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Confrontation at Venezuelan consulate

Supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela demonstrated near that country’s consulate in New York on Manhattan’s 51st Street near 5th Avenue on Dec. 2, as the vote on the referendum was taking place in Venezuela and also at the consulate office. At about 2 p.m. a shouting match broke out between opponents of President Hugo Chávez—from the relatively wealthy Venezuelan expatriate community—and the demonstrators, who also included Venezuelans. The anti-Chávez forces picked up the arrogant expression used by the Bourbon king of Spain against Chávez at the Iberian Summit in Chile, shouting to the progressive demonstrators, “Why don’t you shut up?” Perhaps they longed for the pre-Simón Bolívar days when Venezuela was still a Spanish colony. It was also telling that the New York cops moved the pro-government demonstrators away from the government office, while allowing the anti-Chávez forces to gather there.

—Report and photo by John Catalinotto