Advancing relations with Ecuador Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa visited Caracas last Monday to meet with Venezuelan head of state Nicolas Maduro and review bilateral accords between the two allied nations in areas of energy, tourism, commerce, and defense. Energy topped the agenda of the discussions with renewed talk of Ecuador's collaboration in the exploration and exploitation of Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, home to the largest proven crude reserves in the world. page 3
Analysis
Opinion
Why the US has no right to lecture Latin America page 7
Looking back at what Hugo Chavez did page 8
Friday, August 2, 2013 | Nº 169 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas
Chavez’s 59th birthday commemorated, pledge to consolidate revolution
Combating border smuggling More tons of food and consumer products were caught being smuggled into Colombia. page 4
Maduro’s first 100 days in office Street government, people’s participation and economic battles shape first months in the presidency. page 5 International
Alba: Unity and Independence
The recent ALBA summit placed emphasis on participation of social movements. page 6
Venezuela willing to have a ‘friendly’ relationship with the US T/ Agencies
Economy
Politics
INTERNATIONAL
Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets across the nation to commemorate President Hugo Chavez’s 59th birthday on July 28th, his first since passing away on March 5th. Events were held in his home town of Sabaneta, in the plains of Barinas state, where the Hugo Chavez Institute of Higher Studies was founded in order to make his ideals and teachings available to new generations. Current President Nicolas Maduro headed ceremonies in both Barinas and then later in the day in Caracas at the site of Chavez’s tomb in the “Cuartel de la Montaña”. Throughout the day hundreds visited the site to pay respects to the former leader. Page 2
“Birther” movement proven false A smear campaign about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s nationality was evidenced in a report in Colombian magazine Semana, which proved the falseness of a document shown by former Panamanian ambassador Guillermo Cochez. According to Cochez, the Venezuelan President’s parents would had registered him as their son on November 20, 1961 in the Colombian city of Cucuta. Nevertheless, according to Semana, that document released by Cochez is not certified by the Civil Registry in Cucuta. Furthermore, the document was dated July 19, 2013 and the signature belongs to Alirio Vi-
llamizar, an officer retired since 2011 according to the Civil Registry. The personal identity number used in Cochez’s document allegedly belong to Maduro actually belongs to a citizen named Plutarco Ruiz Rubio.
This smear campaign began during the election campaign in Venezuela prior to the presidential elections last April 14. Colombia’s National Civil Registration Office confirmed the birth certificate shown by Cochez is not legal.
Calixto Ortega Ríos, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United States, said the Maduro administration is willing to have a friendly bilateral relationship with the United States, although efforts made last month to improve ties are currently “interrupted”. “The goals expressed in Guatemala in the meeting between foreign ministers are currently suspended… the path was interrupted in the conversation which began in Guatemala”, Ortega explained. Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically rejected statements made by Samantha Power, US Ambassador-nominee to the United Nations, in her confirmation hearing at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Power declared that part of her job would be “contesting the crackdown on civil society” in several countries, including Venezuela. Ortega indicated that President Maduro and Foreign Minister Jaua “have been very clear” in saying that they are willing to have “friendly relations based on mutual respect between the governments of President Obama and Nicolas Maduro, as two sovereign states”. The diplomat said that his office, which he has held since April, is currently in touch with “the contacts that are necessary… [for] meetings, which we have with some officials from the State Department”. President Maduro said Tuesday that if the US Government “corrects” its attitude, a bilateral dialogue could be restarted.
2 Impact | . s Friday, August 2, 2013
The artillery of ideas
59th anniversary of Chavez's birth commemorated in Venezuela T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
T
he Venezuelan government paid tribute to former President Hugo Chavez last Sunday with a series of commemorative acts that marked the 59th anniversary of the birth of the revolutionary leader. In the Barinas town of Sabaneta, birthplace of the recently deceased head of state, a gathering that included live music and traditional dance performances was held in celebration of Chavez’s life and work. Current President Nicolas Maduro was in attendance for the event and spoke of the example set by his predecessor in creating a new future for a nation once dependent on the United States. “He taught the people how to confront difficulties. The great work of Chavez was to carry out a deep and authentic revolution in the 21st century. It was to awaken the people and the consciousness of [Simon] Bolivar. It was to raise the flag of socialism as the only future for humanity. If we want to talk about a human society, that was the great legacy of Chavez”, Maduro said in an emotional speech. During the event, a new research institute was inaugurated by the Venezuelan president in order to “strengthen the thought of Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias” in the country and around Latin America. The Comandante Hugo Chavez Institute of Higher Studies will be headed by Adan Chavez, brother of the late President and governor of the plains state of Barinas. “This may be the most difficult work that I have had to do given the range of feelings that I have and at the same time the need to promote the values that he left us. There is still a long road to walk and we’re going to continue his legacy everywhere”, the Barinas governor affirmed.
A NEW PATH Throughout his 13 years as head of state, Hugo Chavez reshaped the political landscape of Venezuela and Latin Ameri-
inauguration of a new book entitled “Hugo Chavez: Soul of the Revolution in Christ and Bolivar”, written by the revolutionary’s former teacher Major General Jacinto Perez Arcay. Reading from the new monograph, VP Arreaza praised Arcay for his academic work, calling him “one of the best historians that the homeland has”. For his part, Arcay described the legacy left by Chavez as “growing in the minds and the hearts of the children” of Venezuela. “I say this with authority. The new savior of Venezuela can rest in his glory. There will be no way that what Chavez started...can be torn down”, the major general said.
FIGHTING ECONOMIC SABOTAGE
ca by breaking with the Washington Consensus, boosting public enterprises and emphasizing wealth redistribution. His founding of dozens of social programs ranging from free health care to affordable housing won him unprecedented support at the polls and an undefeated electoral record. With Chavez’s passing in March, former Foreign Minister and Vice President Nicolas Maduro took over as the candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), defeating conservative Henrique Capriles in the nation’s presidential elections on April 14th. Venezuela’s new commander-in-chief has made it a point to maintain Chavez’s emphasis on promoting social programs and fostering regional unity through a diversity of international accords. Maduro has also placed heightened attention on combating violent crime in the OPEC member state. On Sunday, the head of state urged his socialist backers to remain true to the roadmap left by Chavez and to mobilize followers for a strong showing in the nation’s December 8th regional elections.
“In the name of Comandante Hugo Chavez, we are preparing for the new battle, for the new victory, and on December 8th, we are going to dedicate a song of victory to the Comandante in every municipality in this country”, Maduro declared. The electoral contest, which will determine mayors and local councilors, is the first major test for the socialists following Maduro’s slim presidential victory in April. Notwithstanding, the former bus driver and union leader expressed his unwavering confidence in a favorable outcome. “I don’t have the slightest doubt that next December 8th,
our revolutionary and patriotic people are going to once again teach a lesson to the deplorable oligarchy of the fascist rightwing”, the Venezuelan President exclaimed. Following the public acts in Sabaneta, a ceremony was held at the 4F military barracks in the capital of Caracas, site of Chavez’s tomb. The installations are named after the rebellion initiated by the former lieutenant colonel in 1992 that began the Bolivarian Revolution, which would eventually sweep the Barinas native into power in 1998. The afternoon’s event featured a speech by Vice President Jorge Arreaza and the
For his part, President Maduro took up economic themes during his address at the 4F barracks and criticized the conservative media pundits who have continually predicted the imminent collapse of the nation’s fiscal and commercial system. “We are going to consolidate our economic recovery and finish defeating the economic sabotage that continues”, the socialist President said in reference to the hoarding of primary products, contraband and speculation that is widely practiced in the nation’s private sector. Maduro expressed his commitment to fight the corruption that has led to periodic shortages of certain products with “the workers of the homeland” as well as “the honest businessmen” of the nation. The head of state also gave a summation of his government’s achievements during the first 100 days in power. This includes the allocation of more than $16 billion in financing for over two thousand projects proposed by grassroots assemblies participating in the popular Street Government initiative. Maduro explained that the measure, which has seen the meetings between high officials and ordinary citizens all around the country, is part of the policy of expansion and promotion of local democracy started by the government of Hugo Chavez. “We are the continuation of the project of Hugo Chavez. We are the guarantee that the socialist, inclusive, and democratic revolutionary process continues”, he stated.
. s Friday, August 2, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Correa visit rekindles Venezuela-Ecuador accords, sets stage for greater cooperation T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
E
cuadorian President Rafael Correa visited Caracas last Monday to meet with Venezuelan head of state Nicolas Maduro and review bilateral accords between the two allied nations in areas of energy, tourism, commerce, and defense. The encounter, which represents the follow-up to the last such meeting held between the two nations in Ecuador in 2011, was scheduled with the intent of “ratifying, consolidating, and amplifying bilateral relations”, President Maduro said. “These are the three key elements: ratify the path of brotherhood and unity, consolidate everything that we have been doing, and, above all, amplify our horizon in order to provide our people with an open future”, the Venezuelan head of state asserted. President Correa commented on the need to re-initiate stalled projects and to move forward “in benefit of our people (who are) demanding efficiency and extreme efficacy”. Energy topped the agenda of the discussions with renewed talk of Ecuador’s collaboration in the exploration and exploitation of Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, home to the largest proven crude reserves in the world. A previous agreement signed between Ecuador and Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA “is growing little by little” President Maduro said, and the consolidation of the relationship “will be achieved in the coming years so that we can continue to work together in the joint exploitation of oil and gas”. The two heads of states also discussed plans for the erection of a pacific refinery to service the demand for oil and gasoline arising from Asian nations such as China. The proposal, already in the works, would facilitate exports towards the Far East and be made a reality through a trilateral effort, Maduro explained. “We have looked over the timeline for the construction of a refinery on the Ecuadorian Pacific. This is a project that is of much interest to President Correa and it was also of interest to [former Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez. It has been
moving forward, perhaps not at the speed that we would like, but we are going to achieve it. We are going to create an alliance between Ecuador, China and Venezuela. An alliance with our eyes towards the pacific”, the Venezuelan commander-inchief informed. Another topic touched upon was tourism and the desire on behalf of both nations to boost the influx of travellers to their respective countries and promote “mutual visits”, according to Ecuador’s Tourist Minister Vinicio Alvarado. “Good times for both countries are coming with respect to tourism. We have many plans which we’ve spoken about and we’ve committed to develop
them for the benefit of both countries and for South America”, Alvarado stated. Cooperation in the area of defense was a further work item as both Ecuadorian and Venezuelan defense ministers met on Monday to brainstorm new collaborative projects and review older initiatives. “Venezuela and Ecuador are one. We will continue working for the dream of our Comandante Hugo Chavez who represented the unity of our countries”, said Venezuelan minister Carmen Melendez. Melendez highlighted the significance of the joint military and scientific research between the two nations and described her dialogue with her Ecua-
doran counterpart, Maria Espinoza, as “historic”. “This is an historic day for us because it’s the first official with the title of Minister of Defense that I have received here, and she too is a woman. The feminine gender is taking charge around the world”, Melendez declared.
| Integration
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Antigua, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Both Correa and Maduro underscored the necessity to continue building regional unity in Latin America and spoke of a proposal to integrate the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) alliance with ALBA through the creation of a specialized economic zone. “It will be a great economic zone that transcends just commercial relations”, Maduro affirmed. The importance of the virtual currency, the SUCRE, meant to ease trade between ALBA member countries was also esteemed to be vital to the process of regional economic unity. President Correa, a UStrained economist, spoke of the urgency to increase the use of the SUCRE and, in doing so, free Latin America from the dictatorship of the US dollar. “This is one of the great absurdities of Latin America: that we use a foreign currency for our transactions”, he chided.
GREATER FOLLOW-UP
Last Monday’s talks took place on the eve of the summit of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) regional bloc. Venezuela and Ecuador are major players in the organization that includes the membership of Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Barbuda and
To maintain the moment achieved during the encounter, both presidents agreed to meet on a thrice-yearly basis. “We have agreed to meet every four months at the presidential level to maintain communication between our work teams in all areas of cooperation”, President Maduro said. “[It’s been] a very good work day for our two countries, two countries which form one single homeland - our great South American homeland”, he added.
“In this rebirth, there is much force, much courage. We are armed with ideas, with faith, with self-esteem, with sovereignty, with passion, and with talent”, Correa declared. Founded in 2005 the ALBA bloc is comprised of Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbuda and Antigua.
The alliance is an initiative of the recently deceased Hugo Chavez who fought to provide an alternative to the Washington consensus and free trade agreements in the hemisphere. Since it’s creation, ALBA has focused on building commercial and social bridges between Latin American and Caribbean nations with a focus on fair trade, regional integration and cooperative, social development.
ON THE EVE OF ALBA
ALBA Summit opens with homage to Chavez, a call to end poverty T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
T
he 7th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) opened in the Ecuadorian capital of Guayaquil on Tuesday with a tribute to the late Venezuelan revolutionary Hugo Chavez and a call to end poverty in Latin America. Rafael Correa, President of the gathering’s host nation, gave the opening address of the encounter, which saw the participation of representatives from the seven ALBA member nations. “We embrace the liberating spirit of Hugo Chavez Frias who
is more alive than ever, who is singing as always and who is fighting for each and every one of us”, Correa said. During his speech, the Ecuadorian President identified the fight against poverty as the most important human rights struggle facing the continent and urged the regional bloc to continue worker for greater equality. “There is no greater attack against human rights in the 21st century than to have people living in misery. There is no greater slavery”, the head of state said, commenting that Latin America is not living during an “era of change” but rather a “change of era”.
4 Economy | . s Friday, August 2, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Venezuelan authorities tackle smuggling in border states, “ensuring food security”
and Mimesa pasta were found hidden in some of the vehicles. Both these products are subject to price regulations. Other goods seized by GNB personnel included canned sardines, oil, rice and sugar. The press release stated that the “National Guard will continue this important operational deployment, to counter the smuggling of food and contribute to ensuring food security for the Venezuelan population”. The statement came just days after Maracaibo police reported that two trucks registered with the state food distributor PDVAL had been
stopped while allegedly en route to smuggle food to Colombia. Police Commissioner Julian Moron stated that the trucks were stopped by police after allegedly deviating from their assigned route. “We...caught these unscrupulous people red handed,” Moron stated. According to the commissioner, the 11 tons of sugar, rice, oil and other regulated foodstuffs were allegedly set to be smuggled into Colombia. He stated that the operation was the result of “anonymous phone calls”. Earlier in the week, during a routine inspection authorities in Catatumbo municipality, Zulia, also found 6 tons of rice allegedly hidden in a supermarket. Since coming to office, President Nicolas Maduro has pledged to tackle smuggling, along with shortages of certain food products. In April, scarcity reached a record high, according to the central bank’s monthly scarcity index. However, in June, Maduro called on the Zulia state government to scrap a proposal to restrict purchases by consumers at supermarkets, describing the plan as “insane”. The President instead stated that the best solution to shortages is to raise national productivity. In its June report, the central bank noted a decrease in scarcity of basic products, and “improved food supplies” nationwide. In his meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos last month, Maduro reportedly discussed bilateral options to strengthen counter smuggling operations.
tourism could reach approximately 800,000 visitors. Minister Izarra shared these estimates and noted that 93% of international tourists who come to Venezuela express a desire to return. “Our goal is to reach one million tourists from other
countries, which I think we will achieve next season. For this season we are around 800,000, which reflects a slight increase that is the result of policies promoted by every state institution to position Venezuela as a tourist destination”, Izarra said.
T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim P/ Agencies
M
ore than 200 tons of contraband food products were seized by Venezuelan authorities in July, as the government continues to tackle smuggling on the Colombian border. So far this year, over 2500 tons of smuggled food have been seized, much of it allegedly heading to Colombia for resale, according to authorities. In one operation alone, last week the National Guard (GNB) confiscated 49 tons of basic food items in the municipality of Pedro Maria Urena, Tachira state. The regional GNB head Alejandro Perez Gamez stated that the authorities found five trucks carrying contraband such as rice, cooking oil, powdered milk, sugar, toiletries and even mayonnaise, AVN reported last Friday. In recent months products like milk, oil and toilet paper have been in short supply in some parts of Venezuela. According to Perez, the haul resulted in two Venezuelans and one Colombian being arrested. Perez also stated that in a separate operation, another 4 tons of contraband rice were uncovered at a number of sites. Earlier last month, Tachira police reported uncovering 9
tons of contraband food in vehicles in Ureña and San Antonio. Tachira police director Carlos Colmenares alleged that the food was likely bound for Colombia. “So far this year, the police force has seized a total of 892 tons of different items and products subsidized by the Venezuelan government, in turn, arresting of dozens of hoarders and smugglers, who are wreaking havoc and anxiety in the Tachira community”, Colmenares stated in a July 9th press release. However, Colmenares also expressed concern over the
2013 tourism plan slogan: “Venezuela, a Fantastic Destination” T/ Mintur
V
enezuelan Tourism Minister Andres Izarra and Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres held a press conference in Warairarepano National Park to kick off the Vacations 2013 Plan and report on the inter-institutional effort to improve and promote national and international tourism, guaranteeing safe trips and quality services. With the slogan “Venezuela, a Fantastic Destination”, Izarra reiterated his call to visitors to stay safe during their vacations and enjoy touring “the best country
in the world”. He indicated that “the goal is that everyone who goes on vacation comes back with excellent memories of the place they visited”. Izarra also noted that the government is making investments to improve thirteen hotels operated by Venetur (Venezuelan Tourism, a state tourism company) to ensure great quality of service. The investment will also help expand the hotel network, providing more places to stay throughout the country. Rodriguez Torres, Minister of People’s Power for the Interior, Justice and Peace, stated that
growing use of small vehicles by smugglers in order to evade controls already imposed on freight trucks. More seizures took place last week in Zulia state, where the GNB confiscated over 10 tons of food. In a press release, last Friday Colonel Rodolfo Felice reported that GNB personnel stationed in a checkpoint at the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge found contraband hidden in a number of vehicles. The bridge is a major thoroughfare for traffic heading to and from Maracaibo. According to Felice, products like La Campiña milk powder
over 175,000 security agents will be deployed at the national level as part of the 2013 plan. He also urged the public to be conscientious and drive safely, and stressed that the use of firearms or any other weapon is prohibited, as is drinking alcohol while driving or in public spaces. “In every place with a pool or a beach, there should be a lifeguard certified by the National Institute for Aquatic or Island Spaces”, he emphasized.
17 MILLION VENEZUELANS TO TRAVEL DURING VACATION This vacation season is expected to see domestic travel by an estimated 17 million Venezuelans (out of a total of about 30 million, according to the 2011 National Institute of Statistics census), while international
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The artillery of ideas
| Politics
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Maduro’s first 100 days in office marked by street government, Latin American integration, economic debate T/ Sascha Bercovitch www.venezuelanalysis.com
N
icolas Maduro has completed his first 100 days since being sworn in as President on April 18th, a period marked by his new street government initiative, Latin American solidarity, and debate over spiked inflation and moderate economic growth. Maduro’s presidency began amidst protest and claims of electoral fraud from Venezuela’s political opposition, who continue to reject the results of the April 14th presidential election in which Maduro won 50.6% of the vote, a 1.6% margin over Henrique Capriles. Since then, polls conducted during his administration have pegged his approval rating around 56%. A key political initiative of Maduro was his Street Government program, in which he and his cabinet traveled progressively to all states in order to meet with grassroots organizations and regional officials. The program, which began in Zulia state at the end of April, oversaw the approval of numerous projects ranging from environmental issues to crime, and included Maduro’s first expropriation. The first stage of the initiative concluded this past Tuesday in Monagas state, where Maduro announced that the keys to its consolidation would be carrying out the approved projects and the construction of communes. Maduro also launched the plan Safe Homeland, in which members of the army patrol the country’s most dangerous areas along with police, and announced the start of a crackdown on corruption. Internationally, Maduro carried on the efforts of late President Hugo Chavez to build cooperation among Latin American nations, through participating in meetings of PetroCaribe and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and assuming the presidency of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Though he embarked on a tour through several European nations and initiated talks with the United States for the first time in three years, relations cooled considerably after four European countries
prevented the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales from entering their airspace following false information that US whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board. Maduro subsequently offered Snowden political asylum, and later broke off conversations
with the US after controversial statements from nominated Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. Also under Maduro, monthly inflation spiked to 6.1% in May and the country experienced its worst bout of shortages of basic products in several years.
However, US Economist Mark Weisbrot, co-founder of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR), pointed out on Tuesday that monthly inflation for June had declined to 4.7%, a sign that “inflation will [continue to] decrease and the economy will grow”.
He also noted the government’s efforts to reform its exchange rate system through its newly launched Complimentary System of Foreign Currency Acquirement (Sicad), which auctions US dollars to individuals and companies. The program aims to reduce the discrepancy between the official exchange rate for US dollars, at 6.3 bolivars per dollar, and the black market rate, which has risen to 34 bolivars per dollar. According to Luis Vicente Leon, president of the independent polling firm Datanalisis, Maduro’s governance represents a “rare mix of political radicalization with attempts of economic moderation, with neither of the two being consolidated”. Maduro expressed hope that the consolidation of these initiated programs would keep his government moving forward.
An “essential” act of liberation: Venezuela commemorates start of Cuban Revolution T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim P/ Presidential Press As Cuba celebrated the 60th anniversary of Fidel Castro's 1953 failed assault on the Moncada army barracks, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro described the event as the start of the “fight against the clutches of empire”. “Today we are here to show our infinite love to Cuba”, Maduro stated from Cuba's second largest city, Santiago. “Thanks to the Cuban people today Latin America is what it is. Cuba is responsible for processes such as ALBA [and] CELAC”, he stated. “It was worth the wait of 60 years of struggles. Thanks to Cuba, thanks to Fidel, thanks to Bolivar”, Maduro said.
THE MONCADA ASSAULT Between 100 and 200 rebels led by Castro assaulted the Moncada garrison in Santiago on July 26, 1953, but were routed by the forces of dictator Fulgencio Batista. In the aftermath of the assault, most of the rebels were killed or captured, including Castro and his brother, Raul. Later that year, in a court hearing, Fidel spoke extempo-
raneously for four hours in his own self-defense, concluding his speech with the sentence, "History will absolve me". Castro and his brother Raul were imprisoned, and eventually exiled to Mexico. Despite its failure, the attack on the garrison is recognized by the Cuban government as the start of the revolutionary movement, which eventually toppled the Batista regime. The garrison has since been converted into a school, and July 26th is a national holiday in Cuba. President Raul Castro delivered a speech from the site of the assault, where he announced “a slow and orderly transfer of the leadership of the revolution to the new generations” is taking place in the island nation. “Today more than 70% of Cubans were born after the triumph of the revolution”, he stated. Castro also paid tribute to his brother Fidel and former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. “Hugo Chavez was the outstanding pupil of the heroes of Latin American and Caribbean independence”, he stated according to Venezuelan state broadcaster VTV. Along with the Venezuelan delegation, other Latin Ameri-
can and Caribbean heads of state also attended the ceremony, including Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega. The leaders of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica were also present. “Basically there is no defeat, only those who stop fighting suffer defeat”, Mujica stated. According to Morales, “the revolution of Cuba is the mother of anti-imperialist revolutions in Latin America and the world”. “Chavez and Fidel strengthened me, and strengthened the democratic revolution of Bolivia”, Morales stated. “Cuba, Fidel, Raul [and] the Cuban Revolution are inspiring the peoples of our Americas and the world, lighting the inextinguishable flame of revolution”, Ortega said.
“NO DEFEAT” Speaking in Santiago, Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patiño criticized the ongoing United States embargo on Cuba. “That blockade violates the UN resolutions. There is an international community consensus to condemn that policy”, Patiño stated, according to Prensa Latina. Today, Venezuela's Ministry for Foreign Affairs issued a statement describing the assault on Moncada as “an act essential to the national liberation struggle of the peoples of Latin America and the world in the twentieth century”. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles criticized Maduro's visit to Cuba, tweeting that the President was in Cuba to “answer to his boss”.
6 International | . s Friday, August 2, 2013 T/ AVN P/ Presidential Press
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enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that the meeting of heads of state of member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), held in Ecuador, “confirms that the only guarantee of unity with which to achieve our new independence is having the people as protagonists; a people with a political culture, with their own thinking”. “ALBA has many advantages”, he said. “One of those is that it’s an alliance between the government and the people. We are seeking the participation of indigenous peoples, farmers, workers, women, intellectuals, young people – in order to govern in favor of the integration and unity of our people. It is the only guarantee that this time we will truly consolidate and make irreversible our independence. It’s the only guarantee, there is no other”. Meanwhile, he highlighted the importance of avoiding divisive forces within the popular movements that would attempt to isolate Latin America from a solid and productive future. “The retrograde ideology of the right wing, which says
The artillery of ideas
ALBA: The people guarantee unity and independence
everyone should seek their destiny on their own, wants to return to attack our projects… ALBA is an alliance of revolutionary peoples and governments to consolidate true independence, and on that basis build prosperity”, he said.
The Venezuelan President celebrated the proposals submitted to the ALBA Summit by representatives of social movements, which he said are in sync with the policies of leaders such as Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Bolivian President Evo Morales.
“I think there is a perfect harmony between the debates and the proposals that you [social movements] have made through the documents and that today we’re discussing. It is a spiritual, political, ideological and strategic harmony that should be made
The July 26th Movement
Fidel Castro and the power of faith T/ Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada
O
n March 10, 1952, former dictator Fulgencio Batista seized power in Cuba again. This happened eighty days before the elections in which he would have received the least votes. With one blow, he overthrew the president, abolished the constitution, disolved parliament, crushed unions, student and guild organizations, took control of the media, unleashed a brutal repression and set up a regime of corruption and plunder which C. Wright Mills characterized as “capitalism run by gangsters and the mafia”. Washington gave Batista quick recognition and always supported him, until the tyrant and his henchmen escaped on January 1st, 1959. The 1952 coup d’état greatly shocked Cuban society. Beyond its political consequences, it cut deep into the national conscience. The overthrown president sought refuge in the Mexican Embassy, the political forces supporting him were paralyzed; the forces in the opposition, including those of
Marxist inspiration, were not able to defend legality nor organize resistance; they became entangled in endless debates on strategy and tactics with only one thing in common: inaction. Frustration and disbelief grew among the population. Their democratic aspirations were defeated once again. All the political parties had lost credibility and public trust. Only among the young people and students was there still a spirit of rebellion, seeking their own path outside the failed structures. To steer that rebelliousness they needed and exceptional leader. They found it in Fidel Castro. Fidel chose a group of young people who looked to him as an example and prepared them for armed struggle. It was a group without a name or political affiliation. The action on July 26, 1953 was, in military terms, a double failure: the attempts to take by assault two main army garrisons in Eastern Cuba: Moncada in Santiago de Cuba and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in Bayamo. In both, the assailants were de-
feated and most of them murdered after the battle. The Movimiento 26 de Julio was born losing its first battles and under the almost unanimous attack of the political forces, the media and other institutions of Cuban society. But that day was, in true fact, a rebirth. It began a process of moral rescue which allowed the people to recover strength and start the long and difficult march to victory. The starting point was the recovery of trust. That day reached many, and gave impulse to the creation of a movement that would keep growing provided it could preserve faith. Compelled by popular pressure, Batista was forced, in 1955, to give amnesty to Fidel and his comrades in prison. Fidel
travelled to Mexico and promised to return before the following year was over to conduct the final battle. Once again he was betting on popular trust. Meanwhile, the dictatorship launched a campaign to create distrust. This was supported by many sectors in the opposition which were against armed struggle. The pro-Batista media made fun of Fidel’s promise and kept publishing the countdown on their front pages. The arrival of the rebels took place on December 2, and it was another military catastrophe. The failure of the expedition made big headlines in the Cuban press and far beyond. The 82 men who arrived in the Granma yacht faced
into concrete reality”, Maduro said. He mentioned that ALBA was created as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), an initiative promoted by the United States that he said “would have proposed a project of economic colonization worse than the one that we had in the region 200 years ago. With ALBA, we saved our countries from the privatization of services like healthcare and education and now we must commit to building a new pluri-centric world”. Finally, President Maduro referred to the founder of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez, saying he remains alive in the spirit and will of the poor people of Latin America who fight for their freedom. “We’re on the right path, which is revolution for our independence. How much we miss our supreme commander! He lived this struggle, he guided it, and amidst our memories and nostalgia we have a sense of satisfaction, for the struggle has been worthwhile, Commander Hugo Chavez. As long as ALBA lives on and our people continue to fight, Chavez will live on”, he said.
a far superior military force equipped, armed and trained by the United States. The twelve survivors scattered in the forest with no weapons or resources, managed to regroup in the Sierra Maestra. Months of disinformation and anguish followed. In the remote mountains, backed by their followers in the city, the guerrilla contingent was formed step-by-step. In the cities, the clandestine fighters who supplied the guerrillas and resisted brutal repression also had to fight the permanent “peacekeeping” maneuvers of the political opposition. Two years later, the movement had spread to the entire country and the dictatorship was defeated. This was five years, five months and five days after the foundational action. Those were hard and difficult years. But they brought freedom and happiness to a people emancipated forever. As expressed in the lyrics of a song that we have all been singing for many years now: “The 26 is the happiest day in history”. Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada has served as Cuba’s UN ambassador, Foreign Minister and president of the National Assembly.
. s Friday, August 2, 2013
The artillery of ideas
A breathtaking hypocrisy
Why the US has no right to lecture Latin America T/ Daniel Wickham
V
enezuela has announced that it is ending efforts to improve ties with the United States after the Obama administration’s nominee for the role of ambassador to the United Nations labelled the country “repressive”. Samantha Power, who is widely known for her strong stance on human rights, vowed to contest “the crackdown on civil society being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela”. For obvious reasons, Power is selective in who she choses to criticize. The likes of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom have presided over major crackdowns on dissent in recent years, warrant no mention, which is not surprising given the US government’s staunch support for the regimes in question. Regarding Saudi Arabia, Washington’s attitude towards democracy is best expressed by William M. Daley, Obama’s chief of staff during the Arab uprisings, who said that “the possibility of anything (like the revolution in Egypt) happening in Saudi Arabia was one that couldn’t become a reality”. Daley explained that “for the glob-
al economy, this couldn’t happen”, referring of course to the importance of Saudi oil, which was described by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2003 as the primary reason for US support for the monarchy. An unsurprising claim, in light of the US State Department’s description in 1945 of the Gulf’s oil reserves as “a stupendous source of strategic power and one of the greatest material prizes in world history”. Returning to Latin America, the hypocrisy is again breathtaking. Condemning Venezuela as “repressive”, Power neglects to mention that the “most dramatic setback”, according to Americas Watch, for human rights in Venezuela came in 2002 when a coup d’etat, allegedly supported tacitly by the United States, removed Chavez from office and “dissolved the country’s democratic institutions”. It is also worth noting that the US supported enthusiastically the Caldera and Perez administrations which preceded Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution, both of which were vastly more repressive than the current ‘revolutionary’ government. Also strikingly absent from Power’s remarks was any men-
tion of Colombia, the United States’ closest ally in the region, which according to Americas Watch, “presents the worst human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere”. This year’s annual report claims that “over the past decade, the Colombian army committed an alarming number of extrajudicial killings of civilians”, carried out in “a systematic fashion”, during which time the army was the highest recipient of US military aid in Latin America. Most of the killings occurred under the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, whom President Bush described in 2006 as “a personal friend” and “a strong believer in democracy and human rights”. Under Obama, Colombia has continued to receive more military aid than any other country in the hemisphere, with Mexico, whose well-documented record of “extrajudicial killings, disappearances” and “widespread torture” is not much better, coming second. This practice- of giving military aid to the Hemisphere’s worst human rights abusersruns throughout history. A 1979 study into Amnesty International’s reports on torture revealed that 25 of the world’s 36
most prolific torturers between 1945 and 1975 received military aid and training from the United States, with Latin American regimes accounting for “more than 80%” of the most urgent appeals for victims of torture at the time. The military aid policy continued through the 1980s with the Reagan administration’s backing of the Contras in Nicaragua. According to a 1985 report by Reed Brody, who later became a spokesperson for Human Rights Watch, “the contras used US advice and dollars to terrorize the population of Nicaragua and hardly a word about it was printed in the United States”. Thousands of civilians were “assassinated, raped, tortured and mutilated” by forces who, in the words of President Reagan, were “the moral equivalent of our founding fathers”. In 1984, the World Court found the United States guilty of the “illegal use of force” against Nicaragua, and demanded that the government cease their sponsorship of the Contras and “pay Nicaragua reparations”. The US rejected the verdict and continued as before. In his Address to the Nation two years later, Reagan justified his administration’s ongoing support for the Contras by condemning the Nicaraguan government, without irony, as “a command post for international terror” which sought to “subvert and topple its democratic neighbors”. The “democratic” neighbors referred to were the military regimes in El Salvador and Guatemala, both closely al-
| Analysis
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lied to the United States. Their records are not pretty. Under Reagan, and then Bush, the Salvadoran army was the biggest recipient of US military aid in the Hemisphere, killing tens of thousands of people during the country’s thirteen-year internal conflict. According to the New York Times’ top reporter in the country, some of the “worst massacres of civilians” were carried out by battalions trained by the United States, indicating “a whiff of secondary US responsibility.” In Guatemala, the US-backed military massacred nearly 200,000 people during a civil war instigated, at least in part, by a CIA-sponsored coup in 1954. Atrocities peaked in the early 1980s under the rule of General Rios Montt, “a man of great personal integrity” according to President Reagan, whose conviction for genocide was overturned on a technicality earlier this year. An Americas Watch report in 1985 said that the Reagan Administration “shares in the responsibility for the gross abuses of human rights” perpetrated in the country, an accurate perception in light of the US government’s provision of millions of dollars of military aid to Guatemala during “one of the bloodiest periods of the conflict”. Investigative journalist Allan Nairn reports that “the Guatemalan military would pursue (villagers) using US-supplied helicopters and planes. They would drop US 50-kilogram bombs on them, and they would machine gun them using USsupplied heavy-caliber machine gun”. Asked if he should face trial, Rios Montt is alleged to have replied “if you’re going to be put me on trial, you have to try the Americans first”. Today, Latin America is politically freer, but the horrors of the past, and more specifically the US role in them, have not been forgotten, as we have seen during the recent protests in Guatemala and Chile. Many Latin Americans will thus consider Samantha Power’s comments about Venezuela’s “crackdown on civil society” ideologically driven and hypocritical, in light of the US record in the region. This is with justification, as her narrow choice of “repressive” govts, limited solely to unfriendly regimes, indicates. Latin Americans understand this hypocrisy better than anyone. Their know their own history too well to fall for it again. Daniel Wickham is an assistant at the Campaign Against Arms Trade.
Friday, August 2, 2013 | Nº 169 | 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 - Audra Ramones
Opinion
Looking back at what Hugo Chavez did T/ Dan Hellinger - The Beacon
H
ugo Chavez would have turned 59 July 28th. A general who was at his bedside when he died has reported that the Venezuelan President desperately wanted to go on living. Chavez saw himself as indispensable to his country’s future, which was simultaneously a noble and tragic flaw in his character. Chavez envisioned himself as the anointed successor to Venezuela’s founder Simon Bolivar, who was to complete the “Liberator’s” mission of securing Venezuela’s – and Latin America’s – independence from the domination of the empires of the day. Chavez also embraced Bolívar’s teacher, Simon Rodriguez, who preached the virtues of humanist and practical education and the importance of developing a cultural synthesis from Venezuela’s multiethnic roots. The third in Chavez’s trinity of heroes was Ezequiel Zamora, a populist and brilliant general. In Venezuela’s fratricidal Federal Revolution of 1859-63, Zamora rallied Venezuela’s poor peasants into an army
by promising social justice and urging them on with the cry, “Terrify the Oligarchy”. Like Zamora, Chavez was viewed as an avenging angel by many Venezuelans after he led a failed coup in 1992 against Carlos Andres Perez, who a few years earlier had ordered troops to quell a mass rebellion in response to austerity measures that went against 1988 campaign promises. More than a thousand people were killed in what was a turning point for many Venezuelans. After having served time in prison for his attempt to remove Perez, Chavez entered politics on a platform of social reform promising to convoke a constituent assembly, address the needs of the poor and use the nation’s great oil wealth in service of the majority. He won the presidential election of 1998 and swept from power a corrupt and discredited political elite. Chavez immediately fulfilled his promise to convoke a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. The assembly represented and was influenced by a host of social movements that sprung up from Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, women,
environmentalists, poor neighborhood, and many other sectors. The new document, the first in the world to be written in gender-neutral language, set up new institutions to reinforce civic participation and checks on the traditional branches of government – executive, legislative and judicial. Chavez also moved to retake control of the state oil company, whose executives had privatized many of its operations, had sought to withdraw Venezuela from OPEC and brought foreign investors into the country’s oil fields at bargain-basement terms. Commentators often suggest that Chavez was merely lucky to see oil prices rise from $9 to $60 a barrel, and later to more than $100 during his term. Certainly he was aided by Asian consumption and Middle East instability, but his policies contributed to his good “fortune”. He strengthened OPEC, which helped to stabilize global supplies and prices, took majority shares (with compensation) in lucrative new fields, and increased royalties and tax collections. Most importantly, Chavez directed the new oil bonanza
toward the needs of Venezuela’s poor, who played a crucial role in rescuing him in 2002 from a coup d’etat orchestrated largely by oil company executives, the old political elite and the private media. In 2012, the UN Development Program representative in Venezuela said, “Venezuela has really good performance through its [social] missions, where the issues of nutrition, the reduction of poverty, education, access to health, are really on track”. He noted that Venezuela had already achieved some UN development goals and was “on the way” to meeting others. Oil diplomacy and promotion of social justice were also engines of Chavez’s foreign policy and account for why at home and abroad Chávez is often revered as a man of the people, one who was willing to take the bounty of the nation and use it for the advancement of Venezuela and the region, rather than for personal gain. “Bolivarian” principles were embodied in the founding of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) -- an humanistic alternative model to Washington’s proposed NAF-
TA expansion via a “Free Trade Area of the Americas”, which Chavez helped to bury in 2005. His leadership contributed to a host of new diplomatic and economic initiatives in Latin America that have enhanced the region’s ability to act more autonomously of the US in global affairs. Poor Caribbean nations especially have benefitted from Chavez’s internationalism. In places like Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and St. Vincent, Chavez is viewed more as a guardian angel than a “dragon in the tropics”, as his critics in Washington portray him. The “social missions” were not simply welfare transfer programs; Chavez tied them, after 2005, to the notion of 21st century socialism. Chavez proposed amending the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999 to include multiple forms of social and private property and a “new geography of power” embodied in a communal state. But unlike the process in 1999, the institutional renovation was largely a proposal from the mind of Hugo Chavez. His package of amendments narrowly lost a referendum in December 2007. He remained determined to build the communal state through laws passed by the National Assembly, then firmly in the hands of his party. Were the positive side of Chavez’s life and career better understood here in the US and abroad, I would worry more about noting here his personal failures, missed opportunities, and top-down style of leadership even while his policies took into account those at the bottom. But, alas that is not the case. There remain lessons to learn from this President who for 13 years made significant strides to deliver on his campaign promises and ameliorate the dire living conditions of Venezuela’s poor by eradicating illiteracy, significantly reducing poverty and opening the doors to a new life through health care and education for all. His faults and his virtues -- which manifested themselves in actions and words that resonate deeply with Venezuelans, especially those of humble origin who remembered him with deep affection on his birthday -- should also be taken into account.