[News] Chavez talks about recent terrorist assasination

[News at freedomarchives.org]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dawn Gable" <morning_ucsc at hotmail.com>
To: <vivabolivar at lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 12:38 PM
Subject: Santa Cruzan talks about Chavez address to the country re
assassination


Subject: terrorism reaches Venezuela #2

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 07:36:26 -0800


friends,

As the afternoon slowly bled into the night, the line of people continued on
and on as thousands came to pay their respects to a great leader.  in fact,
it continued on until i fell asleep.  Around 9pm, Chavez came on the air
from the palace to address the nation and spoke for about an hour or so, his
voice thick with emotion and his message clear.  i probably learned more
from his speech, or at least equally as much, as from the process on august
15th, particularly as i reflected in the polarity of the responses of Bush
and Chavez to terrorist attacks in their own countries.  he began by saying
that last night (the 18th, the night of the bombing- which he said trembled
thru his body and he wanted to go to the site, but knew of the dangers and
instead sent his VP) he read a book, a book called 11-M, which was written
in Spain after the terrorist attacks that occurred there this year.  he said
he was up all night, underlining, searching, and pulled some phrases from
the book that he felt were significant. (i wonder what bush did that night
of 11-S?)
what happened to Danilo Anderson was an act of selective terrorism, which
chavez made very clearly distinct from indiscriminate terrorism which killed
thousands in Madrid and new york.  not only was the assassination very
strategic in light of who Danilo was and the heroic work he was doing within
the revolutionary process, but as Chavez described it, it is an attack on
the people and process themselves.  Chavez said, this is also an attack
against me.  it is an attack against all Venezuelans.  it is an attack that
tried to assassinate the hope, the dreams, the movement of the people.  it
is an attack that tries to corrupt the revolutionary process by luring it
towards violence and hopelessness and death.
at one point, chavez looked out at everyone and said, now, im going to speak
to you from my heart.  my heart hurts, and it is speaking to me.  he paused,
as to listen to a message before speaking, and said, sick minds.  went on to
say, slowly and intentionally throughout, (now im paraphrasing as i dont
remember EXACTLY), im sure that wherever wander these assassins, they are
laughing.  let it be clear, there is no doubt that we will find them, and we
will do justice.  we must do justice.
interestingly, bolivarian justice doesn't entail eye for an eye, bombing,
torture, and more assassinations.  the bolivarian constitution, as chavez
also said, is almost sacred.  it must be adhered to in EVERY instance, there
are no ¨untouchables¨as he put it, there is NO ONE above the law in the
fifth republic.
Chavez referred to a positive aspect in all of this...he began to speak
directly to the opposition.  he said, we can now say that there is a
democratic opposition and an undemocratic, and now a terrorist opposition.
he spoke first to the ¨democratic opposition¨, saying, we respect you in
this process, i respect you.  you are all an extremely important part of
this process, part of a democratic society.  he continued reiterating the
essentiality of peace and abidance by the law.  he said, surely, regardless
of your political stance, you condemn these tragic, inhuman acts.  then as
he turned to speak to the terrorist opposition, his words were short.  we
will find you, he said, and justice will be done, referring to the
¨perverted acts¨committed.
something really tragically beautiful also came out of Chavez´speech.
within this process there is always room intentionally set for
self-reflection and self-evaluation.  chavez talked about the failure on
their part of Danilo´s security.  how he was alone, driving in his truck at
night, when he should have had people around him, watching, protecting him.
he shouldn't´t have been alone, he said, but ¨No supimos cuidarlo¨, chavez
said (we didn't´t know to look out for him).  Chavez kept going back to the
significance of the victories of first the 15th of august and more recently
the sweeping gubernatorial and mayor elections on oct 31.  yet in light of
the newest historical date, nov 18, they must now continue forward more
distinctly aware of their challenges and their enemies.
chavez ended by singing the opening notes to an Ali primera song, ¨los que
mueren por la vida no pueden llamarse muertos¨(those who die for life can´t
be called dead),  and continued singing up until the chorus, when he said,
noche triste, pero buenas noches.  muy buenas noches.  oh, something REALLY
powerful that he said was this: those who assassinated Danilo Anderson have
failed, because now he has multiplied in all of us.  As i met with all of
the fiscales today, i saw Danilo in their eyes.  He lives on in all of us,
in all of the Danilos and Danilas in this process (take note of the way
Chavez indicates gender equality).  there were interviews of the lawyers who
worked alongside Danilo, each of them fearless in their convictions of
solidarity with Danilo, his family, and the Venezuelan family, and all
continuing hopefully on the path of the search for justice, many of them
ready to pick up this case that got him killed.
the night commenced with the announcement of a 3-day period of national
mourning.  in the programs that followed many commentators were asking VTV
(ch 8, the state channel) for information on the impending investigations,
but no info was available.  we will know more as things continue to unfold.
all i can say right now is this: i spent the morning yesterday crying at the
computer screen as i read counterpunch.org, letting the horrors and
dehumanization of the war sink in, trying to imagine what life in Iraq is li
ke for the incredibly, unbelievably heroic Iraqi people- i couldn´t do it,
not even close.  as i read inserps of US soldiers exclaiming how they love
to kill people, i couldnt help but feel the hopelessness hit me just a
little bit.  look at where we have arrived since 11-S; although this day did
mark a distinct beginning to an all-out fledge on the world (the world of
color, to be more precise), let us be clear about and remember that before
september 11 or the election of bush things were still pretty dark, ugly,
and horrible in terms of US policies at home and abroad.  let us remember
the fallacies of clinton and the roots of neoliberalism.  but now sitting
here, i know that i can genuinely thank the venezuelan people, their leader
Hugo Chavez Frias, and their struggle and hope and dreams and love for the
bolivarian revolutionary process, and even specifically their response to
the tragedy that has struck upon them.  their response is an example to the
world, a world that has lost its way in retaliation, eye for an eye, and
even the foundation for how we begin to build peace and justice in our every
response.  everyone here was like, this is not something that happens in
venezuela, we are not a home to terrorism.  after listening to
Chavez´affirming speech of the path of the revolution and the interviews
aired by the people mourning, i am again filled with hope and affirmation of
a people and process that continue towards the light under any and all
circumstances.  in these days once again, the people and the process have
matured and taken yet another reaffirmative step on their path.  neither the
revolutionary process nor the love, hopes, and dreams of the people can be
assasinated.
good, beautiful, and struggling days to each of you, my love goes out.
katie
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