page 7 | Politics:
page 8 | Opinion
Newspaper owned by opposition candidate runs anti-Bolivarian campaign
Venezuela’s OPEC stand is a win for climate change campaigners
Friday | March 30, 2012 | Nº 103 | Caracas
Afro-Venezuelans rally against racism A council of Afrodescendant members of the grassroots coalition supporting President Hugo Chavez’s reelection met this week with Vice President Elias Jaua to consolidate electoral strategies and denounce opposition racism. The group reiterated its support for Chavez and its commitment to social justice. The council also denounced a recent publication of a racist cartoon in a private daily newspaper that compared Afro-Venezuelans to contaminated water. | page 4
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
“Radiation treatment will not slow me down”, says Venezuela’s Chavez The head of state spent five days in Cuba undergoing radiation therapy after a second cancerous tumor was removed last month, but he’s keeping up his work agenda The charismatic Venezuelan President made sure his physical absence from Venezuela did not affect his busy schedule as he received radiation treatment in Havana this week by morning and held televised cabinet meetings in the afternoon. Chavez approved billions of dollars for social programs and oversaw projects and development plans for the oil industry, appearing on live Venezuelan television several times via satellite and telephone. Chavez will undergo radiation therapy in Cuba for the next month, spending 4-5 days on the island and resting for 2-3 days back in Venezuela. | page 2
Economy
Chinese cars in Venezuela Consumers are lining up to buy new ChineseVenezuelan manufactured cars. | page 3
Chavez to recognize election results Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has reiterated that he will recognize the results of the coming presidential elections on October 7, and has again called on opposition groups to “say whether or not they would respect those results”. “The opposition and its spokespeople haven’t said whether or not they would respect the results on October 7”, he said in reference to evasive responses by right-wing candidate Henrique Capriles when asked the question by reporters. “They start to give conditional answers. Just say whether or not you will play fair”, the Venezuelan leader urged his opponent. Chavez also added ,“We will respect the people’s decision at the ballot boxes on October 7, which will be announced by the electoral authority, the National Electoral Council (CNE)”. Likewise, he affirmed the CNE “has shown its transparency and meticulous work in recent years. It is one of the best and most transparent electoral systems in the world”.
Interview
A foreign view of the Revolution
Twenty venezuelans qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games
Interview with a trade union delegation from England.| page 5
T/ AVN
Culture
“El Sistema” founder a hero Jose Antonio Abreu has changed children’s lives with music.| page 6
O
n March 24, Venezuelan wrestler Marcia Andrades became the 20 th athlete to classify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Venezuela’s Ministry of Sports announced this week. Andrades secured her spot at the Olympics after defeating Ecuador’s Lissette Castillo, winning the gold medal in Greco-
Roman and Free Wrestling in Pan-American Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament, which finished last Sunday in Kissimmee, Florida. Other Venezuelan athletes already qualified for the next Olympics include Milangela Rosales and Eduard Villanueva (track and field); Fabiola Ramos (table tennis); Andreina Pinto and Arlene Semeco (swimming); Ricardo Robertty,
Luis Liendo, Erwin Caraballo and Wilexis Rivas (wrestling); Edickson Contreras y Jocelyn Castillo (diving); Jessica Lopez (artistic gymnastics); Silvio Fernandez and Ruben Limardo (fencing). Venezuela has also qualified three athletes in cycling and two in women’s weightlifting. Fencer Silvio Fernandez, who qualified two weeks ago at the Challenge Monal in Paris, said that
this will be his third time competing in the Olympic Games. Fernandez’s first Olympic test was in Athens in 2004, and he then went on to Beijing in 2008. “Experience in previous Olympic Games tells you what to do and how to do it”, he said. Qualifications this year were not made by teams, as before, but rather by individual and regional ranking. Fernandez ranked among the top 12 athletes in the world. Look out for these Venezuelans this summer!
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2 | Impact
NoÊ£äÎÊU Friday, March 30, 2012
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela’s Chavez boosts social spending by $1.5 billion, receives treatment in Cuba of democratic planning in the regulation of economic forces, and the promotion of financial independence in an age of transnational capitalism. In order to achieve this transformation, Chavez spoke of the necessity to stay on the current political and economic path being blazed since 1998 by the nation’s Bolivarian Revolution. “We can’t allow the Revolution that has been advancing to go back. We have to assure irreversibility in politics, in economics, and in all aspects”, he declared.
In a move designed to strengthen a range of national industries, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez approved the disbursement of over $1.5 billion for development projects around the Caribbean country T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
“I
am again calling on the domestic private sector. Let’s come to an agreement in order to work together and convert Venezuela into a world power. We’re going to participate on all fronts and continue to raise our national production”, the socialist leader said. Various allotments will be destined, the head of state outlined, to a diversity of enterprises including the construction of cement and paper factories in the states of Monagas and Anzoategui as well as the building of raw material processing plants in the states of Zulia, Tachira and Carabobo. Further industries such as iron and steel manufacturing in the Orinoco River Basin will benefit from the new spending initiative as will a new cattle feed plant and a furniture factory being devised in the centralwestern state of Portuguesa. Nearly 103 million bolivars ($23.9 million) have been approved, the Venezuelan head of state informed, for the certification of a cacao processing enterprise to operate in the eastern state of Monagas as well. “This is an area in which we need to accelerate production because Venezuela has great potential”, Chavez said with reference to the high quality of cacao originating from the Caribbean nation. FONDEN The former lieutenant colonel explained that the funding for the new projects would come through the government’s Na-
tional Development Fund (Fonden). One of the most important financing institutions of the Venezuelan state, Fonden destines surplus income from the state oil company, Pdvsa, to social programs in order to increase living standards, reduce inequality and provide greater economic opportunities for residents of the OPEC member state. Through funding mechanisms such as Fonden, the Chavez administration has been able to invest more than $500 billion in social programs over the past 13 years. This includes spending on public health care, education, job training, housing, agriculture, infrastructure and a catalogue of other anti-poverty initiatives. “This money used to be taken out of the country by the bourgeoisie. Now our oil revenue is invested in national development”, Chavez said on Saturday.
According to leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, a key element that has led to the increases in social development has been the greater autonomy that the country has exercised as a result of its challenge to US hegemony in the Americas. “Only an independent country can develop all of these economic and social development projects and turn itself into a world power. [The idea is to] walk and then jog and run with our own feet and legs. To think with our own minds and to use our own hearts”, he said during the meeting. Chavez also revealed plans to create a new event to display the different production advances, companies, and development strategies that have resulted from state spending over the past decade. Expo Fonden, he explained, will take place in Caracas from May 2 to May 6 and will highlight the gains made by the
funding body since it came into existence in 2005. TOWARDS A NEW ECONOMY Making reference to a book entitled Venezuela’s Transition to Socialism, written by the South American country’s current Planning Minister, Jorge Giordani, President Chavez also outlined last weekend the need to continue working towards an alternative economic model that “satisfies the necessities of the national collective”. According to Giordani’s monograph, five principal elements must underpin Venezuela’s move from a rentier economy based on oil exports to a system of domestic production and consumption geared towards greater equality and democracy. These steps are defined by a modification of the productive bases of the country, a change in the role that the state plays in the economy, the incorporation of collective self-management techniques, the implementation
NEW ROUND OF TREATMENT On Sunday, thousands of Venezuelans participated in a march of solidarity with the President as he undergoes a new round of cancer treatment in Cuba. “Prayers, faith and blessings from the people form a part of this important treatment. We know that Comandante Chavez will return victorious to continue at the vanguard of the people”, said Interior and Justice Minister, Tareck El Aissami at the march in the Andean state of Tachira. The socialist President informed that for the next 4 to 5 weeks he will be between Cuba and Venezuela as he carries out this new phase of cancer treatment. During a telephone call to state television earlier this week, the Venezuelan president affirmed his positive response to the first cycle of radiotherapy performed in Havana and gave a update on the treatment phase which finished on Wednesday. “There are 5 sessions followed by 2 days of rest”, Chavez informed of his treatment while assuring the public that his work agenda continues to be robust and that his absence from Venezuela in no way conflicts with the nation’s constitution. According to article 235 of the Venezuelan constitution, the head of state must only have permission to leave the country from the National Assembly when his stay abroad exceeds 5 days.
NoÊ£äÎÊU Friday, March 30, 2012
The artillery of ideas
Economy | 3 |
Venezuela sees rises in domestic food production both on land and sea T/ COI P/ Agencies
D
uring a call to state television on Monday, President Hugo Chavez praised the recent advances taking place in Venezuela with respect to agricultural production and the marked growth that has been seen in the nation’s fishing industry. Conversing with Vice President Elias Jaua from the Ezequiel Zamora Fish Farm in the state of Cojedes, Chavez noted that Venezuela has seen a 100 percent increase in its aquatic hatcheries and a 300 percent increase in its fishing production in the past 13 years. “I wanted to send you a greeting and show my contentment for the advances of our economic revolution. How wonderful to see this Ezequiel Zamora Fish Farm!” Chavez said, calling in from Havana, Cuba. According to Vice President Jaua, the fish hatchery is comprised of 9.5 hectares and contains 30 pools with more than 47,000 fry and has benefited from government financing through its various programs designed to stimulate domestic food production.
Jaua also noted that part of the recent rise in seafood yields in the Caribbean country has been attributable to Venezuela’s banning, in 2009, industrial drag fishing. The prohibition of the environmentally pernicious fishing practice, also known as trawling, has opened the door for
greater opportunities for smallscale fishermen living in coastal areas dependent on the sea for their livelihood. “Our national fishing resources were in severe risk due to indiscriminate capitalist exploitation. Venezuela is the only country that has taken the measures recommended
by the [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] and has eliminated drag fishing. This has permitted us to increase our fishing production by 14 percent and has led to the reappearance of species that had disappeared”, the Vice President and Minister of Agriculture and Land informed.
Consumers line up to buy Chinese-Venezuelan cars T/ AFP P/ AFP
J
ust weeks after the opening of four Chery dealerships in Venezuela, dozens of people are lining up every day to buy the first Chinese cars being sold in the Latin American nation. Unlike competing Japanese and American cars, import preferences granted by the Venezuelan government mean the Chinese cars are cheaper, which has attracted a steady stream of interested customers. “I came to buy here because elsewhere there are no cars and this is an alternative”, stylist Juan Hernandez, 33, said while waiting in front of the dealership. The cars are assembled in Venezuela under an agree-
ment with the Chinese, who President Hugo Chavez considers a major ally. The manufacturing enterprise is financed jointly by Chery and a Venezuelan public-private company.
Chavez named the car models the Arauca and Orinoco after two rivers that run through Venezuela. Until sales of the Chery began, Venezuela suffered a shortage of cars because of import and
exchange controls on other foreign vehicles and price speculation. Japanese and US brands like Toyota and Chevrolet operate plants in Venezuela, but they do not benefit from “exchange preferences” like the Chinese companies. They also hike up prices substantially, making automobile purchases unaccessible for many. For customers like Hernandez, the previous scarcity of automobiles meant delays in being able to buy a new car, which led him to lose his bank credit line for the purchase. Now he wants to buy an Orinoco for about $30,000, which he says is “a little cheaper” than other similar models in the expensive Venezuelan market. Yury Soto, a 37-year-old civil servant, plans to buy an Arau-
Beyond aquaculture, Venezuela has also seen important advances in agriculture as a result of the Chavez administration’s policies of land redistribution and food security. Notable among these gains has been a 40 percent increase in agricultural production in the first decade of 2000, raising the tonnage of food produced from 17.16 million in 1998 to 24.68 million in 2010. Officials point out that these numbers are considerably higher than the growth seen in the agrarian sector during previous decades such as the 1990s when agricultural production saw a mere 8 percent rise. Chavez related, during his conversation with the Vice President, that his administration’s goal is to increase this agricultural production by 20 percent this year, reaching 28.8 million tons of food available for the Venezuelan population by 2013. In order to achieve this goal, some 34 billion bolivars ($7.9 billion) will be invested in the nation’s agrarian sector and an additional 30 million hectares (74 million acres) of land will be put to use, the head of state explained. “All the good land needs to be put to work”, Chavez said, reminding the public that the stimulation of the agricultural sector is one of the strategic development lines for his government from 2013-2019.
ca, which is a smaller and simpler model that sells for about $20,000. “We came to buy here because it is cheaper and it is what we can afford, thanks to prices that the President arranged”, Soto said. State banks offer credit lines of as much as 80 percent of the cost of the cars. About 5,000 of the vehicles were assembled last year by the Chinese-Venezuelan enterprise. This year, they hope to assemble 18,800 of the vehicles. The Cherys are only one line of Chinese products recently offered in Venezuela under trade agreements. Since 2010, Venezuelans have been able to buy Chinese mobile phones and household appliances, which are sold for discount prices at state stores. Other trade agreements cover oil and housing.
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4 | Social Justice
T/ COI P/ Agencies
H
ighlighting the need to maintain the struggle against racism and discrimination in the South American country, Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua addressed a meeting of the Afro-Descendant Council of the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) held in the capital of Caracas last Saturday. The meeting coincided with Venezuela’s 158th anniversary of the abolishment of slavery and formed part of the Chavez’s administration incorporation of various social organizations into a mass movement to push forward the nation’s Bolivarian Revolution. “Today is a high point for the Afro-descendant population which is commemorating the abolition of slavery in Venezuela. For the past 13 years of the Bolivarian Revolution, this population has been unleashing a struggle to make itself visible and to be respected because in the past not even the fact that discrimination existed was recognized”, Jaua said. With a backdrop of chants supporting Venezuelan head of state Hugo Chavez, the Vice President spoke of the need to build the GPP, the umbrella organization serving to mobilize voters for the presidential elections on October 7. Jaua also expressed the current government’s unrelenting commitment to fight against racism and prioritize the demands of the Afro-Venezuelan population in its various manifestations.
NoÊ£äÎÊU Friday, March 30, 2012
Afro-Venezuelans commemorate abolition of slavery, organize against racist opposition cartoon
“The Bolivarian Revolution, the Venezuelan people, and the Afro-descendant community must continue to fight against racial discrimination in all of its expressions, even if it seems benign. That’s why Comandante Chavez has had a commitment for 13 years to making the
struggle of the Afro-descendant communities visible”, he said. OPPOSITION RACISM As part of his address, Jaua also spoke out against the racist nature of an opposition newspaper that recently published a cartoon comparing the Afro-Venezuelan
Afro-Venezuelans denounce racist cartoon T/ COI
I
n response to a racist cartoon image published by rightwing daily Tal Cual, Afro-Venezuelan social movements have decided to take the paper to court. Though the newspaper is known for its anti-Chavez editorials and images, it now stands accused of violating Venezuela’s Law Against Racial Discrimination after running a cartoon that refers to contaminated drinking water as “afro-descendent water”. This image was released in the context of opposition attempts to convince voters that water in
The artillery of ideas
the country is unfit for human consumption. The cartoon image by Roberto Weil ran on March 16 and featured a caricature of a military officer (possibly President Chavez), standing next to two children, who watches black water flow from an opened faucet and says, “so much for white supremacy, now we have afro-descendent water”. The cartoon went to print in the context of what Venezuelan General Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz calls an opposition campaign of “war propaganda” as it relates to numerous unconfirmed reports of “supposed contamination” of drinking water.
JUST A JOKE? In an interview with Radio Noticias24, Petkoff laughed off what he called the “ridiculous situation that has resulted from the release of a comic that at no time makes fun of Afro-descendents”. “We live in a country where couples call each other ‘mi negro, mi negra’ (my little black one) and that is what Weil was joking about”, said Petkoff. But some see otherwise. Lawmaker Modesto Ruiz explained that, “racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and self-hate among minorities are part of Venezuelan so-
community to allegedly contaminated water in Caracas. On Saturday, Jaua expressed his anger not only over the cartoon but also the paper’s editorial board, which has dismissed the complaints of racism from the Afro-Venezuelan community.
“This fascist cartoon, which would have generated outrage and prompted at least an apology in any other part of the world, has been reaffirmed by those who defend discrimination and racism”, Jaua imputed. Although Venezuela does not suffer from the kind of racial tensions that afflict countries like the United States, the cartoon incident demonstrates the fact that the OPEC member state is not free from discrimination, especially in the media. Last year the National Assembly passed a new law defining and banning race-based discrimination in its different forms. Members of the Afro-Venezuelan community are now using this law to bring charges against the cartoonist Roberto Weil as well as the political director of the tabloid Tal Cual, Xabier Coscojuela, and the paper’s publisher, Teodoro Petkoff. Petkoff, a longtime opposition activist, has scoffed at the charges, calling the use of the term “Afro-descendant” in Venezuela, rather than the traditional nomenclature “black”, as something imported from the United States. For Vice President Jaua, the incident represents the true colors of the Venezuelan rightwing with respect to their image of inclusion and respect for differences. “The opposition tries to sell to the people a discourse based on unity. But their hate for the poor classes and their racism is so strong that they can’t hide it. This cartoon is not freedom of speech but racial discrimination in its ugliest form”, he affirmed.
ciety and its historical development”. According to Ruiz, “the racist attitude found in most media is a political position associated with power relations and a historical discourse of domination”. Though Petkoff has tried to justify the cartoon’s content, Ruiz explained that the evolution in Venezuela of the term “Afrodescendent” has a lengthy history of struggle and sacrifice and that Afro-Venezuelans “will not all the term to be transformed into something disparaging”. “We are not contaminated water, we are not objects, and we are not commodities. We are human beings, and the term Afrodescendent is part of our human dignity”, Ruiz affirmed.
With respect to the courts, Ruiz added that the Afro-Venezuelan movements involved in the suit plan to formally accuse three individuals of violating article 37 of the 2011 Law Against Racial Discrimination. The three men to be named are Tal Cual Editor in Chief Teodoro Petkoff, Managing Editor Xabier Coscojuela, and cartoonist Roberto Weil. “The law stipulates that the planned dissemination of racist content is especially egregious”, explained Ruiz. According to the socialist lawmaker, “the cartoonist, the managing editor, and the editor in chief all saw and approved the racist content before it went to print”.
NoÊ£äÎÊU Friday, March 30, 2012
The artillery of ideas
Interview | 5 |
“People are building their communities together”: A foreign delegation’s view of revolutionary Venezuela T/ Rachael Boothroyd P/ VSC
T
he VSC recently organized a solidarity brigade to Venezuela so that British trade unionists could experience the Venezuelan process firsthand. Catriona Goss (CG), member of the Executive Committee for the British Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and activist with the Student Friends of Venezuela, talks about the delegation’s success and the need to create international solidarity. Can you talk a little bit about the delegation, how long you were here in Caracas for and what you did? CG: The delegation was made up of high level trade unionists, so we had people from UNITE, the NUT, RMT and the UCU, and also some activists from the VSC. They were in Caracas 9 days and we got to see lots of stuff. On the Saturday we went to Plaza Bolivar to the rally with the new Socialist Workers’ Central and we marched up to Miraflores to hear Chavez speak. That was an exciting day to begin with. We also spent one day in Petare and went to the City Council. We heard from people in the area, from the PSUV youth and community councils. We also went to a factory that makes covers for mobile phones, which is all women and also a “food house”, which are political spaces that serve free food. On one day we also went to the headquarters of “El Sistema” music program, and that was really amazing. What impressed you most out of everything you saw? CG: I would say the housing mission. We went to Ciudad Belen in Guarenas, it was amazing. To see and speak to people who said “I never would have thought that I’d have a proper house and now I’ve got this wonderful
apartment, and I’ve not only got that, but I’ve also got work,” because they are working as well to build the rest of the houses. It was just really inspiring, and I think everyone found that trip quite emotional, just because it was such an impact to see how they are building the whole city and the transportation to get there, along with a new road and expanding metro services. They are still building lots of it, but they’ve got thousands of apartments already built and people just going about their daily lives. There are schools and playgrounds for the children, they had a PDVAL shop and a little factory with women making t-shirts. It’s amazing to see how much can be done when there is the will to do it; you can completely transform peoples’ lives and build new communities. One guy invited us into his apartment and he was so proud, and he also had out his kids Canaima laptops, and he was working there as well constructing the new apartments. People had such a sense of ownership because they were building their communities together.
You’ve been to Venezuela before. What changes did you notice this time round? CG: The transformation of spaces, for instance the whole city of Caracas, there are just so many more spaces outside for people to enjoy, like Sabana Grande has been redone, there is so much culture out on the streets. The UNEARTE where you can go and see theater and dance for free any day of the week, people always seemed happy but now they seem more at ease. There are more people out on the streets and enjoying public spaces. Things just seemed to be getting really getting consolidated, the communities being even more organized. People were telling us how much they’d achieved, and the people are really determined to be successful at the elections so they can defend everything they’ve done so far. Everyone on the delegation was really impacted by how politically aware people were and how much people wanted to discuss and debate. Sometimes we’d have meetings and they could have gone on for hours and hours because peo-
ple had so much to say. We had a wonderful day in Maracay where we had hundreds of trade unionists gathered to do an exchange with us, to compare what’s happening in Europe with Venezuela, with the drafting of the new labor law and the expansion of workers’ rights, whereas in Europe we are going backwards. I think that really impacted on people. Did you notice a divergence between how the up and coming Venezuelan elections are being presented in the UK press and the actual reality of the situation? CG: Yes, all we’re hearing in the UK is that Capriles (the opposition candidate) is centerleft, you know the Lula of Venezuela, that’s what he’s being portrayed as. And obviously those of us who know more about Venezuela know that that isn’t the case. But that was what is so important about taking people to Petare and listening to the people who actually live there saying look he’s our governor and we don’t even hear from him, they haven’t done
anything, they don’t even collect the rubbish on the streets and you can see all the rubbish piled up. And the communities basically saying that the reason we’ve been able to progress is because we are organized at a grassroots level, because we can’t rely on the opposition candidates that we have to do anything for our communities. I think the main thing for us to do is to challenge what’s being portrayed in the media, that Capriles is the better candidate against Chavez who is supposed to be some dictator. We were lucky enough to see Chavez and to see him speak, and that was important for us because every few weeks here they put out a story saying he’s on his death bed. We have to be constantly challenging the lies to ensure a clean campaign and so at the end we can say, well the Venezuelans have made their choice. We know that they have a transparent and vibrant democracy. Why do you think these international solidarity brigades are important? CG: I think it’s so important because when you have an international campaign against what’s going on over there, we need to have a countercampaign to say what is really happening and to say that Venezuelan sovereignty should be respected and Venezuelan democracy should be respected. Especially when it involves North America and Europe, our politicians who have historically interfered in other countries, it’s so important that the people, the electorate, actually know what’s going on in these other countries so that they can defend them and say “hang on, you shouldn’t be interfering, you should just let the people there decide what they want” and that’s why it’s so important for us to build these links and show solidarity.
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6 | Culture
NoÊ£äÎÊU Friday, March 30, 2012
The artillery of ideas
Creator of ‘El Sistema’ orchestras a national hero in Venezuela for inspiring kids wth music T/ Ian James P/ Agencies
I
n the front row of the audience, an elderly man wrapped in a heavy coat listens intently to a youth choir, then stands and applauds enthusiastically. The teenage musicians crowd around him, many wanting to pose for photos, shake hands and show their appreciation. Some ask: “Maestro, did you like it?” The thin, balding man in bifocals smiles broadly, encouraging the singers and grasping their hands. To many of Venezuela’s young musicians, Jose Antonio Abreu is a mentor, an inspiration and a hero. The 72-year-old has revolutionized music education in Venezuela through a unique teaching program known as El Sistema that has been celebrated around the world and produced talents such as 31-year-old star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, now music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The former congressman started the program nearly four decades ago, dreaming of giving poor kids the opportunity to immerse themselves in classical music. Today, his creation is flourishing as a nationwide network of orchestras. “I have many musical children”, Abreu said in an interview, chuckling at the phrase since he never had children of his own. “In the future, there shouldn’t be a single child or teenager left out of music in Venezuela. All provinces should be filled with choruses and orchestras, all of them. Daily life should be expressed in music”. Abreu’s El Sistema, or the System, is formally known as the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, and has become one of the proudest achievements of a country that otherwise struggles with rampant violent crime and bitter political divisions. The program now involves more than 300,000 students, a
remarkable number in a nation of about 29 million people. In small towns and cities, children and teenagers are learning the music of composers from Mozart to Mahler. El Sistema received a boost in February when Dudamel dazzled audiences by conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in his homeland for the first time since becoming the orchestra’s music director in 2009. The Philharmonic joined Venezuela’s leading orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, and a chorus of more than 1,200 singers in the Feb. 18 finale, performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in a broadcast shown live in US movie theaters. US actor John Lithgow, who hosted the broadcast, said he was in awe of the passion displayed by the Venezuelan musicians. “It’s completely miraculous the fact that in this troubled country, the one constant in the last 37 years has been El Sistema”, Lithgow said. “It’s all for the good of these kids. It’s just astonishing. It’s extremely inspiring. I’ve never seen such discipline in little children, discipline combined with joy”. Abreu said he doesn’t plan to stop dreaming and wants to expand the program he has spent much of his life building.
At his desk in a small, glasswalled office at Caracas’ premier concert hall, Abreu excitedly proclaimed: “What’s happening here now with this Mahler project is an example for the world, and it’s unique”. “And in the future we’ll continue with projects like this one, with other orchestras and other countries”, he said. “This is a process that’s going to be ... bigger all the time”. Abreu said he considers himself “a social worker, an artist who does social work for art and who dedicates his life exclusively to the youth and children of his country”. That passion was rooted in Abreu’s childhood growing up in a musical family in the western Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto. His maternal grandparents immigrated from Italy bringing a collection of instruments with them, according to a book about Abreu and the orchestra program by journalist Chefi Borzacchini. Abreu’s grandmother sang opera to him, and his grandfather founded a band in their Andean farming town in nearby Trujillo state. According to the book, Abreu said his house was the only one in the area with a piano. Encouraged by his family, Abreu learned to play the piano and violin starting at age
9, “very late” in retrospect, he said. He later studied composing and also pursued non-musical interests, becoming an economist and eventually winning a congressional seat. While he was a young music student, he became irritated that such education in Venezuela was confined to an elite, with few teachers and a lack of instruments for the poor, while countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico had much more developed teaching programs. Young musicians in Venezuela who graduated from music programs, he said, “had no professional destiny”. “It made me furious that my country at that time couldn’t reach the same goal”, Abreu said. “We had to bring ourselves to their level and surpass it”. The result of that indignation was El Sistema, which he started in 1975. Abreu traveled the country founding orchestra after orchestra like a musical Johnny Appleseed. Successive governments, including the 13-year-old administration of President Hugo Chavez, have provided financial support, as have private businesses and other donors. The program currently receives about $160 million a year from the government, said Eduardo Mendez, executive director of the Simon Bolivar Musical Foundation, which oversees the orchestras. International recognition has been widespread, and programs modeled after El Sistema have sprung up from Scotland to Los Angeles. Dudamel said in a 2008 interview with AP that Abreu’s vision has made possible a program in Venezuela that is akin to a big musical family, and “he’s like the fundamental pillar in all of this”. Abreu has struggled recently with health troubles, undergoing surgeries for kidney problems and hydrocephalus. As he climbs stairs, he steadies himself holding the arm of a colleague. But Abreu remains energetic and highly driven, attending performances and promoting the orchestras.
Abreu said he’s confident the program will carry on without him because it’s replete with younger leaders, administrators and teachers. In addition to Dudamel, who has become the program’s star alumnus, Abreu counts on musician-managers who have spent their lives in El Sistema, including Mendez; Valdemar Rodriguez, the foundation’s deputy director; and Victor Rojas, general manager of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. Asked what the program needs to keep thriving, Abreu answered: “We need the government to keep recognizing that music is a right of our children, that our facilities be all the more excellent the poorer the children”. Under Abreu’s leadership and the Chavez government, the Center of Social Action for Music was built in Caracas, and another modern music center with two concert halls and rooms for rehearsals will go up in Barquisimeto. Mendez said the center will be designed by celebrated architect Frank Gehry, who is famous for iconic buildings such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. Abreu said the new center’s main concert hall will be named “Dudamel Hall” and cities across the country should have similar music centers. “El Sistema is a utopia, with all the immense energy of a utopia, with all the beauty”, he said. For Abreu, music is about life writ large, instilling values that help children succeed outside of concert halls. Abreu’s life, for one, has been guided by that vision. “Music isn’t just artistic expression. It’s the whole concept of harmony, of cosmic harmony”, he said. “I’ve always dreamed of El Sistema proposing principles that are applicable to all other areas, including sports and also science ... I have to recruit people who will accompany me in that. That will come”.
NoÊ£äÎÊU Friday, March 30, 2012
The artillery of ideas
Politics | 7 |
Opposition daily runs frontpage series on “violent bolivarians” Rojas claims to have copies of “documents that reveal how the groups finance their operations” and explains that these documents were “found” after the 2011 incident in which three “suspected guerrillas” were killed. Though Rojas claims the documents are from a “reliable source”, Venezuelan General Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz complained that, “television and print media often do their own investigations without submitting any formal complaints or charges to the Public Ministry”. “I would very much like it if whoever has information backing these reports submit it to the Public Ministry”, she added, “so that we can investigate further and go after those responsible for violating the law”.
T/ COI P/ Agencies
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recent stream of frontpage headlines in a Venezuelan daily caught national attention as unsubstantiated reports of “irregular forces” and “new violent actors” were used, once again, to demonize the country’s Bolivarian Revolution. With just six months to go before a presidential election that strongly favors socialist President Hugo Chavez, a newspaper owned by the opposition presidential candidate’s family, Ultimas Noticias, and also the most read paper in the nation, revamped old charges of “armed and dangerous” pro-Chavez forces that have grown “out of control”. In response, the grassroots organizations accused of illegalities took to the streets and denounced ongoing attempts to criminalize their efforts at participatory, direct democracy. THE “LATEST NEWS” Looking to prevent President Chavez from winning another six years in office, corporate media have begun a multifaceted campaign to freighten voters away from the popular Venezuelan
leader. Baseless claims include everything from “secret medical reports” which confirm “a dire future” for Chavez’s health to affirmations of “contaminated drinking water” in homes throughout Caracas, Valencia, and other major cities. In the case of Ultimas Noticias, or “Latest News” in English, the widely-read paper recently issued a series of articles regarding “irregular, Bolivarian forces” now “in control” of southwestern Venezuela. For an entire week beginning March 14th, Ultimas Noticias dished out frontpage coverage on what it called the “growing threat” of “irregular” proChavez organizations present along the Venezuela-Colombia border. Headlines included, “Local Guerrilla Amases Fortunes,” “New Armed Actors in the Country,” and finally, “Boliches Recruiting Kids”. Ultimas Noticias coined the term “Boliches” to describe those they call “illegal Bolivarian organizations”. According to Eligio Rojas, who wrote the series for Ultimas Noticias, “two groups of irregular forces” operating in southwestern Venezuela are practicing extorsion throughout the region and collect
“some 3.8 billion bolivares ($884 million) per year”. Though Rojas admits the organizations have existed “since 1984”, he spends most of his time warning of the “Bolivarian” nature of the “threat”. The two groups in question, according to Rojas, are “the Bolivarian Forces for National Liberation (FBLN) and the Patriotic Bolivarian Liberation Forces (FPBL)”. Both, he says, are currently under investigation for their possible involvement in a November 22, 2011 shootout between unidentified gunmen and members of the Venezuelan armed forces. According to university researcher Veronica Zubillaga, cited by Rojas, the Venezuelan government has now “lost its capacity to monopolize violence”. Though Zubillaga does not name any specific organization, Rojas took her vague warnings of “numerous newly-armed actors, including the armed private citizen” to include the so-called “Bolivarian Party for National Liberation (PBLN)”. This political organization, according to the paper, uses “clandestine structures,” is dedicated to “the consolidation of People’s Power,” and applies “all forms of struggle” to achieve its ends.
FABRICATING CONNECTIONS Perhaps more worrying than Rojas’ written assertions is that the names he uses to describe “the boliches” appear to be revamped derivatives of the so-called “Bolivarian Liberation Forces (FBL)” – first cited by retired US army coronel Max Manwaring in his 2005 report, “Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Bolivarian Socialism, and Asymmetric Warfare”. Written for the US Army Strategic Studies Institute, the report provided baseless ammuniation to terrorism charges after it claimed that Venezuela under Chavez has begun “to establish a 1.5 millionperson military reserve and two additional paramilitary organizations – the Frente Bolivariano de Liberation (Bolivarian Liberation Front) and the Ejercito del Pueblo en Armas (Army of the People in Arms)”. The same claim later resurfaced in a 2011 report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), financed by none other than USAID, in which the ICG described the FBL a “paramilitary organization allegedly armed and financed by the (Venezuelan) government to consolidate its hold over a vital sector of the border with Colombia”. On March 22, as the Ultimas Noticias articles came to an end, an English-language version of the same story appeared on in-
sightcrime.org. In it, online writer Geoffrey Ramsey speculates, “if the Venezuelan opposition wins October’s elections, pro-government armed groups could become a major threat to stability in the country, potentially evolving into a full-fledged insurgency.” MOVEMENTS RESPOND On March 21, representatives from the popular movements accused by Rojas marched on the Caracas offices of Ultimas Noticias. They demanded the paper run a written response by their organization, the Bolivar and Zamora Revolutionary Current (CRBZ), and provide evidence of the accusations against members including national assemblymen Orlando Zambrano. According to the CRBZ press statement, Ultimas Noticias “seeks to force President Chavez between a rock and a hard place – pressuring him to repress the grassroots popular movements or stand on the sidelines, promoting and allowing illegal acts”. “Why have they targeted our organization?” asked CRBZ spokesman Armonio Ortega. “Is it because we have dedicated ourselves to consolidating a real space where People’s Power becomes an ever-growing alternative”, he asked. The CRBZ, which is an active current within Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (PSUV), is an umbrella organization that includes the Ezequiel Zamora National Campesino Front (FNCEZ), the Simon Bolivar National Communal Front (FNCSB), the Bolivarian Popular Workers’ Movement (MPBO), the Simon Rodriguez Center for Political Education and Social Studies (CEFES), Radio Bolivar Lives (RBV), and the Simon Bolivar Socialist Communal City (CCC-SB). The CCC-SB is Venezuela’s first communal city – made up of 39 community councils, organized first into 10 communes, and later into the country’s pioneering communal city. Located in Apure state, the CCCS-SB encompasses roughly 115,000 hectares of land, or 46,500 acres, and is considered the country’s most concrete example of People’s Power. Ultimas Noticias belongs to the Capriles Chain – a company owned by the family of opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.
Friday | March 30, 2012 | Nº 103 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
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nvironmentalists seem to realize that they have some stake in a fight such as the Ecuador-Chevron lawsuit. That case, which Chevron has recently moved to an international arbitration panel in an attempt to avoid a multibillion penalty handed down by Ecuadorian courts, is about whether a multinational oil corporation will have to pay damages for pollution for which it is responsible. Most environmentalists figure that would be a good thing. But what about fights between multinational oil giants and the governments of oil-producing states over control of resources? Do people who care about the environment and climate change have a stake in these battles? It appears that they do, but most have not yet noticed it. In December of last year, Exxon Mobil won a judgment against the government of Venezuela for assets the government had nationalized in 2007. The award was actually a victory for the government of Venezuela: Exxon had sued for $12 billion, but won only $908 million. After subtracting $160 million the court said was owed to Venezuela, Exxon ended up with a $748 million judgment. The ruling was made by an arbitration panel of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). On February 15, Venezuela paid Exxon $250 million and announced that the case was settled. Some background: the dispute arose out of the Venezuelan government’s decision to take a majority stake in oil extraction, in accordance with its law. In
2005, it entered into negotiations with foreign oil companies to purchase enough of their assets in order to achieve a majority stake. Almost all the negotiations, with dozens of companies, were successful – with only Exxon and ConocoPhillips going to arbitration (Conoco is still negotiating). Exxon adopted a strategy of trying to make an example of Venezuela, so that no other government would try to mess with it. Exxon went to European courts to freeze $12 billion of Venezuelan assets, but this was reversed within a matter of weeks. They also went to arbitration at the ICC, and at the World Bank’s arbitration panel, Icsid (the latter
case still pending). But the ICC gave Exxon much less than the Venezuelan government had reportedly offered it in negotiations. The decision was noted with intense interests among oil industry specialists – and was seen by developing country governments as an important victory for the developing world – but didn’t get much attention in the mass media. This is a big precedent – and, of course, there are other countries that will continue to have disputes with oil companies over control of resources. Why should environmentalists care? Well, for those of us who would like to slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere, we would like to keep more oil in the ground. That is one reason why most environmentalists would support a carbon tax, which would raise the price of carbon emissions. The main reason that Venezuela insisted on a majority share in these oil projects is that it wants to control production. Venezuela is a member of OPEC, and abides by the organization’s quotas. If you want to reduce climate disruption, then you have a big interest in whether governments that want to reduce oil production are able to do so. A higher price of oil due to reduced production by oil-producing countries reduces oil consumption in the same way that a carbon tax does. It also encour-
ages the development of nonfossil fuel alternatives, including solar and wind technologies, which become more economically feasible at higher oil prices. (Of course, higher prices do also encourage non-OPEC countries to produce more oil, and OPEC members to cheat on the cartel, and a carbon tax would not have that same effect; but this would be an argument for a stronger and more inclusive OPEC.) On the other side, our adversaries have always had the goal of flooding the world with cheap oil, which would greatly accelerate global warming. Before Hugo Chavez was elected in Venezuela, the national oil company (Pdvsa) shared that goal with Washington. But as soon as he was elected, Chavez successfully pushed OPEC to reduce production, moving oil prices off their deep low point of $11 a barrel in 1998. The US State Department, in a 2002 report, admitted that the US government “provided training, institution-building, and other support to individuals and organizations understood to be actively involved” in the military coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela’s elected government that year. That same report also stated that one of the main reasons for Washington’s “displeasure” with Chavez was “his involvement in the affairs of the Venezuelan oil company and the potential impact of that on oil prices”. Of course, it is not politically popular for anyone to appear pro-OPEC in the rich, oil-consuming countries. But most environmentalists are willing to support policies, such as a carbon tax, that are not necessarily going to win elections this year. So they should also recognize that they have an immediate stake in the producing states’ struggle with multinational companies over control of fossil fuel and other natural resources.