[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Hugo Chávez and Petro Populism (2/3)
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 11:59:06 +0200
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2/3=20
Hugo Ch=E1vez and Petro Populism
Guerrero started supporting Ch=E1vez in 1992, on that fateful day when the =
then-unknown 37-year-old colonel launched a failed coup of his own. When de=
feat appeared imminent, Ch=E1vez surrendered. To avoid a bloodbath he went =
on television and asked his compatriots who were still holding two cities t=
o put down their weapons.=20
During that short live broadcast Ch=E1vez did two things that electrified t=
he Venezuelan imagination. First, he took personal responsibility for the b=
otched coup. This seemed to many viewers like a significant break from the =
standard political tradition of lying and blaming others for failure. Then,=
in explaining the defeat, Ch=E1vez said, "For now, the objectives that we =
have set for ourselves have not been achieved."=20
During the next two years, while Ch=E1vez was in prison studying, that key =
phrase--"for now," or por ahora in Spanish--became a rallying cry, a slogan=
of defiance painted on walls, a talisman of hope in an otherwise squalid a=
nd corrupt political landscape.=20
Guerrero's sentiments, down to the details about the coup and the por ahora=
speech, were echoed again and again in dozens of interviews throughout som=
e of Caracas's poorest slums. The majority of people here--ranging from for=
merly apolitical housewives to hard-core veterans of the urban guerrilla mo=
vements of the 1970s--revere President Ch=E1vez. They view him as a politic=
al saint, a savior, the embodiment of a new national ideal.=20
But through Guerrero's open front door we can see the Modernist towers of o=
ffices, banks, hotels and luxury apartments in the other Caracas, a city th=
at has grown fat on the vast oil fortunes flowing from Venezuela's subsoil.=
=20
It is this contrast between rich and poor--a contrast so visually obvious a=
s to make the landscape of Caracas feel almost didactic--that animates Vene=
zuelan politics. And in the other Caracas, the one with the country clubs, =
the citizens hate Ch=E1vez with an ardor as strong as the devotion one find=
s for him in the barrios. Just as the urban poor and campesinos love Ch=E1v=
ez because of his swarthy, indigenous looks, tight curly hair and his rough=
, down-to-earth talk, so too are the wealthier classes driven apoplectic wi=
th rage by the fact that their president looks likes a construction worker =
or cab driver.=20
For six years Ch=E1vez and his supporters have battled this opposition, an =
enemy that Ch=E1vez has nicknamed los escu=E1lidos, or "the weaklings." But=
the opposition has not always been so weak. It includes the privately owne=
d mass media, which have been virulently and propagandistically hostile to =
the government, devoting days at a time to commercial-free attacks on it as=
"totalitarian" and "Castro communist." There was the armed coup, then the =
oil strike, which cost the economy an estimated $7.5 billion and led to sev=
ere shortages of gas, food and beer. As one consultant in the Planning Mini=
stry said in all seriousness: "I thought the day we ran out of beer would b=
e the day the country fell into anarchy and civil war."=20
There was also a prolonged public protest by a group of respected former ge=
nerals who urged active soldiers to rebel. Then there was a series of viole=
nt protests by rightist street fighters calling themselves the Guarimbas, w=
ho set up burning barricades during early 2004.=20
Despite all this, Ch=E1vez and his political allies have won seven national=
ballots, including the approval of a new Constitution, an overhaul of the =
notoriously corrupt judiciary, two national legislative elections, two pres=
idential elections and one attempted presidential recall.=20
Through it all, occasional armed clashes between hard-core Chavistas and op=
position militants have left about twenty people on both sides dead or seri=
ously wounded. And the Ch=E1vez government has enacted a media law that pun=
ishes slander with jail time and prohibits broadcast of the twenty-four-hou=
r-a-day video loops that were an opposition favorite, drawing sharp critici=
sm from press-freedom advocates. But there has been no major government cam=
paign of repression, not even against the architects of the coup, many of w=
hom are at liberty and still in Venezuela.
The barrio 23 de Enero (January 23) is to the Venezuelan left what Compton =
is to hip-hop: the home of its hard core. The barrio's eponym is the date o=
f a popular uprising that took place in 1958 against dictator Marcos P=E9re=
z Jim=E9nez. Tucked into a Caracas valley and flowing over a few hillsides,=
23 de Enero is a mix of 1950s-era cement tower blocks and the usual cinder=
-block homes wedged along winding staircases and walkways.=20
The ten- and fifteen-story tower blocks are adorned in an improbable and ta=
tterdemalion layer of colorful laundry hanging from external drying racks o=
r barred windows. Behind the clothes and the bars one can see lush potted p=
lants, caged and squawking birds or household items stacked up in the tiny,=
overcrowded apartments. On the back sides of the towers, mounds of trash s=
it in and around dumpsters that are placed below long, dilapidated external=
garbage chutes that usually have big sections of pipe missing.=20
From the top of each tower flies a red-and-blue flag: the colors of the Coo=
rdinador Sim=F3n Bol=EDvar, a powerful community organization that has its =
roots in the urban guerrilla movements of the 1970s and '80s. Described wit=
h the catchphrase Tupamaros, these urban partisans were really a collection=
of groups and factions rather than a single force, as the name would sugge=
st.=20
Even today, many comrades in the barrios are still armed. A fellow journali=
st was pulled over by masked gunmen at a Tupamaro checkpoint in 23 de Enero=
during the tense days around the August 2004 referendum. The homies were m=
aking sure no escu=E1lido thugs snuck into the 'hood to do a drive-by. They=
also wanted my friend to donate his videocamera to the revolution, putting=
a gun to his head to help him make his decision. But when adult supervisio=
n finally showed up, the muchachos running the traffic stop were persuaded =
to give back the camera.=20
At the Coordinador's little headquarters I meet this other type of Chavista=
: not a sentimental housewife like Guerrero, but a hard-core ex-guerrilla. =
Juan Contreras is balding, a bit paunchy and has rather unassuming boyish f=
eatures, but he got his political education the hard way and at a young age=
: in the form of demonstrations, police beatings and shootouts with the par=
amilitary forces of the state. He is now one of the key organizers in the C=
oordinador.=20
The walls outside the office are covered in revolutionary murals: One honor=
s a youth killed in a demonstration against Henry Kissinger in the 1970s, a=
nother is for the Zapatistas, a third displays the classic Alberto Korda po=
rtrait of Che Guevara. Most of the art predates Ch=E1vez, and none portrays=
his image.=20
"Ch=E1vez did not produce the movements--we produced him," explains Contre=
ras. "He has helped us tremendously, but what is going on here cannot be as=
cribed only to Ch=E1vez."=20
According to Contreras and a few of his comrades, the Coordinador got its s=
tart after the failed Ch=E1vez coup in 1992. In the wake of that defeat, th=
e government began jailing leftists. Contreras fled to Cuba for a month wit=
h twenty-nine other activists from 23 de Enero; upon their return, almost a=
ll of them were arrested, and Contreras went into hiding. About a year and =
a half after the attempted coup, the activists regrouped and decided that a=
rmed struggle was definitely over and done with. They created the Coordinad=
or and devoted themselves to aboveground work.=20
Today the Coordinador pursues a three-pronged strategy that involves reclai=
ming public space from drug gangs, recovering local cultural traditions and=
promoting organized sports. Already the barrio has produced several player=
s for Major League Baseball, including Ugueth Urbina, Juan Carlos Ovalles a=
nd Juan Carlos Pulido. Later a young guy named Kristhian Linares stops by t=
o pay his respects to Contreras. Only 18 years old, Linares has just signed=
with the Florida Marlins. He starts spring training as soon as his papers =
are in order.=20
After building these forms of social solidarity, the Coordinador then launc=
hed another project, setting up committees to deal with health, land titles=
, elections and the like. Some of this work interfaces with government-fund=
ed missions, some doesn't. But the paramount issue here is security. The sl=
ums of Caracas are extremely violent. Every week, around eighty people are =
murdered in this city of 5 million.=20
"We use culture and sports and organization to take over public spaces," ex=
plains Contreras. What if the drug gangs refuse to move? "Well, many of the=
m are connected by family to the larger community, so we use that pressure.=
There is the armed tradition here, and they respect that. And there is a t=
radition of lynching in this barrio. In the past the community has killed s=
ome criminals. Not recently, but it has happened. So most of the gangs take=
us seriously and stay away from the central areas."=20
Later, as we scale a ridge packed with little homes, he explains that farth=
er into the barrio are some agricultural projects but that I'll have to com=
e back to visit them because the outlying areas become dangerous in the aft=
ernoon. Clearly, cultural reclamation plus threat of lynching does not comp=
letely displace crime.=20
It also seems that the opposition, or elements in it, have on occasion used=
criminals against Chavistas. An activist from nearby 23 de Enero, a woman =
who once lived in California, tells the story of a gangster who was paid to=
make death threats against the local Cuban doctors. The doctors got so fre=
aked out they split. But the woman, a trained social worker, found the youn=
g thug, a local guy, and explained to him that he would certainly be tracke=
d down and killed by angry Chavistas if he persisted with his threats. The =
gangster reconsidered and decided to stay out of politics. The Cuban doctor=
s returned.=20
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