Venezuela: The Other Side of the Story

International Herald Tribune
August 29, 2003

Venezuela: The Other Side of the Story
by Mark Weisbrot

All too often White House statements about Iraq's pursuit of weapons
of mass destruction, and other dubious justifications for war, were
taken at face value by the American press. Now there is another
example of the triumph of misinformation, which - not coincidentally
- again concerns an oil-rich country where the U.S. government seeks
"regime change." Venezuela. This time, however, it is not a
dictatorship but a democracy that is under attack.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was democratically elected, first
in 1998, and then again in 2000 under a new constitution that was
approved by voters in a referendum. Despite massive political
turmoil, including a 64-day oil strike that crippled the economy,
there have been no states of emergency or suspension of
constitutional rights under his government.

In fact, under the Chavez government, in contrast to past governments
of Venezuela, freedom of speech, assembly and association have been
absolute. "I believe that freedom of speech is as alive in Venezuela
as it is in any other country I've visited," former President Jimmy
Carter said during a visit there last year.

If the reader has a different impression, it is because American
reporting on Venezuela generally includes far-fetched opposition
charges - that Chavez is creating a "Castro-communist dictatorship,"
for example - often without rebuttal.

In April last year, Chavez was briefly overthrown by a military coup
that the Bush administration initially welcomed. The coup was
preceded by the traditional hallmarks of a Washington-sponsored
regime change, including increased U.S. funding to opposition groups
and high-level meetings between U.S. officials and key people
involved in the coup.

The Bush administration continues to intervene politically in
Venezuela. Last month Washington cut off credit to Venezuela from the
U.S. Export-Import Bank. According to foreign diplomats here, the
head of the bank privately admitted that this was done for political
reasons.

In the last few weeks there has been a concerted public relations
effort both in the United States and in Venezuela, joined by the Bush
administration, to create a false impression about a proposed
referendum to recall Chavez. The Bush administration wants people to
believe that the government signed an agreement with the opposition
to hold a recall referendum, and that Chavez will be to blame if it
does not happen. The editorial boards of several major U.S.
newspapers have already endorsed this script.

But the government signed no such agreement - that would be like
Governor Gray Davis of California agreeing to a recall election
before anyone gathered signatures and filed a petition. The
opposition will have to submit the signatures and follow the
constitutional procedures - just as in California - before any
referendum is held.

Furthermore, the opposition is divided and it is not clear that the
most powerful elements really want a referendum. It carries more risk
for them than it does for Chavez. They are already discredited for
having led a badly bungled coup attempt and a strike that devastated
the economy and won them nothing. If they lose the referendum, or
fail to gather the required 2.5 million valid signatures to obtain
one, their game could be over.

Even if the opposition were to win, they would only win a new
election - in which Chavez would probably be eligible to run. And it
is very likely that he would win - no one else in Venezuela has
anywhere near his level of support.

This has been the opposition's main problem for the last four and a
half years: They can't win an election because the vast majority of
the country is poor and has rejected the traditional governing elite
after 40 years of corrupt rule. So they have turned to other means,
such as the military coup, the oil strike and other efforts to
destabilize the government.

In the coming months most American news reports will blame whatever
goes wrong in Venezuela on the Chavez government. Those who want to
hear the other side of the story - or even get a rough idea of what
is actually going on - had better be prepared to spend some time
digging around on the Internet.

The writer is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy
Research.
-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
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