Re.: Fracas in Caracas MEMORIES

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is no better example of the self-appointed "Paper of Record"'s
class allegiance than this editorial from Saturday's New York Times.
Please pay particular attention to, and remember, the first two
sentences:

Hugo Chávez Departs
New York Times Editorial, Sat., April 13, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/opinion/_13SAT1.html

With yesterday's resignation of President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan
democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator. Mr. Chávez, a
ruinous demagogue, stepped down after the military intervened and handed
power to a respected business leader, Pedro Carmona. But democracy has
not yet been restored, and won't be until a new president is elected.
That vote has been scheduled for next spring, with new Congressional
elections to be held by this December. The prompt announcement of a
timetable is welcome, but a year seems rather long to wait for a
legitimately elected president.

 Washington has a strong stake in Venezuela's recovery. Caracas now
provides 15 percent of American oil imports, and with sounder policies
could provide more. A stable, democratic Venezuela could help anchor a
troubled region where Colombia faces expanded guerrilla warfare, Peru is
seeing a rebirth of terrorism and Argentina struggles with a devastating
economic crisis. Wisely, Washington never publicly demonized Mr. Chávez,
denying him the role of nationalist martyr. Rightly, his removal was a
purely Venezuelan affair.

 Public faith in Venezuela's institutions began eroding well before Mr.
Chávez burst on the scene with a failed 1992 coup. Corruption
discredited both main parties, and a patronage-fueled bureaucracy
devoured the country's abundant oil revenues, leaving many Venezuelans
desperately poor. Mr. Chávez was elected president in 1998 promising
change he never delivered. He courted Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein,
battled the media and alienated virtually every constituency from
middle-class professionals, academics and business leaders to union
members and the Roman Catholic Church.

 This week's crisis began with a general strike against replacing
professional managers at the state oil company with political cronies.
It took a grave turn Thursday when armed Chávez supporters fired on
peaceful strikers, killing at least 14 and injuring hundreds. Mr.
Chávez's response was characteristic. He forced five private television
stations off the air for showing pictures of the massacre. Early
yesterday he was compelled to resign by military commanders unwilling to
order their troops to fire on fellow Venezuelans to keep him in power.
He is being held at a military base and may face charges in Thursday's
killings.

 New presidential elections should be held this year, perhaps at the
same time the new Congress is chosen. Some time is needed for plausible
national leaders to emerge and parties to reorganize. But Venezuela
urgently needs a leader with a strong democratic mandate to clean up the
mess, encourage entrepreneurial freedom and slim down and
professionalize the bureaucracy.

 One encouraging development has been the strong participation of
middle-class citizens in organizing opposition groups and street
protests. Continued civic participation could help revitalize
Venezuela's tired political parties and keep further military
involvement to a minimum.
{END}

I mean, does this even need any overt *analysis*?!
Overthrow a democratically elected President for the sake of democracy?
It fits nicely with the US President's National Security Advisor
Condoleeza Rice's warnings to Chávez on Sunday after he came back.  She
said Chávez "needs to respect constitutional processes''.  No one from
her government said any such thing to the constitution-crushing coup
leaders--only that Chávez brought it on himself! Served him right, huh?
What arrogant audacity!  No, Ariel Sharon does not have a monopoly on
such despicable qualities of character...

NOW, after shrugging along with the coup, NOW that Chávez is back, Rice
wants to forgive and forget.
``This is no time for a witch hunt,'' Rice said.
``This is a time for national reconciliation in Venezuela.''
She gave to such warning to the coup's Carmona after he took power; see:

??Carmona's aggressive pursuit of Chavez's supporters.?
By HECTOR TOBAR, Los Angeles Times, Sun., April 14, 2002
?Interim Venezuelan President Resigns?
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-041402venez.story

We can go along with one statement of her's:
"I hope that Hugo Chavez takes the message that his people sent him."
That's the weekend's message, folks.
No need to continue with Condoleeza's more outlandish pronunciations.

All of  the US President's National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice's
quotes above came from:

REUTERS,  April 14, 2002
"U.S. Offers Tough Message to Venezuela's Chavez"
Filed at 12:28 p.m. ET

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,  April 14, 2002
"U.S. Advises Chavez to Respect Democracy"
Filed at 4:37 p.m. ET

( I love the AP's headline! ;)

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