"I add myself to this protest, and alert all the state institutions and powers to assume their corresponding responsibilities," said Air Force general Román Gómez at a news conference on February 25. "President Chávez, for the good of the country and for the love of the armed forces, resign peacefully and take responsibility for your failure." The general warned that unless officials in the government who are involved in crimes are brought to justice, "the people and the armed forces will have to do it themselves."

Gómez, who had been the director of air transportation in the Infrastructure Ministry, said he was quitting his post because he was unhappy with the Chávez government. He later admitted that he had been charged with an "administrative irregularity."

The previous week, Army general Guaicaipuro Lameda, head of the state-owned oil company, announced his retirement from the military, saying he wanted to be free to criticize the government. A February 25 Reuters dispatch reported that "30 senior executives of state oil giant PDVSA accused the administration of trying to run PDVSA as a political fiefdom instead of as a commercial company."

Paul Masco, an executive at Solomon Smith Barney, said, "Wall Street wants to see him [Chávez] tone down his rhetoric, stop behaving like an autocrat, and start behaving like a president of a democratically elected government."

Gómez's challenge to the government came as officials of the Venezuelan Workers Federation (CTV) were organizing rolling work stoppages and marches leading up to a February 27 march in the capital. Although CTV leaders say the action will oppose government legislation and austerity measures, the union is working hand-in-hand with Fedecámaras, the bosses' federation. CTV leaders supported a reactionary strike called by Fedecámaras last December, which demanded Chávez's resignation. Officials of the CTV have aligned the union with the Democratic Action Party, a capitalist outfit that is in the opposition.

Union officials say they will also organize a 24-hour strike on March 18 if the government fails to respond to the demands of the February 27 action. The CTV officialdom is also aiding the capitalists' campaign by calling for a nationwide referendum to decide whether Chávez should resign.

Seeking to bolster the turnout at the February 27 action, Fedecámaras encouraged workers to attend by giving them paid time off to join the antigovernment protest.

Chávez, a former lieutenant colonel in the army and a mestizo, led an abortive coup in 1992. He was elected president in 1998 with 57 percent of the vote, becoming the first person in 40 years to win the nation's highest office outside of the dominant capitalist parties. Some 80 percent of the population of Venezuela is mestizo, black, or Indian, but the parties of the wealthy capitalist and landowners are dominated by whites.  
 
Repression by earlier regime
The election took place after a decade of brutal austerity measures carried out by the social democratic administration of Carlos Andrés Pérez, during which subsidies for food, electricity, water, and public transportation were slashed. The regime sold off state-owned factories, and the official unemployment rate shot up to 30 percent. In 1989, tens of thousands of working people took to the streets in eight major cities to denounce the government's policies. The regime unleashed army and police units who killed between 400 and several thousand people.

In the first half of 1992 at least 1,400 antigovernment protests were organized. In this context, the coup attempt by Chávez, which was suppressed by the government, won the backing of many working people. For weeks after his arrest and imprisonment, working people organized protests demanding the release of the officers.

In the 1998 presidential election, Chávez ran a radical, bourgeois nationalist campaign. His election rhetoric was marked by anti-corruption slogans; identification with Simón Bolivar, a Venezuelan national hero and main commander in Latin America's war of independence in the early 19th century; calls for "rigorous fiscal discipline" in the national budget; opposition to selling off the state oil company; and presentation of himself as a strong figure able to represent the Venezuelan nation as a whole.

There has been growing condemnation of the government for its economic and political relations with revolutionary Cuba and for stances on international questions that sometimes rub Washington up the wrong way. These have included a trip to Iraq in 2000 and less than full backing for U.S. imperialism's war against Afghanistan.  
 
Capitalists' reactionary campaign
The capitalist class went into high gear recently when the president introduced legislation that would bring about a measure of land reform, opening some land up to peasants, and increase royalties paid by private-sector oil companies. They have seized on opinion polls showing declining support for Chávez to help bolster their reactionary campaign.

Those seeking to oust the Chávez government have also been aided by the impact of the world economic crisis and the sharp drop in national income from exports of crude oil. For several years the Chávez government had been able to use growing revenues from oil sales to shore up the national budget and bring about economic growth.

Venezuela is the world's fourth largest oil exporter, and the third largest exporter to the U.S. market in Latin America. Chávez played a key role in organizing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut back oil production in 1999 in order to raise prices. But with the slowdown in the world capitalist economy and declining oil prices on the world market, there is growing capital flight from Venezuela. The government was recently forced to devalue the national currency. The capitalist rulers have sought to undermine popular support for the government by blaming Chávez for this crisis.  
 
Not a pushover
Despite these developments, the reactionary coup plans are likely to meet resistance from sections of the military and working people. In response to the four officers' calls for Chávez to step down, the military high command has reiterated the armed forces' support. Army Chief Gen. Lucas Rincón warned that a military coup would bring "regrettable and serious consequences that nobody wants."

Chávez presents his government as a "friend of the poor" and has promised that social services would not be affected by budget cuts, even as the 11.5 percent devaluation has cut into working people's standard of living.

In recent appearances, Chávez has appealed for "national unity," and for all Venezuelans to work for progress and peace in the country. "I send a message from my heart to all sectors of Venezuelan society," he said during a weekly news program. "From the upper, middle, and lower class, this government belongs to all Venezuelans," he added.

Thousands of protesters, both supporting and opposing the government, are participating in actions in the streets. An anti-government demonstration February 21 outside the national university campus turned violent when a countermobilization of Chávez's supporters attempted to prevent the march from leaving the campus. Several people were injured.  
 
Government offensive in Colombia
In neighboring Colombia, President Andrés Pastrana ordered a major military offensive against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after breaking off negotiations February 20.

Colombian Air Force planes began bombing rebel camps, airstrips, and other facilities as some 12,000 troops supported by tanks moved to occupy a zone that had been under FARC's control since 1998. The area had been ceded by the government as part of a negotiations process.

Colombian Air Force chief General Héctor Velasco said at a press conference that some 200 sorties had been carried out against FARC positions. The International Red Cross and the United Nations special envoy to Colombia reported civilian casualties in the area and a massive displacement of residents trying to escape the bombings.

The Bush Administration declared support for Pastrana's decision, and quickly offered to provide military intelligence and other aid to combat the guerrilla army requested by the Colombian government. The intelligence includes aerial surveillance and satellite photographs of FARC camps that would allow the military to keep track of the rebels' movements.

Under the guise of fighting drug trafficking, the United States has provided Colombia with $1.3 billion in military aid and training. The Bush administration is currently seeking approval for an additional $98 million in equipment and training of an army brigade to protect an Occidental Petroleum oil pipeline and other infrastructure from guerrilla attacks.  
 
 
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