[rockwool]

Chapter 6
* They cut Miquelena's comments in a way that he doesn't specify what he means.
* "Can't do what Castro did". What did Castro do that Chavez also did?
* Third time that Michelena fails to specify what reforms and changes Chavez didn't do "at that time". More bashing?

Then the voice continues: "In his first few hears, Chavez hardly mentioned "the Empire", as he now calles the US. But as his friendship with Castro grew, his rethoric became more and more incindiery." Is he ****in joking? He didn't have any problems with the USA until they organized a coup against him on the 11 of April, 2002. And later that year the 3 month lock out strike. Like he needs Castro to know what to think of the USA or anything for that matter....

* And then chavez tells it him self: USA's psychological and economical wars and sabotages against VE.
* A.Berrera: "Chavez is in the need of an epic. He didn't topple a dictator, hasn't been invaded by anybody. He's yelling at Bush to see if the gets a responce. He needs great enemies, because you can't mantain such a high verbal temperature and keep saying, "I'm a great revolutionary", if you're not dangerous." So the coup and the strike against him wasn't Homeric at all? How bout if we ad the coup Chavez did in 92 and the years he sat in prison, to that merit? Drivel, opposition hate that punctures as soon it's revised. lthumbsdown:
* Phil Gunson, The Economist: "And he's absolutely convinced that GWB goes to bed every night thinking of ways to assasinate Hugo Chavez." It's been proven by documents released under FOIA. Why do they not adress that here?

Then we have Humberto Bertini, Minister of Energy, during the period where the poverty constantly grew, 1989-93, spill hate over that Chavez isn't the same thief like he was when he sat in the gvmnt.
* "And then we have the agreements... Cuba today is by and large subsidized by VE." Another complete lie that the producer happily transfers to the viewer. They have a trade exchange of products for services. Nothing wrong with that, is it?

And it continues with a true shocker:
* J.L. Anderson: "Chavez has essentially saved Fidels revolution, on the very eve of his death. I mean, Fidel can go more or less peacefully inte the night knowing that, at least for some years more, AS LONG AS CHAVEZ IS STILL ALIVE, Cuba will be allright."

WTF, did he just say? Chavez isn't going to die of old age in a few years, he's like 50 or so!! Fact is, that the opposition continiously talk openly on the air about assasinating Chavez (where else would that be allowed?). Maybe Anderson is pretty acustumed to those threats that he didn't think of what he said? See for your self, 6:30min into Chapter 6.

Chapter 7
* "He silences a TV station." RCTV, see why in that documentary:

* "The names leak to the opposition." I have already adressed that in this thread.

Why don't they deepen the part where M.L. Maya talks about VE being a "participatory democracy", and that people in general agree with Chavez's politics?

Further, "The money from PDVSA muct be distributed for social policies, that the missions are doing their job, people voted, I think, for that." Here's a blunder from the producer, as she provides a succesfull view of the missions she proves this documentary to be BS!

Rory's (the guy from the Guardian) question was good, and Chavez's answer was again one of a person that has been attacked too much. But then Rory says that "it didn't matter what a guy like he says". Writing for a major western rightist paper it damn well matters what you say as many read it. Although, Chavez failed to adress it propperly.

Later Chavez admits that "It's a political conseption". I don't agree with Chavez on this, but haven't our leaders strange political consepts some times?

Chapter 8
* "Ten years on, serious social ills remain." No ****, WTF did they expect after ten years?
* "Kidnappings and murder [unlike in Brazil or the US...], unequal distribution of oil wealth [unequal to whom, and is it worse than during the 80-90s?], food shortages [thank God for the land reforms then] - yet the poor still belive things would be worse without Chavez." Like if history hasn't proven otherwise. Only a ****ing ignorant person would buy for this crap.
* Then they mention the government food stores, Mercal, taht sells price controlled goods, without reflecting on that it would be worse if they had to buy the same stuff on the open market..
* They make it sound like the problem of safety wasn't a problem before Chavez (one 1/4 had a gun in 2002)...
* They mention the bars covered doors. They're all over every US ghetto movie that I've seen, FFS.

The veterinarian:
* They admit that most of the kidnappings are in border towns to Colombia without reflecting on the paramilitaries there and the documented connections they've had with opposition governor Mario Rosales of Zulia state (bordering with Colombia).
* The poor guy didn't get a call from any official responsible for these things, but is it the government of the country or the state (Rosales) who are to blame here?
* "Venezuela has been transformed". Again, is it the paramilitaries that are effing up things of are these typical signs in a country which steadily has decreesed its poverty for 10 years now?

* Again, somebody comes out and says something that I only can read is directed to the US American watching; don't pump gvmnt money into social programs.
How could VE be better of w/o Chavez if the "social question" hadn't become the "most important issue of the country", something that totally had "disapeared from the political radar" during the previous 20 years before Chavez, where the "terrible impoverishment" had reached 60%?

* "Then surpirse, Chavez lost. The margain was small, officially less than 2%." Here is another try to discredit the VE government by putting emphasis on a system that has been validated by international observers MANY times.

* "He was not about to give up". Why should he, his party got a landslide victory, again, in this last regional election. He's been validated more times than any other politician. At least they get to vote about it.

Over here, our gvmnt pushes for an EU constitution and they don't want to hear of anything that has to do with a referendum (because they're afraid we'll follow Irelands example). Their stance is, "we've been democraticly elected, so we're legit to deal with this matter by our selves".

In 1995 when Sweden was going to vote in a referendum about joining the EC, we were told that if the "yes" vote wins, then that's the end of that matter, but if the "no" vote won, then there would be a second referendum!

Last year the Venezuelans voted for some 60, or so, reforms at the same time, not just about indefinate reelection of the president. Therefore it's OK to ask them again. Any law can still be passed through the parliamentary system, one by one.

* "In the local and regional elections held on Nov 23, 2008, Chavez barred hundreds of opposition candidates from running." Really? This documentary is full of continuous lies.

In both the former list, which contained nearly 400 names, and the revised list of 272 names, more than 52% of those disqualified did not sign the 2004 petition for a recall referendum against President Hugo Chávez, while less than 48% did sign the referendum, according to the Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticias.

and to make it final:

Venezuela's Supreme Court issued a series of decisions yesterday and today that validated the Comptroller General's ruling to temporarily disqualify nearly 300 opposition and pro-Chavez Venezuelans accused of corruption from holding public office.

And at last, the final thing they mention is that the opposition won 5 governorships, out of 23, which equals 77%, but there were also mayoral elections and in those the PSUV gained 81% of the votes.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3988



It has taken me half of a ****ing day to go though all those claims in the documentary you thought were the shiz. Please now view a completely neutral stance about what happened during the coup in 2002. You will come out of that hour and fifteen minutes more enlightened of the Venezuelan situation.

 

[rockwool]

Venezuela’s National Assembly Approves 2009 Budget

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4037


Some people on this board were heard (about that VE's social spending would end if the barrel of oil went down low), and now they've been answered.

The budget was calculated on the basis of an estimated US$60 per barrel of oil as the average price for 2009.

Many oil producing nations budgeted are expecting higher oil prices, such as Saudi Arabia, at US$65 a barrel, and Mexico, at US$70 a barrel.

Spending on government-sponsored social programs will remain high in 2009, with over 20 billion bolivars (US$ 9.3) approved, or about 12.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Increases in the minimum wage for current and retired workers are accounted for in the budget, as well as social spending on the elderly and on collective labor contracts.

In adition to taht, the spending on health and education will also continue to be heavily funded, with the equivalent of over 25 percent of the country’s GDP.

 

[marz66]

I guess that depends on what you read.

Tumbling oil prices are to weaken Venezuela's economy

http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/11/26/en_eco_art_tumbling-oil-prices_26A2147331.shtml

You better hope they get back to $60 a barrel.

BTW, El Universal is news out of Caracas. A different perspective...

 

[rockwool]

I guess that depends on what you read.

Tumbling oil prices are to weaken Venezuela's economy

http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/11/26/en_eco_art_tumbling-oil-prices_26A2147331.shtml

You better hope they get back to $60 a barrel.

BTW, El Universal is news out of Caracas. A different perspective...

Well, "it's not where you're from, it's where you at", but in this case they're right. But then again, they didn't state anything contradictive to the article I posted. It's quite obvious really, isn't it?

Still, $60 a barrel is an average over a year, and the year hasn't even started yet, although it will probably continue to fall for some more time before it turns. Good thing is that they were more sensible compared to other OPEC governments predictions.

And even if it goes below the predicted $60, what will happen? GWB has run your country with a deficit for how many years now, and did he change his ways? Not even Obama is going to change much to turn your ship around, judging by a recent statement, and your deficit is tremendous.

Chavez might shoot his budget a little by spending on the recovery of his people, GWB has killed yours by forcing a war upon millions and millions of people. Your people, but most notably, those of other sovereign nations.

 

[marz66]

The point I was making, and admittedly not very good, is that there are other sources of information within the same country that doesn't paint such a rosy picture. But that's really all you get from the 'all is well and getting better' propaganda that is venezuelanalysis.com. I mean it's though Chavez himself writes some of that garbage. I was reading an article the other day on that site where the writer links his new biography called "HUGO" at Amazon.com, no bias there haha.

spending on the recovery of his people

Now that's some funny chit there...

Bush? Obama? war? my country? what thread is this again?

 

[DaveW]

I was reading an article the other day on that site where the writer links his new biography called "HUGO" at Amazon.com, no bias there haha.

Bias?
Or maybe he has just done enough indepth research on the subject to be able to write on it...... Although yes it would be better if he linked instead to the original source that he used for the book instead of the book itself (more likely to be trying to pimp for more book sales than any other reason though).

 

[marz66]

Bias?
Or maybe he has just done enough indepth research on the subject to be able to write on it...... Although yes it would be better if he linked instead to the original source that he used for the book instead of the book itself (more likely to be trying to pimp for more book sales than any other reason though).

He was definitely pimp'n his book... but how you can be objective at the same time. You would want to write a pro-Chavez piece if your selling a pro-Chavez book. Here's the quote:

While Chávez's decision clearly underscores one of the weaknesses of the Bolivarian Revolution - its one-man show aspect and over-dependence on Chávez as its central figure - it's also important to keep in mind some basic context as his detractors pull out their arrows again. The bottom line, as I document in my new biography "HUGO!" is that until now Chávez has generally remained within the bounds of democracy.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/4036

 

[Samirol]

El Universal is basically fox news on crack, they admitted to faking statistics during the election to try to influence it.

If you only watched fox news, you would think that Atheists, Muslims, and Democrats are all trying to ruin the perfect land of America.

 

[rockwool]

The point I was making, and admittedly not very good, is that there are other sources of information within the same country that doesn't paint such a rosy picture. But that's really all you get from the 'all is well and getting better' propaganda that is venezuelanalysis.com. I mean it's though Chavez himself writes some of that garbage. I was reading an article the other day on that site where the writer links his new biography called "HUGO" at Amazon.com, no bias there haha.



Now that's some funny chit there...

Bush? Obama? war? my country? what thread is this again?

You mean the all but one (or is it a full two nowdays?) national TV channels, and all the major papers. Oh, they do sure portray a totally different picture, but you not questioning if their version is true shows some lack of insight in what's going on there. In short: the opposition media was the very thing that made the 2002 coup possible.

Not only were they missleading the population with disinformation during the weeks before and during the two day coup, but they were the ones that planed and organized it. Big claims, I know. Don't trust me on this one, not the least, make sure that you see it with your own eyes. Presented to you by some Irish film makers that happened to be there at that time:

To say it mildly, the Venezuelan opposition media doesn't work within the same ethical and professional frame as their equivalents from the US or EU (and there's some questionable things about our medias...). What has, and is, going on there is criminal acts here. That this as a fact is possible in VE only shows how democratic their system is.

EDIT: forgot... Chavez's spending on his people is an undesputed fact, he's actually being critisized by the US (as it makes them look bad) for doing so. The only sad chit is your ignorance of this.

The Bush, Obama, war, comparison was just so that you would wake up, smell the coffee, get a reference. You claim it's the end of the world if a country misses it's budget for a year. Well, looking at the US it obvioulsy isn't.

He was definitely pimp'n his book... but how you can be objective at the same time. You would want to write a pro-Chavez piece if your selling a pro-Chavez book. Here's the quote:



http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/4036

Objectiveness as you see it is a myth. When claimed, at best it's an honest portrayal that hopefully has got the whole picture, at worst it's like.....check it out for your self in the link I gave you.

Thing is, that guy might even have been totally honest in his portrayal and wanted to do just that; tell an objective story. That that never struck your mind....?!!

 

[rockwool]

El Universal is basically fox news on crack, they admitted to faking statistics during the election to try to influence it.

If you only watched fox news, you would think that Atheists, Muslims, and Democrats are all trying to ruin the perfect land of America.

Good simile. The only view that's comming out of VE is that of the opposition (witch is rabid, check out for your self), and since Chavez is running his politics with VE in mind instead of looking after "US interests", and naturally, all you'll hear from your media is going to be that from a US interest point of view.

 

[$tinkle]

this thread makes me want to bomb venezuela & put up starbucks kiosks in their favellas.

yes, in that order

 

[Samirol]

this thread makes me want to bomb venezuela & put up starbucks kiosks in their favellas.

yes, in that order

it's working for iraq

 

[DaveW]

this thread makes me want to bomb venezuela & put up starbucks kiosks in their favellas.

yes, in that order

Bloody seppo's.... always have things around the wrong way.

 

[rockwool]

this thread makes me want to bomb venezuela & put up starbucks kiosks in their favellas.

yes, in that order

$tinkle, assuming that you're being honest and not just hoplessly against out of ideology (cus these persons exist too), then it's a matter of the info that you've overcome has convinced you that Chavez is ****e. Looking at the articles I've posted out of that conviction I can see why you react like you do.

But knowledge is a matter of infomation, and I don't know if you've bothered to read any of the articles that I've posted, but if I was to pick one single thing of all I would, again, tell you to see that documentary. It's real time action footage. Please, watch that one, not only so that we can continue from a new perspective to talk about, but in the end, the only one losing out is going to be you; your general knowledge.

Don't be denying the defendant his right to speak.

 

[rockwool]

The latest from Pravda.

Telecom Sector Grows 24% in Venezuela

December 23rd 2008, by Erik Sperling - Venezuelanalysis.com
Carora, December 23, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)--

Venezuela’s telecommunications sector has grown 24 percent in recent years, according to the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Socorro Hernandez.

Hernandez, who is also the president of the Venezuelan National Telephone Corporation, CANTV by its Spanish acronym, made the announcement during a televised press conference.

She said that the growth of the sector is one of the most commendable accomplishments of the Bolivarian Revolution, “planned as part of the nationalization policies carried out by this government, to guarantee the sovereignty and safety of the nation.”

CANTV, Venezuela’s largest telecommunications company, was nationalized last year by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. It was privatized in 1991 by then-president Carlos Andres Perez, who was later impeached for corruption. The 1991 privatization was one of many economic austerity measures suggested by the International Monetary Fund.

Also present was Franco Silva, vice-president of CANTV, who cited statistics demonstrating the company’s recent progress. He informed that 1.2 million land phone lines have been installed in the last 18 months, with 150,000 low-income homes benefiting from the new “Solidarity Price” offer.

CANTV has also added two million cell phones nationwide in this period, making it the national leader in cell phones, Silva said.

The Venezuelan government owns 90 percent of the company’s shares, nine percent are owned by Venezuelan citizens, most being CANTV employees, and the remaining one percent is in the hands of stockholders in the United States, Silva said.

Hernandez stated that “the goal for 2009 in the field of telecommunication and computing is to reach every corner of the country, regardless of social class or geographic location of the area, so that everyone has access to internet, among other utilities.”

CANTV recently began a promotion offering home computers, fitted with Pentium 4 processors, with affordable financing of 110 bolivars ($51) a month for 24 months, with an initial payment of 347 bolivars ($161). An inexpensive internet connection can be purchased as part of the plan. Venezuela’s minimum wage is 799 bolivars ($371) per month, the highest in Latin America.

“We want everyone to have access to the internet to be able to raise their level of knowledge,” Hernandez concluded.

Venezuela’s Chavez recently signed a deal with Portugal to buy and assemble in Venezuela over 1 million specialized laptop computers, which will be given to Venezuelan schoolchildren, according to Chavez. The computers are equipped with manual power generators, ideal for children in remote areas with limited access to electricity.

And merry christmas to you all!

 

[rockwool]

http://www.variety.com/VR1117997180.html

Los Angeles
Posted: Wed., Dec. 10, 2008, 6:30pm PT


Oliver Stone to make Chavez doc
Venezuelan President subject of director's film
By ALI JAAFAR


It looks like Oliver Stone enjoys being in the company of presidents. The helmer is following up his Bush biopic "W." with a documentary about Venezuela's controversial President Hugo Chavez.

Stone has been working on the untitled doc for six months and is hoping to have it ready for next year.

"It's about Chavez and the South American revolution," Stone told Daily Variety in a reference to the wave of leftist pols elected to office in Latin America in recent years.

Stone was with Chavez in February when the president helped broker the release of hostages held by the militant FARC group in neighboring Colombia. That release was followed in July by the dramatic rescue by Colombian troops of Ingrid Betancourt and other FARC hostages.

The doc will not focus on the hostage issue but on the opposition Chavez has faced at home and abroad, especially from the Bush administration, which has been vocal in its distaste for the populist socialism espoused by Venezuela's president.

Stone is also working on a second doc, details of which he is keeping under wraps. He did, however, deny rumors that he's planning to make a film about Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There have been reports in recent months that Ahmadinejad had authorized Stone to come to Iran and document him.

Stone's previous docs include "Comandante," about Cuban President Fidel Castro, and "Persona Non Grata," which began as a project about Yasser Arafat but eventually became a wider-reaching primer on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, after interviewing the now-dead Arafat proved an impossible task.

News of Stone's latest documentary comes as the helmer flies to the Middle East to present "W." as the opening-night film at the Dubai Film Festival today.

"Bush met his fate and destiny in the Middle East, and his policies changed something in the region," said Stone in a reference to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I hope the film can help the Arab world understand him better and show them something more then they already knew."

Stone attended the Dubai fest in 2006 with his 9/11 drama "World Trade Center."

The fifth Dubai fest is starting as speculation mounts about the rapidly expanding emirate's susceptibility to the global economic recession.

Much of Dubai's spectacular growth has been built on the back of leveraged debt. With relatively minimal natural resources in oil and gas, Dubai has been seen by some analysts as more vulnerable to the credit crunch than its richer Gulf neighbors.

Fest organizers are hoping to assuage some of the naysayers with a glitzy event. Stars expected to attend the fest include Nicolas Cage, Salma Hayek, Laura Linney and Danny Glover.

 

[jmvar]

I have not read through this entire thread...just bits and pieces since I last posted. I am leaving for Venezuela tomorrow.

I will bring back pics and thoughts from people who actually live there day to day. Anything in particular I should look into or take pics of?

 

[Samirol]

It would be cool to ask people about their quality of life before Chavez and now.

 

[rockwool]

I have not read through this entire thread...just bits and pieces since I last posted. I am leaving for Venezuela tomorrow.

I will bring back pics and thoughts from people who actually live there day to day. Anything in particular I should look into or take pics of?

I'm glad you came back, your oppinion and experiance is really needed here.

To make it fair, you should ask people if they're part of the opposition or back the Bolivarian government, then perhaps you should ask a similar amount of people from each of the two sides (anybody you find, cab drivers, kiosk assistant, et al).

Looking at the latest article in venezuelanalysis it's about general quality of life, what Samirol said.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4064

Poverty and Inequality Decline in Venezuela

December 25th 2008, by Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com


Mérida, December 24, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Over the last decade, Venezuela’s poverty has decreased, and this has seen a corresponding decrease in inequality and an increase in over all development.

Poverty down by 24.5 percentage points

According to the latest statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), poverty in Venezuela has dropped by 24.5 percentage points over the last decade, from 50.5% poverty in 1998 to 26% at the close of 2008.

The president of the INE, Elias Eljuri, also calculated that extreme poverty, at 7% for this year (down from 25% in 2002), continues to decrease as well. He attributed the decrease in poverty to the social programs implemented by the national government.

He also pointed out that that the statistics for poverty and extreme poverty, audited internationally by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) showed a decrease of 2.5% and 0.9% respectively for 2008 compared to last year.

Further, he said the INE poverty information was obtained based on household incomes. “We didn’t take into account all the subsidies, for example the four million children who eat [for free] in Bolivarian schools, the free health services, both of which…decrease the amount of poverty.”

Lowest inequality in Latin America

Venezuela’s social inequality index (also known as Gini coefficient) this year is 0.42,where on a scale of 0 to 1, 0.49 is low, 0.49-0.70 is medium, and 0.80-1 is high inequality, making it the lowest in Latin America, including Chile and Costa Rica, which had the least inequality in 2007. The average social inequality in Latin America is 0.52.

The CIA and United Nations do not measure Cuba’s inequality.

Eljuri believes, however, that it is necessary to improve the redistribution of income even more in Venezuela.

Venezuela’s human development index higher than 118 countries

According to a preview of the annual report of the United Nations Program of Development, Venezuela has a higher index of development than 118 countries, located in 61st place.

The index measures quality of life, including life expectancy, education and purchasing power.

“Fundamentally, life expectancy has improved, enrollment [in education] has increased and purchasing power, which is measured through income, has also increased in a significant way,” said Eljuri.

Looking at all the countries of Latin America, Venezuela falls in 13th place out of 33 countries, ahead of Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador.

The index ranges from 0 to 1, where less than 0.49 suggests low human development, 0.49-0.79 is a medium level of development, and 0.8 – 1 is a high level. Venezuela has an index of 0.834, up from 0.78 a decade ago.

Although, out of most things (if you have the time...) I would like you to notice the opposition media; how many national TV channels, national papers, and national radio stations, do they have in comparison to the state. Is there any censorship, or are they even allowed to make threats aginst Chavez (like I've seen on clips).
Due to time shortage it might be easier to ask this as questions to people you meet.

Then again, people have voted some multiple times during this past decade, VE has grown to be a participatory democracy (partly), instead of a pure representative democracy, and in all those elections there has been about a 60/40 % support for the revolution (except for the referendum one year ago 49/51). The Venezuelans have spoken MANY times. Maybe you should ask them if they vote?



EDIT: Forgot to mention the interesting bit that the CIA and the UN doesn't measure the inequality in Cuba, a country that is eager to show to the world, through UN reports, how things actually are on that island!

 

[rockwool]

The FARC computers that connected my ni**a moose man, Chavez, to the rebel army, are once again disproved, and this time from Colombia within.

The bits specially conserning $tinkle and the PBS doc that he posted is marked in his favourite party colour, blue, where Rory Carrol, the Guardian correspondent has yet another say.

The part specially conserning Samirol is in green.

And the bit conserning Transcends forthcoming flip over the use of colours is pink.

Hugo Chavez, the FARC laptop, and the non-existent emails

by Calvin Tucker / December 20th 2008


The Western press rushed to report a story which framed Venezuela's socialist president Hugo Chavez as a covert supporter of terrorism. Now it is clear that the key 'evidence' on which the story was based does not exist- but this is a fact which the media chooses not to publish.

Remember the laptop computer that, according to the Colombian government, miraculously survived the bombing of the Farc guerrilla camp in Ecuador? Yes, that one. The one that allegedly contained thousands of emails showing the extensive collaboration between the leadership of the rebel group and representatives of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.

The alleged contents of the laptop were exploited without delay by US officials seeking to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government. US Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said that this was "the first time that we've stumbled across something coming from the Farc drawing such a straight line" between the rebels and Chavez.

Amidst the acres of news coverage generated by the ‘discovery’ of the laptop, the Economist provided a helpful summary:

"Interpol has now concluded that the huge cache of e-mails and other documents recovered from the computers of Raúl Reyes, a senior leader of the Farc guerrillas killed in a Colombian bombing raid on his camp in Ecuador on March 1st, are authentic and undoctored."

The Guardian’s self-styled Caracas correspondent, Rory Carroll, even managed to intercept some of the emails:

"In one leaked email dated January 2007 the Farc's military leader, Jorge Briceño, also known as Mono Jojoy, told the rebels' governing secretariat that he planned to ask Chávez for a loan of $250m, 'to be repaid when we take power'."

Carroll continued:

"In another coded email from April 2005 a rebel identified as Iván wrote that 'Tino', who was said to be responsible for Venezuela 's Popular Defence Units, a civilian militia, wanted help from Farc in teaching guerrilla tactics."

Ben Whitford, a writer for the Guardian's 'Comment is free' website, declared with undisguised glee:

“it looks like Chavez has been caught red-handed”.

Whitford went on to call for the USA to impose “smart sanctions” against Venezuela if the Organization of American States failed to conduct a “formal, impartial and transparent investigation into Venezuela 's apparent efforts to hurt its neighbour.”

International NGOs were also moved to comment. A statement by Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed that:

"email messages found on laptop computers reportedly recovered from a FARC encampment by Colombian security forces in March 2008 describe meetings in which Venezuelan officials also appear to have offered assistance to the Colombian guerrillas, including safe havens, weapons procurement, and possibly even financial support."

While admitting that HRW had not actually had direct access to the 'emails', the organisation nevertheless described their alleged contents in some detail:

“But according to excerpts released by the Colombian government and reviewed by Human Rights Watch, the files contain email correspondence in which FARC commanders recount multiple meetings with Venezuelan officials. These messages refer to a meeting in which President Chávez reportedly offered to provide the FARC with safe havens within Venezuelan territory. They also mention meetings in which two Venezuelan generals, Hugo Carvajal Barrios and Clíver Alcalá Cordones, appear to offer the guerrillas assistance in procuring weapons. The email message refers to another meeting in which Interior Minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín reportedly promised to facilitate the delivery of arms shipments to the guerrilla group. In addition, there are several email messages that allude to what appear to be offers of financial support to the FARC, including allocating to the guerrillas an oil ration which they could sell for profit.”

José Miguel Vivanco, HRW’s Americas director, added: “The emails raise serious questions about Venezuela ’s relationship with the Colombian guerrillas that deserve serious answers.”

Chavez’s answer that the emails and documents were fakes and that Interpol’s secretary general, US citizen Ronald Noble, was “a tremendous actor”, was dismissed without investigation by the same Western media that brought us the Zinoviev letter
and Iraqi WMD.

And so for nine long months after the Colombian military obliterated the Farc camp, leaving only one survivor: that amazing bombproof laptop, the official version stood largely unchallenged. Chavez was damned as a sponsor of terrorism, his reputation sullied, his honesty called into question.

Then, in early December, the official version, already widely disbelieved across Latin America, began to crumble. The Colombian government-appointed investigator, Captain Ronald Coy, stated under oath that he had found only word documents in the laptop, and not a single email:

QUESTION: “Please state to this office if you have found in the electronic elements seized from Raul Reyes, files corresponding to email messages sent to or received by him.”

COY’S ANSWER: “Proper emails have not been found so far. A large amount of e-mail addresses have been found, but Reyes kept the information stored in word and other Microsoft software.”

So no actual emails. And consequently, no proof that any of the alleged authors of these word documents sent or received anything.

So how did the Guardian’s Caracas correspondent end up reporting on something which according to the official investigator had not yet been found? What is the explanation for Rory Carroll’s ‘WMD moment’? We don’t know. We will probably never know. The Guardian, which rushed to report the existence of the emails, has, in common with the rest of the British and US media, chosen not to report their non-existence.





This article was submitted by the author, who is a regular contributor to the Guardian's 'Comment is free', for publication in his blog on the newspaper's website. The Guardian refused to publish it.

http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/hugo_chavez_the_farc_laptop_and_the_non-existent_emails_01799.html

$tinkle, this dude Rory Carrol who looked very sympathic in the PBS doc, is now smelling very fishy. How can a correspondent that lives in Carracas for eight years now have totally missed that the FARC computers have been dismissed as not qualifying as acceptable evidence by the Interpol report?
He can't. Still he continues this disinformation to not knowing western readers.


Samsam, once again Vivanco and HRW is talking about things that it has not the slightest bit of evidence for. Coincedences or on a mission from God?


With my best Russian accent: I toåld jyou many time, don't traast the gjouestern medija and the instoumients of imperijalism.

 

[rockwool]

* Cuba vs Jamaica.
* Cuba redefining socialism.

Havana rights

Plans to legalise gay marriage and offer sex change operations free of charge mean Cuba is set to become the most socially liberal country in the Americas.


The street scene was entertaining, as always. Promenading down the colonial walkway known as the Prado was a cross-section of the city's humanity; a respectable old couple walking arm in arm, a bored-looking policeman smoking a Soy Popular, two young lovers holding hands with eyes only for each other, a Lycra-clad girl with eyes only for tourists, and a teenage boy with a big grin selling fake branded cigars: "Where you from, my friend? I work in the cigar factory. I do you good price."

And then, to complete the scene, a dozen transvestites came into view, singing: "All we are saying, is give peace a chance." No one batted an eyelid. Not me. Not the old couple. Not even the policeman.

This was Havana in October 2004. But it could have been any major city in socialist Cuba in recent years. After the severe anti-homosexual discrimination of the 1960s and 70s, Cuba's lesbian, gay and transgender community is set to be given something more important than a chance: the right to marry and enjoy full equality under the law.

"We have to abolish any form of discrimination against those persons," Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's national assembly, said recently. "We have to redefine the concept of marriage. Socialism should be a society that does not exclude anybody."

The national assembly is also currently debating a proposal which will give transsexuals the right to have sex change operations. Like all medical procedures performed on the island, they will be carried out free of charge by the world class Cuban health service.

This official change of heart did not come out of the blue, and neither did the earlier repression. Machista culture has deep roots in all Latin American and Caribbean countries that suffered under slavery and colonialism. In Jamaica, for example, homosexuality is punishable with a prison sentence, and some clubs and bars even display notices reading "Adam and Eve, yes. Adam and Steve, no".

Cuba, being a secular country, avoided the anti-homosexual religious overtones of its neighbours. However, repression of homosexuals continued after the 1959 revolution under the umbrella of a dogmatic interpretation of Marxism. It is a tribute to the humanistic essence of the Cuban Revolution that its leadership was able to face up to its mistakes and change course. Cuba is now set to become the most socially liberal country in the Americas.

In 1979, homosexual relations were legalised. Fourteen years later, a critically acclaimed film, Strawberry and Chocolate, was released in Cuba which immediately created waves within society. The film was about the friendship between a gay man and a straight Communist party militant, and included the now famous line: "I'm part of this country, like it or not. And I have the right to work for its future." Since then, openly gay men and lesbians have featured more prominently on TV and the stage, and in literature.

There are also gay rights campaigners in Cuba. The most influential amongst them is Mariela Castro. For years, Ms Castro has used her position as head of the national sex education centre to highlight homophobic discrimination and to work with government departments, universities, mass organisations and the police to change attitudes and practices. She also happens to be the daughter of acting president Raul Castro and the niece of Fidel.

Another set of people who can claim some credit for Cuba's enlightened approach is the international left and solidarity campaigns. While the pressure for equal rights came principally from within Cuban society, there is little doubt that the government also listened to their friends and supporters abroad, those who unconditionally stood by Cuba throughout her struggle against US-sponsored invasion and terrorism, and the 45-year-long economic blockade.

While Havana has a lively and vibrant gay scene (something that would have been unthinkable 30 years ago), the picture is not uniformly rosy. Mariela Castro acknowledges that gays and lesbians still face occasional police harassment, but says that the days of official repression are over: "What remains are social and cultural reactions that must be transformed, the same as in many other countries."


This article was published in the 'Comment is free' section of the Guardian website on 28th March 2007. (http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/calvin_tucker/2007/03/the_street_scene_was_entertain.html)

Calvin Tucker is a co-editor of 21st Century Socialism.

"A leadership that faces it's misstakes and changes", not quite what you usually hear about the dinosaurs over there.

 

[rockwool]

The Venezuelan referendum is closing in (is to be held in about a month) and there have been polls recently checking the temp.

Poll results

55.1% of Venezuelans would vote for the amendment to the constitution to get rid of a two term presidential limit, Jesse Chacon, minister for communication and information, stated in a press conference on Sunday, citing statistics from the daily newspaper Panorama.

As well, he noted, 51.4% of Venezuelans believe the general situation is good, and 44.2% feel it is bad. Chacon then quoted a study carried out by the Venezuelan National Institute of Data Analysis (IVAD), which stated that 69.4% of Venezuelans think that Chavez’s performance has been good, and 27.2% think it has not been good.

“This is one of the highest levels of approval that the president has had in the last five years,” Chacon said.

The IVAD poll was conducted from December 12 to 22. 48.07% of respondents said that they agreed with the constitutional amendment and 9.92% were unsure. 54.5% would vote for Chavez in a presidential election and 35% would not.

/........./

Another poll, conducted by the Social Research Group 21 (GIS XXI), which is directed by Chávez’s former finance minister Nelson Merentes, also confirmed a victory for the “yes” vote to the amendment. The study was conducted between December 1 and 19, with 9,400 from 22 states across the country. According to Merentes, the error margin is 2.19%.

In response to the question “Would you vote in favor or against the constitutional amendment?” 51.7% said they would vote in favor, and 39.1% said they would vote against. 5.3% said they did not know or preferred not to respond to the question.

69.9% expressed agreement with the statement “If the people support him, president Chavez has the right to run as a candidate in elections as many times as he wants.” 30% disagreed.

On the governance of Chavez, 74.9% categorized it as very good or good, while 23.9% categorized it as very bad or bad.

Finally, regarding the Venezuelan political situation, 41.4% considered it good, 23.4% considered it neither good nor bad, and 27.7% considered it bad.

/........./

Chacon highlighted various countries in Europe that have the ability to indefinitely re-elect a president and that he argued raised their standard of living through continuity in political policy.

However, he said, it will be necessary to intensify the information campaign about the amendment as “there are Venezuelans who really believe that if they vote ‘yes’ for the amendment they are electing Chavez as emperor forever and that’s a lie.”

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4082


Gotta say that it's looking good for the mayate.

 

[rockwool]

As the referendum is closing in the US is again orchestrating the Venezuelan opposition, its private media, and their comming democracy overthrowing activities.

Venezuelan Opposition Leaders Are Said to Meet with U.S. Officials in Puerto Rico
January
13th 2009, by Erik Sperling - Venezuelanalysis.com


Picture: Globovisión director Federico Ravell threatens reporter asking him about his meeting in Puerto Rico. (VTV)

Carora, January12, 2009 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Venezuelan Leaders of Venezuela’s opposition political parties and the director of the leading oppositional private television news station likely met with government officials and political advisors from the United States in Puerto Rico last week, according to emails revealed by a producer of a pro-government Caracas television station.

Pedro Carvajalino, a reporter of the state-funded Avila TV, said in a television interview that he learned of the meeting from an email sent by Globovision director Alberto Federico Ravell to the leaders of the top four opposition political parties. Recipients of the email apparently included Omar Barboza, of A New Era party, Julio Borges of Justice First, Luis Planas of COPEI, and Henry Ramos of Democratic Action.

Carvajalino did not say how he acquired the email, which described details of the meeting, apparently aimed at providing political strategies for the opposition to a constitutional amendment that would allow President Hugo Chavez to stand for reelection in 2012.

“The group of advisors has been working very hard recently and they are going to present an entire strategic campaign, with ideas for television commercials, events and speeches,” Ravell is said to have written in the email. “I have been helping them with information and research.”

“They have been floating ideas to the most big league political advisors in the United States, and I think that we will have everything ready to face the amendment from A to Z,” Ravell continued.

“The only thing we have to talk about are the costs which, although they are low, some three million dollars for what is being produced, we should share them between all of us,” Ravell added. This comment caused many politicians and journalists allied with Chavez’s United Socialist Party to accuse the opposition of accepting outside funds, although it was not immediately clear if the opposition leaders are receiving or paying the sum mentioned in the email.

Ravell also wrote, “Our friend from the embassy will leave a day earlier,” likely referring to top embassy official John Caulfield. Embassy spokeswoman Robin Holzhauer admitted Caulfield traveled to Puerto Rico during the meeting dates, but for a wedding.

"The trip had no relation to anyone or anything in Venezuela,” she said.

Carvajalino later met the opposition leaders in the airport upon their return to Venezuela, where he confronted Ravell, inquiring, “How was the meeting in Puerto Rico with the [U.S.] State Department?”

“Better than the meetings they do in Iran with some tractor pieces,” Ravell responded, referring to agreements signed between Venezuela and Iran to manufacture tractors for use in the Venezuelan countryside.

The interview then became heated after Carvajalino accused Ravell of being funded and supported by the United States.

Ravell responded by threatening to punch the journalist, as well as hurling obscene homophobic and sexist insults against the Carvajalino, as seen in a video that has been shown frequently on state-run channels in Venezuela. Most of the other opposition leaders mentioned in the email are seen arriving to the airport with Ravell in the video.

Ravell’s Globovision has defended its objectivity for years, while others consider it a powerful opposition actor, and accuse it of actively participating in the failed 2002 coup d’état against Chavez. Self-described as Venezuela’s “first 24 hour news station,” they have forged strong ties with foreign news stations such as CNN.

During his Sunday television program, Hugo Chavez asked the leaders to come clear about their activities in Puerto Rico, but said that their angry reaction in the airport “revealed the truth.”

Chavez played the footage of the airport exchange as well as the text of the email during his Sunday telelvision program, and also had it simultaneously broadcast on all non-cable stations, in response to what he classified as a private media blackout of the story.

Chavez also stated that his administration was investigating the possible involvement of US embassy officials in the meeting, saying that he would expel the official from the country if it was proven.

“No one should doubt that behind this irrational, media-based opposition, is the empire, ready to take control of Venezuela.” Chavez affirmed.

Javier Andara contributed to reporting

In Puerto Rico for a wedding, ey? This surely can't be the Monroe Doctrine being put into action.

 

[Samirol]

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3710

FAIR Study: Human Rights Coverage Serving Washington's Needs

A new FAIR study finds that leading newspapers have been putting political considerations ahead of humanitarian concerns in their editorials on human rights in Latin America.

The report, "Human Rights Coverage Serving Washington's Needs," finds that while Venezuela is by every measure a safer place than Colombia to live, vote, organize unions and political groups, speak out against the government or practice journalism, editorials at four influential newspapers have portrayed Venezuela's government as having a far worse human rights record than Colombia's. While the human rights concerns expressed in newspaper editorials do not track with the degree of human rights abuses documented by human right groups, they do closely follow Washington's official stances toward these countries.

Some highlights from the study, which looked at editorials on human rights in Venezuela and Colombia in the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times over 10 years (1998–2007):

- Nine in 10 editorials about human rights in Venezuela presented a strictly negative view of the country's record, while a majority of the Colombia editorials presented either a mixed or wholly positive assessment. Of the 101 editorials on Venezuela examined in the study, 91 described the human rights situation negatively, and not a single editorial portrayed Venezuela's record in a wholly positive light. Of 90 editorials on Colombia, 42 only portrayed Colombia's situation as negative, 32 expressed a mixed assessment, and 16 were entirely positive.

-The Washington Post editors offered the most positive view of the Colombian government's human rights record; of the paper's 13 editorials on Colombia's record, seven presented a positive view, and none were exclusively negative, while 22 of 23 Post editorials on Venezuela were negative and none were exclusively positive.

-Of the four papers, the New York Times held the Colombian government’s human rights record in the lowest esteem; 20 of its 29 editorials on Colombia were negative, none were positive, and nine held a mixed view. But the Times did not stray far from the norm with regard to Venezuela, with nine out of a total of 12 negative and three mixed.


The authors conclude that, "rather than independently and critically assessing the Colombian and Venezuelan records, major corporate newspaper editors, to one degree or another, have subordinated crucial human rights questions to what they see as the U.S.'s interests in the region."

Pretty straight forward article showing how the US media has been biased against Venezuela since 1998

 

[Defenestrated]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/03/el-salvadors-left-turn

El Salvador poised to turn left.

Polls show that the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, which ditched its guns and became a political party under the terms of a peace agreement in 1992, stands a good chance of winning El Salvador's presidential election on March 15. If it does, one of the old warhorses of the Latin American left (in Spanish: Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, or FMLN), which came close to defeating the Salvadoran army in the early 1980s, will triumph at last through the ballot. For the wizened veterans who hobble around at FMLN rallies with Cuban prosthetic limbs and war stories to curl your ears, that would be a heady moment indeed.

The FMLN candidate, a television talk-show host named Mauricio Funes, speaks to Salvadorans as though he's got victory in the bag.

"Who's going to be your next president?" he asked the crowd at a huge rally on Saturday night in San Salvador. "Mauricio!" they shouted. "I'm going to be your next president!" Funes roared back, in case anyone missed the point. The avenue erupted in a sea of blood-red FMLN flags.

Funes isn't an obvious fit with the former guerrillas and union organizers who still hold most of the leadership positions in the FMLN. He was never a guerrilla, has never held public office, and, by his own account, only asked FMLN's bosses to be their candidate after he grew exasperated with the misrule of El Salvador's long-ruling ARENA party. After three previous defeats, they readily accepted. A polished speaker who covered the war as a TV reporter, he has waged an upbeat, future-looking campaign that contrasted sharply with ARENA's dark warnings about communism and chavismo. He has cast himself as a modern social democrat in the mold of Barack Obama and Brazil's Luis Inacio Lula da Silva—both of whom figure prominently in the FMLN's television ads. In one, the words "Yes, We Can," and Obama's face, appear on the screen before dissolving into an image of Funes.

The message: Just as Americans overcame the nonsense about Obama being a Muslim or terrorist, so Salvadorans can overcome the fear of electing a leftist as president. Other ads show sunny images of smiling kids and old folks, the candidate moving easily among them in an immaculate white guayabera shirt.

With such an optimistic pitch, those of us living in El Salvador can't help wondering if Funes understands what a mess he will inherit if he wins. Twenty years under successive right-wing ARENA presidents have left El Salvador with high crime, a sluggish economy, no relief from poverty, and abject dependence on foreign-currency remittances as El Salvador's exports stagnate and its people stream to the United States.

Nothing shows better the wreckage of ARENA's free-market policies than the remittance issue. Money sent home by Salvadorans abroad are the country's largest single source of foreign exchange—$3.8 billion last year, equivalent to more than 17 percent of the country's gross domestic product. In tiny El Salvador, the remittance economy has produced some weird distortions. Despite a high birth rate, the latest census suggests the population has actually declined—to 5.7 million, compared to a previously projected 7.1 million—due to so much emigration. Women significantly outnumber men. All over El Salvador, grand and ornate McMansions built with remittance money and surrounded by barbed wire and guards with shotguns have sprouted up on the squalid outskirts of villages. There's a whole new rural class hierarchy based on the number of family members living abroad. In one village, I met a young man whose six brothers had all migrated to the United States. They were the richest family in the village and had a brand-new pickup. Their parents were illiterate.

ARENA politicians used to portray Salvadorans abroad as heroes, the hermanos lejanos who journeyed selflessly to a strange land to support their families back home. They built a monument to the "distant brothers" in San Salvador and curried favor with the Bush administration to ensure that most could retain legal immigration status in the States and keep sending money home.

Now, with remittances slipping due to the US economic crisis, the Salvadoran economy is going into a tailspin. And more Salvadorans are starting to make the connection between emigration, family disintegration, and the country's staggering crime rate.

"We can't go on exporting workers and ripping apart the country's social fabric," wrote Joaquin Villalobos, a former FMLN commander who now opposes the group, in a recent essay. "ARENA's economic model has created social decay and moral corruption due to the systematic pulling apart of families and communities...This is why there is such violence and insecurity...ARENA dismantled the state and the national productive apparatus, causing the current political and social chaos. But even worse is the fact that the FMLN, in less time, could multiply unemployment, insecurity and violence." Crime in El Salvador has become part of the background of everyday life. A total of 3,179 people were murdered last year, according to police figures, giving the country a homicide rate 10 times that of the United States and one of the highest in the world for a country not at war. Figures so far this year are even worse: 689 homicides in the first two months of the year, which, at that rate, would leave the country this year with 4,500 dead. Government officials attribute the violence to gangs and organized crime and say few, if any, are politically motivated. But with such numbers, and with police so overwhelmed, who can say?

I live in an apartment block in San Salvador. Last week, my neighbor was killed. A little more than a year ago, a close friend of mine, an MIT-educated Salvadoran architect, was murdered in his home. No suspects have been arrested, as far as I know. A few weeks ago, the copy shop on my corner was held up. Last year, 146 people were murdered on buses in El Salvador, some of them passengers but many more of them bus drivers who refused to hand over the fare box to neighborhood extortion networks. When asked about violence against bus drivers, President Antonio Saca's response was vintage ARENA. If all drivers simply refused to pay the extortionists, he said, then the problem would go away.

ARENA's candidate Rodrigo Avila, the former chief of the National Police Force, has proven to be an energetic campaigner, but his crowds so far haven't matched those of the FMLN. Avila's party has a loyal following, a get-out-the-vote machinery worthy of Richard Daley, and a Republican-style willingness to go negative. They could still turn the election around. In January, an ARENA candidate confounded the polls and defeated the FMLN mayor of San Salvador, Violeta Menjivar, in her bid for reelection. That election was less about ideology than about nuts-and-bolts governing. Polls after the election suggested voters were unhappy about the state of city services under the FMLN on everything from transport to trash collection. Ironically, the FMLN is hoping the same thing will happen in the presidential election—that swing voters will look past the party's hard-line ideologues and focus instead on ARENA's sorry record of governance.

Will the elections be clean? Funes has warned constantly about the possibility of fraud. The FMLN's supporters in North America and Europe have echoed the concern, but official election observers on the ground do not share it. No fraud was reported in the January municipal and congressional elections, previous presidential elections since 1992 have been clean and transparent, and this week the head of the European Union's election observation mission said he saw no evidence to substantiate Funes' claim that fraud was in the works. Even FMLN leaders question the claims. The popular FMLN mayor of the city of Santa Tecla, Oscar Ortiz, has said he doubts there will be serious irregularities. ARENA, for all its faults, has given El Salvador a decently functioning electoral system. On Sunday, some areneros may wish they hadn't.

Democratically elected Socialist government incoming?

ARENA really fvcked the country, Capitalism has failed them, and if Socialism is truly a failed idea, I guess South America is boned...

 

[DaveW]

*meh* South America has north America for a neighbor......... they be screwed no matter what they do

 

[$tinkle]

i always thought that whole region was left leaning, & even more pronounced after we went mucking around in the 80's.

from my source in costa rica, socio-marxism has been beneficial at the local level among most central american countries. i'm sure the drug trade makes for an interesting x-factor in regional stability too.

 

[1453]

does this mean undocumented Salvadorians will be heading home to enjoy the regime change, or will we be seeing more Salvadorians coming this way to send remittance home?

 

[Defenestrated]

does this mean undocumented Salvadorians will be heading home to enjoy the regime change, or will we be seeing more Salvadorians coming this way to send remittance home?

How could a government change of any scale possible improve a country as backwards as this one by merely occurring?

I doubt much will change without years of work.

 

[DaveW]

True, but everything starts somewhere.

 

[Defenestrated]

Yeah it would be a step in the right direction for sure.

 

[$tinkle]

True, but everything starts somewhere.

the holocaust started with a flagging economy

 

[Defenestrated]

Godwin's Law in action right there.

Edit: to all those concerned Funes was indeed elected on Sunday!

 

[terry31]

The U.S screwed up South America so hard by installing U.S-friendly dictators and funding terrorist groups. It is truly amazing that people wonder why the U.S isn't seen in a positive light in many countries.

I haven't seen any news source in the U.S besides small, independent news sources print this kind of stuff, and it is a shame that profits are more important than information. It is an inherent flaw in a capitalist news structure, since news organizations will print what gets them the most money, and stories like these are dismissed as socialist propaganda then immediately discarded in favor of the latest news on Britney Spears' baby.

Alternative energy sources are, I think,
and there is that direction which will deduce the world from crisis.
The epoch of oil and gas monopolies will end.
___________________________________________
MULTIPURPOSE GARDEN SHEDS & GARAGES based in Ireland, we construct Steel Garden Sheds in the south east of Ireland.

 

[rockwool]

VE does its calculos un altra volta.

Venezuela Raises Sales Tax and Internal Debt, Maintains Social Spending, to Cope with Oil Price Decline


March 23rd 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuela will raise taxes, increase internal debt, cut unnecessary government spending, and keep social spending intact in its effort to endure the global financial crisis, which has lowered the demand and price of oil, Venezuela's principal export.

President Hugo Chávez announced the highly anticipated measures in a nationally televised broadcast Saturday afternoon.

In contrast to fervid speculation in the oppositional media over the past week, Chávez announced there will be no increase in the domestic price of gasoline, which is heavily subsidized, and no devaluation of the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, which has been fixed at 2.15 per dollar since 2004.

Chávez promised to increase the minimum wage by 20% in 2009, in line with inflation, which the Finance Ministry has estimated will be between 15% and 20% this year. The inflation rate has been 24.4% over the past twelve months, as Venezuela's twenty-trimester economic growth streak decelerated from 8.4% in 2007 to 4.9% in 2008.

The president reiterated his administration's commitment to its extensive social programs that have cut poverty in half over the past decade. "What we will not cut are social and productive investments: health, education, and the missions," he said.

Venezuela planned its national budget for 2009 based on an average price of $60 per barrel of oil, but the deepening global financial crisis brought prices down to the range of $30 per barrel at the start of the year. Oil prices rose, following two supply reductions by the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which Venezuela is a member, to the mid-$40 range.

Now, the national budget has been adjusted to an average $40 barrel of oil in 2009, Chávez said. The budget will thus be reduced by 6.7% relative to the earlier 2009 budget, from 167.5 billion bolivars ($77.9 billion) to 156.4 billion bolivars ($72.7 billion).

To generate revenue, Venezuela will increase its national Value Added Tax (IVA) from 9% to 12%, and increase internal debt from by 22 billion bolivars, from 12 billion ($5.6 billion) to $34 billion ($15.8 billion).

Planning and Development Minister Jorge Giordani said the increase in internal debt and the IVA are modest relative to Venezuela's economy, and that these measures will cover the losses incurred as a result of the decline in oil prices. "We have made the calculations, and our internal financial sector has the capacity to do it," Giordani said in a televised interview.

To cut government costs, Chávez said there will be a cap on the salaries of top government officials including the president, but he did not specify what the limit would be. In addition, there will be limits to what government institutions are permitted to spend on vehicles, cell phones, parties, furniture, publicity, technological upgrades, and travel. He also demanded that government officials take the initiative to lower their own salaries and bonuses.

"We are going to cut back on unnecessary spending... I am not talking about the workers' salaries, but about the high-level functionaries," said Chávez before unleashing harsh critiques of the leaders of some government institutions who have partitioned budget surpluses in bonuses to themselves and their allies.

Moreover, all government institutions will undergo revisions of their operations in order to consolidate functions and trim costs, Chávez said. In early March, Chávez already eliminated two of his ministries and shuffled the functions of others to make the executive branch more efficient.

In the public banking sector, Chávez said the management of all public financial institutions will be centralized, and said the nationalization of the Bank of Venezuela, which was to be purchased from the Spanish Santander group last year, will help the government strengthen its public banking based partially on the model of Brazil's Caixa Economica do Brasil.

To explain his understanding of the crisis and how the government decided on the measures announced Saturday, Chávez cited several articles he had read recently on how to deal with the global financial crisis, with authors ranging from Nobel Prize-winning former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz to the Argentine anti-capitalist author and Professor Atilio Borón.

The budgetary adjustments will presumably be voted into law this week by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Chávez's supporters because the opposition boycotted the 2005 National Assembly elections.

So how do you guys rate VE's dealing with the crisis compared to your own government? Compared to Sweden I thing he's doing a lot more.

 

[MikeD]

Ah, Rockwool. Where be ye now?

I'm sure he's employed at a think tank somehow, figuring out how Venezuela's paradise has fallen low due to meddling by imperial capitalists. Nothing to do with government paramilitaries or the war on the middle class which was perpetrated as slight of hand so the Chavistas could rape the common man with a smile and a shake of the hand...

 

[SkaredShtles]

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Ah, Rockwool. Where be ye now?

I'm sure he's employed at a think tank somehow, figuring out how Venezuela's paradise has fallen low due to meddling by imperial capitalists. Nothing to do with government paramilitaries or the war on the middle class which was perpetrated as slight of hand so the Chavistas could rape the common man with a smile and a shake of the hand...

The interesting thing to observe is that police/military/paramilitary rampages are used by both right and left wing governments to cow the people. I am coming to the conclusion that we are simply wired to maim, rape, and kill.

As you were.

 

[SkaredShtles]

The interesting thing to observe is that police/military/paramilitary rampages are used by both right and left wing governments to cow the people. I am coming to the conclusion that we are simply wired to maim, rape, and kill.

Aren't you kinda old to have *just* arrived at this conclusion. I mean... just look at *history* Old Man. It's hard to arrive at ANY other conclusion.

 

[MikeD]

The interesting thing to observe is that police/military/paramilitary rampages are used by both right and left wing governments to cow the people. I am coming to the conclusion that we are simply wired to maim, rape, and kill.

As you were.

Indeed. My point is not that post-Chavez thuggocracy is particularly different than any other thuggocracy, just that it's laughably similar despite the heavy gloss of rhetoric. Hell, the gloss even makes it more similar. Different shade, perhaps, but laid on in the same way for the same purpose.