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A Venezuelan’s concern for what can happen in the Arab world if the US runs the show
James Petras on Washington’s reaction to the Arab Revolts: Sacrificing dictators to save the State
FRIDAY | February 11, 2011 | No. 51| Bs 1 | CARACAS
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
Government accountability and transparency Members of President Chavez’s cabinet are testifying before parliament to ensure open government and debate
Workers march for labor rights
This week, Venezuela’s Vice President and several high-level cabinet members appeared before the National Assembly to dialogue with lawmakers regarding the government’s actions and policies during 2010. The initiative was ordered by President Chavez as a follow-up to his national address last week on his administration’s achievements and failures during the previous year. The testimonies provide opportunity to opposition and pro-government lawmakers to probe and question actions of the Executive Branch.
Union leaders and workers marched on Thursday in support of the Chavez administration’s policies favoring labor rights and called on the government to engage in further dialogue regarding labor reforms. A series of assemblies were held over the weekend between high-level cabinet members and union leaders, ensuring workers’ voices prominently influence government labor policies.
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Integration
Venezuela and Brazil advance ties Brazil’s new Foreign Minister visited Venezuela this week to arrange an upcoming meeting between both countries’ presidents.
Social Justice
Human Rights investigations opened Venezuela’s Attorney General initiated investigations into mass human rights abuses committed during the twentieth century.
Analysis
USAID shuts Venezuela office After 8 years of illegal operations and millionaire funding to anti-Chavez groups, USAID closed its doors and moved to Miami.
Venezuelan Felix Hernandez receives Cy Young Award
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Venezuela: strengthening freedom of expression
he Government of President Hugo Chavez has strengthened freedom of expression through the democratization of the public broadcast spectrum and the development of an inclusive communications system, said Minister of Communication and Information Andres Izarra. He explained that the policies of inclusion in the media have allowed greater public participation in the broadcast spectrum, as shown by the growth of alternative and community-based media. “This never happened in previous administrations”, recalled Izarra.
In addition to alternative and public media, the number of privately held media has also increased significantly. Radio stations have increased from 331 in 1998 to 466 in 2010, and community-based radio stations, which did not exist in 1998, now number 243. ”The number of TV stations has also increased. In 1998 there were 32 frequencies allocated for private media, and there are currently 61 operators. Community-based TV stations, nonexistent before 1999, now total 37”, detailed Izarra.
“We have a full and vibrant democracy, which is a model to follow. Few countries show a level of democracy similar to Venezuela’s”, he exclaimed. He added that the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and TV allows the creation of Independent National Producers “to break the monopoly that ruled the production of content on television and radio during the previous 40 years”. Izarra also explained that Internet usage in Venezuela grew from 3% in 1999 to 33% in 2010, representing an increase of nearly 1,000%.
n January 22nd, Venezuelan pitcher Felix Hernandez received the Cy Young Award in New York City, recognizing him as the best pitcher of the American League in 2010. Hernandez, who was 1312 and lead the majors with a 2.27 ERA and 249.2 innings pitched, was humbled as he addressed the public to thank them for the recognition that he has received during his sixth season with the Seattle Mariners. “There were a lot of good quality and talented pitchers on the list to receive this recognition, so I’m very honored to win this award”, said the 24-year-old pitcher. “I also have to be thankful for the support I received from my fellow Seattle players during the 2010 season; it was something incredible. They gave me not only the offensive support but also emotional support, they were with me all the time”, Hernandez said. Venezuela has numerous top players in US major league baseball.
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2 | Impact
NoÊx£ÊUÊFriday, February 11, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Revolutionary advances
Venezuela: people and government overcame five serious crises in 2010 This week members of President Chavez’s cabinet testified before the National Assembly in an effort to ensure transparency, participation and open debate regarding government policies and accountability
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n his speech to the National Assembly on Tuesday, Venezuelan Executive Vice President Elias Jaua highlighted how the Chavez administration successfully overcame five serious crises during 2010, and he affirmed this was only possible through government-community collaboration. Jaua also added that such victories were made, despite ongoing attempts from the rightwing opposition to “take advantage of the situation and generate a climate of chaos”. The year 2010 was incredibly difficult for Venezuela. There were major crises in areas such as energy supply, banking, bilateral relations with Colombia, as well as emergencies caused by natural disasters and mortgage frauds. Thanks to reliable and efficient policies implemented by the Executive Branch, these situations were overcome and turned into poles of development for the benefit of the population. “Five crises and five victories, above all the difficulties and problems, we prevailed. The Venezuelan government knows we win the battle by fighting. The actions and efforts of the government were evident in 2010. People can see the difference between now and then”, Jaua exclaimed before the parliament session, at which both opposition and pro-government lawmakers were present. ENERGY CRISIS Concerning the energy crisis suffered in Venezuela during 2010, which was a direct consequence of the drought caused by the climate phenomenon El Niño, Jaua highlighted the collaboration and conscienceness of the Venezuelan people, as well as the efforts of workers from the elec-
tricity sector. They showed their strength, struggle and committment to resolving the national crisis by adhering to measures of electricity rationing. During the first semester of 2010, Venezuela was literally in a state of energy emergency, and rationing nationwide severely affected peoples’ lifestyles and comfort. Because of the drought, hydroelectric energy plants - ironically the oil-producing nation’s principal supply of energy - dried up, and both water and electrical energy supply were dangerously affected. Rationing policies ensured the government could keep a minimal level of energy functioning, while the Executive also focused on building thermoelectric plants in several areas of the country. Together, these measures enabled the nation to overcome the crisis. VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA CONFLICT Another crisis highlighted by Vice President Jaua during his testimony before the National Assembly was the diplomatic conflict with Colombia, which resulted in a rupture in relations in July 2010. The break came after now ex-President Alvaro Uribe accused the Venezuelan government of facilitating terrorism and called on the Organization of American States (OAS) and
United Nations to intervene in Venezuela. Luckily, shortly thereafter, Uribe left office and a new president took over. The Venezuelan Vice President highlighted the process undertaken by Presidents Hugo Chavez and incoming Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to restore the bilateral relationship within a fraternal climate of peace and respect. “We were victorious in the conflict with Colombia, thanks to the sincere efforts of the two Governments”, he said. FINANCIAL MAFIAS Jaua stressed that thanks to state intervention, it was possible to protect customers’ savings and ensure justice be brought to those responsible for the illicit acts which caused the banking crisis that affected the nation in early 2010. At least eleven private banks were intervened by the state from January to March 2010, while half of those were liquidated and others were nationalized or merged into new banking institutions. State intervention ensured customers’ savings were recovered, and minimal damage occured. Different from how other countries, such as the United States, handled the financial crisis by funding the banks, the Venezuelan government decided to focus on the people and protecting individual customers’ savings and assets.
“Those responsible, friends or adversaries of the government, are in jail or running from justice”, Jaua said, adding that the actions undertaken by state agencies were crucial to prevent “that situation from becoming a systemic crisis”. MORTGAGE FRAUDS The Vice President also recalled the measures implemented against real estate companies that defrauded homebuyers nationwide, and he highlighted the efforts undertaken by the government, together with private banks, to guarantee the victims their rights to private property. Thousands of Venezuelans were scammed by real estate companies that pre-sold properties, which later were never built, or in some cases, buyers were charged excess fees and rates that kept increasing, without the properties being completed and handed over. The Chavez administration expropriated several construction companies and other real estate entities involved in the mass housing fraud and ensured that property owners received their homes at reasonable rates, in due time. A national movement was formed by those affected by the housing fraud scandal to ensure, together with the state, that such illegal and exploitative actions will never happen again.
NATURAL DISASTER Strong rains struck Venezuela in late 2010, displacing more than 130,000 people and leaving dozens dead. Infrastructure and agricultural production were also severely affected. Vice President Jaua stressed that the Chavez administration took measures to effectively respond to the population, especially those families left homeless from the rains. “We issued decrees of emergency; we created a presidential commission, and an enabling law was enacted to provide laws which guarantee people’s right to a decent home”. He added: “all these crisis, in general, allowed us to prove that in Venezuela, a Government exists which attends to its people”. OPPOSITION REACTION After eight hours of open and direct testimony before the National Assembly, which was broadcast live on national television, the Venezuelan Vice President was met with negative reactions from opposition parlimentarians. “Eight hours of talking and he said nothing”, declared Assembly member Maria Corina Machado, a staunch adversary of the Chavez government. “He didn’t address the severe problems and social needs of our people”, she added, without acknowledging any of the progress the country has made during the past decade. Vice President Jaua was accompanied on Tuesday by Minister for Interior and Justice, Tareck El Aissami, Minister of Defense General Mata Figueroa, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and Minister for Communication and Information Andres Izarra. All five high-level government officials testified before the parliament and responded to opposition inquiries. This was the first time in Venezuelan history that cabinet members appeared before parliament to engage in open debate with lawmakers. T/ COI P/ Agencies
NoÊx£ÊUÊFriday, February 11, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Integration
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Venezuela and Brazil strengthen ties Brazil’s new Foreign Minister made his first visit to Caracas this week, meeting with both Venezuelan diplomatic chief Nicolas Maduro and President Hugo Chavez. Later this month, Chavez is expected to hold his first formal meeting with Brazil’s new President Dilma Rousseff, who took office on January 1, 2011
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enezuelan Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, received his Brazilian counterpart, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota in Caracas last Monday to discuss expanding commercial ties and strengthening the already robust relations that exist between the neighboring South American countries. The meeting was the first highlevel diplomatic discussions held between the two governments since Dilma Rousseff replaced Luiz “Lula” Da Silva as Brazil’s new President in January. As a precursor to a presidential meeting in the coming weeks, the Ministers focused their talks on Monday on analyzing the successes of past bi-lateral agreements and discussing proposals for new areas of collaboration. “We’re preparing the elements for new accords that will be reviewed by presidents [Hugo] Chavez and [Dilma] Rousseff in the first trimester of this year in order to follow-up on our achievements in different areas of cooperation, just as the Venezuelan head of state and Lula [Da Silva] used to do”, Maduro said. In the past, both presidents Lula and Chavez made it a point to meet at least every four months to sign and review accords in strategic areas including energy, transportation, communications, and finance, among others. Such meetings have led to the creation of dozens of joint economic and social agreements ranging from oil exploitation to infrastructure and agricultural development projects.
During their final meeting in August 2010, Lula commented that the growing bilateral cooperation between the two nations has achieved “more in eight years than it has in the past five centuries”. And the numbers bear out his assertion. Currently, trade between the two nations totals more than $4.6 billion, up nearly ten percent from last year, and Brazil has recently surpassed Colombia as Venezuela’s third largest trading partner next to China and the United States. According to Minister Maduro, this trend will continue under the new government of Dilma Rousseff. “We’re going to expand and amplify our work plan”, he said on Monday. “The presidents will maintain their trimestral meetings because this formula has permitted us to advance in our relations and carry out consistent follow-up on the achievements that we have today”. INTEGRATION These achievements and the increase in bilateral commercial activity are largely due to the pro-integrationist policies of both governments, which seek to move economic relations away from a US-centered trade policy. Such a policy includes strengthening regional political and trade alliances such as Mercosur, Unasur, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
With respect to Mercosur, the trade block established between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, Patriota assured on Monday that the his government supports Venezuela’s bid for full membership into the organization. “We want and we’re doing everything possible to strengthen Unasur and to make sure that Venezuela enters Mercosur. Our goal is the integration of Venezuela, Brazil and all our sister states”, Patriota said. For full membership, Venezuela’s entrance must be approved by each member state’s congress. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have already voted in favor of the OPEC member’s entrance while only Paraguay’s legislature has blocked the measure. Despite the obstacle, Patriota believes that Venezuela’s acceptance in Mercosur is imminent. “We expect the definitive approval of Venezuela’s incorporation soon”, he said. President Chavez also received Foreign Minister Patriota in the Miraflores presidential palace on Monday evening, demonstrating the importance of the continuing relationship with Brazil. One of the main issues discussed was cooperation in agriculture and housing. “We have decided to prioritize the construction and funding of housing projects in Venezuela”, announced President Chavez, also underlining the importance of different agricultural agree-
ments that are aiding in the resucitation of Venezuela’s long-abandoned agricultural industry. US INTERFERENCE US State Department documents recently disclosed by the whistleblower site, Wikileaks, show years of efforts on behalf of Washington to pit Brazil against Venezuela in order to challenge President Chavez and attempt to “reduce” his influence in the region. During the government of Lula da Silva, these efforts were shunned, though according to the documents, several members of the Brazilian’s cabinet appear to have shared US concerns about Venezuela.
Washington has indicated it will continue to try and expand relations with Brazil in the “hopes of promoting progressive governments instead of radical ones” in Latin America. Nonetheless, President Rousseff has showed no signs of caving in to US demands and has instead, reached out to President Chavez and other regional counterparts to strengthen ties. US President Barack Obama is expected to make his first visit to Brazil in March. Visits to Chile and El Salvador also appear on the US president’s agenda. T/ Edward Ellis and Eva Golinger P/ Presidential Press
Underseas Cable Reaches Cuba An underwater fiber-optic cable linking Venezuela to Cuba has reached the island nation, announced Venezuelan officials on Wednesday. The nearly 1,000-mile project, which was laid by French company Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU, ALU.FR), reached the coast of Siboney, Cuba, about three weeks after work began, said Wilfredo Morales, president of Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe, a joint venture between Venezuela and Cuba. The cable will undergo testing over the next three months, Morales said on Venezuelan state
news website AVN. Government officials said last month that installation of the cable would be finished by July. The project, Cuba’s first fiberoptic cable, is slated to improve the quality of the country’s Internet access. Until now, Cuba has relied on satellites for telecommunications. President Hugo Chavez, who has strengthened economic ties between the two nations, has hailed the project as a way to break Washington’s nearly halfcentury trade embargo on Cuba. T/ Agencies
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4 | Politics
NoÊx£ÊUÊFriday, February 11, 2011
The artillery of ideas
“We don’t need Coca-Cola” says Venezuela’s Chavez Responding to an ongoing strike of workers battling for their labor rights at the Coca-Cola factory in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez questioned the necessity of maintaining the US beverage in the country if the billionaire corporation is unwilling to comply with Venezuelan laws
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n a nationally televised address last Friday during the commemoration of the 19th anniversary of the famous failed military rebellion against the corrupt and murderous government of Carlos Andres Perez, which was led by Chavez himself and sparked the Revolution he heads today, the Venezuelan President expressed his support for the
current workers’ conflict in a Venezuelan Coca-Cola plant. “If Coca-Cola doesn’t want to comply with the constitution and the law, well, we can live without Coca-Cola”, he said. “Coca-Cola isn’t indispensable”, he continued, as the crowd cheered. “Who said Coca-Cola is necessary in order to live?” he added, then suggested some Venezuelan drinks, such as guava juice, are healthier and bettertasting than the sugary, caffeinated soft-drink. DENYING WORKER BENEFITS The declarations were made while Chavez was speaking in Valencia, the capital of Carabobo state, where 1,230 workers are strik-
ing in a bottling and distribution plant of Coca Cola Femsa. The employees began the strike on Friday, January 15th in order to demand a fair collective agreement, pay raises, food tickets, night shift bonuses, and an in-house cafeteria. Workers currently earn 78 bolivares per day (US $18) and are asking for an additional 45 bolivares (US $10.46). The strike has gained the support of Venezuela’s National Union of Workers (Unete), the nation’s largest labor federation. The Ministry of Labor has also
been dialoguing with workers and management, trying to negotiate an outcome. Private Venezuelan media outlets have reported that the strike is causing a “scarcity” of Coca-
Cola in the country. Meanwhile, workers have activated two of the water production lines in the factory in order to avoid a reduction of bottled water, also produced by the company, because they consider it a necessity. According to the plant’s union secretary, the company has met with both workers and representatives from the Ministry of Labor and the Labor Inspector’s Office, but has refused to comply with any of the workers’ demands, apart from offering to increase funeral benefits. The Coca-Cola Company has caused conflicts in other South American nations in recent years, such as Colombia, where the US Corporation was accused of contracting paramilitary forces to threaten, harass and assassinate hundreds of union leaders in order to avoid increasing benefits or complying with workers’ demands. T/ Tamara Pearson www.venezuelanalysis.com
Reducing crime and violence a priority for Venezuelans V
iolent crime continues to be a major issue of concern for most Venezuelans, as the government creates new security forces, rehabilitates prisons and addresses root causes of delinquent activity. Venezuela’s government released the first official murder statistics this week to counter opposition claims that its violent crime rate has become one of the worst in the world under President Hugo Chavez. Rampant homicides, kidnappings and robberies are the top concern of voters in South America’s biggest oil producer and could be a major threat to the socialist leader’s hopes to be re-elected in 2012. Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami told parliament late Tuesday the official murder rate was 48 per 100,000 residents — worse than the Latin American average but better than data cited by opposition parties and some nongovernmental groups. “We are not satisfied. Quite the opposite. There is much more that
needs to done”, El Aissami said, adding that the highest murder rates were in states with opposition party governors. FEAR MONGERING Opposition media and political leaders in Venezuela have used the issue of crime, attempting to exploit voters’ fears through propaganda, in order to tarnish the achievements of of the Chavez government and the Bolivarian Revolution. Opposition newspapers, which receive funding from the US State Department, report daily on the tally of murders, and a grim photograph of corpses piled haphazardly at the Caracas morgue was splashed on one front page before September’s legislative elections. That outraged the government and a majority of citizens, as did a New York Times article saying Caracas was much more dangerous than Baghdad. But prior to the Chavez administration, national and international media rarely reported
on crime in Venezuela, despite it always being an area of concern considering the previous vast disparities in wealth and easilycorrupted police forces. IMPROVING SECURITY, SOCIAL NEEDS El Aissami gave out the crime statistics while testifying before the National Assembly, where the opposition has a sizable
presence for the first time in years since a legislative election in September. In prior elections, opposition parties boycotted the process, forfeiting their seats in an attempt to undermine the national government. El Aissami said the creation of a new national police force and other anti-crime measures were bearing fruit. In areas where the National Bolivarian
Police Force has been deployed, crime has already been reduced by over 50%. The Force is expected to expand exponentially during 2011. Venezuela has also dramatically improved counter-narcotics efforts since ending cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2005. During 2010, 17 major drug kingpins were captured in Venezuela, thousands of arrests were made and over 60 tons of illegal substances were confiscated, mainly entering from neighboring Colombia, one of the world’s largest drug producers. Social policies of the Chavez administration are also contributing to crime reduction by addressing the needs of communities nationwide. During the first decade of the Bolivarian Revolution, poverty has been reduced by more than 50%. T/ Agencies P/ Agencies
NoÊx£ÊUÊFriday, February 11, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Politics
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Workers Rights
Union leaders and government debate labor reforms opponents claim to be the government’s “criminalization of dissent”. CTV’s president, Carlos Ortega, is currently residing outside of Venezuela, having fled justice in 2007 after he was indicted for his involvement in the coup and subsequent destabilization attempts against the government. From his self-exile, which varies from Peru to Panama to Miami, Ortega has continued to call for the overthrow of President Chavez.
As part of their efforts to engage with community activists through the grassroots “Legislature of the People”, Venezuelan government officials met with labor union representatives from various industries in Caracas last Saturday to discuss reforms to the nation’s Labor Law
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nion leaders representing workers from the country’s oil, education, health care, and transportation sectors were on hand for the assembly which took place in the Plaza Bolivar and saw the attendance of highranking government functionaries including the president of the National Assembly, Soto Rojas, and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. “In the name of President Chavez, we salute this initiative and the beginning of this work session”, Maduro said to the workers gathered for the openair meeting which served as “a launching point” for the discussions and debates that will occur at the community level over the following weeks. According to labor leaders, one of the main issues to be addressed in the coming discussions of the Labor Law reforms will be the elimination of tertiarization, or the exclusion of workers from established benefits through tactics such as subcontracting. Although Venezuela has seen a 50 percent increase in the overall percentage of workers in the formal economy over the past 12 years, tertiarization threatens to push workers back into the informal sector by stripping them of the rights and guarantees afforded to recognized members of the workforce. GUARANTEEING RIGHTS Eglee Sanchez, president of Venezuela’s Paper and Graphics Union called for an article in the new Labor Law to prohibit tertia-
rization and to strengthen workers’ guarantees on the job. “In some private businesses, there are still tertiarized workers who don’t enjoy any kind of benefit. We still have excluded workers. We can’t continue to permit this kind of situation”, she said during an interview on state television last Sunday. BREAK WITH THE PAST For many in Venezuela’s labor movement, the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with a revolutionary government is a welcome break from the past when corrupt and elitist unions colluded with business sectors to the detriment of the working class. “We have a socialist vision, not like the unionists from the oligarchy who participated in the oil sabotage. We rank and file workers maintain our struggle”, said pro-government activist Francisco Garcia on Saturday. For the decades preceding 2000, the union movement in Venezuela was suffocated by the Ven-
ezuelan Workers’ Confederation (CTV) which although technically independent functioned more as an “official” union of past neoliberal governments. The CTV has also been one of the most heavily US-funded unions in the region, receiving direct financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the AFL-CIO. In efforts to do away with his attempted democratization of the oil sector and its unions, the CTV alongside Venezuela’s chamber of commerce, FEDECAMARAS, participated in a violent overthrow attempt of President Hugo Chavez in 2002. The attempt failed prompting the CTV to help organize a management lockout of the oil industry later that year with the political goal, once again, of ousting Chavez from power. The oil lockout, like the attempted coup, also failed, discrediting the CTV and giving rise
to other pro-government and independent labor federations that are pushing forth a stronger, proworker agenda. Carmen Pantil, health worker present at the assembly on Saturday, noted the difference between Venezuela’s contemporary workers’ movement from that of yester years. “We’re working with the community councils and the people from the grassroots as we should. We’re taking our position against the oligarchy that still doesn’t understand that there’s a radical change and revolutionary process [taking place]”, Pantil said. Although largely without a base, the CTV continues to exist in Venezuela and helped organize an anti-government demonstration last weekend in collaboration with the country’s right-wing student movement. The protest of less than a thousand people transpired freely and without incident, calling for an end to government nationalizations and what Chavez
WORKER SUPPORT FOR THE REVOLUTION In contrast to the opposition demonstration, thousands of workers from around the country convened for a national demonstration in Caracas on Thursday to support the socialist policies of the Chavez Administration and exhibit their loyalty to the Bolivarian Revolution. Some of the gains highlighted by workers since the Bolivarian Revolution came to power in 1999 include a five fold increase in pensions, a nearly 50 percent decrease in unemployment and one of the highest minimum wages in Latin America when measuring the Venezuelan Bolivar at the official exchange rate of 4.30VEB to 1USD. Numerous businesses have also been nationalized at the behest of worker unions, various abandoned factories have been recovered and greater workplace democracy has been ensured through participatory management schemes. Speaking about the advances in workers’ rights that have characterized the past twelve years, Minister Maduro attributed the gains to Venezuela’s break with a strictly capitalist development model. “There’s still a lot to do in the construction of socialism but it’s only with socialism, built by the people and the working classes that we will be able to guarantee economic and social rights for the majority”, Maduro said. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Agencies
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6 | Social Justice
NoÊx£ÊUÊFriday, February 11, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Recovering Memory and Identity
Venezuela to investigate past human rights crimes During the decades prior to the Bolivarian Revolution, human rights crimes were abundant and largely ignored. Thousands of activists, mainly from the left, were disappeared, persecuted, tortured and assassinated by the so-called “democratic” governments that ran the country with US approval before President Chavez came to power in 1998
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enezuelan authorities announced their intention to investigate some 1,600 cases of disappearances, executions and other human rights violations that took place at the hands of the nation’s security forces during the years 1958 – 1998, a period known in the country as the Fourth Republic. The decision to re-open the cases was made public by the Attorney General, Luisa Ortega Diaz, during an interview on the private television station Televen last Sunday. According to Diaz, during the forty years of Venezuela’s Fourth Republic, residents were forced to endure a state policy of torture and repression, which sought to eliminate the influence of communist and leftist organizations in the political arena. POLITICAL PERSECUTION Among the cases to be investigated is that of Fabricio Ojeda, revolutionary leader from the 1950s who, along with other prominent members of the Communist Party, played a crucial role in overthrowing the military dictatorship of Marcos Jimenez in 1958. The communist-led uprising which ousted Jimenez ushered in a period nominally referred to in Venezuelan history as that of “representative democracy” also called the Fourth Republic or Punto Fijismo, based on a political pact signed between centrist parties Democratic Action (AD) and the Christian Democratic party (COPEI).
It was during this time that both COPEI and AD, with the support of Washington, and in stark betrayal of those who struggled to overthrow the Jimenez dictatorship, worked to exclude the communists from the new political establishment. A witchhunt against progressives and leftist sympathizers began, forcing many activists into hiding or to the mountains to take up arms in a guerrilla war that would last into the 1970s. Ojeda became a key leader of this guerrilla movement until his capture by the Venezuelan government and his eventual murder in the basement of state’s intelligence services in 1966. A similar fate would meet thousands more who ventured to challenge the legitimacy of the Venezuelan political establishment and its anti-communist agenda. NEVER TO LATE FOR JUSTICE But for Clodosbaldo Russian, current Comptroller General and former cellmate to Ojeda, there is still time to bring justice to these cases. “We’ve been wrong all this
time to not investigate and clarify these cases of murder and persecution”, Russian said during an interview with the Correo del Orinoco published on Monday. With respect to the specific case of Ojeda, the Comptroller believes that those responsible for his murder are still walking the streets and can be called to account for their crime. “Some of those who participated in the capture and imprisonment of Fabricio have to be alive. These people are identifiable”, he affirmed. On Sunday, family members of victims were received in the National Assembly where a bill was introduced to seek justice for those who suffered at the hands of the state’s war against communism. The proposal, called the Law of Remembrance and Against Silence was received by the president of the National Assembly and exguerrilla, Fernando Soto Rojas as well as Comptroller Russian. In receiving the proposals, the president of the National Assembly drew a comparison between the crimes of the past and the political violence that is still
being carried out by the extreme right in Venezuela. “These murderers still exist. In the opposition, there are landowners who have murdered more than 200 small farmers in the central-western area of the country. These crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished”, Rojas exclaimed in reference to the unsolved assassination of farmer leaders participating in the country’s agrarian reform. RECOVERING MEMORY Opening investigations into past human rights violations committed by prior governments, many of whose leaders and members form part of the political opposition to President Chavez today, will allow Venezuelans to recover a hidden part of their contemporary history, affirmed Soto Rojas. Chavez himself referred to the necessity to uncover and remember the past in order to better understand the revolutionary process taking place today. During last month’s march on January 23, the day dictator Marcos Perez
Jimenez was overthrown, Chavez revindicated Fabricio Ojeda’s memory, speaking together with Ojeda’s grandchildren who were present at the event. “The youth of today, those who believe they oppose the Revolution, don’t know the past...We must remember how things were before, how the same politicians who today want to retake power are the ones who killed, oppressed, tortured and silenced our people”, affirmed Chavez. Although other South American countries, such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, have conducted extensive investigations into rights abuses committed by the Washington-backed dictatorships during the late twentieth century, Venezuela’s history has remained widely unknown. “They tried to hide the truth from us to keep us ignorant, afraid and silent”, declared Jose Luis Ojeda, grandson of Fabricio. “But we know what they did and will fight to expose the political crimes of the Fourth Republic...they will never return”, he implored. Ironically, leaders from the same political parties, AD and Copei, who were responsible for overseeing mass human rights abuses in Venezuela during their rule, today accuse the Chavez government of violating rights. Even alleged international defenders of human rights, such as Human Rights Watch and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, have made multiple accusations against the Chavez administration for alleged civil rights abuses, despite the fact that no such evidence exists to back their claims. These international watchdog groups failed to denounce the mass rights violations that occured during the Fourth Republic in Venezuela, placing under scrutiny their own political agendas. “The truth will come out, our memory will be recovered and justice will finally be done”, proclaimed National Assembly President Fernando Soto Rojas. T/ Edward Ellis and Eva Golinger P/ Agencies
NoÊxä£UÊFriday, February 11, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Analysis | 7 |
Some worries about our arab brothers and sisters W
hen the dictatorship of General Marcos Perez Jimenez fell in 1958, almost all Venezuelans were daringly innocent, except Romulo Betancourt. In fact, as soon as he returned from exile that year, he enacted an agreement with Washington, which makes it easy to infer he had already planned such a deal, judging from his subsequent behavior. The agreement was meant to avoid another Imperial coup d’état like the one backed by the United States in 1948 against the government of his Social Democrat party Acción Democrática (AD). General Perez Jimenez had disdained the people. Instead, he sought mainly the support of the bourgeoisie and the military, who weren’t loyal to him when he was overthrown by a brave civil and military revolt. While the crowds enthusiastically celebrated their victory in the streets, the Empire’s acolytes operated swiftly and surreptitiously. Neither AD’s constituency nor the Communist Party confronted the entanglements of Betancourt with the bourgeoisie and the Empire. At the end of 1957, AD, the conservative Social Christian party Copei and the now extinct Unión Republicana Democrática signed the so-called Pact of New York, which was ratified the following year in Venezuela as the Pact of Punto Fijo. Both agreements excluded the Communist Party from participation in
political office. Was it then that Betancourt made a deal with Washington, where he lived until the end of his exile? Betancourt won the polls in December 1958 and double-crossed us all: he sold the revolution that had cost a lot of blood, including that of militants of his party AD. This soon triggered a schism in his party, splitting it into two factions, one on the right and one on the left, which was afterwards called Leftist Revo-
lutionary Movement (Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria). In January 1959 the Cuban Revolution triumphed. But it was too late for the Venezuelan revolutionaries. Betancourt had turned Venezuela into the chief Imperial satellite in the Continent. Something similar might happen now to the Arab countries whose people are heroically revolting against the Empire. I have some concerns about some disturbing similarities with
the present events in the Arab world. Near the end of the ’50s there were several military dictatorships in Latin America, which had been imposed and supported by the Empire: Manuel Odria in Peru, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in Colombia, Marcos Perez Jimenez in Venezuela, Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, Rafael Trujillo in Dominican Republic, Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay, Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua. The last two fell or
died later on, but the rest lost office immediately and in little time, like dominoes. There’s evidence of US intervention in the fall of some of these dictatorships: they killed Trujillo when he refused to abandon office. They didn’t protect Perez Jimenez. The support they gave Batista against Fidel’s guerrilla was not enough to thwart his fall. And Washington didn’t say a word about the rapid fall of the rest of those dictatorships. When Washington really supports a government it does everything to protect it: financing and training puppet groups of influence, instigating coups d’état, separatist initiatives and eventually direct invasions, to mention only a few items of its political panoply. Or they tolerate or promote an alternative government that’s acceptable for Washington, as it’s striving to do now in Egypt and did in Latin America in the late ’50s — with the exception of Cuba. It did nothing to prevent the fall of the late ’50s Latin American dictatorships that it had previously instigated and buttressed. Instead it promoted acceptable allied substitutions with a healthier political aura. Is the same thing happening now in the Arab countries? Will they do to Mubarak what they did to Trujillo? These days are decisive for the future of the world. T/ Roberto Hernandez Montoya
USAID closes Venezuela program, transfers to Miami W
hen Russell Porter, the director of USAID’s OTI division, which is dedicated to injecting liquid funds into resolving “political crises” to Washington’s favor, first visited Venezuela in 2002, his task was “evaluating the political situation” to determine how USAID could better help the nation towards a “democratic transition”. But the real objective of USAID was not supporting democracy in Venezuela, since the South American nation already had a vibrant democracy with a president supported by a majority of the people. USAID’s mission, together with other US agencies, was to provoke “regime change”
favorable to US interests, which meant removing President Hugo Chavez from power. From the beginning, USAID’s program in Venezuela, which was established weeks after Porter’s visit, was dedicated to funding, creating and advising antiChavez political parties, NGOs and media. Three months after Porter’s trip to Venezuela, those same groups executed a coup d’etat against President Chavez, while although briefly successful, was defeated by the people Chavez supporters - less than 48 hours later. During its first two years of operations, USAID/OTI had
a $10 million budget, which it used to fund approximately 64 opposition groups and programs in Venezuela. The majority of that funding went to anti-Chavez propaganda in the media and an unsuccessful campaign to recall President Chavez from office in 2004. Failing in its prior attempts to oust Chavez from power, in 2006 USAID/OTI reoriented its funding, increased its budget and began focusing on crafting an opposition “youth movement” that could utilize new technologies, such as Twitter and Facebook and other Internet media to build an interna-
tional campaign against the Venezuelan President. From 2006 to 2010, more than 34% of USAID’s budget - which neared $15 million per year - was used to fund university programs, workshops and other events to aid youth in building an antiChavez movement. By 2010, external funding for opposition groups in Venezuela reached more than $57 million, the majority coming from US agencies such as USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy. USAID’s presence in Venezuela was never legitimate or legal, and did not have authorization from the Venezuelan state, evi-
dencing clear violations of sovereignty. USAID’s OTI program operated like a clandestine agency in Caracas, illegally bringing dollars into the country and using them to fund subversion against the government. As a result of this ongoing violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, the country’s National Assembly passed a law in late December 2010, prohibiting foreign funding of political activities. USAID/ OTI promptly shut its doors and moved its Venezuela operations to Miami, now a hub of antiChavez activities. T/ Eva Golinger
FRIDAY | February 11, 2011 | No. 51| Bs 1 | CARACAS
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
A publication of the Fundacion Correo del Orinoco • Editor-in-Chief | Eva Golinger • Graphic Design | Alexander Uzcátegui, Jameson Jiménez • Press | Fundación Imprenta de la Cultura
OPINION
Washington: sacrificing dictators to save the state T
o understand the Obama regime’s policy toward Egypt, Mubarak and the popular uprising it is essential to locate it in a historical context. The essential point is that Washington, after several decades of being deeply embedded in the state structures of the Arab dictatorships, from Tunisia through Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority, is attempting to re-orient its policies to incorporate and/or graft liberal-electoral politicians onto the existing power configurations. US foreign policy has a long history of installing, financing, arming and backing dictatorial regimes which back its imperial policies and interests as long as they retain control over their people. In the past, Republican and Democratic presidents worked closely for over 30 years with the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic; installed the autocratic Diem regime in pre-revolutionary Vietnam in the 1950’s; collaborated with two generations of Somoza family terror regimes in Nicaragua; financed and promoted the military coup in Cuba 1952, Brazil 1964, Chile in 1973, and in Argentina in 1976 and subsequent repressive regimes. When popular upheavals challenged these US backed dictatorships, Washington responded with a three track policy: publically criticizing the human rights violations and advocating democratic reforms; privately signaling continued support to the ruler; and seeking an elite alternative which could substitute for the incumbent and preserve the state apparatus, the economic system and US strategic interests. For the US there are no strategic relationships, only permanent imperial interests. The dictatorships assume that their relationships with Washington is strategic: hence the shock and dismay when they are sacrificed to save the state apparatus. Fearing revolution, Washington has had reluctant client despots, unwilling to move
on, assassinated (Trujillo and Diem). Some are provided sanctuaries abroad (Somoza, Batista), others are pressured into powersharing (Pinochet) or appointed as visiting scholars to Harvard, Georgetown or some other “prestigious” posting. The Washington calculus on when to reshuffle the regime is based on an estimate of the capacity of the dictator to weather the political uprising, the strength and loyalty of the armed forces and the availability of a pliable replacement. The risk of waiting too long, of sticking with the dictator, is that the uprising radicalizes: the ensuing change sweeps away both the regime and the state apparatus, turning a political uprising into a social revolution. Just such a ‘miscalculation’ occurred in 1959 in the run-up to the Cuban revolution, when Washing stood by Batista and was not able to present a viable pro US alternative coalition linked to the old state apparatus. Washington moved with greater initiative in Latin America in the 1980’s. It promoted negotia-
ted electoral transitions which replaced dictators with pliable neo-liberal electoral politicians, who pledged to preserve the existing state apparatus, defend the privileged foreign and domestic elites and back US regional and international policies. Obama has been extremely hesitant to oust Mubarak for several reasons, even as the movement grows in number and anti-US sentiment deepens. The White House has many clients around the world –including Honduras, Mexico, Indonesia, Jordan and Algeria – who believe they have a strategic relationship with Washington and would lose confidence in their future if Mubarak was dumped. As a result the Obama regime has moved slowly, under fear and pressure of the growing Egyptian popular movement. It searches for an alternative political formula that removes Mubarak, retains and strengthens the political power of the state apparatus and incorporates a civilian electoral alternative as a means of demobilizing and de-radicalizing the vast popular movement.
The major obstacle to ousting Mubarak is that a major sector of the state apparatus, especially the 325,000 Central Security Forces and the 60,000 National Guard are directly under Mubarak. Secondly, top Generals in the Army (468,500 members) have buttressed Mubarak for 30 years and have been enriched by their control over very lucrative companies in a wide range of fields. They will not support any civilian ‘coalition’ that calls into question their economic privileges and power to set the political parameters of any electoral system. The supreme commander of the Egyptian military is a longtime client of the US and a willing collaborator with Israel. Obama is resolutely in favor of collaborating with and ensuring the preservation of these coercive bodies. But he also needs to convince them to replace Mubarak and allow for a new regime that can defuse the mass movement which is increasingly opposed to US hegemony and subservience to Israel. The US has opened talks with the most conservative liberal and
clerical sectors of the anti-Mubarak movement. At first it tried to convince them to negotiate with Mubarak. Then Obama tried to sell a phony “promise” from Mubarak that he would not run in the elections, 9 months later. The movement and its leaders rejected that proposal also. So Obama raised the rhetoric for ‘immediate changes’ but without any substantive measures backing it up. As the pressure of the movement intensifies, Obama cross pressured by the pro Mubarak Israel Lobby and its Congressional entourage on the one hand, and on the other by advisors who call on him to follow past practices and move decisively to sacrifice the regime to save the state. But Obama hesitates and like a wary crustacean, he moves sideways and backwards, believing his own rhetoric is a substitute for action. Nevertheless, there are many uncertainties in a political reshuffle: a democratic citizenry, 83% unfavorable to Washington, will possess the experience of struggle and freedom to call for a realignment of policy, especially to cease being a policeman enforcing the Israeli blockage of Gaza, and providing support for US puppets in North Africa, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Secondly free elections will open debate and increase pressure for greater social spending, the expropriation of the $70 billion empire of the Mubarak clan. The masses will demand a reallocation of public expenditure from the overblown coercive apparatus to job generating employment. The anti-dictatorial moment is only the first phase of a prolonged struggle toward definitive emancipation not only in Egypt but throughout the Arab world. The outcome depends on the degree to which the masses develop their own independent organization and leaders. - James Petras