Situation in Venezuela Still Fluid Despite Widespread Public Anger

12/04/2002| IslamWeb

Anti-Chavez Army Officers Call on Others to Join them; * Chavez Wife Allowed to Fly to Hometown; * Chavez Accused of Trying to Promote Cuban-Style Regime; Not Clear All Army Units Support Rebellion. ____

CARACAS, Venezuela (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Despite widespread public anger and army siege of the presidential Palace in Caracas, the fate of president Hugo Chavez appears far from being sealed yet. Reports for the Venezuelan capital say the president was negotiating his resignation on Friday after senior military officers insisted he leave office, blaming him for violence against a huge anti-Chavez protest in which at least 10 people were killed.
Army chief Gen. Efrain Vasquez said a delegation of two generals had gone to the Miraflores presidential palace to discuss the president's resignation with him.
He made the announcement after a succession of senior military officers appeared on national television, criticizing the left-wing populist leader and urging him to resign and call elections in the country that is the world's No. 4 oil exporter.
Chavez scored a landslide election win in 1998, six years after he leaped to fame as a young army officer by leading an abortive coup.
The Navy is calling for the formation of a provisional government, and has appealed for other branches of the armed forces, the Roman Catholic Church and civil society to join the initiative.
Armored cars surrounded the Miraflores presidential palace and Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters. Officers opposed to Chavez also controlled La Carlota airport in Caracas.
They said Chavez's wife, Marisabel, had been allowed to fly to her hometown of Barquisimeto for "humanitarian" reasons.

CHAVEZ ACCUSED OF TRYING TO IMPOSE CUBAN-STYLE REGIME

Troubles began for Chavez after an oil workers' protest that had crimped the country's exports. Chavez went on TV to criticize as "irresponsible" and "subversive" the indefinite general strike called by business and labor opponents who organized Thursday's protest march.
The labor and business shutdown, combined with a continuing protest by staff of the state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela or PDVSA, sapped economic activity and disrupted oil operations in the country.
Chavez had been facing mounting opposition for months from political foes, business and labor leaders, and even dissident military officers.
His critics accused him of trying to impose a Cuban-style left-wing regime. They also criticized him for failing to deliver on election promises to reduce chronic poverty, widespread unemployment and serious crime.
Chavez had defended his self-proclaimed "revolution" as a campaign to help the country's poor majority.

SITUATION STILL FLUIE

It was not immediately clear whether all military units across the country supported the move against Chavez.
At least one member of the government, Finance Minister Francisco Uson, an army general, said he had gone to Miraflores to present his resignation to Chavez. "I found him very worried, talking with his family and thinking about his alternatives," Uson said.
The violence erupted after half a million Venezuelans marched to the palace in a huge protest that marked the most powerful challenge so far to Chavez's rule.
Several military officers expressed sorrow that they had failed to prevent the violence. "I ask forgiveness from the Venezuelan people for the events which happened," Vasquez said.