November 30th., 2004

The Spiral of Violence

Summary:

• In the last two weeks, a spiral of violence swept the country.

• District Attorney Anderson, a government emblematic character, was murdered.

• Several of those whom the government considers as suspects have been murdered.

• Police and military people have been conducting raids which produce doubts and fears in different sectors.

• A Jewish school and club are raided searching for weapons.

• The search is fruitless and the indignant reaction is swift.

• Chavista Brigades echoed:  “Danilo, comrade, your death shall be avenged.”

• The Republic’s Attorney General vows to achieve “justice claimed by the street,” as he feels uncomfortable with the “straight jacket” imposed by the law.

• When Ms. Castillo asked for his son, the reply was:  “We killed the dog  your son was!”

• Chávez travels.

• In Spain he got Zapatero’s support and he instigated controversy between the PP and PSOE.

• He received a “Human Rights Award” from Gaddafi.

• An Energy Cooperation Accord with Russia and the announcement of the purchase of 40 combat helicopters and 100,000 machine-guns.

• Besides the picturesque aspects, the tour matches objectives of Chávez’s oil diplomacy:  to keep oil prices high.

Political violence shakes anew the country, this time, worsening distrust and suspicion in a fractured society.  Danilo Anderson, the District Attorney, was murdered by a potent explosive placed in his car on the night of the 18^th.  On the 23^rd, in a populous urban area of Caracas, Antonio López Castillo (lawyer) was repeatedly shot and Luis Alberto Pabón (police official) was wounded and later died at the clinic he was taken to.Human Rights “  The government had linked López Castillo to the Anderson murder.  On the 25^th, police kills Juan Carlos Sánchez also considered responsible in the death of the District Attorney.  The home of López Castillo’s parents was searched by military and police people led by Lt. Jesse Chacón, Minister of Interior and Justice.  The lawyer’s parents were handcuffed and taken to a police station.  They were kept isolated and unable to take care of funeral arrangements for their son whose corpse remained at the morgue for three days.

The action on the home of Mr. & Ms. López Castillo was much questioned:  both are well-known and respected.  Ms. Castillo was a capable and responsible Minister in Caldera’s first tenure.  She was a parliamentary leader among Social Christians (COPEI).  The couple is not in good health and due to their age, they have a right to due process while remaining free.  They were subjected to such injurious treatment so as to make Vicepresident Rangel censure the police “excess”.

The justifications attempted by Minister Chacón elicited doubts.  He stated that in the search weapons and explosives were found, enough to destroy the raided home and neighboring ones.  The owners charged that officials came without a warrant, with faces covered by “pasa montañas” (a sort of hanky-mask).  They were kept at bay in a room and warring stuff could have been “planted…,” as they roamed through the residence for one and a half hours without anyone watching them.

LEGALITY IN A STRAIGHT JACKET

Equal doubts emerged after the raiding of the Hebrew School and Club in the morning of 29 Monday, looking for elements of criminal interest “related to Danilo Anderson’s death,” as the text of the court order reads.  The Jewish Community wonders if there is an attempt to insinuate a link between the Israeli Mossad and Anderson’s murder.   Doubts also arise before the charge appeared in Vea  (the official daily) and in Chavista Web pages accepted as possible by Minister Chacón, in which the CIA is pointed to as responsible for Anderson’s death.

A key aspect of the drama is the difficulty –maybe impossibility- of clarifying facts and presenting them convincingly before public opinion.  This is the price paid by the precarious of the Rule of Law and the collapse of the institutional system in a fractured society.  At the funeral of the murdered District Attorney, Chavista Brigades were jeering:  “Danilo, Comrade, your death will be avenged.”  The Attorney General, Isaías Rodríguez, shocked people while affirming he felt uneasy in the “straight jacket” imposed by legality and promised to get “justice claimed by the streets.”   Words by Rodríguez, President Chávez and other top government officials were not emotional rhetoric.  From then on a series of events are only explicable by the apparent discipline with which district attorneys, judges and policepeople took upon themselves the recommendation to shed the straight jacket of the law.

The scenario has turned into a clamorous choir of questions and an ominous lack of answers.  If attorney López was implied, why wasn’t he taken into custody for questioning?  His workplace or his residence are well known places:  the latter being searched minutes after the shots that killed him.  How to explain the 15 gunshot wounds in his body? [one of which was to the face –short range- in what is known to be un tiro de gracia (a no mistake shot-to-kill)].  One may add what Ms. Castillo was declared she was told:  “We killed him as a dog!”.  This was the reply she got when inquiring about her son.  If Juan Sánchez –with gunshots to the chest- was implied in the District Attorney’s killing, why was not he detained for questioning?

Events in Venezuela have the taste of a soap opera.  With tragic ingredients (murders), its modalities; revenge justifying barbarities; a blend of panic and hatred polluting the atmosphere; but above all, because the larger questions are:  What happened?  Whom to believe?  Who is lying?  How is truth to be established?  The tragedy is that there shall be two sides of truth:  that of the Revolution and that of those who are not with the Revolution.  It might be that some judge may have the guts to investigate and find the truth.  If this agrees with interests of the Revolution, it will be questioned by adversaries of the regime.  If it is against those interests, questioning will be by officialdom and the judge will taken out of office.  Venezuelan life is difficult –as that of any country- without a reliable system of justice.

MADRID-QATAR-MADRID

In the meantime, Chávez travels.  Before leaving he ordered that by his return The Contents Act (Muzzle Law) be passed and twelve new Supreme Court Justices be named.  The National Assembly has been diligently fulfilling the mandate. 

Spain was the first stop.  It was successful for objectives of his foreign policy.  He got the support of Rodríguez Zapatero, whom he called “Compadre”.  He offered him petrodollars to put Izar Shipyards back to work; advantageous agreements with Repsol for the exploitation and marketing of Venezuelan gas and oil.  He managed to fire up debates between PP and PSOE, as a result of which, he got PSOE to be part of The Bolivarian Bloc –until now presided- the solitary Izquierda Única.

Showing off on his chest the Honor Medals from La Complutense (a university in the Spanish capital) and from Madrid’s Mayoralty –broadcast nationally on Radio and TV- he journeyed to Libya to add to Spanish decorations: Gaddafi’s Human Rights Award.  From Tripoli to Moscow, where Mr. Putin was more discreet than Rodríguez Zapatero, in words and deeds, in response to the niceties of the Lt. Col.  Besides his traditional anti-U. S. discourse, his meddling in the Ucranian electoral conflict and the energy cooperation accords for whose effects a Russian-Venezuelan Co. was created, he made an announcement which loudly resounded in Bogotá:  “We need to strengthen our Armed Forces and increase security in our broad borders with Colombia.”  Likewise, the purchase of 40 helicopter gunships and the acquisition of 100,000 machinegun rifles.  “We spoke with President Putin about our desire to purchase a large quantity of anti-tank air defense equipment.”  According to international media, the possibility of substituting F-16 for Mig 29 fighter was evaluated.

After enjoying a couple of days in St. Petersburg, he flew to Teheran to reiterate ties in foreign policy with “Brethren Jatami” and to honor Ayatollah Ali Jamenei.  The tour ended in Qatar to greet his-also “Brethren Hamad Al Thani”  (The next of kin in “ “ correspond to those used in Radio and TV daily network broadcasts).  Besides picturesque details, surely, his personal diplomacy shall succeed.  The purpose is carve with Libya, Russia and Iran a common policy to avoid a strong decline in oil prices.  Before returning to Caracas, he’ll dine with the Spanish King and Queen, the last evidence of the new relationship with The Motherland, as he knows calls it.

Meanwhile, in Caracas, Alberto Carías, recently named Under-Secretary of Homeland Security revealed that when he was 12 he was captured for the first time by Metropolitan Police –after having placed a bomb in a church- and he has ten entries in police files.  When asked if he worries about a felony vs. the middleclass, he replied:  “For me, there is no middleclass but rich and poor, exploited and exploiters.”  Is this the start of a New Stage of the Revolution?:  this is the scary question nagging a broad spectrum of Venezuelans.