VENEZUELA: Gov’t, Opposition Accuse Each Other of Plotting Violence

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Nov 5 2003 (IPS) - The Venezuelan government and the opposition are pointing accusatory fingers at each other about alleged plans to foment violence, with sights on this month’s signature-gathering campaign for putting President Hugo Chávez’s mandate to a referendum.

The effort to collect the signatures necessary for convening a referendum on whether Chávez should remain in office, to take place over four days at the end of this month, "is a scam, a bulwark for the opposition to take over the streets and mount another coup, like that of Apr. 11, 2002," says education minister Aristóbulo Istúriz.

Istúriz’s statement accompanied a denunciation, reiterated on Wednesday, of an alleged plan by the opposition to instigate violence. It was presented, with Vice-President José Vicente Rangel on hand, to delegates in Caracas of the three entities that are sponsoring the ongoing dialogue between the government and the opposition.

Indeed, the three – Organisation of American States (OAS), the U.S.-based Carter Centre for Peace, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – sponsored the talks that led to the agreement to hold the referendum on Chávez’s mandate, as is allowed under the Venezuelan constitution.

The government’s denunciation states that its opponents, "who have perpetrated acts of terrorism with explosives against foreign diplomatic offices and military installations, intend to turn the referendum into an opportunity to once again attack democracy."

Pro-Chávez parliamentarians have accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of conspiring with radical elements in Venezuela to destabilise the country’s democracy. The U.S. ambassador in Caracas, Charles Shapiro, refuted the claim, saying it is "pure rumour".

On the other side, social-democrat Jesús Méndez, president of the Democratic Action Party, said that the Chávez government has urged groups of its followers to carry out violent acts in key areas of Caracas, and that they had been provided with look-alikes of the opposition movement’s distinctive T-shirts and caps in order to confuse the public.

"The government aims to accuse the opposition of violent actions" during the referendum signature-gathering effort "in order to create confusion and scare off the millions of people who will come out to sign," said Méndez, leader of the main party in the opposition coalition.

The Chávez government and the opposition’s Democratic Coordinator signed a pact on May 29, under the auspices of OAS secretary-general César Gaviria, to guide the country’s deep political crisis towards an electoral resolution.

In the end, the two sides agreed on a recall referendum, which Venezuelan law permits for all elected officials.

The constitution establishes that the presidential term – in Chávez’s case, from 2000 to 2006 – can be put to a citizen vote through a referendum. At least 20 percent of the electorate must be in favour, in other words, more than 2.4 million voters must sign the referendum petition.

The law also states that the president can only be removed if the votes in favour of doing so outnumber the votes that put him in office in the first place. The anti-Chávez movement will have to convince at least 3.8 million people to vote in favour of revoking the president’s mandate if the referendum takes place.

The Democratic Coordinator also proposed recall referendums for the pro-Chávez lawmakers, just as Chávez followers have done in regards to the opposition lawmakers. The 165-seat National Assembly is divided almost evenly between the two sides.

The National Electoral Council decided that the Chávez supporters are to collect signatures Nov. 21-24 for their proposed referendums, and the opposition is to do so Nov. 28-Dec. 1. If these campaigns produce the necessary number of signatures, the referendums would be held in March or April 2004.

As the dates for the signature-gathering efforts approach, the tensions between the two sides are heating up.

Chávez said Tuesday, "The opposition is going to try to mount a televised spectacle, and will say that they collected five or six million signatures, many more than the votes needed to revoke my mandate, and they will say, ‘Chávez must go immediately’."

Rangel, his vice-president, said that "the opposition conspiracy" of Apr. 11, 2002, when a civilian-military movement removed Chávez from office for two days, "is not going to be repeated because the Venezuelan people and the armed forces will not allow it."

The president and governing-party leaders disseminated recordings of telephone conversations, allegedly between business and labour leaders, in which they plan a general strike to be convened after the signature-gathering campaign, as a supposed preamble to a new uprising against the Chávez government.

But the opposition maintains that the government’s denunciations are merely a bid to distract the public because a victory in the recall referendum looks to be assured.

"The triumph (of the recall vote) is absolutely inevitable. Venezuela is going to change its government next year," presidential aspirant Henrique Salas told a foreign press conference.

The opposition has also called upon representatives of the OAS, UNDP and Carter Centre to monitor the voting process, citing the possibility of irregularities.

"There is a climate of distrust… and there could be acts of selective political terrorism, other desperate acts or a last-minute turn towards a different option," said Salas.