Marxists, Management Unite to Oppose Chavez

One is the son of a tailor. The second an unemployed oil executive. A third is the country’s largest cement distributor.

Then there are the 90 other people swirling around in the mix.

This is Venezuela’s opposition, an array of personalities and organizations, from hard-core communists to homemakers to political bosses. They are united only by their desire to oust President Hugo Chavez.

“Chavez is our enemy,” said Jesus Hermoso, a 28-year-old student leader of Red Flag, a Marxist party that participates in the movement to oust the left-leaning president because he is not revolutionary enough. “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be together.”

It’s a strange thing, running a fractious political movement based on hating one guy, but it’s worked -- so far.

For more than two weeks of a national strike, the opposition has presented a solid front against Chavez, whom it accuses of conspiring to turn the United States’ third-largest oil supplier into a communist redoubt like Cuba.

Despite more intrigue than a “Survivor” episode, the opposition has avoided fracturing amid growing pressures to call off the strike, which has paralyzed the oil economy, polarized the country and ruined the Christmas season.

Though there were signs of worry -- one strike leader said in an interview that he would drop the president’s resignation as a condition to lift the strike -- opposition leaders said they remain firm.

“There is no force that can fracture us,” said Carlos Ortega, one of the most powerful opposition members, in an interview. “We have put the country’s interests above our personal ones.”

Ortega is one of the four primary players in the protest. A gruff and scowling union boss, the son of a tailor rose to become a pipe welder at an oil refinery, then to head the nation’s largest union, the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers.

Then there is Carlos Fernandez, the suave, white-haired cement manufacturer whose father ran an orange farm after his family fled Spain’s bloody civil war. Fernandez, never before a political activist, found himself the head of Fedecamaras, the nation’s largest business group, after the organization’s then-president, Pedro Carmona, was arrested in April. Carmona briefly took office as appointed president in a coup. Two days later, Chavez was returned to power by loyal military units.

Ortega and Fernandez are part of an umbrella coalition, the Democratic Coordinating Committee, which has 34 groups -- mostly political parties and influential nonprofits -- that gather for weekly meetings. There are an additional 60 or so affiliated organizations that participate in monthly assemblies.

Committee members have refused to concentrate power in a single leader, insisting that everyone has a voice -- from small splinter groups like Red Flag to mainstream political parties. The group has no president, only an executive committee whose sole function is to schedule meetings.

Members say they do this to avoid falling into the trap of Chavez, whom they accuse of building a personality cult to help control the country. The lack of a single voice results, they say, in meetings that are not exactly harmonious but which usually end in near-consensus.

“In a marriage where there are only two people there are quarrels,” said Antonio Ledezma, the president of the Alliance of Brave People, a political party that draws its name from Venezuela’s national anthem. “You can imagine what it’s like when there’s a polyphony of voices.”

The newest heavyweight is Juan Fernandez, who in recent days has begun to appear with Ortega and Carlos Fernandez at nightly news conferences -- transmitted live nationwide -- where the three assess the day’s events.

Juan Fernandez, whose family also fled the Spanish Civil War, was fired from his post as the director of financial planning for the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, after he took the lead in organizing oil workers to join the strike that began Dec. 2.

Though newly arrived, Fernandez has clearly become one of the most important players in the sprawling opposition because the oil industry is the most important part of the strike. Petrodollars account for half the government’s $20-billion annual budget and most of its foreign currency. He does not rule out a run for political office someday.

“Our opinion is listened to and respected. These meetings can be very tropical,” he said, smiling. “But when we come in, everyone quiets down.”

Although the opposition has so far remained united, it is uncertain for how much longer.

It began this month’s strike by seeking a referendum in February on Chavez’s rule. But as the strike progressed, the cost of a solution soared. National guard troops cleared a peaceful demonstration with tear gas. Three protesters were shot by a gunman, an event that spawned any number of conspiracy theories.

At the start, opponents demanded that Chavez resign and hold elections within the first three months of next year. They seemed confident that the punishing oil strike would soon fell the president.

But Chavez fought back, mustering enough workers to ship at least some oil to the United States and threatening to spend the country’s ample foreign reserves to buy food, supplies and gas from abroad.

Opposition protests have remained large, with hundreds of thousands attending a weekend march and another big march planned later this week. Strike leaders predicted gas shortages, which could force the government to offer concessions at the negotiating table.

And opponents refuse to rule out marching on the presidential palace -- a clear provocation since a similar march in April led to the deaths of 19 people and the military coup.

But there were also setbacks for the opposition this week. The White House on Monday backtracked on supporting the opposition’s demand for early elections, calling instead for a referendum.

The Organization of American States recognized the opposition but also declined to back its demand for speeded-up elections.

Many store owners in the wealthy eastern end of Caracas, the capital, have reopened their doors in recent days. And there was also increasing pressure to find a way out.

Carlos Fernandez’s organization has been hit hardest by the protest as small and medium businesses have continued paying workers while forgoing Christmas sales. He said the strike could be lifted as long as Chavez guaranteed funding to pay for a February referendum and pledged to avoid reprisals against striking oil workers.

The position was a step back from the hard line taken by Fedecamaras in recent talks, where it has demanded Chavez’s resignation and new elections.

“That’s a position we have that could be negotiated,” Fernandez said in an interview. “The most important thing is to avoid a situation of violence.”