English Edition N° 42

FRIDAY|December 17, 2010 |No. 42 |Bs. 1|CARACAS

Pg. P g. 7 | S Social ocial Justice Justice

Pg. P g. 8 | O Opinion p in io n

Venezuela’s Adult Continuing Education Program has brought great successes, world recognition and changed lives

Following US footsteps, the Canadian Government has been channeling funds to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela

ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas

Venezuelan Legislature accords special emergency powers to President Chavez

More than 5 million trees planted

The Enabling Law will allow the Venezuelan head of state to enact a series of decrees to provide solutions for nationwide devastation caused by November’s heavy rains

Documents confirm US plans against Venezuela

Venezuela’s National Assembly approved an Enabling Act requested by President Hugo Chavez this week in order to facilitate emergency laws that will aid the nation’s recovery from a natural disaster caused by the heaviest rains in 40 years. The law authorizes the Executive Branch to exercise decree powers in areas ranging from infrastructure and economy, to national security and international relations. Opposition to the law claims the government is trying to bypass the new congress that will take office in January.

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Dozens of US Embassy cables released by Wikileaks evidence ongoing plans to alienate and attack the Venezuelan government.

Labeling President Chavez as an “enemy”, one document reveals an intricate strategy to manipulate Latin American governments to assume adversarial postures towards Venezuela, while others show clear conspiracies to take military actions against the Chavez administration.

Politics

Land reform and teconstruction After heavy floods tore apart the nation, Venezuela is rebuilding its agricultural industry.

Christmas bonuses for homeless The Venezuelan government issued special “bonuses” for families displaced by the rains.

US Embassy spied on restaurants A cable revealed by Wikileaks shows the Embassy in Caracas monitored a “socialist” restaurant.

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No internet censorship in Venezuelan media Law

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anuel Villalba, President of the National Assembly’s Commission on Science, Technology and Media, explained that the reformed Law of Social Responsibility in TV and Radio approved this week by majority vote seeks to prioritize nationally produced content in all audio-visual media.

Villalba also commented that the reformed law would expand employment opportunities in the sector.

“This reform proposes novel changes that would allow us to prioritize various sectors throughout the country, notably the national audio-visual

production sector. In the specific case of soap operas on TV and radio, the reform proposes that 50% of programs broadcast by media outlets be produced nationally”.

Villalba insisted that opposition sectors have launched a campaign attacking the proposed reforms to the Law of Social Responsibility in TV and Radio and the Organic Law of Telecommunications. He denied that the changes would eliminate the broadcasting of sporting, cultural or informative programs nor would they discriminate against private media outlets.

With regards to proposed reforms that would affect Internet use, Villalba specified that the changes would not block social networks like Twitter and Facebook, nor would they block search engines or impose preemptive censorship.

“We’re seeking to regulate the Internet so that there is adequate and good use of electronic media.

We are expanding the purpose of the law to include electronic media; if a website publishes a call for assassination, that person must be held responsible”.

ver the th course off 2010 2010, more than five million trees of different species were planted across Venezuela. The planting took place as part of Mission Arbol (Mission Tree), which was created in June 2006 to recover the country’s green and forest areas and offer natural refuge for animal species as well as preserve lands and tributary rivers.

In four years, the mission has paved the way for the creation of over 5,000 conservation committees countrywide, adding up to more than 50,000 people who have joined in to enact policies aimed at reducing affected areas in hydrographic basins and protected natural areas. Furthermore, more than 34,000 hectares have been reforested and more than 42 million plants have been produced in 3,198 community, school and institutional nurseries.

The program is part of the green policies of the Chavez administration, which despite relying on oil exploitation for primary income, has implemented a series of energy conservation and environmental protection measures during the past few years to fight global warming.

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IMPACT

The artillery of ideas

National Assembly approves Enabling Act granting emergency powers to President Chavez In order to hasten the national government’s response to widespread suffering caused by recent torrential rains, President Hugo Chavez requested an Enabling Law granting him exceptional powers to enact legislation and streamline relief efforts for victims of the disaster.

The law was approved on Thursday by a majority vote in the legislature

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peaking during a meeting held with his Council of Ministers last Friday, Chavez announced he would request the Enabling Law and appealed to members of Venezuela’s legislative body, the National Assembly, to approve his petition in an effort to “to confront this great crisis we are facing”. His words were heard loud and clear and echoed by a solid majority of parliamentarians.

The rains that have pounded the nation over the past weeks have provoked a wave of flooding and landslides, resulting in approximately 40 deaths and the displacement of more than 130,000 residents.

Eleven states have been officially declared in emergency and public facilities have been converted into shelters for the victims. Schools were suspended until January and public institutions, including the Presidential Palace, have been converted into temporary residences for the displaced.

“A flood has fallen upon us and with it, a sea of problems.” Chavez wrote in his weekly newspaper column on Sunday. “We must enact legislation with the haste that the circumstances demand. For this reason, I’ve decided to solicit the activation of an Enabling Law”.

HOUSING & INFRASTRUCTURE RELIEF The law sought by the Venezuelan head of state would provide

him with the power to by-pass congressional debate, in accordance with the country’s constitution, and decree legislation to respond to the emergency.

Chavez said that, once passed, he intends to use the powers to construct housing for the displaced and repair public infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the downpours. “[There will be] a package of laws and decrees for the total transformation and reconstruction of specific areas [affected by the rains]”, he explained.

“We are in agreement [with the measure]”, said PSUV Congressman Juan Carlos Dugarte. “The President, as the Constitution states, has the full right to solicit an Enabling Law from the National Assembly”.

Congresswoman Marelis Marcano, saw the law as an opportunity to double national efforts to address the crisis. “The National Assembly has approved the President’s request and we will continue to legislate in parallel. Both the Executive and the Legislative Branches can develop laws which will improve living conditions for our people”, she said.

OPPOSITION Members of Venezuela’s conservative opposition, on the other hand, have referred to the measure as “demogagy” and a “provocation”.

Congressman-elect, Julio Borges accused the government of wanting “to concentrate more power because it’s afraid of the people”, while Alfonso Marquina from the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) has denounced the move as “immoral”.

Some opposition politicians tried to claim the Enabling Law would be ineffective once the new parliament assumes power in January 2011, a claim that if true would render all laws passed by previous legislative bodies as nonbinding. The Enabling Law carries the same weight as any other legislation approved by Congress.

While National Assembly President Cilia Flores said the new powers would serve to ensure that Venezuelans recently made homeless by record-setting storms, “do not return to risky areas, but to decent homes”, opposition spokespeople as well as national and international press have said the law is Chavez’s way of circumventing the incoming National Assembly.

Unlike the current National Assembly, in the newly elected one, due to begin its term on January 5th, the opposition has more than one third (but less than a majority) of legislators.

Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said the Enabling Law was an urgent necessity given the seriousness of the situation caused by recent storms. “Over 40 percent of the territory has been affected”, said Jaua.

“A high percentage of roads have been destroyed; an important number of crops have been lost; 130,000 people were made homeless, the impact on the economy and on living conditions is serious”, he said.

SCOPE OF POWERS President Chavez, who for the last month has been on a non-stop, nation-wide, night and day tour of the areas affected by the flooding, said that the situation in Venezuela in the aftermath of the rains “continues to be critical” and “needs to be attended to by a series of laws that will come out [by decree]”.

According to Chavez, “All of those laws will fall within the confines of the constitution”.

The areas in which special powers will be granted to the President

include: infrastructure, transport, public services, housing and habitat, land use planning, comprehensive development and use of urban and rural lands, finance and taxes, people’s security and legal security, defense, international cooperation and the nation’s socioeconomic system.

Article 1.1 of the Enabling Law, for example, grants Chavez full authority for “addressing the vital and urgent human needs resulting from the social conditions of poverty and from rains, landslides, floods, and other events produced by the environmental problem”.

Meanwhile, Article 1.4 grants the President decreeing powers “to design a new geographic regionalization that reduces the elevated levels of demographic concentration in certain regions, to regulate the creation of new communities and…to establish a more adequate distribution and social use of urban and rural lands that have the conditions to install basic services and habitat that humanizes community relations”.

The President will also be able to pronounce or reform norms regulating aspects of infrastructure, communications, and transport, as well as norms that “regulate the behavior” of private and public entities in the construction of housing in order to “guarantee the right to adequate, safe, comfortable and hygienic housing”.

In the area of finance, Article 1.5 says the President will be able to pursue regulations that update the “public and private financial system to constitutional principles” as well as to create special funds to attend to the results of “natural and social contingencies”.

Finally, Chavez will also be able to enact decrees “aimed at strengthening international relations”.

On Thursday, the law was passed by a solid two-thirds majority of the National Assembly, and will have a duration of at least twelve months, during which time, the Executive can decree laws within the scope of areas authorized by the legislature.

T/ Edward Ellis, Juan Reardon & Tamara Pearson P/ Agencies

ANALYSIS

The artillery of ideas

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No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 |

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WikiLeaks: Documents confirm US plans against Venezuela State Department documents published

by WikiLeaks evidence Washington’s plans to “contain” Venezuela’s influence in the region and increase efforts to provoke regime change

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substantial portion of the more than 1600 State Department documents Wikileaks has published during the past two weeks refer to the ongoing efforts of US diplomacy to isolate and counter the Venezuelan government.

Since Hugo Chavez won the presidency for the first time in 1998, Washington has engaged in numerous efforts to overthrow him, including a failed coup d’etat in April 2002, an oil industry strike that same year, worldwide media campaigns and varios electoral interventions.

The State Department has also used its funding agencies, USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to channel millions of dollars annually to antiChavez NGOs, political parties, journalists and media organizations in Venezuela, who have been working to undermine the Chavez administration and force him from power.

When these interventionist policies have been denounced by the Chavez government and others, Washington has repeatedly denied any efforts to isolate or act against the Venezuelan head of state.

Nonetheless, the State Department cables published by WikiLeaks clearly evidence that not only has Washington been actively funding anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela, but it also has engaged in serious efforts during the past few years to convince governments worldwide to assume an adversarial position against President Hugo Chavez.

“CONTENTION” PLAN AGAINST A “FORMIDABLE FOE” In a secret document authored by current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Craig Kelly, and sent by the US Embassy in Santiago in June 2007 to the Secretary of State, CIA and Southern Command of the Pentagon, along with a series of other US embassies in the region, Kelly proposed “six main areas of action for the US government (USG) to limit Chavez’s influence” and “reassert US leadership in the region”.

Kelly, who played a primary role as “mediator” during last year’s coup d’etat in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, classifies President Hugo Chavez as an “enemy” in his report. “Know the enemy: We have to better understand how Chavez thinks and what he intends...To effectively counter the threat he represents, we need to know better his objectives and how he intends to pursue them.

This requires better intelligence in all of our countries”. Further on in the memo, Kelly confesses that President Chavez is a “formidable foe”, but, he adds, “he certainly can be taken”.

In 2006, Washington activated a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Mission Manager for Venezuela and Cuba. The mission, headed by clandestine CIA veteran Timothy Langford, is one of only four such intelligence entities of its type.

The others were created to handle intelligence matters relating to Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan/ Pakistan, evidencing the clear priority that Washington has placed on Venezuela as a target of increased espionage and covert operations.

Another suggestion made by Kelly in the secret cable, is a recommendation to increase US presence in the region and improve relations with Latin American military forces. “We should continue to strengthen ties to those military leaders in the region who share our concern over Chavez”.

Kelly also proposed a “psychological operations” program against the Venezuelan government to exploit its vulnerabilities.

“We also need to make sure that the truth about Chavez - his hollow vision, his empty promises, his dangerous international relationships, starting with Iran - gets out, always exercising careful judgment about where and how we take on Chavez directly/publicly”.

Kelly recommended US officials make more visits to the region to “show the flag and explain directly to populations our view of democracy and progress”. Kelly also offered details on how Washington could better exploit the differences amongst South American governments to isolate Venezuela:

“Brazil...can be a powerful counterpoint to Chavez’s project...Chile offers another excellent alternative to Chavez...We should look to find other ways to give Chile the lead on important initiatives, but without making them look like they are our puppets or surrogates. Argentina is more complex, but still presents distinct characteristics that should inform our approach to countering Chavez’s influence there”.

PRESSURING MERCOSUR Kelly also revealed the pressure Washington has been applying to Mercosur (Market of the South) to not accept Venezuela as a full member in the regional trade bloc. “With regard to Mercosur, we should not be timid in stating that Venezuela’s membership will torpedo US interest in even considering direct negotiations with the trading bloc”.

MEXICO, BOGOTA & OTHERS ASK TO “FIGHT” CHAVEZ The cables published by Wikileaks not only reveal US hostility towards Venezuela, but also the requests made by regional leaders and politicians to work against President Chavez.

One secret document from October 2009 referring to a meeting between Mexican President Felipe Calderon and US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair tells of how Calderon confessed he was “trying to isolate Venezuela through the Rio Group”. The Mexican head of state also appealed to the US intelligence chief, “The region needs a visible US presence...the United States must be ready to engage the next Brazilian president. Brazil, he said, is key to restraining Chavez...The US needs to engage Brazil more and influence its outlook”.

URIBE REQUESTS “MILITARY ACTION” AGAINST CHAVEZ In several secret documents authored by the US Embassy in Colombia, efforts by ex President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, to convince Washington to take action against Venezuela are evidenced.

In one cable from December 2007, the US Ambassador in Colombia recounts a meeting between Uribe and a delegation of US congress members, including Senate Major-

ity Leader, Harry Reid. According to the text, Uribe “likened the threat Chavez poses to Latin America to that posed by Hitler in Europe”.

And in yet another report summarizing a January 2008 meeting between Uribe and the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, Uribe is quoted as recommending military action against Venezuela.

“The best counter to Chavez, in Uribe’s view, remains action - including use of the military”.

Later in that same secret cable, Uribe urged Washington to “lead a public campaign against Venezuela...to counter Chavez...”

OPPOSITION BISHOP REQUESTS US ACTION In addition to regional politicians and US diplomats urging plans against President Chavez, one cable reveals how during a meeting between a Venezuelan Archbishop and the US Ambassador, the religious leader asked for Washington to act against his own government. At the meeting, which took place in January 2005 according to the document, Archbishop Baltazar Porras told Ambassador William Brownfield that the “US government should be more clear and public in its criticism of the Chavez administration” and that the “international community also needs to work and speak out more to contain Chavez...”

The plans and strategies revealed through these official documents confirm what other evidence has already corroborated regarding Washington’s increase in aggression towards Venezuela. The US continues to fund opposition groups that act to undermine Venezuelan democracy while escalating its hostile discourse and policies against the Chavez government.

This week’s Senate affirmation of Larry Palmer as Ambassador to Venezuela will only make matters worse. Palmer was rejected by the Venezuelan government after he made negative statements about the Chavez administration in August. Washington’s insistence of sending Palmer appears to be an effort to provoke a rupture in diplomatic relations.

T/ Eva Golinger P/ Agencies

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POLITICS

The artillery of ideas

Food Sovereignty: reinforcing agricultural production After the devasting rains that affected large areas of Venezuela’s farmlands, the Chavez administration is implementing a reconstruction plan to provide impulse to the nation’s farmers and agricultural production

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ore than 1,500 small farmers from the area south of Lake Maracaibo in the states of Merida and Zulia will be the beneficiaries of a new government plan to recover underutilized farm land and rebuild the agricultural productivity of the zone after heavy rains have destroyed harvests and displaced thousands of residents.

Speaking from the city of El Vigia in the state of Merida, Venezuela’s Minister of Agriculture and Land, Juan Carlos Loyo, announced on Monday that the government will redistribute over 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) of land formerly belonging to 43 massive estates, known in Latin America as latifundios.

“The only way that we can help these [affected] populations is for the revolution to recover these latifundios and give the people options“, Loyo said.

According to the Minister, the region South of Maracaibo Lake

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“is one of the areas that has seen the most inequality as a result of an obsolete and predatory capitalist system”, In the municipalities of Francisco Javier Pulgar and Colon alone, he pointed out, close to 40% of arable land is owned by a mere 4% of the population.

With the emergency provoked by the rains, this inequality has been exacerbated as more than

10,500 people in the region have been displaced.

Thus far, over 110 shelters have been set up in the area to assist those affected and last week alone, 136 tons of food were distributed to victims.

INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT Loyo explained on Monday that the government’s new land redistribution initiative will help

to resolve the crisis by providing new work and living opportunities for the small farmers who populate the area.

“The idea is to allow for the incorporation [of the small farmers] in socio-productive development and analyze new residential areas…to attack the situation of inequality where a small minority of people have the greatest concentration of

land at the detriment to the majority”, he said.

Stimulating agricultural production in the face of major crop losses will be another goal of the redistribution measure.

Officials report that 35% to 40% of the country’s plantain crop, one of Venezuela’s most important staple foods, has been damaged as a result of climatic conditions and some 10% of milk and meat production in the area South of Lake Marcaibo has also been lost.

According to Nancy Perez, head of the Women’s and Gender Equality Ministry, a group of 100 women has already volunteered to begin recovering the plantain losses.

“We’re going to do this through the creation of Socialist Units, but first work needs to be done on internal conditioning of drainage systems”.

In addition to democratizing land tenancy and promoting greater production, the government is planning a structural reconstruction of the zone with an initial government investment of 350 million bolivars in rural development, much of which will be dedicated to infrastructure.

“President Hugo Chavez approved a first installment of 350 million bolivars for the agricultural sector. 150 million of that will be dedicated solely to rural infrastructure”, Loyo reported.

T/ Edward Ellis P/ Presidential Press

Fugitive Carlos Ortega calls on Armed Forces to revolt

fugitive from Venezuelan justice and leader of the coup d’etat against President Chavez in April 2002, Carlos Ortega, has assured he is willing to return to Venezuela to “fight and rebuild the country”, calling upon Venezuela’s Armed Forces to “revolt” against the government of President Hugo Chavez.

In a letter sent on Monday by one of the principal instigators of the oil industry sabotage in 2002, which lasted 64 days and caused losses of over $20 billion dollars to the country, Ortega requested the opposition to President Chavez unite “to get rid of this dictatorial regime”.

“We must join together. If we do not join now, we will not have any chance in 2012, because the dicta-

torial regime is already in place”, he assured and added that if current circumstances persist, he does not see “the possibility of a transparent electoral process”, referring to the 2012 presidential elections.

“Those of us in exile are willing to return to fight, join and rebuild our country”, he revealed.

In the letter, which was published by several private print and televised media in Venezuela this week, Ortega also urged the Armed Forces to revolt against the democratic and constitutional government of President Hugo Chavez.

“The military must defend their dignity, and act against the regime”, he wrote.

From his self-exile in Peru, Ortega once again called on Ven-

ezuelans, civilians and military, to disobey Venezuelan laws and create disturbances.

“We must unite, join together and go out to the streets to defend the media, to stop once and for all the persecution against Venezuelans”, he exclaimed.

At the end of the illegal and damaging oil sabotage in February 2003, Ortega fled the country and requested political asylum in Costa Rica. He violated the asylum when he clandestinely returned to Venezuela using a false identity to incite unrest and was caught by Venezuelan authorities while playing bingo in Caracas in 2005.

In December of that same year, Ortega was tried and sentenced

to to 15 years, 11 months, 5 days and 20 hours in prison for the crimes of civil rebellion, instigation to disobey laws and use of false documents. After just

weeks in prison, Ortega escaped and fled the country, bribing authorities to facilitate his release.

Subsequently, Ortega requested political asylum in Peru, where other Venezuelan fugitives and anti-Chavez coup leaders are currently residing, such as Oscar Perez, Manuel Rosales, Nixon Moreno and Ramon Martinez.

From Lima, Carlos Ortega and the rest of the fugitives have been devoted to developing and promoting international campaigns against President Chavez, seeking to undermine democracy and destabilize the nation to provoke regime change.

T/ AVN P/ Agencies

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POLITICS

The artillery of ideas

No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 |

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Venezuela provides Christmas Bonus to flood victims, receives rush of international aid Emboldened by 267.5 tons of international humanitarian aid, the Venezuelan government intensified its effort to house, feed, provide health care to, and economically revitalize communities ravaged by recent torrential rains and floods

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ollowing a meeting of the presidential commission for flood relief, Vice President Elias Jaua said the government has received assistance from Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Spain, Switzerland, Belarus, Nicaragua, and Portugal, and that a shipment from Italy is expected in the coming days.

“These gestures are invaluable and they demonstrate that each day, little by little, we are reviving the spirit of the historical legacy of [South American independence hero] Simon Bolivar, coming together again as united brothers and sisters in good and bad times”, said Jaua on Sunday.

The Venezuelan government, led by President Hugo Chavez, is a strong proponent of Latin American integration in accordance with “Bolivarian” values of solidarity and share progress. It also advocates a “multi-polar world” independent from domination by the United States or any other superpower.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, an ally of President Chavez, visited Venezuela and neighboring Colombia this week to help coordinate flood relief efforts. Ecuador has donated nine tons of food, 400 mattresses, 400 blankets, 20 tents, and 25 water storage tanks to Venezuela so far, according to the Ecuadoran government.

“SOCIALIST SOLIDARITY BONUSES” FOR FLOOD VICTIMS On Sunday, the state-owned Bank of Venezuela gave a total of 2,992 debit cards charged with a “socialist solidarity bonus” of 1,224 bolivars (US $285) to families in 32 shelters around the capital city where flood victims are being housed. The bonus is

equivalent to one month of the national minimum wage.

The bank, which was nationalized in 2009, has produced 8,723 bonus debit cards so far, and bank employees intend to work overtime to produce a total of 20,000 to be handed out to flood victims on December 24th, according to Humberto Ortega Diaz, Venezuela’s top official in charge of the public banking sector.

LAND EXPROPRIATIONS IN FLOOD-AFFECTED AREAS In order to provide relief for rural communities that lost their crops in the floods, the government will nationalize a total of 20,200 hectares (49,894 acres) in the states of Merida, Trujillo, and Zulia, according to Agriculture and Land Minister Juan Carlos Loyo.

President Chavez approved an emergency investment of 350 million bolivars (US $81.4 million) to re-build rural infrastructure and revive agricultural production in the region, and the government will cancel any debts owed to state institutions by the region’s producers, Loyo said on Sunday.

The fertile areas south of Lake Maracaibo were among the most

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devastated by the recent rains.

Loyo, who is now stationed in the area, said damage to cattle ranches could potentially cause the loss of 10% of the region’s beef and dairy production. As many as 30,000 hectares (74,100 acres) of plantain and banana plantations – responsible for 40% of the nation’s production of this food staple – were affected by the flooding, Loyo said.

Loyo also denounced the unequal distribution of land that persists in the region, with almost 40% of the land owned by four percent of the population. South of Lake Maracaibo is “one of the zones where there is the most evidence of the inequality of the obsolete and predatory capitalist system”, the minister said.

“The only way for us to help this population is for the revolution to recuperate those latifundios [large, privately-owned estates]”, Loyo told reporters after visiting shelters in the area. “The solution lies in solving the problem of structural poverty”, he added.

The government has distributed 136 tons of food and set up 110 shelters for approximately 10,500 people displaced by the rains that swept through the area south of Lake Maracaibo more than a week ago. Classes in public schools were cancelled in order to provide temporary space to house flood victims.

The armed forces, local communal council members, and government functionaries have

staffed the shelters, carried out a census of the affected populations, and helped to distribute aid. Minister Loyo said the government has 216 more tons of food ready to be distributed in the coming weeks.

The national office dedicated to identification and migration services, SAIME, has set up mobile offices in the refugee shelters to procure new identity cards to people who lost their cards in the flooding.

Also, Cuban doctors who perform international service in free public health clinics in Venezuela’s poorest neighborhoods have been mobilized to attend to flood victims in the shelters.

Environment Minister Alejandro Hitcher, Transportation and Communications Minister Francisco Garces, Housing Minister Ricardo Molina, and Women’s Minister Nancy Perez are also expected to visit the zone to help coordinate relief efforts in the coming days.

President Chavez requested the National Assembly approve an Enabling Law granting him temporary authority to pass laws by decree in order to further attend to flood victims.

National Assembly Legislator Mario Isea of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which holds a super majority in the National Assembly until the new National Assembly members take office on January 5, said the “enabling law” would permit Chavez to decree laws for emergency housing, public credits to food producers, and infrastructure repair, among other measures needed to respond to the flooding.

“One of the premises of the humanist policies of the Bolivarian government is to come to the aid of the Venezuelans in emergency situations”, said Isea.

While drizzly gray skies continue to appear over much of Venezuela, it appears the worst of the torrential rains that killed nearly 40 people, destroyed more than 5,000 homes, and displaced as many as 130,000 people in eleven states has finally passed.

T/ James Suggett www.venezuelanalysis.com

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| No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010

POLITICS

The artillery of ideas

WikiLeaks: Socialist tortillas offer a taste of Venezuelan revolution The US Embassy in Caracas appears to have put in long hours examining President Hugo Chavez’s efforts to build a socialist economy in Venezuela. But out of all the dense analysis springs one cableabout the role of the humble tortilla in building a brave new world

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he cable, obtained by WikiLeaks and published on its website, starts in appetizing fashion. “President Chavez made socialism taste better with the December 22 (2009) opening of a ‘socialist arepera’ serving Venezuelan-style tortillas at a fraction of their usual price”.

The arepa is a thick cornmeal tortilla popular in Colombia and Venezuela.

In a section titled “Socialism’s Tangible -- and Tasty -- Benefits”, the cable continues: “The restaurant, located in a lower middle class neighborhood of Caracas, serves ‘arepas’ for about a fourth of their regular price”.

There follows a colorful description of the eatery, which is run by the Ministry of Commerce.

“On a January 8 visit, EmbOffs (Embassy Officers) witnessed a long line of people waiting to get into the restaurant but surprisingly rapid service. Inside, one wall was dominated by a quote in large red lettering from Simon Bolivar: “The best system of gov-

ernment is that which produces the greatest happiness”.

According to the cable, the visiting diplomats were told by an employee that the restaurant served 1,200 customers per day.

The document quotes Eduardo Saman, who was then minis-

ter of commerce, as saying that customers could rely on low prices because all the ingredients came from governmentowned companies.

Saman said there was another another “key difference between socialist and capitalist

arepera: customers pay only after eating”, while “in fast food chains ... they only think about money”. And in the arepera, he said, customers told cashiers how much they’d eaten.

Since he came to power in 1998, Chavez has extended the role of the state in major industries, nationalizing Venezuela’s oil fields and much of its agricultural sector.

The state’s venture into the fast-food sector involves the “Arepera Socialista” chain as part of the country’s socialist market cooperatives.

The cable suggests that the introduction of the arepera is due to the president’s populist instincts ahead of elections.

“Facing high inflation, electricity and water rationing, and failing public services, Chavez may see the ‘Arepera Socialista’ as a relatively quick and easy way to promote the benefits of ‘socialism’ to his electoral base before the September legislative elections”.

But there’s nothing to suggest the Venezuelan leader ever said, “Let them eat arepa”, as the cable’s author, Charge D’Affairs John Caulfield, cynically wrote.

T/ Tim Lister-CNN P/ Agencies

Data show State TV has 5.4 percent of the TV audience

Private, opposition TV continues to dominate in Venezuela A

new issue brief looking at data on Venezuela TV audiences contradicts the widely believed -and widely reported -- claim that the Chavez government dominates the television media. In reality, the paper finds the opposite is true: the state share of television audience is very small -- currently only 5.4 percent --while private, opposition-owned channels overwhelmingly dominate the television audience, with 61.4 percent watching privately owned TV channels, and 33.1 percent watching paid TV. “Statements claiming the Venezuelan government ‘controls’

or ‘dominates’ the media are not only exaggerated, but simply false”, CEPR Co-Director and lead author of the paper, Mark Weisbrot said.

These claims appear regularly in the major US media and are almost never challenged. For example, in a description of Venezuela’s elections last September for the National Assembly, the Washington Post referred to the Chavez “regime’s domination of the media”. In an interview on CNN, Lucy Morillon of Reporters Without Borders stated, “President Chavez controls most of the TV stations”.

The brief, “Television in Venezuela: Who Dominates the Media?” from the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, analyzes data from AGB Panamericana de Venezuela Medicion S.A., a local affiliate of Nielsen Media Research International, for the years 2000-2010 and also finds that state television audiences have increased during times of political turmoil, such as during the failed April 2002 coup and the 2002-2003 oil strike.

“The most likely explanation for these spikes in state televi-

sion viewers is that more people are interested in the news during these times, and so more want to get both sides of the story”, Weisbrot said. But even in these few brief spikes of state TV audience - lasting for no more than two or three months - the state TV audience share has never reached 10 percent, even for one month in the past decade.

The paper notes that the primary means through which the government seems to get its message out is through President Chavez himself, in the “cadenas”, or official speeches,

that private broadcast TV channels are required to broadcast.

In 2009, according to data from AGB Panamericana de Venezuela Medicion S.A., these cadenas amounted to an average of about 24 minutes per day. While this has the potential to get the government’s message out more than the current share of state TV programming, it is difficult to measure its impact without data on how many people watch these speeches.

T/ Center for Economic Policy Research

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The artillery of ideas

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No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 | |

Mission Ribas: encouraging continuing education in venezuela For the past six and a half years, Venezuela’s free educational program, Mission Ribas, has been reaching out to residents unable to finish high school, providing them with the opportunity to complete their studies and contribute to the social and economic development of their communities

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ith over 1.5 million people matriculated and 600 thousand graduates since 2004, Mission Ribas comprises one of the most important aspects of the educational reforms being undertaken by the revolutionary government of Hugo Chavez Frias.

According to its website, Mission Ribas has assumed the task of “eradicating social exclusion” by providing a quality basic education to all Venezuelan citizens regardless of their race, gender, or age.

The program, which has benefited from the collaboration of Cuban educational experts renowned for their development of effective pedagogical tools, has also made it a point to reach out to citizens in remote geographic zones.

“The Mission Ribas gives the opportunity to youth and adults who for one reason or another were unable to finish their high school studies”, explains Judy Castillo, a facilitator of the program in the small agricultural community of Santa Lucía in the state of Yaracuy.

“Now, students can exercise their right to education with a schedule that is flexible, allowing people to work and, in the evening, start their classes”.

Castillo is one of the 32 thousand facilitators incorporated in the program charged with the responsibility of leading classroom discussions based on educational content provided in the form of video-classes.

“My experience here has been very beautiful”, she says of her work in the community. “I come

here in the evening and it helps me to relax and share the knowledge that I have with people who really want to study”.

WORKING PEOPLE OF ALL AGES The students in Castillo’s classes range from 17 to 58 years of age and all work during the day before arriving to study. “[These students] show a tremendous desire to learn. Some of them are working in the morning planting. Later, they have an agricultural-related workshop and then they come to class. Some have up to three commitments apart from being a mother or father and part of a family”, she highlights.

Rosario Rodriguez, one of Castillos students, reached 9th grade before leaving school as the result of a pregnancy.

“In my case, I’m studying because it’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity. It was really difficult for me because I work and I have a child. Now I have the chance and I don’t want to lose it because I want to advance, become a professional and have a better future to offer to my children”, she explained.

THE RIGHT TO FREE EDUCATION Ribas was created by the government as an extension of the principles expressed in the nation’s Constitution, which in Article 3 declares education to be “a human right and a fundamental social duty”.

Considered as such, the Venezuelan state is required to provide all citizens with an education that is “democratic and free”.

Apart from Ribas being of no cost to the students, the government also offers small grants to economically disadvantaged students in order to promote their attendance in classes.

As of 2009, the program has been able to provide nearly 150 thousand such scholarships.

The mission also contains a socio-productive branch, which incorporates students and graduates into economic activities and social projects with an ideology “distinct from capitalism”.

The mission’s website states that the goal of the initiative is to “project the creative potential of [students] onto their environment, impacting and transforming reality”.

This takes shape through the formulation of productive proj-

ects that meet community needs within an economic system based on solidarity and cooperation.

Other achievements of Mission Ribas over its 6 and half years of existence include the creation of 114 classes in different prisons around the country, the incorporation of nearly 10 thousand indigenous peoples into the program and the formation of 287 economic cooperatives.

As part of the government’s three most developed educational programs, Ribas represents the intermediary academic level, positioned between the literacy program known as Mission Robinson and the higher education program known as Mission Sucre.

More than 25 thousand people who have graduated from Ribas have thus far gone on to study university-level education in Mission Sucre.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION The three missons Ribas, Sucre, and Robinson are the main reason that the United Nations has, on numerous occasions, recognized the gains made by the Chavez government with respect to education.

In 2005, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO officially declared Venezuela a “Illiteracy-Free Territory” after the government successfully taught more than 1.5 million people to read and write in 2 years.

The same organization has ranked Venezuela as fifth in the world in terms of university matriculation ahead of nations such as the United States, France and Japan.

In terms of reaching the UN’s Millenium Development goals, which include universal education by 2015, Venezuela is far above the curve.

During a recent visit to the country, president of the United Nations General Assembly, Ali Abdessalam Treki, referred to Venezuela as a “pride for third world countries”.

“What Venezuela has achieved should serve as a model for other countries with respect to reaching the millennium goals”, he declared.

T/ Edward Ellis P/ Agencies

FRIDAY|December 17, 2010 |No. 42|Bs. 1|CARACAS

ENGLISH EDITION The artillery of ideas

A publication of the Fundacion Correo del Orinoco • Editor-in-Chief | Eva Golinger • Graphic Design | Alexander Uzcátegui, Jameson Jiménez • Press | Fundación Imprenta de la Cultura

OPINION

Canadian government funds venezuelan opposition W

hile many on the left know that Washington has spent tens of millions of dollars funding groups that oppose Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, less well known is Ottawa’s role, especially that of the Canadian government’s “arms-length” human rights organization, Rights & Democracy (R&D).

Montreal-based R&D recently gave its 2010 John Humphrey Award to the Venezuelan non-governmental organization PROVEA (El Programa Venezolano de Educacion-Accion en Derechos Humanos). According to R&D’s website, “The Award consists of a grant of $30,000 and a [just completed] speaking tour of Canadian cities to help increase awareness of the recipient’s human rights work”.

PROVEA is highly critical of Venezuela’s elected government.

In December 2008 Venezuela’s interior and justice minister called PROVEA “liars” who were “paid in [US] dollars”.

During a September visit “to meet with representatives of PROVEA and other [Venezuelan] organizations devoted to human rights and democratic development” R&D President, Gerard Latulippe, blogged about his and PROVEA’s political views. “Marino [Betancourt, Director General of PROVEA] told me about recent practices of harassment and criminalization of the government towards civil society organizations”. In another post Latulippe explained, “We have witnessed in recent years the restriction of the right to freedom of expression. Since 2004-2005, the government of President Chavez has taken important legislative measures which limit this right”.

Upon returning to Canada, Latulippe cited Venezuela as a country with “no democracy”.

He told Embassy magazine, “You can see the emergence of a new model of democracy, where in fact it’s trying to make an alternative to democracy by saying people can have a better life even if there’s no democracy. You have the example of Russia. You have an example of Venezuela”.

Latulippe’s claims have no basis in reality. On top of improving living conditions for the country’s poor, the Chavez-led government has massively increased democratic space through community councils, new political parties and worker cooperatives. They have also won a dozen elections/ referendums over the past twelve years (and lost only one).

R&D, which is funded almost entirely by the federal government, takes its cues from Ottawa.

The Canadian government has repeatedly attacked Chavez. In April 2009 Stephen Harper responded to a question regarding Venezuela by saying, “I don’t take any of these rogue states lightly” and after expressing “concerns over the shrinkage of democratic space” in September, Minister for the Americas Peter Kent said, “This is an election month in Venezuela and the official media has again fired up some of the anti-Semitic slurs against the Jewish community as happened during the Gaza incursion”. Even the head of Canada’s military recently criticized the Chavez government in the Canadian Military Journal.

After a tour of South America, Walter Natynczyk wrote “Regrettably, some countries, such as Venezuela, are experiencing the politicization of their armed forces”.

The Harper government’s attacks against Venezuela are part of its campaign against the region’s progressive forces. Barely discussed in the media, the Harper government’s shift of aid from Africa to Latin America was largely designed to stunt Latin America’s recent rejection of neoliberalism and U.S. dependence by supporting the region’s right-wing governments and movements.

To combat independent-minded, socialist-oriented governments and movements Harper’s Conservatives have “played a more active role in supporting U.S. ideologically driven [democracy promotion] initiatives”, notes researcher Neil A. Burron. They opened a South America focused “democracy promotion” centre at the Canadian Embassy in Peru.

Staffed by two diplomats, this secretive venture may clash with the Organization of American States’ non-intervention clause.

According to documents unearthed by Anthony Fenton, in November 2007 Ottawa gave the Justice and Development Consortium (Asociación Civil Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia) $94,580 “to consolidate and expand the democracy network in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Also funded by the US government’s CIA front group National Endowment for Democracy, the Justice and Development Consortium has worked to unite opposition to leftist Latin American governments. Similarly, in the spring of 2008 the Canadian Embassy in Panama teamed up with the National Endowment for Democracy to organize a meeting for prominent members of the opposition in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador. It was designed to respond to the “new era of populism and authoritarianism in Latin America”. The meeting spawned the Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe para la Democracia, “which brings together mainstream NGOs critical of the leftist governments in the hemisphere”.

The foremost researcher on US funding to the anti-Chavez opposi-

tion, Eva Golinger, claims Canadian groups are playing a growing role in Venezuela and according to a May 2010 report from Spanish NGO Fride, “Canada is the third most important provider of democracy assistance” to Venezuela after the U.S. and Spain. Burron describes an interview with a Canadian “official [who] repeatedly expressed concerns about the quality of democracy in Venezuela, noting that the [Federal government’s] Glyn Berry program provided funds to a ‘get out the vote’ campaign in the last round of elections in that country”.

You can bet it wasn’t designed to get Chavez supporters to the polls.

Ottawa is not forthcoming with information about the groups they fund in Venezuela, but according to disclosures made in response to a question by former NDP Foreign Affairs critic Alexa McDonough, Canada helped finance Sumate, an NGO at the forefront of anti-Chavez political campaigns. Canada gave Sumate $22,000 in 2005-06. Minister of International Cooperation José Verner explained, “Canada considered Sumate to be an experienced NGO with the capability to promote respect for democracy, particularly a free and fair electoral process in Venezuela”.

Yet the name of Sumate leader Maria Corina Machado, who Foreign Affairs invited to Ottawa in January 2005, appeared on a list of people who endorsed the 2002 coup against Chavez, for which she faced charges of treason.

The simple truth is that the current government in Ottawa supports the old elites that long worked with the US Empire. It opposes the progressive social transformations taking place in a number of Latin American countries and as a result it supports civil society groups opposed to these developments.

Yves Engler Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and the Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy. For more info: http:// yvesengler.com