CORPORATE POWER V THE PEOPLE:
THE SITUATION IN VENEZUELA

On April 11 2002, a US supported coup deposed the democratically elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. Two days later, following mass demonstrations in his favour, Chavez was back in power. But the opposition forces (made up largely of Venezuela’s rich elite) haven’t gone away. DARIO AZZELINI reports.

These days the audience of Venezuela’s four most important private TV channels must have the impression that there is a popular revolt against the Chávez government going on. Images of two burning litterbags - or simply some rocks lying around - are supported by dramatic music while aggressive politicians from the opposition talk about ‘dictatorship’; and make calls for disobedience. Reporters for ‘Globovision’ - the 24 hour live channel - are filmed in front of a completely normal city highway; declaring with a certain air of invitation: “The protests here will begin about midday, we’re gonna stay here until the blockades start.”

On Venevision, also an organ of the coup-friendly sector of the opposition, we can observe messages of supposed calls from the audience on the bottom of the screen: “Out on the streets!” “Fight the dictatorship.” “Blockades with any means.” “Shame! Nobody can stay at home!” And a hysterical voice declares in a phone call: “People have to wake up! The regime is executing people on the streets all over the county!”
The reality on streets is very different. Several members of the opposition have been arrested during violent acts, while Carlos Melo, a former leader of “Causa R” (CR - Radical Cause), was arrested by the investigative police (DISIP) with two automatic high-powered rifles in his car.

But just as during the 2002 coup attempt, the mass media, controlled by rightwing businessmen, play a central role in the destabilization strategy of the opposition. So the virtual reality of the opposition, which is mainly formed by the same sectors that robbed the country for 40 years, keeping the people in poverty and controlling them with repression, finds an echo in the international mass media.

A documentary about the last coup attempt - “The Revolution will not be Televised” - won several international prizes and was shown all over the western world. In some countries, such as Germany and Britain, it was even shown on public television. Nevertheless, very few journalists seriously thought about the virtual set-up of the coup. The same politicians that participated in the coup are today once again presented as the “democratic opposition” and the same TV channels that helped organize and support the coup are today once again the main source of information for the international press.

The mass media and the US government are following the destabilization script, along with different opposition groups which have no political program apart from getting rid of Chávez. Opposition politicians threaten, via the private TV channels, to create a situation “like in Haiti.” William Lara, member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, announced that the ongoing actions correspond to the guidelines of a CIA counter-insurgency handbook.

In the course of several months we have seen an ever-repeating game of public declarations from US government officials. First, an article is published in the US press, citing unnamed or low-profile US government representatives who make declarations about Venezuela’s supposed ties to international terrorism - ranging from the Colombian FARC to Al Qaida. This is followed by an official protest from the Venezuelan government and after that a higher-ranking representative of the US administration declares that nothing indicates such ties.

A coup and intervention seem fairly unrealistic at the moment. Apart from all polemics and propaganda, even Washington should be conscious of the enormous support the deep political and social transformations carried out by the Chávez government have. But the
fact that the US administration is playing an important role in the script of the destabilization of Venezuela is obvious. Apart from the direct involvement in the April 2002 coup attempt, the US government finances, via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), different opposition organizations. One of them is the private enterprise Sumate, which, in cooperation with various companies, put pressure on thousands of workers to sign against Chávez. Sumate distributed cards confirming the signature against Chávez, while the companies asked their workers for the card - or they would lose their jobs.

We can find other financiers of the script in the European Union. For example, the Spanish government. Or the German Christian-democratic Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which provides economic support to the new party “Primero Justicia” (PJ - Justice First). PJ participated in the coup, and party representatives “arrested” ministers of the Chávez government at that time. Recently, PJ representatives apparently coordinated the attacks and the destruction of a building of Chávez’s party, which was set on fire during a so-called “peaceful demonstration” of the opposition on Friday, February 27th. The “peaceful demonstration” also attacked another building of a government-friendly party and open fire on the National Guard.
At the same time, small opposition groups acted violently in different parts of the capital, especially in the wealthy areas of El Hatillo, Baruta and Chacao, setting up road blocks with burning barricades. The National Guard and Military Police, which tried to disperse the “peaceful demonstrations” were attacked with rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire.
Only a few hundred people participated in these activities, but they can be prevented only with difficulty, since the police force of the capital Caracas (which has a mayor who was elected on the Chavez ticket, but later switched over to the opposition) and of the three above-named districts do not intervene. They either remain out of sight, actively support the violent protesters, or participate in civilian clothes. Several police officers have been arrested by the National Guard.

The police force of the city’s largest district, Libertador, which is governed by a pro-Chavez mayor and which, with its over two million inhabitants, has more inhabitants than all of the other districts put together, is not allowed to be active in the rest of the city. And the National Guard and the military police are, as long as there is no state of emergency, only allowed to protect the main thoroughfares and city freeways. So as to provide the necessary mood during the demonstrations, the oppositional company Polar, which is the largest beer producer in Venezuela, has been distributing free beer to the “demonstrators.” Also noticeable is that numerous freeway blockages are being organized with Polar trucks. In this way small groups can, at least in the virtual reality of television, plunge the city into chaos.

An important goal of the street violence is also to provoke reactions among the large masses of people who support the government and to this achieve an armed conflict on the streets and generate the impression of civil war. The government thus constantly issues calls to its supporters to maintain their calm. That the population has so far not fallen into the opposition’s trap probably has to do with the same collective intelligence that already on the second day of the coup managed to mobilize millions of people to chase away the coup government, without the help of a mass media and despite massive repression and 45 deaths.

In some cases members of the opposition have fired shots from buildings and have wounded at least two National Guard soldiers and two journalists. On Tuesday morning two bodies of individuals from the barrios appeared, which showed evidence of having been tortured.

People in the area suspect the metropolitan police to be responsible for the murders. At the same time, the “democratic opposition” appears in the media, saying that the presence of the National Guard and Military Police are proof that Venezuela is a military dictatorship. This is a solid film, in accordance with the script of destabilization, which is being sold with much success to the international media.

Dario Azzelini is a freelance journalist writing for www.Venezuelanalysis.com