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VENEZUELA: Mass mobilisation defends oil industry
Roberto Jorquera, Caracas
On May 28, at least one million people marched 11 kilometres from the city of Petare to Avenida Bolivar in central Caracas in defence of the state-owned oil company, PDVSA. With 80% of export earnings coming from the oil industry, PDVSA has been at the centre of President Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian revolution, providing the backbone of the funding of the social programs aimed at significantly improving the lives of the country's poor majority.
Venezuela's opposition-controlled private media have been running a campaign claiming PDVSA is in "crisis", while the government has alleged that there is a new campaign of opposition-inspired sabotage being directed against the company.
The pro-PDVSA march was the culmination of a national week in solidarity with the company. The march was also held to demand the extradition of Venezuelan citizen Luis Posada Carriles, a CIA terrorist currently hiding in Miami, a demand the US government rejected the day before the march.
Posada is wanted in Venezuela on charges relating to his alleged role as the mastermind behind the bombing of a Cuban airline in 1976 that killed all 73 passengers. He escaped a Venezuelan jail in 1985 in mysterious circumstances while awaiting trial. After his escape he continued his terrorist activities against the Cuban government and the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.
A mass petition has been initiated in Venezuela calling for Posada's extradition, and the May 28 march passed a number of signature collection points enabling participants to add their names.
Javier Urbano, a representative of the Bolivarian Union of Taxi Drivers, told Green Left Weekly: "We are here to defend PDVSA and to demand the extradition of Posada... We want to make it known to the United States that all of Venezuela is united and prepared to defend the country against any form of attack and that we demand to be left alone so as to be able to live in peace."
Juan Contrera, a spokesperson for the militant organisation Cordinadora Simon Bolivar, expressed similar sentiments. "We are [at the demonstration] to support the revolutionary project that is being developed by President Hugo Chavez Frias and to defend our industry, PDVSA."
Rubin Dario Dias from the pro-revolution National Workers Union (UNT) labour federation said: "I am here because I am a revolutionary that supports President Chavez. He is the first president that governs for the poor rather than the rich."
National Youth Institute (INJ) representative Ledia Termin said that the INJ was present with all its staff, supporters and youth volunteers to not only support Chavez but to also defend Venezuela's sovereignty from US-inspired attack.
Nobilito Catera, a representative of Venezuela's indigenous community and an MP, was part of a delegation of indigenous people from the west of the country. Catera told GLW: "We are here to make sure that we support life, PDVSA, Venezuela and Chavez... We are here to defend life because now the indigenous people are for the first time being taken into account.
"Though we can still say that there are many problems including social, political and economic problems there are now laws that protect us. We are now in more than 20 laws and, most importantly, we are recognised in the
Bolivarian constitution whereas before we were invisible.
"That is why it is important to defend what we have. We will not allow internal or external terrorism to take that away from us."
The pro-PDVSA march went through Parque del Este and Altamira, areas that have traditionally been strongholds of the opposition to Chavez. While in Parque del Este, the march was temporarily held up due to an opposition march that had been deliberately organised to take the same route as the pro-government demonstration. The opposition supporters numbered no more than a few thousand.
In the lead-up to the May 28 demonstration, which was publicised in the pro-revolution media, energy minister and PDVSA president Rafael Ramirez presented a document to the Venezuelan parliament that outlined a history of the role of PDVSA in the Venezuelan economy and how it had been able to recover since opposition-led sabotage of PDVSA in December 2002. This was when the company's management and a large number of skilled technicians attempted to shut the industry down in a bid to force the left-wing Chavez government from office.
In response, the Chavez government mobilised the oil production workers to take control of PDVSA out of the hands of the old management, which was part of the country's capitalist elite. The government has also significantly increased royalties for foreign oil corporations investing in
Venezuela and required that all agreements with foreign companies for investment into the oil industry be converted into joint ventures with PDVSA, with foreign oil companies limited to no more than a 49% share in any joint venture.
In recent weeks, the government has turned up the heat against the foreign, predominantly US, oil companies that operate in Venezuela, accusing them of robbing the country. On May 25, Ramirez appeared before the parliament and accused 90% of the foreign oil companies of cheating Venezuela out of US$3 billion in tax revenues and a further $1 billion in royalties. He criticised the agreements signed by PDVSA with the foreign oil companies in 1992-97.
"Some of these companies have not paid taxes in years. They are mocking our laws", Ramirez said.
In the days following the May 28 demonstration, the majority of the 22 foreign oil companies with operating agreements in Venezuela announced they would pay the billions in taxes they owe. Representatives of the corporations, as well as the ambassadors of their home countries, met with Venezuela's tax agency on June 2 to negotiate payment methods.
Chavez was unable to attend the march. His absence sparked rumours about his wellbeing, with thousands of supporters gathering outside the presidential palace. On May 30, he told a cabinet meeting: "I am impressed by the mass mobilisation of May 28 in defence of PDVSA and against terrorism... This shows that there is optimism on the streets". Reiterating the theme he has repeatedly run on this year, Chavez said: "We will advance towards socialism... it is the only salvation for the world. But it is a debate that we must have and explain what we mean by it... Let the economists debate the issue and others join in."
From Green Left Weekly, June 8, 2005.
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