Rumblings in Venezuela.
Richard Gott reports that the conditions in Venezuela are sinking to to the level of overt class warfare. (*) Gott may be overstating things, but the conflicts he cites are very real, including those involving race, profound economic inequality, and the proposed sale of the crown jewel of the Venezuelan economy—its petroleum company. The president of Venezuelua, Hugo Chávez, was elected with 60% of the vote. (†) The next election is scheduled for 2006. The minority opposition wants Chávez to step down and hold a special election immediately, as Juan Ferero reports for the New York Times. (‡)
The Times must be held suspect in its reporting on Venezuela. Last April 12, a military coup deposed Chávez. Pedro Carmona, the would-be dictator, announced that the National Assembly, the supreme court, and other constitutional institutions of government were suspended. This unlawful, anti-democratic coup d’etat was hailed by the New York Times editorial page the next day. (§) Events soon overtook the newspaper, however, and Chávez was restored to power by loyal military units, particularly paratroopers, of which Chávez was a veteran. The Times printed a retraction of their junta-loving editorial a few days later. (**) It wasn’t just the Times that showed a dark side, either. The conservative journal of record, the National Review, printed a toasty bit of propaganda by Thor Halvorssen, arguing that Chávez was the real dictator. (††) Halvorssen repeated a number of scurrilous and unsubstantiated rumors that had originated in the opposition—for example, that one million protesters were in the streets of Caracas before the coup (it was closer to 300,000), and that Ch?vez’s men were shooting protesters from rooftops (it was probably a right-wing paramilitary group that was doing the shooting). (‡‡) The performances of the American media and conservatives were shameful. Whether you like Chávez or not, he was democratically elected, and is the legitimate president of Venezuela.
There were also inklings that the US government may have encouraged the coup plotters. (‡‡) The attempted putsch of the legitimate government did follow a pattern similar to the US-sponsored coup d’etat of the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende, replacing him with the murderous thug Augusto Pinochet. The evidence of US involvement in Venezuela is little more than supposition, however.
Venezuela continues to face steep challenges. No less than 67% of the population is below the poverty line. The country’s main economic asset is its oil reserve. The state-owned oil company monopolizes proudction of the resource. All of the profits, however, flow to its employees. Chávez put a stop to the planned sell-off of the company, and now the potential beneficiaries of the sale, comprising a small minority of the Venezuelan population, are howling. While those opposed to the democratically elected Chávez are a minority, they are a force to be reckoned with. For example, as Le Monde Diplomatique estimates, Chávez’s opposition controls 95% of the country’s media. (§§) Chávez’s support mostly comes from the black, the indigenous, and the poor.
Unfortunately, anger is growing on both sides, the rich and the poor, the lesser pigmented and the highly pigmented. The key conflict is over the oil company. If Chávez is able to shift control of it to those loyal to him, he will have won a major victory over the elite minority, and will have put himself in a position where he can reshape the Venezuelan economy to create a large middle class. It is not clear, though, if given the chance, whether Hugo Chávez will fulfill his promises and implement the reforms necessary to modernize his country’s economy in a just and equitable manner. I hope he does.
Update: 17 November 2003. Natasha of The Watch links. (***)