Venezuela’s
Former President, Carlos Andrés Pérez, Issues a call for Violence from Miami
In recent months, Venezuela’s powerful
opposition has repeatedly suggested that violence is a viable solution to the
country’s political problems. While the government of President Hugo
Chávez has stated firmly that it will respect and adhere to the rule of law,
the opposition has not followed suit. In an interview
from Miami, published on July 25, 2004 in the Venezuelan opposition newspaper
El Nacional, former Venezuelan President again insisted that violence is the
only option remaining for those Venezuelan’s who oppose President Chávez.
“…[D]emonstrations
don’t topple governments… We can’t abandon the streets. We must be in the
streets, but not with dancing and idiocies like that… There will be violence…I
am working to get Chávez out. Violence will permit his ouster. It is the only
path we have…
I am part of that battalion. As it sounds, it should be understood. I am part of this battalion….Chávez should die like a dog, that is what
he deserves, begging the pardon of those noble animals...” [1]
This is not the first time that the former President
has called for violence to achieve a change in government in Venezuela,
however.. On
May 6, the former President, who
currently lives in the U.S., told a Colombian radio journalist:
“We are inclined to remove him from power, but we are convinced that the way to do that is not through peaceful means, but by force . . . all peaceful means to remove Chávez have been exhausted.” Pérez, who lives in exile in the United States, said that "there will be blood spilled."[2]
President Chávez reacted to the comments made
by the former President by appealing to Venezuela’s opposition to maintain the
rule of law, eschew violence, and distance themselves from those opposition
factions that advocate violence.
“We need an opposition that is loyal to the country, so we can work in
the building of our nation in spite of our differences,” said the President.
“I hope the more rational members [of the opposition] will not heed his call to
violence.”[3]
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