abcnews.go.com Venezuela's Capital of Caracas, Once Trendy and High-Flying, Faces Tough Times The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela Jan. 29 — Every night at 8 p.m. the clang of banging pots and pans rattles across the Venezuelan capital. It's the cacerolazo, a traditional Latin American protest against unpopular governments and toughening times.

In recent months, the din has spread from middle class districts into less prosperous neighborhoods as residents protest President Hugo Chavez's rule and their rapidly declining standard of living.

Chavez's backers answer with fireworks.

Then Caracas goes quiet.

After dark, this once-trendy, high-flying capital, an expensive vacation destination that bubbled with nightlife, is an empty shell.

Dark streets. Dark shops. Dark buildings.

Crime is up, and visitors are urged to stay indoors come nightfall. If confronted, hand over your valuables, one hotel brochure advises: "They can be replaced. You can't."

Caracas is now listed as one of the more dangerous cities in the hemisphere but it offers constant reminders of better days.

It bristles with modern high-rises, condominiums and buildings designed by world-renowned architects.

The sprawling Central University of Venezuela is a United Nations World Heritage Site with cantilevered walkways, mosaics and a sculpture garden featuring works by American mobile artist Alexander Calder. The Country Club residential area was designed by Frederick Olmstead, creator of New York City's Central Park.

A spotless air-conditioned subway rushes passengers quickly and cheaply through the city. An urban highway system is a monument to better days, when the oil and money flowed.

In the heyday 1970s, many wealthier Caracenos, as capital residents are called, regularly jetted to Miami to shop. Caracas was bright lights and good times. Many of the world's most exclusive shops opened branches here.

That all dwindled when the oil boom ended in the 1980s. As it became clearer that Venezuela's oil riches weren't trickling down to the majority of the people, a rebellion against the system emerged, culminating in Chavez's presidential election in 1998.

His opponents say that since then, Chavez's leftist policies have damaged business and scared off badly needed foreign investment. They have launched a two-month-long general strike aimed at ousting him from office.

The strike has crippled the oil industry and led to growing shortages.

In a country awash with oil, residents wait in lines stretching a mile or more for gasoline. Some wait overnight. Others buy gas on the black market at 10 times the official price. Banks are open only three hours a day. Fully half of the city's downtown shops are shuttered in sympathy with the strike, or because no one is buying.

"No flour today," reads a sign on a supermarket window. Soft drinks, bottled water, beer, cigarettes and prescription medicines are mostly memories.

Even baseball, in a country where it is more popular than soccer, was hit. Venezuela won't be at the 2003 Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico because it canceled its winter league season out of security concerns.

A lot of the city's business these days is done with buhoneros, tabletop entrepreneurs who sell everything from garlic to pirated CDs.

Venezuela imports more than half of its food, and with the strike it is looking abroad for even more basics.

When 500 tons of flour arrived recently from neighboring Colombia, the Chavez government, ever mindful of its power base, limited its distribution to poorer neighborhoods.

And there are plenty of poorer neighborhoods. Shantytowns jam the hillsides and ravines around the capital. Some hovels are built atop others because there is no space. More than half of Venezuelans live in poverty. Many of these residents are Chavez's people, who say he is the only Venezuelan president who ever cared about them.

Nervous residents in more comfortable neighborhoods have been forming private militias against the hordes they fear may come if the crisis explodes.

There are rumors of a currency devaluation. Rumors that Chavez will pull the plug on the city's unfriendly television stations, which is most of them. Rumors of a government bank takeover. Rumors of more political violence, or a U.S.-backed coup.

In today's Caracas, nobody knows what tomorrow will be like.

The uncertainty and anger is spelled out in the city's graffiti, where Chavez supporters appear to own the walls.

Aside from a rare "Chavez: Criminal," today's fare tends toward "Out with the coup-mongering oligarchs," "Bankers are corrupt coup-mongers," and "No to fascist sabotage."

And, occasionally, "Yankee Go Home."

sf.indymedia.org Venezuelan president stands tall for the poor by By Saeed Shabazz • Wednesday January 29, 2003 at 07:38 AM letters@finalcall.com

At the press conference, Pres. Chavez refuted allegations that he was a dictator. He said he could provide many examples of how his government had contributed to the democratic process, and how he had supported the political and human rights of Venezuelans.

World News Venezuelan president stands tall for people of color By Saeed Shabazz Staff Writer Jan 27, 2003, 6:25 pm

NEW YORK—There will be no civil war in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez Frias declared during a recent press conference at UN headquarters.

"What my government confronts now is a subversive movement that uses terrorism to impose its will against the national constitution," he said.

Pres. Chavez was at the UN to hand over the chairmanship of the Group of 77 plus China to Morocco. Last year Pres. Chavez became the first head of state to personally travel to New York to take over the chairmanship. The Group of 77 is a confederation of developing nations that often vote in the UN as a bloc.

At the press conference, Pres. Chavez refuted allegations that he was a dictator. He said he could provide many examples of how his government had contributed to the democratic process, and how he had supported the political and human rights of Venezuelans. While the president was holding his press conference, several dozen demonstrators gathered across from the UN building shouting slogans, banging on pots and demanding his resignation.

Mr. Chavez’s detractors see him as a dictator and a would-be communist. They point to his relationship with Cuban President Fidel Castro, and they talk about his visits to places such a Libya and Iraq.

Mr. Chavez was elected democratically in 1998 and 2000, with over 56 percent of the vote. However, opponents say there must be a referendum in Venezuela by Feb. 2. Asked by reporters if he could accept the referendum proposal, he said it would be " very nearly impossible" to hold such a referendum so soon.

"Replacing a president is not like taking a baseball pitcher out of a game or changing one’s shirt," Mr. Chavez told reporters.

Taking a small copy of Venezuela’s constitution out of his pocket, Mr. Chavez said a referendum could only be held in August 2003, as his presidency enters its mid-term.

In April 2002, opponents of Mr. Chavez—with U.S. support—staged a coup that lasted for two days. Mr. Chavez told reporters that following the coup his government resumed a "democratic life and followed a constitutional path."

"The people put Hugo Chavez back into power after the coup," observed Elombe Brath of the Harlem-based Patrice Lumumba Coalition, adding that Mr. Chavez represents a large segment of Venezuelans who are Black.

"The same type of movement of Black Panamanians that elected Manuel Noriega in Panama was used to elect Mr. Chavez in Venezuela," Mr. Brath stressed.

Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Curtis Stuble told Reuters Jan. 16 that the United States had no position on elections in Venezuela, but that a "deal" needed to be forged quickly.

"An urgent agreement on elections in Venezuela may be the only way to defuse the crisis there," Mr. Stuble said.

Mark Weisbrot, co-director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, characterized Mr. Chavez’s supporters in a Jan. 12 article in the Washington Post.

"The pro-government marchers are from Venezuela’s poor and working class communities. They are noticeably darker descendents of the country’s indigenous peoples and African slaves," Mr. Wiesbrot wrote.

"[The marchers] were seen carrying pocket-size copies of the 1999 Venezuelan constitution. Women’s groups were there because of anti-discrimination articles in the constitution; Indigenous leaders because this is the first constitution to recognize their people’s rights," he wrote.

Mr. Wiesbrot concluded that the marchers saw themselves as "defending constitutional democracy and civil liberties" against the "threat of fascism," which they believe is the political platform of the opposition–the people that sponsored the April coup.

According to Amy Chua, a Yale professor of law and author of "World on Fire: How Free Market Democracies Breed Ethnic Hatred & Global Instability," says that Mr. Chavez, along with 80 percent of Venezuela’s population, is referred to as "pardo," a term that has class and ethnic overtones that refer loosely to brown-skinned people of Amerindian or African ancestry.

She said Venezuela’s economy is controlled by a minority of "cosmopolitan Whites" or "martuanos," the Venezuelan term for persons with European features. Observers say Mr. Chavez promised to "cleanse" his nation of corrupted and co-opted elites who have gained political power.

His supporters say he pledged to resist globalization while keeping foreign investments on Venezuela’s terms.

"What Chavez represents is an ideology that is neither left nor right but firmly rooted in the concept of national sovereignty, a democratic nationalism, that has arisen largely in reaction to United States economic and military domination of the region," writes Justin Raimondo in a January 2001 article called "Behind the Headlines."

"Chavez is no commie," Mr. Raimondo insists. "He is a military man who resists Pres. George Bush’s attempts to down grade his nation’s army into a narcotics squad; and he has refused to allow the U.S. to conduct their phony war on drugs on Venezuelan territory. He has established a military zone on the border with Columbia precisely because of that nation’s inability to control drug trafficking and guerilla incursions into Venezuela," Mr. Raimondo stressed.

Mr. Raimondo believes the greatest concern of the Western powers is Mr. Chavez’s call for a "configuration" of Latin American states for the new century. Hugo Chavez ’s vision of a rail artery that would join the Caribbean basin through railways and link them with the great rivers, which Mr. Chavez calls the "arteries of continent," is what really scares the U.S. State Department, Mr. Raimondo said.

"Hugo Chavez is a Black man who has angered the oil barons of the world such as Vice Pres. Dick Cheney and, of course, Pres. Bush," Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement said. The organization had representatives at the UN to greet Pres. Chavez.

"He is carrying out the vision of the Latin American liberator Simon Bolivar, who also dreamed of a united Latin America," Ms. Plummer said. "To the U.S. State Department that is a crime, but for the people in places such as Venezuela, that may be an ambition worth fighting for," she added.

"We need to see that what is happening to Chavez and what is taking place with Pres. Robert Mugabe are part of an American hegemony," insists Mr. Brath. "America sees the danger of both leaders developing a society that uplifts their people. Both men have a vision that gives their people a chance to get out of slavery and servitude, and develop their resources to help advance their families," Mr. Brath added.

There has been an oil workers strike in Venezuela since Dec. 2, 2002, which has paralyzed the economy. Observers say the strike is the work of business interests opposed to Pres. Chavez’s threats of nationalization of some businesses and his attempts to seize control of the oil sector.

Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil producer. The United States gets 13 percent of its oil from Venezuela.

© Copyright 2003 FCN Publishing, FinalCall.com www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_417.shtml

www.berkshireeagle.com62671143303,00.html Article Last Updated: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 5:16:07 AM MST

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is an unusual kind of socialist. He offers all of the usual anti-capitalist boiler plate but is currently in the process of breaking a strike, which is usually the province of the cruel industrialists that socialists detest. Like Fidel Castro, he wants to foment revolution throughout the Western hemisphere, and unlike Mr. Castro he has the economic muscle to cause trouble outside his borders. He should concern Washington and the international community more than he has.

Yesterday, striking leaders of the nationalized oil industry acknowledge that daily production had exceeded 1 million barrels for the first time in nearly two months, indicating that Mr. Chavez was beating back the strike. The strike was called 57 days ago to pressure the president to call a referendum on his increasingly unpopular totalitarian regime, but strike-induced fuel and food shortages are now working against the president's opponents and playing into the hands of Mr. Chavez. The Chavez government is also using the strike to downsize the state-run company and remove dissenters, actions usually associated with right-leaning industrialists.

Poverty and the injustice of a right-wing regime paved the way for the election of Mr. Chavez in 1998 and now the nation appears to be stuck with him -- he doesn't face re-election until 2007. Sunday, Mr. Chavez called upon the nation's leftist ideologues to battle capitalism, an open invitation to internal strife that will disguise the reality that Mr. Chavez's socialist policies, the kind which have failed around the globe, are primarily to blame for his country's ongoing misery. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest exporter of oil, and if the country dissolves into chaos while war erupts in Iraq the world economy could suffer a brutal jolt.

There has been a tendency among Washington and its Western allies over the decades to lump all leftist leaders together, but this weekend there came a reminder that it is shortsighted to do so. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist whose anti-poverty programs do not include deriding capitalism, appeared be-fore the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and urged the world's politicians and business leaders gathered there to invest in an international anti-poverty fund and promote trade in underdeveloped countries. The Brazilian president pointed out that eliminating hunger takes a weapon away from political demagogues, and promoting trade helps provide the economic stability that prevents political turmoil.

This is good advice. An economic program built along these lines could have prevented the rise of President Chavez, whose rule may prove far more costly to the world economy than the modest amount of capital needed to perhaps prevent Venezuela from becoming susceptible to his simplistic messages. The World Economic Forum should adopt the ideas offered by President da Silva to enable more men like him, and fewer like President Chavez, to come to power.

Asunto: Mi_Último_aldabonazo_-_por_Robert_Alonso_G58 De: "Robert Alonso 2000" robertalonso2000@hotmail.com Fecha: Mié, 29 de Enero de 2003, 8:59 am Para:

¡MI ÚLTIMO ALDABONAZO!

Cuando ya en nuestro destierro alguien escriba la historia de cómo se perdió Venezuela, habrá que tomar muy en cuenta a dos personajes tremendamente importantes: Gahndi y Chacumbele.

A mediados de 1958, cuando la situación política en Cuba era poco menos que insoportable, al dictador Batista se le ocurrió hacer unas "elecciones" y lanzó a su candidato, un lacayo de nombre Rivero Agüero. Yo era un niño cuando la campaña electoral y aún recuerdo el "jingle" del candidato oficialista: "Cuba primero, y Presidente: Rivero Agüero..." El candidato de la oposición representaba al Partido Ortodoxo, quien pretendía heredar el apoyo que el pueblo cubano le había dado a Eduardo Chibás. Muchos cubanos rechazaron la farsa y no fueron a los comicios. Con la ilusión de estas "elecciones" convocadas por el dictador, millones de mis conciudadanos pensaron que se terminaría la guerra revolucionaria, Batista se iría al retiro y todos los cubanos seríamos felices, cual lombrices.

Como era de esperarse, Rivero Agüero salió "victorioso", pero jamás pudo asumir el cargo, porque la revolución se lo impidió. Ya para esa fecha, los partidos políticos -- y los políticos cubanos --, no sabían en cuál palo ahorcarse. Alguna similitud con situaciones y/o personajes actuales en la Venezuela del Sr. Chávez es pura coincidencia. Aprendimos todos - entonces -- que en cuestiones de dictadores, los votos no cuentan y las elecciones no son soluciones.

Venezuela se perdió porque nuestros líderes - viejos y jóvenes - no fueron capaces de interpretar al enemigo y entender la guerra que se estaba luchando. Mientras esgrimían las leyes, las buenas costumbres y la constitución, el enemigo arremetía con exabruptos jurídicos, eructos y descaradas violaciones a la carta magna. No supimos cuando dejar de tocar las cacerolas y los pitos. ¡Patria o Muerte, nos vencieron!

De aquí para adelante verán como comenzaremos todos a tirar tiros al aire a ver si nos caen los patos. Al final los que podamos nos iremos, unos se marchitarán en las nuevas e infernales prisiones y los que no mueran en los paredones se quedarán a morirse en vida en estas "montañas de felicidad".

Ya verán como encontrarán recuerdos en cada cosa que hoy les parece insignificante, son recuerdos tristes -- que como bien diría mi tío en la poesía que escribiera en su destierro en el año 69 --, desgarran el alma.

LA CASA DE LOS ABUELOS

Cuba treinta y nueve y medio, más tarde cincuenta y tres, moderno doscientos seis; la casa de Santa Clara. ¡Qué tristes son los recuerdos cuando desgarran el alma!

Amplia puerta que da acceso a la acogedora sala; tres ventanas a la calle que llenan de luz y gracia la casa de los abuelos, la casa de Santa Clara.

De madera son las vigas, de barrotes las ventanas; tejas rústicas el techo que lanza chorros de agua por sus roídas canales al patio central de malvas.

Un espejo ovalado refleja las porcelanas y las consolas de mármol, el sofá y las butacas, todos de factura antigua que amueblan la bella sala.

En ausencia del abuelo, preside la santa casa nuestra muy querida abuela, a quien veneran amigos, a quien bendicen mendigos, y sus hijos idolatran.

El toque de las campanas de la vetusta Pastora despierta a sus moradores desde horas muy tempranas. principia así un nuevo día, igual ayer que mañana.

Siempre está abierta la puerta, siempre la acogida es franca para el amigo que llega, para el mendigo que llama, para el extraño que pasa, y a todos afecto alcanza.

Suave y feliz es la vida en aquella vieja casa. el tiempo corre apacible que de bronce un reloj marca. ¡Quién detuviera tu ritmo de presentir la desgracia!

Los días de Nochebuena -- alegría en los mayores bullicio en la muchachada --, reúne allí nuestra abuela a nietos, hijos e hijas y a todos cuantos la aman. ¡Qué triste son los recuerdos cuando desgarran el alma!

Un día sobre la patria se desató la tormenta con fuerza tal, que a su paso todo cuanto encuentra arranca. ¡Qué a tanto llegan el odio, el rencor y la venganza!

¡Cuán triste ha quedado todo! Una soledad que espanta se cierne sobre la casa otrora risueña y clara, llena hoy sólo de recuerdos que hieren cual fiera daga.

Se acabaron las reuniones; se dispersaron las almas; unas hacia el infinito, en busca de eterna calma, otras por el ancho mundo sin rumbo fijo, sin nada.

Fuera de la Patria amada, en el corazón frialdad, en la mente, brumas vagas; pidiendo siempre en el rezo hallar algo que mitigue el vacío, la añoranza.

No hay lugar que nos cobije, no hay consuelo ni esperanza. pasan las horas, los días, y toda ilusión es vana

del regreso a nuestra casa; la casa de Santa Clara. ¡Qué tristes son los recuerdos cuando desgarran el alma!

Armando Alonso García Gainsville, Florida - marzo de 1969

El Hatillo, 29 de enero de 2003

Robert Alonso robertalonso@cantv.net

"El año que viene, nos vemos en Jerusalén."

Nota final: Esto no es un decreto de rendición, ¡es un último alerta!

blogs.salon.com

I wanted to talk about the possible effects of exchange controls, people always think they are milder that they eventually end up being. Then I received this (in Spanish) from Roberto Rigobon, a Venezuelan who is a Professor at the Sloan School at MIT. He defintely can do it better and is more qualified.   What’s the big deal with foreign exchange controls? By Roberto Rigobon   MIT   I do not understand why we Venezuelans have to get so worked up about foreign exchange controls. After all, since when do they last more than three months?   It is customary for authorities to say:” In the past the controls were not implemented correctly, we- who know how to control- will do it well”. I understand that today’s authorities are different. But a great friend once told me something that is absolutely true: “Countries that impose capital controls always claim they are different, -but surprisingly, they look identical at the end-they all collapse in the same way”   Foreign exchange controls is only a reflection of the ignorance of the economic authorities to handle a situation that is escaping their hands. It is exactly what a scolded kid does when he throws a temper tantrum on the floor. Since when is this an act that deserves our minimal attention? The question is not if the exchange control will last, it is knowing what will happen during and after it.

Today the Venezuelan Government is desperate for financing, and its only alternative is the Central Bank and the domestic financial system. I know that the Central Bank law says that it is prohibited to lend to the Government, but this was not really designed to be followed. It will be one of a zillion laws that has been violated. And to be sincere, it is not as if the reputation of the Government will be drastically damaged for such an event-it has done worse things. Thus the Government will expropriate the savers and the Venezuelan Central Bank. The typical mechanism is: the Government goes into debt through the financial system-issuing bonds that banks are forced to purchase. Whether it is because the Central Bank increases legal reserves and allows them to use such instruments as part of reserves, or simply because they open a desk where you can discount them at a sufficiently juicy price. In this transaction two things occur: The implicit indebtedness of the Government increases so much, both in the Central Bank and in the banking system- and since the monetary base increases, in a country with free mobility of capital, there is capital flight and reserves fall. Let’s look at this in more detail. Forcing the banking system to accept Government bonds implies that savers have implicitly lent money to the Government. Of course, nobody sane would lend money to this Government if they knew what they were doing. In these circumstances, before depositing in the banking system, account holders would take their money out. Ah!! But that is what capital controls are good for-to stop savers, that do not want to lend the Government money and that have excess liquidity, from having any recourse. Unfortunately, for the Government, capital flight can only be stopped for a limited time-in general, very limited (three to six months maximum). What ends up happening is that Governments are forced to freeze bank accounts-which implies a massive devaluation and expropriation of the account holders. Now, expropriating account holders has never been a good idea. This has happened a few times in Latin America in 1989 and 2002 in Argentina, in 1990 in Brazil, in 2000 in Ecuador (To mention only a few) By the way, in each of these occasions (i) depositors lost between 60 and 70 percent of their savings, (ii) the Governments devalued the currency at least a factor of three (let’s see, today it is at Bs 1800 per US$, mmmmm....Bs. 5400 could be a good number, if history repeats), (iii) and even more important, each Government ended up leaving through the back door because the economy turned unmanageable-I don’t want to think what will happen in Venezuela where things are already unmanageable   Foreign exchange controls are not the problem, they are the symptom of the inability, of the ignorance, of the incredulity, and of the arrogance of those Governments that think they know more than savers. And certainly the savers do not have a graduate degree in economics, nor a Ph.D. from Chicago, but dummies they are not. Only someone with one neuron (which it obviously needs to breathe) will think that controls are an alternative for the Venezuelan situation. Thus, to the mono-neuronic economists that thought of this terrible idea, tighten your belts because what is coming is a stampede.