 2.
"This doesn't affect the position of the PDVSA workers. So the oil strike goes on and won't stop," anti-Chavez business leader Carlos Fernandez said. Government officials said the oil strikers faced sanctions if they did not obey the court.
The struggle, centered on the strategic oil industry, has become a grueling war of attrition between the two sides which has kept world oil markets on tenterhooks and stoked fears of violence in the politically divided South American nation.
Fears of a U.S. war on Iraq drove oil prices up near to two-year highs Thursday, but the Venezuelan court ruling calling for resumed oil operations dampened gains. Venezuela normally supplies more than 13 percent of U.S. oil imports.
MARCH PLANNED
Opposition leaders announced a big anti-government protest Friday in Caracas, billed as a "mega-march" that would converge on a central square of the capital. An opposition march last Saturday drew well over half a million demonstrators.
"The people will stay out in the streets until this dictator leaves once and for all," opposition union boss Carlos Ortega, a sworn political enemy of Chavez, said.
Opponents of the populist president accuse him of ruling like a dictator, threatening democratic freedoms and dragging the country toward Cuba-style communism modeled on the rule of his friend and political ally Cuban President Fidel Castro.
"Venezuela is not Cuba," Ortega said.
Chavez dismisses his foes as a minority of rich, resentful elites who oppose his social reforms in favor of the poor. He says they are seeking to overthrow him in a repeat of the April coup in which he was briefly toppled by rebel officers.
Supporters of the president planned to hold their own pro-government demonstrations in Caracas Friday.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, striking oil workers, including PDVSA executives, tanker captains and refinery and port operators, were bracing for renewed government attempts to wrest control from them of oil tankers and installations.
The president has already sent in troops to take over strike-bound oil ships, refineries and port terminals. A government decree authorized the military to commandeer private planes, ships and trucks to distribute fuel and food supplies.
CHRISTMAS SACRIFICE
"We oil workers are ready if necessary to spend Christmas and the New Year at the gates of our plants and installations," oil strike leader Juan Fernandez said.
"We'd rather miss Christmas in 2002 to win a future of freedom," the dissident PDVSA executive added.
As the strike bites, Venezuelans are facing the prospect of gasoline shortages unheard of in their oil-rich country.
They have besieged gas stations in long lines of vehicles, rushed to banks which are observing only limited business hours and crowded shops to buy up supplies as stocks of some basic foodstuffs show signs of dwindling.
The government, which blames the opposition for the shortages, has started importing milk from Colombia, meat from Brazil and rice and flour from the Dominican Republic and Argentina to offset the shortages.
They come at a time when the economy is already steeped in recession and inflation and unemployment have been rising.
Foreign governments, led by the United States, have been calling for the Venezuelan government and opposition to agree on elections in ongoing talks brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.
U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday both sides were being intransigent.
OAS chief Gaviria said the latest round of talks Thursday had touched on the electoral question. "You couldn't say that we're close to an agreement," he told reporters.
The opposition is pressing for Chavez's immediate resignation and early elections but the president says Venezuela's constitution only allows a binding referendum on his rule in August, halfway through his current term.
The Bush administration's public call for early presidential elections bolstered the opposition, agitated the president and indirectly undermined a pro-government but moderate representative's constitutional amendment proposal for early elections. Chavez is loath to appear in concert with a U.S. policy torn between oil interests and a thinly veiled preference for regime change. The recalcitrant opposition refuses to wait for August, when a binding referendum on Chavez's rule can be held. So again Venezuela faces civil war or dialogue. With hesitant and muted diplomacy from the United States and fruitless mediation efforts led by the Organization of American States, the former is more likely. ***
Other businesses are being affected indirectly. Dr. Martínez says he just got off the phone with a manager at a major Venezuelan bank who is unable to transport money because he can't find diesel fuel for the trucks. "All segments of the economy are feeling it very strongly, in spite of what the government says," he says. "They know that this is very critical." As more and more shops shut down in support of the strike, worried residents are stocking up on groceries and other necessities. To prevent hoarding, Chávez yesterday ordered military officials to seize any vehicle delivering gas or food. Opposition leaders claim they are allowing enough basic supplies through their blockades to meet the population's needs. But there is talk of power outages in parts of Caracas. And every day there are protests and marches in the streets.
Ricardo Hausmann, an economics professor at Harvard University and former Venezuelan planning minister, says the situation was inevitable. The economy has been in a tailspin since Chávez took power in 1998, contracting 15 percent - a full 7 percent of that coming this year alone. "This is completely unprecedented for us," he says, "because essentially we have a president who's trying to lead a country in a radical course for which he has no mandate: destroying the economy and a sense of shared values." Mr. Hausmann says it's hard to imagine a resolution to the crisis with Chávez remaining in power. He believes the president, in true Latin American fashion, wants to be overthrown rather than beaten at the ballot box. ……..***
Starve the innocents for petty political gain. Yeah, these people are much better than Chavez.
If Chávez is ousted, however, it will not be because he is a brutal dictator. He may enjoy sparring with the United States -- after the election of Lula, he declared that Brazil would join Cuba and Venezuela in forming "an axis of good" -- but in the four years since he took office, his "revolution" has had more to do with de Tocqueville than Marx. Efforts to redistribute wealth have been few. Opposition political parties, as well as the press, operate freely in Venezuela, and the federal police -- once among the most feared forces in South America -- have not hindered even those advocating outright rebellion.Yeah, he really runs a dictatorship. Unlike what the mob in the street desire. Does no one know even basic history anymore?
...
It is this charge of repression that most infuriates Chávez's supporters. Not a single leader of the April coup, they note, is in jail, even though some of them continue to openly advocate his overthrow.
Chavez arms street thugs and turns them loose to shoot old women, young girls and men. Yeah, he's a real prince.
Yeah yeah yeah, and he throws Kuwaiti babies from their incubators as well, I am sure.
Americans are so gullible...
A child waits for his grandfather outside a grocery store after buying Coca-Cola in Maracaibo in western Venezuela, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002, on the 17th day of a general strike seeking the ouster of President Hugo Chavez. The store had just received the soft drinks and limited customers to two bottles each. Strike leaders have claimed they are providing enough basic goods to meet the population's needs even as they demand that stores, banks and businesses close and block highways to stop transport. (APPhoto/Ana Maria Otero)
Are you 10? We didn't seek to deny Saddam's rule in Iraq. We invaded to get him out of Kuwait. Period. And those most gung-ho for US military action told enormous lies to trick the Americans to an emotional response.
The specter of more political violence loomed as rivals filled Caracas' streets. On Thursday, at least 27 people were wounded when National Guard troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at anti-Chavez demonstrators in the seaside city of Barcelona. The oil strike is part of a general work stoppage - now in its 19th day - aimed at ousting Chavez, who strike organizers claim has wrecked the economy and polarized the nation.
Chavez discussed the Venezuelan situation by telephone with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, according to Opecna, the official news agency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Khatami said he hoped Chavez would be able to "put the existing problems behind him, with wisdom and patience, and with the help of the Venezuelan people," the report said.
Carlos Ortega, leader of Venezuela's main labor federation, said the walkout would continue. He referred to Chavez as a "dictator" and "criminal" and called for more protests on Friday. The walkout has cut oil exports from the world's fifth-largest oil exporter - and a key U.S. supplier - by 90 percent, and propelled global prices above $30 a barrel. Gasoline shortages were acute.
Angelina Martino, president of the Association of Gasoline Retailers, said 70 percent of gasoline stations in the Caracas area were empty. Most filling stations turned away motorists. At others, there were lines blocks long. Some motorists waited in line for more than six hours. In the western state of Tachira, authorities limited gasoline purchases to just over three gallons. State oil company president Ali Rodriguez insisted the government was working to guarantee gasoline supplies for "many days."
Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez broke into regular TV broadcasting Thursday night to appeal to the oil workers to obey the court ruling, saying the strike represented "sabotage without precedent in the history of our country." Felix Rodriguez, the oil company's production director, argued that the strike threatens national security. Venezuela is losing $40 million a day in oil export income and could be forced to tap into its $15 billion worth of foreign reserves. "We won't go to work until the government decides to hold new elections," dissident PDVSA executive Alfredo Gomez told The Associated Press.
Venezuelan and foreign tankers are idle, refineries are closed or operating at minimum levels and crews and dock workers are refusing to handle oil and non-oil cargos. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin said Thursday the United States has presented some ideas to mediators for solving the crisis and expressed concern about the possibility of widespread violence.
Three people were killed and 28 wounded on Dec. 6 when unknown gunmen opened fire on an opposition rally. Strike leaders are demanding early elections, which Venezuela's constitution does not allow, or Chavez's resignation. The constitution says a recall vote may be held halfway into Chavez's term, which would be in August. Chavez has refused the demands, but there were signs of a possible settlement. A group of pro-Chavez lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment allowing for elections next year, El Nacional newspaper reported. The amendment would cut the president's term from six to four years, said pro-Chavez lawmaker Guillermo Palacios. Chavez's popularity has plunged since his 1998 election and 2000 re-election but according to VenEconomy magazine still enjoys some of the highest approval ratings among Latin American leaders. His base is Venezuela's poor, who comprise 80 percent of the 24 million people. [End]
A country with millions of rich people must be a great country.
Millions of rich people putting their lives on the line and marching unprotected from Chavez' thugs.
Chavez is the best example of the Peter Principle.
He was competent enough to run the initial presidential campaign and constitutional change.
He is very incompetent running the country.
Just sad.
In 1998, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, since I thought he was a Tony Blair-clone, leftist on his rhetoric but center/right on his policies.
Unfortunately, he has shown to possess a tin ear for governing acuity.
You claim that Chavez should stay because he was democratically-elected, but you deny the democratic protests that are literally staring you in the face.
He was recently rebuked by his hand-picked Supreme Court for taking over Caracas police.
The moron wrote the book "How to Make Enemies and Alienate People."
The fact that his own judicial appointees, his own military appointees, and his own allies and friends are turning against him show you how heavy-handed he's been.
During my college years, I met several Venezuelans, two of them were Chavez' supported and voted for him.
Both of them have e-mailed me about their disillusion with Chavez. Both of them are out there marching against him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.