Posted on 12/19/2002 12:38:20 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez branded striking oil workers as traitors sabotaging Venezuela's oil-based economy and issued a decree allowing temporary seizure of private transport to ensure deliveries of food and gas.
"We must always be alert, ready to defend our revolution," Chavez told thousands of supporters late Wednesday at a Caracas arena. He said the strikers "have aligned themselves with treason," and he vowed to remain in power as long as Venezuelans want him there.
Chavez, who commandeered some private truck fleets on Dec. 8 to deliver gas, expanded on that order with a decree allowing civilian and military officials to temporarily seize any vehicle that delivers gas, oil or food - including trucks, boats and aircraft - to end strike-caused shortages.
Chavez ordered inspections of businesses to determine if any were hoarding goods such as milk, rice or medicine. Those doing so could be fined. His decree, dated Tuesday and published late Wednesday, cited threats to national security caused by shortages of essential goods.
Venezuelan strike leaders have claimed they are providing enough basic goods to meet the population's needs even as they demand that stores, banks and businesses close and supporters block highways to stop transport.
Carlos Fernandez, president of the Fedecamaras business association, said the decree "won't be your ticket, Mr. Chavez, to become owner of our property."
Opposition leaders called the strike Dec. 2 to demand that Chavez call a nonbinding referendum on his rule. They upped their demand to early elections. Venezuela's constitution allows only a recall vote halfway into Chavez's term, or next August.
The president remains popular among many of the country's majority poor who hope Chavez will fulfill his promises of delivering economic equality to all in this oil-rich nation.
The strike has cut Venezuela's oil output by up to 93 percent, contributing to a surge in world oil prices and stirring international concern.
Venezuela's oil production, meanwhile, slowed to a trickle.
Production was down to about 370,000 barrels per day - compared to a normal output of 3 million barrels, an industry source said. Juan Fernandez, who was fired by Chavez from the state oil monopoly, said production had fallen to 200,000 barrels per day.
President Hugo Chavez speaks during a meeting with supporters at a stadium in Caracas, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002. Chavez branded as traitors striking workers who have crippled the nation's vital oil economy and asked his supporters to be ready to fight for his government. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Storage facilities are close to overflowing and most oil tankers remain moored in ports, their crews having joined the nationwide strike.
Soldiers guarded gas stations to keep them open, but many were empty because the strike curtailed deliveries of gasoline.
Chavez suffered a setback Wednesday when the Supreme Court ordered the government to return control of the Caracas police force to the mayor of the capital - a top Chavez opponent. The government pledged to obey the court order.
Chavez on Nov. 16 had ordered the military to take over Caracas police stations, citing national security laws and accusing Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena of failing to resolve a labor dispute. The government also noted that police officers had routinely repressed pro-government demonstrations.
The ruling demonstrated the increasing independence of the Supreme Court, once considered a rubber-stamp for Chavez's policies.
Little progress has been made in talks brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria. The United States, the European Union, Russia and other countries have urged a constitutional solution before widespread violence erupts.
Gaviria said Wednesday the talks had advanced "significantly ... but we are not near a solution."
A former president of Colombia, Gaviria said the opposition was insisting that Chavez resign and the government was proposing an overhaul of the national electoral commission.
Chavez, elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, insists that the opposition abide by Venezuela's democratic constitution.
Trying to increase the pressure on Chavez, opposition demonstrators blocked major roads in parts of the capital on Wednesday for seven hours.
Only emergency vehicles, foreign diplomats and journalists were allowed to pass some roadblocks of parked cars and debris, angering many motorists.
"In this kind of situation, everyone loses," motorist David Bendahan complained. Demonstrators, some waving flags and anti-Chavez banners, set off bottle rockets and firecrackers.
"We've had corrupt government for decades in Venezuela. Who says these guys will govern any better?" Bendahan asked.
Alcides Rondon, vice minister of public security, said he welcomed the Supreme Court decision and explained that the government had ordered the military to take over to stop conflict within the 9,000-strong police department.
The Supreme Court ordered Chavez's hand-picked chief, Gonzalo Sanchez Delgado, to hand over a police precinct that serves as the department's communications center. It also ordered city and national authorities to arrange for the transfer of the department from the military to the mayor within a 15-day period.
Henry Vivas, who had been appointed by Pena to head the police department before being ousted by the Chavez government, said he hoped officers at the communications center would transfer control "without us having to use force."
Venezuela's private hospitals and clinics announced they would suspend all but emergency services for an hour per day to support the strike.
March 2002 - Venezuela faces energy standoff at petroleum company *** Lameda and many employees fear that Chavez's philosophies run the risk of bleeding the company of the cash it needs to develop this country's rich reserves. Lameda locked horns with the Energy Ministry on numerous issues, including the new hydrocarbons law that raises royalties and mandates that PDVSA be the controlling partner in any joint venture. Critics said these rules would stifle international investment.
Other bones of contention were the central government's demand that the company hand over $4.4 billion in dividends last year, forcing PDVSA to borrow $500 million to pay the bill; and the oil sales to Cuba, whose leader, Fidel Castro, is Chavez's longtime mentor. One of the major disagreements centered on the Ministry's insistence on adhering to OPEC production cuts, but forcing PDVSA to continue producing surplus oil that has now filled every available storage facility. Although PDVSA cannot sell the oil, the catch is that it still must pay royalties for producing it to the central government, Lameda revealed after his departure.
I started warehousing" when prices were $26 per barrel, he told El Universal newspaper. "They're now $16. The barrels are worth less every day. I told the minister that I have to go out and ask for $500 million in loans while I have $300 million in the warehouse." Energy Vice Minister Bernardo Alvarez said a new leader was brought in because "Gen. Lameda did not fulfill expectations." The confrontations with the ministry earned Lameda, whose initial appointment was greeted with skepticism, the respect and affection of employees who resented the meddling. Parra, is known for radical nationalist views on the oil industry. "He believes that the oil industry should be completely and fully controlled by the state, with no participation by private companies," said a former PDVSA top executive who requested anonymity. ***
"I can't think of a single shipping company in the world that is prepared to take care of a tanker and have it unloaded in a port that is declared unsafe," said Jose Toro Hardy, a former director at state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA and now a private oil consultant. Currently, only one small refinery is producing, but running at a meager rate of 80,000 barrels a day. Venezuela needs around 400,000 barrels a day to satisfy its domestic needs.
The overwhelming majority of workers at ports in Venezuela have joined the strike, making any export shipments or unloading procedures a risky operation. Only a few ports are equipped to unload tankers for domestic supply. "But the overall system is set up for exporting and not importing," says William Edwards, president of the Texas-based Edwards Energy Consultants. Shipping agencies will also have difficulties securing credit and have their shipments insured for a Venezuelan destination, analysts say.
Sourcing products for import is yet another question, Edwards said. "It is possible that the country can get some products out of its Caribbean outlets," he said. And any imports will be very limited, he added: "I think only 10 percent of its daily domestic needs, really insignificant." Venezuela's oil production has thinned to a trickle against just under 3 million barrels a day before the strike began Dec. 2. Analysts don't view Chavez's threats to bring foreign crews and use the military - which lacks the required technical skills - to restart domestic oil operations as very realistic, either, given the sheer magnitude of the task. The vast majority of PdVSA's 40,000 workers are on strike, as are oil workers in associated or supporting sectors crucial to Venezuela's oil industry as a whole. The stakes for the government are high as sustained gasoline shortages could trigger riots. Toro Hardy estimated that Caracas still has gasoline supply for four to five days. [End]
On a side-note, do you happen to have the picture of Chavez with the parrot? I was explaining the situation to my daughter and happened to mention the parrot with the beret, and she didn't believe me. Thanks!
According to which constitution? The one that was there when Chavez was elected, or the one he rewrote himself that gave him more power and more time in office?
There is no rule of law when the laws and the rules can be changed on nothing more than one man's whim. Calling their constitution "democratic" is a joke. If the people of Venezuela wait until next August for a pre-rigged recall "vote", they are fools.
It's the largest parrot picture I have. I'm sure someone has a full size. Thank you for educating your daughter.
They should have let him blow out his own brains. He was about to do it back when the army refused to fire on an opposition march.
Now they march again.
The woman with the blonde spike hair-do near Chavez looks like "Comandante" Lina Ron. Here's more about Ron:
Chavistas: Venezuelan street toughs: Helping "revolution" or crushing dissent? April 5, 2002 | By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, AP -[Full Text] 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. Chavez has angered Washington by expressing his admiration for Cuban President Fidel Castro and adopting policies seen as anti-business. Venezuela is a key oil supplier to the United States.
"If I fail or die, the spirit of the revolution dies," Ron said. "But I'm not going to fail. I'd rather lose my life than my principles." Just what those principles are have sparked debate across the nation. Ron began her hunger strike after being arrested for leading a violent confrontation Feb. 26 at the Central University of Venezuela against students defending the university's autonomy against encroachments by Chavez's government. In recent months, the 42-year-old Ron has organized and led street marches - called "countermarches" here - to stop or intimidate demonstrations by civilians and a disorganized opposition to Chavez.
Two December marches to Miraflores, the presidential palace, were stopped by Ron's "countermarches." A February march to the National Assembly to commemorate Venezuelan democracy was similarly met - and diverted - by a countermarch. Ron and her followers burned a U.S. flag in Caracas' central Plaza Bolivar just after the September terrorist attacks in the United States. The anti-Washington demonstration appalled many Venezuelans. More recently, Ron's followers threatened journalists at El Nacional newspaper in Caracas.
Chavez has called Ron a political prisoner. "We salute Lina Ron, a female soldier who deserves the respect of all Venezuelans," he said recently. Ron's activism was inspired by her father, Manuel, a former director of the Social Christian Party in the western state of Anzoategui, according to her sister Lisette. The fourth of seven children born in Cantaura, a poor town just east of Caracas, Ron cut short studies in medicine at the Central University of Venezuela after becoming pregnant. She spent 10 years working with Caracas' homeless before joining Chavez's Bolivarian movement, named after native independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Ron is "very violent because of the 40 years of oppression, of injustice, of impunity" of administrations that ruled Venezuela since its last dictatorship was toppled in 1958, said her attorney, Oswaldo Cancino. Now Ron has become a focal point for debate about Chavez's "Bolivarian Circles," which the government calls self-help neighborhood groups. Chavez opponents call them a violent threat to democracy styled after Cuba's Revolutionary Block Committees. Created after Castro urged Venezuelans to "organize" to defend Chavez's revolution, the committees are forming street tribunals to demand Ron's release - and to symbolically prosecute government opponents as "traitors."
Greater Caracas Mayor Aldredo Pena accuses the government of secretly arming hundreds of Bolivarian Circles across the country - a charge the government denies. Yet circle members have clashed with students in Caracas and labor union activists in Barquisimeto. They've warned newspaper vendors in Ciudad Bolivar that they will torch kiosks unless they stop selling a newspaper, Correo del Caroni, that is critical of the government. After her arrest, Ron was hospitalized, forced to eat, and resumed her hunger strike, then went on a spartan diet. She is denied bail pending an April 12 court hearing on formal charges of inciting violence.
Ron suggested that violence is needed to quash mounting opposition to Chavez - whose combative rhetoric has contributed to a precipitous decline in popularity polls. It's needed, she said, to allow Venezuela's majority poor a stake in the country's governance for the first time in history. Ron attributes her growing flock of supporters to a "gift that God gave me" so that "the people follow me and believe in me. ... We're ready for the Fatherland to call us." Ron recently was transferred to a prison cell operated by Venezuela's secret police, known as DISIP. She said it doesn't bother her that the opposition to Chavez calls her "vulgar" and "violent." "I am the ugly part of the process - the part that is unpleasant, that is angry," she declared after the El Nacional protest, one dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons.***
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