page 7 | Analysis:
page 8 | Opinion
Anti-Chavez opposition burns primary election results, violate laws
Roger Noriega’s false rumorville and obsession with President Chavez
Friday | March 23, 2012 | Nº 102 | Caracas
Women celebrate advances Thousands of Venezuelan women celebrated International Women’s Day last March 8, with a massive march and rally in the capital, Caracas. Women’s collectives and grassroots movements applauded advances made for women’s rights during the 13 years of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Chavez government. Social programs to aid low income women, single mothers and women’s businesses have been priorities of the Chavez administration. | page 4
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
“Cancer won’t beat me”, says Venezuela’s Chavez Thousands rallied outside the presidential palace in Caracas to welcome the Venezuelan President home after successful cancer surgery in Cuba Over the past week, thousands of youth, women’s organizations and other grassroots movements held rallies nationwide to demonstrate support for President Hugo Chavez, who underwent surgery to remove a second cancerous tumor in February. The Venezuelan head of state has been recovering quite well from this second, unexpected, medical intervention, and plans to begin radiation therapy over the next few days as part of the ongoing treatment to prevent cancer spread. So far, medical reports show the cancer was confined to his pelvic region and has not reached any organs or other parts of his body. Chavez has been enthusiastic, optimistic and energized in recent televised appearances. | page 3
Economy
Thousands visit book fair Venezuela’s much anticipated International Book Fair is a hit again this year. | page 3
Justice for workers A new labor law drafted by the workers, for the workers.| page 3 Politics
Opposition turns violent Anti-Chavez groups are growing desperate as Chavez gains popularity.| page 6
Inflation in Venezuela hits record low T/ Ewan Robertson
enezuela’s monthly rate of inflation as measured by the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) was 1.1% in February this year, the lowest since the current system of measuring inflation with national coverage began at the start of 2008. The Venezuelan government argues that poli-
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cies to meet social needs and boost domestic production are a key factor behind the new figures. The statistics, reported by Venezuela’s Central Bank (BCV) on Wednesday this week, confirm that inflation has been decreasing for three months in a row, recorded at 1.8% in December 2011 and 1.5% in January 2012.
The annualized rate of inflation has also decreased, calculated at 25.3% from February 2011 – January 2012, compared with 28.7% the previous year. Partly as a result of Venezuela’s dependence on oil exports and imported goods, inflation in Venezuela has traditionally been high, and was 27.6% in 2011. The average annual inflation over the previous decade of President Hugo Chavez’s
Chavez leads polls Four studies conducted by the polling firm International Consulting Services (ICS) on January 26 suggest the Venezuelan electorate clearly favors current President Hugo Chavez, who has 57.2 percent support ahead of the October 7 presidential elections. The information was issued Tuesday by the firm’s director Juan Scorza, during a televised interview. Meanwhile, the polling firm Hinterlaces, which is linked to the opposition, revealed that the level of approval for President Hugo Chavez increased to 66 percent. The firm’s president, Oscar Shemel, said on the South American television network Telesur that 66 percent of Venezuelans consider his performance as “very good,” “good” or “regular to good.” A new poll released earlier this week by Consultores 30.11 found that if presidential elections were to be held next Sunday, 57.5 percent of the population would vote for President Chavez, while 26.6 would vote for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski..
administration is 22.4%. Meanwhile during the neoliberal governments of Carlos Andres Perez (1989-1994) and Rafael Caldera (1994 – 1998) average inflation was 45% and 60% respectively, recalled Giordani. The figures are compiled by the BCV and the National Institute of Statistics by measuring the prices of 400,000 products across thirteen sectors of the economy.
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2 | Impact
The artillery of ideas
NoÊ£äÓÊU Friday, March 23, 2012
President Hugo Chavez returns to Venezuela, vows electoral victory Thousands of government supporters rallied outside the Presidential Palace of Miraflores in Caracas last Saturday to welcome back head of state Hugo Chavez after his return from three weeks of convalescence in Havana, Cuba T/ COI P/ Presidential Press ere I am anew, in permanent return, full of strength and love and with a great desire to live. With the will of God, Christ, and the people I will live. We will live and we will overcome”, the socialist leader said from the People’s Balcony as he addressed the multitudes gathered to express their backing of his presidency. The 57-year old Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on February 26 for a cancerous legion discovered in the same area where a tumor was removed last June. When he arrived back in Venezuela Friday night, he was met by his Executive cabinet at the International Airport Simon Bolivar in Maiquetia and reported to feel in “a process of clear recovery”. According to the President, the operation carried out in Cuba was successfully performed and his medical team has confirmed the lack of metastasis as a result of the new tumor. While details on the recurrence of the cancer have been sparse, Chavez did make mention during the rally last weekend to a new cycle of treatment to begin as soon as the wounds from the operation heal satisfactorily. “Now, in the next few days, I have to begin treatment and radiotherapy to attack any kind of new threat. This [new] cancer won’t be able to beat me either”, he affirmed during the rally on Saturday. Speaking to the crowd, the President of the OPEC nation appeared energized and in good
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spirits as he sang a rendition of a traditional Venezuelan song and danced to the rhythms of folkloric music. “He looks really good and ready to fight for [the presidential elections of] October 7. But we have to tell him to take it easy. It’s the people who need to fight because we’re healthy”, said Rosa Gomez, a social worker present for the rally. ALL EYES ON OCTOBER Accompanied by his daughter Rosa, and key members of his cabinet and reelection campaign command, the President assured those gathered in front of Miraflores and the viewing public that his illness will not prevent his candidacy for a third consecutive 6-year term as head of state. With presidential elections set in the Caribbean nation for October 7, Chavez expressed his total confidence in achieving yet another electoral victory. “The romping that we’re going to give the Venezuelan right is going to be memorable, not only in Venezuelan history but in the history of the entire world”, he exclaimed to his supporters. The former Lieutenant Colonel and head of the 7 million member United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) comment-
ed that the campaign plan for the country’s largest political party will begin to take effect in the coming month. Beginning on April 14 and in commemoration of the failed coup d’etat that attempted to oust the democratically elected president from power in 2002, the electoral apparatus of the
PSUV will begin its national mobilizations to ensure a positive result in October’s contest. According to many polls, Chavez maintains a considerable advantage over his challenger, Henrique Capriles Radonski, governor of the state of Miranda and winner of the opposition’s primaries held on February 12.
One such survey, carried out by the Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis (IVAD) puts Chavez’s support at 56.5 percent of the population while Radonski accounts for less than half of that number at 26.6 percent. Although the gap remains sizeable, Chavez warned his followers of potential opposition destabilization attempts, accusing the right wing of utilizing extra-electoral tactics to discredit the gains of the current government and create fear in the population. “They don’t know how to play clean. There are always some hidden cards and they’ve already begun to use them. This is and will be a difficult battle but we’re going to win it”, he said. As part of this strategy, the head of state cited the campaign of misinformation being promoted by the Venezuelan right with respect to his health and recovery. “This is another one of the false stories that the opposition is spreading, that I’m dying and that I can’t handle the campaign”, he said. In the end, the two-time incumbent urged his backers to stay true to the principles of compassion and equality that have formed the base of Bolivarian Revolution. Chavez reiterated the overall purpose of his 13 years in power, stating that the main goal of his administration has been the advancement of the interests of “those who have suffered and those most in need”. “There are negative feelings and entrenched redoubts of hate in some sectors of the nation which are against the people. In some sectors of the right, it is hate and negativity that rule. We need to neutralize this hate forever with love and positive spirit”, he asserted. During his speech, the Venezuelan President also encouraged party activists and backers to criticize his administration for its faults, but also to maintain loyal to the Revolution and the working classes that it represents. “The streets belong to the people, not the bourgeoisie! The neighborhoods belong to the people. It’s not going to be the bourgeoisie who begins to take over the neighborhoods. The military barracks are also taken by the people and will continue to be in the hands of the people”, he exclaimed.
The artillery of ideas
NoÊ£äÓÊU Friday, March 23, 2012
Economy | 3 |
Venezuela’s annual book fair attracts crowds with affordable texts, cultural activities as Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables have been distributed to the nation’s readers at no cost.
T/ COI P/ Joel Aranguren aking advantage of affordably priced publications and a range of cultural events, more than 230,000 people turned out over the course of 8 days to participate in Venezuela’s 8th annual International Book Fair (Filven) celebrated in the capital of Caracas. The much anticipated event saw the honoring of Venezuelan writer and intellectual Luis Britto Garcia as well the nation of Uruguay which participated in the festial as a special invited guest. Garcia, the author of more than 60 books that include plays, short stories, poetry and novels, spoke of the significance of one of Venezuela’s most important cultural events during its inauguration on March 9. “Filven is a marvelous opportunity not only for people to read my books but also for thousands of citizens to read the books of hundreds and thousands of people that have important things to say”, he declared. Arnaldo Zarate, representative of Jupiter Editorial Group, one of the many publishers on hand for the fair, echoed Garcia’s estimations of the exposition. “A festival of books is always good news and the International Book Fair has become a tradition in the country which permits direct access to many texts”, Zarate affirmed. Organizations from 20 countries were included in the event’s program, which took place in Caracas’ Teresa Carreno Theater and the nearby University for the Arts. As Uruguay was given special recognition at the fair, its writers, such as Mario Benedetti and Eduardo Galeano, were some of the most sought after authors by attendees. “All of Benedetti’s books have been sold out and there’s a great enthusiasm for Uruguayan literature. It’s a big surprise”, said Ezequiel Figueredo, representative of the invited nation. A prolific poet and writer, Mario Benedetti has been lauded
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not only for his literary skill but also for his commitment to social justice, something that led to his exile from Uruguay during the country’s right wing dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. The author of more than 80 books, Benedetti was awarded the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) prize by the Venezuelan government in 2008. He passed away in 2009 at the age of 88. BOOKS TO THE PEOPLE One of the main advantages of Venezuela’s annual book fair
for residents has been the price and selection of texts, which this year were offered at a discount of at least 20 percent. “The Filven is a space that has been created so that everyone can have much easier access to the books that used to be inaccessible”, said Humberto Gonzalez, Director of Venezuela’s National Library during an interview with state television. The discounts offered follow a policy of the current Venezuelan government, which apart from eradicating illiteracy in
the country, has also made a concerted effort to provide reading material to the population at more accessible prices. In order to combat the high costs of books as a result of their importation, the Chavez administration has been promoting domestic publishers and has worked to distribute important texts at reduced rates. Recently, the government was able to offer a two-volume edition of Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote to residents for just over $11 while in the past books such
New labor law encourages greater worker input T/ COI uring a telephone call with state television last Monday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged greater dialogue to take place on the nation’s sweeping new labor law set to be passed by executive decree on International Workers’ Day, May 1. The new labor law has been in the works for more than 8 years and has embarked on a range of issues including the elimination of illegal subcontracting, strengthening of social security and collective bargaining rights as well as a reduction in the workday and
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the retroactivity of certain job-related benefits. A presidential commission was formed last December to push the drafting of the new legislation forward by labor officials and industry representatives working alongside legal experts and members of the nation’s judicial branch. Thus far, hundreds of thousands of workers, unions, and guilds have been contributing ideas to the proposal through grassroots and institutional meetings around the Caribbean nation. According to congressman Braulio Alvarez from the state of Yaracuy, “19,000 proposals for
the law from all over the country as the product of 1,500 assemblies in public and private spaces” have been submitted. During his call to the show Dando y Dando (Giving and Giving) on Monday, Chavez encouraged even greater engagement from workers to accelerate the bill’s preparation for passage on May Day. “I want to take this opportunity to keep inviting the workers to participate in the debate and discussion. Nobody should be left out. Everyone should voice their opinion and contribute... This is a debt that the state has with the workers”, he informed.
MORE THAN A BOOK FAIR While providing a range of reading material to the public, Filven has also been replete with other cultural activities including dance, photography, culinary expositions, visual arts exhibitions, plays and cinema. Workshops for both adults and children covering topics as diverse as story telling and origami have also been an essential part of the programing over the years. “The visits don’t only mean the sale of books but also participation in the different literary and artistic events being offered”, explains Christhian Valles, President of Venezuela’s National Book Center (Cenal). It is through this cultural offering and the different interests to which it appeals that the book fair has taken on a greater significance over the years, something that organizers are keen to reproduce in different localities around the country. As such, Filven will tour Venezuela’s 23 states starting in April and running through September. “We can’t just have a literary festival in Caracas. We should bring it to everyone and this is what we’re doing”, said Humberto Gonzalez. “It’s a cultural right to have access to a book and to enjoy its different dimensions”, he asserted. Organizers report that at the closing of the fair on Sunday, this year’s edition of Filven in Caracas surpassed last year’s turn out by 20 percent. For Valles, the attendance represents an achievement on par with the level of organization put into the event. More importantly, however, are the benefits taken away by residents, she noted. “We’re pleased with the numbers but the success of the fair has been judged not only by the thousands of visitors but also by the happiness of the people”, the Cenal President affirmed.
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4 | Social Justice
The artillery of ideas
NoÊ£äÓÊU Friday, March 23, 2012
Venezuelans celebrate International Women’s Day; push for further advances Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of major cities around the Caribbean nation on March 8 in celebration of International Women’s Day and the gains that the nation’s Bolivarian Revolution has achieved over its 13-year existence T/ COI P/ Presidential Press n the capital of Caracas, a march began at San Martin Plaza and ended at Caracas Plaza downtown where a rally that saw the participation of high-ranking government officials, workers, and women from all sectors of society took place. The message of the rally centered on the recognition and consolidation of the social programs implemented by the socialist government of President Hugo Chavez that have helped millions of women around the country overcome economic and social obstacles en route to a higher standard of living and greater quality of life. “Revolutionary Venezuelans who support Chavez are here today to give our unrelenting support to our President, defend the gains we have won and the greater visibility that the Bolivarian Revolution has given us”, said Flor Garcia from the Women’s Ministry Equally vociferous at the rally was the message of a speedy recovery for President Chavez following recent surgery undertaken in Cuba at the end of February. Chavez, who has declared himself a feminist in the past, praised the show of force that was present in the streets via his Twitter account, writing a series of messages congratulating the women participating in the public act. “How proud I am of all of you patriotic women! Continue to
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carry out your life’s mission!” he wrote. In Caracas, Women’s Day activities also saw the delivery of a document to the country’s congress, the National Assembly, calling for greater inclusion of gender issues in the nation’s new Labor Law, slated to be approved in May of this year. “The members that form the block of popular movements have been discussing for some time a proposal for the Labor Law with gender equality that cuts across the entire legal area”, said Daniela Hinojosa from the organization Arana Feminista (Feminist Spider). These proposals include maternity leave of up to 6 months, greater gender parity in workers’ councils and unions, additional childcare benefits, and time allocated for the care of elder family members. “Women have always suffered from a double and triple exploitation in the workplace and we’ve also had to work double shifts. That’s why we’re standing up as workers and standing up with those women workers that labor without compensation”, Hinojosa during an interview with state television.
As a result of programs like Banmujer, a full 39 percent of women now represent the breadwinners of Venezuelan households, up from 29 percent 10 years ago and 24 percent 20 years ago, according to census data. In 2009, the government also created the Ministry for Women and Gender Equality, one of the only of its kind in Latin America, to specifically address the concerns of women, coordinate programs, and strategize ways to end gender discrimination in the public and private sector. This has been followed by a range of other programs including the construction and renovation of maternity hospitals, the granting of stipends to women with young children, and the Mission Madres del Barrio (Women of the Neighborhood) which provides access to education, work and community organizing opportunities for women living in extreme poverty. “It is because of these gains that we are mobilizing today. It’s for the recognition of the support that we have today and also for the challenges and victories still pending,” said congresswoman Marelys Perez at the rally last Thursday.
PRIORITIZING WOMEN’S ISSUES Although Venezuelan society still suffers from high levels of sexism and machismo, the current government has made it a top priority to address some of the structural problems that have historically affected women in the South American nation. The majority of this support has come in the form of antipoverty social programs that have empowered women to take up productive economic activity in their local communities and challenge the long-standing stereotypes of stay at home moms. The most visible program to date has been the lending institutions Banmujer which, founded in 2001, has been providing low-credit microloans to hundreds of thousands of women to start up small businesses and cooperatives.
PENDING CHALLENGES According to gender activists in the country, while Venezuela has enjoyed greater visibility of women’s issues, the country still faces a number of important challenges including high rates of domestic violence and teen pregnancy. Recent population data has revealed that Venezuela leads all of South America in teen pregnancy while the Federal Prosecutor’s Office reports that domestic violence was responsible for the death of more than 500 women in 2011. Over 40 special courts have been created to deal specifically with gender-related crimes and the government passed in 2007 the Law on the Rights of Women to a Life Free of Violence, which stipulates 19 types of gender-related aggression punishable by law.
But at the same time that these legal mechanisms have been devised, there still only exist two shelters in the entire country for women victims of violence and while more and more women are reporting abuse, many on the local level lack the essential services necessary to put an end to the violence. Nevertheless, the majority of the feminist movement in the country recognizes the significant strides that have been
achieved over the past decade as a result of the government’s programs and the opening of a new dialogue on gender issues. “We see these streets of Caracas overflowing not only with women but with love for Chavez”, said Cilia Flores, Venezuelan Attorney General at the march on Thursday. “[Chavez] has given back the fighting spirit of women... Today we celebrate combative women”, she said.
The artillery of ideas
NoÊ£äÓÊU Friday, March 23, 2012
Interview | 5 |
Without socialism, there can be no true feminism An interview with feminist activist Meglimar Melero from the Insumisas Collective and the Feminist Spider network T/ Rachael Boothroyd P/ Presidential Press an you tell us something about your collective, Insumisas and the Feminist Spider? MM: The Feminist Spider is a communal space for discussion in which numerous collectives and social movements participate. We at Insumisas are participating as a collective within that space in different ways. The Spider is still not what you could describe as a feminist movement with militants just yet. For instance, we at Insumisas carry out numerous events in Carabobo state, we participate in Mission Sucre with our student-comrades, with comrades from the communities, comrades who are organized in the communal councils. Basically what we are trying to do is carry out a type of political education with respect to feminism and socialism through the women’s organization processes in the communal councils, that’s to say, using whatever methods possible to promote and build gender equality and justice committees. Venezuela celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8. Can you comment on the significance of the day and why it is important in Venezuela? MM: I think it’s necessary to re-conceptualize International Women’s Day from the important perspective of being a working class woman. We need to win the day back from capitalism, which has tried to commercialize it. It’s now a day about buying flowers and saying, “Oh, look how great women are”. I think that we have to rescue its educational meaning, its message of struggle and rebellion, its concept of participation and organization, basically its revolutionary character, no? On March 8 we celebrated the day (in Venezuela) and the atmo-
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sphere of enthusiasm was tangible, really militant. It seemed to me, being in the epicenter of the march with all the other women, from Mission Madres del Barrio and other working women from all over the country, you could really feel the spirit of the politically organized woman, the woman who is participating in the community, the woman who really believes in this revolutionary process. In short, I think the day is really important on a global level for working class women, and it’s important to give the day its original character back, which is that of class struggle. Because historically, this day started to be commemorated because of working class women’s struggles, from their labor demands. Can you comment a little bit about the politics of the Bolivarian government with respect to women? Have you noticed a change in terms of this government’s policies and those of previous governments? MM: It is thanks to the revolutionary process that women’s participation is even taken into account, obviously we are grateful to the revolutionary process, because as women, we have greater participation and greater opportunities, not just in terms of our role but also in practice, because
we have all those instances of popular power and participation. The revolution has generated the spaces for us women to organize, and to respond to, debate and reflect over our reality within capitalist society, in which we are still living, no? I think that the communal councils have gender equality, as well as other spaces such as the governmental federal committees, the party, and in the recognition that social movements can generate policy. All of these are tools for participation in which women are recognized and which try to drive forward the participation of women. What would you say to the feminists in other countries who criticize Venezuelan feminism for being too class orientated, as opposed to focussing on issues specific to women? MM: I think it’s really about carrying out a historic revision of feminism. What has happened to feminism as a global movement? I think that women from other places in the world, especially the West, should reflect at length about what has happened to the Marxist-feminist proposal, socialist-feminism; what has happened to those proposals in their respective countries? Because let’s say that we have had some currents which have bro-
ken away and have stayed within the arena of simply making liberal demands. They don’t organize towards the transformation or the surmounting of exploitation or the patriarchy, viewed as the complimentary functional system to capitalism. Feminism has suffered from, just like the global left, ideological deviations that can’t be hidden. I think, what we are trying to do in Venezuela is to recover all of that material and those feminist proposals, Marxist-feminism with class consciousness. Because without feminism, socialism can’t exist, and without socialism, true feminism cannot exist. Venezuela is famed for its beauty competitions. As a feminist collective do you have a position with respect to this? MM: The culture of the media has had a really profound effect on society, and obviously there is a culture, not just in Venezuela but in other countries in Latin America and Europe, which seeks to market women’s bodies. It converts women into an object that is bought and sold, it dehumanizes women completely, it turns them into merchandise. I think, in this sense, the struggle should be about opening more spaces in the media which reflect how diverse we are as women, in every sense, and that we become more
aware. That’s a successful political strategy because (in Venezuela) there is alternative media, which little by little is starting to promote the fact that another type of woman exists, a woman who builds things, creates things and has things to contribute. Not the stereotypical woman that is sold by capitalism. The Feminist Spider has been organizing workshops from a gender perspective for the new Labor Law which is due to be passed by the government in May of this year. What are the principal proposals that have been developed through these workshops? MM: We as socialist feminists, with respect to the discussions surrounding the new labor law, are worried and concerned over the issue of women and the work environment. We are conscious that we as women have particular conditions in our work environment, whether we are on a salaried wage or working as part of the informal economy, which is made up of a lot of women. Those are the kind of issues that we have been discussing at the workshops. We have tried to orientate the discussion towards how to regulate our working environments and what we can do for the huge mass of women inside the informal economy, such as women selling products in a catalogue, street-sellers, hairdressers, etc. This is all indirect work. Our main preoccupation is how to regulate and guarantee labor rights for the female working population. Because our work also goes above and beyond the working day, our work also includes the intellectual and productive work that women carry out at home. We have a lot of challenges, above all because a lot of responsibilities fall onto the shoulders of women, a lot of social responsibilities. It’s important to point out that these responsibilities aren’t just women’s responsibilities, but they are in fact social responsibilities; looking after children, the sick, the old, education. These are responsibilities that historically have fallen upon each one of us as women. We have to create, evaluate and socialize the concept of these tasks as social responsibilities, so that these areas become collective spaces of work and education. That is basically the focal point of our proposals towards the new labor law.
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6 | Politics
The artillery of ideas
NoÊ£äÓÊU Friday, March 23, 2012
Venezuelan opposition showing growing signs of desperation According to Jorge Rodriguez, Mayor of Caracas’ Libertador municipality and head of Chavez’s re-election campaign, opposition strategists have come to the conclusion that “only a catastrophic event” can provide them a shot at the presidency.
T/ COI P/ Agencies truggling to make headway in polls that show Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sweeping this year’s presidential election, opposition forces have begun showing violent signs of frustration and despair. Surprised by their own failure to woo voters with a pre-presidential primary mired in questionable results, Venezuela’s anti-Chavez minority is now using violent incidents to try to improve their candidate’s standing. Perhaps of greatest concern, a plot has been uncovered in which right-wing extremist planned to assassinate their own candidate and derail an election they now expect to lose.
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POST-PRIMARY POSITIONING On February 12th, the opposition forces that make up Venezuela’s so-called Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) held internal primaries and chose Miranda state governor Henrique Capriles Radonski as their sole candidate to run against Chavez in presidential elections set for October 7th. As part of a premeditated strategy to boast a “massive” voter turnout and secure much-needed
momentum for the opposition ticket, the MUD claimed some three million voters participated in the primaries. However, a rushed decision by MUD leaders to burn the election results, thus dodging any possible recounts, left many voters wondering about the MUD’s commitment to the democratic process. In addition to the contested Radonski candidacy, his failure to convince voters that he would not dismantle the Bolivarian Revolution’s widely-popular social missions has frustrated many in the Venezuelan opposition. With voters who expect government to secure social and economic justice for the majority of citizens, Radonski has to portray himself as a “progressive” alternative to socialist President Hugo Chavez. Insisting repeatedly that he is a not a right-wing candidate, Radonski has purposefully avoided any real discussion of his platform. According to his campaign manager, Armando Briquet, the candidate’s economic policies include nothing less than an IMF-sponsored downsizing of the Venezuelan state and, along with it, the social missions of the Chavez government. At a time of global economic crises and world-
wide street protests by people demanding social services be protected, Radonski’s advisors have instructed him to avoid public display of his neo-liberal agenda. Avoiding the debate, however, is not working out for the opposition ticket, with recent polls suggesting President Chavez holds an increasingly irreversible lead against the MUD candidate. Independent polling firm Hinterlaces, for example, reports that the percentage of intended Chavez voters grew from 51% before the opposition primaries to almost 53% on March 5th. The same poll found that Chavez holds an almost 20% lead over Radonski, with only 34% of voters backing the US-backed candidate. In another poll released last week, Venezuela’s Social Investigation Group XXI found that if elections had been held on March 15, 55% of people would have voted for Chavez and only 22% for Radonski. The Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis (IVAD) released similar results on March 18, finding that 56.5% of voters intend to for Chavez and 26.6% for Radonski – a difference that IVAD has seen grow from 18% in October 2011, 27.8% in January 2012, to 29.9% in mid-March.
VICTIMIZING FOR VOTES Unable to alter poll results and worried about growing support for President Chavez, the opposition’s election strategy has now turned to fabricating incidents that victimize their candidate. Recent “door to door” campaigning by Radonski, for example, has ended in violent altercations between his security detail and residents of the largely pro-Chavez neighborhoods they campaign in. The suspect incidents, which include gunshots being fired by members of the opposition, have received widespread media attention in both Venezuela and abroad, as privately-owned opposition outlets struggle to increase Radonski’s poll numbers. The first such incident took place on March 5 after Radonski and about 100 followers took their campaigning into the strongly pro-Chavez Caracas neighborhood of Cotiza. After several altercations between Radonski’s security crew and local residents, gunshots were fired. According to witnesses on the ground backed by rooftop video footage, it was off duty police officers from Radonski’s Miranda State Police who fired the weapons. An investigation by the Venezuelan Ministry of the Interior found that the officers involved in the incident had dressed themselves in red t-shirts, typically associated with supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution, so as to purposefully place blame on pro-Chavez activists. The violence in Cotiza made immediate headlines in both national and international private media outlets, with headlines that included “Shots Fired at Event for Venezuelan Opposition” (AP and The Washington Post) as well as “Two Wounded in Venezuela Election Violence”
(Latin America Herald Tribune). Daily papers in Venezuela ran the same headlines, only in Spanish. SHOOT TO KILL? While the Cotiza incident is certainly telling of growing despair within the opposition, of much greater concern is a recently uncovered plot to assassinate the opposition candidate and blame the national government. According to news editor Carlos Herrera, of Primicias24. com, right-wing members of the anti-Chavez minority “plan to kill him (Radonski) in a Caracas slum, blame the Chavez government, create a general state of chaos in the country, and succeed in aborting the electoral process underway”. According to Herrera, “powerful economic groups are orchestrating a plan to assassinate Capriles Radonski because, according to poll results released by any respectable polling firm, the numbers just don’t allow them to defeat Hugo Chavez in the October elections…Those behind this plot – including exiled bankers and others who lost their privileges during the current administration – want the elections postponed until they can find another candidate who better represents their interests and builds a viable option for beating Chavez in an election”. Herrera and members of the non-governmental organization Fundavictima went to the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) with what he described as “precise information regarding the plot, provided to us by people linked to the opposition”. They requested SEBIN provide additional security to the Radonski campaign and that state-run media be present at all campaign stops so as to prevent misinformation being released by opposition media. On Monday, President Chavez told the press that SEBIN “is taking the information very seriously, due to its origin, and has informed the bourgeoisie candidate and his security of the threat”. Chavez also explained that “sectors abroad” are involved in the plan to kill the opposition candidate and that his government has instructed SEBIN to “offer special protection” to Radonski and anyone else threatened by the “dirty war tactics” of the right-wing extremists implicated in the plot.
The artillery of ideas
NoÊ£äÓÊU Friday, March 23, 2012
Analysis | 7 |
Burning the evidence: Venezuelan opposition burns primary “results” T/ COI P/ Agencies he recent primaries held by Venezuela’s anti-Chavez opposition to select a presidential candidate to run against President Chavez in October, illustrated that power and privilege matter more to them than basic democratic principles. Less than 48-hours after their elections and in direct violation of both a Supreme Court ruling and their own waiting period, the opposition’s Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) set election results ablaze so as to prevent a possible recount. On the night of the opposition primaries, the MUD “coalition” held a rushed, celebratory press conference in which they announced turnout of some three million voters and the selection of Miranda state governor Henrique Capriles Radonski as their sole candidate to face Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in presidential elections set for October 7th. However, the only evidence of the opposition’s affirmations was quickly turned into smoke and ashes.
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A FRAUDULENT SURPRISE After months of campaigning that included primetime televised debates and daily front-page coverage provided by privatelyowned opposition media outlets, the MUD coalition held their primaries on February 12, 2012. As part of the process, opposition voters were promised a chance to elect one single coalition candidate to represent them in each of the upcoming presidential, gubernatorial, and mayoral elections scheduled to take place between October 2012 and April 2013. Right-wing lawyer and wealthy politician Henrique Capriles Radonski swept the pre-presidential primaries. Radonski, the same man who violated international law during the April 2002 coup against President Chavez by forcing his way into the Cuban embassy in Caracas, is said to have received 1.8 million votes, a million more
than his closest competitor, Zulia state governor Pablo Perez. According to Teresa Albanes, President of the MUD’s Primary Elections Committee, the antiChavez minority “exceeded expectations” with “almost three million votes” they claim to have received. “We even surprised ourselves”, she told the press. The surprise, however, was not that an estimated 16% of registered voters may have participated in the primaries. No, the surprise instead was that to have done so the three million voters would have had to break historical records at voting speeds. Given the number of booths available and the total number of votes, an average 1.15 minutes (75 seconds) per voter would have been required, a significant increase in speed from the 2.0 minutes (120 seconds) that average voters needed in all of Venezuela’s recent elections. More concrete evidence of fraud came from voting stations in which candidate Radonski took almost 100% of votes, with the option of voting for governor
and mayor left blank. According to Hector Davila, of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), “having an election booth that produces 730 votes for one (pre-presidential) candidate and only two votes for another is statistically impossible; speaking it terms of probability, it isn’t possible”. Especially worrying was an email made public by TV news analyst Mario Silva in which MUD Secretary General Ramon Guillermo Aveledo informed a fellow opposition organizer that only 765,790 votes had been cast by 3:52pm (the day of the primary) and added, “too much money is at stake”. If this affirmation were true, the additional two million plus voters would have had to storm voting booths at speeds that go above and beyond the already record-setting average of 75 seconds for that day. According to Jorge Rodriguez, Mayor of Libertador municipality (Caracas) and former President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), the only reasonable explanation for this result is that MUD election organiz-
ers took it upon themselves to vote repeatedly, and rapidly, in a number of election booths they had under their full control. “We’re not mathematicians”, affirmed Diosdado Cabello, President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, “but suspicions have been aroused…(and) the numbers just don’t make sense to anyone”. Speaking on behalf of the PSUV, Cabello urged the CNE to clarify how the country’s antiChavez minority might have successfully produced a fraudulent vote using legitimate CNEelectoral cover. In response, the CNE explained that while it did provide the voting machines used for the MUD primary – as is mandated by Venezuela’s electoral laws – it was not asked to provide polling station witnesses, had no control over print-out election certificates, and cannot confirm if the MUD respected the need for each voter to present voter registration cards before the casting of each ballot. “Where we do not participate”, explained CNE President
Tibisay Lucena, “we cannot corroborate the numbers”. A SERIOUS BURN While the CNE played no further role in the opposition’s primaries, a request to the country’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) by a frustrated opposition candidate in the rural state of Yaracuy provoked further doubts in both anti- and pro-Chavez circles. The day after the primary, opposition mayoral candidate Rafael Velasquez, of Bruzual municipality, Yaracuy, responded to delays on the part of the MUD’s national leadership by taking his request directly to the Venezuelan Supreme Court. He asked the court to intervene on his behalf and prevent the burning of local results. In response, the TSJ ordered the MUD to hold off all burning of ballots until contested results could be confirmed. The PSUV’s Davila, cited above, told reporters that the TSJ decision “was a simple response to a request made by Velasquez to protect certain ballots and conduct an audit that they themselves (the MUD) promised to do if necessary”. He added that the court ruling “has nothing to do with ulterior motives or hidden objectives of identifying voter names”, a common opposition accusation against the Venezuelan judiciary and the supposed reason the MUD decided on ballot burning. Threatened by the prospect of a possible recount, the opposition, backed by the Washington, responded to the court order by rushing their pre-election promise of burning the ballots. According to Alexis Ortiz, President of the MUD’s Elections Commission in Miami, the opposition burned ballots in Atlanta, Houston, Puerto Rico, and, of course, across the state of Florida. From Caracas to Maracaibo, Ciudad Bolivar to Merida, town-to-town across Venezuela, MUD activists did the same. Unable to prevent the burnings, Venezuela’s Supreme Court later fined the MUD’s Teresa Albanes some 15,200 bolivares (or US $3,500) for violating their initial ruling. The court added that Albanes, representing the Venezuelan opposition, demonstrated a blatant disregard for the rule of law. The case is now in the hands of the country’s attorney general for further investigation.
Friday | March 23, 2012 | NÂş 102 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
A publication of the Fundacion Correo del OrinocoĂŠUĂŠ `ÂˆĂŒÂœĂ€Â‡ÂˆÂ˜Â‡ …ˆivĂŠEva GolingerĂŠUĂŠ Ă€>ÂŤÂ…ÂˆVĂŠ iĂƒÂˆ}Â˜ĂŠArisabel Yaya SilvaĂŠUĂŠ*Ă€iĂƒĂƒĂŠFundaciĂłn Imprenta de la Cultura
While World Watches Middle East, Noriega Looks South /ÉÊ,>VÂ…>iÂ?ĂŠ ÂœÂœĂŒÂ…Ă€ÂœĂž` *ÉÊ iĂ€i“ÞÊ ˆ}ĂœÂœÂœ` iven all the speculations surrounding the President’s health and the “crisis of successionâ€? in Venezuela currently whirling around the corporate press, it was surely only a matter of time before the Latin American left’s favorite cold-war throwback, US diplomat Roger Noriega, joined in the chorus with a couple of his own contributions. In his article in The American on Monday, entitled “The Toxic Transition in Venezuelaâ€?, Noriega moves back and forth between attacking Cuba and Venezuela, quoting unspeciďŹ ed, unnamed and highly ambiguous “sourcesâ€? and describing the Venezuelan government with unsubstantiated adjectives such as “narco-stateâ€? and “regimeâ€? with possibly even more gusto than usual. Noriega not only diagnoses the Venezuelan President with megalomania and clariďŹ es the type of cancer that he is suffering from, but he claims that there is inďŹ ghting within the PSUV, drawing an imaginary line to distinguish between its “civilianâ€? and “militaryâ€? cadres, whilst detailing the desperation of the “ruthlessâ€? Castro brothers, who rely on Venezuela to keep their “comatoseâ€? economy aoat. According to the article, Chavez has not been operated on a second time, having been convinced by Cuban physicians to forego the operation in order to be able to assume his public duties as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, back in Caracas, the civilian and military cadres of the PSUV are currently ďŹ ghting it out to see who will succeed Chavez as if “he were already deadâ€?. Evidently blessed with a vivid imagination, it appears that Noriega unfortunately has ab-
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solutely no sense of irony. In the piece, the US neo-con fails to explain with what kind of paranoid logic he accuses the internationalist Cuban government, which has never invaded any other country, of conspiring to assert hegemony over the Latin American continent while the US administration is at this very moment continuing to ramp up its pro-interventionist agenda against Syria and Iran in the Middle East. With the only thing now standing between the US and the economic abyss being China, and as 50% of US households
slip into poverty, Noriega’s classiďŹ cation of the Cuban economy, which still manages to provide food, healthcare, education and shelter to its citizens, as “comatoseâ€? is particularly farcical. It would appear that on planet Noriega, the US political system is a paradigm of human rights and democracy, while its economy is positively dynamic. And evidently for about 1% of its population, this still rings true. Whilst the US hard right touts the horn of democracy and tars the Venezuelan government with every dictatorial slur imaginable, closer to home cor-
porate maďŹ as are running the political show. Wall Street hit and run investors, John Paulson of Paulson & Co, and Paul Singer of Elliott International, are presently funding current Republican candidate, Mitt Romney’s election campaign to the tune of $1 million each. With investigative journalist, Greg Palast, revealing last month that the two hedge fund “vulturesâ€? had made over $5 billion dollars when they took over General Motor’s former auto parts division, Delphi, at the US taxpayer who footed $2 billion of the bill to have Delphi’s debts to GM motors forgiven, amongst other preferable negotiations hammered out with the US Treasury Department. If democracy bends to the will of the hedge fund masters on the US national political scene, then these politics are simply reproduced on the international stage, where US foreign policy continues to be directed at market penetration, whether that be achieved by simply bulldozing democratic governments who resist, or forcing them to bend through “subtle persuasionâ€?, i.e. the US economic hit squad, the IMF. Noriega’s eyes seem to have cast their gaze to the continent just below the empire, to its proverbial backyard. Importantly in his article, Noriega suggests for the ďŹ rst time that the US hard right are at the very least considering the possibility of Syrian and Libyan style regime change in Venezuela, stating that there will be “Syria-style repression on the streets of Caracas if that is what is required to keep powerâ€? and adding that, “If a narco-state or violent crackdown emerges so near to US borders, the White House will no longer be able to avert its attention from the mess in Venezuela or to “lead from behindâ€?.
It is increasingly evident that, in the wake of the now totally discredited and unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the expansionist strategy of the US depends more and more on the media to soften up public opinion in a bid to manufacture consent for intervention. For this reason we should actually sit up and take note of Noriega’s paranoid ramblings, and especially those voiced in the public arena, no matter how absurd they might be. Not once does Noriega speak of the national elections that will be held in Venezuela in October this year, preferring to insinuate that the future president’s identity will depend entirely on the demonic Castro brothers as they fervently orchestrate the “transition� from Havana, as opposed to on the 57% of Venezuelans who have said they intend to exercise their democratic rights and vote for current President Hugo Chavez. What is abundantly clear is that, rather than representing any “pro-democracy� movement, any emergent “Syrian style repression� in Venezuela would be the direct result of US meddling in the country, conversely aimed at derailing the Venezuelan democratic process as opposed to supporting Venezuelans’ political rights. A clearer case of Orwellian double-speak than Noriega’s article was never seen. Despite Noriega’s confused claims that the Venezuelan opposition has eschewed any “outreach� to the United States, the Roundtable of Democratic Unity opposition coalition is actually funded to the teeth, with the Obama administration having earmarked $20 million for their election campaign this year alone. As the opposition steps up its increasingly violent tactics and its media US democracy promotion.