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VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - November 29, 2007
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[A large group of articles, but all are im****tant so we are
distributing the entire VIO update today, except for one article
(Petras) that we've already sent out. -NY Transfer]
Venezuela Information Office (VIO)
http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com
VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - November 29, 2007
[A new poll today shows that 70% of Venezuelans are planning to vote in
Sunday's referendum on constitutional reforms. Abstention does not
appear to be a danger, as only about 10% do not plan to vote. Reuters
re****ts that the data, which comes from the respected firm Consultores,
shows 56% of Venezuelans are in sup****t of the reforms, while 40% are
opposed to them. View the complete poll results here:
http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/Encuesta(Final_Version).pdf
The AP cites poll results from Datanalisis that suggest that opposition
to the reforms would carry the day, but notes that Datanalysis wrongly
predicted a loss for President Chavez in the last presidential
elections, when he earned 63% of the vote. USA Today re****ts on the
reforms, playing up hot-button issues like lifting presidential term
limits while ignoring progressive measures such as expanded social
security, anti-discrimination, and gender equity. A provision
regarding states of emergency is said to "suspend civil rights," when
it would guarantee the right to life, freedom from torture and
silencing, and the right to due process. Rights during a "state of
exception" in Venezuela would surpass those available in most Western
democracies including the U.S. and Canada. USA Today compares
Venezuela to Cuba, but writes: "Venezuela is not a police state. Media
are allowed to criticize Ch!vez." A member of the National Assembly is
quoted as saying that if the changes pass, Venezuela is "going to be a
democratic, free, prosperous, beautiful country, not subject to any
external domination."
In a last minute push to discredit Venezuela's national referendum on
reforms, a New York Times op-ed today claims that President Chavez is
in a "grotesque and dangerous" bid to achieve "socialist-emperor
status." The Times takes issue with one reform (of 69 in total) that
would allow presidents in Venezuela to run for office indefinitely. No
mention is made of democratic checks on presidential powers through
regular competitive elections and recall referendums. The op-ed
admonishes Chavez's economic plan as resembling "disastrous" '60s and
'70s-era state-led development programs in Latin America, although
analysts agree that those decades were the region's most prosperous.
Growth fell off later, when countries were led to financial ruin by
IMF-imposed neoliberal reforms in the '80s.
An opinion piece in the San Francisco Bay View describes media
misrepresentations of the reform process in Venezuela. Often excluded
from the re****ting, the piece contents, is a high level of citizen
involvement in the process of drafting the reforms. The National
Assembly consulted Venezuelans and gathered feedback throughout its
three rounds of debates on the issues. Diverse student groups have
been received by the lawmakers as well as the Supreme Court of
Venezuela and the National Electoral Council. While demonstrations
have been peaceful on the whole, the AP re****ts that a man was shot to
death Monday while merely walking past an opposition protest.
According to Venezuelanalysis, the man was a Chavez sup****ter.
In international relations, the AP re****ts today that Venezuela could
dismiss a U.S. Embassy official for allegedly manipulating public
opinion ahead of the referendum. According to Venezuelanalysis, an
internal CIA memorandum seized by Venezuelan counterintelligence
earlier this week details a plan to destabilize the referendum by
paying polling companies to misrepresent public opinion in favor of a
'no' vote, and encouraging international media to distort the data as
well. Over the last month, the CIA funneled $8 million into Venezuela
through the agency USAID. A Huffington Post blog notes that mainstream
U.S. media have not pickd up the story. -VIO]
****************
1)"Poll suggests Venezuela's Chavez in 7-point referendum lead" Reuters
2)"Chavez Seeks Expanded Power in Charter" AP
3)"Venezuelan leader's power play has echoes of Castro" USA Today
4)"Ch!vez pushes to centralise power" Financial Times
5)"Shutting Up Venezuela's Ch!vez" New York Times
6)"Venezuelan Reforms Get No Respect in the U.S." San Francisco Bay View
7)"Venezuelan Opposition Protesters Shoot Chavez Sup****ter"
Venezuelanalysis
8)"Old Allies Abandon Ch!vez as Constitution Vote Nears" Wash Post
9)"Acosta Says Venezuelan Army May Oppose Chavez Plan, Globo Says"
Bloomberg
10)"Venezuela Opposition Group Reverses Call on Ballot Abstention"
Bloomberg
11)"Venezuela Threatens to Expel US Official" AP
12)"CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela"
Venezuelanalysis
13)"CIA Venezuela Destabilization Memo Surfaces"
Venezuelanalysis [Distributed already via Counterpunch's copy]
14)"The CIA plan to destabilize Venezuela" Huffington Post
15)"Venezuela's Chavez Says CNN Seeks His Assassination" Bloomberg
16)"Ch!vez uncovers another plot" Financial Times
17)"Chavez Rift With Uribe Unlikely to Damage Trade Ties" Bloomberg
18)"Chavez vows no ties with Colombia" BBC News
****************
1)
Poll suggests Venezuela's Chavez in 7-point referendum lead
Reuters
November 29, 2007
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnN28629745.html
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has at least a
seven-point lead for a referendum on Sunday on reforms that would allow
him to run for re-election indefinitely, according to a poll
distributed on Wednesday.
The poll by Consultores 30.11, which has worked for the government and
accurately predicted a vote result last year, showed Chavez moving
ahead compared to most surveys in recent days that put him at best in a
statistical tie.
The survey of 1,600 voters taken November 21-27 said 56 percent of
likely voters appeared set to vote for Chavez's constitutional overhaul
and 40 percent set to vote against.
But when the survey measured how undecided voters would cast their
ballots and also took into account that others, who do not yet plan to
vote, could decide to participate, the difference narrowed to as little
as seven points. Chavez's proposal, which must be approved in a
referendum, has popular sweeteners such as shortening the workday. But
measures over expanding his powers are widely rejected.
The Consultores 30.11 poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage
points
*****************
2)
Chavez Seeks Expanded Power in Charter
The Associated Press
November 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Venezuela-Chavezs-Power.html
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Hugo Chavez could have a shot at becoming
president for life if voters approve a sweeping overhaul of the
constitution Sunday that would give him unchecked power to reshape
Venezuela's government, economy and society.
Some polls show Chavez faces considerable resistance in the referendum.
His primary impediment seems to be voters like Vanessa Meneses, a
27-year-old single mother who has backed Chavez in past elections but
now fears he could become another Fidel Castro.
''Supposedly he wants to make Venezuela like Cuba and stay in power
forever. It's scary,'' Meneses said. ''He wants to be the only one like
in Cuba, and I don't like it.''
Venezuelans across the political spectrum see the vote as a turning
point for their country -- and perhaps a point of no return. The
changes to 69 of the constitution's 350 articles would enshrine a
socialist economic system, create new cl***** of property to be managed
collectively and let Chavez stand for re-election in 2012 and beyond.
Chavez has sold these changes by capitalizing on his personal
popularity -- he is seen by many Venezuelans as their savior, spreading
more oil wealth among the poor than any leader in memory.
A ''yes'' vote keeps him on as captain of a ****p that otherwise ''could
sink,'' he warns. His image is everywhere -- even the Caracas subway
plays a rap-style campaign jingle for Chavez.
The former lieutenant colonel, now 53, insists he will stay in power
for as long as his people want him to -- perhaps into the 2030s, or for
life.
''If you wish -- and if you approve the referendum -- I will stay as
long as God wills! Until the last bone of my skeleton dries up! Until
the last bit of my body dries up!'' he shouted to the applause of
thousands.
Opponents -- including Roman Catholic leaders, press freedom groups,
human rights groups and prominent business leaders -- fear the reforms
will remove some of the last checks on Chavez's power.
Students are proving to be a particular challenge, leading street
protests and occasionally cla****ng with police and Chavista groups. One
man was shot dead Monday while trying to get through a road blocked by
protesters. A large opposition march is planned for Thursday, along
with pro-Chavez rallies.
The amendments would remove term limits, extend presidential terms from
six to seven years, grant Chavez direct control over the Central Bank
and monetary policy, allow his government to detain citizens without
charge during a state of emergency, and let the state occupy private
properties it wants to expropriate.
He also would be empowered to redraw the country's political map and
handpick provincial and municipal leaders -- a change opponents fear
will push aside any elected officials who aren't his allies.
''The only certain thing that emerges is a total concentration of
political power in Chavez's fist,'' opposition politician Teodoro
Petkoff wrote in his newspaper Tal Cual. He calls the changes a ''Plan
for Venezuela's Destruction.'' Other opponents have taken out newspaper
ads urging voters to ''defend democracy.''
Yet many Chavistas see real benefits in these and other amendments --
such as shortening the workday from eight hours to six, creating a
social security fund for millions of informal laborers and promoting
communal councils where residents decide how to spend government funds
in their neighborhoods.
''It's power for the people. It's not power for me,'' says Chavez -- a
theme also promoted by his leftist allies trying to rewrite the
constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador. Smiling in a TV campaign
commercial, Chavez tells viewers: ''I want you to be the center of
power.''
Many voters confess they don't understand all the changes, but will
vote based on how they feel about Chavez.
''I think people want him to stay on until he has consolidated our
process, and may God give our Comandante a long life,'' said Gladis
Gonzalez, 50 and studying law at a free state university.
Others say they'll vote ''yes'' because the new constitution guarantees
that oil-funded ''missions'' will keep offering free health care and
education.
But shopkeeper Maria Teresa Gonzalez said she has lost faith in Chavez
after seeing rampant murders in her part of Caracas, and shortages of
milk and other goods. If he were successful, ''things would have
changed and gotten better. And they're getting worse.''
If approved, the revisions would create an unprecedented
''centralization of power'' in the president's hands, said Jose Vicente
Haro, a constitutional law professor at Caracas' Andres Bello Catholic
University. ''In nearly 50 years of democracy, it would be the
constitution that has given him the most power.''
Chavez, first elected in 1998, already obtained total control of the
National Assembly when opponents boycotted the 2005 elections, and
lawmakers gave him special powers to enact some laws by decree through
next June.
This constitution would go much farther, Haro said. One of the most
profound changes would come in a little-noticed ''transitory'' clause
appended at the end, which Haro believes would let Chavez enact laws by
decree for an unlimited period -- possibly for years -- to hasten a
''transition to the Socialist Economic Model.''
Chavez himself has said more than 100 new laws would be required if the
referendum p***** -- and that he will waste no time in making that
happen.
The opposition is urging voters to turn out in large numbers on Sunday,
hoping Chavez may be vulnerable after some prominent defections from
Chavez's movement, including former Defense Minister Gen. Raul Baduel
and lawmakers of the small left-leaning party Podemos. Even Chavez's
ex-wife Marisabel Rodriguez has urged Venezuelans to vote ''no,''
saying the changes would be like a ''leap into the dark.''
The government cites polls suggesting Chavez has an advantage, while
the Caracas polling firm Datanalisis -- in a nationwide survey this
month -- found 49 percent of likely voters opposed Chavez's reforms and
39 percent were in favor.
While the pollster has predicted some of Chavez's past victories, its
results haven't always been on-target. A poll released by the firm in
June 2004 found that 57 percent of Venezuelans would vote to recall
Chavez, but the president handily won the vote two months later.
Chavez predicts a ''knockout'' but acknowledges it might be a smaller
margin than his re-election last December, when he won 63 percent of
the vote.
****************
3)
Venezuelan leader's power play has echoes of Castro
By Chris Hawley
USA Today
November 28, 2007
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-11-28-Chavez_N.htm
CARACAS, Venezuela ? If Hugo Ch!vez gets his way, he'll be calling U.S.
presidents "donkeys" and "drunkards" for another 20 years ? at least.
A nationwide referendum set for Sunday could allow the colorful
Venezuelan president to stay in office indefinitely. That would let
Ch!vez, 53, continue reshaping Venezuela's economy in the mold of Cuba,
and follow Fidel Castro as the self-anointed lifetime leader of an
increasingly combative global alliance against the United States.
The consequences could be far more serious than the one-liners,
clownish antics and occasional gaffes that have made Ch!vez a staple on
YouTube.
"Venezuela is going to be a big, big headache" for Wa****ngton if Ch!vez
wins the referendum, says Javier Corrales, a political science
professor and Ch!vez watcher at Amherst College.
Corrales says an emboldened Ch!vez could drive up energy prices through
his control of Venezuela's oil industry, refuse to cooperate with U.S.
anti-drug efforts and undermine the fight against Islamist militants
through his economic partner****p with Iran, a state sponsor of
terrorism.
In Venezuela, tensions have started to boil over as polls show the
referendum's outcome is in doubt. Clashes between sup****ters and
opponents have repeatedly turned violent, and one protester was killed
Monday. Using his trademark hyperbole, Ch!vez told a crowd of students
last week they could "save the world" by voting in his favor.
Critics fear that a "yes" vote would cement Ch!vez as a de facto
dictator and lead to more of the problems that have begun to plague his
self-styled socialist revolution. The economy is still expanding thanks
to record prices for Venezuela's oil, but there are growing shortages
of basic goods such as milk, pasta and sugar. The exchange rate for the
currency is so distorted that passengers arriving at the Caracas
air****t are immediately besieged by black-market traders desperate for
U.S. dollars.
Even some longtime sup****ters say Ch!vez has gone too far in trying to
cement his control over daily life. The government is "confiscating the
rights of the people," says Ismael Garcia, a member of the National
Assembly who helped Ch!vez regain power after an attempted coup in 2002
but now is campaigning against the referendum. "It's not democratic,"
Garcia says.
Ch!vez says the changes will allow him to implement a centralized
socialist state better equipped to improve the lives of Venezuela's
poor. The reforms would remove presidential term limits, cut the
workday to six hours and make it easier for the state to seize private
property. "Communal cities" would be established under presidential
control, which could allow Ch!vez to ignore elected local officials.
The president also would be able to suspend civil rights in emergencies.
Venezuela's poorest people have been the biggest beneficiaries of the
health and education programs that Ch!vez has financed with record oil
revenue. The former paratrooper is counting on their sup****t to stay in
power long enough to rival his mentor Castro, who has tormented
Wa****ngton for 47 years.
"I'm ready. I have the moral strength, the physical strength and the
will to continue with you at the helm until at least 2020," Ch!vez told
sup****ters last week. "And if the strength continues with me, and God
wills it, then I'll probably go on to 2027."
A year after calling President Bush "the devil" at the United Nations,
Ch!vez has begun to couple his barbed attacks with words explicitly
targeted at damaging the U.S. economy. After meeting with Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran last week, Ch!vez said the
falling dollar was "a sign the U.S. empire is coming down," and called
on OPEC countries to use the euro instead. His comments helped push oil
prices closer to $100 a barrel.
U.S. companies such as Heinz, AES and Verizon have been damaged by
Ch!vez's recent economic changes, which included nationalizing
Venezuela's electricity sector and buying out many other companies.
Ch!vez's office did not respond to a request for an interview. Saul
Ortega, a Ch!vez ally and president of the foreign relations panel in
the National Assembly, notes that U.S. companies still do billions of
dollars of business a year in Venezuela and says Wa****ngton has nothing
to fear.
Unlike Castro's Cuba, where dissent is not tolerated, Venezuela is not
a police state. Media are allowed to criticize Ch!vez, although he shut
down an independent TV station this year, sparking massive protests.
Venezuelans are also free to leave the country anytime, something that
thousands have done in recent months to places such as Panama and
Florida.
"We're finding our own path," Ortega says. "It's going to be a
democratic, free, prosperous, beautiful country, not subject to any
external domination."
Revolutionary hub
Visitors to Caracas are aware of the referendum's high stakes from the
moment they arrive at Caracas' international air****t, where a huge 3-D
sign celebrating socialism hangs above baggage claim. From there, the
onslaught of revolutionary slogans and crimson banners never lets up.
"Nothing stops the revolution," says one sign hanging from a building
downtown. "Full-speed revolution toward socialism!" say signs in the
subway.
Ch!vez's sup****ters credit him with giving them more of a share of
Venezuela's booming economy, which has grown about 10% a year since a
massive collapse in 2002. Poverty has fallen from 42.8% in 1999 to
33.9% in 2006, according to Venezuela's census bureau, although
progress on unemployment has been mixed.
"The comandante has done so many good things for this country," Aura
Eslada, 54, a secretary who wore a red cap and a "yes with Ch!vez"
T-****rt, said during a march Tuesday. "There's no other leader like
him. The opposition doesn't have anybody better to offer."
However, Mara Elena S!nchez is one of many Venezuelans who are growing
frustrated by the economic problems created by Ch!vez's policies.
"I haven't been able to buy liquid milk in three months," S!nchez says,
standing in front of an empty cooler at the Sud-America Supermarket.
"This isn't supposed to happen in Caracas, right? The capital is
supposed to have everything."
Strict price controls on food items have discouraged companies from
producing enough of some goods because they can't turn a profit on
them. Controls on buying dollars, in place since 2003, have
simultaneously made it difficult for im****ters to buy abroad.
"Pasta, milk, rice, sugar, wheat flour, sometimes even salt is hard to
get," says Wilfredo Chacn, ****ft manager of the Sud-America.
"Sometimes all the deliveryman gives me is one box of 9 liters of milk."
A poll released Saturday by Datanalisis, a respected local pollster,
showed 46% of Venezuelans blame the government for the shortages, while
31% blamed businesses. Six months ago, 65% blamed businesses.
Some of the economic distortions border on the bizarre. Airline tickets
to and from Caracas are increasingly hard to come by because so many
seats are being bought up by Venezuelan currency speculators who can
make an easy profit by manipulating the financial system.
The speculators fly to nearby Panama, Aruba and Curacao, where they can
charge up to $5,000 to their credit cards and receive U.S. dollars in
return from local businesses. Upon returning to Venezuela, the
travelers then sell their dollars on the black market at twice the
official rate ? making thousands of dollars.
"You can't get a flight to those places at any price now," said Eduardo
Ablan, a travel agent at Festival Tours in Caracas. "It's all because
of the black market."
Even some Ch!vez sup****ters wonder just how far he will go. "I think
health, education, that's all gotten better," taxi driver William
Batista says. "But when he says he wants a socialist state, I honestly
don't know what he means."
Wrong place, wrong time?
Even if the vote swings in Ch!vez's favor Sunday, he may not be able to
fully carry out his move to socialism, says Michael ****fter, an analyst
at the Interamerican Dialogue, a Wa****ngton think tank.
"Venezuelan society is too individualistic, is too chaotic and is not
amenable to those tight controls that he wants," ****fter says. "There's
a real difference between where he wants to take the country and how
far the country wants to go with him."
Ch!vez blames Bush for not opposing the short-lived 2002 coup against
him, and constantly talks of the threat of a U.S. invasion. Wa****ngton
strongly denies any such plans, and has in recent years mostly chosen
to ignore Ch!vez's rhetoric.
Ch!vez's continuing demands for higher oil prices and his suspicion of
U.S.-led trade pacts could disrupt attempts to form trade alliances
that could counter the European Union and China.
"He would like to establish Venezuela as an alternative to the U.S.
model of how to do things," says Terry McCoy, a political science
professor at the University of Florida.
A recent study by pollster Latinobarometro ? as well as an outburst
this month by Spain's normally mild-mannered King Juan Carlos, who told
Ch!vez to "shut up" ? suggest his influence in the region could be
waning. On Wednesday, Ch!vez said he would no longer have "any type of
relations" with neighboring Colombia, calling its pro-U.S. leader "a
pawn of the empire."
Venezuela's growing economic relation****p with Iran is most worrisome,
especially at a time when the United States and the European Union are
deliberating more sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program,
****fter and McCoy say.
On Monday, Ch!vez presided over the delivery of 200 cars built by
Venirauto, a joint venture between the two countries, to health workers
and local government officials. Iran and Venezuela also have cooperated
in producing petrochemicals, housing and tractors.
Whether relations between Venezuela and the United States improve may
depend on Bush's successor. Ch!vez has professed to getting along
better with President Clinton than "the Texan who walks around shooting
from the hip."
Opposition leaders would rather start the relation****p over.
"We are fighting for the future of Venezuela, for the world of our
grandchildren," says Garcia, the former Ch!vez sup****ter. "If in 10
years I have a grandchild and he sits on my knee and he says, 'Grandpa,
you were there, and what did you do with my country?' What am I going
to say?
"That's why we're fighting this with such passion."
****************
4)
Ch!vez pushes to centralise power
By Richard Lapper
The Financial Times
November 29, 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2129b80-9e1c-11dc-9f68-0000779fd2ac.html
"We have to accelerate the rhythm of the revolution," says President
Hugo Ch!vez of Venezuela, holding up a copy of a little red book to an
audience of well-heeled sup****ters who have gathered in a Caracas hotel.
The book lists a series of constitutional changes that would allow Mr
Ch!vez to centralise power, stay in office for life and move more
quickly towards his promised land of "21st-century socialism".
If approved by voters in a referendum on Sunday, it will have a huge
influence on Venezuela's future.
It also appears to be part of a wider change that increases Mr Ch!vez's
influence in Latin America. Ecuador and Bolivia, whose left-wing
presidents are allies of the Venezuelan leader, are also at im****tant
stages of plans to rewrite their constitutions, following a path
initially charted by Mr Ch!vez when he first redrafted -Venezuela's
constitution back in 1999.
Today members of a new Ecuadorean constitutional assembly dominated by
President Rafael Correa will meet to elect officers ahead of next
week's official opening of the assembly. And President Evo Morales of
Bolivia is still aiming to complete the preparation of a new
constitution by December 14, despite growing protests including a
general strike that began yesterday in six opposition-dominated
departments of the country.
These developments take a significant chunk of the region into new
political territory, modifying in potentially im****tant ways the US or
European liberal model of democracy that has, if anything, become
stronger in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Chile in recent years.
Analysts worry in particular that the new centralisation planned by the
powerful oil-rich Venezuelan leader will set a new template for his
allies, weakening in these countries the checks and balances that have
historically been an im****tant part of Latin American development.
As Michael ****fter, of the Wa****ngton-based policy forum Inter-American
Dialogue, says: "This is a new species in embryonic form, not just
changes at the edges." Nonetheless, there is a genuine need of reform.
In many ways, the proposed changes in Ecuador and Bolivia appear part
of a wider process designed to modernise political systems and allow
greater participation by socially marginal groups excluded from
often-corrupt traditional parties.
During the 1980s and 1990s countries such as Brazil and Colombia, as
well as Mr Ch!vez's Venezuela, modernised their constitutions partly
for the same reason.
The election of Mr Morales in December 2005 and Mr Correa in November
2006 has given greater impetus to this trend, because underprivileged
indigenous groups, which form a majority of the population in Bolivia
and a significant minority in Ecuador, gave powerful backing to both
leaders.
"This all reflects the stirrings and awakenings of new groups that were
outside the political system," says Mr ****fter. "Constitutional change
is a proxy for underlying social change."
Jim Shultz, head of the Democracy Center, a non-governmental
organisation based in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, goes further. He
says changes in the country as a result of the rise of Quechua, Aymara
and other indigenous groups are as im****tant in their own way as the
end of apartheid in South Africa or even the collapse of communist rule
and subsequent break-up of Yugoslavia.
Economics has also helped reinforce this trend. The commodity boom
means Mr Morales, who has huge gas reserves, and Mr Correa, who has
oil, have not been so hemmed in by financial pressures as their more
economically orthodox predecessors.
Money has been available to pursue populist economic policies,
providing a cu****on for political experimentation and keeping the
popularity of all three leaders at relatively high levels. Recent
figures from Santiago-based Latinobarmetro showed the three countries
to be among the region's five most popular governments, with Ecuador's
the most popular of all.
All this suggests change ought to be relatively peaceful. However,
there are reasons for scepticism. The debate on Bolivia's new
constitution has led to huge tensions between regions. Since the
Bolivian constituent assembly first met in July, these divides -
especially those between the richer, less-populated, mainly mixed-race
lowlands and the mainly indigenous western highlands - have been the
backcloth for constant instability. This month the situation
degenerated into violence, with at least four people killed and
hundreds injured during protests over the weekend.
Ecuador too may not be immune from this danger. Like Bolivia, it is
sharply divided between its indigenous highlands population and mestizo
lowland business interests, this time concentrated in the powerful
coastal city of Guayaquil.
Even in an ethnically more homogenous society such as Venezuela, the
far-reaching character of many of the changes introduced alongside the
new constitution after Mr Ch!vez first came to office has stoked
political polarisation.
The new proposals - which reverse some of the decentralisation
introduced in earlier reforms and make community organisation directly
dependent on the executive - could lead to further division.
Ricardo Guti(c)rrez, a socialist politician who joined a steady stream of
defectors from the Ch!vez camp after the constitutional changes were
announced, agrees. Ch!vez "still has to stand for election [at the
moment]," he says. "But can you imagine anyone with all this
concentration of power losing an election?"
****************
5)
Shutting Up Venezuela's Ch!vez
By Roger Cohen
The New York Times
November 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/opinion/29cohen.html
It was a fascist general in 1930s Spain who coined the phrase "Viva la
muerte!" or "Long live death!" Essentially meaningless, the words
captured the cult of soil, blood and savagery that coursed through
European Fascism, in its Francoist and other forms.
President Hugo Ch!vez of Venezuela hates fascists; they are central to
his repertoire of insults. But he has not hesitated to deploy the
imagery of death to bolster his leftist brand of
petro-authoritarianism, now operating under the ludicrous banner of
"Fatherland, Socialism or Death!"
The slogan looks almost quaint in its anachronism. Ch!vez would no
doubt claim Cuban revolutionary, rather than Spanish fascist, roots for
it (Fidel Castro also invoked fatherland and finality). The bottom line
is this: Latin America's oil-gilded caudillo is getting serious about
ruling for life, just like Franco and Castro.
I might add Vladimir Putin to that list. Like the Russian leader,
Ch!vez has already used gu****ng oil revenue, a pliant judiciary,
subservient institutions and the galvanizing appeal of vitriolic
anti-Americanism to concoct a 21st-century, gulag-free
authoritarianism. But even Putin has not contemplated going as far as
Ch!vez now intends to take his "Bolivarian revolution."
Venezuelans will vote Sunday in a referendum that would remove all
limits on presidential re-election, grant Ch!vez direct control over
foreign currency reserves, allow him to censor the media under a state
of emergency declarable at his discretion, expand his powers to
expropriate private property and create the second formally socialist
nation in the Americas alongside Fidel's.
"The measures amount to a constitutional coup," said Teodoro Petkoff,
who edits an opposition newspaper. Certainly, they would prod Venezuela
from an oppressive rule comparable to Mexico's under its once
impregnable Institutional Revolutionary Party toward the dictatorial
absolutism of Cuba.
Unlike other votes during Ch!vez's nine-year presidency, and unlike the
assured victory of Putin's United Russia Party in voting the same day,
the referendum is not a foregone conclusion.
Overcoming inertia, opponents led by students have energized a "No"
campaign. A general once close to Ch!vez has denounced a looming coup
d'(c)tat. Polls suggest a close outcome.
But awash in petrodollars ? oil accounts for about 90 percent of
Venezuelan ex****ts ? Ch!vez commands formidable resources. They are
centered in the armed forces; a huge nomenklatura scattered across the
bureaucracy and newly nationalized industries; the so-called
Boliburgesa (Bolivarian bourgeoisie) of traders grown rich working the
angles of a corrupt system; and the poor whom Ch!vez has helped and
manipulated.
Certainly, the oil money Ch!vez has plowed into poor neighborhoods (at
the expense of an oil industry suffering chronic underinvestment) has
reduced poverty. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin
America said last year that the extreme poverty rate had fallen to 9.9
percent from 15.9 percent.
But more than spreading socialist ideals, Ch!vez has spread a form of
crony capitalism, dedicated to his greater glory, that has imbued the
economy with all the resilience of a house of cards.
Foreign investment has plunged, scared off by nationalizations. A huge
disparity between the official and black-market exchange rates has
encouraged get-rich-quick schemes for favored "Ch!vistas" while
erecting endless barriers to trade. Price controls on staples have made
eggs unavailable. This week, you can't find chickens. Ch!vez's
socialism delivers subsidized gasoline and glittering malls but no milk.
Latin America has been here before, with the disastrous
im****t-substitution and highly regulated models of the 1960s and '70s.
Most of the region has moved on, but not Ch!vez, who trumpets "growth
from within," whatever that is. The World Bank's recently released
"Doing Business 2008," a ranking of the ease of conducting commerce,
places Venezuela 172nd out of 178 countries.
Despite this, the country does huge business with the United States, as
its fourth-largest crude oil supplier and a big im****ter. Ch!vez's
"socialism" and his chumminess with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad do not
extend to cutting off the "imperialist empire." Ch!vez is too shrewd to
sever his lifeline.
A possible conclusion would be that he's harmless ? a wily
barracks-bred buffoon whose leftist rhetoric is just a veneer for a
petrodollar power play. Perhaps that's why the United States ? and
Latin American nations ? have been so muted, or silent, before Ch!vez's
attempted "constitutional coup." Oil speaks.
But Ch!vez's grab for socialist-emperor status is grotesque and
dangerous ? as Fascism was ? a terrible example for a region that has
been consolidating democracy. King Juan Carlos of Spain got it right
when he recently interrupted Ch!vez's trademark verbal diarrhea with a
brusque: "Why don't you just shut up?"
Venezuelans should watch that regal routine on YouTube ? it's even been
set to music ? and follow suit on Sunday.
****************
6)
Venezuelan Reforms Get No Respect in the U.S.
By Olivia Burlingame Goumbri
San Francisco Bay View
November 28, 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/News/Main/Venezuelan_reforms_get_no_respect_in_the_U.S.html
In recent weeks, biased articles have been circulating in the U.S.
media about the constitutional reform process underway in Venezuela. At
a speed unmatched even during Venezuela's 2006 presidential elections,
newspapers inundated readers with negative views of President Chavez
and his sup****ters. The Associated Press, Reuters, the Los Angeles
Times, New York Times, Wa****ngton Post and many local papers
characterized the democratically elected president of Venezuela as a
strongman with dictatorial urges, hoping to consolidate power through
the passage of some 69 constitutional updates. Public opinion polls
were cited, opposition leaders were quoted and the general tone was set
to present the reforms as inherently undemocratic and serving only to
centralize state power, embodied by none other than
Evildoer-of-the-Year President Hugo Chavez.
With the groundwork laid, those same newspapers issued editorials last
week reiterating the anti-Chavez bias already demonstrated in re****ting
on the reform process. The Chicago Tribune falsely re****ted that the
reforms would ban due process during states of emergency. The
Wa****ngton Post claimed, against all evidence, that the reforms would
curtail freedom of expression in Venezuela.
The Wa****ngton Times stated inaccurately that Chavez "controls most
major Venezuelan media," an allegation easily refuted by a quick review
of Venezuela's overwhelmingly privately-owned news outlets. The Times'
particularly uninformed editorial followed an opinion piece earlier in
the month penned by none other than notorious Cold War player Oliver
North, who believes Chavez has "pulled a coup" on the Venezuelan
people. Similar egregious opinion pieces followed in the national
press.
For those still not sold on the idea that reforming the constitution is
undemocratic, you were told to believe that Venezuelans just weren't
sophisticated enough to determine their own path. An opinion piece in
the Los Angeles Times last weekend was a case in point. William Ratliff
concluded "Venezuela's path to self-destruction" by claiming that,
although Venezuelans would likely approve a set of constitutional
reforms in early December, they could not possibly do so on their own
accord. Rather, they must have been duped by their president.
Will this paternalistic attitude toward the Global South ever end?
Ratliff, who made a career of anti-Communism at the ironically named
"Independent Institute," made the arrogant claim that Venezuelans do
not understand the political process underway in their country. Just
what have the Venezuelan people been duped about? Perhaps it is Article
337 on states of emergency, which, following debates by lawmakers, now
surp***** international requirements for citizen protections as set out
by the U.N.? Could it be the reform legalizing continual terms for
presidential in***bents, a measure which our own FDR advocated and used
to remain in office for four terms? Or is it the article that would
officially recognize Afro-Venezuelan culture as an integral part of
Venezuelan's national identity?
These reform measures are not an attempt by President Chavez to pull
the wool over the eyes of the Venezuelan people. Nor are other proposed
constitutional changes that would lower the voting age from 18 to 16
years of age, make resources available to districts and cities that
have been long forgotten due to economic and infrastructural factors,
and put the power to decide Venezuela's short term interest rates in
the hands of elected officials rather than Central Bank appointees.
These reforms have been proposed in an effort to expand the existing
process of social and economic transformation currently underway in our
neighbor to the South.
>From the beginning of this legal process initiated on Aug. 15, when
President Chavez submitted a round of proposed reforms to the National
Assembly for review and debate, the electorate has been encouraged and
invited to national dialogue. The National Assembly gathered citizen
views during more than 9,000 public events across the country and
distributed the text of the proposed reforms to millions of families. A
hotline was established to channel feedback, and received 80,000 calls
offering critiques and suggestions.
Despite re****ts in the U.S. media that student views are silenced,
opposition students have met with Venezuela's National Assembly,
Supreme Court and National Electoral Council. Each of these three
branches of government have received student protesters - lawmakers
invited them more than once - and heard their concerns.
Violence at student marches has been infrequent and isolated. However,
when gunfire erupted on a university campus in Caracas, the U.S. media
was quick to attribute the aggression to pro-Chavez students. The Wall
Street Journal later let slip that students in sup****t of the reforms
were targeted and trapped in a burning building, thus locked in a
"standoff with a crowd of students, until a group of armed civilians on
motorcycles intervened to allow the Ch!vez sup****ters to escape."
Last month, Brazilian President Lula da Silva urged the international
community and press to evaluate the situation in Venezuela honestly
before jumping to conclusions. "Please," he said, "invent anything to
criticize Ch!vez, except for lack of democracy. I have been in office
for five years and run twice for president and twice for mayor. As far
as I am concerned, during that very period, there have been three
referendums, three elections and four plebiscites. Everything but
discussion lacks in Venezuela."
Ten electoral processes have occurred during the nine years that the
Chavez administration has been in office. International monitors from
the Carter Center, the OAS, the EU and the NAACP have deemed elections
free and fair and witnessed impressive rates of voter turnout. In their
2006 presidential election re****t, the NAACP stated that "the
Venezuelan government has gone to great lengths to ensure the
legitimacy of the electoral process."
It should come as no surprise, then, that the prominent Chilean polling
firm Latinobarometro found that Venezuelans are among the most likely
in Latin America to express a preference for democracy over other forms
of government. This was not the case 10 years ago before President
Chavez was first elected in 1998. Testament to this new democratic
trend, polls also show that Venezuelans are the most likely in Latin
America to say that there is a fair distribution of wealth in their
country.
As Venezuelans prepare to head to the polls this Sunday and vote to
approve or reject the new constitutional reforms, more balanced and
truthful re****ting on the political situation of the country is needed.
Although the mass media and the Bush administration, who too often seem
to finish one another's sentences, may not approve of the results,
Venezuelans have the right to reform their constitution.
Let us not forget the words of founding father Thomas Jefferson, who
sup****ted this democratic measure when he said, "No society can make a
perpetual Constitution. ... The Earth belongs always to the living
generation. ... Every Constitution ... naturally expires at the end of
19 years [a generation]."
Olivia Goumbri is the director of the Venezuela Information Office in
Wa****ngton, D.C. She is the editor of The Venezuela Reader (EPICA
2005). For more information on Venezuela, visit www.veninfo.org.
****************
7)
Venezuelan Opposition Protesters Shoot Chavez Sup****ter
By Kiraz Janicke
Venezuelanalysis
November 28, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2913
Caracas -- Neighbors, friends and family members of young worker and
sup****ter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Jos(c) Anibal Oliveros
Y(c)pez, who was murdered by a radical opposition group in the regional
city of Valencia on Monday, have express profound rage and indignation
at what occurred explaining that his body was spat on and kicked by his
killers, "as if he were and animal."
Oliveres, 19 years old, was on his way to work driving a truck of state
owned "socialist" housing company Petrocasa when he encountered
opposition groups blocking the road in protest against proposed
constitutional reforms. When he tried to convince them to let him pass
he was shot several times and died before he could be rescued.
Radio YVKE Mundial re****ted that the opposition protesters came from
Cuidad Alianza, a middle class suburb in Valencia and blocked a highway
to impede workers from Petrocasa from passing to the poorer
neighborhood of Araguita, where they were working to construct housing
for the poor. However, the re****t noted many of the neighbors from
Cuidad Alianza also rejected the violent behavior of some of the
opposition groups.
A resident from Cuidad Alianza who did not want to be named told Radio
YVKE Mundial that the opposition groups had blocked the road to
Araguita from three o'clock in the morning and were patrolling the
neighborhood "with guns in hand."
Alexander Borges, friend and workmate of Oliveros explained to VTV that
they tried to rescue Oliveros, but were prevented by the protestors who
threatened to kill them.
"There were four of us, trying to carry our friend to the community,
but they surrounded us throwing bottles. I took the op****tunity to move
him [Oliveros] because they were going to hit him with a bottle in the
face and I moved him so it did not hit him in the face. He had one
bullet in the leg, a man from the local community was going to carry
him, but in this moment they shot him twice in the back and this is
when he fell to the ground."
"We pleaded with them for the life of our friend that was lying bloody
on the ground, to please allow us the op****tunity to pick him up and
they responded that now they were coming for us, that they were coming
for me," Borges added.
Borges explained that two other people came to help rescue Oliveros,
but that the opposition sup****ters threw rocks and bottles at them
screaming, "Come and pick up your dead, now we are coming for you."
Dixon Viloria, also a friend of Oliveros and a witness said that after
they killed him, "they mal-treated him, kicked him, stripped off his
clothes, hit him and screamed 'pick up your dead chicken!' as if he was
an animal."
Beltran Chavez, from Araguita said that neighbors from Cuidad Alianza
had shot at workers from Petrocasa earlier when they tried to pass
through to construction sites in Araguita. He said the same group of
protesters had previously set alight to a truck from Petrocasa and
physically and verbally attacked a group of women from Araguita.
"How can a group of people be better armed than the state and municipal
police," he asked. He added that thanks to the municipal and state
police the four people that participated in the act were captured."
National Assembly Deputy Francisco Ameliach and the Mayor of Guacara,
Jos(c) Manuel Flores, who visited the neighborhood to pay their respects
to the Oliveros' family, re****ted that opposition groups in Ciudad
Alianza that claim to represent "civil society" have marked the houses
of Chavez sup****ters, or those they believe to be Chavez sup****ters,
with red paint and "have said they are going to kill them."
Vice president Jorge Rodriguez confirmed that the Oliveros' killer had
been identified and arrested and has confessed to the crime, re****tedly
saying that all "Chavistas" should be killed, as well as three other
people also linked to his death. Rodrgiuez said that simultaneously
coordinated opposition protests of small groups had blocked other
highways with burning objects in Valencia and Maracay. In total 80
people were arrested.
Rodriguez has also asked the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference to explain
what they know about a meeting held by the opposition in the Diocesan
Insitute in Maracay where the violent protests are alleged to have been
planned.
Rodriguez said he has witness testimony of people who were invited to
the meeting in the Diocesan Institute to "pray for peace" however; when
they arrived they found the meeting was planning the protest in Ciudad
Alianza that resulted in the death of Oliveros.
Rodriguez said the Catholic hierarchy should remember the commandments
not to lie and not to kill and said the Church should explain to the
Venezuelan people why their buildings are being used to plan these
types of protests.
Friends and family of Oliveros also condemned Venezuelan and
international media re****ting of his death, particularly opposition
private TV channel Globovision, which they say tried to ****tray
Oliveros as insane, and some international media that have tried to
obscure the events leading to Oliveros death, some even claiming that
Oliveros was an opposition sup****ter attacked by a "pro-Chavez mob."
Gladys Y(c)pez, mother of Oliveros demanded justice for her only son and
President Hugo Chavez has responded saying the murderer of Oliveros
should face the "full weight of the law."
****************
8)
Old Allies Abandon Ch!vez as Constitution Vote Nears
By Juan Forero
The Wa****ngton Post
November 29, 2007
http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112900005.html
***ANA, Venezuela -- Few associates had been as loyal to President Hugo
Ch!vez as the governor of the coastal state of Sucre, Ramn Martnez.
And few are now more determined to defeat Ch!vez as he campaigns for
constitutional changes that, if approved by voters on Sunday, could
extend his presidency for life.
Ch!vez, 53 and in his ninth tumultuous year in office, was until
recently predicted to win a referendum that would permit him to run for
8office indefinitely, appoint governors to federal districts he would
create, and control the purse strings of one of the world's major
oil-producing countries.
But Martnezand a handful of others who once were prominent pillars in
the Ch!vez machine, have defected, saying approval of 69 constitutional
changes would effectively turn Venezuela into a dictator****p run at the
whim of one man. They have been derided by Ch!vez as traitors, but
their unimpeachable leftist credentials have given momentum to a
movement that pollsters say may deliver Ch!vez his first electoral
defeat.
"The proposal would signify a coup d'etat," said Martnez, 58, whose
dapper appearance belies his history as a guerrilla and Communist Party
member. "Here the power is going to be concentrated in one person.
That's very grave."
Pollsters in Caracas say Venezuelans increasingly agree -- even those
who continue to sup****t the president but say the proposed overhaul of
an eight-year-old constitution goes too far.
Datanalisis , a respected Caracas polling firm that earlier this month
was predicting a Ch!vez win, said that 48 percent of respondents in an
opinion survey last week said they would vote "no" to the
constitutional amendments, compared with 39 percent who expressed
sup****t, polling director Luis Vicente Len said.
"In those three weeks, what's happened is, the people have been
sensitized," Len said. "What happened is, he presented a reform the
people don't like."
Datanalisis accurately predicted Ch!vez victories in past elections,
including last year's presidential election, in which he won a second
six-year term by an overwhelming margin. Len said the president's
vigorous campaigning in these last few days is closing the gap. "It all
depends on the capacity to mobilize," he said, "and we know who has
that capacity."
The government has embarked on an all-out crusade, including a barrage
of television ads and political rallies, with Ch!vez giving three or
more speeches each day. When the day is done, Ch!vez appears on Mario
Silva's "The Razor Blade," a talk show on government television, where
he expounds well into the night. His face stares down from billboards
and placards with the word "S," adorning balconies and windows.
Darleny Crdoba, 24, recently received, along with a group of friends,
about $12,000 in government aid to start up a restaurant. She was bused
recently from ***ana to Caracas for a rally. She says she's voting for
the president.
"I think the reforms are good," she said. "I find nothing wrong with
them. The articles they're putting in will be better than before."
The president has characterized the referendum as a plebiscite on his
rule, telling a packed arena recently that anyone who says he sup****ts
Ch!vez but votes "no" is a "true traitor."
Ch!vez also warns that the opponents of the reforms who have been
protesting in the streets are collaborating with the Bush
administration to assassinate him, a frequent accusation in this
politically charged country.
He says the constitutional amendments will give more power to the
people through newly empowered community councils and cut bureaucracy
from provincial governments, freeing up money for social programs.
Ch!vez denies that he desires more power.
"I don't want to ac***ulate power. For what?" he said in a speech this
week to pro-government businessmen. "I'm an anti-power subversive, for
those who haven't noticed."
Prominent Ch!vez backers who have publicly broken with him have said
the proposals are all about amassing power in the presidency, which
already controls the National Assembly, the courts and most state and
local governments. "The proposal is illegal," a former wife of the
president, Marisabel Rodrguez, said in a public statement this week.
In interviews, three former key allies of the president said they
remain true to their leftist values but felt it was time to break with
Ch!vez because of what they characterized as his lack of tolerance and
his drive for more power.
"We've all been revolutionaries and we have believed in socialism all
our lives, but socialism within democracy," said Ismael Garca,
secretary general of Podemos, a party that broke with Ch!vez. "We have
to ask him, how do you feel abandoning a constitution that says
Venezuela is a state of laws, of justice for all, that it's federal,
decentralized, plural and diverse?"
The biggest blow to Ch!vez came when retired Gen. Ral Baduel, 52,
turned against him this month.
Ch!vez, Baduel and two other young army officers formed a clandestine
anti-government group 25 years ago that eventually spawned the movement
that ushered Ch!vez into power. Later, as an army commander, Baduel
remained loyal to Ch!vez during a brief 2002 coup that had tacit
sup****t from the Bush administration.
Baduel said he remained loyal to Ch!vez because the coup was
unconstitutional, and that he has now broken with the president for the
same reason. He says a new constitution can be drafted by only an
elected constituent assembly.
"The proposal, in addition to taking power from the people, is taking
the country to disaster," said Baduel. "We're giving discretionary
power to one person to take transcendental decisions about the
direction our country should take."
Baduel said he carefully pondered whether to publicly oppose the
proposed changes.
He said his conscience finally prompted him to act. "We need to be
careful to distance ourselves from the Marxist orthodoxy that considers
that democracy and its separation of powers is just an instrument of
bourgeoisie domination," Baduel said.
Pollsters and political analysts say that the emergence of prominent
Chavistas opposed to the changes has animated voters who until recently
had planned to abstain. In October, said Len, of Datanalisis,
abstention was expected to reach 60 percent. Now, it's predicted to be
40 percent.
That's im****tant for the opposition because to win on Sunday, its
leaders must prod voters to polling stations in high numbers.
"Sunday is going to hinge on turnout," said Mark Feierstein , vice
president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Wa****ngton polling firm that
has worked in Venezuela. "The government has a great machine, and he
can turn out his people, and his people are enthusiastic. And the
question is whether the opposition can turn out."
Here in Sucre state, Gov. Martnez has pledged to ensure that "no"
voters come out in force.
Martnez would have a lot to lose, he acknowledges, if the "yes" vote
wins. It would give Ch!vez powers to create special federal
territories, to be governed by appointed vice presidents.
"He now says he's the one who transfers the power, that it's not the
people who transfer the power to him," said Martnez. "We talk of
constructing a society from the bottom up, but he wants it top down."
****************
9)
Acosta Says Venezuelan Army May Oppose Chavez Plan, Globo Says
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal
Bloomberg
November 29, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQEUVsQc_UgE
Venezuela's armed forces may split and oppose President Hugo Chavez's
plan to change the constitution if its approval on a Dec. 3 vote sparks
violence, a retired army official and former Chavez ally told O Globo
newspaper.
The armed forces are divided over the Chavez's constitutional plan and
may join citizens in the ``construction of a new reality,'' Joel Acosta
Chirinos, the former commander of the failed coup attempt that Chavez
led in 1992, told Globo. Chirinos says the possibility the armed forces
would take up arms can't be ruled out, Globo said.
****************
10)
Venezuela Opposition Group Reverses Call on Ballot Abstention
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal
Bloomberg
November 29, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEYYavsjh87M
Comando Nacional de la Resistencia, a Venezuelan opposition group that
President Hugo Chavez accuses of plotting his ouster, reversed its call
to abstain from a referendum on a new constitution.
The CNR, in a statement posted to its Web site, said a massive voter
turnout would defeat the Dec. 2 initiative to approve 69 changes to the
constitution enlarging Chavez's power. Abstention will increase chances
of its passage, local pollster Datanalisis said this month.
``We invite voters to go to the polls with their eyes wide open,''
Antonio Ledezma, one of the CNR leaders, from Caracas, said in the
statement. ``The victory of the `No' to the reform proposal is our main
goal. We must back it.''
Chavez's proposal aims to tighten his grip on power by eliminating term
limits for the presidency, aboli****ng central bank autonomy, weakening
state and municipal governments and making it easier for the government
to expropriate private property, among other changes.
The CNR as well as political parties such as A New Time -- the
runner-up in last year's presidential election, -- call it a power
grab, while Chavez says the reforms are necessary to further his
socialist revolution.
****************
11)
Venezuela Threatens to Expel US Official
The Associated Press
November 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Venezuela-Constitution.html
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela threatened Wednesday to expel a
U.S. Embassy official for allegedly conspiring to defeat a referendum
championed by President Hugo Chavez, accusing the diplomat of plotting
to sway public opinion.
The allegation comes ahead of a fiercely contested referendum on
reforms that would allow Chavez indefinite re-election and help him
establish a socialist state in Venezuela. Sunday's vote has generated
large pro- and anti-Chavez rallies and Chavez kept the rhetoric high on
Wednesday by repeating his charge that Wa****ngton is plotting to kill
him.
In Caracas, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro showed state television a
do***ent that he claimed was written by the unnamed embassy official
and was to have been sent to the CIA as part of a plan to help ensure
that Venezuelans vote against the proposed constitutional overhaul.
''It's a script from the CIA to try to generate a block of opinion
among Venezuelans that would give a sure victory to the 'No' vote,''
said Maduro. ''We will investigate and if it's that way, we'll remove
this person from here as a persona non grata.''
He did not provide more details of the alleged plot.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy, who declined to be named because he
was not authorized to speak on the matter, said he was unaware of the
do***ent.
In Wa****ngton, State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said officials
there were looking into the re****ts.
Chavez, an ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has had a friction-filled
relation****p with Wa****ngton. The Venezuelan leader accuses the U.S. of
sup****ting a 2002 coup that ousted him from office for two days, while
U.S. officials call Chavez threat to the region's stability.
In February 2006, Venezuela expelled naval attache John Correa for
allegedly passing secret information from Venezuelan military officers
to the Pentagon.
On Tuesday, Chavez accused the CNN news network of ''inciting'' an
assassination attempt against him. On Wednesday, Chavez said Wa****ngton
is also seeking to kill him -- a claim he has made in the past.
''Before the world, I accuse the imperialist government of the United
States of promoting my assassination,'' Chavez told sup****ters in the
southwestern city of Merida. ''If anything should happen to me, the
president of the United States will be responsible for my death.''
U.S. officials have in the past denied they are plotting to assassinate
Chavez.
In Sunday's referendum, Venezuelans will vote on proposed changes to 69
amendments of the nation's 1999 constitution. If approved, the
revisions would allow Chavez indefinite re-election, create forms of
communal property and further his plans to establish socialism in
Venezuela.
On Wednesday, hundreds of stone-throwing students clashed with police
and the Venezuelan National Guard in a protest against the
constitutional overhaul. Security forces responded with water cannons
and tear gas.
At least 600 students from the private Metropolitan University took
part in disturbances that lasted more than four hours.
''We're doing this because we're sick of Chavez, sick of his
government, sick of the way he governs,'' said Roberto, who covered his
face, leaving only his eyes visible. He gave only his first name
because he feared reprisals from the security forces.
On Monday, a man was shot to death after he tried to cross a protest,
near the city of Valencia. Chavez blamed violent elements within the
opposition for the killing.
*****************
12)
CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela
By Eva Golinger
Venezuelanalysis
November 28, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2914
Last night CNN en Espaol aired the above image, which captions at the
bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The image of President Chavez
with the caption about killing him below, which some could say
subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production error"
mistakenly made in the CNN en Espaol newsroom. The news anchor had
been narrarating a story about the situation between Colombia and
Venezuela and then switched to a story about an unsolved homicide but -
oops - someone forgot to change the screen image and President Chavez
was left with the killing statement below. Today they apologized and
admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes,
it was.
On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by
Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that
reveals a very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not true - plan
to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled
"OPERATION PLIERS" was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere
and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Wa****ngton.
Steere is stationed at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a
Regional Affairs Officer. The internal memorandum, dated November 20,
2007, references the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation Pliers",
and confirms that the operation is coordinated by the team of Human
Intelligence (HUMINT) in Venezuela. The memo summarizes the different
scenarios that the CIA has been working on in Venezuela for the
upcoming referendum vote on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as
it's phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will not change
substantially before Sunday, December 2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote
in favor of the constitutional reform has an advantage of about 10-13
points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates abstention around 60% and
states in the memo that this voting tendency is irreversible before the
elections.
Officer Steere emphasizes the im****tance and success of the public
relations and propaganda campaign that the CIA has been funding with
more than $8 million during the past month - funds that the CIA
confirms are transfered through the USAID contracted company,
Development Alternatives, Inc., which set up operations in June 2002 to
run the USAID Office for Transition Initiatives that funds and advises
opposition NGOs and political parties in Venezuela. The CIA memo
specifically refers to these propaganda initiatives as "psychological
operations" (PSYOPS), that include contracting polling companies to
create fraudulent polls that show the NO vote with an advantage over
the SI vote, which is false. The CIA also confirms in the memo that it
is working with international press agencies to distort the data and
information about the referendum, and that it coordinates in Venezuela
with a team of journalists and media organized and directed by the
President of Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell.
CIA Officer Michael Steere recommends to General Michael Hayden two
different strategies to work simultaneously: Impede the referendum and
refuse to recognize the results once the SI vote wins. Though these
strategies appear contradictory, Steere claims that they must be
implemented together precisely to encourage activities that aim toward
impeding the referendum and at the same time prepare the conditions for
a rejection of the results.
How is this to be done?
In the memo, the CIA proposes the following tactics and actions:
* Take the streets and protest with violent, disruptive actions
across the nation
* Generate a climate of ungovernability
* Provoke a general uprising in a substantial part of the population
* Engage in a "plan to implode" the voting centers on election day
by encouraging opposition voters to "VOTE and REMAIN" in their centers
to agitate others
* Start to release data during the early hours of the afternoon on
Sunday that favor the NO vote (in clear violation of election
regulations)
* Coordinate these activities with Ravell & Globovision and
international press agencies
* Coordinate with ex-militar officers and coupsters Pena Esclusa
and Guyon Cellis - this will be done by the Military Attache for
Defense and Army at the US Embassy in Caracas, Office of Defense,
Attack and Operations (DAO)
To encourage rejection of the results, the CIA proposes:
* Creating an acceptance in the public opinion that the NO vote
will win for sure
* Using polling companies contracted by the CIA
* Criticize and discredit the National Elections Council
* Generate a sensation of fraud
* Use a team of experts from the universities that will talk about
how the data from the Electoral Registry has been manipulated and will
build distrust in the voting system
The CIA memo also talks about:
* Isolating Chavez in the international community
* Trying to achieve unity amongst the opposition
* Seek an aliance between those abstentionists and those who will
vote "NO"
* Sustain firmly the propaganda against Chavez
* Execute military actions to sup****t the opposition mobilizations
and propagandistic occupations
* Finalize the operative preparations on the US military bases in
Curacao and Colombia to provide sup****t to actions in Venezuela
* Control a part of the country during the next 72-120 hours
* Encourage a military rebellion inside the National Guard forces
and other components
Those involved in these actions as detailed in the CIA memo are:
* The CIA Office in Venezuela - Office of Regional Affairs, and
Officer Michael Steere
* US Embassy in Venezuela, Ambassador Patrick Duddy
* Office of Defense, Attack and Operations (DAO) at the US Embassy
in Caracas and Military Attache Richard Nazario
Venezuelan Political Parties:
* Comando Nacional de la Resistencia
* Accion Democratica
* Primero Justicia
* Bandera Roja
Media:
* Alberto Federico Ravell & Globovision
* Interamerican Press Society (IAPA) or SIP in Spanish
* International Press Agencies
Venezuelans:
* Pena Esclusa
* Guyon Cellis
* Dean of the Simon Bolivar University, Rudolph Benjamin Podolski
* Dean of the Andres Bello Catholic University, Ugalde
* Students: Yon Goicochea, Juan Mejias, Ronel Gaglio, Gabriel
Gallo, Ricardo Sanchez
Operation Tenaza has the objective of encouraging an armed insurrection
in Venezuela against the government of President Chavez that will
justify an intervention of US forces, stationed on the military bases
nearby in Curacao and Colombia. The Operation mentions two countries in
code: as Blue and Green. These refer to Curacao and Colombia, where the
US has operative, active and equipped bases that have been reinforced
over the past year and a half in anticipation of a conflict with
Venezuela.
The do***ent confirms that psychological operations are the CIA's best
and most effective weapon to date against Venezuela, and it will
continue its efforts to influence international public opinion
regarding President Chavez and the situation in the country.
Operation Tenaza is a very alarming plan that aims to destabilize
Venezuela and overthrow (again) its legitimate and democratic (and very
popularly sup****t) president. The plan will fail, primarily because it
has been discovered, but it must be denounced around the world as an
unacceptable violation of Venezuela's sovereignty.
****************
****************
14)
The CIA plan to destabilize Venezuela...
By Stan Goff
The Huffington Post
November 28, 2007
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/the-cia-plan-to-destabili_b_74557.html
...is in progress right now.
A memo from CIA officer Michael Middleton Steere, addressed to CIA
Director General Michael Hayden in Wa****ngton DC, has been intercepted
by Venezuelan counter-intelligence; and it shows that the US plans to
attempt another coup d'etat against the democratically elected
government of Venezuela on the eve of a historic constitutional
referendum that will democratize political power to the grassroots of
the majority more thoroughly than anything we have seen in this
hemisphere... ever. This outcome by a major oil producing nation that
has confronted the US government is intolerable to the American
political class, not merely the Bush administration. It is part of a
continental drift of Latin America away from US domination; and it has
world historic significance.
It is very im****tant that this CIA plot get maximum exposure
immediately across the net, because the US media, the Republican and
Democratic Parties, and the US dominant class, will do everything in
their power to assist the desired outcome of this illegal and immoral
interference by the United States government in the democratic
self-determination of Venezuela.
Widespread, rapid distribution via alternative media has the potential
to expose and disrupt this CIA plot. You can do something right now.
Get the word out.
Read more here, and stay abreast of developments. A Google News search
of "Michael Middleton Steere" will help keep you updated.
Be part of a real politics of resistance. Help expose this
international malfeasance now. Be an ally to the Venezuelan people,
whose government was democratically elected (unlike our own).
Here is the story of the last US coup attempt in Venezuela.
*****************
15)
Venezuela's Chavez Says CNN Seeks His Assassination
By Helen Murphy and Steven Bodzin
Bloomberg
November 28, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aUSAo0B.rWqY
Hugo Chavez said CNN is seeking to incite his assassination after it
showed a video of the Venezuelan leader with a caption that read ``Who
Killed Him?''
The footage appeared on CNN's Spanish-language channel, which said it
was an error. The text appeared with an image of Chavez and Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe.
``I want the state prosecutor to look into bringing a suit against CNN
for instigating murder in Venezuela,'' Chavez said last night on
state-owned Venezolana de Television.
``This headline did not refer to either of the two presidents, but
rather to the death of American football player Sean Taylor, a fact
made clear by the anchor in his voiceover,'' Time Warner Inc.'s CNN
said in an e-mailed statement. ``The video of presidents Chavez and
Uribe was used by mistake and corresponded to a preceding story.''
It isn't the first time the government called for a probe of CNN's
programming. In May, Communications and Information Minister Willian
Lara asked the attorney general to investigate CNN and local television
station Globovision for ``lies'' and inciting violence against Chavez.
Venezuela's foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, said the Central
Intelligence Agency was behind the incident and that it was part of a
broader plan to destabilize the country.
``I have no doubt it's part of a total plan against President Chavez,''
he said on a talk show on state television.
Cilia Flores, president of the country's legislature, said on the show
that the CIA is spreading violent propaganda to cause riots as the
country prepares for a national referendum on constitutional changes
proposed by Chavez.
The country's police and military are vigilant against such attempts,
Maduro said.
He said an ``official'' at the U.S. embassy in Caracas may also be
sup****ting opposition to the constitutional proposal, and that the
government may expel the person from the country. Maduro didn't
identify the official.
****************
16)
Ch!vez uncovers another plot
The Financial Times
Observer
November 29, 2007
Never say that Hugo Ch!vez does not make the most of an op****tunity.
With just days to go before Venezuelan voters decide whether to approve
constitutional changes that will steer the country toward Ch!vez's
special brand of socialism, the president has uncovered a new plot by
powerful American forces to kill him. Needless to say, he has used this
as a chance to ****ne the spotlight squarely on himself - and perhaps
not on the fact that polls show voters are evenly split on the
referendum.
It seems CNN, the cable network, showed a photograph of Ch!vez with a
caption asking: "Who killed him?" The news presenter ordered that the
image be taken down when the mistake was realised.
But Ch!vez is interpreting the gaffe as an attempt by CNN to instigate
his murder. "I want the state prosecutor to look into bringing a suit
against CNN for instigating murder in Venezuela," he said on state
television. He went on to claim CNN was "undoubtably" using
psychological warfare.
It turns out that "magnicide", which he defines as requesting the
assassination of a chief of state, is one of Ch!vez's favourite words,
often used in the context of an "imperialist" (read: US) plot to
overthrow him.
This tactic has come in handy when he needs to distract attention from
trouble at home and stir up nationalist sentiment. We will see this
weekend if his latest diversions have done the job.
****************
17)
Chavez Rift With Uribe Unlikely to Damage Trade Ties
By Helen Murphy and Matthew Walter
Bloomberg
November 29, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1Tvj2qk44Dw
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's deepening rift with Colombia's
Alvaro Uribe is unlikely to damage trade ties. It may bolster Chavez's
push to change the constitution in a national referendum this weekend.
The two have traded insults over the past week after President Uribe
told Chavez to halt efforts to free 45 hostages held by Colombia's
biggest guerrilla group. Chavez said the falling-out may hurt economic
links between the Latin American neighbors, worth an estimated $4
billion. Each country serves as the other's second-biggest trading
partner, behind the U.S.
``They are too im****tant to each other to see any commercial breaks,''
said Gianfranco Bertozzi, a Latin America economist with Lehman
Brothers Inc. in New York.
Chavez said yesterday that he won't maintain relations with his
neighbor while Uribe remains in office, calling it a matter of
``dignity.'' His words may be aimed at rallying national pride before a
Dec. 2 referendum on his plan to overhaul the constitution with 69
changes, including the end of presidential term limits, said Luis
Vicente Leon, a Caracas-based pollster.
``The situation with Colombia has been positive for Chavez,'' Vicente
Leon said.
`Expansionist' Plan
Political analysts, including Vicente Leon, say Chavez's rhetoric has
increased since polls signaled this weekend's referendum may be too
close to predict. Venezuela law prohibits the publication of polls in
the week prior to the voting.
Chavez, who said he would leave government if he loses the vote, said
those protesting the reforms, including former Defense Minister Raul
Baduel, are traitors. Government sup****ters and opposition groups have
clashed in recent weeks as campaigning for the referendum began.
``This is him covering up his embarrassment after Uribe fired him,''
Bertozzi said
Joel Acosta Chirinos, the former commander of the failed coup attempt
that Chavez led in 1992, told Brazil's O Globo newspaper in an
interview that armed forces are divided over the new constitution and
that he can't rule out the possibility that some members may take up
arms should violence break out.
Uribe accused Chavez of violating an agreement by contacting Colombia's
army commander directly, instead of going through the president's
office. Chavez called Uribe a ``liar.''
`Stepping up Attacks'
Uribe responded by accusing Chavez of attempting to spread an
``expansionist'' agenda across the continent, and of wanting to install
a terrorist government in Colombia. He criticized Chavez's interaction
with other world leaders after tensions flared in recent weeks with
Spain and Chile.
Venezuela, South America's third-biggest economy, relies on im****ts
from Colombia to ease shortages of basic food staples. The demand has
given Colombia a $1.8 billion trade surplus with Venezuela this year,
according to Interbolsa SA, Colombia's biggest brokerage. Colombia
im****ts Venezuelan gasoline.
Colombia's government and business groups have identified 30 countries
as possible ex****t destinations should the spat with Chavez undercut
bilateral trade, Caracas-based El Universal newspaper said Nov. 28,
citing ministers and business groups.
``The whole affair may be over soon, but definitely a good resolution
to all this will depend upon the result of the referendum,'' said
Asdrubal Oliveros, chief economist at Caracas-based research firm
Ecoanalitica. ``If you see this carefully, it is Chavez, not the
Colombians, who is stepping up the attacks.''
Stocks
Colombia's benchmark stock index fell the most in five weeks on Nov. 26
because of concern the conflict will hurt Colombian ex****ters. Cia.
Colombiana de Tejidos SA, a Medellin- based textile ex****ter, had its
steepest two-day drop in 18 months this week. The IGBC stock index was
little changed yesterday, even as markets elsewhere in Latin America
rose.
In 2005, a row between the two nations over the capture in Venezuela of
FARC leader Rodrigo Granda disrupted trade along the border. Coal and
food were blocked from entering either country, and three
municipalities in Colombia's northern Arauca province went without
electricity three days after guerrillas bombed an energy line.
Venezuela, which usually provides the bulk of the province's
electricity needs in emergencies, refused to help.
``This spat has really brought out the worst in both of them in terms
of statesman****p,'' said Shannon O'Neil, adjunct fellow for Latin
American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo, in comments carried on
Bogota-based Radio RCN, said he has received no official word from
Venezuela on relations and reiterated his earlier statement that
Colombia has no plans to withdraw its ambassador. Venezuela on Tuesday
recalled Ambassador Pavel Rondon for consultations.
****************
18)
Chavez vows no ties with Colombia
BBC News
November 29, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7118127.stm
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he will have "no type of
relation****p" with the Colombian government while it is headed by
President Alvaro Uribe.
"I could not, out of dignity," Mr Chavez told sup****ters in the town of
Tachira in western Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government announced on Tuesday it was withdrawing its
ambassador to Colombia.
Mr Uribe last week abruptly ended Mr Chavez's efforts to broker a
hostage exchange with Colombian rebels.
In response, Mr Chavez said he would freeze Venezuela's bilateral ties
with its neighbour and close trading partner.
'Barefaced lies'
Speaking to sup****ters on Wednesday, Mr Chavez was forthright in his
criticism of his Colombian counterpart.
"While President Uribe is president of Colombia I will have no type of
relation****p with him or with the government in Colombia," he said.
Relations 'hit 20-year low'
Mr Uribe was a president "capable of such barefaced lies, [who]
disrespects another president that he has called a friend, one that he
called on for help".
Mr Chavez accused Mr Uribe, a close US ally, of being a "pawn of the
empire".
Relations between the two men seemed close in August - despite their
apparent ideological differences - when Mr Uribe enlisted Mr Chavez's
help in trying to arrange an exchange of prisoners with rebel-held
hostages.
But last week Mr Uribe ended Mr Chavez's involvement, saying it was
because the Venezuelan leader was in direct contact with Colombia's
army chief despite being told to avoid such action.
Earlier, Mr Uribe appeared to try to calm the situation, saying
presidents should put aside their "angers" and "vanities" to get on
with their work.
UNFOLDING DISPUTE
5 Aug: Hugo Chavez offers his services to mediate hostages' release
31 Aug: Chavez and Uribe agree on his mediation efforts
9 Nov: Chavez and Uribe meet during regional summit in Chile
20 Nov: Chavez says Uribe told him he is prepared to meet Farc leaders;
Uribe sets a 31 December deadline for mediation to work
22 Nov: Uribe ends mediation mission after Chavez is in direct contact
with Colombia army chief
26 Nov: Chavez says he is freezing ties with Colombia
27 Nov: Caracas recalls its ambassador to Colombia for consultations
28 Nov: Chavez vows no ties as long as Uribe is president
The increasing strain in bilateral ties comes as proposed
constitutional changes championed by President Chavez go to a
referendum on Sunday.
BBC Americas analyst Will Grant says some observers believe there is a
domestic element to Mr Chavez's moves.
Some opinion polls suggest the reforms may not be approved, although
surveys have in the past underestimated the sup****t the president
enjoys.
If the row with Colombia is not smoothed over, it could have economic
repercussions.
The two nations are each other's second biggest trading partner after
the US, with annual bilateral trade running at more than $4bn ( 2bn).
Colombia ex****ts basic foodstuffs to Venezuela, where government price
controls have made much production unprofitable.
The Colombians also ex****t cars to Venezuela, which does not have an
automobile manufacturing base.
The two countries are also involved in a major project to build a
pipeline so Venezuela can ex****t its oil through Colombia to the
Pacific coast.
*
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