February 1^st., 2010

A country at the edge of chaos

“Squalids keep objecting my international policy and the communitarian project.    I won’t answer them, because I use my time explaining and defending my social policy”, said Chavez evidencing once again his cunning, according to an analyst. To a wide sector, abstract subjects are not interesting; instead, social issues, hand-outs to be received or the hope to receive them actually affect living conditions. The new development is that the lack of safety, growing inflation, electric crisis, water rationing, lack of supplies and a long etcetera of problems are no longer abstractions, and severely hit people. Moreover, Chavez is now being blamed, and not his collaborators. The excuse of “The President doesn’t know” has disappeared, even among his followers. Chavez is no longer a victim of bureaucracy and became guilty for what it’s done or not, even for the lucky ones who receive a house. “I am a Marxist, I assume Marxism as the most advanced theory for interpretation of reality and therefore I refuse to accept that housing is merchandise” says Chavez. In the relevant contracts, it is expressly provided that the beneficiary is granted a right to use such house. Shocked, he finds out that he can’t sell the house and realize what the property right actually means. When he suffers a power cut or a water supply suspension, he learns that such an unpleasant situation is due to the lack of investments and maintenance of dams and electric power generation plants. He gets even more upset when he hears the President’s decision to send millions of dollars to any country. These reasons increase the number of people convinced that we have a President with inefficient and old-fashioned ideas.

Venezuela reacts with the students in the vanguard. First pages of every newspapers show demonstrations of the youth facing tanks, mustard gas and pellets shot by the police and National Guard. It is happening in every state, and in some of them repression is performed by the most violent groups of Chavez followers, who shoot firearms causing death and injuries. Mérida, a city with a long history of student population, was militarized. There, in addition to assassinations of students by encapuchados (people wearing ski masks), vandalism paralyzed the city. There is agreement in that the whole country expresses dissatisfaction and anger due to the deterioration of hospitals, schools and roads. People from all social classes are facing the same calamities: inflation, unemployment, lack of supplies. A country weighted by uncertainty, distrust, fear, likewise economic worsening, social unrest and repression. Some people predict the possibility of an uncontrolled popular reaction. All kinds of rumors circulate through the Internet, fed by the resignation of Colonel Ramón Carrizalez, the vice-president and Minister of Defense. He did it publicly, before communicating such decision to Chavez. The new vice-president is Elías Jaua, who was in charge of the occupation and expropriation of rural lands. Chavez attributes him the merit of being an encapuchado at Universidad Central de Venezuela in the past. The revolution is getting more and more radical and the national rejection reaches levels similar to those preceding the events of April 2002.

NEW ATTACK TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Chavez celebrated January 23, the anniversary of the fall of the dictator Perez Jimenez, by ordering the closing of RCTV International upon refusing to join to the mandatory broadcast of the presidential speech. The channel stopped broadcasting upon midnight, banned for incompliance with the Ley Resorte, which requires all audiovisual media to transmit political propaganda and national broadcasting of 5-6- hour presidential speeches. RCTV is the oldest TV station and the most viewed until two and a half years ago, when Chavez silenced the open signal for maintaining a critic editorial line. Marcel Granier, the president of the company owning the station, transformed it into an international channel, having incredible success in Venezuela and regaining audience ratings getting to number two. A journalist explained this phenomenon by stating that popular sectors -tired of the Chavez’s mandatory broadcastings, proceeded to subscribe to cable operators to watch good TV while the Presidents blathers. The new RCTV refused to engage in self-censorship, informs freely and covers denounces of victims of official repression and complaints of citizens, in keeping with its critic editorial line. The national protest was so thunderous that Chavez invited Granier to comply with the “legal” formalities in order to revoke the banning. Granier, courageous, stated: “We are an international channel station as we have evidenced before CONATEL. This is not only illegal, but unconstitutional. They intend us to incorporate into a project of censorship and communicational hegemony aimed at hiding the continuing corruption scandals involving member of the government and silencing the protests of the Venezuelan people for the failures of this administration.”

A leader of the opposition stated that Chavez intends to take the population to a limit of discontent, until provoking chaos and having motives to suspend the parliamentary elections. If such hypothesis is true, in January he has done all the necessary things to provoke a wave of collective rage, to the extent that foreign correspondents report the impression that the country seems to be a pressure cooker. Contempt is general and feeds street demonstrations whose protagonists are the students. “One and again, we see how our fundamental citizen rights are ridden roughshod over by an authoritarian government, which only law is the desires and whims of a despot who has managed to concentrate all powers and thinks of himself as the embodiment of people. Such an ideological nonsense intends to throw us into a pit of confrontation and violence that may lead to extremely serious situations.” This statement summarizes the general opinion within the country. From the OAS the most representative governments exhorted the restitution of the normal operation of RCTV International. The French, Spanish and Italian governments expressed their concerns, likewise several institutions related to the problem, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Press Association, and the International Association of Broadcasting, representing about 17,000 radio/TV stations in America, Asia, and Europe. The international community has been consistent in condemning Chavez for the RCTV issue, stating explicitly or implicitly that he is a despot who doesn’t care at all about fundamental rights inherent to civilized countries.  

 HE STUMBLED ACROSS THE CHURCH

Giving the turbulent domestic scenario, the Catholic Church let its voice be heard in a dramatic appeal for meditation on the reconstruction of the Republic, which requires an environment of coexistence leading political confrontation and hate to an end. It assumed the initiative to commemorate the Bicentenary of Independence and in its Pastoral Letter it reflects on the current reality and the great duties on the inhabitants of the country, on the fact that the Administration insists on failing to recognize history and imposing in educational institutions a distorted interpretation of dates such as the 19^th of April 1810 and 5^th of July of 1811. It emphasizes that on such dates “civility shone.” In fact, the Declaration of Independence was signed by just one military man, General Miranda. Al, other signers came from the civil world, and based the declaration of independence on the powers of representation granted by the people. To the Church, upon remembering the origin of independence, “current commitments” should not be eluded. Upon remembering the war between patriots and Spanish royalists, it states: “Every war has extremely harmful consequences at every level… Republican life during the Twentieth Century was riddled with the militarist virus, coups and rebellions which consequences prevented us from a more fruitful social, economic and political development.”

        Upon examining the current times, the Pastoral Letter expresses that the process of “change” initially offered by the regime has been turning into a system with totalitarian aspirations intending to restructure socio-economic, institutional, legal-constitutional and ethical-cultural issues. “This is why its ambition touches not only the material and organizational fiber of society, but also, and specially, the intimate, spiritual fiber and the national soul. Its ideology and actions contradict primary elements of an authentic democratic culture.” The Letter concludes by asserting that the project of socialism of the Twenty-First Century is very different from what Venezuelans actually want and demand, and that Bicentenary offers an opportunity to examine the national conscience in order to promote a just, democratic, pluralist society, checks and balances, the rule of law, a Venezuela without exclusions and political prisoners, with due respect for judicial processes, the constitutional rights and diversity of political options. The document by the Church has been considered by the analysts as the soundest examination of the Bicentenary and its historic demands. They hold that the Pastoral Letter, in our current scenario of pugnacity and confrontation, interprets the feeling of the majority of the population, including numerous Chavez’s followers. In order to avoid a tragedy, it is necessary to make a huge effort for a peaceful coexistence. Luis Ugalde, Chancellor of Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, celebrated such initiative by the Church and exhorted universities, cultural centers, academies and civil associations to follow its example and celebrate the Bicentenary with a civil memory. Chavez answered accusing the bishops of “hiding destabilizing intentions” and ordering several Governors to declare the Bishops of their respective dioceses “personae non gratae”, an arbitrary action not accepted by the Church.