Venezuelan Mess

I'm back home from the fun of the ballpark (where UH totally dominated hapless Memphis) and found this distressing news item.

This is terrible news. Essentially, what this means is the military either didn't have effective control of Venezuela when they installed Carmona (who was an excellent choice as interim ruler), the military has lost effective popular control of the nation in the short time since it assumed power, or the military (and nation) are split.

This doesn't look good at all (about the best assessment I can muster after beer at the ballpark followed by margaritas). Worse case scenario: Venezuela may well be on the brink of civil war, or at least a significant power struggle between pro-Chavez and anti-Chavez factions. And the military may not be at all unified.

Meanwhile, while such important events are transpiring in our own hemisphere, the American Secretary of State is feverishly working to meet with a known terrorist who wishes Israel not to exist. Very nice. It's good to see American priorities are in order.

Seriously, this is a really bad development in Venezuela.

(04-14-02 Update) Chavez is back, which isn't very good news in itself, but at least isn't the worst case scenario I laid out last night. What a short-lived coup! It's almost reminiscent of the coup a few years ago in Ecuador, when the president was deposed, the world refused to recognize the interim government, and in short order the army had allowed the vice-president to "assume" power. Very strange. Have we reached a point in time where regime change via the military has become almost untenable? Even when said regime change might be beneficial?

[Posted at 00:04 CST on 04/14/02] [Link]