Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

VENEZUELA: Lull in the Storm

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Mar 4 2004 (IPS) - After days of protests and clashes with security forces in which seven people were killed, the Venezuelan capital was calm Thursday. But the tense quiet could be just a lull in the storm, as the opposition is gearing up for new demonstrations over the weekend.

In the meantime, delegates of the ruling parties, the opposition, the National Electoral Commission (CNE), the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Carter Centre are negotiating a possible agreement on a procedure for ratifying signatures declared invalid by the CNE.

The only demonstration held in the capital Thursday was a small peaceful march in front of the Magistracy Office, which supervises the country's judges, to protest the removal of two judges who quickly released protesters arrested during the disturbances.

The CNE ruled Tuesday that only 1.8 million of the 3.4 million signatures gathered by the opposition to demand a recall referendum were valid, while disqualifying several hundred thousand and suggesting a two-day “repair period” to allow more than 850,000 people to come out and confirm their signatures. A total of 2.4 million signatures are needed to trigger a referendum.

Before the CNE decision was announced, the aim of the protesters was to pressure the election authorities to declare that enough signatures were valid. After that, opposition demonstrators continued to pour into the streets to protest the ruling.

Nearly a week of unrest and clashes with the security forces in Caracas left seven dead, dozens wounded and hundreds arrested. According to witnesses, the National Guard – a military force – was sent into several districts, while the municipal police stood by, and in some cases even egged on the demonstrators.

For days, the access roads leading to a dozen middle- and upper-class neighbourhoods in the capital were blocked with burning tires, rubble, logs, bags of garbage, vehicles and even the marquee torn from a movie theatre.

Protests were also held in at least 10 other cities.

Among the at least 50 wounded were 15 press workers, several of whom were beaten by uniformed or plainclothes officers, and four of whom were hit by bullets. One news photographer said his bullet-proof vest saved him when a young opposition demonstrator shot him in the chest.

“We condemn the disproportionate use of force by the National Guard and the political police in clamping down on the recent protests,” stated a joint declaration by seven of Venezuela's leading human rights organisations.

But “we also condemn the metropolitan police (of Caracas), the police in the state of Miranda (which includes the eastside of the capital), and the police in the greater Caracas districts of Chacao and Baruta (the epicentre of the protests) for their direct participation in throwing up barricades and in other events that altered the public order,” said the communique.

In addition, the rights groups complained about the failure of the police “in their duty to guarantee the safety of citizens. The security bodies must not become armed extensions that are subordinate to biased political loyalties.”

The Chávez administration and ruling parties allege that police forces in districts governed by opposition mayors sent plainclothes officers to organise the disturbances. They also accuse them of opening fire against the National Guard and passersby.

Venezuela has no national police force, only state and municipal forces, as well as the National Guard – a branch of the armed forces -, the political police and the criminal investigation police.

The 8,000 metropolitan police of Caracas are in the hands of independent opposition Mayor Alfredo Peña, and the police in the upscale eastside districts of Baruta and Chacao are under the control of mayors from the centre-right Justice First party.

“I didn't see the Chacao police taking part in the unrest, but they were just standing by without doing anything,” Marla Estévez, a local resident, told IPS near Altamira Plaza, located in Baruta.

Baruta Mayor Henrique Capriles justified the failure to act stating that “our police officers are there to keep the violence to a minimum, but we're not going to shoot citizens who have every reason to protest, because democracy is being stolen from them.”

Ombudsman Germán Mundaraín filed court challenges in the Supreme Court accusing several mayors and governors of failing to defend the public order.

Along roads in eastern Caracas, hundreds of unruly protesters clashed with the security forces over the past few days. During the daytime, protesters threw rocks, sticks, bottles, and the odd molotov cocktail, and were responded to with tear gas and rubber bullets. But after darkness fell, gunshots could be heard in some parts of the city.

The same scenes were seen in dormitory suburbs of Caracas and the main cities in the interior. On Wednesday evening, the protests began to ebb, as the public became fed up with the constant complications caused by the roadblocks.

Political scientist Luis Salamanca told IPS that “although Venezuelan (opposition) protesters do not have the influence of or achieve the results of Argentina's 'piqueteros' (the name given to the organised unemployed movement) or Bolivia's coca-growers, the way things are going, they will gradually get used to the logic of confrontation,” and to keeping up a constant struggle.

The opposition accuses the National Guard of killing four of the seven people who died in the protests. But at least one of the victims was a pro-Chávez worker, who was allegedly shot by the municipal police in a district ruled by the opposition.

Between 200 and 400 protesters were arrested, according to different sources. The political police reported that one of the leaders of the opposition movement, Carlos Melo, was detained when he was found with two rifles in his car.

According to Rafael Narváez, a spokesman for the Democratic Coordinator – the opposition umbrella – the National Guard “torture the detainees by spraying them with cold water and toxic gases, and take away their personal belongings and documents.” He also cited the case of a 14-year-old boy named Ítalo, who he said was “brutally beaten.”