At a military ceremony just before the demonstration, Chávez announced plans to send troops to the Orinoco River basin on May 1 to enforce the planned government takeover of a majority stake in the $30-billion dollar oil reserves there. The change, which will give the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA at least a 60 percent share in the reserves, will affect the holdings of U.S. oil companies Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, as well as British Petroleum, the Norwegian Statoil, and French Total.

Another flashpoint in the class conflict here is the April 10 announcement that the government would nationalize the country’s largest phone company, CANTV, by June 4. In December, the Venezuelan government announced it would not renew the broadcast license of the private channel Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) when it expires in May.

RCTV aided the April 11, 2002, coup that installed Pedro Carmona, then-head of the employers’ federation Fedecámaras, as president of Venezuela. Washington immediately recognized the new regime, which annulled the constitution, dissolved congress, dismissed the Supreme Court, overturned a land reform law, and ended oil shipments to Cuba on favorable terms. Hundreds of thousands of working people poured into the streets demanding reinstatement of the elected government. The coup attempt collapsed in face of divisions in the armed forces and the popular mobilizations. Chávez returned to office April 13. Since then, workers and peasants have mobilized and defeated two other attempts by Venezuelan capitalists and their U.S. backers to oust the Chávez administration—a 2003 bosses’ “strike” and a 2004 presidential recall referendum.

Seated on the platform at today’s rally were leaders of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), who were here for the WIDF congress. Hundreds of congress delegates and guests from dozens of countries joined the demonstration as well.

—OLYMPIA NEWTON