ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONALFriday, September 14, 2012 | Nº 126 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

Women’s liberation vitalto the bolivarian Revolution

During a campaign event with thousands of women supporters this week, President Hugo Chavez ratified the critical role of women in the Bolivarian Revolution and reiterated his own commitment to feminism. “The liberation of our people begins with women’s libe-ration”, he said, outlining the many advances women have made during the last decade. Chavez established a Women’s Ministry, Women’s Bank and has set up social programs dedicated to helping low income mothers gain skills, knowledge and resources to start their own businesses. page 6

Amazon massacre allegation falseMedia reports of a massacre in the Venezuelan Amazon region that allegedly killed dozens of Yanomami Indians has proved false, after goverment authorities traveled with journalists to the remote region and met with the tribal group. The story of the massacre was heavily covered by media attempting to negatively portray the Chavez administration ahead of presidential elections less than one month away. Survival International, the British NGO that initiated the accusation, has since retracted. page 3

Impact

Chavez set to winPresident Hugo Chavez claimed polls indicate his victory is irreversible at this stage. page 2

Politics

Opposition disrespects womenPresidential Candidate Henrique Capriles held a “panty” event with supporters. page 4

Social Justice

Celebrating tourism

Venezuela held its annual International Tourism

Festival. page 6

Human rightsin Venezuelaare enshrinedin social missions

T/ AVN

This week Foreign Af-fairs Minister Nicolas Ma-duro pointed out Venezuela’s strength in matters of human rights as solidified in the Con-stitution of the Bolivarian Re-public of Venezuela and the social programs implemented by President Hugo Chavez.

“The key concepts of Univer-sal Human Rights traditional-ly known are expressed in our Constitution, in the projects and plans developed every-day through social programs launched by President Hugo Chavez”, Maduro said Tues-day night on local television.

He recalled the significant nature of Venezuela’s Con-stitution, ratified by popular referendum in 1999, because it “guarantees and protects human, social, economic, po-litical, civil rights”.

The Constitution has been the base to build a participa-tory democracy in Venezu-ela, Maduro said, within the international system of the United Nations.

For example, he said, citi-zens in Venezuela enjoy politi-cal, civil, social and economic rights envisaged in interna-tional accords and conventions of the United Nations.

Concerning the Inter-Amer-ican Commission and Court of Human Rights, Maduro recalled how they have “a re-cord of violations of the Inter-American Convention”.

“The so-called Inter-American System of Human Rights is falling into decline, it supported a coup against our government in 2002 and has defended other efforts to undermine democratic gov-ernments in the region”, un-derlined Maduro.

The United States does not recognize the jurisdiction of either entity, though it im-plores others in the region to follow its dictates.

Interview

Camila Vallejo: AnotherChile is possible page 7

Opinion

Remember September 11, 1973,the overthrow of Salvador Allende page 8

P/ EFE

Venezuelan choir in USThe Simon Bolivar National Youth Choir of Venezue-

la will perform two shows each in New York City and Washington, DC, next week. The concerts, sponsored by Citgo and the Embassy of Venezuela, will pair the 100-member ensemble with New York’s Limon Dance Company for “A Celebration of Music and Dance”.

The choir is part of Venezuela’s famous youth music program, “El Sistema”, and will sing music by Ame-rican and Venezuelan composers such as Randall Thompson and Simon Diaz. It will be joined the re-nowned Limon Dance Company for a choreographed performance of Kodály’s “Missa Brevis”.

The first concert is on September 17 at 8pm at Ali-ce Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, followed by a show at the United Nations on September 18.

In Washington, DC, the performance comes to the Eisenhower Theater at Kennedy Center for the Perfor-ming Arts on September 20 and the Inter-American Development Bank on September 21. Both shows are free and open to the public. Tickets will be available at the Kennedy Center on the day of the performance beginning at 6p.m.

The artillery of ideas2 Impact | Friday, September 14, 2012

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Venezuelan presidential candidate Hugo Chavez dug into his conserva-

tive rival, Henrique Capriles, during a press conference Tuesday when the two-time incumbent accused his right-wing challenger of lacking consistency in the run up to the nation’s elections slated for October 7.

“They have no unity”, Chavez said of the main opposition co-alition that is backing Capriles. “There is no defined program, only interests that go back and forth. And what ends up com-ing to the fore is the high bour-geoisie who has the most pow-er”, he imputed.

Chavez’s comments were made as the Venezuelan head of state responded to questions from national and internation-al press at the Alba Hotel in the capital of Caracas.

Chavez, who leads Capriles by double-digit figures in all major polls, expressed his ut-most confidence in a favorable result in October’s contest.

“I don’t have the faintest doubt that we’re going to win”, Chavez said, urging his sup-porters to attain a record-set-ting 70 percent of the vote.

Such a victory, he explained, would mean a consolidation of the Bolivarian Revolution that has transformed the economi-cally and socially devastated OPEC nation into an example of

“This isn’t about Chavez and that’s the key to the affair. This can’t be pinned to one human being. We’re children of a Boli-varian hurricane and we’ve ris-en from Venezuelan history as the product of the breakdown of a country”, he asserted.

The candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezu-ela (PSUV) also clarified com-ments made last week regard-ing a possible civil war in the event of a right-wing triumph in October.

The Venezuelan head of state pointed out that his statements were a reiteration of a former op-position activist, David De Lima, who, after defecting from the ranks of the party Justice First,

independence and participatory democracy around Latin Amer-ica and much of the world.

On Tuesday, Chavez re-minded his supporters that the changes underway in the South American nation are bigger than any one person and are founded on the example set by Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar.

disclosed to Chavez supporters a neoliberal economic plan be-ing proposed by Capriles.

According to De Lima, the implementation of such as pro-posal, which would mean the freezing of pensions, the rising of prices on basic services and the suspension of housing sub-sidies, would lead to a civil war in the country.

“What a lack of ethics. The one who made these pronounce-ments was David De Lima. I saw it with my own eyes on a television program”, Chavez told reporters on Tuesday.

“Everything that we have done...over the long road of 20 years has been to move away from the fear and disaster of a civil war, a war between brothers and sisters. We have dismantled these dangers”, he added.

A main reason for this stabili-ty, Chavez pointed out, has been the implementation of major education, public health, and economic stimulus programs.

These missions, which have helped to put Venezuela at the vanguard of the fight against poverty and inequality around the globe, have been the foun-dation of the Bolivarian Revo-lution’s plan to redistribute wealth generated from the na-tion’s oil industry.

Therein, the socialist Presi-dent stated, lies the reason for the current government’s con-tinued popularity.

“Our success is based on our application of a successful political, economic program that has been successful in the international realm”, Chavez declared, recalling the first years of his administration when “Venezuela was in the basement”.

“Venezuela was sunk and the Revolution arrived to bring it out of the basement and build a foundation”, he affirmed.

“We’re the childrenof a Bolivarian hurricane”

Opposition pollster Datanalisisgives Chavez double-digit leadT/ AVN

A gap of 13.1 percentage points favors socialist can-

didate Hugo Chavez, disclosed in the latest survey conducted by polling firm Datanalisis, according to which 43.1 per-cent of those polled would vote for Chavez and 30 percent for conservative candidate Hen-rique Capriles Radonski.

Of that 43.1 percent, 99.4 percent said they are sure

they will vote for the socialist candidate.

The fieldwork for the poll was conducted from Septem-ber 3-8 and mentioned by jour-nalist Ernesto Villegas in his morning daily talk show, Todo Venezuela.

The survey was conducted among 1,200 phone interviews and the data was selected ran-domly. It was catagorized by gender, age, social economic stratum and region, with a

analyzed whether Venezu-elans described themselves as “pro-Chavez, opponents, swing voters, did not know or did not answer”. The re-sult was 41.7 percent who described themselves as pro-Chavez and 16.1 percent against Chavez.

Furthermore, 38.6 percent of those polled defined them-selves as swing voters and 3.6 percent did not know or did not answer.

Other polls, such as Con-sultores 30.11, have given Chavez a more than 20 point lead over Capriles, with 57% voting in his favor and 34.4% for the opposition.

margin of error of 2.82 percent, according to the poll details.

Villegas informed that the survey also studied the pref-erence of undecided voters, who leaned by 10.7 percent for Chavez and 6.4 percent for Capriles.

Adding up the number of undecided voters who ex-pressed preference for the socialist candidate in their voting intention, the total fig-ure increased to 53.8 percent favoring Chavez. Meanwhile, Capriles would have 36.4 per-cent. The gap favoring Chavez would be 17.4 percent.

Datanalisis, a polling firm linked to the opposition, also

The artillery of ideasFriday, September 14, 2012 | Especial Report 3

T/ COIP/ AFP

After an 8-day investigation that combed the dense jun-gles of the Venezuelan am-

azon, government officials re-ported last weekend that there is no evidence to support alle-gations of a massacre that took place in the isolated Yanomami village of Irotatheri last July.

“We have been able to ob-serve that what reigns is peace and harmony”, Venezuelan Army Brigade General Jesus Mata told the news station Telesur on Friday.

According to Mata, “nothing happened” to the Yanomami of the zone who he described to be “in a perfect state”.

News of the “massacre” of 80 people first surfaced in mid Au-gust after a group of indigenous organizations accused illegal Brazilian miners, known as ga-rimpeiros, of opening fire on a Yanomami settlement in South-ern Venezuela.

According to information provided by three Yanomami “survivors” from the area, the garimpeiros had attacked the village of Irotatheri, using gun-fire from helicopters to raze a communal hut that was home to some 80 indigenous people.

The supposed slaying took place about 19 kilometers from the Brazilian border and news of the alleged act took more than a month to reach the wid-er population.

As soon as word was received, the Ven-ezuelan government formed an investiga-tive team comprised of members of the Attor-ney General’s Office, the Armed Forces, and the Investigative Police to sweep the area and speak with surround-ing Yanomami villages regarding the possibil-ity of violence.

Preliminary investi-gations uncovered no traces of an attack, Min-ister of Indigenous Af-fairs, Nicia Maldonado, said on September 1.

“We can say to the coun-try that no evidence has been found of a single death. Neither is there evidence of burnt hous-es in the supposed massacre of 80 Yanomami brothers and sis-ters”, Maldonado stated.

To confirm these findings, the Venezuelan government took a group of journalists by helicopter last Friday to Iro-tatheri where they found “peo-ple peacefully cooking plan-tains over a communal fire and no sign of any killing”, reported the Associated Press.

“Yanomami Indians in the village of Irotatheri spoke with journalists through a guide who translated their accounts that there had been no vio-lence”, the AP said.

Also present in the delegation was Luis Chatiwe, a spokesper-

ian border, while becoming a greater concern for many in-digenous people, is not new.

In 1993, 16 people were killed in a massacre at the hands of garimpeiros in the Brazilian village of Haximu and in 2010, four Yanomami died in Ven-ezuelan territory as a result of mercury contamination in the water.

Indigenous groups have also reported the raping of Yano-mami women by the miners and have called on both Ven-ezuelan and Brazilian govern-ments to clear the area of the garimpeiros.

During their recent sweep of the amazon, members of the Ven-ezuelan Armed Forces informed the media that they were able to detect “a minimal” presence of illegal miners in the region.

son for the organization Horona-mi, who was the first to bring the allegations to the attention of the Venezuelan authorities.

“[Chatiwe] participated in the entire tour and could confirm upon arriving in Irotatheri that the massacre didn’t happen”, reported Rolando Segura, a journalist for Telesur who ac-companied the government’s visit on Friday.

While in Irotatheri, the Ven-ezuelan government took ad-vantage of the opportunity to provide medical attention to the community and equip the villag-ers with a wireless radio in order to report any potential danger from rogue miners in the area.

A GROWING PROBLEMThe question of illegal min-

ing on the Venezuelan-Brazil-

“Government officials indi-cated that the level of illegal mining in this zone is minimal... Before visiting these communi-ties we took a look at the materi-als that the illegal miners use so that we could identify evidence. Nothing of the sort did we find”, Telesur’s Segura said.

Cliver Alcala, Venezuela’s Southern Army Commander referred to the miners’ pres-ence as “very incipient” and affirmed that the armed forces have not “detected any garim-peiro up to this moment”.

Notwithstanding, Alcala as-sured that Venezuelan securi-ty forces will continue to pur-sue any illegal activity in the region and guaranteed a “total presence” of the military in the region.

MEDIA FALLOUTWhile there has been no hard

evidence to back the claims of the alleged massacre, the story has nevertheless been picked up by major news companies around the world.

Venezuelan government of-ficials have decried the lack of proof presented by journalists and NGOs, accusing the over-whelming coverage of the af-fair to reflect the bias that the majority of news organizations harbor against the nation’s President Hugo Chavez.

“It is reprehensible the miser-able way in which some people and the media have spread false news about the Yanomami communities”, said Interior and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami earlier this month.

Last week, Chavez himself took aim at the media for what he called a distortion of the story in order to discredit his administration in the run up to the nation’s presidential elec-tions on October 7.

“They have tried to manipu-late [the people] regarding a supposed Yanomami massa-cre and we, responsibly, have toured all of the villages and we will continue to travel until the furthest corner looking for some evidence of the alleged massacre”, the Venezuelan President said on Friday.

“Everybody knows that if we had found some evidence of a crime, we would investigate it to the end”, he asserted.

Chavez also drew attention to the social programs that his government has created to im-prove the conditions of Venezu-ela’s indigenous populations.

“No government in this coun-try, in almost 200 years of his-tory, has treated the people and the indigenous people with as much love, respect, and digni-ty”, he stated.

Venezuela: Government investigation findsno evidence of indigenous massacre

The artillery of ideas4 Politics | Friday, September 14, 2012

Chavez rallies supportsfor campaign’s final stretch

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Venezuelan President and re-election candidate, Hugo Chavez, called last

week for party unity and a massive turnout on October 7 to secure electoral victory and solidify the socialist revolution that has transformed the coun-try for more than a decade.

“Today is Friday, September 7. Within one month, October 7, we will write Venezuela’s great-est electoral and political page”, Chavez exclaimed during a campaign rally held in the Po-liedro of Caracas last Friday.

The President’s proclama-tions were made to the crowd as red clad backers of the Unit-ed Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) expressed their affinity to the political movement that has cut the nation’s poverty in half while amplifying free so-cial services over the past 13 years.

Warning of a return to the free-market policies that char-acterized Venezuela’s political establishment in the 1980s and 1990s, the head of the country’s largest political organization criticized the right-wing agenda of his opponent, conservative candidate Henrique Capriles.

The two-time incumbent President referred to Capriles’

governmental proposals as a “neoliberal package” that would end dozens of social programs, privatize education, and return key national industries to the hands of foreign multinationals.

“It’s a package that would carry Venezuela into a civil war and total catastrophe”, the head of state said.

While seven candidates are vying for the presidency, Ven-ezuela’s general election will be decided between Chavez and Capriles with all other aspirants representing a minute percent-age of support, collectively.

A recent poll released by the firm Datanalisis puts Chavez’s lead over the candidate of the Democratic Roundtable (MUD) coalition at 13.1 points.

This is consistent with the vast majority of polls in the country, some of which place the socialist leader’s advantage over Capriles as being higher than 20 points.

Despite the gap in populari-ty between the two candidates, Chavez exhorted his backers to eschew complacency and carry out a “war on sectarian-ism” by fostering party unity and openness.

This includes increasing dis-cipline at the grassroots and national levels and working to mobilize a record number of voters on election day.

“On this final stretch that we are starting today, we’re go-ing to come out of the gates fly-ing, spreading out around the country with more motivation, more emotion, more certainty of what we’re doing during this battle”, he said.

Of Venezuela’s more than 19 million registered voters, the PSUV has set as its goal the at-tainment of 10 million ballots to secure what Chavez has re-ferred to as a “knockout” of the opposition.

“A defeat to the Bolivarian Revolution would be a defeat for the world and for the peo-ple who want a better world. The entire world is watching what is happening with this battle”, the head of the OPEC nation said.

Friday’s event was attended by thousands of PSUV election volunteers from all over Ven-ezuela being referred to by the PSUV as members of “the red machine”.

“From here we’re going to de-ploy with our hands and arms open for the nation, to call on those who still haven’t joined our cause and those who still have doubts... We’re going to help ease the fears of these people and help to end the con-fusion so that they join this movement towards socialism”, Chavez declared.

Opposition disrespectswomen, causes violence

T/ Rachael Boothroyd

During his campaign rally Sunday in Caracas’ larg-

est stadium, the Poliedro, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared that Ven-ezuela needed a “serious” political opposition capable of challenging the current government.

“Venezuela needs a right wing political opposition that really are politicians, that are serious and with real leaders. Not a man like this who doesn’t even respect workers and who disrespects women”, he said.

Opposition candidate Hen-rique Capriles Radonski re-cently caused controversy by calling public sector workers “ass kissers” and by organizing what his cam-paign team termed a “panty-thon;” a public meeting with Venezuelan women where the candidate responded to their questions and con-cerns. Women’s organiza-tions were highly critical of the event, and particu-larly its name, which they denounced as being disre-spectful to women.

“He (Capriles) is perma-nently trying to discredit women”, said member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and second vice-president of the National Assembly, Blanca Eekhout, pointing out that Venezuelan women are “em-blematic” in the Chavez gov-ernment and represent the “largest percentage in com-munal councils and social missions”.

Eekhout also described the “panty-thon” as “shameful” and demanded respect on be-half of Venezuelan women.

“The women of Venezuela cannot be reduced to a fetish, to a thing, an object or an ob-ject for sexual use... we can-not be reduced to a pair of panties”, she said.

The “panty-thon” comes just a few weeks after Capriles also interrupted a speech in Carabobo state to make re-marks about women’s physi-cal appearance.

“I’m impressed with how beautiful the women are”, said Capriles, “At times,

you stop here and you have some girls in front and you start to look at them and you lose your concentration”, he said.

The presidential hopeful has so far been unable to bridge the gap between him-self and Chavez, who has consistently maintained a double digit lead over his opponent.

VIOLENCESunday’s political events

were also marred by contro-versy after the opposition aborted a planned march through the working class zone of La Pastora in Cara-cas. According to Capriles, the rally was cancelled due to the presence of “armed groups” who prevented the opposition from entering the zone.

Despite the cancellation, some opposition supporters decided to continue with the march and allegedly came into conflict with journalists from the National System of Public Media (SNMP) who were covering the event.

Lorena Benetiz, a journal-ist from the SNMP, said that the group she was with was threatened by members of the opposition, who threw liquid at them and tried to take Ben-itz’s phone.

“This woman, in the com-pany of another two people, attacked me. They grabbed and hit me and they contin-ued to attack me verbally”, said Benetiz, whose ordeal was captured on camera by journalists from community based television channel, Avi-la TV.

Both presidential candi-dates are coming to the end of a campaign trail which has taken them to communi-ties throughout the country. Although violence has been minimal, there have been several attacks by the op-position against community journalists and organizers, including the recent shoot-ing of a pro-Chavez farmer by a Globovision journalist.

Supporters of the opposi-tion have also been chased out of working-class neigh-borhoods by community or-ganizations.

The artillery of ideasFriday, September 14, 2012 | Politics 5

Opposition lawmaker ostracizedfor critique of “hidden economic agenda”T/ COIP/ Agencies

With just weeks to go be-fore the 2012 presiden-tial election, Venezuela’s

anti-Chavez coalition suspend-ing one of its members for having openly questioned the “secret” economic platform of right-wing candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski. The deci-sion to oust opposition law-maker William Ojeda, who de-scribed the Capriles platform as “a neoliberal nightmare”, came almost immediately af-ter he proposed an “open de-bate” on the Democratic Unity Roundtable’s (MUD) economic agenda.

In what began as a simple call for “reflection” late last week, the fallout over public statements made by opposition legislator William Ojeda have demonstrated the degree of secrecy and intolerance that reigns among opposi-tion forces. In the words of Noticias24, the “hurricane unleashed by William Ojeda” forced open the “hidden eco-nomic agenda” of the MUD coalition and its presidential hopeful, Henrique Capriles Radonski.

On Thursday, September 6, Ojeda held a press conference outside his Na-tional Assembly office in which he told reporters “Venezuelans deserve” an “open debate” over a recently-exposed internal MUD document detailing the coalition’s economic agenda in a post-Chavez Venezuela. First brought to light by former opposition governor David de Lima, the document titled “Initial Economic Ideas and Actions to be Carried Out by the National Unity Government (2013)”, includes a series of radical neoliberal reforms that di-rectly contradict Capriles’ campaign messaging.

According to de Lima, who released the MUD document last month, he did so because “its contents are unfair to the poor and humble majority”.

“It proposes a separation between Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) and the state, granting it ‘autonomy’, and it also proposes an end to housing subsidies, food subsidies, as well as subsidies for the Social Security System”.

Though William Ojeda is a recog-nized figure within opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), his public statements backing de Lima’s concerns resulted in his immediate suspension from the party. Within hours of his

critiques, UNT spokesmen held a press conference denouncing their “former comrade” and suspending him for his critique of the Capriles agenda.

Responding to the UNT decision, Oje-da said he was “saddened” by what was “one of the briefest political summary judgments in republican history”.

“Within an hour I was both judged and condemned”, he said.

Insisting the decision resulted from “external pressures being placed on the party”, Ojeda “thanked” those within the opposition who responded with what he called “messages of empathy”.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Ojeda reiterated his “original call for an open debate” on the MUD’s “hidden economic agenda” which he said goes against the “Venezuelan people’s best interests”.

“Let’s open up the discussion”, he said, “let’s have an open, ample debate with-out any hindrances. Let the (Capriles) economic program be discussed; let each one of the steps outlined in the platform be debated so as to get feedback from all of Venezuelan society”.

According to Ojeda, he is one of many within the Venezuelan opposition who understand that “neoliberal agendas are nothing more than out-of-date economic nightmares, proven to depend on inef-ficient mechanisms – mechanisms that have shown their perversion and have been defeated by history”.

Venezuelan economist Victor Alvarez, who studied the controversial text, said the real MUD economic agenda proposes “a Venezuela in which those who have the

resources to pay for health and education do so. Those who do not have the means to buy healthcare or pay for education will simply be excluded from both”.

INTERNAL UNRESTAccording to former opposition gover-

nor David de Lima, “disgruntled” mem-bers of the MUD coalition provided him an original copy of the aforementioned document, signed by Capriles himself, and did so because they “feel deceived” by the opposition candidate.

“They are upset”, explained de Lima, “upset that they are not being consulted, that they’re being marginalized, that they’re invited to meetings as simple placeholders”.

“Now that Capriles is the presidential candidate he is mistreating his allies, leaving them on the wayside”, he said.

Speaking to thousands of support-ers in the state of Miranda on Sunday, President Hugo Chavez explained that Capriles and his Primero Justicia (PJ) Party “are working to build themselves up as the ‘new’ opposition, looking to de-stroy the political strength held within the opposition by AD (Democratic Ac-tion), Copei (Social Christian Demo-crats), and other smaller parties”.

According to investigative journalist Jose Vicente Rangel, “as the presidential election approaches, and the pending de-feat of the opposition becomes more and more evident, new conflicts (within the opposition) are sure to arise”.

“The solitude with which the oppo-sition candidate (Capriles) is moving about the country, unaccompanied by

any of the opposition heavy-weights, by no other opposi-tion organizations, is telling of how sectarian his political positioning truly is”, affirmed Rangel.

“I am not surprised by what is now happening within the MUD”, he said. “And I would not be surprised if after Wil-liam Ojeda new desertions occur”.

“The opposition has always shown frailty”, he added, “be-cause it’s a mixture of different factors: people from the right, the left, the extreme right, a pool of people with very differ-ent political thinking”.

DENY AND CONQUERAware that most Ven-

ezuelans firmly reject the free-market economics that brought the country to ruin during the Fourth Republic

(1958-1998), MUD Executive Secretary Ramon Guillermo Aveledo and oppo-sition presidential hopeful Henrique Capriles have distanced themselves from the controversial document. Both men affirm it is “a fake…written by someone within the Chavez govern-ment”, and promise voters that their “real platform” is an online version they published as part of February 12 primaries that secured Capriles the MUD candidacy.

According to the MUD Secretary, the aforementioned memo “is clearly a fake” because it “doesn’t include the key points outlined in the real (opposi-tion) program”.

“In Venezuela there will be no mac-roeconomic adjustments”, Aveledo promised, “because such adjustments aren’t necessary – it’s just not true that they’re necessary”.

Speaking in the state of Monagas, Capriles recently assured voters that “no major economic packages will be implemented” if elected in next month’s election. He also promised, as he has done throughout the course of this year’s presidential campaign, an “increase in the number of social pro-grams, of even better quality” if vot-ers chose him over socialist President Hugo Chavez.

Not mentioning Ojeda or de Lima by name, Capriles told supporters the Chavez government “created that document” and added that “cheese is now being offered to the rats, rats that are running to take a bite, if you know what I mean...”.

The artillery of ideas6 Social Justice | Friday, September 14, 2012

Celebrating tourism in Venezuela:Fitven 2012 held in CaracasT/ Rachael BoothroydP/ Agencies

Over 25,000 Venezuelans at-tended the government’s annual international tour-

ism festival last week in Hotel Alba, Caracas, where citizens could learn about travel to other countries in Latin Amer-ica and enjoy musical acts from throughout the continent. The idea behind the festival is to pro-mote responsible and sustain-able tourism and the exchange of culture, knowledge and tour-ist experiences between nations.

The public event, known as Fitven 2012, also boasted an arts and crafts fair, a photo gal-lery of some of Venezuela’s most beautiful tourist destinations, conferences on issues relating to tourism and a market with traditional Venezuelan food.

This year was the 7th time the festival has been held and representatives from 15 differ-ent countries, including Cuba, Colombia and Brazil, were in attendance. The festival placed special emphasis on Latin American unity, as well as on bringing the whole of the na-tional and international tour-ist industry together, including both private and state initia-tives and local communities.

Speaking at the inauguration of the festival last Thursday, Venezuelan Vice President, Elias Jaua, said that the event was a testament to the efforts of the revolution in the field of

tourism and demonstrated that the government welcomed pri-vate investment in the industry.

“During the day we have car-ried out business conferences between representatives from 15 countries and with the 195 small, medium and large tour-ist services providers from our country. It’s a demonstration that, in the revolution being led by President Chavez, there is more and more space for the private sector which is willing to respect the Constitution”, commented Jaua.

One of the principal objectives of the festival is to promote tour-ism in Venezuela, which has a rich landscape that includes

Caribbean beaches and Andean mountains. The government has been stepping up its investment in infrastructure, transport, services and cultural and recre-ational activities in recent years in a successful bid to attract more tourists to the country.

According to government fig-ures released earlier this year, over 300,000 international tour-ists visited Venezuela between January and April 2012, rep-resenting a 49.5% increase in tourist numbers for the same period in 2011.

As well as an increase in in-vestment, the rise in the num-bers of tourists visiting Ven-ezuela can also be attributed to

a promotional campaign being carried out by the national tour-ism ministry aimed at dispelling myths in the international press that Venezuela is a crime hotspot. The campaign is called “Venezu-ela: to discover it is your destiny” and is based on the promotion of Venezuela’s 6 main tourist areas, including the Caribbean, the An-des and the Llanos; Venezuela’s sprawling savannah.

“This strategy generates a huge advantage for the interna-tional visitor, given that they can clearly identify our tourist desti-nations, from coasts with clear waters to our snow topped moun-tains; we are offering Venezuela as a multi-destination country,

a quality which few countries possess”, said David Rivas, Ex-ecutive Director of the National Tourism Institute (Inatur).

TOURISM & SOCIALISM A number of conferences were

also held at this year’s Fitven, with a focus on creating aware-ness surrounding alternative forms of tourism. One of the main talks this year was an ex-posé of Brazil’s experience with social and community tourism.

“The conference content is an attempt to diversify how we conceive of correct investment in tourism by focusing on com-munity tourism”, said Venezu-elan Vice Minister for Tourist Development, Ernesto Ruiz.

The official also went onto highlight the Venezuelan gov-ernment’s efforts to involve communities in the planning and running of tourist activities with the support of the State.

“Since the new Tourism Law was passed, we have been back-ing communities so that they take charge of tourist spaces in a sustainable way”, he added.

Chavez has previously said that the government’s goal in Venezuela is to promote a “hu-mane and ecological” form of tourism which is accessible to all. One of the government’s main initiatives aimed at creat-ing opportunities for Venezu-elans from poorer backgrounds to take part in national tour-ism is through Plan Vacation, which sees around 1.5 million children taken to various tour-ist or cultural destinations throughout the country during the summer months.

The government has also spearheaded a scheme through its tourist agency, Venetur, which allows workers to pay for holidays through a small monthly instalments.

Chavez: A people’s liberationbegins with women’s liberationT/ Eva GolingerF/ presidential press

On Wednesday, Chavez held an event with thousands of

women supporters in the Te-resa Carreño Theater in Ca-racas. During the mass rally, which was part of his presiden-tial reelection campaign, the Venezuelan President recalled how the Bolivarian Revolution has treated Venezuelan women with “so much love”, manifested in the numerous rights and op-portunities regained by women during the past decade.

“The liberation of our people first begins with women’s lib-eration”, he declared, during the Meeting of Women with Chavez event. The incumbent candidate also commented how important the presence, work and contribution of women has been to his government and the social transformation the coun-try has been experiencing since he was first elected in 1998.

“No government before has ever treated Venezuelan women like this government”, he added.

Nancy Perez, head of the Wom-en’s Ministry founded by Chavez

in 2010 to advance women’s rights in the South American nation, explained how the current ad-ministration has opened a path for the women of Venezuela.

“With the Revolution, women have realized our importance”, said Perez during the event

with President Chavez. “Wom-en have defended our home-land, the land of our children, and this has all been possible thanks to Hugo Chavez”.

Perez also emphasized pro-grams and policies implement-ed by the Chavez administra-

tion that benefit Venezuelan women and their children, in-cluding the Mission “Moth-ers of the Neighborhood” and “Children of Venezuela”. Both social programs provide basic living stipends to single moth-ers from low income neighbor-hoods and help them with job training and development skills to start their own businesses or cooperatives.

One woman present at the event with President Chavez Wednesday expressed how with the Revolution, “women have achieved so much. We’re no lon-ger those women who waited at home to be told what to do. We have skills, we’ve empowered ourselves, we’re advancing, we’re fighting for our children and our homeland”.

The artillery of ideasFriday, Septiembre 14, 2012 | Interview 7

Interview with Camila Vallejo: “Another Chileis possible,with greater democracy and social rights”

T/ IPSP/ Agencies

It is essential for young people in Chile to assume a more ac-tive role in politics, especially

in two key electoral processes: the municipal elections in Oc-tober and the legislative and presidential vote in 2013, says student leader Camila Vallejo, who has not ruled out running for a seat in parliament herself.

A media darling who has drawn international attention, Vallejo is the most charismatic face of Chile’s social movement today. As past president of the University of Chile Student Federation (FECH), she played a fundamental role in the move-ment of university and second-ary school students that in 2011 were behind the largest social protests held since the return to democracy in 1990.

This year, as vice president of FECH – in December she was defeated for her bid for re-election as president by Gabriel Boric – and one step away from earning a degree in geography, she is emerging as the most promising young potential poli-tician of the last few decades.

In this interview with IPS, the 24-year-old member of the Communist Youth of Chile says she is not in favor of replicat-

ing models or strategies fol-lowed elsewhere in the region, although she does believe that “another world is possible”.

She says Latin America is heading in a good direction, led by progressive governments in a number of countries.

With respect to the student movement, she says it “acted erratically” early this year, which apparently undermined support for the protests. But she says the mistakes were correct-ed, as demonstrated by the fact that 180,000 people came out on Tuesday August 28 in the latest march demanding free, quality public education for all.

The students are demanding a radical change in the educa-tional system in Chile which, despite the improvements intro-duced in 2009 after mass dem-onstrations began to be held in 2006, is still based on a scheme of decentralization and privati-zation put in place by the 1973-1990 dictatorship, with schools governed by the profit motive and which hold entrance exams to select students.

–Young people marked Chile’s political agenda in 2011. Do you think it’s im-portant for them to take on a role representing the people?

–It is essential. That is why I support the (Communist Party)

candidature of (25-year-old) Camilo Ballesteros for mayor of the Central Station district. He was an excellent leader and will be an excellent mayor.

Furthermore, the Univer-sity of Santiago de Chile, where Camilo was president of the Stu-dent Federation, is in the heart of the district, and I’m sure he will have a great ability to convey and capitalize on the added value of having such an important edu-cational center in his area, which the right-wing administrations have never managed to do.

–Are you willing to take on a role of this kind, in parlia-ment, for example?

–I have stated in different na-tional media outlets that yes, I’m willing, although it is far from being one of my goals, in and of itself. My objective is a more democratic country, to put an end to the constitution inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and to elect a constitu-ent assembly to rewrite it.

We have to eliminate the ‘bino-mial’ electoral system (the two most highly-voted legislators per district are elected), and we need to nationalize our natural re-sources. We also need free, qual-ity public education and social rights. These are the objectives and I want to contribute to this from wherever necessary.

–Some students are calling for a boycott of the munici-pal elections. What do you think about that?

–It’s a mistake. By proposing this, the Coordinating Assem-bly of Secondary Students is creating a self-fulfilling proph-ecy of a defeat, because the elec-tions will be held anyway.

The only thing they might achieve is to keep some young people away from the polls, which in turn is a setback in terms of the influence that the student movement has to gain in the institutional sphere.

–Do you agree with those who say the student move-ment is wearing down, or that people are getting tired because the aims are not be-ing met?

–In the first half of this year, the student movement acted er-ratically, and ended up isolat-ing other social actors. But pro-cesses of discussion, criticism and self-criticism were carried out, and on Tuesday August 28 many people took part in our protest, demonstrating our strength – it was massive. Chil-ean families took to the streets once again.

With respect to what to do to avoid wear-and-tear, you have to foster and protect unity with broad sectors of society.

–What does it mean to be a communist today in the midst of a social movement that seems to feel distant from the parties and from traditional politics?

–I don’t share that view of the Chilean social movement. Besides, I’m not a communist inserted in a social movement from which I am detached. I am part of it, as are all my compañeros in the Communist Party’s Communist Youth. We form part of this movement, in all sorts of different places.

At the same time, in every factory, company, trade union, neighborhood council or even parliament, in every place where there is a communist, a struggle is being waged for this social movement to triumph.

–What do you think about the different political models in other countries today? For many, the slogan is “another world is possible” – but how can that be brought about?

–Each country’s experience is unique, and it’s not good to try to replicate models. For years, the neoliberals have been trying to replicate “the American Dream” in Latin America, which has brought poverty, inequality, lack of education and misery. Never-theless, there is something to learn from every experience.

Another world is possible to the extent that every society man-ages to find its own path towards greater democracy and stronger social rights, like free education and healthcare, decent housing, and a lifestyle that is in harmony with the environment.

–Your reputation as a stu-dent leader has gone beyond Chile’s borders, and you have been able to see the situation in other parts of Latin Amer-ica. What is your view of the different processes of change?

–I think the overall situation in the region is quite positive. Progressive governments have managed to move towards great-er economic, social and political integration by means of group-ings like the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Southern Common Market (Mercosur trade bloc), and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

Chile, although it takes part in these groupings, runs counter to the majority of the countries in South America, with its popu-list, right-wing government.

Editor-in-Chief Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera

INTERNATIONAL Friday, September 14, 2012 | Nº 126 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

Opinion

The Chilean 9/11: a forgotten taleT/ Farooq Yousaf

Overthrowing a democratically elected president by backing

a dictator was another example of an indirect intervention

in a sovereign country by the US.

Thinking of 9/11, scenes of chaos in 2001 — of the Twin Towers plane crashes, the Pentagon

crash and havoc in the US — come to our minds, but unfortunately, the world has forgotten another important event in world his-tory that not only shook Chile but also a major part of South America. It was the same date, September 11, in 1973 that the Chilean President, Salvador Allende, was overthrown by an army general, Augusto Pinochet, with the presiden-tial palace bombarded on Pinochet’s orders. Allende died resisting Pinochet’s men and Chile, along with five other South Ameri-can states, entered into a phase of tyranny and op-pression.

During his rule, Pi-nochet ordered strict measures against dissi-dents, especially Marx-ists. He was responsible for the murder of more than 3,000 Chileans, whereas his alliance with South American dictator-ships such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay — Operation Condor — resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people. The major purpose of this alliance was to root out social-ist and communist influence from the region and suppress any potential op-position. The US was again the chief supporter of this alliance, providing the countries with important Intel and technological support.

In all these states, citizens were ab-ducted, murdered and extra-judicially killed to silence and curb any possible opposition. Some 200,000 Chileans went into exile to different parts of Europe. Many of them took up mur-der charges against Pinochet in Euro-pean courts but all their efforts went in vain. The Condor alliance was ini-tially encouraged by the CIA but that later backfired on the US as it received criticisms from all sections of media and society for supporting the dicta-tors. John Dinges, the award-winning

journalist, writes in his book, The Condor Years that, initially tagged as “remarkable” by Foreign Affairs mag-azine, this association of the US, CIA and the South American dictators was nothing less than a terrorist organi-sation responsible for the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians.

A famous Chilean journalist and writer, Antonio Castillo, tells his child-hood story in the following words: “Soon we realized that the brutality of the armed forces would reach us too. On 13 September, my father did not come home from work. He had been arrested, and his workplace — a nido de comunistas (nest of communists) for the new authorities — became a military concentration camp, where the cancer marxista (Marxist cancer) would be extirpated. My father sur-

vived. Many of my friends’ fathers or mothers didn’t”.

The Pinochet Files, a classified doc-ument of the US-Chile transactions, proved that the US’s policy makers and ‘securocrats’ (military officers having policy making power) backed Pinochet to overthrow Allende. “It is firm and continuing policy that Al-lende be overthrown by a coup”, reads a CIA document from October 1970 leaked in these files.

“It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG [US govern-ment] and American hand be well hid-den”, stated another document. Two days after this document was written, the top US intelligence officials or-dered to launch campaigns to persuade people to accept a military coup. “Con-

cur giving tear gas canisters and gas masks... working on obtaining ma-chine guns”, read another CIA memo dated October 18, 1970.

Another handwritten note by the then CIA director, Richard Helms,

having President Nixon’s orders, stated: “One in 10 chances per-

haps, but save Chile! Worth spending; not concerned; no involvement of embassy;

$ 10,000,000 available, more if nec-essary; full-time job — best men we have; game plan; make the economy scream; 48 hours for plan of action. This presidential directive initiates major covert operations to block Allende’s ascension to office, and promote a coup in Chile”.

Although publicly disowning the Pinochet regime amid criti-cisms of human rights abuses, the US still helped Chile in inter-national business transactions. Manuel Contreras, the Chilean secret police chief and also al-legedly on the CIA’s payroll, when he visited Washington, was asked to meet officials from

Anaconda (Copper) and Gen-eral Motors for possible invest-

ments in Chile. It was not because the US

had a threat from Allende, being a Marxist and pro-USSR, but because he was elected by a narrow mar-gin, represented a weak left wing in the country, and his economic policies were gaining unpopularity among the masses. That is why overthrowing a weak president was never a hard task to achieve by backing a strong military general, such as Pinochet.

It is indeed interesting to see that many of the Condor’s perpetrators and murderers were nev-er brought to justice with many of them enjoying

a dignified retired life in the US. So much so that criminal charges could never be brought even against Pi-nochet as before any level of convic-tion, he died. Support for such a dicta-tor by the then Nixon administration may fox many minds, as Pinochet was well known for his human rights violations.

Furthermore, overthrowing a dem-ocratically elected president by back-ing a dictator was another example of an indirect intervention in a sover-eign country by the US. Western me-dia, as always, remains silent on the first major 9/11 and the human atroci-ties committed as a result. With no statement or report covering the grief of Chileans, it will not be wrong to say that the modern day media works on its own agenda and narrative.