The same Oscar Pérez?

I believe it is.

El Universal: Oscar Perez, the street actions coordinator of the Coordinadora Democratica (CD), has announced that the opposition coalition would stage motorcades and protests against the "fraud" that he continues to allege was committed during the presidential recall referendum.

VHeadline article

I didn't catch the name of the party Oscar Pérez (who gave a talk to a Global Exchange tour I was with in Caracas last April) said he was with, but I am going to guess that it was CD. In my report on the trip, I recounted from the notes I took what opposition member Oscar Perez told us:

An interesting point that gets missed in the claims and counterclaims is that even if there are enough signatures to get a recall vote, Chávez has to lose by more votes than he won the election by. And that is almost certainly not possible, which even Mr. Pérez admits.

Just like any other political whore, eh?

Understand that the opposition could be working on a platform and on grooming an opposing candidate for the national elections that come up in 2006, instead of wasting time, energy, and money fighting the results of the audited and verified recall they just put the country through hell to have. Apparently, they have some other agenda besides actually participating in democracy.

Apologies to both Oscar Pérezes, if they are two different men. Can any of my tour companions verify or clarify?

Update 1:30 pm: I tried to find a picture of Mr. Pérez on the internet, but had no luck. Thinking maybe VHeadline.com (publisher of the article above) might have one, I wrote to find out. They didn't have an archived photo, but offered to try to find something. Still, this was an interesting reply (my message in blue, response in red):

I am trying to determine if this is the same man who gave a talk to a group of people I was with on a Global Exchange tour in Caracas this past April. I think it might well be, but I am not certain. I don’t speak Spanish, and I was trying to take notes through an interpreter and missed the man’s party affiliations, although I do believe he gave them in his introduction. I would recognize him if I saw a picture, but I am having no luck finding an internet photo. This is the only identifying information I have in my notes, and which I set out in a report (http://www.missouri.edu/~quinnl/MVR/report.html) about the tour:

What I did understand was that he is a former attorney who works with a coalition of about 40 non-governmental organizations and parties that support the Opposition.

… Mr. Pérez claimed that he has been kidnapped twice and his house broken into two times. He didn't explain, but the implication was that Chávez is responsible.

Not likely! He may have been investigated by the Venezuelan FBI since his name crops up several time in relation to extra-judicial police killings in the neighborhood of Valencia (an opposition rebel stronghold)

And another interesting note: sitting in the back of the small hotel conference room where only the Global Exchange group of about 20 people were in attendance for this private speaking session, were two "assistants", recognized by one of the Venezuelan tour guides as plainclothes Metropolitan Police.

The Metropolitan Police is governed by Caracas Metro Mayor Alfredo Pena who is a volatile opponent of President Chavez -- he is in direct rebellion against the government strange as this may appear to foreign ears.

My, my. Mr. Pérez appeared so respectable at the talk he gave! And expensively clothed.

When I can verify whether this is the same Oscar Pérez, I'll add an update here, and a new post.

Update 1:45 pm: Boy! Those folks at VHeadline.com are on the ball. They sent me a link to this picture of Pérez, which shows him as an assemblyman. I thought I would recognize him immediately from a picture, but I find that I can't be certain. I believe this is the same person who talked to us, as I think the man was in the National Assembly, but since I didn't make a note in my report that he was, I can't be certain of that, either. I don't want to rely on my memory to accuse a man of something he didn't say. So, next stop: e-mailing the Venezolanos who translated for us in Caracas to see if this is in fact the same Oscar Pérez.



Yes, I know. This is more important to me than it is to you.

Update 08/23/04: I dug out my handwritten notes from the trip to Venezuela in April, and together with the information provided from VHeadline.com, I have determined that the Oscar Pérez of their article and the one we talked to are indeed the same person. I had made a note at the time of his talk (which I left out of my report) that he was a deputy in "parliament" (we had a British translator), and Roy S. Carson, editor at VHeadline.com has told me that there is only one Oscar Pérez in the National Assembly.

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