[mobglob-discuss] general news from Venezuela 26 November 2003

[michael a. lebowitz]

This is the first of two notes today relating to current developments in 
Venezuela. The second note concerns specifically the situation of workers 
in the private sector in the upcoming signature campaign.
	One of the interesting signs of the struggle and balance of forces at this 
point was displayed by Chavez at his speech for the inauguration of the 
Congreso bolivariano de los Pueblos last night. This was a congress 
initiated by Argentinean supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution, who are 
committed both to the social character of the Bolivarian Revolution in 
Venezuela and to Bolivar's vision of a united Latin America; it drew upon 
participants from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In the 
opening of Chavez's speech, he stressed that during the last week, 
political parties which are supporting the government had attempted to 
purchase advertisements on the private TV stations and had been refused. 
Chavez had asked them to respect the Constitution and the law, and he asked 
for a reply by the time of his speech. It was not forthcoming. So, his 
reply was to call for a 'chain'--- to use his power under the law 
(preceding him) to broadcast on all TV stations at once. And, he announced 
to the Congress (to cheers) that his speech was being carried on all 
stations at that point. He proceeded to ask what kind of democracy was 
possible if the private stations could exclude advertising from parties 
that they rejected. (Imagine, he asked, if a company wanted to introduce a 
new product and couldn't buy advertising on stations for some reasons! How 
could they communicate its existence?) If the private media could exclude 
the advertising of particular political parties, then they would be living 
under a dictatorship--- the dictatorship of the private media. So, Chavez 
called upon the private stations to respect the law and the Constitution, 
and he called upon the electoral commission (CNE) to enforce the law. If it 
didn't, he said, he would use the powers available to him under the law. 
This 'chain' was clearly an announcement to the country of what he intends 
to do if the private stations continue to refuse to accept paid advertising 
from Chavez supporters in this period leading up to the firmazo-- the 
signature gathering campaign beginning on Friday (and extending to Monday).
	Another aspect of Chavez's speech was his discussion of some initial 
results of the campaign just completed to recall 38 opponents in the 
legislature. Apparently, it went very well--- with well over the 20% of the 
required signatures gathered in the 4 days past in several cases and the 
signatures obtained to have recall referenda for 37. In fact, he joked 
about how the polls in some un-named centres indicated very little support 
for him (eg, less than 24%) and yet over 50 % of the electorate there had 
just signed to remove his opponents. The initial report is that over 4 
million signatures had been collected, and that in some cases over twice as 
many recall signatures than the legislators had received in votes had just 
been collected.
	Other notes of interest indicating tension: a Cuban doctor working in the 
barrio was murdered yesterday when he was providing healthcare in his home. 
The report at this point is that it was a robbery but tension was very high 
because of the fear that it was politically inspired. Also yesterday, 5 
armed and masked men attacked an airforce base where jet fighters are; in 
the gun fight that occurred, they escaped.
	I noted that there had been an eery calm with the state TV stations 
inviting opposition figures for discussions. All this is being denounced 
now as a trick by opposition people (who are criticising oppositionists for 
going on state TV). The International Press Institute has a delegation in 
Venezuela to observe developments. In a statement which appears in today's 
eluniversal.com, Jorge Fascetto, president of IPI,  stated:

"Our organizations, specially the Inter-American Press Association, has 
been visiting Venezuela during the last few years. We know perfectly what 
is going on in Venezuela. We know the good climate we have seen in these 
three, four, five days... We know what it is for; it is intended to deceive 
many people. We want a fair play (during the collection of signatures 
endorsing a presidential recall petition), that is all."

	in solidarity,
	 michael

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Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Office Fax:   (604) 291-5944
Home:   Phone (604) 689-9510