As OPEC meets in Caracas
Right-wing violence flares in Venezuela
Plot to destabilize anti-imperialist government seen
By
Berta Joubert-Ceci
Published Jun 8, 2006 1:51 AM
A student protest might seem unthink able
in a country that has overcome the scourge of illiteracy in less than three
years and that, through its different “mission” educational
programs, has helped underprivileged students get free basic education and
college degrees.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s speech to the OPEC gathering emphasized Venezuela’s view that the era of U.S. imperialism’s unchallenged domination of the world is coming to a close.
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But what about one that was really directed by forces in
opposition to the Venezuelan Bolivarian government, and at a time when Venezuela
was preparing to host a very important meeting of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries?
That is exactly what happened on May 24 in the
university town of Mérida in the western part of Venezuela. A group
called March 13 Movement (M-13) led a demonstration, apparently of students from
the public University of the Andes (ULA), through the streets of Mérida
protesting what they labeled an “interference with the university’s
autonomy.”
That day, the Venezuelan Supreme Court had issued an
injunction against student elections planned for May 31 at the request of the
current student body president, who did not trust the transparency of those
upcoming elections. The M-13’s response was pure violence.
Armed
with heavy weaponry, Uzis and other powerful pistols and guns, their faces
hidden under masks, they attacked the police and National Guard who were
protecting the streets, wounding at least 26 police and one National
Guard.
Sofía Aguilar, a police woman, was intervi ewed by Vene
zuelan national television (VTV) about what happened to her and her male
partner. She said they were on their official motorcycle answering a
woman’s question when suddenly the “students” got out of a bus
and began attacking them. Her partner was shot in the chest at close range and
then furiously beaten on the head to the point of unconsciousness. When they
finished the beating, the group took his helmet and placed it on top of the bus
as a trophy.
She said she ran, trying to escape, and hid in an empty
house. They followed her and tried to rape her at gunpoint, hitting and
scratching her body. She was finally saved by the shouts of a woman who lived
nearby. She identified the main attacker as Nixon Moreno, head of M-13.
(www.vtv.gov.ve)
Who are Nixon Moreno and the M-13? Why do they accuse the
Venezuelan National Guard of “invading the university”? According to
VTV, Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice Jesse Chacón has denied
that the National Guard and police forces raided the ULA.
In an article
entitled “Ordinary Mérida students at ULA can’t really handle
UZIs with such precision,” published June 2 on the Internet website
Vheadlines, Spanish-language news chief Jesus Nery Barrios writes: “That
is the reality of the ULA student movement and its leadership ... a mob of
gunmen, rapists and students who do not study at all, but enjoy the university
privileges: free transportation within the city, almost free canteen, free
residence and a very low registration fee ... all paid by the Bolivarian
government. Only that now (in 2006, for the first time in history) university
authorities are having to report to the national government how they spend their
millionaire budget, causing them to protest.”
Nixon Moreno himself,
a “veteran” student who has been at the university more than 10
years, was a presidential candidate in the ULA’s postponed elections. He
had been indicted for conspiracy, civilian rebellion, offense to the state
chief, and several other charges relating to the U.S.-sponsored coup in April
2002 against President Hugo Chávez. His case was being handled by
National Prosecutor Danilo Anderson, who was assassinated more than a year
ago.
These developments in Mérida—which had echoes on the ULA
campus in San Cristobal, in neighboring Tachira state, and to some extent in
Caracas—have been widely seen not as student protests but as part of the
destabilization campaign against the Bolivarian Revolution. Their
timing—just when Venezuela was about to host a crucial OPEC meeting in the
capital—reinforces that view.
Chavez’s speech to the OPEC
gathering, which was vigorously applauded, emphasized Venezuela’s view
that the era of U.S. imperialism’s unchallenged domination of the world is
coming to a close and that the resource-rich countries of the Third World can
advance by integrating their economies independently of the imperialist banks
and corporations. The talk was aired in the U.S. on C-Span2.
Moreno
connected
to political opposition
In a public release,
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel had said earlier that the
authorities had information about “preparations for a plan to generate
violence in the street” during the OPEC gathering. He further declared
that “The intention of initiating actions in Caracas amid the next OPEC
meeting exists; its aim is to project the image abroad of chaos in
Venezuela.”
Thanks to the diligent action of the Venezuelan
government and the majority of student organizations, which support the
Bolivarian process, these destabilizing actions did not have the
organizers’ expected outcome.
Tarek El Aissami and Alberto
Cautelar, two National Assembly representatives, presented evidence of the
terrorist background of the group led by Nixon Moreno to the media and the
national legislature.
These destabilizing attempts are also viewed as a
drive to affect upcoming presidential elections, due to be held next December,
and began after the launching of a nationwide campaign to get 10 million votes
for Chávez in 2006. In that context, the assembly members also
demonstrated links between M-13 and Teodoro Petkoff and Julio Andrés
Borges, declared candidates of the opposition.
In an article published in
Vheadline on May 30, ULA professor Franz J.T. Lee wrote: “As fake
window-dressing, the ‘opposition’ has also named its candidates;
among them, Teodoro Petkoff, who has already begun his anti-chavista campaign in
Mérida. In a press conference at the airport, he caustically launched his
diatribal garbage against the ‘Chávez regime,’ against the
Bolivarian Revolution ... he was fetched and welcomed at the airport by Nixon
and cohorts.”
Several reports state that the student groups that
staged the violent demonstrations are presumed to have been infiltrated by
paramilitary elements.
Response of students
In a public
statement widely circulated over the Internet, several student groups opposed
the Mérida developments.
They say, “We, Revolutionary
Student Movements, the Federation of University Centers of the University of the
Andes, and the Popular Movement of Mérida, wish to make public our
rejection of the terrorist acts perpetrated by the pro-coup opposition groups
13th of March Movement, 20 Movement, Red Flag and other splinter groups, led by
the ‘pseudo student’ Nixon Moreno.
“We the revolutionary
student movements, the FCU and all of the men and women affected by this wave of
violence and unknown guerrilla acts of destabilizing intent, demand the defense
of the true University autonomy, in which there is no room for paramilitaries,
terrorists, coup plotters, conspiracists, sell-outs, lackeys, mercenaries, and
in sum, all those who act against the peace of the Venezuelan people.
“No to violence, no to the ‘Guarimbas,’ no to impunity, no to
international interference, no to psychological and physical terrorism, no to
coup seeking. We will remain united all for the defense of peace and sovereignty
in the face of the hatred which threatens to do away with all of our
hopes.”
Role of Washington
According to the article by
Nery Barrios and several other reports, Moreno is implicated in the U.S.
campaign against the Bolivarian Republic. Berrios says that Moreno “has
met U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield in a hotel in the neighboring state of
Barinas.”
At a time when the Venezuelan government is preparing its
military and civilian population for a possible U.S. attack because of
increasing hostility from the Bush administration, a meeting of the opposition
with U.S. government representatives cannot be seen as a pure diplomatic
gesture. The U.S. has funded the opposition, particularly the anti-Chávez
Sumate electoral group. A long list of U.S. complaints against that sovereign
nation accuse it of being a “destabilizing agent in the region,”
“aiding terrorists” and even “human trafficking.” The
U.S. has also opposed the Bolivarian Republic’s nomination to the UN
Security Council.
It is a critical time for all progressive organizations
in the United States to loudly and clearly state to the U.S. administration:
“Hands off Venezuela.”
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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