Edition N° 126

Interview

Opinion

Camila Vallejo: Another Chile is possible page 7

Remember September 11, 1973, the overthrow of Salvador Allende page 8

Friday, September 14, 2012 | Nº 126 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas

Amazon massacre allegation false

Women’s liberation vital to the bolivarian Revolution

Media reports of a massacre in the Venezuelan Amazon region that allegedly killed dozens of Yanomami Indians has proved false, after goverment authorities traveled with journalists to the remote region and met with the tribal group. The story of the massacre was heavily covered by media attempting to negatively portray the Chavez administration ahead of presidential elections less than one month away.

Survival International, the British NGO that initiated the accusation, has since retracted. page 3

Chavez set to win

Politics

Opposition disrespects women

During a campaign event with thousands of women supporters this week, President Hugo Chavez ratified the critical role of women in the Bolivarian Revolution and reiterated his own commitment to feminism. “The liberation of our people begins with women’s liberation”, he said, outlining the many advances women have made during the last decade.

Chavez established a Women’s Ministry, Women’s Bank and has set up social programs dedicated to helping low income mothers gain skills, knowledge and resources to start their own businesses. page 6

Venezuelan choir in US

Presidential Candidate Henrique Capriles held a “panty” event with supporters. page 4 Social Justice

Celebrating tourism

Venezuela held its annual International Tourism Festival. page 6

Human rights in Venezuela are enshrined in social missions T/ AVN

Impact

President Hugo Chavez claimed polls indicate his victory is irreversible at this stage. page 2

INTERNATIONAL

P/ EFE

The Simon Bolivar National Youth Choir of Venezuela will perform two shows each in New York City and Washington, DC, next week. The concerts, sponsored

by Citgo and the Embassy of Venezuela, will pair the 100-member ensemble with New York’s Limon Dance Company for “A Celebration of Music and Dance”.

The choir is part of Venezuela’s famous youth music program, “El Sistema”, and will sing music by American and Venezuelan composers such as Randall Thompson and Simon Diaz. It will be joined the renowned Limon Dance Company for a choreographed performance of Kodály’s “Missa Brevis”.

The first concert is on September 17 at 8pm at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, followed by a show at the United Nations on September 18.

In Washington, DC, the performance comes to the Eisenhower Theater at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on September 20 and the Inter-American Development Bank on September 21. Both shows are free and open to the public. Tickets will be available at the Kennedy Center on the day of the performance beginning at 6p.m.

This week Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolas Maduro pointed out Venezuela’s strength in matters of human rights as solidified in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the social programs implemented

by President Hugo Chavez.

“The key concepts of Universal Human Rights traditionally known are expressed in our Constitution, in the projects and plans developed everyday through social programs launched by President Hugo Chavez”, Maduro said Tuesday night on local television.

He recalled the significant nature of Venezuela’s Constitution, ratified by popular referendum in 1999, because it “guarantees and protects human, social, economic, political, civil rights”.

The Constitution has been the base to build a participatory democracy in Venezuela, Maduro said, within the international system of the United Nations.

For example, he said, citizens in Venezuela enjoy political, civil, social and economic rights envisaged in international accords and conventions of the United Nations.

Concerning the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, Maduro recalled how they have “a record of violations of the InterAmerican Convention”.

“The so-called InterAmerican System of Human Rights is falling into decline, it supported a coup against our government in 2002 and has defended other efforts to undermine democratic governments in the region”, underlined Maduro.

The United States does not recognize the jurisdiction of either entity, though it implores others in the region to follow its dictates.

2 Impact | . s Friday, September 14, 2012

The artillery of ideas

“We’re the children of a Bolivarian hurricane” T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

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enezuelan presidential candidate Hugo Chavez dug into his conservative rival, Henrique Capriles, during a press conference Tuesday when the two-time incumbent accused his rightwing challenger of lacking consistency in the run up to the nation’s elections slated for October 7.

“They have no unity”, Chavez said of the main opposition coalition that is backing Capriles.

“There is no defined program, only interests that go back and forth. And what ends up coming to the fore is the high bourgeoisie who has the most power”, he imputed.

Chavez’s comments were made as the Venezuelan head of state responded to questions from national and international press at the Alba Hotel in the capital of Caracas.

Chavez, who leads Capriles by double-digit figures in all major polls, expressed his utmost confidence in a favorable result in October’s contest.

“I don’t have the faintest doubt that we’re going to win”, Chavez said, urging his supporters to attain a record-setting 70 percent of the vote.

Such a victory, he explained, would mean a consolidation of the Bolivarian Revolution that has transformed the economically and socially devastated OPEC nation into an example of

independence and participatory democracy around Latin America and much of the world.

On Tuesday, Chavez reminded his supporters that the changes underway in the South American nation are bigger than any one person and are founded on the example set by Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar.

Opposition pollster Datanalisis gives Chavez double-digit lead T/ AVN

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gap of 13.1 percentage points favors socialist candidate Hugo Chavez, disclosed in the latest survey conducted by polling firm Datanalisis, according to which 43.1 percent of those polled would vote for Chavez and 30 percent for conservative candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.

Of that 43.1 percent, 99.4 percent said they are sure

they will vote for the socialist candidate.

The fieldwork for the poll was conducted from September 3-8 and mentioned by journalist Ernesto Villegas in his morning daily talk show, Todo Venezuela.

The survey was conducted among 1,200 phone interviews and the data was selected randomly. It was catagorized by gender, age, social economic stratum and region, with a

“This isn’t about Chavez and that’s the key to the affair. This can’t be pinned to one human being. We’re children of a Bolivarian hurricane and we’ve risen from Venezuelan history as the product of the breakdown of a country”, he asserted.

The candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) also clarified comments made last week regarding a possible civil war in the event of a right-wing triumph in October.

The Venezuelan head of state pointed out that his statements were a reiteration of a former opposition activist, David De Lima, who, after defecting from the ranks of the party Justice First,

disclosed to Chavez supporters a neoliberal economic plan being proposed by Capriles.

According to De Lima, the implementation of such as proposal, which would mean the freezing of pensions, the rising of prices on basic services and the suspension of housing subsidies, would lead to a civil war in the country.

“What a lack of ethics. The one who made these pronouncements was David De Lima. I saw it with my own eyes on a television program”, Chavez told reporters on Tuesday.

“Everything that we have done...over the long road of 20 years has been to move away from the fear and disaster of a civil war, a war between brothers and sisters. We have dismantled these dangers”, he added.

A main reason for this stability, Chavez pointed out, has been the implementation of major education, public health, and economic stimulus programs.

These missions, which have helped to put Venezuela at the vanguard of the fight against poverty and inequality around the globe, have been the foundation of the Bolivarian Revolution’s plan to redistribute wealth generated from the nation’s oil industry.

Therein, the socialist President stated, lies the reason for the current government’s continued popularity.

“Our success is based on our application of a successful political, economic program that has been successful in the international realm”, Chavez declared, recalling the first years of his administration when “Venezuela was in the basement”.

“Venezuela was sunk and the Revolution arrived to bring it out of the basement and build a foundation”, he affirmed.

margin of error of 2.82 percent, according to the poll details.

Villegas informed that the survey also studied the preference of undecided voters, who leaned by 10.7 percent for Chavez and 6.4 percent for Capriles.

Adding up the number of undecided voters who expressed preference for the socialist candidate in their voting intention, the total figure increased to 53.8 percent favoring Chavez. Meanwhile, Capriles would have 36.4 percent. The gap favoring Chavez would be 17.4 percent.

Datanalisis, a polling firm linked to the opposition, also

analyzed whether Venezuelans described themselves as “pro-Chavez, opponents, swing voters, did not know or did not answer”. The result was 41.7 percent who described themselves as pro-Chavez and 16.1 percent against Chavez.

Furthermore, 38.6 percent of those polled defined themselves as swing voters and 3.6 percent did not know or did not answer.

Other polls, such as Consultores 30.11, have given Chavez a more than 20 point lead over Capriles, with 57% voting in his favor and 34.4% for the opposition.

. s Friday, September 14, 2012

The artillery of ideas

| Especial Report

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“Government officials indicated that the level of illegal mining in this zone is minimal...

Before visiting these communities we took a look at the materials that the illegal miners use so that we could identify evidence.

Nothing of the sort did we find”, Telesur’s Segura said.

Cliver Alcala, Venezuela’s Southern Army Commander referred to the miners’ presence as “very incipient” and affirmed that the armed forces have not “detected any garimpeiro up to this moment”.

Notwithstanding, Alcala assured that Venezuelan security forces will continue to pursue any illegal activity in the region and guaranteed a “total presence” of the military in the region.

MEDIA FALLOUT

Venezuela: Government investigation finds no evidence of indigenous massacre T/ COI P/ AFP

A

fter an 8-day investigation that combed the dense jungles of the Venezuelan amazon, government officials reported last weekend that there is no evidence to support allegations of a massacre that took place in the isolated Yanomami village of Irotatheri last July.

“We have been able to observe that what reigns is peace and harmony”, Venezuelan Army Brigade General Jesus Mata told the news station Telesur on Friday.

According to Mata, “nothing happened” to the Yanomami of the zone who he described to be “in a perfect state”.

News of the “massacre” of 80 people first surfaced in mid August after a group of indigenous organizations accused illegal Brazilian miners, known as garimpeiros, of opening fire on a Yanomami settlement in Southern Venezuela.

According to information provided by three Yanomami “survivors” from the area, the garimpeiros had attacked the village of Irotatheri, using gunfire from helicopters to raze a communal hut that was home to some 80 indigenous people.

The supposed slaying took place about 19 kilometers from the Brazilian border and news of the alleged act took more than a month to reach the wider population.

As soon as word was received, the Venezuelan government formed an investigative team comprised of members of the Attorney General’s Office, the Armed Forces, and the Investigative Police to sweep the area and speak with surrounding Yanomami villages regarding the possibility of violence.

Preliminary investigations uncovered no traces of an attack, Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Nicia Maldonado, said on September 1.

“We can say to the country that no evidence has been found of a single death. Neither is there evidence of burnt houses in the supposed massacre of 80 Yanomami brothers and sisters”, Maldonado stated.

To confirm these findings, the Venezuelan government took a group of journalists by helicopter last Friday to Irotatheri where they found “people peacefully cooking plantains over a communal fire and no sign of any killing”, reported the Associated Press.

“Yanomami Indians in the village of Irotatheri spoke with journalists through a guide who translated their accounts that there had been no violence”, the AP said.

Also present in the delegation was Luis Chatiwe, a spokesper-

son for the organization Horonami, who was the first to bring the allegations to the attention of the Venezuelan authorities. “[Chatiwe] participated in the entire tour and could confirm upon arriving in Irotatheri that the massacre didn’t happen”, reported Rolando Segura, a journalist for Telesur who accompanied the government’s visit on Friday.

While in Irotatheri, the Venezuelan government took advantage of the opportunity to provide medical attention to the community and equip the villagers with a wireless radio in order to report any potential danger from rogue miners in the area.

A GROWING PROBLEM The question of illegal mining on the Venezuelan-Brazil-

ian border, while becoming a greater concern for many indigenous people, is not new.

In 1993, 16 people were killed in a massacre at the hands of garimpeiros in the Brazilian village of Haximu and in 2010, four Yanomami died in Venezuelan territory as a result of mercury contamination in the water.

Indigenous groups have also reported the raping of Yanomami women by the miners and have called on both Venezuelan and Brazilian governments to clear the area of the garimpeiros.

During their recent sweep of the amazon, members of the Venezuelan Armed Forces informed the media that they were able to detect “a minimal” presence of illegal miners in the region.

While there has been no hard evidence to back the claims of the alleged massacre, the story has nevertheless been picked up by major news companies around the world.

Venezuelan government officials have decried the lack of proof presented by journalists and NGOs, accusing the overwhelming coverage of the affair to reflect the bias that the majority of news organizations harbor against the nation’s President Hugo Chavez.

“It is reprehensible the miserable way in which some people and the media have spread false news about the Yanomami communities”, said Interior and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami earlier this month.

Last week, Chavez himself took aim at the media for what he called a distortion of the story in order to discredit his administration in the run up to the nation’s presidential elections on October 7.

“They have tried to manipulate [the people] regarding a supposed Yanomami massacre and we, responsibly, have toured all of the villages and we will continue to travel until the furthest corner looking for some evidence of the alleged massacre”, the Venezuelan President said on Friday.

“Everybody knows that if we had found some evidence of a crime, we would investigate it to the end”, he asserted.

Chavez also drew attention to the social programs that his government has created to improve the conditions of Venezuela’s indigenous populations.

“No government in this country, in almost 200 years of history, has treated the people and the indigenous people with as much love, respect, and dignity”, he stated.

4 Politics | . s Friday, September 14, 2012

The artillery of ideas

Chavez rallies supports for campaign’s final stretch

Opposition disrespects women, causes violence T/ Rachael Boothroyd

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T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

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enezuelan President and re-election candidate, Hugo Chavez, called last week for party unity and a massive turnout on October 7 to secure electoral victory and solidify the socialist revolution that has transformed the country for more than a decade.

“Today is Friday, September 7. Within one month, October 7, we will write Venezuela’s greatest electoral and political page”, Chavez exclaimed during a campaign rally held in the Poliedro of Caracas last Friday.

The President’s proclamations were made to the crowd as red clad backers of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) expressed their affinity to the political movement that has cut the nation’s poverty in half while amplifying free social services over the past 13 years.

Warning of a return to the free-market policies that characterized Venezuela’s political establishment in the 1980s and 1990s, the head of the country’s largest political organization criticized the right-wing agenda of his opponent, conservative candidate Henrique Capriles.

The two-time incumbent President referred to Capriles’

governmental proposals as a “neoliberal package” that would end dozens of social programs, privatize education, and return key national industries to the hands of foreign multinationals.

“It’s a package that would carry Venezuela into a civil war and total catastrophe”, the head of state said.

While seven candidates are vying for the presidency, Venezuela’s general election will be decided between Chavez and Capriles with all other aspirants representing a minute percentage of support, collectively.

A recent poll released by the firm Datanalisis puts Chavez’s lead over the candidate of the Democratic Roundtable (MUD) coalition at 13.1 points.

This is consistent with the vast majority of polls in the country, some of which place the socialist leader’s advantage over Capriles as being higher than 20 points.

Despite the gap in popularity between the two candidates, Chavez exhorted his backers to eschew complacency and carry out a “war on sectarianism” by fostering party unity and openness.

This includes increasing discipline at the grassroots and national levels and working to mobilize a record number of voters on election day.

“On this final stretch that we are starting today, we’re going to come out of the gates flying, spreading out around the country with more motivation, more emotion, more certainty of what we’re doing during this battle”, he said.

Of Venezuela’s more than 19 million registered voters, the PSUV has set as its goal the attainment of 10 million ballots to secure what Chavez has referred to as a “knockout” of the opposition.

“A defeat to the Bolivarian Revolution would be a defeat for the world and for the people who want a better world.

The entire world is watching what is happening with this battle”, the head of the OPEC nation said.

Friday’s event was attended by thousands of PSUV election volunteers from all over Venezuela being referred to by the PSUV as members of “the red machine”.

“From here we’re going to deploy with our hands and arms open for the nation, to call on those who still haven’t joined our cause and those who still have doubts... We’re going to help ease the fears of these people and help to end the confusion so that they join this movement towards socialism”, Chavez declared.

uring his campaign rally Sunday in Caracas’ largest stadium, the Poliedro, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared that Venezuela needed a “serious” political opposition capable of challenging the current government.

“Venezuela needs a right wing political opposition that really are politicians, that are serious and with real leaders. Not a man like this who doesn’t even respect workers and who disrespects women”, he said.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski recently caused controversy by calling public sector workers “ass kissers” and by organizing what his campaign team termed a “pantython;” a public meeting with Venezuelan women where the candidate responded to their questions and concerns. Women’s organizations were highly critical of the event, and particularly its name, which they denounced as being disrespectful to women.

“He (Capriles) is permanently trying to discredit women”, said member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and second vice-president of the National Assembly, Blanca Eekhout, pointing out that Venezuelan women are “emblematic” in the Chavez government and represent the “largest percentage in communal councils and social missions”.

Eekhout also described the “panty-thon” as “shameful” and demanded respect on behalf of Venezuelan women.

“The women of Venezuela cannot be reduced to a fetish, to a thing, an object or an object for sexual use... we cannot be reduced to a pair of panties”, she said.

The “panty-thon” comes just a few weeks after Capriles also interrupted a speech in Carabobo state to make remarks about women’s physical appearance.

“I’m impressed with how beautiful the women are”, said Capriles, “At times,

you stop here and you have some girls in front and you start to look at them and you lose your concentration”, he said.

The presidential hopeful has so far been unable to bridge the gap between himself and Chavez, who has consistently maintained a double digit lead over his opponent.

VIOLENCE Sunday’s political events were also marred by controversy after the opposition aborted a planned march through the working class zone of La Pastora in Caracas. According to Capriles, the rally was cancelled due to the presence of “armed groups” who prevented the opposition from entering the zone.

Despite the cancellation, some opposition supporters decided to continue with the march and allegedly came into conflict with journalists from the National System of Public Media (SNMP) who were covering the event.

Lorena Benetiz, a journalist from the SNMP, said that the group she was with was threatened by members of the opposition, who threw liquid at them and tried to take Benitz’s phone.

“This woman, in the company of another two people, attacked me. They grabbed and hit me and they continued to attack me verbally”, said Benetiz, whose ordeal was captured on camera by journalists from community based television channel, Avila TV. Both presidential candidates are coming to the end of a campaign trail which has taken them to communities throughout the country.

Although violence has been minimal, there have been several attacks by the opposition against community journalists and organizers, including the recent shooting of a pro-Chavez farmer by a Globovision journalist.

Supporters of the opposition have also been chased out of working-class neighborhoods by community organizations.

. s Friday, September 14, 2012

The artillery of ideas

| Politics

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Opposition lawmaker ostracized for critique of “hidden economic agenda” T/ COI P/ Agencies

any of the opposition heavyweights, by no other opposition organizations, is telling of how sectarian his political positioning truly is”, affirmed Rangel.

“I am not surprised by what is now happening within the MUD”, he said. “And I would not be surprised if after William Ojeda new desertions occur”.

“The opposition has always shown frailty”, he added, “because it’s a mixture of different factors: people from the right, the left, the extreme right, a pool of people with very different political thinking”.

W

ith just weeks to go before the 2012 presidential election, Venezuela’s anti-Chavez coalition suspending one of its members for having openly questioned the “secret” economic platform of right-wing candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski. The decision to oust opposition lawmaker William Ojeda, who described the Capriles platform as “a neoliberal nightmare”, came almost immediately after he proposed an “open debate” on the Democratic Unity Roundtable’s (MUD) economic agenda.

In what began as a simple call for “reflection” late last week, the fallout over public statements made by opposition legislator William Ojeda have demonstrated the degree of secrecy and intolerance that reigns among opposition forces. In the words of Noticias24, the “hurricane unleashed by William Ojeda” forced open the “hidden economic agenda” of the MUD coalition and its presidential hopeful, Henrique Capriles Radonski.

On Thursday, September 6, Ojeda held a press conference outside his National Assembly office in which he told reporters “Venezuelans deserve” an “open debate” over a recently-exposed internal MUD document detailing the coalition’s economic agenda in a postChavez Venezuela. First brought to light by former opposition governor David de Lima, the document titled “Initial Economic Ideas and Actions to be Carried Out by the National Unity Government (2013)”, includes a series of radical neoliberal reforms that directly contradict Capriles’ campaign messaging.

According to de Lima, who released the MUD document last month, he did so because “its contents are unfair to the poor and humble majority”.

“It proposes a separation between Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) and the state, granting it ‘autonomy’, and it also proposes an end to housing subsidies, food subsidies, as well as subsidies for the Social Security System”.

Though William Ojeda is a recognized figure within opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), his public statements backing de Lima’s concerns resulted in his immediate suspension from the party. Within hours of his

DENY AND CONQUER

critiques, UNT spokesmen held a press conference denouncing their “former comrade” and suspending him for his critique of the Capriles agenda.

Responding to the UNT decision, Ojeda said he was “saddened” by what was “one of the briefest political summary judgments in republican history”.

“Within an hour I was both judged and condemned”, he said.

Insisting the decision resulted from “external pressures being placed on the party”, Ojeda “thanked” those within the opposition who responded with what he called “messages of empathy”.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Ojeda reiterated his “original call for an open debate” on the MUD’s “hidden economic agenda” which he said goes against the “Venezuelan people’s best interests”.

“Let’s open up the discussion”, he said, “let’s have an open, ample debate without any hindrances. Let the (Capriles) economic program be discussed; let each one of the steps outlined in the platform be debated so as to get feedback from all of Venezuelan society”.

According to Ojeda, he is one of many within the Venezuelan opposition who understand that “neoliberal agendas are nothing more than out-of-date economic nightmares, proven to depend on inefficient mechanisms – mechanisms that have shown their perversion and have been defeated by history”.

Venezuelan economist Victor Alvarez, who studied the controversial text, said the real MUD economic agenda proposes “a Venezuela in which those who have the

resources to pay for health and education do so. Those who do not have the means to buy healthcare or pay for education will simply be excluded from both”.

INTERNAL UNREST According to former opposition governor David de Lima, “disgruntled” members of the MUD coalition provided him an original copy of the aforementioned document, signed by Capriles himself, and did so because they “feel deceived” by the opposition candidate.

“They are upset”, explained de Lima, “upset that they are not being consulted, that they’re being marginalized, that they’re invited to meetings as simple placeholders”.

“Now that Capriles is the presidential candidate he is mistreating his allies, leaving them on the wayside”, he said.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in the state of Miranda on Sunday, President Hugo Chavez explained that Capriles and his Primero Justicia (PJ) Party “are working to build themselves up as the ‘new’ opposition, looking to destroy the political strength held within the opposition by AD (Democratic Action), Copei (Social Christian Democrats), and other smaller parties”.

According to investigative journalist Jose Vicente Rangel, “as the presidential election approaches, and the pending defeat of the opposition becomes more and more evident, new conflicts (within the opposition) are sure to arise”.

“The solitude with which the opposition candidate (Capriles) is moving about the country, unaccompanied by

Aware that most Venezuelans firmly reject the free-market economics that brought the country to ruin during the Fourth Republic (1958-1998), MUD Executive Secretary Ramon Guillermo Aveledo and opposition presidential hopeful Henrique Capriles have distanced themselves from the controversial document.

Both men affirm it is “a fake…written by someone within the Chavez government”, and promise voters that their “real platform” is an online version they published as part of February 12 primaries that secured Capriles the MUD candidacy.

According to the MUD Secretary, the aforementioned memo “is clearly a fake” because it “doesn’t include the key points outlined in the real (opposition) program”.

“In Venezuela there will be no macroeconomic adjustments”, Aveledo promised, “because such adjustments aren’t necessary – it’s just not true that they’re necessary”.

Speaking in the state of Monagas, Capriles recently assured voters that “no major economic packages will be implemented” if elected in next month’s election. He also promised, as he has done throughout the course of this year’s presidential campaign, an “increase in the number of social programs, of even better quality” if voters chose him over socialist President Hugo Chavez.

Not mentioning Ojeda or de Lima by name, Capriles told supporters the Chavez government “created that document” and added that “cheese is now being offered to the rats, rats that are running to take a bite, if you know what I mean...”.

6 Social Justice | . s Friday, September 14, 2012

The artillery of ideas

Celebrating tourism in Venezuela: Fitven 2012 held in Caracas

a promotional campaign being carried out by the national tourism ministry aimed at dispelling myths in the international press that Venezuela is a crime hotspot.

The campaign is called “Venezuela: to discover it is your destiny” and is based on the promotion of Venezuela’s 6 main tourist areas, including the Caribbean, the Andes and the Llanos; Venezuela’s sprawling savannah.

“This strategy generates a huge advantage for the international visitor, given that they can clearly identify our tourist destinations, from coasts with clear waters to our snow topped mountains; we are offering Venezuela as a multi-destination country,

with President Chavez. “Women have defended our homeland, the land of our children, and this has all been possible thanks to Hugo Chavez”.

Perez also emphasized programs and policies implemented by the Chavez administra-

tion that benefit Venezuelan women and their children, including the Mission “Mothers of the Neighborhood” and “Children of Venezuela”. Both social programs provide basic living stipends to single mothers from low income neighborhoods and help them with job training and development skills to start their own businesses or cooperatives.

One woman present at the event with President Chavez Wednesday expressed how with the Revolution, “women have achieved so much. We’re no longer those women who waited at home to be told what to do. We have skills, we’ve empowered ourselves, we’re advancing, we’re fighting for our children and our homeland”.

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tourism and demonstrated that the government welcomed private investment in the industry.

“During the day we have carried out business conferences between representatives from 15 countries and with the 195 small, medium and large tourist services providers from our country. It’s a demonstration that, in the revolution being led by President Chavez, there is more and more space for the private sector which is willing to respect the Constitution”, commented Jaua.

One of the principal objectives of the festival is to promote tourism in Venezuela, which has a rich landscape that includes

Caribbean beaches and Andean mountains. The government has been stepping up its investment in infrastructure, transport, services and cultural and recreational activities in recent years in a successful bid to attract more tourists to the country.

According to government figures released earlier this year, over 300,000 international tourists visited Venezuela between January and April 2012, representing a 49.5% increase in tourist numbers for the same period in 2011.

As well as an increase in investment, the rise in the numbers of tourists visiting Venezuela can also be attributed to

Chavez: A people’s liberation begins with women’s liberation T/ Eva Golinger F/ presidential press

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n Wednesday, Chavez held an event with thousands of women supporters in the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas. During the mass rally, which was part of his presidential reelection campaign, the Venezuelan President recalled how the Bolivarian Revolution has treated Venezuelan women with “so much love”, manifested in the numerous rights and opportunities regained by women during the past decade.

“The liberation of our people first begins with women’s liberation”, he declared, during the Meeting of Women with Chavez event. The incumbent candidate also commented how important the presence, work and contribution of women has been to his government and the social transformation the country has been experiencing since he was first elected in 1998.

“No government before has ever treated Venezuelan women like this government”, he added.

Nancy Perez, head of the Women’s Ministry founded by Chavez

in 2010 to advance women’s rights in the South American nation, explained how the current administration has opened a path for the women of Venezuela.

“With the Revolution, women have realized our importance”, said Perez during the event

TOURISM & SOCIALISM A number of conferences were also held at this year’s Fitven, with a focus on creating awareness surrounding alternative forms of tourism. One of the main talks this year was an exposé of Brazil’s experience with social and community tourism.

“The conference content is an attempt to diversify how we conceive of correct investment in tourism by focusing on community tourism”, said Venezuelan Vice Minister for Tourist Development, Ernesto Ruiz.

The official also went onto highlight the Venezuelan government’s efforts to involve communities in the planning and running of tourist activities with the support of the State.

“Since the new Tourism Law was passed, we have been backing communities so that they take charge of tourist spaces in a sustainable way”, he added.

Chavez has previously said that the government’s goal in Venezuela is to promote a “humane and ecological” form of tourism which is accessible to all. One of the government’s main initiatives aimed at creating opportunities for Venezuelans from poorer backgrounds to take part in national tourism is through Plan Vacation, which sees around 1.5 million children taken to various tourist or cultural destinations throughout the country during the summer months.

The government has also spearheaded a scheme through its tourist agency, Venetur, which allows workers to pay for holidays through a small monthly instalments.

T/ Rachael Boothroyd P/ Agencies ver 25,000 Venezuelans attended the government’s annual international tourism festival last week in Hotel Alba, Caracas, where citizens could learn about travel to other countries in Latin America and enjoy musical acts from throughout the continent. The idea behind the festival is to promote responsible and sustainable tourism and the exchange of culture, knowledge and tourist experiences between nations.

The public event, known as Fitven 2012, also boasted an arts and crafts fair, a photo gallery of some of Venezuela’s most beautiful tourist destinations, conferences on issues relating to tourism and a market with traditional Venezuelan food.

This year was the 7th time the festival has been held and representatives from 15 different countries, including Cuba, Colombia and Brazil, were in attendance. The festival placed special emphasis on Latin American unity, as well as on bringing the whole of the national and international tourist industry together, including both private and state initiatives and local communities.

Speaking at the inauguration of the festival last Thursday, Venezuelan Vice President, Elias Jaua, said that the event was a testament to the efforts of the revolution in the field of

a quality which few countries possess”, said David Rivas, Executive Director of the National Tourism Institute (Inatur).

. s Friday, Septiembre 14, 2012

The artillery of ideas

| Interview

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Interview with Camila Vallejo: “Another Chile is possible,with greater democracy and social rights”

T/ IPS P/ Agencies

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t is essential for young people in Chile to assume a more active role in politics, especially in two key electoral processes: the municipal elections in October and the legislative and presidential vote in 2013, says student leader Camila Vallejo, who has not ruled out running for a seat in parliament herself.

A media darling who has drawn international attention, Vallejo is the most charismatic face of Chile’s social movement today. As past president of the University of Chile Student Federation (FECH), she played a fundamental role in the movement of university and secondary school students that in 2011 were behind the largest social protests held since the return to democracy in 1990.

This year, as vice president of FECH – in December she was defeated for her bid for reelection as president by Gabriel Boric – and one step away from earning a degree in geography, she is emerging as the most promising young potential politician of the last few decades.

In this interview with IPS, the 24-year-old member of the Communist Youth of Chile says she is not in favor of replicat-

ing models or strategies followed elsewhere in the region, although she does believe that “another world is possible”.

She says Latin America is heading in a good direction, led by progressive governments in a number of countries.

With respect to the student movement, she says it “acted erratically” early this year, which apparently undermined support for the protests. But she says the mistakes were corrected, as demonstrated by the fact that 180,000 people came out on Tuesday August 28 in the latest march demanding free, quality public education for all.

The students are demanding a radical change in the educational system in Chile which, despite the improvements introduced in 2009 after mass demonstrations began to be held in 2006, is still based on a scheme of decentralization and privatization put in place by the 19731990 dictatorship, with schools governed by the profit motive and which hold entrance exams to select students.

–Young people marked Chile’s political agenda in 2011. Do you think it’s important for them to take on a role representing the people?

–It is essential. That is why I support the (Communist Party)

candidature of (25-year-old) Camilo Ballesteros for mayor of the Central Station district. He was an excellent leader and will be an excellent mayor.

Furthermore, the University of Santiago de Chile, where Camilo was president of the Student Federation, is in the heart of the district, and I’m sure he will have a great ability to convey and capitalize on the added value of having such an important educational center in his area, which the right-wing administrations have never managed to do.

–Are you willing to take on a role of this kind, in parliament, for example?

–I have stated in different national media outlets that yes, I’m willing, although it is far from being one of my goals, in and of itself. My objective is a more democratic country, to put an end to the constitution inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and to elect a constituent assembly to rewrite it.

We have to eliminate the ‘binomial’ electoral system (the two most highly-voted legislators per district are elected), and we need to nationalize our natural resources. We also need free, quality public education and social rights. These are the objectives and I want to contribute to this from wherever necessary.

–Some students are calling for a boycott of the municipal elections. What do you think about that?

–It’s a mistake. By proposing this, the Coordinating Assembly of Secondary Students is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of a defeat, because the elections will be held anyway.

The only thing they might achieve is to keep some young people away from the polls, which in turn is a setback in terms of the influence that the student movement has to gain in the institutional sphere.

–Do you agree with those who say the student movement is wearing down, or that people are getting tired because the aims are not being met?

–In the first half of this year, the student movement acted erratically, and ended up isolating other social actors. But processes of discussion, criticism and self-criticism were carried out, and on Tuesday August 28 many people took part in our protest, demonstrating our strength – it was massive. Chilean families took to the streets once again.

With respect to what to do to avoid wear-and-tear, you have to foster and protect unity with broad sectors of society.

–What does it mean to be a communist today in the midst of a social movement that seems to feel distant from the parties and from traditional politics?

–I don’t share that view of the Chilean social movement.

Besides, I’m not a communist inserted in a social movement from which I am detached.

I am part of it, as are all my compañeros in the Communist Party’s Communist Youth. We form part of this movement, in all sorts of different places.

At the same time, in every factory, company, trade union, neighborhood council or even parliament, in every place where there is a communist, a struggle is being waged for this social movement to triumph.

–What do you think about the different political models in other countries today? For many, the slogan is “another world is possible” – but how can that be brought about?

–Each country’s experience is unique, and it’s not good to try to replicate models. For years, the neoliberals have been trying to replicate “the American Dream” in Latin America, which has brought poverty, inequality, lack of education and misery. Nevertheless, there is something to learn from every experience.

Another world is possible to the extent that every society manages to find its own path towards greater democracy and stronger social rights, like free education and healthcare, decent housing, and a lifestyle that is in harmony with the environment.

–Your reputation as a student leader has gone beyond Chile’s borders, and you have been able to see the situation in other parts of Latin America. What is your view of the different processes of change?

–I think the overall situation in the region is quite positive.

Progressive governments have managed to move towards greater economic, social and political integration by means of groupings like the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Southern Common Market (Mercosur trade bloc), and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

Chile, although it takes part in these groupings, runs counter to the majority of the countries in South America, with its populist, right-wing government.

Friday, September 14, 2012 | Nº 126 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

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! PUBLICATION OF THE &UNDACION #ORREO DEL /RINOCO s Editor-in-Chief %VA 'OLINGER s Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera

Opinion

The Chilean 9/11: a forgotten tale T/ Farooq Yousaf Overthrowing a democratically elected president by backing a dictator was another example of an indirect intervention in a sovereign country by the US.

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hinking of 9/11, scenes of chaos in 2001 — of the Twin Towers plane crashes, the Pentagon crash and havoc in the US — come to our minds, but unfortunately, the world has forgotten another important event in world history that not only shook Chile but also a major part of South America. It was the same date, September 11, in 1973 that the Chilean President, Salvador Allende, was overthrown by an army general, Augusto Pinochet, with the presidential palace bombarded on Pinochet’s orders. Allende died resisting Pinochet’s men and Chile, along with five other South American states, entered into a phase of tyranny and oppression.

During his rule, Pinochet ordered strict measures against dissidents, especially Marxists. He was responsible for the murder of more than 3,000 Chileans, whereas his alliance with South American dictatorships such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay — Operation Condor — resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people. The major purpose of this alliance was to root out socialist and communist influence from the region and suppress any potential opposition. The US was again the chief supporter of this alliance, providing the countries with important Intel and technological support.

In all these states, citizens were abducted, murdered and extra-judicially killed to silence and curb any possible opposition. Some 200,000 Chileans went into exile to different parts of Europe. Many of them took up murder charges against Pinochet in European courts but all their efforts went in vain. The Condor alliance was initially encouraged by the CIA but that later backfired on the US as it received criticisms from all sections of media and society for supporting the dictators. John Dinges, the award-winning

journalist, writes in his book, The Condor Years that, initially tagged as “remarkable” by Foreign Affairs magazine, this association of the US, CIA and the South American dictators was nothing less than a terrorist organisation responsible for the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians.

A famous Chilean journalist and writer, Antonio Castillo, tells his childhood story in the following words: “Soon we realized that the brutality of the armed forces would reach us too.

On 13 September, my father did not come home from work. He had been arrested, and his workplace — a nido de comunistas (nest of communists) for the new authorities — became a military concentration camp, where the cancer marxista (Marxist cancer) would be extirpated. My father sur-

vived. Many of my friends’ fathers or mothers didn’t”.

The Pinochet Files, a classified document of the US-Chile transactions, proved that the US’s policy makers and ‘securocrats’ (military officers having policy making power) backed Pinochet to overthrow Allende. “It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup”, reads a CIA document from October 1970 leaked in these files.

“It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG [US government] and American hand be well hidden”, stated another document. Two days after this document was written, the top US intelligence officials ordered to launch campaigns to persuade people to accept a military coup. “Con-

cur giving tear gas canisters and gas masks... working on obtaining machine guns”, read another CIA memo dated October 18, 1970.

Another handwritten note by the then CIA director, Richard Helms, having President Nixon’s orders, stated: “One in 10 chances perhaps, but save Chile! Worth spending; not concerned; no involvement of embassy; $ 10,000,000 available, more if necessary; full-time job — best men we have; game plan; make the economy scream; 48 hours for plan of action.

This presidential directive initiates major covert operations to block Allende’s ascension to office, and promote a coup in Chile”.

Although publicly disowning the Pinochet regime amid criticisms of human rights abuses, the US still helped Chile in international business transactions.

Manuel Contreras, the Chilean secret police chief and also allegedly on the CIA’s payroll, when he visited Washington, was asked to meet officials from Anaconda (Copper) and General Motors for possible investments in Chile.

It was not because the US had a threat from Allende, being a Marxist and proUSSR, but because he was elected by a narrow margin, represented a weak left wing in the country, and his economic policies were gaining unpopularity among the masses. That is why overthrowing a weak president was never a hard task to achieve by backing a strong military general, such as Pinochet.

It is indeed interesting to see that many of the Condor’s perpetrators and murderers were never brought to justice with many of them enjoying a dignified retired life in the US. So much so that criminal charges could never be brought even against Pinochet as before any level of conviction, he died. Support for such a dictator by the then Nixon administration may fox many minds, as Pinochet was well known for his human rights violations.

Furthermore, overthrowing a democratically elected president by backing a dictator was another example of an indirect intervention in a sovereign country by the US. Western media, as always, remains silent on the first major 9/11 and the human atrocities committed as a result. With no statement or report covering the grief of Chileans, it will not be wrong to say that the modern day media works on its own agenda and narrative.