ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONALFriday, February 22, 2013 | Nº 147 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets last Monday to celebrate the return of Presi-dent Hugo Chavez and wish the recovering head of state a heartfelt welcome back to his native soil. Chavez returned to Venezuela in the early hours of Monday after having spent more than two months in Cuba convalescing from cancer surgery performed in Havana on December 11th. “We’ve arrived again at the Venezuelan homeland!” Chavez wrote via his Twitter account on Monday morning, announcing his arrival. Page 2

Venezuela fights speculationVice President Nicolas Maduro spoke out against members of the Venezuelan business community who through illicit hoarding and speculation have attempted to destabilize the South American nation’s economy and sow dissatisfaction among the general population. The VP called recent practices of price-hiking and the withholding of products following the announcement of a devaluation in the Venezuelan bolivar earlier this month as “parasitic” and a consequence of a “looting” capitalist system. page 3

Politics

Private media necrophilia

Media attacks against President Chavez continue. page 4

Economy

Labor rights advanceA new labor law ensures Social Justice and fair hours and benefits for workers. page 5

Analysis

Wikileaks shows US interference

Internal documents from Stratfor show heavy US hand against Chavez government. page 6

Analysis

Opposition claims unifiedbut dis-unity abounds page 7

Opinion

Ecuador: Rafael Correa’svictory a success page 8

Venezuela rejects US government interference

T/ COI

The Venezuelan govern-ment has responded firmly to the latest statements made by the Obama administra-tion regarding President Hugo Chavez’s health and the current political situa-tion in the country. Depart-ment of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US wants to see a “transition” in Venezuela, and insinu-ated that President Chavez should no longer govern.

“The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Ven-ezuela rejects in the stron-gest terms the declarations made by United States State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland on Febru-ary 19, 2013, which constitute a new and rude interference by the government in Wash-ington in the internal affairs of Venezuela”.

“The statements by this US government spokesperson are in perfect keeping with the destabilizing and cor-rupt discourse of the Vene-zuelan right wing”, read the declaration from Venezuela. “The speculations by the spokesperson regarding the situation of President Hugo Chavez and the institutions of Venezuela have generated deep indignation among the Venezuelan people”.

“The Bolivarian Repub-lic of Venezuela upholds the rule of law and justice, and has solid institutions that, by the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, are en-shrined in the constitution of 1999. In the framework of the democratic revolu-tion constructed by people’s power over the last 14 years, the only transition being proposed is the transition toward Bolivarian socialism under the leadership of the revolutionary government of Commander Hugo Chavez”, detailed the Venezuelan gov-ernment communique.

President Hugo Chavez ReturnsHome, Venezuela Celebrates

Digital televisionThe Venezuelan people now count on digital

terrestrial television or digital over-the-air televi-sion as of Wednesday, a service free of charge launched by the Chavez administration and which may be used even on mobile phones.

The digital broadcasting is part of significant changes carried out in Venezuela’s technological capacities, only comparable to the debut of color television.

The Venezuelan Government will distribute converter boxes to the population, allowing them to use the service with conventional televisions.

Several national private and public TV stations are viewable in the new system, such as VTV, ANTV, Vive TV, Televen, Televisora del Sur, Vene-vision, Colombeia, Meridiano and La Tele.

Among other features, the over-the-air televi-sion provides picture and sound quality, correc-ting all errors caused by any interference.

It will also provide information about climate, road traffic, meteorology, among others, through the use of teletext service.

The artillery of ideas

Chavez returns to Venezuelaamidst jubilation of supporters

2 Impact | Friday, February 22, 2013

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets last Mon-day to celebrate the return

of President Hugo Chavez and wish the recovering head of state a heartfelt welcome back to his native soil.

Chavez returned to Venezuela in the early hours of Monday af-ter having spent more than two months in Cuba convalescing from cancer surgery performed in Havana on December 11th.

His arrival comes just three days after the government re-leased a series of photographs of the socialist leader in the

“The beloved son of Venezue-la has arrived. This great man has given his life to the people and today has brought the people onto the streets full of happiness and emotion because [he] is back in our country”, said Arnilu Serrano, socialist activist in the Plaza Bolivar of Caracas.

company of his two daughters in Cuba.

“We’ve arrived again at the Venezuelan homeland!” Chavez wrote via his Twitter account on Monday morning.

Upon touching down in Si-mon Bolivar International Air-port, the Venezuelan President was taken to the Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital in the capital of Caracas where he will continue with his medical recovery.

For government supporters, Monday’s return marks a sharp rebuff to the skeptics who have questioned the veracity of the photographs released on Friday and the periodic medical reports divulged by the government.

It also demonstrates the te-nacity of the socialist President, something that has been hailed by backers at dozens of solidar-ity rallies.

“You pay back love with love”, said Eucaris Centeno during a demonstration in the state of Anzoategui on Mon-day. “Chavez deserves this and every minute of our lives. The United Socialist Party of Ven-ezuela (PSUV) is in the streets ready to defend this revolution”, the activist said.

During a press conference held by the PSUV on Monday, leaders of the party declared that there is no given timetable for Chavez to take his oath of office, something left pending since January 10th.

Aristobal Isturiz, senior member of the PSUV, com-

mented that formalities regard-ing oaths of office would take a back seat to time that Chavez needs to recover.

“We celebrate his return but we are saying, ‘Continue with your treatment, Presi-dent. Trust the people”, the PSUV leader and governor of Anzoategui state.

According to the Venezuelan constitution, the President can be sworn in by the country’s congress or by the Supreme Court.

This latter option will most likely be the method for the in-auguration of Chavez who was re-elected for a new 6-year term on October 7th.

For his part, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro re-ferred to the recently returned commander in chief as “an ex-ample of the permanent battle” being carried out in the South American country and that the nation must “continue the march daily”.

Speaking from the military hospital where the head of state has been admitted, Maduro praised the Cuban govern-ment for its support through-out Chavez’s illness and lauded the Venezuelan people for their unity in the face of destabiliza-tion attempts by the opposition.

“We must thank the people in the face of this minority that has tried to disturb the life of the country. Despite them, the homeland is advancing, getting stronger and supporting Presi-dent Chavez”, Maduro said.

T/ COIP/ AFP

The South American left further consolidated its regional ascendancy last

Sunday with the victory of Rafael Correa in Ecuador’s presidential elections.

Correa, the 49 year-old economist from the capital of Guayaquil, easily won a sec-ond term, taking just under 57 percent of the popular vote and avoiding the need for a second round of elections.

“This victory belongs to all of you”, Correa said to Ecua-dorian people on Sunday eve-ning after the initial results of the election had come in.

“I thank each of the 14.5 million Ecuadorians. I thank those who supported us and those who did not because the roads, hospitals, and schools

Ecuador: Correa wins second termon strength of economic reforms

are for everyone”, the head of state asserted.

Correa’s political movement, called the “Citizen’s Revolu-tion”, has built itself upon a new social agenda that marks a stark break with the neoliberal economic policies of previous Ecuadorian administrations.

Through large-scale pub-lic expenditures and greater regulation of the financial sec-tor, Ecuador has weathered the global economic crisis with greater success than most small countries, boasting a 27 percent reduction in poverty and an un-employment rate of 4.1 percent.

The move away from free-market policies has been simi-lar to the economic philosophy being practiced by the Chavez administration in Venezuela and is part of the reason for the strong relationship between the two OPEC member states.

Both Correa and Chavez also share a vision for greater South American unity as exhibited by their advocacy for the Bolivar-ian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) and the Union of South American States (Unasur) re-gional blocs.

On Sunday, Correa dedicated his electoral victory to the Ven-

ezuelan President, currently recovering from cancer sur-gery performed in Cuba on De-cember 11th.

“I want to take the opportuni-ty to also dedicate this victory to the great Latin American leader who changed Venezu-ela, Comandante Hugo Chavez Frias”, Correa said.

The newly re-elected head of state additionally expressed his desire to see “the best for Chavez and his family, a quick recovery, and of course, for the future of the much-loved Venezuela”.

Correa’s nearest competi-tor in Sunday’s election was Guillermo Lasso from the CREO (I believe) party who re-ceived a distant 23.6 percent of the vote.

Lasso, a conservative banker with a history of public service, quickly recognized the outcome of Sunday’s contest, congratu-lating Correa on his victory for a second 4-year term.

The incumbent “has tri-umphed. He has obtained re-election and this deserves our

respect and recognition. We’re going to congratulate him and his organization for having achieved this”, Lasso said.

According to national and international observers, last weekend’s election were car-ried out in an efficient and exemplary manner, with few holdups at the ballot box.

Argentine Congressman and Election Observer Clau-dia Giaccone called the vot-ing “impeccable, calm, and participatory” while Luis Abidanere, head of the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations, referred to the process as “positive for democracy and the different countries of Latin America”.

For Correa, the vote was a clear sign of the democratic maturity that has character-ized the growing political par-ticipation of the people in the continent-wide movement for greater social justice.

“Democracy and revolution is being consolidated in Our America”, Correa said.

The artillery of ideasFriday, February 22, 2013 | Politics 3

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Vice President Nicolas Ma-duro spoke out last Sat-urday against members

of the Venezuelan business community who through illicit hoarding and speculation have attempted to destabilize the South American nation’s econ-omy and sow dissatisfaction among the general population.

The VP called recent prac-tices of price-hiking and the withholding of products fol-lowing the announcement of a devaluation in the Venezue-lan bolivar earlier this month as “parasitic” and a conse-quence of a “looting” capital-ist system.

“They’re attacking the cur-rency, the prices of products and they’re hoarding. But we’re in the street fighting through the food system creat-ed by President Hugo Chavez. Here we have people that won’t allow our country to be desta-bilized”, Maduro said.

The declarations were made during the second-in-com-mand’s attendance at an open-air market in Caracas where subsidized food and domestic appliances were made avail-

able to residents at affordable prices.

The market is part of the Chavez administration’s effort to ensure the availability of staple commodities and basic products through it’s public network of distribution outlets.

Maduro informed that the government is taking steps to crack down on the retail-ers who have been undercut-ting price controls and raising prices exponentially.

Such behavior in the private sector has led to a shortage of

certain basic products, like sugar and flour.

According to Maduro, the Executive branch has been mandated by President Hugo Chavez, recently returned from Cuba, to enact policies that will combat the economic sabotage affecting many large urban centers.

“As Executive Vice Presi-dent, I must provide reports to the President of the Republic, Hugo Chavez, and above all, receive orders. I must propose, alongside my colleagues strong

measures against businesses that attack the economy of the people”, he affirmed.

As part of this policy, the for-mer union leader will be trav-eling around the country to meet with different sectors of civil society and the business community to devise actions to curb the illicit activity.

This includes fostering stronger relationships between the Chavez administration and honest representatives of the private sector, Maduro ex-plained on Saturday.

APPROVAL REMAINS HIGHIn addition to exploiting low

production costs to reap super profits, much of the subversion of price controls taking place in Venezuela has the political goal of creating uncertainty in the government, officials have argued.

Yet despite these intentions, Hugo Chavez continues to en-joy high levels of support from the Venezuelan population.

A new poll released by Hin-terlaces, one of the most ac-curate agencies working in Venezuela, places Chavez’s ap-proval rating at 64 percent.

An additional 66 percent of the population believes that the conservative opposition in the county is not capable of replacing the socialists in gov-ernment and 56 percent of the people believe the opposition has been negative for the coun-try, the survey reports.

The poll also states that if new elections were to be held in Venezuela as a result of President Chavez’s health is-sues, Nicolas Maduro would be the projected winner over opposition candidate Capriles Radonski by a margin of 14 points.

The results of the survey were announced by journal-ist Jose Vicente Rangel during his weekly television program on the station Televen.

DEFENSE OF CUBAWith respect to recent at-

tacks against the Cuban Embassy by members of the Venezuelan opposition, Vice President Maduro condemned the extremist behavior and blamed the right wing leader-ship of the South American country for the inappropriate demonstrations.

Specifically, Maduro singled out Capriles Radonski, oppo-sition leader and governor of Miranda state who participat-ed in violent demonstrations at the Cuban embassy during the attempted coup d’etat against President Hugo Chavez in April 2002.

Venezuelan VP vows to fightspeculation, hoarding

The opposition mayor of the Caracas district of Baruta, Gerardo Blyde, was also ac-cused by the Venezuelan Vice President.

“[Capriles and Blyde] are responsible before the people and the laws of the republic for the aggression that the Cuban embassy has seen once again”, Maduro said.

Venezuela’s relationship with Cuba has strengthened over the past decade as a result of the bi-lateral accords signed between the two nations, which have re-sulted in thousands of medical professionals from the island nation working in free clinics in Venezuela.

Members of the Venezuelan opposition have targeted the embassy for a new round of demonstrations, decrying the absence of Hugo Chavez from Venezuela and the close rela-tionship between the Carib-bean countries.

Maduro characterized the protests as a lack of respect for the important work that the Cuban doctors and other experts have carried out in Venezuela, greatly improving the lives of millions of under-privileged residents.

“This hatred that [the Ven-ezuelan opposition] has and expresses against the Cuban people is not in fact against the Cuban people. It’s against the Venezuelan poor”, Maduro said.

What the Cubans have brought to Venezuela is “love, solidarity and life”, the Vice President said, reiterating the fact that the government will not allow for the security of the embassy to be breached.

The Venezuelan security forces are “on guard, protect-ing the Cuban Embassy and providing all the diplomatic guarantees that international law decrees”, the former For-eign Minister of the Chavez administration assured.

For her part, Venezuelan Youth Minister Mary Pili Her-nandez described the protes-tors as “small group” that has been manipulated by foreign interests and that do not rep-resent the great majority of Venezuelan opinion.

In fact, Hernandez said, the country should be thanking the Cubans for the excellent medical attention that they have provided for President Hugo Chavez during his con-valescence in Havana.

“This love is priceless”, the Youth Minister said of the care provided for the head of state.

Chavez underwent cancer related surgery in Cuba on De-cember 11th and returned to Venezuela on Monday.

The artillery of ideas4 Politics | Friday, February 22, 2013

T/ Ewan RobertsonP/ Agencies

A Venezuelan sociologist and media analyst has de-scribed the private media’s

reportage of Venezuelan Presi-dent Hugo Chavez’s health as based on speculation and “con-stant necrophilia”.

The analyst, Maryclen Stell-ing, argued that this reporting is part of a campaign by the right-wing opposition and its domestic and international media allies to exploit Chavez’ battle with can-cer in order to create a political “crisis” in the country and seek a “transition” of power.

The comments were made on Monday when Chavez returned home from Cuba after recover-ing from his cancer operation last December. He will continue treat-ment in a hospital in Caracas.

Stelling recalled how the day after Chavez left for Cuba in December, leading Venezuelan conservative daily El Nacional led with “the opposition will be capable of presenting an alternative for Venezuelans”, reflecting the stance taken by the opposition coalition toward Chavez’s absence from the country.

When Chavez was unable to be present for his presidential inauguration on January 10th, much of the Venezuelan opposi-tion declared the continuance of the Chavez government illegiti-mate, despite a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary, subse-quently backed by the OAS.

However, in line with the op-position’s stance the private Venezuelan media campaign in-tensified. Through January and February, headlines and article titles appeared such as “Two months without seeing nor hear-ing from Chavez” (El Tiempo), “He’s still breathing” (Tal Cual), “Chavez’s illness is fatal”, (Tal Cual), “His options are running out “ (Tal Cual), “The death of stand-alone bosses” (El Nacio-nal) and “Is your coup-making over?” (El Universal).

Stelling also reviewed the in-ternational media’s treatment of Chavez’s illness and stay in Cuba, finding that the Spanish press went furthest in their specula-tion and necrophilic reportage.

Leading Spanish daily ABC printed several “exclusive” re-ports in which the paper pre-dicted the Venezuelan Presi-dent’s imminent death, to the extent to which Vice President Nicolas Maduro was provoked to comment in an interview that the paper had become an “attack center” of lies over Chavez’s clinical progress.

However another Spanish pa-per, El País, went further than

speculation when on January 24th it published a photograph purporting to show Chavez un-dergoing treatment, accompa-nied by the headline “The truth about Chavez’s illness”.

The photo quickly turned out to be false and taken from some-one else undergoing treatment in 2008, and while the paper apologized to its readers it didn’t extent that apology to Chavez or the Venezuelan people.

Many articles printed in Spain’s national press were written by Washington-based

journalist Emili Blasco, who, based on supposed “sources” in Havana, wrote a series of ar-ticles with headlines such as “Chavez on the edge of death” and “Doctors consider continu-ing Chavez’s treatment useless”.

Media analyst Stelling ex-plained that the Spanish media had been more “virulent” than that of any other country be-cause Spain is where the Vene-zuelan opposition lobby has the greatest weight.

She added that media in the United States had been

less speculative over Chavez’s health, after the US had invest-ed a lot in the Venezuelan op-position without receiving the hoped-for results in return.

However, US media have used Chavez’s absence from the political scene while he fights cancer to trash his leg-acy and question the constitu-tional situation in the country, with leading outlets such as the Washington Post errone-ously describing the delay in Chavez’s inauguration as “a stretch of the constitution’s

Private media on Chavez’ health:70 days of speculation and necrophilia

ambiguous wording” and the San Francisco Chronicle claim-ing “Venezuela’s Chavez ruin-ing the country”.

Using self-justificatory and self-serving logic, the same media outlets and the Venezu-elan opposition have accused the government of being “se-cretive” over Chavez’s health and thus having “caused” speculation over his condition and Venezuela’s political situ-ation. The Venezuelan govern-ment has countered this by pointing to regular updates over Chavez’s clinical progress while still respecting his right to privacy as a patient.

With Chavez’s apparent re-covery progressing to the point where he was able to return to Venezuela earlier this week, Venezuelan Communication Minister Ernesto Villegas ar-gued that the official informa-tion on Chavez’s health had been vindicated as accurate.

“The ominous voices - those who were calling into question the information emitted by the national government with re-spect to Chavez’s health, are de-feated”, he said on Monday.

It seems that while the “omi-nous voices” will continue to speculate on Chavez’s health and try to create the impres-sion of a “crisis” in Venezuela where and when they can, the surprise return and apparent improvement of the Venezue-lan President has demonstrat-ed the falsity of many of their claims, highlighting 70 days of speculation and necrophilia as exactly that.

T/ AVN

The official Twitter account of Venezuelan President Hugo

Chavez surpassed four million followers Monday, making him the most popular Latin Ameri-can leader on the social network.

The account, @chavezcan-danga, which was launched in April 2010, has become a direct way for the President to engage his followers and keep the pub-lic and the world informed, as well as to attend to the demands of the people and exchange dif-ferent types of messages.

Now, the number of people following his Twitter account has surpassed four million and continues to grow.

Chavez is the most followed Latin American leader on the

President Chavezreaches 4 millionfollowers on Twitter

social network, and is the second most popular leader in the world after United States President Ba-rack Obama, who leads a nation of over 313 million people.

Since he returned to Venezu-ela early on Monday morning, President Chavez has been one of the most tweeted about people on the social network. The Presi-dent recently completed the first stage of his recovery in Havana after undergoing surgery for cancer last December 11th.

The people have expressed their affection and solidar-ity for the President by writing messages on Twitter marked with hashtags like #ChavezBi-envenidoALaPatria (Chavez, welcome back to the country), #VolvióCHAVEZ (Chavez re-turned), and #LlegóChavez (Chavez has arrived).

Upon returning to the coun-try, President Chavez tweeted: “We have once again arrived in Venezuela. Thank you, God! Thank you, dear people! Here we will continue the treatment”.

The artillery of ideasFriday, February 22, 2013 | Economy 5

T/ Ewan Robertsonwww.venezuelanalysis.comP/ Agencies

The Venezuelan government has increased the banking sector’s financial obliga-

tion to fund construction and provide low interest mortgages as part of policies to broaden ac-cess to affordable housing.

The financial obligation, known as the “mandatory mortgage portfolio”, requires both state-owned and private banks to assign a percentage of their gross annual loans to-ward housing construction and controlled-interest mortgages to low income Venezuelans.

It is an important means through which Venezuelans are able to get affordably priced mortgages or loans for housing construction.

The government announced on Wednesday that the manda-tory mortgage portfolio was to be increased from 15 to 20%.

With the change, the portfo-lio is expected to raise around 80.4 billion bolivars (US $12.8 billion), of which 65% must fund housing construction, 30% go towards mortgages, and 5% for self-construction, housing improvements and extensions.

The percentage of the fund destined toward mortgages has increased 4% from last year, with the president of Venezu-

ela’s National Housing Bank (Banavih), Mario Isea, explain-ing that the move is aimed at “increasing the people’s access to mortgages”.

Further, the head of the gov-ernment’s Housing Commis-sion, Rafael Ramirez, reported that the funds raised will be im-portant for achieving the gov-ernment’s goal of constructing 380,000 new homes in 2013.

Venezuela has long suffered from a structural shortage in housing, something President Hugo Chavez’s government is attempting to remedy through a mass housing building pro-gram, launched in 2011.

Over 300,000 new housing units have been constructed by the program so far, with the aim being to construct as many as 3 million by 2019 to end the country’s housing deficit.

Officials also confirmed that mortgages granted under the mandatory mortgage portfolio will continue to have their in-terest rates regulated; at 4.33% for those earning between one and four times the monthly minimum wage, currently at 2,047 bolivars ($325), and 10.66% to those earning be-tween eight and fifteen times the minimum wage.

The government also an-nounced that for the first time mortgages granted to wealthi-er Venezuelans, those earning over fifteen times the mini-

mum wage (30,712 bolivars / $4,875), would also be legally capped, at 16.4%. Officials claim that banks had been charging speculative interest rates to this sector, at an aver-age of around 24%.

Speaking in an interview with public channel VTV, Isea responded to concerns that forcing banks to put such a high percentage of their cred-it toward construction and low-interest mortgages would threaten their stability.

Explaining the government’s continued increasing of the mandatory mortgage portfolio, he said, “We went from 10% to 12%, 12% to 15%, and now to 20%, even last year when de-mands for loans increased and some in the banking sector said we were going to put their liquidity at risk, which didn’t happen”.

“They (the banks) have very high profits and a great deal of liquidity that they must invest, and we knew they could support the increase”, he continued.

Isea further argued that the government had calculated the controlled interest rates for mortgage lending carefully, and that “there’s no reason this year that banks can’t fulfill their obligation”.

He added that if any bank did not fulfill its contribution to the fund, the state would take the corresponding legal actions.

Venezuela: Banks mustfund constructionand low-interest mortgages

T/ Paul DobsonP/ Presidential Press

Labor minister, Maria Cristi-na Iglesias, announced this

week that the Labor Ministry will be intensifying meetings with public sector and State run companies in the upcom-ing weeks to ensure the cor-rect application of the Labor Law for Workers, which was passed last year and comes into practice this May 7th.

Speaking at the Council of Ministers meeting in the Presi-dential Palace of Miraflores, the Minister declared that the Labor Law for Workers (Lottt) is currently at the stage where they are making the necessary real adjustments for its applica-tion, and that she will be pre-senting the applicatory regula-tions at the next meeting.

“On May 7th we will cel-ebrate the promulgation of the Lottt… this day it becomes val-id in the nation”, pronounced Iglesias.

The Law, which has been recognized as a great step forward for Venezuela and Venezuelans on the road to socialism, was described by Iglesias as “a conquest, a mas-sively important achievement for the working class”.

“We have had meetings with the public sector and we will continue to meet this week, also with State firms and with autonomous institutions”, she explained.

Highlighting some of the most important aspects of the Law, she told the nation that “now we are making it a reali-ty, this law, with the reduction of the working week from 44 to 40 hours and with 2 continu-ous days off for the workers”.

The Lottt also corrected many historic injustices by as-suring the labor rights of wom-en and people with disabili-

Application of laborlaw advances

ties, as well as complementing these legal rights with practi-cal steps to improve the qual-ity of life for such workers, such as obligatory work-based crèches for large firms. One of the other major advances in the 2012 law was the elimina-tion of subcontracting.

Iglesias went on to emphasize that the increase in free time for the working classes “opens important spaces… to work more for the development of the country and also free days to enjoy family time, recreation, to study, or for the National Recreation Plan, which is be-ing extended to all public spac-es”. The human right to family time, time for recreation, sport, to study, and for voluntary or community work is guaranteed in the Constitution on an equal footing as the right to work.

Regarding the meetings with the firms, the Minister explained that the Ministry wishes for the public sector and State run companies to “lead by example in the application of the norms”. The Ministry is also meeting with social orga-nizations and institutions, with workers and workers groups, with businessmen and women, all of whom will “of course re-ceive the support of the Minis-try”, she explained.

At the same meeting, Vice President Nicolas Maduro em-phatically stated that “we are calling on all of the working class to play a more protagonist and active role in their locali-ties, in their workplaces”. “We are building socialism here, which is not an easy task!”

“A society can only advance towards true prosperity”, Ma-duro explained, revealing his trade unionist roots, “if its workers are protected, and from that moment onwards it’s possible to elevate efficiency and to grow”.

The artillery of ideas6 Analysis | Friday, February 22, 2013

T/ Paul DobsonP/ Agencies

This week the group dedi-cated to revealing US gov-ernment secrets to the pub-

lic, Wikileaks, published over 40,000 secret documents re-garding Venezuela, which show clear US involvement in efforts to topple democratically elected leader Hugo Chavez.

The documents, which date from July 2004 to December 2011 and which were published through Wikileaks’ Twitter ac-count @wikileaks and are now available on Wikileaks Global Intelligence Files online, are based on emails from the pri-vate US intelligence company, Stratfor.

This company claims to pro-vide analysis for multinational corporations looking to invest in Venezuela, and uses a num-ber of local sources to develop their reports. However, their emails prove that their motives and objectives are far from in-dependent, and they are work-ing as an intelligence and strat-egy agency for those looking to develop suitable political condi-tions for economic subordina-tion, exploitation, and interven-tion in the country.

Wikileaks describes Stratfor as “a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but pro-vides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemi-cal Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, in-cluding the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Ma-rines and the US Defense Intel-ligence Agency”.

“The emails”, Wikileaks ex-plains, “show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods”.

The leaked emails cover a range of issues, but concentrate on the energy sector, especially petrochemicals and oil; politi-cal change and the state of the counter-revolutionary forces; and the state of the military and armed forces. They also touch on Venezuela’s relations with Cuba, China, Russia, and Iran, as well as providing bleak projections of the economy and future of the financial sector.

The firm’s emails are listed with the addresses of the send-er and receiver, as well as men-tioning, amongst other things, the reliability of the source from which they take the infor-mation. One email, which ex-poses the political requisites for reliability, according to Strat-for, uses a source described as a “Venezuelan economist in Caracas” who is described as having “source reliability: B (solidly anti-Chavez)”.

The emails mention meet-ings with, and biographies of, various prominent Venezu-elan opposition leaders, such as Antonio Ledezma (Mayor of Caracas), Henrique Capriles, Leopoldo Lopez, as well as right wing media tycoon Ra-fael Poleo: “I spoke to Rafael Poleo [a very prominent Ven-ezuelan political analyst] a couple of days ago” reports one source.

The emails to and from the Stratfor staff mention various political events during the peri-od, but focus on the student pro-tests of 2009-2010 when youth opposition sectors manipulated an electricity crisis in the coun-try brought about by the worst drought in 100 years which left

the hydro-based energy system completely dried up. They also address the RCTV protests fol-lowing the refusal to renew the public broadcasting license of the right wing TV channel after they backed the 2002 coup d’état and publicly called for the as-signation of President Chavez.

The emails make frequent reference to a Serbia-based right wing policy group called Canvas (Center for Applied Non Violent Action and Strategies). This group was integral in the NATO based actions that that overthrew the government in Yugoslavia, and makes fre-quent comparisons between Venezuela and Yugoslavia.

Representatives of Canvas state in an email to Stratfor that “the RCTV protests were a taster. More is to come, but Ven-ezuela does not offer as good of networks as those countries be-hind the (iron) curtain”. They also make clear their objective and political tendencies based on past work by Canvas, also known previously as Otpor: “Chavez is nothing compared to going against the old Soviet regimes”.

There are numerous Word documents sent amongst the

Wikileaks discloses more USinterference in Venezuela

emails, many of which are classed as “not for publication” and which detail the steps rec-ommended to enact a “revolu-tion” which would see Hugo Chavez thrown out of power. One is indeed referred to as “a how-to guide for revolution”. They go on to class Venezu-elan people as “retarded” and who “talk out of their ass”. The country is, according to Can-vas, “absolutely a joke”.

Canvas explains clearly their recommended strategy for top-pling governments: “when somebody asks us for help, as in Vene case, we usually ask them the question ‘and how would you do it’. That means that the first thing is to create a situational analysis (the word doc I sent you) and after that comes “Mission Statement” (still left to be done) and then “Operational Concept”, which is the plan for campaign” ex-plain Canvas to Stratfor. “For this case we have three cam-paigns: unification of opposi-tion, campaign for September elections and parallel with that a “get out and vote” cam-paign”.

“In NORMAL circumstanc-es” they go on to explain, “ac-

tivists come to us and work in a workshop on exactly this sort of a format. We only guide them. This is why plans end up being so efficient later on, because the activist themselves created them and are absolutely theirs, i.e. authentic”.

Referring to such destabiliz-ing plans, such as the RCTV protests, Canvas go on to state that “we only give them the tools to use”.

Making reference to the op-position alliance of parties, they further state that “in Venezuela’s case, because of the complete disaster that the place is, because of suspicion between opposition groups and disorganization, we have to do the initial analysis. Whether they go on to next steps re-ally depends on them, in other words depends on whether they will become aware that because of a lack of UNITY they can lose the race before it has started”.

“This year we are definitely ramping up activity in Venezu-ela” they write. Referring to the 2010 Parliamentary elections, the explain that “they have elections in September and we are in close connection with activists from there and people trying to help them (please keep this to yourself for now, no pub-lication). The first phase of our preparation is under way”.

The emails also leave the reader in no doubt about whom these people are helping the Venezuelan opposition activ-ists: “to answer your question, the US networks are definitely involved. I cannot confirm for you if that specific gentleman is involved, but the usual estab-lishments are”.

Other emails contains vari-ous attached files which provide rundowns of the exact status of the Venezuelan army, air force and navy, including numbers, equipment, and expertise.

“(We) will be sending along more info soon on the whole rundown of how Chavez has re-vamped the military/security apparatus over the past several years” states the sender. “It’s all scribbled on paper right now from my notes, but gotta say, I’m quite impressed with ‘ol Hugo”.

The fully detailed documents explain that “the army’s reform has stretched beyond the pro-curement of new assault and sniper rifles and now compris-es of a modernized doctrine too. New concepts include asym-metric warfare and reliance on the country’s communication and supply infrastructure as well as popular support to re-sist a large scale US invasion”.

The artillery of ideas Friday, February 22, 2013 | Analysis 7

Opposition claimsunity, allies disagree

T/ COIP/ Agencies

In another attempt to present themselves as a viable po-litical movement, Venezuela’s

right-wing opposition recently affirmed that a “transition is now underway” in the oil-rich Latin American nation. Ignor-ing President Chavez’s sweeping 2012 electoral victory and a Su-preme Court ruling that allows the President to “fully recover” from cancer-related surgery before continuing his 2013-2019 term, the opposition’s Demo-cratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition promised “unity” among right-wing forces is set to “overcome all challenges”.

Contradicting these asser-tions, Reuters recently reported that “old strains are emerging” within the opposition while Miami-based El Nuevo Herald affirmed the opposition cur-rently finds itself both “weak and divided”.

MAKING PROMISESThough reality indicates oth-

erwise, the Venezuelan opposi-tion recently declared change is coming to the nation. Speaking in Colombia at a forum titled “The Venezuelan Transition and Latin American Electoral Scenario”, opposition figure-head Ramon Guillermo Avele-do told a captive audience that “there is no doubt that a transi-tion is now underway”.

Aveledo, who is Secretary General of the opposition’s Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), tried explaining how Chavez’s authorized medical leave means a pending “transi-tion” is “indubitable”.

“The President has now been absent for over 60 days”, he said, “limiting the capac-ity for political maneuvers (by Chavez’s cabinet), combined with a difficult fiscal situation that impedes unlimited public spending and the eventual so-cial discontent that will be di-rected at those in charge of the government”.

Aveledo, who failed to elabo-rate on how his views meant a transition was “evident”, was joined by two notable Colombian figures – Jorge Humberto Botero and Andres Molano Rojas.

Botero, who served as the 2002 Campaign Manager to none other than former Colom-bian President Alvaro Uribe, later become Colombian Minis-ter of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism from 2003 to 2007. He is said to have been one of the ma-jor players behind the US -Co-lombia Free Trade Agreement and is now the World Bank’s representative in Colombia.

Rojas, meanwhile, is a graduate of the US National Defense Uni-versity’s Center for Hemispheric Studies and currently teaches at Colombia’s School of Intelligence and Counterintelligence as well as the country’s Advanced War College, among others.

Aveledo told Botero and Ro-jas, among others gathered at the Bogota forum that opposi-tion leaders such as himself “know that the country must not be abandoned”.

“The situation is bigger than any one of us, and the nation comes before the individual. United we speak to the nation”, he said, “and united we act”.

UNITY STRAINED?Aveledo’s claims come just

two weeks after Reuters pub-lished a piece by Diego Ore in which he explained that “Venezuela’s multiple oppo-sition parties took a decade

to unite against President Hugo Chavez, but old strains are emerging again just as he could be forced from power by cancer”.

“After years of in-fighting, election defeats and chaotic attempts to remove Chavez through street protests, an oil industry strike and even a brief coup, some 30 ideologically di-verse political groups formed the opposition coalition (MUD) in 2008”, Ore wrote.

“It stayed united”, he contin-ued, “and kept egos in check, during a long primary race to elect state governor Henrique Capriles as its 2012 presidential candidate”.

“Capriles’ defeat by Chavez was crushing for many in the opposition ranks”, he explained, and “a thrashing by Chavez’s ruling Socialist Party at region-al elections held in December, where the coalition took just

three of 23 governorships, ac-centuated the malaise”.

WEAK AND DIVIDEDIn another telling piece pub-

lished in last week’s El Nuevo Herald, anti-Chavez reporter Antonio Maria Delgado de-scribed the Venezuelan op-position as both “weak and divided”. Analyzing the opposi-tion’s conduct during President Chavez’s recent health-related stint in Havana, Delgado wrote that “their decisions seem to obey personal interests over a true desire to maintain unity”.

“Experts consulted by El Nuevo Herald”, Delgado wrote, “suggest that the Venezuelan opposition, organized under the auspices of the Democratic Uni-

ty Roundtable (MUD), should undergo a deep revision and overcome internal maneuver-ing that serves only to benefit certain political parties”.

Delgado, who frequently publishes hostile rants aimed at Venezuela, Cuba, and other ALBA nations, cited “experts” such as Venezuela-based “ana-lyst and columnist” Orlando Viera-Blanco as well as Diego Moya-Ocampos, Senior Analyst at US-based IHS Global Insight, a company dedicated to analyz-ing “energy, economics, geopo-litical risk, sustainability and supply chain management”.

According to Delgado, these men believe that “the Ven-ezuelan opposition, which had amassed considerable strength on the eve of last year’s presi-dential election, is currently both weak and divided”.

According to Viera-Blanco, for example, “no real unity cur-rently exists within the Demo-cratic Unity Roundtable”.

“The MUD is living through a moment”, explained Viera-Blanco, “in which attitudes are absolutely cupular, pyramidal, and hierarchical, where deci-sions are being made by four political actors”.

“Obviously”, he said, “this creates internal tensions”.

According to Moya-Ocampos, “the opposition has become sys-tematically weaker since last year’s presidential election”.

“It became even weaker af-ter regional elections (in De-cember) and, since then, we’ve watched the opposition fail to consolidate itself as a viable al-ternative”, he said.

NORIEGA RECOMMENDS Earlier this year, right-wing

conservative Roger Noriega voiced similar frustration with the Venezuelan opposition, writ-ing that in the context of Chavez’s current medical leave the opposi-tion “is virtually invisible”.

Noriega, who served as As-sistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs during the W. Bush Adminis-tration, suggested that “the pu-tative opposition leaders could capture some relevance if they were to reject Cuban inter-ventionism and demand that the regime come clean about Chavez’s condition”.

Interestingly, recent opposi-tion strategy has done just that. Opposition lawmakers are now making daily claims that Cuba controls the Chavez adminis-tration and, late last week, a group of right-wing students chained themselves outside of the Cuban Embassy in Caracas demanding an update on the President’s health.

Rojas, meanwhile, is a graduateof the US National Defense Uni-versity’s Center for HemisphericStudies and currently teaches atColombia’s School of Intelligence

to unite against PresidentHugo Chavez, but old strainsare emerging again just as hecould be forced from power bycancer”.

government expanding housing credit by $599 million in 2009, and continuing large credits through 2011.

But the government also had to reform and re-regulate the financial system in order to make things work. And here they embarked on what is pos-sibly the most comprehensive financial reform of any country in the 21st century. The govern-ment took control over the Cen-tral Bank, and forced it to bring

back about $2 billion of reserves held abroad. This was used by the public banks to make loans for infrastructure, housing, ag-riculture, and other domestic investment.

They put taxes on money leav-ing the country, and required banks to keep 60 percent of their liquid assets inside the country. They pushed real interest rates down, while bank taxes were increased. The government re-negotiated agreements with for-

navigated the storm with a mild recession that lasted three quar-ters; a year later it was back at its pre-recession level of output and on its way to the achieve-ments that made Correa one of the most popular presidents in the hemisphere.

How did they do it? Perhaps most important was a large fis-cal stimulus in 2009, about 5 per-cent of GDP (if only we had done that here in the US). A big part of that was construction, with the

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

INTERNATIONAL Friday, February 22, 2013 | Nº 147 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

Rafael Correa’s Victory

Ecuador’s new deal: Nothingsucceeds like success

Opinion

T/ Mark WeisbrotP/ AFP

Rafael Correa won last Sunday’s presidential election in Ecuador by a

landslide and will continue in office with another four year presidential term. It’s not hard to see why.

Unemployment fell to 4.1 percent by the end of last year – a record low for at least 25 years. Poverty has fallen by 27 percent since 2006. Public spending on education has more than doubled, in real (inflation- adjusted) terms. Increased health care spend-ing has expanded access to medical care, and other social spending has also increased substantially, including a vast expansion of government-sub-sidized housing credit.

If all that sounds like it must be unsustainable, it’s not. Inter-est payments on Ecuador’s pub-lic debt are less than 1 percent of GDP, which is quite small; and the public debt to GDP ra-tio is a modest 25 percent.

The Economist, which doesn’t much care for any of the left governments that now govern the vast majority of South America, attributes Cor-rea’s success to “a mixture of luck, opportunism and skill”. But it was really the skill that made the difference.

Correa may have had luck, but it wasn’t good luck: he took office in January of 2007 and the next year Ecuador was one of the hardest hit countries in the hemisphere by the international financial crisis and world recession. That’s because it was heav-ily dependent on remittances from abroad (e.g. workers in the United States and Spain), and oil exports, which made up 62 percent of export earn-ings and 34 percent of govern-ment revenue at the time. Oil prices collapsed by 79 percent in 2008 and remittances also crashed. The combined effect on Ecuador’s economy was comparable to the collapse of the US housing bubble, which gave us the Great Recession.

And Ecuador also had the bad luck of not having its own currency (it had adopted the US dollar in 2000) – which means it couldn’t use the exchange rate or the kind of monetary policy that our Federal Reserve de-ployed, in order to counteract the recession. But Ecuador

eign oil companies when prices rose. Government revenue rose from 27 percent of GDP in 2006 to over 40 percent last year.

The Correa administration also increased funding to the “popular and solidarity” part of the financial sector – coop-eratives, credit unions, and other member-based organi-zations. Co-op loans tripled in real terms between 2007 and 2012.

The end result of these and other reforms was to move the financial sector more toward something that would serve interests of the public, instead of the other way around (as in the US). To this end the gov-ernment also separated the fi-nancial sector from the media -- the banks had owned most of the major media before Correa was elected -- and introduced anti-trust reforms.

Of course, the conventional wisdom is that such “business unfriendly” practices as re-negotiating oil contracts, in-creasing the size and regula-tory authority of government, increasing taxes and placing restrictions on capital move-ments, is a sure recipe for economic disaster. Ecuador also defaulted on a third of its foreign debt after an interna-tional commission found that portion to have been illegally contracted. And the “indepen-dence” of the Central Bank, which Ecuador revoked -- is considered sacrosanct by most economists today. But Correa, a Ph.D. economist, knew when it is best to ignore the major-ity of the profession.

Correa has gotten some bad press for going against the con-ventional wisdom and – per-haps worse in the eyes of the business press -- succeeding. The worst media assault came when Ecuador offered asylum to Wikileaks journalist Julian Assange. But here, as with eco-nomic policy and financial re-form, Correa was right. It was obvious, especially after the UK government made an un-precedented threat to invade Ecuador’s embassy, that this was a case of political persecu-tion. How rare, and refreshing, for a politician to stand firm against such powerful forces – the United States and its allies in Europe, and in the interna-tional media – for the sake of principle. But Correa’s tenac-ity and courage has served his country well.