The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.4           February 1, 1999 
 
 
Venezuela President: Austerity In Name Of `The People'  

BY BRIAN TAYLOR
Venezuelan president-elect Hugo Chávez Frias, approaching his February 2 inauguration, has already begun forming his government and laying out policies of the new regime. The initial steps planned by this widely popular Bonapartist politician in the name of the Venezuelan people include deepening the austerity drive of his predecessors and pushing to dissolve Congress.

Chávez has invited presidents Fidel Castro of Cuba, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, and Andrés Pastrana of Colombia to his inauguration in the capital city of Caracas. In the name of "national reconciliation," Chávez also invited Marcos Pérez Jiménez, a former Venezuelan dictator now living in Spain who held power from 1948 through 1958. This drew dissent from the social democratic party, Democratic Action.

Chávez went on a European tour January 11, aimed primarily at seeking debt-renegotiation deals while also looking to secure more loans in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. He also visited Canada and Cuba. According to Venezuelan finance ministry reports, Chávez inherits a $48 billion debt - half of it owed to imperialist banks. Nearly $3 billion of the foreign debt falls due this year. Some 40 percent of the Venezuelan budget currently goes toward servicing this debt.

After twice denying Chávez an entry visa into the United States, the White House has now issued an invitation to Chávez to meet with U.S. president William Clinton in Washington January 27.

One of Chávez's early announcements was to back a recent increase in electricity fees. He also proposes to enforce stiffer collections of taxes. "Not paying taxes is a social crime," Chávez declared in a December 6 press conference, "because taxes are, precisely, the contribution a person or corporation makes for the social benefit of the group. Thus, we have to provide laws in Venezuela to make tax evasion a crime."

Reassuring employers they can expect "more of the same" on the austerity front, Chávez is keeping Maritza Izaguirre, finance minister for outgoing president Rafael Caldera, in her post.

Like other Bonapartist figures, Chávez, who was jailed for four years for his role in a February 1992 coup attempt, emphasizes his ties to the military. He is appointing several military officers - some of whom participated in the failed 1992 coup - to high positions in his government. This includes retired Rear Adm. Hernan Gruber Odreman as Caracas governor, Lt. Col. Luis Reyes Reyes as infrastructure minister, and former civic-military National Defense Higher Studies Institute member Toro Hardy as ambassador to Washington. He earlier named Gen. Raúl Salazar defense minister.

Campaign promises fading
Chávez often invokes Simón Bolívar, a leader of the 19th century national liberation struggles in Latin America, as part of his nationalist demagogy. During his election campaign he boasted that he would force oil companies in Venezuela to adopt social programs. In his first meeting with Chevron bosses in mid-January, however, no such demands by Chávez were reported. The oil giant set up shop in the Boscan oil field in 1946, but left in the mid-1970s when Venezuela's oil resources were nationalized under the social democratic government of Carlos Andrés Pérez.

During that period workers won a number of social benefits from the bosses, paid for out of the profits from the oil industry. But with the economic depression and sharp decline in oil prices in the late 1980s, the bosses and government went on an offensive. They slashed social services; dropped much needed subsidies on food, electricity, water, and public transportation; and sold off state-owned factories, throwing tens of thousands of workers on the street. Chevron returned to Venezuela in 1995.

Chávez also promised to raise workers' wages during his campaign. But when asked after the election about fulfilling that vow, he said, "I cannot make the mistake as president of Venezuela to say at this moment that there is going to be an amount of increase to the minimum wage because that decision will not be a unilateral presidential decision. We will discuss this with workers, businessmen, with the outgoing government."

The Caracas newspaper El Universal ran an article in early January subtitled, "The New Government's Dilemma." In it Aurelio Concheso writes, "The dilemma that the government of President-elect Hugo Chávez will face...is how to articulate an economic program whose most immediate results would indicate he is capable of meeting the expectations" of Venezuelans. He must explain "why it is necessary to take measures, or in many cases continue government policies already being implemented" that diverge from what he promised.

Chávez's continued call for a constituent assembly, dissolving Congress, and rewriting the Venezuelan constitution, has drawn opposition from government officials and from Democratic Action. The opposition forces argue he has no constitutional power to call for a "popular referendum" on the assembly by decree, which he says he will do on February 15 if officials do not.

"Do the Venezuelan people want a constituent assembly, yes or no? If the people vote yes, nobody and nothing will be able to keep us from democratically" calling one, he declares, masking this undemocratic move under the rubric of giving "the people" the right to vote on this question. Many Venezuelans hold Congress directly responsible for real corruption that flourishes there.

Pedro Pablo Aguilar, the outgoing president of Congress, said Chávez is seeking to abuse his power "like a strongman appointed by providence." Meanwhile, the Christian democratic COPEI, originally against the constituent assembly, buckled and aligned with Chávez. "COPEI supports the change and is not afraid of a referendum," said COPEI secretary general Donald Ramírez.

Working-class resistance
In Venezuela today, real wages have fallen 66 percent in 15 years, and about 80 percent of Venezuela's 21 million people live in poverty. Venezuela has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor - half the country's income goes to 20 percent of the population. There have been ongoing strikes and protests by many working people for higher wages and pension increases. On January 8 oil workers waged a 24-hour strike at Petroleos de Venezuela. Some 20,000 education ministry workers in Lara State took to the streets January 14 demanding unpaid wages and other benefits. Health ministry workers in Tachira State also threatened a possible strike. And more than 400 street vendors rallied that day to denounce their eviction from Plaza Bolívar in Porlamar.

 
 
 
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