IPS-English VENEZUELA: Opportunity for Dialogue
 
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:50:02 -0800

 
Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Dec 12   (IPS)  - This is a good time, in the wake of the
defeat of President Hugo Chávez's proposed constitutional reform,
to hold talks on the promotion of human rights, says the local non-governmental
organisation PROVEA.

”The time is right for a dialogue panel to review, discuss and design
policies, based on a broad consensus, to tackle around a dozen issues
from a human rights perspective,” Marino Alvarado, the head of the
Venezuelan Programme of Education and Action in Human Rights (PROVEA),
told IPS.

These issues include Venezuela's high crime rates and the appalling
situation in the country's prisons -- longstanding problems that Chávez
has failed to effectively address.

The activist also called for an evaluation of the government's numerous
”missions”, the name given to the social programmes that include literacy
training, primary health care provided by Cuban doctors in the slums,
food for the poor at subsidised prices, soup kitchens for low-income
women and children, free eye operations, dental care, microbusiness
loans, support for cooperatives, scholarships at all educational levels,
and stipends for the unemployed who agree to take training courses.

This broad range of social programmes, funded by windfall oil profits,
as well as the strong economic growth seen over the last few years,
has consolidated support for Chávez among lower income sectors. In
this highly polarised country, the virulently anti-Chávez opposition
is basically middle and upper class.

Opinion polls and around a dozen elections held since the president
first took office in 1999 show that support for the left-wing leader
has held steady at around 60 to 65 percent for nearly a decade.

However, his proposed constitutional reforms, which would have made
it possible for presidents to stand indefinitely for re-election,
while making it easier for him to move the country towards ”21st century
socialism”, were defeated narrowly in a Dec. 2 referendum -- Chávez's
first electoral defeat.

Calls for reflection, dialogue and reconciliation have increased
since the referendum, in which 4.5 million Venezuelans (50.65 percent)
voted against it, compared to 4.4 million (49.34 percent) who were
in favour of the reforms. Abstention stood at 43 percent.

After the referendum, Chávez conceded defeat, but said he would ”continue
the struggle to build socialism.” 

”For now, we couldn't do it,” he said, but added that he would not
withdraw ”even one comma of this proposal,” which he said ”is still
alive.”

But José Vicente Rangel, who served as his vice president for five
years, said that ”Chávez, like the opposition, must reflect on the
message expressed by voters in two similarly sized blocs.”

Rangel said ”dialogue is the mandate that emerged from the Dec. 2
voteàI am convinced that this is what the majority of the people want.”

The dialogue should not be aimed at ”the disappearance of contradictions,
debate and differences -- which form part of the essence of politics
-- but at assuming them in a civic manner and without being motivated
by the desire to destroy one's adversary,” said Rangel.

Culture Minister Francisco Sesto, on the other hand, said that ”as
a citizen committed to a collective project, I am not going to reconcile
with anyone, nor do I know how to do so, or understand very well what
that means.”

”We are not going to back off in the least. Instead, we will speed
things up. As far as possible, we will move ahead full steam. This
is the train of humanism,” said the minister.

Both the pro- and anti-Chávez political parties have started to carry
out their own separate analyses of what happened and of the political
outlook. 

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in which Chávez is attempting
to bring together all of his followers, has begun to hold grassroots
meetings while its leaders are maintaining a prudent silence.

For their part, the Communist Party and the Fatherland For All (PPT)
party, which are governments allies, will set up ”socialist dialogue
panels” to analyse the defeat of the constitutional reforms.

”The electoral setback is an alert that cannot be ignored,” said
parliamentary Deputy José Albornoz, secretary-general of the PPT.

The opposition, meanwhile, are meeting to ”keep up our guard in the
face of Chávez's desire to push through the reforms in another format,”
said Henry Ramos, the head of Democratic Action, one of the main opposition
parties.

Omar Barboza, president of the Un Nuevo Tiempo opposition party,
pointed to ”a climate of reconciliation.”

”Whether or not the president accepts it, we are sure that even the
democratic Chavistas will accompany us,” he said.

Sociologist Maryclen Stelling said ”there will be no reconciliation,
because when you are fighting against an enemy and you want to destroy
him in order to impose your own vision, you refuse to acknowledge
anyone else.”

”No reconciliation is currently possible,” said Stelling, a Chávez
supporter. ”The only possibility is to identify concrete aspects involving
daily life in which it is possible to work together.”

Alvarado proposed ”starting out with the day-to-day issue that affects
Venezuelans the most, the most pressing problem mentioned by 70 or
80 percent of the population in opinion polls: the high crime rates.”

Last year, 12,257 murders were committed in this country of 27.5
million, equivalent to 45 per 100,000 population, and ”23 percent
more than in 2005, which means the upward tendency remains steady,”
said Alvarado. That makes Venezuela's homicide rate one of the highest
in the region.

Last year, a commission made up of representatives of public bodies
and non-governmental organisations drafted recommendations for an
overhaul of the country's police forces, based on an in-depth study
of the existing problems.

But the recommendations have been practically shelved since a new
interior minister was named in January, said Alvarado.

Another issue is the question of an amnesty for the members of the
military and police forces and civilians who the opposition call ”political
prisoners”. These people are under arrest in connection, for example,
with the April 2002 coup in which Chávez was overthrown for two days.

”We have always been opposed to impunity,” said Alvarado. ”If someone
should be investigated or tried or convicted, then that should happen.”

”But what we have also always demanded is legal guarantees and equal
treatment, and that not only those on one side or another are tried
and judged,” he added.

The activist said that ”it is part of the political and democratic
history of the country that after an election is held, agreements
on amnesties are reached.”

”We will insist that the window open for dialogue on issues of concern
to most Venezuelans should be taken advantage of, from a human rights
perspective,” said Alvarado.


*****
+ PROVEA - in Spanish  (http://www.derechos.org.ve)
+ VENEZUELA: Fighting Police Brutality (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36326)


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