Posted on 05/05/2003 4:37:48 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez blamed his political foes Sunday for provoking a shooting spree that resulted in a man's death during an opposition march last week.
Chavez said the May Day violence was the latest attempt by his opponents to destabilize Venezuela and undermine his presidency.
"It's the same format, the same script, the same characters," Chavez said, drawing similarities with a failed military coup against him last year and a series of high-profile killings in recent months.
On each occasion the opposition has blamed civilian deaths on violent supporters of the government and said a climate of impunity has prevented those responsible from being convicted.
Ricardo Herrera, a 46-year-old construction worker, was shot and killed at Thursday's rally by an unknown gunman who escaped on a motorcycle. Police have made several arrests in connection with the shooting.
Cofavic, a Venezuelan human rights group, said Saturday that political violence is on the rise and attributed the problem in party to a lax justice system. Cofavic said 57 people have been killed and over 300 injured by gunfire in politically motivated violence since the failed coup in April 2002.
Almost all the killings remain unsolved and no connection linking either the government or the opposition to any of the deaths has been established.
Chavistas: Venezuelan street toughs: Helping "revolution" or crushing dissent?***CARACAS, Venezuela - From her bed in a Caracas military hospital, the wiry, chain-smoking prisoner vowed to continue a hunger strike and risk becoming the first death in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's "revolution." "Comandante" Lina Ron, who considers herself a modern version of "Tania," a woman who fought alongside Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, says she is a willing martyr for Chavez's cause. She was arrested after leading a violent pro-Chavez counter-protest against demonstrating university students. Thousands follow her lead in Venezuela and they have increasingly quashed dissent, breaking up anti-government protests, intimidating journalists and alarming the president's critics.***
Left turn: 'Revolution' hits Venezuela's oil culture - PDVSA beachhead for Chavez's vision *** CARACAS, VENEZUELA - At the gleaming offices of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country's state-owned oil giant, a corporate revolution is under way. Nine-to-fivers have come to think of themselves as patriots. Senior managers now eat at the same cafeteria tables as secretaries. And former soldiers have left the battlefield for the boardroom.
After PDVSA workers walked off the job last December in a bid to force Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez from office, the fiery populist hitched his social revolution to the $110 billion business: He purged the company's ranks and installed his own people. What was widely regarded as a world-class energy company before the strike has a new philosophy: to help the poor. And a new corporate culture is gradually taking shape, injected with the president's particular brand of leftist ideology.***
The cross-eyed gunner?
That's the ticket!
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