Carlos Ortega, CTV/AD Venezuela

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Thu Dec 5 11:19:58 PST 2002



>-You mean you shouldn't go after corrupt union leaders unless you are
>-a Democrat like JFK and RFK?
>-BTW, Chavez's error was Ron Carey's as well.
>
>Wrong and wrong.
>
>To repeat, Chavez did force new elections on the CTV and his forces still
>failed to win election. Frankly RFK and JFK failed to reform the
>Teamsters-- they put Jimmy Hoffa Sr. in jail and even worse people took over
>leadership of the union. That's one of the problems with top-down reform.
>
>Chavez as a government leader has NO RIGHT to try to strongarm internal
>decisions of an independent union. Supporting union democracy is fine and
>he is free to make alliances with dissident forces within the union but if
>he uses government resources to help them or government power to target
>opponents, he is an authoritarian union buster, nothing more, nothing less.
>
>As for Carey, he was the elected leader of the Teamsters, not an outside
>government, so failures of his internal strategy is quite a different issue.
>That you don't see the difference between internal democratic struggle and
>coercive use of state power is symbolic of the problems of the Left that has
>too much identification with authoritarian state action.
>
>-- Nathan Newman

What's so "independent" about CTV? CTV leaders take orders from FEDECAMARAS (the association of business owners) and continue to fraternize with "admirals who assisted in the coup":

***** There is another general work stoppage being planned by FEDECAMARAS and CTV for the 10th of October. A point of interest is that the strikes that are being called here in Venezuela are not at all called by the unions, corrupt as they may be, they´re called by FEDECAMARAS, the organization of companies. The CTV, the biggest confederation of unions, take their orders from FEDECAMARAS. Last week, CTV said, when asked if there will be a new work stoppage, that it depends on the will of FEDECAMARAS. I attended a press conference of CTV, where Carlos Ortega, the head of CTV said "vamos por la guerra" (we are going to war). When I attended said press conference, I was invited to a back room to meet the executive committee of CTV, and who would be in the room but 3 admirals who assisted in the coup in April. This is especially troubling because the coup in April started with a "general work stoppage" (not a strike) on April 9th. The fact is that the government here is much better prepared now for an attempted coup, but the fact is the Middle and Upper classes are trying to form a united front in the Coordinadora Democratica (CD).

<http://www.narconews.com/smith1.html> *****

If Carlos Ortega disassociated himself and CTV from FEDECAMARAS and other coup leaders after the April coup, he could perhaps claim that he had been simply misled, not realizing that there was to be a coup within a coup to "disband Congress, suspend the Constitution, fire all Supreme Court judges, kick out all state governors, and dismantle not just the entire...administration, but any and all aspects of the federal and state government structure the conspirators dislike" (@ <http://www.thegully.com/essays/venezuela/020421_venezuel_media_coup.html>) and to abandon "key sectors of his opposition coalition -- military leaders, top union bureaucrats, and influential anti-Chavez intellectuals who participated in overthrowing the elected president" (@ <http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/Venez_Coup_Countercoup.html>). Now, it is clear that he knows what he is doing in his continued support for FEDECAMARAS. Either he made a back-room deal to protect himself at least, regardless of whatever may happen to the rights of workers and indigents, in the next coup; or he is himself blackmailed into cooperation by business leaders who can and are willing to make him disappear if necessary. -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list