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Being Oligarchy
Posted
at
6:25 pm
"Imagine one million people marching over the east of Caracas and burning chaguaramo trees and palm trees . . . The unpatriotic oligarchy would be razed to the ground."
That's how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently described his vision for dealing with the "fascist minority," "you sons of daddy, you filthy rich people."
The city's eastern end has been my home base since I arrived in Venezuela about a month ago. Time and again, Venezuelans have expressed relief to hear that I haven't rented a room downtown, where just walking alone is reportedly perilous.
According to Chavez, eastern Caracas is where the oligarchy reside. Apparently, simply based on residence, people from the eastern end are anti-solidarity, poor-people-hating, CIA-subsidized, McDonalds-eating capitalists. That last label, in Chavez's mind, is the worst of them all.
And I had naively thought this was my chance to live, for once, on the right side of the tracks!
Caracas is quickly becoming a much more dangerous place. Besides the armed robbery that is Venezuela's version of petty crime, "oligarchs" are unwelcome in many areas. Political demonstrations, whether by Chavistas or government opponents, are occuring almost daily.
I was at the University of Zulia in Maracaibo on Thursday. On Friday, three students there were shot; two died.
Throngs of university students have taken to the streets to protest constitutional changes that would, among other re-writes, allow Chavez to declare an indefinite state of emergency during which personal rights are suspended.
The students have insisted that their demonstrations be non-violent. For a recent march, they asked permission of the government to march to the National Assembly and present a document stating their opposition to the reform. That day, a student leader was attacked and beaten - presumably an attempt to silence him.
Since then, the violence has increased. The students had organized a march for Wednesday, but they were out in the streets today, where they were met with police blockades, tear gas and water cannons.
Now, Chavez has threatened to squelch opposition marches. In a string of venomous phrases, he charged government officials who agreed to the marches of wanting "some people to get killed."
"Assuming that this fascist minority manages to unleash violence in the streets, we are going to run them over," Chavez said.
The referendum is scheduled for Dec. 2.
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