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]
Latin America, meanwhile, is again doing business with Castro. Silva last month led a delegation of Brazilian businessmen to Havana, where they signed $200 million in new business deals and an agreement to renegotiate Cuba's $40 million debt to the country.
In Havana last week, Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Biesla announced a series of trade and cultural agreements with Cuba, and Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said Kirchner himself could visit early next year.
''We are under a strict directive that Cuban-Argentine relations deepen and bear fruit,'' new Argentine Ambassador Raul Abraham Taleb told The Associated Press.
At 77, Castro himself still enjoys rock-star popularity throughout Latin America. Despite decades of dictatorship, he is seen by many as a champion of the poor and a symbol of defiance against an overbearing superpower.
At Kirchner's inauguration in May, just a month after the dissident trials, thousands of Argentines greeted the Cuban leader with chants of ''Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!'' at a speech that had to be moved outside to accommodate the masses.
That adoration exerts pressure on politicians in the region.
''Generally, Latin American leaders are farther to the right than the populace, but they have to be mindful of their public opinion,'' said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington. ''Reaching out to Castro has always been a way for leaders to establish their bona fides with the left.''
The United States, meanwhile, has grown increasingly unpopular in the region. The mostly poor countries of Central and South America still are waiting for the promised benefits of the hard-medicine free-market reforms promoted by Washington over the last decade. The region has felt ignored by the administration since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, diverted American attention to the Middle East. Opinion polls showed overwhelming opposition in Latin America to the U.S. attack on Iraq.
''It's like when your daughter is mad at you, she goes out with the biker,'' said Joe García, executive director of the anti-Castro Cuban American National Foundation in Miami. ***
The leader of Bolivia's landless movement, Angel Duran, told the BBC that farm occupations would send a clear message to the government. He said the peasants would not leave until the authorities had resolved the matter of land distribution. "The constitution - Bolivia's principal law - states that unproductive land must be expropriated or turned over to those who have none," he said. His landless movement has carried out invasions of unoccupied land before.***
The U.S. State Department, Ambassador Charles Shapiro and visiting U.S. lawmakers in Caracas denied claims by Chavez associates that American agents are plotting to overthrow Chavez.
"These accusations are irresponsible and completely without foundation," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington. ***
The United States should try to spur a global agreement on agricultural subsidies, which must be resolved before serious talks on free trade in the Americas can begin. Also, Washington should supplement its support of coca eradication in Latin America with greater funds for rural development. Coca eradication is leaving poor farmers poorer, and even when farmers are willing to grow crops less profitable than coca, their harvest often spoils before it gets to market, due to poor infrastructure.
It is questionable, though, how much the United States can help the Andean region through aid and trade. The brewing discontent results from centuries of corruption and inequality that can't be quickly eliminated or even ameliorated. Given the limited practical policy options, the troubles in the Andes are likely to worsen with little or no international response.***
Following an all-night session lasting into Friday morning, the National Assembly approved the first articles of a law adding 12 more magistrates to the 20-member Supreme Court, lawmakers said.
Foes of the populist president fear that the reforms, once approved in their entirety, will allow the government to pack the Supreme Court with allies and tilt decisions in its favor.
"If the judiciary is controlled by the government, then the government is subject to no controls, no brakes," Gerardo Blyde of the opposition Primero Justicia party told Reuters.
Opposition leaders are campaigning to hold a referendum on Chavez's rule which will go ahead in late March 2004 if they collect enough pro-vote signatures next month.
As the Supreme Court could be the final judge in any electoral dispute, the opposition sees the reforms as part of a government strategy to try to torpedo the referendum process. The reforms foresee that the new Supreme Court judges will be appointed by a simple majority in the divided parliament, where Chavez supporters control 83 of the 165 seats. ***
The referendum proposed by President Alvaro Uribe aims to cut government spending, reduce the size of Congress and fight political corruption. It is staunchly opposed by trade unions, leftist politicians - and even by many within the president's own party.
Uribe has campaigned tirelessly for the referendum around the country and on its airwaves, effectively turning it into a plebiscite about himself. But its success appeared in doubt Friday, and failure could wound his political power.
A "yes" vote would be seen as a popular endorsement of Uribe's campaign to crush leftist guerrillas and destroy the illicit drug crops that supply them with cash to buy guns.
"If the referendum fails, governing will be more difficult," Uribe told RCN television Thursday. He also called it "a vote against terrorism."
At least 25 percent of registered voters - or 6.2 million people - need to turn out for the referendum to be valid. ***
But most of the 15 questions looked set to be invalid because fewer than 25 percent of the electorate participated, even though each point received at least 80 percent support.
Uribe had bet his 75 percent approval rating would translate into support for the referendum, for which he has campaigned since presidential elections in May 2002.
Its seeming failure will rattle international investors, who have been impressed by Uribe, setting the stage for a sell-off in Colombian bonds and a fall in the peso. ***
But here in Venezuela, famed for its abundant fields, spiking oil prices seem to be doing nothing for the dozens of contractors who work on everything from pumps to pipelines. Private contractors who provide equipment or services to Venezuelan state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, say they are billing only 60 percent of what they did last year.
In the oil-rich area of Lake Maracaibo, tugs and rigs are sitting idle on the docks rather than drilling wells or exploring new fields. Contractors who service wells and equipment say their business has plummeted, and some even talk about leaving the country.
"I used to repair 200 to 300 pumps per month, but I haven't been called to service anything since February," said one contractor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Buyers complain of high water content of crudes, and contractors report high sand presence in wells and constant problems maintaining well pressure.
The business slowdown for contractors, many of whom have ties with Houston, may be a crucial piece of evidence in the debate over how much oil Venezuela is actually pumping. And it may mean continued production declines to come.
Even though left-wing President Hugo Chavez survived a crippling two-month strike by PDVSA workers launched last December, international observers believe the work stoppage is now taking its toll. ***
They are also leading lights in Venezuela's modern art movement, one of the most important in Latin America. Zapata, in particular, has captured the public imagination with his fanciful murals and canvases that have recently taken on a distinctly anti-government shade.
Today, while still friends, Zapata and Perez are also antagonists in the political drama that is moving toward a climax.
Squinting behind thick, oval glasses, Zapata, 74, said the intense political debate compelled him to express his opposition to President Hugo Chavez in his painting, and he now uses the Venezuelan flag as "an emblem of opposition."
Perez, 73, running his fingers through a shock of gray hair, said he has tried to defend the president by using the flag as a "fascist symbol" in a series of paintings portraying the opposition movement as elitist and mercenary.
In art, as in life here, Chavez has become a challenge.
Once faithfully leftist and mostly detached from political life, Venezuela's modern art community is now deeply divided over Chavez and his populist program to lift up the country's poor. Not since the years after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, when the artistic left fractured over Venezuela's own short-lived guerrilla movement, has the insular art world here been so shaken. ***
Critics argue that the law violates the right to private property and is a throwback to state-planned communist economies.
"The model of the collective farm doesn't respond to our reality," said Roque Carmona, founder of Campesino Alliance, a nonprofit organization that helps small-scale farmers. "It looks good on paper, nothing more."
Government officials maintain that the ban on giving up ownership of state property is an attempt to avoid the failures of past land reforms in Venezuela and elsewhere, in which small farmers who lacked credit or government support eventually had to sell their plots to large landowners.
They also argue that forming peasant cooperatives is the only way campesinos can compete with large agribusinesses.
Mr. Chavez has defended the law in terms of social justice and by appealing to the need for "food security," mandated by the constitution passed in 1999 during his first year as president.***
*** Taking up the standard for the region's poor, the White House's chief envoy to Latin America said leaders must take steps to allow more people to participate in democracy and economic progress.
''This is a continent where the peasants and laborers work from dawn to dusk and end their lives in misery, and not for the lack of natural resources,'' said Otto J. Reich as he addressed The Herald's 2003 Americas Conference on Tuesday in Coral Gables.
``There is too much false nationalism and a lack of firm commitment to real development. The creative forces of all the population must be allowed to flourish.''
Reich said the formula for progress in the region was democratic governments, ''sound, pro-growth economic policies,'' and investments in health and education.
He also boosted the Bush administration's trade initiative, the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. ''The FTAA is the best route toward the goal of lifting people out of poverty,'' he said.
MAIN PROBLEMS
Reich singled out corruption, inefficiency and marginalization -- particularly for indigenous peoples -- as problems impeding progress in the hemisphere.
''Seldom have we faced as many challenges and opportunities in the hemisphere as we do today,'' he said. ``There is far too much corruption.''
In a region marked by periodic social unrest that has forced presidents in Argentina, Ecuador and most recently Bolivia out of office, Reich questioned the leaders of the opposition in Bolivia.
Earlier this month, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada resigned after days of violent protests over the plan to allow a foreign-owned consortium to export natural gas to Mexico and the United States. Bolivians were also unhappy with building a gas pipeline through Chile, which gained territory in a 19th century war that left Bolivia landlocked.
Speaking of the problems in the poorest South American country, Reich railed against political leaders who recommended leaving natural resources in the ground rather than using them to pay for development. ***
Both Morales and Quispe denied leading the uprising and Morales also denied government accusations that he received financial aid from Libya's Muhamar Gadafi and Chavez. But Manfred Reyes of the New Republican Force party, and until recently part of the governing coalition, alluded to Chavez and others when he claimed "there are anarchic groups with foreign backing that are using this as a pretext to bring down the country."
The United States should be concerned. Morales is part of a growing network of leftist anti-American leadrers and groups in Latin America, apparently aided (and possibly financed) by Castro and Chavez working to undermine pro-American governments throughout the hemisphere.
This "anti-imperialist" effort also aims to elect leftist leaders when possible such as Chavez in Venezuela and Inacio Lula de Silva in Brazil. But when elections fail, these groups will use coups by populist/leftist military officers or populist protests such as those in Argentina and now Bolivia, to achieve their ends of removing elected pro-America leaders.
Many see the decrepit Castro (who still has a huge, loyal following in Latin America developed and cultivated over the past four decades) as the brains behind this effort, with his alter ego Chavez (using Venezuela's large territory and vast oil revenues) as the logistical and financial support for this new subversion campaign. Some of the coordination may also be conducted through the Sao Paolo Forum, the Castro-inspired anti-American movement founded in Brazil by Lula da Silva in 1990.
The Forum, which meets regularly thgroughout Latin America, can be seen as a successor to Castro's Tricontinental Congress formed in the 1960s to foment radicalism and revolution globally. It serves as the glue that binds anti-American leftist groups in Latin America with like-minded rogue states such as Iran and North Korea, and international radical groups and terrorists worldwide.
Bolivia is now ripe for take over by these Castro-Chavez sponsored radical groups. but it is just the latest of potential targets. The United States and the democracies of Latin America need to wake up to this growing subversion threat and work together to actively counter the Castro-Chavez axis. ***
Almost three weeks after the federal government restored control of the Caracas police force to the city mayor, police claim they are outgunned by criminals and practically defenseless because all their weapons haven't been returned. Officers are dying as a result, they say.
President Hugo Chavez ordered the armed forces to take custody of police stations last November, accusing the police of playing a key role in a short-lived 2002 coup and repressing pro-government marches. On Oct. 10, soldiers left police stations as Chavez's administration relinquished control of the 9,000-strong city police force under orders from the Supreme Court after the 10-month takeover.
Despite the military's withdrawal from city precincts, Venezuela's defense ministry hasn't returned more than 2,000 MP-5 submachine guns and dozens of 12-gauge shotguns that were confiscated during the takeover. Lacking powerful firearms to fight criminals in violent Caracas, an increasing number of police officers are dying, said Metropolitan Police Chief Lazaro Forero.
He said 24 police have been killed and 90 wounded in clashes with criminals since the takeover began. Last week, an officer wearing a flak jacket died in action after being shot with ten armor-piercing bullets. "We can't fight crime like this. It's a battle we can't win because we are competing with criminals that have weapons for wars," Forero told the Associated Press. City police are currently permitted to use .38-caliber revolvers. ***
According to ex-president Lozada," My departure was the product of a conspiracy, of sedition by armed groups, 'narco-syndicalist' groups, terrorist groups and cartels who created a confrontational situation, leaving me no way out but to resign."***
__________________________________________________________________
The one thing that makes Chile different from the rest of South America is Chile had Pinochet.
I recognize that. It seems counterintuitive to some people, who see Pinochet as a simple dictator, to say that a dictator preserved liberty in Chile.
That is because many people, perhaps most people, confuse democracy with freedom. But of course Democracy is not freedom, only freedom is freedom.
There is a vast difference between a dictator like Pinochet, and the great totalitarians of the 20th century, and that is that Pinochet was not totalitarian. Fascism, Stalinism, all consecrate the individual to the state. Under a Pinochet, even under a Franco, the state did not enter into private affairs. It intervened to keep totalitarians out of power. The sad thing is that a lot of nice people, articulate people, charming people, favor totalitarian solutions. The day you declare war on totalitarians, these are the people who are going to be on the other side of the line, and these are the people that are going to write your story afterward. And these are the people who are going to decide what history says about you.
Franco and Pinochet were famously brutal in chasing down their political enemies, but it is a fact that their enemies were no less brutal. Franco kept his men busy shooting Communists and Anarchists, but any good account of the Spanish civil war will make your hair stand up with accounts of anarchists and communists lining each other up against the wall. Had they devoted as much attention to fighting Franco as they did executing each other, Franco might not have won. And Stalin would have had his first win in Western Europe.
Similarly, Allende was on his way to building the same kind of regime in Chile that we have seen where ever the extreme left has taken power, and only a man like Pinochet could have stopped him. Venezuela is dying for want of a Pinochet, and Cuba died because there was no opposition of sufficient moral authority, or of sufficient moral courage to face Castro down and fight him.
The Venezuelan institutions, when "fired" by Chavez, lacked the fortitude to stand their ground, and they simply went home. The Batista Cubans ran for the tall grass when faced with an opponent who would shoot back. But in Chile, and in Spain, the institutions held firm, and did not cede power to totalitarians. The result was bloody in Chile, and very bloody in Spain, but given the alternative, there was no alternative except surrender.
There is a similar story in Peru. We all know that Fujimori was a flawed man. He was also the only man willing to stand in the gap, at a time when Peru was dying, and fight back. The Sendero movement was one of the bloodiest guerrilla forces on the planet, and were responsible for massacre after massacre. By the time Fujimori took office they were confident enough to come down out of the hills into the cities, and the entire country was in a panic.
The most unlikely man in the world, a Japanese immigrant possibly not even born in the country, stepped forward and took power, and fought back, and chased them and killed them. They have been reduced to a remnant hiding in the jungles. He brought Peru back from the brink.
Now that the country is safe, and secure, and climbing back down from its death bed we have the luxury of examining Fuj's flaws, and he has been forced from power. But Peru's current crop of politicians only have this luxury because Fuj did what they were unable to do. Fight back.
7 posted on 10/31/2003 1:23 PM EST by marron
On Thursday, election authorities said observers from the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center would be invited for the Nov. 28-Dec. 1 opposition signature drive. Those organizations have endorsed the presidential recall referendum as a peaceful and democratic way to break a political deadlock that triggered the coup and a two-month strike earlier this year.
Opponents of Chávez, a former army lieutenant colonel who was reelected in 2000, aim to gather 2.4 million signatures required to hold the presidential recall vote. The referendum would likely be held in March or April if the signature drive is successful.
Zambrano said the presence of foreign observers would help avert possible violence and increase transparency during the four-day signature drive. ''Obviously, this will create confidence among citizens so they participate massively in the signature drive,'' Zambrano said.
Government foes say that Chavistas, as the president's backers are called, are planning to disrupt the petition drive with acts of violence. ***
''Venezuela is a deeply polarized society. There's a reason for that,'' Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told the America's Conference in Miami without singling out either President Hugo Chávez or opponents demanding a recall referendum.
…………… Another leading opposition figure brought the Venezuela issue home to Miami by framing the recall effort as a bid to end an unholy bond between the strongman and Castro.
''The Castro-Chávez alliance is a dark chapter of our history,'' said Manuel Cova, secretary general of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation.
``The presence of Cuban agents interferes dramatically in military affairs, security and intelligence matters -- even in the health and education system. All of them have a mission -- consolidate and defend the Bolivarian revolution and open the path for Chávez to remain in power.''***
Chávez even appears to be preparing for a Cuba-styled U.S. embargo and in recent months has repeatedly stressed the need for ``food sovereignty.''
FOOD DISTRIBUTION
When the anti-government strike threatened food distribution, he set up an embryonic government-run food import system, using Cuba as the intermediary.
''If his regime could survive that way,'' said Elsa Cardozo, a university professor of international relations, ``he wouldn't care. He's shown no concern for the fact that the private sector is on the verge of collapse.''
Under all the leftist theories of foreign policy that Chávez has studied and now holds, political analyst and Chávez biographer Alberto Garrido said, ``the final confrontation was always with the United States.''
But Garrido believes Chávez may feel he's not yet ready for a showdown, so he is nibbling around the edges of misbehavior in order to lay the groundwork for an eventual break.
''He's playing on the U.S. weakness, which is oil,'' he said.***
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, in September cut off crude supplies to the Dominican Republic during a diplomatic dispute over similar vague charges Chavez made against the government of President Hipolito Mejia.
Chavez, a fiery, outspoken former army paratrooper who often denounces conspiracies against him, did not provide details about how Costa Rican officials were involved.
"I have information that there are sectors of the Costa Rican government that are supporting these coup mongers in San Jose, giving them support, giving them security, giving them resources," the president said.
"If Costa Rica's government takes the same attitude and allows conspiracies against Venezuela from San Jose then Venezuela won't sit back with its arms crossed," he said in his regular Sunday television broadcast. ***
Regarding the land reform program, for example, he left the false impression that acreage distributed to landless people belongs to the state. In Venezuela, land redistribution generally results from invasions of private property by squatters backed by the regime.
Businesses shut down
By imposing foreign exchange controls on the heels of the general strike that took place earlier this year, Chávez blocked businesses from obtaining dollars, forcing many to shut down. The government's own statistics show the economy has shrunk by 18 percent this year, and unemployment has climbed to more than 18 percent as a result.
Do ''complete freedom of press, speech, assembly and association'' exist in Venezuela? I doubt it. Six months after his inauguration, the thin-skinned Chávez began picking a fight with the Venezuelan media, which largely had supported him, over their criticism of his decree closing down the Venezuelan Congress and the Supreme Court prior to the adoption of his new constitution in December 1999.
Avoiding outright censorship, Chávez instigated a campaign of intimidation. Media installations have been bombed and vandalized; journalists have been assaulted and shot, and at least one has been killed. Chávez has
Government agents seized caches of firearms, ammunition, plastic explosives, uniforms and cash in three cities, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said.
Chavez said two people were arrested, but he gave no details. The president repeated allegations that the opposition, which is seeking a recall vote next year, is preparing another attempt to overthrow his elected government.
Radicals are trying "to create problems inside the military," Chavez told soldiers at a central Venezuela military air base. He urged the armed forces "to respond with dignity, unity, conscience and leadership."
Chavez was briefly overthrown by dissident military officers in 2002.
Venezuela's opposition will stage a petition drive Nov. 28-Dec. 1 to demand a recall referendum next year on Chavez's term, which ends in 2007.
Government agents seized more than 144,000 assault-rifle bullets at a warehouse in Catia La Mar, near the Caracas international airport, on Friday, said Miguel Rodriguez, director of Venezuela's secret police. Agents also seized weapons in the central cities of Maracay and La Victoria, officials said. [end]
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.