Thursday, October 10, 2002

Things are on edge in Venezuela. When a group of secret police showed up to arrest a general who urged his troops to disobey and orders to crush civilian protests a few hundred people from his neighborhood surrounded his home and protected him.

``This is a demonstration that we are not alone, that we aren't wrong,'' Rosendo said of the residents who rallied to his defense. The government has dispatched hundreds of troops across Caracas to deter violence during the march, which opposition leaders have said they will use as a platform to demand early presidential elections. Some business leaders, labor unions and politicians insist President Hugo Chavez must go before his term ends in 2007, accusing him of leading the country into economic recession and pitting rich against poor with leftist rhetoric. Rosendo is under investigation for his role during the April coup which briefly ousted Chavez. Earlier Wednesday, Rosendo urged soldiers to act as he did on April 11, when he disobeyed a Chavez order to send tanks and troops to confront an opposition march.

I like the AP adding the Some business leaders, labor unions and politicians quip. It ignores the fact that these protests have been drawing hundreds of thousands. So it is more than just the priveledged few protesting Chavez.

Update here is another story about the type of people taking part in the protest.

Alegna Zavatti, a student at the Central University of Venezuela, plans to skip classes today. Instead she hopes to overthrow a president. Zavatti plans to join hundreds of thousands of fellow students, laborers and business people in a march against President Hugo Chavez, seeking to force him from office. ``The country's in a grave political, social and economic situation, and we need to show that we don't support Chavez,'' the 20-year-old linguistics student said. ``He hasn't done anything for the country, and poverty is only getting worse.''

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