Of Submarines and Loose Screws: A Chávez Ally Jumps the Divider

On November 5^th, retired general Raúl Baduel
shocked many in Venezuela and abroad by delivering a prepared statement
condemning the proposed constitutional reform and urging a "NO" vote on
December 2^nd. The shock felt by many and the outrage by some is no
doubt the result of such a high-level defection: until July, Baduel had served
as Venezuela's
defense minister. But this position in and of itself fails to express the mythical
status that Raúl Baduel had garnered among Chavistas in recent years. To grasp
both the popular shock at Baduel's defection and its inevitability, we need to
look more closely into a history spanning nearly three decades.

Operation Restore National
Dignity 

Alongside Chávez, Baduel was a founding member of the Revolutionary
Bolivarian Movement (MBR-200), a clandestine grouping that formed in the early
1980s within the Venezuelan Armed Forces. This group of conspiratorial
idealists was rooted in the parachute regiment at Maracay,
a stiflingly hot city of a million some two hours west of Caracas,
from where they began to chart an escape from the corruption and repression of
the late Fourth Republic. Together, they swore a
Bolivarian oath under the historic Samán de Güere, a massive tree under which Simón Bolívar is said to have rested.

But when it came time to act, Baduel himself was notably
absent. In an interview, he told Marta Harnecker that he chose to sit out the
1992 coup attempts because he considered them premature. While Baduel has been
often criticized for this decision, he wasn't entirely wrong: the coup itself,
however necessary for what followed, was indeed premature and poorly organized.
But other aspects of Baduel's concerns prior to the 1992 coup stand out. "What
will happen to the military structure?" Baduel recalls asking himself, "What
are we going to do with those with a higher rank than us? They can't be
subordinated to us… because a fundamental
element of military life is verticalism." Baduel, in this 2002 interview,
even prophetically jokes about having felt like Eden Pastora, the Sandinista "Commander
Zero"-turned-Contra who "was not loved by either side, because some said he had
betrayed them and others that he had infiltrated them."

Sitting out the 1992 coups did not spell the end of Baduel's
relationship with the MBR-200. He would maintain contact with the imprisoned
leaders and support Chávez's eventual bid for political power in the 1998
election, and in 1999, Baduel was named commander of the 42^nd
Parachute Infantry Brigade, Chávez's own regiment in times past. While his
reticence to participate in the 1992 coup had cast a long shadow over Baduel's
revolutionary credentials, his mythical status would be cemented a decade
later, when he nearly single-handedly spearheaded the military response to the
April 2002 coup against Chávez.

Why did Baduel, for whom a respect for the military
hierarchy had prevented action in 1992, choose to break with that very
hierarchy a decade later when it had turned against Chávez? Because by then another
crucial element had intervened: the new 1999 Constitution. In 1992, the
conspirators were all clear that, in Baduel's own words, "the ruling class
wielded the existing Constitution, but applied it according to their own
interests." In 2002, on the other hand, the coup-plotters and the military
hierarchy (but crucially, not the middle ranks) had moved against the new
"Bolivarian" Constitution. Confronted with a conflict between his two primary values,
loyalty to military structure and loyalty to the Constitution, Baduel finally
decided to act. He declared the 42^nd Brigade in open rebellion
against the illegitimate interim government of Pedro Carmona Estanga and
initiated "Operation Restore National Dignity," thereby providing the spark
that allowed the majority of loyal officers to turn against the coup. This
loyalty to the Constitution was repaid: within two years, Baduel would be named
Army Commander, before becoming Defense Minister in 2006.

Two Visions of the Military                          

In the aftermath of the failed coup and Chávez's return to
power, Baduel would come to represent the quintessence of loyalty and
moderation in the popular imaginary. It was not until he passed into retirement
in July 2007 that the public was given any glimpse of potential discord between
this hero of "April 13^th" and the direction of the revolutionary
process. Baduel took the opportunity of his retirement speech to urge caution
when it came to Chávez's proposed project of "21^st Century
Socialism." He praised socialism as a concept, but warned against its state
capitalist manifestations: "Our socialism must be profoundly democratic," he
counseled, one focused on the redistribution of wealth and the correction of
inequalities. Further, he distanced himself from the view that "the division of
powers is merely an instrument of bourgeois domination," arguing that such
division, generally associated with liberal constitutionalism, remains
essential.

But Baduel wasn't the only general to retire last July: he
was joined on the stage by Alberto Müller Rojas. But while Baduel waited until
retirement to court controversy, Müller was retired in an effort to silence it.
Earlier in the year, Müller, a member of the commission responsible for founding
the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), had spurned existing law by
joining the PSUV while on active military duty. Military neutrality, Müller
argued, is a myth, and one which stands alongside professionalism as twin
pillars of reactionary military organization. Advocating a recognition of the
inherently political role of the military alongside the development of a
broad-based and popular militia structure to offset military hierarchy, Müller
urged that the current process of constitutional reform be used to clear the
way for this new vision. 

Müller was promptly assailed by moderate Chavistas, who
accused him of giving in to opposition claims of military politicization. What
happened next offers a window into the shadowy corridors of Venezuelan power:
Chávez joined in the attack on Müller, insisting on the apolitical and
professional nature of the Venezuelan military, and the impertinent general was
duly ostracized from the president's inner circle for daring to suggest the
sort of militia structure that Chávez and so many other Venezuelan officials
had proposed in the past. Clearly, a message was being sent to the military
hierarchy. And that message was to momentarily divert attention away from the
question of military politicization. This became clear when Chávez's
constitutional reform proposal was released, which conformed almost
point-for-point with Müller's arguments. If approved in the December
referendum, the reformed Article 328 will mean that the military will no longer
be an explicitly "apolitical" institution, but would instead be characterized
as "patriotic, popular, and anti-imperialist." Moreover, Article 329 would
convert the existing reserve into a more institutionally powerful force
referred to as the "Bolivarian Popular Militias."

But the intrigue didn't end with the story of Müller's ironic
ostracism. Shortly after the reform proposal was released, Chávez announced
that, after consultations with the military high command, the new militia force
would be known as the "Bolivarian National Militias," rather than "Popular"
ones. What is more interesting than this seemingly-minor semantic change is the
(presumably powerful) political pressure that must have intervened to make such
a change. 

Jumping the Divider

While Müller Rojas wasted no time in courting controversy,
Baduel's day in the spotlight wouldn't come until November 5^th, less
than a month before the scheduled constitutional reform referendum. On November
4^th, Chávez had warned that someone might soon be "saltando la talanquera," or "jumping the
divider" between Chavismo and the opposition. Such a statement wouldn't be
surprising to anyone who has observed the recent controversies over the
formation of the PSUV, which saw one of the larger members of the Chavista coalition,
the social democratic PODEMOS party, essentially expelled to the no-man's land
between Chavismo and the opposition. But the fact that Chávez offered an
explicit warning may have indicated to some that something serious was afoot. 

The next day, Baduel appeared at a press conference from
which state-run Venezolana de Televisión was notably excluded. What he said stunned
millions, for whom he had come to represent the epitome of loyalty. In his own
words, Baduel (a self-professed Taoist) had "taken some time to reflect and
meditate" on the course of the country. His conclusion: that the 1999
Constitution is sufficient. Far from being a fetter to the revolutionary
process, Baduel argues, the Constitution has yet to enter fully into force. The
document, he argues, "does not in any way impede the exercise of a socialist
government, with high levels of inclusion and broad social content." But what
socialism does Baduel endorse? This he doesn't say. But when he suggests that
the word could be applied to anything from the Cambodian Khmer Rouge to Nordic
social democracy (which he revealingly deems "socialism"), it is clear where
his loyalties lie.

Echoing his retirement speech, Baduel reiterated his
devotion to liberal constitutionalism: "constitutions should limit and control
power… and a constitution that deregulates and removes limits from power should
be seen with suspicion." Constitutions, in short, have a fundamentally negative role: they limit power rather
than em-powering. This liberal
constitutionalism dovetails nicely with Baduel's liberal socialism: having
achieved a division of powers and mild redistribution of wealth, no further
action is necessary. Any efforts to radicalize the process by undermining the
division of powers becomes for Baduel a "usurpation," and he claims that, if
approved, the current constitutional reform proposal "would consummate, in
practice, a coup d'état, shamefully violating the text of the constitution." 

Notably, Baduel calls on the Armed Forces to "profoundly
analyze the proposed text," and implores the population as a whole to use "the
only legal and democratic weapon we have left," the "NO" vote on December 2^nd.
But for our purposes, what is most interesting is Baduel's departure from his
own script. When it came time for him to call on the Armed Forces, Baduel
entered into a long excursus on the nature of the military, in which he read in
full the current definition of the military as an apolitical and professional institution.
While the military question was relatively absent from the rest of his speech,
this unscripted addendum leaves little doubt both as to Baduel's motivations
and his relationship to the Müller controversy. Not only does the reform
undermine liberal constitutionalism, but it also threatens military professionalism.
We would be justified in wondering if it was Baduel himself who, for the sake
of his vaunted "verticalism," intervened previously to force out Müller and to pressure
Chávez to change the proposed name of the Bolivarian militias.

The Bends 

Perhaps unsurprisingly given Baduel's celebrated status, the
response by Chavistas to his declarations has been a deafening outpouring of
rage. Chávez has claimed that Baduel is "betraying himself" and betraying their
1982 Bolivarian oath under the Saman de
Güere. The President, we should recall, is by this point no stranger to high-level
defections. "When a submarine gets deeper the pressure increases," he reminds
us, "a loose screw can pop out." This metaphor resonates with the entire
history of the process: as the Bolivarian submarine has plumbed new depths, a
variety of such screws have wiggled their way out. Most notably, several
longtime allies like 1992 coup veteran Francisco Arias Cárdenas and longtime
Chávez political advisor Luis Miquilena jumped ship for the opposition in 2000
and 2002, respectively (Arias Cárdenas, bizarrely, would return to the Chavista
ranks after running against Chávez in presidential elections). But according to
most, this has been good for the process, overcoming inertial tendencies,
strengthening Chavista identity, and allowing the revolution to forge radical
new paths. 

Many have echoed the claims of treason, and some, like Mario
Silva of La Hojilla, have pointed out
that Baduel had openly endorsed even the most controversial elements of the
proposed constitutional reform until only two weeks earlier. Even some more
heterodox members of the Chavista coalition like the Patria Para Todos
(Homeland for All) party have taken aim at the fallen hero. Some claim that
Baduel is bitter over his forced retirement, or at not being named head of the
state oil company PDVSA. Some cite rumors that Baduel will be seeking election
as head of his home state of Aragua.

While pillorying the retired general's treason, however, Vice
President Jorge Rodríguez did give him credit for channeling his discontent
through democratic means by urging voters to participate in the reform
referendum. But Müller doesn't view things this way: a close examination of
Baduel's claims, he argues, shows a more sinister aim. Baduel's accusation of
usurpation, for Müller, is a very precise call for rebellion against the
government. That is, by accusing the government of a coup, he is in fact
justifying the same. Baduel's position, then, becomes doubly ironic: if Müller
is correct, this will be the second
time that Baduel will have encouraged but not himself participated in an
attempted coup. He will be the golpista
menos golpista in Venezuelan history. 

But the most intriguing and revealing part of this long saga
wouldn't be played out until Müller Rojas was invited on the VTV evening
program Contragolpe (which coincidentally
could translate as Counterpunch).
Müller had been invited on to give his opinion on the Baduel affair, and
proceeded to explain that he had never considered Baduel was a committed
revolutionary. Indeed, in the past, Müller has criticized Baduel's policies
while serving as defense minister, policies which, according to Müller,
hindered the government's military-civilian integration. The show then received
a call from Chávez himself, who had not spoken to Müller publicly since their
acrimonious falling-out in July. He publicly thanked the retired general for
the sharp and incisive advice he had always offered, and insisted that he would
be in touch in the near future. This was a public apology, and a recognition
that Baduel's more conservative opposition had come between the president and
Müller's proposed radicalization of the military.

Error or Treason? 

Some, however, have refused to accuse Baduel of treason:
Luis Tascón, a National Assembly deputy from Táchira state who tends toward the
radical wing of the government, recently claimed that Baduel isn't a traitor.
According to Tascón, Baduel mustn't be attacked on moral grounds, but only
political ones. "I don't support Baduel," Tascón later clarified, "What I said
was that Baduel is my friend, I respect him, I appreciate what he did, but I
think he is wrong, totally wrong." Tascón chose his words carefully, but
evidently not carefully enough: he was promptly expelled by the disciplinary
committee of the nascent PSUV for his declarations.[1]

Raúl Baduel is two things: he is a loyal soldier and a rigid
constitutionalist. Nothing can take that away from him. But loyalty to military
hierarchy and the constitution doesn't necessarily (or even frequently) make
one a revolutionary. His support for the 1999 Constitution, the same support
which spurred him to action in 2002, has put him at odds with a new round of
constitutional reforms. But this opposition is fundamentally rooted in Baduel's
own liberal constitutionalism, military traditionalism, and social-democratic
temper: the Revolution, he is saying, has gone far enough, and it is here that
he comes into conflict with the very constituent power he claims to be
shielding from "usurpation." When he claims that the executive and legislative
branches the constituent power of the people, we are left wondering where
exactly that power resides. The only answer, for Baduel, can be division: he
cannot conceive the constituent as an indivisible Rousseauean "General Will,"
but only as a system of liberal checks and balances. This, however, has never
been the Bolivarian project. As one commentator on the webzine Aporrea.org puts it: "Only one question,
Baduel my friend: did you not realize what was going on during the past eight
years?" 

This isn't to say that there is no cause for concern in the
current constitutional reform proposal, or even that the division of powers is
to be so readily dispensed with. Despite the many positive elements of the
proposal, there are nevertheless disagreements to be had. But Raúl Baduel's
departure from the revolutionary ranks is rooted in much deeper divergences
that made this moment, painful for many who had come to respect his loyalty, more
or less inevitable. His views on "socialism," the military, and the
Constitution, are not those of the government, and nor does he seem to care if
they reflect the desires of the people. Even if the Venezuelans approve the
reform come December, as it seems they will, this will still be a "coup"
against the Constitution in Baduel's eyes. 

George
Ciccariello-Maher is a Ph.D. candidate in political theory at U.C. Berkeley. He
can be reached at gjcm(at)berkeley.edu.

[1] Venezuelanalysis.com
editor's note: Exactly whether this expulsion has happened is in dispute. While
Tascón says he has been expelled, the discipline commission says it has not had
a meeting on the matter.