April 7: Talks?

Eight UNASUR diplomats met Maduro in Miraflores today. After the meeting this afternoon, Maduro said that body had suggested a meeting between themselves, Maduro and the opposition. Maduro said:

UNASUR has proposed a meeting with the opposition tomorrow. If we hold that meeting, it will be a very positive message for peace. I’m continuing to call for a model of co-existence… we must start the process of healing the wounds caused by guarimbas and the attempted coup.

Maduro also suggested that opposition leaders increase their personal security levels, since he claims that there are “plans to attempt [to kill/injure them]”.

Later on in the afternoon, an opposition spokesperson said that they would like to “establish a truthful dialogue, equal in conditions and whose first encounter should be a live [television] transmission en cadena nacional [mandatorily broadcast on all stations].” The opposition also said that they wanted to establish an agenda based on these four points in order to facilitate the discussion:

1. An amnesty law for political prisoners.
2. The establishment of an independent National Commission for Truth.
3. The commitment to the balanced renewal of the Poderes Publicos [essentially, the different branches of the government; i.e, executive, legislative, etc.].
4. The demobilization of the paramilitary groups known as “colectivos“.

Some clarification on the third point: the Poderes Publicos are the different branches of government. Here in North America we are used to having three “Poderes Publicos”: executive, judicial and legislative. In Venezuela, there are five branches: executive, judicial, legislative, civic [as in, that of the citizen] and electoral.

 

News From Elsewhere

El Cafetal was locked down again this morning by barricades:

Here is a picture from the confrontations there yesterday. It shows National Police taking cover behind some big signs left behind by demonstrators. The sign on the left says “Your indifference is killing me”, and the one on the right says “Violence is the weapon of those who are wrong”. The picture was taken at the exact instant a tear gas canister was fired by one of the officers:

A survey released today by the Instituto Venezolano de Anlisis de Datos found that 70% of respondents agreed that the solution to the crisis must come from constitutional elections. The survey also found that 72% considered the situation the country finds itself in to be negative, and 72% also believe that the country is going through an economic crisis.

The survey shows some interesting divergences amongst the different political leanings. While 81% of Chavistas agree that the best hypothetical solution to this crisis would be to hold some kind of election, 60% of opposition supporters agreed with that same statement.

Also, the poll found that 50% of respondents agreed that the the protests are peaceful, while 12.8% believe that the protests are part of a plan “orchestrated to launch a coup against the Maduro government.” 8% believe that the protests “are [orchestrated] by opposition students who only appeal on behalf of the middle class”.

Today, three parliamentarians from Argentina, Bolivia and Peru went to The Hague to make a complaint before the International Criminal Court, asking the body to investigate Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, the Attorney General (Luisa Ortega) and the Minister of Justice and Peace (Miguel Rodriguez) for crimes against humanity. More specifically,

The parliamentarians asked that the generalized and systemic human rights violations carried out by police and military bodies, [as well as] as militias and paramilitaries, be investigated.
(…)
[There are] elements that clearly typify crimes against humanity, for murders, tortures, rape and massive and indiscriminate detentions have occurred during the indicated days [since the start of the protests].

Human Rights Watch said today that Venezuela’s Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (the Supreme Court) is one of the most “submissive” in the region. Jose Miguel Vivanco, the American director of Human Rights Watch, says that the supreme court is an “extension of the executive”, and continued:

The Chavez government, since 2004, has manipulated the composition of the highest court, filling it with staunch supporters. The result has been a partisan justice dedicated to legitimizing abusive practices, as is being done now with the detention of opposition mayors.

Human Rights Watch says that the judicial situation in Venezuela is only comparable in the region to that of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Ecuador.

This is from Chacao just a little while ago, where there are confrontations again tonight:

From Catia, a barrio in Caracas:

This was taken somewhere along the highway connecting Tocuyito with Valencia:

A National Guard truck hit by molotov cocktail(s) in Cabudare, Lara:

It looks like a National Guard building was burned recently in Caucaguita, at the very eastern edge of Caracas:

An an interesting political cartoon I saw online today. The top panel is titled “Before”; the boy on the left asks, “Do you have Ronaldinho?”, and the boy on the right answers, “I’ll trade you it for Zidane.” The bottom panel is titled “After”; the man on the left asks, “Do you have deodorant?”, and the man on the right answers, “I’ll trade you it for flour.”

This video is from somewhere in Chacao from last night. It shows a group of demonstrators in a confrontation against National Guard/National police. At around 0:17, what sounds like gunfire is heard. At around 0:54, a man in the crowd yells, “Don’t throw the [tear gas canisters] back!” and at 1:18 a man tries to start a chant saying the same thing:

This video is also from Chacao last night. It’s short and doesn’t show much, but it does show how surreal the nights in some of the most contentions areas of the country are like. It shows some National Police officers on motorcycles near a street corner. At some point, one of them hurriedly fires a weapon at an unseen target:

Here is a video of a large crowd in Merida fighting for milk:

Finally, a video from Chacao taken on Saturday. It shows demonstrators fighting with National Police using fists and sticks. The National Police end up getting repelled by the demonstrators and leaving two of their bikes behind:

 

Commentary

The news of the proposed talks spearhead by UNASUR is a welcomed development. However, the tone of both sides going into them – if they are to take place at all – highlight just how far the government and the opposition are from one another.

Almost on the same breath as the one during which he announced the proposed talks, Maduro painted the opposition with the broadest possible brush, calling them guarimberos [people who mount barricades] and suggesting the protests are part of a coup. On the other hand, the “starting off” points the opposition is suggesting are a huge pill for the government to swallow.

In fact, every single one of the four issues highlighted by the opposition might be non-starters by the government. Releasing prisoners – Leopoldo Lopez for one – would mean that the government would have to back track on two months of vicious rhetoric. The second point is the one that might be the most “doable” by the government. The third involves a dramatic restructuring of the Venezuelan political and institutional landscape, and the fourth requires the government to a) acknowledge the existence of the colectivos armados and that they control them, and b) move to disarm them, both of which I seriously the doubt the PSUV is interested in doing.

In other words, while this is the brightest sign of some kind of rapprochement between the two sides since the start of the protests, it is simply that at this moment: just a sign and nothing concrete.