BY FEDERICO FUENTES
The campaign against leftist President Hugo Chavez, led by local big business interests and backed by Washington, has rapidly escalated in recent months, with more and more talk of the need to remove Chavez.
On November 5-7, the US National Security Agency, the Pentagon and the US State Department held a two-day meeting on US policy towards Venezuela. The catalyst for the November meeting was a comment by Chavez in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. While Chavez sharply condemned the attacks, he questioned the value of bombing Afghanistan, calling it "fighting terrorism with terrorism".
The outcome of the meeting was a requirement that Venezuela "unequivocally" condemn terrorism, including anything and anyone the Bush administration defines as "terrorist". Since this includes both Cuba, which Venezuela has extensive trade relations with, and rebel groups in Colombia, which Chavez is sympathetic to, the demand was put as a real test for the Venezuelan government.
Since then other members of the US ruling elite have come out against the Chavez government. The State Department's specialist on Latin America, Peter Romero, has accused the Chavez government of supporting terrorism in Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador.
On February 5, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concern about Chavez's views on democracy saying, "we have been concerned with some of the actions of [Chavez] and his understanding of what a democratic system is all about".
Within Venezuela the media has been quick to report any opposition to the Chavez government. At the end of January, the Venezuelan media were keenly running a story on the campaign by the Democratic Action (AD) party, the largest opposition party, to have Chavez dismissed from office on the grounds of being "mentally unfit".
Rafael Marin, the general-secretary of AD, said a study conducted by a team of psychiatrists "included comparative analysis of the president's personality with other figures with similar conduct, such as Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro". Marin also pointed out the study had not involved interviewing Chavez himself.
In the last two weeks, two air force colonels have called for Chavez's resignation. Air force Colonel Pedro Luis Soto on February 11 blasted Chavez, denouncing him as a "tyrant" and demanding that he "resign and call elections to leave this country in the hands of a democracy". This was followed the next day by comments from National Guard Captain Pedro Flores accusing the Chavez of endangering the country's "democratic system" of government, by attempting "to become an exact copy of Fidel Castro", an echo of one of the main argument's of the opposition against Chavez.
The lawyer for the two military officers who are now facing charges of treason, Retired Colonel Silvino Bustillos, former justice of the military Court, said that the officers had opted for the route of a public pronouncement, but had not ruled out the idea of using force to oppose the Chavez government.
Chavez, along with Venezuelan armed forces head General Lucas Rincon, have responded to these attacks by dismissing the claims of dissent within the military. Chavez has also indirectly responded to Powell's remarks, insisting Venezuela was democratic and defending his domestic and foreign policies which did not require the approval of other governments because Venezuela was a "sovereign and independent nation".
In the latest attack on Chavez, Vice Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo warned on February 18 that the president's "combative style" of government, and his creation of neighborhood committees known as "Bolivarian circles", could provoke unnecessary bloodshed between Chavez defenders and an increasingly potent opposition. He also accused Chavez of veering Venezuela away from its traditional allies, such as Washington, and damaging its interests by establishing friendly relations with Cuba, and demanded an end to Venezuelan sales of oil to Cuba.
Molina condemned what he called "a lack of state of law" in Venezuela, Venezuela's relations with "the terrorist Colombian guerillas", and accused Chavez of installing "an extreme leftist" regime.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, February 27, 2002.
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