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CHANNEL 4 NEWS
Chavez: borrowed time?
Broadcast: May 9, 2002
Reporter: David Smith
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Earlier story:
Chavrez returns
C4N 14/04/02
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He's long been viewed by the US government as an enemy of democracy
and survived a coup that ousted him from power for two days last month.
Now back in office, the maverick President of Venezuela - Hugo
Chavez - has told Channel Four News of his suspicions of American
involvement.
His return to power left red faces in Washington - where the Bush
administration was slow to condemn the coup - and has forced the State
department to deny his claims. Our correspondent David Smith has been to
Caracas to talk to the President.
It's exactly a month since the army rolled back the tide of democracy
in Latin America and staged a coup here in Caracas.
A month on, the indelible sound of a merengue hit celebrates the
survival of President Hugo Chavez and the indelible image on the streets is
that of makeshift memorials to the dozens of people who died, most shot
allegedly by forces loyal to Chavez.
A month on, at the Miraflores Palace we find the man himself --
President Chavez -- very much in a bunker, still the maverick, ever the
showman, back in power but only courtesy of the generals who have him on a
short leash. Contrary to conventional wisdom abroad, he's weaker, not
stronger, a result of what happened a month ago.
President Chavez:
"Of course, it's a revolution, profound change in political, social
and economic structures of the country, a profound ideological change. And
that's why we've seen such ferocious opposition from a privileged minority
who are trying to stop the course of the revolution. They will not succeed."
The truth of what happened here a month ago still in the eye of the
beholder. But what's clear now is that the military overplayed its hand by
first removing Chavez, then installing a right-wing puppet government that
promptly disbanded parliament and the supreme court, thereby allowing Chavez
to stage a lightning counter-coup.
Clear as well that coup leaders acted only after being given a tacit
green light by the Americans.
Admiral Carlos Molina, the brain behind the coup, is under house
arrest but able to visit us at our hotel. He and other coup leaders confirm
a series of meetings between the military and American officials at the US
embassy in Caracas, and a downtown hotel, in the days before the coup.
For his part, President Chavez, filmed arguing with his captors as
they transfer him to the island of Orchila, he's absolute about American
involvement and how close he was to being shot on the night he was
overthrown.
President Chavez:
"In those moments, when I was a captive, incommunicado and taken at
night to an inhospitable place by the sea, I thought they were going to kill
me. (US involvement is) no surprise because we knew about it. It's
practically public that those who later appeared leading the coup went last
year, 2001, to Washington, and were received by high-ranking officials of
the us government.
Channel 4 News:
"Do you have evidence now of any moves the Americans made during the
coup?"
"It's public, I have proof, it's absolutely true that two officials of
the United States of the US armed forces were in the command centre with the
coup leaders during the hours of the coup. And there's another detail that
needs to be investigated: there is absolute proof, by satellite, of the
presence of a warship, in the territorial waters of Venezuela at the time."
It should be said the state department in Washington denies the
charges made there by President Chavez.
It's the oil fields of Venezuela, a critical supplier of the United
States, that make Chavez such a player on the world stage. Time and again
he's threatened to raise prices to finance reconstruction at home.
Venezuela remains, despite its fabulous oil wealth, desperately poor.
Eighty per cent of the population are below the poverty line, unemployment
is running unofficially at nearly 30 per cent, now Chavez has summoned Ali
Rodriguez, secretary-general of the oil cartel OPEC, back to Caracas to
revitalise the oil industry.
Back at the presidential palace we find Chavez trying to sound the
voice of moderation, to pacify the generals and the Americans.
President Chavez:
"You know there are people who are afraid of ghosts. Why is there this
fear in Washington? Because our record, and it can be measured objectively,
our record shows that we've been working in favour of Washington, of the
great consumers of oil.
Channel4 News:
"Where are you on the war against terrorism?"
President Chavez:
"The person in Washington who thinks that Chavez is an enemy of the
United States is completely mistaken. I am friend of democracy, and we are
allies. I am enemy of terrorism and of violence, and if the Americans are
too, then we are allies."
A plea there from a beleaguered President for time, because while
Chavez still has the support of the poor who swept him to power...
Woman:
"The people are with Chavez. it's us who put him there."
Man:
"Chavez is a noble man, who loves the people."
Well, on the other side a powerful middle class today lines up with
the military in saying the revolution of Hugo Chavez is over.
Woman:
"He's got to go because we're all tired of him. he's had his chance."
A month on, then, from a coup that so stunned the Americas, and so
embarrassed the United States, and irony of ironies, the days of Hugo
Chavez, the great survivor, may be numbered and the superpower may end up
getting its way in Venezuela.
Indeed the manner in which Chavez is increasingly surrounding himself
with his own personal militia, the Chavistas, tell you he knows as much.
Just don't expect this extraordinary spirit to go quietly.
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