[Peace-discuss] All is calm in Venezuela.

[Phil Stinard]

The "Guarimba" (violent opposition strike) did not take place in Venezuela 
this morning as planned.  No good explanation as to why, but my guess is 
that it was a test to see how the government would respond.  I'm sure that 
Otto Reich and Ambassador Shapiro had a chuckle over this.  Needless to say, 
the government was prepared.  The opposition claims that the Guarimba 
publicity was a trick to distract the public from the Chavez recall 
referendum that is currently on hold, but that is patently false.  A 
translation of a Venezuelan news article on this follows.

--Phil


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Opposition blames Venezuelan government for failure of "Guarimba II"

VENPRES Miyeilis Morales Flores reports:  For the Secretary of the National 
Defense Council, Melvin López Hidalgo, the rumor that the Venezuelan 
government was behind the so-called “Guarimba II” in order to distract the 
public’s attention from the recall referendum, is evidence of the failure of 
one part of the opposition to organize its members.

On the program “En Confianza,” transmitted by State television station 
Venezolana de Television, General Lopez Hidalgo called the rumor a ruse to 
justify the failure of "Guarimba II".

Monday morning, some opposition leaders, such as Chacao mayor Leopoldo 
López, were already commenting that the Guarimba scheduled for Monday “obeys 
obscure government interests with the goal of diverting the citizens’ 
attention from the data turned in by the National Elections Council (CNE),” 
which, according to the opposition group SUMATE, “is incomplete.”

“(Guarimba II) was an invention of the government to confuse the people 
today (Monday), since we don’t have the complete data, and what we have is 
bad.  At any rate, they took precautions,” explained the mayor, leader of 
the opposition party Primero Justicia (Justice First).


Guarimba II wasn’t going to amount to anything.

Nevertheless, General Lopez Hidalgo affirmed that he received information 
that the guarimba “wasn’t going to amount to anything, it was simply noise.  
Logically, this caused internal problems, unnecessary worries for everyone, 
but it was intended to show the international community that Venezuela 
continues to have problems.”

He reiterated that these kinds of plans seek to create confusion in the 
heart of the government and in security agencies in a kind of “war of 
attrition.”

Lopez Hidalgo indicated that the state security agencies analyzed the 
document that circulated on the internet and reached several conclusions, 
among them “that everything would go well,” and he noted several 
contradictions, including the shutting of access roads when the goal is to 
take the city.

Another piece of data that appeared suspicious to General Lopez Hidalgo is 
that the opposition’s plans were made clandestinely and communicated to 
their followers at the last moment.

When asked about the so-called “Liberty Command,” the general said that it 
was an organization similar to the brigades created after the petroleum 
strike to fend against supposed attacks by “Chavez’s hordes.”

He added that it’s a question of “a small group that tries to look like 
many, when in reality we know through the security agencies that each time 
the groups are smaller because they have a lot of internal conflict.”

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