Earlier Report from Steve Ellner (4/11)

["Jay Moore" <research@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jay: There are rumors here in Venezuela and abroad that the military is
demanding Chavez's resignation, but I do not believe these are any more than
rumors. We are living an
extremely tense situation. But until now, the military is backing Chavez,
rumors notwithstanding. The opposition, for its part, juega sucio. All the
TV channels and radio stations do is to broadcast about the protests of the
opposition. And I believe they have suspended their regular programing, so
that people just watch this baloney all day long. But the Chavez people are
also mobilized and they are out in equal numbers. You see them in the state
channel and I've seen them on the streets here in Barcelona-PLC. Last night
Aristobulo Isturiz gave one of the best speeches I have heard in my life. He
called the revolution "multi-cultural" saying "I am black" and talked a bit
about what that meant -- unusual or rather unique for Venezuelan politics. I
heard it on the state channel but I do not think that the commercial
channels broadcasted it. I really don't think that things were very
different in the Soviet Union or in Nazi Germany with regard to the media.
What we have here is the dictatorship of the media. Nevertheless, the
extension of the strike beyond the first two days has been a failure. My
wife and I drove around Barcelona and PLC today to check things out, and
nearly all stores are open. Events, however, are moving quickly and so I do
not dare make definitive predictions. Steve


~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.