Re: Re: RE: Re: Re: Chavez?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 14 Apr 2002 13:23:09 -0700, Michael Perelman wrote:
>Lou, what about the union?  What was its beef?

Riots Against Venezuelan Oil Union Rock Monagas
Drillbits & Tailings
Volume 4, Number 7
May 3, 1999

Riots have plagued Venezuela's oil towns following the killing in
March of Rolando Marcano, an unemployed worker who decided to
challenge the power of the oil unions.

Venezuela, the third largest oil exporting country in the world, has
traditionally given Fedepetrol and Fetrahidrocarburos -- the two big
oil union federations -- the power to distribute six out of every ten
jobs in the oil industry. These two unions have enjoyed this
privilege because of their close ties to the two-party ruling
establishment which has shared power since 1958.

In towns like El Tejero, in the eastern state of Monagas, residents
say Jose Vicente Pereira, their local union leader, has ruled the
town for 25 years like a personal fiefdom, handing out jobs in
exchange for bribes, building a business empire with the proceeds and
founding his own political party allied to state government.

"There is enough wealth here to satisfy all the pressure for work.
But unfortunately those who have reached positions of power only want
to make money instead of serve the public," said Conrado Penaloza, a
local member of parliament.

"Do you know what oil left here? Hungry children without fathers,
because they (migrant oil workers) would come from outside, get our
women pregnant and then leave," said Eduardo Patete, an agricultural
worker.

Both Penaloza and Patete are members of the political party of Hugo
Chavez, a former army paratrooper who was elected president of the
country earlier this year in a landslide vote, after promising to
stamp out corruption. Fedepetrol and Fetrahidrocarburos voluntarily
gave up their job distribution privileges at Chavez's request.

Emboldened by the national union's promises, Marcano joined some
unemployed men seeking to overturn Pereira's powerful union in El
Tejero. Unfortunately Marcano was shot and killed in March at
Schlumberger's Rig 78 on the edge of town when his group was attacked
by an angry mob of armed unionists, led by Pereira's son, Nanin.

Since then Maturin, the Monagas capital, has been rocked by street
violence as angry mobs attacked the State Legislative Assembly
building and looted a Punta de Mata supermarket.

Monagas State Congress president, Jose Boada has laid the blame for
the riots squarely on the shoulders of Luis Ortiz, head of the
unemployed oil workers committee, who wants the Assembly to strip
Pereira of his parliamentary immunity, to face charges in the
slaying.

In related news, environmentalists are hoping that the new Venezuelan
government will support their causes with Chavez's surprise
appointment of Atala Uriana Pocaterra, a Wayuu indigenous leader and
professor, to the position of environment minister. Her first act was
to pledge to fight logging and mining interests.

SOURCES: "Death taints suspect Venezuelan oil union" By Tom Ashby,
Reuters, April 28, 1999. "National Guard (GN) called in to quell
riots and looting" VHeadline.com (Venezuela's Electronic News) April
8, 1999. "State of Emergency in Monagas -- One dead, 15 wounded!"
VHeadline.com (Venezuela's Electronic News) March 26, 1999. "First
Indian cabinet member in Venezuela stirs hopes and fears" By Bart
Jones, Associated Press, May 1, 1999.

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Louis Proyect, lnp3@xxxxxxxxx on 04/14/2002

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