English Edition Nº 64

Pg. 7 | Analysis y

Pg. 8 | Opinion

Responsibility to protect: The slippery slope of Libya and Ivory Coast

Opinion: Saul Landau on the ironies of the Osama and Obama spring surprise

FRIDAY | May 20, 2011 | No. 64 | Bs 1 | C ARACAS

ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas

Economy grows in Venezuela, more social investment

Venezuela rockin’ the major leagues g

Venezuela is experiencing sustainable economic growth this year as the government directs more funds to social programs

Housing solutions advance

Despite what critics had said, Venezuela’s economy is on the rise. The first quarter of 2011 saw a 4.5% increase over last year and a rise in most industry and sectors in the South American nation. Venezuela’s own Central Bank and financial institutions expect solid, sustainable growth throughout the year. As part of ongoing policies based on social justice, the Chavez government is investing heavily in social programs and national production and development. | page 2

Venezuelans nationwide are participating in the recently launched “Grand Mission Housing Venezuela”, a major housing program seeking to solve an inherited crisis that has been aggravated during the past few months due to heavy rains that have caused tens of thousands of displaced.

More than 2 million new homes are expected to be built over the next few years, with the aid of allied nations, such as China, Argentina, Russia, Belarus and Iran. | page 3

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Politics

“FARC” links to Venezuela not credible The same British Institute that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction lies about Venezuela. | page 3

Economy

Bank of the South to begin operations A new South American financial institution seeks regional economic sovereignty. | page 5

Social Justice

Prisoners with a voice, on film A new documentary on music behind prison walls airs in Venezuela.| page 6

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No foreign military bases in Venezuela

he Venezuelan government denied rumors this week regarding the existence of foreign military bases in the country. The emphatic rejection of such claims was made

by Elias Jaua, Venezuela’s VicePresident, as well as Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro.

Jaua confirmed that no foreign military facilities would be built in Paraguaná, a peninsula in the northwestern state of Falcon, or anywhere else within Venezuela’s territory, since any such move would violate provisions of the nation’s Constitution.

“Our policy is not attacking but defending the homeland, whether by land, air or sea”, declared Jaua.

In recent days, several international media outlets and right-wing think tanks based in Washington, have spread rumors claiming Iran is building a military base in Venezuela to house nuclear missiles, which could be used against the United States. Such outrageous and unfounded claims, for which no evidence has been produced, seek to demonize the Chavez government and justify some type of intervention or action against Venezuela.

This type of dangerous demonization campaign against the Venezuelan government, based on distorted and unfounded information, is a clear attempt to influence public perceptions regarding the South American nation and classify it as a “threat” to US interests and regional security.

The Chavez administration has made clear that it does not now, nor plan to, build any foreign military bases, or host any kind of weapons that could present a threat to its neighbors. Venezuela is a country of peace.

enezuela’s Martin Prado, an infielder for the Atlanta Braves, and Victor Martinez, a Detroit Tigers batter, were named Major League Baseball’s players of the week for the period that finished on May 15.

During six games last week, Prado had a .465 batting average (26-12) and tied for first place in hitting (12) and total number of times on base (22), according to the Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticias. Originally from the city of Maracay, he tallied an .846 slugging percentage and .517 on-base percentage. According to the daily, this is the third time Prado has been recognized as Player of the Week.

Martinez led the Young Circuit in five games last week with .579 average, reported Últimas Noticias.

His performance also included four doubles and two home runs, four walks and 11 runs batted in. The daily highlighted that this is the fourth time Martínez was chosen Player of the Week; the first time was in 2005 when he played for Cleveland Indiands.

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2 | Impact

NoÊÈ{ÊUÊFriday, May 20, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Oil profits invested in people, social programs O

wing to its democratization of the oil industry and its redistribution of profits made from the nation’s enormous natural wealth, the Venezuelan government, led by President Hugo Chavez, has been able to invest more than $330 billion over 10 years in social development projects aimed at improving the wellbeing of the nation’s residents.

The $330 billion figure, announced last Monday by Planning and Finance Minister Jorge Giordani, dwarfs the investment numbers of previous Venezuelan governments and affirms, the Minister declared, the social commitment the Chavez administration and the ruling socialist party have with the people of the oilrich Caribbean nation.

“The efforts made to recover [oil] profits and invest them in society have been unparalleled in the history of this country”, Giordani said during an event in Caracas marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of Venezuela’s Economic and Social Development Bank, Bandes.

Although the oil industry was officially nationalized in the 1970s, real redistributive reform did not take place in the sector until President Chavez passed the Law for Hydrocarbons in 2001, bringing the operations of the state oil company PDVSA under greater public control.

The Hydrocarbons Law, together with the country’s far-reaching land reform initiative passed at the same

time, provided the catalyst for the attempted coup d’etat against the democratically elected president in 2002 as members of the nation’s de-throwned ruling class colluded with the private media and the US State Department to overthrow the Chavez adminstration.

The coup was defeated by a popular uprising and followed by a series of victories of the Venezuelan people over the right wing opposition, leading to a consolidation of the Chavez government and its social welfare policies.

The results of these policies have been palpable as the bulk of social

investments have been directed towards essential services such as healthcare and education.

REDUCING POVERTY Specifically, since coming to power in 1999, the Chavez administration has cut poverty in half, ended illiteracy in the country, provided free universal health care for all residents, increased university matriculation to one of the highest levels in the world, reduced unemployment substantially, and resdistributed millions of acres of land to small agricultural producers.

A recent Gallup poll also placed Venezuela 6th among the world’s nations in terms of residents’ satisfaction with their current living conditions and prospects for the future.

BANDES On Monday, public officials marked the 10-year anniversary of Bandes, one of the many public banks created by the government to finance its myriad of social programs and economic initiatives.

According to its website, “Bandes acts as a state financial agent, assisting projects geared towards the diversification of the

economy, stimulating private investment in depressed and underproductive areas and financially supporting special regional development projects”.

“Within the Public Financial System”, the site continues “Bandes has been at the vanguard of the political, economic and social transformation that seeks to distribute wealth and democratize capital”.

During the conference on Monday, the bank’s president and Commerce Minister, Edmee Betancourt, outlined some of the economically productive sectors that will receive Bandes funding this year including agriculture, electricity, science and technology, and basic industries.

Betancourt also highlighted the fact that $20 billion of new social investment money has been made available for the country as the result of an accord signed between Venezuela and the China Development Bank last year.

These new resources, the Minister reported, will be used to support Venezuela’s large-scale public housing iniative as well as other social programs, known as missions, devised by the executive branch in 2011.

“We’re supporting not only Mission ‘Housing Venezuela’ but also all the missions that our President Hugo Chavez has launched this year, including Mission AgroVenezuela”, she announced.

T/ COI P/ Agencies

Venezuela sees important economic growth T

urning the corner on the global recession that had affected the Venezuelan economy for nearly 2 years, officials from the nation’s Central Bank reported GDP growth of 4.5 percent last week after comparing data available for the first trimester of 2011 with that of the same period last year.

“The Venezuelan economy is growing. We’ve come out of the recessive phase with this growth of 4.5 percent”, said Finance and Planning Minister, Jorge Giordani, during a press conference held at the Central Bank’s headquarters in Caracas last Tuesday.

The growth marks the second straight trimester of expan-

sion and is welcome news for an economy that had been mired by a sluggish performance owing at least in part to the international financial crisis of 2008.

“This favorable result affirms the reactivation of the national productive apparatus that started in the final trimester of 2010”, a report released by the Central Bank stated.

Importantly, the economic expansion seen this trimester has been felt across non-oil productive sectors including manufacturing which saw a 7.6 percent increase in activity.

Other sectors that have seen substantial growth include communications (8 percent), shipping

and receiving (7.8 percent), commerce (10.4 percent), and government services (7.6 percent).

Ironically, figures representing oil-related economic activity, the largest single GDP indicator, fell by 1.8 percent.

Analysts attribute the overall growth to rising demand in the country, much of which is being met by the private sector which registered a 4.6 percent increase in aggregate value this year.

Access to foreign exchange and increased public expenditure has also accelerated the economic expansion as the government’s social programs continue to provide essential services for the population.

“Public spending anchored in oil-export revenues continues to be the key engine of growth of the economy”, wrote Goldman and Sachs economist Alberto Ramos in a note to investors on Tuesday.

Many experts anticipate this trend to continue throughout 2011 as oil prices rise on the international market and the Chavez administration embarks on an ambitious public housing program that seeks to build 2 million homes by 2017.

In addition to vindicating earlier claims by government officials that the recession has come to an end, the rise in GDP reported last Tuesday has also forced many economists to re-evaluate their

forecasts for 2011 which estimated Venezuelan growth levels to reach only 2 percent.

Such estimates are now being doubled, a far cry from the economic contraction of 3.3 percent that the country suffered in 2009 and that of 1.4 percent which it endured in 2010.

“Venezuela is turning the page and without a doubt is heading towards sustained growth in 2011 and the following years”, Giordani said on Tuesday.

“All of our studies suggest that this trend, which represents greater social well-being, will continue”, he affirmed.

T/ COI

NoÊÈ{ÊUÊFriday, May 20, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Politics

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Venezuela: Dodgy dossier’s terror links claims questioned N

o sooner had the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) released its dossier The FARC Files: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of Raul Reyes on May 10th, that the international media was once again claiming more proof that Venezuelan government links to terrorism had been uncovered.

Almost none mention that the entire basis of the document were files that Interpol and US and Colombian officials have admitted are dubious at best.

In fact, Francisco Dominguez pointed out in a May 13th New Statesman article that the IISS is the same group that created the fraudulent September 2002 dossier Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Net Assessment.

The dossier’s false information about Iraq’s supposed WMD stockpile was used as a key justification for the US-led war on oil-rich Iraq.

The latest dossier is based on files supposedly obtained from laptops belonging to former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leader Raul Reyes.

Twenty-five people, including Reyes, were killed when Colombia illegally bombed a FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory in 2008.

Colombian authorities claimed three laptops, two external hard disks, and three USB drives somehow survived the bombing and happened to be filled with files linking the FARC to pretty much anyone the US and Colombia said supported terrorism.

NO AUTHENTICITY However, many have called into question the validity of these files.

In a May 10th British Guardian article, Greg Grandin and

Miguel Tinker Salas said Interpol’s forensic report of the hardware indicated that Colombian authorities had modified 9440 files, and deleted a further 2905 files.

Colombia’s treatment of the material, according to Interpol, “did not conform to internationally recognized principles for the ordinary handling of electronic evidence by law enforcement”.

The authors also pointed out that “Colombian military’s claims that files showed the Farc were plan-

ning to make a ‘dirty bomb’ were publicly dismissed by the US government and terrorism experts”.

IISS offer of a CD-ROM with the dossier “containing all relevant emails” found on Reyes laptops, is all the more remarkable given that in October 2010, Colombia’s Inspector General Alejandro Ordonez confirmed that no emails had been found in the laptops.

Police inspector Ronald Coy Cortiz testified in 2008 that his team of inspectors “haven’t seen any e-

US: Good terrorist, bad terrorist V

enezuela will continue demanding the United States extradite Luis Posada Carriles, wanted for terrorism, after he was found “not guilty” by a US court on nonrelated immigration charges.

Referring to Posada Carrilles during a recent open debate at the United Nation’s (UN) Security Council meeting, Venezuela’s representative to the UN, Jorge Valero, accused the US of preventing a trial against “this notorious international terrorist who walks freely in the streets of Miami, Florida”.

Early last month Posada was declared not guilty of immigration fraud and perjury in a trial held in a Texas court. Posada Carriles is wanted by the Venezuelan justice system for his responsibility in the terrorist attack against a Cuban airplane in 1976, causing the death of 73 people.

The bombing was planned from Venezuela during Posada’s stint

as a counterintelligence and CIA agent in Caracas.

The Venezuelan government has accused the US Department of Justice of “doing nothing to initiate the extradition process requested by Venezuela in 2005...

The US government protection of Posada Carriles has become an emblematic case of US double standards in the international fight against terrorism”.

Luisa Morales, president of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, told press this week that now that the trial against Posada Carriles for immigration fraud in the US is over, “according to international treaties, our extradition request is even stronger”.

Morales cited the Montreal Treaty, of which the US is party, as well as another international agreement that states terrorism involving explosives on planes implies immediate extradition.

Further, Valero argued that Venezuela is committed to applying the UN’s Global Strategy and its resolutions 1573 (2001) and 1624 (2005) which urge countries not to give refuge to terrorists and to not use political reasons to deny extradition requests.

“While confessed and convicted terrorists are protected, five innocent Cuban citizens who worked specifically against terrorism are still unjustly detained in US jails”, Valero said, referring to the “Cuban Five” who US courts found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. Cuba says the five men were intelligence agents monitoring Miami’s Cuban exile community, and were sent there in the wake of hotel bombings in Cuba that Havana accuses Posada Carriles of planning and financing.

“While the practice persists of classifying

some terrorists as good and others as bad, while state terrorism is still promoted, while innocent people are killed in the name of a supposed fight against terrorism, and while the norms and principles of the United Nations Charter and international law are violated, the world won’t be more secure”, Valero said.

T/ Tamara Pearson www.venezuelanalysis.com

mails, I haven’t found them so far”.

Even the Colombian Supreme Court has considered “evidence” from the laptops to be legally inadmissible.

As Grandin and Salas note, what more should we expect “from some of the same people who deceived the people of the United States and the United Kingdom into invading Iraq”.

Among those on IISS advisory council are: Robert D Blackwill, former deputy national security adviser to George W Bush; Eliot Cohen, formerly secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s senior adviser on strategic issues; Sir David Manning, formerly foreign policy adviser to Tony Blair; and Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.

The Venezuelan Embassy in Britain has warned that this report “could become part of an aggressive propaganda tool against Venezuela to undermine progress in the region, precisely at a time when relations between Venezuela and Colombia have reached a level of stable cooperation and friendly dialogue”.

T/ Federico Fuentes P/ Agencies

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4 | Politics

NoÊÈ{ÊUÊFriday, May 20, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Venezuelans join mass housing solutions program In just under three weeks since its launch, nearly half a million families in five states across Venezuela have answered the national government’s call to register for its massive new public housing program which seeks to build two million new homes by the year 2017

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he program, called Grand Mission “Housing Venezuela”, is the Chavez administration’s definitive answer to the Caribbean nation’s current housing shortage, calculated at over 1.5 million, and marks a firm commitment by the Executive branch to provide access to affordable living space for all the country’s residents.

“The government that I manage will not rest until there is justice in Venezuela for everyone”, Chavez declared last year after making housing one of his top priorities into the future.

The mission’s registration process, which began after the program’s official inauguration on April 30th, has been operating in the capital of Caracas and the coastal states most affected by last year’s torrential rains which left more than 100 thousand people displaced.

Upon completion of this first phase of registration in June, other states will begin the process until the census is completed in September.

Since its commencement in select areas, turnout has been steady and orderly as inhabitants have formed lines in public plazas and government facilities, awaiting their opportunity to sign-up for the government program which will prioritize housing according to need.

Over four thousand Venezuelans have been employed to enroll heads of households in the mission, collecting information regarding income and family size and utilizing the country’s advanced electronic voting machines to guard against fraud.

LOANS AND SUBSIDIES Government officials have informed that low interest loans will be made available for the purchase of the newly constructed

homes and the level of individual subsidies that will accompany the public housing will depend on a family’s earnings.

In cases of extreme poverty, that subsidy will be as high as 100 percent.

According to Ricardo Menendez, Minister of Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries, the registration process has been operating smoothly as the government organizes its support for those residents left behind by previous administrations.

“Everyday we compile the registration totals with scientific standards. Up until today we have 496,908 families enrolled in the Grand Mission ‘Housing Venezuela’ which translates to 1,656,848 people who in the past were invisible to the state but now with the Revolution are being given effective and systematic solutions to their housing problems”, Menendez said, speaking from a registration point in Caracas.

“Everything is going according to the plan”, Housing and Habitat Minister Ricardo Molina remarked during the program Dando y Dando broadcast on state television on Sunday. “Intense work is being done and we need to highlight the job that the workers are doing”.

FIVE STRATEGIC POINTS OF ACTION The current family registration represents one of the five strategic action areas that the government has defined in order to reach its goal of two million homes in 6 years.

Another point includes locating urban and suburban lands where housing complexes can be built.

During his interview on Sunday, Minister Molina informed that the national government has been active in reclaiming unused or unproductive land in order to provide for the housing needs of the people.

Speaking to the historic problem of land inequality in Venezuela, Molina blamed capitalism for the exclusion of the poor from quality land and the growth of the shantytowns or “barrios” that skirt the country’s major metropolitan centers.

“As a product of the capitalist system, people were unable to obtain land and for this reason, a large part of our population migrated to the worst plots and the areas surrounding the cities”, Molina said of the rural exodus that occurred in the South American country at the beginning of the 20th century.

For his part, President Hugo

Chavez also reported on Sunday that the Venezuelan government has received an additional 92 hectares (227 acres) from the state’s deposit protection agency Fogade as a product of the private assets that came under public control during a financial crisis that befell the country in 1994.

All told, officials now confirm that the government has successfully identified and allocated the land necessary to reach its housing goals through 2013.

In addition to land, other strategic areas of planning include securing the enormous financial backing needed to guarantee the project’s realization, the identification of contractors to participate in the program, and ensuring access to required building materials.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT With respect to funding, apart from dedicating billions of dollars from its national development fund to finance the project, the government has also entered into strategic alliances with private domestic banks as well as non-US based international lenders such as China.

In 2010, China approved a loan to Venezuela for $20 billion, the largest in the Asian country’s history while, during the Mission

Housing Venezuela’s inauguration ceremony in April, public officials alongside private contractors and bankers affirmed their commitment to work together in order to provide affordable housing solutions for all Venezuelans.

In order to guarantee the availability of construction materials the government has amplified its nationalized network of concrete and steel production and has signed various supplyensuring agreements with private producers.

“Just as it is guaranteeing access to land, the state has control of the essential construction materials and the plans for financing”, Vice-Minister of Technological and Scientific Development Jorge Arreaza said during the program on state television last Sunday.

According to the vice-minister, Mission “Housing Venezuela” is on track to become one of the most successful government programs that the Chavez administration has created to date.

“All of the conditions are set so that within eight years every Venezuelan family will have a dignified living space”, Arreaza declared.

T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

NoÊÈ{ÊUÊFriday, May 20, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Economy

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Venezuela: idle land of defunct banks to be used for public housing As part of the solution to the country’s serious housing shortage, the Venezuelan government will acquire 210,000 square meters of land as a first step to utilizing idle territory that belonged to collapsed banks of the 1970s and 1990s

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esterday President Hugo Chavez announced on national television that he was authorizing Fogade, the national Deposit Guarantee Fund, to transfer 78 plots of land with a total size of 129,053m2 to the state. The land, located in Tocuyito, Carabobo state, was being administered by Fogade.

Also in Tocuyito, the Venezuelan President authorized the expropriation of a further 232 plots with a total size of 82,000m2, which are currently abandoned and were owned by Banco Nacional de Descuento, a bank that no longer exists. Nonetheless, the process of liquidation of the bank’s assets, which began in the late 1970s as a result of an industrial banking crisis, hadn’t been completed.

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he Bank of the South (Banco del Sur) will begin operations this year, even before its formal constitution, the head of Ecuador ’s presidential commission to design the new regional financial architecture, Pedro Paez, informed last Tuesday from Quito.

The proposal was raised by Ecuador and plans to carry out projects by means of a trust. “The proposal consists of a trust fund for each project”, said Paez, who detailed that there are plans, for example, to use funds from the Bank of the South to build a system of Latin American laboratories which guarantee healthcare for people throughout the region”.

This project in particular aims at producing generic medicines with the possibility of financing research regarding cures for diseases such as leishmaniasis, tuberculosis and malaria, which have not been treated by transna-

The government of Hugo Chavez has stated it will take similar actions regarding additional abandoned land assets primarily from other collapsed banks, most from the 1994 financial crisis.

1990S BANKING CRISIS During the period 1994-1995, 17 of 59 of Venezuela’s commercial banks collapsed. The crisis was generally blamed on financial liberalization in the early 1990s, lax banking supervision, and a collapse in oil prices which led to reduced government spending and a weakened economy.

At the time, Fogade guaranteed deposits of up to $24,000 per person.

“It’s not justifiable that Fogade still has land that is in a process of liquidation from that time period. I’ve asked the fund’s board for the balance of all the land and buildings that it has as a result of past bank crises and liquidation processes that have yet to be completed”, Chavez announced.

“For cases like this, expropriation is the formula that the president of Fogade, David Alastre, has proposed to me, so I’m taking these measures so the land can go towards urban development, through the Grand Mission ‘Housing Venezuela’”, he explained.

“I insist on the importance of speeding up the rescuing of land in urban and periphery areas of the cities in order to solve the housing crisis”, Chavez said.

“There are spaces for agriculture, hectares for industrial use, land for housing... We should be building micro-cities”, he added, suggesting the idea as a partial solution for decreasing the population density of Greater Caracas.

GRAND SOLUTIONS The government launched Grand Mission “Housing Venezuela” last month as its seven year plan to tackling the serious housing short-

Bank of the South to initiate operations this year

tional pharmaceutical companies because “they are not profitable”.

There are other initiatives such as building micro-regional mills controlled by local produc-

ers and governments, connected by the Internet.

That plan aims at establishing a strategic reserve of basic food staples to ensure supplies for the

population during extraordinary events such as droughts, earthquakes or floods.

Currently, the creation of the Bank of the South has been confirmed by the parliaments of Ecuador and Venezuela. The bank’s constitution is still pending the approval of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Chairman of the board of directors of Ecuador’s Central Bank, Diego Borjas, expressed that the regional entity should be officially created before the end of this year, once the remaining parliaments approve their incorporation.

“We hope that Uruguay, Bolivia and Argentina will solve this situation very soon”, Paez said.

age in the country. One facet of the mission is finding and acquiring land for housing, and another is creating a nationwide register of all those who need housing, which it began this month.

The government will be providing subsidized housing to families, with the size of the subsidy based on the family’s income. Those with insufficient income will receive a 100% subsidy, until their situation changes, those whose family only earns one minimum wage in total, will receive an 80% subsidy, and so on, down to those who earn four minimum wages, will receive a 20% subsidy.

According to Minister for housing, Ricardo Molina, most families earn around two minimum wages, with 80% of families earning at least more than one minimum wage. As of this week, according to the government, over 540,000 families, which translates to more than 1,700,000 people, have registered in the program.

This month, hundreds of tents have been set up in five states to receive registrations, and the registrations will continue in other states next month and in July.

T/ Tamara Pearson www.venezuelanalysis.com

The Bank of the South is an initiative of countries that comprise the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and seeks to ensure regional economic independence in a continent that has suffered severely from dependence on international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Bank of the South will eventually replace funding, loans and credits provided by the IMF, with direct financing from the region’s countries, based on a philosophy of integration, cooperation and solidarity. The bank’s founding principles prohibit the use of funds to indebt or inslave member nations, but rather to provide them with a platform for sustainable development and growth.

T/ AVN P/ Agencies

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6 | Social Justice

NoÊÈ{ÊUÊFriday, May 20, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Venezuelan prisoners find expression through film B

ehind the walls of the Penitentiary Center Los Teques, in central Venezuela, the atmosphere is less unpleasant than usual. In a small room the sounds of a bongo, a piano, a bass guitar and a harmonized chorus tune up with a strong voice singing: “Trouble is being, being in jail, loneliness, and loneliness, what loneliness...” This is how the documentary, “Son cautivo, clave de libertad” (or Captive Sound, Key for Freedom), begins, which opens in theaters nationally on May 26th.

This audiovisual project directed by Yaclyn Marcano is guided by the music of “Voces de Libertad” (Voices of Freedom), a group created more than three years ago by inmates at the penitentiary center mixing different tropical sounds.

The scene in the prison is a mix of soulful expression and longing. A prisoner sings a Colombian rhythm together with his daughter, another plays the guitar with his wife. A middleaged inmate had a lump in his throat when he tried to explain he wanted to see his son and spend a day with him if he is allowed to go beyond the prison walls on conditional parole.

“We began to mix and play our human vibes with musical vibes. We began to know which of us had good voices and we

researched sounds and instruments. We established contact and became friends. I found very human people, great people here, despite the cirumstances”, Ms. Marcano explained.

Former kettledrummer Cesar Rengifo, freed five months ago, commented that the group is one of the greatest lessons in his life.

“I taught and learned in Voces de Libertad. I still keep in contact with the guys”.

The documentary defines the group as “a piece of the street inside prison” and as a respite from behind the confining walls for its members, many of them convinced that between the street and the group, they prefer the group.

So, what began as a simple audiovisual project became a film which goes deep into each of the members’ lives of Voces de Libertad.

Screenwriter Israel Rojas explained it was necessary to be in the shoes of the 23 prisoners portrayed during the 47 minutes of the documentary.

Venezuelan Cultural Ministry representative Valentin Nodas remarked that this documentary, more than sensationalistic journalism, shows the human aspect and the way culture becomes a tool for transformation.

“It shows that those Voices of Freedom have an impact on the streets. Those voices of freedom defeat the prison’s walls and communicate through them and with others”, Nodas said.

The documentary will premiere on the screens of Venezuela’s Cinemateca Nacional.

It will be also sold in libraries and public bookstores on DVD, thanks to a collaboration with the national disc center, Cendis.

The idea to make the documentary was thanks to the joint work of the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Interior Relations and Justice, and the director of Penitentiary Centers, Consuelo Cerrada.

“It shows the joint effort of a single government”, Cerrada said, and she stressed that the documentary will be also shown in prisons as a way to raise consciousness amongst the population.

T/ AVN P/ Agencies

Law against racial discrimination to benefit Venezuelans and foreigners “T

he Law Against Racial Discrimination will include every person living within the national territory, even foreigners visiting the country will benefit from it, because their rights will be guaranteed”, underscored National Assembly member Modesto Ruiz, representative of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

On May 10th, the National Assembly unanimously approved the Bill Against Racial Discrimination in a first discussion, during a session that also counted on the participation of the Afro-Descendants Network of Venezuela.

At that opportunity, First VicePresident of the National Assembly, Aristobulo Isturiz, exclaimed, “Nobody can say that there is no dis-

crimination or racism in Venezuela.

We must internalize a fundamental value of diversity. We must accept each other as we are, without lies, without hypocrisies”.

Modesto Ruiz pointed out that people have to remember history to understand the reasons for a law against discrimination. “We have to remember the indigenous, Afro-descendants and white people; all those groups have at times been mistreated”.

The parliamentarian explained that this new legal instrument emerges from the necessity of defending and protecting Human Rights in diverse areas of Venezuelan society.

“Discrimination can occur, for instance, in education. Many cur-

ricula did not include the history of indigenous people or Afro-descendants, just some unlinked episodes. Nevertheless, the new Education Law includes that history without hiding the contribution of

our Afro population to humanity and to the world”, he explained.

The National Assembly member also mentioned, as an example of discriminatory acts, the fact that some companies in Venezu-

ela still do not hire people just because of their skin color.

In this regard, he underscored that the media play a key role in perpetuating silent racism, even though they try to avoid any kind of direct responsibility for racial discrimination.

In recent days, Ruiz informed that the aforementioned Bill includes the creation of a National Institute Against Racial Discrimination aimed at enforcing the laws and defending the rights of all Venezuelans.

“We are just trying to build a more harmonious and egalitarian society”, he pointed out.

T/ AVN P/ Agencies

NoÊÈ{UÊFriday, May 20, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Analysis | 7 |

The responsibility to protect – the cases of Libya & Ivory Coast T

he US, France and Britain invaded Libya with cruise missiles, stealth bombers, fighter jets and attack jets. Although NATO has taken over the military operation, US President Barack Obama has been bombing Libya with Hellfire missiles from unmanned Predator drones. The number of civilians these foreign forces have killed remains unknown. This military campaign was ostensibly launched to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in order to protect civilians in Libya.

In addition, the UN and France have been bombing the Ivory Coast to protect civilians against violence by Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power to the newly elected president after a disputed election. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon insists that the United Nations is “not a party to the conflict”. France, former colonial ruler of Ivory Coast, has over 1,500 troops stationed there. Ivory Coast is the world’s second largest coffee grower and biggest producer of cocoa. The bombing of Ivory Coast is being undertaken to enforce Security Council Resolution 1975 to protect civilians there.

The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force for humanitarian interventions. The military invasions of Libya and Ivory Coast have been justified by reference to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

The Responsibility to Protect is contained in the General Assembly’s Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit. It is not enshrined in an international treaty nor has it ripened into a norm of customary international law. Paragraph 138 of that document says each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Paragraph 139 adds that the international community, through the UN, also has “the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”.

Chapter VI of the Charter requires parties to a dispute likely to endanger the maintenance of

international peace and security to “first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice”.

Chapter VIII governs “regional arrangements”, such as NATO, the Arab League, and the African Union. The chapter specifies that regional arrangements “shall make every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements . . .” It is only when peaceful means have been tried and proved inadequate that the Security Council can authorize action under Chapter VII of the Charter.

That action includes boycotts, embargoes, severance of diplomatic relations, and even blockades or operations by air, sea or land.

The Responsibility to Protect doctrine grew out of frustration with the failure to take action to prevent the genocide in Rwanda, where a few hundred troops could have saved myriad lives. But the doctrine was not implemented to stop Israel from bombing Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009, which resulted in a loss of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

Security Council Resolution 1973 begins with the call for “the immediate establishment of a ceasefire”.

It reiterates “the responsibility of

the Libyan authorities to protect the Libyan population” and reaffirms that “parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians. The resolution authorizes UN Member States “to take all necessary measures...to protect civilians and civilian populated areas” of Libya. But instead of pursuing an immediate ceasefire, immediate military action was taken.

The military force exceeds the bounds of the “all necessary measures” authorization. “All necessary measures” should first have been peaceful measures to settle the conflict.

Security Council Resolution 1975 regarding Ivory Coast is similar to resolution 1973 regarding Libya.

The former authorizes the use of “all necessary means to...protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence” in Ivory Coast. It reaffirms “the primary responsibility of each State to protect civilians” and reiterates that “parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians”.

The UN Charter commands that all Members settle their international disputes by peaceful means, to maintain international peace, security, and justice. Members must also refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any

state or in any manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the UN. Only when a State acts in self-defense, in response to an armed attack by one country against another, can it militarily attack another State under the UN Charter. The need for selfdefense must be overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.

Neither Libya nor Ivory Coast had attacked another country.

The US, France and Britain in Libya, and France and the UN in Ivory Coast, are not acting in selfdefense. Humanitarian concerns do not constitute self-defense.

Obama, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain’s David Cameron penned an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune that said the NATO force will fight in Libya until President Gaddafi is gone, even though the Resolution does not sanction forcible regime change. When Obama defended his military actions in Libya, he said “Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different”.

Two weeks later, the Arab League asked the Security Council to consider imposing a no-fly-zone over the Gaza Strip in order to protect civilians from Israeli air strikes.

But the US, an uncritical ally of Israel, will never allow the passage of such a resolution, regard-

less of the number of Palestinian civilians Israel kills. This is a double standard. The military actions in Libya and Ivory Coast set a dangerous precedent of attacking countries where the leadership does not favor the pro-US or pro-European Union countries.

What will prevent the US from stage-managing some protests, magnifying them in the corporate media as mass actions, and then bombing or attacking Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, or North Korea?

Recall that during the Bush administration, Washington leveled baseless allegations to justify an illegal invasion of Iraq.

During a discussion of the Responsibility to Protect in the General Assembly on July 23, 2009, the Cuban government raised some provocative questions that should give those who support this notion pause: “Who is to decide if there is an urgent need for an intervention in a given State, according to what criteria, in what framework, and on the basis of what conditions? Who decides it is evident the authorities of a State do not protect their people, and how is it decided? Who determines peaceful means are not adequate in a certain situation, and on what criteria? Do small States have also the right and the actual prospect of interfering in the affairs of larger States? Would any developed country allow, either in principle or in practice, humanitarian intervention in its own territory?

How and where do we draw the line between an intervention under the Responsibility to Protect and an intervention for political or strategic purposes, and when do political considerations prevail over humanitarian concerns?”

The Responsibility to Protect doctrine violates the basic premise of the UN Charter. Last year, the General Assembly’s 5th Committee declined funding for the office of the new Special Advisor on Responsibility to Protect. Some member States argued that the Responsibility to Protect had not been agreed to as a norm at the World Summit. The debate will continue. But for many States, this is a slippery slope that should be viewed with extreme caution.

T/ Marjorie Cohn

FRIDAY | May 20, 2011 | No. 64 Bs 1 | C ARACAS

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 Osama and Obama

The big wedding “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him”.

- George W. Bush (9/13/01) “I am truly not that concerned about him”.

- George W. Bush, answering a question about where bin Laden was hiding. (3/13/02)

S

pring did not return at the end of April, the time poets love; nor, as T. S. Eliot hoped, did we experience rebirth from the womb of suffering. Quite the opposite occurred for more than 300 people who died when tornadoes struck their homes in southern states.

Love and poetry did find a dramatic antithesis at the royal British wedding. One wit described the ceremony as offering the real meaning of “white trash”. The world’s most spiritually vapid family nonetheless gets millions to cheer – mostly on TV – while spending tens of millions of the public’s money to show off new dresses and hats to accentuate their weak chins.

As one cynic remarked, “So much attention to a vestigial institution whose real legacy is kinkiness.

They, of course, do have occasional straight sex since they must – sigh, what a bore – reproduce their parasitic specie”. Simultaneously, the British government announced it would lay off some one million government workers. I wonder if any of them enjoyed the lavish display staged for the royal nuptials.

In that same week, the equally un-poetic assassination of Osama bin Laden took place. US Navy Seals assassinated – they lacked training in kidnapping – bin Laden and three others, including one woman (possibly one of his wives).

Osama, the equivalent of Chair of the Muslim terrorist version of the Ford Foundation – financing worthwhile anti-Western jihad projects, backed the now-famous 9/11 proposal. He risked less than $1 million on the unlikely success of a group of suicidal men with box cutters. Osama gained the re-

putation of a one man terror machine able to provoke the world’s greatest empire into spending itself into deep debt.

Joseph Stiglitz estimated the response to bin Laden’s deadly caper to have cost more than $4 trillion – the Iraq War alone pushing over $3 trillion; Afghanistan – another trillion.

Add the massive spending on socalled homeland security since 9/11 and you’re looking at real money.

Little debate occurred around the legality of the action, starting with sending US armed forces into a foreign country without permission, or the order to murder one man, and kill others en route if needed. Illegal? Hell no! Those kinds of deeds are what made America special: we don’t have to ask permission and since we answer only to God – our God who chose us.

We have different standards.

The US President can order the assassination of a head of state or anyone else he thinks merits it. So what that the nutty despot Gaddafi lost a kid and some gran-

dchildren? We had every right to try to assassinate him because we were acting under the law. As Richard Nixon said, “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal”. (Frost-Nixon CBS 1977) Nixon was one of our Founding Fathers – wasn’t he? Anyway, George W. Bush also said it and so did Condoleezza Rice. The President, a great legal scholar, should know. But did anyone on the White House staff ask: doesn’t this set a precedent? When one leader of a country targets another for assassination, doesn’t this justify any leader targeting any other?

The US public celebrated outside the White House, as people do when their team wins the World Series. Obama announced: justice had been done. Killing bad guys is justice, not vengeance, like in the movies. Legal? Who cares?

The crowds chanted their clever nuanced slogan: “USA USA”.

Who recalls Osama’s CIA days? He helped the Agency get the Soviets out of Afghanistan.

The Agency knew Bin Laden didn’t care about the Cold War. He hated Westernism – epitomized by the USA. But he proved useful against the infidel Soviet Communists whose man governed from Kabul.

History? Bunk! On May 1st, Obama crowed: “...tonight we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history…our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America”.

The poetry of spring!

But how will we live without bin Laden? Will the national security casting directors soon find the appropriate national enemy before the 2012 elections, a black hat to justify spending trillions for defen-

se that doesn’t defend us and for homeland security that makes us anxious? Our democratic trajectory has taken us from the post World War II Nuremburg trials of the Nazi war criminals to assassinating unarmed scoundrels!

Not to worry. Obama will soon quote Martin Luther King: “We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate”. (Beyond Vietnam) But the real response from the White House with public approval is Geronimo!

- Saul Landau

Saul Landau, an Institute for Policy Studies Fellow released his new film WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP (Cinema Libre Studio – distributor).

Counterpunch published his BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD.