Arias Cardenas wants opposition to take Chavez Frias' supporters into account 

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

In his weekly column Lt. Colonel Francisco Arias Cardenas says the opposition must re-think its political action and objectives after the way the national stoppage ended.

“Things aren’t the same … the answer of an apparently victorious government and an opposition that some say has been defeated cannot be linear … the situation isn’t traditional."

Unlike his opposition colleagues, the Colonel recognizes that “popular sentiment of the dispossessed see in President Chavez Frias their hope of redemption and they are ready to defend what they believe belongs to them … they little to lose and everything including death … liberation and achievement."

As for the opposition, Arias Cardenas is adamant that it must assume that "there are no military officers that will do the work of getting rid of the President for us or Americans who feel threatened in their backyard and are ready to defend their privileges … at the same time, it has been shown that when we act with cunning and a degree of coherence we obtain important results. "

Chavez Frias doesn’t want to go to the polls, if he is at a disadvantage and even though he controls public powers, the armed force and the government, the opposition is in the majority and rejects his actions and public policies.

"The challenge is to find ways of changing that reality to the advantage of everybody, including the dispossessed, the idealists and the spongers that are with the government … there is no quick fix."

The opposition leader, who is facing problems inside his party and seems to be the only opposition figure with a consistent level of common sense, insists that the opposition work hard to get a constitutional amendment for early elections or a recall referendum if that fails and to stop the "Smart Alecs" from blowing the solution.