Roberto Jorquera
On June 29, web-based news service Venezuelanalysis.com reported that several people were attacked at a protest opposing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The angry protest was caught on tape by the state-run television channel Venezolana de Television and the state-owned Radio de Venezuela. Throughout the anti-Chavez protest, reporters from both these media were verbally abused and physically intimidated.
The protest was responding to Chavez supporters setting up an electoral information tent in a section of eastern Caracas known for its anti-Chavez sentiment. The tent provided information on voting centres, ID card renewals and voter registration for the August 15 referendum on whether to recall Chavez.
On August 15, the people of Venezuela will be asked if they want to render ineffective Chavez's popular mandate. If the majority say no, he will remain in office unaffected. If yes, then he will be recalled and a new election held within 30 days of the ballot.
Under the Venezuelen constitution, a recall referendum must be held if 20% of the registered electorate requests it. On June 4, Venezuela's electoral countil announced that, after needing to reaffirm hundreds of thousands of signatures rejected in an initial attempt, the opposition had enough signatories to trigger the referendum.
The attacks at the June 29 protest typify the "yes" campaign. According to Venezuealanalysis.com, on the same day Anglican priest Orlando Guerrero was also attacked by the anti-Chavez protestors. "Guerrero had joined the pro-Chavez volunteers to lead a prayer for pro-Chavez Catholic priest Juan Vives Suri , who died on Saturday. The priest was hit in his back and in the head with a kitchen pot, and soda was thrown in his face as he prayed in loud voice."
The state-run TV station also reported that the pro-Chavez election organisers were more surprised by the level of support that they received than by the opposition they encountered. One of the organisers said, "one of the positive things about the incident is that we didn't know there were so many Chavez supporters here."
Chavez responded to the attacks by saying that those who attacked his supporters are not to blame, as they "are suffering from psychological problems due to the media campaign" against him. "They could attack our children, youths, and elderly. They are a danger to themselves and to the rest of society... They need help", he said.
Since Chavez was elected in 1998, the opposition, in close collaboration with the US embassy and big business, has attempted to create economic chaos and political insecurity â at its worst attempting a coup.
There is nothing new about a Latin American president who is supported by the poor facing this sort of opposition. As Alexander Cockburn argued in a recent article for Counterpunch:
"You can set your watch by it. The minute some halfway decent government in Latin America begins to reverse the order of things and give the have-nots a break from the grind of poverty and wretchedness, the usual suspects in El Norte rouse themselves from the slumber of indifference and start barking furiously about democratic norms. It happened in 1973 in Chile; we saw it again in Nicaragua in the 1980s; and here's the same show on summer rerun in Venezuela ...
"Ch vez is the best thing that has happened to Venezuela's poor in a very long time. His government has actually delivered on some of its promises, with improved literacy rates and more students getting school meals. Public spending has quadrupled on education and tripled on healthcare, and infant mortality has declined. The government is promoting one of the most ambitious land-reform programs seen in Latin America in decades", wrote Cockburn.
Though all polls tend to point to a victory for Hugo Chavez on August 15, the outcome is far from certain. What is certain is that the Venezuelan opposition and its United States supporters will continue to destabalise the Chavez government as much as it is able.
From Green Left Weekly, July 7, 2004.
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