“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear,
free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to
oppose what I believe wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my
country.” - -The Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, Canadian Bill of Rights,
1960
“The whole judicial system is at issue, it's
worth more than one person.”--Serge Kujawa, Saskatchewan Crown
Prosecutor, 1991
“The system is not more worth than one person's
rights.”--Mario deSantis, 2002
Last Thursday April 11, a coup d'etat was staged in Venezuela by the
planned efforts of a segment of the militaries, the big corporations
and their controlled media, along with either the explicit or
implied support of the White House.
Businessman Pedro Carmona was installed as the new president and
stated that Hugo Chavez had resigned. Carmona used the typical term
'resignation' invented by our neoclassical aristocracy, that is the
imposing language to speak for others in accordance to the private
contract of the Free Market. As Carmona took over the presidency he
hypocritically accused Hugo Chavez of having undermined the
democratic institutions and therefore he dismissed the country's
constitution and dissolved the National Assembly and the Supreme
Court.
The White House got along with the coup d'etat and issued a
statement supporting Carmona which included that the Chavez
administration did not
"act with restraint and show full respect for the
peaceful expression of political opinion... Chavez supporters,
on orders, fired on unarmed, peaceful protestors, resulting in
more than 100 wounded or killed. Venezuelan military and police
refused orders to fire on peaceful demonstrators and refused to
support the government's role in such human rights violations.
The government prevented five independent television stations
from reporting on events. The results of these provocations are:
Chavez resigned the presidency. Before resigning, he dismissed
the vice president and the Cabinet."
Today, April 14, we understand that Hugo Chavez has returned to
his presidential compound with the support of the militaries and of
the people. Also we know that there is no evidence that Chavez
supporters fired on people, that the corporate media is nowhere to
show that Hugo Chavez has returned to his democratically elected
position, that Chavez didn't resign the presidency, and that Chavez
didn't dismiss the vice-president and the Cabinet.
Further, the White House's claim that Chavez didn't respect the
expression of public opinion is a testament of the fraudulent use by
the Bush administration to use public opinion polls to zig zag the
US foreign policies.
The Bush administration recognizes democracy as marketed by the
firing of guns and missiles, while true democracy is expressed by
ordinary people as experienced today in Venezuela when one man
grabbed a microphone to greet Mr. Chavez and cried "Today we are
celebrating a new democracy" and when an unemployed, wearing a
tattered shirt said "The people want him back. He works for the
poor."
References
Chavez Provoked His Removal, U.S. Officials Say, by Peter Slevin,
Washington Post Staff Writer, April 13, 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41210-2002Apr12.html
State Dept. statement on Venezuela crisis, April 12, 2002 http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/04/12/state.venezuela/
Chavez makes dramatic comeback, BBC April 14, 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1928000/1928860.stm