User: morefacts

Re:I wonder how long...

On: Venezula Producing Its Own Linux PCs

Also take a look at other articulate and well-researched critiques of Chavez at Caracas Chronicles Reader's Guide to Venezuela at: http://caracaschronicles.blogspot.com/2005/10/read ers-guide-to-venezuela-in-chavez.html

A particularly interesting piece details an alternative version of the April 2002 events. It outlines the significance of the Plan Avila, a form of martial law that Chavez intended to impose during the crisis, and the refusal of his military command to institute the plan.

Excerpts:

"Not surprisingly, the order to activate Plan Avila set off alarm bells in the military establishment. If the plan had been controversial in 1989, when it was deployed to control violent looting by armed groups of people, its application against a huge political march made up largely of unarmed civilians threatened a Tiananmen Square style political massacre... To their unending credit, the two key military officers at the top of the Plan Avila chain of command simply refused to follow the president's orders. As confirmed by the subsequent hearings in the National Assembly, this is the key decision that set off the chain of events that weekend." http://caracaschronicles.blogspot.com/2004/04/unto ld-story-of-venezuelas-2002-april.html