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07/28/2004:

"Violence Needed Against Chavez, Venezuela Opposition Leader Says. Dictatorship Must Follow"

by Martin Sanchez venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuelan opposition leader, and two time president Carlos Andres Perez (CAP), made a series of statements calling for violence and hinting at an eventual dictatorial period that the Venezuelan opposition must implement if current President Hugo Chavez is to be removed from office.
 
"I am working to remove Chavez [from power]. Violence will allow us to remove him. That's the only way we have," said CAP in an interview published Sunday in El Nacional, one of Venezuela's main daily newspapers.

CAP, who was speaking from Miami, denied being involved in a plot to assassinate Chávez, but said Chavez "must die like a dog, because he deserves it."

Chavez is facing a recall referendum on his mandate to be held Aug 15. Most polls show him as the winner.

In 1992, while he was a military officer, Chavez led an unsuccessful coup against CAP, who was very unpopular at the time, after implementing an economic policy package mandated by the IMF. CAP was later impeached on corruption charges, while Chavez remained in prison for trying to overthrow a democratically-elected government.

During the interview, CAP hinted at a possible dictatorial period to be implemented in case Chavez is removed from office. "We can't just get rid of Chavez and immediately have a democracy... we will need a transition period of two or three years to lay the foundations for a state where the rule of law prevails… a collegiate body (junta) must govern during that transition and lay the democratic foundations for the future,” CAP said.

"When Chavez falls, we must shut down the National Assembly (Congress) and also the Supreme Court. All the Chavista institutions must disappear," the opposition leader added. full article

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