Analysis
Opinion
Capitalism, genocide & Colombia page 7
What Europe could learn from Latin America’s Independence page 8
Friday, August 23, 2013 | Nº 172 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
Economic violators “busted” Head of Venezuela’s Institute for the Defense of People's Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis) Eduardo Saman has reiterated calls for businesses to abide by price regulations and refrain from misleading customers, after penalties were imposed on a number of businesses this month. According to Saman, the consumer protection agency found businesses increasing prices of imported merchandise by more than 200%. page 4
ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas
Maduro calls for more production, efficiency & corruption crackdown
New ferry service to Margarita
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with members of his executive cabinet last Saturday to discuss economy, improvements in government services, and the continuation of the anti-corruption campaign that has marked the early months of his first term. The Venezuelan President outlined a series of new initiatives being implemented by his administration to jump start the nation's economy and put the breaks on inflation. Page 2
Economy
Fair prices for school supplies Subsidized socialist school fairs are helping families prepare for the new academic year. page 5 Social justice
Communes to expand The communal model is growing as Venezuela’s revolution advances. page 6
UN FAO highlights Venezuela’s Agricultural Production Fund T/ AVN
Politics
Venezuela has launched a new modern ferry to transport tourists & residents to Margarita Island. page 3
INTERNATIONAL
Celebrating free children’s health care Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrated the seven-year anniversary of the founding of the Dr. Gilberto Rodriguez Ochoa Latin American Children’s Cardiology Hospital, a facility built in the capital city of Caracas thanks to an initiative by the leader of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez. The head of state said that the facility, which has helped save the lives of thousands of children, demonstrates the profound sense of love that inspired the revolution. He called for the nation to continue working to achieve a health system with great human and technical ability in order to ensure the best possible service following the model of the Cardiology Hospital. In its 7 years of operation, the Cardiology Hospital has performed more than 8,000 free procedures for Venezuelan children and children from other countries including Honduras, Colombia, and Nicaragua, to help strengthen ties among Latin American and Caribbean nations.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has noted the importance of a new initiative in Venezuela to create a Producer Stimulus Fund, according to an announcement by Agriculture and Lands Minister Yvan Gil. A FAO press release reads: “This action is essential to stimulating and consolidating the development of production chains in a country, and also to reduce the impact of inflation on the consumer”. The fund will be developed to pay a subsidy on the price of rice, corn, sorghum, soy and sugar in order to assist primary producers without having an impact on the price of food. The government also announced measures to promote national coffee production. Actions include creating a National Coffee Council to debate ways to strengthen production, increasing payouts to Venezuela’s 57,000 producers by 66%, and creating a research center. The Agriculture Minister announced these decisions after a recent meeting with coffee growers throughout the country. He said that they stemmed from assemblies of coffee producers in 15 states to discuss the old framework that dates from before the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999, and which last year produced only 1.6 million quintals. The National Coffee Council will address issues such as production and productivity, access to inputs, rural agriculture, pesticides, financing, the creation and renovation of coffee facilities, the diversification of production, and land regulations.
2 Impact | . s Friday, August 23, 2013
The artillery of ideas
President Maduro meets with cabinet to boost production, efficiency in government T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
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enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with members of his executive cabinet last Saturday to discuss economy, improvements in government services, and the continuation of the anti-corruption campaign that has marked the early months of his first term. “It’s about making a great effort towards reform in order to achieve efficiency”, Maduro said during the encounter broadcast on state television. Present for the dialogue was Minister of Industry Ricardo Menendez, the new head of the Central Bank Eudomar Tovar, Food Minister Felix Osorio, Agriculture Minister Yvan Gil, President of the nation’s Foreign Exchange Commission (CADIVI) Jose Kahn, Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming, and Finance Minister Nelson Merentes. For much of the discussion, the Venezuelan President outlined a series of new initiatives being implemented by his administration to jump start the nation’s economy and put the breaks on inflation. This includes placing greater emphasis on domestic production and manufacturing, which Central Bank President Tovar said will see “significant growth” in the next trimester. Food security and agricultural expansion were other important points of conversation with cabinet members explaining plans for greater development of the government’s national network of subsidized staple products and a strengthening of agrarian credits. According to Maduro, his administration has already approved a credit line of $150 million for the state-run agricultural supply chain Agropatria to boost access to inputs for small and medium sized producers. “150 million dollars so that we produce more”, the head of state affirmed. The former union organizerturned president also described plans to facilitate greater acquisition of foreign exchange for businesses and to cut down on price gauging and speculation
in the private sector that forms part of what he called “an economic war” against the socialist government and the people of Venezuela. “We are neutralizing the negative effects of an economic war that has been unleashed on the Venezuelan people... We’re developing an economy with its sights on the future and we’re increasing investments”, he stated.
EFFICIENCY OR NOTHING During the discussions, President Maduro informed of a measure that will entail a meeting between himself and 200 leading public administrators
to devise new ways to enhance the day-to-day functions of the national government. The idea, the Venezuelan President said, is to promote the participation of public employees in the reformation of state services in order to promote the human qualities of government and provide greater efficacy for residents. “I’m calling for a training process, for a new state that is more efficient, that assists people, and that loves human beings. Love is what is going to allow us to change the anti-values of the civilization inherited [from past governments] into real human values of the new
civilization”, the former union leader said. To further what he is calling a “transformation” of the Venezuelan government, Maduro proposed creating grassroots commissions made up of activists and ordinary citizens to provide feedback to administrators in each of the executive’s ministries. “We are going to work under the true concept of Popular Power. In every ministry there must be a Popular Power Council. For example, there should be one made up of transport workers in the Ministry of Ground Transport. There should be a Council of Popular Power comprised of producers, small farmers, and agrarian workers in the Ministry of Land and Agriculture”, the head of state asserted.
FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION Importantly, Maduro reiterated his intention on Saturday to seek Enabling Law powers that would permit him to pass legislation by decree for a limited period of time. The request has been made to the nation’s unicameral congress, the National Assembly, and must be approved by a
three-fifths majority of the 165 members of the legislative body to go into effect. The Venezuelan President has urged the approval of the request in order to streamline measures designed to crackdown on corruption in the country. “I am going to ask the president of the National Assembly for an Enabling Law in order to establish and deepen strict and severe regulations against corruption and to establish the most severe sentences for the crimes of money laundering”, Maduro explained. “We’re going to inoculate our democracy and public life. Surely what we are going to do in Venezuela is going to serve as an example for brother countries on our continent”, he added. The use of the constitutionally-sanctioned Enabling Law was frequent during the later years of the presidency of former head of state Hugo Chavez, who utilized the legal mandate to accelerate government programs and social services. While the idea has been rejected by members of the rightwing opposition, Maduro challenged the conservative factions to a public debate regarding the Enabling Law as well as the numerous charges of corruption that have been lodged against members of Venezuela’s political elite. “I have challenged the opposition to a public debate on this topic and above all on the topic of the charges that have been made, one by one if they want. It they want, we’ll transmit the debate [live on all public radio and television stations] so that the people know the truth”, he invited. For the Venezuelan President, the refusal by the opposition to concede decree powers is an indication of the dubious practices of members of the nation’s old political guard who, Maduro said, were accustomed to using the presidential palace as “a house of business”. “[The opposition] is very desperate because they know that we’re going to catch them with their hands in the till. There will be no escaping it. The people will see”, he declared.
. s Friday, August 23, 2013
The artillery of ideas
New ferry to improve access to major tourist destination in Venezuela
one of Venezuela’s biggest tourist destinations, by 30 percent during high season. “This ship represents a significant step towards the improvement of tourist resources for the island, towards sea travel, and towards making our economy dynamic. This is a machine of the latest technology and of high power”, said Tourism Minister Andres Izarra.
programs, the high functionary stated, will be designing initiatives that create productive enterprises that can encourage “a platform for work”. At the same time, Rodriguez rejected the idea that government’s missions are instilling in the population a type of “dependency” on national welfare programs. “There is always the critic who says that social policies generate dependencies on the
state. I don’t believe this is true”, he said. “There are those who believe that the state should not invest in social issues, that such investment is too much of a cost. For us it is not a cost but an investment. For us, investing in education, culture or sports is development for society. What does the state exist for if not for giving us a more dignified life and for providing justice? What sense would it have otherwise?” the minister asked.
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the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The people of Margarita were clamoring for a new ferry and that’s why the commitment was made during [the meetings of] the Street Government. The people are content with having an extremely modern and dignified ship”, he said. The Virgen del Valle II is the first of three new ferries that
are being added to the current fleet of three ships that service Margarita Island. It cost $17 million euros ($22.6 million), was built by the Australian company Austal, and will perform two trips linking the island with the mainland every day. The seafaring upgrades are expected to increase the number of visitors to Margarita,
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The Minister for Sea and Air Transport, Hebert Garcia Plaza, commented that a fourth ship will be acquired which will connect the coast of La Guaira, close to the capital Caracas, with Margarita Island as well as other islands in the Caribbean. The goal, Plaza said, is to “continue strengthening our nation’s tourism and, at the same time, follow through on the commitments made during the activities of the Street government”. An additional $17 million have been allocated for the purchase of the new vessels. For the governor of the state of Anzoategui, Aristobulo Isturiz, the national government’s investment in the central state makes clear it’s intention to convert the area into a port of call for the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) trade alliance. Isturiz cites the more than 600 million bolivars that have been spent by the Maduro administration in regional infrastructure development including airport modernization and the renovation of the port in Puerto La Cruz to back his claim. The overarching goal, the governor asserted, is to convert Venezuela “into a powerful nation, just as was the objective and the legacy of our eternal Comandante [former President] Hugo Chavez”.
T/ COI P/ Agencies enezuela’s tourism industry saw yet another positive development last weekend when the fleet of ferries that service the island destination of Margarita was augmented with the arrival of a new, fully modern and equipped ship. The Virgen del Valle II arrived at the port El Guamache on Saturday in the state of Anzoategui amidst enthusiastic crowds applauding the ferry’s docking in the central Venezuelan state. The new ship, which has a capacity to transport 950 people and 350 vehicles, will link the city of Puerto La Cruz with Margarita Island in voyages that will last approximately two and a half hours. “I had no idea it was going to be so big. This is a tremendous ship”, said Gabriela Nunez, one of the spectators on hand last Saturday. Carlos Figueroa, Governor of the state of Nueva Esparta, informed that the purchase of the ferry was an outcome of the grassroots assemblies held by
| Politics
UN recognizes Venezuela's move towards racial equality, eradication of poverty T/ COI P/ Agencies
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enezuela was recognized last week during a meeting of the UN’s Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for its progress in fighting ethnic prejudice, providing universal and free health care for its residents, and laying the groundwork for a more just and inclusive society. Venezuelan Vice President for Social Affairs, Hector Rodriguez represented the South American nation at the encounter in Geneva and reported to fellow cabinet members on Monday the reception awarded to his country. “In general terms it was very positive, a tremendous recognition of the efforts that are being made in Venezuela”, Rodriguez, who is also Youth Minister for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, said on Monday.
While no official ranking of countries was released during the 83rd Session of the CERD, this is not the first time that Venezuela has been applauded for its advances in social development by the UN. In June, the Food and Agricultural Organization granted a special acknowledgement to the OPEC member state for its reduction of poverty and its marked diminution of malnutrition within its borders. The progress has been due in large part to the more than 30 social programs, or missions, founded by former President Hugo Chavez who succumbed to cancer in March. Earlier this month, President Maduro announced a restructuring of the missions to achieve greater efficiency and enhance services for the Venezuelan population. The topic of reorganizing represented an important agenda
item for the meeting held on Monday between Rodriguez and the eleven other ministers working in the executive’s Social Affairs Commission. As head of the executive commission, Rodriguez is charged with overseeing the streamlining of the programs that provide free education, health care and numerous other services to the population. According to Rodriguez, the genesis of the missions in the early 2000s was to provide a direct line of benefits to the population from the executive branch by “bypassing a corrupt and bureaucratic state”, he asserted during an interview with the news agency Noticias24 last week. “We still have this in many institutions and we must build an institutionalism that is more efficient”, he said. Another important element in the restructuring of the
4 Economy | . s Friday, August 23, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela’s Indepabis busts businesses for “unjustifiable” price hikes
al Airport at Maiquetia and La Chinita International Airport in Maracaibo would both receive new permanent inspectors as part of a push to strengthen consumer protection during the holiday season. “We have a permanent presence in Maiquetia and La Chinita; we are overseeing airlines, delayed flights, overbooking of tickets”, Saman said. During the Tves interview, Saman also issued a warning to restaurants nationwide, urging owners to ensure they are listed in the national registry system, and display accurate prices at the door. “The restaurant must be registered... to avoid being penalized”, Saman stated. He also warned hotels to ensure they honor bookings and are receptive to customer complaints. Saman said that members of the public have already contacted Indepabis complaining of hotels canceling bookings after payment has already been made by the client.
INDEPABIS RESTRUCTURE
T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim P/ Agencies
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ead of the Institute for the Defense of People’s Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis) Eduardo Saman has reiterated calls for businesses to abide by price regulations and refrain from misleading customers, after penalties were imposed on a number of businesses this month. According to Saman, the consumer protection agency found one business increasing prices of imported merchandise by more than 200%, while failing to inform customers that the products had been purchased with dollars issued by the Commission for the Administration of Currency Exchange (Cadivi). Speaking to Tves’ TV Foro program on Sunday, Saman stated that the business, Pablo Electronica C.A had been found by inspectors to be imposing “a monthly increase of 5% to 10%” on prices of Panasonic goods.
These rises often exceeded monthly inflation rates. The highest level of monthly inflation since 2008 was recorded in May, at 6.1%. Since then, inflation has declined each month. Saman stated that one Panasonic television on sale at Pablo Electronica had a marked price almost four times its original value. According to Saman, inspectors found that the TV had been purchased with dollars from the now defunct Transaction System for Foreign Currency Denominated Securities (Sitme) last December, at an exchange rate of 5.30 bolivars to $1. The retailer would have paid around 1500 bolivars for the TV, which was found by inspectors on sale for close to 13,000 bolivars. Even taking into account “operating costs” for the retailer, Saman argued that “the maximum cost of the TV should be 3400 bolivars”. Saman further stated that Pablo Electronica had allegedly failed
to notify customers that some products had been purchased with government issued dollars. “It didn’t say anywhere that any of the property was acquired with Cadivi dollars. It was the first finding, for which [Pablo Electronica] was fined”, Saman stated. Then on Monday, another business was fined by Indepabis. Indepabis coordinator for Inspection and Supervision in the Capital District, Cariana Garcia told AVN that an outlet of retailer Compumall had been found applying allegedly “misleading” labeling on some products. Garcia stated that investigators found that Compumall had imposed “unjustifiable” increases in the marked price of some school supplies. “We have been evaluating the prices of products such as notebooks, pencils and other school supplies...but there is a variation between [prices in] June, July and [last] September; why does this happen? These are old
products that were purchased in January or February”, Garcia stated. “This is unjustifiable stuff we’re punishing”, he said. According to Garcia, Compumall also used prohibited modes of labeling such as stickers attached to products, instead of stamping or marking a price directly on the merchandise. “There are books which had their price tags removed and replaced with higher ones, due to the season”, he stated. Garcia warned that the retailer had been given “24 hours” to rectify the price discrepancies. He also stated that the bust came during a one-day crackdown on school supply retailers across the capital. However, these aren’t the only businesses under renewed scrutiny from the agency. New Indepabis staff will be permanently stationed at two of Venezuela’s largest international airports. On Sunday, Saman announced that Simon Bolivar Internation-
While Saman indicated that his agency would be increasingly active over the holiday season, the institution has itself been undergoing restructuring since June. On June 9th, authorities reported they had allegedly uncovered an extortion ring operating within Indepabis in Caracas. On June 14th, President Nicolas Maduro announced that Indepabis would be overhauled. After being appointed to head Indepabis with a mandate to eradicate corruption in the body, Saman has since stated that the first phase of internal assessment has been carried out, and an action plan is currently being developed. This follows the high profile “relaunch” of Indepabis on June 20th, when Saman stated that the agency would focus on collaborating with Cadivi to tackle illegal price hikes by retailers. In July, however, Saman had his authority to appoint Indepabis directors revoked by the commerce minister Alejandro Fleming, after he fired numerous regional heads. At the time, Maduro urged Saman to negotiate with Fleming, and to “stay firm in the fight against the mafias who cause shortages”. “We came to an institution that was hit by corruption...an institution that was very run down, especially morally. When I arrived, we made across the board changes, nationally and regionally. It’s like rebuilding a body to be able to walk”, Saman said on Sunday.
. s Friday, August 23, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Socialist school fairs guarantee equal access to school materials
are not marking up prices or introducing “misleading” offers to consumers. Some stationary storeowners claim that a lack of government-issued foreign currency and consequent shortage of supply of goods is what is causing the increase in stationary prices.
terms of price speculation. It’s not justified that a product with a regulated price often triples its sale price”. Another problem government is addressing, explained Coronado, is the contraband goods to Colombia. The Maduro administration recently declared the border zones of strategic national importance and is cracking down on contraband. Finally, explained Coronado, certain producers have complained that related products necessary in their production
are hard to find, such as plastic covering, tin casings, or polypropylene holders. “We are going to review all of these issues between the Ministries of Food Sovereignty and Industry and Commerce. We are going to call on the private producers who produce plastic, cardboard, etc., to see what their difficulties are and take corresponding actions, be they permits or foreign currencies, so that these themes don’t affect the final stocking of products”.
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shops, while cultural and recreational activities have been organized for children.
FIGHTING SPECULATION Alongside the school fairs, the government also employs a strategy of monitoring prices in commercial stores in order to break the “speculative price
schemes” imposed by the private sector on consumers of school materials at this time of year. The government’s Institute for the Defense of People in Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis) is currently conducting inspections of stationary stores to ensure that retailers
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“The most repeated phrase [heard in stationary stores] is “sold out”, and it’s because of the shortage of foreign currency which is causing a lack of control on sales, as well as a great economic loss”, said Juan Carlos Torres, manager of a stationary store in San Mateo, Aragua state. However the president of Muns Investments in the city of Maracay, Franklin Tivamoso, said that commercial school fairs in his area are not affected by lack of supply. The businessman added that while his stores “sell products at low prices compared with the street price”, the price of school materials is higher than last year. Meanwhile, on Monday Indepabis issued a fine of 160,500 bolivars ($25,887) to a store in the Compumall chain for engaging in “speculative” commercial practices. These included marking up set prices on stationary goods with stickers and using “misleading” offers, such as products which contained less items than advertised on the packaging. Speaking to news agency AVN, Indepabis’ Coordinator of Inspections for the Capital District, Cariana Garcia, used the opportunity to warn other establishments not to engage in the same practices. “This call is to all stores, to stationary stores: don’t speculate on the prices of school materials”, she said.
T/ Ewan Robertson P/ Agencies s the new school term approaches, the Venezuelan government is launching Socialist School Fairs across the country to guarantee families’ access to schooling goods at “fair prices”. At this time of year parents and guardians flock to clothing and stationary stores in search of notebooks, stationary, schoolbags and uniforms, which result in a significant cost to family budgets. Furthermore, many of these stores mark up their prices to take advantage of the increase in demand in what authorities call “speculative” commercial practices. In response to this situation the government’s Socialist School Fairs aim to cut out the intermediary and guarantee Venezuelan families, especially those on lower incomes, equal access to school materials. First launched in 2009, this year the school fair program will distribute 2,104,168 items over 48 product groups, enough to equip around 175,000 children and teenagers. According to the Ministry of Commerce, these products offer savings of 26 to 60% compared with the commercial price. Speaking to media last Saturday, commerce minister Alejandro Fleming said that so far the school fairs “have been a great success”. “As in every year, everything the [Bolivarian] revolution does is successful, even if the right-wing media make this invisible. This is the only country where a government has honored the right to education, not with rhetoric, but with visible acts”, the minister declared. A total of 592 national producers of school materials are participating in the program this year, comprising small, medium and social property companies. The fairs will take places in all of Venezuela’s 24 territorial entities in different phases between August 15th and September 14th. In the Socialist School Fair in central Caracas, which opened last week, members of the public can choose goods in 48 separate
| Economy
Government continues to tackle enduring mild food shortages T/ Paul Dobson P/ Agencies
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espite the situation of shortages having improved greatly since the presidential elections in April, the Venezuelan government announced various measures this week which will further address some of the enduring shortages in basic food items the country has suffered this year. Vice-Minister for Political Food Sovereignty, Rafael Coronado, revealed that the series of meetings with representatives from the private food sector, initiated in May by President Maduro, are continuing with positive results. They are addressing the issues of stockpiling, shortages, distribution, and production levels. “We are working hand in hand with them to correct all
of the details which are arising”, stated Coronado. “It is a daily battle, where the elements who are disaffected with the government look to generate angst in the population, removing the products from their normal distribution channels, speculating in an immeasurable way”. Coronado highlighted that distribution problems have caused certain shortages in some sectors, and that a plan of action is being developed. He also mentioned that the informal re-selling of regulated goods is causing rapid shortages in supermarkets. “Under this scheme of the extraction of food items in a permanent and continuous manner, it is very complicated to keep the isles stocked”, explained Coronado. “The informal selling is affecting us all, especially in
6 Social Justice | . s Friday, August 23, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Maduro: Greater Government support for Venezuela’s communes needed V
VICE MINISTRY & TELEVISION CHANNEL Nicolas Maduro proposed several initiatives for the government to better support the
ECONOMIC ROLE Speaking Friday in a town in the Andean state of Merida, Maduro argued that the communes should be central to a new productive economic model in Venezuela. “Every communal council and every commune should aim to be an organized [group of] people, that develops an economically productive socialism”, he stated. He further argued that these bodies should help meet the needs of the local community, playing an important role in local economic and social life. As part of the televised broadcast, the President approved 100,000 bolivars (US $16,129) for the Ezequiel Zamora commune in Merida state, in part for the commune to organize repairs to a nearby aqueduct.
T/ Ewan Robertson – venezuelanalysis. com P/ Presidential Press enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on his government to give greater support to the construction of communes in the country, proposing several initiatives by which this could be done. The head of state also announced a “complete restructuring” of his government. Speaking on his weekly television show, “Bolivarian Dialogue”, Maduro urged his cabinet to work to consolidate and expand the construction of communes in Venezuela. “Let’s make the issue of the communes into a central issue for the construction of territorial socialism, concrete socialism, where we all contribute to the construction of the communes, [and] support and consolidate those communes already established”, he said. Maduro entrusted this task of government to Vice President Jorge Arreaza, Communes Minister Reinaldo Iturriza, and Communication and Information Minister Delcy Rodriguez. “Established and consolidated communes must be transformed into a vanguard which goes out to construct, and with their example, educate, motivate, form and support the construction of new communes”, added the President. Communes in Venezuela have their origin in communal councils, which are grassroots bodies composed of members of the local community. These bodies are self-managing and receive public funds to undertake community projects and small-scale public works. Communes, meanwhile, are made up of groups of community councils, and are able to take on larger scale projects and further develop mechanisms of local self-governance. While there are currently over 44,000 registered communal councils, there are only around 200 established or developing communes in the country.
regional and local media” and that “nothing like any ministry or institution created up until now” reflected the aims or needs of the commune movement.
construction of communes and country’s grassroots democracy more widely. One of these was the establishment of a vice ministry dedicated to the spreading of information about the experiences of Venezuela’s communes and other social movements. This task was given to minister for communications, Delcy Rodriguez, with the new body to be named The Communications Vice Ministry of Communes and People’s Power. A second proposal was for the creation of a national television channel for communes, which will be dedicated to sharing information about the work and daily life of communes and community councils. “We’re going to design a national television channel, Com-
mune TV, so that the life of the communal councils and communes can be seen. It would be a subject that could produce endless documentaries, news and music programs”, stated Maduro. The Venezuelan President entrusted the coordination of this project to the ministers of communes, communication and science and technology, and explained that such a channel could operate nationally on the new Open Digital Television (TDA) service. In 2009 the government established the Ministry of Communes and in 2010 passed the Communes Law. However, in a cabinet meeting in October 2012 late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez critized his government for not doing enough
New communes to launch in Venezuelan capital T/ Ewan Robertson
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mass grassroots electoral operation is being organized to elect spokespeople for communal councils and twenty new communes in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. The operation has drawn national media attention as these will be the first communal elections to use the National Electoral Council’s (CNE) electronic voting system. The director of the CNE’s Office for Citizen Participation,
Joen Keiler Jimenez, explained to the media last Monday that while the CNE is providing equipment and technical support, “it is the communal councils, through their own electoral commissions, that carry out the elections”. The capital-wide “communal electoral operation” is a result of cooperation between communal councils, the CNE, and the government’s Foundation for Communal Power and Development (Fundacomunal), with the aim being to elect new
to support the construction of communes. “Where are the communes?” Chavez asked his then vice president Nicolas Maduro, adding that he was considering eliminating the Ministry of Communes altogether. The National Network of Communes responded to these comments in a written statement, in which they affirmed that communes were being constructed across the country, and that “we are constructing the communes through our own knowledge and actions, because we aspire towards a communal way of life, as a community, in socialism or communism”. The network also argued that “almost nothing about this appears in the national,
Maduro also proposed “a complete restructuring” of his government in order to optimize its functioning and better achieve stated objectives. Prior to this restructuring, an evaluation of the pertinence, functions and organization of existing government ministries will be undertaken. “We’ve inherited the structure of the bourgeois government, the bourgeois state. We need to erect a new structure”, the President declared. Part of this restructuring will be a greater focus by ministries on mechanisms of grassroots power. “We call ourselves ministries of people’s power. We have to be ministries of peoples power”, Maduro exhorted.
spokespeople to the city’s communal councils. This will be followed by elections to choose the spokespeople and founding charters of twenty new communes in Caracas. The communes will then be able to formally register with the Ministry of Communes. Communes in Venezuela are participatory democratic bodies that promote local selfgovernance and undertake public projects to develop the community. The Communes Law, which was passed in 2010, sets the legal framework for their formation and their functioning. The first elections of the “communal electoral opera-
tion” in Caracas will take place on September 22 in the 23 de Enero district, when twenty-seven communal councils will choose the spokespeople of the new “Socialist Faith” and “Simon Bolivar” communes. Each commune will contain twelve commissions of two members each, with around 50 spokespeople to be elected overall. It is estimated that over 5,500 local citizens will participate in the vote. Legra Serrano of the Simon Bolivar Commune highlighted that, “It’s necessary for the population to actively participate, not only in the vote, but also [to create] the communal structure”.
GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING
. s Friday, August 23, 2013
The artillery of ideas
Dispatch from catatumbo
Capitalism, genocide & Colombia T/ Dan Kovalik P/ Agencies
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just returned from Catatumbo, Colombia where thousands of peasants are waging a lifeand-death struggle against the US-backed Colombian military and its paramilitary allies. For over 60 days, the peasants have been demonstrating against the deplorable living conditions and economic circumstances in which they live, and in support of their proposal for a Peasant Farmer Reserve Zone of 10 million hectares. Such a zone, which is provided for under the law, would allow the peasants to engage in subsistence farming free of the threat of encroachment by extractive companies desiring to mine or drill on their land. This demand, along with the concomitant demand of the peasants for all mining and oil exploration and extraction in their region to be suspended, is critical to the peasants who are being driven to the verge of extinction. According to the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers’ Collective (CALCP), 11,000 peasants have been killed in this region by state and para-state forces, most of them during the 2002-2010 term of President of Alvaro Uribe, and over 100,000 peasants, out of a total of around 300,000, have been forcibly displaced. At least 32 mass graves containing the bodies of murdered peasant activists have been found in this region in recent years. And, this mass murder and displacement is being carried
out to make way for more oil drilling, African palm cultivation (for biodiesel) and for coal mining by North American companies. I say that this mayhem is being carried out, in part, in order to make way for more oil drilling because, in fact, much oil drilling has been taking place there for the past 70 years. The peasants of this region have nothing to show for this many years of drilling. After 70 years of oil exploration, the rural parts of this region do not even have a paved road. In addition, there is no sewage system, no running water and no health services. Indeed, peasants injured in their confrontations with the military and police during the two months of demonstrations – with the peasants defending themselves with sticks against the guns, tanks and other USsupplied hardware of the military and police – have been forced to flee into Venezuela for refuge and medical services. In short, the oil and other extractive companies, beginning with Texaco in the 1930’s, have taken and taken, and left the people with nothing. Now, the companies want even more, and it is the very existence and presence of the peasants which stands in their way. And so, quite logically, the companies, with the help of the US-backed military and paramilitaries, are aiming to literally wipe the peasants off the map. In other words, these forces are engaged in a calculated act of genocide.
YOUNG PEASANTS OF CATATUMBO IN REBELLION The calculated mass killing and displacement that is taking place in Catatumbo is a good example of the phenomenon discussed in the new book, Capitalism: A Structural Genocide by Garry Leech. In that book, Leech argues, and quite forcefully, that capitalism, left to its own devices, will inevitably destroy (1) those who stand in the way of the exploitation of natural resources; and (2) those individuals, such as peasants and subsistent farmers, who are engaged in pursuits which neither contribute towards economic “growth” nor produce surplus value or profit. Of course, the peasants of Catatumbo fall into both of these categories simultaneously, and are therefore a double threat. Citing Indian physicist and philosopher Vandana Shiva, Leech explains that, under capitalism, “nothing has value until it enters the market. Shiva points out that under capitalism ‘if you consume what you produce, you do not really produce, at least not economically speaking. If I grow my own food, and do not sell it, then this does not contribute to GDP, and so does not contribute towards growth’.” Rather, for such subsistence farmers, “’nature exists as a commons’”. The commons, moreover, and those who work on it, are simply not permitted under capitalism. As Leech and Shiva explain, those working the commons must either “be incorporated – often through coercion – into
the ever-widening spheres of production and circulation”, or they must be simply be destroyed. This process, as Leech explains, is what Karl Marx termed, “primitive accumulation”, and it is quite a nasty process, wherever it is carried out. Leech explains that, as capitalism was beginning to get into full swing in Britain in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, the British Parliament passed a series of Enclosure Acts which privatized commonly held lands and “prevented much of the generations-old practice of grazing their animals and cultivating their crops on commonly held lands, thereby forcing them to move to the cities in search of jobs”. More recently, as Leech astutely points out, Mexico outlawed communal land titles for indigenous peoples in order to make way for NAFTA. As Leech explains, and as many of us have argued for years, a major raison d’être of NAFTA was in fact the primitive accumulation of the commons of millions of small farmers in Mexico. This primitive accumulation was carried out by NAFTA’s provisions which allowed heavily-subsidized, and therefore cheap, agricultural products from North America to flood the Mexican markets tariff-free. Meanwhile, the IMF rules governing Mexico forbid that country from subsidizing its own agricultural producers. As Leech explains, the results for 2 million small farmers in Mexico, who could not compete with the subsidized food from
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the North, was devastating, with these small farmers losing their livelihood and their land and fleeing into the cities, or illegally into the US. Finding themselves displaced from their land, many were left with no jobs at all, found themselves exploited in low paying jobs with poor safety and health practices, or turned to the drug trade for employment. The result for Mexico as a whole has been the destruction of the social fabric of the nation and increased violence, with cities like Juarez suffering violence levels comparable to nations at war. Leech mentions that Colombia “has become Latin America’s poster child over the past decade and its economic growth has been driven by the exploitation of the country’s natural resources, particularly oil, coal and gold, by foreign companies”. Colombia now has the largest internally displaced population in the world at over 5 million. As Leech explains, “[m]any have been forced from their lands by direct physical violence related to the country’s armed conflict – often by the Colombian military and right-wing paramilitary groups serving the interests of multinational corporations. However, many others have become economic refugees due to the structural violence inherent in neoliberal policies that has dispossessed them of their lands in order to facilitate capital accumulation for foreign companies”. The peasants of Catatumbo have long been the victims of such direct as well as structural violence, but now they are fighting back to defend their land. For 53 days, these peasants, armed only with sticks, blocked the main highway linking the cities of Cucuta and Tibu. Shortly after our visit, the government agreed to negotiate with them directly, and the peasants ended this blockade for now. However, they will begin it anew if talks fail. While the Colombian Minister of Defense warned us not to travel this highway because of these protests, the peasants freely allowed us to pass. Of course, as all of us understood, what the Colombian government was truly afraid of was that we would witness that it is in fact the peasants who are on the side of right; that it is they who are defending the land, the water and the rainforests for all of us. And, this is why their struggle, and the struggles of others like them, must succeed. In truth, our very lives and future depend on them.
Friday, August 23, 2013 | Nº 172 | 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 T/ Mark Weisbrot
Miranda Rights
W
What Europe could learn from Latin America’s independence
ith a few exceptions, most of Europe hasn’t had an independent foreign policy for the past 70 years, and the UK stands out as a prime example of this. I remember discussing British foreign policy with a UK Member of Parliament a few years ago, and he said to me, “Do you want to know what the Foreign Office is going to do? Just ask the (US) State Department”. The British government proved its first loyalty once again by detaining Glenn Greenwald’s Brazilian partner, David Miranda, under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 as he passed through London’s Heathrow airport on Sunday. He was interrogated for the maximum of 9 hours and his laptop, cell phone, and other stores of digital information were seized. It is clear that Miranda was not suspected of any connection to terrorism. To detain and rob Miranda on this pretext is no more legal than to have done so on trumped up allegations that he was transporting cocaine. The White House has admitted that Washington had advance knowledge of the crime, and so we can infer approval – if not active collaboration. It is interesting, too, because the UK government had previously kept a relatively low public profile on the Snowden case, despite the fact that Snowden had leaked files from its own intelligence gathering and not just the NSA’s. Until Sunday it looked as though the British authorities had learned at least a little bit about public relations after their international embarrassment last year, when they threatened to invade Ecuador’s embassy in order to capture Julian Assange. Although they are still keeping Assange trapped in the Ecuadorean embassy, illegally, and presumably at the behest of you know who. And the editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, now reveals that the UK government, at the highest levels, has been very seriously threatening and harassing his newspaper in an attempt to silence it. At the other end of the spectrum of national sovereignty are the independent nations
of Latin America, three of whom have officially offered Snowden asylum, and others who would never turn him over to the United States if he were to land on their territory (or in their embassies). These governments have played a significant role in the Snowden affair and NSA spying scandal because they have achieved a “second independence” over the past 15 years that enables them to pursue an autonomous foreign policy. The exercise of this new independence is largely ignored or, more often, denigrated in the major media as populist demagoguery. But it is easy to see that the “problem” is much deeper than that. Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota demanded answers from UK foreign sec-
retary William Hague over the detention of David Miranda. Last week, at a news conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Brazil, Patriota spoke of a “shadow of distrust” caused by Snowden and Greenwald’s revelations that Brazilian citizens were a major target of NSA surveillance. He called for the Obama administration to “stop practices that violate sovereignty”. Patriota was previously Brazil’s ambassador to Washington and nobody can accuse him of holding a grudge against the United States. Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff had also expressed her “indignation” over what Bolivia described as the “kidnapping” of President Evo
Morales by the European governments who forced down his plane last month on the basis of false allegations that he was transporting Edward Snowden. “We believe this constitutes not only the humiliation of a sister nation but of all South America”, said Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) also issued a strong denunciation. Brazil is the main target of Washington’s most recent charm offensive, with President Dilma Rouseff scheduled for an official state visit in October — the first by a Brazilian president in nearly two decades. The US does not even have ambassadorial relations
with Bolivia or Venezuela. But the US attempt to improve relations with Brazil is not going any better than its “diplomatic efforts” with the other left governments of the region. This is not because these governments wouldn’t want better relations – they all, including Venezuela, have significant trade and commercial relations with the US and would like to expand these. The problem is that Washington has still not accepted Latin America’s second independence, and expects its southern neighbors to behave in the same embarrassingly obedient way as Europe. And US officials still don’t understand that they are dealing with a team – they can’t be hostile or aggressive towards one country and expect the others to give them a big hug. So we cannot expect better relations between Washington and its southern neighbors any time soon. On the positive side, Latin America has done quite well over the past decade, since its people became free enough to elect left governments, which have subsequently led the fight for independence and transformed regional relations. Regional povertydropped from 41.5 to 29.6 percent from 2003-2009, after showing no significant improvement for more than 20 years. Income per person has grown by more than 2 percent annually over the past decade, as opposed to just 0.3 percent over the prior 20 years, when Washington’s influence over economic policy in Latin America was enormous. The left governments’ detractors attribute these improvements to a “commodities boom,” but this is just a fraction of the story. The region would never have seen such improvements in employment and poverty reduction if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were still calling the shots. As for Europe’s leaders, well, they have nothing to lose but their national dignity, which they don’t seem to value very highly. But the world will be a better and safer place when Europe, like most of Latin America, declares its independence from Washington.