Bolivarian Circles, Chavez’ armed brigades, did it again!
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 By: Oscar Heck
VHeadline.com commentarist Oscar Heck writes: “COPEI confirms second street offensive against government forces,” the Copei political party is planning a campaign effort in Petare on June 13, 2003.
This is a very dangerous and irresponsible thing to do, as was a similar event that took place in Catia recently.
Both Catia and Petare are two of the largest barrios (slum areas) of Caracas and if I am not mistaken, Petare alone has an estimated population of over one million.
Copei is one of the traditional Venezuelan political parties (and sides with the opposition) that has lost the trust of many Venezuelans due to it being associated with corruption.
So, why would such a party attempt to rally support in Petare?
Petare, a slum area with some very dangerous parts, is probably the last place that Copei will get support from. It is mostly the people from the barrios that have been affected by the past corruption of parties such as Copei. It is the people living in the barrios that had mostly been affected by the criminal tactics of the opposition during the stoppage in December 2002 and January 2003. It is mostly the people living in the barrios that have suffered from the antics of speculators and hoarders for the last several generations. (I am quite sure that most speculators and hoarders are pro-opposition … Chavez is trying to rid Venezuela of speculation and hoarding).
So why would a political party such as Copei (also an avid pro-opposition and anti-Chavez group) go to Petare?
It only makes sense if, as in the recent case in Catia, this planned rally has a hidden purpose. The purpose? To create another scenario of chaos, injuries and killings and then blame it on Chavez and the government.
It is almost certain that there will be violence at this “political rally.” All the opposition has to do is to pay people to dress in red (the Chavista color) and to don red berets, give them guns and let the shoot people.
The private opposition-backed media mafia will then say, “Bolivarian Circles, Chavez’ armed brigades, did it again!.” (Bolivarian Circles, contrary to what the opposition tries to make people believe, are small community-based groups that coordinate local community needs and improvements).
The planned June 13, 2003 Copei rally in Petare is further proof that the opposition is acting in a without-conscience fashion … as they did by blocking streets, sabotaging PDVSA, attempting to shut down banks and schools, hoarding, and heading a major anti-Chavez media campaign.
It is another example of how far the opposition is willing to go (murder?) in order to push their point and manipulate events to discredit the Chavez government.
Now, I recently received comments from a Venezuelan lady saying that I sometimes speak “against” Venezuela. As I mentioned to her, I do not speak against Venezuela or Venezuelans. I love Venezuela and Venezuelans. I do however speak (and will continue to do so) against the opposition and against the people who support the opposition. I also speak against the majority of the mid-to-upper classes because of their past and present abusive “habits.”
(Also, and not surprisingly, the vast majority of the mid-to-upper classes happen to be fiercely pro-opposition and anti-Chavez, and … as I mentioned to the Venezuelan lady, I have tried to find good things to say about mid-to-upper-class Venezuelans since I first stepped foot in Venezuela in 1976. To this day, I have, in a general sense, few positive comments to make about them).
The pro-opposition-mid-to-upper class Venezuelans that write to me (usually with insults and/or threats) seem to sincerely believe that “they” are representative of “Venezuelans.”
This cannot be. Only about 20% of the Venezuelan population is composed of mid-to-upper-class-pro-opposition people … and the socio-economic gap between them and the average Venezuelan (80%) is huge and often highly disproportionate.
There is also another interesting factor. Most mid-to-upper-class people are what would be considered as “white”, in generalized terms. This was very evident to a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ú equivalent to the BBC) cameraman that I escorted through one of the Caracas barrios earlier this year. He, as I, also went to one of the big anti-Chavez marches (in the upscale eastern Caracas region) and felt very much out of place and very uneasy. He is black, very black, and he said to me that he was the only “black” person in the crowd. He felt very uncomfortable. He noted a marked difference, especially after having passed an entire day in one of the big Caracas barrio with me the previous day … where most people are “not-white.”
So, again, I consider that Venezuela is best represented by the majority of Venezuelans, that is, by the 80%, and not by the minority economically well-off 20% traditionally living behind 10-feet high broken-glass-embedded walls, chained metal gates and armed security.
Oscar Heck oscar@vheadline.com