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Youth organizing & sports a priority Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro underlined his commitment to youth political organization, culture and sporting activities, while celebrating the 5th anniversary of the youth wing of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (JPSUV) this week. In addition to urging political activism, Nicolas Maduro also emphasized his government’s commitment to supporting cultural, educational and sporting activities for the country’s youth. page 3

Analysis

Opinion

US spying on Petrobras rattles Brazil page 7

Brazil’s President cancels US visit over NSA espionage page 8

Friday, September 20, 2013 | Nº 176 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas

Back to school in Venezuela: Free computers, books for students

Politics

Mass transit bus system launched Venezuela is improving its public transportation across the nation with buses and trains. page 4 Politics

Venezuela backs Russian peace plan for Syria President Maduro applauded the agreement reached by Putin to calm US war drums. page 5 Security

Prison ‘shakedowns’ improve system The Ministry for Prison Services is clearing the nation’s penitentiaries from illegal contraband. page 6

The Venezuelan school year kicked off this week with approximately 10 million children and adolescents beginning or continuing their educational routine. The government of President Nicolas Maduro gave school kids a great welcome back by announcing groundbreaking new advances in the distribution of books, a new edition of the Venezuelan Constitution aimed at children, more free Canaima laptop computers, as well as the refurbishment of more than 1000 educational installations thanks to the ‘A Drop of Love’ program. Pg. 2

Venezuela, China energy deal Venezuela will partner with China National Petroleum Corp. on a $14 billion development project in the country’s Orinoco heavy oil belt, one of a handful of investments secured by Venezuelan officials during a trip to China this week in preparation for President Nicolas Maduro’s state visit to Beijing on Saturday.

Venezuela is looking to fortify relations with its Asian ally, which over the last several years has granted the South American country around $40 billion in loans. In exchange, China receives 600,000 barrels of oil a day and access to Venezuela’s vast natural resources, whose development still requires massive investment.

The state visit will be Mr. Maduro’s first since taking office in April, following the death of charismatic leader Hugo

Chávez. Relations between China and Venezuela broadly strengthened during Mr. Maduro’s almost seven years as foreign minister in the Chávez administration.

INTERNATIONAL Mercosur discuss mechanisms to prevent US government spying T/ Tamara Pearson The Venezuelan government proposed to the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) that it adopt mechanisms to prevent the United States from spying on its countries.

The proposal follows revelations by Brazilian press in July that the US National Security Agency (NSA) monitors internet traffic in Latin America, specially targeting Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, and also had a network of 16 US spy bases to monitor emails and phone calls in Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Iran, Turkey, China, Russia, and France.

Mercosur held its I Meeting of Authorities and Experts in Information Security and Telecommunications in Caracas this week in response to the spying. Delegations from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Uruguay were present, as well a team of experts from Venezuela.

Venezuela’s foreign minister Elias Jaua said that Mercosur would form a commission to formulate public policies to counter the US interference. He also said the commission will look at guaranteeing technological independence.

“Governments, companies, and citizens were violated by the United States spying”, Jaua said, arguing that therefore the meeting needed to discuss “the formulation of public policies and mechanisms that allow our heads of state and our governments to fulfil their mandates, which have been violated... because many of them have been victims of spying carried out by the United States government”.

2 Impact | . s Friday, September 20, 2013

The artillery of ideas

Back To school in Venezuela: children given free texts and computers T/ Paul Dobson P/ Presidential Press

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he Venezuelan school year kicked off this week with approximately 10 million children and adolescents beginning or continuing their educational routine.

The government of President Nicolas Maduro gave school kids a great welcome back by announcing groundbreaking new advances in the distribution of books, a new edition of the Venezuelan Constitution aimed at children, more free Canaima laptop computers, as well as the refurbishment of more than 1000 educational installations thanks to the ‘A Drop of Love’ program.

“Almost four million primary education students will start this September 16th, and on October 1st a little more than three million will start secondary education, including as well those in special, frontier, or intercultural bilingual education”, confirmed Minister for Education, Maryann Hanson.

“This covers about eight million students, which when you add the two million currently in technical institutions, takes us to close to ten million students”.

Venezuela has one of the highest educational participation levels in the world and has been greatly commended by the UN for its advances in making free education accessible to the furthest corners of the disperse nation.

Minister Hanson said the Bolivarian Revolution has built a total of 5,664 schools since 1998, and “right now we have 29,747 educational institutions, and just in one year (2012-2013) we have built 802”. She also emphasized that “the governmental investment in education in Venezuela has increased exponentially. In the previous system the largest budget went to defense, but now our biggest budget area is education”.

“Our boys and girls are going back to school”, stated President Nicolas Maduro on his Twitter account. “Congratulations in advance!”

35 MILLION FREE BOOKS To greet the children, the Venezuelan government announced that it has surpassed all previous levels in the

printing and distribution of free texts for students, with more than 35 million books to be provided.

In 2011, the Chavez administration distributed 12 million texts, reinforcing its commitment to reading and education as ways of forming the values of the future population. In 2012 this was greatly increased to 30.7 million, a figure which, despite economic problems and political upheaval, has been further surpassed this year.

The books originate from the Bicentenary Collection, and cover a range of issues from mathematics to science to politics, history, and ethics. The contents vary depending on the grade of the student, are written especially for children, at no cost for the student or the school.

“The texts of the books are different because they have a language which is more understandable for the kids”, stated Jhounse Estrada, mother of Daniela, a 4th grade student at the Domingo Sarmiento Bolivarian School in Caracas.

“Before they were written for adults even I didn’t understand well what they wanted to say”.

“Today we started to distribute 35 million books to our children!” exclaimed Maduro.

“Thank you Chavez for so much love, I promise you that we will keep on your path of life”.

SPECIAL EDITION OF THE CONSTITUTION One of the texts given out for the first time this year, and one which most bears the print of Chavez, is a special copy of the 1999 Constitution of the Republic, designed specifically for children.

More than five million of these special, pocket size books will be given out to students. They bear the art of Omar Cruz, and, as Culture Minister Barbarito explained, “are illustrated so that from a very young age, the boys and girls can know their rights and duties”. Venezuela is the only country in the world which encourages children of such a young age to read and understand their rights.

“Today we place this beautiful book in your hands, the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ‘the book of

us all’ as our Commander Hugo Rafael Chavez called it”, stated President Maduro at a school in La Limonera in Miranda State.

“We place it in your hands so that you can read it, get to know it, share it with your family, your friends, and above all, so that you can put it in practice and defend it”.

Minister of the Presidency Wilmer Barrientos, at the release of the book, explained that “with this constitution we are going to create consciousness in our children. In it is the new ideology of the Republic, of the new society which we are constructing, of the dreams our eternal Commander Chavez made reality”.

CANAIMA COMPUTERS The Maduro administration announced that the Canaima computer program, which has

given in 2,655,000 specially designed educational laptops to school children since 2008, is to be widened. It is to cover the 6 grades of secondary school by the end of the year, having completed the goal of 100% coverage in primary education last year.

“This is going to be the most demanding school year of the five years which the Canaima Project has been in place”, stated Manuel Fernandez, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation.

The grand sum of 1.4 million Canaima computers will be handed out for free this year, bringing the total to 4 million.

The computers, which were initially imported from Portugal, but which have been built independently in Caracas for the last two years, are designed especially for children’s educational needs. They contain texts, educational games, and homework assignments, as well as programs to surf the web, use social networking sites, and word processing programs. They use Linux free software, and have inspired similar projects in Argentina and Brazil.

It is estimated that the factory in Caracas builds roughly 4000-5000 Canaimas and Canaimitas (their smaller sister, for primary students) daily.

Minister Hanson explained that the Bolivarian school system breaks the traditional paradigms on how to educate, using the Canaima and other tools to encourage independent learning and formation. “The children learn having fun”, she explained.

“I really enjoy using it”, said Daniela Estrada. “It has loads of things; it teaches me what I need to know. I can play and get online too”.

BACK TO SCHOOL “NOT A DRAMA” The Secretary of Government for the City of Caracas, Siboney Tineo, highlighted the importance of government-subsidized school fairs, which have been running across the country for the last month.

The fairs provide all the equipment students need, from notepads to pens to uniforms, with a 30-60% subsidiary of free market price.

“We are very happy with the starting of classes. Now back to school is not a drama for the family of how to get pay for materials and uniforms, because now the state guarantees not just free education, but also the necessary resources and materials to attend”.

The artillery of ideas

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Venezuelan President Maduro promotes youth organization and sports T/ Ewan Robertson P/ Presidential Press

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enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro underlined his commitment to youth political organization, culture and sporting activities, while celebrating the 5th anniversary of the youth wing of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Jpsuv) on Sunday.

The Jpsuv, which has 2.2 million registered members, forms the largest bloc of youth activists supporting Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. Addressing JPSUV members in Caracas during a national broadcast, Maduro encouraged youth to get politically active.

“We [the older generation] were educated in the struggle on the streets, in the neighborhoods. The youth can do everything; in their school, in their university, in their neighborhood and in their community”, he said.

Speaking at a rally in Museum Square in the nation’s capital, the Venezuelan head of state also urged young people to gather together in “study circles” to discuss national and global political issues.

“Choose an issue, [for example] how the [national] constitution was formed.

Make a circle for two hours, collectively read it, discuss it and draw your conclusions. You can’t imagine all the values that we acquired in the study circles in public squares and neighborhoods”, Maduro explained.

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possibility of youth, particularly in lower income neighborhoods, falling into criminal lifestyles.

“Youth are the true guarantee that the dreams of [Simon] Bolivar and [Hugo] Chavez will last in time. Everything we do today is for our youth”, argued Maduro.

Young people in Venezuela are represented by the Ministry of Youth, founded by late President Hugo Chavez in 2011.

The ministry aims to design policies meeting the needs of young people, with youth themselves participating in the running of the ministry.

Venezuela’s youth also benefits from a free public education system up to university level. Policies aimed at widening access and opportunities have resulted in Venezuela being placed 5th in the world for percentage of the population enrolled in higher education programs, according to Unesco.

JPSUV ANNIVERSARY

CYCLE IN THE CAPITAL In addition to urging political activism, Nicolas Maduro also emphasized his government’s commitment to supporting cultural, educational and sporting activities for the country’s youth.

The President participated in a bike ride through the capital with the JPSUV on Sunday, during which he took the opportunity to invite all Venezuelans to form a movement of cyclists to promote the activity.

“I invite everyone to found a movement of cyclists to recuperate public spaces in all our cities. Let’s do it!” he wrote on Twitter.

Since April 2012 the government has promoted cycling in the Venezuelan capital through the “Free Wheeling” initiative, which closes certain roads in Caracas on Sundays from 7am – 3pm, giving runners, skaters and cyclists the chance to enjoy the streets while cars stay at home.

On Sunday the government also approved resources for ten more sports centers in neighborhoods across the capital. Building new sporting and cultural infrastructure has become a key strategy in government initiatives to provide young people with activities and opportunities which reduce the

Last Thursday September 12th, United Socialist Party of Venezuela Youth (Jpsuv) formally met in the Teresa Carreño Theatre in Caracas to celebrate its fifth anniversary.

At the event, socialist youth activists from across the country met to plan the organization’s agenda and priorities for the coming period.

“Our commitment is it continue the legacy of the supreme Comandante Hugo Chavez, and to continue…constructing the powerful Venezuela that he left us”, said Jpsuv national secretary Antonio Galindez in an interview.

The activist added, “We are the youth in the streets, because we are the people in the neighborhoods, the community, the grassroots sectors; and we’ve decided to continue constructing the [Bolivarian] Revolution”. President Maduro also attended the event.

and dramatologists, so that they can be the teachers in each school”.

Maduro echoed the call for specialists to incorporate themselves into the Movement: “I invite all those who love Venezuela and who want to contribute to this theatre movement to incorporate themselves. Our hand is extended. All are welcome”.

In the 135 schools where the Movement was installed, instruction will not just be given on acting. Pedro Lander said not all are born to be actors, and that a production needs a large team of experts to function. Hence classes will also be given on corporal expression, lit-

erature, oral narration, musical appreciation, lighting, music, writing, directing, scene forming, singing, and dance amongst others.

Minister for Culture, Fidel Barbarito, explained that the Movement marks a “revolution in the consciousness and sensibility, so as to have in the future men and women with critical thinking and the consciousness to transform society, assume history and live critically”.

The first project of the Movement was performed in a school in the Baruta district of Miranda State this week. It was entitled ‘La Tarea’ (the task).

Youth Theater Movement ‘Cesar Rengifo’ Launched T/ Paul Dobson P/ Presidential Press

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ive weeks after President Maduro announced its foundation, the Movement of Youth and Infantile Theaters ‘Cesar Rengifo’ got off the ground this week, with the Head of State leading the ceremonies in the Teresa Carreño Theater, Caracas.

The Movement was initially installed in 135 schools across the country: 85 in Caracas, 25 in Miranda State, and 25 in Vargas State. Eventually it will be activated in all of the 23 States of Venezuela.

It was founded by Maduro in the mark of the world famous ‘El Sistema’ of Bolivarian Youth and Infantile Orchestras, which has had such great success in sewing values in the poorer sectors and bringing thousands out of poverty through its use of music and musical values.

President Maduro, whose short time in charge has been marked by an im-

portant push to use culture to tackle high crime levels, described the Theater Movement as “a cultural instrument for peace”.

“This movement which is being initiated today will make history”, he stated on national radio and television. “This movement will contribute to the construction of a peaceful nation, an egalitarian nation, with love between brothers and sisters. It is a movement which will allow us to leave behind values such as egoism and cruelty… we must leave hate behind and promote the values of love, smiling, extending the hand between ourselves and our children, and the best vehicle to achieve this is culture”.

National Coordinator of the Movement, Pedro Lander, explained, “the idea is to use theater to awaken in the child their sensibility, responsibility, critical thought, and creativity...This is why we have called upon actors, actresses, directors, scene makers, voice specialists,

4 Politics | . s Friday, September 20, 2013

The artillery of ideas

Maduro inaugurates TransBarca by getting behind the wheel T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim P/ Presidential Press

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he 461st anniversary of the founding of Barquisimeto was celebrated over the weekend with the inauguration of the city’s new mass transport system, TransBarca.

On Saturday, President Nicolas Maduro attended the event, even getting behind the wheel of one of Barquisimeto’s new buses.

“I’m in Barquisimeto inaugurating the transport system to serve the people of Lara!” The President tweeted.

As well as driving one of the new TransBarca buses through the city, Maduro also gave a speech praising the new system, which was completed as part of the President’s popular street government initiative.

The Barquisimeto Mass Transit System (abbreviated to TransBarca) is expected to cater for around 150,000 passengers every day, according to the minister for land transport Haiman El Troudi. Speaking to local media, El Troudi stated that this represents approximately 40% of Barquisimeto’s public transport demand.

Moreover, the minister announced that during the first

month of operation, TransBarca will be free for all passengers.

During this trial month, TransBarca buses are running seven days a week, from 6:00am to 9:00pm.

“Transbarca is the most modern and comfortable transport system”, Maduro stated during his speech in Barquisimeto on Saturday.

“Workers have been prepared and there are going to be 360 operators to serve the people to keep the [buses] in the best condition”, he stated.

The TransBarca system is comprised of 130 buses, each with a maximum capacity of 60 passengers.

Manufactured by the Chinese transport company Yutong, the buses are also wheel-

Venezuela has sufficient reserves to cover economic needs T/ AVN

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uring an interview on Monday on private television station Globovision, Finance Minister Nelson Merentes explained that the Venezuelan government is making efforts to handle the exchange system, strengthen international reserves, reduce inflation to single digits and create an agreement with the country’s businessmen for production to match consumption.

Merentes affirmed that Venezuela has enough foreign reserves to cover needs and will “end the year with an income of 42 billion dollars, a sum that guarantees transfers and

requests from the Currency Administration Commission (Cadivi) and other economic activities related to national production”.

NEW POLICIES & LAWS Regarding differences between the official exchange rate and the parallel rate, he explained that for the gap to close the government will create a third mechanism of administering currency that will alleviate pressure on the currency and will allow the country “to have an exchange system that is faster and more transparent”.

The Finance Minister noted that this proposal, which

will involve stock agencies, is already in the National Assembly.

“With this third market what we want is to incentivize private businesses so they can sell currency in a logical, transparent and appropriate manner, as was done in 2006 and 2007. . . .

We are taking to businesspeople, to people from the financial system, and the government is undertaking the relevant analysis”, he added.

In this new mechanism for providing currency stateowned enterprises, including Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and the Central Bank of Venezuela, will be able to sell currency.

chair friendly, according to the government.

Barquisimeto’s mass transit system had been under development since 2004, when Henri Falcon was mayor of the city.

However, the project reportedly encountered a number of complications, and was left incomplete until now. Falcon is now governor of Lara state. He was once a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), but resigned in 2010.

During his speech Maduro criticized Falcon’s handling of the project, arguing that at first the initiative was “misconceived”, and could have been completed with “fewer resources”.

“How can it be that a bus costs a million dollars? Venezuela should know that a bus stop was built by Mr. Henri Falcon at that cost”, Maduro said.

Maduro stated that when he discussed the project with former President Hugo Chavez last October, the project was described as a “disaster”.

“Justice will come [to Falcon]”, he said on Saturday.

“Obviously the least we can say is that there was negligence [and] inefficiency”, El Troudi told Correo del Orinoco.

According to El Troudi, despite a revision of the initial design of the project, within three

“Among the things we ought to highlight is the increase in production and the speed in which food is being produced so there can be equilibrium between demand and supply … and in this way we can lessen our need for foreign exchanged”, he indicated.

Merentes said the government has spaces for dialogue and work with national and foreign businesspeople to involve them in spurring national production.

Venezuela’s economy is evolving, given that “during the first quarter of the year economic growth was 0.5%; nevertheless, during the second quarter it grew 2.6% while inflation fell by two percentage points”.

Regarding the Supervising Agency for the Economy, created last week, Merentes indicated that its objective is to “fight economic sabotage while continuing dialogue

months of the street government taking over the initiative, TransBarca was complete.

However, Falcon has hit back at the government’s claims, arguing that there are numerous problems with the final product. He stated that while he didn’t oppose the resumption of the project, he doesn’t approve of the changes made to the plans, which he described as “improvised”.

“They eliminated two of the system’s lines rather than expanding the streets, there is a lack of traffic lights [and] the stops don’t correspond to the reality of passengers”, Falcon stated over the weekend.

NATIONWIDE INVESTMENTS IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT Ahead of the inauguration of TransBarca, last week the Carabobo state government announced that 50 new buses will cover six routes in Valencia. The head of the state’s legislative council, Miguel Flores has announced that the new buses will come into operation in December.

Speaking at Saturday’s inauguration in Barquisimeto, El Troudi stated that more large scale mass transport systems will be completed in the near future in the states of Bolivar and Amazonas. A metropolitan transit system similar to TransBarca will also be constructed in Cumana.

“The Bolivarian government has been working to interconnect the cities and guarantee the highest quality of service to their residents”, El Troudi stated.

with businesspeople to determine the reasons behind price increases. It is a supervising agency on three levels: producers, intermediaries and consumers”.

PAYMENT OF FOREIGN DEBT Finance Minister Merentes also assured that the foreign debt has been paid, and that this will be effective on Wednesday.

“The transfer has already been made”, he said. Nevertheless, he did not give details as to the amount or percentage of the debt that was paid.

IMF RUMORS Regarding rumors of a possible rapprochement between the national government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Merentes said “it is not true in the least, neither the Finance Ministry nor Venezuela’s Central Bank have had conversations with the IMF”.

. s Friday, September 20, 2013

The artillery of ideas

Maduro commends Putin over Syria, warns against US aggression T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim P/ Agencies

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enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has voiced approval for a RussianUS deal to call for the Syrian government to surrender its chemical weapons, though he has accused Washington of already working to undermine the agreement.

Maduro praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in negotiating the agreement, which the Venezuelan head of state said averts “for now, an immediate attack on Syria”.

“We appreciate the efforts of Putin to ensure peace in Syria and for humanity”, Maduro stated on Monday.

Under the deal reached by Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry over the weekend, Syria must produce a list of all its chemical weapons and their locations by next week, after which the weapons would be turned over to international control by mid 2014.

Syria’s minister of national reconciliation Ali Haidar told Russian media that he “welcome[s] these agreements”.

“These agreements are a credit to Russian diplomacy and the Russian leadership. This is a victory for Syria, achieved thanks to our Russian friends”, he told RIA Novosti.

“On the one hand, they will help Syrians get out of the crisis, and on the other hand, they averted a war against Syria by removing the pretext for those who wanted to unleash one”, Haidar stated.

However, on Sunday Kerry warned that US military intervention in Syria isn’t off the table if the Syrian government doesn’t comply with the deal.

“The threat of force is real”, Kerry stated.

However, Maduro has criticized the US position, arguing this week that “no scenario justifies war”.

“Venezuela will raise its voice to say we want peace”, Maduro stated.

Maduro also warned that Washington might still angle for war.

“We have indications that they will make a move against Syria in the [United Nations] and... make a provocation from Turkey”, he stated, arguing that he believes Syria’s northern neighbour could be drawn into the conflict.

He also questioned the role of the UN in the conflict.

“Why is the UN Secretary General [Ban Ki-moon] provided as a prosecutor and judge of the peoples of the world and is serving the strategies of war, instead of being at the service of peace?” Maduro said.

The comments came following the publication of a 38-page report from the UN’s weapon

inspectors, who according to Ban found “overwhelming and indisputable” evidence that sarin gas was deployed on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21st.

The report states that chemical weapons were used on a “relatively large scale”, but doesn’t determine who was responsible.

Speaking to VTV from Syria, Venezuelan legislator Adel El Zabayar has argued that the current US position is a sign that the Obama administration has “lost the political war”. “[Syrians] know the US empire and its characteristics”, El Zabayar stated over the weekend, labelling the US as a “fascist imperial system”.

He also argued that Syria’s armed opposition is losing the ground war.

“At this point we can say that mercenaries are only occupying 5% of Syrian territory”, he stated. However, it’s difficult for outside observers to verify just how much of the country is currently held by

Venezuela rejects US criticism of its anti-drug efforts T/ Agencies

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enezuela has rejected US criticism over its fight against international drug trafficking after Washington said the South American country had “failed demonstrably” for a fifth year running.

The White House said in an annual report on Friday that Venezuela, along with Bolivia and Myanmar, had not made substantial efforts during the last 12 months to meet its obligations under global counternarcotics agreements.

Drug trafficking has been a thorny issue between Washington and Caracas since at least 2005 when the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez expelled US drug enforcement agents and accused them of spying on his Bolivarian Revolution.

“We strongly reject the accusation ... The United States is trying to ignore our government’s sovereign policies”, Alejandro Keleris, the head of Venezuela’s national anti-drug office, said late on Saturday in response to the US report.

Since the start of this year, Keleris said, Venezuela had arrested more than 6,400 people for trafficking and seized almost 37,000 kg (80,000 pounds) of various drugs.

Since 2006, he added, it had captured more than 100 drug gang bosses and handed over 75 of them to other countries, including the United States.

Drug enforcement experts say Venezuela’s location on South America’s Caribbean and Atlantic seaboards makes it a preferred route for planes and ships carrying Colombian cocaine to the United States

and Europe via Central America and Africa.

Previous US annual reports on trafficking have also denounced Venezuela’s “weak judicial system” and its “generally permissive and corrupt environment”.

“I hereby designate Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela as countries that have failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to make substantial efforts to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements”, President Barack Obama said in the White House’s 2013 report.

The three countries appear in the US report on a list of more than 20 countries - including Afghanistan, Colombia and Mexico - that are described as “major drug transit and/or major illicit drug producing countries”.

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the armed opposition, with battle-lines changing rapidly in some areas.

This month, Aleppo, Homs and the capital Damascus have continued to be contested. International reports suggest that much of Syria’s north is still in opposition hands, while the government maintains strongholds in the west and around the capital.

“The army has done a very professional job and has beaten more than 100,000 mercenaries that were introduced into Syrian territory”, according to El Zabayar.

A member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) of Syrian descent, El Zabayar has been granted leave by the National Assembly to fight with Syrian government forces against the country’s rebel movement.

On Monday, the politician stated via Twitter that he is currently working on Syria’s border with Jordan.

The Syrian conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives since beginning as a peaceful protest movement in March 2011. According to UN figures, over one million Syrians have been internally displaced.

Earlier this week, 6.5 tons of food and other supplies arrived in Lebanon from nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America.

The government of President Nicolas Maduro, who won an election in April that followed Chavez’s death from cancer, says anti-narcotics cooperation has actually improved since 2005 when the US drug enforcement agents were kicked out.

Last year, Venezuelan security forces working with Colombian officers and US and British intelligence agencies caught one of the most-wanted Colombian kingpins - Daniel “Crazy” Barrera - during an operation in a Venezuelan border city.

In July, Spanish police arrested Brian Charrington, a Briton they described as one of Europe’s top 10 most-wanted criminals, and dismantled a transatlantic cocaine-smuggling ring after a three-year investigation with police in Venezuela and Colombia.

In one possible sign of rapprochement, Venezuela’s ambassador to the Organization of American States said earlier this year that the government was considering a US proposal for the return of its anti-drug agents.

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Security |

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The artillery of ideas

Prisons Minister invites press to go and see “the reality” in penitentiaries T/ Paul Dobson P/ Agencies

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ou are cordially invited to go and observe the reality of the prisons”, stated Minister for Prison Services of the Venezuelan government, Iris Varela, this week.

“Who said that journalists can’t go and see the reality of what’s going on inside the prisons?” she questioned while interviewed by Vladimir Villegas on opposition TV channel Globovision. “You are publically invited, Globovision can be first in line”, to observe firsthand what she described as an “impeccable administration” and where the press “will be able to presence the new model” of the prisons.

Her comments came after criticism from opposition newspapers following the the ‘shakedown’ of one of the major prisons in the country, in Los Teques, Miranda State, in which considerable firearms and drugs were found and destroyed.

The ‘shakedown’, aimed at disarming the inmates and dismantling gangs that organize the drug and arms trafficking into the prison, is the 14th of its type just this year. Varela described these ‘shakedowns’ as “a tough hit for those who for many years dedicated themselves to trafficking drugs, arms, and munitions”.

The Los Teques ‘shakedown’ confiscated and destroyed seven 9mm pistols, 2 revolvers, 2 grenades, 1k of marihuana, 14 bags of cocaine, and over 8000 bullets, amongst other things, and was conducted in complete calm and with no casualties.

Recently the ‘shakedown’ in the Uribana prison made headlines after resistance from the organized gangs left a bloody toll on inmates and security forces. Resulting information showed that opposition news channels had informed inmates of the surprise operation, allowing them to prepare to defend themselves when the security forces entered. “Observe how this shakedown (in Los Teques) was carried out without occurrences” highlighted the rarely smiling Minister.

She recalled that firearms in the prisons has always been a problem, and that it is

not a newly created situation: “The opposition (incorrectly) say that this problem is only now”, stated Varela. Disarmament of the prison communities is part of a national goal of complete civilian disarmament, and should be viewed as such, she asserted.

Varela also mentioned that numerous officials, both of the National Guard who control the gates of the prisons, and the prison guards of the Ministry who control the interiors, are being processed for complicity in the trafficking of arms or drugs into the institutions.

There are currently “more than 100” National Guard and “sixty-two” functionaries being held for such crimes.

She detailed the case of one official who has worked for many years as a prison guard in Los Teques, and who swallowed the memory chip from his phone to eliminate the photos it contained when questioned by officials during the ‘shakedown’.

He is currently one of those held for drug and arms trafficking from that center.

The Minister went on to remind viewers that Venezuela is the only country in the world that has a specific Ministry for Prison Services. She also unveiled part of the new prison regime she has put in place,

which will be demonstrated to the public using videos at the end of the month.

“The new prison regime includes the norms of discipline and of strict compliance”, she explained. Prisoners now have to orderly make their beds, shave, dress in the uniforms given to them, progress to the food hall, sing the national anthem, do their activities “like a military routine”, a routine which never previously existed

Venezuela’s President creates council to fight economic ‘sabotage’

T/ Agencies P/ Presidential Press

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enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launched a state council he said would counter

economic “sabotage” by opposition-linked business leaders he accuses of artificially creating product shortages.

Starting next week, inspectors working for the “Superior

or was regulated in the prisons emphasized Varela.

Another change the prison administration has seen is the control of prisoners. Now lists are passed daily to keep track of all detainees, while “previously this was not done and it was impossible to know the quantity of people in a prison”.

The Plan Cayapa is progressing nicely she explained, and will reach the prison in Apure this week. This plan individu-

ally assesses each prisoner, and in the presence of judges, reviews their cases and behavior to see if they are eligible for parole. Its aim is to reduce the prison population and focus on responsible social reintegration of those guilty of minor crimes.

Varela also manifested that the Ministry is developing productive workplaces for the prisoners, to “dignify their existence”.

“My project is to create a factory in each prison, we already have 120 socio-productive units”, explained Varela. These factories produce products such as soap, toilet paper, packaging, textiles, shoes, wood products, and food, including chickens, eggs and vegetables. Soon, the 15th prison factory to produce blocks used for the public housing program, which provides low cost, subsidized homes to Venezuelans, will be inaugurated.

Her goal is, she explained, “to get rid of the culture of crime” in the prisons. Such work projects are combined with training programs, educational projects, as well as cultural and sporting projects in the prisons. Venezuela’s Prison Orchestras have become world famous both for the values that they promote as well as their musical quality.

Organ of the Economy” will begin visiting private companies, including warehouses and transport firms, involved in food and basic consumption goods, he said.

The OPEC nation has struggled in recent months with shortages of consumer products such as corn flour and toilet paper that critics say result from a clumsy currency control system that limits the flow of imports.

“I call on the whole country to join this battle for the economic security of the nation, the battle to ensure steady food supplies for our people”, Maduro said during a televised meeting with pro-government activists.

He said anyone who saw irregularities should call a special phone line, “0-800-SABOTAGE”, to file reports.

The President said opposition leaders had been holding meetings in Venezuela and

abroad, and he accused them of planning to limit food production, reduce the number of cargo vehicles in circulation, and create long lines at supermarkets as part of a plot to destabilize the country.

The new state council comes in addition to two existing consumer protection groups that have strictly enforced a set of price controls that businesses say sometimes force them to sell below production costs.

Maduro’s mentor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, was revered by millions of Venezuelans who benefited from his oil-financed social programs ranging from cheap groceries to new homes during his 14year rule.

Maduro, who narrowly won an election in April following Chavez’s death from cancer, has vowed to continue his predecessor’s legacy.

. s Friday, September 20, 2013

The artillery of ideas

| Analysis

7

“The oil is ours” – but its secrets are the NSA’s T/ Fabiana Frayssinet – IPS P/ Agencies

R

eported US spying on Brazil’s Petrobras oil firm revived the controversy over opening up the company, a symbol of Brazilian sovereignty since the 1950s, to foreign investment.

“The oil is ours” was the cry that arose with the discovery of oil and gas during the government of Getulio Vargas (1930-1945) and that became the slogan of the founding of Petrobras in 1953.

It took on new force in 1997, when then president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003) declared the end of the state monopoly and opened the company up to local and foreign private investment.

It began to be heard again in 2007, when Petrobras discovered massive offshore oil reserves 180 km from the coast and 7,000 km below sea level, under a thick layer of salt.

And then again in 2010, when then president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) replaced the current concessions system, under which companies bid for the rights to explore new oil blocks, with a productionsharing regime between the state and private companies.

The Brazilian government is the largest shareholder in Petrobras, a publicly traded company whose closely guarded secrets – such as the volume of reserves or the deep water exploration technology it has developed – may already be in the hands of the US government and its allies.

Rio-based US journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed earlier this month that leaked National Security Agency (NSA) documents indicated that it had spied on Petrobras – Brazil’s largest company and the world’s fourth largest oil company.

Secret documents from 2012 that were given to Greenwald by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reportedly show that Petrobras was at the top of a list of targets for intelligence gathering.

The documents, part of a presentation used to train new agents on how to breach private computer networks, do not show to what extent NSA deciphered secret information from Petrobras’ computers.

But they do undermine the explanation presented by the US

The Brazilian government is the largest shareholder in Petrobras, a publicly traded company whose closely guarded secrets – such as the volume of reserves or the deep water exploration technology it has developed – may already be in the hands of the US government and its allies. Rio-based US journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed earlier this month that leaked National Security Agency (NSA) documents indicated that it had spied on Petrobras – Brazil’s largest company and the world’s fourth largest oil company. agency with respect to earlier reports that it had intercepted the private communications of Brazilian citizens and of President Dilma Rousseff herself.

“Without a doubt, Petrobras does not represent a threat to the security of any country”, Rousseff said. “What it does represent is one of the world’s largest oil assets, a heritage of the Brazilian people”.

Petrobras has an annual turnover of around 90 billion dollars.

“It is clear that the motive was not security or fighting terrorism, but economic and strategic interests”, the president added.

The vulnerability of the company’s secrets has once again fanned the sentiment that “the oil is ours”, as well as arguments in favour of and against a greater opening to private investment in Petrobras.

One of the focuses of the controversy is the Libra oil field in the Santos Basin, one of Brazil’s richest offshore sub-salt deposits, set to be opened up to bidding in October.

The Brazilian government denied that the bidding would be suspended due to fears that leaked information could favour US or British companies, as newspaper reports claimed.

The president of the association of Petrobras engineers, Silvio Sinedino, told IPS that “We are opposed to any bidding. We have long demanded that our oil should not be handed over the way it is here, and especially not in a fabulous oilfield where there is no risk because it has already been explored and has a confirmed capacity of 12 to 15 billion barrels of oil”.

Brazil’s sub-salt reserves are estimated at 80 to 100 billion barrels – enough to supply the country for 40 to 50 years, he noted.

Sinedino said the Cardoso administration’s “privatization” of Petrobras and telecommunications left Brazil more exposed to espionage.

“Even our military communications go through US satellites, which are obviously controlled by agents from that country”, he added.

Adriano Pires, a consultant with the Brazilian Infrastructure Center, said Petrobras was targeted by spying because “after 50 years of monopoly…no one knows the technological secrets of deep water oil drilling like Petrobras does”.

Describing the company as “number one” in that area, Pires told IPS that “no one knows more about the probability of finding oil”.

That knowledge, he said, is coveted at a time when possible sub-salt reserves off the coast of West Africa are being disputed.

But using the revelations of espionage to once again discuss the merits of opening up Petrobras to private investment is “foolishness” characteristic of “extreme nationalist” rhetoric, he argued.

“There is a great deal of noise and speculation about the espionage, fuelled even by people inside the government, to once again allege that the United States is trying to seize Brazil’s wealth”, he said.

“The sub-salt reserves are huge, and Petrobras cannot exploit them by itself, with its liquidity issues. We need US, Swedish, British, Norwegian or Australian companies to tap the reserves”, Pires said.

Tullo Vigevani, a political science professor at the São Paulo State University, said he was not surprised by the news of the alleged industrial espionage because “the energy question is a central focus of US policy”.

“It is one of the key issues of politics at a global level”, he told IPS. “And information is an essential element. The new discoveries in Brazil, especially in the sub-salt area, require tight surveillance”.

Vigevani said that above and beyond the Brazilian government’s demand for explanations, any solution to defend the country’s strategic interests must be long-term in nature.

In view of what appears to be inevitable, he said, Brazil should invest more in developing science and technology “autonomously, in developing skills, and in developing systems that are more immune to intrusions”.

Friday, September 20, 2013 | Nº 176 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

INTERNATIONAL

! PUBLICATION OF THE &UNDACION #ORREO DEL /RINOCO s Editor-in-Chief %VA 'OLINGER s Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera - Audra Ramones

Opinion

The US needs to take the hint from Dilma Rousseff’s snub The Brazilian president’s cancelled visit, over NSA spying, ought to jolt the US out of its arrogant disrespect for Latin America T/ Mark Weisbrot

T

uesday’s cancellation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s state visit to the White House, scheduled for next month, came as little surprise. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden, and reported

by Glenn Greenwald and TV Globo, had caused an uproar in Brazil. According to the documents and reports, the US government had spied on Dilma’s personal communications, and had targeted the computer systems of Brazil’s Petrobras, the big oil company that is majority-owned by the state.

TV Globo’s report indicated that there was information in the targeted Petrobas computer network that could be very valuable to foreign oil companies.

Former President Lula da Silva said that Obama should “personally apologize to the world”; and Dilma also demanded a full public apology – which was not forthcoming.

The rift with Brazil comes at a time of worsening US relations with Latin America, and especially South America. It is indicative of a much deeper problem.

The Obama administration’s refusal to recognize the results of the Venezuelan elections in April of this year, despite the lack of doubt about the results and in stark opposition to the rest of the region, displayed an aggressiveness that Washington hadn’t shown since it aided the 2002 coup. It brought a sharp rebuke from South America, including Lula and Dilma.

Less than two months later, US Secretary of State John Kerry launched a new “detente”, meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Elías Jaua in the first such high-level meeting in memory, and implicitly recognizing the election results.

But new hopes were quickly dashed when several Europe-

an governments, clearly acting on behalf of the United States, forced down President Evo Morales’ plane in July.

“They’ve definitely gone crazy”, President Cristina Kirchner tweeted, and Unasur (the Union of South American Nations) issued a strong denunciation. The gross violation of international law and diplomatic norms was another flamboyant display of Washington’s lack of respect for the region.

It seems that every month there is another indication of how little the Obama administration cares about improving relations. On July 24th, the IMF, at the direction of the US Treasury Department, abandoned its plan to support the Argentine government in its legal battle with “vulture funds”. The IMF had previously committed to filing a brief with the US supreme court supporting the Argentine government.

This was not out of love for Argentina, but because the lower court’s decision – which would try to prevent Argentina from paying 92% of its creditors in order to satisfy the vulture funds

– was seen as a threat to future debt restructuring and therefore to the world financial system.

But anti-Argentina lobbyists were allowed to prevail, even against the Treasury Department’s legitimate concern for international financial stability.

There are structural reasons for the Obama administration’s repeated failures to accept the new reality of independent

governments in the region.

Although President Obama may want better relations, he is willing to spend about $2 in political capital to accomplish this. And that is not enough.

When he tried to appoint an ambassador to Venezuela in 2010, for example, Republicans (including the office of then Senator Richard Lugar) successfully scuttled it.

For President Obama, there are generally no electoral consequences from having bad relations with Latin America.

Unlike Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, or other areas of armed conflict or potential war, there is no imminent danger that something could blow up in his face, and cause political harm to his administration or party.

The main electoral pressure comes from those who want to oppose more aggressively the left governments: that is, rightwing Florida Cuban-Americans and their allies in Congress, who currently prevail in the House. Most of the foreign policy establishment doesn’t care about the region at all, and the ones who do mainly share the view that the leftward shift is a temporary thing that can and should be reversed.

In the meantime, Washington is expanding its military presence where it has control (for example, Honduras), and is ready to support the overthrow of left governments when the opportunity arises (Honduras in 2009, and Paraguay last year).

Back in 1972, President Richard Nixon made a historic visit to China, which opened a new era of US-China relations. He expressed a number of reasons for the shift in policy. As he told his national security adviser Henry Kissinger: We’re doing the China thing to screw the Russians and help us in Vietnam and to keep the Japanese in line.

But he had also recognized something important, some 22 years after the Chinese revolution: that country’s independence was not going to be reversed.

Unfortunately, Washington has not yet reached the same conclusion about Latin America, and especially South America, whose “second independence” is perhaps one of the most important geopolitical changes in the world over the past 15 years. There is virtually no recognition among the foreign policy establishment in DC – both inside and outside of government – that something important has changed, and that the US government must accept these changes and alter its policy accordingly.

Until that happens, don’t expect US-Latin American relations to get much warmer.

Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC.