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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Chavez proves more negative on the Military vote than Gore was |
| 2004-04-06 |
| EFL Presenting himself as responsible for the mistake made by President Hugo Chávez in his Sunday radio-television program about the seriousness of the injuries suffered by a group of soldiers in a fire at a military base in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Communication and Information Minister Jesse Chacón offered to resign his office Monday night. Chacón called a press conference to read a communiqué admitting that his team had given the president wrong information that led him to say in his "Hello, President!" program that the soldiers only had "light injuries." This report, Chacón added, "misrepresented the real state of these injured fellow countrymen, as while some of them were released because their injuries were light, others had burns of a greater consideration. Understanding that the origin of the misinformation is solely within the responsibility of the office under my direction, I have made the decision to offer my resignation to the president at this moment." The final decision is now in the hands of the president, but at the same time Chacón said that his resignation is unchangeable. However, he commented that he will continue being On March 30, eight soldiers suffered severe burns during a fire in a cell of the Fuerte Mara military facility in Zulia state. The authorities of the base said that the fire had been ignited by a cigarette accidentally left on a mattress, but President Chávez’ opponents immediately argued that it had been a retaliation against the young officers for signing a recall petition against him. The families requested a balanced investigation on the case, saying that other soldiers failed to assist the victims during the fire. On Sunday night, hours after Chávez dismissed the opposition’s allegations, saying that the soldiers had "light injuries," one of the soldiers, named Orlando Bustamante, 20, died for profound burns in a military hospital of Caracas. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #1 V Crisis has an essay comparing the Chilean tansition back to democracy with teh current Venezuelan situation. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-06 9:16:24 PM |