One thing is that you may not like the present Venezuelan government

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2003 By: Julian Coningham

Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 23:20:12 +0000 From: Julian Coningham coninghams@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Re: diplomatic corps not idiots

Dear Editor:  In an email, Jose Aranguren, FTM Houston LLC ftmaritima@hotmail.com writes:

"What does the Venezuelan government win, who knows for sure?  Let the bombs issue aside (even if evidence becomes more and more incriminating), I guess the government feels they win the same they win by destroying their own country's economy, PDVSA, the church, the industry, the society, the armed forces, and so on. They are suicidal and heading fast into collision course with the criminal hope that it may be their only ticket left for survival. On the other hand the opposition is a gravitating mass without enough articulation to produce a sophisticated event such as the bombings in the 2 consular offices. Sorry Julian, but your arguments still sound either biased or inaccurate to me."

Dear Jose: Thank you for your latest e-mail. I am sorry but your arguments do not make sense to me at all. One thing is that you may not like the present Venezuelan government because of its policies (legitimate), etc., and another is to think that those ruling your country are so stupid/desperate that they now bomb foreign embassies.

What for?  To "blame" you?

In my opinion, since the government defeated the strike, they only need to "blame" you for the socio-economic problems. In short, they have plenty of ammo.

• Now, like it or not, the opposition is in a difficult situation after they failed to remove the President from office.

Don't forget that the strike was called to "remove" Chavez from Miraflores. Of course, the opposition may say "NO" in public, etc., but their strategy now is to create chaos, to internationalize (read foreign intervention), etc.

That's what they would love to happen.

Within the opposition, you have groups of people willing and ready to die for their "cause":  plant bombs, carry out shootings, etc.  As their propaganda states, it is "time for armed struggle."

Why?  Because they have failed to remove Chavez with strikes, marches, coup d'etat, etc.

Your idea that all in the opposition are saints is not the true picture of an opposition made up of different groups (including ultras).

regards Julian Coningham coninghams@hotmail.com