First of all, “El Senor de los Anillos” is what “Lord of the Rings” translates to in spanish…that kills me.

Been in Caracas for three days now. The first two were spent in Altimira, where the square right outside the hotel happens to be a permanent opposition headquarters and rally ground of sorts. We soon find out that it is all very peaceful opposition, Greenpeace style with tents and ghoulishly face painted performance artists, families and plenty of ice cream. The next day is no different, except that the general strike started so you couldn´t get any food. Nothing was open, not even McDonalds, which you sort of expect to be apathetic to local politics. Still plenty of ice cream vendors however. A trip downtown to Bellas Artes quickly reveals that the strike is not in fact 100 percent. Many central businesses are open and Chavez has organized an anti-strike the entire length of Avenida Bolivar where food is half price and cheezy disco music is humping and pumping. One would think by the surface appearance that the sentiment towards Chavez and the ruling government is evenly split, but hearing some locals talk about it they are only there to score some freebies. If you´ve got to be hypocritical to feed yourself, so be it…

Tuesday was when the real action began. It began innocuously enough as the second day of the strike but escalated by early afternoon in Chuao and in some other states of Venezuela as well. In Chuao demonstrators were run off outside the PDVSA -Petroleos de Venezuela - but then let back. Only to be immediately tear gassed by the National Guard. No one was seriously injured. The night ended with the gathering dwindling out at the site of the burning truck the opposition had hauled off the highway across from a military compound. The National Guard held a stoic and threatening line facing the taunting protesters and burning truck, but the night ended without dramatic event.

Carlos Ortega, the biggest labor leader, called for opposition parties to hit the streets again today and it looks like just that is happening. There is action again in Chuao, hundreds pressed up against the PDVSA right now, although the news is reporting that the strike has lost momentum as newspapers and most businesses are back in operation.

Chavez says he´ll come to the table when the strike stops. Ortega says the strike will stop when Chavez comes to the table.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 4th, 2002 at 10:17 am and is filed under general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.