Posted on 04/15/2002 1:09:10 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Triumphant yet chastened, President Hugo Chavez returned to office on the wings of a popular uprising two days after he was ousted and arrested by Venezuela's military, saying Sunday that he has reflected on his mistakes and was prepared to "make corrections."
"I do not come with hate or rancor in my heart, but we must make decisions and adjust things," Chavez said at dawn Sunday, moments after landing by helicopter at the presidential palace, which was surrounded by tens of thousands cheering his return.
Later Sunday, Chavez returned to a familiar haven: the 42nd parachutist brigade base where he trained as an elite paratrooper. Base commander Gen. Raul Baduel rebelled against Chavez's ouster Saturday, fueling popular protests to demand his return.
"Soldiers, all of you. How great you are," Chavez said. "I will always be with you. I will never go away."
Chavez added he had spoken with leaders from Europe, South America and Africa and that they expressed support for him.
Most opposition leaders - who days ago relentlessly crammed the airwaves with criticism of Chavez - stayed out of the spotlight Sunday.
Chavez was ousted early Friday by his military high command, which claimed he had resigned under pressure after gunmen opened fire on opposition protesters Thursday. Sixteen people were reported killed in that demonstration.
Military commanders accused him of ordering the gunmen to shoot at protesters, but Chavez said the shooters were plainclothes policemen linked to his opponents. Authorities pledged an investigation into the events that precipitated Chavez's ouster.
A report released by two local human rights groups, COFAVIC and the Archdiocese of Caracas Human Rights Vicar, said 23 people were killed Saturday, and accused security forces of being behind most of the killings. Witnesses have said police opened fire on pro-Chavez demonstrators in several poor neighborhoods of Caracas on Saturday.
In all, about 40 people are known to have been slain during the upheaval that followed Chavez's ouster.
Venezuelans tried to make sense of the dizzying, bloody sequence of events that led to Chavez's brief overthrow and stunning return. Never before has an elected president been overthrown by military commanders, his successor inaugurated, and then the ousted leader returned to power on the wings of a popular uprising.
Pedro Carmona, an economist and business leader, was sworn in as interim president on Friday, only to resign a day later amid widespread street protests, looting and rebellions by several military officers who refused to go along with the plan.
Carmona had angered many by immediately trying to sweep away all vestiges of Chavez's rule by dissolving Congress and canceling the Constitution that was approved under his administration. Many Latin American government said they would not recognize the new regime.
One member of the military high command said on Sunday that the armed forces' deep divide over Chavez would be difficult to mend.
"I admit that there has been a rupture ... and we must repair it in the best way possible," said Gen. Belisario Landis, commander of the National Guard.
After returning to the presidential palace, Chavez appealed for calm, and the looting that went on through the night died down.
Looters who sacked commercial districts of poor neighborhoods left smashed display windows, charred businesses, bloodstained sidewalks and sorrow in their wake.
One elderly man, his eyes filling with tears, gazed at his shoe store which was partially damaged by fire.
"I'm sorry, but the pain I feel doesn't let me talk," he murmured.
Caravans of Chavez supporters sped through the western, poorer side of the city, with passengers chanting, "He's back! He's Back! In wealthy eastern neighborhoods, anti-Chavez protests sprouted - underscoring the class division behind Venezuela's constant unrest.
The Bush administration, which showed no remorse when the Venezuelan military ousted the country's elected president last week, advised Chavez on Sunday to make good use of his second chance "by correcting its course and governing in a fully democratic manner."
Venezuela is the third-biggest supplier of oil to the United States, but despite the tight trade relations, the leftist Chavez has irritated Washington by cozying up to Cuba as well as Iraq, Iran and Libya.
In his strongest conciliatory gesture, Chavez announced that a board of directors opposed by executives at state-owned oil monopoly had resigned. The internal power struggle at PDVSA swelled last week into a popular rebellion by the opposition, triggering a general national strike, the bloody demonstration and Chavez's short-lived ouster.
Chavez's intransigence and imposition of decrees without consulting with business leaders have infuriated the upper classes. But after his return to power, he said he would have a new way of doing things - and said other sectors of society must do the same.
"I must not be the only one who rectifies," Chavez said.
He appeared healthy, said he had not been mistreated and cracked jokes about his detention.
"I was completely sure we would be back," he said. "I began writing some poems and I didn't even have time to finish the first one."
Greater Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena - one of the few opposition figures who spoke publicly on Sunday - said he was hopeful after Chavez's remarks. But he added he feared for his life, pointing to bullet holes on the walls on his office. He claimed armed bands of Chavez supporters had shot at the building Saturday night.
Vice President Diosdado Cabello said Carmona, supporters who were to have been appointed to his government and military officers involved in Chavez's ouster would be tried for conspiracy of military rebellion. He said the designated Cabinet members and more than 100 military personnel were under arrest
Jesse Chacon, president of Venezuela's telecommunications agency, said TV stations' conduct last week will be also be investigated. Chacon condemned stations that failed to cover protests against Chavez's ouster and said they falsely depicted a calm Venezuela to help the new regime.
A bullet from the CIA a la Chile would have solved a lot of problems.
If denouncing Bush for using Clinton's tactic of triangulation without principle makes me a liberal brigadeer/brownie, then I stand convicted. By the way, it was George Washington who warned about foreign entanglements, not me.
They thought they could do anything they wanted after they took power, and were stunned that there was any opposition. Plus they tried to detain Chavez with people who were likely to be loyal to him.
The moron prattling about "being middle class now" is especially silly. In a twisted way, she is probably right. When everyone with any brains gets out, she will probably be even poorer, but in the middle of a bunch of destitute and hopeless people.
For a while, I wondered if there was any hope of CIA ever being able to pull off a simple coup without screwing up.
So Chavez co-opts the words of Christ. A dictator with a G*d complex. Wonderful
It has already flown.
It's been flying out, just like the people who can. Also investors aren't knocking on Chavez's door. Confiscation isn't healthy for capitalism.
Now don't go putting words into my posts that aren't there. I don't think this was CIA. I think this was Chavez using his Chavista thugs to fire into a crowd, reported to be as high as 500,000 anti-Chavez marchers. That set his senior military to ask for his resignation and because they don't command any troops, they weren't in a very long-term powerful position.
Allow me to rephrase it, then:
When CIA takes its shot, I hope they do better than these keystone coup plotters did.
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