The artillery of ideasENGLISH EDITIONFRIDAY | November 12, 2010 | No. 37 | Bs. 1 | CARACAS

Venezuela and Cuba celebrate cooperationPresident Hugo Chavez was in Cuba this week for the 10th anniversary of an agreement signed to consolidate and advance cooperation between Venezuela and Cuba. The accord has brought major results for both nations, aiding Cuba’s energy and consumer needs, while helping Venezuela to eradicate illiteracy, guarantee universal, free healthcare and make important strides in industry, technology and agricultural production.

Pg. 7 | Culture Pg. 8 | Opinion

AnalysisUS increases clandestine ops US agencies are escalating secret programs to destabilize the Chavez government.

EconomyNationalizations create jobsA textile industry, Silka, was nationalized this week after more than a decade of abandonment.

Workers struggle for protective Labor LawsVenezuelan workers marched on the National Assembly this week to demand labor laws be approved before the year ends.

Thousands of Venezuelans have been affected by real estate scams that have left homebuyers displaced, disgruntled and in severe debt

A decades-old fi nancial scam to trick eager homebuyers into handing over their savings for a future home has fi nally been put to an end. The Chavez government has expropriated several private companies responsible for stealing millions of

dollars from innocent Venezuelans seeking to buy residential property. The companies violated laws by demanding illegal deposits, raising prices post-contract, bullying homebuyers and even selling the same property to several customers.

New Amazon species discovered

Venezuela advances in drug warMoving forward in the fi ght

against narco-traffi cking and the illicit drug trade, Ven-ezuela’s National Anti-Narcotics Offi ce (ONA) reported earlier this week that the nation’s secu-rity forces have successfully im-pounded nearly 56 tons of illicit substances in 2010.

The list of drugs seized include 33,304 tons of marijuana, 22,148 tons of cocaine, 28,792 kilos of heroin, 158,821 kilos of crack and another 61,735 kilos of cocaine paste called bazuco.

In addition to the confi sca-tions, the ONA reports that over

10,000 people have been arrested for drug traffi cking so far this year.

The progress that has marked the fi ght against narco-traffi cking in Venezuela is largely a result of the government’s Anti-Drug Plan 2009–2013, which incorporates a range of strategies to combat both the sale and the use of illicit sub-stances.

The plan, based on community involvement and education, rep-resents a focus different from that of previous government’s, whose anti-drug efforts were dominated by foreign interests.

In 2005, the Venezuelan gov-ernment expelled the US Drug Enforcement Agency from the country for meddling in the na-tion’s internal affairs.

Although drug seizures have increased in Venezuela since the DEA’s forced departure, Wash-ington has placed the South American nation on a drug black-list, accusing the country of not participating with international drug enforcement efforts.

Venezuelan offi cials have dis-missed the allegations, calling them politically motivated and without a factual basis.

PPggggggggg. 8 ||||| OOppppppppppiinniionAlexander Main analyzes how the latest US election results will affect relations with Latin America

PPgggg. 7 || CCuulturee Venezuela inaugurates its annual International Book Fair (FILVEN), offering thousands of titles at affordable rates for all

More than 1,200 species have been discovered in

the Amazon over the past de-cade, including giant snakes, colorful frogs and tiger-striped tarantulas. The new species in-clude 637 plants, 257 fi sh, 216 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 16 birds and 39 mammals, confi rming that the Amazon is one of the most diverse places on Earth.

Among the fi ndings are the fi rst new species of anaconda identifi ed since 1936, a frog with a ‘burst of fl ames’ on its head, a parrot with a bald head, a pink river dolphin, a bright red blind catfi sh and a tiger-striped tarantula.

Sarah Hutchison, World Wild-life Fund forest program manag-er for Brazil, said all the species were at risk of deforestation.

She pointed out that in the last 50 years humankind has caused the destruction of at least 17% of the Amazon rainforest, an area twice the size of Spain.

“The rate of discovery of new species is astounding – and does not even include insect groups where the discoveries are almost too many to count. This report shows the incredible diversity of life in the Amazon, and we need urgent and immediate ac-tion if it is to survive”, she said.

Venezuela shares a large portion of the Amazon in its southern territory.

T/ Louise Gray

2

Venezuelan Government cracks down on real estate fraud

IMPACT|2| No 37 • Friday, November 12, 2010 The artillery of ideas

In efforts to confront the wide-spread real estate fraud which has

plagued private sector home con-struction for years, the Venezuelan government convened a special as-sembly last weekend to devise pro-tective measures for citizens cheated by the construction companies and developers that dominate the coun-try’s housing market.

The assembly was presided over by Vice President Elias Jaua and included the participation of various government minis-ters as well as ordinary citizens scammed by the illegal business practices of private sector real es-tate fi rms.

Held at the headquarters of the nation’s consumer protection agen-cy, Indepabis, the meeting came on the heels of President Hugo Chavez’s announcement last week that the government would expro-priate six urban developments, oc-cupy and oversee the completion of another eight, and implement protective measures for homebuy-ers in nineteen other incomplete housing projects.

The government’s decision, designed to ensure the delivery of homes paid for by the clients of dubious private contractors, has been supported by the many homebuyers who have been wait-ing for years for their housing units to be completed.

“We hope that the government’s measures quicken the bureaucrat-ic steps of the construction com-pany so that the apartments can be given to us in as short a time as possible”, said Clairet Alva-rez, a home buyer from the state of Carabobo who has been wait-ing three years to be able to move into her new apartment.

Venezuela: government crackdown on real estate fraudThousands of Venezuelans have been victims of housing fraud by private corporations preying on fi rst-time homebuyers, overcharging for deposits and downpayments, selling the same property to numerous, unsuspecting customers, and raising rates post-contract for properties never built

RAMPANT FRAUDAlthough there is no offi cial

fi gure for the number of Venezu-elans who have been victimized by real estate scams, Indepabis reports that there are “thou-sands” of known cases where mainly middle class homebuy-ers have been subjected to un-scrupulous business practices involving property sales and purchases.

During a special program broadcast on the state television channel, Venezolana de Televi-sion (VTV), numerous citizens presented testimony specifying how private construction fi rms have been swindling citizens out of their savings through a variety of methods.

One of the most common prac-tices employed by the companies has been the indefi nite postpone-ment of home construction fol-lowed by an increase in the down payment demanded by contrac-tors, allegedly based on what the companies attribute to the coun-try’s yearly infl ation rate.

Dersia Alvarez, a homebuyer from Caracas, explained how she was subjected to a fabricated price increase by one fi rm.

“After paying for the initial down payment, I contacted the company…because the project had been paralyzed for a year and we hadn’t seen any move-ment on the part of the machin-ery. The contractor always gave me the same line; that the project would soon get started again but

it never did…It was at that time that they told me I had to sign a new contract because over the past two years there had been an adjustment for infl ation”.

Although Venezuela’s yearly infl ation rate has averaged 26% over the past fi ve years, the prac-tice of boosting prices according to the Consumer Price Index for incomplete work is illegal.

Another tactic described by the testimony of victims has been the sale of the same incomplete home to more than one client.

During her testimony on the program last Sunday, homebuy-er Mayeling Barrios displayed a document gathered by herself and her neighbors revealing that the same apartment, which had never been constructed, had been sold to as many as fi ve potential owners.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSEAs an outcome of the special

assembly held last weekend to attend to the surge in complaints lodged by private citizens, the government has devised a three-pronged strategy to assist those who have been victimized by real estate scams.

The fi rst step, as outlined by Vice President Jaua, will entail a rebate given to those owners who are already living in completed homes but have been overcharged by contractors.

“These people will continue be-ing the legitimate owners of their homes and only have to enter into

a program of re-negotiation of the price they paid”, Jaua explained.

Apartment units that have been constructed, but have yet to be handed over to their owners, will also be considered as part of this fi rst group.

According to the Vice President, these units may be delivered to homebuyers by President Chavez in as soon as eight days.

The second step will be devot-ed to homes in construction that have been expropriated by the government.

A state fund will be created to accelerate completion of the housing units in order to deliver them to their owners as soon as possible.

Finally, the third step will in-volve the most delayed housing projects, which have yet to begin construction.

For these projects, the gov-ernment has embarked on a

program of expropriation and occupation of worksites that in-cludes the seizure of all machin-ery and an order on behalf of the Attorney General’s offi ce to prevent the owners of the con-struction fi rms from leaving the country until the specifi c cases are settled.

“Its very important to keep in mind that this [response] is possible because we have a gov-ernment independent from the established economic powers”, Jaua said of the state’s new mea-sures.

“President Chavez owes noth-ing to the real estate fi rms, bank-ers or the business community. None of them have fi nanced any of his electoral campaigns. This is the big difference between this government and former govern-ments”, he recalled.

FURTHER HOUSING INITIATIVESIn addition to the three steps to

be taken by the government to ad-dress home buyers’ complaints, President Hugo Chavez informed last Sunday that the government would create a special offi ce in the presidential palace of Mira-fl ores to deal directly with cases of real estate fraud.

“I have asked my Chief of Staff, Francisco Ameliach, to create a situational room so that informa-tion, ideas, complaints, and pro-posals come to me faster in order to support those affected by fraud from all vantage points”, he an-nounced.

The Venezuelan head of state also described the creation of a new aid program to support vic-tims of property scams.

“For those families that have problems, we’ll give them credits and open a grace period so that they can recover. All of this we can and will do in order to obtain justice”, he affi rmed.

Additionally, Chavez an-nounced that the government would invest a further $1.5 bil-lion USD in the housing sector for 2011, above and beyond the projected national budget of $204 billion.

“We’re always thinking about the national interest and I’ve as-signed $1.5 billion USD, which we already have…for the housing sector, including the middle class, just for 2011”, he declared.

T/ Edward Ellis

For these projects, the government has embarked on a program

of expropriation and occupation

of worksites that includes the seizure of all machinery and an order on behalf of the Attorney General’s

offi ce

ANALYSIS No 37 • Friday, November 12, 2010 |3|The artillery of ideas

The 2010 annual report of the Offi ce of Transition Initiatives

(OTI), a division of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), regarding its operations in Venezuela, evidences that at least $9.29 million USD was invest-ed this year in efforts to “support US foreign policy objectives…and promote democracy” in the South American nation. This amount represents an increase of almost $2 million over last year’s $7.45 mil-lion distributed through this offi ce to fund anti-Chávez political ac-tivities in the country.

The OTI is a department of USAID dedicated to “support-ing US foreign policy objectives by helping local partners advance democracy in priority countries in crisis. OTI works on the ground to provide, fast, fl exible short-term assistance targeted at key political transition and stabilization needs”.

Although OTI is traditionally used as a “short-term” strategy to fi lter millions of dollars in liquid funds to political groups and activi-ties that promote US agenda in stra-tegically important nations, the case of Venezuela has been different. OTI opened its offi ce in 2002, right after the failed coup d’etat against President Hugo Chavez - backed by Washington - and has remained ever since. The OTI in Venezuela is the longest standing offi ce of this type in USAID’s history.

OTI’S CLANDESTINE OPSIn a confi dencial memo dated

January 22, 2002, Russell Porter, head of OTI, revealed how and why USAID set up shop in Venezu-ela. “OTI was asked to consider a program in Venezuela by the State Department’s Offi ce of Andean Af-fairs on January 4…OTI was asked if it could offer programs and as-

Washington increases clandestine ops against Venezuela Millions of dollars are being channeled to opposition groups in Venezuela via USAID, while the Pentagon has established a new PSYOP program directed at Venezuela, including a “5-day a week television program in Spanish broadcast in Venezuela” during 2011

sistance in order to strengthen the democratic elements that are un-der increasing fi re from the Chavez government”.

Porter visited Venezuela on January 18, 2002 and then com-mented, “For democracy to have any chance of being preserved, immediate support is needed for independent media and the civil society sector…One of the large weaknesses in Venezuela is the lack of a vibrant civil society…The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has a $900,000 program in Venezuela that works with NDI, IRI and the Solidarity Center to strengthen political par-ties and the Unions…This pro-gram is useful, but not nearly suf-fi cient. It is not fl exible enough, nor does it work with enough new or non-traditional groups. It also lacks a media component”.

Since then OTI has been pres-ent in Venezuela, channeling mil-lions of dollars each year to feed the political confl ict in the coun-try. According to the 2010 annual report, OTI is now operating “out of the US Embassy and is part of a larger US diplomatic effort to pro-mote democracy in Venezuela”.

The principal investment of the $9.29 million in US taxpayer dol-lars in 2010 went to the opposition’s campaign for the legislative elec-tions, held last September 26 in Ven-ezuela. “USAID works with several implementing partners drawn from the spectrum of civil society…offer-ing technical assistance to political parties…and supporting efforts to strengthen civil society”.

In Venezuela, it’s widely known that the term “civil society” refers to the anti-Chavez opposition.

SECRET FLOW OF FUNDSDespite revealing its overall

budget, the actual fl ow of funds from USAID/OTI to groups in Venezuela remains secret. When OTI opened its offi ces in 2002, it contracted a private US company, Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), one of the State Depart-ment’s largest contractors world-wide. DAI ran an offi ce out of El Rosal – the Wall Street of Caracas – distributing millions of dollars annually in “small grants of no more than $100,000” to hundreds of mainly unknown Venezuelan “organizations”.

From 2002 to 2010, more than 600 of these “small grants” were channeled out of DAI’s offi ce to anti-Chavez groups, journalists and private, opposition media campaigns.

In December 2009, DAI began to have severe problems with its op-erations in Afghanistan, when fi ve of its employees were killed by al-leged Taliban militants during an attack on their offi ce December 15 in Gardez. Just days earlier, anoth-er DAI “employee”, Alan Gross, had been detained in Cuba and accused of subversion for illegally distributing advanced satellite equipment to dissidents.

When an article written by this author titled “CIA Agents killed in Afghanistan worked for com-pany active in Venezuela, Cuba”, published December 30, 2009

on the web, evidenced the link between DAI’s operations in Af-ghanistan, Cuba and Venezuela, and their suspicious nature, the CEO of DAI, Jim Boomgard, was alarmed. Days later, he attempted to coerce me into a private meet-ing in Washington to “discuss” my article. When I refused, he threatened me by claiming that my writing was “placing all DAI employees worldwide in dan-ger”. In other words, if anything happened to DAI employees, I would be personalIy responsible.

But Boomgard, who claimed little knowledge of his company’s operations in Venezuela, under-stood that what DAI was doing in Venezuela was nowhere near as important (to his company) as what DAI was doing in Afghani-stan and other countries in con-fl ict. Weeks later, DAI abruptly closed its offi ce in Caracas.

Nonetheless, OTI continues its operations in Venezuela, and al-though it has other US “partners” managing a portion of its annual multimillion-dollar budget, such as IRI, NDI, Freedom House and the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), there is zero transparency regarding funding to Venezuelan groups.

A report published in May 2010 by the Spanish think tank FRIDE assessing “democracy assistance” to Venezuela revealed that a signif-icant part of the more than $50 mil-lion annually in political funding from international agencies to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela was entering illicitly. According to the report, in order to avoid Venezu-ela’s strict “currency control laws”, US and European agencies bring the monies in dollars or euros into the country and then change them on the black market to increase val-ue. This method also avoids leav-ing a fi nancial record or trace of the funds coming in to illegally fi nance political activities.

If DAI is no longer operating in Venezuela and distributing “small grants” to Venezuelan groups, then how are USAID’s multimillion-dollar funds reach-ing their recipients? According to USAID, they now operate from the US Embassy. Is the US Em-bassy illegally dishing out funds directly to Venezuelans?

OTI’s 2010 report also reveals the agency’s ongoing intentions to continue supporting and fund-ing Venezuelan counterparts. In the section marked “Upcoming

Events”, OTI makes clear where energies will be directed, “Decem-ber 2012 – Presidential elections”.

PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONSUSAID isn’t the only US agen-

cy intervening in Venezuela’s affairs. In the Pentagon’s 2011 budget, a new request for a “psy-chological operations program” for the Southern Command (US-SOUTHCOM), which coordinates all US military missions in Latin America, is included. Specifi cally, the request refers to the establish-ment of a “PSYOP voice program for USSOUTHCOM”.

PYSOP are, “planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to infl uence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign govern-ments, organizations, groups and individuals. The execution of PSY-OP includes conducting research on various foreign audiences; de-veloping, producing and dissemi-nating products to infl uence these audiences; and conducting evalu-ations to determine the effective-ness of the PSYOP activities. These activities may include the manage-ment of various websites and mon-itoring print and electronic media”. Or, as the 2011 request indicates, running a radio or audio program into a foreign nation to promote US agenda.

USSOUTHCOM’s new PSYOP program in Latin America will complement a new State Depart-ment initiative run out of the Board of Broadcasting Gover-nors (BBG), which manages US propaganda worldwide. BBG’s whopping 2011 budget of $768.8 million includes “a 30-minute, fi ve-day-a-week VOA [Voice of America] Spanish television pro-gram for Venezuela”.

This increase in PSYOP and pro-US propaganda directed at Ven-ezuela evidences an escalation in US aggression towards the region.

And the Offi ce of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is still running a special intelligence “mission” on Venezuela and Cuba, set up in 2006. Only four of these country-specifi c “mission man-agement teams” exist: Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan/Pakistan, and Venezuela/Cuba. These “mis-sions” receive an important part of DNI’s $80 billion annual budget and operate in complete secrecy.

T/ Eva Golinger

economy|4| No 37 • Friday, November 12, 2010 The artillery of ideas

The factory, owned by the com-pany Silka, was deserted seven-

teen years ago by its owners as part of what Jaua attributed to the “poli-cies of neoliberalism” that scarred Venezuela’s social development for a majority of the 1990s.

“The textile sector was one of the most affected by neoliberalism”, he said on Saturday, referring to the free trade measures forced upon Latin American nations by institutions such as the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The floodgates were opened to imports, tariffs were eliminat-ed, and what was once the textile sector was ruined by capitalism”, the Vice President affirmed.

When the Silka plant was shut in 1993, 171 workers were left un-employed and without benefits, sparking a struggle by the plant’s ex-employees for the payment of a more than seven million bo-livars ($1.6 million USD) debt owed to them by the company’s previous employers.

“After the boss unfortunately closed the plant, he took with him all the machinery and left the workers in the street – workers who for 20 years dedicated their life to helping him get rich”, Jaua imputed.

According to the Vice President, the debt – which had been condi-tioned on the sale of the factory property – will now be covered by the government as it installs a new cotton manufacturing opera-tion in the old facility.

The government’s new enter-prise, Jaua explained, will be run by the socialist company Orinoco

Nationalizations reactivate abandoned industries, create jobs

Adding to a string of recent government interventions intended to democratize key economic sectors and increase domestic productivity, Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua announced last weekend the nationalization of an abandoned textile factory in the state of Miranda

Cotton as a “communal business” between “the workers, the gov-ernment and the people”.

The ex-workers of the Silka plant, who had been seeking na-tionalization for years, welcomed the government’s decision to in-tervene and reestablish textile production.

Alfredo Solorzano, one of the la-bor leaders involved in the nearly two-decade struggle, expressed the former Silka employees’ con-viction to help get the new initia-tive off the ground.

“Our co-workers who have ex-perience in the management of the factory will be the instructors and will come to help the youth of this region learn the trade in order to demonstrate that socialism is about productivity, work, and hap-piness. Now, the workers of this textile plant will work for the social good”, Solorzano proclaimed.

NATIONALIZATIONS CAUSE A STIROver the past month, seven

private companies and a series of housing projects have been nationalized by the Chavez gov-ernment, provoking a series of re-actions from the Venezuelan busi-ness class and their international colleagues.

The news agency EFE reports that this year alone, the Venezue-lan government has nationalized over 200 businesses while during

ten years of Chavez’s presidency, a total of 762 private firms and es-tates have been expropriated and handed over to laborers and small farmers working in collaboration with the government.

Recently, a World Bank report entitled Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entre-preneurs, cited Venezuela as hav-ing the worst business climate in Latin America.

This comes despite the billions of dollars allocated by the Chavez administration in the form of mi-cro-credits and start-up capital for small-scale cooperatives, com-munity groups and agricultural producers.

Noel Alvarez, head of the Ven-ezuelan chamber of commerce, FEDECAMARAS, responsible for carrying out a violent coup d’etat against the Chavez government

in 2002, described the business climate as a “permanent state of siege” owing to the recent in-crease in expropriations.

Both Vice President Jaua and the Science, Technology, and In-termediary Industries Minister, Ricardo Menendez, have defend-ed the nationalizations on the grounds of heightened produc-tivity and strengthened protec-tion for workers rights.

“There has been a permanent manipulation of what national-ization means”, Menendez said, pointing out the success that the state telecommunications com-pany, CANTV, has had since it came under government control in 2007.

“[The private sector] arrogantly says that things left in the hands of the state don’t work… Since na-tionalization, [CANTV has] grown by more than 65%”, he affirmed.

JUST COMPENSATIONAccording to Venezuelan law,

any expropriation of a private business must be accompanied by full compensation to the own-ers of that business, making the nationalizations tantamount to forced buyouts as opposed to confiscations.

As with the case of Silka, many of the nationalizations have come at the behest of labor unions and workers themselves.

During a visit to the state-owned Lacteos Los Andes milk processing plant on Friday, Vice President Jaua affirmed that the government respects private property and that the Chavez administration is only concerned with democratizing strategic in-dustries necessary for the nation’s development.

“There is no intention to na-tionalize the entire private sector, only where there are monopolies and oligopolies”, he clarified.

As evidence of the effective-ness of the government’s nation-alizations, Jaua reported a 50% increase in milk production at the processing plant since the facility was taken under government and worker control in 2008.

“In all the country’s super-markets, the only pasteurized milk that can be found is that of Lacteos Los Andes because it’s the only one that is being pro-duced on a large scale and at a fair price”, the Vice President said, with reference to the pri-vate sector’s aversion to milk production.

Until recently, Venezuela has faced temporary milk shortages as private companies have re-fused to supply the market at prices mandated by the national government.

Favoring profit over the needs of the community, many dairy producers have destined their milk production to secondary dairy products in order to subvert the price controls aimed at ensur-ing the availability of certain ba-sic food products for the nation’s population.

TRANSPORTE ASERContinuing with the theme of

nationalizations, Jaua also an-nounced during his visit to the milk processing plant the expro-priation of the transportation company, Transporte Aser, which will be integrated in the functions of the dairy facility.

“Last Thursday, President Chavez signed the decree so that Transporte Aser will become property of the nation”, he af-firmed.

T/ Edward EllisP/ Agencies

integration No 37 • Friday, November 12, 2010 |5|The artillery of ideas

Cuba and Venezuela commemorate 10th anniversary of bilateral cooperation

The Cuban and Venezuelan governments commemorated the 10th anniversary of the beginning of their bilateral cooperation during a working visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to the Caribbean island over the weekend

On October 30, 2000, during Chavez’s second year in of-

fice, the two countries signed the “Integral Agreement for Collabo-ration” in Caracas. It marked the beginning of an anti-imperialist alliance and a form of exchange that was presented as an alterna-tive to the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Through the accord, Venezuela began shipping 53,000 barrels per day of its principal export, oil, to fuel-starved Cuba in exchange for human services worth the approx-imate market value of the oil.

In subsequent years, tens of thousands of Cuban doctors, dentists, optometrists, physi-cal therapists, nurses, and other health care workers staffed free clinics in thousands of Venezue-la’s poorest neighborhoods. Cuba also provided vaccines, treatment for illnesses such as heart disease, anemia, asthma, HIV and AIDS,

and began training Venezuelan doctors in a program called “Inte-gral Community Medicine”.

Also through the accord, Cuban agronomists worked with Ven-ezuelan officials to modernize Ven-ezuela’s sugar industry, and Cuban specialists provided on-site train-ing in agroecology, organic fertil-izer production, irrigation, sustain-able forestry, and the promotion of agricultural cooperatives.

Cuban literacy trainers assist-ed Venezuela’s national drive to eradicate illiteracy, a goal that was achieved in 2005 according to the United Nations. In addition, Cu-ban physical education experts worked to integrate athletics into Venezuela’s public health and public education systems.

Bilateral relations between Cuba and Venezuela have ex-panded over the years to include state-controlled economic devel-opment projects in the areas of oil refining, electricity production,

tourism, mining, light and heavy industries, and railway systems.

In 2004, Venezuela and Cuba created a bloc called the Bolivar-ian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) that is based on the Cuba-Venezuela model of co-operation and now also includes Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Anti-gua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

EXTRAORDINARY SOCIAL GAINSIn an interview broadcast on

Venezuelan and Cuban television on Sunday, President Chavez said this system of integration was “unprecedented in Latin America and the world”.

He said bilateral cooperation with Cuba has helped his oil-dependent nation boost its long-neglected agricultural sector, di-versify industries, and strengthen anti-poverty programs.

“The Cuban people have made a great contribution to the Bolivarian

Revolution”, said Chavez, refer-ring to his government’s program, which is named after Simon Bolivar, a Latin American independence hero. “Both nations have benefited from this relationship, respecting the particularities of our respec-tive systems...both revolutions will continue to be consolidated and to mutually support each other”, ex-claimed Chavez.

The President boasted about Ven-ezuela’s reduction of poverty, mal-nutrition, infant mortality, and eco-nomic inequality, and its increase in educational enrollment from primary school through university during his ten-year administration. He noted that these achievements are recognized by the United Na-tions and said they are steps toward “21st Century Socialism”. “We have become the cradle of a new world”, said the Venezuelan President.

US AGGRESSIONChavez emphasized the role of

the US government in impeding this process by supporting a mili-tary coup organized by the Venezu-elan opposition in April 2002 and by maintaining its blockade against Cuba despite repeated unanimous votes in the United Nations to end the blockade. “Cuba and Venezuela have united to break the chains of backwardness, and we have helped Cuba to minimize the impact of the blockade imposed by the United States”, Chavez said. “That is why the [US] empire attacked and con-tinues to attack Cuba so much, they are trying to put out the flame”, declared the Venezuelan head of state. The Venezuelan opposition has strongly criticized the Chavez administration’s cooperation with Cuba. In September, opposition candidates for the Venezuelan National Assembly centered their campaign platforms on ominous warnings that Venezuela was on the road toward a “Castro-communist dictatorship”.

Major opposition media outlets regularly state that the increased role of the Venezuelan government in industries such as oil, food, con-struction, and electricity stifles economic growth and violates the constitutional right to own private property. The administration has responded by asserting that the government is defending the right of Venezuela’s poor to participa-tion in private property owner-ship by guaranteeing access to basic goods and services.

T/ James Suggettwww.venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuela, Saudi Arabia: two OPEC giants strengthen relationsAn increase in energy coop-

eration was the final con-clusion reached during meetings held between Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and Saudi Arabian Oil and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Ibrahim Al Naimi this week in Riad.

The member nations of the Or-ganization of Petroleum Export-ing Countries (OPEC) decided to strengthen relations between their two state-run oil companies, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco.

Venezuela and Saudi Arabia own the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Among the themes discussed by the high-level government representatives were future in-vestment possibilities for Saudi companies in Venezuela.

Maduro and Al Naimi shared the same opinion regarding the role played by OPEC to stabilize oil prices, after the world finan-cial crisis in 2009, and they both insisted on the importance of multilateral organizations func-

tioning properly in order to se-cure a balance of global power.

Likewise, both ministers as-sured that the stabilization of oil prices and production was a result of the political will of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Bilateral cooperation between these two countries also includes agriculture, industry, infrastruc-ture, and transfer of key tech-nologies.

T/ Venezuelan News Agency

SOCIAL JUSTICE|6| No 37• Friday, November 12, 2010 The artillery of ideas

The confederation of labor unions, the National Union of

Workers (UNT), is demanding the law be passed in the parliamenta-ry body before opposition parties have the chance to debate the leg-islation when the new National Assembly takes offi ce in January 2011. Opposition candidates won 40% of the legislature during elec-tions held last September 26th.

The workers, who had arrived to the rally with union banners from each corner of Venezuela, marched to the National Assem-bly from central Caracas, chant-ing slogans demanding an end to capitalism and calling for worker control in state industries.

The demonstration made its way up through downtown Ca-racas until it arrived at the corner of the National Assembly build-ing, where the leadership of UNT handed over a letter to legislators containing the main components of the proposed law.

The document will also be pre-sented to the offi ce of Venezuelan Vice President, Elias Jaua.

LINGERING LEGISLATIONThe law was fi rst presented

to the National Assembly seven years ago and still has yet to be debated and approved.

The proposed legislation de-mands better salaries for workers and full contractual benefi ts for all workers throughout the length of employment.

Besides better pay and condi-tions, the legislation also seeks to put exploitative bosses in courts so they are accountable for their actions against employees. Prison sentences could even apply in some circumstances.

The law is designed to make sure that the Ministry of Labor is more effi cient in the implemen-tation of government policy to-wards labor unions.

UNT leader Marcela Maspero underlined what was at stake, not only for Venezuelan working

Venezuelan workers urge new Labor LawsThousands of Venezuelan workers descended on the country’s legislative house, the National Assembly, on Tuesday to push for a new labor law that increases rights in the work place

people, but also for the Bolivarian Revolution.

“So that we are successful in the 2012 [presidential elections], so that the revolutionary process is strengthened and we defeat the fraudulent capitalists, we have to make progress with workers’ control, workers’ democracy and fi nally defeat the bureaucracy that is blocking the advance of the process”.

Despite modest gains for so-cialist forms of economic organi-zation, the Venezuela economy is still largely, approximately 75%, privately owned.

Maspero added, “We must ad-vance further towards the build-ing of a socialist model that must be expressed not only in the sover-eignty of the people, through the equal distribution of wealth and the elimination of exploitation, but also in the eradication of inter-nal bureaucracy in business”.

OPPOSITION PRESSUREWorkers fear that in January,

when parties from the opposi-tion coalition take their seats in the National Assembly, they will seek to water down the legisla-tion, even though they don’t have enough seats to block it entirely.

The right-wing bloc has made a big issue out of public owner-ship of the means of production.

The main organization that leads the opposition coalition, Primero Justicia, is an extreme right-wing party that places strict private ownership and control of busi-ness as a central part of its ideol-ogy and policies.

The opposition coalition is also linked to FEDECAMARAS, the powerful business lobby that played a central role in the April 2002 coup that violently - but tem-porarily – ousted Venezuelan Pres-ident Hugo Chavez from power.

Senior UNT offi cial Pedro Eusse pressed home the point.

“The furthest advances of the Revolution at the moment guar-antee the right to participatory de-mocracy on the part of workers in workplaces, applying the principal of workers’ control over the pro-cesses of production, administra-tion, distribution and trade of good and services. This fundamentally exists in companies that are already socially [publicly] owned”.

Regarding privately owned fi rms, Eusse said that while Ven-ezuela was in “revolutionary tran-sition” away from capitalism and towards socialism, they had to “gain, little by little, more control, and capacity for control, so that all economic activity is subordinated to the needs of the people”.

For that reason, he argued for the establishment of “Socialist

Workers’ Councils” as part of the proposed labor law.

Carlos Prieto, a grassroots dem-onstrator, explained the urgency of passing the new law but also pointed out that resistance to this law hasn’t come from the oppo-sition, but rather from within the government.

“We have waited seven years while the National Assembly has been practically 100% in the hands of the Revolution. We don’t know why we have had to wait seven years”.

He went on to blame the “bu-reaucracy”, or large elements of those working in the state who aren’t really socialists or revolu-tionaries.

“They block laws and oppose radical change. They are corrupt and seek the continuation of the capitalist system. We must de-feat them or they will defeat the Revolution”.

A representative of security guard workers present at Tues-day’s march, Tulio Paredes, added his view, “Our section of workers, from private security, has been suffering for more than 40 years, and despite having knocked on the doors of different govern-ment departments, we haven’t been able to solve anything. And since we are a primary arm in the security of property and the secu-rity of the country, we need bet-

ter attention from the Ministry of Labor”.

RADICALIZATIONFollowing September’s legisla-

tive elections, demands from the grassroots of the Bolivarian move-ment to push forward socialist transformations in Venezuela have become increasingly vocal.

Inside Chavez’s governing party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), some mem-bers have been arguing for a left-wing current to counter the cor-rupt and bureaucratic elements within the Bolivarian movement who are causing damage to the process.

Former Trade Minister Edu-ardo Saman has been a key fi gure in arguing for a “radical current” within the PSUV to ensure “the process” remains on a revolution-ary path.

In declarations to the press, Sa-man remarked, “What we have to do is defend and recover the true essence of the principals of the PSUV and of the Bolivarian Revolution, such as the struggle against capitalist exploitation. A [radical] current within the party would serve to block diversions from that objective”.

T/ Steven MatherP/ Agencies

CULTURE No 37 • Friday, November 12, 2010 |7|The artillery of ideas

Venezuela’s International Book Fair (FILVEN) is known as

the nation’s most important an-nual cultural event. The two-week literary festival, running this year from November 12-21, brings to-gether authors from across the globe to present literary works and dialogue with Venezuelan writers and readers. Tens of thou-sands of books from all areas of literature are also available to the public at affordable prices. Access to FILVEN is free and the event is hosted in a public park.

Previous book fairs held in Ven-ezuela were private events with paid admission, and the costs of the books offered were rarely ac-cessible to the majority of Venezu-elans. The Chavez administration has made literature and access to literary sources and education a priority.

The sixth annual International Book Fair will offer more than 300 hours of artistic and literary activities in fi ve different ven-ues, 117 stands with books from national and international pub-lishing housing, a special Comic Book Hall and will also host the First Meeting of Young Writers

Literary Revolution

International Book Fair begins in Venezuela this weekThe sixth edition of the annual International Book Fair (FILVEN) was inaugurated in Caracas this week, offering thousands of world-renowned books at affordable prices for all Venezuelans

and Intellectuals from member nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

Three countries will be guests of honor at this year’s FILVEN: Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, and each will have a dedicated space in the main Bicentennial Tent where presentations, confer-ences and discussions will take place with authors and represen-tatives from these nations.

ART EXHIBITSThis year’s Book Fair will also

premiere an exhibit dedicated to the celebration of Venezuela’s 200 years of independence. “This exhibit, named ‘Venezuela, free,

insurgent and sovereign’ will be shown at the Book Fair as well as in the Center for National History, the National Archives and the Bolivar-ian Museum”, explained Christhi-an Valles, president of Venezuela’s National Book Center.

Also, for the fi rst time in the country’s history, a special section of FILVEN will be dedicated to the I Comic Book Hall, where vis-itors can interact with comic book artists from Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, and see their artwork, hear their talks and have the opportunity to experi-ence their creations in real time.

“It’s an event with a lot of in-teraction. There will be lectures, talks, comic book exhibits and

visitors will be involved in pre-senting ideas. This hall forms part of a new strategy of the Cul-ture Ministry, oriented towards attracting readers. Comics are a very attractive literary element”, pointed out Valles.

Last year’s International Book Fair received nearly 100,000 vis-its, but organizers expect this year will see even more. Over 40,000 books were sold at FILVEN 2009, and with even lower prices on some state-subsidized editions out this year, numbers are expect-ed to surpass 50,000 books sold.

State publishing houses Monte Avila Editors and “Perro y la Rana” are releasing 115 new titles at the event this year. Most of

their books are sold at very ac-cessible prices, including special “mass distribution” copies avail-able new for under one dollar.

YOUNG WRITERSThirty-fi ve authors from AL-

BA-member countries will par-ticipate in the First Meeting of Young Writers and Intellectuals that will take place at Venezuela’s National Experimental Univer-sity for the Arts during the last three days of the Book Fair.

The event, coordinated by Ven-ezuela’s National Book Center (CENAL) and the Cultural Cen-ter “Dulce Maria Loynaz” in Ha-vana, Cuba, will bring together young authors from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Ni-caragua and Honduras.

“The activity will try to strength-en the creation and visualization of a space for exchange and debate to foster a better understanding between our peoples and nations. It will also provide a platform for refl ection and permanent commu-nication amongst creative youth, in order to build strategies to con-front global challenges from the point of view of young writers and intellectuals from our Ameri-cas”, explained Valles.

The young authors will debate topics including, literary creativi-ty and alternative media, aesthet-ics and creation, new languages, old traditions, imperial hegemo-ny vs. alternatives in resistance, identities in globalization, and social and cultural change.

T/ Eva Golinger

Venezuela stands out at the World Travel Market in LondonVenezuela opened a stand at

the World Travel Market, one of the most important interna-tional travel trade fairs, on Mon-day. The stand was inaugurated by Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Samuel Moncada, who declared during the opening event that tourism “is a priority for the future” and a potential driver of “prosperity for all Venezuelans”.

The stand was manned by a team from the Ministry of Tour-ism in Venezuela working along side ten private Venezuelan tour

companies including Cacao Trav-el Group, Alborada Venezuela and Natura Raid.

Dominique Jacquin from Natu-ra Raid, a company specialis-ing in eco-tourism, commented, “Venezuela has incredible vari-ety. It has four ecosystems, riv-ers, mountains, plains, jungle, beaches and islands. We believe that it is very important to respect the environment but also the in-digenous communities where we work. All our work is carried out in agreement with indigenous communities and the local com-

munity councils. We give work to more than 50 families and we also make a point of working with lo-cal cooperatives to give some-thing back to the local economy”.

Mr. Jacquin also added that the Venezuelan government is mak-ing infrastructure and service industries a priority, which will further strengthen Venezuela’s potential to be one of the top tour-ist destinations in the Americas.

With a well-positioned stand and plenty of rum and chocolate to go around, there were over 600 enquiries from businesses, jour-

nalists and students. There was also live music from Venezuelan musicians, Jose Chebeto Reque-na, who played the guitar, and Cristobal Soto, who played the harp bringing a taste of Venezu-elan culture to the event.

The Venezuelan Minister for Tourism, Alejandro Flemming, will also attend the trade fair to meet with a variety of business leaders, media and other Tourism Ministers.

T/ Press Unit of the Venezuelan Embassy in London

Right-Wing extremists set to take control of House Foreign Affairs

The artillery of ideasENGLISH EDITIONFRIDAY | November 12, 2010 | No. 37| Bs. 1 | CARACAS

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

OPINION

In the early years of the past decade, two hard-line Cold

Warriors, closely associated with radical Cuban exile groups in Florida, occupied strategic posi-tions in the US foreign policy ma-chine. Otto Reich, former head of the Reagan administration’s covert propaganda operations in Central America, and Roger Noriega, co-author of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, took turns running the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and held other infl uential administration posts such as am-bassador to the OAS and White House Special Envoy to the Wes-tern Hemisphere.

During their years of tenure in the George W. Bush adminis-tration, they led a zealous crusa-de against left-leaning govern-ments in the region and, among other things, actively supported a short-lived coup d’etat against Venezuelan President Hugo Cha-vez in 2002 and a successful coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti in 2004.

Now, as a result of the US legis-lative elections, another duo of a similar ilk is poised to re-set the legislative agenda on Latin Ame-rica in the House of Representa-tives. Cuban-American repre-sentative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is expected to replace Howard Ber-man as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and eternally tanned Congressman Cornelius McGillicuddy IV -- otherwise known as Connie Mack -- is sla-ted to take the reins of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere.

The Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl has celebrated the ascen-sion of these two South Florida le-gislators, heralding Ros-Lehtinen as a “champion of Cuban human rights” and stating triumphantly that “one big un-American loser” of the US legislative elections will

be Cuban president “Raul Cas-tro”. To see whether there is in fact cause to celebrate, let’s have a closer look at the track records of our two protagonists.

Let’s start with human rights “champion” Ros-Lehtinen who, as her web page biography ex-plains, was “forced to fl ee with [her] family from the oppressive communist regime of Fidel Cas-tro”. On certain issues – such as gay rights and immigration re-form – she comes across as fairly levelheaded. But when it comes to Latin America, she rarely fails to take a precipitous dive into the deep end.

She is a staunch opponent of any relaxation of sanctions against Cuba, as are a number of her Cuban-American and cold warrior colleagues. But her deep hostility towards the Latin American Left has led her to take much more disturbing positions, including the defense of terrorists and coup d’etats. • In July 1990, Ros-Lehtinen “lo-bbied hard” in favor of the relea-se of rightwing Cuban Orlando Bosch, a convicted terrorist res-ponsible for dozens of bombings

including the 1976 bombing of an airliner that killed 76 civilians. In a reversal of prior policy, the Jus-tice Department released Bosch in Miami, where he remains free to this day.• In April 2002, as a coup was unfolding in Venezuela, she re-ferred to Air Force Colonel Pe-dro Soto, who had been among the first officers to call for a coup against the democratica-lly-elected government of Hugo Chavez, as a “great patriot”. Colonel Soto remains exiled in Miami.• In 2005, Ros-Lehtinen lobbied on behalf of another Cuban terro-rist – Luis Posada Carriles – who was imprisoned in Panama for his role in a plot to kill Fidel Cas-tro. Carriles, who is also believed to have been the mastermind of the 1976 airliner bombing, was released by the Panamanian go-vernment and is now living free in Miami.• In 2006, she openly called for the assassination of Fidel Castro in an interview. Her exact words: “I welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro”.

Connie Mack is relatively young and has only been in offi ce since 2005. Consequently, he has had less time to cozy up to terro-rists and coup regimes. However, he has made impressive efforts to prove his extreme right-wing credentials. He has focused in particular on the grave “threat Venezuela’s President Hugo Cha-vez poses to the US and our allies in the region”.• In March 2008, Mack and Ros-Lehtinen introduced House Re-solution 1049 calling on the US government “to add Venezuela to the list of states which sponsor terrorism”. • Mack engaged in an intense campaign to support the Hondu-ran coup regime, starting with a July 2009 resolution condemning the recently ousted democratic president Manuel Zelaya for ha-ving “trampled” his country’s constitution. He went on to write a letter to Secretary of State Hi-llary Clinton urging her not to accept Zelaya’s return to power and then led a Congressional de-legation to Honduras.• In October of 2009 Mack intro-duced another resolution calling for Venezuela to be placed on the state sponsor of terrorism list and this time collected the co-spon-sorship of 37 other Congressional members.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Mack and Ros-Lehtinen’s extremism isn’t limited to this hemisphere. Both have warm re-lations with Israel’s right wing and are among Congress’ most strident hawks on Iran. Unsur-prisingly, therefore, they have de-picted the deepening of relations between Iran and various Latin American countries – in particu-lar Venezuela – as a threat to “our critical security interests”.

The real question, of course, is whether having these right-wing extremists heading up the Foreign

Affairs Committee and Western Hemisphere Subcommittee will necessarily set US policy towards Latin America on a more aggres-sive course. Without a doubt, Ros-Lehtinen and Mack will use their new powers as committee chairs to hold an increased number of Congressional hearings that tar-get Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and other left-leaning countries. They will make certain that legislation that aims to ease travel restrictions to Cuba is sto-pped dead in its tracks. They are also likely to promote resolutions and legislation that seek to impo-se sanctions and interventionist measures against these countries to punish them.

However, though moves such as these may make a lot of noise, more extreme legislative proposals will surely run into the brick wall of the Democratically-controlled Senate and, failing that, President Obama’s veto. Or will they?

Democratic leaders may have more nuanced rhetoric when it comes to relations with the rest of the region, but they have often stood idly by while the Obama administration has carried out aggressive, unilateralist policies reminiscent of the Bush era.

The danger therefore, more than the direct threat posed by Ros-Le-htinen or Mack, may be the fact that their noisy rhetoric and zany capers will provide additional cover for both the administration and moderate Democrats to plow ahead with a hemispheric agenda that merely recycles the failed po-licies of the past administration. The South Florida pair will play an important role in keeping US relations with Latin America as poisoned as ever.

Alexander Main Alexander Main is a policy analyst at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.