The angry divisions in Venezuela over President Hugo Chavez seem to melt away in a Caracas neighborhood called Catia.
Here, amid a sea of poor street vendors, posters of a smiling Chavez are placed next to South American hero Simon Bolivar, and Chavez’s return to power after a two-day military coup has become legendary.
“When he came out of the sky last Sunday morning, it was as Christ did when he rose,” said Nestor Hospedales, a Catia resident who spent 13 hours outside the presidential palace last weekend.
He and tens of thousands of Chavez supporters spilled out of the city’s ghettos to demand Chavez’s return. After a tense standoff among a divided military, Chavez came back, descending in a helicopter after being forced from office just two days earlier.
“Jesus rose on the third day and Chavez rose in two,” Hospedales said. “They thought they could kill him, but they could not.”
The son of poor schoolteachers, Chavez, 47, has boosted his folk hero status in neighborhoods such as Catia.
Analysts said his rise to power and the nation’s recent political crisis have underscored the deep divide between middle- and upper-class Venezuelans and the group where Chavez finds his power, the 80 percent of Venezuelans who are poor.
A former paratrooper and lieutenant colonel who launched a failed coup in Venezuela in 1992, Chavez came to power in a landslide election three years ago, railing against the nation’s traditional political parties and championing the people he said the country’s power brokers had ignored.
Since 1979, Venezuelan families had been slipping economically, analysts said, and Chavez stepped into a political storm, telling Venezuelans there was no reason why an oil-rich nation should shortchange the majority of its citizens.
Many felt excluded
Chavez also fits the description of a majority of people in Venezuela who are neither black nor white, but mestizo, a mix of white, black and Indian. Many of the poorest Venezuelans argue that the fate of the nation had long been determined by a handful of the nation’s wealthy, white minority.
Even Chavez’s most ardent critics admit he was successful at capitalizing on Venezuela’s societal divide.
“There are people who feel they have not been included in the last 40 years of democracy,” said Guaicaipuro Lameda, a retired general who was sacked by Chavez as head of the state oil company.
“They felt they didn’t have the opportunity to be in government or even to express their opinions,” he said. “Now Chavez has captured many of those people.”
Returning to power April 14, Chavez said he wants reconciliation, but that will be difficult given the anger that permeates Venezuelan society. The deaths of dozens of people during four days of violence also hamper his role as peacemaker.
Moderate Venezuelans and international observers say Chavez and his critics must sidestep confrontations to avoid more political turmoil and bloodshed.
Secretary General Cesar Gaviria of the Organization of American States warned Thursday during a speech in Washington that “excessive polarization” could stand in the way of a needed democratic dialogue in Venezuela.
“There seems to be a widespread conviction that renewed confrontation between friends and opponents of the government is inevitable and could lead to increased social protests,” Gaviria said after a two-day fact-finding mission in Venezuela.
At the same OAS gathering, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned “the blows to constitutional order that Venezuela has suffered” but also called on Chavez “to follow with deeds his new pledges of national reconciliation and respect of democratic principles.”
Some critics said Chavez may have no choice except to become a coalition builder because he had been losing support even among poor Venezuelans.
In a recent survey by the Caracas polling firm Datanalisis, Chavez’s popularity had plummeted to 35 percent by March, from highs of 80 percent early in his term. Much of the decline was among the nation’s poor, who felt Chavez had not delivered on his economic promises.
After the recent turmoil, many analysts believe Chavez may get a boost in the polls among the poor, who see their leader as triumphing over his enemies.
Chavez, who has long used Venezuela’s class and social divisions to remain in power, also may need to call on the anger of his most ardent supporters, because his opponents already have begun to renew their attempts to push him out of office.
Leopoldo Lopez, a local mayor, has said Chavez must call for new elections.
Looking for means to oust him
Others have scoured the constitution for ways to throw Chavez out–from using a referendum to arguing that his brief removal last weekend means he is no longer president.
Still others say an independent truth commission should be established to find those responsible for the sniper shootings of opposition demonstrators on April 11. The deaths of those protesters led to violence and to Chavez’s brief ouster.
“We cannot forget those who marched or those who died,” Lopez said.
“Using race and class as a social fracture is something Chavez promoted and was successful at. He promoted hate of the poor toward the middle class and the rich and we ended up with blood in the streets. Now there is no way for us to go on as a society until the murders are solved and Chavez is out of power,” he said.
The government said those responsible will be tried and convicted, but the opposition does not believe it.
Meanwhile, in neighborhoods such as Catia, looting, violence and death have left the residents shaken and the streets littered with glass shards. Still, many of Chavez’s supporters do not blame him; they blame his enemies.
“Chavez was one of the first politicians to do something to help us,” said Hugo Neri, the operator of a newsstand in Catia. “He said, `I know you are here and I will try to help you.'”
