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.***