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]
Argentine president vows financial rescue ***Espert, the economist, said the IMF has called on Argentinean governors to make cuts that would force the dismissal of as many as 500,000 employees of the 1.2 million workers now on payrolls of state governments.***
…. Freddy Bernal, mayor of Caracas' poorest and largest Liberator District, is a Chavez confidante and Pena foe who has been accused by Venezuela's opposition of arming civilians to defend Chavez. Bernal denies the claims.***
"The Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country," the institute's president, George Folsom, said. "Venezuelans were provoked into action as a result of systematic repression by the government of Hugo Chavez." The statement drew a sharp rebuke from the endowment president, Carl Gershman, for the openly political stance, which he said would undercut the institute's work in Venezuela.
The institute has close ties to the Bush Administration, which also embraced the short-lived takeover; Lorne Craner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, is a former president of the organisation. The Bush Administration, which has made no secret of its disdain for Mr Chavez - and his relations with countries such as Cuba and Iraq - has turned to the endowment to help the opposition to Mr Chavez.
With an annual budget of $US33million, the endowment disburses hundreds of grants each year to pro-democracy groups from Africa to Asia. Advocates say the agency's independent status enables the US to support democracy where government aid might be cumbersome or unwelcome. But critics say recipients of endowment aid do not have the same accountability that government programs require, which opens the door for rogue activities and freelancing. They say endowment funds were used to sway the outcomes of votes in Chile in Nicaragua in the late 1980s.***
Hundreds of intimidating "Chavistas" still gather on street corners, shouting quasi-socialist rhetoric and their belief that Chavez ultimately will help forge a united South America - the dream of 19th-century patriot Simon Bolivar.
But the April 12 attempted coup and Chavez's diplomatic spats with neighbors like Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and the United States make exporting the revolution unlikely. Still, its nationalist ideals offer militant Chavez followers an element of racial and class redemption in a country long governed by a largely white elite.
"They (the opposition) don't like Chavez because he's black, he's Indian, and they're white and beautiful," said Hugo Salvador, a 60-year-old advertising employee. He stood amid a jostling crowd of fellow "Bolivarian Circle" members who shouted, "We're the poor, the ones who have always been kicked around."
Founded in 2000, the Bolivarian Circles are billed by the government as grass-roots groups allowing Venezuela's poor a say in local governance. Thousands of circle members descended on the presidential palace to stop an opposition march on April 11. At least 17 died in ensuing gunfire. Circle members are among those being blamed.***
The rebels led the march leaders into the hills, saying the local FARC commander would grant them an interview, something Lafayette said they had hoped for. Lafayette, director of the University of Rhode Island's Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, was released after a few hours, without any meeting with the leadership. They told him to lead the marchers back to Medellin, where the march had originated. A priest who was also captured was later released. But the FARC continue to hold Antioquia state Gov. Guillermo Gaviria, and former Defense Minister Gilberto Echeverri, who were spirited deep into the mountains on horseback. Echeverri serves as the governor's peace adviser.
……After he was freed, Lafayette went to Medellin, Colombia's second-largest city, where he was to lead a conference on nonviolence along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Ireland. Colombian President Andres Pastrana, meanwhile, ruled out once again a possible prisoner exchange with the rebels, who now hold as hostages in addition to Gaviria and Echeverri presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a dozen state legislators, five members of the national parliament, about 40 government troops and a former Cabinet member, Fernando Araujo.***
That kind of fear is new, said Liliana Ortega, a leading human rights investigator. Her agency was formed after food riots of 1989, in which hundreds of people were killed. The exact number and identities of the dead have never been confirmed. No one was ever convicted for the killings. Still, Ms. Ortega said, in the days following those riots relatives of the dead quickly began forming support groups and investigative committees. They held news conferences and marches. Since April 11, she said, her office has received threats by telephone and the Internet. Only a handful of the relatives of the dead have filed complaints. "People are afraid," Ms. Ortega said. "That is clear."***
…… What could Bush do? He could take several measures that would give Fox something to show at home, such as giving legitimacy to ID cards Mexican consulates are handing out to Mexican undocumented workers in the United States or submitting migration legislation to Congress to get Washington to focus on the issue. If the Bush administration won't put its full political weight behind the hemisphere-wide free trade zone, and if it's not going to rescue bankrupt countries, the least it should do is help the best performers in the region become democratic and free market success stories. Otherwise, there won't be an incentive for others to follow in their steps. ***
Following the collapse of the coup that briefly deposed Chavez, who was restored by loyal troops April 14, the three anti-Chavez military officers and their families went to the Bolivian Embassy and asked for political asylum. They had remained there as "guests", while negotiations took place for their departure, Fernandez said. "Through their own free will, these persons asked to be allowed to leave to a third country, and my government agreed after consultations with the Venezuelan government and that country," the Bolivian foreign minister added. "They left on the night of Saturday to Sunday and yesterday morning they made the connection from Santa Cruz to the United States," he added.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman told Reuters he had no information about the 10 Venezuelans or under what status they had traveled from Bolivia to the United States. The group included retired Air Force Col. Pedro Vicente Soto Fuentes, his wife and three children, and another retired Air Force colonel, Silvino Jose Bustillos, accompanied by his spouse and two children. The other member was a retired National Guard captain Luis Garcia Morales. All three of the officers had been forcibly retired by the Venezuelan president, himself a former paratroop officer, for speaking out in public against him before the April 11 coup that removed him from power for 48 hours.
Senior armed forces officers briefly deposed Chavez after refusing to obey his order to deploy tanks and troops during a huge anti-government march in which 17 people were killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire in central Caracas. Chavez has ordered an inquiry into the April 11 deaths and into the subsequent killings of several dozen more people during protests by Chavez supporters and widespread looting. The Bolivian foreign minister was in Caracas to fix a new date for a summit of leaders of the Andean Community (CAN) which was due to have been held May 3-4 in Venezuela but was suspended in the aftermath of the coup. [End]
She said she hoped the coup experience would lead Chavez "to recognize the importance of democratic values for real - not just claiming that, because you're elected, you are exercising democratic values." "When people are elected, they especially have a responsibility to talk about the importance of respecting democratic processes."***
Perhaps more than any other action, the creation of the Bolivarian Circles has heightened the impression -- consistently denied by Chávez -- that he is building his own political army. As a result, the groups have become a critical point of confrontation between the president and his opponents. Opponents now say they've had enough of the Bolivarian Circles and are demanding that the president disarm and disband them as the first step toward the reconciliation that he promised following the April 11 coup attempt. The debate over the fate of these groups might go a long way toward resolving -- or deepening -- the political crisis engulfing Chávez.***
Shouts of "Assassin, Assassin," and "Chavez Must Go" rose from the anti-government ranks. Protesters demanded the president step down or agree to a referendum on his rule. Chavez supporters - many wearing the red berets made fashionable by the army paratrooper-turned president - held banners labeling the president's opponents "fascist dictators."
Ricardo Vannini, a 46-year-old businessman taking part in the anti-Chavez protests, blew on a whistle as he marched toward the whitewashed halls of Congress. "I grew up with democracy and I never saw divisions like the ones we have now," Vannini said. "Chavez has planted hatreds that are scaring off investment."***
His refusal to name names prompted angry outbursts from assembly members. ''The witness has been evading all the questions. It would seem that he is covering up,'' Assemblyman Tarek William Saab said.
''I will not compromise any political party or individual,'' Carmona said. ``No one forced me to name any particular person to a post, I was not compromised by anyone. My only commitment is to my conscience.''
The 60-year-old former chemical company executive said that he did not have a close relationship with Isaac Pérez Recao, a 32-year-old arms dealer who local press accounts have identified as a mover behind the coup and transition government.
''There is no relationship, neither of work, or of dependency nor a close friendship that could have existed beforehand,'' Carmona testified.
Pérez Recao, whose family owns 4.3 percent of the stock of Carmonas former employer Industrias Venoco, is believed to be lying low in Miami. A raid on his home last week revealed an arsenal of weapons and identification cards enabling him to enter Miraflores Palace during the dates of the transition government.***
Chavez was briefly removed from power last month as a result of a civilian-military coup, but he was quickly restored to power when the coup fizzled after key military units refused to support it. "I have important information about some people, who still believe they can persuade some military units to take part in a new adventure aimed at seizing power," Rangel told the commission that is probing last month's coup attempt. The defense minister did not name names or publicly present any specific evidence. But he indicated that his information was "well-founded" and came "from impeccable sources."***
Some activists have suggested that the opposition form a new coalition party to confront the president. But according to Mr. Leon, such an alliance will be doomed: "How can you reconcile the different opposition groups behind one party? The moment they try to present their national project, they will split," he says. According to Mr. Keller, those with most to gain may be the existing parties - the only groups with nationwide networks and experience in political maneuvering.***
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