By Samuel Moncada and - -
CARACAS, Aug 1 2004 (IPS)

The division of power that followed the coronation of Pedro Carmona as president after the April 11 coup against the democratically-elected Hugo Chavez left no doubt that the policy of social inclusion of the Chavez government would be ended, writes Samuel Moncada, an historian and member of the 12-person team headed by President Chavez to conduct the ruling party campaign for the August 15 referendum. The Bolivarian Constitution that the people approved by referendum in 1999 along with the laws on land, fishing, and hydrocarbon policy, among others, were rescinded, making it clear that the dictatorship installed by the opposition would be unyielding with the poor. All rights and social programmes implemented by Chavez were cancelled. Everything that favoured the poor or recognised them as participants in Venezuelan society was attacked without reflection. The accusations levelled against the National Electoral Council by the spokesmen of the opposition are part of a preexisting script which requires them to echo the continuous threats issued by Bush administration spokesmen, with the object of discrediting and rejecting the results of the referendum once it becomes evident that, yet again, the majority of Venezuelans back the process of change begun in 1999. Since more has been achieved in these last five years than in the preceding four decades, we say: no to the privatisation of oil, social exclusion, and the usury of the banking industry, no to the elimination of literacy programmes and medical assistance, no to involvement in the Columbian conflict, and no to the FTAA.

In recent years Venezuelan society has suffered coup attempts by the widows and widowers of the Punto Fijo pact, the 1958 agreement that for forty years permitted the sharing of power among the traditional political elite and other powerful groups.

Entrepreneurs and top level political operators in the traditional and the new parties, seeing under the Chavez administration a sharp reduction in their manoeuvring room and opportunities for easy enrichment, chose to disavow the institutions of the state and the judiciary.

Their refusal to accept the package of 49 economic and social laws passed in November 2001 was the excuse used by the Venezuelan opposition to join the first employers strike on December 10 of that year. This action, carried out by the Fedecameras employers union and backed by various NGOs and unions, parties, and elements of the media, was the trial run of a broader operation that opposition leaders began to announce from mid-January of 2002.

The coup of April 11, 2002, against the government of President Hugo Chavez, the masterpiece of a demented mind, was set in motion by members of the military and their civilian and religious allies after the firing of a group of managers of the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), who, believing themselves to be the owners of the industry, demanded the removal of the executive committee for the company named by the government at the end of February.

The day after the announcement of the firing of the seven PDVSA managers and the forced retirement of twelve others, the entire opposition, backing Pedro Carmona, president of Fedecameras, called for a second employers strike, which culminated two days later in the bloody coup d’etat.

The assassination of 19 people that April 11 was approved by a group of officials in order to discredit the legitimate and legally constituted government and make Carmona, visible leader of the conspiracy, president.

The division of power that followed the coronation of Carmona, in addition to revealing the interests at work in the opposition, left no doubt that the policy of social inclusion of the Chavez government would be ended. The Bolivarian Constitution that the people approved by referendum in 1999 along with the laws on land, fishing, and hydrocarbon policy, among others, were rescinded, making it clear that the dictatorship installed by the opposition would be unyielding with the poor. All rights and social programmes implemented by Chavez were cancelled. Everything that favoured the poor or recognised them as participants in Venezuelan society was attacked without reflection.

However, this dictatorship, hatched with the help of the media and foreign financing and backing, was unable to stand up to the power of the people, who, despite an information blackout, took over the streets and, with the help of the military heirs of the ideas of Bolivar, restored their president and the institutions that had been shut down by the opposition coup.

The heroic gesture of the people on April 13, 2002, took on a new dimension beginning December 2 of that same year. The third employers strike that Venezuela faced in less than a year ran up against the dignity of the people, who refused to be manipulated by the TV, radio, or print media. The agenda of media terror and violence, combined with the shortage of gasoline and cooking gas, rather than paralysing the organisation of the people gave it unprecedented power.

The demonised Circulos Bolivarianos (grass roots organisations) joining up with individuals and the armed forced and led by Chavez, were the gears for the restoration of calm and resumption of work throughout Venezuela, despite the efforts of the opposition to drive the country in the opposite direction.

This alliance is exactly that which the enemies of the national interests have sought to break apart since April 11, and which in the lead-up to the August 15 referendum will take on new overtones.

The accusations levelled against the National Electoral Council by the spokesmen of the opposition are part of a preexisting script which requires them to echo the continuous threats issued by Bush administration spokesmen, with the object of discrediting and rejecting the results of the referendum once it becomes evident that, yet again, the majority of Venezuelans back the process of change begun in 1999.

And since more has been achieved in these last five years than in the preceding four decades of ”Punto Fijo” regimes, we say: no to the privatisation of oil, no to social exclusion, no to the usury of the banking industry, no to the elimination of literacy programmes, secondary and university education, medical assistance, and job training, no to repression and to involvement in the Columbian conflict, no to the Free-Trade Area of the Americas, and definitely, NO to the past. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

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