Salas Romer calls on President Chavez Frias to admit defeat

[mom cat]

Published: Sunday, June 06, 2004
Bylined to: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Salas Romer calls on President Chavez Frias to admit defeat by victorious army


Henrique Salas Romer
Rumblings of a Presidential campaign among opposition hopefuls could be heard in the follow up to a Venezuelan National Elections Council (CNE) announcement that the opposition had collected enough signatures (15,000+ more than required) to demand a recall referendum against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Proyecto Venezuela (PV) leader and front runner in the opposition presidential race, Henrique Salas Romer led the Carabobo State delegation that attended the opposition's "Victory march" in Caracas Saturday.

Comparing participants in the march a "victorious army" that has defeated President Chavez Frias three times in succession Salas Romer has said, "we have collected signatures three times and each time they (the government) made it more difficult in an attempt to stop Venezuelans from reaching a constitutional, pacific and electoral solution."

The President has been forced to admit defeat, Salas Romer proclaims, but refuses to honor it. The PV leader recalls that when he lost the Presidential race in 1998 to Chavez Frias, he conceded defeat ... "today we have won with a greater majority (than Chavez Frias in 1998) ... he should say you have won ... openly with no crucifix or esoteric symbols in his hand."

Salas Romer's son, Carabobo State Governor Henrique Salas Feo says the RR should be set for August 3 since the convocation was officially made on June 3.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21512

[LittleApple81]

1. Oh boy. I know some Venezuelans that are on Salas's side.

I never opine in DU about this conflict BECAUSE I AM NOT THERE and don't really know all the realities. But I am almost positive that there is going to be bloodshed... too much rancor, too many vested interests involved... When I listen to Chavez his use of the Spanish language is close to Bush*'s...
I have gotten into discussions with my friends but we don't get into any depth because it is their country and not mine. The last time we talked about this I just said "It is your oligarch friends that destroyed the Venezuelan economy. I don't know if Chavez is going to help or hurt Venezuela, but he didn't cause the problems he encountered when he came into the presidency."
And then we talk and discuss everything but Venezuelan politics.

[Mikimouse]

2. If I may roil the waters a bit more, for your friends...

most of those oligarchs were not native Venezuelans, they were mostly German, Hungarian, Dutch, and English 'entrepeneurs' who made fortunes off of the Venez natives while making them live in squalor outside the cities. If one looks at the native dwellings just outside of Caracas, one sees the problem. I am not proud of those in my family who participated, and there were many.

[LittleApple81]

4. Precisely why I don't want to discuss politics...They are part of that

German descendants group...
And they have lived in the USA for a long time and don't participate in Venezuelan politics anymore.

[Mikimouse]

5. I can empathize...

I am related to the Hungarian contingent, many of whom emigrated from the old country to Argentina in 1944-45, and then moved north to Venezuela a few years later. Many of them are still there, some in Caracas, some in Maracay, one on Maracaibo, and some in Los Tecas. My cousin worked for Shell Oil, long before the oil interests were nationalized, and his son followed in his footsteps. They never had any real knowledge of Venez customs or traditions, and could not have cared less about the natives and how they lived. I lived with them for about 3 months in 1969, and was very much saddened by what I saw.

[LittleApple81]

6. Actually I met Salas at their home... typical high-social-stratum

arrogant Latin American person. His wife was talking about all the crappy charity events she was organizing for the poor....HA!

I did get into arguments with people like this from my country. It does not help much but at least I can get it off my chest.
At the same time, I feel bad that I don't have the guts, the energy, or the courage to fight for my country of origin...Guilty and embarrassed. THAT IS WHY WE CANNOT GET IT WORSE HERE!!!!

[Mikimouse]

7. Silly question for you...

Romer, hmmmmmm, could it have been Roemer at some time in the distant, or perhaps not so distant past? I know that some of my German and Hungarian friends made changes to their surnames to make them less obvious. By the way, feel free to vent to me, we are of one mind. I support Chavez Frias, and see no reason why he should be recalled. The others sound more like Perez Jimenez to me.

[keithyboy]

14. This is a history that is repeated all over S. America and the Caribbean

The influx and raping of the natural resources of these countries by foreigners is at the very heart of the destablization and poverty problems in the area. same is true of Cuba's history. Actually, the same is true of Israel. A lot of the Jews in power in Israel are not Semitic but European, American, and Russian. Whenever the natives seek to regain control over their own land or at least share in the wealth produced from their resources there is civil war of some kind. Any leader that seeks to spread the wealth or level the social playing field is usually labeled Communist, attacked for alleged human rights violations (meaning arresting those seeking to overthrow the government) and demonized by powerful western, white nations. This saga is repeated over and over again.

[AP]

3. The thing I like about DU is that people like JudyLyn really go the extra

mile to find the facts, and that people have really sophisticated arguments about economics and politics and history.

[jdj]

9. What scares me is that this may be the forecast for

our election in Nov. Because we know Bush should lose, looking at the #'s, and we know they are going to cheat however they can, with voter purges and BBV machines and any other way they can get over.

So we may be in recount city for a while, and things could get really ugly. The same class war is going on in this country that is going on everywhere else, between earned income people and investment income people. It's frustrating here because the repukes have used religion to such a large extent to manipulate the middle class, so it makes me think that the middle class here, and the upper middle class, too, will have to get alot poorer before we are in the same straights as Venezuela. 4 more years of Dubya would definitely accomplish that end.

[keithyboy]

15. Hats off to JudyLynn she is great!

:hi: I hear you loud and clear!

[Judi Lynn]

8. This is a good companion piece to your article

Posted on Sat, Jun. 05, 2004

Recall to stir fierce campaign in Venezuela

BY RICHARD BRAND
Knight Ridder Newspapers


CARACAS, Venezuela - (KRT) - Thousands of Venezuelans marched Saturday to celebrate their success forcing a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez, but many in the flag-waving crowd said their sense of victory could be short-lived as they face the specter of a fierce national campaign.

"We want Chavez out of here. He's a tyrant," said Maria Eugenia, 48, a housewife in the crowd. "I don't think there is going to be a referendum, because the Chavistas don't want to go, they are not democratic, there must be a trap."

Venezuela is deeply divided by Chavez's leftist populist rule, and in recent years those tensions have produced devastating strikes, deadly street clashes and a coup attempt.

Supporters of Chavez are scheduled to hold a march Sunday. They say Chavez is sticking up for the poor in a country where for decades successive governments have squandered a vast oil wealth. Chavez has said the referendum is a "victory for participative democracy" and has vowed to defeat the opposition at the polls.
(snip/...)

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/8849205.htm?1c


Opposition leader, Pompeyo Marquez

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi to AP. Thanks so much for your kind encouragement. :hi: I have enjoyed your unassailable perspective SO MUCH. Never a wasted word, either!

Thanks to Mikimouse for your unusual point of view. First time I've seen it expressed on these threads. Very, very illuminating, and important.

[Mikimouse]

10. JudiLyn, I am honored...

A few weeks ago when there was another poster making comments about Chavez, I posted some responses. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that poster was eventually banned (said his girlfriend was the source of his animosity toward Chavez). I have felt very strongly about the social environment in Venezuela, ever since I had an extended visit there. I am not very close to those family members anymore, as I pointed out to them that they were betrying everything that the family name once stood for. They had a major problem with that information. At least when I was there, there was no such thing as racial/ethnic equality. The Europeans owned pretty much everything and the general populace only had the 5 y 6 to look forward to; very sad.

[Judi Lynn]

11. It's a pattern repeated throughout a lot of Latin America, isn't it?

Venezuela has so many poor people. I have found myself staring and staring at photos of the place.

You're right, it looks as if they have them all pushed back away from their own homes, stuffed up on the hillsides. As they never have to go there, they probably can live completely unaware of what has happened to these poor, poor people.






Unbelievable!

Very glad to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

[Mikimouse]

12. You are absolutely correct in what you say...

the pictures look familiar, and are pretty much universal throughout the Latin American nations. I always felt a bit strange in the Venez household when I wasa there, preferring to have conversations with Maruja (the 'housekeeper') to conversing with my cousin's children (who were my age). I have often wondered about what happened to her after they moved to Maracay. They certainly didn't take her with them, so I suspect that she was unemployed.

[Zhade]

17. Jesus. Future of America's urban landscape in those pictures.

The way our very own bipartisan oligarchy is screwing us here at home, how long until we end up in similar conditions?

Let that unelected traitor b*sh stay in power much longer, and it won't be long before it happens.

Yikes. Those poor people.

Viva Chavez.

[Darranar]

13. He hasn't been defeated yet...

and likely never will be.

Do "consitutional, pacific, and electoral" solutions include coups?

[Judi Lynn]

16. Venezuela's Chavez Rallies Backers Ahead of Poll

Venezuela's Chavez Rallies Backers Ahead of Poll

Sun Jun 6, 5:04 PM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez rallied tens of thousands of supporters onto the streets of Caracas on Sunday as he kicked off an electoral campaign ahead of an August recall referendum on his five-year rule.
(snip)


Chavez, first elected in 1998 and again in 2000, has predicted another ballot box victory and says most Venezuelans back his populist efforts to better distribute the oil wealth of the world's No. 5 crude exporter.


"It's certain victory," Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said at the rally. "Today we have set out a test for the referendum and the forces of Chavez have already won."


The firebrand leader's rule has been marked by more than two years of bitter confrontation and strained relations with the United States, a major buyer of Venezuelan oil. Two years ago he survived a coup and later weathered an oil strike.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040606/wl_nm/venezuela_referendum_dc_1