Looks like a pretty scary stick to me!An opponent to President Hugo Chavez, left, uses an iron stick to hit a Chavez supporter during a rally against the reforms to the nation's constitution proposed by the president in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. Venezuelans will vote to approve or reject the reforms in a referendum on Dec. 2. (AP Photo/Angel Manzanares)
Nineteen year old Jose Oliveras was not so lucky. He was shot three times and killed by anti-reform students attempting to block workers from PetroCasa, a company that builds housing for the poor in Venezuela from getting to work.
The opposition students are portrayed in the media as leftist fighters for democracy. After studying the demographics, it becomes clear that the opposition students are from the private and most costly universities in Venezuela. Furthermore, they put forward no alternative program to the programs of the Chavez government. Their issues are about Chavez and his programs.
I have read just about every mainstream media report on the opposition to the reforms. It has not once been said that seventeen countries in Europe have no term limits for heads of state.
I have also printed out and read all of the 63 reforms that are up for approval by the people of Venezuela. I honestly do not believe that here is anything in there that would lead to a dictatorship. Not even a dictatorship that I might like.
These student protests are very scary to me. The one peaceful march that was held ended with opposition students barricading pro-Chavez students in a room at the UCV and setting fire to the place and then hurling rocks at the windows where the students and others were lying on the floor trying to avoid getting hit. You can see this in the video footage. The press blamed the Chavistas. With the independent unedited film footage telling the real story, the press has simply downplayed this. All the other actions by these opposition students have involved the throwing of molotov cocktails, throwing rocks and setting fire to public property. And now they've killed someone. Up until now it's just been a lot of "fun" kind of violence. Gee whiz folks, can you say "Brownshirts"?
For great info from inside Venezuela, and wonderful information on the cultural scene go to http://www.chavezcode.com/
For more great info and some fabulous dark humor go to http://www.borev.net/
For all the Venezuelan news go to http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/
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3 comments:
This is scary. The fear must be that this lead to a destabilization that will facilitate a coup; or is that card unplayable now that it was already tried?
That last comment was from me but I pushed the send button by mistake.
Cheers,
To,
Hey Tom,
I think there are a lot of fears right now. There is a massive propoganda campaign against the reforms. And scary polls predicting a loss. And unbelievagle full page newspaper spreads (anonymous) with things like telling mothers they will lose their children who will belong to the state. This ad was yanked after it ran for two days.
Worries about assasination are high on the list of fears.
Jeanne
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