With Ch谩vez gone, what do his young opponents want now?
| Caracas, Venezuela
Weeks before Hugo Ch谩vez died, while he was holed up in a Cuban hospital with details of his condition unknown to the public, youth protesters chained themselves together in front of Cuba鈥檚 embassy here, demanding answers.
鈥淭he people deserved to know what was happening,鈥� says Vanessa Eisig, a 21-year-old communications student who participated in the February protest. 鈥淲e thought we could raise attention by doing it in front of the Cuban embassy.鈥�
Two days later, the government released photos showing Ch谩vez聽sitting up in his hospital bed, flanked by his two daughters and reading the Cuban daily Granma. The public would not see Ch谩vez, who died Tuesday, again until his body was displayed at a Caracas military academy.
Whether or not the protests helped push the government to release the photo (some have suggested the influence they exerted was minimal), the demonstrations underscored the important role youth play in Venezuela鈥檚 beleaguered opposition. The groups are filled with young people raised in a Venezuela in which Ch谩vez聽was the defining figure. Many came from families who fled the country or whose businesses or lands were expropriated as part of Ch谩vez's聽so-called 21st-century socialist revolution.聽
鈥淭hese are the sons and daughters of the opposition,鈥� says Miguel Tinker Salas, a Venezuelan-American professor at Pomona College in California who largely defends Ch谩vez's聽record. 鈥淭hey are not the typical Latin American student movement.鈥�
'We just want freedom'
The youth movements of Latin America鈥檚 yesteryear were largely born in public universities in opposition to right-wing dictatorships. Members of these Venezuelan groups may come from different backgrounds 鈥� graduates of private schools and members of well-off families 鈥� but they say their goal is similar.
鈥淲e just want freedom here,鈥� says Julio Cesar Rivas Castillo, the controversial leader of one of the main youth groups, United Active Youth of Venezuela [known by its Spanish acronym JAVU]. 鈥淲e want economic freedom. We want free elections. We want a聽free press.鈥�
In their push to reform the system, Ch谩vez聽was always enemy No. 1. Even as the president lay on his deathbed earlier this month, the group called a protest.
In the heat of Venezuela鈥檚 summer, they chained themselves together in front of a Supreme Court office in Caracas.
鈥淎ll we want to know is if Ch谩vez can govern. If not, we want new elections,鈥� Gabriel Boscan, 23, a law student, said at the time. 鈥淣ot only the president is sick, the country is sick. There are serious problems that need to be solved: crime, food shortages, and the economy. We can't be without a president for longer."
Their protests were later buttressed by throngs of disenchanted middle-class Venezuelans who marched in the street last Sunday.
Two days later, the government announced Ch谩vez's聽death.
鈥淣obody in Venezuela believes Ch谩vez聽died when they said he died,鈥� Mr. Rivas says. 鈥淚 think the demonstrations put pressure on them to come out and say it.鈥�
A youth praised and vilified
To his supporters, Rivas is a courageous youth leader willing to use whatever passive methods he can to challenge a repressive Venezuelan government.
The government and Ch谩vistas, however, think he鈥檚 a violent militant, a CIA operative, and a pawn of the US in its attempt to discredit and even overthrow the Ch谩vez聽 government.
At the age of 25, Rivas has been arrested, imprisoned, gone through multiple hunger strikes, vilified, and praised.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a warrant for my arrest now,鈥� he tells the Monitor during an interview conducted while driving in his black SUV through backstreets of upscale Caracas neighborhoods. 鈥淚鈥檝e had to move to a different location out of the city for a while.鈥�
Rivas was a preschooler when Ch谩vez聽led an unsuccessful coup d鈥櫭﹖at in 1992. 鈥淲hat I remember from Ch谩vez聽was violence, 鈥� death in the streets,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat was my first memory of him.鈥� That was my formation.鈥�
Rivas was a teenager when he says the Ch谩vez聽government expropriated his father鈥檚 plastics business, forcing his family to flee to the US, where they live today.
Only 15 when his family left, Rivas stayed behind in Venezuela, alone. He put himself through school and then university. Last year, he won a legislative seat in the state of Carabobo, an opposition stronghold.
He helped found JAVU in 2007, the year that Ch谩vez聽proposed a constitutional referendum. University student protests helped defeat the referendum, handing Ch谩vez聽a stinging loss.
Two years later, when Ch谩vez聽successfully reformed the constitution to abolish term limits, Rivas was arrested and thrown in jail for three weeks. The government said he was trying to set off a civil war.
Internet chat forums filled with speculation about Rivas, suggesting he might be funded by the CIA or by USAID. He was released from jail after going on a hunger strike.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 receive any funding from anyone outside,鈥� Rivas says. Venezuelans in exile in the United States did help the group organize initially, but Rivas says that it鈥檚 Venezuelan civil society that keeps them afloat now.
Will influence endure?
While the group has been a lightning rod for criticism in the past, it is unclear how influential they can be in a post-Ch谩vez聽Venezuela.
鈥淭hey think they鈥檙e more important than they are,鈥� says an organizer for a youth movement that supports Ch谩vez's聽socialist party who said he could only speak anonymously due to the group鈥檚 rules. 鈥淭hey are on the margins.鈥�
The country鈥檚 elections commission on Saturday set the election to replace Ch谩vez聽for April 14. Interim President Nicolas Maduro, whom Ch谩vez聽chose as his successor, will likely face Henrique Capriles Radonski.
Ch谩vez聽beat Capriles, governor of Miranda state, by 11 percentage points in last year鈥檚 presidential elections.聽
Rivas says the youth groups have 鈥渁 line of contact鈥� with Capriles, whom they support. But the group will not be campaigning for him.
Instead, Rivas says they will be calling for a change to the election system, including overhauling a process he says gives an unfair advantage to the socialist party by providing real-time information about who is voting.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to change the system,鈥� he says, 鈥渘ot win an election.鈥� 聽
* Andrew Rosati contributed from Caracas.
