The anti-Chavez forces are using every tactic to prevent the people from going to work, including provacateur actions such as the Dec. 6 shooting, the Dec. 3 torching of a bus carrying workers, and blockades preventing oil tankers from carrying oil. In Dec., workers at a Pepsi-Cola plant took it over after management tried to prevent them from working. Their slogan is “Fabrica Cerrada - Fabrica Tomada”, or “Close the Factories? We’ll take them over!” Carlos Ortega, head of one of the opposition unions-asked for an external intervention to remove Chavez. That is the “democratic” opposition.
What we are seeing in Venezuela is a class war. The ruling class has lost its monopoly on moral rulings, and is now engaged in vulgar propaganda to try to maintain its fragile grip on power. They can see their position of privilege about to slip through their fingers. And yet, for all of this fear, Chavez has done nothing to touch the capitalist system apart from a few minor reforms to help the poor. What they are afraid of, though, is a real consolidation of democratic rule, which would abruptly end their hold on power. The seeds of economic democracy have been planted by Chavez, and the oligarchy is determined to prevent that flower from blooming. They are pulling out all the stops to nip that problem in the bud.
