Posted on 7-1-2003
Chávez
Won't Give In
By Ginger Thompson, NYT, 5 Jan03
Venezuela's foreign minister said today that the government
regretted the
violence that erupted Friday during a march against President
Hugo Chávez,
and acknowledged that the monthlong strike aimed at forcing
Mr. Chávez out
of office had taken a serious toll on the nation's economy.
But the minister, Roy Chaderton, accused strike leaders — particularly
executives at the state-owned oil company — of shutting down
the heart of
this nation's economy in an effort to overthrow the government.
He also
insisted that Mr. Chávez would not give in to opposition calls
for early
elections. "Democracy cannot be subject to the rises and falls
in the
polls," Mr. Chaderton said, referring to Mr. Chávez's declining
approval
ratings. "So, just because today is a bad day is not a reason
to call for
immediate elections and to pressure with violence, to paralyze
a country,
and strangle the economy just to force out a president." "It
is true that
this government has made many mistakes," the minister said.
"But errors in
a democracy are paid in elections, within the norms of the Constitution."
On Friday, a protest by Mr. Chávez's opponents turned into a
street fight
that lasted most of the day. Tens of thousands of opposition
demonstrators
marched toward a military base to demand the release of a dissident
general
who was a leader of a failed coup last spring and urge the military
to
support the strike. Supporters of Mr. Chávez confronted the
marchers, and a
fight ensued. Later, shots rang out. Newspaper reports said
two men, one 22
and the other 24, were killed and five other people were wounded
by the
gunfire. Dozens of others suffered injuries from rocks thrown
by the
battling protesters and from rubber bullets and tear gas fired
by national
guard troops.
The streets of the capital returned to calm today, and an estimated
20,000
supporters of Mr. Chávez turned out to demonstrate their support
for the
government.
Mr. Chaderton said Mr. Chávez was trying to prevent a repeat
of a coup
attempt last April, when the Venezuelan president was forced
by the
military to leave office for 48 hours after a violent protest
outside the
presidential compound. He suggested that the opposition, frustrated
that it
had not been able to force Mr. Chávez out of power, had begun
provoking
violence as a way to turn up the pressure on him. But Mr. Chaderton
said
this effort, like last year's coup attempt, would fail. "Despite
the
problems, the country is moving forward except for the oil industry,
which
has been hit the hardest," he said. "But the country is going
forward. The
stores are open. People are going to work.
|