Right-wing violence flares in Venezuela

A student protest might seem unthink able in a country that has overcome the scourge of illiteracy in less than three years and that, through its different “mission” educational programs, has helped underprivileged students get free basic education and college degrees.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s speech to the OPEC gathering emphasized Venezuela’s view that the era of U.S. imperialism’s unchallenged domination of the world is coming to a close.

But what about one that was really directed by forces in opposition to the Venezuelan Bolivarian government, and at a time when Venezuela was preparing to host a very important meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries?

That is exactly what happened on May 24 in the university town of Mérida in the western part of Venezuela. A group called March 13 Movement (M-13) led a demonstration, apparently of students from the public University of the Andes (ULA), through the streets of Mérida protesting what they labeled an “interference with the university’s autonomy.”

That day, the Venezuelan Supreme Court had issued an injunction against student elections planned for May 31 at the request of the current student body president, who did not trust the transparency of those upcoming elections. The M-13’s response was pure violence.

Armed with heavy weaponry, Uzis and other powerful pistols and guns, their faces hidden under masks, they attacked the police and National Guard who were protecting the streets, wounding at least 26 police and one National Guard.

Sofía Aguilar, a police woman, was intervi ewed by Vene zuelan national television (VTV) about what happened to her and her male partner. She said they were on their official motorcycle answering a woman’s question when suddenly the “students” got out of a bus and began attacking them. Her partner was shot in the chest at close range and then furiously beaten on the head to the point of unconsciousness. When they finished the beating, the group took his helmet and placed it on top of the bus as a trophy.

She said she ran, trying to escape, and hid in an empty house. They followed her and tried to rape her at gunpoint, hitting and scratching her body. She was finally saved by the shouts of a woman who lived nearby. She identified the main attacker as Nixon Moreno, head of M-13. (www.vtv.gov.ve)

Who are Nixon Moreno and the M-13? Why do they accuse the Venezuelan National Guard of “invading the university”? According to VTV, Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice Jesse Chacón has denied that the National Guard and police forces raided the ULA.

In an article entitled “Ordinary Mérida students at ULA can’t really handle UZIs with such precision,” published June 2 on the Internet website Vheadlines, Spanish-language news chief Jesus Nery Barrios writes: “That is the reality of the ULA student movement and its leadership ... a mob of gunmen, rapists and students who do not study at all, but enjoy the university privileges: free transportation within the city, almost free canteen, free residence and a very low registration fee ... all paid by the Bolivarian government. Only that now (in 2006, for the first time in history) university authorities are having to report to the national government how they spend their millionaire budget, causing them to protest.”

Nixon Moreno himself, a “veteran” student who has been at the university more than 10 years, was a presidential candidate in the ULA’s postponed elections. He had been indicted for conspiracy, civilian rebellion, offense to the state chief, and several other charges relating to the U.S.-sponsored coup in April 2002 against President Hugo Chávez. His case was being handled by National Prosecutor Danilo Anderson, who was assassinated more than a year ago.

These developments in Mérida—which had echoes on the ULA campus in San Cristobal, in neighboring Tachira state, and to some extent in Caracas—have been widely seen not as student protests but as part of the destabilization campaign against the Bolivarian Revolution. Their timing—just when Venezuela was about to host a crucial OPEC meeting in the capital—reinforces that view.

Chavez’s speech to the OPEC gathering, which was vigorously applauded, emphasized Venezuela’s view that the era of U.S. imperialism’s unchallenged domination of the world is coming to a close and that the resource-rich countries of the Third World can advance by integrating their economies independently of the imperialist banks and corporations. The talk was aired in the U.S. on C-Span2.

Moreno connected
to political opposition

In a public release, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel had said earlier that the authorities had information about “preparations for a plan to generate violence in the street” during the OPEC gathering. He further declared that “The intention of initiating actions in Caracas amid the next OPEC meeting exists; its aim is to project the image abroad of chaos in Venezuela.”

Thanks to the diligent action of the Venezuelan government and the majority of student organizations, which support the Bolivarian process, these destabilizing actions did not have the organizers’ expected outcome.

Tarek El Aissami and Alberto Cautelar, two National Assembly representatives, presented evidence of the terrorist background of the group led by Nixon Moreno to the media and the national legislature.

These destabilizing attempts are also viewed as a drive to affect upcoming presidential elections, due to be held next December, and began after the launching of a nationwide campaign to get 10 million votes for Chávez in 2006. In that context, the assembly members also demonstrated links between M-13 and Teodoro Petkoff and Julio Andrés Borges, declared candidates of the opposition.

In an article published in Vheadline on May 30, ULA professor Franz J.T. Lee wrote: “As fake window-dressing, the ‘opposition’ has also named its candidates; among them, Teodoro Petkoff, who has already begun his anti-chavista campaign in Mérida. In a press conference at the airport, he caustically launched his diatribal garbage against the ‘Chávez regime,’ against the Bolivarian Revolution ... he was fetched and welcomed at the airport by Nixon and cohorts.”

Several reports state that the student groups that staged the violent demonstrations are presumed to have been infiltrated by paramilitary elements.

Response of students

In a public statement widely circulated over the Internet, several student groups opposed the Mérida developments.

They say, “We, Revolutionary Student Movements, the Federation of University Centers of the University of the Andes, and the Popular Movement of Mérida, wish to make public our rejection of the terrorist acts perpetrated by the pro-coup opposition groups 13th of March Movement, 20 Movement, Red Flag and other splinter groups, led by the ‘pseudo student’ Nixon Moreno.

“We the revolutionary student movements, the FCU and all of the men and women affected by this wave of violence and unknown guerrilla acts of destabilizing intent, demand the defense of the true University autonomy, in which there is no room for paramilitaries, terrorists, coup plotters, conspiracists, sell-outs, lackeys, mercenaries, and in sum, all those who act against the peace of the Venezuelan people.

“No to violence, no to the ‘Guarimbas,’ no to impunity, no to international interference, no to psychological and physical terrorism, no to coup seeking. We will remain united all for the defense of peace and sovereignty in the face of the hatred which threatens to do away with all of our hopes.”

Role of Washington

According to the article by Nery Barrios and several other reports, Moreno is implicated in the U.S. campaign against the Bolivarian Republic. Berrios says that Moreno “has met U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield in a hotel in the neighboring state of Barinas.”

At a time when the Venezuelan government is preparing its military and civilian population for a possible U.S. attack because of increasing hostility from the Bush administration, a meeting of the opposition with U.S. government representatives cannot be seen as a pure diplomatic gesture. The U.S. has funded the opposition, particularly the anti-Chávez Sumate electoral group. A long list of U.S. complaints against that sovereign nation accuse it of being a “destabilizing agent in the region,” “aiding terrorists” and even “human trafficking.” The U.S. has also opposed the Bolivarian Republic’s nomination to the UN Security Council.

It is a critical time for all progressive organizations in the United States to loudly and clearly state to the U.S. administration: “Hands off Venezuela.”