The Sunday Herald Having survived one coup attempt, President Hugo Chavez is gripping on to power. Elizabeth Mistry in Caracas explains how a humble snack fits into his grand plan

First he ploughed up the city's Central Park to plant lettuces. Then Venezuela's charismatic and impulsive president, Hugo Chavez, announced plans for 'vertical chicken-houses' -- community-run coops on roofs and windowsills of the homes of some of the poorest of inhabitants of the capital, Caracas.

Now Chavez, who earlier this year saw off an opposition-led strike which virtually shut down the country by halting oil production for two months, and who survived a botched coup attempt in April 2002, has put his weight behind a bid to entice visitors to sample the culinary delights of the country the conquistadors named Little Venice.

La ruta de la empanada -- 'the route of the pasty' -- is the government's latest bid to encourage tourism. Along with the smaller bun-like arepas and flat, thicker circles of fried maize dough called cachapas, empanadas form the staple of much of Venezuela's impoverished 20 million population . The department of tourism is spearheading the promotion of the 'pasty tour' saying that the scheme will generate revenue for micro businesses -- often headed by women -- in areas where special pasties will be made. Government is investing millions of Bolivars.

That such a humble, everyday food item should have been chosen to be the focus of a new campaign is not such a surprise as almost all of the president's supporters are from the poorer sectors of society. Since coming to power, Chavez has abolished the school fees that all families had to pay to the state education sector. This, coupled with the introduction -- in some areas -- of a scheme providing children with up to three meals a day, has seen a huge increase in classroom attendance.

It is these policies, along with many others including a plan based on a Cuban programme to combat illiteracy, which are at the heart of the gulf in Venezuelan society today. The country is polarised between those who support the government's Bolivarian Revolution -- simply, a new social contract named after Simon Bolivar, the hero of Venezuelan independence -- and those in opposition, mostly from the middle or upper classes, who have seen standards of living plummet under Chavez.

Some of the loudest criticisms come from 20,000 former senior management staff from the government-run petroleum company, PDVSA. After they supported the strike, they were barred from returning to work although the only notification of this came in a newspaper.

Since February, many of them are to be found at protest sites outside the doors of PDVSA's headquarters, a well-organised group determined to get their jobs and frozen pensions back in spite of the fact that Chavez has called them traitors.

Many of the initiatives of the Chavez project are genuine moves to deal with years of blatant neglect and underinvestment. Others, such as the president's open anti- business stance -- he believes, rightly in many cases, that much of the business community was behind the coup and the strike -- are acts which have only served to deepen the gulf between the two sides.

The political chaos is just one of Venezuela's headaches. Chavez uses daily broadcasts to explain how the gross domestic product will rise. This can be achieved by increasing petrol and gas production, which accounts for 80% of income, but it is not a sign of real growth -- and Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega admitted yesterday that he expected the economy to contract by 10.7% this year.

Until last year tourism was a good source of currency. More than 15% of South America's sixth-largest country is designated as national park . But tourists are put off by the high crime rate in Caracas. While most violent crime is predominantly gang-related, the rising tide of lawlessness threatens other areas of the country and visitor numbers have plummeted. One of the main areas of concern is that the vicious but mainly vocal battles between the two political sides will become violent.

'The parties must reach a solution constitutionally. They have to see this, somehow,' says Antonio Gonzalez Plessman, head of research at the Provea human rights centre in Caracas. 'If there is a referendum on the Chavez administration, as there could be anytime after August 19, when the government will have completed half its term, we will have to have international observers to help.'

Few are prepared to speculate on what will happen, but say the route to recovery will be long and difficult.

22 June 2003

Hace un par de años me dirigí al destacamento No. 5 (creo que era el No. 5) de La Guardia Nacional en “La Mariposa” acompañado de un ciudadano coronel -- “RETIRADO” -- de esa misma fuerza.  Había un oficial en “La Mariposa” quien supuestamente tenía un buen ejemplar de caballo “paso fino”, el cual era de mi interés adquirir.  El “susodicho” coronel (repito: ¡RETIRADO!), serviría de intermediario – “willer & dealer” – ya que sabía quién estaba interesado en vender y quién en comprar.

Nos citamos a las 10 de la mañana en el destacamento, pero como soy muy impulsivo y tremendamente “fosforito”, a las ocho de la mañana ya estaba en el sitio, indagando cuánto podía.

Mientras hacía labor de RP con los guardias allí presentes, dejé colar el hecho de que a las 10 am se presentaría el “Coronel Tal”, quien me acompañaría a las oficinas del “Comandante Mas Cual”, propietario del semental que tenía interés en vender.

Estaba yo sentado plácidamente disfrutando del “friíto” que pega en “La Mariposa” cuando de repente hizo presencia mi amigo el coronel (RETIRADO), lo que produjo una verdadera e IMPRESIONANTE algarabía entre la tropa de aquel destacamento. “¡Llegó mi coronel, llegó mi coronel!”, gritó el sargento segundo que estaba al frente del puesto de entrada.  Inmediatamente noté que cualquier soldado que estaba por ahí – holgazaneando -- se levantaba… revisaba su uniforme, su armamento, su “cachucha”.

En Venezuela hay un dicho que dice: “hombre casado, hombre castrado…” y otro: “militar retirado, militar anulado…”  Evidentemente hay muchas excepciones a esas reglas a las cuales hacen referencia los sabios refranes vernáculos, pensé yo.  Al menos en el Destacamento No. 5 (creo que era el No. 5) de “La Mariposa”, un coronel es coronel… aunque esté retirado y/o casado.

“¡Mi coronel!”, por aquí… “¡Mi coronel!” por allá.  “¡Cuánto no hubiera dado yo por haberme recibido de oficial -- “manquesea” -- de la Guardia Nacional… que es la “cenicienta” de las Fuerzas Armadas venezolanas!”, pensé yo al ver aquel impresionante espectáculo.  ¿A quién no le gusta que se le guinden de vez en cuando?  ¡Eso es muy sabroso!.  Eso de llegar a un destacamento y que se le cuadre el regimiento entero debe “dar mucha nota”.  No sé si “Mi Coronel” (RETIRADO) estaba ya saturado de “jalabolas” (guatacas o “chupamedias”), pero parecía que tanta condescendencia (“jaladera”, “guataqueria”) no era con él.  “!Qué rico es vivir en un país tercermundista!”, me repetía yo internamente.  “Mi Coronel” parecía un pavo real de lo “jinchao”, caminando hacia la oficina del encargado de aquel pequeño cuartelito -- que mientan “destacamento” – caminado por los pasillos como si no fuese con él; despreciando cuidadosa, meticulosa y estudiadamente aquellos saludos… desoyendo el ruido que produce el taconeo de los calcañales cuando los soldados se cuadran en posición de firme ante el oficial de alto rango, retirado o no.

El caballo resultó ser un verdadero “flocho” (“penco”), al punto tal que si lo hubiera  cambiado por excremento, se hubiera perdido el envase.   Pero no perdí mi tiempo.  Conocí de cerca la “prosopopeya” militar en cuanto a rendirle homenaje a un coronel – RETIRADO – como mi amigo… a quien le terminé regalando un estupendo caballo enfermo de anemia infecciosa equina, que – luego de varios años – acabó su vida muriendose totalmente en su finca cercana a Puerto La Cruz; pero eso es otra historia que tal vez algún día me anime a contárselas.

Desde ayer está circulando por la INTERNET (yo lo he recibido NO MENOS DE QUINIENTAS VECES), un par de fotos que si no fuera por lo mucho que quiero a esta tierra venezolana, hubiera provocado en mí aquella frase: “Oye vieja, ¡apaga la vela y vámonos!” 

Se trata de unas fotos tomadas por el periodista gráfico David Bracamonte – del periódico “El Siglo” – en el acto de ascenso militar.  Ambas “instantáneas” las anexo a continuación, pero para quienes no tengan la posibilidad de verlas en sus respectivos “e-mails”, se las describo. 

En la primera gráfica se muestra a un oficial del Ejército de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela – ese ejército que mientan “forjador de libertades” – cuadrado ante un soldadito raso (qué se yo… tal vez un distinguido, cabo… o sargentico) de la “Casa Militar” (la institución que vela por la seguridad física de nuestro señor presidente) mientras éste lo ausculta por un lado con un detector de metales para ver si “su oficial” (ACTIVO o “EFECTIVO”) está armado. 

La segunda foto es todavía más humillante, porque el oficial se para “en cruz” como los zamuros (las auras tiñozas), mientras el soldadito (el “bocadito”, como le llamaban los rebeldes al soldado raso de Batista) lo requisa en busca de un “hierro” que pudiera ser utilizado en contra del segundo-a-bordo de esta “revolución bonita”: el Teniente Coronel (Ej. Retirado a la fuerza) Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías.  ¿Qué tal?

Como ahora yo envío como anexo una copia de cada uno de mis escritos enviados por la red, cualquiera que quiera ver tan indignantes cuadros puede bajar el documento y gritar como yo: “¡Qué esperanza!”

Caracas 4 de julio de 2003

ROBERT ALONSO

Envíen sus comentarios – UNICAMENTE – a robertalonso2003@cantv.net pues los otros buzones colapsan con la cantidad de correo que reciben.  --

PORTAFOLIO VIRTUAL DE ARTÍCULOS Y ENSAYOS DEL MISMO AUTOR

By Scott Wilson Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, June 21, 2003; Page A12

VENTANILLA, Peru -- From impoverished Bolivia to politically fractured Venezuela, the countries of the Andean region are confronting a wave of popular discontent that is weakening their elected governments and challenging the U.S. strategy for fighting drugs and developing free trade in the region.

There have been violent protests here in Peru against President Alejandro Toledo and in Bolivia against President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, each less than halfway through his term. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez, a populist leader, is facing the possibility of a midterm referendum that could remove him from office. And in Colombia, President Alvaro Uribe enjoys popular support, but faces a resilient armed conflict that threatens to spill across borders.

"In many cases, the only way for people in the region to contest the decisions made by the government is to take to the streets or pick up a gun," said Hernando de Soto, a development theorist who is president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Lima. "They are excluded from the right to participate in the political and economic life of the country."

The common current running through the Andes is deepening poverty that has pitted an angry and disillusioned public against governments that have failed to deliver on promises of improvements in standards of living. Complicating matters, several deeply unpopular presidents have barely begun their terms, leaving frustrated voters with years to wait before the next elections.

A national poll released this week showed that only 11 percent of Peruvians support Toledo, who has hewed closely to Washington's favored economic policy of open trade, restrained public spending and public utility privatizations. He imposed the second state of emergency of his 23-month presidency last month in order to mobilize the military against teachers, farmers, doctors and judges demonstrating for better wages.

Peru is one of the few Latin American countries that has posted overall economic growth over the last year. But Toledo has been attacked fiercely by political opponents over a long string of gaffes. Last week, in the midst of the nationwide wage dispute, he lowered his presidential salary to $8,400 monthly. He started his term at $18,000 a month, the highest presidential salary in Latin America. He angered even his own supporters when he left the country in the middle of the crisis for a speaking engagement at Stanford University.

"There are no good reasons why we should be in this situation," said Alberto Adrianzen, a left-leaning political analyst in Lima. "We don't have the polarization of Venezuela, Colombia's guerrillas, Ecuador's fragile economy or Bolivia's ethnic radicalism. This is largely a matter of political management and Toledo's lack of capacity in that regard."

The Bush administration envisions the Andes as an important part of a free trade zone that it hopes to create by 2006 across the Western Hemisphere. But a thriving illegal drug industry, official corruption, high foreign debt and poverty are conspiring against the balanced economic growth and regional security necessary for such a system to succeed.

Bolivia was shaken by deadly riots earlier this year over the new president's proposed tax increases while Ecuador has been plagued by public worker strikes over wages. Popular at home after 10 months in office, Colombia's Uribe is being hampered in his fight against a powerful guerrilla movement by weak judicial institutions and drug money that helps fund a four-decade civil war.

Venezuela's Chavez, who has survived a coup attempt and four national strikes called to force him from office, is overseeing an economy that is predicted to shrink by as much as 25 percent this year. He and his largely middle- and upper-class opponents agreed in principle last month to hold a constitutionally permitted midterm referendum on his administration sometime after Aug. 19.

In Peru, where Toledo's term ends in 2006, some of the president's supporters say privately that they worry about a potential impeachment effort in Congress. Unlike Chavez, who counts on nearly fanatical support from 30 percent of the population, Toledo has no similar core constituency to defend him, and calls for his resignation have come from some members of Congress.

The military, once the arbiter of political standoffs in this part of the world, has remained on the sidelines in Peru despite enduring budget cuts, an ongoing review of its role in the country's civil conflict in the 1980s and '90s, and internal reforms. But the country's leaders have bristled over the army's unpopular role in quelling the recent protests during which a student in the southern city of Puno was killed by troops.

"Sadly, everything points in one direction: This is about the president," said Carlos Basombrio, a political analyst who resigned as Toledo's vice interior minister in January. "His credibility is at absolute zero, and three years is a long time for people to wait."

The current troubles began last month when public school teachers, who make an average monthly salary of $200, staged a strike for better pay. They were joined by farmers across Peru, who blocked major highways to demand water rights and protective tariffs to make corn, sugar and rice more competitive in the national market. Military intervention cleared highways, but the farmers are threatening to take up demonstrations again next week.

The roots of the protests reach into Toledo's presidential campaign, which followed his leadership of a civil resistance movement that toppled former president Alberto Fujimori after he won an illegal third term in 2000. Fujimori fled Peru for Japan ahead of charges of corruption and human rights violations.

To beat his principal opponent, former president Alan Garcia, a populist who nearly bankrupted the country in the 1980s, Toledo promised to create 1 million jobs over his five-year term, double teacher salaries, and build vast irrigation systems and housing. He has failed to keep many of those promises, partly because of Peru's dire financial straits, including foreign debt payments that consume nearly a quarter of its national budget.

Much of Peru's economic growth is the result of an expanded mining industry, which bring benefits largely to the foreign companies that own the copper and gold concessions and a relatively small number of Peruvian employees.

Ventanilla is a shantytown of 1 million people, 25 miles north of Lima, built on sand dunes overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Toledo's support here has withered to nearly nothing along with the hope that his campaign promises of a new fishing port and a local university would ever materialize.

Two model homes, part of the government's "Own Roof" housing program, sit at the foot of a fog-shrouded hill covered with shacks of bamboo, wood planking and overlapping scraps of corrugated tin. Job seekers line up outside the houses, the first of 1,500 to be built on the sandy slope. Their $400 price tag, however, is out of reach for the slum residents who are among the majority of Peruvians who live on less than $2 a day. The obstetrics clinic is made of thatched walls and has no running water or sewer service.

"He doesn't see the children or the number of us living like this," said Margarita Seron, a 35-year-old Toledo voter and mother of six, the oldest of whom would go to college in December if she could afford it. "Will the president comply? Won't he? I don't know. I know he has never helped so far."

Although Toledo blames his poor image on an overly critical press, he continues to confound even his supporters by his choices, including his decision to deliver the commencement address this week at Stanford University, where the former shoeshine boy earned a PhD in education. He traveled to California by presidential plane over fierce objections from Congress that the trip was frivolous at a time when the country is still under a declared state of emergency. The 30-day decree expires June 27.

Meanwhile, drug production is increasing in the eastern jungles, worrying U.S. officials who believe it is partly the result of Toledo's failure to confront the small farmers who make up the bottom rung of the industry. The Shining Path, a radical Maoist insurgency dormant for a decade, is regrouping with the help of drug money and the alleged coordination of Colombian middlemen.

Last week, guerrillas kidnapped 71 employees of an Argentine company building a section of a natural gas pipeline in Peru's eastern jungle. The guerrillas released the hostages a day later. Toledo's claim that the hostages were freed by "my military" was disputed by his own defense minister, prompting a new debate over his honesty.

Marciano Rengifo Ruiz, a congressman from Toledo's party, Peru Possible, said the protests should be seen as a sign of Peru's democratic health after the oppressive last years of Fujimori's administration.

"The social strife will continue, but not with the same force," Rengifo said. "It is bombardment right now. But I believe this will pass, and his support will begin rising again."

Reuters, 06.21.03, 12:01 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, June 21 (Reuters) - Venezuela's government expects the economy to contract 10.7 percent this year, a worse outlook than previously forecast, according to an interview with Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega published on Saturday.

Nobrega, who earlier estimated the economy would slide about 8.9 percent this year, told El Nacional newspaper he believed the worst was over for the battered economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

"For our projections and programming, we are working with a contraction of about 10.7 percent of gross domestic product. We have bad news in that it will be a year of contraction, but the good news is that we have to say the worst is over," Nobrega told the newspaper.

The finance minister was also quoted as saying the government could consider a devaluation of the local bolivar currency in the third quarter as the current fixed exchange rate was undercut by black market rates against the dollar.

Venezuela's economy contracted 8.9 percent last year and nearly 30 percent in the first quarter of this year after a two-month opposition strike severely disrupted vital oil output and shipments.

Most analysts paint a more pessimistic picture as political conflict over the government of leftist President Hugo Chavez undermines the economy. The International Monetary Fund has said it expects Venezuela to post a 17 percent economic contraction for the year.

In February, the government introduced strict currency controls to halt capital flight and shore up the bolivar. The local currency has been set at a fixed rate of 1,600 bolivars to the greenback, but on the black market the U.S. currency trades at about 2,600 bolivars.

"In the third quarter we could evaluate the possibility of modifying the regime, but without altering the currency controls," Nobrega said.

The government has said the currency curbs and price controls on basic goods will not be lifted in the short term. Private business leaders say the controls are sinking the economy deeper into recession by limiting access to dollars needed for imports and external debt payments.

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

Reuters, 06.20.03, 6:45 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, June 20 (Reuters) - Venezuela's Siderurgica del Orinoco (Sidor), the largest steel maker in the Andean region, cut its debt by half to $700 million with a restructuring deal signed Friday with the government and private banks.

The Sidor deal increases the state's share in the steel maker from 30 percent to 40.3 percent to capitalize more than half of its debt with the government. The firm was privatized in 1997 and acquired by the Amazonia Consortium.

Under the agreement, the consortium -- including Mexico's Hylsamex <HYLSAMXB.MX> and Tamsa <TAMSA.MX>, Argentina's Siderar <SID.BA>, Usiminas <USIM3.SA> of Brazil and Venezuela's Sivensa <SVS.CR> -- reduced its share from 70 percent to 59.79 percent, state and Sidor officials said.

"Changes were made on the financing side to restructure the debt around 54 percent to $700 million and... also to reform the state's participation," Francisco Rangel, president of the state mining consortium Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), told Reuters.

"This is manageable debt, debt that brings guarantees for shareholders, but that also allows for better technology, and allows for investment," he said.

Completing the debt restructuring for Venezuela's largest private exporter took 11 months from the signing of the deal in July 2002 between Amazonia Consortium, Venezuela's development bank, CVG, Citibank, Deutsche Bank and four local banks.

The president of Sidor board of directors Maritza Izaguirre told Reuters that the government capitalized half of Sidor debt with the state and refinanced the other half over 15 years with a interest rate Libor plus 1.75 points.

Izaguirre said banks had pooled Sidor debt and bought at a discount another $133.5 million in the company.

The state's participation will diminish later with the completion of the transfer of 20 percent of Sidor shares to employees as laid out in the privatization process.

Sidor's financing difficulties worsened with the slide in global demand and prices in steel and also the impact of the deep domestic recession. Venezuela's economy contracted by a record 8.9 percent last year.

The firm produces on average about 3.5 million tonnes of liquid steel every year and manufactures finished goods from pellets to sheet and long materials.