Venezuelans Urged to Leave Politics at the Door

At the Read Books shop and cafe in the trendy Chacao neighborhood, lively chat about political life has been replaced with church-like silence.

Likewise, from corner bakeries to upscale restaurants catering to both sides of this polarized nation, owners eager to keep peace in their establishments urge patrons to leave their political views at the door.

It may be emotional exhaustion after almost two years of strikes, demonstrations and clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez, or it could just be the calm before the storm of an expected recall vote in the spring. But a decidedly more polite atmosphere is prevailing in Caracas, along with hints that the diametrically opposed factions might be ready to compromise.

“It’s like with religion. You need to respect the beliefs of others,” said Maricela Torres-Smith, co-owner of the bookshop that has joined a trend among private businesses trying to take the vitriol out of the country’s protracted political standoff.

Read Books witnessed a couple of shouting matches among customers last year, when a largely oppositional clientele laid into well-known Chavistas -- those aligned with the president -- who stopped by to read and relax over cafe con leche.

“We are very close to the PDVSA, and we’ve had people from both sides come in for coffee after demonstrations or to use the restroom to wash off tear gas,” said shop employee Sonsoles Machado, referring to the nearby building housing officials of the state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela. “This is a business. We want everyone who comes here to feel comfortable, to unplug. We have to learn to leave politics on the side of life, not the center of it.”

The policy of discouraging political debate in public places follows several hair-raising incidents. In the midst of a withering national strike just over a year ago, a plane of the state-run Aeropostal airline had to turn around because passengers, having spotted a prominent government official on board, hounded him by beating metal cutlery against their tray tables and armrests -- an improvised version of the cacerolazo, a popular form of political protest throughout Latin America that involves banging pots and pans.

Around the same time, the general in command of the National Guard was forced to use his cellphone to call for police help when dozens of other diners at the posh Lee Hamilton restaurant surrounded him and his wife and chanted denunciations.

“Our recommendation to members is that they delicately impart to their customers that they shouldn’t talk about politics. We’ve had some very ugly incidents and we want to avoid their recurrence,” said Arturo Dominguez, head of the Caracas Restaurateurs Assn. “We can’t have our restaurants becoming a forum for political confrontation.”

The private sector’s moves to turn down the heat in political confrontation coincide with growing popular support for a compromise to end the crisis, which has cost Venezuelans dearly. The two-month national strike, which began in December 2002, paralyzed the economy, halting oil shipments from one of the world’s leading exporters, cutting gross domestic product by 10% and rattling investors.

“Despite the polarization of the country, there exists an essential point of convergence: our disposition toward reconciliation,” pollster Edmond Saade of the Datos agency told the daily El Universal newspaper last month. His latest survey results indicate that most Chavez supporters and opponents profess eagerness for a compromise.

Chavez opponents have been trying to recall the flamboyant president since shortly after a failed coup in April 2002. They submitted 3.4 million signatures in December to the National Election Council, a board appointed by the Supreme Court and overseen by international democracy watchdogs, including the Carter Center and the Organization of American States. The council waited three weeks before beginning work on verifying the signatures but has promised to announce by Feb. 19 whether they are sufficient. If so, a vote would be held within three months.

But statements by Chavez and his supporters denouncing the recall effort and threatening legal challenges have alarmed opposition leaders.

“I believe there is an attempt being made to manipulate the process,” said Julio Borges, head of the Justice First opposition party, which, like the rest of the anti-Chavez forces, contends that the government is directing the electoral council to drag out the verification process.

Under Venezuela’s 2000 constitution, if a president is recalled with less than two years left in his term, the vice president takes over and no elections are held. That in effect imposes an Aug. 1 deadline if the opposition wants to avoid having Chavez simply replaced by his like-thinking ally, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

Francisco Diez, leading the Carter Center’s monitoring operation of the recall process here, acknowledged that there had been complaints from the opposition but said his observers from the electoral monitoring group, founded by former President Carter, have had access and cooperation from both sides.

One of the five electoral council members, Jorge Rodriguez, dismissed the opposition accusations of stalling.

“They can keep pressuring us all they want, but we are working according to the procedures,” Rodriguez said. If the signatures are valid, the recall could take place as early as May, he said.

Chavez allies accuse opponents of making false charges of council bias to create a face-saving excuse in case too few of the signatures are validated.

“The oppositionists aren’t sure they have all the signatures they need. If they did, they would wait patiently for the council to make its determination,” said Luis Tascon, a lawmaker from Chavez’s Fifth Republic Movement party.

Mounting worries that the deep social chasm will remain regardless of any recall are probably driving the quest for compromise and reconciliation.

“There’s a thawing of the poles,” Vice President Rangel said. “The opposition was damaged by the coup and the oil strike. Most people now realize we can’t carry on in this way.”