Comrade Marcel
16th December 2002, 00:19
People's Weekly World Newspaper, Dec 14, 2002 Two million Venezuelans
marched through Caracas, Dec. 8, to defend their countrys Constitution and
stop a second coup detat aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez. The
outpouring was not mentioned in the U.S. media. Tribuna Popula, newspaper of
the Communist Party of Venezuela (CPV), reported that people turned out in
anger and alarm against a general strike, more accurately a corporate
lockout, instigated by wealthy business owners and backed up by the private
media.
The lockout was sputtering until captains seized seven Venezuelan oil
tankers, crippling Venezuelas vital oil industry. Chavez sent in marines to
get the tankers moving, Tribuna reported, but the crews said they would only
turn the ships over to certified personnel. Thousands of Chavez supporters
surrounded the La Campina installation of the Venezuelan national oil
company, known by its initials, PDVSA, to block the coup elements from
seizing the facility. Thousands also surrounded the offices of five
commercial TV stations to protest their subversive role in instigating
against Chavez and the Constitution.
An unknown gunman opened fire on anti-Chavez demonstrators, Dec. 7, killing
three and injuring 28. These provocations provided an opening for the
right-wing forces to call for intervention by the Organization of American
States (OAS) against Chavez. OAS secretary general Cesar Gaviria is in
Caracas to mediate the crisis.
We must make ready once more for the defense of the Constitution,
President Chavez said in a Dec. 5 statement. A plan is in motion which
attempts to bring down the national government, using any methods
whatsoever. He announced he has ordered the National Guard to protect
patriotic forces in the oil industry to get it back into production.
A trade union federation in Carabobo warned, Those sectors who maintain
this strike indefinitely, at all costs, want to produce acts of violence,
destabilization and shortage of food and products so that the town is
drained and the people rebel, so that transportation and the industries do
not function and the PDVSA comes to a virtual halt. The trade union group
called on the government to call a mobilization of the people to confront
this coupist stoppage. It demanded the jailing of the main instigators,
Carlos Fernandez and Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuelas chamber of commerce,
who led the abortive April 11 coup attempt with overt and covert backing of
the Bush Administration. An outpouring by millions of Venezuelans defeated
that coup and reinstated Chavez in the Miraflores Presidential Palace.
Heinz Dieterich Steffan, writing in Narco News Bulletin, which exposes the
U.S. role in Latin Americas narcotics trade, points out that Venezuelas
Bolivarian Constitution, the most democratic in Latin America, permits a
vote to recall Chavez next August. But the coup plotters cant wait. Why?
Steffan argues that the counter-revolutionary forces fear the Bolivarian
movement will consolidate their hold. Several laws are scheduled to take
effect Jan. 1, 2003 including a sweeping land reform measure and other
economic reform measures, like The Hydrocarbon law. Steffan said this law
will permit the dismantling of PDVSA, the corrupt oil group that controls
the economic life of the country and that is an integral part of the New
World Energy Order of George Bush. The U.S. imports more than a million
barrels of oil daily from Venezuela, but only 20 percent of the oil revenues
go to the Venezuelan government, while 80 percent benefits Venezuelas
elite. In 1974, 80 percent of oil revenues went to the government.
The CPV released a statement warning that the Constitution is in grave
danger and warned against the illusion that conciliation will satisfy the
coup elements. We ought to be clearly aware that this process reflects a
war for power, the CPV statement said. The enemies are resorting to low
intensity conflict, first used by the Reagan administration to destabilize
Nicaragua and undermine the Sandinista government, the statement charged.
At the heart of the conflict, it states, is the U.S. Empire against the
homeland of Bolivar, referring to Simon Bolivar, father of South American
independence. The statement cited the Bush administrations Santa Fe
Document IV calling for direct U.S. intervention to destroy Bolivarian-style
movements in Latin America in the name of combatting terrorism and drug
trafficking.
Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld was seeking to lay the basis for U.S. military
intervention anywhere in Latin America during a meeting of western
hemisphere defense ministers in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 18. In the name of
curbing terrorism and combating drug trafficking, Rumseld called on Latin
American Defense Ministers to tighten their collaboration with the Pentagon,
starting with joint naval operations.
The CPV also referred to a letter sent by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) to Bush
raising the specter of what he called an axis of evil in the Americas,
consisting of Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. Hyde, chair of the House
International Relations Committee, wrote the letter a few days before
Brazils Oct. 27 election, in which 61 percent of voters cast their ballots
for union metalworker Luis Inacio Lula de Silva better known as Lula.
Chavez, too, was elected twice by strong majorities.
Hyde falsely accused Lula of seeking to make Brazil a nuclear power. He
likewise lied in accusing Chavez of violating Venezuelas constitution and
allying himself with sponsors of terrorism, including Cuba, Iraq and Iran.
Added Hyde, This is the time for the Bush Administration to declare
itself in sympathy with this second oil coup. Hydes letter suggests that
if Bush succeeds in his plan to invade Iraq he will move on to invade South
America next. Source of this article: People's Weekly World
marched through Caracas, Dec. 8, to defend their countrys Constitution and
stop a second coup detat aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez. The
outpouring was not mentioned in the U.S. media. Tribuna Popula, newspaper of
the Communist Party of Venezuela (CPV), reported that people turned out in
anger and alarm against a general strike, more accurately a corporate
lockout, instigated by wealthy business owners and backed up by the private
media.
The lockout was sputtering until captains seized seven Venezuelan oil
tankers, crippling Venezuelas vital oil industry. Chavez sent in marines to
get the tankers moving, Tribuna reported, but the crews said they would only
turn the ships over to certified personnel. Thousands of Chavez supporters
surrounded the La Campina installation of the Venezuelan national oil
company, known by its initials, PDVSA, to block the coup elements from
seizing the facility. Thousands also surrounded the offices of five
commercial TV stations to protest their subversive role in instigating
against Chavez and the Constitution.
An unknown gunman opened fire on anti-Chavez demonstrators, Dec. 7, killing
three and injuring 28. These provocations provided an opening for the
right-wing forces to call for intervention by the Organization of American
States (OAS) against Chavez. OAS secretary general Cesar Gaviria is in
Caracas to mediate the crisis.
We must make ready once more for the defense of the Constitution,
President Chavez said in a Dec. 5 statement. A plan is in motion which
attempts to bring down the national government, using any methods
whatsoever. He announced he has ordered the National Guard to protect
patriotic forces in the oil industry to get it back into production.
A trade union federation in Carabobo warned, Those sectors who maintain
this strike indefinitely, at all costs, want to produce acts of violence,
destabilization and shortage of food and products so that the town is
drained and the people rebel, so that transportation and the industries do
not function and the PDVSA comes to a virtual halt. The trade union group
called on the government to call a mobilization of the people to confront
this coupist stoppage. It demanded the jailing of the main instigators,
Carlos Fernandez and Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuelas chamber of commerce,
who led the abortive April 11 coup attempt with overt and covert backing of
the Bush Administration. An outpouring by millions of Venezuelans defeated
that coup and reinstated Chavez in the Miraflores Presidential Palace.
Heinz Dieterich Steffan, writing in Narco News Bulletin, which exposes the
U.S. role in Latin Americas narcotics trade, points out that Venezuelas
Bolivarian Constitution, the most democratic in Latin America, permits a
vote to recall Chavez next August. But the coup plotters cant wait. Why?
Steffan argues that the counter-revolutionary forces fear the Bolivarian
movement will consolidate their hold. Several laws are scheduled to take
effect Jan. 1, 2003 including a sweeping land reform measure and other
economic reform measures, like The Hydrocarbon law. Steffan said this law
will permit the dismantling of PDVSA, the corrupt oil group that controls
the economic life of the country and that is an integral part of the New
World Energy Order of George Bush. The U.S. imports more than a million
barrels of oil daily from Venezuela, but only 20 percent of the oil revenues
go to the Venezuelan government, while 80 percent benefits Venezuelas
elite. In 1974, 80 percent of oil revenues went to the government.
The CPV released a statement warning that the Constitution is in grave
danger and warned against the illusion that conciliation will satisfy the
coup elements. We ought to be clearly aware that this process reflects a
war for power, the CPV statement said. The enemies are resorting to low
intensity conflict, first used by the Reagan administration to destabilize
Nicaragua and undermine the Sandinista government, the statement charged.
At the heart of the conflict, it states, is the U.S. Empire against the
homeland of Bolivar, referring to Simon Bolivar, father of South American
independence. The statement cited the Bush administrations Santa Fe
Document IV calling for direct U.S. intervention to destroy Bolivarian-style
movements in Latin America in the name of combatting terrorism and drug
trafficking.
Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld was seeking to lay the basis for U.S. military
intervention anywhere in Latin America during a meeting of western
hemisphere defense ministers in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 18. In the name of
curbing terrorism and combating drug trafficking, Rumseld called on Latin
American Defense Ministers to tighten their collaboration with the Pentagon,
starting with joint naval operations.
The CPV also referred to a letter sent by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) to Bush
raising the specter of what he called an axis of evil in the Americas,
consisting of Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. Hyde, chair of the House
International Relations Committee, wrote the letter a few days before
Brazils Oct. 27 election, in which 61 percent of voters cast their ballots
for union metalworker Luis Inacio Lula de Silva better known as Lula.
Chavez, too, was elected twice by strong majorities.
Hyde falsely accused Lula of seeking to make Brazil a nuclear power. He
likewise lied in accusing Chavez of violating Venezuelas constitution and
allying himself with sponsors of terrorism, including Cuba, Iraq and Iran.
Added Hyde, This is the time for the Bush Administration to declare
itself in sympathy with this second oil coup. Hydes letter suggests that
if Bush succeeds in his plan to invade Iraq he will move on to invade South
America next. Source of this article: People's Weekly World