<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

"But even supposing blood should flow. Is there not a sort of bloodshed when the conscience is wounded? ... I see this blood flowing now" Henry Thoreau, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," 1849.

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: If Thoreau was here today he would see the blood flowing out of our wounded consciences. He could clearly see how a President breaks promises. He would join with us in suspecting the motives of this government and in distrusting their actions and their words.

Our consciences are bleeding with good reason. Although this government promised to fight corruption, poverty and crime, all of these social afflictions are now worse than ever.

Street children are more numerous, in spite of the Presidential promise to "resign if he had not ended this problem in six months."

La Carlota is still an airport, not the park he promised 2 years ago.

Miraflores is still the Presidential Palace, not the "popular university" that he promised 2 years ago.

Although he promised 4 years ago that he would sell all government airplanes since having them was "immoral" he flies around in a $65 million new Airbus.

Although he promised never to dress in military uniform again, he does it regularly although a new size is now required.

Our consciences are bleeding because the actions of the government have placed the country in a disastrous situation. Chavez has started a "revolutionary offensive" patterned after the one started by Castro in Cuba in early 1970.

It is an offensive designed to annihilate the middle class and the private sector. As the Cuban offensive converted Cuba into the Albania of Latin America, this offensive is converting Venezuela into a Latin Zimbabwe.

The offensive includes exchange and price controls, the destruction of private companies, the dismantling of PDVSA, the promotion of invasions of private and productive lands and the establishment of a regime of terror to encourage the emigration of dissenters. This offensive would allow the government to control whatever is left of the country.

We have to remember that the main motive of Chavez is not social progress but political control. To him, a sound economy is not important while social unrest could well be an ally of his authoritarian agenda since it would justify repression.

Our consciences are bleeding because we do not have a government but a regime, because we do not see programs but empty rhetoric, because we see no plans but new restrictions and obstacles to the exercise of citizenship.

Hugo Chavez has violated his social contract with the nation. His mandate had to do with democratic change, not with a "revolution" which is only a throwback to the 19th century.

We are, therefore, at a critical moment in Venezuela.

The country urgently needs to vote on whether this man goes or stays.

This is urgent because every day that goes by the Nation deteriorates significantly, corruption gains ground, violence increases, hate becomes deeply entrenched, criminals rejoice, the poor starve.

We have to vote without further delay, without any more "tricks," like Carter said.

If this urgent and civilized option is somehow stolen from us ... then we will march with the spirit of Henry Thoreau in total civic disobedience ... and blood will flow.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email gustavo@vheadline.com

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Referendum 2003 discuss the pros and cons of a revocatory referendum

President Hugo Chavez Frias express your opinions on the Presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias and his Bolivarian Revolution

Bolivarian Circles Are Bolivarian Circles a Venezuelan form of Neighborhood Watch Committees or violent hordes of pro-Chavez thugs?

Venezuela's Opposition What is it? Is a force to be reckoned with or in complete disarray?

Our editorial statement reads: VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable  right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American. --  Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher  Editor@VHeadline.com

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan opposition negotiator, Americo Martin has been parrying attacks from radicals about the terms of the agreement the Coordinadora Democratica (CD) will sign with the government. "Approving a recall referendum is the best possible agreement."

Martin argues that the agreement is guaranteed  because the Organization of American States (OAS), United Nations (UN) and the Carter Center will be guarantors of the results. 

Secondly, Martin ventures, negotiators on both sides agreed that the National Electoral College (CNE) will adjust to the lapses established by law, which stipulate a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 90 days. "Neither the government nor the opposition can shout victory regarding the recall referendum, since it was the initiative undertaken around the negotiating table."

Forums

Referendum 2003 discuss the pros and cons of a revocatory referendum

President Hugo Chavez Frias express your opinions on the Presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias and his Bolivarian Revolution

Bolivarian Circles Are Bolivarian Circles a Venezuelan form of Neighborhood Watch Committees or violent hordes of pro-Chavez thugs?

Venezuela's Opposition What is it? Is a force to be reckoned with or in complete disarray?

Our editorial statement reads: VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable  right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American. --  Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher  Editor@VHeadline.com    © 2003 VHeadline.com All Rights Reserved.  Privacy Policy Website Design, hosting and administration by: Integradesign.ca 

The Boston Globe By Mike Ceaser, Globe Correspondent, 4/13/2003

CARACAS -- Elisa Beth Aez stood on Caracas's Altamira Plaza, hearing a dissident general call President Hugo Chavez a ''bandit'' and a ''communist.''

Behind her, where thousands had rallied a few months ago, a few dozen protesters yelled and beat pots and pans.

The opposition ''has committed a few errors and weakened a little,'' said Aez, 60, who was selling her book of anti-Chavez poetry. ''But we're going to start hitting strong once again. . . This man has got to go this year.''

A year after military leaders arrested Chavez last April 11, only to have his supporters sweep him back to power three days later, the opposition has lost much of its fervor and power.

Having failed in its extra-constitutional methods, the opposition is now struggling to remake itself to challenge Chavez. A referendum could take place after mid-August.

Yesterday, a bomb ripped through an office building where government and opposition negotiators had negotiated terms for the referendum, police said. No one was was wounded.

Since the coup, the opposition has tried pressuring Chavez to resign, by organizing huge rallies and marches that culminated in December's two-month strike against the oil industry.

The efforts failed, and Chavez, who won landslide elections in 1998 and 2000 on promises of helping the poor majority, consolidated his power and emerged more popular.

After the coup, Chavez removed opposition military officers and used the failed petroleum strike to fire thousands of opponents from the state petroleum company.

The strike also further undermined an economy which shrank eight percent last year and is predicted to contract by about another 15 percent this year.

The opposition ''adopted a short-term strategy and used up their capital without gaining their objective,'' said Peter Hakim, president of Inter-American Dialogue, a group based in Washington. ''The president is now more firmly in power.''

Meanwhile, five months of dialogue facilitated by the Organization of American States secretary general, Csar Gaviria have produced an agreement on nonviolence and another endorsing democracy and the ground rules for the referendum.

Now, Chavez opponents, who accuse him of ruining the economy, weakening democratic checks and balances, and trying to impose communism, are focusing on winning a referendum, which the constitution allows after Aug. 19, the halfway point of Chavez's six-year term. A Chavez loss in the referendum would lead to new presidential elections.

However, some observers predict that Chavez will use legal mechanisms to block any election he is not confident of winning.

''He gives the impression that he won't permit elections,'' said Alfredo Keller, president of the Caracas polling firm Keller and Associates. ''Chavez can employ a series of obstacles.''

Keller says that Chvez, whose popularity is between 30 and 40 percent, would probably lose a referendum, but that he could win the elections to follow unless the fragmented opposition chooses a single candidate. The many potential opposition candidates score in the teens or lower in voter polls. Part of the reason, many say, is that the opposition has offered few ideas apart from hate for Chavez.

''After the strike, the opposition lost its cohesion,'' said Tarik William Saab, a parliamentarian and the leader of Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party. ''They have no program, no support.''

And while Chavez's mostly poor supporters are a minority, they are passionate and dedicated.

''Chavez represents an opportunity to distribute the wealth more fairly, to create a more just society,'' said Francisco Garcia, 34, a construction worker.

Enrique Salas Romer, who lost to Chavez in the 1998 election and may run again, says the opposition coalition is now focusing on a single theme -- the economy. Unemployment is close to 30 percent, according to unofficial estimates.

''We're now entering a new phase in which the debate will center around human rights -- mostly the right to eat,'' Romer said.

But Romer acknowledges that, in the wake of the oil strike, Venezuelans also blame the opposition for the economic crisis.

With the anniversary's arrival, Venezuela's scene has heated up. Both sides have scheduled rallies and memorials for the dozens killed before and after the coup. Those deaths have never been investigated, and on Tuesday a court cleared of homicide charges four Chavez supporters who had been videotaped firing from a Caracas bridge hours before the coup. On Wednesday, a judge ordered the arrest of two former National Guard officers, alleging that they were planning another coup. for April 10, the next day.

Opposition leaders want to make the anniversary the beginning of a new effort to unseat Chavez.

''The opposition is now restructuring and relaunching its strategy,'' said Cesar Perez Vivas, leader of the Christian Socialist Party. ''All the efforts will now be for the revocatory referendum.''

This story ran on page A4 of the Boston Globe on 4/13/2003.

Abril Por Aldo Rodríguez

Caracas, abr (EFE).- Con escepticismo y sobre todo temor a que la violencia se oculte tras la calma de las últimas semanas los venezolanos afrontan hoy el primer aniversario del fallido golpe de Estado del 11 de abril de 2002.

Quienes están a favor o en contra del Gobierno no olvidan la fecha en que murieron 19 personas, y cerca de otras 50 más en los dos días siguientes, durante los que usurpó el poder y se autoproclamó presidente el jefe de la patronal, Pedro Carmona, actualmente prófugo en Colombia.

Pero también los meses posteriores han sido en su mayoría de gran violencia callejera, con multitudinarias marchas a favor y en contra del presidente Hugo Chávez y nuevos enfrentamientos, que dejaron al menos 12 muertos y decenas de heridos.

"No puede ser que después de tanta agitación, marchas y peleas, muertos, bombas y amenazas, ahora todos se hayan vuelto santos; aquí hay gato encerrado. Ojalá me equivoque, pero ahora que recordarán el golpe, se darán plomo de lado y lado", dijo a EFE Margarita Pachay, una empleada doméstica de 45 años.

Ante la incertidumbre de lo que pueda pasar estos días, Pachay ha enviado a sus tres hijos adolescentes a una hacienda próxima a Caracas, porque "allí están lejos de los politiqueros con los que de seguro estarían este fin de semana, pero criando pollos lejos de aquí no podrán; además de que en Caracas estaban desempleados".

Opositores y detractores de Chávez han planeado a partir de hoy y durante el fin de semana acciones en recuerdo del golpe y contragolpe de Estado que lo sacó y devolvió al poder en 48 horas en sendas rebeliones cívico-militares.

Con sólo dos días de trabajo a la semana, en una residencia cuyos dueños le pagan 15.000 bolívares (menos de 10 dólares) por jornada de diez horas, Pachay prevé "violencia dura, como la que más se ve en la televisión, porque la pobreza se ve ’en vivo’, con niños buscando comida en los potes de basura y todas esas cosas".

No titubea al afirmar que "con este Gobierno estamos peor que antes y eso que Chávez dijo que iba a acabar con todo lo malo, y en eso compite con los opositores, que lo único que hacen es andar peleándose entre ellos y llamando a huelgas".

Henry Navas, vigilante de una gasolinera situada frente a uno de los centros comerciales saqueados en las revueltas de hace un año, también cree que "nada bueno nos espera en estas noches que vienen", pero confía en que "a este Gobierno no lo sacará nadie".

"Tendrán que darse cuenta esos escuálidos (opositores) que en poco tiempo Chávez comenzará a hacer todo lo que prometió y que no le han dejado, con tanto paro, golpe y marchas", sostuvo.

Aunque dijo a EFE que participará "en todas las fiestas por la democracia recuperada" que preparan los seguidores del Gobierno, alertó que los opositores "marcharán también y ahí nos veremos".

"Lo que ellos en realidad quieren es que vengan más muertos y que Chávez siga sin hacer nada, para volver a robarse todo", manifestó.

Para Navas, "si este presidente roba, bueno; pero robará mucho menos de que lo que se llevaron los otros que ahora no lo dejan en paz y que quieren volver al poder para llenarse otra vez los bolsillos".

Cansada de "que si Chávez es un horror, que si es bueno o castro-comunista o lo mejor y peor que necesitaba Venezuela y de todo este ’blablá’ insoportable", Sofía Cruz zanjó el asunto.

Colgó un cartel en su pequeña librería, situada cerca de la sede principal de la empresa petrolera custodiada día y noche por "chavistas bulliciosos", donde simplemente decretó: "Aquí está terminantemente prohibido hablar de política".

"La intolerancia fanática de allá y acá asfixia y, por eso, hasta en casa quedamos en que nadie habla de política, ni siquiera con los vecinos, porque uno nunca sabe si aparece uno de tanto loco capaz de cualquier cosa si escucha decir algo diferente a lo que él piensa", afirmó.

De: "Jessica Rosenberg" jessica@obraweb.com Fecha: Mar, 8 de Abril de 2003, 5:29 pm

Desde comienzos de este año está circulando en Estados Unidos y Europa un documental de 75 minutos acerca de Chavez, el 11 de abril, etc. Estuvo en el Festival de Cine de Texas, hoy será puesto al aire por la BBC y ha sido adquirido por otros canales y distribuidoras en Estados Unidos y Europa.

No lo he visto, pero he sabido que es muy favorable al régimen; si entran al website de los productores (www.sxsw.com), se entiende inmediatamente su ideología cuando citan como referencias de internet a Narco News y The Nation.

Pueden escribirle a los productores directamente a chavezthefilm@hotmail.com. Si prefieren contactar a la BBC, pueden hacerlo en: www.bbc.co.uk.

Por mi lado, le escribí a la BBC la nota anexa al final. Anexo el sitio web de la BBC donde anuncian el programa y el sitio web con el review del festival en Texas. Jessica Rosenberg

BBCi

CHAVEZ: INSIDE THE COUP Kim Bartley & Donnacha O'Briain, Ireland, 2002 Tuesday 8 April 2003 9pm-10.05pm; rpt 12.05am-1.10am; Friday 11 April 12.10am-1.20am

An intimate profile of the charismatic and unconventional Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the coup attempt against him and his dramatic return to power some 48 hours later.

Commissioner's Comment Nick Fraser Storyville Series Editor

When a coup was launched in April 2002 against Hugo Chavez, the elected President of Venezuela, some young Irish filmmakers were lucky enough to be on hand to witness the events.

They were actually inside the Presidential Palace - a filmmakers' dream - when the soldiers came to take Chavez away. But they were also there 48 hours later when the same soldiers switched sides reinstalling the president.

The result is a brilliant piece of journalism but it is also an astonishing portrait of the balance of forces in Venezuela. On one side stand the Versace wearing classes, rich from many decades of oil revenues, and on the other the poor in their barrios and those within the armed forces who support Chavez.

The media, who ought to be merely reporting the conflict splitting the country down the middle, are in fact adjuncts of the coup-makers.

Watch this film and you may truly for the first time in your life understand the term media bias. www.bbc.co.uk

South by Sothwest 2003 Film Festival Screening, Austin Texas, March 7-12

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Documentary Feature Screening in Special Screenings US Premiere

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a feature length documentary on Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. Over the course of 7 months, from January to July 2002, the filmmakers secured unprecedented access to film Chavez in his daily life. During this time, there was a coup and the filmmakers were the only crew inside the presidential palace at the time.

They were also the first there for his triumphant return some 48 hours later.On the 11th April 2002, the world awoke to the news that President Hugo Chavez had been removed from office and had been replaced by a new self-appointed "interim" government. News report after news report carried stories of the mayhem in Caracas, where 11 people had been killed in what were alleged to have been bloody street battles between Chavez supporters and an opposition march.Viewers all over the world were led to believe that Chavez had ordered the killings, and had therefore been forced to resign.What had in fact took place was the first coup of the twenty first century, and the world's first media coup."The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a thrilling insight into President Chavez and the power of globalized media. www.sxsw.com

Dear Sirs, Considering the BBC to be an example of impartial and balanced media, I believe you should include in your Further Links section, sites that give a different point of view to visitors about the situation in Venezuela such as www.vcrisis.com and www.analitica.com. Or a less biased article such as the one by your own correspondent Nick Higham titled “TV Battle in Latin America” (news.bbc.co.uk).

“Chavez: Inside the Coup” is a highly biased documentary whose producers cannot see beyond their leftist anti-globalization dreams to contemplate the harsh truth of an inefficient and corrupt populist government that has done nothing to solve the pressing social and economic needs of our country.

Furthermore, I find derogatory comments such as “the Versace wearing classes” by Mr Nick Fraser a sure sign of total ignorance of the political situation in Venezuela. People who march by the thousands to protest against the Chavez government and demand elections are not frivolous individuals, they are citizens of all social classes fighting for their lives and their belief in a more just political and economic system. Jessica Rosenberg