Penitent Chavez returns to power
Triumphant yet chastened, Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez returned to office on the wings of a popular uprising two days after he was ousted in a botched coup, saying he had had time to reflect on his mistakes and was prepared to ‘‘make corrections’’.
‘‘I do not come with hate or rancour in my heart, but we must make decisions and adjust things,’’ Chavez said, moments after landing by helicopter at the presidential palace in Caracas, which was surrounded by tens of thousands cheering his return.
Later Chavez returned to familiar haven - the 42nd parachutist brigade base where he trained as an elite paratrooper. Base commander Gen Raul Baduel rebelled against Chavez’s ousting on Saturday, fuelling popular protests to demand his return.
‘‘Soldiers, all of you. How great you are,’’ Chavez said. ‘‘I will always be with you. I will never go away.’’
Chavez said he had spoken with leaders from Europe, South America and Africa, who had expressed support for him.
Most Venezuelan opposition leaders - who days ago relentlessly crammed the airwaves with criticism of Chavez - stayed out of the spotlight.
Chavez was ousted on Friday by his military high command, which claimed he had resigned under pressure after gunmen opened fire on opposition protesters on Thursday. Sixteen people were reported killed in that demonstration.
Military commanders accused Chavez of ordering the gunmen to shoot at protesters, but the president has said the shooters were plainclothes policemen linked to his opponents. Authorities pledged an investigation into the events that precipitated Chavez’s ousting.
A report released by two local human rights groups, COFAVIC and the Archdiocese of Caracas Human Rights Vicar, said 23 people were killed in protests on Saturday, and accused security forces of being behind most of the killings. Witnesses have said police opened fire on pro-Chavez demonstrators in several poor neighbourhoods of Caracas.
In all, about 40 people are known to have been killed during the upheaval that followed Chavez’s ousting.
Venezuelans were yesterday trying to make sense of the dizzying, bloody sequence of events that led to Chavez’s brief overthrow and stunning return. Never before in modern times has an elected president been overthrown by military commanders, his successor inaugurated, and then the ousted leader returned to power on the wings of a popular uprising.
Pedro Carmona, an economist and business leader, was sworn in as interim president on Friday, only to resign a day later amid widespread street protests, looting and rebellions of several military officers who refused to go along with the plan.
Carmona had angered many by immediately trying to sweep away all vestiges of Chavez’s rule, dissolving Congress and cancelling the Constitution that was approved under his administration. Many Latin American governments said they would not recognise the new regime.
One member of the military high command said Sunday that the armed forces’ deep divide over Chavez would be difficult to mend.
‘‘I admit that there has been a rupture ... and we must repair it in the best way possible,’’ said Gen Belisario Landis, commander of the National Guard.
After returning to the presidential palace, Chavez appealed for calm, and the looting that went on through the night died down.
Looters who sacked commercial districts of poor neighbourhoods left smashed display windows, charred businesses, bloodstained pavements and sorrow in their wake.
One elderly man, his eyes filling with tears, gazed at his shoe store, which was partially damaged by fire.
‘‘I’m sorry, but the pain I feel doesn’t let me talk,’’ he murmured.
Caravans of Chavez supporters sped through the western, poorer side of the city, with passengers chanting, ‘‘He’s back! He’s back!’’ In wealthy eastern neighbourhoods, anti-Chavez protests sprouted - underscoring the class division behind Venezuela’s constant unrest.
The US administration, which showed no remorse when the Venezuelan military ousted the country’s elected president last week, advised Chavez yesterday to make good use of his second chance ‘‘by correcting its course and governing in a fully democratic manner’’.
