Venezuela's new dawn

 



  
BBC correspondent in Caracas

  Venezuelans awoke on Friday to a country transformed by the 
dramatic and violent events of the last 24 hours, which left at 
least 11 people dead and more than 80 injured.

  A general strike and an escalating oil industry stoppage that 
had threatened to cripple the country's economy were no more - 
and the country not only had a new president, business leader 
Pedro Carmona, but a new name.

  The country was no longer the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 
in honour of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, one 
of former president Hugo Chavez's heroes.

  Now it is simply the Republic of Venezuela. The name change was 
Mr Carmona's first act as head of the transition government.

  His second was to announce the end of the three-day general 
strike he had called with the head of the Confederation of 
Venezuelan Workers (CTV) leader Carlos Ortega in support of 
protesting managers from state oil company PDVSA.

  
Shellshocked

  Managers were striking because Mr Chavez had filled the 
company's board of directors with his supporters.

  Despite the announcement, traffic was lighter than a normal 
Friday and many Venezuelans did not turn up for work.

  The country is in shellshock. On Thursday a peaceful rally of 
more than 100,000 mainly middle class Venezuelans had ended in 
bloodshed.

  As marchers called for Mr Chavez's resignation outside 
Miraflores, the presidential palace, shots were fired into the 
crowd. Eyewitness Euridice Ledesma said snipers fired on the 
marchers from rooftops near the palace.

  Film footage also caught armed supporters of Mr Chavez firing 
indiscriminately at the marchers.

  Later army chief, General Efrain Vasquez said some "Bolivarian" 
groups were indeed armed.

  "It was horrible. These groups were shooting at defenceless 
people," said photographer Luis Gomez.

  
Chavez's last day

  At the time, Mr Chavez was addressing the nation to assure them 
his government respected people's right to demonstrate and 
freedom of the press.

  Moments later he announced that he had taken five national 
television channels off the air for "telling lies about the 
government".

  The shootings were the final straw for the military. A 
succession of officers filled the TV screens to say they 
supported the people and that the killings were "not tolerable".

  As tanks surrounded Miraflores, Mr Chavez was holed up with 
senior military officers in a bid to save his presidency.

  In the early hours of the morning, chief of the armed forces 
General Lucas Rincon held a brief news conference to say Mr 
Chavez's resignation had been demanded and accepted.

  Earlier his wife, Marisabel, and children had left Caracas in 
the cover of darkness on a PDVSA jet for Barquisimeto in western 
Venezuela.

  Mr Chavez is currently detained at Fuerte Tiuna army base in 
Caracas and could face possible charges for his role in the 
killings.

  News of Mr Chavez's resignation caused hundreds of flag-waving 
and whistle-blowing Venezuelans to surround the city's air force 
base, La Carlota, in the hope of seeing Mr Chavez' departure 
from the country.

  Mr Chavez's exit has left Venezuela with a power vacuum and no 
obvious long-term leader. The challenge now is to heal the deep 
social divisions that exist within the country.

  "I think people are happy because Chavez has fallen. But there's 
also a feeling of uncertainty about how the country's obvious 
problems are going to be solved," said Ms Ledesma.


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