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Given that they are hooded, it's safe to assume there is a dishonest reason for hiding their identities. Perhaps they don't look very Venezuelan.

And the "cool" thing, from Chavez's perspective, is that if one or more of them get killed in the line of duty, he can have them stuffed into housedresses. Then he can squeeze out some propaganda points by claiming his opposition is murdering "poor innocent women." Since no one will recognize the women and associate them with him- owing to the masks- the foreign media will be all over the fake story like white on rice.

May 31, 2002 - Venezuela to increase taxes, seek new loans - Budget shows $8-billion deficitBut support for Chávez remains precarious with the opposition attempting to oust him through constitutional means, and a wave of restlessness rippling through military ranks. The sour economy will make Chávez's grip on power even more tenuous, analysts said, as effects will pummel the poor and working classes who form most of his support.

Inflation is expected to soar to over 30 percent this year from 10 percent in 2001, and unemployment has already edged up to 14.5 percent, from 12.2 percent at the end of 2001. The Treasury is increasingly in arrears with its payments, causing vociferous complaints from local governments and state-run universities, whose unpaid professors have held angry street demonstrations.

On the back of record high oil prices and heavy lending from domestic banks, Chávez has boosted public spending by about 40 percent since he took office three years ago to payfor social programs and government expansion. But with the recent drop in oil exports and a national financial system overloaded with government bonds, his administration has run up a fiscal deficit this year estimated at 8.8 percent of gross domestic product.

To breech the gap, the government announced an emergency fiscal program that will combine higher tax levies, loans, and spending cuts. Officials plan to shave 10 to 12 percent from public spending and seek $3.5 billion in foreign financing, a move that Chávez had vowed since his 1998 election campaign to never make. Minister Nóbrega said he expects to raise about $1 billion from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and Interamerican Development Bank, and the rest from private banks.***

July 13, 2002 - Venezuela: With Strikes Looming, All Eyes on PDVSA*** Source: Central Bank of VenezuelaCaracas proposed an emergency fiscal adjustment package May 30 that was designed to cut government spending and raise revenues. So far, this package has been a dismal failure. Proposed tax hikes are languishing, and multilateral agencies have refused to lend, forcing Chavez to seek a $5 billion bridge loan from Libya, sources say. Attempts to refinance Venezuela's debt have been equally unsuccessful, primarily because domestic and foreign investors are wary of the risk. Caracas was able to raise only around $4 million, or 10 percent of its goal, in a late-June auction of two-month treasury bills. With $6 billion in debt coming due this year, Caracas can ill-afford another work stoppage, especially if it involves its primary revenue source, PDVSA. Oil exports account for 80 percent of Venezuelan exports and about 35 percent of the gross national product.***