An abridged version of this article was published in Green Left Weekly:
Ten years after coup, Venezuela vigilant despite gains
Sunday, April 22, 2012
“April 13,
the great day of victory ten years ago, opened the way to the independence and
unity of our Latin America and the Caribbean … We showed that a people united
will never be defeated”, said Venezuela’s socialist president Hugo Chavez from
the “People’s Balcony” of Miraflores Palace, during a commemoration of the
April 13 revolution that toppled a short-lived business-military coup that
aimed to crush the Chavez presidency.
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| March commemorating April 13 revolution. |
The coup
attempt was in response to Chavez’ pro-poor policies. Specifically, the
capitalists were desperate to stop Chavez getting hold of the state oil company
– and the largest corporation in Latin America – Petroleos de Venezuela
(PDVSA), and putting its revenues at the service of the poor. They kidnapped
Chavez and held him hostage. However, mass uprising of the poor and working
class, along with the bulk of the military defeated the coup attempt within 48
hours and restored Chavez to the presidency.
Since 2002,
the revolution has been able to advance thanks largely to the new balance of
forces the revolution brought about. However, the process still faces a number
of serious threats. Coming up to the presidential elections of October 7, the
next few months will be especially dangerous. During Chavez’s speech, he called
for the revolutionary forces to “be alert in all these days and months to
come”, and announced the creation of a “special anti-coup plan” that involves
the formation of a “special civic-military command” to defend against any threat.
The threat
of the opposition carrying out extra-parliamentary violence, sabotage or
subterfuge continues to rise as the election date approaches and polls continue
to show the extreme unlikelihood of the opposition presidential candidate,
Henrique Capriles Radonski, defeating Chavez at the ballot box.
Carlos
Sanchez of North American Opinion Research (NAOR) said “we see the victory of
Hugo Chavez on October 7 as an irreversible tendency”. Sanchez was referring to
the findings of recent NAOR research that found Chavez has 60% backing, while
his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has 56% support of the
electorate. Meanwhile, Chavez’s opponent Capriles Radonski has a rejection
level of 57%.
On the
electoral front, battle lines are beginning to be drawn, with the revolution’s
social missions taking center stage. An election strategy document drawn up by
the opposition reveals the opposition’s bind: “What is the dilemma we confront?
In accord with surveys of popular opinion, if the people think we’re going to
abandon the missions, we run the risk of losing a very important number of
votes, but at the same time, if we try to remedy the former problem by
championing the missions without an original, critical position toward them,
many people will conclude that it’s best to stick with the missions’ original
father (Chavez)”.
The massive
popularity of the missions owes itself to their immense achievements. To date,
for example, 1,482,543 people have achieved literacy via Mission Robinson;
1,400,000 people have had vision restored through Mission Miracle; and more
than 745,000,000 people have accessed public health through the Within the
Barrio mission.
Capriles
Radonski’s opposition has begun labeling the missions as organizations of
“political blackmail”, while on the other hand proposing to introduce a law
that will “give a legal status to the missions”. This contradictory position is
not likely to gain much traction with Venezuelan voters, as it is common
knowledge that the opposition has long attacked the missions, and vehemently
opposed president Chavez’s 2007 attempt to institutionalize them - just as they
are now calling for five years later.
In the
heightened political atmosphere of the looming elections, the revolutionary
forces have continued to mobilize. The PSUV has continued its nation-wide door
knocking campaign, meeting face to face with 1,750,120 Venezuelans. President
Chavez tweeted on Thursday, “Let’s go, everyone united under the direction of
the Command of the National Carabobo Campaign … Everyone together! To the
streets!
[Owen Richards maintains the blog Venezuela: translating the revolution.]
