Pg. 7 | Analysis
Part II of James Petras’ analysis on US failed policy to Venezuela
FRIDAY August 20, 2010 No. 25 Bs. 1 Caracas
Pg. 8 | Opinion
Paul Craig Roberts: The end of US Empire or the beginning of Revolution?
ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas
Media Pornography
Colombian Foreign Minister in Venezuela
When do graphic images and distorted content go too far?
Polls show Win for socialists
Venezuela, like many other countries, is grappling with the difficult issue of regulating media. As the business of communication and information has continued to evolve into one of the most powerful and influential industries in the world, societies are placing limits on media ownership, monopolies, content and viewing procedures. The US government prohibits images of fallen soldiers from publication in US press. Most countries regulate viewing hours for sex, violence and other graphic content. But overall, journalists and editors hold principal responsibility for what is shown and how it’s presented. When political and economic agendas control media corporations, journalist ethics are often overlooked
Opposition, neutral and progovernment pollsters are all showing leading numbers for Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (PSUV) in the upcoming September legislative elections. If polls are right, the pro-Chavez coalition will retain its majority hold in the Venezuelan National Assembly, ensuring the easy passage of legislation favorable to the socialist model proposed by President Chavez.
International
Venezuela & Colombia forge ties
The President of Colombia’s Congress visited Venezuela to continue healing relations.
Economy
New market securities law
President Chavez signed a new market securities law this week, enabling the creation of a Public Stock Exchange.
Social Justice
Advances in agriculture
Socialist policies have aided small-scale farming to increase.
$140 million USD for humanization of Venezuelan prison system
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he Venezuelan Government approved on Tuesday $40 million US dollars to finance the Penitenciary System Humanization Plan, revealed President Hugo Chavez during a Council of Ministers meeting held in the Presidential Palace. He detailed that $80 million will be invested in maintenance and control of the penitenciary system and $40 million will go towards the construction of two new prisons. Likewise, President Chavez said that $2.3 million were approved to support the Penitenciary Symphony Orchestra, an innovative program
that seeks to enrich and change the lives of offenders through music and creative discipline. Additionally, the Venezuelan President pointed out that $11 million would be destined to cover the costs of food for prisoners. Chavez highlighted that the year’s budget supplement for the prison system was approved to guarantee the continuity of infrastructure improvements, nutrition plans and cultural projects taking place within the National Penitenciary System. “Even with the drop of the GDP during the last few months, we con-
tinue moving forward. But there are countries, so-called developed ones, that are cutting budgets and wages in public institutions”, alerted President Chavez, adding that “no social programs or spending have been cut” in Venezuela since the world financial crisis began two years ago. Venezuela’s prison system was in shambles with Chavez came to power 11 years ago. While there still are major improvements and advances to make, for the first time cultural exchanges have been introduced in the penitenciary system, along with work and rehabilitation programs.
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aria Angela Holguin, Colombia’s new Foreign Minister, is in Venezuela today, as part of the follow-up to last week’s presidential meeting between Hugo Chavez and Juan Manuel Santos. Holguin, accompanied by other cabinet members, is charged with activating several working commissions and projects set in place by the two presidents last week, in order to restore diplomatic and commercial relations between both nations. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, expressed his wish to prolong positive relations with Colombia. Chavez said he hopes the period of cooperation lasts “a lifetime”. The two presidents met last week in Santa Marta, where they agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations between both nations, which were severed after former president Alvaro Uribe filed a complaint with the Organization of American States about alleged guerrilla camps on Venezuelan soil. “We are working with Colombia on economic and commercial issues as well as on political and moral issues. In addition to these sensitive topics, I also told the head of the Colombian Congress, Armando Benedetti, that the issue of security is vital for us. Colombia has to recognize that the military bases on their soil are a threat for us”, said Chavez. Holguin will work with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, to activate working commissions in the areas of border security, commerce, development, and infrastracture.
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A graphic image published on the front page of a Venezuelan newspaper has sparked an international controversy over the limits of press freedom and journalistic ethics
IMPACT
Media pornography sition, declared the court’s decision “absurd”. While considering the publication of the image in El Nacional “yellow journalism”, Nolia also stated that “children are not stupid, they know what’s going on. Perhaps it would be better to publish images of people killed by violent crime with explanations about who they were and the fact that now their lives are over, so that kids will understand the severity of delinquency”. “Neither children nor anyone should be protected from learning of the violence of our societies”, declared Nolia, adding that “the problem of crime in Venezuela is very serious”.
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magine you’re walking on the street with your children and you pass a newstand with today’s papers displayed as usual and the front pages clearly visible to all who pass by. But to your horror, today’s national daily has an almost full-page graphic image of dead, bloodied bodies piled on top of each other in the local morgue. Every newstand you walk by has the same image, even repeated in several national and local papers. Your children are forced to see this with no warning. Such a horrifying image could be justified if it was taken last night after some atrocious event had occurred. But no, as it turns out, it’s a photograph taken last December, more than eight months ago, and is simply being used to make a political statement against crime. Furthermore, the photograph has no visible credits and, according to morgue authorities, was taken in secrecy, unauthorized, and in clear violation of the privacy rights of the family members of the deceased. Is this the kind of journalism society defends? When do media cross the limits into the grotesque, the pornographic and the obscene? Whose job is it to ensure viewers and readers are protected from such offensive and violent images? Is it only a question of journalistic ethics, or is it a larger issue of values, privacy rights and fundamental well being? POLITICAL AGENDAS These are the issues Venezuela is grappling with after the publication of a graphic image, as described above, in the daily paper, El Nacional. The image was then republished in another national daily, Tal Cual, along with several regional newspapers. El Nacional editor and owner, Miguel Henrique Otero, admitted the image was taken “unauthorized” last December in the Caracas morgue, and said he “held off from publishing it because of its graphic content” until the “right moment”. Venezuela is one month away from critical legislative elections, and Otero forms part of an extremist opposition organization, “2D”, supporting opposition candidates to the National Assembly. Otero makes no effort to hide his “anti-Chavez” opinions in his newspaper, one of the two main national dailies. In an interview on CNN en Español with Otero, the US news network admitted the image published by El Nacional was too
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graphic to present to viewers and stated, “CNN will not show this image during any of our broadcasts since we consider it could perturb viewers and is too graphic to show”. Nonetheless, Otero, and other corporate media in Venezuela, claim the publication of the graphic image is a part of “free expression”. But Otero did admit during the interview on CNN that he decided to publish the 8-month old photo last Friday because Venezuela is “one month away from elections” and “we are in campaign mode”, thereby admitting the publication of the photo was a political act, and not merely an expression of press freedom. PUBLIC OUTCRY Venezuelans reacted largely critical regarding the publication of the graphic photo in El Nacional. A group of concerned citizens protested on Tuesday before the Attorney General’s office, demanding children be protected from such violent images. Litbell Diaz, President of the National Institute for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Idena), declared to the press, “Whoever published that photograph knew those types of images affect children, but their intention was to destabilize, and it was done with premeditation”. Diaz and several dozen representatives from Idena, along with hundreds of children and adolescents, requested the Public Prosecutor’s office open a criminal investigation into the publication of the photograph by El Nacional. On Tuesday afternoon, Venezuela’s Mediation Court for the Protection of Children and Youth in Caracas ordered the prohibition of “images, information and publicity of any kind, with bloody content or messages of terror, physical aggresion,
or images that use war content or messages of deaths and deceased that could alter the psychological well being of children and youth”. The decision also ordered El Nacional to cease publication of such images based on an “Order of Protection” requested by the Public Prosecutor’s office. The judicial decision caused national responses. Opposition candidate to the National Assembly, Delsa Solorzano, declared during an interview on Wednesday that “pornographic magazines are sold in newstands” so therefore, “children are already vulnerable” to such images. What Solorzano failed to mention is that pornographic material is not fully viewable in newstands and is placed “out of reach” for children. On the other hand, the El Nacional front page was displayed prominently in newstands and shops nationwide. Forensic doctors working at the Caracas morgue publicly repudiated the publication of the graphic image in El Nacional claiming it was an “aggression” against their profession and workplace. “This is not an easy job, and we do not agree that the [press] manipulate us. We demand respect and ask you allow us to do our jobs in peace”, said Carmen Julieta Centeno, National Coordinator of Forensic Scientists of the CICPC (Venezuela’s Forensic Police). For his part, President Chavez called the publication of the 8-month old violent image a sign of “desperation” on behalf of the opposition. “The publication of this image just shows desperation, because they are trying to sabotage the Bolivarian Revolution by any means”. But journalist Alberto Nolia, who hosts en evening program on Venezuelan state television that harshly criticizes the oppo-
MEDIA LIMITS Earlier this year, US media struggled with the publication of graphic images from Haiti’s tragic earthquake. In a National Public Radio (NPR) discussion titled “What’s Too Graphic? How to Photograph Disaster”, most journalists agreed that it was essential to weigh the public value and use of the images or information versus family privacy and violent impact. “Photographs have the power to impact people at a visceral level and change the hearts and minds of public opinion and national focus”, said Kenneth Irby, Director of the Visual Journalism Group at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. “There’s an awful lot of censorship that happens both in terms of military and governmental activites in America (US) in particular”, he added, referring to Pentagon controls over the publication of images of US soldiers killed in battle. In the US, a country that strongly lauds itself for press freedom standards, freedom of expression is not absolute under the First Amendment. Privacy rights often supersede press freedoms. According to US Tort Law, “material may be published so long as it is legally obtained, not offensive to a reasonable person and of legitimate public concern”. Today, the Pentagon is hunting down the founders of the website, Wikileaks.com, because of the publication of thousands of classified US government documents. Wikileaks claims the publication is in the “public interest”, but the Pentagon says it’s harmful to “private interests”. Who is right and who is wrong? As media grow stronger and gain more power and influence over our societies, these issues will become more prominent in our every day lives. At some stage it will be necessary to stop considering all journalists and corporate media outlets as “proveyers of the truth” and start to look critically at the interests and agendas those powerful corporations represent. T/ Eva Golinger
international
The artillery of ideas
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Venezuela and Colombia continue crisis resolution efforts
he President of the Colombian Congress, Armando Benedetti, met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last Monday to further consolidate a renewal of diplomatic relations between the two nations. “Relations are very good”, Benedetti said after the meeting, adding, “I believe that confidence is being generated”. Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, affirmed the meeting represents a further step in rebuilding of diplomatic ties between the two nations. “We had a good conversation to help advance the steps that are being taken towards reestablishing relations and I believe the deep feeling between our people should be accompanied by all sectors, particularly the communications media, because we are looking for peace, cooperation, and are betting that the positive steps which have been taken will be consolidated”. Maduro also announced the visit of his Colombian counterpart, Maria Angela Holguin to Caracas scheduled for this Friday. The meeting will focus on the implementation of five working commissions that were agreed upon on August 10th when President Chavez met with the new Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, in Santa Marta, Colombia. CRISIS HALTED Chavez’s visit to Colombia marked a diplomatic breakthrough in a crisis that had gripped the two
nations for nearly three weeks following allegations made by the outgoing Colombian administration of Alvaro Uribe, accusing the Venezuelan government of harboring guerrilla groups and terrorist training camps. Venezuela has categorically denied the unproven charges and has attributed them to provocations underwritten by the United States. The five binational working commissions that are now in the process of implementation are focused on themes of debt settlement, improving commercial relations, and the fostering of development, infrastructure and security in border areas.
According to Maduro, progress is well under way in the formation of the commissions. The Venezuelan Foreign Minister explained the new relations are to be “based on complementary economic projects between our countries, work towards a commercial accord based on economic cooperation for April of next year, projects for the integration of social plans in the border region, infrastructure, and projects for a new concept of what security between our two countries will look like”.
of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Cilia Flores, where he proposed the creation of binational municipalities between the two nations to strengthen security and economic relations. Benedetti mentioned that Venezuela’s Border Law (Ley Organica de Fronteras) allows for the implementation and development of such municipalities. The President of the Colombian Congress also advocated for the creation of a free trade agreement between Bogota and Caracas.
CONGRESSIONAL TIES Before his meeting with Chavez, Benedetti met with the President
NO US BASES President Hugo Chavez, during a telephone call to the television pro-
gram Contragolpe, indicated that the question of security between the two nations is vital and that the presence of US military bases in Colombian territory close to Venezuela, represents a problem. Chavez reported that he expressed his concerns to Benedetti during their meeting, noting that the Colombian Congressman “has to recognize that these seven military bases in Colombia are a threat for us”. “The United States has a great capacity to provoke any kind of incident in the border area” Chavez said “or in any area in Venezuela that could generate an escalation. This is a permanent danger”. Flores, who considered Benedetti’s visit a “demonstration of good will”, accepted an invitation from the legislator to meet with the Colombian Congress to exchange audiovisual materials for television broadcasts. The date of this meeting will be decided upon shortly, Flores said. Hugo Chavez expressed his hopes that the positive relations now occurring between the two nations will remain permanent and do not represent just a diplomatic “honeymoon”. The Venezuelan head of state said he is in waiting for the Colombian Foreign Minister Holguin and her team of ministers on Friday to continue working on the newly established commissions. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Presidential Press
Colombian Court declares military agreement unconstitutional C
olombia’s constitutional court Tuesday declared a US-Colombian accord that gave the US military access to at least seven Colombian bases to be unconstitutional. The court ordered the government to submit the agreement to the Colombian Congress, arguing that it should be executed in the form of an international treaty that would be subject to congressional approval in order to comply with constitutional norms.
The court did not address whether the agreement itself was appropriate. The agreement “is an arrangement which requires the state to take on new obligations as well as an extension of previous ones and as such should be handled as an international treaty, that is, subject to congressional approval”, said the court’s Chief Justice Mauricio Gonzalez. The court decided in March to review the agreement after a
group of lawyers filed a complaint arguing it was unconstitutional. The lawsuit claimed the October 2009 military accord was invalid because it was signed by the government of President Alvaro Uribe without prior discussion in Congress, as mandated by the constitution. The military pact, which authorized the US to use Colombian bases and civilian installations for “full spectrum military opera-
tions” throughout South America, has been denounced by neighboring Venezuela as US interference in the region, raising tensions between Bogota and Caracas. Opponents also accuse Uribe of ignoring the advice of the State Council - the highest court on administrative matters, which also urged that the Congress take up the agreement before it was signed. The Uribe administration deemed the State Council’s opin-
ion non binding, and said the accord was not new but merely an extension of a 1974 military pact with the United States, and as such required no legislative oversight, government officials said. The United States since 2000 has channeled more than six billion dollars to Colombia through its Plan Colombia initiative to fight drug trafficking and insurgencies. T/ AFP
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economy
Popularity of State-run markets on the rise One of Venezuela’s state-run food supply networks saw an increase of 70% in its sales last month, according to Commerce Minister Richard Canan
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ppearing on the television program “Desperto Venezuela”, Canan reported a record income for the Bicentennial Markets, which took in a total of 260 million Bolivars ($56.5 million USD) in the month of July. According to the Minister, 2.1 million people visited the markets last month, an increase of 35%. The Bicentennial food markets are the result of the government’s nationalization of two private supermarket chains, Exito and Cada. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY The now state-run markets form part of the Venezuelan government’s food sovereignty strategy intended to secure a steady supply of basic food items for the nation’s population at affordable prices. In conjunction with other initiatives such as the social programs Mission Mercal, PDVAL, and CVAL, the Bicentennial Markets protect consumers from inflated prices and contrived shortages, problems that have plagued the private sector over the years. According to Canan, “Venezuela is no longer subject to the monopoly of private businesses”. “We guarantee the distribution and existence of all basic food products”, the Minister affirmed. “We have a center which permanently oversees the distribution of products coming from the state sector and the private sector alike”. In total, government run food outlets now number more than 19,000 throughout the country, distributing some 8 thousand tons of food daily and employing 37 thousand workers. The Bicentennail Markets now number 41, thirty-five of which are small distribution points and six of which are large supermarket-sized stores. An additional supermarket branch is currently under con-
Chavez signs new securities market act into law O n Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed into law a new Securities Market Act, moving towards the creation of a new national system of values. “This law emerges from the decay of capitalism, illegal exchange houses, Econoinvest and other illicit companies”, Chavez said during the Council of Ministers meeting, held at the Miraflores Presidential Palace. Chavez applauded the National Assembly for the work they have done in drafting this legislation, which creates a Public Values Exchange, to commence operations over the next few days. With the entry into operation of this new system, Venezuelans can save money now, without it “rotting in the pockets of the bourgeoisie who take away the
money to the United States or other tax havens”, explained Chavez. He also emphasized that the law establishing the National Superintendency of Securities and Public Values Exchange will have two main areas of operations. The first relates to National Public Debt and the second, Other Operations of Fixed Income and Equities. “It within this system that state enterprises, private companies and individuals, and other actors will engage in operations, such as the placement of shares and related transactions”, said the Venezuelan President. Chavez recalled that the new Venezuelan financial system is comprised of national securities markets, banking and public insurance companies. Venezuela has recently suffered through a severe banking scandal, in which more than a dozen
private banks were either liquidated or rescued and nationalized by the government. At the same time, the Venezuelan government cracked down on illicit financial transactions taking place at “casas de bolsas”, or “exchange houses”, that were illegally trading in US dollars on the black market, causing inflation and economic instability in the country. One of these “exchange houses”, Econoinvest, was found to have defrauded thousands of unknowing Venezuelans, usurping their identities to engage in illicit dollar trading. The company has since been shut down and several employees are currently in prison or under investigation for fraud and other financial crimes.
struction in the Caracas district of Plaza Venezuela.
for residents can be considerable. “The average [savings] for the basic food bundle is around 30%. There are some products, for example cheese and meat, which reach a savings of 50 to 60% compared with capitalist markets”. Many of the products now being sold in the food chains come
from government owned processing plants. Canan commented that the state-run Venezuelan Agrarian Corporation (CVA) has produced 110 thousand tons of food through its more than one hundred agroindustrial plants around the country.
AFFORDABLE PRICES The lower prices of the Bicentennial markets are perhaps their greatest advantage for consumers. As Canan observed, the savings
T/ Bolivarian News Agency (AVN)
More than four million products originating from public plants have been commercialized by the government’s food supply network. According to the Commerce Minister, in addition to increasing food production for the nation, the plants are also creating better working conditions for employees. “The policies being implemented by the Venezuelan Government are to defend people from exploitation by the oligarchy”, Canan said. “We have initiated a process of dignification of the working masses. We have put in place worker councils in each one of the factories”. A process of democratization and community involvement has also taken place at the point of sale. Community councils – grassroots neighborhood organizations – are currently operating 34 of the bodegas that belong to the Bicentennial Market network, Canan reported. This includes the carrying out of a planning process to evaluate the specific needs of the community and then fulfill those needs through the organized distribution of required food items. Canan also announced that this year, the Bicentennial Markets are offering more than just food products. Between August 18th and September 5th, a “Back to School” sale will take place where customers will have the opportunity to purchase scholastic items such as uniforms, backpacks, and notebooks. Also on sale are new computers assembled by the national company, Venezuelan Technological Industry (VIT). The computers feature a 160 GB Hard drive, 1 GB Ram, and an Intel processor. In addition to the availability of computers, Canan mentioned the government’s efforts to establish a supply network for domestic appliances that will be arriving from China later this month. The appliances are the result of an agreement signed between the Venezuelan government and China and will include washing machines, dryers, and stoves. T/ Edward Ellis
politics
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Polls indicate majority for socialists in legislative elections
As candidates from the pro-government United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the opposition United Democratic Roundtable (MUD) sharpen the focus of their campaigns for Venezuela’s 165 National Assembly seats, recent polls indicate the PSUV is on track to win at least a solid majority in the September 26th vote
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he PSUV, headed by President Hugo Chavez, and the MUD, a coalition of opposition parties, constitute the two main political blocs that are presenting candidates for the National Assembly. Both blocs have focused their campaigns on either approving or disapproving of President Hugo Chavez and his project of building “21st Century Socialism”, rather than specific legislative agendas. Members of the PSUV’s 36,000 local patrols, each of which consists of between 10 and 50 party activists, are in the midst of a nationwide, door-to-door campaign to spread word about the Chavez government’s achievements over the last 11 years. The canvassers highlight increases in education enrollment at all levels, access to free health care, food consumption, life expectancy, and mass political participation through communal councils. The canvassers encourage all PSUV members to vote in order to continue these advances, which they call the “Bolivarian Revolution”. The PSUV is by far the nation’s largest party with more than 7 million members (in a country with approximately 17 million registered voters), so it has a major electoral advantage if it succeeds in mobilizing its massive base. “In these moments, we are drawing up an electoral map at the national level that consists of direct contact with each voter to detect those who have decided to
vote for the Bolivarian formula of revolution, those who are opposition, and the neither-nors”, said Aristobulo Isturiz, chief of the PSUV campaign, in a press conference on Tuesday. In the 2005 National Assembly Elections, which opposition parties boycotted amidst predictions of imminent defeat, an estimated 3.67 million voters cast ballots for Chavez’s party, the Movement for a Fifth Republic, and an array of other pro-Chavez parties that had yet to be united into the PSUV. Last May in the PSUV primaries for the upcoming elections, 2.5 million party members cast ballots. PSUV candidates have also stepped up their participation in the media to combat what they call the “false propaganda” of the opposition, which has used its vast media reach to highlight persistent problems such as crime and corruption within government institutions. PSUV candidate in Caracas, Tania Diaz, declared that in the face of the opposition’s media campaign, “we must confront it and dismantle it with solid arguments; here in Venezuela, we have a population that wants to participate, a people that are politically educated for the discussion of ideas that we should have”.
If PSUV candidates retain control of the legislature this year, they are expected to continue implementing President Chavez’s agenda for “21st Century Socialism”, including efforts to accelerate land redistribution, promote gender equality, improve communal council management, promote communes as an alternative to representative city government, and impose stricter regulations of the banking and finance system. OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN In early August, MUD candidate Benjamin Ezaine announced in a press conference that the “principal theme” of the opposition’s campaign would be the issue of citizen insecurity, particularly the homicide rate, which has increased over the last ten years, although there are different estimates of the scale and causes of the increase. “The amount of deaths is so alarming, it is like living in a war”, said Ezaine. Julio Borges of the opposition party Primero Justicia (Justice First), a member of the MUD coalition, told the press recently that the total amount of homicides committed in the country increased from 4,550 in 1998 to 16.047 in 2009, and that Caracas is Latin America’s second most violent city with 140 homicides per
100,000 inhabitants. Borges did not cite the source of these statistics, and the government has not released its own overall homicide statistics. As part of the opposition’s electoral campaign, national daily newspapers aligned with the opposition regularly publish frontpage articles on crime and print gory photographs of bloody bodies at murder scenes. Last Friday, the newspaper El Nacional printed a color frontpage photograph of corpses in a Caracas morgue under a headline about the high number of illegally possessed weapons in the country. PSUV officials responded to the incident by accusing the newspaper of “journalistic pornography” and calling it an attempt to frighten the public about crime. The Attorney General’s office opened a legal investigation and obtained a Caracas court order prohibiting such bloody images in news media, under Article 79 of the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents. Recent voter opinion polls by firms considered to be sympathetic to both political camps indicated ongoing strong support for the PSUV in most states, as well as a substantial population of undecided voters, also known as “neither-nors”.
SOCIALIST PARTY TO WIN According to the editor of the newspaper Ultimas Noticias, Eleazar Diaz Rangel, a recent voter opinion poll by Datanalisis, which is considered to be sympathetic to the opposition and private business interests, found that the PSUV is likely to win 124 seats in the National Assembly, while the opposition is likely to win 41 seats. PSUV candidates are projected to win all of the National Assembly seats in four states, while the opposition is projected to win the majority of the seats in two states, half the seats in Miranda state where Caracas is located, and only one seat in eight other states, according to the study. Datanalisis did not publish the results of the poll on its website and merely commented that these results were too old to be of value at this point in the campaign. An opposition spokesperson of the MUD, Walter Marquez, though, argued that the poll was actually an analysis that was based on different assumptions, some of which are favorable to the government and some are favorable to the opposition. Ultimas Noticias reported similar poll results released by the Venezuelan Institute for Data Analysis (IVAD), which is considered to be pro-government. The poll found that in Anzoategui, a strongly pro-Chavez state, 43.7% of respondents plan to vote for the PSUV, while 38.7% support opposition candidates. In Miranda state, where support for Chavez has slipped in recent years, 34% said they would vote for the PSUV while 35% favored the opposition, with the rest of the population undecided. A polling firm with close ties to the government, GIS XXI, carried out polls in March, May, and June which indicated that support for the PSUV and its ally, the Communist Part of Venezuela, added up to 32%, 36% and 44% in those three months, respectively, and support for the opposition was 22%, 23%, and 20% during those three months. Also, voter turnout estimates hovered around 70% in the GIS XXI polls. T/ James Suggett www.venezuelanalysis.com
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social justice
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Advances in agricultural production Over the past eleven years, Venezuela has seen an increase of 48% in agricultural lands under cultivation, the Minister for Land and Agriculture, Juan Carlos Loyo, reported last week
According to the Land and Agriculture Ministry statistics, the production of white corn in Venezuela has increased by 132% in the past eleven years. Arepas, the single most important staple food in the Venezuelan diet, are made with the flour derived from white corn. Loyo said that winter cycle of 2010 would see an estimated production of 1.5 million tons of the crop, an increase of 3.5% from last year.
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ccording to official statistics released by the Ministry, the number of hectares now being planted has reached nearly 2.4 million (5.9 million acres), up from 1.6 million (3.9 million acres) in 1998. Crops such as corn, rice, soybean, and coffee have also seen important production increases during the presidency of Hugo Chavez. COMMUNITY-BASED FARMING Loyo made the announcements during an inspection of the Socialist Production Unit Indio Rangel in the state of Aragua, where 235 hectares of under-utilized land have been turned over to small farmers working collectively. The land that is now being worked by 80 small-scale farmers was previously under the domain of a private sugar cane hacienda, which according to the Venezuelan News Agency, had been abandoned for 6 years. Last year the hacienda land was handed over to the farmers, organized in nine community councils, and has been converted into a productive farm where staple crops such as corn and other vegetables are being planted. Loyo made a similar inspection last Friday in the state of Carabobo as part of a government followup plan being implemented in all the agricultural lands that have been redistributed in Venezuela’s Central Region since the passage of Presidential Decree 5,378. The decree established the preservation of 53,000 hectares of high quality farmlands in the Lake Valencia basin, close to the capital Caracas. “These are lands recovered by the Bolivarian Revolution”, Loyo said during the inspection of the Monte Sacro farm in Carabobo. “In this latifundio, a project is being developed… We came to inspect close to 170 hectares of white corn in very good condition”, he stated.
PRODUCTION INCREASE Soybean production, according to the ministry, has grown by 858% to 54,420 tons over the past decade. Rice production has risen by 84%, reaching nearly 1.3 million tons yearly while milk production has risen to 2.18 million tons, a 47% increase. Coffee has also seen an increase of 12% since 1998. Loyo attributes these advances to Venezuela’s Land Law, which serves to “strengthen national production in the countryside”. The Land and Agricultural Development Law, originally passed by presidential decree in 2001, implemented Venezuela’s new agrarian reform, creating the legal basis for the government to redistribute fallow and underutilized farmlands to landless campesinos. Before the government of Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela, World Bank statistics had
placed Venezuela as the country with the second worst land inequality in Latin America. A government agricultural census revealed that in 1998, 5% of the Venezuelan population owned 70% of the land. Over the past 6 years, more than 2.5 million hectares of land have been distributed to some 250,000 campesino families, according to government sources. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY An important part of the current agrarian reform lies in the premise of lowering the nation’s dependence on food imports and creating food sovereignty. Historically, Venezuela’s dependence on oil exports has created an underdeveloped agricultural sector, resulting in the importation of the vast majority of food products. According to Loyo, the strides being made in agricultural production have been significant, but more are needed. “The advances have been quantitative in agricultural terms, but it’s unquestionable that there is still much ground to cover and it’s for that reason that our work will continue…in all of our national territory, we will continue with special efforts to regularize land, rehabilitate agricultural routes, and ensure grant credits to our producers”. T/ Edward Ellis P/ Agencies
Venezuela increases agricultural consumption and production T he President of the Venezuelan Confederation of Farmers (Confagan), Jose Agustin Campos, underscored on Tuesday that the consumption and production of agricultural products has increased significantly during the 11 years of Revolution in Venezuela. Campos used chicken as an example. He said that before the arrival of the Chavez government, about 400,000 tons of this product were consumed in the country and about half was imported. Currently, the consumption is 900,000 tons, almost all produced locally. “If we were consuming the
same amount of food as eleven years ago, with the current production we would be self-supplied and would been exporting to other markets”, he said in reference to the increase in consumption and production. “The people are consuming quality food produced locally”, Campos highlighted. In addition, he mentioned that in the past, Venezuela had one of the worst rate consumptions of beef in the world, with an average of 11 kilos per capita annually. Today, the average is almost 25 kilos per capita, which is about 540,000 tons per year; in contrast with the 258,000 tons a decade ago.
Campos stressed that local producers generate about 70% of the total consumption. “That is to say, the domestic production is alive, growing and includes small, medium and big producers and farmers”, he added. Campos pointed out that these positive figures are a result of the policies implemented by the Chavez administration, such as fixing the interest rates for agricultural credits at 13% for private banks and 4% in public banks. Ten years ago, these rates could reach up to 50%. In this regard, the President of Confagan commented that previous governments generated a kind of plague that finished with farm workers. He guaranteed that
95% of the domestic productive sector supports current governmental agricultural policies. Campos rejected the argument that the nationalization of lands promoted by the government affects domestic production. He explained that there are about 800,000 farms in the country and only about 50 have been nationalized. “What [the government] has done is allow for new actors to emerge within the productive process, increasing widespread production and productivity”, he explained. T/ Bolivarian News Agency (AVN)
analysis
The artillery of ideas
7
No 25 • Friday, August 20, 2010 | |
US policy to Venezuela: Combining military and electoral tactics (Part II) U
S efforts to overthrow President Chavez’s democratic government borrow many of the tactics applied against previous democratic adversaries. These include border incursions by Colombian paramilitary and military forces similar to cross border attacks by the US sponsored “contras” against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua during the 1980s. The attempt to encircle and isolate Venezuela is similar to Washington’s policy over the past half century against Cuba. The funneling of funds to opposition groups, parties, media and NGO’s via US agencies and “dummy” foundations is a repeat of the tactics applied to destabilize the democratic government of Salvador Allende of Chile 1970-73, Evo Morales in Bolivia 2006-2010 and numerous other governments in the region. Washington’s multiple track policy, in its current phase, is directed at escalating a war of nerves, by constantly raising security threats. The military provocations, in part, are a ‘testing’ of Venezuela’s security preparations, probing for weaknesses in its ground, air and maritime defenses. These provocations also are part of a strategy of attrition, to force the Chavez government to put its defense forces on “alert” and mobilize the population and then to temporarily reduce the pressure until the next provocation. The purpose is to discredit the government’s constant reference to threats, in order to weaken vigilance and when circumstances allow making an opportune strike. Washington’s external military build-up is designed to intimidate Caribbean and Central American countries that may be looking towards closer economic relations with Venezuela. The show of force is also designed to encourage the internal opposition toward more aggressive actions. At the same time the confrontational posture is directed at the “weak links” or “moderate” sectors of the Chavista government who are nervous and anxious for “reconciliation” even at the price of unprincipled concessions to the
opposition and the new Colombia regime of President Santos. Washington is betting that a military build-up and psychological warfare linking Venezuela with revolutionary insurgents like the Colombian guerrilla will result in Chavez’s allies and friends in Latin America putting distance toward him. Washington wants a military “polarization”: US or Chavez. It rejects the political polarization existing today which pits Washington against MERCOSUR, the organization of economic integration involving Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay with Venezuela in line for membership or ALBA (economic integration involving Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and several Caribbean states). The FARC Factor Obama and now ex-President Uribe accused Venezuela of offering sanctuary for Colombian
guerrillas (FARC and ELN). In reality this is a ploy to pressure President Chavez to denounce or at a minimum demand that the FARC give up their armed struggle on terms dictated by the US and Colombian regime. Contrary to Uribe’s and the State Department’s boasts that the FARC is a declining, isolated and defeated fragment of the past, as a result of their successful counterinsurgency campaigns, a recent detailed field study by a Colombian researcher demonstrates that in the last 2 years the guerrillas have consolidated their influence over one-third of the country, and that the regime in Bogota controls only half the country. After suffering major defeats in 2008, the FARC and ELN have steadily advanced throughout 2009-2010 inflicting over 1300 military casualties last year and probably near double this year. The resurgence and advance of
the FARC has crucial importance as far as Washington’s military campaign again Venezuela. First it demonstrates that despite $6 billion plus in US military aid to Colombia, its counter-insurgency campaign to “exterminate” the FARC has failed. Secondly, the FARC’s offensive opens a “second front” in Colombia, weakening any effort to launch an invasion of Venezuela using Colombia as a “springboard”. Thirdly, faced with a growing internal class war, the new President Santos is more likely to seek to lessen tensions with Venezuela, hoping to relocate troops from the frontier of its neighbor toward the growing guerrilla insurgency. Washington’s multi-track policy directed at destabilizing the Venezuelan government has by and large been counter-productive, suffering major failures and few successes. The hardline toward Venezuela has failed to “line up” any support in the major countries of Latin America, with the exception of Colombia. It has isolated Washington not Caracas. The military threats may have radicalized the socio-economic measures adopted by Chavez, not moderated them. The accusations emanating from Colombia have strengthened internal cohesion in Venezuela, except among the hard-core opposition groups. They have also led to Venezuela’s upgrading its intelligence, police and military operations. The effects of the policies of tension and the “war of attrition” are hard to measure, especially in terms of their impact on the forthcoming crucial legislative elections on September 26, 2010. No doubt, Venezuela’s failure to regulate and control the multimillion flow of US funds to its Venezuelan collaborators has made a significant impact on their organizational capability. Likewise, the incompetence and corruption of several top Chavista officials, especially in public food distribution, housing and public safety will have an electoral impact.
It is likely that these “internal” factors are much more influential in shaping the alignment of Venezuela’s electoral outcome, than the aggressive confrontational politics adopted by Washington. Nevertheless, if the pro-US opposition substantially increases its legislative presence in the September 26 elections – beyond one-third of the Congress people – they will attempt to block social changes and economic stimulus policies. White House policy based on greater militarization and virtually no new economic initiatives has been a failure. It has encouraged the larger Latin American countries to increase regional integration. It has not increased US influence. Instead Latin America has moved toward a new regional political organization UNASUR (which excludes the US), downgrading the Organization of American States, which the US uses to push its agenda. What Washington fails to understand is that across the political spectrum from the left to the center-right, political leaders are appalled and opposed to the US push and promotion of the military option as the centerpiece of policy. Practically all political leaders have unpleasant memories of exile and persecution from the previous cycle of US backed military regimes. In other words, Latin America perceives US military aggression toward Venezuela as a “first step” southward toward their countries. President Chavez and his supporters would do well to concentrate on pulling the economy out of recession, tackling state corruption and monumental inefficiency and empowering the community and factory-based councils to play a greater role in everything from increasing productivity to public safety. Ultimately Venezuela’s longterm security from the pervasive reach of the US Empire depends on the strength of the organized mass organizations sustaining the Chavez government. James Petras
FRIDAY August 20, 2010 No. 25 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 • Press | Fundación Imprenta de la Cultura
Opinion
Without a revolution, Americans are history
The ecstasy of Empire: How close is America’s demise?
T
he US is running out of time to get its budget and trade deficits under control. Despite the urgency of the situation, 2010 has been wasted in hype about a non-existent recovery. As recently as August 2, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned a New York Times Column, “Welcome to the Recovery”. An appearance of recovery was created by over-counting employment and undercounting inflation. It is encouraging to see a bit of realization that, this time, Washington cannot spend the economy out of recession. The deficits are already too large for the dollar to survive as reserve currency, and deficit spending cannot put Americans back to work in jobs that have been moved offshore. However, the solutions offered by those who are beginning to recognize that there is a problem are discouraging. Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff thinks the solution is massive Social Security and Medicare cuts or massive tax increases or hyperinflation to destroy the massive debts. Perhaps economists lack imagination, or perhaps they don’t want to be cut off from Wall Street and corporate subsidies, but Social Security and Medicare are insufficient at their present levels, especially considering the erosion of private pensions by the dot com, derivative and real estate bubbles. Cuts in Social Security and Medicare, for which people have paid 15% of their earnings all their life, would result in starvation and deaths from curable diseases. Tax increases make even less sense. It is widely acknowledged that the majority of households cannot survive on one job. Both husband and wife work and often one of the partners has two jobs in order to make ends meet. Raising taxes makes it harder to make ends meet--thus more foreclosures, more food stamps, more homelessness. What kind of economist or humane person thinks this is a solution? Let’s get real. Here is what the government is likely to do. Once the Washington idiots realize that the dollar is at risk and that they can no longer finance their wars by borrowing abroad, the government will either levy a tax on private pensions on the grounds that the pensions have accumulated tax-deferred, or the government will require pension fund managers to purchase Treasury debt with our pensions. This will buy the government a bit more time while pension accounts are loaded up with worthless paper. The last Bush budget deficit (2008) was in
the $400-500 billion range, about the size of the Chinese, Japanese, and OPEC trade surpluses with the US. Traditionally, these trade surpluses have been recycled to the US and finance the federal budget deficit. In 2009 and 2010 the federal deficit jumped to $1,400 billion, a backto-back trillion dollar increase. There are not sufficient trade surpluses to finance a deficit this large. From where comes the money? The answer is from individuals fleeing the stock market into “safe” Treasury bonds and from the bankster bailout, not so much the TARP money as the Federal Reserve’s exchange of bank reserves for questionable financial paper such as subprime derivatives. The banks used their excess reserves to purchase Treasury debt. These financing maneuvers are one-time tricks. Once people have fled stocks, that movement into Treasuries is over. The opposition to the bankster bailout likely precludes another. So where does the money come from the next time? The Treasury was able to unload a lot of debt thanks to “the Greek crisis,” which the New York banksters and hedge funds multiplied into “the euro crisis”. The financial press served as a financing arm for the US Treasury by creating panic about European debt and the euro. Central banks and individuals who had taken refuge from the dollar in euros were panicked out of their euros,
and they rushed into dollars by purchasing US Treasury debt. Possibly the game can be replayed with Spanish debt, Irish debt, and whatever unlucky country swept in by the thoughtless expansion of the European Union. But when no countries remain that can be destabilized by Wall Street investment banksters and hedge funds, what then finances the US budget deficit? The only remaining financier is the Federal Reserve. When Treasury bonds brought to auction do not sell, the Federal Reserve must purchase them. The Federal Reserve purchases the bonds by creating new demand deposits, or checking accounts, for the Treasury. As the Treasury spends the proceeds of the new debt sales, the US money supply expands by the amount of the Federal Reserve’s purchase of Treasury debt. Do goods and services expand by the same amount? Imports will increase as US jobs have been offshored and given to foreigners, thus worsening the trade deficit. When the Federal Reserve purchases the Treasury’s new debt issues, the money supply will increase by more than the supply of domestically produced goods and services. Prices are likely to rise. How high will they rise? The longer money is created in order that government can
pay its bills, the more likely hyperinflation will be the result. The economy has not recovered. By the end of this year it will be obvious that the collapsing economy means a larger than $1.4 trillion budget deficit to finance. Will it be $2 trillion? Higher? Whatever the size, the rest of the world will see that the dollar is being printed in such quantities that it cannot serve as reserve currency. The collapse of the dollar will drive up the prices of imports and offshored goods on which Americans are dependent. Wal-Mart shoppers will think they have mistakenly gone into Neiman Marcus. The dollar as reserve currency cannot survive the conflagration. When the dollar goes, the US cannot finance its trade deficit. Is this the likely future that “our” government and “our patriotic” corporations have created for us? To borrow from Lenin, “What can be done?” Here is what can be done. The wars, which benefit no one but the military-security complex and Israel’s territorial expansion, can be immediately ended. This would reduce the US budget deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars per year. US military spending reflects the unaffordable and unattainable crazed neoconservative goal of US Empire and world hegemony. What fool in Washington thinks that China is going to finance US hegemony over China? The only way that the US will again have an economy is by bringing back the offshored jobs. The loss of these jobs impoverished Americans while producing over-sized gains for Wall Street, shareholders, and corporate executives. These jobs can be brought home where they belong by taxing corporations according to where value is added to their product. If the wars are not immediately stopped and the jobs brought back to America, the US is relegated to the trash bin of history. The neocons allied with Israel, who control both parties and much of the media, are strung out on the ecstasy of Empire. The United States and the welfare of its 300 million people cannot be restored unless the neocons, Wall Street, the corporations, and their servile slaves in Congress and the White House can be defeated. Without a revolution, Americans are history. Paul Craig Roberts www.globalresearch.ca