Posted on 04/14/2002 4:01:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
LINKS to Hugo Chavez's "government" June 2001 - March 2002
I'm keeping track of Hugoland formally known as Venezuela. Please LINK any stories or add what you wish to this thread. The above LINK takes you to past articles posted before the new FR format. Below I'll add what I've catalogued since that LINK no longer could take posts.
(March 1, 2002)-- Venezuela's strongman faces widespread calls to step down
By Phil Gunson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
[Full Text] CARACAS, VENEZUELA - The man who won Venezuelan hearts three years ago as a strongman who could deliver a better life to the masses is now facing them in the streets.
More than 20,000 people turned out this week calling for the resignation of President Hugo Chávez, while some 2,000 supporters marched in a rival demonstration of support. The demonstrations come after months of building discontent with a president who has managed to alienate the labor class, the media, business groups, the church, political parties, and the military.
Four military leaders have publicly called for his resignation.
In November, Chávez introduced 49 "revolutionary" decrees. The package of laws - affecting everything from land rights and fisheries to the oil industry - unified virtually the whole of organized society in a nationwide business and labor stoppage that paralyzed the country on Dec. 10.
The protests this week have a note of irony, because they started out as a commemoration called by President Chávez. In his eyes, Feb. 27 is a milestone of his so-called revolution - "the date on which the people awoke" in 1989. That is when thousands of rioters and looters took to the streets in protest of an IMF-backed austerity plan, in which the government hiked gas prices.
In what became known as the caracazo, or noisy protest, thousands of rioters and looters were met by Venezuelan military forces, and hundreds were killed. Three years later, Chávez and his military co-conspirators failed in an attempt to overthrow the government responsible for the massacre, that of President Carlos Andres Perez. Chávez was jailed for two years.
"But the elements that brought about the caracazo are still present in Venezuela," says lawyer Liliana Ortega, who for 13 years has led the fight for justice on behalf of the victims' relatives. "Poverty, corruption, impunity ... some of them are perhaps even more deeply ingrained than before."
Chávez's supporters consist of an inchoate mass of street traders, the unemployed, and those whom the old system had marginalized. This, to Chávez, is el pueblo - the people.
"But we are 'the people' too," protests teacher Luis Leonet. "We're not oligarchs like he says. The oligarchs are people like Chávez, people with power."
On Wednesday, Leonet joined a march led by the main labor confederation, the CTV, to protest what unions say is a series of antilabor measures, including one of the 49 decrees dealing with public-sector workers.
Chávez won't talk to the CTV, whose leaders, he says, are corrupt and illegitimate. So he refuses to negotiate the annual renewal of collective contracts with the confederation, holding up deals on pay and conditions for hundreds of thousands of union members like Leonet.
Across town on Wednesday, a progovernment march sought to demonstrate that the president's popularity was as high as ever.
"For the popular classes, Chávez is an idol," says marcher Pedro Gutierrez.
Pollster Luis Vicente Leon, of the Datanalisis organization, warns that marches are no measure of relative popularity. "There is a lot of discontent among ... the really poor," Leon says, adding that so far the protests are mainly among the middle class.
But the middle class can be a dangerous enemy. It includes the bulk of the armed forces, and the management of the state oil company, PDVSA.
This month, four uniformed officers, ranging from a National Guard captain to a rear-admiral and an Air Force general, called on the president to resign, while repudiating the idea of a military coup of Chávez, himself a former Army lieutenant-colonel.
But senior "institutionalist" officers "are under severe pressure from lower ranks frustrated at the lack of impact" that these acts have had, a source close to military dissidents says. In other words, a coup cannot be ruled out, although the United States publicly denounces the idea.
Meanwhile, the president's imposition of a new board of directors on PDVSA this week sparked a virtual uprising by the company's senior management. In an unprecedented public statement, managers said the government was pushing the company "to the verge of operational and financial collapse" by imposing political, rather than commercial, criteria.
The political opposition remains relatively weak and divided. But in the view of many analysts, a president who offends both the military and the oil industry is asking for trouble. In the bars and restaurants of Caracas, the debate is no longer over whether Chávez will finish his term, which has nearly five years to run. It is when and how he will go - and what comes next. [End]
The violence erupted when pro- and anti-Chavez demonstrators clashed in downtown Caracas - 19 Venezuelans died and hundreds more were wounded, among them one Spaniard who was killed and three injured, he said. The riots spurred a coup that ousted Chavez for three days, before military loyalists returned the former paratrooper commander to power. The suit was filed in Madrid, Romero said, because of the Spanish nationals killed in the riots. As well, he said, Venezuelan officials have been slow to form a commission to investigate the April 11 slayings and he accused Venezuelan courts of being biased toward the government.
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, who is accused in the lawsuit along with Chavez, Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez and other top government officials, downplayed the case. "The ones who should be brought to trial internationally are others, specifically the terrorists and saboteurs in the oil industry," Rangel said. He referred to dissident oil executives at Venezuela's state-run oil company who have joined a 58-day-old strike against Chavez. Chavez has been accused of corruption in nearly a dozen cases before Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal and attorney general's office.[End]
As the strike nears the two month mark, backing for the protest in non-oil sectors has begun to fray as private businesses, restaurants and stores reopen to fend off bankruptcy. Opposition leaders, who brand former paratrooper Chavez's rule as dictatorial and corrupt, offered on Tuesday to ease their strike by exempting food production and education. But they say the protest will continue until Chavez accepts immediate elections. Chavez is due to step down at the start of 2007. ***
To some in Washington, particularly conservatives on Capitol Hill, the convergence of leftist leaders - all of whom, at some point, have used antagonistic words in criticizing United States policy - has raised concerns about a new pan-Latin American movement with socialist overtones. Indeed, Representative Henry J. Hyde, Republican of Illinois and the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, warned late last year that Brazil's new president might join Mr. Chavez and Mr. Castro in a Latin "axis of evil." Mr. Hyde also characterized Mr. da Silva as a dangerous "pro-Castro radical who for electoral purposes had posed as a moderate."
It is true that all four leaders share similarities: opposition to the unfettered market reforms that have failed so far to bring prosperity to Latin America, concern about the burdensome foreign debts that stagger many nations in the region and wariness about the United States meddling in their affairs. Invigorated by Mr. da Silva's victory in Brazil - the first election of a leftist president in the largest Latin American country - the four leaders see an opportunity to shape events in the region, rather than leave it to the United States to set the agenda.***
Chavez had threatened to fine banks and withdraw the armed forces' deposits from private institutions if they didn't resume activities. Bankers said they provide a public service, which influenced the decision. "We owe the public," Nelson Mezerhane, the council's vice president, said after a Wednesday council meeting. "They have their earnings and money in our institutions." Fearing effects of the work stoppage - shortages of food, medicine, fuel and cash - could hurt their cause, many businesses plan to reopen next week. The possibility of having to declare bankruptcy by remaining closed also prompted owners of shopping malls, restaurants, franchises and schools to soon open their doors to the public. ***
Stratfor military sources in Caracas have insisted in the past year that a majority of the FAN's officers are opposed to the Chavez regime. Opposition is greatest in the National Guard, Navy and Air Force, according to these sources, while a small group of hardcore loyalists and opportunists in the Army have constituted the base of Chavez's support within the military.
However, since Chavez survived the rebellion, he appears to have successfully purged his most dangerous foes from key command positions within the FAN. For instance, the top command structures within the FAN appear to be solidly pro-Chavez for political or opportunistic reasons, while strategically key units in Caracas, and in the nearby cities of Maracay and Valencia, are commanded by Chavez loyalists. This likely makes it difficult for anti-Chavez forces to launch a successful coup without incurring significant casualties and -- in the end -- possibly failing.
However, it also appears that FAN officers loyal to Chavez for ideological reasons are a minority within the armed forces. The vast majority of seemingly pro-Chavez officers are loyal more out of opportunistic self-interest than true commitment to their president's increasingly dictatorial revolution.
The implications of this are that Chavez has to continue feeding the needs of this opportunistic pro-regime faction within the FAN, or risk losing their loyalty and possibly his presidency. In part, this helps explain why Chavez has reserved the authority to dispense foreign exchange for defense and security purposes under the upcoming new exchange control regime.
Retaining the FAN's loyalty will be very expensive economically for Chavez. Moreover, with PDVSA in ruins and the economy in a state of collapse throughout 2003, Chavez likely will encounter cash-flow difficulties as he tries to retain the loyalty in the FAN with command perks and economic incentives. In effect, there simply won't be enough cash in the Treasury to cover all of the government's spending needs.
PDVSA has managed to raise production to over 1 million barrels per day since the strike began nearly two months ago, and in another 90 days, it might double that output to slightly more than 2 million bpd if international transportation and marketing blockages can be resolved. However, PDVSA will not restore crude oil production to pre-strike levels of 3.2 million bpd in 2003, and possibly not for years to come.
Additionally, by the time PDVSA finally does increase production to about 2 million bpd in another three or four months, it is very likely that global oil prices will have declined significantly from their current levels of about $31-$33 per barrel. This means that the Chavez regime won't reap the financial benefits of the price windfall caused in part by PDVSA's strike.
Right now, Chavez gives the impression that he's winning the confrontation with his foes. However, the costs of that victory are very high in terms of PDVSA's destruction, the economy's collapse and the certainty of significantly increased hardship for millions, including his poor supporters.
As the country's economic and social difficulties grow in a climate of continued polarization and political conflict, the president's control over the FAN could weaken. Ultimately, Chavez is not a Fidel Castro and his only perceived ideology is to remain in power indefinitely regardless of how much destruction he inflicts. Eventually, some members of the FAN now putatively loyal to Chavez may side with opposition groups within the armed forces to remove him from power. However, whoever replaces Chavez might not be an improvement, which means that Venezuela could remain in the dark ages for years to come.
"The nation needs solutions. ... The crisis is too deep," opposition negotiator Rafael Alfonzo told Reuters. Chavez, whose opponents accuse him of dragging the South American nation toward Cuba-style communism, refuses to resign. The opposition has proposed a constitutional amendment to cut his term to four from six years and trigger early elections.
Dampening hopes for an accord, Chavez, elected in 1998, told strikers Wednesday to forget about him leaving office. "I can't work with terrorists and coup mongers," he said. He has vowed to beat the strike, which he portrays as an attempt to topple him by wealthy, hostile elites opposed to his self-styled "revolution" in favor of the nation's poor. ***
As more and more businesses shut their doors for good, still others technically remain open but are at a standstill. The strike froze imports, leaving food companies without packing supplies, construction companies without cement, and shoe factories without glue. If the strike is lifted tomorrow and the materials suddenly appeared, experts say, it would not matter: Most business contracts and projects have been canceled.
The squeeze has forced businesses to negotiate with workers, having them work part time or take unpaid leave. ''You have to be honest with yourself and save yourself a lot of headaches,'' said José Antonio Couto, a contractor who shut his business when every pending deal was canceled. ``I paid my workers for doing nothing in December, but I just couldn't do it in January. That's 18 more people on the street.''
According to political science professor Janet Kelly, not a single industry has been spared. Newspapers have published for nearly two months without running a single advertisement. The Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce lost a deal to promote business in Florida, and had to make cutbacks. Kelly's own graduate school of business has its workers on ''voluntary'' leave -- in this climate, no firms are about to pay for executive business courses for managers. 'If you are honest and objective, you ask yourself, `Did you have to destroy $5 billion of the economy?' '' Kelly said. ``I think there was a cheaper way.''
As accountants calculate what the damage, strike leaders defend the decision and say it was the only way to avoid the imposition of a dictatorial, quasi-communist regime. ''The anguish and the patience has been worth it, because we want a free country,'' said Juan Fernández, a former manager of the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, which has been at the forefront of the strike. ``Our democracy and our nation are at stake.''
According to independent pollsters, a solid 30 percent of the population remains fanatically devoted to Chávez. Government surveys show the opposite: Chávez enjoys 70 percent support. Strike leaders also insist that the economic collapse that has engulfed Venezuela is not so much product of the strike, but of Chávez's policies. To be sure, the economic decline began some time ago; many businesses started pulling back when the crisis bubbled a year ago, a situation that worsened after a short-lived coup in April.
DIFFERENT VIEWS
Despite the thousands whose names have been added to the unemployment rolls, many people outside the strike leadership also view the stoppage as the only means of ousting a leftist firebrand who threatens to shut down media and private business. Others say even the strike organizers know it was a big error, but have invested too much effort to abandon a strategy whose slogan is, ``Not one step back!'' ''The attitude of most workers is that this strike is worth it,'' said travel agent Morela Cifuentes, who lost her job when the agency she worked for shut down. ``Right now, my household has zero income, and I continue totally to support the strike.''***
As diplomats from six nations headed to Caracas on Thursday to push for early elections, opposition leaders were planning a petition drive to support several measures, including a proposed constitutional amendment that would: _Cut presidential terms from six years to four; _Hold new presidential and congressional elections this year; _Create a new elections council to organize any vote; _Get the Supreme Court to determine when, exactly, a recall vote on Chavez's presidency can be held; _Allow Chavez and legislators to seek re-election.
Similar ideas were floated by former President Jimmy Carter during a recent visit to Caracas. The government said it was studying the opposition's proposal but won't allow it to shorten Chavez's term. Diplomats from the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain - dubbed the "Group of Friends" of Venezuela - planned a private dinner meeting late Thursday with Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States. Gaviria has mediated talks here since November. The envoys, including Curt Struble, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, planned meetings with Chavez and the opposition on Friday. Gaviria said the diplomats can monitor compliance with any electoral pact and reduce tensions that have led to six deaths since the strike began Dec. 2. "The country can't sustain more tension," he said. Strike leader Manuel Cova of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation said Thursday a new presidential election could be held as early as March. "To do this we need the guarantees of the international community," Cova said. "If we don't do it this year, we'll be in prison, or in exile, there won't be press freedom. ... We must do it this year."
Chavez had welcomed Carter's ideas about early elections. But he also has threatened to abandon the OAS-mediated talks, saying he won't negotiate with "terrorists." Chavez failed to expand the "Friends" to include governments more sympathetic to his populist revolution. He has since warned the diplomats not to interfere in internal affairs. ***
September 14, 2001Chavez Urges U.S. Not to Start War***President Hugo Chavez urged the United States on Friday not to start the ``first war of the 21st century'' in responding to terrorist attacks.***
September 30, 2001Chavez's New Situation (Chavez Plans to visit Saddam and Ghadafi in October)***President Chávez reacted late and wrong before the 09-11 tragedy. He was last among Latin American rulers to pronounce himself. He did not do it on the 11th as his colleagues did. Under presidential directives his private Secretary read a statement of condemnation and condolences. The day after it was announced that the "network"* broadcast was cancelled. On Thursday night it went on for three hours.
The president read pages in the Bible, he condemned terrorist activities in the U. S. and offered assistance. Then, through three hours he commented on his weekly activities, stressing that in the delivery of lands and credits to peasants he was accompanied by the Ambassador and other high officials from Cuba visiting Venezuela. As usual in these instances, he used harsh language about the enemies of the revolution, lashing out on Andrés Mata, Editor of El Universal and his "gang of opinionators" who are strong critics of the government. Venezuela as a whole was living the horror of events in the U. S. As in the rest of the Continent people were nailed to the TV sets watching with terrified eyes what was unfolding on the TV screens. Many in Venezuela have relatives who study or work in New York and Washington. It was strange that the President would have not spoken on the day of the tragedy or the following day. It was incomprehensible that he would postpone it for the broadcast network. Unusual to take this matter as if attending a funeral to say some words of sympathy and then without respect for the climate of mourning, to go on chuckling on his adventures or demeaning respectable people. This is the summary of end of the week comments in multiple media sources.
…………."Chávez acknowledged that there is still misunderstanding and confusion in the U. S. over his policies. On this he said: "Until recently, what was under discussion, here and abroad, was to appease Chávez." Let's be nice to him to see if we can tame him" easily. But it seems this beast is not too easy to tame." He lowered his voice and, this time, he did not smile. "This is an ideological conviction of mine and nothing will change that."
This is Chávez's own version to members of his staff and associates with whom he met at "La Casona," ( the Presidential Residence) in order to analyze the meeting between the Foreign Minister and Ambassador Hrinak together with reports from Venezuelan Ambassadors. In the meeting he began by saying that Fidel had again called him to suggest prudence. Ambassador Arcaya recommends not to rush. The Ambassador to France maintains that Europe will not give Bush carte blanche. Minister Rangel says that he's been carefully reading what Gutiérrez , Under Secretary of Latin American Affairs, said -when asked about Venezuela's relations with OPEC Arabs: "The Department of State remains committed in keeping a good relationship with Venezuelans. We cannot ignore hat its President has popular support shown in several elections. He says and does things we dislike but we make efforts not to react." Chávez informs of a coded message from the Embassy in Washington. The Commerce Secretary threatens with sanctions. The President asks an aide to tune into CNN to be informed before giving his orders.
The Venezuelan government shall remain on guard. The repuslse of the terrorist acts of 09-11 is firm. The will is equally firm to guarantee oil supplies to the U. S. but Venezuela shall not give Bush carte blanche. The major lines of foreign policy of the Bolivarian revolution will not change. Unity of OPEC is the priority, which means preserving the best of relations with Middle East producers. Venezuela is now a major actor in world politics because it assumed the vanguard role in the battle against unipolarity. The U. S. wants to take advantage of 09-11 to consolidate its world hegemony. This means that, as never before, the validity grows for the struggle to solidify several poles of power counterbalancing each other.
Such is the synthesis of the presidential intervention in the gathering at La Casona. "Those are the orders for Foreign Minister Dávila who travels to the U. S. for the meeting at the OAS." With a happy smile he added: I will also travel, God willing, but it shall be in October to planned meetings with Saddan Hussein and Ghadaffi." Some very serious concerns on the national scene -polls, labor unions and the economy- are now added to the worry about problems in the development of his foreign policy -labeled a puzzle by The Wall Street Journal-. These are equally worrisome because they are interconnected.***
October 31, 2001 Chávez condemns bombings by U.S.-- In a series of recent barbed comments, two senior Chávez aides have criticized the U.S. war on terrorism, souring relations between the United States and Venezuela, a major supplier of crude oil. Defense Minister José Vicente Rangel and Interior Minister Luis Miquilena have blasted the U.S. bombing campaign that began Oct. 7 in Afghanistan. Miquilena said he has seen no proof that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
U.S. Ambassador Donna Hrinak later said in a television interview that such remarks would have consequences: ``The country has paid a price in terms of credibility.'' Foreign Minister Luis Alfonso Dávila said he would call Hrinak in for an explanation. That meeting has yet to occur. A U.S. official said Hrinak now planned to talk ``at length'' with Venezuelan officials ``regarding their public posture on Sept. 11 and its aftermath.''***
January 5, 2003 More Facts Uncovered in Chavez - Al Qaeda Collaboration*** Major Juan Diaz Castillo, Chavez's personal pilot, was assigned the job of planning the delivery of the $1 million collaboration to the terrorist group. Now an active member of the country's resistance movement, he is today revealing details of the transfer and of other subversive acts carried out in the name of Chavez's so called "Bolivarian Revolution".
" - They are criminals and killers," he lambasts the inner circle of Chavez cohorts. And he is not afraid of naming names: "The job was given to me by Hugo Chavez. I coordinated with current Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, then Interior Minister Luis Alfonso Davila, and the current Vice President (then Defense Minister) Jose Vicente Rangel. When we determined the difficulty of sending three Hercules C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan, Diosdado Cabello decided to send cash instead.
" - In the last week of September, 2001, one million U.S. dollars was transferred to Dr Walter Marquez, Venezuela's representative for the region. Of that amount, one hundred thousand was used for food and clothing for the Taliban government, and the remaining nine hundred thousand dollars went to the Taliban in cash, with the understanding that it was to support the Al Qaeda terrorists in their relocation efforts."
Cuban involvement: "Chavez is Castro's puppet"
Asked why Chavez would support Al Qaeda, the high-level military defector offered two explanations. " - First of all, Chavez had for a long time wanted a direct line of communication with Al Qaeda. He had asked Libya for that, but with no success. Then came 9/11 and Chavez was impressed," remembers the pilot of the presidential airplane.
" - Second, Chavez looks up to Fidel Castro. The Cuban dictator has collaborated with terrorist groups for years. Chavez emulates Fidel Casto. It sounds bizarre, but Chavez is a bizarre man. He was already starting to go off the rails in 2001, and he wanted direct contacts to all the major terror groups in the world." According to Diaz Castillo, Chavez depends on Fidel Castro's advice in governing Venezuela. The pilot revealed that during the last four years, roughly 4,000 Venezuelans have been receiving military and intelligence training in Cuba. The Cuban communist dictator assists Venezuela's embattled crypto-communist in holding onto power, at whatever cost, because Cuba depends on Venezuela's oil billions to stay afloat. Earlier this year, Fidel Castro said that "for the Cuban revolution to survive, it is necessary for the Bolivarian revolution to survive," in reference to Chavez's Marxist experiment.***
The PDVSA chief said he had fired almost every one of PDVSA's 700 senior executives for joining the strike. The number of dismissed workers already topped 5,300 and could reach 6,000, he added. Rodriguez, a former communist guerrilla, said PDVSA had grown fat during the past 20 years. "PDVSA should be nothing more than an instrument to secure maximum benefit from the export of (oil) through its contribution to the treasury," Rodriguez said.
He said production recovered to 1.5 million barrels per day, half of pre-strike levels, from a low of 150,000 a day at the height of the strike. He forecast output approaching normal levels of 3 million barrels a day by early March. Concerns about low inventories should ease as imports fromVenezuela resume, but traders will be watching Wednesday's inventory report for evidence shipments are resuming. Some analysts are skeptical of the state oil monopoly's ability to live up to its claim that production will ramp up quickly, citing possible damage to oil fields and refining facilities.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, light, sweet crude for March delivery edged 34 cents lower to settle at $33.51 a barrel. The expiring contracts slumped. February heating oil fell 2.17 cents to 95.88 cents a gallon. February gasoline fell 1.13 cents a gallon to close at 97.56 cents. Natural gas futures for March delivery closed 2.2 cents higher Friday to settle at $5.605 per thousand cubic feet. At London's International Petroleum Exchange, March Brent crude fell 11 cents, settling at $31.10 per barrel. [End]
The Cuban president said Venezuela's current political turmoil had already affected world oil prices, pushing them to intolerable levels, especially for poor nations. "It's a general opinion that the aim of the war against Iraq is to take possession of the world's third oil reserve, which worries Europe as it imports 80 percent of the energy. On the contrary, the United States imports between 20 and 50 percent," Castro said. ***
Others have turned increasingly to stress remedies or natural medicines, "even when nobody around here has much spare money," said Jorge Luis Hernández, a pharmacy employee. The symptoms of the ailing are myriad: panic attacks are up, while sexual encounters are way down, psychiatrists say. Health problems seem to be on the rise, said some doctors, with an increase in hospital visits for everything from heart attacks to unexplained rashes. In serious cases, Venezuelans suffer all manner of phobias, often of public places where violence can erupt. "There is an attitude of paranoia I have noticed, where people think they are being chased," Dr. Álvaro Requena said. "They feel that waves and waves of people are going to come rob them."
Dr. Requena said that the constant street protests and the growing participation of Venezuelans in politics had helped relieve stress for many people. Yet he and other psychiatrists said even those who suffered nothing serious were still affected. María Cabrera, a physician, said she noticed that she had trouble concentrating. "If I am at home and doing three or four things, I cannot do something that requires concentration," she said. Milagros Torres, a lawyer who makes it a point to talk with her sister, a psychologist, to relieve stress, said, "I never took a pill in my life, a tranquilizer, but now I am taking them."
In Dr. Chirinos's office, on a faux leather couch, Ms. Dorante explained how she was "terrorized and confused," and fearful that the poor masses that support Mr. Chávez would overrun her neighborhood. "I cannot sleep, and every time I hear a firecracker I think there is an uprising," she said in a low voice. Dr. Chirinos, nodding as she spoke, cut in, "This is what we call xenophobia." "It is a form of ethnic phobia," he went on. "And yes, I'm seeing more of that, too."***
The Venezuelan media came under fire in April for its lopsided coverage of an uprising that briefly led to Chávez's ouster. When Chávez supporters took to the streets to demand the president's return, nobody covered it. According to RCTV head Marcel Granier, the media have logged 600 physical attacks against journalists since Chávez took office in 1998. Journalists said they didn't cover the pro-Chávez marches that day because they feared they would be killed on the streets; however, Ravell later personally apologized on air.
Chávez expressed regret for ordering the National Guard to cut the stations' signals after to avoid coverage of live coverage of shooting in the streets. Analysts say the collapse of opposition political parties forced the media to take on -- and overplay -- the role of government watchdog. Chávez filled traditionally independent government posts with his friends, so the media became one of the few institutions the president could not control. Not that he does not try.***
The opposition hopes one petition in particular - a constitutional amendment to reduce Chavez's term from six to four years - will succeed in paving the way for general elections later this year. Under the constitution, organizers need signatures from 15 percent, or about 1.8 million, of the country's 12 million registered voters. The amendment was one of two proposals made by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President Jimmy Carter. The other is to hold a recall referendum on Chavez's rule halfway through his six-year term, in August. The opposition also is collecting signatures for this initiative. Chavez has indicated he is open to both solutions, but Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton said the government has no interest in "doing away with itself." ***
The association, residents said, had registered every member of more than 1,200 families, taking note of children and elderly residents with special health needs. They posted lists in every building with the names and phone numbers of doctors whose homes would be used for emergencies. They had also inventoried every household for weapons. "People are arming themselves, legally and only for their own self defense," Mr. Chaparro said. "There are open threats by this government that have made people feel like they need to be prepared to protect themselves." ***
"The pen is our weapon," said Julio Borges of the Justice First opposition party. "Today demonstrates that the struggle hasn't ended. It didn't end with the strike." The most popular initiative is a constitutional amendment cutting Chavez's term from six to four years. It needs the support of 15 percent of the electorate - or about 1.8 million signatures - and would clear the way for general elections later this year.
A nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule had originally been scheduled for Sunday after another petition with 2 million signatures was accepted by the National Electoral Council. Business, labor and opposition political groups called the strike beginning Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into accepting the vote but the Supreme Court suspended the referendum because of a technicality. "We feel that they have taken our freedom to express ourselves," said Marisela Gaye, an insurance worker who was waiting earlier in the day to sign in Plaza Francia in eastern Caracas. ***
Strike leaders are a mix of conservatives, business associations, labour unions and civic groups. Their often conflicting petitions reflected their various agendas. One called for a constitutional amendment declaring Chavez's term over. Another would cut his term from six years to four, allowing elections this year. A third would create a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution and call general elections. Yet another option: A binding referendum halfway into Chavez's term, or in August, as permitted by the constitution. That idea was supported recently by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.
Chavez says he prefers the August option - a referendum he could win because the opposition, while condemning political and economic unrest, has yet to present an alternative to his populist "revolution" for the poor. While Manuel Cova, secretary general of the Venezuela Workers Confederation, claimed some sort of vote could be held as early as March, Venezuela has no one to organize a vote.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that the Chavez-dominated Congress must appoint a new board of directors for the National Elections Council. Without a council, no one can verify the signatures collected Sunday. ***
The proposal was unacceptable, said Ronald Blanco la Cruz, a government negotiator at talks mediated by the Organization of American States. Despite international pressure for early elections, he said the only reasonable proposal was a binding referendum on Chavez's presidency at the midpoint of his presidential term. The earliest such a referendum could be held is August, but obstacles to balloting could set the vote back much later. Before any vote can be organized, the Chavez-controlled National Assembly must appoint a new National Electoral Council. ***
"We've made the ideal decision for defending the Venezuelan economy and to defend the international reserves," Chavez said. He added that exchange controls would help Venezuela pay its foreign debt. The fixed rate will be flexible, changing periodically when and how the executive branch and central bank see fit.
Venezuelan businessmen warned Wednesday that plans to restrict access to foreign currency will bury the reeling economy, which is highly dependent on imports. Venezuela imports roughly half of its food and refined products. The strike had choked off Venezuela's income from abroad by hobbling the state oil company, by far the nation's biggest exporter.
Chavez on Tuesday lashed out at business leaders who had led the strike, saying the "coup plotters" were stashing billions of dollars abroad. Analysts say the economic woes caused by the failed two-month strike to oust Chavez will close more than 20,000 businesses and leave 200,000 people jobless.
Strike leader Carlos Fernandez, head of the Fedecamaras business federation, said Chavez was trying to impose control over the struggling private sector, which relies on imports for 60 percent of its supplies and raw materials. Lope Mendoza, president of the Conindustria business chamber, urged citizens to buy Venezuelan products to keep the economy afloat. "The industrial sector isn't going to please the president, who wants to see a cemetery of businesses," Mendoza said. Chavez's government suspended dollar purchases on Jan. 22 after the bolivar lost more than 30 percent of its worth during the strike, which began Dec. 2 and ended in all sectors but oil this week.***
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