Answering Chavez' Call To Arms

"We are preparing for the invasion," says Lt. Octavio Serrano, who commands Moron's reserve unit. "They could come internally with the CIA ... or it could be directly and militarily, like they invaded Iraq." Moron's unit, now with more than 2,000 registered volunteers, was one of many created in April when the president announced an aggressive plan to boost Venezuela's reserve forces from 50,000 to 2 million men and women. Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to overthrow his government and even attempting to assassinate him. The United States has denied all the allegations, but conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson inflamed the situation last week when he said the U.S. should assassinate Chavez because "it's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." Chavez, who was visiting his friend Fidel Castro in Cuba during the uproar, has blamed Washington for the failed coup d'état against him in 2002, as well as national strikes that ended in early 2003 and last year's recall referendum against his presidency. "If something happens to me, the responsible one will be George W. Bush," Chavez declared Friday. Exacerbating his fears is his conviction that Washington has designs on Venezuela's petroleum reserves — the hemisphere's largest. Gen. Melvin Lopez Hidalgo says Venezuela must train ordinary citizens because its armed forces can't match the U.S. military machine. If necessary, he says, Venezuelans will emulate the guerrilla tactics used in the current insurgency in Iraq. "(The Americans) can come in here, bomb us, etc., but the people can respond." However, former defence minister Fernando Ochoa, who was in office when Chavez attempted a failed coup in 1992, says Venezuelan military reservists are incapable of the sort of ideological warfare found in current conflicts in the Middle East. Serrano says his reservists-to-be, drawn largely from the ranks of the poor, are being trained with the army's FAL assault rifles and within six months should be capable of replacing regular army units if necessary. Yet four months into their training, the men and women lined up behind him are still wearing makeshift uniforms and have not yet touched a rifle. Critics of Chavez say he is imitating the Cuban military by giving himself direct command over a force more loyal and ideological than the regular army. "His inspiration is the model of the Cuban army," says opposition congressional deputy Pedro Pablo Alcantara, who claims Cuban military advisers helped draft a new law governing Venezuela's armed forces. "The national reserves and territorial guard are practically a new militia." Alcantara and other critics also argue that enlistments are on the rise not because of anti-Americanism but because reservists will receive a daily stipend equivalent to $7.40, while the regular minimum wage works out to about $6.25 a day. Military analysts estimate that 100,000 men and women have registered for the reserves, nearly double the number that Lopez says existed before the presidential call to enlist. Chavez, who says he is leading a "revolution for the poor," has nicknamed U.S. President George W. Bush "Mister Danger" and has called the Bush administration the "most savage, cruel and murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world." Last week, the U.S. revoked the visas of six Venezuelan military officers suspected of drug trafficking. The move came days after Chavez accused U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents of spying and suspended bilateral co-operation with the DEA. Washington also has accused Chavez of fronting an increasingly authoritarian regime and funding regional guerrilla movements, including Colombia's FARC revolutionaries. Military analyst Alberto Garrido says increased U.S. criticism of Venezuela is part of an "information war" that marked a shift from a conciliatory policy to a more aggressive, Pentagon-driven strategy toward Caracas. The hardened U.S. stance, Garrido adds, came in response to Chavez's growing influence in the region — strengthened by energy agreements with Latin American and Caribbean countries — and his strong alliance with Castro's Cuba. Still, some analysts and economists argue that Chavez will ultimately not compromise his relationship with his nation's largest oil customer and financial market. Venezuela continues to feed 15 per cent of the U.S. oil market, which accounts for 60 per cent of its exports of about 2 million barrels a day. Meanwhile, Chavez's domestic critics allege that he is circumventing the regular armed forces to create a military body that can quash opposition at home. But volunteer Jesus Leon, a 30-year-old sculptor, is having none of that. "Our fatherland is at risk," he says. "Civilians should prepare themselves for the military side of life." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jens Erik Gould reports on politics and economics from Venezuela. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1125179410297&call_pageid=968332188854

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