Venezuela: OK to seek ex-president's extradition

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Mar 18, 10:52 PM EDT
Venezuela: OK to seek ex-president's extradition

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's Supreme Court has cleared the way for the government to seek former President Carlos Andres Perez's extradition from the United States.

Perez is wanted for trial on charges stemming from violence during 1989 protests over gasoline and transportation prices.

Prosecutors allege Perez ordered a harsh crackdown in which at least 300 people died. Rights activists say many were shot indiscriminately by security forces.

The 87-year-old former leader has lived in the Miami area for more than a decade and is reportedly in poor health. He is also wanted in Venezuela on corruption charges.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_VENEZUELA_EX_PRESIDENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-03-18-22-52-54

[LakeSamish706]

1. I guess I wonder at age 87 why bother, but it is probably important to the families

left behind. How does President Chavez feel about this? I guess it is sort of like Nazi Germany and those that were able to evade capture in other countries.

And on second thought, it probably does make a difference going forward in that those that chose this route will be prosecuted down the road.

So now we need to see the Bush Administration under indictment for their crimes.

[Ken Burch]

2. It's exactly like that.

There was no justification for the "Caracazo", and that event, in human rights terms, is worse than anything the Chavez government has ever done or ever will do.

[proteus_lives]

9. "will ever do"

That remains to be seen.

Unless you're willing to share that crystal ball of yours.

[Ken Burch]

10. Hugo Chavez has been in office for a long time

If he were going to do anything like mass killings, he'd have done them at the start. That's the only time the Cubans actually did that sort of thing. They were repressive after that, but they weren't massively bloody after 1962 or so.

If Hugo hasn't turned into Stalin, Mao or Castro yet, he's not going to. You can judge from the record.

[rpannier]

3. An analogy I would use

Is the prosecution of former Khmer officials.
Many of them are in their 70's and 80's, but the horrific nature of their crimes cannot be ignored.

I would never argue that what happened in Venezuela rivals what the Khmer Rouge did, but the principle still applies.

[protocol rv]

12. Chavez does it to create controversy

He's on a continuous campaign to discredit the US. Also, he has been declared in breach of many human right laws by the Human Rights Commission, therefore he wants to deflect the topic.

You won't see the Bush administration indicted for their many crimes. But then, neither will you see President Clinton indicted for his crimes. US presidents tend to be criminals.

[ShockediSay]

4. Wouldn't I love to see them try to extradite Bush and Cheney for war crimes nt

[Common Sense Party]

5. Some things never change, I guess.

Report details violence and lost freedoms in Venezuela

.. Particularly shocking is the commission's account of the role that violence and murder have played in Mr. Chávez's concentration of power. The report documents killings of journalists, opposition protesters and farmers; it says that 173 trade union leaders and members were slain between 1997 and 2009 "in the context of trade union violence, with contract killings being the most common method for attacking union leaders." The report says that in 2008 Venezuela's human rights ombudsman recorded 134 complaints of arbitrary killings by security forces, 87 allegations of torture and 33 cases of forced disappearance. It also asserts that radical groups allied with Mr. Chávez "are perpetrating acts of violence with the involvement or acquiescence of state agents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/28/AR2010022803492.html

Deflection?

[EFerrari]

6. Yep. Deflection from the ongoing real violence in Honduras, Colombia,

Guatemala and Peru. The Chavez government is not known for its violence and as usual, the WaHo is full of it.

[Common Sense Party]

7. And so is the OAS, I suppose.

[Ken Burch]

11. The OAS has always just done what the Tio Samuel told them to.

They've never displayed any independence from Wall Street or the State Department. They supported Reagan on everything he did in Central America.

If the OAS was anything but a Washington puppet, would it STILL be excluding Cuba? There's certainly no reason for them to be doing that other than the fact that there'd be hell to pay if they didn't.

[protocol rv]

13. Cuba was invited to join the OAS

But they refused, because they would have to abide by the Interamerican charter of human rights. And that's a sticking point for a government which violates human rights.

[Judi Lynn]

8. As people know, who watch media even slightly, the Washington Post has been heaving propaganda

from the day Hugo Chavez was inaugurated, February 2, 1998, and they celebrated the violent seizure of Hugo Chavez and the US supported coup.

We know that. What happened to you?

For your own advancement, a quick description of Carlos Andrés Pérez' very own massacre, "El Caracazo":

Wiki. definition of "El Caracazo" Massacre

The Caracazo or sacudón is the name given to the wave of protests, riots and looting that occurred on 27 February 1989 in the Venezuelan capital Caracas and surrounding towns. The riots — the worst in Venezuelan history — resulted in a death toll of anywhere between 275 and 3,000 deaths,<1> mostly at the hands of security forces.

The word Caracazo is the name of the city plus the suffix -azo, which implies a blow and/or magnitude. It could therefore be translated as something like "the Caracas smash" or "the big one in Caracas". The name was inspired by the Bogotazo, a massive riot in neighboring Colombia in 1948 that played a pivotal role in that country's history. Sacudón is from sacudir "to shake", and therefore means something along the lines of "the day that shook the country".

Lead-up
In the context of the economic crisis that Venezuela had been going through since the early 1980s, President Carlos Andrés Pérez proposed to implement free-market reforms in his second presidential term (1989–1993), following the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pérez belonged to the Acción Democrática (AD) party (social-democrat). This programme was known as the paquete — the "package".

Measures taken by Pérez included privatizing state companies, tax reform, reducing customs duties, and diminishing the role of the state in the economy. He also took measures to decentralize and modernize the Venezuelan political system by instituting the direct election of state governors (previously appointed by the President). But the most controversial part of this economic package was the elimination of the gas subsidies, which had long maintained domestic petrol prices far beneath their international levels (and indeed beneath the production costs of gasoline). Upon the elimination of the subsidy, petrol prices rose by as much 100%, and subsequently, the costs of public transportation rose by 30%.

Protests and rioting
The protests and rioting began in Guarenas (a town in Miranda State, some 30 km east of Caracas) on the morning of 27 February 1989,<2> due to a steep increase in transportation costs to Caracas. They quickly spread to the capital and other towns across the country. By the afternoon, there were disturbances in almost all districts of Caracas, with shops shut and public transport not running.

In the days that followed there was widespread international media coverage of the looting and destruction. For many months, there was discussion about how something so violent could occur in Venezuela.

Overwhelmed by the looting, the government declared a state of emergency, put the city under martial law and restored order albeit with the use of force. Some people used firearms for self-defence, to attack other civilians and/or to attack the military, but the number of dead soldiers and police came nowhere near the number of civilian deaths. The repression was particularly harsh in the cerros — the poor neighbourhoods of the capital.

The initial official pronouncements said 276 people had died.

Congress suspended constitutional rights, and there were several days during which the city was in chaos, with restrictions, food shortages, militarisation, burglaries, and the persecution and murder of innocent people.

Consequences
The clearest consequence of the caracazo was political instability. The following February, the army was called to contain similar riots in Puerto La Cruz and Barcelona, and again in June, when rising of transportation costs ended in riots in Maracaibo and other cities. The free-market reforms programme was modified. In 1992 there were two attempted coups d'état, in February and November. Carlos Andrés Pérez was accused of corruption and removed from the presidency. Hugo Chávez, an organiser of one of the coups, was found guilty of sedition and incarcerated. However, he was subsequently pardoned by Pérez's successor, Rafael Caldera, and went on to be elected president after him.

In 1998, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the government's action, and referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In 1999, the Court heard the case and found that the government had committed violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings. The Venezuelan government, by then headed by Chávez, did not contest the findings of the case, and accepted full responsibility for the government's actions.<2>

In July 2009, then-defence minister Italo del Valle Alliegro was charged in relation to the Caracazo.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracazo

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http://lahistoriadeldia.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/02/caracazo1.jpg http://fidelernestovasquez.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/02/caracazo-fidelvasquez.jpg

http://img511.imageshack.us.nyud.net:8090/img511/6033/jessechacontg6.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_ODJWpmvZiZI/SRrp1_mYPJI/AAAAAAAAA-E/wfBa1O-WoNM/s320/1204121177caracazo_6_motoriz.jpg http://www.soberania.org.nyud.net:8090/Images/caracazo_4.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_aFe8Wrg0yO0/SafAWllkw4I/AAAAAAAAARk/bypQheq8stQ/s400/t_abn_26_02_2009_2620910151913tanquetas_a_la_entrada_de_la_autopista_caracas_la_guaira_154.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_aFe8Wrg0yO0/Sae_OiCztCI/AAAAAAAAARM/sOnqkXGR2H4/s400/t_abn_26_02_2009_2620910134518regresaba_de_trabajar__23_de_enero_192.jpg

http://www.radiomundial.com.ve.nyud.net:8090/yvke/files/img_noticia/t_caracazo_2_107.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_0F6YqUcqueU/SaYeRJySrMI/AAAAAAAAAFs/qOvu6W6uo4w/s400/Caracazo-2.gif

~~~~~~
http://oziel996.lautre.net.nyud.net:8090/fal/wp-content/uploads/carlosandresperez_georgehwbush1.jpg

Carlos Andrés Pérez and friend.

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/02rMagfa9rgiI/610x.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/00nc0Pm2kd7hr/610x.jpg

Current wife, former mistress during his former marriage, Celia Matos, in her Miami condo.

He was discovered to have used his then secretary, Cecilia Matos to help him set up several
joint bank accounts in the United States, totally $17,000,000.00, FAR more money than he
ever earned as Venezuela's President.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2004/07/cap.jpg

Former Venezuelan President
Carlos Andres Perez during a
party in his honor celebrated
in Miami
Credit: Conexiones



"El Carracazo", as depicted in a series of murals on the street in Caracas

http://encontrarte.aporrea.org.nyud.net:8090/imagenes/galerias/muralvenezuela/MM1.jpg

[protocol rv]

14. It's irrational to subsidize gasoline prices

I've told you before, the bolivar devaluation came too late, the inflated currency dealt a heavy blow to the economy, which today is in a depression as a result.

The low price of gasoline is another mistake, it should be raised gradually, yet we see no action. It will be raised eventually, but not before it deals another heavy blow to the economy.

In a sense, this government is like a mad man wielding a very large hammer, and hammering the economy in several areas, bang, bang, bang, over and over. Their decisions are inefficient, non-sense. You can pick your blows: the record inflation, the lousy deal with Belarus, the electricity crisis caused by their own lack of action, the high crime rates, the capital flight, adhoc nationalizations and interventions, government corruption...Venezuela's economy is sick, and it's as if the government kept innoculating it with more viruses.

[The Magistrate]

17. If There Was Anything To This, Sir, It Would Have Been Cried Up For Years

Everything that could possibly be presented to the discredit of Col. Chavez has received great publicity from his enemies, both in Venezuela and abroad. Credible accusations of murder would not have been omitted, were they available....

[Judi Lynn]

15. Ex-leader won't return to Venezuela, wife says

Mar 19, 6:39 PM EDT
Ex-leader won't return to Venezuela, wife says

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- The wife of former Venezuelan leader Carlos Andres Perez ridiculed an attempt to extradite her husband from the United States, saying Friday that President Hugo Chavez is attempting to create a spectacle for political ends.

Cecilia Matos said in a telephone interview from Miami that the 87-year-old former president will not return to Venezuela to be tried on charges stemming from violence during 1989 protests.

She told The Associated Press that Chavez "wants a circus, and we aren't going to be the clowns in that circus."

In a ruling on Thursday, Venezuela's Supreme Court cleared the way for Chavez's government to request Perez's extradition.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_VENEZUELA_EX_PRESIDENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-03-19-18-39-56

http://doc.noticias24.com.nyud.net:8090/0904/capban.jpg http://www.venezuelanalysis.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2004/07/cap.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/00nc0Pm2kd7hr/610x.jpg

Cecilia Matos

[fascisthunter]

16. good! (nt)