• by IPS Correspondents (caracas)
• Friday, December 16, 1994
• Inter Press Service

CARACAS, Dic 16 (IPS) - The Venezuelan government on Thursday protested the state reception given former Commander Hugo Chavez in Havana this week.

Chavez led the Bolivar Revolutionary Movement-200 in an unsuccessful coup attempt against the government of former President Carlos Andres Perez on Feb. 4, 1992.

He began to clandestinely form the group within the army in 1983, and openly entered the political scene when he and the other rebel officers arrested during the coup attempt were released in early 1994.

Chavez is visiting Cuba to participate in a history conference, but was met by Cuban President Fidel Castro at Havana airport on Monday night - an honour normally reserved for Heads of State.

Castro said, "it has been a great opportunity and an honour to receive a visitor like Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez."

According to the Cuban daily "Granma," Chavez responded to the welcome saying it "is an honour we do not deserve as yet. Let's hope that we will deserve it soon."

Photographs of Castro embracing Chavez, and the reported comments sent shock waves through the Venezuelan press, casting doubt on the sincerity of the Cuban leader's message of solidarity with former President Perez shortly after the coup attempt.

During the visit, Castro took the opportunity to criticise the recent Americas Summit hosted by the United States - to which he was not invited - while Chavez openly criticised the Venezuelan government, describing it as "a civilian dictatorship disguised as democracy."

He also criticised Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera's proposal for a continental anti-corruption campaign, saying "Why doesn't he start at home?...if Caldera keeps applying neoliberal policies the same way Perez did, I'm sure he will not serve out his term."

When Caldera began his five-year term in February, he granted amnesty to the leaders of the two 1992 coups, releasing them from prison but removing them from active service.

Several of the officers have placed pressure on Caldera to dissolve the parliament and establish a constituent assembly.

The Venezuelan daily "El Diario" called Castro's action a "settling of scores," after Venezuela's official reception for representatives of the anti-Castro Cuban-American Foundation, based in Miami.

Castro's move may also be linked to Venezuelan Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Burelli's recent comment at a conference in Uruguay that "Castro's regime is the only remaining totalitarian state in Latin America."

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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