August 2009 Archives

Another distraction from Mr. Hugo, but what would the world be without distractions?

In any event, Reuters picked up a story recently about a movement in Venezuelan parliament to ban violent video games, and can you take a guess why? Well they foster violent behavior, of course. Where the Venezuelan parliament intends to go with this is no doubt where Europe tried to go in 2007 and where the United States (including none other than the current Secretary of State) tried to go intermittently throughout the 1990s and even into the current decade.

As the Economist pointed out in an examination of the issue in 2005:

Say what you will about spin, half-truths, propaganda, political polarization, the fact of the matter is that democracy is deteriorating in Venezuela. Following are statements that Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz has made on the record to the AFP in reference to her declaration that street protests are legally tantamount to "rebellion" against President Chávez's government:

"People who disturb order and the peace to create instability of institutions, to destabilize the government, or attack the democratic system, we are going to charge and try them."

"These precise actions are in effect criminal civil rebellion," Ortega stressed, warning in her statement that the crime carries sentences of between 12 and 24 years.

"I want those people who have risen up against the government with a hostile attitude against a legally formed government to know what the consequences are."

More coverage from the LAHT here.

I challenge anyone who agrees that freedom of speech is necessary for a functioning democracy to explain to me how these statements from the Attorney General are defensible.

Here's the story:

President Chávez is kicking off an 11-day trip to Russia, Belarus, Syria, Algeria, Libya and Iran. There's not much to say about this aside from the usual: that a Bolivarian frequent flyer program must be in the offing...that he's a master of distraction...that the only common thread here is anti-Americanism...that the inclusion of at least half of those countries actually demeans Hugo's stature as a global wheeler-dealer more than it bolsters it...that his acceptance of Russian military encroachment on South American soil while rejecting U.S. military collaboration with Colombia is disingenuous to say the least...

As I said, nothing but the usual shenanigans. What we can't quite nail down here though is this: which of the following videos is the most appropriate for setting the theme of Hugo's 11-nation tour?

Or is there a third that we've failed to take into account?

Democratic Unity Committee spokesman Julio Borges has announced a march for September 5 to the Attorney General's Office to protest the legal proceedings against Caracas prefect Richard Blanco and the 11 employees of the Metropolitan Mayor's Office. "We want to tell the prosecutor that protesting is not a crime, it is a right and we will exercise it" said Borges, according to the summary of the news portal Cadena Global. He said the route of the march scheduled for Sept. 5 has not yet been defined, and "all" will be responsible for the mobilization. He indicated that with the actions that occurred this week clearly shows "weak" government for whom the only thing left is repression - brute force - because it has lost popular support. "The prosecutor is denying the right of Venezuelans to protest in the street, and this is being denied in a country where there is no justice," he added.

According to Daniel Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue, as told to Radio Free Europe:

"If you look at Russia under Putin there is a remarkable similarity to Venezuela under Chavez in so far as democratically elected leaders have systematically eliminated the chances of the opposition to wield any significant authority within the system and you see an increasing state presence in the media and distorting the independence of the rule of law."

For lack of gas, they came to blows. There was no distinction of age or sex. The repression menu was served on the Francisco Fajardo highway in Caracas near the Catholic University of Andrés Bello. The Metropolitan Police used punches and kicks to to silence the demands of victims calling for decent housing, as they have so often been promised. Source: Diario 2001

Security forces on Thursday raided the home of former President Jaime Lusinchi, east of Caracas, by order of a court investigating an alleged concealment of weapons on the property. Álvaro Lusinchi, the former president's son, told Globovision that a team of police on Thursday raided the house and said the court order was a "hoax" and a "desperate measure" of the government to "shake off the subject of Education Act" which recently passed the National Assembly, and has led to street protests in the capital and other cities. The son of former president said the raid lasted about three hours, and that the authorities did not confiscate anything. Lusinchi, who governed Venezuela from between 1984 to 1989, was petitioned last year, along with 13 other officials from his administration, by the Prosecutor General to clarify his alleged involvement in the slaughter of Yumare call in which nine people died in 1986. Lusinchi has lived outside the country for more than two decades and his last known addresses were located in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose and Miami.

I was quite glad to find that El Universal had already transcribed its interview with Venezuelan Chamber of Business and Manufacturing Associations (Fedecámaras) President Noel Álvarez into English but then dismayed to see that they actually didn't conduct a full translation. So, below I first am reposting El Universal's English portion of the interview, followed by my translation of the parts that were included in the Spanish interview here but for some reason not included in the English link here. Within the next few days I will be coming back to this to further discuss the implications of all this.[Photo: Vheadline]

Adding to the PDVSA file, we have today in El Universal laid off union workers in Venezuela's oil sector filing a complaint with the International Labor Organization for labor rights abuses after the absorption process of outsourcers failed to employ some 600 workers.

Sinutrapetrol Secretary-General Jairo Ollarves:

"Trade unions autonomy is missing in this country. We will file a complaint with the ILO to report on how the workers' rights are violated."

I mean really, Corey Flintoff, come ON. Has the Chávez government gotten you blinded too? Tip for future reporting on Latin America: if you're going to discuss regional security in Latin America, at least go through the motions of acknowledging the nuances. I know you're supposed to appear to play it straight, but I'm just not seeing what the point of this reporting is - nothing new, nothing that could not have been retrieved somewhere else. 

Tell you what, since LatAm doesn't appear to be your regular gig, and because deep down, I really do like you guys, and also because let's face it, NPR is just such an integral part of the mediascape for so many U.S. citizens, I'm going to give you a little help precisely because NPR is important enough that it's drawn my attention today.

Lest anyone is uncertain about what we're doing here, the topic at the moment is exactly this:

Security in The Americas 101 : How Not to Look Like You Were Born Yesterday.

David Pérez Hansen, chief information officer for the Metropolitan Mayor's Office, was arrested and detained without charge for more than an hour when he protested outside the Supreme Court building. Source: El Nacional

From the early hours of Wednesday employees of the Caracas Mayor's office had gathered outside the Latin Financial Tower, rejecting what it could mean an unfair dismissal of more than 8,000 workers due to the possible disappearance of the government entity of Greater Caracas. They decided to go immediately to the Supreme Court to hand over a document asking for constitutional protection before the National Assembly approves the two parts of the forthcoming Municipal Regime Law in the metropolitan area. Dozens of employees of the Caracas Mayor's office mobilized spontaneously and peacefully to Supreme Court, where they were repressed by persecuted by the Metropolitan Police near Panteón Avenue, in the center of town. The demonstrators marched in opposition to the aforementioned act, which would undermine their jobs. Minutes before this event, at the Caracas Mayor's headquarters (the Latin Financial Tower), the legal counsel of that office, Carlos Guevara, would confirm that the National Assembly seeks to implement an "occupational genocide" by approving an "illegitimate and unconstitutional" Municipal Regime Law, the law would abolist, de facto, the Special Law of the Metropolitan District, creating a "financial strangulation which would prevent the mayor's office from paying salaries, wages and benefits to any its workers."

RCTV has an ode to Colonel Benavides Torres, who President Chavez has already praised for putting down an assembly of protesters over the weekend. It's late, I'm too tired to translate, so for those requiring translation, just trust me - this is good:

I've just been listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service (not to be confused with BBC News) that reports on an initiative known as "Project Alcatraz" at a 200-year old sugar cane hacienda in the state of Aragua where apparently Simón Bolívar announced an end to slavery.

It's about 25 minutes long, so if you can't carve out the time to check it out (click here), the basic synopsis is that the hacienda's owner, Alberto Vollmer, who runs the Santa Teresa Rum company, has come up with a rather enlightening way of simultaneously a) keeping his estate secure from crime, b) helping to convert local gang members into productive members of society and c) forging a social entrepreneurship model that has attracted attention not just at the highest levels of the Venezuelan government but abroad as well.

There are a number of interesting points the podcast makes, many of which will probably not surprise working professionals in the fields of sociology, anthropology or conflict resolution, but that are nevertheless probably worth spelling out here.

They call the humble home of Yipsi Palacios "The Grotto". The walls, ceiling and floor have absorbed clean water and residuals as if to give meaning to the sector known as Jardines del Valle (Caracas): Drop of Water. She, her nine children and another 64 families live there with the anguish of living among leaks. Source: El Nacional

President Chávez asked Foreign Minister Maduro to "be prepared" to break relations with Colombia. "The military bases are a declaration of war. We will not continue with half measures, no, no, no, now they accuse us of interference," he said yesterday at Miraflores at a ceremony to honor the outgoing Ambassador of Cuba Germán Sánchez Otero. He said some scenario where Uribe ends up coming over wanting to hug him in the next month or two would not be acceptable. "The Colombian state is not interested at all in ending drug trafficking, it lives off that, it is a narco state. Much of the Colombian economy lives off the big money from drug trafficking, a narco economy (...)" he said. He added: "But the (drug) bosses are inside the government (...) in the Congress, in the courts (...) and now Colombia is an operational yankee base (...) the entire continent is threatened, now the Colombian government accuses us of interference," he said.

The Colombian government presents today before the OAS Permanent Council a formal complaint against President Chávez, whom it accuses of interfering in its internal affairs. The Colombian Embassy in Venezuela issued a statement Tuesday in which Colombia's ambassador to the OAS, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, said his country "will always use diplomatic, political and legal avenues." At the meeting, which starts at 10.00 local time (14.00 GMT), it is expected that Ambassador Hoyos will highlight Chavez's recent statements on various matters of Colombian politics and that tensions between the two countries have deepened.

For a few years now, I have been saying, half-seriously, half-flippantly, that Mexico is the new Colombia when it comes to narcotics trafficking. CALM DOWN - I know it's not a perfect analogy and for those of you Gringo Latin Americanists who like to prove your legitimacy by poking holes in other people's theories, be forewarned that I have made this observation to a few Mexicans over the years, NOT ONE of whom was at all pleased with me for suggesting the comparison. So, if any of you want to fire away at me for saying this, go ahead, 

but I assure you that whatever diatribe you levy at me I have already been subjected to with 10 times the ferocity from our Mexican colleagues. Seriously, save your breath for some other future dispute that you will no doubt have with me.

In any event, I bring this up now only because the New York-based political risk consultancy Eurasia Group has raised exactly the same question and doesn't do a bad job answering it to the contrary. Five chief differences between Colombia's narco-status during the Escobar era and Mexico today, as spelled out by Allyson Benton and Patrick Esteruelas in Foreign Policy:

I have no idea what the legal issues are with translating and reposting but I'm just going to continue this practice until somebody tells me it's not ok anymore.

There is a quite powerful account in today's Noticiero Digital of the events of this past weekend's protest against the new education law, which notably culminated in President Chávez praising Colonel Benavides Torres for having stifled an assembly of protesters that included women and the elderly. There are apparently numerous videos of this which I will resume searching for shortly (if anyone else can aid me in this I would be much obliged). In the meantime, my translation of the Noticiero Digital article in question follows (Photo: AFP):

It was early, 10:50 am on Saturday, I came out of a meeting in the center of the city, and since I was on a motorcycle taxi, I decided to return by Metro from the station of La Hoyada. On the way to the station, about six blocks, I remembered what my friends who have been present in concentrations of government have always claimed: the people are done with Chávez, but they are obligated to him.

For some six years you spent researching and writing this book on the events which coalesced in just some 48 hours - the fated April 11-13, 2002, in Venezuela. Why does the 11th of April continue to hold so much importance for the contemporary politics of the country?

In a way the coup is everything; it either proves or disproves whatever people think about President Chávez. In other words, the coup, and particularly the violence, acts as a testament to the legitimacy of the Chávez government.

If you believe that the opposition initiated the violence; that they placed gunmen at the head of the march and wanted to cause deaths to spark a coup, then Hugo Chávez is a victim. He is a democratically elected president who has been attacked by conspirators (most likely by right-wing conspirators perhaps supported by the United States). If this is what you believe, then Hugo Chávez is, therefore, someone that democratic people everywhere should defend.

But if you believe that the Chávez government initiated the violence; that the National Guard troops and loyalists opened fire on the march to keep it from surrounding the palace, then Hugo Chávez is not the victim, he is the aggressor. He is an elected official who has broken the law and who uses violence to suppress his opponents. If this is what you believe, then Hugo Chávez has lost his legitimacy and he should, at the very least, be placed on trial.

People who devoutly believe in Chávez believe the former; those who oppose him believe the later. That is still the situation in Venezuela today. It is a very polarized and divided society. Chávez's approval rating hovers around 50 percent with very little common ground between the two camps ("Chávez's Bugbear," Economist, June 23, 2009).

For nearly seven hours, access to Argimiro Gabaldón Avenue from the Pele el Ojo sector, Los Montones and Naricual were blocked by carriers that cover routes toward the south of Barcelona in the state of Anzoátegui. The action was in protest of the poor condition of roads and other services. Mayor Inés Sifontes and the president of Covinea, Isidro Acosta, pledged to seek a solution.

Nelson Belfort, president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Broadcasters, confirms to El Universal that many radio broadcasters have changed their editorial line to be less critical of the Chávez administration in order to reduce their chances of being closed down:

Belfort further reveals that the government has a list of some 240 stations that it is monitoring for possible closure, the exact contents of which change according to daily judgments of the government on the stations concerned.

The Colombian government "will repel all actions of the expansionist project" which, in their view, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is being advancing, the foreign ministry said in a statement today. "The national government will repel all actions of the expansionist project in Colombia publicly ratified by President Chávez. In no way can the insult to good Colombians be tolerated," he said in the document, dated in Washington and read last night by the Colombian ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Alfonso Hoyos. President Uribe was responding to recent remarks by Chávez, who yesterday urged his Minister of Information, Blanca Eckhout, to "do everything necessary" to ensure that their messages and approaches are known to the Colombian people.

The Washington Post has an editorial today, "Advantage, Mr. Chávez", pointing to the lopsided regional reaction toward military initiatives in South America of, on the one hand, the United States (in concert with Colombia) and on the other hand, Venezuela (in concert with the FARC, Iran, Russia) as evidence that the Obama Administration has still not figured out how to navigate the diplomatic waters of Latin America.

While I agree with this conclusion, there is a second broader and no less potent conclusion to draw here as well. As Obama himself has said on a few different occasions now, the way forward necessarily requires a collective effort. While the Obama Administration of course bears some responsibility for rechanelling the dialogue, center-left administrations elsewhere in the region that do not so easily fall under the umbrella of Gringo sympathizers but still carry weight far beyond their shores could also pitch in (I'm talking to YOU, Brazil and Chile).

The power equation, much like the economic equation, is not always a zero-sum game. To the extent that the current dynamic of the regional security dialogue erodes (hopefully temporarily) the credibility of the Obama Administration, so goes the credibility of its Brazilian and Chilean counterparts.

The first step to being taken seriously is to behave as someone worth taking seriously.

A group of political leaders attended the Public Ministry on Sunday to denounce the actions of security forces during the violent events of the opposition march on Saturday against the new Education Law. The political leader of Alianza Bravo Pueblo, Oscar Pérez, said they requested "an investigation of the Minister of Interior and Justice and of the deputy commander of Regional Command 5, Colonel Antonio Benavides Torres. We saw in videos from both the media and amateur videographers that the repression began long before people began to try to break the police cordon. Pérez reported that the Minister of Interior and Justice as well as Colonel Benavides Torres will be accused of crimes against humanity and violation of human rights, in addition to breach of Article 68 of the Constitution.

Access roads to Bauxilum (state-owned Bauxite processing company in the state of Bolívar) were closed for several hours on Thursday in protest of the lack of vacation pay for a group of workers who left for holiday from August 1-15. During the meeting the employees demanded the resignation of the chairman of the factory, Jesús Calvo, who was declared persona non grata. Source: Diario El Correo del Caroní

The Central Bank of Venezuela reported on Thursday in a press communiqué that Venezuelan production in the second quarter of the year showed a contraction in GDP of 2.4%, compared with the same period last year when economic growth reached 7.1%. The results of the balance of payments in the second quarter of 2009 show positive behavior both in the current account as well as in the financial account, whose balances of $2.15 billion and $1.19 billion, respectively, determined an overall surplus of $1.495 billion, according to the central bank. Net international reserves at the end of June were $30.352 billion. The current account recorded a lower surplus compared to the second quarter last year ($16.408 billion), in correspondence with the changes in the trade balance, which went from $18.902 billion to $4.572 billion, equivalent to a 75.8% decline, due to the decline in value of exports by 51.7%, and of imports by 11.9%

A huge river of sewage flooded the municipal market of Puerto La Cruz in the state of Anzoátegui and is the visual that buyers have at the moment, especially in the area where the chickens are sold. The aromas of fruit and vegetables are lost in the putrefaction of litter and water that has accumulated due to lack of drains. Source: Diario El Norte

The president of the Property Chamber of Venezuela, Francisco Neri, stressed this Wednesday at El-Nacional.com that the Urban Land Act, passed last Friday morning, removes the right to private property and therefore affects all Venezuelans equally. Neri stressed that main reason that determines the law is unconstitutional is the way it was passed in haste and without taking into account all the factors involved as well as the unions. He also stated that the law violates Article 115 of the Magna Carta, which states that all citizens have the right to private property and dispose of their property as they wish. "Not one Venezuelan will dispose of his own property without first offering it to the state, which will not recognize the maximum reference price, but one that suits you," Neri stressed. Neri also called on mayors, as the law will deprive them of the roles of spatial and urban planning, referred to in Article 178 of the constitution. The legal text that would establish authority over the buildings and land without the owner will not be overseen by the municipalities but would be subject to the discretion of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.

Yesterday part-time workers of the Municipality of Lagunillas in the state of Zulia stepped up their protests against PDVSA and said they will not cease until they achieve compliance with the presidential promise of incorporating them into the fixed salary payroll of PDVSA. They took over 16 piers of the municipality.

In an interview published yesterday in La Prensa, Roberto Micheletti, acting President of Honduras, was asked about the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. "That man is crazy, he's crazy. He even fights his own shadow, threatens everyone and asks God to help him, enlighten him and make him reflect," he said. "He could have all the dollars, but we have dignity and respect for our laws and he's not going to break us with what he has," said Micheletti. Micheletti said he does not mind the nickname "Goriletti" that Chávez gave him but does mind that the view abroad is that there was a "coup" in Honduras. "Yes, it bothers me because it was not a coup, but a presidential succession. Those who call it a coup government are those countries that are our enemies and those who have somehow lost opportunities with the assault on the national economy that others are carrying out," he said. He also indicated that the agreement under which Honduras joined the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) on 25 August 2008 is being revised, and he is confident "that a decision is coming soon" between the government and parliament. "I am absolutely sure that those agreements have not brought any comfort to people, but rather made clear the difference between citizens of different social classes who do not deserve it," he said.

Venezuela: a banana kleptocracy

By Diane Francis, Financial Post

Canadian eh?
All enlightened governments, including Canada's which just signed an investment agreement, should deem Venezuela a "no-go" zone. This is because the country, under Hugo Chavez, has descended into a kleptocracy. Industries, like coffee and rice, have just been nationalized and confiscations without compensation are underway.

Two Canadian mining companies are victims, as are Venezuelan business interests, and there are gross human rights abuses, says Canadian lawyer, activist Robert Amsterdam.
In his white paper entitled "The Erosion of Judicial Autonomy under Hugo Chavez", Amsterdam and his Venezuelan legal colleagues recite a case involving Eligio Cedeno who has been jailed without charges for two years because he opposes the Chavez regime. Here is their executive summary:

Various sectors of Maracaibo, worn out by water shortage, decided to close and burn tires on Ring Road 1, Ring Road 2, Los Haticos Avenue, El Milagro Avenue, La Limpia Avenue and the road to the airport. The closures caused long queues and total chaos in the city yesterday morning. Source: El Regional del Zulia.

The Minister of Interior and Justice, Tareck El Aissami reported that a three year investigation by the National Commission for Police Reform found that of the total number of incidents in Venezuela, 20 percent of crimes were committed by police. He made statements in a speech at the General Council of Police yesterday in the city of Barinas, which included the participation of governors from the states of Mérida, Táchira, Amazonas, Apure, Zulia, Portuguesa and Barinas, the last of which was host as well as the provider of security for the event. The minister explained that one of the most sensitive results produced by this investigation is that crimes involving police participation are those that involve more violence, including homicides, kidnappings, extortion.

Worth reading in its entirety, but I will translate what I found to be the most relevant comments, published over the weekend in El Espectador of Colombia (Photo: Gabriel Apone, El Espectador). And as always, we remain more than open to alternative translations of the word, "caudillo":

Q: How doomed are we to create two Americas: one embodying the Bolivarian dream and the other embodying liberal democracy?

A: I do not like to encroach, as a historian, on the realm of prophecy. But I have the impression that Chávez wants to reedit in the 21st century the outdated paradigms fro the 20th century. Nevertheless, the international framework will not allow him. A transition in Cuba is coming sooner rather than later, biology - although they do not believe it - will do its work on the body of the Castro brothers. In addition, the Venezuelan people have an instinct toward freedom; the 2012 presidential elections are coming, crime and security are crowding out all other concerns and the responsibility every time falls more and more on the president. I hope that in the international context, an economic upturn will isolate Chávez. His leadership will divide and will reach its limits. I refuse to believe that the very exceptional Cuban experiment, which has to do with Russian aid, Venezuelan aid, being an island and having a character like Fidel there in the midst of the Cold War, could take seat in Venezuela against the inclinations toward freedom of the Venezuelan people.

Why, then, did the "Yes" vote for reelection win in February 2009?

That was a disappointment. The Venezuelan opposition, apart from the fact that it is not united, have no economic resources. Venezuela is no longer a democracy because the total iniquity of the process undermines everything, stifles the opposition and not even the results are respected, such as what happened with the Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, who can not take possession of his office. They are exhausted: it has been ten years. But there are younger generations for whom 2012 means 2018, 2019 and 2030. There is where change is in the air.

Municipal authorities of the Greater Caracas Metropolitan area and Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski of Miranda state, along with civil society representatives, students and parents proposed a referendum against the Education Law. Podemos MP Juan José Molina said the proposal was justified because the law covers themes that contained the rejected constitutional reforms from December 2, 2007. "At the moment, we're playing with the future of the country that represents our youth, our sons and daughters, and it is important that it is through true unity where teachers, students, civic organizations and political organizations are in agreement that we present a convincing victory," he explained. Minutes later, the mayor of El Hatillo, Myriam Do Nacimiento said that while her office coordinated a contingency plan for the rains with the Mayor of Baruta, the National Assembly was meeting to approve the law. Baruta Mayor Gerardo Blyde took the floor and asked each of the directors and representatives to be vigilant from September 15 so that that legal text is not applied. "We have to wipe clean the Venezuelan legal map and the legal override process is being used for exactly this purpose, so that there is no contradiction at all and we must work together to support parents and teachers, because I am sure that the rejection is greater among the public than in private," he said.

Meaning I'm all for it, even if I think golf ranks somewhere below table tennis in terms of actual physical skill required to succeed. If Hugo Chavez is shutting down two golf courses and railing against a sport because it's silly and indulgent, then the monied, pampered, and idle of Venezuela are being oppressed. And as bad as oppression of anyone is, what's even worse is the indictment of the completely unnecessary and useless in sport. Sport itself is by definition silly and useless, and that's why people have such affection for it--it's distraction in its purest form, and totally necessary for a happy society. That's how inept Chavez is as a leader: he's making me sympathize with golf, and I'm with Al Czervik that the two biggest wastes of prime real estate are cemeteries and golf courses.

Also, regarding the mockery of golf carts? Clearly Chavez has never played golf polo using a five-iron for a mallet and a cart in place of the pony. If he had, he'd know that this is more fun than should be legal.

The latest round of cooperation is designed to compensate for the loss of of U.S. landing rights at a military base in Ecuador. One proposal would have U.S. troops working with Colombian forces on anti-narcotics and intelligence matters in at least seven Colombian military bases. These would be Colombian military bases, controlled by Colombian forces, flying the Colombian flag. No infringement of Colombian sovereignty is planned or intended.

Of course, that hasn't stopped Mr. Chávez's effort to create a major flap. ``This could provoke a war in South America,'' he told fellow presidents at a recent summit. The leaders stopped short of condemning the plan, but they're concerned about what it means.

Mr. Chávez is winning this war of disinformation because there is no effective counter-strategy by the United States and Colombia. That's a mistake. Both countries need to undertake an anti-disinformation campaign to put this phony issue to rest.

The Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has good relations with its counterparts in the region, should take the lead. Until somebody steps up, Hugo Chávez, who has done more than anyone to deepen regional animosities, will keep right on fanning.

Although much of the terminology in the bill is vague, it appears to open up education to political interference by the government.

Article 12 states that the educational system is based on ``Bolivarian doctrine,'' in a reference to Venezuela's independence hero Simón Bolívar. But the term ``Bolivarian'' is also used for President Hugo Chávez's 21st century socialist revolution.

A major role is given to the so-called ``communal councils,'' which are community assemblies mostly dominated by the ruling Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Really, no preamble is necessary here. The video pretty much speaks for itself. In Spanish and subtitled in English. The original comes from Jogreg Henríquez of the blog Circulemos [in spanish]

Personally, when I think of the World's Most Dangerous Places, I think of Robert Young Pelton, whose approach to off-the-beaten-path travel saved my life more times than I care to count during the early reckless years of my youth.

David Rothkopf, however, of Carnegie/Commerce Dept/CFR fame, takes a different view on the meaning of what makes a country dangerous: "actors who can cause the greatest disruption through their actions to the most people over the next decade or so." As he also points out, "the most dangerous countries are the ones with the most power."

So it is with some dubiousness that I call attention to the Rothkopf's Top 10 World's Most Dangerous Countries.

Since 2007 this hospital complex has been in redevelopment. To date no work has been delivered. Last year, as part of the work, some pipes broke and the sewage drain led into the basement kitchen where today putrid water accumulates. What is certain is that stench of sewage is what lets you know you are close to the place where food is prepared for the sick. Source: El Universal

Direct from the UN News Centre:

Proposed media laws in Venezuela could be used as a tool for political intimidation and would seriously curtail press freedom and potentially criminalize legitimate dissent, an independent United Nations human rights expert warned today.

Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said the draft "Special Law against Media Crimes" - which have been presented to Venezuela's National Assembly - "would involve serious violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression... if it is adopted in its current form."

Mr. La Rue said he was especially concerned that the draft laws included the concept of "media crimes," which he warned "could be used as a tool for political intimidation, which may lead to the criminalization of dissent and criticism."

He appealed to lawmakers in the National Assembly to incorporate international human rights principles during their discussions about the draft laws. Venezuela is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression and defines when the right may be restricted.

"No government in the world has the right to silence critics or those who oppose the State with threats of criminal proceedings," Mr. La Rue said, noting that the measures proposed in the draft laws would "undermine pluralism of the media, and consequently transparency and debate on matters of public interest that should exist in a democratic society."

The Special Rapporteur added that "transparency implies that access to information, along with the right to freely express one's opinion and belief without limitation, is guaranteed."

Mr. La Rue, who reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, serves in his role in an unpaid and independent capacity.

From El Universal:

The total liabilities of the state-run oil company amount to USD 60.3 billion.

Pdvsa liabilities, which increased 18.66 percent between 2007 and 2008, have climbed 202.83 compared to USD 19.92 billion in 2004, a year after the oil strike.

A report disclosed by research firm ODH shows that the accelerated pace of Pdvsa's indebtedness in 2007 slowed down in 2008, when the crude oil reached record high prices. However, the accumulation of liabilities as of the last quarter of 2008, when the price of oil began to plummet, has forced the Venezuelan state-owned oil company to contract new debts in 2009 to finance its current spending.

Is the presence of the US Military in Colombia a greater threat to leftist sovereignty than in Guantánamo? Why are Russians or Cubans encroaching on Venezuelan sovereignty more preferable than Americans? These are some of the questions Fernando Luis Egaña asks today in the Correo del Caroní:

In the Presidential Palace in Caracas, it is argued that the expansion of U.S. military presence in Colombia is a direct aggression against the Bolivarian revolution, which is to say a frontal threat to the sovereignty and security of the Venezuelan state, and this would lead to "putting the foot down on the accelerator" or the continued restriction of rights and freedoms in the name of "national security".

If this were true, why haven't government spokesmen said a peep about the mega-base at Guantánamo, that is exclusively American and whose status of territorial occupation by Washington was recently renewed by the very regime of the Castro brothers? Or why is Venezuelan sovereignty not affected if the Russians accept offers of Mr. Chávez to establish themselves in La Guaira or Palo Negro? Why not emphasizing the inadmissible increase of Cuban soldiers in the ranks of our Armed Forces?

Diego J. Gonzalez points out an interesting paradox: while the government continues with its proposed media crimes law - punishing those who spread so-called false information - the government itself is guilty of misrepresenting information about PDVSA's productivity, whose resources the nation's future depends on. As published in El Universal:

If the Media Crimes Act is enacted into law, the personnel of PDVSA, the Ministry of Energy and the Bolivarian News Agency would have to go to prison for what they say and write. The main lie that has been broadcast that "now Pdvsa is for everyone," but it is only those who support the government, because it does not belong to the more than 20,000 who have been fired or who appear on the electoral roll nor does it belong to the members of unions that do not support Chavez, as Minister of Energy has said.

Other lies: it will build a gas pipeline to Argentina, it will export gas to Colombia in 3 years, the domestic market consumes 499,000 barrels per day, PDVSA will build 14 refineries overseas that process Venezuelan crude, and the biggest lie, which the President recently told Spanish authorities: "(&) It is estimated that from next year the Junin Block 7 of the Orinoco Oil Belt is an early production of 200,000 barrels per day. It's technically impossible to move from a production of zero to 200,000 barrels per day. This will not happen in 5 months or a year, neither Orinoco nor in some other oil field in the world.

In terms of misinformation PDVSA will have to explain why it had to buy $39.5 billion dollars in oil and oil products in 2008, who did it buy it from and what purpose this purchase serves. And finally, why hasn't the Energy Ministry published the results of the petroleum industry for 2007 and 2008?

President Chávez warned yesterday at the UNASUR summit that U.S. military presence at Colombian bases, which is being negotiated, "can generate a war in South America" and asserted that his country is preparing because "we are in their sights." "Winds of war begin to blow," warned Chavez, who complained that the third Summit Meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) held in Quito, has not included this matter in its final document. The Venezuelan leader stressed that his country was deeply concerned by "the announcement of the installation of seven military bases in Colombia" which, he said, "can become a tragedy." He accused Colombia of "follow the theory of preemptive attack" and recalled the Colombian bombing on March 1, 2008, against a camp of the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Ecuadorian territory. "I will not allow what they did to Ecuador to happen to Venezuela. They will receive an overwhelming military response," he said.

The implementation in 2005 of the partial reform of the criminal code, in addition to bringing with it provisions that restrict freedom of expression, contained in the so-called opinion crimes an intensification of prosecutions against journalists and media, such as those shown by the statistics from Espacio Público, an NGO that reported 166 cases of judicial harassment from 2002 to date against journalists and media throughout the country. The recent arrest of journalist Gustavo Azócar, in the state of Táchira, is the latest of proceedings that have been carried out against the media by the justice authorities . Espacio Público representative Débora Calderón said that until 2002 the actions against journalists were basically through physical aggression, but after the approval of criminal code reform, "the limitations on freedom of expression began to be subtly asserted", but through the use of judicial and administrative bodies by different agents of the State, which has made it clear that "the practice of journalism is increasingly uncomfortable for the government." The government has used the opinion crimes against journalists (defamation, slander, vilification) to open proceedings and investigations. Only with regard to convictions for defamation did the country's courts sentence Ibéyise Pacheco, Julio Balza, Charles Gibson, Patricia Poleo, Henry Crespo, Iván Martínez and Mireya de Zurita. Seven other journalists were accused opinion crimes, among them are, again, Patricia Poleo (who was also accused of the murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson case); Napoleón Bravo, Manuel Isidro Molina, Marianella Salazar, Miguel and Nelson Bocaranda Salazar. Poleo and María Angélica Correa have also been investigated in the military courts, the same as Manuel Isidro Molina.

The Municipality Lagunillas (in the state of Zulia) awoke this morning with its all of its statues gagged with red scarves and with messages alluding to the prevailing rules on the right to freedom of expression. Nobody took credit for the action, but it was done in clear opposition to the arbitrary actions of President Chávez to shut down media stations, thereby violating the Constitution. Source: Diario El Regional del Zulia

Paragraph 12 of Article 49 of the draft Law on Education says: "The following is prohibited : the publication and dissemination of printed or other forms of social communication that produce terror in children, incite hatred, aggression, indiscipline, twist language and attack healthy values of the Venezuelan people, morals and good customs, mental and physical health of the population, in the event these are breached, the governing bodies in relation to the education authority will request from the immediate suspension of the activities or publications in question, without prejudice of how to apply the sanctions put forth by the Venezuelan legal system." The most curious of all is, as the journalist Liliana Cortazzo writes in the print edition of El Nacional, this text was not included in the draft presented on Wednesday afternoon at the Plenary Session of the Education Committee of the National Assembly, an act that was public, but in another document that was changed at midnight. "This new role is substantially different, as it incorporates, for example, a long punitive article, especially for private education," warned the president of Andiep Caracas (an association of private schools), Fausto Romero. In addition to sanctions against the media, Cortazzo continues in her article, the intention of this legislation is for the state to be able to take over the stewardship of most of the educational system: a total of 44 paragraphs of Article 5 of this new draft law lists functions of the state as the rector of education. Among the areas that it regulates, supervises and controls: the operation of the university subsystem in regard to the "efficient administration of its estate and financial resources"; the creation and functioning of official and private institutions, the processes of entry, permanence, advancement and promotion of teachers and their academic qualifications; and the arrangements for setting fees, amounts and increases in private schools, among others. Romero said that if adopted without consensus, the law will be rejected in the streets. He added that the project is too empty and that destroys private education. "Parents and representatives were relegated and left decisions to the community councils. What is applicable is the policy of the government and not the state."

Recently I discussed foreign media coverage of Latin America, trying to stay away from actual content/bias and simply focusing on the dynamics and considerations that may inform the way an international news outlet (the BBC and the New York Times in particular) covers Latin America.

Today, I'd like to switch gears and simply go for the content. The Independent's Paul Vallely, presumably to espouse the familiar and noble journalistic attempt to maintain some sense of "balance" in its treatment of Venezuela, has entitled a recent article, "The Big Question: Is Hugo Chavez guilty of wielding excessive power in Venezuela?" The issues are addressed in your basic on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand ping pong formula: "People like Hugo because...", followed by, "his critics say..."

Actually, I think this is the real Big Question : If you openly admit what your bias is, how independent does that make you?

According to a national survey of public opinion carried out by Alfredo Keller and Associates, the political strategy of President Chávez is based on three elements:

1. Coercion, by refusing negotiation with enemies of his plan;
2. Generate fear in his adversaries;
   
3. Radicalization in order to attempt replacing reason with force and the imposition of power.

Other revelations from the survey:

• 56% of Venezuelans consider the reason for closing 34 radio stations around the country "is so that they don't discuss Chávez's errors".

• 60% of Venezuelans hope that journalists and communication professionals may enjoy freedom to transmit information and citizen opinions. Only 28% endorse the closure of Globovisión.

• 51% consider true the follwing statement: "President Chávez is becoming a dictator."

• 41% will continue supporting Chávez while 47% would prefer backing another electoral option.

The hawkers set up in the city center. They burned tires, overturned rubbish bins in the streets and sidewalks and came to blows with police in Caracas and the metropolitan area. Informal economy workers are demanding spots for their stalls. Diario El Nacional

The Venezuelan National Assembly is not considering any discussion in the short term of a special media crimes law, said Assembly Secretary Iván Zerpa on Tuesday. He explained that the Assembly's Media Commission still has not yet discussed any draft on the matter and therefore the bill does not yet exist as such. Last week, the Venezuelan Attorney General proposed to Assembly members a special law on media crimes that would punish with jail time those who do not comply, which has provoked controversy throughout the country. In this regard, Zerpa said that the prosecutor has no legislative powers but does have a right to express an opinion on what she considers "an excess" and stressed that information on this proposed law has been misrepresented. According to the draft, the publication of "false", "manipulated" or "misrepresented" information that "harms the interests of the State" or violates "public morale" or "mental health" would be considered a media crime. Any person found guilty could spend up to four years in prison.

Directly from the AP:

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa says "many" radio and TV frequencies will revert to state control due to what he's calling irregularities.

The president has been at war with Ecuador's news media since taking office in January 2007. He has called TV stations and newspapers corrupt and mediocre, and twice fined an opposition broadcaster.

Correa did not specify Monday what sort of abuses or irregularities broadcasters have committed. Nor did he name any alleged offenders.

The announcement coincides with regulators revoking or refusing the renew the licenses of 34 radio stations in Venezuela.

Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are staunch regional allies and share a similar left-leaning political ideology.

A power outage on Monday left a large part of the central and western regions of Venezuela without electricity on Monday, leaving the country half-collapsed. The blackout caused problems in the Caracas underground metro system on lines 1 and 3, in addition to the Metro Los Teques; the electrical failure also forced the closure of rail links that connect Caracas with the Valles del Tuy area of the state of Miranda. Traffic lights of well-traveled intersections stopped functioning. Photo: Diario El Tiempo.

Dozens of people identifying themselves as allies of the government, attacked the headquarters of the news channel Globovision on Monday and fired two tear gas canisters inside the television station, leaving injured one media watchdog and one metropolitan police officer. The general director of Globovisión, Alberto Federico Ravell, told the press that around noon a group of bikers wearing red berets and flags of the pro-Chávez Venezulan People's Union (UPV), raided the premises of the news channel, north of the capital. He said that some members of the group "threatened the guards with weapons" in order to enter the premises and fired two tear gas canisters that generated commotion among the workers inside the television headquarters. The channel broadcast a number of images, which its external security cameras captured, which show dozens of people in a motorcade around the entrance while a group subdues the guards and enters the building by force to launch tear gas. In one of the shots one can see Lina Ron, the government leader and close ally of President Chávez, on one of the motorcycles standing on the periphery of the camera's scope. Ravell called this fact an "outrage" for the freedom of expression and the right to life, and blamed President Chávez for what could to a that is critical of the government. "If you just want to finish us, do it once and for all," Ravell said.

If you look at the comment board on the New York Times' "Venezuela Still Aids Colombia Rebels, New Material Shows", there's no shortage of people who just flat out deny a single word of it is true.

How is it that the Times' credibility is so shot? Well, if you actually have the patience to read through some of those comments (and if you don't, not to worry, that's why I'm here), you'll find that all 148 comments can really be characterized according to eight basic categories of ire:

1. The NY Times is promoting an anti-Chávez/anti-left agenda, therefore it must be a right-wing paper.
2. The NY Times helped propagate the lie about WMD in Iraq, therefore it lies about everything.
3. The United States is guilty of murdering countless innocent people around the world.
4. Hugo Chávez is just a democratically-elected guy minding his own business. Leave him alone.
5. If there is any justice in the world, Chávez will burn in hell.
6. Hey at least we can all disagree about this and not be thrown in jail, unlike in Venezuela.
7. Columbia is fill of hipocrits. They critisize Chaves but ther gerrilas get mooney fr om the cia. (t he company. I no espanish to)
8. I am a Colombian/Venezuelan citizen living in Colombia/Venezuela. Oh my god heywood_Jablome69, how ignorant are you?

The BBC put up a piece yesterday on how Hugo's Revolutionary Reading Plan is going. The books the BBC names are not really anything shocking, all things considered. The Man-on-the-Street quotes fit the standard formula of quoting men-on-the-street. The opposition statements give the gloss of a "balanced" approach that any media outlet worth its salt perennially strives for. The "book squadrons" are worrying, to say the least:

These are basically roving book clubs that are intended to encourage reading on the metro, in public squares and in parks.

Each squadron wears a different colour to identify their type of book. For example, the red team promotes autobiographies while the black team discusses books on "militant resistance".

But there's something else here that's nagging at me and it's not about Hugo and it's not even really about Venezuela. It's about taking the BBC's Latin America coverage seriously. I could sit here and link to dozens of articles around the web claiming to have evidence of the network's leftist bias, its anti-American rhetoric, support for the Chávez administration and a number of other alleged media offences, but the fact is that I've become more and more convinced that media bias allegations, like beauty, very often lie in the eye of the beholder. And besides, it really wouldn't get at what's on my mind. What's on my mind is purely anecdotal, and I don't typically like drawing huge overarching judgments based on anecdotes, but I just can't shake this one.

A group of people burned tires on José Antonio Anzoátegui de Barcelona Street, at the height of Manzana 20 of Ponderosa, to protest against insecurity. The demonstrators were mourning the death of a girl who was shot by a stray bullet. Drivers entering or leaving the city were trapped in a long queue. Foto: Luis Gómez / diario El Tiempo

Reporters Without Borders is protesting strongly against the mass closure of private audiovisual media which officials claim was done for "administrative reasons". Thirteen radio stations, for a total of 34 media outlets the government closed down have already had to suspend the broadcast of their August 1, 2009 programs. "In any rule of law, if authorities had suspicions that a media outlet was using its broadcasts in an irregular way, it would be notified beforehand of the proceedings against it. Its representatives would have had a chance to defend their cause or suggest an alternative course of action. Is it still even possible to broadcast the smallest criticism of the Venezuelan government? This mass closure of media outlets that are considered opponents is dangerous for the future of democratic debate, only suits the government's desire to silence discordant voices and will only exacerbate the divisions in Venezuelan society," said Reporters Without Borders. On August 1, the government withdrew its frequency concession from 34 radio and television stations and declared that 200 more run the risk of meeting the same fate. According to the president of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), Diosdado Cabello, this measure is due to some technical and administrative reasons, namely that the owners of the media outlets were unable to show that they were actually the titleholders of the broadcast licenses the outlets were using.

From El Universal, rearranged a la David Letterman:

10. No goals attained. The government has spent about USD 77.3 billion for the so-called Oil Sowing Plan, the main purpose of which is to increase the oil output to 5.8 million bpd. However, the nearest amount reached 3.2 million bpd last year. Only three out of the 100 projects trumpeted by the new Pdvsa in 2005 has been halfwaycompleted. "There are no new refineries or petrochemical industries, and idle wells have not been refitted," lamented analyst Diego González.

9. Claims of corruption abound. Pdvsa suffered a setback last year at a Miami court in the trial against a group of Venezuelans accused of scheming to conceal the source of USD 800,000 in cash carried in a suitcase into Argentina -the suitcase scandal. One of the talks disclosed on September 10th, 2008 involved the Venezuelan government. "President Chávez already knows that Rafael Ramírez's assistant was the one who took the suitcase into the plane," businessman Franklin Durán told his colleague Guido Antonini, according to the exhibit. It is an unfinished case at the Attorney General Office and the National Assembly, in addition to the irregular purchase of drills in 2007; alleged smuggling into Colombia in 2004, and the attempts at selling crude oil to the United States through dubious firm Free Market Petroleum in 2003.

What I believe is the key part of the former Mexican Foreign Minister's opinion in Newsweek:

In trying to mediate, the leaders of the Americas have effectively taken sides in an ideological battle, but there is a way to right the balance. At their meeting, Obama, Harper, and Calderón should reaffirm and expand on their commitment to the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which calls on all members to defend democracy and was signed in 2001 by every government in the hemisphere, except for Cuba. (This writer signed on Mexico's behalf.) Article 19 calls for the suspension of any member state during serious interruptions of the democratic order, including "an unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime." It has been invoked only twice--against the 2001 coup against Chávez and against the Honduran coup--but it should be applied everywhere in Latin America, all the time, not selectively when one group of countries is unhappy. It should have applied to the electoral fraud in Nicaragua last year, the eviction of the elected mayor of Caracas this year, and the repression in Bolivia. It should apply to all presidents defenestrated by the military, like Zelaya, but also to those overthrown by the "street," like Fernando de la Rúa in Argentina in 2001, Bolivia's Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and Carlos Meza in 2003 and 2005, respectively, and Lucio Gutiérrez in Ecuador in 2005.

The charter is ambiguous in places, because in 2001 the only way to achieve a consensus was by resorting to generalities. If that is a problem in applying the charter more evenhandedly, then the leaders should call for the creation of a working group to revisit the charter and attempt to dot the i's and cross the t's.

I'm only posting this because I strongly believe in giving primary sources their due no matter what their politics are. There's already enough criticism out there of the OAS, so I will save my own commentary on this until a later time. In the meantime, OAS chief José Miguel Insulza writes in the opinion pages of Saturday's Miami Herald the following:

Some have claimed that the Organization of American States is practicing a double standard by turning a blind eye to the abuse of individual rights or the manipulation of democratic practices in some countries by undemocratic means. They add that the organization is ignoring its own charter, as well as the Inter-American Democratic Charter, by inviting non-democratic regimes to rejoin our community of nations.

Now, with the recent events in Honduras, they have gathered more rhetorical ammunition to claim that the OAS is ignoring threats to democracy in some cases and actively subverting it in others. This is not the case.

Citizens rally outside radio station CNB in Caracas (Photo: Jorge Silva / Reuters)

A woman cries outside the headquarters of radio network CNB in northwestern Maracaibo city following the closure of the radio station (Photo: Isaac Urrutia / Reuters)

Reporter Laura Castellanos interviews lawmaker Pastora Medina and Chacao Municipality Mayor Emilio Graterón in CNB radio network premises in Caracas (Photo: Jorge Silva /Reuters)

Venezuelans rally against the closure of 34 radio stations nationwide (Photo: Ariana Cubillos / AP)

Full coverage here from El Universal, the AP, CNN, Reuters, Voice of America, and another from El Universal.

It seems that right as I was putting up yesterday's post on Colombia-Venezuela trade, the Council of the Americas crew was thinking something similar. Some extra bullets I missed from the links the COA passes through to:

• In 2008, Colombian exports to the United States amounted to $13.1 billion, but fell 28 percent in the first five months of 2009 compared with the same period last year.

• Legislation pending approval in the Canadian House of Commons would establish a bilateral free-trade agreement with Colombia. Colombian exports to Canada were $643.7 million in 2008.

• Colombia's top 3 largest import sources are the US (31.7% of total), China, (8.9%) and Mexico (8.8%).

• Colombia's top 3 export markets are the US (33.4% of total), Venezuela (17.5%) and Chile (5%).

Not a lot to this story just yet, only EFE via Televisa in Spanish and Xinhua, of all places, in English.

Here's a question - does media saturation help or hurt Zelaya?

Here's another question - in light of the term-limit-extension-shenanigans we've seen in the past few years from Hugo Chávez, Álvaro Uribe, Rafael Correa, Daniel Ortega, and even Michael Bloomberg, isn't it actually rather amazing, when you really stop to think about it, that during 71 years of PRI rule, NOT ONE Mexican president succeeded in forcing through a term limit extension?