Venezuela

[kloMcKinsey <klomckin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Agence France Presse
> December 14, 2002 Saturday
> SECTION: International News
> LENGTH: 588 words
> HEADLINE: Chavez raises the ante in Venezuela's conflict, US calls
> for elections
> BYLINE: PATRICK MOSER
> DATELINE: CARACAS, Dec 13
>
> BODY: As Venezuela's volatile conflict led to a US call for early
> elections, President Hugo Chavez raised the ante Friday, threatening
> to import staff to replace strikers who have paralyzed the vital oil
> sector.
>
> "If we have to bring in technicians from other countries, they will
> come," said Chavez, whose government is under intense pressure from a
> 12-day-old general strike staged in support of demands for his
> resignation.
>
> The leftist-populist president said he would not hesitate to fire 80
> percent of managers and technical staff of Petroleos de Venezuela if
> that proves necessary to jumpstart the stalled state oil company.
> Chavez pointed out that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
> Countries (OPEC) offered to temporarily supply oil to Venezuela's
> clients, and said the cartel also expressed willingness to deploy oil
> tankers to the South American country.
>
> The strike has paralyzed oil exports, usually around 2.5 million
barrels a
> day.
>
> On Friday, dissident Petroleos de Venezuela managers said domestic
> supplies would run out within two days, a claim that contrasted with
> the government's insistance there was enough fuel to last a long time.

>
> The United States, the main importer of Venezuelan oil, expressed
> deep concern over the situation, citing a warning by an international
> mediator that the country "could erupt into violence."
>
> "The United States is convinced that the only peaceful and
> politically viable path to moving out of the crisis is through the
> holding of early elections," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

My reply,
        Wrong, wrong!  That is not a path toward peace but toward civil
violence on a much larger scale.
        It is quite apparent that the United States government, in
league
with reactionary forces in Venezuela, is aiding and financing efforts to

bring down the Chavez government via every kind of pressure it can
muster.
In response, it should be made equally clear by the Chavez government
that it
is a completely, legally established government with majority support
that
has no intention of ignoring the constitution by complying with rightist

demands to resign or calling early elections.  The constitutional
process
will be adhered to and if that requires stern measures then the
opposition
brought it on themselves.
        Anti-Chavez demonstrators should be allowed to march and protest

until their legs wear out as long as the demonstrators are peaceful and
do
not disrupt normal social/economic/business activities.  Those who
refuse to
comply should be immediately arrested and if this leads to hundreds or
even
thousands being incarcerated, so be it.  After 9/11 the United States
did not
hesitate to go to Afghanistan, seize hundreds of people, transport them
thousands of miles to Cuba, hold them without charges, lawyers, or the
right
of habeas corpus and all this was done to people who have never even
been in
the United States or adjudicated guilty of taking action against the
United
States.  The United States government was in no danger of falling via
internal subversion and yet the Bill of Rights and several
constitutional
guarantees were trashed.  For a listing of these abrogations of civil
rights
and civil liberties of people who are not even American citizens I would

invite people to go to my website at:
http://www.ameritech.net/users/klomckin/HomePage.html
and read #6 under Facts I Gathered which is entitled "Serious Erosion of

Civil Liberties."
        The degree to which hard-ball should be played by the Venezuelan

government is contingent on the degree to which the opposition ignores
the
law and the constitution and employs tactics and strategies that are
clearly
outside the purview of what any responsible government can allow.
        Make no mistake about it.  This is a serious struggle that
requires
firm actions.  Chavez is no Allende because of the difference in their
policies and ideologies, but capitalists struggling for wealth and
meeting
non-compliant governments are not known for making distinctions.
Overthrowing Chavez, especially as a result of other recent Latin
American
elections, has risen significantly on the capitalist list of priorities,

resulting in an increased inflow of funds, intelligence, agents,
supplies,
propaganda, and equipment to subvert the legitimate Venezuelan
government.
        One can't help but note that OPEC has volunteered to support the

Chavez government no doubt having felt the same kinds of pressures from
the
US in prior years.  When your allies within a cartel begin to support
your
struggle with another outside power that pressures them as well, one
can't
help but conclude that your position is quite potent and that outside
power
has overplayed its hand and is alienating beyond its national welfare.

for the cause,

Klo


>
>
> Chavez, whose mandate ends in 2006, has rejected opposition demands
> that elections be held within months, and accused his right-wing foes
> of fomenting civil war and plotting his ouster.
>
> Both sides remained firmly entrenched in their positions, while
> warning the crisis could explode into violence.
>
> Venezuela's Roman Catholic church Friday issued a dramatic plea for
> reconciliation, warning that armed groups threatened to plunge
> conflict-torn Venezuela into a violent tragedy.
>
> Standard and Poor's also expressed concern over developments, cutting
> Venezuela's credit rating and citing an "increasing probability of
> default."
>
> The US credit rating agency cut Venezuela's long-term foreign
> currency sovereign rating to CCC+ from B- in a sign that the nation
> is vulnerable to default.
>
> "Removal of President Chavez would likely lead to a heightened
> mobilization of his supporters and result in increased violence,"
> said S and P sovereign analyst Richard Francis.
>
> Government opponents, headed by business and labor leaders, were set
> to stage a massive rally on Saturday, which they dubbed "the taking
> of Caracas" and pledge would be the largest protest in the history of
> Latin America.
>
> On Friday, several thousand Chavez supporters including vigilantes,
> massed outside the Miraflores government palace in Caracas to show
> their support for the president, as a similar number of people
> gathered at East Caracas square to demand that Chavez step down.
>
> Both sides accused each other of sowing the seeds of violence, which
> already marked the conflict when three people were gunned down during
> a December 6 protest in Caracas.
>
> Justice and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said it was suspicious
> that opposition leaders "are announcing there will be attacks and
> violence."
>
> "In April they also had the booklet in hand and knew what would
> occur," he said in reference to the April 12 ouster of Chavez, who
> regained power after 47 hours.
> --
> Yoshie






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