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Military dissenters being pushed aside, says Venezuelan watchdog group
By Fabiola Sanchez
Associated Press
Published on Sunday, Jun 29, 2008
CARACAS, VENEZUELA: Hundreds of Venezuelan military officers are no longer assigned duties and have been relegated to their homes, quietly pushed aside for their dissent under President Hugo Chavez, according to former military commanders and a watchdog group.
They say the officers have been sidelined for objecting to Chavez's socialist ideology, his push to form civilian militias and his ambiguous stance toward Colombia's leftist rebels.
Dissident army Gen. Angel Vivas Perdomo said he sought to defend the military's apolitical tradition when he asked the Supreme Court to toss out Chavez's order for troops to salute with the motto: ''Fatherland, socialism or death — we will triumph.''
''It's a motto from Fidel in Cuba that, on top of being unconstitutional, is absolutely undemocratic,'' Vivas Perdomo said in his first interview since challenging the motto in court in May.
He said the motto, previously used by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, ''takes away the right of every Venezuelan citizen to think differently and to disagree with socialism.''
About 800 officers are without formal duties because of their dissent, and many of them wait out their days at home, said Rocio San Miguel, who heads Citizen Control for Security, a nonprofit group that monitors public security issues.
Many of the 1,200 officers who have requested early retirement are also unhappy about the current state of the military, said San Miguel, who said the information comes from active officers.
She said those cases combined represent nearly one-seventh of the Venezuelan military's 14,900 officers, pointing to significant divisions.
Some dissident officers have reported being blocked from entering bases, San Miguel said.
Speaking to troops Tuesday, Chavez denied accounts of military divisions.
Chavez, whose government has benefited from rising oil profits, has granted the military substantial pay raises and has spent billions of dollars buying Russian-made fighter jets, helicopters and assault rifles.
But a Defense Ministry spokeswoman and a top military aide would not respond to accounts of dissident officers being relieved of their duties, despite repeated requests.
One former defense minister, retired Gen. Raul Isaias Baduel, said there is increasing concern among officers and within the ranks about ''how far (Chavez's) personal effort to stay in power will take the country.''
Baduel broke with Chavez last year by rejecting constitutional changes that would have allowed the president to run for re-election indefinitely.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA: Hundreds of Venezuelan military officers are no longer assigned duties and have been relegated to their homes, quietly pushed aside for their dissent under President Hugo Chavez, according to former military commanders and a watchdog group.
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