Venezuelas Maduro Courts Chavez Faithful With Government ShakeUp
"Our Chvez who art in heaven, the earth, the sea and we delegates," began Mara Estrella Uribe, a red-clad supporter of Hugo Chvez at the lectern of a Socialist party convention in Caracas earlier this month."Hallowed be thy name Lead us not into the temptation of capitalism, deliver us from evil and oligarchy.", The latter part of the prayer to the former Venezuelan President was answered just a few days later, when Rafael Ramrez, the country's oil minister minister and vice president responsible for the economy, was sidelined. A longtime lieutenant of Chvez, Ramrez had lately begun pushing to overhaul the struggling Venezuelan economy. In June, on his way back from an Opec meeting in Vienna, he took a detour to London to meet investors. His aim? To re-establish "communication with financial markets." He wanted to refinance the country's debt by tapping the international markets and talked publicly about raising the price of heavily-subsidized gas the government loses out on some 12.5 billion a year to ensure that Venezuelans pay no more than a couple of cents per liter at the pump. But he was pushed aside by Chvez's successor, Nicols Maduro, who, ever since he won a Presidential election last April, has struggled to get a grip on spiraling inflation and shortages of basic goods such as flour and shampoo. The crisis has knocked Maduro's popularityhis approval ratings languish in the mid-thirtiesand even fanned speculation in some quarters about the possibility of a default the government insists it will honor its obligations down to last dollar. Maduro announced Ramrez's departure from the oil portfolio on Sept. 2, moving him to the foreign ministry in a televised speech billed as the great sacudn or shake-up. "We must begin a new stage in the revolution," Maduro said, naming Chvez's cousin, Asdrbal, as the country's new oil chief. Rodolfo Marco Torres, who participated in Hugo Chvez's failed 1992 coup attempt against the then government of President Carlos Andrs Prez, took over as the new vice president for the economy. Ramrez also lost his post as the head of the national oil company. The reshuffle signaled another lurch to the left for Maduro as the souring economy takes its toll on ordinary Venezuelans. Ramrez's move out of oil ministry also underscored the President's main challengemaintaining the support of the thousands of Venezuelans who backed Chvez. The oppositiondivided as it is between a radical flank led by the still-imprisoned Leopoldo Lpez and a more moderate faction spearheaded Henrique Caprilesposes little threat, at least for now. February saw the biggest anti-government protests in Venezuela in over a decade as students took to the streets. But the momentum behind that movement has waned. "The students have other priorities," says Carlos Romero, a Venezuelan political analyst, "to finish their studies, to look for a job or to go abroad.", Maduro's real problem is keeping the left united behind his leadership, a challenge that is apparent in the Caracas slum of 23 de Eneroa well known bastion of the left and the place where Chvez and his co-conspirators planned the 1992 coup attempt. "Things are going from bad to worse," says Winifer Lpez, 20, a nurse who lives in the slum. "I always supported Chvez. He was wonderful for this country. But what on earth made him leave Maduro in charge?", For Romero, the government reshuffle is a signal that "Maduro believes that a radical path would mean he will have more support from Chavistas supporters of the late leader.", "He does not like to be seen as a reformist, rather as a true believer of socialist ideas, of the legacy of Chvez," Romero adds. "In order to maintain his popularity he has to be more radical to project him as a strong leader. That is why he moved Ramrez."