Stuart Munckton
Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez claimed on March 5 that the US is attempting to build a secessionist movement in the resource-rich state of Zulia. Venezuleanalysis.com reported on March 8 that Chavez accused the governor of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, of conspiring with the US government to build a separatist movement "so that the United States may benefit from the state's significant oil resources".
The state of Zulia is home to Lake Maricabo, which contains 40% of Venezuela's oil reserves. Venezuela is the fifth-largest supplier of oil in the world, and under Chavez the state-run oil industry PDVSA has been transformed to serve the Venezuelan people. Profits are pumped into social programs that aim to eradicate poverty, as well as projects to develop other areas of Venezuela's economy to reduce oil dependency. Foreign oil firms have been forced to sign new agreements, to give PDVSA majority control in all ventures, and their royalties to the government have been significantly increased.
Zulia is also one of only two states run by the opposition. An organisation in Zulia called Rumbo Propio ("Our Own Path") is pushing for a referendum on autonomy for the state. Both Rosales and the US embassy in Venezuela have denied any links with the group and deny accusations that they are organising for Zulia to secede.
Chavez, who has made several warnings of US plans for a military attack on Venezuela, said that any US attack would come through Zulia, which shares a border with Colombia.
In an article posted at Vheadline.com on March 5, Venezuelan attorney Eva Golinger — author of the The Chavez Code, which exposes the extent of US interference in Venezuela — warned that infiltration and sabotage against the revolution by the US is increasing. According to Golinger, terrorist attacks may come in the coming months in an attempt to undermine the December presidential elections, which Chavez is considered certain to win.
Golinger reported that the previous week, 2.2 kilograms of C-4 explosives, 10 electric detonators and four fragmentary grenades were seized by police, leading to the detention of three police officers and a soldier. She wrote that "there are hundreds of paramilitaries clandestinely crossing the Colombian border in Tachira and Zulia who then facilitate the smuggling in of arms and explosives ... many of which can already be found in the metropolitan zone".
The threats are being taken very seriously by large numbers of Venezuelans, keen to defend the socialist revolution led by Chavez. The British Guardian reported on March 4 that half a million Venezuelans will start a four-month military training program to make them part of the nation's armed reservists. This is only the initial group of the 2 million volunteers — or one in five adults — who have signed up to join the reserves in response to the threat of a US military attack. By mid-2007, Venezuela will have the largest military reserves in the Americas, double the size of the US.
The expansion of the reserves is part of the drive to create a new "people's army" that will be directly under Chavez's command. Vheadline.com reported on March 6 that Chavez said the reserves must be organised in the heart of the popular movements.
The Guardian quoted General Alberto Muller Rojas explaining the rationale behind the moves to create a people's army: "If the United States were to invade Venezuela ... the only way we could repel such an attack would be a full scale guerrilla war against the foreign aggressors.
"Our professional army only numbers 80,000 soldiers, so we would need to use civilians like in Iraq to fight the Yankee forces."
From Green Left Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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