June15th., 2009

Abuses And Threats

In the last Aló Presidente, broadcasted from Táchira State, a State wherein one of the opposition candidates won the Governor’s election, Chávez accused such Governor, Pérez Vivas, of high treason.  “He traveled to Bogotá to criticize my government.  Look here, Fascist Governor, if you keep on with this, I see you in Lima”, making a reference to Manuel Rosales, the Mayor of Maracaibo, who was granted political asylum in the Peruvian capital, upon the imminence of being sentenced of treason, duly ordered by Chávez.  He affirmed that the “counter revolution” had been installed in the Zulia and Táchira States, wherein they wanted to re edit the Colombian paramilitarism.   He pointed out that Pérez Vivas and Pablo Pérez, the Governor of the Zulia State, were “enemies of the people”, and that he would not allow such states to become nests to paramilitaries.  “We will do what is necessary”.  He spoke about the plans for his “assassination”, attributing the intent, this time, to “paramilitary cells”.  In the former Aló Presidente, he said to have serious suspicion of complicity between the opposition and the “attempt planned in El Salvador”.  His suspicion is based on the mockery from the opposition to the “serious information from the intelligence service that frustrated the genocide project”.  Accordingly, a trial against both Governors and the appointment of super authorities to gain power over the Zulia and Táchira States, just the same way it happened in the Capital District, are probable.  He divested the opposition Governors from their functions and budgets, and both the Miranda and Carabobo Governors face criminal claims that could conclude with their disqualification, and provide for the appointment of a type of nazi “gauleiters”, authorized by the National Assembly.  Regarding the plans for this assassination, El Nacional writes the following: “This is about a propaganda strategy that is positioned and developed in the key moments of Venezuelan social tension.  Its intention is directed so that people lose focus on the true problems and substitute them for other imaginary ones controlled by the Cuban intelligence apparatus”.

Chávez complains that he is considered a Dictator abroad.  The academics talk about “a dictatorship with a legality costume”, as a result of the subordination from the public powers contemplated in the Constitution.  The concern for the autocratic model has a solid basis in his maneuvers to deprive the opposition Governors and Mayors of their authority, failing to recognize the popular will expressed on November 23, 2008.  Those who analyze his regime point out that notwithstanding his autocracy, the objective to “win the battle of the ideas” is what should be a matter of concern.  In Aló Presidente the affirmed the following: “The ideological battle is for the death of the human mind; we must win this battle, if we don’t, we will not win any other”.  That battle has not been won due to the resistance in the universities, the intellectuals and the scientists, but “the fear is starting to be the everyday currency between Venezuelans”, as warned by sociologist Tulio Hernández.  “Little by little those of us who differ from the military dome that governs the country, are learning to protect ourselves from the persecution apparatus that has been installed before our eyes…I think of the stories that I have listened from family members and friends that work in the public sector who are forced to wear the red shirts and caps, and go out to a political meeting, a demonstration or a “voluntary” work day, or else they could lose their jobs”. 

WE HAVE STUMBLED AGAINST THE CHURCH, SANCHO MY FRIEND

Chávez keeps considering himself as a Christian.  “The XXI Century Socialism is inspired in the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ”, he affirmed in the first theory Aló Presidente, a new version of his famous monologue, that is mandatorily broadcasted in radio and television “chains”.  If he were truly a believer and if he had read El Quijote, a very famous phrase, immortalized by Cervantes, would surely come to mind:  “We have stumbled against the Church, my Sancho friend”.  This time it was with the Pope himself.  The aggressions against the Catholic Church were initiated by Chávez only a few weeks after he took office in 1999.  The Church authorities were forced to reply to the attacks and clarify the defamations they were frequently subject to.  The tense Government-Church relations have sometimes acquired a crisis character, almost always duly reported by Venezuela Hoy.  The Catholic point of view has been exposed by Bishops and Cardinals.  This time, the task was undertaken by Benedict XVI.  In the recent visit “ad limina apostolorum” of the Venezuelan Bishops, they denounced to the Pope that Chávez´ political project, called the XXI Century Socialism , has provoked “an ever increasing political polarization, it has increased violence, insecurity and hate, placing the democratic coexistence at risk”.  Monsignor Santana, who was the person designated to speak, in this capacity of the President of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (VEC), stated the following:  “Upon such threats and knowing that the majority of the population is Catholic, we have been called, as shepherds, to issue numerous messages, letters, and exhortations, calling all sectors to dialogue and understanding”.  The Pope expressed his solidarity to the Venezuelan priests and assured them that they could always count with his support, request and spiritual closeness.  “I appreciate your devotion to irradiate the light of the Gospel over the events of major relevance that affect your country, with no other interests but the spreading of the most genuine Christian values, with a view to favoring the harmonic coexistence and social stability”.

The Minister in charge of the relation with the Church declared that the Bishops lied.  According to him, the VEC has resisted to spread the most pure expressions of Socialism, “basic coexistence premises”.  According to the journalists that interviewed him, “visibly mad” for the affirmations that Venezuela’s democracy is in danger, he responded:  “If the oligarchy criticizes us, it means that we are on the right path.  The Revolutions has deepened”.  Monsignor Baltazar Porras declared that in the interview with the Pope, he was informed that the Church observes a systematic destruction of the institutions, that each day, the coexistence between all the sectors is more difficult and that there is a rejection to dialogue with those who differ from the Government’s  proposals.  “The Venezuelan delegation denounced that President Chavez´ political project polarized the country and increased violence, insecurity and hate, which endangers the democratic life”.  He added that the Pope is well informed of what happens in the country and manifested his concern.

Jurate Rosales, an analyst that followed the information regarding the visit from the Bishops closely, wrote the following:  “The Church speaks of love, to say peace.  Chávez organizes his people in battalions to launch them into combat.  The crusade against hate, recommended by the Pope, may be lethal for the regime.  The Church is the institution that does not bend, that acquires the stature of the great national hope, peaceful, but powerful”. 

THE DEMOCRATIC UNITY TABLE

From the civil side of the street, there is a coincidence in the positive evaluation of the Democratic Unity Table (DUT).  It centers the claim of organizing the national sectors that consider that the country needs a change in its course.  Chavez has confronted the opposition of ample sectors of the population, a force that was able to be appreciated in the last elections, to the point that there was a strong rejection in the 2007 referendum, and the Governors and Mayors elections of November 2008, wherein his candidates were defeated in the capital region and in the most populated states.  The unity of the opposition has been circumstantial, for electoral events, but the political parties that comprise it had not achieved to convey that they are moved on account of the humanistic sense of politics, past ideological differences and their own agendas.  The analysts recognize the legitimacy of such motivations when dealing with a democratic scenario, not facing a regime that is moving accelerated towards the imposition of a military dictatorship modeled by Fidel Castro.  They have also pointed out that the term “opposition” transmits the image of a closed door for the immense contingency of Chavez’ followers that differ from the dictatorial project or feel let down by the inefficiency and corruption of the regime.  The recently constituted Table dispels such worries.  In its presentation and actions it highlights a proposal of national unity, possible and authentic, open to all Venezuelans that long to coexist peacefully in a climate of liberty and tolerance.  A proposal that transcends the electoral issue and invites to dialogue over the current reality and the necessary agreements for a change without violence, within the guidelines of the Constitution in force.  Beyond the proposal, the leaders of the Table are scattered throughout the whole territory, forming similar structures in the States.  They affirm that upon the end of the year, the organization will function in all of the country as an immense social network of active solidarity, that, through dialogue regarding local, regional and national issues, it will become a national alternative for change.  The leaders of the DUT deny that the objective is to constitute a sole opposition party, but Chavez fears that the Table may become a serious threat to his regime, since if proven successful, it will consolidate an organized force, a majority one, which will hold back his current outrages, with the potential to prevent the perpetual presidency that he is so obsessed with.

The reaction of the President has been choleric and not original.  He explained his strange absence from the taking of office celebration of the president of El Salvador claiming that there had been a plan to assassinate him.  “The enemies of the Revolution must thank God for the intelligence service that detected the plan.  If not, the people would have avenged my death with the death of thousands of oligarchs”.  A newspaper recorded 42 claims of assassination plans against him, without showing any evidence until now, or without bringing any of the responsible ones to trial.  Regarding the DUT, he  affirmed that it is a conspiracy inspired by the Empire, that its real purpose is political instability.  The National Assembly requests the trial, in some cases on account of “rioters and traitors”, in others on account of “drug trafficking and terrorism” of Governors and Mayors of the opposition that won the November 23 elections, of political party leaders and journalists, with a special emphasis on the closing of Globovision and the imprisonment of the Guillermo Zuloaga, the President of the Channel.