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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To just say that the CTV members are "middle class"
and anti-left still doesn't explain what Chavez was doing that led the mass
membership of the unions to elect leadership opposed to Chavez. It is
clear that Chavez was seeking to violate union organizing rights and
independence, but what else? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And for all Chavez is praised, it hasn't been clear
to me what he has done that is so positive other than his rhetoric. It was
clear that despite his early popularity, much of the population had grown
disillusioned with Chavez, which was what made the general strikes so
effective. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Nathan Newman<BR><A
href="mailto:nathan@newman.org">nathan@newman.org</A><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=SergioL652@aol.com
href="mailto:SergioL652@aol.com">SergioL652@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>In a message dated
4/25/2002 3:05:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time, <A
href="mailto:nathan@newman.org">nathan@newman.org</A> writes:<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"
TYPE="CITE">Now, did the CTV second the US government's foreign policy
goals? Or did<BR>they just happen to align against Chavez? And
was it the foreign policy of<BR>the US to yank support for the coup when the
business types grabbed control<BR>in the
chaos?<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>The CTV, from what I read in Spanish
language news reports from various sources supported the first two general
strikes earlier this year <U>and</U> the April 11 coup. I still have not
seen any evidence that they changed their minds. It appears that the CTV
membership is solidly middle class and affected by some of the changes Chavez
brought. Also, there has been a fair amount of red-baiting in Venezuela,
with the most common complaint I hear from the Anti-Chavez crowd that he named
known leftists for his cabinet and, of course, his friendship with
Castro. <BR><BR><BR>Déjenme decirles, a riesgo de parecer ridículo, que
el revolucionario verdadero está guiado por grandes sentimientos de
amor.<BR><BR><BR>
Che<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>