Pg. P g. 7 | A Analysis nalysis
Pg. g 8 | Op Opinion pinion
Venezuela fights corruption despite opposition lobbying at international organizations
Missing the point on Venezuela: media bias, speculations and omissions
Friday | September 16, 2011 | Nº 81 | Caracas
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
China and Venezuela forge strategic alliance
CITGO lights up US communities
President Chavez entered into an agreement this week allowing for a major, long-term investment from China in Venezuela’s development. The initiative is part of the growing multipolar world. The Venezuelan head of state welcomed the visit of the “Great Asian Giant”, represented by the head of China’s Development Bank, which has over $30 billion invested in development projects in the South American nation. Chavez hailed the relationship with China as an example of how great powers “don’t need to be empires or dominate others to have strategic relations”. President Chavez also announced he won’t attend the UN General Assembly, but will continue to denounce the “US/NATO aggression against Libya”. He also said Venezuela supports an independent Palestinian state. | page 6
Youth at the heart of Revolution
The youngest members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) celebrated their 3rd anniversary this week as a key component of the Bolivarian Revolution. Representing the vanguard of the party, thousands of PSUV youth rallied on the nation’s capital in support of their candidate for next year’s presidential elections, Hugo Chavez. Recently, the Chavez administration created a Youth Ministry to specifically address and include the voices of youth in government. | page 3
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Impact
Venezuela rejects US sanctions Washington has threatened the oil-producing nation again with unilateral actions. | page 2
Politics
Presidential elections set for October 2012 Venezuela is gearing up for the battle of 2012, with Chavez as the top runner. | page 4
Politics
Fighting judicial corruption A new judicial discipline court aims to transform Venezuela’s legal system. | page 5
Foreign reserves used to create jobs
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n Venezuela, alternative economic programs involving social production and job creation are being financed with money that “would’ve been part of the international reserves, in some other place of the world, losing real value”, announced President Hugo Chavez. Those projects include a cotton plant located on the banks of the Orinoco River (one of South America’s largest rivers) and the Apure River, and the major housing construction in Ciudad Caribia, a government-funded urban complex for which President Chavez
approved an investment of $800 million on Monday. During a television interview, the President pointed out that Venezuela has a number of ongoing projects financed with “these dollars that otherwise would be in US and European banks losing more value every day”. Chavez reiterated the importance of the National Development Fund (FONDEN) and the modification of the Central Bank Law to rescue those resources in order to finance economic and socially-productive projects.
He also highlighted the role of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in creating the Bank of the South. “Venezuela has been charting new waters. And I refer to the dollar, which is growing more worthless every day – while it still has exchange value in the world, it is not sustainable anymore”, said Chavez, pointing out the progress made by Latin American integration efforts with respect to creating a mechanism of exchange and financial unity that is secure and sustainable and not dependent on the dollar.
he CITGO-Venezuela Corporation will donate 30,000 energy-efficient, compact fluorescent light bulbs to low-income households in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, through the county’s Social Development Commission (SDC), which plans, coordinates and offers programs to help low-income families. The compact fluorescent light bulbs use considerably less electricity than traditional light bulbs, have a longer life and save significantly more energy in households where they are used. The light bulbs donated by the CITGO-Venezuela Energy Efficient Lighting Program will be distributed by the SDC to families and individuals participating in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of Venezuela.
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2 | Impact
NoÊn£ÊUÊFriday, September 16, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela rejects US sanctions against high-ranking officials The Chavez administration and Venezuela’s parliament have repudiated the latest US government-imposed sanctions against the oil-producing nation T/ COI and VA P/ Agencies
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he Venezuelan government has “strongly rejected” a US Treasury Department decision last week to sanction four members of the country’s political and military establishment, calling the move “another expression of the imperial and arrogant character by which these institutions act against our countries”. The declaration came in response to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that placed four Venezuelan nationals on an updated list of “Specially Designated Nationals” accused of arming leftist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia and collaborating with drug trafficking. The four men “sanctioned” by the US Treasury Department are socialist lawmaker and former Caracas mayor Freddy Bernal, Latin American assemblyman Amilcar Figueroa, Army General Cliver Alcala, and intelligence office Ramon Isidro Madriz Moreno. According to a US Treasury press release, the four have allegedly acted “for or on behalf of the narco-terrorist organization the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), often in direct support of its narcotics and arms trafficking activities”. The men join three other high-ranking Venezuelan officials already on the US list: General Henry Rangel Silva, General Hugo Carvajal, and former interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, who were branded this designation in 2008. ZERO EVIDENCE While no concrete evidence was provided to demonstrate the men’s “support” for the Colombian guerrillas, the US decision prohibits US citizens from “engaging in transactions” with the men and places a freeze on “any assets that they may have under US jurisdiction”. In response to the OFAC decision, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro called the United States a "sick society" that is responsible for "this sickness of narco-trafficking". He accused
the US of attempting to serve as "a kind of global police to judge decent citizens of our country" and called the move “abusive”. Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later issued a public statement in which it affirmed the “sanctions” are “part of the permanent defamatory campaigns orchestrated in the imperial power centers of the United States, precisely aimed at nourishing hostile policies against our homeland”. Responding to the US decision, sanctioned PSUV lawmaker Freddy Bernal called the move an “attack on the country” that was aimed at harming the “process underway” in Venezuela that seeks “liberation through socialism”. Bernal said he was “proud” of the US classification, since Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa had received similar accusations, and told reporters he “could care less about the US government” since he had no foreign bank accounts, properties abroad, and had no interest in visiting the United States in the near future. No evidence was presented against Bernal to justify this designation. With respect to all four men sanctioned, Bernal said the US was looking to “disqualify those of us who have been the most loyal soldiers (to Chavez) and who have taken on the consequences associated to a Bolivarian loyalty and dignity”. “The objective of the US Empire”, said Bernal, “is to create the conditions to attack Venezuela and justify doing so with these lies”.
BOGUS PROOF In recent years, the US and Colombian governments have repeatedly accused the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of supporting the FARC insurgency in its decades-long war against the Colombian government. During the presidency of Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe (2002 - 2010), accusations by Uribe led Venezuela’s Chavez to increase his country’s military presence along the border with Colombia in “defensive preparation” for war with Colombia. In 2008, after the Colombian military carried out an armed raid against FARC rebels hidden in Ecuadorian territory, relations worsened. After the raid, the Colombian government said it had “uncovered” numerous documents on the laptop computer of assassinated FARC Commander Raul Reyes, material they said proved Venezuela’s support for the armed insurgency. More commonly referred to as the “FARC Files”, these documents were later found “inadmissible” by the Colombian Supreme Court which said it could not be certain the files were not tampered with by members of the Colombian security forces. INTERPOL also determined the computers and the documents had “no verifiable origen” and therefore could not be authenticated. THE FOUR Freddy Bernal, considered a “leader” of the ruling the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), served as mayor of Caracas from 2000 to 2008. He began his political career as a member of Chavez’s Fifth
Republic Movement (MVR) and was first elected to the country’s National Assembly in 1998. A year later, he was elected to the Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (1999). In April 2002, during the failed military coup against democratically-elected president Hugo Chavez, Bernal played a key role in mobilizing pro-Chavez forces against the military government installed in the Miraflores Presidential Palace. Bernal was an outspoken supporter of the formation of the PSUV (2007) and was elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly in last year’s parliamentary elections. He currently leads government efforts to reduce gun violence in the country, including draft legislation against easy access to guns and ammunition. Amilcar Figueroa is a Venezuelan historian, former guerrilla fighter, and active member of the PSUV’s leadership in Caracas. He was elected to represent Venezuela at the Latin American Parliament for the 2006 – 2011 period and served as the organizations Alternate President from 2006 to 2008. In 2009, a Colombian court accused Figueroa of providing support to the FARC, based on information said to have been found in the unverifiable “FARC Files”. Cliver Alcala is Major General of the Fourth Armored Division of the Venezuelan Army, one of the country’s most important army units, and Ramon Isidro Madriz Moreno is an officer of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), Venezuela’s national intelligence agency. ONGOING SANCTIONS These sanctions are yet another notch on an array of actions the US government has been taking against Venezuela in recent years, in an attempt to undermine the Chavez administration. In 2005, after Venezuela suspended cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) based on evidence of DEA sabotage and espionage against Venezuelan government officials, the White House sanctioned Venezuela, classifying the country as “not cooperating” with counter-narocotics efforts. In 2006, the State Department placed Venezuela on a list of nations “not fully collaborating with the war on terror”, imposing a prohibition of arms sales to Venezuela from the US or any company in the world using US technology. In 2008, the first three Venezuelan officials were placed on the OFAC “specially designated” list, and in May 2011, Washington sanctioned Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, for alleged sales of a gas component to Iran, which the US says could aid in “nuclear weapons proliferation”. No substantial evidence has ever been provided to back these serious allegations against Venezuela, leaving many to believe they are purely political in nature.
NoÊn£ÊUÊFriday, September 16, 2011
The artillery of ideas
Politics
Venezuelan youth celebrate political participation Members of Venezuela’s largest political party celebrated the third anniversary of the founding of the organization’s youth wing last Monday with a demonstration in the capital of Caracas T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
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ilitants of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela Youth (JPSUV) congregated in the Plaza Bolivar to express their support for President Hugo Chavez and reaffirm their commitment to the Bolivarian revolution that has transformed the South American nation over the past 12 years. “With the understanding that we represent the vanguard and that we need to be at the front of this historic political process, we’re having a tremendous celebration with members who have come from all over the country and are committed to this revolution alongside President Chavez”, said youth leader Diana Rivero on Monday. During an interview with state television, Rivero drew attention to the advances that young Venezuelans have made under the current government, referring to the government and community posts occupied by members of the JPSUV.
“Today, youth are part of the community councils, we have young people in the National Assembly and as Ministers and Vice Ministers – places that were impossible for us to reach before”, the socialist activist asserted. The youth branch of the PSUV was first formed in the state of Bolivar on September 12, 2008 with the swearing in of 1,700 delegates into the ranks of the socialist party. From there, the contingent has steadily grown, now representing over 1.5 million of the party’s seven million-strong enrollment. “2008 was a year with a lot of energy from an organizational point of view. It allowed us, the following year, to organize national and local structures which we’re now solidifying at the neighborhood level”, said Hector Rodriguez, Minister of
Sports and National Coordinator of the JPSUV on Monday. Rodriguez explained that one of the fundamental roles of the youth is to help “dismantle the bourgeois state in order to construct a state that accompanies the people in their struggles, in their organization, and in the administration of resources”. As such, ideology and education have played an important part in the JPSUV’s mission and to celebrate the 3rd anniversary, the faction has been carrying out a series of debates and political discussions designed to fortify the intellectual vigor of the party’s youngest members and strategize over the future. Erick Goicochea, JPSUV leader, remarked that one of the essential objectives of the socialist youth is “to generate political, ideological, and constructive answers to fundamentally collaborate in building society”.
ALBA pledges to condemn libya war in United Nations T/ COI
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oreign Minister of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, opened the 6th Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), which was focused on the analysis of aggression against Libya, last Friday.
During the high level meeting, which counted on the presence of member nations’ foreign ministers, peace proposals for Libya and declarations condemning the war on the North African country were developed to be submitted to the United Nations, BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) and the African Union. ALBA approved earlier in March several initiatives to support the Libyan people through dialogue, political and diplomatic methods, and avoid the intervention of NATO into a growing armed conflict In addition to the situation in Libya, members of ALBA
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The participation in at least one of the 14 commissions which comprise the organization’s labors are mandatory for members, giving youth the option to collaborate in a diversity of socially important areas including organization, education, productive projects, national defense, international affairs, and prison assistance. The organization is also preparing to mobilize voters for the 2012 presidential elections which will see current head of state, Hugo Chavez, seek a third term as leader of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution. “We’re calling this year ‘the year of youth organizing’ because of the coming elections…In the spaces that belong to youth, in cultural and educational spaces, we’re present and taking on the responsibility and the work necessary for this new challenge of the 2012 elections”, Rivero said during the demonstration on Monday. Minister Rodriguez also reiterated the youth’s total commitment to an electoral victory for President Chavez in 2012, but he reminded militants that a revolution cannot be limited to the ballot box. “The party helps us win elections but revolutions are not made by just winning elections. They need to accompany the people in their struggles and that’s what we’re working for”, the Minister said.
EMPHASIS ON YOUTH PARTICIPATION For his part, President Chavez, head of the socialist party, has been consistent in his support for youth, creating a new ministry earlier this year specifically charged with empowering young residents to work for positive change. To this end, members of the Youth Ministry have been traveling around the country, meeting with students and workers and receiving proposals on how to improve conditions for the nation’s young population. Speaking from the state of Carabobo on Sunday, Youth Minister Maripili Hernandez exalted the high levels of participation in the initiative, reporting the submission of some 18,000 proposals from residents. “There have been a lot of common proposals from different states in the areas of cultural, ecology, sports, recreation and socio-productive youth cooperatives”, Hernandez explained. Youth from the state of Carabobo have contributed new ideas focused on regulation of aggressive material on the Internet and domestic violence. “A public body that regulates these issues doesn’t exist today”, the minister said. In a message to youth in August President Chavez applauded the young revolutionaries for their resiliency and perseverance in the struggle for a socialist future. “You were born with the outbreak of Revolution. We’re just getting started on this path. You have your entire life in front of you to continue building this young homeland that has as its political ideology the Bolivarian Revolution”, he charged.
reviewed activities planned by the United Nations for the annual sessions that began this week, particularly the Palestinian cause. ALBA nations expressed full support for the declaration of an independent Palestinian state. Maduro highlighted that the Council also evaluated preparations for the foundational Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), scheduled for December 2-3 in Caracas. The ALBA foreign ministers met with President Hugo
Chavez at the conclusion of their meeting, during which the Venezuelan head of state ratified the importance of the regional organization and reiterated their adamant condemnation of NATO’s war against Libya. “This is an abomination, an atrocity, a horror that must not be allowed to continue”, declared Chavez. “ALBA nations promote peace, we are for peace”, he added. ALBA is an political, economical and social integration mechanism created in 2004.
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4 | Politics
NoÊn£ÊUÊFriday September 16 2011
The artillery of ideas
President Chavez calls for unity, sovereignty and independence T/ COI P/ Agencies
For this reason, Chavez affirmed, it is necessary that Venezuela not be left defenseless in the event of more audacious interventions on behalf of Washington and the opposition. “There are some populist candidates [of the opposition] who are asking, ‘Why buy arms?’ But what’s happening is that these candidates are following the US line that wants us to be left without any means to defend ourselves. We have to be armed for our own defense and we are going to continue strengthening our military”, he assured.
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n the face of continued aggressions perpetrated by Washington and its allies around the world and in-country, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for unity in the population and a strengthening of the nation’s armed forces last Tuesday. During a telephone call to the program Toda Venezuela, broadcast on the state television channel VTV, Chavez reminded the public of the role that United Sates played in an attempted overthrow of his democratically elected government nearly a decade ago and pledged not to allow the same to happen in the coming months. In 2002, the Venezuelan opposition under the guidance of the US State Department, employed an arsenal of media tactics intended to divide the population and the military’s high command in the lead up to a failed coup d’etat that left at least 16 people dead and hundreds wounded. With the upcoming presidential elections slated for October 7, 2012, the Venezuelan head of state vowed not to end up like the Chilean socialist president, Salvador Allende, who on September 11, 1973 was murdered by
a military junta supported by Washington. “Allende was left without a military. He had to be his own soldier with a machine gun and a helmet. He, who was an intellectual more than a soldier. This is why a revolution can not be unarmed, it has to be armed”, he recalled. CIVIL-MILITARY UNITY Chavez, a military officer by training, has been an avid supporter of the nation’s armed
forces, forging civic-military alliances to aid the population in the carrying out of important development projects as well as boosting national defense. With the ongoing NATO aggressions in Libya and the recent blacklisting of Venezuelan military officials and politicians by the US Treasury department, the President of the OPEC member state urged his followers to be prepared for further attempts to destabilize the country.
Presidential elections in Venezuela to be held October 7, 2012 T/ AVN P/ Agencies
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ead of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena, announced this week that October 7, 2012, has been approved as the date on which elections will be held for the 2013-2019 presidential term. In a meeting on Tuesday, CNE directors also agreed unanimously that judicial, regional and local elections will be held separately, with guber-
natorial races concluding in December of next year and mayoral elections taking place in April 2013. Lucena said that the CNE directors decided to divide up the elections in order to improve the quality of the processes and give the electorate the opportunity to “concentrate on each event”. She clarified that Venezuela’s constitution and the Law of Electoral Processes do not establish any strict regulation regarding the date of elections.
The CNE has declared itself to be in permanent session, Lucena said, as it is responsible for providing the technical and logistical elements necessary for regional leaders to hold campaigns. Lucena confirmed that the CNE guarantees transparency and compliance with Venezuelan law during the three electoral events that will be held throughout the country in 2012 and 2013. “The commitment of the CNE is the same as always:
REJECT US THREATS Chavez also dismissed the US’ latest attempts to tarnish his government by including high ranking officials on a list of individuals sanctioned for allegedly supporting narco-trafficking. Unable to provide any evidence other than the notoriously discredited laptop computers recovered from the Colombian bombing of a guerilla camp in Ecuador three years ago, the Venezuelan president predicted that the measure would backfire and result in greater support for his government in the coming weeks.
to work in accordance with the constitution and legal codes, offering confidence through transparency”, she said. Lucena also lamented the behavior of some opposition groups that attempted to degrade and discredit the Electoral Power. “We have seen that in recent weeks, a small group of troublemakers – who knows with what intentions or interests – have attempted to confuse public opinion and undermine the institutions of this country and the credibility of the CNE”, Lucena said. In that context, the CNE chief called on political parties to commit to respecting the results of the different electoral processes, no matter the outcome.
“There are some lackeys here who are thinking to themselves that this is going to have some affect on us. Actually, its going to strengthen our internal military unity and the unity of the people”, he said. ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE During his call to the program, Chavez also made reference to Latin American integration and the need to continue the movement towards independence from the United States and the economic dictatorship of the dollar. As such, he alluded to a recent government move to repatriate the nation’s gold reserves and his administration’s use of high oil revenues to benefit social projects rather than making investments in unstable economies abroad. “These dollars would have been in banks in the United States and Europe losing more value with every passing day”, Chavez said of the billions his government has invested domestically. These billions have been put to use to build stronger communities and higher living standards for the population, he contended. “There is no country in the world that is doing this today. or there are very few that are raising wages and pensions, signing collective bargaining contracts with Metro workers, teachers…raising the incomes of the military while fixing hospitals and designating resources to housing construction”, Chavez declared.
NoÊn£ÊUÊFriday September 16 2011
The artillery of ideas
Politics
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Venezuela: fighting corruption in the Judiciary The South American nation’s battle for judicial reform has been long and arduous and the judicial system remains one of the toughest arenas in which to fight internal corruption T/ COI P/ Agencies
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enezuela’s new Judicial Discipline Court will come into official operation this week as the South American nation moves forward with a series of legal reforms designed to combat bureaucracy and clean corruption from within its justice system. The new body will work under the auspices of the Judicial Discipline Jurisdiction, known informally as the “Judge of Judges”, to monitor magistrates and ensure strict compliance with the nation’s judicial code of ethics. The president of the new court, Judge Tulio Jimenez, explained the role of the recently-launched public office last week during an interview broadcast on the state television station, VTV. “[The Judicial Discipline Court] was created by a constitutional provision in Article 367 of the Venezuelan Constitution that orders the National Assembly to approve an ethics code for judges…We will be the watchmen in order to make sure that the administration of justice by public servants is done in the best way possible”, he said. In order to do this, Jimenez said, sanctions will be applied to any judge who is found by a court to be in violation with legally established norms, including standards of personal conduct. These sanctions range from warnings for minor offenses to suspensions without pay for up to six months for violations of greater severity. A judge can also be dismissed from the bench for up to 15 years while similar penalties will be incurred by lawyers and other legal actors who fail to perform their duties in compliance with Venezuelan law.
“The judicial ethics code also allows for the judgment of other legal professionals in the case that there is no action…We can even hold lawyers accountable”, the judge explained. According to Jimenez, the disciplinary court is an autonomous body of the nation’s independent Judicial Branch that “will bring greater judicial security because the judges will not, under any circumstances, be removed from office without a trial that passes through the tribunal or the courts”, he affirmed. This measure puts and end to earlier suspension practices that only required the authorization of the President of the Supreme Court, under the recommendation of the nation’s earlier monitoring bodies, the Commission of the Functioning and Restructuring of the Judi-
cial Branch and the Supreme Court’s Inspector’s Office. Currently there are 200 cases of judicial malfeasance being investigated in the country which will be assumed by the new Judicial Discipline Court as well as another mechanism created in tandem with the Court, the Judicial Discipline Tribunal. EFFICIENCY IN THE COURTS One of the primary responsibilities of the new body, Jimenez highlighted, will be to eliminate the types of prolonged delays that have become customary in Venezuelan trials and legal proceedings. Through a combination of apathy, bureaucracy, and collusion on the part of judges and attorneys, Venezuelan cases can be held up in the legal process for years, being subjected to a seemingly endless array of tech-
nical maneuvers to prevent the successful termination of trials. In many cases, this inefficiency affects the nation’s most economically vulnerable, who, untrained in legal matters and unable to afford a private lawyer, are left to fend for themselves in the halls of an intimidating judicial system. Such is the case with the families of hundreds of small farmers who have been assassinated by wealthy landowners over the past decade. Intent on halting the Chavez administration’s far ranging land reform program, wealthy land owners have paid contracted killers to murder more than 250 small farmers throughout the country since the passage of the nation’s Land Law in 2001. To date, not a single landowner responsible for contracting the death of a farmer has been convicted in a Venezuelan court
of law as bureaucracy and corruption at the local level have prevented the successful administration of justice. Advocates point to this type of impunity as one of the key factors that contributes to high levels of violent crime in Venezuela, one of the Chavez government’s most formidable challenges and priorities. According to Jimenez the new Judicial Discipline Court will be working to prevent “the procedural delays and unjustified abandonment of cases by judges”, using modern information systems to streamline cases and ensure greater attention for residents. “Right now we’re putting together a modern information system with which we’re going to be working. One of the reasons that the administration of justice in Venezuela hasn’t advanced is because things have been done manually. Now, our system is computerized and we’re utilizing modern methods”, he said. The Judicial Discipline Court will be comprised by the following members, designated by the country’s National Assembly last June: Magistrate Tulio Jimenez, President; Magistrate Ana Cecilia Zuleta, Principal Judge; Magistrate Adelso Guerrero, Principal Judge, and assistants Dr. Merly Morales, Dr. Romer Pacheco, and Dr. María Alejandra Díaz. In order to publicize and inform residents on this new mechanism to fight corruption, Jimenez said that a series of public meetings will be held in the coming weeks. “We want to work with the communities so that all of us are contributing to new and important initiatives like this one so that it has the success that it must have”, the President of the Court said. Jimenez also pointed out that all Venezuelan citizens and residents can report irregularities by filing a complaint at the headquarters of the nation’s Supreme Court, located on Francisco de Miranda Avenue in the capital of Caracas. For those who reside outside of Caracas, complaints can be filed in local judicial circuits.
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6 | Integration
NoÊn£ÊUÊFriday September 16 2011
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela, China seal strategic plan; Chavez absent at UN T/ COI P/ Presidential Press
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n Wednesday, Venezuela signed a long-term agreement (2013-2030) with the China Development Bank, which includes major projects in construction, telecommunications, health, technology and agriculture. President Hugo Chavez signed the accord during a meeting with China’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Zhoa Rongxian, and the chairman of the China Development Bank, Chen Yuan, at Miraf lores Presidential Palace in Caracas on Wednesday. “It’s wonderful that you, the Great Asian Power, are visiting the Caribbean and Latin America. China is proving that it’s not necessary to be an empire to be a great power, open to the world, respecting people’s sovereignty”, Chavez said. In order to seal the deal, the Venezuelan President signed a book containing 137 cooperation agreements developed together with the People’s Re-
public of China. So far, China’s Development Bank investment in Venezuela, through the China Development Fund, exceeds $30 billion. President Chavez also recalled that Venezuela now sends 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day to China, while in 2005, only
50,000 barrels per day were sent to the Asian nation. ABSENT AT THE UN While speaking with journalists at the presidential palace after the meeting with the Chinese delegation, President Chavez informed that he will not
attend the General Assembly of the United Nations, which will begin next September 20. The Venezuelan head of state revealed that he will most likely begin his fourth, and last, session of chemotherapy early next week, though he has yet to confirm this fact. He said he will be
represented by Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro at the UN meeting. “I would like to be there, but I cannot attend the United Nations General Assembly this year. I will be watching the speeches. This will be a very busy assembly and our Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, will be there to take the floor in our name”, Chavez said. “However, I will continue to denounce from here, from our country, which is a member of the United Nations, the barbaric aggression against the Libyan people by NATO. It is an atrocity. We also will express our support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. It is time that Palestine be free and independent”, he added. President Chavez additionally informed that his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will visit Venezuela after attending the United Nations General Assembly. “Ahmadinejad, after visiting New York, will come here”, he announced. Venezuela and Iran, both founding members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) share close strategic ties, primarily in the areas of energy and technology. Iran has several joint ventures in Venezuela, which include car factories and housing construction.
Reading: fundamental axis of Venezuelan cultural policy T/ Venezuela International P/ Presidential Press
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ecades ago, speaking of culture was limited to the elites. Visiting a museum or buying books at affordable prices were activities that were aimed at wealthy individuals, with little or no access for the general population. With the arise of the Bolivarian Revolution, this situation has changed completely. Today, it is common to observe the use of cultural venues for meetings, discussions, enjoyment of art, theater, promotion of folklore, and other creative expressions. The rescue of spaces for the creation, promotion,
production and distribution of cultural patrimony has been a fundamental aspect of the Revolution. Since 1999, the Chavez government has organized important events in the cultural field throughout the country, such as the International Book Fair, the Caracas Book Fair, the World Meeting of Poetry, Body Art Encounters, as well as dance, philosophy, circus art and theater festivals. VENEZUELA: A COUNTRY OF READERS According to data collected by the National Book Center (Cenal), publicly-run editorials have distributed over 37 million books on different topics in the last five years.
A very important event in the literature field is the International Book Fair of Venezuela (Filven), which this year celebrated its seventh edition and distributes and markets thousands of publications at affordable prices. Filven is conceived as an activity where different artistic disciplines gather in a number of integrated exhibits that also offer music, dance, theater, poetry, storytelling, presentation of books, workshops, movies and body art. Cenal president Christian Valles stated that Venezuela has created a cultural infrastructure that can cover all the links in the chain of literary production. Likewise, Valles highlighted
that the government has created institutions, publishing houses and social spaces so that the people can enjoy reading and reach a new level of awareness and interpretation of reality. SCHOOL BOOKS AS A RIGHT With the activation of the National Printing Office, a paper mill recovered by workers, today the Venezuelan state has the capability to produce millions of school books and to guarantee
children’s and adolescents’ access to knowledge. Thus, the Ministry of Education has been charged with providing schools with 12 million free books for elementary students in the 2011-2012 school year. The Venezuelan state guarantees the democratization of the education process at all levels and has implemented a social policy seeking to support artistic creation and ensure access to different cultural expressions.
NoÊn£ÊUÊFriday September 16 2011
The artillery of ideas
Analysis
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Anti-corruption laws ban opposition candidate from Office; Inter-American Court intervenes T/ COI
opportunities" on a number of bases, including the "sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings". Lopez’s lawyers, backed by outspoken opposition politicians, claim that Venezuela’s Comptroller General is not a "competent court", ignoring the fact that Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) ratified the Comptroller’s decision in the Lopez case. Though opposition figures have accused the Comptroller General of political bias and persecution, Venezuelan private newspaper Ultimas Noticias reported that a majority of those affected by the 2008 decision were not members of the Venezuelan opposition or its political parties. The IACHR finished deliberations on the case September 2nd and is expected to issue its official opinion in the coming days.
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his week Venezuela’s top legal official reiterated his assertion that any decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) must respect the country’s "constitutionally-based judicial order" in the case of Leopoldo Lopez, the opposition politician barred from holding public office for acts of corruption and administrative irregularities. According to newly named National Attorney General Carlos Escarra, Lopez is barred from holding public office until 2014 "because he stole money and trafficked in influences", a sanction that does not violate Lopez’s fundamental human rights. "Putting it simply", said Escarra, "this man violated the law". Venezuela’s previous Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian (2000-2011) banned Lopez from holding public office after uncovering an illegal donation accepted by Lopez in 1998. The donation, worth $160,000, was made out to Lopez’s Primero Justicia Civil Association (ACPJ) by then employer Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The donation, in the form of a check, was signed by Lopez’s mother, who also worked for PDVSA at that time. Anti-corruption laws in Venezuela strictly prohibit any donation by the publicly-owned oil company to employees or functionaries, direct family members of employees, or foundations or entities related totally or partially to any of the said parties. Escarra explained that while Lopez cannot hold public office for another two years, he maintains his constitutional right to vote, to engage in the political life of the country, and to participate in political debates individually and/or within political parties. Lopez, founder of the opposition Voluntad Popular (1999) political party, has made public his intent to run in next year’s presidential elections if the In-
ter-American Court opines in his favor. SOVEREIGNTY Speaking to reporters on Monday, Escarra explained that Venezuela’s fight against corruption "would be left unarmed" if the Venezuelan government allowed an IACHR decision to override the nation’s judicial authorities. According to Escarra, the Lopez case has gone through the appropriate legal channels, including the country’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), and the nation’s Comptroller General needs "the option" of "administrative sanctions" so as to prevent corruption by public officials and to punish those engaged in such illicit activities. Regardless of the IACHR’s opinion in the Lopez case, said Escarra, "the problems of the Judicial Branch, the internal and structural problems, will be decided in Venezuela and not outside of the country".
German Saltron, Venezuela’s representative at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), explained that Lopez’s sanction "does not violate Article 23 of the IACHR because he (Lopez) can still exercise his political rights". "What he can’t do is nominate himself to a position elected by the popular vote because he has a sanction for acts of corruption", said Saltron. "To decide in favor of Leopoldo Lopez is to encourage corruption", he concluded. The IACHR finished deliberations in the case on September 2nd and is expected to issue its official opinion in the coming days. Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights stipulates that all citizens of signatory countries have the right to political participation, to vote and be elected, and to access public services. Signatory states, however, "may regulate the exercise of these rights and
BIAS According to Roy Chaderton, Venezuela’s ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR is a "contaminated" institution. Chaderton explained that for many years the Inter-American court "forgot about" the human rights violations associated with the 1989 "Caracazo", a popular uprising against neo-liberal policies in which Venezuela’s armed forces killed hundreds if not thousands protestors. Venezuela’s ambassador to the OAS also pointed out that the IACHR also "immediately recognized the coup regime that removed Chavez from power" in 2002 and often "speak of Mr. Chavez and not of President Chavez" when referring to the Venezuelan president. "Given the grave errors they have committed", argued Chaderton, "they are not dependable". "They don’t listen, they don’t speak, they don’t hear, but if they receive a call from Globovision they release a communique right away", he said. Globovision is one of the most hostile anti-Chavez media outlets in Venezuela, with daily coverage dedicated to criticizing
Chavez and his government. In recent months they have granted lengthy open-ended interviews to opposition candidates running in next year’s presidential elections, including Leopoldo Lopez. LOPEZ A “DIVISIVE FIGURE” According to documents released by the whistleblower website Wikileaks, staff at the US embassy in Caracas consider Lopez "a divisive figure of the opposition" because he is openly "arrogant, vengeful, and thirsty for power". The US embassy in Caracas noted that while his personal characteristics make him a barrier to "unity" within the Venezuelan opposition, the "social networks" of anti-Chavez voters Lopez has successfully organized with his political party, Voluntad Popular, "convert him into both a necessity and a threat to the opposition". Voluntad Popular’s so-called "social networks" are an attempt at community organizing in which active members of the anti-Chavez minority "promote social and political participation" to "solve problems in the community". In reality, these networks seek to establish parallel community-based organizations that can slow efforts of the Revolution’s Communal Councils and take votes away from the Chavez camp. Zulia state Governor Pablo Perez, one of the opposition’s presidential hopefuls, recently proposed Lopez as his possible vice presidential candidate, seeking to use Lopez’s base of support to garner votes while blocking Lopez from a presidential bid. In April 2002, Lopez was one of many opposition figures to sign what is commonly referred to in Venezuela as the “Carmona Decree” which dissolved all of the country’s democratic institutions – including the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the Attorney General and Public Defender – during the shortlived military coup that briefly ousted democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez.
Friday | September 16, 2011 | Nº 81 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
A publication of the Fundacion Correo del OrinocoÊUÊ ` Ì À ivÊEva GolingerÊUÊ À>« VÊ ià } ÊAlexander Uzcátegui, Jameson JiménezÊUÊ*ÀiÃÃÊFundación Imprenta de la Cultura
Missing the point: media speculations over Venezuela T/ Edward Ellis
W
ith the recent revelation that President Hugo Chavez underwent emergency surgery to remove a cancerous tumor during a visit to Cuba in mid June, an explosion in political speculation has been swirling through the streets of Venezuela and catching fire around the world. International media conglomerates—with conservative anti-Castro groups in Florida in the lead—have jumped on this latest wave of speculation, forecasting the demise of the left-wing leader in the run up to next year’s presidential elections. With outlandish predictions of a post-Chavez era, based more on their frustration with Fidel Castro’s 85th birthday than on the Venezuelan President’s medical condition, rightwing Miamians continue to direct their unremitting hatred toward any Latin American government that breaks with their free-market mentality. Perhaps ironically, all of these pretensions and exaggerations have occurred before the backdrop of one of Venezuela’s most important historical celebrations—the bicentennial anniversary of its independence from Spain on July 5. Nevertheless one would be hard pressed to find any substantial media coverage of this historic date. Another significant event that was also overlooked was the founding summit of a new organization for regional alliance, the Community of Latin American States (CELAC), which was scheduled to take place on Margarita Island following the bicentennial celebrations. The first meeting of CELAC was postponed due to Hugo Chavez’s medical recovery and rescheduled for December 2-3 in Caracas. Preparations for the event are underway with submeetings taking place between regional Foreign Ministers and other high officials. Although CELAC may not be as sexy to mainstream media as Chavez’s chemo-induced baldness, the creation of this alliance represents yet another
definitive step away from Washington’s hegemonic influence in the Americas and strengthens multilateralism between countries that share a similar history and present. In this way, CELAC builds upon the unifying dream of South American independence hero Simon Bolívar, who in his Carta de Jamaica of 1815 famously proposed a single government to unite Hispanoamérica. Although not as lofty an initiative as Bolivar’s Gran Colombia, CELAC is an important step in establishing so-
mething unparalleled in the Western Hemisphere—an official organization with more than 30 member countries that excludes both the United States and Canada. This alliance is being built explicitly, at least from the Venezuelan perspective, with the intention of counterbalancing the Organization of American States, an organization that, despite the assertions of some conservative members of the US Congress, has a strong track record of acting on behalf of the interests of the United States.
The new regional block will expand upon other recent integrationist initiatives including UNASUR, Mercosur, Petrocaribe, and ALBA in constructing an alternative framework for economic, social, and political cooperation between Latin American governments. Basic issues such as sustainable development, the fight against poverty and drug trafficking, respect for national sovereignty and human rights, and interregional conflict resolution are at the core of CELAC’s agenda. The extent to which the new organization will find common ground on gritty economic questions remains to be seen, however. While undergoing major political shifts over the past decade, the region is still home to a handful of conservative governments, such as in Mexico, Chile and Colombia, which continue to prioritize free trade agreements with the United States. Brazil, Latin America’s most powerful economic player, frequently oscillates between market-oriented policies and welfare state initiatives while countries such as Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba remain firm in their rejection of neoliberalism. Despite these differences, the important thing is that the door to dialogue is being opened and the United States is being left outside. Such audacity would not have been imagined 20 years ago in a region that has been under the thumb of US dominance for more than a century. CELAC is therefore not only a testament to the weakening of Washington’s influence in the region, but also to the strengthening of Latin America’s identity and its movement toward a second independence. This is the real significance of Venezuela’s recent bicentennial celebrations—a point predictably missed by a press that prefers to feed the hysteria of speculation rather than report on the realities of contemporary Latin America. Edward Ellis is a Venezuela-based filmmaker and journalist. Ellis recently completed his first feature length documentary, Tierras Libres, addressing Venezuela's agrarian reform and the assassination of landless farmers.