Posted on 03/09/2003 1:32:53 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Secret police swooped in on an anti-government demonstration Saturday in a failed attempt to arrest a national strike leader who emerged from hiding to address the rally.
The police fired shots into the air and launched tear gas canisters to disperse anti-government protesters, who smashed police vehicle windows with sticks and stones, the television station Globovision reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
Police rushed to the rally trying to seize former oil executive Juan Fernandez, one of several leaders of a failed two-month general strike aiming to force President Hugo Chavez's resignation or early elections. The strike ended Feb. 4.
Opposition members waving Venezuelan flags protest against President Hugo Chavez at a highway in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, March 8, 2003. The protest was called to show support for opposition leaders who led a failed two-month strike against Chavez. One of the leaders is under house arrest and several others are on the run from authorities. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Fernandez warned Chavez to "pack his bag because we are going to get rid of him" and then was whisked away by supporters as protesters applauded wildly.
Thousands of protesters waving placards reading "No to judicial terrorism!" blocked a Caracas highway to demand justice in Venezuela and show support for opposition leaders. One of the leaders, businessman Carlos Fernandez, is under house arrest, and several others are in hiding.
At an International Women's Day event Saturday, Chavez accused his foes of committing high-profile crimes -- including last month's bombing of Colombian and Spanish diplomatic missions in Caracas -- in an attempt to smear his government. No one has been arrested for the blasts.
"By God and my mother, there will be justice!" Chavez roared.
Chavez also praised this week's arrest of a man for the killings of three dissident soldiers and an anti-government activist whose bound, tortured bodies were found last month. Tayro Aristiguieta, who was arrested in a Caracas slum, confessed to the killings, Chavez said.
Detectives said the killings were not politically motivated, although protesters said they believe the government was behind the slayings.
Also Saturday, soldiers were sent into the streets to launch a new government food distribution program, selling discount staples at open air markets in poor neighborhoods nationwide.
The initiative comes ahead of predicted food shortages, as opposition producers say they cannot continue operating under the government's new price controls.
Fixed prices for basic goods such as meat, rice and medicines were introduced as inflation -- fueled by a rapidly devaluating bolivar currency -- threatened to spiral out of control.
CUBA SENDS FOOD HELP ***** Shouting "Killers" and "Lackeys," the protesters crowded around the DISIP vehicles, beating with their fists on their roofs and sides. The windows of at least one car were broken. Chavez, a fiery populist who was first elected in 1998 and survived a coup last year, has condemned the strike leaders as "terrorists" and "coup mongers" trying to overthrow him. He has called for them to be arrested and jailed and has also fired more than 15,000 state oil workers.
Waving national flags, the opposition demonstrators demanded a halt to what they described as a political vendetta by the president against the leaders of the strike. Anti-Chavez business chief Carlos Fernandez is under house arrest on charges of rebellion and criminal instigation. Other strike organizers sought by the government, such as Juan Fernandez and union boss Carlos Ortega, have eluded police.
As the protesters gathered, Chavez told a meeting of supporters in a Caracas theater that Venezuela had received donations of sugar and beans from communist Cuba to help his government fight food shortages caused by the recent strike. Chavez thanked his political ally and friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro, for the cargoes of 10,000 tonnes of sugar and 5,000 tonnes of black beans. He said these were being sold cheaply to the poor in the government's food program. "The Cubans gave up 10 million kilos (10,000 tonnes) of sugar from their own reserves ... they didn't want to accept payment, they said we could pay for them whenever we could," the president said. Cuba receives oil from Venezuela on preferential terms under a bilateral energy deal.
Chavez's opponents, who include private business leaders, union bosses and dissident military officers, accuse him of ruining the economy with his anti-capitalist rhetoric and left-wing, statist economic policies. They say he is trying to recreate Cuban-style communism in Venezuela. The president condemns his opponents as a rich, resentful "oligarchy" opposed to his self-styled "revolution."
Chavez announced the creation of a state-run network of shops which would sell cheap food to the poor. The idea appeared to be a replica of a similar system existing in Cuba. ***
Brazil blocking conference to deal with Latin crises*** Judging from the speeches and the talk in the hallways I heard at a top-level conference on military affairs earlier this week, there is a big bad boy who is blocking plans to solve Latin America's multiple crises -- Brazil. It's not that Brazil has done anything dreadful since the Jan. 1 inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said several participants at the meeting on ''Building Regional Security'' organized by the University of Miami's North-South Center. On the contrary, da Silva has proven to be more level-headed than many Washington conservatives had anticipated.
Rather, the problem is that Brazil, the biggest country in South America, is sitting on the sidelines while the neighborhood is afire, several of the speakers said. Brazil is still paralyzed by 19th century fears of U.S. imperial designs, which have long driven it to instinctively reject almost anything coming from Washington or supported by Washington, regardless of its merits, they said. These days, Brazil is effectively blocking a Canadian-sponsored proposal to hold an emergency summit with President Bush and 33 other elected leaders in the hemisphere, aimed at doing something about the escalating crises in Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Haiti and several other countries.
Such a presidential summit would, among other things, force the Bush administration to pay some attention to Latin America, which fell off White House radar screens after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But while the United States, Mexico, Caribbean nations and most South American countries support the emergency summit, which would be held in September in Mexico, Brazil is stone-walling the proposal, Canadian and U.S. officials say. ''Everybody is mystified as to why Brazil doesn't go along,'' says Paul D. Durand, Canada's ambassador to the Organization of American States.***
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