Pg. Pg g. 7 | International
A US military plane PPg. 8 | Opinion Obama vs. Chavez: carrying undeclared weapons and illegal Obama cuts funds for heating oil while Chavez ensures US residents are not left out in the cold narcotics was seized in Argentina
FRIDAY | February 18, 2011 | No. 52| Bs 1 | CARACAS
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
Revolutionizing youth through music New housing mission launched The Venezuelan government is finding innovative ways to handle a housing crisis plaguing the country for decades, recently exacerbated by torrential rains at the end of 2010 that displaced tens of thousands. This week, the Chavez administration launched a housing mission with an ambitious goal to build 2 million new homes during the next 6 years.
A Social Action Music Center was inaugurated this week in Caracas as part of the Chavez government’s investment in opportunities for children and adolescents Celebrating the nation’s National Youth Day on Saturday, President Chavez, accompanied by world renowned Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and Maestro Jose Antonio Abreu, formally inaugurated the Social Action Music Center, an initiative slated to support musical education and opportunities for Venezuela’s youth.
Analysis
Obama requests funds for antiChavez groups The US 2012 budget already includes millions for the Venezuelan opposition.
Politics
Opposition lawmakers boycott the nation’s history While most Venezuelans celebrated a historical date this week, the opposition protested.
Economy
Salary caps for highlevel public officials A new law limits overly high salaries for public employees.
Venezuelan food policy a role model
Venezuela’s social investment increases despite military purchases
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he investment made by the Venezuelan government in military equipment, aimed at improving the nation’s defense, is just 5.01% of the country’s budget, a figure low compared to its investments in social programs, which comprises over 40% of the annual budget. “The investment destined to the Armed Forces is 5.01% and the social investment is much larger, but that is not something new, it has been that way during the past 12 years”, assured Defense Minister Carlos Mata Figueroa this week.
Mata’s comments were in response to statements by opposition lawmakers, who claimed Venezuela’s military expenditures were higher than investments in social programs. “Venezuela deserves a wellequipped Armed Forces, not to attack anyone, but to defend the country”, he underscored. In addition, Mata Figueroa recalled that Venezuela ranks fifth among Latin American countries regarding military expenditures. Likewise, the Defense Minister denounced the US continues sanctions
against Venezuela to prevent the South American country from purchasing essential military equipment. “We cannot use our F-16s anymore because the US denies us the spare parts and forbids other countries to sell them to us”. Washington imposed a military embargo on Venezuela in 2006, citing “links” to terrorism. Mata commented that Venezuela now has Russian-made Sukhoi aircrafts “which are more advanced that F-16s”. He added that more Russian military equipment will arrive soon in Venezuela.
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enezuela is a model in food policies given its approach and outreach to the poorest and most excluded areas, and by the way it promotes food sovereignty”. The statement was made by Alfredo Massiar of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), who congratulated the Venezuelan government for its success in promoting national nutrition and fighting hunger. “Venezuela has a clear political will embodied by President Hugo Chavez to fulfill the millennium development goals”, he said. Massiar added that Venezuela already met the goal of reducing malnutrition by half. “In times when we have food prices soaring and more than a billion people dying of starvation, Venezuela does just the opposite and has noticeably reduced the rate of malnourishment”. The number of malnourished children in Venezuela is just 3.25%, a rate that surpassed 7% before the Bolivarian Revolution. Massiar also praised the increase of breastfeeding in the country, “the best food for the development of mental and physical capacity”. The number of women who breast-fed was 7% in 1999, but now nears 27%. The FAO representative said no other country compares to Venezuela regarding progress made in food policies in such a short period of time.
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2 | Impact
NoÊxÓÊUÊFriday, February 18, 2011
The artillery of ideas
A housing mission for venezuelans ered, bringing the total to 176 new living arrangements for victims. “176 families of the 802 that have been displaced due to the rains now have dignified housing. Twenty-four percent of the families that are in shelters have received an immediate response from the Bolivarian Revolution”, he asserted. The apartments are the result of a government purchase of 235 units from a private construction firm for the price of 39 million bolivars (US$9 million). Each unit is comprised of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room, kitchen, and living room.
The Venezuelan Government is creating innovative solutions to solve a long-term housing crisis that was exacerbated late last year by heavy rains that displaced over 130,000
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aking housing the central theme of his weekly television broadcast, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced last Sunday the launching of a new social program designed specifically to resolve the shortage of homes in the country and improve living conditions for the displaced victims of recent torrential rains. “We’re going to build two million homes in Venezuela between 2011 and 2017. I am committing the entire government to this goal”, Chavez declared during the 370th transmission of his weekly television show “Alo Presidente”. Mission Venezuela Housing is the name of the massive new social program that will head up home construction efforts in collaboration with both the private sector and international allies. According to President Chavez, Venezuela’s current housing problem will only be solved through “a national union with the public and private sector, public and private banks, workers, honest businessmen, Venezuelans and the world: Cuba, Iran, China, Belarus, Russia, Portugal, and Brazil”. The program will be defined by five main work areas including collecting census data on families in need, carrying out a registry of land available to build upon, and identifying the construction companies and materials for the projects. BILLION-DOLLAR FUNDING In terms of financing, the Venezuelan President has already pledged 30 billion bolivars (US$6.9 billion) to build 150 thousand new housing units this year. Seventeen construction sites have been identified by the government and subsidies of up to 100 percent will be granted to families in desperate need of housing including those currently living in government refuges due to the heavy
rains that flooded coastal areas last November and December. “Today I am announcing that the grand Mission Venezuela Housing is being born to make Venezuela one great home where we all live in dignified conditions”, Chavez said of the new program. OTHER HOUSING INITIATIVES Sunday’s broadcast took place from the construction site of Caribia City, an area of nearly 284 hectares (701 acres) reserved for urban development between the capital Caracas and the coastal city of La Guaira. The socialist mega project was first conceived in 2007 and has planned the erection of some twenty thousand housing units for 100 thousand residents integrated with schools, medical clinics and employment opportunities. “One of the greatest projects for the Venezuelan people is being created right here”, Chavez exclaimed, describing the city at the opening of his broadcast. To date, 602 of Caribia City’s apartments have been constructed with another 800 slated for completion by the end of 2011. A similar housing initiative in the Western region of the country, South of Lake Maracaibo, has also recently been announced. Fabricio Ojeda City, named after the leftist guerilla murdered in 1966 at the hands of the Venezuela’s repressive security forces, will deliver 1,700 new homes to displaced residents this November as part of its first phase of completion.
Three hundred eighteen hectares (785 acres) of land have been donated by the state oil company, PDVSA, to make the city possible, which envisions the construction of a total of twelve thousand new housing units. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION International agreements signed between the Venezuelan and Iranian governments will facilitate the project, which will also provide a range of services for residents including an agro-industrial processing plant, a police precinct and a fire hall. Last Fall, President Chavez visited seven allied countries in the Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa to solidify accords aimed at, among other things, increasing housing availability in Venezuela. During the broadcast on Sunday, the Venezuelan head of state spoke with the Iranian Ambassador, Abdolreza Mesri, who informed the public that the Middle Eastern country has helped to build ten thousand new homes in Venezuela in recent years and has trained three thousand Venezuelans in construction methods. “We don’t only want to build homes in the country”, Mesri said. “There is another important aspect to
this which is the training of Venezuelans in home construction. Already, three thousand Venezuelans have become experts in this area this year”. According to Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, the collaboration of the Iranians in construction methods has improved Venezuela’s capacity to build as has the nationalization of key input industries, such as cement plants. “We have all the elements in order to carry out this type of construction”, Ramirez said with respect to Fabricio Ojeda city. NEW HOMES FOR DISPLACED Chavez also made use of his program on Sunday to deliver 135 new homes to residents affected by rains in the Andean state of Trujillo. Hugo Cabezas, Governor of Trujillo, reported that in addition to these apartments, another 41 units are currently being deliv-
INTEGRAL SOLUTIONS In delivering the homes, Chavez pointed out that in addition to the crisis caused by the rains, a greater crisis of capitalism has been responsible for the housing shortage in Venezuela. “Trujillo wasn’t only struck by [the rains], but also by capitalism which ignored the poor”, he said. The government’s response, the head of state maintained, has been to build “quality” housing, “not like the crumby little rooms that capitalism used to call housing solutions”. Chavez also spoke of the need to integrate housing into wider community projects, as is envisioned in the socialist cities of Caribia and Fabricio Ojeda. “I’m making a call to governors and regional leaders. Jobs and education are also topics that we can’t leave to one side. At times we believe that we’ve solved a problem because we’ve provided a house but what happens is that people don’t have work. We must resolve this as well”, he affirmed. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Presidential Press
NoÊxÓÊUÊFriday, February 18, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Analysis
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Obama requests funding for venezuelan opposition in 2012 budget Do US taxpayers know their hard-earned dollars are going to fund political activities in other nations instead of being invested in jobs, healthcare and social programs in their own country?
The US government is setting the terrain for the 2012 presidential elections in Venezuela, soliciting funding to back anti-Chavez groups and help prepare a “candidate” to oppose Chavez. Republicans call for an “embargo” against the oilproducing nation
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his week, US President Barack Obama presented Congress with a $3.7 trillion dollar budget for 2012, the most expensive budget in United States history. Within his massive request, which proposes cuts in important social programs and federal jobs throughout the country, is a partition for special funding for antiChavez groups in Venezuela. Included in the whopping $3.7 trillion request is over $670 billion for the Pentagon’s ever-increasing annual budget, nearly $75 billion for the intelligence community and $55.7 billion for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). For the first time in recent history, the Foreign Operations Budget (State Department) openly details direct funding of at least $5 million to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela. Specifically, the budget justification document states, “These funds will help strengthen and support a Venezuelan civil society that will protect democratic space and seek to serve the interests and needs of the Venezuelan people. Funding will enhance citizens’ access to objective information, facilitate peaceful debate on key issues, provide support to democratic institutions and processes, promote citizen participation and encourage democratic leadership”. While the descriptive language justifying the diversion of millions in US taxpayers dollars to fund political groups in a foreign
nation may sound “pretty”, this type of funding has been a principal source of promoting subversion and destabilization in Venezuela against the democratic and majority-supported government of Hugo Chavez during the past eight years. According to public documents, just between the years 2008 to 2011, the US State Department channeled more than $40 million to the Venezuelan opposition, primarily directing those funds to electoral campaigns against President Chavez and propaganda slated to influence Venezuelan public opinion. The funding requested in Obama’s 2012 budget for antiChavez groups in Venezuela comes from a State Department division titled “Economic Support Fund” (ESF), which per State spokesman Philip Crowley, is used to fund NGOs and other non-governmental groups in “key strategic and important countries” for Washington. On top of the ESF funds for the Venezuelan opposition, additional multimillion-dollar financing for political campaigns, media propaganda and other destabilization activities in the South Ameri-
can nation is channeled through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI) and various other US and international agencies that support groups around the world who promote US agenda. ILLEGAL FUNDING The State Department’s public disclosure of 2012 funding for the Venezuelan opposition comes just after the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a law prohibiting foreign funding for political activities in late December 2010. The Law in Defense of Political Sovereignty and National SelfDetermination clearly renders all foreign funding for political campaigns, parties and organizations, including NGOs, that engage in political activities, illegal. How exactly does Washington propose to channel those $5 million to Venezuelan groups, when such financing clearly constitutes a violation of Venezuelan law? In previous years, the Foreign Operations Budget never explicity detailed direct State funding to political groups in Venezuela.
Since 2002, Washington has used an office of USAID, the Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI), to filter its multimillion-dollar funding to its Venezuelan counterparts. The OTI office, which was run like a clandestine operation in Caracas and never had authorization from the Venezuelan government to set up shop in the country, abruptly closed its doors at the end of 2010 and transferred its activities to Washington, and Miami. It was the longest running OTI operation in US history. Clearly, funding and political support for the Venezuelan opposition has now been given a top priority and will be handled directly by the State Department. The funds requested in the State Department’s budget for 2012 most likely will be directed towards political campaigns, since Venezuela has both key presidential and regional elections that year. The State Department budget also requests $20 million in funding for anti-Castro groups in Miami and elsewhere to continue efforts to undermine the Cuban Revolution.
EMBARGO AGAINST VENEZUELA This week Republican congressman and Head of the House of Representatives Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs for the Western Hemisphere, Connie Mack, called on the Obama administration to impose an economic embargo against Venezuela, citing alleged links to terrorist groups as justification. Mack, a neoconservative representing Southern Florida, also requested the US include Venezuela on this year’s “state sponsors of terrorism” list, a petition the congressman has made unsuccessfully during the last three years. During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Mack referred to the democratically-elected Venezuelan President as a “thugocrat” who uses “weapons” such as “oppression, aggression, terrorism and drugs” to “destroy liberty and democracy in Latin America”. Mack did not present any evidence to back his outrageous claims. The Floridian Republican went so far as to allege that President Hugo Chavez “has become the Osama bin Laden and the Ahmadineyad of the Western Hemisphere”. During the past several years, right-wing sectors in Washington have escalated calls for direct aggression and intervention against Venezuela. Their cries have been accompanied by an increased funding for anti-Chavez groups with the hopes of fomenting destabilization and unrest in Venezuela, while working internationally to “isolate” the Venezuelan government and demonize President Chavez himself. Nonetheless, the Venezuelan head of state retains a near 60% popularity at home and is one of the most admired leaders worldwide. T/ Eva Golinger P/ Agencies
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4 | Politics
NoÊxÓÊUÊFriday, February 18, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela celebrates historical date, opposition boycotts Opposition lawmakers boycotted a special session of parliament on Tuesday, protesting the keynote speaker. Many of their constituents were displeased with their absence in the Assembly meeting and were offended by their rejection of an important historical date
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n homage to the great 19th century revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan National Assembly held a special session on Tuesday to commemorate the 192nd anniversary of the seminal Angostura Congress, a constitutional convention that laid the political foundations for much of South America’s independence from Spain. The session took place in the modern day city of Ciudad Bolivar, formerly known as Angostura del Orinoco, just outside the site where the Congress was convened on February 15, 1819. The keynote address for the act on Tuesday was delivered by General Henry Rangel Silva, Chief of Venezuela’s Strategic Operational Command who spoke of the importance of linking the pivotal historical event with the virtue of its wider political and social project. “This new anniversary should not exist only to remember the past with nostalgia. It should be seen, rather, from the greatness of
its purpose – the birth of liberty, equality, justice and love for the homeland”, he declared. ROAD TO DEMOCRACY In 1819, the Venezuelan-born Simon Bolivar called for a constitutional assembly comprised of republican leaders from across South American territories still at war with Spain to begin drafting a representative democracy to replace the fading colonial rule. During the Angostura Congress, Bolivar was given the title of “Liberator” for his leading role in the struggle against the Spanish empire and delivered one of his most remembered speeches, outlining his vision for a new political system. In his remarks, the 36-year old General Bolivar stressed the need for a separation of powers and postulated that the most perfect government “is that which produces the greatest amount of happiness
possible, the greatest amount of social security and the greatest amount of political stability”. His speech is also remembered for its emphasis on popular education and the famous statement, “An ignorant populace is the blind instrument of its own destruction”. BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION Francisco Gomez, Governor of the state of Bolivar, highlighted the similarities between the policies of the current administration of Hugo Chavez and the ideals of the Liberator. “[They] have a lot to do with the [revolutionary] process led by President Chavez”, Gomez said of Bolivar’s ideals and objectives. “It was the first time that the importance of education was related to liberation”, recalled Gomez in reference to Bolivar’s speech. The current democratic process led by President Chavez is known
as the “Bolivarian Revolution”, based on the ideals and values of Simon Bolivar and his vision for an integrated Latin America with strong roots of social justice and equality. OPPOSITION BOYCOTT The conservative opposition, led by the political coalition known as the Democratic Roundtable (MUD), made a collective decision to not attend the commemorative ceremony which, according to National Assembly President Soto Rojas, was intended solely to celebrate the most important figure in Venezuela’s history. The decision was taken as a protest against the keynote speaker, General Silva, who the opposition accuse of pledging political allegiance to President Chavez in violation of article 328 of the nation’s constitution, which forbids political stances taken by military officials.
“For a session that is going to commemorate what happened in the Angostura Congress, they [the National Assembly] have chosen a speaker who does not represent the values or the motives that inspired this Congress”, said opposition congressman Omar Barboza. Government backers have been quick to point out that it was the right-wing Venezuelan opposition that colluded with renegade generals in 2002 to stage a bloody coup d’etat against the democratically elected President Hugo Chavez. For Pastora Leon, opposition supporter, the decision of the conservative lawmakers to not attend the special congressional session is tantamount to an abandonment of their duties as elected representatives. “I’m deeply disappointed with the opposition for not going to the National Assembly’s special session. Be it a cat or a dog that’s the speaker, congressman have to be there because that is why we elected you – so you can represent us”, Leon said during a callin television show on the opposition station Globovision. In 2005, the Venezuelan opposition also boycotted congressional elections, thereby ceding control of the national legislature to supporters of President Chavez. This control was then used to uphold the thesis that Venezuela had become a “dictatorship”. Last September, the opposition participated in legislative elections and won 40% of seats in the National Assembly. The proChavez PSUV party still holds a solid majority at 60%. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Agencies
Venezuela spends billions per year on fuel subsidy V
enezuela spends more than US$1.5 billion a year on a subsidy that keeps the South American country’s domestic fuel prices the lowest in the world, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez confirmed Sunday during a television broadcast. Speaking during his weekly
show “Alo, Presidente!”, President Hugo Chavez said domestic consumption will have to be decreased. The amount of fuel used by Venezuelans ballooned last year thanks to power shortages that forced the country to divert oil for electricity production. Com-
pared with the cost of production, the subsidy costs more than US$1.5 billion per year, Ramirez said during the show. Venezuelan residents enjoy fuel prices of nearly 10 cents per gallon and have not seen an increase in the price during Chavez’s 12 years in power. The issue is a
highly political one in Venezuela, and removal of gas subsidies in 1989 led to large-scale protests and riots in Caracas. “Know this: Every time you fill a tank of gas ... the government is subsidizing 90% of what that gasoline actually costs”, Chavez said. During a press conference
earlier this month, Ramirez, who also serves as head of state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, said the government was looking to reduce gas consumption by 100,000 barrels per day during 2011. T/ Agencies
NoÊxÓÊUÊFriday, February 18, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Economy
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Salary caps set for state officials in Venezuela This week, Venezuelan Comptroller Clodosvaldo Russian announced his office would begin evaluating the wages of senior Venezuelan officials and ensure they adhere to a new salary cap law
tro, and as little as Bs 10,700 per month (US$2488) according to Ramirez himself. In March 2009 Chavez criticized the high salaries and other benefits of high officials, stating, “We have to get rid of these mega-salaries, mega-bonuses”. At that time, he signed a presidential decree setting wage limits for higher level public administration workers, prohibiting bonuses and eliminating superfluous and luxurious spending such as international travel, parties, and car purchase.
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he evaluation will be made within the framework of the Salaries, Pensions, and Retirements of Senior Public Officials Law passed by the National Assembly in December last year. The law sets wage limits and regulates high state officials’ conditions and benefits, and also sets punishments for violation of the law. “All public servants are under the obligation to not receive remunerations higher than what is established in the law”, Russian said. Articles 8 to 13 of the law outline which positions correspond to different salary levels, and the amount of pay for each level. First level positions, such as the President and Vice President of the country, Ministers (high-level cabinet members), the President of the National Central Bank, and so on, can receive a maximum of twelve minimum wages. The minimum wage per month is currently Bs 1,223.89 (US$284.62) and the government usually increases the minimum wage annually on May 1st. Pensioners receive one full minimum wage, and new teachers, for example, usually receive one to two minimum wages. Hence, the highest wage for any public official, including the President of the country, would currently be US$3415 per month, or US$40,985 annually. The amount does not include end-of-year bo-
nuses or general perks, such as cars, chofers, meals and travel expenses. Second level positions, such as vice-ministers, university deans, presidents of state companies, and others, will only be able to receive ten minimum salaries. Governors will be able to receive up to nine, legislators, comptrollers, attorneys up to eight, mayors up to seven, and other public officials the equivalent of up to five minimum wages. Additional income, such as commissions, is prohibited, and all pay is to be directed into the recipients’ bank account, in a state owned financial institution. The National Assembly analysis and justification for the law recognized the different levels of “responsibility, duties, and abilities” in order to determine salary levels. The idea behind the law was also to centralize and make wage levels more uniform across the country.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY According to the salary cap law, state institutions should send pay rolls to the Comptroller every year. Information about high officials’ salaries, with exceptions made for security reasons, should be included in annual reports, and will therefore be available to the public. “We hope not to have to implement sanctions. We’ll sanction both those who paid and who were paid more [than allowed]”, Russian said. Sanctions, outlined in articles 30 to 32, will apply to those public servants who receive more than their maximum salary. In that case, they must repay that money to the state, and they can also be disqualified from public office. The person responsible for the over-payment is subject to the same sanctions.
The law also outlines fines for providing false information regarding pay, taking too long to provide required information, paying salaries to private banks, and other similar things, with fines ranging from 50 to 500 tax units. Bureaucracy and corruption are perceived by many, from both the opposition and the left, as among the biggest weaknesses of the current and previous Venezuelan governments. Members of the public have often expressed discontent with what they perceive as excessively high salaries of some government officials. Rafael Ramirez, President of PDVSA and Minister for Energy and Petroleum, is rumored to earn up to Bs 83,000 per month (US$19,302) according to private internet media Noticias Cen-
OPPOSITION REJECTION Some former and present high-level public employees have rejected the salary cap law claiming it allows “assistants to have a higher salary” than them. Magistrate Blanca Marmol de Leon, a Chavez detractor, declared on Wednesday her firm rejection of the salary limiting law, claiming it was a “horrid showing of socialism”. “Our salaries should go up and not down”, said Marmol de Leon during an interview on private television station Globovision. “May god free us of these socialist ethics”, she pleaded. The Venezuelan judge claimed that she and other judges “are in very difficult situations because if they don’t raise their salaries and inflation continues, then they can’t maintain their luxurious lifestyles”, which many high salary earners in Venezuela are used to. When asked her salary, Judge Marmol de Leon refused to provide it, stating, “I’m not falling for that...I don’t just work eight hours a day, I sometimes work up to twelve”. T/ Tamara Pearson www.venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuelan oil reserves largest in world T
hrough December 2010, Venezuela’s updated and certified oil reserves reached 296.5 billion barrels, making Venezuela the country with the single largest oil reserves in the world. Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves stood at 265 billion barrels. These reserves increased by the incorporation of new prov-
en reserves, amounting to 86.4 billion barrels from traditional areas in the cities of Barcelona, Maracaibo, Maturin, Barinas and Cumana, as well as offshore reserves in Falcon state. From the Orinoco Oil Belt, reserves were reported in the blocs of Boyaca 3, Boyaca 4, Boyaca 6, Boyaca 7, Boyaca 8, Parque
Aguaro Guariquito, Ayacucho 1, Ayacucho 8, Junín 6, Junín 7, Junín 8, Junín 9, and the joint ventures Petroindependencia, Petrocarabobo, Petrocedeño, Petropiar, Sinovensa, as well as in the bloc Bitor, operated by the state-run oil company PDVSA. Traditional and off-shore areas account for 242.4 billion net bar-
rels, while the areas of the Orinoco Oil Belt reach 86.1 million barrels. The oil reserve quantification and certification are part of the Orinoco Magna Reserve Socialist Project, which includes the quantification of original oil in place, a process jointly developed by PDVSA and several international oil companies.
Once these results are certified by independent international companies, the Venezuelan Oil and Energy Ministry makes them official and they are included in the official records of hydrocarbon proven reserves. T/ AVN
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6 | Social Justice
NoÊxÓÊUÊFriday, February 18, 2011
The artillery of ideas
A musical revolution
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ccompanied by young musicians from all over the country, President Hugo Chavez inaugurated Venezuela’s newest center for musical education and performance in the Los Caobos sector of the capital city of Caracas last Saturday. The Social Action Music Center was officially inaugurated by the Venezuelan head of state in celebration of the country’s 64th annual Day of Youth and the 36th anniversary of the founding of the nation’s thriving youth orchestra. Jose Antonio Abreu, founder of the orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel, internationally acclaimed classical conductor, were both on hand for the ceremony which was marked by a series of brilliantly performed musical pieces by children and adolescents from around the country. “Thank you, Maestro Abreu”, President Chavez said at the conclusion of the act. “I congratulate you, Gustavo Dudamel, this glorious Venezuelan youth, and the homeland”, he exclaimed.
AN INNOVATIVE SYSTEM Venezuela’s youth orchestra, known in the country as El Sistema or The System, has been internationally recognized as one of the best music programs in the world. For nearly four decades, The System has functioned as a space for at-risk youth to learn and practice classical as well as Venezuelan and Latin American folk music, creating alternatives to street life for economically disadvantaged residents. The program currently provides opportunities to some 250
thousand aspiring young musicians and many of its graduates have gone on to be world class performers and conductors, landing successful careers on the international stage. Gustavo Dudamel, a product of The System, is just one example of the orchestra’s international reach. Since 2009, the 30-year old Dudamel has led the Los Angeles Philharmonic, creating a buzz in the classical music world and receiving innumerable accolades from critics and aficionados.
A documentary about the young conductor called “Dudamel: Let the Children Play” recently debuted in the United States and was referred to by Academy Award winning actress Helen Hunt as a movie that “all children and young people in the world must see”. The 25-minute documentary, directed by Venezuelan filmmaker Alberto Arevalo is a follow up to the earlier documentary about the youth orchestra called “Tocar y Luchar” or “Play and Struggle”.
During the inauguration of the music center on Saturday, President Chavez was received by a series of musical pieces including the orchestra’s rendition of the Venezuelan National Anthem conducted by Dudamel and a special performance of a traditional joropo ballad by visually impaired children from the state of Lara. With a capable voice of his own, the Venezuelan President joined the young performers, signing the song “Barquisimeto”.
Over the years, the Chavez government has invested heavily in the growth and maintenance of the nation’s flagship music program, approving nearly $50 million on training programs for the orchestra in 2010 alone. The recently inaugurated center in Caracas, constructed with state and Inter-American Development Bank funds, is comprised of two different concert halls as well as various chambers for instruction and workshops for instrument construction. “Maestro Dudamel, Maestro Abreu, look how the building has turned out thanks to your perseverance and struggle”, President Chavez said of the new center on Saturday, urging the participants of the program to continue with their growth and excellence. “One has to feel the homeland from the inside, just like these young people of the orchestra… You are the most beautiful expression of our youth”, he said. After the President’s inauguration of the music center, Gustavo Dudamel directed a public concert with the youth orchestra from the back terrace of the new building, facing one of Caracas’ largest parks, Los Caobos. The public park has been recovered in recent years by the Chavez government and now serves as one of the principal green areas in the city where families and residents can come and enjoy the year-round spring-like climate and sunshine of Caracas. “This is absolutely wonderful, a true achievement of our Revolution”, said one onlooker. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Presidential Press
Venezuelan homeless families live in foreign ministry L
aughter and screams of childish delight echo through the neoclassical corridors of the Casa Amarilla or Yellow House, the headquarters of Venezuela’s foreign ministry. Ministry workers duck as a bright red plastic football soars through the air of the building’s historic courtyard. The atmosphere in the 19th Century palace has changed dramatically since it opened its doors to 140 men, women and children whose houses were de-
stroyed by torrential rains and landslides late last year. Children play in the courtyard and the surrounding offices have been turned into makeshift bedrooms. Bunk beds line the walls, and lockers provide space for the few personal possessions that people were able to salvage from their homes. “The little that we had, we had to leave there, we just brought our clothes and shoes”, says Ismer Astudillo, a 55-year-old grandmother who has been liv-
ing in the foreign ministry for more than two months. Her family home, which she and her husband had built in the early 1980s in a suburb of Caracas, was destroyed by heavy rain at the end of November. As the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, expanded in the mid to late 20th Century, people flocking to the city to find work built houses wherever they could find space, often on precarious hillsides, with little consideration for safety. Torrential rains
in November and December saturated the soil and caused major landslides, leaving tens of thousands homeless. The government has responded by sheltering them in an array of buildings. President Hugo Chavez opened the doors of his presidential palace, Miraflores, to homeless families. Dozens of ministry buildings have also been pressed into service as temporary shelters. At the Casa Amarilla, a laundry has been set up in the car park,
and women load the machines with clothes while drivers come and go on official ministry business. Families staying at the ministry are allotted tasks every day, from cleaning different parts of the building, to helping out in the industrial kitchen where all the meals are prepared. “It’s exciting, we saw some Brazilian visitors the other day… it’s really unforgettable,” said one resident, Dina Gomez. T/ Sarah Grainger, BBC News
NoÊxÓUÊFriday, February 18, 2011
The artillery of ideas
International | 7 |
US military plane carrying weapons, narcotics seized in Argentina Argentina has accused the US military of trying to sneak guns and spy equipment into the country under the guise of providing a routine police training course a charge disputed Monday by US officials
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rgentine authorities seized nearly 1,000 cubic feet of undeclared equipment, describing it as machine guns and ammunition, drugs and spy equipment. It was on a US Air Force C-17 cargo plane that landed last Thursday with material for a training course that a US Special Forces team had been invited to provide to Argentina’s federal police. “Argentine law must be complied with by all, without exception”, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told Arturo Valenzuela, Assistant US Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, when Valenzuela called him to complain about how authorities handled the cargo, the ministry said. Timerman also said Argentina would file an official protest in Washington and ask for a shared investigation into why the US Air Force would try to violate Argentine law, the ministry said. The seized material includes equipment “for intercepting communications, various sophisticated and powerful GPS devices, techno-
logical elements containing codes labeled secret, and a trunk full of expired medicine”, including illegal narcotics, the ministry said. An Argentine federal judge is demanding a full accounting from the foreign ministry, and some lawmakers vowed to hold investigative hearings. US PROTEST State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said he could not confirm if a protest had been filed, but he called on Argentina to return the US equipment. “We are puzzled and disturbed by the actions of Argentine officials”, he told reporters in Washington. Crowley called the search of
the plane “unusual and unannounced” and said minor discrepancies in the manifest “were the kind of thing that could have been cleared up on the ground by customs officials”. The plane arrived at a sensitive time for Argentine-US relations. In recent days, Timerman has denounced US military policies — in particular, training that the US provides to Latin American police and military at the International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador. The academy replaced the US military’s School of the Americas, where many Latin American military figures learned torture techniques that served the region’s dictatorships in decades past. The
School of the Americas is widely known and repudiated as a training facility for Latin American security and armed forces who have served US interests with a heavy hand in their countries, employing tactics such as torture, forced disappearances, political persecution and coup d’etats to prevent governments unfriendly to the US from maintaining power. A US State Department official with knowledge of the events told The Associated Press that most of the material in the shipment was properly declared and authorized by Argentina, describing the undeclared equipment as a minor problem with the plane’s manifest that could have been resolved privately.
For example, the official said, each machine gun and related equipment was declared. But extra gun barrels brought to replace barrels that overheat during livefire exercises were seized because they lacked matching serial numbers, the official said. Also seized was a US medic’s kit, brought along in case anyone got injured. While the kit was declared, all the drugs inside weren’t individually listed, the official said. The purported spy equipment included satellite phones, which the nine-member Special Forces training team carries with them in the field in case they must communicate through secure channels to their US commanders, the official said. Only one of the three phones listed in the manifest was declared, and the inventory didn’t specify all the related computer equipment or classified codes used to make the calls. The course was canceled and the C-17 flew home with the Special Forces team, the official said. Despite the US government’s nonchalant attitude about the confiscated items, were any foreign armed forces to attempt to ingress undeclared military and narcotics material into US territory, it would undoubtedly be seized. However, it appears that the US expects special treatment when it comes to its own actions abroad. T/ Agencies P/ Agencies
Colombia, Venezuela talk border security in Caracas M
inisters from Colombia and Venezuela met in Caracas Wednesday to discuss border security, regional politics and trade. In preparation for the upcoming meeting between Presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Hugo Chavez scheduled for the coming weeks in Colombia, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera, and Trade Minister Sergio Diaz Granados met their Venezuelan counterparts to discuss border security, regional politics and trade issues. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced
during declarations to the press that among the issues discussed were, “cooperation agreements on security and drug trafficking, border security, and a bi-national and regional agenda”. Maduro added that the event was “a working meeting we normally establish between governments to maintain the rhythm and follow the agenda that the presidents established and prepare for the next meeting of the two leaders in Colombia”. Colombia is also seeking to restore trade relations with neighboring Venezuela, which
is expected to leave the Andean Community of Nations trade bloc in April 2011. During the meeting, the counterparts also reviewed agreements between the two countries signed in 2010 and further mended their relationship, which has been in ongoing repair after ties were briefly broken last July when outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe accused the Venezuelan government of terrorism. T/ Agencies P/ Agencies
FRIDAY | February 18, 2011 | No. 52| 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
P
resident Obama is planning to cut about $4 billion from a federal program that provides heat for the poor, and this in the middle of one of the worst winters in years. As the Associated Press reported last week, the plan for the 2012 budget would slash the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by 50% to its lowest level in three years. GOP House majority leader, John Boehner, released an outline for what he thinks will shave $35 billion in federal spending, and which would virtually wipe out heating assistance to the poor. Some, like Massachusetts senator John Kerry, say that cuts to the program would affect more than three million families. One can only gasp at Tea Party suggestions that Mr. Obama is a socialist when looking at what Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez does to keep the poor people in this country warm. Chavez’s “fuel for the poor program” has shipped heating oil from Venezuela at 40% below wholesale prices since 2005 to low income communities in 15 US states. With the help of Citgo, President Chavez also used some of Venezuela’s prodigious oil profits to keep poor residents of the South Bronx warm each winter. What is the US president doing to encourage oil companies in this country to share some of their obscene profits to defray some of the government’s humanitarian costs? This administration is too busy granting amnesty in order to recover what amounts to nickels and dimes in taxes from international business behemoths who have been sheltering billions while evading the IRS. And, cutting the program that assists low-income families with their heating bill is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If House GOP majority leader, John Boehner, gets his way other equally draconian measures will be taken to trim $35 billion off the record $1.5 federal budget deficit. Other social programs are also slated to be rolled back in the fields of edu-
Obama vs. Chavez cation, food safety, law enforcement, and the environment. The Republican leadership wants to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AmeriCorp, as well as family planning services. Lord help pregnant women who happen to be hungry because a nutritional program to assist them is slated for slashing by nearly 10% from what it was last year. This isn’t about reducing the budget deficit. This is about eliminating social programs in the name of reducing the budget deficit. This is about what conservative, tea party Republicans, and their friends, mean by “smaller government”. One wonders what would happen if a proposal for “smaller government” actually were to hit Boehner and his country club friends below the belt. If it’s smaller government they want, then why not start with laying off those 87 new Republican members of the House who scream the loudest
about the need to reduce the deficit. Let’s see how far these folks can stretch their unemployment checks. Think about what a savings this would represent at $174,000 per year for each member of the House in salary alone, factoring out insurance and other perks. Better still, why not cut the House in half, meaning that instead of 435 elected representatives, we’ll only have something like 218. And, while we’re in the neighborhood, how about downsizing the Senate from 100 to only 50? Given that senators also earn about $174,000 a year, and serve for six years, this in itself would be impressive. Let’s take it to the next level, and cut Congress by 50%. Even the founders might agree that it’s better to keep one family warm in a blizzard than to endure a filibuster regardless of what’s at stake. Cutting the Congress in half will work best, of course, when taxpa-
yers recover the $3 billion a week, $156 billion a year, we now spend on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Come to think of it, we spend in one week as much on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as some are thinking of cutting annually from a program for federally funded low income heating subsidies. Why not also cut the Supreme Court in the name of a smaller government, or better still, give a few of the justices furloughs like Schwarzenegger did for state workers in California. We can start with Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts. Since it’s a lifelong appointment, give them each a couple of decades of unpaid vacation time. Keep in mind, too, that as of last year, a Supreme Court judge earns about $224,000 a year. As life expectancy is expected to approach 100 in the foreseeable future, lifetime tenure means an ever expanding federal budget. In keeping with this administration’s logic, and in the so-
called spirit of compromise, why not make the cuts bipartisan? After all, if a Democratic president can even consider reducing a federal program that provides heat to low-income people, then both parties have effectively put abandoning the poor, and working people of this country squarely on the table. Okay, so maybe the founders wouldn’t like reducing the number of elected representatives by 50%. Maybe this isn’t what the Republican leadership has in mind by the term “smaller government”. Maybe they mean only those pesky little agencies like the EPA, AmeriCorp, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Budgetary allocations for the Pentagon, homeland security, and the FBI are actually being increased; the FBI by 4% alone while a nutritional program for pregnant women is being slashed by that same amount. What’s more important to the “family values” right-to-lifers? More federal raids, or more federal lunches? Looks like Boehner and his gang already answered that question. Time to take a deep breath, and demand bigger cuts to to the Pentagon, which would represent a savings of hundreds of billions a year, as well as so called “intelligence” agencies that frustrate the White House claims anyway. Time to put homeland security on the table. Anyone who thinks of “homeland security” as anything other than a sugar pill seriously needs to be evaluated. The president must understand, and agree that moving forward is a good thing, yes, but not on the backs of working men, and women, and not on the backs of the poor. Any plan to cut federal heating assistance to low income families in half must never see the light of day, or those who support it, regardless of their party affiliations, must only meet with political defeat. - Jayne Lyn Stahl Jayne Lyn Stahl is a Poet, essayist, playwright and screenwriter.