Thousands protest Colombian paramilitary presence in Venezuela

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel claimed the United States and Colombians were involved in the conspiracy.

"This march is in response to the conspiracy mounted by the Colombian oligarchy and the North American empire, but we will defeat them," Rangel said.

Last week, 88 people described as paramilitaries were arrested in a farm outside Caracas. Rangel said 120 now have been arrested.

On Saturday, Chavez, who called for Sunday's march, claimed the plotters were going to take over a military base in Caracas to spark a coup, then storm the presidential palace to kill him.

Dario Vivas, a lawmaker from the ruling party, said Venezuela will ask the Organization of American States to issue a declaration on the matter.

Protestors waving Venezuela's red, blue and yellow flag, held signs saying "Against Yankee intervention: Bush get out of here!" and "Venezuela is to be respected."

Chavez, a former paratrooper colonel, was briefly ousted in a civilian-military coup in April 2002, and survived a lengthy general strike in late 2002 and early 2003.

Chavez's political opponents say the paramilitary plot is fiction designed as an excuse to arrest opposition leaders and thwart a possible recall referendum.

As Chavez supporters marched, the opposition announced a plan to mobilize 260,000 volunteers to oversee the validation next week of about 600,000 signatures on petitions for a recall vote on the president.

The opposition had gathered 3.4 million signatures, but the electoral commission only validated 1.9 million of them, leaving opponents short of the 2.43 million needed for a recall election.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/85239/1/.html

U.S. orchestrates right-wing attacks
By Teresa Gutierrez

Tensions continue to mount in Venezuela as the U.S. persists in plans to sabotage the Bolivarian Revolution.

On May 9, over 50 Colombian paramilitaries entered Venezuela with the aim of carrying out armed attacks against key Venezuelan military and civilian targets. Some were captured.

These ominous events were reported by BBC Mundo, Associated Press and Reu ters, as well as on President Hugo Chavez's weekly radio show, "Alo Presidente."

The mercenaries were discovered in a ranch in the mountains south of Caracas, Venezuela. The head of the Department of Police Intelligence of Venezuela, Miguel Rodríguez, confirmed that they had plans to attack the Urban Security Command of the Venezuelan National Guard as well as to rob its weapons.

One of the captured Colombians reported he had been misled on the nature of the mission. Describing himself as a peasant just looking for work, he said he had been offered more than 500 million Colombian pesos. He was told that if he changed his mind or escaped, he would put his family in danger.

Intelligence chief Miguel Rodriguez said most were captured on a ranch belonging to a member of the Venezuelan opposition, Robert Alonso. Since Presi dent Chavez's election, the opposition has carried out many acts of sabotage against his government.

This has included a bosses' lockout, street actions aimed to bring chaos and deaths, and an anti-Chavez referendum. In a recent protest at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, supporters of the right-wing oligarchy demanded action. They held signs reading "1. Hussein, 2. Aristide, and 3. Chavez next?"

The opposition has been linked with Cuban right-wing groups in Miami opposed to the Cuban Revolution. In fact, the Wall Street Journal of Jan. 29, 2003, reported that Venezuelans and Cubans were receiving military training in camps in Florida.

The Venezuelan oligarchy has tried to block every progressive turn by the Chavez government. The right-wing in Congress filibusters for hours to kill progressive legislation. When peasants receive acres under agrarian reform, right-wing judges issue summonses to try to stop the turnover of the land to those who work it.

Oil wealth serves the people

Since the election of President Hugo Chavez in 1998 and the rise of the massive people's movement, U.S. imperialism has worked 24/7 to turn back the clock in Venezuela.

The priority of the Venezuelan government to provide healthcare, education and jobs for the people has alarmed the Bush administration. The fact that the wealth of the country--primarily from its oil reserves--is being used to provide social services to an impoverished nation boils the blood of the U.S. and Venezuelan oligarchy.

The U.S. has worked nonstop to sabotage the Bolivarian Revolution and has launched plans to assassinate President Chavez. It wants to isolate Venezuela, as it has tried to do with Cuba, and to carry out economic and political acts of sabotage with the aim of destabilizing the progressive Chavez administration.

One of the current U.S. strategies is to use Colombia to foster counter-revolution in Venezuela. Colombia, completely in the back pocket of imperialism, has become its buffer state in Latin America.

The last two presidents of Colombia have visited Washington more than any other Latin American heads of state.

Just one week after President Alvaro Uribe met with George W. Bush in April, the Colombian senate passed a resolution against Venezuela.

On April 13 the Colombian Senate approved a resolution condemning the so-called "dictatorial regime" of Venezuela. The resolution, according to CNN Español and Znet, calls for the Organization of American States to apply the Inter amer ican Democratic Charter to Venezuela.

The Interamerican Democratic Charter calls for decisions to be made in the event of the collapse of a "democratic order" in a member state. Venezuelans, Colombian progressives and others in defense of Vene zuela were alarmed by this resolution. It is generally accepted that this could include "all actions up to and including military intervention by OAS states, includ ing the United States." (Znet, April 18)

The Colombian resolution came at the same time that U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart was in Colombia. Diaz Balart, a Cuban-American, is known to support U.S. policies that aim to overturn the Cuban Revolution, including terrorist attacks against the Cuban people and assassination attempts against President Fidel Castro.

That Colombia could be used by the U.S. to initiate a major military conflict in the region is not an exaggeration.

The Colombian government has bought 40 AMX30 tanks from Spain that threaten not only the people's movement in Colombia but also Venezuela. It has welcomed with open arms Plan Colombia--Washington's aid program of over $2.5 billion, mostly to the Colombian military.

Plan Colombia is the military arm of the Free Trade Area of the Americas and threatens not only the movement in Col ombia but the entire region. What imperialism cannot accomplish with three-piece suits it aims to accomplish with military fatigues.

The current U.S. ambassador to Vene zuela is Charles Shapiro, who was the deputy chief of mission in Chile in 1973 when the U.S. backed General Augusto Pino chet in a bloody coup against the government of socialist Salvador Allende. Shapiro in April participated in a large meeting with the right-wing in Caracas. The U.S. has used similar tactics in Havana.

But the Bush administration is mistaken if it thinks it can carry out another Chile in Venezuela. Both the government and the masses are ready for anything and say there is no turning back the Bolivarian Revolution.

Reprinted from the May 20, 2004, issue of Workers World newspaper

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/venez0520.php