October
2, 2002
Narco News '02
On Venezuela
and
Democracy
Part
I: Overview
of
the
Conflict
By Ron
Smith
Reporting
from Venezuela
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
In
Caracas, Venezuela today there is a major conflict, from the rhetoric, one would believe that it
was a battle between an authoritarian government and a grassroots
democracy movement. What will be described here is the white
(or red, or green) washing of an anti-democratic movement, orchestrated
to appear as a genuine grassroots opposition movement by the
most powerful forces in this country.
First, a little background. Hugo Chavez
Frias is the current president of Venezuela, he came to power
in a landslide electoral victory in 1998, buoyed by his claims
to oppose all of the traditional power sectors in Venezuelan
society, to create a revolution of the political system which
he calls Venezuela´s 5th republic, and his anti-neoliberal
platform. He and his now moribund party, the MVR, Movimiento
V Republica, have won several elections and referendums including
a total revamp of the Venezuelan constitution and a an electoral
sweep of sympathetic deputies into the national assembly. Chavez`s
government seen several changes of positions, as some of the
leading personalities have left the MVR to join the opposition.
Chavez`s main successes have not been
radical changes to the Economic or social situation here in Venezuela.
One theme on which seemingly everyone can agree is the heightened
level of public participation in the political processes of Venezuela.
In every café, at every Metro station, in every street,
you can hear people talking about the political situation in
Venezuela. His other major changes include the introduction of
"La Ley de Tierras," a liberal land reform law, and
"La Ley de Pescas," a major change to the fishing regulations
designed to prioritize small scale local fishing over large-scale
industrial export fishing. Probably the most dramatic change
has been the legalization of small independent television and
radio stations, previously called "pirate" stations.
It's fascinating to notice that no station is called pirate anymore,
there has been a complete legalization (without any noticeable
deterioration of signal prophesied by groups like the NAB in
the US, deterioration of content is a different matter.)
Who
are the opposition?
I
can tell you a little bit about the Coordinadora Democratica. It's a coalition of all of the opposition, from
COPEI, the traditional conservative political party, to Bandera
Roja, a somewhat unrealistic Marxist Leninist party. The Coordinadora
also includes two of the most powerful forces in the country,
FEDECAMARAS, the association of business owners and CTV, possibly
the most reactionary and corrupt federation of unions on this
continent. Whatever the CD looked like at the beginning, it's
since been completely hijacked by the extreme right.
I have attended two rallies of the extreme
right in the past 10 days, the first on Friday, October 20th,
the second on Thursday, September 26th. The first was a micro
rally in the upscale neighborhood of Altamira in the Chacao district
of Venezuela. The rally was dominated by a van plastered with
anti-Chavez posters and equipped with an extremely powerful sound
system. Various speakers arrived and shouted reasons that the
crowd should despise and overthrow Chavez. The speeches were
accompanied by frenzied flag waving and cheers. I milled through
the mostly upper- and middle class crowd to get some interviews.
When I approached various protestors, they said "We want
an end to castrocommunism", and the like, but no details.
When I asked a student if Pedro Carmona Estanga, the short lived
president of the last coup attempt, would be better than Chavez,
after some hesitation the answer was "Anyone but Chavez".
One thing you can be sure of is that if there is a successful
coup, it won't be for press freedom or democracy, one of Carmona's
first acts was to close canal 8, the state-run television channel,
and the only channel that did not openly support the coup.
The fact is that there a numerous complaints
that can be made about Chavez's government, including the lack
of backbone in terms of neoliberal reforms and the new trend
in the government to make deals with the US government, including
allowing the previously denied US drug overflights to Colombia.
The biggest problem with the opposition movement is that the
individual members have allowed the CD to become a monolithic
anti-Chavez machine. Any moderate or left leaning opposition
is lost in a fury of extreme right-wing propaganda. This is largely
the fault of the most powerful members of the opposition, but
it also can be attributed to numerous smaller political groups
who have latched on to the CD as an easy way of appearing more
powerful. An independent opposition from the left and from popular
organizers would probably do this country some good, but the
fact is that at this point in Venezuelan history, there are two
positions you can take in regards to Chavez, you´re either
'fer it or agin it.' If you are agin it, you voice is lost in
the maelstrom of rightist anti-Chavez propaganda.
What
Happened on April 11th?
or,
when a 'power vacuum' is really just a coup.
This
is a large part of the controversy
that has played a major role in forming the political situation
here in Caracas. On April 9th, strikes were called by the CTV,
the Central de Trabajadores Venezolanos, at the behest of FEDECAMARAS,
the association of business owners. It may seem somewhat odd
that a union would call a strike after being asked by the representatives
of the most powerful industries here in Venezuela, but the corruption
of the CTV runs to its core. On April 11th, there was a major
protest against the Chavez government, with most sane estimates
placing the size of the protest at around 250,000 people. What
is certain is that there was a confrontation under a bridge a
block away from the presidential palace, and the result was 19
deaths and a great number of injuries. This is where the propaganda
machines really get into gear. According to the Venezuelan press,
Chavez´s goons, the Guardia Nacional, started firing indiscriminately
into the crowd to enforce their dictatorial duties to suppress
dissent. The television stations in Caracas continually showed
images of corpses and people firing weapons. The Chavez government
and its supporters claim that the opposition forces began the
shooting, and that the GN was acting entirely in self-defense.
At this point, it's extremely difficult to know what really happened,
although numerous human rights groups are working on reports
of what happened in the conflict, and the Defensoria of Human
Rights of the Chavez government has released a preliminary report
with another forthcoming. The problem with the mainstream media's
story is that at least 9 of the dead were Chavez supporters.
Little facts like this don't really affect the mainstream media's
reporting of the issue. In the afternoon of April 11th, El
Nacional released a special edition prophesying the end of
the Chavez regime.
On the evening of April 11th, the media
reported that Hugo Chavez had resigned his position in the government
because of his guilt about the murders of the innocent protestors,
and the head of FEDECAMARAS did his duty to fill the 'power vacuum'
and took over the presidency. Never mind that nowhere in the
constitution does it mention the right of the head of the corporate
association to take over the presidency. Pedro Carmona Estanga
took power and created a 'government of transition' where he
assumed absolute power and pledged to hold new elections in one
year. His regime was marked by closures of public broadcasting
facilities, dissolution of the legislative bodies of the state,
and a fierce campaign against the reforms passed by Chavez since
his entry into office. Democracy was declared, photos of police
dragging people into police cars were accompanied by captions
describing justice being served to pro-Chavez assassins, everything
seemed to be going quite well for the golpistas. The problem
was that in reality, it was a coup d'etat,
and the supposed document proving the renunciation of the presidency
by Chavez was never produced. Massive protests broke out all
over the country, most sources agree that over 1 million participants
flooded the street to demand an end to the Carmona regime and
a return to El Processo of Chavez. By the morning of the 14th,
Chavez was back in power and Carmona fled to Colombia in exile.
This history is constantly being denied
in the Venezuelan papers and television stations. "There
was no coup, it was democracy". "We'll always remember
April 11th". This revisionist view of history is denied
even by CNN who at the time called the situation a Coup d'etat,
as did the vast majority of the world community, with the exception
of some remarkable comments by our own president, the result
of a similar act of "democracy".
Every day since I arrived in Venezuela,
there has been a huge media campaign to fire up the public imagination
about a Venezuela without Chavez. Many right wing protesters
asked me why CNN wanted a Soviet Republic in Venezuela, and why
the US wanted a new Castro Cuba in all of South America. This
is related to the fact that CNN actually called the coup a coup,
instead of the usual "Government of Transition" or
"Power Vacuum" that is always mentioned in the local
press.
Democracy
and Freedom of Speech
The
Chavez government has been condemned every day by the mainstream
press here and by the CTV and FEDECAMARAS
for its alleged crackdown on press freedoms here. A recent delegation
by the Inter-American Press Association (SIP, in its Spanish
initials), an international press organization, revealed their
position on the state of affairs in Venezuela. "Chavez is
a Fascist, says Faschetto," screamed the headlines. Jorge
Faschetto, the Argentinian member of the delegation released
this statement before arriving in Venezuela. Robert
Cox, the other delegation member and Faschetto appeared at
a press conference at the CTV building and declared that "Closing
of television stations is next!". If such an important international
press organization would condemn Chavez so openly, there must
really be an oppressive regime here. What begins to make one
feel as though they've stepped into "Bizarro World"
is that every day, the television stations accuse the Chavez
government of oppressing freedom of speech. Every news program
includes denunciations of the Chavez's oppression of speech,
and the lack of freedom of speech is blasted across the headlines
of the major papers. These denunciations are interspersed with
the other denunciations of the "castrocommunist" regime.
A very grim future is constantly predicted, and the television
stations advertise major anti-government rallies a week before
they happen, and demand that people come out to support democracy.
This does not look like any abrogation of the freedom of speech
that I've ever seen.
I've interviewed people from many sides
in the media industry and I can say that freedom
of speech is indeed threatened, but not by the government.
Venezuelan media today is an extreme example of self-censorship.
The major press organizations are all in concert to oppose Chavez,
any writer who makes a statement opposing the opposition risks
immediate firing. As the SIP (Robert Cox and Jorge Faschetto)
claimed that the Chavez government is threatening press freedom,
I asked an independent-minded reporter at el Nacional, Vanessa
Davies, if there was any truth to these claims, she laughed.
There have been no actions what so ever by the Chavez government
to close the press, or to openly oppose their freedom of speech.
If not for the rule passed by Chavez recently that large companies
can't fire their workers for a period, my journalist friend would
have lost her job a long time ago.
El Nacional Reporter Vanessa Davies:
Threats to Press Freedom Come
from
the Commercial Media, not the
State
Photo:
D.R. 2002 By Al Giordano
I
asked the editor of Tal Cual an opposition paper, and the Executive President of El Nacional what
threats to press freedom Chavez presented. I also asked a right-leaning
human rights organization that represents mainstream journalists
what the threats were from Chavez. The answer in all three cases
was that Chavez has threatened members of the press and incited
the pro-Chavez forces to violence against the press. When I asked
for a concrete example, the reply was "He said the press
was full of shit". Not exactly a concerted oppressive campaign
in my book. There has been some violence against reporters' equipment
and cars by angry crowds in various locations around the country,
each incident discussed for hours on the television stations.
When I arrived, the car of a crew of Globovision, the worst offender
in terms of anti-Chavez propaganda, was apparently beaten up
by an angry mob. The camera gear was apparently stolen and then
returned by a member of the crowd. The police and the National
Guard did little or nothing to stop the crowd. While the press
claimed that this showed the government's lack of respect for
freedom of speech, Globovision has been openly calling for the
overthrow of the Chavez government every day, not exactly the
way to get sympathy from the same government. The fact is that
Chavez has opened up the possibilities for independent media
freedom, including legalizing pirate radio and television stations.
Independent producers are respected by national guardsmen and
get all of the government access privileges that are accorded
to the mainstream press. More about this in part 2.
What
Now?
There
is another general work stoppage being planned
by FEDECAMARAS and CTV for the 10th of October. A point of interest
is that the strikes that are being called here in Venezuela are
not at all called by the unions, corrupt as they may be, they´re
called by FEDECAMARAS, the organization of companies. The CTV,
the biggest confederation of unions, take their orders from FEDECAMARAS.
Last week, CTV said, when asked if there will be a new work stoppage,
that it depends on the will of FEDECAMARAS. I attended a press
conference of CTV, where Carlos Ortega, the head of CTV said
¨vamos por la guerra¨ (we are going to war). When
I attended said press conference, I was invited to a back room
to meet the executive committee of CTV, and who would be in the
room but 3 admirals who assisted in the coup in April. This is
especially troubling because the coup in April started with a
"general work stoppage" (not a strike) on April 9th.
The fact is that the government here is much better prepared
now for an attempted coup, but the fact is the Middle and Upper
classes are trying to form a united front in the Coordinadora
Democratica (CD).
There is always a possibility of a golpe
de estado (coup d'etat) here in Venezuela. The media are
complete protagonists in the conflict, and they want to create
the appearance of a massive popular movement to overthrow Chavez.
The fact is that at this point, the golpistas are still unpopular
with the majority of the people, but that could change by the
10th if the media campaign continues, which it most certainly
will. The mainstream media blatantly lies about the Chavez government
and the popular support of a coup. I attended a right-wing golpista
rally on thursday, September 26th, and when it started, the plaza
was empty, but after a couple hours of complete media saturation
, the plaza filled with about 10,000 people, at most. El Nacional
published a photo the next day saying the plaza was filled will
over 200,000 protesters. I've seen 80,000 protesters in Seattle,
and to say that the miniscule Plaza of Meritocracy in Chacao
was filled with 200,000 people is only possible if you believe
that you could fit 100 people per square meter.
I'd say that a coup attempt is very likely,
a successful coup attempt is very much less likely, but still
a possibility. One thing that may affect the coup plotters is
that the US ambassador Shapiro indicated, although very gently,
that he would prefer that the anti-Chavez groupings work through
constitutional means, which most people here interpret as opposition
to a coup. Talk is cheap, but people here are very conscious
of the US preoccupation with Iraq, and their inability to devote
a large amount of attention and support to a possible coup.
Look for part 2, where
you will find analysis of Venezuelan drug policy, the appearance
of true Venezuelan Paramilitaries in the service of landowners,
and the state of community media here in Caracas.
Ron Smith is an independent Journalist
and Filmmaker who lives in Mill Valley California when not gallivanting
around Latin America documenting popular movements. Ron Smith
has created several documentary shorts, including the film Resistance
as Democracy, an analysis of the state of the grassroots labor
and anti-globalization movements in El Salvador. He is currently
working on a documentary about US military aid to Colombia.
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