Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Venezuela Tense Over Referendum

Chris Tootheker | 08.08.2004 11:13 | Venezuela | Analysis | Social Struggles | London | World

Authorities are ready to arrest people who dump nails on highways, cut down trees, slick streets with oil and burn tires to create turmoil and stop people from voting.

Some Venezuelans are fearful about government allegations that radicals plan to disrupt balloting in the recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. Others worry the losing side won't accept the outcome of the Aug. 15 vote and will take to the streets.

"It seems like everybody is edgy, waiting to see what happens," said Jairo Mora, 37, who manages a pizza parlor in downtown Caracas. "We're not opening on August 15, just in case."

Just blocks away, National Guard troops fired tear gas Thursday to quell a minor incident in which Chavez supporters [are claimed to have] attacked opposition activists.

The state-run television channel reported that unidentified men opened fire on a pro-Chavez campaign headquarters, injuring two people, in western Zulia state. The interior minister, Luis Rincon, warned Thursday that radical groups want to create chaos during the referendum.

Authorities, Rincon said, are ready to arrest people who dump nails on highways, cut down trees, slick streets with oil and burn tires to create turmoil and stop people from voting. "These things are not new. They've used them before," the minister told a press conference.

Venezuela is deeply divided between those who see the leftist Chavez as a champion of the poor, and those who accuse him of becoming increasingly authoritarian.

For a recall to succeed, more citizens would have to vote against Chavez than the 3.76 million people who re-elected him in 2000 to a six-year term.

Chavez would defeat the recall if "No" votes cast by government supporters outnumber ballots in favor of revoking him.

In recent weeks, the government has claimed it foiled a paramilitary plot to kill Chavez — one it says was backed by Cuban exiles in Florida and by the Bush administration. Washington scoffed at the claims.

Authorities have yet to recover some 138 pounds of C-4 plastic explosive and 80 detonators that were stolen July 17 from a navy base in the coastal city of Puerto Cabello.

The whereabouts of the explosive and what could be done with it have added to Venezuelans' edginess. Rincon has warned that government opponents, including dissident military officers who have been discharged, could use the C-4 explosive to disrupt the recall vote.

Despite a peaceful recall campaign, Venezuela's political rivals have rioted in the past to protest decisions by elections officials they deemed unacceptable. Memories linger of a brief 2002 coup, in which dozens were killed.

Riots erupted in February when the elections council ruled that Chavez foes lacked enough voter signatures to force the recall. At least seven people were killed and scores were wounded in the unrest.

On June 3, when the elections council announced that Chavez would face a recall, violence gripped parts of downtown Caracas. Chavez supporters fired shots at a TV station seen as sympathetic to the opposition and ransacked a newspaper. They also set fire to cargo trucks, severely beat an opposition lawmaker and shot at the offices of an opposition mayor.

At least 6,000 troops will be dispatched for the vote. Soldiers already stand guard outside schools and other buildings that will serve as voting stations.

Politics-related anxiety isn't new to this South American nation but has increased in recent weeks, said Dr. Linda Roman, a psychologist.

"It has created conflicts in families and couples. ... Relations have suffered because one person sides with the opposition and the other sides with Chavez," said Roman.

***

Note: August 9th-15th is Venezuela Week of Solidarity, a week of events in solidarity with the Venezuelan people, and to tell the US and UK governments (who've already backed one coup against Chávez) to keep their hands off Venezuela!...

Most of the events take place at the rampART in East London  http://www.rampart.co.nr

Further info from  solidarityweek@yahoo.com  http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org

Chris Tootheker

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech