Tombs opened in Venezuela to identify riot victims

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Sep 21, 5:12 PM EDT
Tombs opened in Venezuela to identify riot victims
By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Authorities began opening tombs Monday to identify the remains of dozens of people killed during riots more than two decades ago and look for evidence against police and soldiers responsible for slayings during the unrest. Most relatives of those who died in the 1989 riots, known as the "Caracazo," applaud the probe and hope investigators will be able to identify the victims and give their families a long-awaited opportunity for a proper burial.

Venezuelans across the political spectrum condemned the bloodshed at the time. But for President Hugo Chavez and many of his supporters, the massacre remains a symbol of injustice of past governments. The decision to open the tombs is one of multiple efforts by prosecutors in recent years to investigate cases of wrongdoing under Chavez's predecessors.

Some victims' families, while supporting the plan to examine the remains, fear what could be their final chance for emotional closure may be lost because the remains will be kept inside Venezuela's largest military base while forensic experts and anthropologists pick through bones and teeth.

Like other relatives, Aura Liscano doesn't like the idea of soldiers at Fort Tiuna safeguarding the remains of people who may have been killed by the armed forces or police. If there's still evidence, it could be erased," Liscano said.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega, overseeing the probe, said the warehouse inside the fort will be guarded by authorities from the prosecutor's office. "The remains of the victims will not be in the custody of the armed forces," Ortega said at a news conference.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_VENEZUELA_RIOT_VICTIMS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-21-17-12-09

[endarkenment]

1. Yes indeed, back when Venezuela was run by IMF-backed thugs.

Who under the direction of the Chicago school free market gang, proceeded to dismantle and wreck the public infrastructure and support system that underpinned Venezuela's domestic economy. The results were a real disaster for the people, and a bonanza for global corporations. The resulting civil unrest was put down brutally by the government.

[spanza]

12. actually

it was the very first IMF inspired reform in our History that made everything explode. They rose the price of fuel and the next day people were in the streets

[Judi Lynn]

2. Photos of the El Caracazo massacre:

http://www.embavenez-us.org/pdfs/elcaracazoinpictures.pdf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Page last updated at 05:27 GMT, Saturday, 18 July 2009 06:27 UK
Former Venezuela minister charged
By Will Grant
BBC News, Caracas

Venezuela's former defence minister is facing charges over his alleged role in violent clashes between police and protesters in Caracas in 1989. Italo del Valle Alliegro is accused of having played a role in ordering the violent repression of the protest.

The protests, sparked by a series of economic restructuring measures which included price rises on fuel and public transport, left hundreds dead. The retired general denies all the charges against him.

The street riots of February 1989 in the Venezuelan capital are known as the Caracazo. Government-imposed price rises, particularly on the cost of fuel, provoked several days of looting and clashes with the military which left an official figure of 274 people dead. Some groups say as many as 3,000 people were killed.

Very few public figures were put on trial over the violence and it has stained Venezuela's reputation ever since.

Since coming to power, Hugo Chavez - who was a lieutenant in the army at the time - has described the event as a massacre by the state, and ordered a tribunal to investigate the Caracazo.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8157088.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caracazo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The caracazo or sacudón is the name given to the wave of protests, riots and looting that occurred on 27 February 1989 in the Venezuelan capital Caracas and surrounding towns. The riots — the worst in Venezuelan history — resulted in a death toll of anywhere between 275 and 3,000 deaths,<1> mostly at the hands of security forces.

The word caracazo is the name of the city plus the suffix -azo, which implies a blow and/or magnitude. It could therefore be translated as something like "the Caracas smash" or "the big one in Caracas". Sacudón is from sacudir "to shake", and therefore means something along the lines of "the day that shook the country". (See Spanish nouns: Other suffixes.)

The words are pronounced {kaɾaˈkaso} and {sakuˈðon}, respectively.

Lead-up
In the context of the economic crisis that Venezuela had been going through since the early 1980s, President Carlos Andrés Pérez proposed to implement free-market reforms in his second presidential term (1989–1993), following the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pérez belonged to the Acción Democrática (AD) party (social-democrat). This programme was known as the paquete — the "package".

Measures taken by Pérez included privatizing state companies, tax reform, reducing customs duties, and diminishing the role of the state in the economy. He also took measures to decentralize and modernize the Venezuelan political system by instituting the direct election of state governors (previously appointed by the President). But the most controversial part of this economic package was the elimination of the gas subsidies, which had long maintained domestic petrol prices far beneath their international levels (and indeed beneath the production costs of gasoline). Upon the elimination of the subsidy, petrol prices rose by as much 100%, and subsequently, the costs of public transportation rose by 30%.

Protests and rioting
The protests and rioting began in Guarenas (a town in Miranda State, some 30 km east of Caracas) on the morning of 27 February 1989,<2> due to a steep increase in transportation costs to Caracas. They quickly spread to the capital and other towns across the country. By the afternoon, there were disturbances in almost all districts of Caracas, with shops shut and public transport not running.

In the days that followed there was widespread international media coverage of the looting and destruction. For many months, there was discussion about how something so violent could occur in Venezuela.

Overwhelmed by the looting, the government declared a state of emergency, put the city under martial law and restored order albeit with the use of force. Some people used firearms for self-defence, to attack other civilians and/or to attack the military, but the number of dead soldiers and police came nowhere near the number of civilian deaths. The repression was particularly harsh in the cerros — the poor neighbourhoods of the capital.

The initial official pronouncements said 276 people had died; however, the subsequent discovery that the government had buried civilians in mass graves and not counted those deaths raised the estimates. Unofficial estimates of the death toll by pro-government site Hands off Venezuela go as high as 3000.<1>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracazo

[texasleo]

3. I wonder what they'll uncover after Generalissimo Chavez leaves in 25 years.

[ret5hd]

4. Why don't you give us your educated guess?

ya got nuttin'.

[fascisthunter]

5. you think Chavez is doing the same thing?

I'd really like to see something concrete that could establish such a heinous assumption.

[Judi Lynn]

6. No reports of any massacres by Hugo Chavez. Do you have any information?

The President who called for the massacre, Carlos Andres Perez, was impeached in office, and put in prison, then sentenced to home detention for massive corruption.

There were two coups to remove this mass murderer from office, one led by Hugo Chavez. He was put in prison, pardoned by another Venezuelan President, and he was made a national hero because of his stand against Perez the butcher.

It's not at all likely he would follow the same path.

[Forkboy]

8. Nice post, O'Reilly.

[Tempest]

9. I can give you some idea

Here's what they'll uncover:

A large decrease in the number of people living in poverty.
A large increase in income for the people.
A large increase in government revenues from nationalizing the oil industry.
A large increase in food production.

[spanza]

11. not exactly..

just to remind you Chavez didn't at all nationalize the oil industry. It happened in 1976 and it was... guess who... Perez the butcher! Even if I hate that guy, I have to admit my country's History.

[Brother Buzz]

13. Chavez didn't didn't initially nationalize the oil industry, but PDVSA, the cash cow...

grew under Hugo Chavez's leadership.

PDVSA is now one of Latin America's largest companies having grown under Chavez on the back of higher oil prices and through a series of nationalizations of major foreign-owned projects and smaller service companies

Edited because I can't speil

[spanza]

14. Chavez's government and PDVSA

The entire oil industry was 100% nationalized in 1976 by the socio democrats who expropriated (reversed the concessions before term) Exxon, Mobile, Shell, BP, etc..
PDVSA was created in 1975-76 as a holding for the coordination of all oil related activities (from exploration, extraction and refining to marketing and transportation).
PDVSA, as you say, is the cash cow of the country and one of the largest latin american companies... for the last 30 years.
But even if the oil shock made the revenues grow, the production hasn't grown (volume produced) under Chavez's government.. actually, it's quite the opposite.
There's a huge controversy in Venezuela bout how much oil we're really producing (PDVSA's own production) so I will only use the official numbers from the government (PDVSA) putting aside the ones from the OPEP and the opposition which are lower for the 2002-2006 period.

1998: 3,32 MBpD (Chavez is elected in december)
1999: 3,06
2000: 3,09
2001: 3,09
2002: 2,66/2,72 (on strike from dec 02 to feb 03)
2003: 2,45/2,57
2004: 2,73/2,83
2005: 2,91
2006: 2,91

The doublets for 2002, 03, 04 are because of the differences in two of PDVSA's operational reports

[cali]

18. ridiculous. there is exactly no evidence to support your ignorant claim.

[bemildred]

7. It's about time. nt

[The Magistrate]

10. Indeed It Is, Sir

And a useful instruction in what real repression looks like in that country, which some here clearly stand in dire need of....

[spanza]

15. you mean that

because there was a horrendous moment of repression 20 years ago, venezuelans shouldn't disagree with today's repression?

[booley]

16. False Equivalency

You haven't bothered to actually show Chavez is repressing people, much less on the scale mentioned here.

What you have done, however, is try to insinuate that Chavez is as bad as a mass murderer, with nothing to back that claim up with.

[spanza]

17. False words

Sorry but where have I said that Chavez is a mass murderer? I really don't think that.
Maybe I didn't express myself in a proper way. What I meant is that the deadly repression that took place in 1989 shouldn't be used as a justification of any kind of repression today.

The post I was answering to said something like "you should look how real repression looks in THAT country" before complaining about any repression today. That logic gave me the feeling of a strange double standard which is typical of developed countries when considering countries like ours. It's a bit like saying that black and brown people shouldn't complain about today's racism in the US since things were a lot worse before. God, I hate that argument.. I can imagine that you too?

I actually think there's state repression in (almost?) every country in the world. It is ALWAYS 'criticizable', left-wing or right-wing government in charge. Now, when you look at Venezuela, some situations have become really unacceptable. People, poor or rich, are being punished in many different manners because of the way they think. As a progressive, I consider political discrimination, listing the names of the 'opponents' as repression and civil red shirted brigades as a tool of intimidation. I stopped supporting Chavez. Why does my state have to declare 'fatherland, socialism or death!'? The last thing I would defend is a socialist-party-state... even if/specially because I am a socialist. I think those methods are simply fascist and believe in plurality.

Do you believe Chavez when he tries to diffuse the idea of his opponents being right-wing rich white landowners? 40-45% of the population? Are we like Switzerland or something? Can you imagine how powerful and oligarch the state can be in an oil producing country where the economy is centered in the public sector/public sector contracts?
Maybe You need to understand how THAT country works.