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"Red Tide" Defends Venezuelan Revolution

By Berta Joubert-Ceci

On June 6, the eight-lane Bolivar Avenue in central Caracas was the scene of a colossal red tide of Venezuelans supporting President Hugo Chavez Fr�as--and affirming their determination to advance the Bolivarian Revolution in the face of the Recall Referendum. This RR is the Venezuelan oligarchy's latest attempt to overthrow Chavez.

Most of the more than 1 million people who converged in the avenue came from poor barrios. They wore the ubiquitous red berets, a symbol of the pro-Chavez forces.

The masses came out in response to the June 3 announcement by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), the body in charge of the voting process, that 2,451,821 of the signatures submitted for holding a presidential recall referendum were valid and that this was enough for the CNE to authorize the referendum.

The CNE had eliminated more than a half-million signatures due to fraudulent actions by the opposition, which submitted signatures that were repeated or were from minors or deceased persons, among other irregularities. The referendum will probably be held in August.

The RR is the latest attempt by the oligarchy and its U.S. backers to oust Chavez. First, in April 2002, they carried out a coup that briefly unseated the popular president. Then they carried out the oil sabotage of December 2002-February 2003 that nearly wrecked the economy. And later the guarimbas, the traffic stoppage meant to paralyze the cities.

Popular mass actions caused all these violent, illegal actions to fail.

This time they have resorted to using an article in the new Bolivarian Constitution of 1999, the same constitution that they ignored and tried to rescind during the brief April 2002 coup. The constitution describes four types of referenda that guar antee people's participation in running the country. Articles 71-74 define these as consultative, recall, approval and repeal referenda. They are aimed at consulting the population about matters of great national concern, recall of any elected official, approval of laws and treaties of national interest, and repeal of any law.

But the opposition, knowing full well that they are the minority in a country where 80 percent live in poverty, has used every trick imaginable and in some cases inconceivable to impose a recall referendum that is rejected by the masses. Opposition forces started collecting signatures before the time stipulated by law, forced workers to sign at threat of layoff, denied service to sick people in hospitals if they refused to sign, and used many other fraudulent methods.

FRAUDULENT ACTIONS

During the "repair" process, while the signature verification was taking place, many irregularities also occurred. The fraud was clearly exposed when police uncovered and confiscated material and machinery used to forge false ID cards--in the headquarters of Accion Democratica, the main opposition party.

Jorge Martin from the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign wrote in the June 7 edition of the Venezuela's Electronic News: "There were also instances of workers sacked by their bosses for refusing to re-verify their signatures, as was the case at the Coca-Cola plant in Antimano, where 50 workers were threatened with the closure of the plant. The Venezuelan Coca-Cola subsidiary is owned by media magnate and opposition leader Gustavo Cisneros."

But the Venezuelan oligarchy was not alone. U.S. imperialism had its hands deep in the mud through several channels.

A May 17 report by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, entitled "Sup porting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2003-2004," bluntly states U.S. aims regarding the Bolivarian Revolution.

After enumerating a long list of "human rights abuses" reported by none other than all the opposition groups, including the Catholic Church, which has organized students against the legitimate government of Chavez, the report reads: "The [U.S.] Embassy worked to encourage the implementation of Organization of Amer ican States Resolution 833, which calls for a constitutional, democratic, peaceful and electoral solution to the country's political crisis, and to strengthen democratic Venezuelan institutions... through a variety of programs.

"The Embassy continued to promote the strengthening of democracy, rule of law and political rights through U.S. non-governmental organizations. U.S. funding to National Democratic Institute activities promoted transparency in the electoral process. ...

"The International Republican Insti tute complemented these efforts through outreach to political parties across the political spectrum in the execution of electoral campaigns. ... The United States provided additional support to the Carter Center's continuing mediation and electoral process observation efforts ... .

"Public statements by the Ambassador and other U.S. officials, including Members of Congress, reiterated strong support for OAS Resolution 833 as the way out of Venezuela's political crisis."

The Carter Center and the OAS played a direct, hands-on counter- revolutionary role. On the one hand, they clearly aligned with representatives of the opposition. Meanwhile they pretended to "neutrally observe" the repair process.

The Venezuelan government accused both groups of interfering in Venezuela's internal matters. After several discussions, the government allowed them to continue solely in their role of observers.

In spite of all these maneuvers, both Chavez and the masses remain hopeful that the Bolivarian Revolution will gain strength. Chavez holds a weekly dialogue with the people, usually on the radio. In early June he held it during the massive demonstration.

He reminded the people that the number of opposition votes and their percentage of the total electorate have indeed decreased since 1998. With the majority of Venezuelans supporting the revolutionary process, Chavez believes there is no way that the oligarchy can win.

MOBILIZE THE MASSES TO WIN

To make certain of this victory, however, the masses have organized in the barrios and the "parroquias." They have been following the proceedings very closely, with attentiveness, a no-nonsense poor people's intuition and all the newly acquired skills that are a product of the revolution.

The poor people have criticized some persons in the government and in key positions of the Ayacucho Command, which is made up of leaders of pro-Chavez political parties, for not being more steadfast in carrying out their responsibilities. They hold these leaders responsible for permitting the opposition to get away with fraud.

But these reservations seemed to vanish June 6 when Chavez announced three major organizational initiatives in the next two months. In his speech, he invited the masses to, while not underestimating the enemy, use the recall referendum to ratify and consolidate the revolution.

These initiatives were officially launched: the Santa Ines Campaign to reach out to the masses during the referendum, the Florentino Mission, and the National Command of Maisanta. Chavez himself will lead the last named. He will coordinate the political, social and electoral apparatus.

The Maisanta Command was named in honor of Gen. Pedro Perez Delgado, Chavez' great-grandfather, who was called Maisanta and was the hero of the Venezuela independence struggle. The Mai santa Command will represent a leadership with more authority than the Ayacucho Command.

With the Santa Ines Campaign, Chavez called on the people to challenge the RR, organizing themselves in small groups beginning at the barrio level to visit the population block by neighborhood block, and to be more vigilant than ever in combating the counter-revolution.

The June 6 demonstration was called the "Santa In�s Campaign for National Sovereignty" in honor of the victorious battle against the oligarchy in December 1859. Maisanta Command will launch the Santa In�s Campaign/battle with strategies and actions like the Florentino Mission. In a poem by Venezuelan writer Alberto Arvelo Torrealba, Florentino is a character who triumphantly fought against the devil.

The masses' immense political awareness gained in the last few years is essential for confronting the difficulties that the oligarchy's maneuvers pose. Chavez's oppon ents have tried to destabilize the Bolivarian process and diminish support for the president. This opposition, which still dominates business, media and other key sectors in Venezuelan society, has tried to increase unemployment and artificially create scarcity of basic products like food.

This imposes undue daily suffering, particularly in the poorest layers of the population. The oligarchs thought that this misery and their own relentless anti-Chavez media campaign, which is thoroughly racist and anti-poor, would swing the pendulum of popular support their way. But they were wrong.

The red tide that descended June 6 from the poverty-stricken hills surrounding Caracas and from the many barrios around the nation is rising, by revolutionary ardor that has elevated the human condition through literacy campaigns, health care and employment oppor tunities. The masses are being org anized into armies in defense of the revolution.

This tide, now more prepared and politically aware, has taken up the challenge. They have something that the oligarchy and their masters have never and will never understand: dignity and international solidarity.

 

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