Clashes between supporters, critics rage in Caracas
By Mike Ceaser, Globe Correspondent, 12/17/2002
CARACAS - The neighborhood called January 23d has massive apartment blocks with faded, flaking paint, high unemployment, poverty, and violence - and tremendous support for President Hugo Chavez, on whose watch the lives of many residents have become more difficult.
''We are going to defend the constitution to the death,'' one speaker said during a press conference in the neighborhood last week by Chavez supporters who wore red berets and vowed to defend their leader's ''Bolivarian Revolution.''
Chavez's enduring popularity in spite of a plummeting economy, social strife, and spiraling inflation is one of the paradoxes of the phenomenon called ''Chavismo.''
It was Chavismo that fueled the eruption of public fury that swept the charismatic and confrontational president back into power after a group of military officers deposed him for two days in April in favor of a businessman-president.
Chavismo has also covered the capital's walls with pro-Chavez slogans and made videos and compact discs praising Chavez's bestsellers on the capital's sidewalks....
For Chavez's predominantly poor supporters, their president's appeal stems from a feeling of involvement and a hope that this oil-rich nation's impoverished majority will finally receive a fair share of the country's wealth.
Susana Rodriguez, a community activist in the January 23d neighborhood, acknowledged that joblessness has increased under Chavez and now affects a third of the community's 60,000 residents. But she insists that living conditions have improved in less tangible ways: hospitals are better equipped and the police treat residents with more respect, Rodriguez said. She said that children learn ''better values'' in school and more of them can study because of Chavez's ban on school fees.
Rodriguez said residents have organized to manage their own neighborhood - all thanks to Chavismo. The neighborhood's political slant is indicated by its name, which commemorates the day in 1958 on which a military dictator, Marcos Perez Jimenez, was overthrown.
Another part of Chavez's appeal is cosmetic: the son of small-town schoolteachers, he looks and speaks like the great majority of Venezuelans, who are mestizos of mixed African, European, and indigenous descent.
Many attribute the country's ills to the president's enemies, in particular businessmen, whom they accuse of hoarding much of Venezuela's wealth. Underdevelopment, Chavez supporters argue, preceded the president and cannot be resolved overnight.
The Chavismo phenomenon has almost religious qualities. The president's most devoted followers plaster walls with Chavez's image and never leave home without a tiny blue copy of Venezuela's ''Bolivarian Constitution,'' which was amended in 2000 with Chavez-inspired proposals.
''We'll have to wait many years in order to reach that maximum of happiness,'' says Rodriguez. ''There are many obstacles to be overcome. We're working little by little.''...
The Bush administration urged Chavez last week to hold early elections, but the president has rejected the idea, noting that the constitution would not allow elections until August.
''If President Chavez's people think that he lost power in an illegitimate way, that is very risky,'' Gaviria said last week.
Political analyst Alberto Quiros says that regardless of what happens to Chavez, political parties will have to pay closer attention to public sentiment.
He also said that if Chavez falls, his party could maintain a key role as long as Chavez steps down gracefully and avoids street violence. Quiros said Chavez has a good shot at being reelected president if the next government fails.
''The backlash could return him to power,'' said Quiros.
Chavez's opponents would prefer to see Chavez tried and convicted on charges including corruption and allegedly planning the shooting of opposition marchers just before the April 11 coup.
But Chavez supporters like Hester, who sells crafts on the street, said she believes that, with or without their leader, Chavismo will continue until the nation's social problems are resolved.
''If Chavez goes, there will come another Chavez,'' she said.
This story ran on page A33 of the Boston Globe on 12/17/2002.
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/351/nation/Chavez_followers_stay_loyal_despite_Venezuela_crisis+.shtml> -- Yoshie
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