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Area Venezuelans Gather In Protest Of Hugo Chavez

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By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO and DAYSI AMAYA-DANKER

The Tampa Tribune Centro Mi Diario

Published: April 12, 2008

TAMPA - On the sixth anniversary of a Venezuelan coup that briefly removed President Hugo Chavez from power, Chavez opponents across the Bay area protested the controversial leader Friday.

Mobilized by a Facebook alert, Lucia Pineda and her mother, Maria, came from Clearwater. They held aloft a sign portraying Chavez with devilish horns.

"I don't agree with Chavez. I think he's having a negative influence on a lot of countries," said Maria Pineda, 47, who left Venezuela with her children seven months ago. She said she once worked for the National Assembly of Venezuela but was forced out by threats from the Chavez regime.

She and her daughter held the sign up for motorists at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Himes Avenue. It read, in Spanish: "Castro-Chavez: Diabolical Duo."

Venezuelans who left the country long before Chavez first was elected in 1998 came to protest. An organizer of the Tampa event, Norma Camero Reno, has lived in the Tampa area for 22 years. Similar protests were held in cities across the country.

"On April 11, 2002, President Chavez was removed from power only to return 48 hours later. Those were 48 hours of joy and 48 hours of sorrow," Camero Reno said to the group of about 50 demonstrators.

"Today, we're telling Chavez that we don't want him any more as president, thanks for your service, that it wasn't worth a thing, and that now your time is running out."

A 2006 Census Bureau survey estimated 2,653 Venezuelan natives were living in Hillsborough County and 697 in Pinellas. Venezuelans had support Friday from the area's larger Hispanic groups: mostly Cubans, Colombians and Puerto Ricans.

Victor Gutierrez, 69, came to show solidarity. He left Cuba in 1967, after eight years under the Castro regime.

He fears more of the same as Chavez pushes Venezuela toward socialism. Chavez announced Wednesday that he would nationalize the country's largest steelmaker. Last week, it was the cement industry. He's also nationalized Venezuela's largest telecommunications and power companies, and took control of major oil projects.

"I know what it's like," Gutierrez said. "The system ruins everything. There's no food. No freedom of the press. No freedom of anything. Now, there's a lot of Venezuelans coming here because of the way the system is there."

Maria Asuncion Lopez Jimeno of Tampa was born in Puerto Rico. She supports the Venezuelan protesters' cause because she fears Chavez's influence is spreading across Latin America.

"Eventually, this affects everyone, because censorship is spreading," said Lopez Jimeno, who said she supports freedom of speech for the anti-Chavez protesters and for those who support Chavez as well.

"Humanity has come too far to accept these types of restrictions. They have no place."

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or kbranch-brioso@tampatrib .com.

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