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----- Original Message -----<br>
From: "Dawn Gable" <morning_ucsc@hotmail.com><br>
To: <vivabolivar@lists.riseup.net><br>
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 12:38 PM<br>
Subject: Santa Cruzan talks about Chavez address to the country re<br>
assassination<br><br>
<br>
Subject: terrorism reaches Venezuela #2<br><br>
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 07:36:26 -0800<br><br>
<br>
friends,<br><br>
As the afternoon slowly bled into the night, the line of people continued
on<br>
and on as thousands came to pay their respects to a great leader.
in fact,<br>
it continued on until i fell asleep. Around 9pm, Chavez came on the
air<br>
from the palace to address the nation and spoke for about an hour or so,
his<br>
voice thick with emotion and his message clear. i probably learned
more<br>
from his speech, or at least equally as much, as from the process on
august<br>
15th, particularly as i reflected in the polarity of the responses of
Bush<br>
and Chavez to terrorist attacks in their own countries. he began by
saying<br>
that last night (the 18th, the night of the bombing- which he said
trembled<br>
thru his body and he wanted to go to the site, but knew of the dangers
and<br>
instead sent his VP) he read a book, a book called 11-M, which was
written<br>
in Spain after the terrorist attacks that occurred there this year.
he said<br>
he was up all night, underlining, searching, and pulled some phrases
from<br>
the book that he felt were significant. (i wonder what bush did that
night<br>
of 11-S?)<br>
what happened to Danilo Anderson was an act of selective terrorism,
which<br>
chavez made very clearly distinct from indiscriminate terrorism which
killed<br>
thousands in Madrid and new york. not only was the assassination
very<br>
strategic in light of who Danilo was and the heroic work he was doing
within<br>
the revolutionary process, but as Chavez described it, it is an attack
on<br>
the people and process themselves. Chavez said, this is also an
attack<br>
against me. it is an attack against all Venezuelans. it is an
attack that<br>
tried to assassinate the hope, the dreams, the movement of the
people. it<br>
is an attack that tries to corrupt the revolutionary process by luring
it<br>
towards violence and hopelessness and death.<br>
at one point, chavez looked out at everyone and said, now, im going to
speak<br>
to you from my heart. my heart hurts, and it is speaking to
me. he paused,<br>
as to listen to a message before speaking, and said, sick minds.
went on to<br>
say, slowly and intentionally throughout, (now im paraphrasing as i
dont<br>
remember EXACTLY), im sure that wherever wander these assassins, they
are<br>
laughing. let it be clear, there is no doubt that we will find
them, and we<br>
will do justice. we must do justice.<br>
interestingly, bolivarian justice doesn't entail eye for an eye,
bombing,<br>
torture, and more assassinations. the bolivarian constitution, as
chavez<br>
also said, is almost sacred. it must be adhered to in EVERY
instance, there<br>
are no ¨untouchables¨as he put it, there is NO ONE above the law in
the<br>
fifth republic.<br>
Chavez referred to a positive aspect in all of this...he began to
speak<br>
directly to the opposition. he said, we can now say that there is
a<br>
democratic opposition and an undemocratic, and now a terrorist
opposition.<br>
he spoke first to the ¨democratic opposition¨, saying, we respect you
in<br>
this process, i respect you. you are all an extremely important
part of<br>
this process, part of a democratic society. he continued
reiterating the<br>
essentiality of peace and abidance by the law. he said, surely,
regardless<br>
of your political stance, you condemn these tragic, inhuman acts.
then as<br>
he turned to speak to the terrorist opposition, his words were
short. we<br>
will find you, he said, and justice will be done, referring to the<br>
¨perverted acts¨committed.<br>
something really tragically beautiful also came out of
Chavez´speech.<br>
within this process there is always room intentionally set for<br>
self-reflection and self-evaluation. chavez talked about the
failure on<br>
their part of Danilo´s security. how he was alone, driving in his
truck at<br>
night, when he should have had people around him, watching, protecting
him.<br>
he shouldn't´t have been alone, he said, but ¨No supimos cuidarlo¨,
chavez<br>
said (we didn't´t know to look out for him). Chavez kept going back
to the<br>
significance of the victories of first the 15th of august and more
recently<br>
the sweeping gubernatorial and mayor elections on oct 31. yet in
light of<br>
the newest historical date, nov 18, they must now continue forward
more<br>
distinctly aware of their challenges and their enemies.<br>
chavez ended by singing the opening notes to an Ali primera song, ¨los
que<br>
mueren por la vida no pueden llamarse muertos¨(those who die for life
can´t<br>
be called dead), and continued singing up until the chorus, when he
said,<br>
noche triste, pero buenas noches. muy buenas noches. oh,
something REALLY<br>
powerful that he said was this: those who assassinated Danilo Anderson
have<br>
failed, because now he has multiplied in all of us. As i met with
all of<br>
the fiscales today, i saw Danilo in their eyes. He lives on in all
of us,<br>
in all of the Danilos and Danilas in this process (take note of the
way<br>
Chavez indicates gender equality). there were interviews of the
lawyers who<br>
worked alongside Danilo, each of them fearless in their convictions
of<br>
solidarity with Danilo, his family, and the Venezuelan family, and
all<br>
continuing hopefully on the path of the search for justice, many of
them<br>
ready to pick up this case that got him killed.<br>
the night commenced with the announcement of a 3-day period of
national<br>
mourning. in the programs that followed many commentators were
asking VTV<br>
(ch 8, the state channel) for information on the impending
investigations,<br>
but no info was available. we will know more as things continue to
unfold.<br>
all i can say right now is this: i spent the morning yesterday crying at
the<br>
computer screen as i read counterpunch.org, letting the horrors and<br>
dehumanization of the war sink in, trying to imagine what life in Iraq is
li<br>
ke for the incredibly, unbelievably heroic Iraqi people- i couldn´t do
it,<br>
not even close. as i read inserps of US soldiers exclaiming how
they love<br>
to kill people, i couldnt help but feel the hopelessness hit me just
a<br>
little bit. look at where we have arrived since 11-S; although this
day did<br>
mark a distinct beginning to an all-out fledge on the world (the world
of<br>
color, to be more precise), let us be clear about and remember that
before<br>
september 11 or the election of bush things were still pretty dark,
ugly,<br>
and horrible in terms of US policies at home and abroad. let us
remember<br>
the fallacies of clinton and the roots of neoliberalism. but now
sitting<br>
here, i know that i can genuinely thank the venezuelan people, their
leader<br>
Hugo Chavez Frias, and their struggle and hope and dreams and love for
the<br>
bolivarian revolutionary process, and even specifically their response
to<br>
the tragedy that has struck upon them. their response is an example
to the<br>
world, a world that has lost its way in retaliation, eye for an eye,
and<br>
even the foundation for how we begin to build peace and justice in our
every<br>
response. everyone here was like, this is not something that
happens in<br>
venezuela, we are not a home to terrorism. after listening to<br>
Chavez´affirming speech of the path of the revolution and the
interviews<br>
aired by the people mourning, i am again filled with hope and affirmation
of<br>
a people and process that continue towards the light under any and
all<br>
circumstances. in these days once again, the people and the process
have<br>
matured and taken yet another reaffirmative step on their path.
neither the<br>
revolutionary process nor the love, hopes, and dreams of the people can
be<br>
assasinated.<br>
good, beautiful, and struggling days to each of you, my love goes
out.<br>
katie<br>
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