[mobglob-discuss] Fwd: Protests by Venezuela's Opposition Continue in Middle-Class Areas

[michael a. lebowitz]

The latest report I've had from Venezuela is that the streets are a bit 
quieter right now; however, this may be just a lull while everyone waits 
for the official report from the electoral council. In the most ominous 
development, the police forces in opposition-controlled municipalities are 
working very closely with opposition activists./m

>Protests by Venezuela's Opposition Continue in Middle-Class Areas
>Barricades and clashes with troops continue, as opponents of President 
>Chavez pressure for a recall. Opposition-controlled police forces refuse 
>to restore order. One person was reported death
>By: Gregory Wilpert and Martín Sánchez - Venezuelanalysis.com
>Published: 02/03/04
>
>Caracas, Venezuela. Mar 2 
>(<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/>Venezuelanalysis.com).- Throughout the 
>day on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, small groups of opposition protesters 
>took to the streets and erected barricades to block traffic in several 
>different middle class and upper middle class neighborhoods in Caracas. 
>Local police officials kept away from the protests while National Guard 
>troops attempted to clear the streets for through traffic.
>9a9fcee.jpg
>
>Opposition demonstrators seeking to oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, 
>fire a home-made rocket at National Guard toops in Caracas.
>Photo: Venezolana de Television footage
>
>The result were numerous confrontations between national guard and 
>protestors, in which protestors attacked with rocks, Molotov cocktails, 
>home made rockets, and in some cases even with gunfire. The National Guard 
>responded with large amounts of tear gas and shotgun fire with plastic 
>shrapnel. Numerous individuals were wounded, including protestors, guard 
>troops, and some journalists.
>
>Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are protesting to put 
>pressure electoral authorities into approving a recall referendum on the 
>President's mandate.
>
>Opposition leaders, such as the Juan Fernandez, the leader of last year’s 
>oil industry shut-down, said, “The only way there will be peace in 
>Venezuela is if the National Electoral Commission decides that there will 
>be a presidential recall referendum.”
>
>The National Guard arrested numerous protesters throughout the country, 
>who opposition leaders are referring to as “political prisoners.”
>
>One person was reportedly dead in the Caracas suburb of San Antonio, as 
>protestors clashed with National Guard troops. The source of the shoots 
>remains unknown.
>9a9fdde.jpg
>
>A small group of opposition demonstrators block a major avenue in the 
>upper-class Caracas neighborhood of Altamira.
>Photo: Venezuelanalysis.com
>
>Opposition-controlled police accused of aiding demonstrators
>
>Ismael Garcia, a pro-Chavez member of the legislature, today accused the 
>Caracas Metropolitan Police force, which is controlled by the opposition 
>mayor Alfredo Peña, of infiltrating opposition demonstrations in order to 
>heighten the conflictivity of the demonstrations. He said that numerous 
>police officers have come forward to report on the mayor’s efforts to 
>radicalize the demonstrations. Garcia added that the National Assembly 
>would install a special commission to investigate the accusations.
>
>The Metropolitan Police, as well as police forces from other 
>opposition-controlled municipalities, has refused to act to restore order 
>at opposition barricades.
>9a9feec.jpg
>
>Opposition demonstrators block a highway in Santa Fe, an upper 
>middle-class neighborhood of southeastern Caracas.
>Photo: N. Heredia
>
>Gunmen shot at reporters
>
>Continuing the opposition protests of Friday and Saturday, small groups of 
>protesters confronted National Guard troops again in the upper-middle 
>class neighborhood of Altamira and in several other locations in the 
>eastern part of Caracas.
>
>In the course of one of the clashes on Sunday, unidentified gunmen opened 
>fire from buildings, shooting behind National Guard lines and hitting a 
>cameraman for Univision in the foot. “A boy from the opposition side shot 
>me in the chest with a 9mm pistol,” said Juan Barreto, a photographer for 
>Agence France-Presse (AFP). Barreto survived the incident because he was 
>wearing a bullet-proof vest.
>
>Venezuela’s investigative police, the DISIP, later raided the buildings to 
>find the gunmen, but could not find them.
>9aa0069.jpg
>
>Guns, ammo, and thirty ID cards were confiscated during an arrest in Altamira.
>Photo: Venezolana de Television footage
>
>Several Arrests
>
>Late Sunday night, Venezuela’s Military Intelligence Service arrested 
>three persons in Altamira, which has become the center of the violent 
>protest against the government. The three were arrested for illegally 
>carrying weapons and munitions with them. In their car the three had three 
>pistols, ten official identification cards, numerous munitions, and three 
>bullet proof vests.
>
>Two young boys who were caught by Military Police officers near Altamira 
>Monday afternoon, confessed on TV having received money from a man from 
>the opposition Primero Justicia (Justice First) party, to transport some 
>tires and gas from a nearby building, and then burn them in the middle of 
>a street. “I did it because I needed the money for my family,” said one of 
>the boys who appeared to be very poor. Both youngsters said they regretted 
>having done what they did.
>
>More than 30 people have been arrested by authorities so far.
>
>Normality in working-class areas
>
>In sharp contrast with the destruction and chaos generated by opponents of 
>President Chavez in middle and upper-class sections of the city, in 
>working-class areas the situation is completely normal.
>
>At Caricuao, a working-class neighborhood in southwestern Caracas, a small 
>group of individuals allegedly not from the area, tried to set up 
>roadblocks as oppositionist Metropolitan Police officers watched. The 
>protest was presented by commercial anti-Chavez TV network Globovision as 
>proof of a working-class neighborhood protesting against the President. 
>Minutes later, hundreds of neighbors appeared at the scene and drove away 
>the small group of demonstrators. The streets were later cleaned by the 
>neighbors themselves.
>
>A similar situation occurred in El Valle, another working-class 
>neighborhood in southwester Caracas, where hundreds of Chavez supporters 
>drove away a small group of protestors who pretended to set up roadblocks.
>9aa013b.jpg
>
>A barricade blocks traffic at the upper-class Caracas neighborhood of 
>Altamira in eastern Caracas. Opposition-controlled municipal police refuse 
>to intervene to restore order.
>Photo: N. Heredia
>
>Observers reject violence, Church silent
>
>Jenniffer McCoy, a representative of the Carter Center, which is acting as 
>observer in the recall referenda process, asked people to reject violence 
>as electoral authorities continue working on the referenda process. McCoy 
>made an explicit exhortation to TV channels to promote peace and 
>tranquility. Commercial TV networks have given ample coverage to the 
>opposition street blockades and protests, and opposition politicians are 
>given TV time to make calls for people to join the protests.
>
>Amnesty International issued a press release last night urging authorities 
>to exercise restrain when dealing with protestors at the "reportedly 
>violent" demonstrations.
>
>The Catholic Church authorities’ lack of condemnation to the violent 
>protests has been criticized by pro-government politicians and political 
>commentators. Church officials openly oppose the government, which they 
>accuse of fomenting hate among the people.
>
>Venezuela’s National Electoral Council is expected to announce today the 
>result of the counting of signatures collected to demand a recall 
>referendum against Chavez and against several National Assembly deputies 
>from both sides.
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Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at

Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724