VENEZUELA: Anti-Chavez Forces Gear Up for New Offensive

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Oct 18 2002 (IPS) - Political parties and civil society groups in Venezuela opposed to President Hugo Chávez and his ”Bolivarian social revolution” signed a new ”pact for reconstruction”, which they see as a programme for a transitional government, as they prepare for next Monday’s general strike.

The 12-hour stoppage will be the third of its kind held in less than a year to demand Chávez’s resignation and call for early elections.

The populist president took office in 1999 and was elected again under a new constitution in 2000. His term ends in 2006.

The protest is being promoted by a continuous stream of publicity on TV, radio and the print media by Fedecámaras, the main business association; the Venezuelan Confederation of Workers (CTV), the biggest central trade union; and the 34 parties and civil society organisations grouped in the umbrella Democratic Coordinator.

The organisations backing the strike include business associations, trade groups, industrialists, farmers, private schools and pharmacies, as well as trade unions representing health workers, teachers and other public employees.

But workers in the oil, gas, petrochemical and steel-making industries and mass transit employees in Caracas have announced that they will not join the strike.

The associations of small and medium-sized businesses and shops have left the decision up to each of their members.

The strike organisers have urged ”society as a whole” to join in – a messaged aimed at the 50 percent of the economically active population that works in the informal sector of the economy and thus is not represented by any trade union.

The call also targets the 1.8 million people who are unemployed in this country of 24 million. According to the National Institute of Statistics, the unemployment rate currently stands at 15.5 percent.

In response to Chávez’s contention that the strike ”conceals intentions to stage another coup d’etat,” the president of Fedecámaras, Carlos Fernández, said the work stoppage was being held ”to demand a peaceful, constitutional and democratic solution to the crisis.”

The last general strike, which began on Apr 8, culminated in a massive opposition march three days later in Caracas, which ended in shooting that killed 18 people, and an Apr 12 coup headed by a group of military commanders, who designated the then-head of Fedecámaras, Pedro Carmona, as caretaker president.

However, Chávez reclaimed the presidency two days later, with the support of loyal troops and street demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of supporters.

The April strike and opposition rally were also preceded by the signing, in March, of a ”governability pact” by Fedecámaras and the CTV, with the backing of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. The 10-point pact focused on issues ranging from the fight against poverty to the need to de-politicise the armed forces.

The new ”pact for reconstruction” that was signed Thursday states that the opposition is seeking ”to open a space for reconciliation, and recover governance, with a period of transition in which a popular referendum would be organised,” said retired vice-admiral Rafael Huizi, an opposition spokesman.

On Oct 10, Chávez’s foes held a huge rally under the slogan ”Elections Now!”, demanding that he resign and call early elections. Three days later, the president’s supporters held their own demonstration, as big as, or bigger than, the opposition’s, under the theme ”Respect for the Constitution”.

”The political climate is unbreathable, and there is a risk of serious clashes,” said Huizi.

The first point of the new opposition pact calls for urgent policies to alleviate social exclusion and poverty, which to one degree or another affects seven out of 10 Venezuelans, and has increased under the burden of 25 percent inflation in the first nine months of the year.

The pact also calls for reconciliation, a restoration of the legitimacy of public authorities, efforts to fight corruption, reforms of the electoral system, and measures to generate employment and restart the economy.

The last point declares that Chávez has failed to respect the principle of the separation of the three branches of the state.

The pact also underlines the need to ”normalise Venezuela’s international relations with its traditional partners” – an allusion to the numerous diplomatic rows between the Chávez administration and the United States, and in particular to criticism by Washington of Caracas’ ties with Cuba, Iraq and Iran.

A declaration ”Against Violence: Democracy”, signed by 120 personalities from a broad range of sectors, including government partisans and critics as well as independents, was also made public on Thursday.

The statement calls for ”the people to be consulted within the framework of the constitution,” in search of a solution to the severe political division and upheaval.

A majority of the opposition groups are demanding that a referendum be held in the next few weeks to ask voters if they want Chávez to continue in office or to step down.

The opposition is orgaising the strike on the argument that Chávez ignored an ”ultimatum” which gave him until last Wednesday to resign or call a referendum.

But the president says anyone interested in a referendum on the future of his government should collect signatures to try to hold one in August 2003, the halfway-point in his term, as stipulated by the constitution.

In order to organise a referendum, 10 percent of registered voters, or 1.5 million people, must sign a petition to that effect.

Rafael Jiménez, the vice-president of parliament and one of Chávez’s backers, told foreign correspondents Thursday that he was optimistic that a peaceful solution to the crisis could be found, adding that ”at any rate, we will have elections next year.”

The secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), César Gaviria, who is trying to get the government and opposition to hold talks, says priority should be put on reforming the electoral system to create new election laws and purge the voting register.

Gaviria presented a ”commitment to peace and reconstruction”, which the government and most opposition groups have already signed.

However, the traditional parties – the social democratic Democratic Action party and the christian democratic Copei – refused to sign the document presented by Gaviria.

According to Jiménez: ”The radical vanguards of the ruling coalition and the opposition interpret their own wishes, and not those of the country, which is fed up with confrontations. The majority of the population wants Chávez to go, in peace and democracy, or to stay, in peace and democracy.”

VENEZUELA: Anti-Chavez Forces Gear Up for New Offensive

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Oct 18 2002 (IPS) - Political parties and civil society groups in Venezuela opposed to President Hugo Chávez and his “Bolivarian social revolution” signed a new “pact for reconstruction”, which they see as a programme for a transitional government, as they prepare for next Monday’s general strike.
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