MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez hikes military pay and calls for unity

A uniformed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for unity among the country's military to advance with his so-called “Bolivarian Revolution”.
“We're going to celebrate with our morale high, united, making history, the new history, the new homeland: the Bolivarian Revolution” said Mr. Chavez during a parade in a military compound close to Caracas.

After reviewing hundreds of soldiers and giving several commands, the former paratrooper added in a brief speech that "we are always steady when facing history (and) our people, and when facing the world defending - ever united - the dignity of the homeland". He he went on to announce that soldiers pay would be hiked effective next July 1 between 50 and 60%.

The occasion was the celebration of Army Day which coincides with the 184th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, when Venezuela finally secured its independence from Spain. However the big national celebration until now had been commemorated with a large military display in Carabobos, 100 kilometers west of Caracas.

But this year claiming alleged plans by desperate opposition members to "assassinate him", President Chavez decided to hold the parade in the country's capital.

A week ago in Paraguay during a regional presidential summit Mr. Chavez said that "mad sectors" based in Miami wanted to finish him and "crush the Bolivarian Revolution". The opposition replied that Mr. Chavez's claims are nothing but a smokescreen to distract attention from the country's real problems, among which are complaints of corruption and human rights violations by the military and police, some of which have been acknowledged even by the president.

An anti-Chavez group said that the Army Day celebration would be attended by Cuban president Fidel Castro, but President Chavez claimed that the graduating officers of the general staff course had decided to name the Cuban leader as the symbolic "godfather" of their promotion. The only foreign military officers present at the Army Day ceremony were from Argentina, reported the Caracas press.