<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<STYLE>.hmmessage P {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
BODY.hmmessage {
FONT-FAMILY: Calibri; FONT-SIZE: 12pt
}
</STYLE>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.23580"></HEAD>
<BODY class=hmmessage bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV class=subheadlinestyle><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt" size=4>Much Different
>From What You've Heard</FONT></DIV>
<H1 class=article-title>The Story of Venezuela’s Protests</H1><BR><BR><A
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/30/the-story-of-venezuelas-protests/"
target=_blank>http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/30/the-story-of-venezuelas-protests/</A><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=mainauthorstyle>by Mark Weisbrot</DIV>
<DIV class=main-text>
<DIV>In reacting to the protests in Venezuela, the biggest Western media outlets
have drafted a charmingly simple narrative of the situation there. According to
this story, peaceful protesters have risen up against a government because of
shortages, high inflation, and crime. They have taken to the streets and been
met with brutal repression from a government that also controls the media.<BR>It
doesn’t take much digging to take down this narrative. First, while there have
been some peaceful opposition marches, the daily protests are anything but
peaceful. In fact, <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/should-the-media-report-on-who-is-killing-whom-in-venezuela-when-death-tolls-are-reported">about
half</A> of the daily death toll from Venezuela that we see in the media –
now at 41 — are actually civilians and security forces apparently <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/venezuela-who-are-they-and-how-did-they-die-new">killed
by protesters</A>. A much smaller fraction are protesters alleged to have been
killed by security forces. As for the media, state TV in Venezuela has only
about 10 percent of the TV audience; the <I>New York
Times</I> recently had <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/new-york-times-corrects-false-statement-on-venezuela">to
run a correction</A> for falsely reporting that opposition voices are not
regularly heard on Venezuelan TV. <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/does-venezuelan-television-provide-coverage-that-opposes-the-government">They
are on TV</A>, even calling for the overthrow of the government – which has been
the announced goal of the protest leaders from the beginning. These are not like
the protests last year in Brazil, or the student protests from 2011-13 in Chile,
which were organized around specific demands.<BR>Of course the increased
shortages and rising inflation over the past year have had a political impact on
Venezuela, but it is striking that the people who are most hurt by shortages are
decidedly not joining the protests. Instead, the protests are joined and<A
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/20/venezuela-revolt-truth-not-terror-campaign"
target=_blank>led by the upper classes</A>, who are least affected.<BR>In fact,
the protests really got going largely as a result of a split within the
Venezuelan opposition. Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chávez and then Maduro in
the last two presidential elections, was considered too conciliatory by the more
extreme right, led by <A href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10365"
target=_blank>Leopoldo López</A> and María Corina Machado. They decided
that the time was ripe to topple the government through street protests. Both
were involved in the 2002 military coup against then President Chávez; María
Corina Machado even<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmona_Decree"
target=_blank>signed the decree</A> of the coup government that abolished
the elected National Assembly (AN), the Constitution, and the Supreme
Court.<BR>Don’t get me wrong: I am not defending the jailing of López or the
Venezuelan AN decision to expel Machado, just as I would not defend the French
government’s<A
href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07EEDD1E3FF93AA35751C0A96E9C8B63&ref=jeanmarielepen"
target=_blank>prosecution</A> of far-right politicians for Holocaust
denial, or the proposed banning of the fascist Golden Dawn party in Greece. But
we should be honest about who these Venezuelan opposition leaders are and what
they are trying to do.<BR>The <A
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/18/venezuela-protests-us-support-regime-change-mistake"
target=_blank>strategy</A> of Venezuela’s extreme right is to make the
country ungovernable, so as to gain by force what they have been unable to win
in 18 elections over the past 15 years. It is clear from the statements of
Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva and current president Dilma Rousseff
that they have no illusions about what is going on in Venezuela. It is now 50
years since Brazil’s coup brought in the military dictatorship that put them in
prison, but they can remember what a coup looks like. So, too, can the other
governments of South America, who have made similar statements. But they have
also offered to <A
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/08/venezuela-protests-sign-us-wants-oil-says-nicolas-maduro"
target=_blank>mediate</A> between the government and any opposition leaders
who are willing to participate in a dialogue. This process looks encouraging so
far. Let’s hope so; that is the only way forward in
Venezuela.<BR><I><STRONG>Mark Weisbrot</STRONG> is Co-Director of
the </I><I>Center for Economic and Policy Research</I><I> and
co-writer of Oliver Stone’s documentary “South of the Border.” <I>He is
also President of Just Foreign Policy (<A
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/"
target=_blank>www.justforeignpolicy.org</A>).</I></I><BR>This article originally
appeared in<A
href="http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/opiniao/2014/04/1439496-mark-weisbrot-nao-e-tao-simples-assim.shtml"> </A><I><A
href="http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/opiniao/2014/04/1439496-mark-weisbrot-nao-e-tao-simples-assim.shtml">Folha
de São Paulo</A>.</I><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>