Posted on 04/13/2002 2:32:20 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - The businessman chosen by army commanders to lead Venezuela postponed the swearing-in of his new Cabinet on Saturday as protesters in some cities demanded the return of ousted leader Hugo Chavez and soldiers in one city rebelled against the new government.
A high-ranking official in the new government said talks to quell a rebellion in the central city of Maracay were "difficult." Venezuela's armed forces, including its air force, are concentrated in Maracay. One of the rebelling officers was identified as Air Force Gen. Raul Baduel, who commands the F-16 air base, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, moments before journalists were expelled from the presidential palace and interim President Pedro Carmona's Cabinet inauguration was postponed.
Another military commander, army Gen. Julio Garcia Montoya, said in a telephone interview with Cuban television that the constitution must be followed.
"We don't recognize de facto juntas," Garcia said. He said Chavez's Vice President Diosdado Cabello should be named interim president and that elections should be held within one month.
Venezuelan TV and many radio stations did not carry his comments, and have not reported on Saturday's disturbances.
Outside the presidential palace, police used tear gas to push back hundreds of Chavez supporters rallying outside the palace, chanting, "Chavez will be back!" and "Democracy, not dictatorship." Gunshots were heard coming from Catia slum near the presidential palace.
"We want to see Chavez. The Venezuelan people don't buy it that he has resigned," shouted Maria Brito, a 36-year-old demonstrator.
Chavez was ousted and arrested by Venezuela's military Friday, a day after National Guard troops and pro-Chavez gunmen clashed with opposition protesters. At least 16 people were killed and some 350 wounded, authorities said Saturday.
Chavez's exact whereabouts weren't known. He had been held at the army's Fort Tiuna and a military source said Chavez would be moved to an undisclosed location.
His daughter, Ana Gabriela Chavez, told Cuban television in a telephone interview that Chavez may have been taken to the Venezuelan island of La Orchila in the Caribbean and that he had been mistreated by his captors.
Chavez's family, supporters and former government officials insisted he never resigned as president, as Carmona and Venezuela's high command claimed.
The Organization of American States said it was sending a delegation to Venezuela on Sunday to assess the situation and that the OAS General Assembly will meet Wednesday on the matter.
Carmona was sworn in on Friday and abolished Venezuela's Constitution, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the attorney general's office and the comptroller's office. He said general elections would be held within a year.
Mexico, Argentina and Paraguay are among the Latin American countries that have denounced Venezuela's new government as illegitimate.
In an interview with The Associated Press, foreign minister-designate Jose Rodriguez said the swearing in of Carmona was not a coup in disguise.
"What we need to explain before our colleagues in the continent is that this is not a coup, although the situation is obviously not normal, legally and constitutionally, as we would wish," Rodriguez said in the interview in Caracas' century-old presidential palace.
Rodriguez said he wants tight relations with Washington, a contrast to Chavez's strained relations with the United States.
He said Venezuela would accept U.S. assistance in tracking and forcing down drug-smuggling flights, which Chavez had refused, saying it was a violation of national sovereignty. He said there must be "open cooperation" with the United States as well as on the subject of Colombian guerrillas.
Chavez had declared himself "neutral" in Colombia's civil war, and some officers had accused him of sympathizing with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, who are widely known to use the Venezuelan border region as a refuge and who shared Chavez's vision of a unified South American republic.
U.S. President George W. Bush wants to increase military aid to Colombia to fight the rebels, and Venezuela's cooperation would be key.
The United States blamed Chavez for his own ouster because of attempts to violently suppress Thursday's demonstration against him.
Chavez had ordered National Guard troops and civilian gunmen, including rooftop snipers, to fire on the marchers, military officers said.
A pathologist at the Caracas morgue said 30 bodies had been brought to the morgue overnight and into Saturday, most with bullet wounds. How the people were killed was not immediately clear.
Government security forces continued searching for members of "Bolivarian Circles" - Chavez supporters who allegedly are armed - and for more than 1,000 rifles that were stolen earlier from a police station.
"There is an undeclared state of emergency in Venezuela," said Willian Lara, president of the Congress abolished Friday. "All legal norms have been violated, public institutions dissolved."
Lara told the AP that police were searching homes of Chavez administration officials and detaining former government officials without warrants.
Opposition resentment toward Chavez, a former paratrooper who in 1992 led a botched coup attempt and who was elected in 1998 on an anti-poverty platform, had been building for months. His term was to end in 2006.
Six weeks ago, managers at the state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela began protesting a reshuffle of the company board by Chavez. The protests eventually triggered a general strike last week and Thursday's march, and they severely disrupted exports from the world's No. 4 oil producer.
Carmona, the 60-year-old head of Venezuela's largest business chamber, played a key role in the general strike. After becoming interim president, he suspended 48 laws decreed by Chavez that increased the state's role in the economy. He also named an interim Cabinet of politicians previously allied with the opposition.
Cuba is next! Bank on it...
Outside the presidential palace, police used tear gas to push back hundreds of Chavez supporters rallying outside the palace, chanting, "Chavez will be back!" and "Democracy, not dictatorship."Hundreds of supporters? It seems like only a few days ago when hundreds of thousands demonstrated to kick Chavez out. There just aren't enough leftists to go around these days. Maybe we should airlift some in from Berkeley. On condition that they don't come back.
Posted by godisright to godisright
On News/Activism ^ Mar 17 2:04 PM #69 of 100 ^
I am actually a Marxist radical who doesn't believe anything I post here.
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You freepers? Interesting.
Good catch, SG.
Not such a good catch. I am obviously intentional being very myself with these posts tonight and thus blowing my cover.
I wonder if you can donate to BP Amoco online to fight their war against enviro-terrorists. Maybe you guys should do that. Because you know these global corporations are the poor underdog against these all-pervasive leftist groups. These multi-nationals need YOU as an advocate. They depend on you.
19 posted on 4/7/02 2:09 AM Central by godisright
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Why? Because his power threatens the oil companies profits and control. The oil companies want control over the Venezuelans oil.
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