The tale sparked by President Hugo Chávez' abrupt decision to expropriate the nearly completed Sambil shopping mall in downtown Caracas gets more convoluted by the day. Freddy Bernal, who was mayor of the Libertador municipality in west Caracas until standing down for the regional elections last November, has jumped into the squabble with a disclosure that could be potentially embarrassing for the powers that be. Bernal, a hitherto prominent figure in Chávez' ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said that the project to build a shopping mall on the site was approved by the municipal authorities 15 years ago.
At the time, the mayor of Libertador was Aristóbulo Istúriz, who went on to become education and sports minister and a big wheel in the machinery of the PSUV in the capital. Istúriz, who originally hailed from the minor pro-Chávez party, Patria Para Todos (PPT) but crossed over to the PSUV without a qualm, was picked to run for city-wide Metropolitan mayor last November but lost to Antonio Ledezma of the opposition. Istúriz held office in Libertador between 1990 and 1993. It was during those years that, according Bernal's version of events, the mall was authorized by the municipal council. Istúriz was succeeded as mayor by Ledezma. The project fell fallow during his tenure, when no such planning permits were issued. At the time, their had been a banking collapse, currency controls and the economy was in the doldrums and the plan for a mall is said to have been abandoned for all intents and purposes.
However, after Ledezma was in turn succeeded by Bernal in 2000, the project was revived for reasons that have yet to become clear. Oil prices were on their way to the lows of decades, and the economy was still in deep trouble, struggling through what would come to be seen as the worst recession on modern record in Venezuela. Plans for the mall were re-submitted to the municipal council, which was then under the control of the PSUV's pro-Chávez predecessor, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR). The MVR majority and its allies on the council voted that the project should go ahead – again, that's according to Bernal's statements.
In a classic case of "Not me, guv," Bernal emphasized that it wasn't him but the council in session that revived the project. That said, he insisted that "the procedure was legal." Bernal's line today is that it's not the legality of the mall that's in question, but to what purpose it should be put. That issue, he explained, was now in the hands of Jorge Rodríguez, who was elected as Libertador mayor on the PSUV ticket in November.
If Istúriz is a significant element in the entrails of the top echelon at the PSUV, then so, too, is Rodríguez. Time was when he was a director at the National Electoral Council (CNE), where he came to be seen as the center of an alleged pro-Chávez faction on the board. Rodriguéz duly went on to become head of the CNE, amid mounting suspicions about its neutrality as a supposedly impartial arbitrator and supervisor of electoral matters.
The next move up for Rodríguez was when he was picked by Chávez as vice president of the country. In Venezuela, vice presidents are not elected on the same ticket and for the same mandate as the president; they're personally appointed by the president and stay in office for as long as he or she decides. Rodríguez didn't last all that long as vice president – but, then, none of the others have, either – although he was on board long enough to became a key figure at the top of the PSUV. Had Rodríguez lost the election for mayor of Libertador, that might have eclipsed his political star, although some other PSUV big losers have been given top jobs in the government.
As things stand, Rodríguez is the only pro-Chávez mayor left in Caracas after a near-whitewash in which the opposition gained control of four of the five municipalities in the capital, having previously controlled three. Rodríguez and the combative Bernal are said not to get on. Bernal is under suspicion of trying to put Rodríguez on the spot, not least by limiting his chances of explaining away just why the mall has to be taken over. "He will decide," Bernal said of Rodríguez.
What to do with and about the mall is arguably the least of Rodríguez' worries. Running Libertador is one of if not the most difficult jobs in Venezuelan politics. It's where the Third World really begins in Venezuela. Large swathes of the municipality are made up of poor barrios that aren't much better than shantytowns without running water or proper sewage. Electricity is stolen off the grid as much as actually paid for. Unsurprisingly, it's also notoriously prone to crime and violence.
As to Bernal, his political prospects seem to be shrouded in a degree of uncertainty. Unable to run for a third consecutive terms as mayor of Libertador – assuming he hadn't had enough of the job – he aspired to stand for governor of Táchira state in west Venezuela. In the end, he didn't get the nomination but instead got a job in the local hierarchy of the PSUV. Had he been the candidate, it might not have done him any good, anyway, as the state narrowly opted for César Pérez Vivas of the opposition Social Christian party, Copei.
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