Clashes in Venezuela (Updated Oct 24)

 

Photo from AP via Yahoo News

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I just got an email from Kate about new riots in Venezuela and sure enough…from CNN;

Thousands of university students scuffled with police and government supporters during a protest Tuesday against constitutional reforms that would let President Hugo Chavez run for re-election indefinitely.

Police tossed tear gas canisters into the crowd of opposition students after bottle-throwing clashes broke out with a smaller group of pro-Chavez demonstrators near the National Assembly. Journalists estimated there were about 20,000 protesters, but pro-Chavez lawmakers said there were far fewer.

The students said they fear civil liberties would be severely weakened under the constitutional changes.

The story from Kate sounds much more dramatic in Spanish, though. It’s not very surprising – Chavez has been acting a fool. Julia and Daniel have been writing about Chavez’ proposed constutional reforms for months now.

Just last week end, Chavez jacked up the price of alcohol and tobacco to affect consumption (CNN);

The price of sin rose Monday in Venezuela where President Hugo Chavez is on a campaign to make Venezuelans cut back on drinking and smoking.

“Everyone’s shocked,” said Leonora Marino, owner of Bodegon Marino in Valencia, Venezuela, west of Caracas.

On Monday evening, she was still changing the prices in her store as her customers looked on and complained, she told a reporter.

Alcohol is now 10 percent more expensive; cigarettes are 20 percent pricier.

It’s all part of Chavez’ attempt to recreate Che Guevara’s “New Socialist Man” ideal;

Oh, Hugo. The latest news from Venezuela borders on comical, if it didn’t sound like it was dredged up from the playbook of a failed team from last century. President Chavez is pushing a moral crusade to instill the principles of Che Guevara’s “New Socialist Man” on the Venezuelan population. Chavez wants to heavily limit whiskey imports, raise taxes on tobacco products, and encourage people to not “douse foods with too much hot sauce, exercise regularly, eat low-cholesterol foods, respect speed limits,” or have too much cosmetic surgery.

Despite Chavez’ dietary restrictions on the Venezuelans, The Devil’s Excrement reports drastic food shortages in Caracas;

—Datanalisis polls supermarkets and markets and find that many products are not even available in half of them. The most absent? Milk, present in only 25% of them.

—The Government holds a Megamercal, a huge market where you can get controlled products and people show up at six in the morning to see if they can get some milk. According to pro-Government newspaper Ultimas Noticias (by subscription) people were complaining that they show up at 6 AM and have to stand in line until noon, because there are lines both outside and inside the market. At the end, when you finally get to the head of the line you can buy a limited amount of stuff: one kilo of milk, 2 kilos of sugar and two chickens.

Daniel from Venezuela News and Views says Chavez blames it on the media.

So, what is the government explanation? Both Chavez and his minister for Mercal, Rafael Oropeza, yet another military who has no idea on how to milk a cow, say that it is a paid for gigantic media conspiracy, to create panic in the population and make people buy more milk than what they need (you can hoard fresh milk?). What is wrong in this picture? Here are the arguments advanced by the government and the OBVIOUS reply that any journalist should confront the nincompoop uttering them:

Among the reasons the government gives are global warming affecting milk production and the fact that the poor are drinking more milk thanks to Chavez’ social programs. It must be riot to live there.

The governmental electoral commission “requested” media outlets to suspend broadcasting propaganda against Constitutional reforms;

The National Electoral Council (CNE, under its Spanish acronym) issued a formal request for private and public TV stations and for the Ministry of Information and Communication (MINCI, under its Spanish acronym) to stop broadcasting messages that seemed to be intended to campaign for a “yes” or a “no” vote over the constitutional reform proposed by President Hugo Chávez and currently being discussed at the National Assembly.

While government agencies are busy stroking the poor;

Venezuela’s Minister of Finance Rodrigo Cabezas, presenting the national fiscal budget for 2008 to the Venezuelan National Assembly, announced increased government spending for 2008 including more money for social programs and increased income from non-oil sectors. Also, according to Cabezas, 2008 will be the fifth consecutive year of economic growth for the country.

UPDATED: Kate wrote more, posted a YouTube video and Daniel from Venezuela News and Views has more photos and videos and details from yesterday’s clash. The Devil’s Excrement describes moments that no one else but Chavez could call “democratic;

To make matters even worse, the pro-Chavez groups blocking the way included a couple of Deputies of the National Assembly, demonstrating that democracy is not alive and well in Venezuela. As the representatives of the students went into the Capitol building, only the pro-Chavez media was allowed in and even more remarkably a group of pro-Chavez “students” who had nothing to do with the march were also allowed in. Deputy Calixto Ortega won the day in terms of shame, when he said he did not understand why these students required “special” treatment, since the reform has been discussed extensively (!!!) and the students were getting “too much coverage” from the press. I guess the right to express yourself has now become a “special right” in Venezuela.

The Catholic News Agency reports that Chavez announced more reforms for next year;

The Venezuelan president said he was also preparing what he called a “2008 Revolution Plan,” which he said would be “a revolution within the revolution.”

The revolution would begin with the approval of the constitutional reforms,” Chavez said, “but I am not going to give any preview of the 2008 Revolution, which will be a deepening of the revolution,” he reiterated.

One might wonder how deep he plans to bury Venezuela.

Category: Hugo Chavez, Media, Politics, Society