The artillery of ideasENGLISH EDITIONFRIDAY | December 17, 2010 | No. 42 | Bs. 1 | CARACAS

Pg. 7 | Social Justice Pg. 8 | Opinion

PoliticsLand reformand teconstructionAfter heavy fl oods tore apart the nation, Venezuela is rebuilding its agricultural industry.

Christmas bonusesfor homelessThe Venezuelan government issued special “bonuses” for families displaced by the rains.

The Enabling Law will allow the Venezuelan head of state to enacta series of decrees to provide solutions for nationwide devastation

caused by November’s heavy rainsVenezuela’s National Assembly approved an Enabling Act requested by President Hugo Chavez this week

in order to facilitate emergency laws that will aid the nation’s recovery from a natural disaster caused by the heaviest rains in 40 years. The law authorizes the Executive Branch to exercise

decree powers in areas ranging from infrastructure and economy, to national security and international relations. Opposition to

the law claims the government is trying to bypass the new congress that will take offi ce in January.

No internet censorship in Venezuelan media LawManuel Villalba, President of

the National Assembly’s Commission on Science, Technol-ogy and Media, explained that the reformed Law of Social Responsi-bility in TV and Radio approved this week by majority vote seeks to prioritize nationally produced content in all audio-visual media.

Villalba also commented that the reformed law would expand em-ployment opportunities in the sector. “This reform proposes novel chang-es that would allow us to prioritize various sectors throughout the coun-try, notably the national audio-visual

production sector. In the specifi c case of soap operas on TV and radio, the reform proposes that 50% of pro-grams broadcast by media outlets be produced nationally”.

Villalba insisted that opposition sectors have launched a campaign attacking the proposed reforms to the Law of Social Responsibility in TV and Radio and the Organic Law of Telecommunications. He denied that the changes would eliminate the broadcasting of sporting, cul-tural or informative programs nor would they discriminate against private media outlets.

With regards to proposed re-forms that would affect Internet use, Villalba specified that the changes would not block social networks like Twitter and Fa-cebook, nor would they block search engines or impose pre-emptive censorship.

“We’re seeking to regulate the Internet so that there is adequate and good use of electronic media. We are expanding the purpose of the law to include electronic me-dia; if a website publishes a call for assassination, that person must be held responsible”.

PPgggggggggg.. 88 ||| OOpppppppppppiinniioonnFollowing US footsteps, the Canadian Government has been channeling funds to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela

PPgggggg. 7 PP | SSoocciiaall JJJJJJJuussttiiccee Venezuela’s Adult Continuing EducationProgram has brought great successes,world recognition and changed lives

2

Venezuelan Legislature accords special emergency powers to President Chavez

US Embassy spiedon restaurantsA cable revealed by Wikileaks shows the Embassy in Caracas monitored a “socialist” restaurant.

More than 5 million trees planted

Over the course of 2010, more than fi ve million

trees of different species were planted across Ven-ezuela. The planting took place as part of Mission Ar-bol (Mission Tree), which was created in June 2006 to recover the country’s green

and forest areas and offer natural refuge for animal species as well as preserve lands and tributary rivers.

In four years, the mis-sion has paved the way for the creation of over 5,000 conservation committees countrywide, adding up to more than 50,000 people who have joined in to enact policies aimed at reducing affected areas in hydro-graphic basins and pro-tected natural areas. Fur-thermore, more than 34,000 hectares have been reforest-ed and more than 42 million plants have been produced in 3,198 community, school and institutional nurseries.

The program is part of the green policies of the Chavez administration, which de-spite relying on oil exploita-tion for primary income, has implemented a series of ener-gy conservation and environ-mental protection measures during the past few years to fi ght global warming.

Documents confi rm US plans against VenezuelaDozens of US Embassy cables released by Wikileaks evidence ongoing plans to alienate and attack the Venezuelan government. Labeling President Chavez as an “enemy”, one document reveals an intricate strategy to manipulate Latin American governments to assume adversarial postures towards Venezuela, while others show clear conspiracies to take military actions against the Chavez administration.

trees planted

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IMPACT|2| No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 The artillery of ideas

In order to hasten the national government’s response to widespread suffering caused by recent torrential rains, President Hugo Chavez requested an Enabling Law granting him exceptional powers to enact legislation and streamline relief efforts for victims of the disaster. The law was approved on Thursday by a majority vote in the legislature

Speaking during a meeting held with his Council of Ministers

last Friday, Chavez announced he would request the Enabling Law and appealed to members of Venezuela’s legislative body, the National Assembly, to approve his petition in an effort to “to con-front this great crisis we are fac-ing”. His words were heard loud and clear and echoed by a solid majority of parliamentarians.

The rains that have pounded the nation over the past weeks have provoked a wave of fl ood-ing and landslides, resulting in approximately 40 deaths and the displacement of more than 130,000 residents.

Eleven states have been offi cially declared in emergency and public facilities have been converted into shelters for the victims. Schools were suspended until January and public institutions, including the Presidential Palace, have been converted into temporary resi-dences for the displaced.

“A fl ood has fallen upon us and with it, a sea of problems.” Chavez wrote in his weekly newspaper col-umn on Sunday. “We must enact legislation with the haste that the circumstances demand. For this reason, I’ve decided to solicit the activation of an Enabling Law”.

HOUSING & INFRASTRUCTURE RELIEF

The law sought by the Venezu-elan head of state would provide

National Assembly approves Enabling Act granting emergency powers to President Chavez

him with the power to by-pass congressional debate, in accor-dance with the country’s consti-tution, and decree legislation to respond to the emergency.

Chavez said that, once passed, he intends to use the powers to construct housing for the dis-placed and repair public infra-structure damaged or destroyed by the downpours.

“[There will be] a package of laws and decrees for the total transformation and reconstruc-tion of specifi c areas [affected by the rains]”, he explained.

“We are in agreement [with the measure]”, said PSUV Congress-man Juan Carlos Dugarte. “The President, as the Constitution states, has the full right to solicit an Enabling Law from the Na-tional Assembly”.

Congresswoman Marelis Mar-cano, saw the law as an oppor-tunity to double national efforts to address the crisis. “The Na-tional Assembly has approved the President’s request and we will continue to legislate in par-allel. Both the Executive and the Legislative Branches can devel-op laws which will improve liv-ing conditions for our people”, she said.

OPPOSITIONMembers of Venezuela’s con-

servative opposition, on the other hand, have referred to the measure as “demogagy” and a “provocation”.

Congressman-elect, Julio Borges accused the government of want-ing “to concentrate more power because it’s afraid of the people”, while Alfonso Marquina from the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) has de-nounced the move as “immoral”.

Some opposition politicians tried to claim the Enabling Law would be ineffective once the new parliament assumes power in January 2011, a claim that if true would render all laws passed by previous legislative bodies as non-binding. The Enabling Law carries the same weight as any other leg-islation approved by Congress.

While National Assembly Presi-dent Cilia Flores said the new powers would serve to ensure that Venezuelans recently made home-less by record-setting storms, “do not return to risky areas, but to de-cent homes”, opposition spokes-people as well as national and in-ternational press have said the law is Chavez’s way of circumventing the incoming National Assembly.

Unlike the current National As-sembly, in the newly elected one, due to begin its term on January 5th, the opposition has more than one third (but less than a majority) of legislators.

Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said the Enabling Law was an urgent necessity given the se-riousness of the situation caused by recent storms. “Over 40 per-cent of the territory has been af-fected”, said Jaua.

“A high percentage of roads have been destroyed; an important num-ber of crops have been lost; 130,000 people were made homeless, the impact on the economy and on liv-ing conditions is serious”, he said.

SCOPE OF POWERSPresident Chavez, who for the

last month has been on a non-stop, nation-wide, night and day tour of the areas affected by the fl ooding, said that the situation in Venezuela in the aftermath of the rains “con-tinues to be critical” and “needs to be attended to by a series of laws that will come out [by decree]”.

According to Chavez, “All of those laws will fall within the confi nes of the constitution”.

The areas in which special pow-ers will be granted to the President

include: infrastructure, transport, public services, housing and habi-tat, land use planning, compre-hensive development and use of urban and rural lands, fi nance and taxes, people’s security and legal security, defense, international co-operation and the nation’s socio-economic system.

Article 1.1 of the Enabling Law, for example, grants Chavez full authority for “addressing the vital and urgent human needs resulting from the social conditions of pov-erty and from rains, landslides, fl oods, and other events produced by the environmental problem”.

Meanwhile, Article 1.4 grants the President decreeing pow-ers “to design a new geographic regionalization that reduces the elevated levels of demographic concentration in certain regions, to regulate the creation of new com-munities and…to establish a more adequate distribution and social use of urban and rural lands that have the conditions to install basic services and habitat that human-izes community relations”.

The President will also be able to pronounce or reform norms regulating aspects of infrastruc-ture, communications, and trans-port, as well as norms that “regu-late the behavior” of private and public entities in the construction of housing in order to “guarantee the right to adequate, safe, com-fortable and hygienic housing”.

In the area of fi nance, Article 1.5 says the President will be able to pursue regulations that update the “public and private fi nancial sys-tem to constitutional principles” as well as to create special funds to attend to the results of “natural and social contingencies”.

Finally, Chavez will also be able to enact decrees “aimed at strength-ening international relations”.

On Thursday, the law was passed by a solid two-thirds majority of the National Assem-bly, and will have a duration of at least twelve months, during which time, the Executive can de-cree laws within the scope of ar-eas authorized by the legislature.

T/ Edward Ellis, Juan Reardon & Tamara PearsonP/ Agencies

ANALYSIS No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 |3|The artillery of ideas

State Department documents published by WikiLeaks evidence Washington’s plans to “contain” Venezuela’s infl uence in the region and increase efforts to provoke regime change

A substantial portion of the more than 1600 State Department

documents Wikileaks has pub-lished during the past two weeks refer to the ongoing efforts of US diplomacy to isolate and counter the Venezuelan government.

Since Hugo Chavez won the presidency for the fi rst time in 1998, Washington has engaged in numer-ous efforts to overthrow him, in-cluding a failed coup d’etat in April 2002, an oil industry strike that same year, worldwide media campaigns and varios electoral interventions. The State Department has also used its funding agencies, USAID and the National Endowment for Democra-cy (NED), to channel millions of dollars annually to anti-Chavez NGOs, politi-cal parties, journalists and media orga-nizations in Ven-ezuela, who have been working to undermine the Chavez ad-ministration and force him from power.

WikiLeaks: Documents confi rmUS plans against VenezuelaWhen these interventionist poli-

cies have been denounced by the Chavez government and others, Washington has repeatedly denied any efforts to isolate or act against the Venezuelan head of state.

Nonetheless, the State De-partment cables published by WikiLeaks clearly evidence that not only has Washington been actively funding anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela, but it also has engaged in serious efforts during the past few years to con-vince governments worldwide to assume an adversarial position against President Hugo Chavez.

“CONTENTION” PLAN AGAINSTA “FORMIDABLE FOE”

In a secret document authored by current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Craig Kelly, and sent by the US Embassy in Santiago in June 2007 to the Sec-retary of State, CIA and Southern Command of the Pentagon, along with a series of other US embas-sies in the region, Kelly proposed “six main areas of action for the

US government (USG) to limit Chavez’s infl u-

ence” and “reas-sert US lead-ership in the region”.

Kelly, who played a primary role as “mediator” during last year’s coup d’etat in Honduras against President Manuel Ze-laya, classifi es President Hugo Chavez as an “enemy” in his report. “Know the enemy: We have to better understand how Chavez thinks and what he in-tends...To effectively counter the threat he represents, we need to know better his objectives and how he intends to pursue them. This requires better intelligence in all of our countries”. Further on in the memo, Kelly confesses that President Chavez is a “for-midable foe”, but, he adds, “he certainly can be taken”.

In 2006, Washington activated a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Mission Manager for Venezu-ela and Cuba. The mission, headed by clandestine CIA veteran Timo-thy Langford, is one of only four such intelligence entities of its type. The others were created to handle intelligence matters relating to Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan/Pakistan, evidencing the clear prior-ity that Washington has placed on Venezuela as a target of increased espionage and covert operations.

Another suggestion made by Kelly in the secret cable, is a rec-ommendation to increase US pres-ence in the region and improve relations with Latin American military forces. “We should con-tinue to strengthen ties to those military leaders in the region who share our concern over Chavez”.

Kelly also proposed a “psy-chological operations” program against the Venezuelan govern-ment to exploit its vulnerabilities. “We also need to make sure that the truth about Chavez - his hollow vi-sion, his empty promises, his dan-gerous international relationships, starting with Iran - gets out, al-ways exercising careful judgment about where and how we take on Chavez directly/publicly”.

Kelly recommended US of-fi cials make more visits to the region to “show the fl ag and ex-plain directly to populations our view of democracy and prog-ress”. Kelly also offered details on how Washington could better exploit the differences amongst South American governments to isolate Venezuela:

“Brazil...can be a powerful coun-terpoint to Chavez’s project...Chile offers another excellent alternative to Chavez...We should look to fi nd other ways to give Chile the lead on important initiatives, but without making them look like they are our puppets or surrogates. Argentina is more complex, but still presents distinct characteristics that should inform our approach to countering Chavez’s infl uence there”.

PRESSURING MERCOSURKelly also revealed the pressure

Washington has been applying to Mercosur (Market of the South) to not accept Venezuela as a full mem-ber in the regional trade bloc. “With regard to Mercosur, we should not be timid in stating that Venezuela’s membership will torpedo US inter-est in even considering direct nego-tiations with the trading bloc”.

MEXICO, BOGOTA & OTHERSASK TO “FIGHT” CHAVEZ

The cables published by Wikileaks not only reveal US hos-tility towards Venezuela, but also the requests made by regional leaders and politicians to work against President Chavez.

One secret document from Oc-tober 2009 referring to a meeting between Mexican President Fe-lipe Calderon and US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair tells of how Calderon confessed he was “trying to isolate Venezu-ela through the Rio Group”. The Mexican head of state also ap-pealed to the US intelligence chief, “The region needs a visible US presence...the United States must be ready to engage the next Bra-zilian president. Brazil, he said, is key to restraining Chavez...The US needs to engage Brazil more and infl uence its outlook”.

URIBE REQUESTS “MILITARYACTION” AGAINST CHAVEZ

In several secret documents au-thored by the US Embassy in Co-lombia, efforts by ex President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, to con-vince Washington to take action against Venezuela are evidenced.

In one cable from December 2007, the US Ambassador in Colombia recounts a meeting between Uribe and a delegation of US congress members, including Senate Major-

ity Leader, Harry Reid. According to the text, Uribe “likened the threat Chavez poses to Latin America to that posed by Hitler in Europe”.

And in yet another report sum-marizing a January 2008 meeting between Uribe and the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, Uribe is quoted as recommending military action against Venezuela.

“The best counter to Chavez, in Uribe’s view, remains action - in-cluding use of the military”.

Later in that same secret cable, Uribe urged Washington to “lead a public campaign against Ven-ezuela...to counter Chavez...”

OPPOSITION BISHOPREQUESTS US ACTION

In addition to regional politicians and US diplomats urging plans against President Chavez, one cable reveals how during a meeting be-tween a Venezuelan Archbishop and the US Ambassador, the religious leader asked for Washington to act against his own government. At the meeting, which took place in Janu-ary 2005 according to the document, Archbishop Baltazar Porras told Ambassador William Brownfi eld that the “US government should be more clear and public in its criticism of the Chavez administration” and that the “international community also needs to work and speak out more to contain Chavez...”

The plans and strategies revealed through these offi cial documents confi rm what other evidence has already corroborated regarding Washington’s increase in aggres-sion towards Venezuela. The US continues to fund opposition groups that act to undermine Vene-zuelan democracy while escalating its hostile discourse and policies against the Chavez government.

This week’s Senate affi rmation of Larry Palmer as Ambassador to Venezuela will only make matters worse. Palmer was rejected by the Venezuelan government after he made negative statements about the Chavez administration in August. Washington’s insistence of sending Palmer appears to be an effort to provoke a rupture in diplomatic relations.

T/ Eva GolingerP/ Agencies

POLITICS|4| No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 The artillery of ideas

A fugitive from Venezuelan justice and leader of the coup

d’etat against President Chavez in April 2002, Carlos Ortega, has assured he is willing to return to Venezuela to “fi ght and rebuild the country”, calling upon Ven-ezuela’s Armed Forces to “revolt” against the government of Presi-dent Hugo Chavez.

In a letter sent on Monday by one of the principal instigators of the oil industry sabotage in 2002, which lasted 64 days and caused losses of over $20 billion dollars to the coun-try, Ortega requested the opposition to President Chavez unite “to get rid of this dictatorial regime”.

“We must join together. If we do not join now, we will not have any chance in 2012, because the dicta-

After the devasting rains that affected large areas of Venezuela’s farmlands, the Chavez administration is implementing a reconstruction plan to provide impulse to the nation’s farmers and agricultural production

More than 1,500 small farm-ers from the area south

of Lake Maracaibo in the states of Merida and Zulia will be the benefi ciaries of a new govern-ment plan to recover underuti-lized farm land and rebuild the agricultural productivity of the zone after heavy rains have de-stroyed harvests and displaced thousands of residents.

Speaking from the city of El Vigia in the state of Merida, Ven-ezuela’s Minister of Agriculture and Land, Juan Carlos Loyo, an-nounced on Monday that the government will redistribute over 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) of land formerly belonging to 43 massive estates, known in Latin America as latifundios.

“The only way that we can help these [affected] populations is for the revolution to recover these latifundios and give the people options“, Loyo said.

According to the Minister, the region South of Maracaibo Lake

Food Sovereignty: reinforcing agricultural production

“is one of the areas that has seen the most inequality as a result of an obsolete and predatory capi-talist system”,

In the municipalities of Francis-co Javier Pulgar and Colon alone, he pointed out, close to 40% of ar-able land is owned by a mere 4% of the population.

With the emergency provoked by the rains, this inequality has been exacerbated as more than

Fugitive Carlos Ortega calls on Armed Forces to revolttorial regime is already in place”, he assured and added that if cur-rent circumstances persist, he does not see “the possibility of a trans-parent electoral process”, referring to the 2012 presidential elections.

“Those of us in exile are willing to return to fi ght, join and rebuild our country”, he revealed.

In the letter, which was pub-lished by several private print and televised media in Venezuela this week, Ortega also urged the Armed Forces to revolt against the demo-cratic and constitutional govern-ment of President Hugo Chavez.

“The military must defend their dignity, and act against the regime”, he wrote.

From his self-exile in Peru, Or-tega once again called on Ven-

ezuelans, civilians and military, to disobey Venezuelan laws and create disturbances.

“We must unite, join together and go out to the streets to defend the media, to stop once and for all the persecution against Venezu-elans”, he exclaimed.

At the end of the illegal and damaging oil sabotage in Febru-ary 2003, Ortega fl ed the country and requested political asylum in Costa Rica. He violated the asylum when he clandestinely returned to Venezuela using a false identity to incite unrest and was caught by Venezuelan au-thorities while playing bingo in Caracas in 2005.

In December of that same year, Ortega was tried and sentenced

to to 15 years, 11 months, 5 days and 20 hours in prison for the crimes of civil rebellion, insti-gation to disobey laws and use of false documents. After just

weeks in prison, Ortega escaped and fl ed the country, bribing au-thorities to facilitate his release.

Subsequently, Ortega requested political asylum in Peru, where other Venezuelan fugitives and anti-Chavez coup leaders are currently residing, such as Oscar Perez, Manuel Rosales, Nixon Moreno and Ramon Martinez.

From Lima, Carlos Ortega and the rest of the fugitives have been devoted to developing and pro-moting international campaigns against President Chavez, seek-ing to undermine democracy and destabilize the nation to provoke regime change.

T/ AVNP/ Agencies

10,500 people in the region have been displaced.

Thus far, over 110 shelters have been set up in the area to as-sist those affected and last week alone, 136 tons of food were dis-tributed to victims.

INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENTLoyo explained on Monday

that the government’s new land redistribution initiative will help

to resolve the crisis by providing new work and living opportuni-ties for the small farmers who populate the area.

“The idea is to allow for the incorporation [of the small farmers] in socio-productive development and analyze new residential areas…to attack the situation of inequality where a small minority of people have the greatest concentration of

land at the detriment to the ma-jority”, he said.

Stimulating agricultural pro-duction in the face of major crop losses will be another goal of the redistribution measure.

Offi cials report that 35% to 40% of the country’s plantain crop, one of Venezuela’s most important staple foods, has been damaged as a result of climatic conditions and some 10% of milk and meat production in the area South of Lake Marcaibo has also been lost.

According to Nancy Perez, head of the Women’s and Gen-der Equality Ministry, a group of 100 women has already vol-unteered to begin recovering the plantain losses.

“We’re going to do this through the creation of Socialist Units, but fi rst work needs to be done on internal conditioning of drainage systems”.

In addition to democratiz-ing land tenancy and promoting greater production, the govern-ment is planning a structural re-construction of the zone with an initial government investment of 350 million bolivars in rural de-velopment, much of which will be dedicated to infrastructure.

“President Hugo Chavez ap-proved a fi rst installment of 350 million bolivars for the agricul-tural sector. 150 million of that will be dedicated solely to rural infrastructure”, Loyo reported.

T/ Edward EllisP/ Presidential Press

POLITICS No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 |5|The artillery of ideas

Emboldened by 267.5 tons of international humanitarian aid, the Venezuelan government intensifi ed its effort to house, feed, provide health care to, and economically revitalize communities ravaged by recent torrential rains and fl oods

Following a meeting of the presi-dential commission for fl ood

relief, Vice President Elias Jaua said the government has received assis-tance from Argentina, Bolivia, Ec-uador, Brazil, Spain, Switzerland, Belarus, Nicaragua, and Portugal, and that a shipment from Italy is expected in the coming days.

“These gestures are invaluable and they demonstrate that each day, little by little, we are reviv-ing the spirit of the historical legacy of [South American inde-pendence hero] Simon Bolivar, coming together again as united brothers and sisters in good and bad times”, said Jaua on Sunday.

The Venezuelan government, led by President Hugo Chavez, is a strong proponent of Latin American integration in accordance with “Bo-livarian” values of solidarity and share progress. It also advocates a “multi-polar world” independent from domination by the United States or any other superpower.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Cor-rea, an ally of President Chavez, visited Venezuela and neighbor-ing Colombia this week to help co-ordinate fl ood relief efforts. Ecua-dor has donated nine tons of food, 400 mattresses, 400 blankets, 20 tents, and 25 water storage tanks to Venezuela so far, according to the Ecuadoran government.

“SOCIALIST SOLIDARITYBONUSES” FOR FLOOD VICTIMS

On Sunday, the state-owned Bank of Venezuela gave a total of 2,992 debit cards charged with a “socialist solidarity bonus” of 1,224 bolivars (US $285) to fami-lies in 32 shelters around the capital city where fl ood victims are being housed. The bonus is

Venezuela provides Christmas Bonus to fl ood victims, receives rush of international aid

equivalent to one month of the national minimum wage.

The bank, which was national-ized in 2009, has produced 8,723 bonus debit cards so far, and bank employees intend to work over-time to produce a total of 20,000 to be handed out to fl ood victims on December 24th, according to Humberto Ortega Diaz, Venezu-ela’s top offi cial in charge of the public banking sector.

LAND EXPROPRIATIONSIN FLOOD-AFFECTED AREAS

In order to provide relief for rural communities that lost their crops in the fl oods, the government will na-tionalize a total of 20,200 hectares (49,894 acres) in the states of Mer-ida, Trujillo, and Zulia, according to Agriculture and Land Minister Juan Carlos Loyo.

President Chavez approved an emergency investment of 350 mil-lion bolivars (US $81.4 million) to re-build rural infrastructure and revive agricultural production in the region, and the government will cancel any debts owed to state institutions by the region’s producers, Loyo said on Sunday.

The fertile areas south of Lake Maracaibo were among the most

devastated by the recent rains. Loyo, who is now stationed in the area, said damage to cattle ranches could potentially cause the loss of 10% of the region’s beef and dairy production. As many as 30,000 hect-ares (74,100 acres) of plantain and banana plantations – responsible for 40% of the nation’s production of this food staple – were affected by the fl ooding, Loyo said.

Loyo also denounced the un-equal distribution of land that persists in the region, with almost 40% of the land owned by four percent of the population. South of Lake Maracaibo is “one of the zones where there is the most evidence of the inequality of the obsolete and predatory capitalist system”, the minister said.

“The only way for us to help this population is for the revolution to recuperate those latifundios [large, privately-owned estates]”, Loyo told reporters after visiting shelters in the area. “The solu-tion lies in solving the problem of structural poverty”, he added.

The government has distrib-uted 136 tons of food and set up 110 shelters for approximately 10,500 people displaced by the rains that swept through the area south of Lake Maracaibo more than a week ago. Classes in public schools were cancelled in order to provide temporary space to house fl ood victims.

The armed forces, local com-munal council members, and government functionaries have

staffed the shelters, carried out a census of the affected popula-tions, and helped to distribute aid. Minister Loyo said the gov-ernment has 216 more tons of food ready to be distributed in the coming weeks.

The national offi ce dedicated to identifi cation and migra-tion services, SAIME, has set up mobile offi ces in the refugee shelters to procure new identity cards to people who lost their cards in the fl ooding.

Also, Cuban doctors who per-form international service in free public health clinics in Venezu-ela’s poorest neighborhoods have been mobilized to attend to fl ood victims in the shelters.

Environment Minister Ale-jandro Hitcher, Transportation and Communications Minister Francisco Garces, Housing Min-ister Ricardo Molina, and Wom-en’s Minister Nancy Perez are also expected to visit the zone to help coordinate relief efforts in the coming days.

President Chavez requested the National Assembly approve an Enabling Law granting him tem-porary authority to pass laws by decree in order to further attend to fl ood victims.

National Assembly Legislator Mario Isea of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which holds a super majority in the National Assembly until the new National Assembly members take offi ce on January 5, said the “enabling law” would permit Chavez to de-cree laws for emergency housing, public credits to food producers, and infrastructure repair, among other measures needed to re-spond to the fl ooding.

“One of the premises of the hu-manist policies of the Bolivarian government is to come to the aid of the Venezuelans in emergency situations”, said Isea.

While drizzly gray skies con-tinue to appear over much of Ven-ezuela, it appears the worst of the torrential rains that killed nearly 40 people, destroyed more than 5,000 homes, and displaced as many as 130,000 people in eleven states has fi nally passed.

T/ James Suggettwww.venezuelanalysis.com

VALID DATES

POLITICS|6| No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 The artillery of ideas

The US Embassy in Caracas appears to have put in long hours examining President Hugo Chavez’s efforts to build a socialist economy in Venezuela. But out of all the dense analysis springs one cableabout the role of the humble tortilla in building a brave new world

The cable, obtained by WikiLeaks and published on its website,

starts in appetizing fashion. “Presi-dent Chavez made socialism taste better with the December 22 (2009) opening of a ‘socialist arepera’ serving Venezuelan-style tortillas at a fraction of their usual price”.

The arepa is a thick cornmeal tortilla popular in Colombia and Venezuela.

In a section titled “Socialism’s Tangible -- and Tasty -- Benefi ts”, the cable continues: “The restau-rant, located in a lower middle class neighborhood of Caracas, serves ‘arepas’ for about a fourth of their regular price”.

There follows a colorful descrip-tion of the eatery, which is run by the Ministry of Commerce.

A new issue brief looking at data on Venezuela TV audiences

contradicts the widely believed -- and widely reported -- claim that the Chavez government dominates the television media. In reality, the paper fi nds the opposite is true: the state share of television audi-ence is very small -- currently only 5.4 percent --while private, opposi-tion-owned channels overwhelm-ingly dominate the television au-dience, with 61.4 percent watching privately owned TV channels, and 33.1 percent watching paid TV.

“Statements claiming the Ven-ezuelan government ‘controls’

or ‘dominates’ the media are not only exaggerated, but simply false”, CEPR Co-Director and lead author of the paper, Mark Weisbrot said.

These claims appear regularly in the major US media and are almost never challenged. For example, in a description of Venezuela’s elec-tions last September for the Nation-al Assembly, the Washington Post referred to the Chavez “regime’s domination of the media”. In an interview on CNN, Lucy Moril-lon of Reporters Without Borders stated, “President Chavez controls most of the TV stations”.

The brief, “Television in Ven-ezuela: Who Dominates the Media?” from the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, analyzes data from AGB Panamericana de Venezuela Medicion S.A., a local affi liate of Nielsen Media Research International, for the years 2000-2010 and also fi nds that state television audiences have increased during times of political turmoil, such as during the failed April 2002 coup and the 2002-2003 oil strike.

“The most likely explanation for these spikes in state televi-

sion viewers is that more people are interested in the news during these times, and so more want to get both sides of the story”, Weis-brot said. But even in these few brief spikes of state TV audience - lasting for no more than two or three months - the state TV audi-ence share has never reached 10 percent, even for one month in the past decade.

The paper notes that the pri-mary means through which the government seems to get its message out is through Presi-dent Chavez himself, in the “cadenas”, or offi cial speeches,

that private broadcast TV chan-nels are required to broadcast. In 2009, according to data from AGB Panamericana de Venezu-ela Medicion S.A., these cade-nas amounted to an average of about 24 minutes per day. While this has the potential to get the government’s message out more than the current share of state TV programming, it is diffi cult to measure its impact without data on how many people watch these speeches.

T/ Center for Economic Policy Research

Data show State TV has 5.4 percent of the TV audience

Private, opposition TV continues to dominate in Venezuela

WikiLeaks: Socialist tortillas offera taste of Venezuelan revolution

“On a January 8 visit, EmbOffs (Embassy Offi cers) witnessed a long line of people waiting to get into the restaurant but surpris-ingly rapid service. Inside, one wall was dominated by a quote in large red lettering from Simon Bolivar: “The best system of gov-

ernment is that which produces the greatest happiness”.

According to the cable, the visiting diplomats were told by an employee that the restaurant served 1,200 customers per day.

The document quotes Eduar-do Saman, who was then minis-

ter of commerce, as saying that customers could rely on low prices because all the ingredi-ents came from government-owned companies.

Saman said there was an-other another “key difference between socialist and capitalist

arepera: customers pay only af-ter eating”, while “in fast food chains ... they only think about money”. And in the arepera, he said, customers told cashiers how much they’d eaten.

Since he came to power in 1998, Chavez has extended the role of the state in major indus-tries, nationalizing Venezuela’s oil fi elds and much of its agri-cultural sector.

The state’s venture into the fast-food sector involves the “Arepera Socialista” chain as part of the country’s socialist market cooperatives.

The cable suggests that the introduction of the arepera is due to the president’s populist instincts ahead of elections.

“Facing high inflation, elec-tricity and water rationing, and failing public services, Chavez may see the ‘Arepera Socialista’ as a relatively quick and easy way to promote the benefits of ‘socialism’ to his electoral base before the September legisla-tive elections”.

But there’s nothing to sug-gest the Venezuelan leader ever said, “Let them eat arepa”, as the cable’s author, Charge D’Affairs John Caulfield, cyni-cally wrote.

T/ Tim Lister-CNNP/ Agencies

SOCIAL JUSTICE No 42 • Friday, December 17, 2010 |7|The artillery of ideas

For the past six and a half years, Venezuela’s free educational program, Mission Ribas, has been reaching out to residents unable to fi nish high school, providing them with the opportunity to complete their studies and contribute to the social and economic development of their communities

With over 1.5 million people matriculated and 600 thou-

sand graduates since 2004, Mis-sion Ribas comprises one of the most important aspects of the educational reforms being under-taken by the revolutionary gov-ernment of Hugo Chavez Frias.

According to its website, Mis-sion Ribas has assumed the task of “eradicating social exclu-sion” by providing a quality ba-sic education to all Venezuelan citizens regardless of their race, gender, or age.

The program, which has bene-fi ted from the collaboration of Cu-ban educational experts renowned for their development of effective pedagogical tools, has also made it a point to reach out to citizens in remote geographic zones.

“The Mission Ribas gives the op-portunity to youth and adults who for one reason or another were unable to fi nish their high school studies”, explains Judy Castillo, a facilitator of the program in the small agricultural community of Santa Lucía in the state of Yaracuy.

“Now, students can exercise their right to education with a schedule that is fl exible, allowing people to work and, in the eve-ning, start their classes”.

Castillo is one of the 32 thousand facilitators incorporated in the pro-gram charged with the responsibil-ity of leading classroom discussions based on educational content pro-vided in the form of video-classes.

“My experience here has been very beautiful”, she says of her work in the community. “I come

Mission Ribas: encouraging continuingeducation in venezuela

here in the evening and it helps me to relax and share the knowl-edge that I have with people who really want to study”.

WORKING PEOPLE OF ALL AGESThe students in Castillo’s class-

es range from 17 to 58 years of age and all work during the day before arriving to study.

“[These students] show a tre-mendous desire to learn. Some of them are working in the morn-ing planting. Later, they have an agricultural-related workshop and then they come to class. Some have up to three commitments apart from being a mother or father and part of a family”, she highlights.

Rosario Rodriguez, one of Cas-tillos students, reached 9th grade before leaving school as the result of a pregnancy.

“In my case, I’m studying be-cause it’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity. It was really diffi cult for me because I work and I have a child. Now I have the chance and I don’t want to lose it because I want to ad-vance, become a professional and have a better future to offer to my children”, she explained.

THE RIGHT TO FREE EDUCATIONRibas was created by the govern-

ment as an extension of the princi-ples expressed in the nation’s Con-stitution, which in Article 3 declares education to be “a human right and a fundamental social duty”.

Considered as such, the Vene-zuelan state is required to provide all citizens with an education that is “democratic and free”.

Apart from Ribas being of no cost to the students, the govern-ment also offers small grants to economically disadvantaged stu-dents in order to promote their attendance in classes.

As of 2009, the program has been able to provide nearly 150 thousand such scholarships.

The mission also contains a socio-productive branch, which incorporates students and gradu-ates into economic activities and social projects with an ideology “distinct from capitalism”.

The mission’s website states that the goal of the initiative is to “project the creative potential of [students] onto their environment, impacting and transforming reality”.

This takes shape through the formulation of productive proj-

ects that meet community needs within an economic system based on solidarity and cooperation.

Other achievements of Mission Ribas over its 6 and half years of existence include the creation of 114 classes in different prisons around the country, the incor-poration of nearly 10 thousand indigenous peoples into the pro-gram and the formation of 287 economic cooperatives.

As part of the government’s three most developed educational programs, Ribas represents the intermediary academic level, po-sitioned between the literacy pro-gram known as Mission Robinson and the higher education program known as Mission Sucre.

More than 25 thousand people who have graduated from Ribas have thus far gone on to study university-level education in Mission Sucre.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITIONThe three missons Ribas, Sucre,

and Robinson are the main reason that the United Nations has, on nu-merous occasions, recognized the gains made by the Chavez govern-ment with respect to education.

In 2005, the UN Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organiza-tion UNESCO offi cially declared Venezuela a “Illiteracy-Free Ter-ritory” after the government successfully taught more than 1.5 million people to read and write in 2 years.

The same organization has ranked Venezuela as fifth in the world in terms of univer-sity matriculation ahead of na-tions such as the United States, France and Japan.

In terms of reaching the UN’s Millenium Development goals, which include universal educa-tion by 2015, Venezuela is far above the curve.

During a recent visit to the country, president of the United Nations General Assembly, Ali Abdessalam Treki, referred to Venezuela as a “pride for third world countries”.

“What Venezuela has achieved should serve as a model for other countries with respect to reaching the millennium goals”, he declared.

T/ Edward EllisP/ Agencies

The artillery of ideasENGLISH EDITIONFRIDAY | December 17, 2010 | No. 42| Bs. 1 | CARACAS

A publication of the Fundacion Correo del Orinoco • Editor-in-Chief | Eva Golinger • Graphic Design | Alexander Uzcátegui, Jameson Jiménez • Press | Fundación Imprenta de la Cultura

OPINION

While many on the left know that Washington has spent

tens of millions of dollars funding groups that oppose Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, less well known is Ottawa’s role, especially that of the Canadian government’s “arms-length” human rights organi-zation, Rights & Democracy (R&D).

Montreal-based R&D recently gave its 2010 John Humphrey Award to the Venezuelan non-gov-ernmental organization PROVEA (El Programa Venezolano de Edu-cacion-Accion en Derechos Huma-nos). According to R&D’s website, “The Award consists of a grant of $30,000 and a [just completed] speaking tour of Canadian cities to help increase awareness of the recipient’s human rights work”.

PROVEA is highly critical of Venezuela’s elected government. In December 2008 Venezuela’s in-terior and justice minister called PROVEA “liars” who were “paid in [US] dollars”.

During a September visit “to meet with representatives of PROVEA and other [Venezuelan] organiza-tions devoted to human rights and democratic development” R&D President, Gerard Latulippe, blogged about his and PROVEA’s political views. “Marino [Betan-court, Director General of PROVEA] told me about recent practices of harassment and criminalization of the government towards civil soci-ety organizations”. In another post Latulippe explained, “We have wit-nessed in recent years the restriction of the right to freedom of expres-sion. Since 2004-2005, the govern-ment of President Chavez has taken important legislative measures which limit this right”.

Upon returning to Canada, Latulippe cited Venezuela as a country with “no democracy”. He told Embassy magazine, “You can see the emergence of a new model of democracy, where in fact it’s trying to make an alter-native to democracy by saying people can have a better life even if there’s no democracy. You have the example of Russia. You have an example of Venezuela”.

Canadian government funds venezuelan opposition

Latulippe’s claims have no ba-sis in reality. On top of improving living conditions for the country’s poor, the Chavez-led government has massively increased demo-cratic space through community councils, new political parties and worker cooperatives. They have also won a dozen elections/referendums over the past twelve years (and lost only one).

R&D, which is funded almost entirely by the federal govern-ment, takes its cues from Ottawa. The Canadian government has re-peatedly attacked Chavez. In April 2009 Stephen Harper responded to a question regarding Venezuela by saying, “I don’t take any of these rogue states lightly” and after ex-pressing “concerns over the shrink-age of democratic space” in Sep-tember, Minister for the Americas Peter Kent said, “This is an election month in Venezuela and the offi cial media has again fi red up some of the anti-Semitic slurs against the Jew-ish community as happened dur-ing the Gaza incursion”. Even the head of Canada’s military recently criticized the Chavez government in the Canadian Military Journal.

After a tour of South America, Wal-ter Natynczyk wrote “Regrettably, some countries, such as Venezuela, are experiencing the politicization of their armed forces”.

The Harper government’s at-tacks against Venezuela are part of its campaign against the region’s progressive forces. Barely dis-cussed in the media, the Harper government’s shift of aid from Af-rica to Latin America was largely designed to stunt Latin America’s recent rejection of neoliberalism and U.S. dependence by support-ing the region’s right-wing gov-ernments and movements.

To combat independent-mind-ed, socialist-oriented govern-ments and movements Harper’s Conservatives have “played a more active role in supporting U.S. ideologically driven [democ-racy promotion] initiatives”, notes researcher Neil A. Burron. They opened a South America focused “democracy promotion” centre at the Canadian Embassy in Peru. Staffed by two diplomats, this secretive venture may clash with the Organization of American States’ non-intervention clause.

According to documents un-earthed by Anthony Fenton, in November 2007 Ottawa gave the Justice and Development Consor-tium (Asociación Civil Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia) $94,580 “to consolidate and expand the de-mocracy network in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Also funded by the US government’s CIA front group National Endowment for Democracy, the Justice and Devel-opment Consortium has worked to unite opposition to leftist Latin American governments. Similarly, in the spring of 2008 the Canadian Embassy in Panama teamed up with the National Endowment for Democracy to organize a meet-ing for prominent members of the opposition in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador. It was de-signed to respond to the “new era of populism and authoritarianism in Latin America”. The meeting spawned the Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe para la Democracia, “which brings together main-stream NGOs critical of the leftist governments in the hemisphere”.

The foremost researcher on US funding to the anti-Chavez opposi-

tion, Eva Golinger, claims Canadian groups are playing a growing role in Venezuela and according to a May 2010 report from Spanish NGO Fride, “Canada is the third most important provider of democracy assistance” to Venezuela after the U.S. and Spain. Burron describes an interview with a Canadian “offi cial [who] repeatedly expressed con-cerns about the quality of democ-racy in Venezuela, noting that the [Federal government’s] Glyn Berry program provided funds to a ‘get out the vote’ campaign in the last round of elections in that country”. You can bet it wasn’t designed to get Chavez supporters to the polls.

Ottawa is not forthcoming with information about the groups they fund in Venezuela, but ac-cording to disclosures made in response to a question by former NDP Foreign Affairs critic Alexa McDonough, Canada helped fi -nance Sumate, an NGO at the forefront of anti-Chavez political campaigns. Canada gave Sumate $22,000 in 2005-06. Minister of International Cooperation José Verner explained, “Canada con-sidered Sumate to be an experi-enced NGO with the capability to promote respect for democ-racy, particularly a free and fair electoral process in Venezuela”. Yet the name of Sumate leader Maria Corina Machado, who For-eign Affairs invited to Ottawa in January 2005, appeared on a list of people who endorsed the 2002 coup against Chavez, for which she faced charges of treason.

The simple truth is that the current government in Ottawa supports the old elites that long worked with the US Empire. It opposes the progressive social transformations taking place in a number of Latin American coun-tries and as a result it supports civil society groups opposed to these developments.

Yves EnglerYves Engler is the author of Cana-da and Israel: Building Apartheid and the Black Book of Canadian Fo-reign Policy. For more info: http://yvesengler.com