Strike to ease

February 1, 2003

The Democratic Coordinator said yesterday and ratified today that it will allow the general strike to become more “flexible” starting next week as a “gesture” to the Group of Friends visiting Caracas. I suspect the real reason is that after two months of the strike, too many companies were on the verge of bankruptcy and they were ready to open. In my opinion, this means we failed, we started out with the strike to have a referendum, but we will not have one. In my opinion, the negotiation table is our last hope. If it does not reach an agreement I truly believe there will be no free elections in Venezuela, neither in August, nor when Hugo Chavez’ term ends. Just like it is being done with the increase in the number of Supreme Court Justices, Chavez will find a “legal” way to avoid elections, whatever it takes. So, let’s hope the negotiations yield an electoral solution, I doubt it, the Government continues to send signals that it will not negotiate and that the destruction of PDVSA is an ongoing project.

This entry was posted on February 1, 2003 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Venezuela.

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