Stuart Munckton
On October 15, news website Venezuela Analysis <http://venezuelaanalysis.org> reported that eight local politicians and business people from Tachira state had been found guilty of rebellion for their role in the April 2002 military coup that briefly overthrew the elected government of President Hugo Chavez.
All were convicted of rebellion â three of "direct co-operation" and five with being accomplices. They were sentenced to between three and six years' imprisonment. They were found to have illegally detained and attempted to depose the pro-Chavez governor of Tachira state.
These are the first to be convicted in connection with the US-backed coup that established the head of the Chamber of Commerce as president for 48 hours, before an insurrection of rank-and-file soldiers, lower officers and the poor majority restored Chavez. The Supreme Court previously refused to indict the military officers who led the coup, claiming what had existed was merely a "vacuum of power".
On October 1, Venezuela Analysis reported that arrest warrants had been issued on another four opposition leaders, all for treason. The four are leaders of the strongly anti-Chavez organisation Sumate, a self-styled non-government organisation, which purports to represent "civil society". The treason charges flow from an investigation that found that Sumate had requested funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. This US government agency is infamous for funding anti-democratic forces in Latin America in the interests of US corporations.
Sumate was found to have received at least US$53,000 from the NED. Venezuela Analysis quoted political analyst Peter Kornbluh, noting, "In principle, NED is an independent tool to promote democracy, but in practice it has been a weapon for regime change against governments the US deems as undesirable."
Despite Sumate's claims to be "non partisan" and "democratic", it actively participated in the April 2002 coup. In the two days that the "democratic" military junta held power, it found time to dissolve the constitution adopted by referendum, as well as the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and the laws that re-distribute wealth to the poor. Meanwhile on the streets of Caracas, police under the control of the anti-Chavez mayor massacred more than 60 Chavez supporters and hunted down pro-Chavez leaders, who fled into hiding.
Meanwhile, Chavez used his weekly television program Al Presidente on October 10 to announce that oil companies that were paying royalties of between 0% and 1% in the Orinoco Oil Belt for extracting extra heavy crude oil, would have their royalties raised to 16.6%, in accordance with Venezuela's Hydrocarbons Law of 2001. The law also raised light and heavy oil revenues from 16.6% to 30%.
Chavez claims Venezuela has been losing $1.2 billion of revenue per year through the "too low" royalties. The extra income from the royalties will be spent on social programs. "This is going straight to the state because this is the money of the people and it is to be distributed among the neediest", Chavez declared.
Chavez described the implementation of the tax hike as the "second phase" of nationalisation of Venezuela's oil, and part of establishing "full sovereignty".
Reuters newswire reported on October 13 that the companies affected, including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, ChevronTexaco and French Total had received official notice of the tax hike.
From Green Left Weekly, October 27, 2004.
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