Wednesday 4, December 2002

As a follow up I received this note:

At 02:48 p.m. 04/12/02 -0400, you wrote:
>
> I just finished reading today's NYT article about Caracas oil workers joining
> the protest (not strike). Very serious stuff, indeed.
>
> Looking forward to hearing the full story from you, Daniel, after things have
> settled down. Hope you are well.
>
> Sharon


The Washington Post is not bad either...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5989-2002Dec3.html


I am still well. But these are dizzying times in Venezuela. From that article you can gather that yesterday's gross miscalculation from the definitely super inept Chavez administration has revived what seemed to be a point for Chavez. Indeed with the proximity of Christmas many shops refused to close on Monday, in particular the Chinese and Middle Eastern shop owners that are in significant numbers in some small towns in Venezuela, including San Felipe my hometown of the moment. By Tuesday the other shop owners started opening not wanting to get screwed, understandably. Interestingly the larger stores and shopping malls remained closed. But it was clear that by Tuesday noon the visible aspects of busy streets gave an impression of a faltering stoppage, even though productive factors remained closed and some sectors started joining or expanding their actions (when it comes to shopping on a free day, Chavistas and soft anti-Chavistas can find common ground)

Still, at noon Chavez seemed to have won a small victory.

Then in the afternoon the brutal repression of a small rally (no more than a couple of thousand people) and the beating of some media folks turned the tables. All live on TV of course. By late afternoon the stoppage had recovered full momentum and was called for "another day or indefinite end". This morning in San Felipe some of the stores that opened on Tuesday closed. Some that had closed for two days did open. Some did not open. But all in all there was less commercial activity although the streets did show more activity (I suppose that a lot of people were bored at home and went out to visit...). And a series of rallies were called in the major cities of Venezuela, except in Barquisimeto, my closest big city where I would have gone. Organizations knew why...

Caracas saw again this afternoon a gigantic rally with a march of several miles of streets full of people, perhaps as big or bigger than the march I reported from last time! The TV footage was spectacular as the route was different from usual and allowed for great scenery! In other cities things were different. For one thing their police department is not used to control such huge rallies. As a consequence trouble happened in some areas. But the worst has been Barquisimeto. Some of the local opposition leaders decided to call a rally anyway. But the mayor and the governor are ardent Chavistas and the police was pretty much ordered to favor Chavistas until it became clear that they did not know what to do when such situations degenerate. The result so far is a major attack on the media folks by fanatics, with half a dozen injured. A high suspense drama as the cameras were showing live the crowds attacking them and their leaders unable to stop them. Very bad, bad press for Chavez and his supporters.

By the way, Venezuelan journalists have been winning lots of awards this year, including a majority of the King of Spain awards, the biggest one for Hispanic media.

Now, back to my TV set.