CARACAS, August 18 — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today initiated a protest caravan against an August 14 Supreme Court ruling that absolved four senior army officers charged with having participated in the April coup d'etat against him.

To cries of “justice, justice”, a wave of demonstrators followed Chavez, who headed what was a unique protest, riding in a small truck with his cabinet ministers, deputies and other supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Starting from Maracay, 80 kilometres west of Caracas, where he broadcast his Sunday program “Alo, Presidente”, people lined both sides of the highway waving Venezuelan flags. After passing through around 10 towns, the tour ended at dusk in the industrial city of Valencia.

Chavez called for a cacerolazo (saucepan banging protest) on the night of August 20 and a further protest demonstration on August 24 in Petare (extreme east of Caracas).

During his radio program Chavez urged Congress to review the dossiers of the 11 judges “who made that absurd and aberrant decision”. He emphasised that they had stained their reputations forever and branded those who endorsed their legal decision as immoral.

In that context, he announced the beginning of a campaign of marches, forums and open tribunals all over the country, but “peaceful and non-violent in nature”.

For his part, Venezuelan interior and justice minister Diosdado Cabello announced that Chavez is considering filing charges against the coup officers. Cabello stated that the president was the victim of a frustrated assassination, according to the lawyers who prepared the legal action.

Cabello affirmed that the Supreme Court ruling is the second phase of an attempt to achieve a so-called institutional coup, including the trial of the head of state.

[From Granma Internacional, <http://www.granma.cu>.]

From Green Left Weekly, August 28, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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