Pg. P g. 7 | S Social ociaal Justice Justice Venezuela’s world renowned orchestra system for children is now being used as a model for similar programs in the United States
FRIDAY|October 22nd, 2010 |No. 34 |Bs. 1|CARACAS
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John Pilger on the Chilean mining disaster and the resulting media spectacle
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
Creating a pluripolar world
Chavez in Syria y
During a whirlwind, worldwide tour, President Chavez visited seven countries on three continents, consolidating relations and advancing efforts to change the balance of global power. While on an official visit to Russia and Belarus, Venezuelan President Chavez secured new vehicles, agricultural technology, energy supply, commerce and scientific know-how that will aid in the South American nation’s progress and development. An agreement with Russia to build a nuclear energy plant in Venezuela sparked international controversy, provoking a reaction from US President Barack Obama, who urged Venezuela to “obey” international regulations. President Chavez made clear from the onstart that his nation’s intentions are soley for the peaceful development and use of nuclear energy.
New relations with Ukraine President Hugo Chavez made a historic visit to the Ukraine this week, marking the first visit ever made by a Venezuelan head of state to the former Soviet republic. Chavez met with his counterpart, Victor Yanukovic, during several hours on Monday to solidify relations. The two presidents agreed to establish their respective embassies in each other’s nation. Meetings were scheduled for November to continue advancing the new relationship and tentative deals were made for the purchase of several Antonov airplanes.
Impact
Venezuelan and Iran against aggression President Chavez made his 9th visit to Iran this week, further strengthening ties with the Persian nation.
Social Justice
FAO hails Venezuelan advances in Food sovereignty The United Nations lauded Venezuela’s progress towards guaranteeing the basic human right of nutrition to all citizens.
Social Justice
Housing solutions The Venezuelan government is resolving the nation’s housing crisis through innovative means.
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Venezuela: $580 million for public universities
he Venezuelan government approved the funding of almost 2.5 billion bolivars (US$580 million) for University-level public education, responding to demands from workers and students that the government meet fiscal needs for the 20102011 academic period and cancel salary-related debts accrued since 2008. Exiting the Council of Ministers meeting in which the resources were approved, Venezuelan Vice President Elías Jaua called for a return to normality at universities nationwide, following recent pro-
tests led by opposition university officials and student groups. “We call on the entire university community to stay calm and establish mechanisms for normalized communication with the Ministry of Higher Education. The Bolivarian Government has guaranteed that the universities and all of their workers, professors and students can count on the services and salaries that they need to successfully complete this [academic] year”, stated Jaua. According to Vice President Jaua, 450.9 million bolivars (US$105 million) were approved
“to cover the costs of hospitalizations, surgeries and maternityrelated issues of professors, administrative employees and other workers at universities, technological institutes and colleges”, and 729 million bolivars (US$170 million) were designated to pay debts to roughly 115,000 university employees. National Federation of University Employees President, Eduardo Sanchez declared the decision to approve the multimillion dollar resources, “A positive result of the struggle of workers in the streets”.
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enezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived to Syria late Wednesday evening for a visit to Damascus to strengthen commercial and political relations with the Middle Eastern nation. According to the Syrian Ambassador to Venezuela Ghassan Abbas, the visit of the President Chavez to Syria represents progress in the strategic alliance between the two countries, pursuing common objectives. Abbas underscored that both Syria and Venezuela fight for the sovereignty of their peoples, and for integration, unity and a pluripolar world. “Indeed, the struggle for the unity of Arab countries is very important to us, as is President Chavez’s fight to become sovereign and independent”. Furthermore, the diplomat pointed out that the strong position adopted by Venezuela in the face of aggressions from the United States and Israel against the Arab countries has been a key factor that led to the reinforcement of VenezuelaSyria relations. There is a clear political will to speed up the agreements reached between the two countries to bring the benefits from this alliance to the people of Venezuela and Syria, commented the ambassador. President Chavez met with his counterpart, Bashar Al-Assad, in Damascus on Thursday.
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| No 34 • Friday, October 22nd, 2010
IMPACT
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela and Iran stand together against aggression Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed solidarity and signed agreements with his Iranian counterpart Mahmud Ahmadinejad in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday and Wednesday, marking his ninth visit to Iran since winning office in 1998
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havez expressed his full support for Tehran immediately on his arrival to Iran late Monday evening, rejecting the aggressive actions of the United States government and its attempt to destabilize the Middle East and undermine the sovereignty of Ahmadinejad’s government. Upon arrival to the Middle Eastern nation, Chavez declared, “We are going to evaluate the world geopolitical situation and, above all, the tensions that imperialism continues to generate in the region and the sanctions that have been applied to the Iranian people [by the United Nations Security Council]. Our solidarity is with the Islamic Revolution. It is necessary to respect Iranian sovereignty”. The latest UN sanctions Iran has been subject to were passed in June this year and are the fourth such sanctions related to the country’s nuclear program and its co-operation with the UN International Atomic Energy Association. Ahmadinejad has rejected the resolutions as counterproductive. Chavez said that the purpose of his tour, which has already included visits to Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine, from October 13 to October 18, was to highlight the importance of a multipolar world to counteract the power of US imperialism and to create new relations between countries based on integration, cooperation and solidarity. Chavez complained that already one newspaper in Colombia, El Colombiano, had “started something spectacular about the signing in Moscow of a deal to build the first nuclear-energy plant in Venezuela. It’s the same tale, the same story of imperialism’s attempt to
prevent the independence of our people, and our development and industrialization”. Iran argues that the pressure from the United Nations Security Council is more political than grounded in any real concerns about nuclear materials. Tehran under Ahmadinejad has supported the rights of Palestinians to a state against Israeli aggression. He has also publicly supported Hezbollah against Israel. As part of the visit, Caracas and Tehran also signed more commercial accords. The two nations are building a maritime company in order to improve the efficiency of petroleum transportation. Venezuelan embassador to Iran, David Velasquez, explained to press that “in this ninth visit of President Chavez to Iran we are going to deepen our industrial co-operation, a topic which has strengthened the transfer of technology”. Tecnological transfer of scientific, commercial, agricultural and energy know-how is critical to ensure Venezuela’s long-term development and prosperity. “We are also advancing in agriculture and trade along with exchange of knowledge to continue along the road map approved by the presidents last April and May”, stated Ambassador Velasquez. Regarding the visit, President Chavez also remarked, “We are building new spaces to consolidate political, cultural, scientific, technical and economic independence”. STRENGTHENING TIES In the eight earlier meetings between Chavez and Ahmadinejad, more than 300 economic partnerships to develop trade, technology, agriculture, tourism, science and the environment have been established. During this latest visit to Tehran, Venezuelan Commerce Minister Richard Canan explained that Venezuela has “diversified its economy with the establishment of new strategic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, a nation to which we export steel, iron, aluminium and gold products, made by small factories in Guayana”. Just last year, agreements on rice, seed, corn, milk and prawn production in the food industry
were signed between both nations and private industries. Factories were constructed to produce cars, bicycles and tractors along side heavy machinery and plastic injection facilities in Venezuelan territory with Iranian know-how. Also, a deal was signed to build 10,000 homes in Venezuela for those most in need. Previously, Venezuela agreed to export 20,000 barrels of oil to Iran each year. On Wednesday morning, President Chavez visited a housing complex outside Tehran with nine different models of homes and apartment buildings. The Venezuelan President explained that Iran would aid Venezuela in resolving its housing crisis by helping to build similar models in the South American nation.
During a private dinner on Tuesday evening offered by President Ahmadinejad in honor of President Chavez, the two heads of states conversed amply and shared typical Iranian food. At the end of the meal, President Chavez declared Venezuela’s “unwavering allegiance to Iran”. “I know for a fact that Iran is not building a nuclear bomb”, proclaimed the Venezuelan President before the other dinner guests. “And I also know that if Iran were building a nuclear bomb, President Ahmadinejad would have the courage and dignity to say so to the world. But there is no bomb or plans for a bomb here. The US Empire just seeks an excuse to attack Iran because it won’t bow down to its power. We will stand by Iran no matter what”, declared President Chavez. For his part, President Ahmadinejad spoke briefly. “I agree with everything President Chavez said…We are together with Venezuela forever. We will defend each other before the attacks of aggressors and our adversaries will fall, they always do eventually. Viva Venezuela!” ex-
claimed the Iranian President at the end of the dinner ceremony. After Iran, Chavez visited Syria, Libya and Portugal on his 12day tour. The US government has expressed its “concern” over Venezuela’s growing relations with Iran. On Monday, the State Department said it worried over any country “intervening” in the affairs of another in the Middle East. On Tuesday, President Obama also spoke directly to Venezuela’s intentions to build a nuclear power plant with Russia’s aid, stating, “There are international laws and we hope Venezuela will abide by them. Venezuela must act responsibly in developing nuclear energy”. Venezuelan President Chavez has been clear from the beginning that Venezuela’s intentions with nuclear energy are peaceful. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has said the same of his nation’s nuclear development. Nonetheless, Washington has pushed for tougher sanctions against Iran and increased its military plans to attack the Persian nation if necessary. T/ Steven Mather and Eva Golinger P/ Presidential Press
INTEGRATION
The artillery of ideas
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No 34 • Friday, October 22nd, 2010 |
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Venezuela and Ukraine build relations Ukraine marked the third stop on President Chavez’s latest international tour to strengthen relations with allied states and build strategic agreements to shift the balance of world power and aid Venezuela’s development
mies, which are complementary in many ways”, the Ukranian head of state explained. One of the areas of collaboration, according to both Yanukovic and Chavez, will be Ukraine’s participation in the exploration of gas and oil reserves in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt.
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s part of his international visit to ally countries, Hugo Chavez arrived in Ukraine last Monday where he discussed a deepening of bilateral relations and a series of future agreements with President Victor Yanukovic. The visit is the first that any Venezuelan president has made to the Eastern European country, and the first for President Chavez since he took office in 1999. “We’ve arrived in Ukraine, thanks to the country’s invitation and we want to continue to work together”, Chavez told reporters upon arrival in Kiev. The Venezuelan head of state met with his Ukrainian counterpart Victor Yanukovic early in the day on Monday where the two leaders discussed a strengthening of relations between Kiev and Caracas. Yanukovic referred to the meeting as positive, calling the initiatives of president Chavez to collaborate with Ukraine in science, technology, and energy as “very serious” and “inspiring”. “It’s about the participation of Ukraine in the industrialization of Venezuela”, Yanukovic said of the topics discussed with his Venezuelan counterpart. “It’s about the rapid development of various areas such as electric energy, science, and… aeronautics”, he informed. For his part, Chavez expressed his optimism that growing relations with Ukraine will benefit his country’s social and economic development. “I am very grateful for the will that President Yanukovich has shown to collaborate in the industrialization of Venezuela and cooperate in development projects that we have finally been able to create after so much time”, he commented. As a result of the meeting, the two leaders agreed to establish diplomatic representation in their respective capitals.
Further meetings, scheduled for November in Caracas and later the same month in Kiev, are planned to strengthen the legal basis for future agreements and create a strategic map for collaboration in areas of energy, education, and military technology. “We’ve arrived at an agreement in which we’re going to quickly create a road map that’s going to define the priorities and directions for our relations and the paths to follow for development”, Chavez said of the future meetings. According to President Yanukovic, the legal basis for collaboration between the two nations needs to be prioritized in order to develop future accords. “We have to…work arduously on the new agreements and pacts that will allow us to work first on a bilateral basis and later, perhaps, with third party countries”, he affirmed. “For this reason we need to elevate our diplomatic relations to a level qualitatively higher in order to be able to take advantage of our future relations and for the well-being of both of our econo-
AIRPLANES After his discussions with Yanukovic, Chavez visited the Antonov aeronautic complex where he was shown a range of airplanes designed for both civil and defense purposes. According to the director of the complex, Dmytro Kiva, manufacture of any one of the planes could be possible in Venezuela. Since 1946, Kiva explained, the state-run Antonov “has produced more than 22 thousand planes, more than 100 designs and plane modifications, and more than six thousand of its planes fly in seventy-seven countries in the world”. President Chavez held a brief exchange with journalists present at the Antonov factory after his tour of the airplanes. He implored the youth of Ukraine to “not fall victim to the lies of the media”. “Be proud to be Ukrainian. Make Ukraine your’s, don’t let other influences sway your path as a dignified and independent nation. Beware of the venom induced through mass media that tries to sell you the ‘American way of life’. It’s a lie, that way only leads to destruction. We must build our own paths”, exclaimed the Venezuelan President, referring to Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution” that installed a pro-US government in 2004 after US agencies intervened heavily in the former Soviet nation’s affairs. Yanukovic’s return to power was seen by President Chavez as a path in the right direction towards “recovering Ukraine’s identity and dignity”, he said, before leaving the Antonov complex for the Kiev airport. Venezuela’s growing relationship with Ukraine will compliment a strategic plan to engage relations from Russia down to the Middle East and Africa. T/ Edward Ellis and Eva Golinger P/ Presidential Press
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INTEGRRATION
| No 34• Friday, October 22nd, 2010
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uring the first stops on an international trip that includes visits to seven countries on three continents, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez further strengthened his government’s relations with Russia and Belarus last week by signing a series of accords in areas of commerce, finance, agriculture, and energy development. RUSSIA Chavez’s trip began in Moscow where he signed 15 new agreements with his Russian counterpart, Dimitri Medvedev. The Venezuelan President explained during a local interview on Russia Today that his 9th visit to Russia is part of a new foreign policy movement in Latin America focused on creating a “pluripolar” world free from the free market mandates emanating from the United States and the Washington Consensus. “Before, [Latin America] was just a chorus of neoliberalism, an area of free trade for the Americas and the kind of privatization that attempted to put an end to the state”, Chavez said of the region’s recent past. “But all of this has failed. Today, Latin America sings a different tune and dances to its own beat”, he added. NUCLEAR POWER Affirming his nation’s autonomy and capacity to devise independent energy policies, Chavez declared the imminent construction of a nuclear power plant in Venezuela as a result of one of the new agreements signed in Moscow. “Yes, we’re going to develop nuclear energy in Venezuela with the help of Russia”, Chavez said unequivocally last Friday. “The whole world needs to know this and nothing is going to stop us. We’re free, sovereign, and independent”, he declared. President Medvedev expressed his support for Venezuela’s aspiration to construct a nuclear station as a way to shield its economy from an over reliance on oil exports. “We see this project as very positive”, he commented. “We…believe that nuclear development is one of the principal paths to development… And why can’t Venezuela have this kind of plant”, he asked. In terms of the project’s objectives, the Russian President admonished concerns that the technology would be used for military purposes. “President [Chavez] assured that there would be states that react to this in different ways. But I want to respond to them specifically in that our intentions are absolutely clear and transparent”, Medvedev clarified.
Chavez, for his part, dismissed allegations that such a project would have anything but peaceful purposes. “Venezuela is starting on the road to nuclear energy. It’s not necessary to say it but I will: with peaceful ends, of course”, he emphasized. Venezuela has recently emerged from a prolonged energy crisis due to a drought, which left its primary source of hydroelectric power, the Guri dam, crippled for months. The government has since been studying ways to diversify its energy production, analyzing thermoelectric generation and nuclear power. Although details on the construction of the nuclear plant are still in development, Venezuelan officials report that the facility will be able to supply the country with 500 Megawatts of additional energy. RUSSIAN-VENEZUELAN INVESTMENT BANK The solidification of a joint financial institution comprised of both Venezuelan and Russian capital was also discussed during President Chavez’s visit. The creation of the bank, first made public during a visit made to Venezuela by President Medvedev in 2008, will result from the South American nation’s use of national development funds to purchase the Russian bank Evrofinans. According to Chavez, the new financial entity will be headquartered in Moscow with branches in Caracas as well as Beijing. “We have to free ourselves from the world economic dictatorship”, Chavez exclaimed, with reference to neoliberal institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that have dominated global finance for decades. The new bank’s main purpose will be the independent financing of energy, transport and infrastructure development projects in the countries where it will be active. OTHER ACCORDS WITH RUSSIA In addition to nuclear energy and a joint investment bank, further accords were signed that include the extraction of natural gas in Venezuela and the construction of 10 thousand new homes for residents in Caracas. The housing project represents part of the Venezuelan government’s plan to transform the underutilized military sector, Fuerte Tiuna, into a modern residential area for inhabitants of the overcrowded shantytowns that surround the capital city. Venezuela also agreed to sell its stake in a German oil refinery to Russia and signed pacts designed
Venezuela: creating a pluripolar world In an effort to strengthen ties with ally nations, President Chavez made official visits to Russia and Belarus last week, signing new cooperative agreements, which will aid Venezuela’s national development and international goal of changing the balance of world power to increase coffee sales to the Slavic country as well as raise exports of cassava for use in the creation of bioplastic products. BELARUS Following his visit to Russia, President Chavez arrived in the Eastern European country of Belarus on Saturday where he was greeted by president Alexander Lukashenko at his official residence in the capital city, Minsk. The visit was Chavez’s fifth to Belarus, a country with whom Venezuela has enjoyed strong relations over the past five years. “We’ve come from Moscow with a lot of enthusiasm to continue moving forward our energy alliances with Belarus”, the Venezuelan head of state declared upon arrival. During his time in Minsk, Chavez toured cultural sites and signed key agreements in areas of housing, agriculture, industry, as well as energy. As part of the accords, Venezuela has agreed to increase its supply of oil to Belarus, currently calculated at four million barrels a year. The contract signed states that supply will increase to 10 million tons of oil
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No 34 • Friday, October 22nd, 2010 |
annually to the ex-Soviet republic from 2011 to 2013. Both Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Venezuelan head of state Hugo Chavez attended the signing ceremony by the state-run Belarusian Oil Company and Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The two companies also signed a memorandum on the development of two oil fields in Venezuela by Petrolera BeloVenezolana, a joint venture launched in 2007. The mixed company currently owns five oil fields in Venezuela that produce 820,000 tons of crude per year. Under the new memorandum, two other oil fields will join them to increase annual production up to 1.3 million tons annually. “Belarus will never have to worry again about oil supply”, affirmed President Chavez during his meeting with President Lukashenko. “Venezuela will guarantee Belarus 200 years of oil resources”, he added, indicating the long-term relationship consolidated between both countries. The two nations have also agreed to create mixed public-private companies for the manufacture of shoes and heavy construction vehicles in the South American nation. The planned construction vehicle factory will be the first of its kind in Latin America. “In Latin America, no one has a construction vehicle factory. Our brothers in Brazil don’t have one….We’re going to have a factory of large construction vehicles, the most modern in the world”, Chavez confirmed. President Chavez visited several vehicle factories, including the Belaz heavy duty truck plant, which soon will open a branch in Venezuela. While at the factory, the Venezuelan head of state tested one of the largest trucks in the world, the “Belaz 7517, with a cargo capacity of 160 tons”, informed Minister of Communication and Information, Mauricio Rodriguez, via Twitter while accompanying the President. President Chavez also tested the even larger Belaz 75601 truck, “used in mining and with a cargo capacity of 360 tons”. The Venezuelan President also toured the MAZ bus and truck factory, deciding on the spot to purchase several vehicles, but more importantly, to open joint ventures in Venezuela which will ensure technological transfer so the buses can eventually be produced in the South American nation. “A grand horizon is opening for us”, declared Chavez before a group of workers gathered to greet him at the MAZ plant. “Soon Ven-Maz or Maz-Ven will be born”, exclaimed the Venezuelan head of state to the workers, refer-
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ring to the joint venture that will produce cargo trucks and buses for public transportation in Venezuela. In terms of housing, Belarus has committed to a project involving the construction of some 4 thousand apartments in the central Venezuelan city of Maracay. President Chavez visited a model communal housing complex in the outskirts of Minsk, touring the newly constructed buildings and structure that soon will rise in Venezuela. “These are dignified homes”, declared the Venezuelan leader, “simple, but sufficient”, he added, referring to two modest apartments he viewed while at the complex. ECO-AGRICULTURE Chavez later visited the Agragorodok Dziarzhynski Farm, a stateowned agro-ecology production center in Minsk that represents the capacity, creativity and efficiency to guarantee food sovereignty in Belarus. The Venezuelan President, together with a group of cabinet members and guests accompanying him on his tri-continent tour, viewed the agro-ecological installations and savored the various food items produced on site. According to the farm’s representatives, “40% of their production is sold through their own chain of markets, 30% is exported to Russia and another 30% is commercialized through other companies”. The initiative combines free range, organic farming of cows and chickens, along with the production of organic grains and milk products. The area houses over 30,000 cows and vast fields for seed production and other cultivations, such as corn, wheat and cereals. At the end of the visit, a lunch was offered in President Chavez’s honor, with products grown and prouduced on the farm. Venezuelan Minister for Agriculture and Lands, Juan Carlos Loyo, entered into discussions afterward with the farm’s representatives to aid the South American nation in building a similar multi-disciplinary organic agro-ecological complex in the fertile regions of Venezuela. Speaking of the importance of Chavez’s presence in Minsk, President Lukashenko highlighted the fact that the South American leader’s visit “opens a very important stage” in relations between the two countries. “We will always be friends of your state”, Lukashenko said speaking to his Venezuelan counterpart. “We are willing to give all that we have to support the friendly people of Venezuela”, he added. T/ Edward Ellis and Eva Golinger P/ Presidential Press
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| No 34• Friday, October 22nd, 2010
SOCIAL JUSTICE
The artillery of ideas
Venezuela: providing housing for displaced optimism for the new beginning that is being offered to her and those who have lost everything due to the catastrophe. “We’re grateful to all the government bodies that have made this possible”, she exclaimed. “It’s something that God sent to us in order to open the door to a new future of hope”.
The Venezuelan government delivered 372 new homes on Sunday to victims of the torrential rains which have affected thousands of residents in the capital city Caracas, leaving many homeless
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ice President Elias Jaua presided over the delivery of the new homes, highlighting the celerity in which the Venezuelan government has acted in order to provide for those left displaced by the natural disaster. “Only 15 days were needed for the Bolivarian Revolution, led by the President of the Republic, Hugo Chavez, to provide housing solutions to the families left homeless”, he said during an act held in the state of Miranda. According to Jaua, the government has invested 284 million bolivars ($66 million USD) in the purchase of the new homes, the recipients of which will pay for their housing based on their economic ability. “We know that there are people who can pay more, others who can pay less, and others who can’t pay anything… The necessity for housing is large… I assure you that [President] Chavez has ordered the housing projects to be accelerated”, he affirmed.
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The 312 apartments delivered to victims on Sunday represent the first part of more than 1,000 homes to be provided for the families affected by the rains. The new homes form part of a residential area bought by the government that includes 60 four-story buildings in the Valle de Tuy in the state of Miranda, close to Caracas. “This housing complex has 1,138 homes and in the next 8 days, we hope to be able to deliver 500”, the Vice President
remarked. “Before the month of December, we hope to have provided housing for all the families that were affected by this tragedy”, he explained. All of the apartments being delivered are fully equipped with furniture and domestic appliances including refrigerators, stoves, and washing machines. The neighborhood also has 4 sports parks and 4 children’s parks for recreation as well as transportation for residents to the nearest Caracas metro station.
Minister for Education, Jenifer Gil, informed on Saturday that the children of the displaced will be enrolled in new schools in the Valle de Tuy and that all levels of government are cooperating to make sure that the families’ needs are met. Gil informed that the government “is united in this task which will serve as an opportunity to improve the quality of life for the residents of Caracas”. Nathali Bravo, a beneficiary of a new apartment, expressed her
HOUSING A TOP ISSUE Since the heavy rains that have drenched the nation’s capital, housing has become a major priority of the government of Hugo Chavez. In a recent visit to the military sector, Fuerte Tiuna, in Caracas, the Venezuelan head of state expressed his vision to convert the zone into a vast residential area where current occupants of the capital’s shantytowns can enjoy dignified housing and a higher quality of life. The President has also mentioned a similar project in the cities of Maracay and Barinas. As such, many of the agreements currently being signed by Chavez during his international trip to seven ally countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa have housing as a priority. Collaboration on housing with Russian and Belarusian firms has already been solidified and further agreements are being planned with Iran. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Héctor Lozano
FAO: Venezuela advances in food sovereignty
lfredo Missair, Representative of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognized Venezuela for its advances in nutrition and food sovereignty last Monday during an interview broadcast on the state television station, VTV. “More than 14 million people in Venezuela receive high quality food at fair prices, with everything that the basic food basket requires and with easy access for citizens”, Missair said during his appearance on the program Desperto Venezuela. The FAO representative highlighted the fact that malnutrition in Venezuela has been reduced
significantly and that the country is well ahead of other nations in terms of meeting the UN’s millenium goal in this area. According to Missair, Venezuela has reduced malnutrition from 7.7% in the 1990s to a current level of 3.7%. “Today this level has been reduced by a little more than half”, the UN representative said. “This needs to be highlighted becuase not only has the government guaranteed food security but also because it has elevated the human rights of citizens since food is a basic and fundamental right of all people”, he explained. Missair also reported that chronic infant malnutrition has
been reduced to 3.25%, a number that indicates it is no longer a national problem of public health and that the government “only needs to attend to specific cases”. On Saturday, the FAO representative attended an activity held in Caracas to celebrate World Food Day and was impressed by the enthusiasm that many citizens display with respect to the government’s initiatives. “This kind of help isn’t just reflected in the numbers, you can see it in the people. I was able to speak with some Caracas residents and they expressed their satisfaction with the food programs that the national govern-
ment has been developing as well as the quality of the products being supplied”. Achieving food security for the Venezuelan people has been a major priority of the Chavez administration. Over the years, the government has created numerous social programs ranging from school lunch programs to subsidized markets designed to ensure a steady supply of food products at reduced costs. The government also initiated a far ranging land reform program in 2001 in order to strengthen agricultural production and reduce the country’s heavy reliance on food imports.
Although the country’s dependence on imports is still high, the Lands and Agriculture Ministry has reported important advances in the production of staple crops such as corn and rice over the past ten years. Recently, the government has also been working to consolidate the commercialization of products through a state-run supply chain, which includes small scale bodegas and large supermarketsized stores. All of the prices in the state-operated food outlets are considerably less than those found in the private sector. T/ EE
SOCIAL JUSTICE
The artillery of ideas
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No 34 • Friday, October 22nd, 2010 | |
Venezuela’s Orchestra System to be Implemented in US V
enezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel has made an impression in the United States with the system of youth orchestras that has achieved so much success in Venezuela in promoting music education amongst children and youth. Last Saturday in Los Angeles, Dudamel gave away musical instruments during a brief ceremony, in which dozens of children sang for the young director, parents and guests. The evening began when the children used violins they made with cardboard three weeks ago, when the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) was launched. Sitting on the floor with a shirt similar to those worn by the children, the conductor listened to the songs that described how to hold the violin and how to sit while playing it. At the end of the presentation, Dudamel, one of the most successful graduates of Venezuela’s National System of Youth and Children Orchestras, surprised the students, mostly of limited means, by telling them to review
what they had under their seats. Under these seats, they found real violins donated by YOLA, which is trying to implement the same
programs that exist in Venezuela, and includes free instruments and classical music instruction for children and youth.
“Giving an opportunity to these children is the dream of every one of us, with the help of parents, who are very important.
Children are the reason I conduct”, said the world renowned Venezuelan musician in front of several guests, including US Senator Barbara Boxer. Venezuela’s National System of Children’s and Youth Orchestras is a foundation created by the Venezuelan maestro Jose Antonio Abreu and funded by the Venezuelan government. The main purpose is music education and the promotion of the collective practice of music through symphony orchestras and choirs as a form of social organization and community development. “The System”, as it is called, has received a major boost in funding and support from the government of President Hugo Chavez. The system has also inspired musical initiatives in other countries such as Italy, where on October 14 the Cultural Association in Gioco, Bari, initiated a project with 32 low-income children in order to prevent school dropouts and encourage socialization and cooperation. T/ YVKE
Cuba’s Doctors in Venezuela T
o travel around Venezuela and not run into a group of Cuban medical doctors is like going to Africa and not finding a lion, or at least not seeing the savanna. For more than five years, or perhaps seven, to be more exact, many rumors have been circulated about the Cuban doctors in Venezuela. Some of these might have been worthy for the Guinness Book of World Records had there been a category for the most senseless lies. What’s true is that these people are just people who do their jobs; they are neither heroes nor assassins gunning for Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez. But it would be a little selfish of me if I thought the work of these people in Venezuela didn’t seem very useful. Here I’ve found few hospitals and I’ve noted that it’s common for fire trucks or ambulances to be sent to pick up accident victims, but later they’re charged the cost of the service. Recently I spoke with some people who were saved by doctors from the Cuban provinces
of Pinar del Rio, Santiago de Cuba and Matanzas. Several of those patients do not support the movement toward socialism that the current Venezuelan President proposes; and before going under the knife of Cubans, they would have preferred anything or anyone else. Several of them were discharged from private clinics, where they had been brought for
urgent attention, but their medical insurance didn’t cover enough of the bill. They didn’t have enough money and were therefore kicked out of the clinics at the risk their lives. What they all agreed on was the kindness shown by the Cuban physicians. The truth is that I had no intention of writing about the kindness of the Cubans doctors, but this is what people talked about to me. The Cubans themselves have lots of anecdotes; some that make you laugh and others that shock. In the community of Wayü, in Mara, Venezuelan doctors now refuse to treat the indigenous people; they say they’re vindictive natives. When one of those patients was dying, there was fear that his relatives would later kill the doctor who treated him. The Cubans, on the other hand, have been there for several years and up to now, there have been no conflicts between them and the locals. Similarly, I got together with a Cuban friend who now lives on a hillside neighborhood of Cara-
cas. For her it’s normal that every once in a while one of the area’s “head thugs” will knock on her door to warn her to not to go out into the street that day; they advise her to “be careful” of some shootout that’s expected in the vicinity. But no one has to warn her. The gunshots are enough to force her under the bed or make her lock herself in the least insecure room in the house. People had told me about a doctor who has already returned to Cuba. She was the one who had to get psychological treatment after being here 15 days because of these situations of extreme violence. To my surprise, however, the woman decided to stay here, and what’s most surprising is that she married a Venezuelan, and today they live somewhat more peacefully in Cuba. Recently rain caused a lot of mudslides here. The flooding also resulted in deaths in the poorest areas, especially in Caracas. There I met another group of Cubans dressed in white. One of them had been a clown before
graduating and had come to Venezuela to prove that he could heal and make people laugh at the same time. Did he do it? Most Cuban doctors in Venezuela spend more than two years working here, some more than five, though they go back once or twice on vacations to see to their families. To me it would be sheer agony to be separated from my loved ones for so long. There are mothers who have barely had a chance see their children grow up, and others who left their little girls just after their first menstruations and in their last trips back have found them already married. As for me, I didn’t want to go through such situations; that’s why I didn’t study medicine. Meanwhile, those who have been treated by the island doctors, and were willing to give their opinion, agreed that they don’t want them to ever leave. But what about them? T/ Yordanka Caridad - Havana Times
FRIDAY|October 22nd, 2010 |No. 34|Bs. 1|CARACAS
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
A publication of the Fundacion Correo del Orinoco Editor-in-Chief | Eva Golinger • Graphic Design | Arturo Cazal, Pablo Valduciel L., Alexander Uzcátegui, Jameson Jiménez • Press | Fundación Imprenta de la Cultura
OPINION
T
Chile’s ghosts are not being rescued
he rescue of 33 miners in Chile is an extraordinary drama filled with pathos and heroism. It is also a media windfall for the Chilean government, whose every beneficence is recorded by a forest of cameras. One cannot fail to be impressed. However, like all great media events, it is a façade. The accident that trapped the miners is not unusual in Chile and the inevitable consequence of a ruthless economic system that has barely changed since the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Copper is Chile’s gold, and the frequency of mining disasters keeps pace with prices and profits. There are, on average, 39 fatal accidents every year in Chile’s privatised mines. The San Jose mine, where the men work, became so unsafe in 2007 it had to be closed – but not for long. On July 30 last, a labor department report warned again of “serious safety deficiencies”, but the minister took no action. Six days later, the men were entombed. For all the media circus at the rescue site, contemporary Chile is a country of the unspoken. At the Villa Grimaldi, in the suburbs of the capital Santiago, a sign says: “The forgotten past is full of memory”. This was the torture center where hundreds of people were murdered and disappeared for opposing the fascism that General Augusto Pinochet and his business allies brought to Chile. Its ghostly presence is overseen by the beauty of the Andes, and the man who unlocks the gate used to live nearby and remembers the screams. I was taken there one wintry morning in 2006 by Sara De Witt, who was imprisoned as a student activist and now lives in London. She was electrocuted and beaten, yet survived. Later, we drove to the home of Salvador Allende, the great democrat and reformer who perished when Pinochet seized power on September 11, 1973 – Latin America’s own 9/11. His house is a silent white building without a sign or a plaque. Everywhere, it seems, Allende’s name has been eliminated. Only in the lone memorial in the cemetery are the words engraved “Presidente de la Republica” as part of a remembrance of the “ejecutados politicos”: those “executed for political reasons”. Allende died by his own hand as Pinochet bombed the presidential palace with British planes as the American ambassador watched. Today, Chile is a democracy, though many would dispute that, notably those in the barrios forced to scavenge for food and steal
electricity. In 1990, Pinochet bequeathed a constitutionally compromised system as a condition of his retirement and the military’s withdrawal to the political shadows. This ensures that the broadly reformist parties, known as Concertacion, are permanently divided or drawn into legitimizing the economic designs of the heirs of the dictator. At the last election, the right-wing Coalition for Change, the creation of Pinochet’s ideologue Jaime Guzman, took power under president Sebastian Piñera. The bloody extinction of true democracy that began with the death of Allende was, by stealth, complete. Piñera is a billionaire who controls a slice of the mining, energy and retail industries.
He made his fortune in the aftermath of Pinochet’s coup and during the free-market “experiments” of the zealots from the University of Chicago, known as the Chicago Boys. His brother and former business partner, Jose Piñera, a labor minister under Pinochet, privatized mining and state pensions and all but destroyed the trade unions. This was applauded in Washington as an “economic miracle”, a model of the new cult of neo-liberalism that would sweep the continent and ensure control from the north. Today Chile is critical to President Barack Obama’s rollback of the independent democracies in Ecuador, Bolivia and Vene-
zuela. Piñera’s closest ally is Washington’s main man, Juan Manuel Santos, the new president of Colombia, home to seven US bases and an infamous human rights record familiar to Chileans who suffered under Pinochet’s terror. Post-Pinochet Chile has kept its own enduring abuses in shadow. The families still attempting to recover from the torture or disappearance of a loved bear the prejudice of the state and employers. Those not silent are the Mapuche people, the only indigenous nation the Spanish conquistadors could not defeat. In the late 19th century, the European settlers of an independent Chile waged their racist War of Extermination against the Mapuche who were left as impoverished outsiders. During Allende’s thousand days in power this began to change. Some Mapuche lands were returned and a debt of justice was recognized. Since then, a vicious, largely unreported war has been waged against the Mapuche. Forestry corporations have been allowed to take their land, and their resistance has been met with murders, disappearances and arbitrary prosecutions under “anti terrorism” laws enacted by the dictatorship. In their campaigns of civil disobedience, none of the Mapuche has harmed anyone. The mere accusation of a landowner or businessman that the Mapuche “might” trespass on their own ancestral lands is often enough for the police to charge them with offences that lead to Kafkaesque trials with faceless witnesses and prison sentences of up to 20 years. They are, in effect, political prisoners. While the world rejoices at the spectacle of the miners’ rescue, 38 Mapuche hunger strikers have not been news. They are demanding an end to the Pinochet laws used against them, such as “terrorist arson”, and the justice of a real democracy. On October 9, all but one of the hunger strikers ended their protest after 90 days without food. A young Mapuche, Luis Marileo, says he will go on. On October 18, President Piñera was set to give a lecture on “current events” at the London School of Economics. He should be reminded of their ordeal and why. John Pilger John Pilger is a world-renowned journalist, author and documentary filmmaker from Australia and winner of the prestigous Sophie Prize for ‘30 years of exposing injustice and promoting human rights’. www.johnpilger.com