The Devil's Excrement

My brother asks why I have barely talked about the indefinite General Strike called for December 2nd. The reason is simple, I believe Dec. 2nd. is a long way away and many things may happen before then, for better or for worse. Thus my brief mention two days ago that the Government had gained a repreive by having the strike postponed for one week.

The truth is that the combination of the Gaviria mediated dialogue with the submission of 2 million signatures to request the referendum has put the Government in a very tough position. By sitting down to talk, it is being exposed in front of international opinion for what we knew they are, a double-talking, cynical administration capable of twisting the truth and the law to remarkable extremes. Moreover, it has also shown the divisions in the line of power, it was clear that most of the members of the Government’s negotiation team had no idea about the planned intervention of the Metropolitan police. Aditionally, it is also clear that while they would like to look for an alternative electoral solution, they are not allowed to even begin talking about it. Thus, time is working against the administration. If the Electoral Commission (CNE) rules the referendum valid and there is no interference with the CNE this week, the strike would be called off and all efforts will be focused on the referendum. Such is the beauty of the threat for the strike, if the referendum request is blocked, the strike will be a resounding success, if not it will be cancelled. At the same time, by postponing the strike a week, the opposition has shown to Gaviria it is willing to given in a little, while the Chavez administration has not yielded on anything. On the contrary, it has interfered with the negotiations with its actions.

Separately there is the issue of the Supreme Court ruling on the injunction requested by Caracas’ opposition mayors against the intervention of the Metropolitan police.  If the Court were to rule that there is no evidence of illegality in the intervention, this will simply fuel the will of the for a time well in the future or rule in favor of the opposition, dealing a sharp setback to the radicals in the Chavez administartion and his ability to govern.

There is an additional option, the possibility that, as usual, Chavez will do something that will confront even more, leading the country closer to the boiling point.

Clearly, tensions will ease dramatically if the referendum is allowed to proceed this week, as it should. It is not a recall referendum, it asks that the President voluntarily resign, thus it can’t possible collide with the Constitution as a Chavez resignation is a perfectly legal act.  What is most interesting is that an electoral solution could not be negotiated anyway as the request of a specific referendum by 2 million people can not be changed at will by either party. Only a  negotiation leading first to the resignation of the President would make the referendum request unnecessary.

Lost in all the noise of the Venezuelan conflict, were the words of Hugo Chavez’ brother Adan Chavez who presides the National Institute for Land. The statements appears in today’s El Nacional (page E-10, the paper has gone to this weird format that does not allow direct link to stories) and shows the degree of ignorance or perversity as to how the justice system works, anywhere.

Mr. Chavez says that he will ask the National Assembly to include in the new Land bill those articles declared unconstitutional by the Venezuelan Supreme Court this week. Says Mr. Chavez: “The Parliament as an autonomous institution has the right to do it”, adding “these articles (the two declared unconstitutional by the Court) have nothing unconstitutional about them, on the contrary, what they seek is to provide order and bring justice to Venezuela’s farm areas” and he continues ” with all the respect that the Supreme Court deserves….I have to say they made a mistake again and with legal technicisms have justified the unjsutifiable”.

Such are the ways of the Chavez revolution, they are always right no matter what happens, and the Supreme Court, which they named, is just an institution that interprets, but they can change the interpretation at will, because they are the revolution.

I was outraged and surprised at the superficial comment in today’s New York Times about Venezuela. In an Editorial about Latin America, the closing sentence is:

“It also means insisting that Venezuela’s opposition groups refrain from taking unlawful or violent paths in confronting President Chávez”

I am outraged because there is no similar call on Chavez and his violent bolivarian circles, partisans, military comrades and/or advisers who have constantly used violence and illegality to confront the opposition. I am outraged because the opposition has been patiently looking for the legal solution of a referendum only to be met by trickery and sneaky legal maneuvering at every instance. I am outraged because Hugo Chavez 18 months ago refused to sign the Quebec Declaration because he did not believe in the term representative democracy as he believed only in participatory democracy, but now has said that he will not resign if he loses the referendum asking for his resignation. I am outraged because violence has been the tool of Chavez all along, but security forces have never used tear gas against them unless guns were used, but most recent peaceful demonstrations by the opposition hev been met with the use of tear gas. I am outraged because the Chavez Government has intervened the Metropolitan police of Caracas in clear violation of the Constitution and the autonomy of municipalities. And I am outraged because the Chavez controlled National Assembly has blocked all efforts to establish a truth commission to determine what happened during the massacre of an opposition demonstartion in April where nineteen people died.

Finally I am surprised that such a comment can be made by the New York Times. How many more people have to die before the international press recognizes Chavez for what he is? How many more violations of the Constitution and the law have to occur? Clearly, we have to forget about any possibility of international support if the events of the last six months have not permeated through the informed circles of the world. We will get rid of Chavez by legal means if he allows it to happen, if not, we will have to play according to his rules, before we wake up one day to discover that there are no rules anymore…….

The Venezuelan Supreme Court dealt the Government two important setbacks in the last two days. Yesterday, the Court ruled that two articles of the controversial Land Bill were unconstitutional. The first article number 89, gave the Government the possibility of intervening private lands that were not in use. The Court said this was unconstitutional. The Court also ruled that Art. 90 was not Constitutional, the article banned invaders of public lands from receving any compensantion for property built in those lands or crops lost.

The second decision was the order to cancel the discharge of General Perez Rojas who was discharged after the Ministry of Defense held an “investigative council” to discharge him. The Court held that the Constitution establishes that no high ranking military officer may be tried without a pre-trial by the Court itslef to determine if there are grounds for dismissal.

The most awaited case, the one relating to the injunction agaisnt the intervention of the Metropolitan Police was not decided on today. The Government did get a reprieve in that the general strike was postponed for a week.

The march was mostly normal. At the end, the National Guard dropped tear gas on some people that stayed near downtown a little too long. Perhaps there was too much enthusiasm on the part of the Guards, but that is to be expected given how much they seem to be compromised with the government. There was tear gas for everyone.

On other news, the opposition blocked the Francisco Fajardo freeway again today. They threatened to bottled up Caracas until the workers union calls for a strike. The rebel military at Plaza Altamira seemed to distance themselves from this action.

From The Raven:

Fifty women undressed for peace. In Spanish the word for peace has only three letters PAZ, but I get the feeling in Venezuela we would need more than fifty naked women in order to attain peace, the way things are going.

My brother has created an Internet broadcast of Radio Libertad (90.7 FM), the unofficial radio station of Plaza Altamira. The signal is not great because it has a limited range and he lives right at the fringes, but here is the link

To make ot work you will need quicktime, get it running, say open URL and paste the link:

rtsp://alfredo.octavio.net:79/mystream.sdp

Enjoy even if the signal is not great!!!

After an afternoon of confrontation between protesters and the National Guard, there continues to be a lot of tension in the city. There are many facts and rumors floating in the air which I will attempt to sort out:

-The Supreme Court ordered the President to issue the electoral bill, ratifying that four members of the National Electoral Commission are needed for any decision.

-The Electoral Commission met and ratified with four of its members all of the decisions of last week.

-The Head of the intelligence police said this morning that the “bomb” last night at TV station Globovision was no such thing and was only a “fire”. This afternoon the Technical Police found the fragmentary granade that was used, including the triggering mechanism, brand name, model and that it was Made in Germany.

-The oposition is seriously considering a nationwide strike for an indefinite period.

-There will be a march tomorrow from Plaza Altamira to the National Assembly to protest the takeover of the Metropolitan police by the military, the Head of the Metropolitan police that was supposedly removed on Saturday guaranteed that over eight hundred policeman will guard the march tomorrow.

On the rumor front:

-The Government will takeover forcefully Plaza Altamira tonight where dissident military officers have been for over three weeks. Reportedly the Government will declare a state of emergency prior to this sometime tonight.

-The highest ranking military officer in Plaza Altamira, Gral. Medina Gomez said that the troops that are being used agaisnt the peaceful demonstrations are not military but former cops and members of the Bolivarian Circles.

-Reportedly the Government had told OAS mediator Cesar Gaviria that it would not intervene the police or take over Plaza Altamira while the negotiations were taking place and Gaviria is quite upset at the Government’s actions.  

-Gaviria reportedly was in the Dominican Republic this weekend at the Iberoamerican summit where he met privately with most Heads of State to discuss the possibility of invoking the Democratic Letter of the OAS of which Venezuela is a participant.

The Chavez administration who cries weekly because supposedly the opposition is planning a coup, stepped repeatedly on the Constitution this week, without the Attroney Genral, the Natoonal Assembly or the Supreme Court saying very much about it. Chvaez, who once said he was the law, is proving he was not joking with his actions:

-He intervened the Municipal police, violating the separation of powers. Moreover, two years ago, the Government ahd tried to do the same thing and asked the Supreme Court to “interpret” what the Constitution says about the autonomy of the Municipal police of Caracas. The Court said only the Mayor of Caracas could name the Head f that police.

-Chvaez had asked the Supreme Court to rule whether the new Electoral Power Law was Constitutional or not. The Court said it was, according to the same Constitution, the President then had no option but to approve it, instead Chavez sent it to the National Assembly. Chavez changed 41 of the articles of this Bill before sending it to the Assembly. He is the law, no question about it.

-That day the National Assembly “approved” the new bill with the presence of 82 Deputies, curiosly this is below quorum. Who cares, we are the law!

The Head of the military said that if you amde a poll 100% of those polled would say they were happy to have the military intervene the police. Ummm, nobody asked me, but doesn’t this sound like Saddam Hussein?

I simply find what is happening in Venzeuela incredible, mor so the silence of all those organizations that have been so critical of the opposition.  The only voive has been that of Otto Reich, the Subsecretary for Latin American affairs who said yesterday that Venezuela was becoming a problem and Chavez’ revolution had failed.