Analysis
Opinion O
The truth behind Venezuela’s “non-violent” student movement page 7
The return on Cointelpro in the US? page 8 C
Friday, January 25, 2013 | Nº 143 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
Major poverty reduction Representatives from Venezuela’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) officially revealed some of the most important conclusions from the 14th National Census of Population and Housing to the Venezuelan public this week. The most potent conclusion drawn from the census, which was conducted during 2011, was that extreme poverty levels have significantly been reduced in the ten previous years. page 4
ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas
Venezuela celebrates 55 years of democracy
Integration
Colombia & Venezuela advance ties Border & commerce topics in recent BogotaCaracas talks. page 3 Politics
Anti-Cuba sentiment in opposition grows
On Wednesday, Venezuelans mobilized to join marches celebrating democracy and commemorating 55 years since the overthrow of Venezuela’s last dictatorship on January 23, 1958. The mobilizations also aimed to defend the national constitution of 1999, drafted with citizen involvement under the leadership of President Chavez, which today is the foundation of the system of participatory democracy that replaced the old representative regime and ushered in a new phase of achievements for the majority. Page 3
Protecting biodiversity
Venezuela’s opposition attacks Cuba. page 5 International
US lawyers verify Venezuelan election The National Lawyers Guild lauds Venezuela’s transparent system. page 6
Venezuela’s National Director of Biological Diversity, Jesus Manzanillo, said the country’s strategic conservation plan is paying special attention to endangered species and threatened ecosystems. “This plan is constructed on the basis of a very exhaustive analysis of what should be done in the country and in the world and it takes up precise elements of conservation”, he said. During an interview, Manzanillo explained that an example of the implementation of this plan are the actions being carried out in the Cuare National Reserve, which is located south of Morrocoy National Park in Venezuela’s western state of Falcon. Manzanillo pointed out that Venezuela was the first country to make a presentation before the Convention on Biodiversity, a United Nations entity for environmental protection. Goal number 17 of the Convention states that countries should have an efficient and participatory national conservation strategy ready for implementation by 2015.
INTERNATIONAL Jewish leaders express hope for Chavez recovery T/ AVN Representatives of important Jewish groups in the hemisphere expressed well wishes for President Hugo Chavez during a meeting in Caracas Tuesday with top officials of the Venezuelan government. Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas spoke in a press conference after a meeting of the Council of Ministers and was accompanied by Rabbi Isaac Cohen, who said a prayer for President Chavez’s health and called for him to return soon to resume his labor as head of state. He mentioned the latest information about President Chavez’s health from Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, who said that the leader is “in a process of full recovery”. Villegas said that the Latin American Jewish Council was meeting in Caracas this week, and conveyed its wishes for a speedy recovery by Chavez to Vice President Nicolas Maduro. “The Bolivarian government reiterated its respect for the Jewish community and all religions that are present in our country and in the world”. The meeting included the Venezuelan Jewish Congress and leaders of important groups in the hemisphere such as Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, and Jack Terpins, the President of the Latin American Jewish Congress in Brazil. According to the news agency Prensa Judía, Terpins said that the meeting with Vice President Maduro was a chance “to offer thanks for the Venezuelan government’s adherence to its agreements and the words of President Chavez, who has said that no revolutionary can be anti-Semitic. The Jewish community in Venezuela is very calm”.
2 Impact | . s Friday, January 25, 2013 T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
M
embers of the Chavez administration’s executive cabinet met on Tuesday to discuss strategies to guarantee food security in the midst of the recent hoarding and speculation that has afflicted the market of basic commodities in Venezuela. The session took place in the Vice President’s residence in Western Caracas where the various Ministers of the Chavez government worked to develop a holistic plan to ensure that the nation’s staples are distributed without irregularity throughout the national territory. Part of this proposal includes the elimination of weekend restrictions for the commercial transport of food products as well as those related to construction materials. Speaking to state television channel after the meeting, Industries Minister Ricardo Menendez informed the country on the different steps being taken to fight the withholding of products in the private markets. “We carried out an examination with Vice President [Nicolas Maduro] of the different food products in the country and we’ve looked at the logistics of the different distribution points...in order to guarantee the full supply of commodities which is a fundamental goal of
The artillery of ideas
Chavez cabinet steps up fight against hoarding, speculation
this government”, Menendez declared. The Industries Minister blamed recent shortages on political actors in the private sector who are using food as a weapon to seek a liberation of price controls and limitations on foreign exchange.
Food Minister Carlos Osorio assured that the government currently possesses enough basic food items such as sugar, corn, and rice to supply the market “for the next three months at least” and that further measures are being put in place against those produc-
ers and distributors who are attempting to create panic through the withholding of products.
SUPPORT FROM THE JEWISH COMMUNITY During the session, members of the executive cabinet met
Huge march defends Venezuela’s democracy and revolution T/ Tamara Pearson www.venezuelanalysis.com P/ Presidential Press
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enezuela’s Vice President and cabinet members marched with up to a million people Wednesday to defend the Bolivarian Revolution on Democracy Day. The event commemorated January 23, 1958, when a civic-military movement overthrew the Marcos Perez Jimenez dictatorship. Vice President of the Socialist Bolivarian Workers’ Central (CBST), Francisco Torrealba, said his organization mobilized 35,000 people for Wednesday’s march, to express their “commitment to the Bolivarian Revolution”. Vice President Nicolas Maduro marched among the giant crowd from western Caracas, waving to people around him and those watching on from buildings. Other cabinet members and United Socialist Party
of Venezuela (PSUV) leaders also took part in the march. Hundreds of community radios and other movements also participated in a “chain-marathon”, reporting on the march from all the main plazas of the different states of the country. At around 1pm, when some of the marches had arrived at the final rallying point, a short concert was held before historian Chela Vargas, journalist Jose Vincent Rangel, and VP Maduro addressed the crowd. The people chanted continuously, “We are all Chavez!” (Todos somos Chavez). In his speech, Journalist Jose Vincent Rangel declared, “We have to be clear that January 23 is a symbol of a people who don’t give up”. “With Chavez and Maduro the people are secure”, people chanted when it was Maduro’s turn to speak. Maduro emphasized the significance of a people who “woke-up” after being tired of
the “torture, disappearances, misery, lack of education, unemployment, and a subsequent state that was called ‘democratic’, but only in name because exclusionary and repressive policies were maintained. “This date [January 23] has two meanings; the end of a dictatorship, and also the betrayal of the right wing and the Pact of Punto Fijo”, said William Gudino, of the National Network of Communes. Other marches took place around the country as well. For the Andean city of Merida, with a population of just 300,000, it was the second large march in
under a week. Around 4000 people marched on Friday to defend Cuba after opposition students burned a Cuban flag and an effigy of Fidel Castro, and a similar number also marched Wednesday. For Hector Alejo Rodriguez, general secretary of the Communist Party (PCV) youth, the aim of Wednesday’s marches was to “remember the important role youth played in that battle 55 years ago to bring down the dictatorship”.
OPPOSITION RALLY Despite initially calling for a march on January 23,
with the Venezuelan Jewish community and reaffirmed it’s respect for “all of the religions present in the country and in the world”, according to Communication Minister Ernesto Villegas. Venezuela is a country “focused on peace and a solution to the conflicts in the world, especially the protracted hostilities that have led to bloodshed in the Middle East”, Villegas said. Following his participation in the meeting, Rabi Isaac Cohen offered prayers for the well being of President Chavez, asking God “to provide health and a quick recovery” to the country’s leader so that “he returns to Venezuela to take up his work for this great country and for his great ideals”. According to Minister Villegas the socialist President is making important strides in his convalescence in Cuba. The government spokesperson said that recent news of Chavez’s positive health status disclosed by his son-in-law and Minister of Science and Technology Jorge Arreaza “has been very encouraging”, but “there is still no date set for his return.” “We’re accompanying [Chavez] spiritually in this battle that he is in with our support from the furthest reaches of the county and the world”, Villegas said.
last weekend the anti-Chavez opposition backtracked on those plans, and instead held a small rally Wednesday of around 6,000 people in the sports courts of Miranda Park, Caracas. Speaking at the rally, the general secretary of the opposition coalition, Ramon Aveledo read a 12 point manifesto to “defend Venezuela in a time of uncertainty” and said that should there be new presidential elections, the opposition would choose its candidate by “consensus”. Legislator Alfonso Marquina also announced the re-launching of the coalition, which he said would consist in “re-planning and rationalizing” the organization. A public television journalist, Carlos Chacon, was beaten up at the rally by opposition thugs. He was taken to hospital with multiple injuries and in critical condition. Just before the violence, Aveledo, who was giving his speech, said “these people were sent by the government”, signaling to the public media journalists and crew who had just entered the rally area.
. s Friday, January 25, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Border infrastructure and commerce top agenda in Venezuela-Colombia talks
STRENGTHENING THE BORDER The proposed Tienditas Bridge is part of a bilateral effort to increase border infrastructure and boost trade between both countries by facilitating greater access to the Colombian city of Cucuta, an important commercial hub for the neighboring Venezuelan state of Tachira. Communication improvement to advance border security is another aim of the project, Jaua said after the talks. “We have signed the much anticipated project to study the construction of Tienditas Bridge in Tachira that will receive financing from the Latin American Development Bank (CAF) to encourage communication between both countries”, the Venezuelan Minister stated. Headquartered in Caracas, the CAF is a multilateral funding body that incorporates the public and private sector to provide financing for development projects around Latin American. According to it’s website, the institution provides more funding for projects in the region than both the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank combined. At the end of Friday’s encounter, both Jaua and Holquin also agreed to meet again in late
SOLIDARITY ON BOTH SIDES During her visit, Holguin took the opportunity to relate the Colombian government’s best wishes for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as he recovers from cancer surgery performed in Cuba on December 11. “We want to communicate our solidarity with the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan people as we pray for the health of President Chavez. We hope that he recovers. We know that
people can achieve the path to peace”, Jaua said.
CELAC TO ENGAGE THE EU
things must happen as they must and we want to say that we are with you in this difficult time”, the Colombian Minister said. For his part, Jaua gave Holguin a framed rendition of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar and reiterated his nation’s support for the peace talks currently taking place between the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas in Cuba. “We hope that sooner rather than later, the Colombian
Canaima computers first appeared in Venezuelan schools in 2008, following an agreement with Portugal who produced them and sold them to the Venezuelan government. The Chavez administration then provided the computers to children at no cost to the family, in what rapidly became a flagship program that encapsulated the morals, goals, humanism, and aims of the Bolivarian Revolution. Vice President Nicolas Maduro explained to workers at the plant how the project connects the economic progress of the country to the technological future of the children, and
how they both tie into the historic vision of socialism: “the determination of President Hugo Chavez, since he identified this project, has been based in very precise goals which have been achieved. Here we see various factors combined: the education of our children, who learn from a young age to manage new technologies, the economic advancement of the country, with the development of an industrial and technological pole in Venezuela, and finally the important backing up of labor stability, with the creation of quality jobs”.
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February to further discuss the progress of existing trade pacts between the two nations. “We have scheduled February 27 and 28 to meet with the Commercial Trade Administrative Commission here in Caracas where we will deal with a diversity of themes including border security, cultural and technological exchange, as well as the economic development of the border”, the Venezuelan Minister said.
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As Elias Jaua becomes accustomed to his new role as Foreign Minister, Venezuela continues to strengthen its participation in multilateral organizations. To this end, Jaua is scheduled to represent Venezuela at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) that will take place in Santiago, Chile this weekend. The conference, which will see the attendance of representatives of more than 60 nations, is intended to boost economic cooperation between Celac members and the European Union. Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac), highlighted the importance of the summit for both sides of the Atlantic during a forum in Chile on Tuesday. The conference, Barcena said, will represent “a very important step towards one of Eclac’s most cherished dreams, that of regional integration.” After meeting with President Chavez in Cuba on Monday, Foreign Minister Jaua commented via his Twitter account that the Venezuelan head of state “made decisions about our participation in the Celac summit” and that he is “very pleased because the Bolivarian dream [of continental unity] continues to advance”.
T/ COI P/ Agencies he foreign ministers of Venezuela and Colombia signed an agreement of understanding last Friday that will initiate the planning of a new bridge designed to improve communication and commercial activity between the two neighboring countries. The pact was inked during a visit to Venezuela by Colombian Minister Maria Holguin who expressed her “willingness to work to strengthen, through concrete actions, bonds with Venezuela in all areas of cooperation”, according to an official statement released by the Venezuelan government. Holguin was received by her counterpart Elias Jaua, whose participation in the discussions marked one of his first assignments since being named Foreign Minister by President Chavez last Tuesday.
| Integration
Canaima computer project progresses to next stage T/ Paul Dobson P/ Presidential Press
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ne of the most successful projects of the government of Hugo Chavez took another leap forward this week, with the announcement that Venezuela is expected to produce 1,200,000 Canaima computers this year, after the installation of a new production and assembly plant in the state of Miranda. On an inspection of the assembly plant ‘La Carlota’, Minister for Education, Maryann Hanson, Minister for Science and Technology, Jorge Arreaza, and Vice President, Nicolas Maduro, divulged plans the government has for the program which gives free laptops of high quality and durability to school-aged children with the aim of eradicating technological illiteracy.
Minister Arreaza explained that the initial goal of the Canaima computers was to facilitate laptops to children in primary education: “we are talking about more than 2,700,000 children studying primary education in the public and free education system”. Of this amount, he explained, already 2,350,000 children have their Canaimas in their hands, helping them with their homework, and training them in technological skills needed in the 21st century. The plant, which has found its employees mostly from the public employment mission Work and Knowledge, which educates, trains, and places into employment thousands of people, is due to produce 1.2 million more Canaimas this year, more than enough to cover the goals of the project for the near future.
4 Economy | . s Friday, January 25, 2013 T/ Paul Dobson P/ Agencies
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epresentatives from Venezuela’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) officially revealed some of the most important conclusions from the 14th National Census of Population and Housing to the Venezuelan public this week. The most potent conclusion drawn from the census, which was conducted during 2011, was that extreme poverty levels have significantly been reduced in the ten previous years. In 2001, 11.36% of the population were measured to be suffering from extreme poverty, while President of the INE, Elias Eljuri, announced that the 2011 census showed that currently only 6.97% are in a similar situation, a reduction of nearly half in the past 10 years, and one which he described as “very significant”. Other conclusions presented to the population include a rise in life expectancy, from 74.5 years to 79.5 years and a 16% rise in the general population numbers, from 24.8 million inhabitants to 28.9 million in 2011. Furthermore, it was announced that of those 28.9 million, 88.8% currently live in urban areas, while 11.2% live in rural areas, and that the percentage of the population classed as indigenous rose from 2.3% in 2001 to 2.8% in 2011, with 700,000 citizens currently being classed as indigenous. Such figures reinforce the success of the social policies of the revolutionary government of Hugo Chavez, particularly in the health sector, as well as the infrastructure of basic necessities, but also the education and alimentary sectors. The National Coordinator of the Census, Luis Geronimo, drew attention to the fact that despite the rise in the general population, the rate of growth is slowly decreasing, meaning that the population will continue growing in the future, just at a slower pace. Furthermore, he stated that there had been a reduction in births and a rise in deaths since 2001, showing that the population is gradually aging. “For 2050 we expect to be about 40 million people, with a growth rate lower than 0.5%” he explained. “These are demographic changes which all of the countries in the world are demonstrating where there is a process of demographic transition”.
The artillery of ideas
“Very important” reduction in poverty in Venezuela
The average family size has also reduced, he explained. “Now we are at less than 3 children (per female), and for 2050 we expect to arrive at less than 2 children per female. Also, we expect that less women have children, unless there are important migratory processes which change this tendency”. Such figures show the changes in equality achieved in the last 10 years, allowing women to have better access than ever before to secure jobs, and high level positions, and not be condemned necessarily to simply the child bearer role in society. Eljuri explained the methods used by the INE to measure the levels of poverty in the country, in order to preempt accusations from certain political sectors that the statistics have been modified for political ends. Eljuri explained that the INE used the five basic necessities promoted by the Economic Commission for Latin America (Cepal) to evaluate the levels of poverty. The five necessities which represent poverty are: (1) households with children between 7 and 12 years old which don’t attend any school; (2) households which have more than 3 people living in a room; (3) households who live in a
house with inadequate construction; (4) households without access to drinkable water or sewerage; and (5) households with more than 3 members where the head of household has less than 3 grades of basic education. Eljuri explained that this system is called the Unsatisfied Basic Needs system (NBI), and is used to evaluate those households in poverty, extreme poverty, and outside of poverty. “A household in poverty is that where at least 1 of these 5 factors are applicable; a household in extreme poverty is that where 2 or more are applica-
ble; and a household outside of poverty is that which has all 5 of the necessities resolved”. Using this system, he showed figures that demonstrate that households outside of poverty have risen from 67% in 2001 to 75.43% in 2011, and that “the total of those in poverty have reduced from 21.64% to 17.6%”. “In all indications examined”, he concluded, “there was an important reduction of poverty”. He also highlighted that critical overcrowding has reduced from 15.12% to 10.10%, while inadequate house construction has reduced from 9.38% to 8.69%. Similarly, households
without basic water and sewerage services have reduced from 14.79% to 8.88% He also highlighted that the figures from the census are fully transparent and available to the public on the INE website. Furthermore, impressive as they are, the figures, he explained, do not take into account certain changes seen during 2012 which, according to Eljuri, have had dramatic effects on the demographics of the nation, predominantly the housing Mission Vivienda which was launched towards the end of 2011. The 346,000 houses and apartments built during the end of 2011 and 2012 were not taken into account in the census which was conducted during the first 8 months of 2011, and he expects that this mission, amongst other factors, will mean that poverty levels are, today, in fact even lower than the figures shown in 2011. There are estimations, he explained, that combined poverty will have closed 2012 at around about 6.5%, down significantly from the 2011 figures, due to such changes in the housing of the population bought about by government policies. He finally observed that Venezuela has seen the most significant decrease in poverty in the last 10 years in the continent, and that it continues having the lowest rate of inequality in the continent. Despite complete clarity by the INE of their methods and results, certain self-proclaimed ‘experts’ have already appeared in the opposition means of communication claiming that the results have been engineered for political gains, or suggesting that the methods used by the INE did not meet satisfactory levels of thoroughness. Such ‘experts’ provided no proof or evidence for such claims, and merely claimed that there were certain vague “problems” with the census, while at the same time failing to recognize the gains and successes the population has experienced under Chavez’s presidency. Such statistics are to be used to further enable the strategic planning of the points of attention of governmental policies which address housing, infrastructure, education, access to basic necessities, and especially for the future of the public housing program, which plans to build 380,000 more high quality houses and apartment in 2013 alone.
. s Friday, January 25, 2013
The artillery of ideas
I
n the context of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s post-operatory recovery in Havana, anti-Chavez forces in Caracas have renewed their efforts to demonize Venezuela’s strong ties to Cuba. Frustrated by recent electoral losses and infuriated by a Supreme Court decision that allows the Venezuelan President to fully recover before taking his oath of office, members of the Venezuelan right-wing recently called on the country’s Armed Forces to “put an end to Cuban domination” while opposition students went as far as to demand that the Cuban government provide a “proof of life” for the “kidnapped” Venezuelan President. Nothing new to Venezuelan politics, anti-Chavez spokespersons are again accusing Cuba of intervening in Venezuela’s internal affairs. Part of an anticommunist discourse the opposition has maintained for over a decade, the Venezuelan right is now describing President Hugo Chavez’s surgical recovery in Havana as evidence of “Cuban tutelage”. In an online petition dated January 10 and signed by notorious members of the US-backed opposition, radical members of the Venezuelan
right released a “manifesto” directed at “civil society” and the “National Armed Forces”. Signed by the typical list of opposition figureheads including Maria Corina Machado and Pablo Medina, both of whom participated in the failed 2002 coup against democraticallyelected President Hugo Chavez, the online “manifesto” affirmed that Chavez – recently re-elected in October 2012 – has “carried out an indignant subordination to the Cuban Castrocommunist regime”. The “manifesto” described Venezuela under Chavez (1998 – present) as “the victim of an invasion by Cuba’s Castrocommunist regime” and, in clear reference to recent electoral victories by the country’s socialist majority, went on to affirm that “in order to guarantee its (Cuba’s) control over Venezuela, Castro-communism has designed an electoral system to its liking, thus allowing for the distortion of the voters’ will”. Signatories to the “manifesto” conveniently overlooked statements by international observers including former US President Jimmy Carter who recently described Venezuela’s electoral system as “the best in the world”. Such quality in the electoral system is embarrassing to an opposition who saw
Chavez sweep last year’s presidential contest – receiving 8.1 million votes (55%), a million and a half more than opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski – and regional elections that resulted in socialist candidates winning 20 of the nation’s 23 governorships. Focusing their attention on other matters, the opposition “manifesto” also issued a sharp criticism of a January 14 meeting held in Havana during which Executive Vice President Nicolas Maduro and President of the National Assembly Diosdado Cabello, among others, met with Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother, longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro. “It is flagrant and publicly known”, the document read, “that the destiny of all Venezuelans is no longer being decided upon by our own authorities. Instead, it is being blatantly defined in Havana with the open participation of the Castro brothers”. In a radical call for armed action, the opposition’s “manifesto” concluded that “during the coming days Venezuela will define if it is to continue to exist as a nation or convert itself, definitively, into a Cuban colony… We (the signatories) are convinced that our Armed Forces, backed by all sectors of civil
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society, will take a step forward and impede the dissolution of the homeland”.
repeatedly-elected Venezuelan President continues to be the President and his cabinet, including Executive Vice President Nicolas Maduro, continue to serve the President. According to Maria Corina Machado, however, “while there is no President sworn into office, there is no President at all”. “I will continue to maintain my firm stance”, she said, “that we must defend what the constitution says, strictly speaking”. “As a result”, she insisted, “those who currently occupy the government (Chavez and his cabinet) are doing so illegitimately”. Right-wing politician Leopoldo Lopez, currently barred from holding office for acts of corruption, backed Machado’s claims. Referring to the aforementioned meeting between members of the Chavez administration and both Raul and Fidel Castro, Lopez affirmed that “the Venezuelan government has been relocated to Havana, not to meet with the President (Chavez), who obviously can’t participate in these meetings, but instead to sit with the Castro brothers”. In response to what he described as “the changing of our capital from Caracas to Havana”, and in protest of the Supreme Court ruling, Lopez has called on opposition activists to “take the streets” later this month. Pro- and anti-Chavez rallies are scheduled for January 23.
OPPOSITION INSISTS
PROOF OF LIFE?
In what analysts describe as an attempt to regroup after last year’s embarrassing electoral defeats, opposition lawmakers such as Maria Corina Machado have made repeated claims that “no government exists” until President Hugo Chavez returns to Caracas and formally takes office. While the constitution does stipulate a swearing in ceremony be held on January 10 following a presidential election, it also clearly reads that said oath can be taken before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) “if for any supervening reason the person elected President of the Republic cannot be sworn in before the National Assembly”. On January 9, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that President Chavez continues to be on “a medical leave of absence granted to him unanimously by the National Assembly” and that he can take the oath of office for the 2013-2019 period “when his health allows him to do so”. Meanwhile, the court decided that as a “reelected President…no interruption exists in the exercise of his authority”. In short, the
In a rare twist to the permanent offensive against President Chavez and the Cuban Revolution, late last week right-wing students from the University of Carabobo demanded Rogelio Polanco, the Cuban Ambassador in Venezuela, provide a “proof of life” confirming President Chavez is really recovering from surgery in Havana. Though unsuccessful in their attempt to meet with the Cuban Ambassador, the rightwing students provided a copy of their request to the press. In it, they claimed that, “if Chavez dies in Cuba, your (the Cuban) government will be an accomplice in this fatal outcome”. “If the President is still alive”, it continued, “the Venezuelan people could consider the current situation an act of accessory to kidnapping”. In stark contrast to the outlandish claims, Venezuelan Executive Vice President Nicolas Maduro told reporters last week that he spoke on behalf of the Venezuelan people in thanking Cuba for the “painstaking attention” provided to President Chavez in his ongoing bout with cancer.
Venezuelan opposition attacks Cuba T/ COI P/ Agencies
| Politics
6 International | . s Friday, January 25, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Twitter attack against Chavez generates wave of solidarity T/ Ewan Robertson P/ Agencies
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series of “violently insensitive” Twitter attacks against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by a US musician has generated a wave of solidarity with the Venezuelan President. As part of a diatribe against President Chavez and his supporters on January 16, New Yorkbased singer and musician William Colon commented through Twitter, “God bless Venezuela, which now has two presidents… one ripe and the other rotten”. Colon, who is of Puerto Rican origin and active in US politics, was referring to Vice President Nicolas Maduro, with ‘maduro’ meaning ‘mature’ or ‘ripe’ in English. Meanwhile his use of the word ‘rotten’ was in reference to President Chavez, who is currently in Cuba recovering from cancer surgery. There have been over thirty official medical updates since Chavez’s operation last December, with a recent message describing the President’s recovery as “favorable”. Despite this, figures such as Colon and other opponents of the Chavez government have continued to speculate on Chavez’s state of health. Colon’s January 16 tweet caused a storm of controversy on the social networking site. Nevertheless Colon continued his attacks, tweeting the next day that “all Chavistas should throw themselves into a ravine to see if Chavez resuscitates”. The musician went further in an interview with CNN Español last Friday, when he argued that “any independent organization” should go directly to Cuba “to get proof that Chavez is still alive”, echoing the rightwing Venezuelan opposition’s line of argument to accuse the Venezuelan government of lying. “I’ll go myself”, he added. Colon also said that Chavez supporters had responded to his comments with a lack of cordiality, complaining that “although you say something to them in the nicest way, they answer you in a totally rude and denigrating fashion”.
WAVE OF SOLIDARITY The comments have been strongly condemned by both Venezuelan and international
musicians, generating a wave of solidarity with Hugo Chavez and his government. On Sunday Venezuelan orchestras, salsa groups and other musical acts held an event at the Teresa Carreño Theatre in Caracas to repudiate the attacks. At the event, called “A Discharge of Salsa So That They Have Respect”, the assorted musicians signed a document rejecting Colon’s comments, to be handed over to Vice President Maduro and other government figures in a show of solidarity. The statement read, “We Venezuelan music lovers repudiate the expressions of disrespect and ignorance in the statements made by Mr. Willie Colon against our President Chavez and the Venezuelan people”. “These kinds of affronts not only wound the grassroots soul, but are an aggression against democratic and revolutionary ethics”, it continued. Lil Rodriguez, a Venezuelan journalist and researcher of Latin American folk music, explained at the event that, “Willie Colon betrayed his status as a musician, because above all a musician is human and sensitive. The most undignified thing is insensitivity: he doesn’t know Venezuela”, she said.
Colon was also criticized by popular Puerto Rican singer Rene Perez, who fronts the group Calle 13. Addressing Colon through his own Twitter account last Saturday, Perez said, “It’s one thing to defend a political ideal and another to make fun of a cancer patient. Colon’s comments were violently insensitive”. Colon may have stuck his foot in his mouth when on Sunday he attempted to justify his stance by posting a link to the documentary “Llaguno Bridge: Keys to a Massacre”, and declaring, “This is the Chavismo you all defend so much”. However, the documentary is actually a detailed investigation into how Chavez supporters were killed in the short-lived April 2002 coup instigated by the opposition against Chavez. The documentary shows how events were framed by private media outlets to blame the violence on the Chavez government, in what has been termed as the world’s first “media coup”. The posting was met with humorous observations that Colon had “switched sides” or “regretted” his earlier comments toward the Venezuelan President and his supporters. Public TV station VTV wryly observed, “In any case, everything indicates that in the middle of his anti-communist craziness, Colon confused the argument of the documentary and turned himself into an excellent promoter of the political side that he opposes so radically”.
US lawyers reaffirm Venezuela election results T/ Nathan Tempey, NLG
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just-released National Lawyers Guild (NLG) report finds that the 2012 presidential election which reseated Venezuela President Hugo Chavez was conducted fairly and accountably. NLG President Azadeh Shahshahani was a part of the delegation that monitored the October voting. “What struck us most was the trust of the Venezuelan people in the integrity of the electoral system and the amount that the Venezuelan government has invested in keeping that trust”, Shahshahani said. “If the United States wants a truly transparent democratic system, we have a lot to learn from Venezuela”. Chavez won the election by an 11 percent margin. Delegation members watched polls in Caracas and in several states around the country. In the report they note that voter outreach drives by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council contributed to an 80.94 percent turnout rate for the election. By election time, 96.5 percent of all eligible voters were registered. In comparison, the 2012 U.S. presidential election drew 37.5 percent of eligible voters, of whom only 61.1 percent are registered to vote. “The electoral system in Venezuela provides a stark
contrast to recent efforts to restrict and suppress the vote in the United States, such as voter ID laws”, said delegation member and past NLG International Committee Co-Chair Susan Scott. “Those in the US press and government who are eager to paint Venezuela’s elections as corrupt would do well to apply the same level of scrutiny at home”. In early December 2012, Chavez underwent surgery for cancer and has experienced complications that have required him to remain in Cuba for extended care. When it became apparent that he would be unable to attend the January 10 inauguration ceremony the Venezuelan National Assembly approved his request to postpone the inauguration, and the Venezuelan Supreme Court determined that Article 231 of the Bolivarian Constitution allows for the swearing-in to occur at a later date. The Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Miguel Insulza, has since stated that his organization “fully respects” the court’s decision. The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has members in every state.
. s Friday, January 25, 2013
The artillery of ideas
The truth behind Venezuela’s “non-violent” student movement T/ COI P/ COI
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resident Hugo Chavez’s inability to attend his January 10 inauguration as a result of cancer surgery performed in Cuba on December 11 has thrust Venezuela, yet again, into the international spotlight. Chavez’s absence, while constitutionally sanctioned and ratified by the nation’s Supreme Court, has caused a stir following a string of important electoral victories at the end of 2012, including the landslide re-election of Chavez himself and the winning of 20 out of 23 governorships by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Yet, as the press focuses on the health of the South American head of state and international analysts chomp at the bit to forecast impending political divisions in the ruling party without Chavez, what has been less discussed in the media is the disunity and desperation that continues to afflict the Venezuelan opposition. Still feeling the sting of last year’s defeats and left without a solid argument regarding the constitutionality of the President’s absence, the Venezuelan right-wing has become more and more isolated in recent weeks
as international allies including the US State Department have refused to openly support their claims that Chavez’ convalescence in Cuba is illegal. This isolation has led to a tension inside the opposition camp which has created a space for a series of destabilizing actions by extremist elements that have attempted to capitalize on the environment of uncertainty existing in the country as a result of the President’s medical status. Such acts, while still unsuccessful in provoking instability in the governing party, have, for the most part, taken the form of violent student demonstrations in the Andean states of Tachira and Merida. In Merida, where the University of the Andes (ULA) has served as a hotbed of opposition activity, students of the Venezuelan right shut down major city streets last week, using the university campus as a base of operations to reap havoc in the capital city. Masked students burned tires in one of the major thoroughfares of Merida and fired softball-sized rocks at civilians in approaching vehicles. In one case, the demonstrators attacked a taxi that had a girl of no more that 5 years old inside. In a panic stricken attempt to avoid the assault, the driver of the taxi threw the car in reverse,
crashing into the median, blowing out a tire and threatening the safety of those inside the vehicle as well as pedestrians nearby. Such violent assaults have become commonplace at the ULA where university authorities, working in collaboration with the political opposition, turn a blind eye to anti-government protests. It was therefore was no surprise to hear opposition congressman, William Davila, express his “total solidarity” with the student protests during a radio interview last Thursday.
THE DEFINITION OF SPIN The private media, for its part, has been astute in its portrayal of the student movement at the ULA as the persecuted victims of a tyrannical regime. The reality, however, is that law enforcement bodies have been completely ineffective in dealing with the violence of the student movement as the latter uses the legal protection of “university autonomy” to impede the presence of state security agencies on campuses. As a result of this security vacuum, various extremist elements sympathetic to the Bolivarian Revolution have engaged in reprisal actions against the students.
Taking advantage of these actions, the press’ discourse has become that of the “pacifist” students being attacked by government thugs in order to clamp down on dissent. Of course, fringe elements that back President Chavez do indeed exist. But such elements have never been endorsed by the socialist party. The opposition, in contrast, continues to embrace the outright lawlessness of the student movement, providing it with the resources and guidance to continue with its assault against the population. This is consistent with past student actions as well. In 2006, students at the University of the Andes armed with automatic weapons opened fire on the police while protesting against the Chavez government. This occurrence, together innumerable other similar acts, begs the question: What would happen in the United States if students with automatic weapons opened fire on police during a university demonstration? If Brady Manning continues to languish in a military prison without trial for leaking government information, one could only imagine what would happen to a group of armed terrorist cells discovered on the campuses of the US’ major universities.
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But what happened in Venezuela? The leader of the student organization responsible for this violence in 2006, Nixon Moreno, was granted political asylum in the Vatican’s Embassy in Caracas before escaping to Peru. While in the embassy, he received his university diploma in absentia (after twelve years of undergraduate study). This last fact is especially ironic given that Chavez’s absence from his inauguration was the ostensible catalyst for last week’s protests. But more ironic still is that this opposition student movement has been at the vanguard of the of the so-called “human rights” campaign in the country, receiving the support of a myriad of NGOs, most notably Human Rights Watch, and decrying at every opportunity the violation of free speech in the country. The truth is that these political charlatans are the very example of the anti-democratic behavior that they purport to loathe and their actions can only be considered as an insult to those activists who actually suffered repression at the hands of true dictatorships in Latin America. In answer to last week’s violence, more than a thousand activists from the state of Merida took to the streets to express a unified voice against such vandals. That is how a mature and organized political movement must respond to extremism and violence. And that is why the PSUV continues to exercise dominance over the disarray and division of the country’s inept opposition.
Friday, January 25, 2013 | Nº 143 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
INTERNATIONAL
! PUBLICATION OF THE &UNDACION #ORREO DEL /RINOCO s Editor-in-Chief %VA 'OLINGER s Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera
T/ Tom McNamara
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or 15 years (1956-1971) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ran a broad and highly coordinated domestic intelligence / counterintelligence program known as Cointelpro (COunter INTELligence PROgrams). What was originally deemed as a justifiable effort to protect the US during the Cold War from Soviet and Communist threats and infiltration, soon devolved into a program for suppressing domestic dissent and spying on US citizens. Approximately 20,000 people were investigated by the FBI based only on their political views and beliefs. Most were never suspected of having committed any crime. The reasoning behind the program, as detailed in a 1976 Senate report, was that the FBI had “the duty to do whatever is necessary to combat perceived threats to the existing social and political order”. The fact that the “perceived threats” were usually US citizens engaging in constitutionally protected behavior was apparently overlooked. The stated goal of Cointelpro was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” any individual or group deemed to be subversive or a threat to the established power structure. The FBI’s techniques were often extreme, with the agency being complicit in the murder and assassination of political dissidents, or having people sent away to prison for life. Some of the more “moderate” actions that were used were blackmail, spreading false rumors, intimidation and harassment. It has been argued that the US is unique in that it is the only Western industrialized democracy to have engaged in such a wide spread and well organized domestic surveillance program. It finally came to an end in 1971 when it was threatened with public exposure.
OR DID IT? In a stunning revelation from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF), it appears that Cointelpro is alive and well. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, PCJF was able to obtain documents showing how
Opinion Time to target the real terrorists
The return of Cointelpro? the FBI was treating the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, from its inception, as a potential criminal and domestic terrorist threat. This despite the FBI’s own acknowledgement that the OWS organizers themselves planned on engaging in peaceful and popular protest and did not “condone the use of violence”. The documents, while heavily redacted, give a clear picture of how the FBI was using its offices and agents across the country as early as August 2011 to engage in a massive surveillance scheme against OWS. This was almost a month before any actual protests took place or encampments were set up. The FBI’s documents show a government agency at its most paranoid. It considered all planned protests, and the individuals involved, as potential threats. Most disturbing of all, there is talk of the government being ready to “engage in sniper attacks against protesters in Houston, Texas, if
deemed necessary” and perhaps needing to formulate a plan “to kill the leadership [of the protest groups] via suppressed sniper rifles”. Furthermore, the documents reveal a close and intricate partnership between the federal government on one side and banks and private businesses on the other. On August 19, 2011, the FBI met with representatives of the New York Stock Exchange in order to discuss OWS protests that wouldn’t happen for another four weeks. In September of that year, even before OWS got into full swing, the FBI was notifying local businesses that they might be affected by protests. It is not clear if, while on Wall Street, the FBI investigated the criminal and irresponsible behavior engaged in by some of the largest banks on the planet, behavior which led directly to the financial crisis of 2008. We are also introduced to a creature named the “Domestic
Security Alliance Council” which, according to the federal government, is “a strategic partnership between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector”. A DSAC report tells us that any information shared between US intelligence agencies and their corporate partners should not be released to “the media, the general public or other personnel”. In a curious coincidence, nine days after the PCJF’s embarrassing release of FBI documents, the New York Post ran a story about how a 27 year old woman and her “Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street” boyfriend, Aaron Greene, were arrested by officers from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) after an alleged cache of weapons and bomb making explosives were found in their Greenwich Village apartment. And what exactly led the police to this apartment? Was it credible actionable intelligence
gathered from the FBI’s massive domestic surveillance program? Did some agent acquire this information by bravely infiltrating the potential domestic terrorist group known as OWS? Hardly. The NYPD was simply executing a routine search warrant related to a credit card-theft case. But in a story about the exact same event that appeared in the New York Times, it was reported that “police said they did not believe that Mr. Greene was active in any political movements” and that no “evidence of a planned terrorist attack” had been found . Furthermore, police hadn’t “made a connection to any known plot or any connection to any known terrorists”. No mention was made of the suspect’s alleged ties to the OWS movement, an item that had been prominently reported in the New York Post’s version of events. Oddly, a more recent New York Post story stated that Mr. Greene was now a “Nazi-loving Harvard grad” and a reported “Adolf Hitler-wannabe”. No mention was made of his suspected ties to OWS. This author made several attempts to contact the New York Post, and the writers of the 2 articles, in an effort to find out how they knew that Mr. Greene was an OWS member and activist. Attempts were also made to try to find out if the New York Post still believed that Mr. Greene was an active OWS member, or if they now simply thought that he was just an “Adolf Hitler-wannabe”. As of the writing of this article, no response has been received from the New York Post. The FBI’s stated mission regarding US security is to “develop a comprehensive understanding of the threats and penetrate national and transnational networks that have a desire and capability to harm us”. The US people would be far better served by their government if, instead of wasting millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours harassing peaceful protesters, it spent a fraction of that time and money investigating, and bringing to justice, the people responsible for the engineered destruction of the US economy, and by extension, US society. You know. The real terrorists.