English Edition Nº 92

page 7 | Environment

page 8 | Opinion

Venezuela is building a sustainable energy system to improve service nationwide

Latin American integration mechanisms are a source of inspiration and solidarity

Friday | December 2, 2011 | Nº 92 | Caracas

Venezuela brings gold home This week, week the first shipment of Venezuela’s gold reserves arrived to the country after President Hugo Chavez decreed repatriation from abroad of one of the most important sources of the nation’s financial security.

The decision to repatriate gold reserves and return them to the country’s Central Bank was made in part due to the financial crisis many US and European banks have been facing. Throughout the 20th century, governments shipped Venezuela’s vast gold reserves to financial institutions in the US and Europe in agreements favorable to foreign banks.

Chavez’s decision to return the gold home will not affect its value, but has caused a stir in financial markets worldwide and concern over whether other nations will follow Venezuela’s example. | page 2

ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas

Sovereignty and independence: Latin America & the Caribbean launch a new organization free of US influence The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) has become a reality 200 years after it was first planned by independence leader Simon Bolivar Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez (in photo below) was the first to arrive to Caracas this week to attend the groundbreaking foundational meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The organization culminates the dream of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, who attempted to create a sovereign regional organization free of US influence during the Panama Congress in 1826. Today CELAC represents the solidity of regional relations and the wishes of the 33 member countries to increase cooperation, integration and solidarity on equal terms. | [Continued below]

Integration

Venezuela & Colombia strengthen relations Despite ideological differences and opposition sabotage, the neighboring nations are improving ties. | page 3 Social Justice

Aiding the disadvantaged to reduce poverty A new program was launched in Venezuela geared towards eradicating poverty. | page 5 Social Justice

Venezuela leads in development goals The South American nation is achieving the UN Millenium Development Goals. | page 6

Celac summit a latin american dream T

his Friday and Saturday the founding meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) takes place in Caracas. The first summit of the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on December 2-3 was originally meant to be held six months ago to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Venezuela’s

independence. But it was called off at the last minute as President Hugo Chavez recovered after surgery to remove a large tumor. Back to his old self in many ways, President Chavez has been preparing the creation of a group that many see as an alternative to the Organization of American States (OAS) and does not include the US or Canada.

“A new organism will be born.

This is truly historic”, the socialist leader said this week.

“How many years have we been in this battle? It’s a first step, not the victory. The fight began in 1820 after 300 years of conquest, domination and genocide by European empires”.

Venezuela’s foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, said the meeting would seek ways to help insulate member nations from economic turbulence in the United States and Europe.

Venezuela: 3rd lowest regional poverty rate

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ccording to the 2011 “Social Panorama of Latin America” study released this week by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Venezuela’s overall poverty rate last year was 27.8%, the third lowest in the region.

The nations with the lowest poverty rates in 2010 were Argentina and Uruguay (8.6%), followed by Panama (25.8%), Venezuela (27.8%) and Peru (31.3%).

On the other hand, countries with the largest share of their population living in poverty were Honduras (67.8%), Paraguay (54.8%), El Salvador (46.6%), and Colombia (44.3%).

The report found that for the region as a whole, poverty declined by 17% between 1990 and 2010. Meanwhile, extreme poverty was reduced from 22.6% to 12.3%, which represents the lowest levels in the last 20 years.

With respect to Venezuela, ECLAC found that between 2002 and 2010, poverty fell by an impressive 20.8% (from 48.6% to 27.8%), and extreme poverty fell by 11.5% (from 22.2% to 10.7%).

The 33 countries that make up CELAC have a combined population of nearly 600 million people and together comprise the world’s number one food exporting region.

The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and Ecuador will be in attendance along with prime ministers from most Caribbean nations and heads of state from Central American countries.

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2 | Impact

NoÊ ÓÊUÊFriday, December 2, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Venezuela Begins Return of Gold Reserves from Abroad to Central Bank T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

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ver the weekend Venezuelans welcomed home the first shipment of international gold reserves being returned to the country by the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The arrival to Caracas of some US $300 million worth of gold comes just three months after the Venezuelan President announced plans to repatriate the vast majority of the country’s gold sent to Europe and North America by previous governments.

Repatriating the country’s gold reserves is part of Chavez administration efforts to provide economic stability to Venezuela as well as consolidate the drive towards economic integration in both Latin America and the Global South. Data from the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) indicates that once the expected 218 metric tons of gold arrive in country the value of domestic gold reserves is to increase by over US$11 billion – from a current $7 billion to an estimated $18.3 billion.

In the words of the Venezuelan President, the country’s repatriated gold is being returned “to the place it should have never left...The vaults of the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV), not the bank of London nor the bank of the United States”.

PROTECTING RESERVES FROM CRISIS According to BCV President Nelson Merentes, the repatriation of Venezuela’s gold reserves is “a historic act” and demonstrates the “political and economic sovereignty” achieved by the Venezuelan people through their Bolivarian Revolution.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Merentes explained that Venezuela is “bringing (home) the gold because global markets are turbulent and protection is needed”. He also confirmed rumors that the first $300 million in repatriated gold was pulled from reserves currently held in England.

As part of an economic strategy focused on pleasing the Inter-

national Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela’s business elite and their allies in government spent most of the 1980’s and 90’s depositing the country’s gold reserves abroad, principally in England.

In a report released on Tuesday, British Finance Minister George Osborne told his country’s parliament that, “much of Europe appears to be heading into recession” and, if a recession sets in, “it may prove hard to avoid one here in the UK”.

Osborne also announced that economic growth in the UK for 2012 will only reach 0.7 and, in response, proposed that government put a cap of 1% on pay raises for public sector workers after they suffer through a twoyear pay freeze already in place for 2012-2013. In addition, he increased the figure of public sector jobs expected to be lost by during the period by 310,000 – from 400,000 to 710,000.

On Wednesday, an estimated 2 million public sector workers in Britain participated in a national strike against the antiworker measures.

Venezuela currently stores 16,908 gold bars in banks across England, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. According to BCV President Merentes, the majority of this gold will be returned to the country in “the very

near future”. The actual dates of arrival are being kept secret for “security reasons”, he said.

Per BCV data, Venezuela will house 29,265 gold bars after the repatriated gold arrives. Basing calculations on this amount, in addition to reserves held in US dollars, the BCV asserts Venezuela’s economic reserves now total $30 billion.

MONETARY GOLD RESERVES At the time of the August decision to repatriate Venezuela’s international gold reserves, the Venezuelan government also nationalized the country’s gold industry. As part of this decision, on Monday the Venezuelan Central Bank announced plans are underway to install a monetary gold processing plant in the country, which once completed, will serve to convert gold into “monetary reserves” for Venezuela and all of Latin America.

The region, BCV President Merentes explained, “doesn’t have a convertible currency”.

“Across the entire world the number of convertible currencies doesn’t even reach ten, which means that many countries (including Venezuela) need to have internationally convertible reserves” so as to make decisions within a global economic context.

“These reserves function as a tool for the development of global perceptions regarding how the economy is being managed”, he stated.

In Venezuela, Merentes explained, “the two most important and valuable resources are oil and gold. Gold has an important financial value and our goal must be to convert as much of it as possible into monetary gold”.

To do so, the BCV announced plans to construct a monetary gold processing plant that is to receive gold sourced from across Venezuela and Latin America.

BASELESS OPPOSITION CLAIMS Since the repatriation process was first announced in August, opposition spokespeople have attempted to discredit government efforts with claims that returning the gold is both “unsafe” and “costly”. Anti-Chavez lawmakers also accuse the national government of returning the gold as part of bilateral agreements with the People’s Republic of China.

Last week the governments of Venezuela and China celebrated the 10th anniversary of consolidated bilateral relations by signing a number of new agreements in energy, technology, telecommunications, industry, and agriculture, many of which are financed by a multi-billion

dollar financing mechanism made available by China.

In the energy sector, for example, China has made $4 billion in credit available increase oil production though the joint Venezuelan-Chinese oil firm, Petrolera Sinovensa.

Responding to opposition accusations, Merentes recently affirmed that anti-Chavez forces and their allies in the private media “have created a false perception that the move (repatriation) is somehow linked to the relationship with China, and that just isn’t the case”.

“This gold will continue to serve as a reserve, alongside the gold already in country, with the same value and financial backing”, Merentes stated.

Commenting on the Venezuelans who gathered to welcome home their country’s gold over the weekend, BCV President Merentes said he hadn’t prepared himself to see “such elevated levels of enthusiasm” and that seeing people on the streets of Caracas waving flags and celebrating the gold’s arrival “was very emotional, very moving”.

BACKING REGIONAL INTEGRATION Venezuela’s first batch of repatriated gold arrived in Caracas just days before the country hosts the founding summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), described by many analysts as “an Organization of American States without the US or Canada”.

Speaking to Venezolana de Television (VTV) last week, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro explained that the formation of CELAC comes at a time of “very favorable circumstances…the great political will of the governments in the region and the great political consciousness of our peoples”.

According to Maduro, Latin America today is a “continent that is more awake, more independent, that acts with greater liberty”, adding that CELAC will aim to make the region “a great zone of peace and integral development”.

One of the main areas of integration in the region has been economic, with the creation of the Bank of the South and a new currency, the SUCRE, used for inter-regional trade. A goal of CELAC is to “continue increasing economic sovereignty in the region”, affirmed Maduro.

NoÊ ÓÊUÊFriday, December 2, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Integration

Venezuela and Colombia Strengthen Ties, Despite Opposition Efforts to Divide T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

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oving forward with a shared agenda based on strategic cooperation and goodwill, the Venezuelan and Colombian governments entered into a series of bilateral accords last Monday in areas ranging from commerce and housing to agriculture and energy.

“Here we are together as the year 2011 comes to a close. It’s been a year that has been marked by a deep warming of relations [between Colombia and Venezuela]. That’s the way it should be now and always - integrated relations in all political, economic, cultural and social aspects between two countries that are really one nation. One nation with two republics, as our Liberator Simon Bolivar would say”, President Hugo Chavez commented upon receiving his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos at the presidential palace of Miraflores in Caracas.

The meeting between the two leaders is the third of its kind since Santos was elected president in August of last year, replacing his predecessor Alvaro Uribe.

“It’s been nearly 16 months since we re-initiated relations and we’ve been sailing on high winds”, the former Colombian Defense Minister said before the meeting.

“As in any relations, some things progress faster than others but we’re always looking for the same thing, to strengthen relations between two nations that are destined to work together in a coordinated way”, he asserted.

With the arrival of Santos to Colombia’s highest office last year, there has been a new direction in the at times rocky relationship between Venezuelan and its western neighbor.

Although a political conservative, the new Colombian head of state has adopted a more collaborative attitude than his predecessor Uribe, bringing to the table a willingness to work for the mutual benefit of the two countries.

COMMERCE & TRADE Sharing more than just a border and a common history, both Venezuela and Colombia have a trade balance that accounts for around $2 billion annually.

Chief among the 12 accords signed on Monday was the establishment of a series of preferential tariffs created to replace the trade deals invalidated by Venezuela’s official departure from the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) trade block earlier this year.

“By expanding trade, we’re going to strengthen our economic relations and further integration. These preferential tariffs cover close to 3,500 tariff codes... What we’re doing is replacing the arrangement we had with the CAN and injecting new gasoline with this accord... This is a very important step. We’ve been working for months to finish what today we have signed”, said President Santos at a press conference after the meeting.

Other important accords signed between the two nations include the further development of plans to build an oil pipeline from the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela to the Pacific coast of Colombia, facilitating crude exports to Asian markets.

“We’re sending a little over 400,000 barrels of oil to China everyday. But we want to reach a million. By 2014, we’re committed to sending a million barrels daily to China. The rigs that leave from here don’t pass through Panama because they’re too big. They have to pass through the South Atlantic and Africa before arriving at China. This oil pipeline is going to be very important for us when we have it”, Chavez said.

The two nations also gave the go ahead to research the possibility of expanding Venezuela’s network of natural gas pipelines to include Ecuador and Panama while other pacts will see the strengthening of cultural and intellectual exchanges.

In terms of agriculture, Venezuela agreed to buy 75,000 heads of cattle from its western neighbor to increase its dairy and meat industries while a series of accords with private Colombian businesses and have set the stage for the construction of factories to boost the health and housing sectors of the OPEC member state.

“I want to invite Colombian businessmen to sign agreements with us... For example, this appliance factory, this pharma-

ceutical factory, this factory for the production of concrete frameworks, they are vital for us. And it’s not only with state companies, but we’re aspiring to work together with private Colombian firms as well”, Chavez said.

Apart from the pacts, President Santos also confirmed his attendance for the founding conference of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) regional alliance, taking place in Caracas on December 2 and 3.

The summit, Santos said, “has great importance”, adding that he firmly believes “that this is the decade of Latin America because we can offer everything the world is looking for”.

OPPOSITION SABOTAGE Days before President Santos’ visit to Venezuela, an audio recording of former President Alvaro Uribe and several Venezuelan opposition leaders discussing plans to sabotage the bilateral meeting was released to a Colombian media outlet. In the meeting, Uribe, well known for his anti-Chavez sentiments, advised several members of the Venezuelan opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundta-

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3| ble (MUD, in Spanish), to protest Santos’ visit with President Chavez and the strengthening of relations between the neighboring South American nations.

During his two terms as President of Colombia, Uribe maintained a tense and deceptive relationship with the Venezuelan government. The situation escalated in 2008 to an almost military conflict when Uribe ordered an invasion into Ecuadorian territority to wipe out a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla camp, which resulted in the deaths of dozens, including Ecuadorian citizens. President Chavez subsequently ordered troops to secure Venezuela’s border with Colombia, to prevent Uribe from executing a similar scenario against the oil-wealthy state.

Before leaving office in 2010, Uribe increased tensions with Venezuela after formerly accusing President Chavez and his government of supporting terrorism and requesting international intervention by the Organization of American States (OAS). Relations were frozen between the two nations until Juan Manuel Santos took office in August 2010.

At last week’s meeting in Colombia, the anti-Chavez opposition members conspired with Uribe to find ways to create conflict between the two governments in an effort to break relations once again. Uribe proposed the opposition coalition publish a document in the days prior to Santos’ visit opposing the expanding relationship. “Why don’t you produce a manifest before the presidential meeting stating ‘President Santos, we are upset.

How can you give more weight to $800 million or $400 million, over democratic values. Democratic values have no price”.

The Venezuelan opposition members present included mayor of greater Caracas Antonio Ledezma, and pre-candidates Pedro Medina and Eduardo Fernandez. Uribe told the antiChavez Venezuelans that he was “unhappy” with their incapacity to negatively impact on the growing relations between the two countries. “We’ve been working on this for a year and a half and you haven’t made any public statements”, chastised Uribe.

Despite these opposition efforts to divide relations between the sister nations, the meetings on Monday went smoothly.

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4 | Politics

NoÊ ÓÊUÊFriday, December 2, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Solving the Housing Crisis: 100,000 New Homes for Victims of 2010 Flooding T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

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elebrating the first milestone of its ambitious new public housing program, last Sunday the Venezuelan government marked the delivery of 100,000 new homes to residents victimized by torrential rains at the end of last year.

The event, presided over via satellite by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his executive cabinet, saw the handing over of new living units in the capital of Caracas as well as the states of Barinas and Falcon.

Home number 100,000 was provided to Carmen Diaz, a resident of Caracas who was forced to take refuge in the military sector of Caracas as a result of last year’s rains.

After living in Tiuna Fort in the western area of the capital for nearly a year, Diaz expressed her contentment and thanks to the Venezuelan government for following through on its promise to flood victims.

“I’m grateful for everything that’s been given not only to me but to my family and my fellow citizens. I’m very grateful to

you, President Chavez, and to God for this home”, she said.

Mission Housing Venezuela was founded in April this year and has prioritized home construction in the South American country, setting an initial goal of 2 million new houses and apartments for residents by 2017.

Employing a range of private and public financing and cons-

truction methods, the subsidized homes can cost as little as nothing depending on a family’s size and income.

Although the mission has been primarily concerned with addressing the needs of the more than 130,000 people left homeless by the rains, the program is meant to meet the requirements of all Venezuelans.

According to President Chavez, Sunday’s achievement serves as an example of his administration’s willingness to confront the housing deficit and even upped the original ante of the mission’s goal from 2 million homes by 2017 to 3 million by 2019.

“I want to ratify my commitment with the country and with Venezuelan families.

We’re demonstrating that this is going to happen. In 2019, there will not be a single Venezuelan family that doesn’t have their own, dignified home”, Chavez said on Sunday.

Thus far, the Chavez administration has devoted more than $13.5 billion to the project - the equivalent of an entire year’s oil income for the OPEC member state.

Ricardo Molina, Minister for Housing and Habitat, pointed out that not only the construction of 100,000 homes deserves attention but also the average size of the homes, 70 square meters, which translates to a total of 7 million square meters built thus far in 2011.

“This is an extraordinary figure which shows a significant

change in the focus that has been given to the question of housing. That’s why the population knows that the mission is going to solve the housing problem”, Molina asserted.

trict, Jorge Rodriguez, and the Governor’s office of the Greater Capital District have been engaged in efforts to revive Caracas and beautify the city, providing more spaces for outdoor recreation and enjoyment and reducing the city’s reputation as violent and dangerous. The capital’s historic district was recently re-

novated and now represents one of South America’s most beautiful historical city centers, with museums and local informative tours for tourists and residents alike.

Free, outdoor music and entertainment have been key initiatives of the city to improve local quality of life.

BANKS MUST COOPERATE As part of Sunday’s event, Chavez also signed a presidential decree which makes affordable loans to home buyers a legal mandate. The new law seeks to lower the playing field for families by demanding that the nation’s private and public banks offer mortgages to those in need. Any lending institution that chooses to not comply with the new decree will be subject to sanctions, the socialist leader said.

“I don’t want to sound threatening or anything because it’s not necessary. But private banks are obligated to provide credits, just as private food companies must produce and distribute food products at regulated prices, even if they don’t like it... I’m obligating the banks to comply with the law and if they don’t, there will be consequences”, Chavez informed.

Children’s Orchestra Goes Underground in Caracas T/ COI P/ Agencies

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wo thousand children in 23 bands played brass instruments and sang in choirs at metro stations across Caracas on Saturday in the latest endeavour by Venezuela’s lauded youth orchestra program.

The simultaneous concerts were organized by the subway authorities and the program, known locally as “El Sistema”, (The System), that teaches classical music to kids from poor families.

“Today I got up early and my brother was left playing at home ... I’m so proud to be here”, said

10-year-old Jose Cuevas, clutching a trumpet and dressed in black trousers and white shirt like the rest of his group at Miranda station.

Venezuela’s program has drawn worldwide praise for tempting youths away from crime in tough neighborhoods by teaching them the work of composers like Mahler and Stravinsky.

Working with more than 300,000 children, it shot to prominence a few years ago when a young alumnus, Gustavo Dudamel, gained rock-star-like fame as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The government of President Hugo Chavez has injected millions of dollars into the program, which has now expanded worldwide. Similar programs for youth based on El Sistema are being implemented across the United States, in cities such as Boston and Los Angeles.

For some of the 2 million people who use the Caracas metro on average each day, Saturday’s concerts were welcome respite from the ongoing chaos in the nation’s capital.

“This is art”, said the mother of one young child performing at the station.

The Chavez administration, mayor of the Capital Dis-

NoÊ ÓÊUÊFriday, December 2, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Social Justice

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Venezuela: Reducing Poverty & Inequality

by Aiding the Disadvantaged The new program aims not just to help those in need financially, but also to provide them with skills and training to enter the job force

“We have to continue to consolidate a social security system that includes the entire population... from each according to their ability, to each according to their need”, Chavez said.

Registration for the new mission will begin on Monday in the states of Zulia, Lara, Anzoategui, Miranda, Bolivar as well as the Capital District of Caracas.

T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

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uring a public ceremony held in Venezuela’s Principal Theater in Caracas last Friday, President Hugo Chavez announced the formation of a new social program aimed at further assisting economically disadvantaged mothers and children around the country.

The new initiative, called Mission Children of My Country, will consolidate previous anti-poverty programs created by the Chavez administration into what the socialist president calls a “Great Mission”.

The mission will seek to eliminate once and for all extreme poverty in the country - something the current government has already decreased by over 65 percent in the past 12 years.

“Although we’ve been able to reduce general poverty in the country from 55.6 percent in 1998 to 26.8 percent in 2010, as well as extreme poverty from 21 percent to 7 percent, there are still 2 million people living in these conditions. That’s why we’re creating this mission oriented towards extreme poverty”, Chavez said on Friday.

The act was held in celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the founding of an earlier government program, Mission Baby Jesus, which has provided a range of essential maternity services to women and children in the OPEC member state.

Accompanied by his Health Minister, Eugenia Sader, Chavez gave a summary of the advances made by Mission Baby Jesus over it’s short existence including the establishment of seven new maternity hospitals and wings which have provided care for more than 1,200 pregnant women.

For Edelmira Chacon, a mother and resident of the capital, the government’s injection of resources for newborn care in the hospital Concepcion Palacios came as a godsend.

“My delivery was complicated because I had a lot of pain... the child wasn’t born correctly. Her lungs hadn’t developed and she was first in intensive care, then in premature care. It was only after three weeks that I was able to take her home”, she recalled.

Thanks to public health programs such as Mission Baby Jesus, Venezuela has been able to reduce infant mortality from 25 per 1,000 births in 1998 to a current 13 per 1,000 births.

The new Children of My Country mission plans to build on these types of gains, providing impoverished mothers with no more than 3 children under the age of 18 with a stipend of 430 bolivars ($100) monthly per child.

That figure represents a 40 percent increase in the benefits announced by Chavez on November 15 when he first introduced the idea of the program to the public.

Women who are mothers of disabled children, regardless of

their age, will also receive 600 bolivars ($139) according to the new scheme.

“With this assistance, we will continue to defeat the levels of poverty that were left to us by the bourgeoisie who ruled here for more than 40 years”, Chavez said with reference to previous governments.

More than just a welfare program, the mission also foresees a portion of the benefits to be invested in socially productive businesses and cooperatives so that the recipients “get out of the situation of misery and poverty with their own hands”, the head of state said.

Some 10 billion bolivars ($2.3 billion) will be made available for Children of My Country as the Venezuelan President and his supporters push the country closer to socialism .

“Socialism is what will allow us to put an end to poverty, backwardness, dependency, inequality, exploitation and suffering, It will enable us to turn Venezuela into a great and fair nation. Ours is a country that is on the way to socialism and this is the road that will provide for us while the road of capitalism

is that of perdition”, Chavez stated on Friday.

The head of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela also explained that the new mission will take aim at teen pregnancy, an historic problem in in the Caribbean nation owing to the high price of contraceptives and widely-held conservative taboos regarding sex education.

According to government statistics, of the 561 thousand births that took place in Venezuela in 2010, more than 130 thousand were to mothers between the ages of 15 and 19 while nearly 8 thousand births were to girls under the age of 15.

NEW HEALTH CENTERS In addition to announcing the creation of the program Children of My Country on Friday, Chavez also inaugurated, via satelite, a newly installed maternity wing in the hospital Francisco Lazo Marti in the state of Barinas as well as an attention center for children with disabilities in the state of Carabobo.

The recently created Child Maternity Center is the product of a more than 56 million bolivar ($13 million) investment on behalf of the Chavez government and will attend to more than 80 thousand people in the area surrounding Ciudad Bolivar in Barinas.

The wing has been equipped with advanced medical equipment including 3-D ultrasounds, surgical cameras, incubators and electric scalpels, as well as multiple operating rooms and pediatric consulting areas.

“This maternity center is great. Before, these areas had nothing... Now we have clinics with immediate care, rehabilitation and consultation offices of [the state health program] Barrio Adentro”, Chavez said.

With respect to the state of Carabobo, the Venezuelan head of state inaugurated the “Good Morning Little Turtle” Unit of Specialized and Holistic Protection for children with disabilities in the municipality of Bejuma.

The center forms part of the government program Mission Jose Gregorio Hernandez and has the capacity to treat up to 60 children with pedagogical assistance, occupation therapy, and general psychological and physical care.

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6 | Social Justice

NoʙÓÊUÊFriday, December 2, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Venezuela leads on UN human development goals T/ Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network

strategies, plans and actions aimed at boosting environmental conservation and education. Current projects include a national plan to apply the Stockholm Convention on Persistent OrgaOJD 1PMMVUBOUT BOE FYUFOEJOH environmental education and community participation in environmental preservation. t#FUXFFO UIFSF XBT an increase from 68% to 92% in the proportion of people with sustainable access to safe drinking water, which has beneďŹ ted more than 24 million people throughout Venezuela.

GOAL 8: Make the beneďŹ ts of new technologies, especially information and communications, available.

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n 2000, the government of Venezuela under President Hugo Chavez embraced the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to achieve a better standard of living for the entire population. Venezuela’s remarkably rapid achievement of most of the MDGs compared to every other country in the world is a result of the Chavez government’s implementation of economic and social policies based on the principles underlying 21st century socialism, which give priority to social investment for collective welfare and development.

Since the election of President Hugo Chavez in 1998, social investment in Venezuela has grown from just 8.4% of GDP to 18.8% of GDP in 2008. In contrast, social spending in all the advanced capitalist countries has declined in real terms.

THE MDG & VENEZUELA’S VICTORIES GOAL 1: Between 1990 and 2015, cut in half the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day, as well as the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t5IF PG QFPQMF MJWJOH JO FYtreme poverty in 2003 was drastically reduced to 9.4% by 2007, and then to 6.8% in 2011, while UIF PWFSBMM QPWFSUZ JOEFY GFMM from 49% in 1998 to 24.2% by the end of 2009. t5ISPVHI UIF .FSDBM OFUXPSL 6,048 new facilities serving nutritionally balanced food to the most needy were established in 2008. Nationally, the government-subsidized Mercal network now includes 16,529 food distribution establishments, beneďŹ ting more than half the population, who buy food at lower cost. t#FUXFFO BOE Venezuela’s food production increased by 44%, the result of new policies that have progressively eliminated large estates and recovered more than 3 million hectares of land suitable for agriculture; Supplies were also granted to small farmers to cultivate the land; and ďŹ nancial aid and technical training

were provided to food producers.

GOAL 2: Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t#FUXFFO BOE FOSPMMment in primary education increased to 91.9%. t#FUXFFO BOE FOSPMMment in primary education grew further, to 92.33% t5IFSF IBT CFFO B TJHOJmDBOU growth in overall participation in the education system, from a 31.25% increase between 1990 and 1998, to a 47.56% increase between 1999 and 2006. t*O UIF 6OJUFE /BUJPOT Educational, ScientiďŹ c and Cultural Organization declared Venezuela free of illiteracy, and recently placed it among the top ďŹ ve countries worldwide with access to university education.

GOAL 3: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education by no later than 2015.

VENEZUELA’S :ACHIEVEMENTS t 4DIPPM QBSUJDJQBUJPO SBUJP PG girls to boys is very low, reecting no gender discrimination in access to education. t*O VOJWFSTJUZ FEVDBUJPO XPNFO T participation increased by 1.46% in 2009 and there are now more women enrolled in university than men.

GOAL 4: Between 1990 and 2015, reduce the infant mortality rate by two-thirds.

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t 5IF JOGBOU NPSUBMJUZ SBUF PG per 1,000 live births in 1999 has been signiďŹ cantly reduced, to 13.7 per 1000 live births in 2007. t 5ISPVHI UIF XPSL PG .JTJPO Barrio Adentro, Venezuela is on track to reduce that rate to 8.6 per 1,000 live births by 2015.

GOAL 5: Between 1990 and 2015, reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three-ďŹ fths.

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t 5IF NBUFSOBM NPSUBMJUZ SBUF decreased to 56.8 per 100,000 in 2007. As this is still too high, comprehensive care for pregnant women has been made a priority by the government, through implementation of the following programs: t.JTTJPO $IJMESFO PG .Z $PVOtry t*NQSPWFNFOU PG UIF DPVOUSZ T health care network (Barrio Adentro I, II and III) t5IF /BUJPOBM 4FYVBM BOE 3FQSPductive Health Program.

GOAL 6: By 2015, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t *O UIF $IBWF[ BENJOJTUSBtion launched the HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan (Penvih). t 5IF OVNCFS PG QFPQMF SFDFJving free antiretroviral therapy increased from 1,059 in 1999 to 25,657 in 2008. t 4JODF OFX WBDDJOFT IBWF been incorporated into the national strategy for disease prevention. In 2008 alone, more than 32

million doses were administered and, through Mision Barrio Adentro, 8,656,988 doses have been produced, more than ever before in Venezuela’s history. t#FUXFFO UIFSF XBT B reduction in malaria cases. t#FUXFFO UIF OVNber of dengue cases reduced by 18%. t *O UIFSF XFSF POMZ primary health care physicians JO 7FOF[VFMB 5ISPVHI UIF FTUBblishment of Barrio Adentro in 2003 to provide free health care to the population, the number of doctors has increased dramatically, to more than 19,500 in 2009.

GOAL 7: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs, and reverse the loss of environmental resources. By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t6OEFS .JTJPO "SCPM NPSF UIBO 2,000 conservation committees involving over 50,000 members have planted 22,000 acres of trees in Venezuela by 2006. t*O B QSPHSBN GPS UIF FMJmination of tetraethyl lead in gasoline was enforced, resulting in the lowest levels of this polluting agent. t)FSCJDJEF BOE QFTUJDJEF VTF IBT been reduced in recent years. t 5IF .JOJTUSZ PG 1FPQMF T 1PXFS for the Environment will receive $675 million from the 2012 national budget to develop policies,

VENEZUELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: t5IF $IBWF[ BENJOJTUSBUJPO IBT started an aerospace program and put into orbit the ďŹ rst Venezuelan satellite, called Simon Bolivar. t7FOF[VFMB T /BUJPOBM 5FDIOPMPgical Literacy Plan provides training in the use and management of information and communication technologies. By late 2009, 620,574 people had been trained in the use of computers and related tools around the country, and more than 1 million Venezuelans had become technologically literate. A new network of 782 Infocentros make information and communication technologies available to the general population at no cost. t*O UIF $BOBJNB 1SPKFDU &EVDBUJPOBM 6TF PG *$5T XBT launched to provide every primary school student with a free -JOVY CBTFE $MBTTNBUF MBQUPQ and involve families, schools and communities in the learning process. t*O UIF 6OJUFE /BUJPOT Educational, ScientiďŹ c, and Cultural Organization awarded the Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize to Venezuela’s Infocentro FounEBUJPO GPS JUT QSPKFDU i5FDIOPMPgical Literacy for Older Adultsâ€?. t*O 7FOF[VFMB PQFOFE UIF second Infocenter for the visually impaired, part of the NatioOBM 5FDIOPMPHJDBM -JUFSBDZ 1MBO to include all visually impaired QFPQMF 5XFOUZ UXP TUBUFT JO Venezuela now have the equipment to enable visually impaired people to access technological literacy.

NoÊ ÓÊUÊFriday, December 2, 2011

The artillery of ideas

Venezuela: Building a Sustainable Electric System

T/ COI P/ Agencies

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enezuela is using public investment, foreign direct investment, public education, and the law in order to craft a sustainable solution to the rapidly growing demand for electricity that has resulted from economic growth and poverty reduction Through a campaign to promote energy conservation, the oil-producing South American nation has kept electricity consumption in check amidst economic growth in 2011, according Minister for Electricity Ali Rodriguez, who appeared last week on the Sunday talk show hosted by former Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

Normally, for a 2% increase in the GDP, electricity consumption is expected to increase by as much as 2,000 megawatts, Rodriguez explained. Venezuela’s GDP grew by 3.8% in the first nine months of this year, so the government was preparing for electricity consumption to reach 18,400 megawatts.

“We were expecting increases in consumption, but 17,000 megawatts at peak hour has been the upper limit until now”, Rodriguez said. “The campaign for the efficient use of electricity has been very successful”, said Rodriguez.

The government’s measures to reduce wasteful energy con-

sumption began two years ago during a drought that reduced the water level at the Guri hydroelectric complex and nearly caused the collapse of the national electric system.

The state-owned electricity company, CORPOELEC, increased rates for high-consumption households and restricted imports of energy-intensive appliances. Meanwhile, the government replaced millions of incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs, and implemented temporary energy rationing that included programmed reductions in the heavy industries. Private companies that invested in electricity infrastructure were given tax breaks.

The energy-saving measures helped avert a deeper and prolonged crisis. Nonetheless, the temporary electricity shortage aggravated Venezuela’s recession amidst the global economic downturn that began in 2009. It also came at a time of high electricity consumption following five-years of sustained economic growth and a 50% reduction in poverty.

EXPANDING ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION As Venezuela now emerges from recession, propelled by increased social investments by the government, the country has begun a multi-billion dollar plan to expand its electricity in-

frastructure and prevent future crises.

On Sunday, Rodriguez said the wave of economic growth that is expected in the coming years could increase Venezuela’s electricity consumption from 17,000 megawatts to 40,000 megawatts.

The country cannot continue to rely on the Guri dam for the majority of its electricity, the minister asserted.

Specifically, the government’s latest plan to build more than two million homes and equip them with electric household appliances such as refrigerators, washers and dryers, ovens and stoves, televisions, and air conditioners will contribute to the increased energy consumption, Rodriguez contended.

The appliances are imported from China and distributed through the state-subsidized Bicentenario markets. They are sold at a discount of up to 50%, and consumers are offered low-interest financing from the state-owned Bank of Venezuela, Women’s Bank, People’s Bank.

To provide for the citizenry’s energy needs, CORPOELEC has invested 21.4 billion bolivars ($5 billion) in electricity production and transmission in 2011.

A large part of the funding went toward the construction of a decentralized system of local thermo-electric plants that generate between 45 and 450 megawatts each and are dispersed

Environment

in cities and towns across the country.

The government also received a $700 million loan from the InterAmerican Development Bank, which was matched with $609 million of state funds, to renovate and improve the efficiency of six generators in the Guri dam.

To improve the electricity transmission system, Venezuela is building power lines connecting the eastern Bolivar state, where the Guri dam is located, with the Uribante hydroelectric complex in the western region.

Minister Rodriguez affirmed that 122 out of a planned 187 high-powered transformers have been installed.

“We have to advance in the construction of new transmission lines so that we do not depend on the three-line radial system that we have, which in the case of any incident could leave the country without energy”, Rodriguez said on Sunday.

The investments for this project came out of a bi-national investment accord signed by Venezuela and China. In the accord, China pledged to invest $28 billion over several years to increase Venezuela’s electricity production by 2,750 megawatts.

In the first six months of this year, the government added 1,300 megawatts to the national electric system. The company projects that it will add 3,618 megawatts to the system by the end of 2012. As of April 2011, Venezuela reported to have the capacity to produce 17,922 megawatts.

TEN TIMES MORE ELECTRICITY During the decade before Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was elected, 1989-1998, the national electric system’s production capacity was expanded by only 33 megawatts. In contrast, during the first ten years of the Chavez government, 3,229 megawatts were added to the system, according to Rodriguez.

RENEWABLE ENERGY & CONSCIOUSNESS While the government has focused primarily on the construction of thermo-electric generators so far, it has also increased its investments in renewable energies, in particular wind and solar power.

The state-run Foundation for the Development of Electricity

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7| Services has installed approximately 2,000 solar panels nationwide, mostly in poor rural communities where connecting to the electricity grid would incur serious environmental and economic costs.

The foundation’s wind energy projects in the Guajira region of Zulia state currently produce 24 megawatts. Windmills on the Paraguana Peninsula produce 100 megawatts. Experts from the Central University of Venezuela estimate that the region could potentially produce as many as 10,000 megawatts – approximately the output of the Guri dam.

In an April 2011 interview, Electricity Minister Rodriguez stated: “Another factor that propels demand is the sensation among the population that all of the problems in the electricity sector have been solved, so people return to their previous practices of excessive consumption”.

A far-reaching and consistent effort toward public education and publicity oriented toward the formation of energy-saving habits will be essential as Venezuela continues to grow in the coming years, Rodriguez added.

“It’s not about people having to give up electricity, it’s about the rational use of electricity, which is part of a worldwide campaign to contribute to better environmental conditions”, said the minister.

EFFICIENT USE OF ENERGY To provide a legal instrument for the fulfillment of these objectives, the National Assembly passed the new Law for the Rational and Efficient Use of Energy last week.

The law grants the Ministry for Electrical Energy six months to produce national guidelines for saving energy, conserving natural resources, minimizing the environmental impact of development, and promoting social equity. The ministry must also maintain a database of potential sources of renewable energy in the country.

The law also grants the Education Ministry one year to launch a national program for education about energy efficiency, to be carried out in primary schools, secondary schools, and universities. And, it sets the foundation for energy efficient building regulations to guide city planners and architects.

ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas

Friday | December 2, 2011 | Nº 92 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

A publication of the Fundacion Correo del OrinocoÊUÊ ` Ì À ivÊEva GolingerÊUÊ À>« VÊ ià } ÊAlexander Uzcátegui, Jameson JiménezÊUÊ*ÀiÃÃÊFundación Imprenta de la Cultura

ALBA giving hope and solidarity to Latin America i`iÀ V Ê Õi ÌiÃÊEÊ,ÕLi Ê*iÀi À>

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even years after being launched by the Venezuelan and Cuban governments, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) has become an important voice on the global stage willing to stand up and denounce capitalism.

ALBA has grown to include eight Latin American and Caribbean countries: Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

On December 14, ALBA will celebrate its seventh anniversary.

ALBA began in 2004 after a meeting between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and [then] Cuban President Fidel Castro. Since then, ALBA has grown to become an instrument at the service of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, and a reference point for people around the world.

ALBA emerged as a direct response to Washington’s plan to impose its Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) throughout the region.

At the 2001 Summit of the Americas, the US tried to get approval for the FTAA, a perverse project based on domination and accumulating capital to benefit a few rich elites at the expense of the majority.

At that summit, Chavez was the sole voice to speak out against the FTAA and block consensus.

In response, ALBA emerged as an instrument for a different type of integration, one based on solidarity where the returns on social investment are not measured in monetary terms but rather in improving people’s wellbeing.

In the face of capitalism’s structural crisis, ALBA fights to ensure the culture of life prevails over capitalism’s culture of death and war. ALBA is centered around anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist unity, and the promotion of alternative economic and social policies.

Western governments are deepening anti-worker austerity measures. ALBA, on the other hand, is investing in social programs and job security, and promoting public policies to benefit the people. This makes Latin America a political, economic, social and moral reference point for people around the world.

ALBA is based on two fundamental tenets: respect for national sovereignty and self-determination, and the creation of relations between countries based on solidarity, equality, justice and integration.

ALBA has promoted a number of important initiatives aimed at advancing a multi-polar world, building an alternative

economic structure, creating new relations between progressive governments and social movements in Latin America, and alleviating the huge levels of poverty in the region.

This includes building an alternative financial architecture at the service of the people.

The ALBA bank was been created to finance programs to expand social benefits. Similarly, the SUCRE (Unified System for Regional Compensation), a virtual currency that aims to replace the US dollar in the various preferential and special trade agreements among member-nations, was also created for trade.

ALBA is establishing relations that are not based on ac-

cumulating capital or making profit. ALBA’s investment is an investment with a return based on satisfying the basic needs and well being of the people of ALBA countries.

ALBA has also implemented a program dedicated to the needs of the disabled. Armies of doctors and health workers go door-to-door finding those with disabilities to provide them with needed attention.

So far, the program has assisted more than 3 million people in ALBA and non-ALBA countries.

Medical attention is provided to disabled people, along with any instruments they may need to live a dignified life, free of charge.

Member nations are also carrying out campaigns to provide free education, free health care and free literacy programs across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Latin American School of Medicine in Venezuela is another ALBA initiative. It is training students at no cost from Palestine, Africa and Latin America to become doctors with a humanist vision, ready to treat patients, not merchandise.

ALBA is also incorporating social movements and grassroots organizations into its structure, with voice and vote.

Nothing like this has been seen before. There has never existed an international organization before ALBA in which social movements participate as equals with governments.

At the ninth ALBA summit in Caracas in April last year, the Social Movements’ Council was created as a space to propose social and economic polices for ALBA, rather than to simply raise sectorial concerns.

A number of social movements from non-ALBA countries are taking part in building a social movements’ platform in support of ALBA. This means that grassroots organizations anywhere in the world could become a part of this platform of social movements.

The proposal is being pushed by many organizations, in particular Brazil’s Movement of Landless Peasants (MST), to consolidate, strengthen and build solidarity with the pro-people policies of Latin America’s progressive governments.

Karl Marx wrote that in the 19th century that the spectrum of communism was haunting Europe. In the 21st century, the spirit of humanity rising up against unjust systems to create new models is haunting the world as a global outcry that requires organization and politicization to truly change the world.

Venezuela and ALBA will continue to do all they can to make this a reality.