Chavez a threat to South America?

[Mystified]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/050214/opinion/14edit.htm

I'm not very familiar with the goings-on of Venezuela and am wondering how much of this is true. Can some of you who are more familiar with the situation confirm or refute the charges in this op ed? If these allegations are true this is very troubling.

<snip>

"According to Miami's El Nuevo Herald, Chavez has granted Cuban judicial and security forces extensive police powers within Venezuela. Cubans are already running the intelligence services and indoctrinating and training the military. They will effectively bypass what is left of Venezuela's judicial system when they exercise new powers to investigate, seize, detain, and interrogate Venezuelans and Cubans living in Venezuela, with the right to extradite them to Cuba and try them there. This threatens the safety of some 30,000 Cubans in Venezuela."

<snip>

"To get a sense of the degree to which Chavez is intimidating his opponents and harassing dissidents, just read the language of a new criminal law that he pushed through the legislature: "Any individual who creates panic in the community or makes it restless by disseminating false information via print media, radio, TV, phone, electronic mail, or pamphlets will be punished with two to five years in prison." Even the most popular form of political protest, banging pots and pans, done in the presence of members of his government, now carries with it up to a three-month jail sentence."

<snip>

"Alas, our own President Carter compromised the hopes of Venezuelans in the recall election by prematurely endorsing the vote that Chavez did not earn or deserve. Carter's people counted fewer than 1 percent of the polling stations, which, instead of being selected at random, as originally anticipated, were selected by Venezuelan officials. Even then, only 76 of the previously agreed 192 ballot boxes were counted, with either opposition witnesses or international observers present at only 26 out of the 76 boxes reviewed. The Chavez-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) forbade access to the tallying centers, not only to Carter's people but to the representatives of the opposition, and even to the two members of the CNE who opposed Chavez. Two professors from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued a report concluding that there was at least a 99 percent chance the election was a fraud. The audited sample (Carter's) was simply not a random sample, the professors concluded. Various independent exit polls showed that Chavez had lost the vote by 59 percent to 41 percent, instead of Chavez's contention that he had won by that margin."

[David__77]

1. Nonsense.

Chavez is simply safeguarding his nation's sovereignty. The US doesn't like Latin American countries having the "arrogance" to assume an independent standpoint.

[Mystified]

9. Guess I should add....

I don't think Chavez is a threat to all of South America, I put that in the title of the thread partly as an attention grabber, partly because I pulled it from the column. I think he would be more of a threat to the Venezuelan people if he outlaws dissent and makes it punishable by 3-5 years in prison.

[patdem]

12. So in Venezuela they get 3-5..in America you can get gitmo and no

limit to the incarceration and no chance to see a lawyer or any charges against you? Seems Venezuela is fairer to those who would overthrow their govenment? Does it not?

[Mystified]

13. I haven't seen anyone...

In the US get locked up for 3-5 years for "...creating panic in the community or making it restless by disseminating false information via print media, radio, TV, phone, electronic mail, or pamphlets". How many Americans have fallen victim to this in recent years? If this is how one "overthrows a government", via print media, radio, tv, phone, email, and pamphlets, I think that's a good thing. Spread information throughout the populas and let the best ideas win. At any rate, I'm inquiring because the few things I've heard about Chavez came from discussions I've seen posted here at DU. I've heard both good and borderline things about him. These were the first negative charges I've heard levelled at Chavez and I'm interested to know what degree, if any, truth there is to them.

[Say_What]

15. Maligning a democratically elected leader without knowing any of the FACTS

By your own admission you say your know little of Venezuela. So instead of doing some research and finding some FACTS, you would rather malign a democratically elected leader. Unf*ckingbelievable...

Greg Palast has written frequently about Chavez and Venezuela. Please, get yourself an education.

http://www.gregpalast.com/searchresults.cfm?searchtype=columns&keyword=venezuela&option=Search

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

33. You can make the information available to them

but you can't make them bright enough to grasp it, can you? Jeez Louise.

So they muddle along in confusion, year after year after year.....
Very sad.

"fraid that one stepped off the curb.

Very, very sad.

[applegrove]

2. I heard someone name Chavez was in Niger looking for Uranium!

Like Communism is some sort of threat or something!! NOT!

Leave the burgeoning democracy alone. People will get tired of Chavez's Utopian ways and kick his ass out of Venezuela some day. The USA can do without Venezuela oil because they now have Iraqi Oil.

Oh - but big Oil doesn't want to loose the great deal they get on Venezuelan Oil and Chavez threatens to get a better deal for Venezuelans (where the wealth stays in Venezuela rather than the US). Tough! You don't have the troops to go into Venezuela. Remember you have to be a credible threat to North Korea because THEY HAVE THE BOMB! So you cannot open another flank.

Bush do what you said you were going to do during your SOTU Speech and let emerging democracies be themselves! That lie lasted exactly one day - eh?

[ret5hd]

3. any news out of miami...

regarding castro cuba or chavez you can pretty much dscard as junk

[Mystified]

4. Only one part...

Of the column cited the Miami paper. I found this more troublesome:

"...read the language of a new criminal law that he pushed through the legislature: "Any individual who creates panic in the community or makes it restless by disseminating false information via print media, radio, TV, phone, electronic mail, or pamphlets will be punished with two to five years in prison."

What is defined as "false" information?

[Piotr]

69. False information is defined as

anything that is contrary to what the Venezuelan government claims as true. It has to do with what it decides to be false.

[reorg]

71. I'm sure you can back this up

>>false information is defined as anything that is contrary to what the Venezuelan government claims as true<<

- otherwise it would be too obvious that you are just badmouthing a government that you don't seem to like very much.

I think that creating unrest by spreading false information clearly refers to such activities of the media as when Chavez was abducted by US supported thugs and the media notified the public he had "resigned". Or when it was claimed via the oppositional media that members of the opposition had been shot at by Chavez supporters (the incident is extensively dealt with in "The revolution will not be televised"). Of course, according to this new law an independent court would have to find that the information disseminated was indeed false and that it caused unrest.


Just your ordinary disinformation would not be covered by this law, I guess. Like half-truths (or rather claims that contain a tiny grain of truth while at the same time creating an impression that is entirely false), e. g.:

"You could also notice the universal 15% Sales tax that has been appended to items previously untouched by it, such as basic foods ..."

when from your own back-up quote in Spanish, if one is able to read it, it becomes quite clear that only SOME (actually very few) "basic" food items (like meat and pork - which I personally never viewed as "basic food" stuff - maybe due to memories of post-war times in Europe) are now taxed, while most are still tax-exempt (ground coffee! tell that former East-Germans) and thus the opportunity is still provided for the poor to live on a simple diet without ever paying sales tax.

[Judi Lynn]

72. It makes a difference if one can understand the links! Thanks so much.

Your remarks are surely appareciated. Very consistant with the real information I've heard already. Venezuelan people are damned lucky Chavez has been willing to give his life, if necessary, to implement the changes so desperately needed by the suffering majority.

I pray _{George W. Bush} will not be able to block the transformation they need and return them to the dire straights they've known for so long.

[Piotr]

75. It is not directly a matter of what is taxed now, but of

what is taxed now that wasn't taxed before. Those who could manage to live with it did. Survival within the old context has now become generally harder, especially for the middle class and those who live in extreme poverty. Some very important staple foods and/or their ingredientes are covered by this tax. Maize oil, for example, is the main kind of oil used for cooking. Fish, other than sardines, are a very important part of fishing coastal towns' livelihoods. Meat is used in the elaboration of many staple dishes and is a popular element in arepas and other fillable foodstuffs (mincemeat, specifically). Pork is essential to the Christmas tradition. Sausages and ground beef contribute to the livelihood of the hundreds of food stalls on the streets of Caracas. Capybaras as well as other mammals and reptiles are an important food source in the Llanos region. Yes, agricultural items as a whole are not affected by the Sales tax, but, as I understand it, the packaging elements that hold them on the stands, in the case of flour, sugar, salt and coffee, etc, do. Flour, maize flour, is inseperable from the Venezuelan diet and also an essential to culinary staples, such as the arepa. And if these items were not exempted from the previous law, then add the new items that no longer are.

Shall I care to elaborate?

Chávez was not abducted by "US supported thugs". He was kidnapped by members of the Venezuelan military , who may or may not have been US supported (although I don't know why they would need to be), and was allegedly forced to resign. In any case, his vicepresident Diosdado Cabello took power when he returned, named Chávez as his vicepresident, and promtply resigned, successfully reinstating Chávez.


There are no real independent courts in Venezuela. Much as the Republicans control Congress, the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Presidency, Chávez's party effectively controls all branches of Government, including the Justice branch.

It is also only evident that the government will lean on what it will consider to its advantage and seek to disguise it with apparently legal procedures, since the same party effectively controls the means to do so.
Wouldn't you agree?

[Judi Lynn]

78. It's simply inconceivable to me that Hugo Chavez would screw the very

people he has worked steadily to help. It would seem something is missing, so I did a quick look around on the internet to see what came up. The first thing has been mentioned here in the last few days, and DU'ers have been astonished at what was going on BEFORE Hugo Chavez stepped in to make this change:

Thursday, March 3, 2005 · Last updated 12:39 p.m. PT

Exxon Mobil meets with Venezuela officals

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest oil firm, said Thursday that it plans to meet with Venezuelan officials to discuss a royalty tax hike imposed by President Hugo Chavez's government.

The royalty rate for Exxon Mobil's Cerro Negro heavy crude upgrading project, along with three other projects operating in the country's eastern Orinoco tar belt, was increased to 16.6 percent from 1 percent last October without prior notice.
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Venezuela%20Exxon%20Mobil%20Tax%20Hike

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on taxes:

Hugo Chavez on Marxism
Hugo Chavez | 17.08.2004 06:09 | Venezuela

I don't believe in the dogmatic postulates of Marxist revolution. I don't
accept that we are living in a period of proletarian revolutions. All that
must be revised. Reality is telling us that every day.


'I don't believe in the dogmatic postulates of Marxist revolution. I don't
accept that we are living in a period of proletarian revolutions. All that
must be revised. Reality is telling us that every day. Are we aiming in
Venezuela today for the abolition of private property or a classless
society? I don't think so. But if I'm told that because of that reality
you can't do anything to help the poor, the people who have made this
country rich through their labour and never forget that some of it was
slave labour, then I say 'We part company'. I will never accept that there
can be no redistribution of wealth in society. Our upper classes don't
even like paying taxes. That's one reason they hate me. We said 'You must
pay your taxes'. I believe it's better to die in battle, rather than hold
aloft a very revolutionary and very pure banner, and do nothing ... That
position often strikes me as very convenient, a good excuse ... Try and
make your revolution, go into combat, advance a little, even if it's only
a millimetre, in the right direction, instead of dreaming about utopias.'
(snip/)

https://www4.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/08/296440.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hugo Chavez is confronting Venezuelan media and telling them to pay their legally owed taxes:

The days of corporate welfare are over in Venezuela"
Venezuelan Commercial TV Stations Failed to Declare Taxes for Free Anti-government Ads

Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

By: Venezuelanalysis.com

Political propaganda is not exempt from taxes, according to SENIAT president Jose Vielma Mora.
Caracas, March 21 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- Last Friday, Venezuela's tax collection agency SENIAT, notified four Venezuelan commercial TV stations about their failure to declare taxes for free ads they ran for the opposition coalition Coordinadora Democratica.

Venezuela's commercial media is openly opposed to the government. During the three-month business lock-out and sabotage of the oil industry at the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, TV stations suspended their normal programming to give non stop coverage of the lock-out. Additionally, they suspended their normal commercial ads to only run anti-government ads as "donations" to the Coordinadora Democratica. It was part of the media's contribution to the campaign to oust Chavez, in the same way they acted during the coup d’etat of April 2002.

The stations which failed to declare the additional taxes are Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which owes 1,044,386 US$ (two billion Bolivars); Venevision, which owes 731,070 US$ (1.4 billion Bolivars); Televen, which owes 292,428 US$ (560 million Bolivars); and Globovisión, which owes 1,148,825 US$ (2.2 billion Bolivars).
(snip/...)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1233

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting insights on just who DOESN'T want to pay taxes:

Those who attempted to paralyse Venezuela and bring Chavez to his knees during the December “general lockout” are the same people who perpetrated the fascist and bloody coup in April last year. They are the same people who, in the very few hours they held power, dissolved the National Assembly and all state institutions, broke into private houses and humiliated several political and social figures involved in the Bolivarian process, unleashed unprecedented media terrorism and tried to wipe out in one fell swoop all the just laws adopted by the Bolivarian government. They are people of fascist ideology. They are saboteurs.

In despair, these coup plotters have tried new ways to attain their goals. In an attempt to stir up violence, they have organised demonstrations in which most of the participants come from the upper and middle classes. They have attempted to convene an illegal consultative referendum to force the president to resign. They have appealed to people not to pay their taxes, or their water, electricity and gas bills. They are trying to sabotage the beginning of the school year, a battle in which they are also doomed to lose. The opposition is doing everything in order to oust President Chavez and overthrow his government.
(snip/...)

http://www.resistance.org.au/campaigns/venezuela/leonel_2003.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next target, Venezuela
(and taxes)

....What makes Hugo Chavez so dangerous as to cause all this sabre-rattling? The usual, of course. He is left-wing of the "Bolivarist" brand (named after inpendence hero Simon Bolivar). He has started land reforms and begun to redistribute wealth towards the 80% poor, creating jobs for the masses and raising taxes for the rich. He wants to guarantee women´s and indigenious rights and he promises free healthcare and education up to university level for all. He opposes the "Free Trade" Area of the Americas, trades with Cuba and refuses the neoliberal recipe from the World Bank of massive privatization. In short, he fullfills the election promises that won him an overwhelming majority.
(snip/...)

http://www.skog.de/envenezu.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(taxes to HELP the poor, not create greater poverty!)

...President Chavez is creating a new form of citizenship within a participatory democratic system, conferring rights and duties that would reduce class distinctions. His reforms affect all the key dominant groups: the business class face taxes to finance social spending; the press face a new 'law of reply', by which offended citizens can demand redress for alleged libel. The church, which enjoys hegemony over education, faces a new education plan which makes it illegal to charge school fees. A new type of 'Bolivarian' school, non-denominational, offers three meals a day for poor children who would otherwise stay at home. Chavez has also outlawed discrimination against immigrants, granting the same right to free education to Peruvian and Colombian immigrant children.
(snip/...)

http://www.lasc.ie/enlace/enlace13/hugo-chavez.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This article indicates raising taxes on the WEALTHY.

...In practical terms, that means diversifying and restructuring a distorted and oil-fixated economy in which 80 percent of all food and consumer goods are imported. According to government and international figures, 45 percent of Venezuelans are marginally employed in the "informal economy"; 80 percent are defined as "poor"; half of those are "critically poor," meaning they can't afford an adequate diet. Thus, the immediate task of the Chavez government has been to redistribute wealth and services down the social hierarchy by beefing up services, creating jobs for the poor and making the rich pay higher taxes.
(snip)

Yet another hurdle for the Chavistas is a quiet "human capital strike" among the professional classes. There is an internal brain drain: engineers, accountants and agronomists- hopped-up on anti-Chavez propaganda-refuse to participate in alternative development projects, while local doctors prefer to focus on plastic surgery for the country's legendary beauty queens rather than tend to the needs of the rural poor. This lack of support is particularly frustrating because much of Chavez's macroeconomic program has benefited the professional classes. Since taking office, the administration has cut inflation from around 40 percent to a projected 12 percent for this year. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan economy is expected to grow by a healthy 4 percent this year, according to Credit Suisse First Boston.
(snip)

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/Hugo_is_Boss.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We're just going to have to get the straight information from someone who is completely honest about this. Thank you.

[Piotr]

99. Honest, dishonest, or misinformed?

-If by creating jobs you mean firing opposition-aligned public employees and hiring chavistas in their stead, or increasing the size of the informal sector to at least 45% of the economically active sector (other figures set it at 51% and 54% today) ...Then I guess Chávez has created new jobs.
-Many of Chávez's promises have been left unfulfilled. There is still widespread poverty and rampant corruption, not to mention some levels of political discrimination. And there are still children on the streets...he once promised to resign if there were still children on the streets some time into his reign. Beggars and street performers the likes of which Caracas had never seen are a reality today :p. Meanwhile, he wears a $20,000 watch and a different tailor-made fine blazer suit every day except Sunday, when he does his Aló Presidente.
-diversifying? What has Chávez done to diversify the economy?
-What class distinctions?
-The 'law of reply' applies to offended public figures most specifically. It's like being sued and detained for calling Dick Cheney a greedy pig.
-Here is a link to unfulfilled Chávez promises, in Spanish.
http://el-nacional.com/especiales/mediamaquina/promesas.asp#
Some of the more concrete ones include:
-"Not devaluating the bolívar to cover the budget deficit" (something he has done before and recently did by devaluating the bolívar from Bs.1920 to Bs.2150 to the dollar)
-Fighting actively against corruption. "So far, there have been no prisoners on charges of administrative irregularities, from neither the Fourth nor the Fifth Republic. There are still many important cases of the sort awaiting resolution in the courthouses, such as Fondur, Plan Bolívar 2000, the FIEM, FUS and Customs cases (...)"
-Resolving the problem of children in the streets. "I refuse to let them exist", he stated. He vowed to change his name if he didn't keep his promise. He also vowed to leave the presidential palace in the hands of the youths of the nation so that the People's Bolivarian University, allegedly to be one of the biggest in Latin America, with branches all over the country, could be born. In this manner did he swear in his education ministers in early 2002. Today, the presidential palace is more protected than ever."


-It isn't only the business class who faces new taxes. Everybody does.
-The Church does not enjoy hegemony over education. Although indeed many if not most private schools in Venezuela are run by the Church, there are also many that are not. I have not heard of this law. I have only heard mention of an alleged law forbidding public school registration fees. However, I do not know how far it extends, for some public schools; for example, public music schools charge a yearly fee for their services.
-How has Chávez's macroeconomic program benefitted the professional classes? By devaluating the bolívar and causing inflation while salaries are kept behind? by scaring away investors with high particular taxes and political instability? By enjoying a high unemployment rate? By driving some of those professionals to work in the informal sector? The claim seems like a long oxymoron to me.
-There are political prisoners in Venezuela, many of them members of the military who have stated a disagreement of opinion with the current regime in regard to the perceived politization, to which they offer numerous arguments, of the Venezuelan Armed Forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional, FAN). A demonstration was held on March 5th 2005 in Caracas to protest for these political prisioners, where the wives and daughters of the detained military stated their discontent and refusal of the arrests. Messages from the detained prisoners, recorded for the demonstration from the prison complex at Ramo Verde, were made heard. Among words of encouragement and assurance, they thanked the support of those present. Among those detained are Captain Javier Quintero, Captain Nieto Quintero, Coronel Faría Rodríguez, and Coronel Castro Yelles.

Here is a list of other missing persons and political prisoners in Venezuela. You can say whatever you want about vcrisis.com, which is openly opposed to the Chávez regime. Would that make the list any less valid? Do you think that members of the opposition would publish it if it had no substance, if they could not find support or evidence of this? You can ask Mr. Boyd for the minutia.
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200403020624

Another link at Vcrisis.
"The Venezuela of Hugo Chávez: The truth in numbers"
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200503070452


-Short clarification of the 1992 military rebellion: Chávez did not launch the February 4th 1992 military rebellion: it was headed by at least five military officers, Hugo Chávez Frías being one of them, and Francisco Arias Cárdenas, Joel Acosta Chirinos, Jesús Urdaneta Hernández and Jesús Ortiz Contreras. Of those officers, Chávez was the only one who didn't carry out the plan to the end, surrendering to the government , ever-trembling in front of television cameras while encouraging his companions to do the same, at the eleventh hour.

[Judi Lynn]

100. You're quoting anti-Chavez, opposition sources.Not acceptible.

You should grasp your heavy right-wing spin would be out of place on a Democratic message board.

No one has the time to read propaganda.

[Judi Lynn]

101. This post's a good warning not to post when you really should be asleep!

Bad spelling!

Should have written, for clarity:

"You should realize your heavy right-wing spin is misplaced on a Democratic message board."

As much as DU'ers have discussed the Venezuelan opposition media, it's a mistake to try to pass off their writings as "journalism."

The Venezuelan papers were absolutely complicit in the coup against the wildly popular (with the majority) President Hugo Chavez.

[Piotr]

107. I'm sure my sources are no less credible than yours.

Venezuela analysis? Vheadline? You know very well that these sites are neither objective nor neutral. Still, as far as the "information" contained therein goes, you know that, as biased as it may be, it still cannot diverge too much from the alleged facts. Whatever number-twisting, information-ommitting articles might be published, the writers know that anyone with a truer grasp of the situation can ultimately disprove it completely if it is proven to be too distanced from the truth, say, by one's own two eyes.

If you have so much reason to doubt the newspapers in Venezuela, then maybe you should go visit Venezuela yourself. See what they see.

Chávez's popularity was probably at its lowest up until the events of April 11th 2002- something which has evidently changed a lot since them.

Link to the articles on the days between April 11th-April 14th 2002, el Nacional.
http://www.el-nacional.com/Busqueda/busqueda.asp

[Say_What]

102. BWAHAHAHAHA---Ultra RW PROPAGANDA from the US-funded *opposition*

[Judi Lynn]

103. How much more of this can anyone take?

Pushing "El Universal" as a legitimate source. Wonders never cease.
The poster earlier deemed "Tal Cual" as a respectable news resource, the creator of the wildly stupid "Guns" and "Roses" issue.

[Say_What]

106. Same BANNED troll, different name

is my guess. If we don't feed the troll he'll go away... ;-)

[MoJoWorkin]

5. The Bushies are the REAL threat to S. America--they want

Chavez gone, and have tried to help that along several times already. that should give you a clue as to who the bad guy really is.

[Mystified]

6. I'm interested

In something more concrete than "Bush & co. don't like him so he must be good." Bush didn't care for the Taliban and they are genuinely bad people. What of the allegations by the Harvard & M.I.T professors concerning the election? Or the law sending people to prison for creating a panic by spreading false informaiton? Like I said, I'm not very familiar with Venezualan current events, so I'm looking for news items that would either refute or confirm these reports.

[ctaylor]

16. Chavez is a thug

At least that's what some trusted friends of mine from Venezula have been saying for the past couple of years. I brought this up in another Venezuela-related thread a couple of days ago. I too was confrounted by the "if he hates Bush and loves Castro then he has to be good" crowd bearing internet quotes that proclaimed him the greatest thing since Mao. Strangely I still choose to believe the 1st hand accounts of my friends over Socialist newsletters.

[oasis]

20. Are your friends connected to wealthy land owners in Venezuela?

That may help to shape their opinion of Chavez.

[HuckleB]

21. Ask them if he's more of a thug than the prior government.

If they say, yes. Then you can discount them as "trusted friends" from now on.

Do your homework, please.

Hugo Chavez Is Crazy! --
http://www.alternet.org/story/16255

The Revolutionary --
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?020422fr_archive03

The New Bolivar --
http://antiwar.com/justin/j010501.html

Venezuela Gets The Florida Treatment --
http://www.countercurrents.org/ven-palast120804.htm

Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band --
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.htm

Speakout: Picture of Venezuela's Chavez twisted --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1207

Chavez calls for world ‘anti-globalisation' network --
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/610/610p21b.htm

Don King praises Venezuela's Chavez --
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/01/king.chavez.ap/

Venezuela's Chavez Triumphant: History Making Democracy in Latin America --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1250

Don't believe everything you read in the papers about Venezuela --
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4396083,00.html

Venezuela: Chavez Dumps Monsanto --
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tncs/2004/0505venezuela.htm

Venezuela's Chavez nationalizes Venepal under workers' control --
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=24360

[Selatius]

40. Your friends are in a minority; Chavez won 59% of the vote

with the world watching. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even the Carter Center pretty much said the elections went well with few problems.

[IndianaGreen]

50. Venezuelan friends here in the US?

They probably can afford to live here and get an American education, unlike the majority of Venezuelans who live in poverty, but whose hopes and aspirations are beginning to be met by Chavez's Bolivarian revolution.

It is no accident that the Latin American elites are all white, while the poor are largely of mixed blood.

[dameocrat]

52. Chavez was democratically elected three times

for god sakes. NO I am not an apologist for Castro's left wing dictatorship. Anonymous testimony from someone online doesn't' count to much with me sorry.

[rooboy]

60. Why don't you just do some FACT based research...

and stop quoting "friends" (who may or may not exist), and labelling others as socialist sympathizers?

You might like to try sources other than Fox News, by the way.

[bemildred]

61. Bush is a thug. Chavez is a democratically elected leader. nt

[HuckleB]

23. Read up. Please.

Hugo Chavez Is Crazy! --
http://www.alternet.org/story/16255

The Revolutionary --
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?020422fr_archive03

The New Bolivar --
http://antiwar.com/justin/j010501.html

Venezuela Gets The Florida Treatment --
http://www.countercurrents.org/ven-palast120804.htm

Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band --
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.htm

Speakout: Picture of Venezuela's Chavez twisted --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1207

Chavez calls for world ‘anti-globalisation' network --
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/610/610p21b.htm

Don King praises Venezuela's Chavez --
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/01/king.chavez.ap/

Venezuela's Chavez Triumphant: History Making Democracy in Latin America --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1250

Don't believe everything you read in the papers about Venezuela --
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4396083,00.html

Venezuela: Chavez Dumps Monsanto --
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tncs/2004/0505venezuela.htm

Venezuela's Chavez nationalizes Venepal under workers' control --
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=24360

[Lydia Leftcoast]

104. But Bush DID care for the Taliban until...

they refused to let him build an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.

[MoJoWorkin]

7. Chavez has won recall after recall, instigated by the

Rich of that country, and the Bush WH. Carter verified the last election as fair Chavez won by a sizable margin. Bush has also tried to whisk Chavez away, like they did Aristide, but Chavez has friends in his country that helped him survive that coup attempt. From what I have been able to find out, Chavez has given health care to the poor and education, and is trying to use the money from the oil to do that. The rich barons don't like it. He is cozy with Castro, and that infuriates some. He is also friends with Lula in Brazil.

In short, we should stay the hell out of Venezuela, just as we should have stayed the hell out of Iraq, etc.

[Igel]

8. Hadn't heard the info in the first two paragraphs.

The Carter business was widely reported within a week or two of the recall election, and I didn't hear of anybody actually disputing the claims (just disputing whether or not there was any monkey-business being covered up). Not sure I buy the post-hoc analyses; haven't read them, don't know their assumptions.

[TexasLawyer]

10. So are we going back to the Domino Theory?

That one worked to get us into Viet Nam and to keep us there for a long time. Maybe the White House is dusting those dominoes off.

The "threat of WMD" rationale for war is overly used and getting a little old (plus there is the PR problem when you don't actually find any WMD after occupying the country).

The "spreading liberty and freedom" justification for war is-- just face it-- lame.

But the Domino Theory? It's simplistic and totally discredited, but those criticisms have not stopped Bushco yet.

[bemildred]

11. Grabbing at straws, I think it is called.

Recycling of discredited excuses for not minding one's own business.

[Say_What]

14. Miami's El Nuevo Herald??? ROTFLMAO

El Nuevo is the Miami Herald's (aka The Oligarch's Daily) Spanish language propaganda machine. A joke to say the least. It's nothing more than another piece of the very lucrative anti-Cuba/anti-Venezuela industry that exists in Miami.

Some background for you about Venezuela...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<clips>

Venezuela coup linked to Bush team

Specialists in the 'dirty wars' of the Eighties encouraged the plotters who tried to topple President Chavez

The failed coup in Venezuela was closely tied to senior officials in the US government, The Observer has established. They have long histories in the 'dirty wars' of the 1980s, and links to death squads working in Central America at that time.

Washington's involvement in the turbulent events that briefly removed left-wing leader Hugo Chavez from power last weekend resurrects fears about US ambitions in the hemisphere.

It also also deepens doubts about policy in the region being made by appointees to the Bush administration, all of whom owe their careers to serving in the dirty wars under President Reagan.

One of them, Elliot Abrams, who gave a nod to the attempted Venezuelan coup, has a conviction for misleading Congress over the infamous Iran-Contra affair....

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html

[sarcasmo]

17. Chavez knows Chimpy wants his oil.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. For one thing...

the article you posted is a personal opinion piece by the RW Mort Zuckerman.

Would you believe anything you read in a Rush Limbaugh opinion piece? A Sean Hannity piece?

Second, Bush & Co. have been trying to oust Chavez since the day he was elected. Venezuela is one of the US's largest oil suppliers and Chavez had the balls to tell us we would have to start paying real cash for the oil instead of the sweetheart deals we'd had before. And he also had the balls to believe that there should be some sort of equity in a country where you had the rich and the poverty stricken.

We instigated a coup attempt, we instigated a recall election, we have done everything we can do to undermine him and his plan for his country at every turn, including funding oppontents within Venezeula.

He has a right to be paranoid -- he and his people are in the US's crosshairs.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Donailin]

26. i just have to say

how happy I am to be in a forum with people who have a clue.

Imagine the audacity of the those south american leaders that tell US corporations to piss off as if they aren't obliged to serve amerikan interests everywhere and always. ::rolling eyes::

Viva Chavez!

[Demeter]

19. Chavez is a threat to BFEE Interests in South America

but then, so are we all, otherwise we wouldn't be here, right?

[HuckleB]

22. Not likely.

Speakout: Picture of Venezuela's Chavez twisted --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1207

Others:

Hugo Chavez Is Crazy! --
http://www.alternet.org/story/16255

The Revolutionary --
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?020422fr_archive03

The New Bolivar --
http://antiwar.com/justin/j010501.html

Venezuela Gets The Florida Treatment --
http://www.countercurrents.org/ven-palast120804.htm

Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band --
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.htm

Speakout: Picture of Venezuela's Chavez twisted --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1207

Chavez calls for world ‘anti-globalisation' network --
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/610/610p21b.htm

Don King praises Venezuela's Chavez --
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/01/king.chavez.ap/

Venezuela's Chavez Triumphant: History Making Democracy in Latin America --
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1250

Don't believe everything you read in the papers about Venezuela --
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4396083,00.html

Venezuela: Chavez Dumps Monsanto --
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tncs/2004/0505venezuela.htm

Venezuela's Chavez nationalizes Venepal under workers' control --
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=24360

[Piotr]

27. The richest entity in Venezuela, since 1810, has always been

the government. It's its mishandling of those riches (and the ever present corruption, at least since the 60s )that has kept Venezuela a nation of paradox. Only, it's worse now, for these days there are no effective political controls to account for what happens to those riches.

If anyone is responsible for Venezuela's situation and position in the world today, it's its government.

[newyawker99]

29. Hi Piotr!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Piotr]

31. Thank you, newyawker 99. :toast back:

[applegrove]

39. The elites & the lack of a proper left in the South Amercian countries

because any time someone socialist showed up USA would start a war. So governments, corporations & the elite never had a proper 'check' on their 'choices' for the poor.

Check & balance. That is all there is.

[shance]

67. A simplistic answer to a complex situation. You cannot ignore

the US's interaction historically in South America and how that has effected the countries' governments and their successes and economic problems.

Not to mention in every country, the government will inevitably be the richest entity.

Even in England and every other (constitutional monarchy). Don't tell me the Windsor Monarchy doesnt have huge power in England's policies.

To understand the industrial role the US has played in South American history, read, War is a Racket, and Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

[Piotr]

68. What I mean to say by this is that

There are no bands of oligarchs running the country. There have never been. What Chavez means by "oligarchs" is the government politicans and officials who increasingly kept a substantial share of the oil and hydrocarbon profits to themselves instead of distributing them among the people in the form of social programs and public funding during the Fourth Republic, especially near then end. It has nothing to do with the private sector. It also doesn't mean that these previous governments didn't invest one bit in the public sector, funded by the remaining oil and hydrocarbon money as well as by other forms of state income (such as taxes). On the contrary; every government since 1961 has been essentially populist.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Great links! Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[Piotr]

30. Well, I can tell you at least that

the last paragraph in your article rings some truth. Even now the Carter is admitting the many irregularities in the polling and counting procedures in the Referendum Process that they either overlooked or were a part of. Among the reasons for its most recent visit to Venezuela is the disclosure of the Carter Center's final report on the August 2004 Referendum Process.

If you want to find evidence of extreme government measures, however, you can look up, for example, the aricles in the new media censorhip laws that were passed a few months ago, grouped together under what is popularily known as la Ley Resorte (Ley de Responsabilidad Social de Radio y Televisión - Social Responsability Law for Radio and Television).

You could also notice the universal 15% Sales tax that has been appended to items previously untouched by it, such as basic foods, pharmaceuticals, basic clothing and health care services (Sales tax in Venezuela is also applied to services). Most people already had a hard time paying for these goods without such a tax, especially the economically poor and destitute. The concept of a Sales tax already existed before this government, but it was only applied to certain consumer goods and services, not the ones mentioned above, and was not as high as it is today-15%.

[Judi Lynn]

32. DU'ers are very familiar with the new media rulings.

We've discussed them here. over a couple of months already, with temporary DU visitors trying to spin a view which didn't stand up to scrutiny.

They bring Venezuelan standards to the level of the media in most other countries in the world (developed countries). Very, very similar to the ones right here.

Perhaps you'd be good enough to include some links to back up your assertions, especially the charge you have made concerning a new 15% tax which will force a burden on the poor. Many DU'ers would surely love to study that, if you'd show us what you're talking about.

We need some links.

[Vladimir]

34. The situation is of course not that simple Judi

Here is a website which makes interesting reading, free-marketeerism or no.

http://www.hacer.org/news/h2599.php

"Certain "necessity" items are theoretically exempt from this tax, but such exemptions don't help the consumer very much. As an example, housing is exempt, but builders pay the tax on almost all their expenses."

The tax was 16.5% when Chavez came to power and is 14.5% now. And the health care and pharmaceuticals stuff is pure bullshit:

http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/healthcare.htm

The most extensive of Venezuela’s health missions, a program called Barrio Adentro (“Inside the Neighborhood”) provides free medical treatment and health education to the country’s most depressed regions.

Venezuela subsidizes a national chain of pharmacies called SUMED (an abbreviation for sumistro de medicos, or distribution of medicine) where subsidized prescription drugs are 30 to 40 percent cheaper than market prices. The program focuses on the accessibility and distribution of essential medications and supplemental vitamins. Victims of AIDS, cancer and chronic diseases receive treatment and medication at no cost. To date more than 4,400 community health clinics offer 129 essential medicines without cost and cover more than 97% of the most common illnesses in Venezuela.

As is the food rubbish. From the same website:

To confront extreme poverty and hunger, Mission Mercal acts as a network for distributing food and commodities at high quality and low prices. The plan seeks to meet the requirement set by the National Institute for Nutrition of 2600 daily calories per adult. It specializes in reaching out to indigenous and rural communities through mobile markets, or units of trucks that deliver food through rugged terrains, supermarkets that sell food at discounted rates and the investment of $1.3 million US in agricultural infrastructure to assist small and medium-sized farmers.

Today, more than 6,000 markets benefit more than 8 million people and distribute more than 3.2 million of kilos of food each day. There are currently 150,000 people in extreme poverty who are now able to eat daily at no cost.

In short, the tax has been linked with heavy subsidies for the poorest elements of society, making it essentially a progressive tax on the consumption of the wealthy. How shocking, eh?

[Judi Lynn]

36. Now THIS is interesting, Vladimir. What a difference some facts make!

I felt almost as pleased reading this new information as that lady looked in the photo!

http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/healthcare.htm

They've gone a VERY long distance in a short period of time. What a shame to realize they were sitting on so much oil wealth, while the poor (80% and more) have been forced to live clinging to the sides of hills in shacks surrounding the large cities, as the small group of extremely wealthy citizens owned almost all of the land outside the towns.





You've noticed these charges get laid in posts here, but the posters never stick around long enough to provide bonafide sources. Thanks so much for adding some NEEDED perspective.

[Dirk39]

37. Some more facts:

Sorry for my translation from german:
President Chávez did annonce this weekend, the Venezuelan government has decided a rise of the minimum salaries from 321 000 to 400 000 Bolívares (converted: 127 to 158 euros).

The rise from almost 25 per cent is necessary to compensate for the loss of the spending power by an annual inflation of about 19 per cent. The minimum incomes were raised by 30 per cent sometimes in 2004. Besides the increase in the minimal incomes the government wants to reduce the interest for state building loans. Families of the lower salary groups pay only 5.68 per cent mortgage rates in the future, instead of the usual rate of 11.36 per cent.

Jeroen Kuiper, Caracas

Junge Welt, March, 2, 2005
http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/03-02/011.php


Chavez is a wonderfull threat to all neoliberals and fascists in South America,

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Judi Lynn]

79. Thanks for this information!

Looks as if we weren't getting too much of the real story, Dirk.

Very, very interesting. Amazing, in fact.

[Piotr]

47. Wealthy citizens or not...

The immense majority of the land has traditionally been owned, held and exploited by the governement of Venezuela itself since 1810, not by citizens, who additionally cannot exploit the land's mineral resources under any circumstances (it would still be true if the Chavez administration wasn't courting foreign hydrocarbon companies with concessions in Venezuelan national hydrocarbon deposits). Overcrowding has mostly been a result of large rural exodii to the large cities (especially Caracas), not of a lack of living space elsewhere.

On a slightly different note, I found an interesting site on Venezuela:
http://countrystudies.us/venezuela/

[Piotr]

46. Some links

These link directly to the Venezuelan law reforms pertaining to the Sales Tax (or IVA, Impuesto al Valor Agregado). There have been two reforms for this law under the Chávez administration:

one in August 15th 2002, (http://www.asambleanacional.gov.ve/ns2/leyes.asp?id=472)
and a subsequent one in July 30th 2004 (http://www.asambleanacional.gov.ve/ns2/leyes.asp?id=549)

Articles from the August 15th 2002 reformed law:

"Artículo 5. Son contribuyentes ordinarios de este impuesto, los importadores habituales de bienes, los industriales, los comerciantes, los prestadores habituales de servicios, y, en general, toda persona natural o jurídica que como parte de su giro, objeto u ocupación, realice las actividades, negocios jurídicos u operaciones, que constituyen hechos imponibles, de conformidad con el artículo 3 de esta Ley. En todo caso, el giro, objeto u ocupación a que se refiere el encabezamiento de este artículo, comprende las operaciones y actividades que efectivamente realicen dichas personas."

This means that no-one in Venezuela is exempt from this tax.

"Artículo 18. Están exentas del impuesto previsto en esta Ley, las ventas de los bienes siguientes:
1. Los alimentos y productos para consumo humano que se mencionan a continuación:
a)Productos del reino vegetal en su estado natural, considerados alimentos para el consumo humano, y las semillas certificadas en general, material base para reproducción animal e insumos biológicos para el sector agrícola y pecuario.
b) Especies avícolas, los huevos fértiles de gallina, los pollitos, pollitas y pollonas para la cría, reproducción y producción de carne de pollo y huevos de gallina.
c) Arroz.
d) Harina de origen vegetal, incluidas las sémolas.
e) Pan y pastas alimenticias.
f) Huevos de gallinas.
g) Sal.
h) Azúcar y papelón, excepto los de uso industrial.
i) Café tostado, molido o en grano.
j) Mortadela.
k) Atún enlatado en presentación natural.
l) Sardinas enlatadas con presentación cilíndrica hasta ciento setenta gramos (170 gr.).
m) Leche cruda, pasteurizada, en polvo, modificada, maternizada o humanizada y en sus fórmulas infantiles, incluidas las de soya.
n) Queso blanco duro.
ñ) Margarina y mantequilla
o) Carne de pollo en estado natural, refrigerada y congelada.
2. Los fertilizantes, así como el gas natural utilizado como insumo para la fabricación de los mismos.
3. Los medicamentos y agroquímicos y los principios activos utilizados exclusivamente para su fabricación, incluidas las vacunas, sueros, plasmas y las sustancias humanas o animales preparadas para uso terapéutico o profiláctico, para uso humano, animal y vegetal.
4. Los combustibles derivados de hidrocarburos, así como los insumos y aditivos destinados al mejoramiento de la calidad de la gasolina, tales como etanol, metanol, metil-ter-butil-eter (MTBE), etil-ter-butil-eter (ETBE) y las derivaciones de éstos destinados al fin señalado.
5. Las sillas de ruedas para impedidos y los marcapasos, catéteres, válvulas, órganos artificiales y prótesis.
6. Los diarios y periódicos y el papel para sus ediciones.
7. Los libros, revistas y folletos, así como los insumos utilizados en la industria editorial. "

You will note that this article does not include pharmaceuticals or medical services (including dental services) provided by privately-run institutions (when they seek profit) , nor certain kinds of staple foods such as meat, pork, fish other than tuna, and maize oil, nor clothing items of any sort.

"Artículo 62. Sin perjuicio de lo dispuesto en el artículo siguiente, la alícuota impositiva general aplicable a las operaciones gravadas, desde la entrada en vigencia de esta Ley, será del diez y seis por ciento (16%), hasta tanto entre en vigor la Ley de Presupuesto que establezca una alícuota distinta conforme a lo previsto en el artículo 27 de esta Ley.

Artículo 63. Desde el día 1° de enero de 2003 y hasta tanto entre en vigor la Ley de Presupuesto que establezca una alícuota distinta, la alícuota impositiva aplicable a las siguientes operaciones será del ocho por ciento (8%):
1. Las importaciones y ventas de los alimentos y productos para consumo humano que se mencionan a continuación:
a)Animales vivos destinados al matadero.
b)Ganado bovino, caprino, ovino y porcino para la cría.
c)Carnes en estado natural, refrigeradas, congeladas, saladas o en salmuera.
d)Mantecas y aceites vegetales, refinados o no, utilizados exclusivamente como insumos en la elaboración de aceites comestibles.
2. Las importaciones y ventas de minerales y alimentos líquidos o concentrados para animales o especies a que se refieren los literales a) y b) del numeral 1 de este artículo, y el literal b del numeral 1 del artículo 18 de esta Ley, así como las materias primas utilizadas exclusivamente en su elaboración.
3. Las prestaciones de servicios al Poder Público, en cualquiera de sus manifestaciones, en el ejercicio de profesiones que no impliquen la realización de actos de comercio y comporten trabajo o actuación predominante intelectual.
4. El transporte aéreo nacional de pasajeros.
5. Los servicios médicos-asistenciales, odontológicos, de cirugía y hospitalización prestados por entes privados.


Parágrafo Único: Desde el día de la entrada en vigencia de esta Ley y hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2002, ambos inclusive, las operaciones previstas en este artículo estarán exentas del impuesto al valor agregado."

Now here are some articles of the newer reform, in use today.
Among the new reforms was the elimination of the tax for health-care services and the range increase of the Sales Tax itself from 8% to at most 16,5%. It was set at 15% when the new law reform was first applied in September 2004 and as outlined in that law. It is now still set 15% (Chapter IV, Article 34- http://www.asambleanacional.gov.ve/ns2/pdf/Presupuesto2005/ley-presupuesto-2005-sancionada.pdf).

"Artículo 18. Están exentas del impuesto previsto en esta Ley, las ventas de los bienes siguientes:
1. Los alimentos y productos para consumo humano que se mencionan a continuación:
a) Productos del reino vegetal en su estado natural, considerados alimentos para el consumo humano, y las semillas certificadas en general, material base para la reproducción animal e insumos biológicos para el sector agrícola y pecuario.
b) Especies avícolas, los huevos fértiles de gallina, los pollitos, pollitas y pollonas para la cría, reproducción y producción de carne de pollo y huevos de gallina.
c) Arroz
d) Harina de origen vegetal, incluidas las sémolas.
e) Pan y pastas alimenticias.
f) Huevos de gallinas.
g) Sal.
h) Azúcar y papelón, excepto los de uso industrial.
i) Café tostado, molido o en grano.
j) Mortadela
k) Atún enlatado en presentación natural.
l) Sardinas enlatadas con presentación cilíndrica hasta ciento setenta gramos (170 gr.).
m) Leche cruda, pasteurizada, en polvo, modificada, maternizada o humanizada y en sus fórmulas infantiles, incluidas las de soya.
n) Queso blanco duro.
ñ) Margarina y mantequilla.
o) Carne de pollo en estado natural, refrigerada y congelada.
2. Los fertilizantes, así como el gas natural utilizado como insumo para la fabricación de los mismos.
3. Los medicamentos y agroquímicos y los principios activos utilizados exclusivamente para su fabricación, incluidas las vacunas, sueros, plasmas y las sustancias humanas o animales preparadas para uso terapéutico o profiláctico, para uso humano, animal y vegetal.
4. Los combustibles derivados de hidrocarburos, así como los insumos y aditivos destinados al mejoramiento de la calidad de la gasolina, tales como etanol, metanol, metil-ter-butil-eter (MTBE), etil-ter-butil-eter (ETBE) y las derivaciones de éstos destinados al fin señalado.
5. Las sillas de ruedas para impedidos y los marcapasos, catéteres, válvulas, órganos artificiales y prótesis.
6. Los diarios, periódicos, y el papel para sus ediciones.
7. Los libros, revistas y folletos, así como los insumos utilizados en la industria editorial.

Parágrafo Único: La Administración Tributaria podrá establecer la codificación correspondiente a los productos especificados en este artículo."

This last article has remained almost unchanged (see note on this article above) except for the inclusion of tinned sardines and
the exclusion of private medical and dental services (and see below).

"Artículo 19. Están exentas del impuesto previsto en esta Ley, las prestaciones de los siguientes servicios:
1. El transporte terrestre y acuático nacional de pasajeros.
2. Los servicios educativos prestados por instituciones inscritas o registradas en los Ministerios de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, y de Educación Superior.
3. Los servicios de hospedaje, alimentación y sus accesorios, a estudiantes, ancianos, personas minusválidas, excepcionales o enfermas, cuando sean prestados dentro de una institución destinada exclusivamente a servir a estos usuarios.
4. Las entradas a parques nacionales, zoológicos, museos, centros culturales e instituciones similares, cuando se trate de entes sin fines de lucro exentos de impuesto sobre la renta.
5. Los servicios médico-asistenciales y odontológicos, de cirugía y hospitalización
6. Las entradas a espectáculos artísticos, culturales y deportivos, siempre que su valor no exceda de dos unidades tributarias (2 U.T.).
7. El servicio de alimentación prestado a alumnos y trabajadores en restaurantes, comedores y cantinas de escuelas, centros educativos, empresas o instituciones similares, en sus propias sedes.
8. El suministro de electricidad de uso residencial.
9. El servicio nacional de telefonía prestado a través de teléfonos públicos.
10. El suministro de agua residencial.
11. El aseo urbano residencial.
12. El suministro de gas residencial, directo o por bombonas.
13. El servicio de transporte de combustibles derivados de hidrocarburos.
14. Los servicios de crianza de ganado bovino, caprino, ovino, porcino, aves y demás especies menores, incluyendo su reproducción y producción.


Artículo 27. La alícuota impositiva general aplicable a la base imponible correspondiente será fijada en la Ley de Presupuesto Anual y estará comprendida entre un límite mínimo de ocho por ciento (8%) y un máximo de dieciséis y medio por ciento (16,5%).
La alícuota impositiva aplicable a las ventas de exportación de bienes muebles y a las exportaciones de servicios, será del cero por ciento (0%).
Se aplicará una alícuota adicional de diez por ciento (10%) a los bienes de consumo suntuario definidos en el Título VII de esta Ley.

Artículo 62. Sin perjuicio de lo dispuesto en el artículo siguiente, la alícuota impositiva general aplicable a las operaciones gravadas, desde la entrada en vigencia de esta Ley, será del quince por ciento (15%), hasta tanto entre en vigor la Ley de Presupuesto que establezca una alícuota distinta conforme al artículo 27 de esta Ley.
Artículo 63. Hasta tanto entre en vigor la Ley de Presupuesto que establezca una alícuota distinta, la alícuota impositiva aplicable a las siguientes operaciones será del ocho por ciento (8%):
1. Las importaciones y ventas de los alimentos y productos para consumo humano que se mencionan a continuación:
a) Animales vivos destinados al matadero.
b) Ganado bovino, caprino, ovino y porcino para la cría.
c) Carnes en estado natural, refrigeradas, congeladas, saladas o en salmuera.
d) Mantecas y aceites vegetales, refinados o no, utilizados exclusivamente como insumos en la elaboración de aceites comestibles.
2. Las importaciones y ventas de minerales y alimentos líquidos o concentrados para animales o especies a que se refieren los literales a) y b) del numeral 1 de este artículo, y el literal b del numeral 1 del artículo 18 de esta Ley, así como las materias primas utilizadas exclusivamente en su elaboración.
3. Las prestaciones de servicios al Poder Público, en cualquiera de sus manifestaciones, en el ejercicio de profesiones que no impliquen la realización de actos de comercio y comporten trabajo o actuación predominante intelectual.
4. El transporte aéreo nacional de pasajeros."

[Vladimir]

48. You have the advantage of me

as I do not speak Spanish. Nontheless, from your comments in English, I fail to see how Chavez's reforms have been regresive. As stated in my previous post on the topic, the sales tax exemptions prior to Chavez were largely illusory, since the cost paid on the raw materials used in 'exempt' items was passed on to the customer anyhow. And secondly, this 'increase' in taxation has been coupled with two very important programmes:

1) The provision of health care for all the population, including the provision of heavily subsidised drugs for the poorest areas.

2) The provision of heavily subsidised or free food for the poorest areas.

One can argue about the methodology, to be sure, but to claim (as you did a few posts back) that:

"You could also notice the universal 15% Sales tax that has been appended to items previously untouched by it, such as basic foods, pharmaceuticals, basic clothing and health care services (Sales tax in Venezuela is also applied to services). Most people already had a hard time paying for these goods without such a tax, especially the economically poor and destitute. The concept of a Sales tax already existed before this government, but it was only applied to certain consumer goods and services, not the ones mentioned above, and was not as high as it is today-15%."

implying that the poor have been hit by a measure which does not affect them at all - since they get subsidised provisions and medicines anyhow - seems a little bit disingeneous. It is worth noting that pre-Chavez, many poor areas had no access to medicines whatsoever, taxed or not.

PS The tax stands at 14.5% now.

[Piotr]

51. Raw materials, Sales tax, another link

The cost of raw materials in "exempt" items is still passed on to the customer somehow; specifically, the Sales tax is charged for both importing those raw items (when they are imported) and selling them under their new forms, as you described. What makes it regressive is the non-exemption of the items, as outlined in the Sales tax law reforms, that were previously exempted (until the Chavez regime passed the reforms in 2002 and 2004). This makes it more taxing for everyone- including, especially, the economically poor and those who, for one reason or another, are unable or unwilling to benefit from the government's subsidies and Cuban-style basic health care services (in the case of medicinal raw materials, plant-based ones excluded).



Also, Chapter IV, Article 34 of the Fiscal Budget Law for 2005 (Ley de Presupuesto para el Ejercicio Fiscal 2005) fixes the Sales tax at 15% for this year.
http://www.asambleanacional.gov.ve/ns2/pdf/Presupuesto2...


Another link:
http://timelines.ws/countries/VENEZUELA.HTML

[Vladimir]

54. I know the cost of the materials is still passed on

that's what sales taxes tend to do - and its part of the reason why I tend not to like them very much. But, as comrade Lenin said, concrete solutions to concrete problems. If Chavez thinks that this is the best way to fix a budgetary hole, and has provided plenty of subsidies for the poor (Venezuela never had universal health care prior to Chavez) then I am sure there is a reason for it. To put it another way, the guy's vote comes almost completely from the poor and rural areas. If his tax was really hitting them hard with regards to food and medicines, I don't think he would have survived the numerous democratic and extra-democratic challenges to his rule. My suspicion is that those who really get hit hardest by this are Venezuela's middle classes (as with almost all means testing measures), but they can probably afford to pay. Of course I am sure that there are areas of the country where the subsidised food and medicinal programme hasn't managed to reach yet, but then I doubt they were getting drugs and parma ham before Chavez either (or being able to pay for them).

PS It is interesting that there is some confusing over the current level. You say 15% and so does the Economist, but many investment advice sites are adamant that it is 14.5%:

http://home.aigonline.com/country_view/0,4605,1402,00.html

http://eb.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=gl_market_glance&country_id=1540000154

funny really, if a bit irrelevant...

[Piotr]

57. Health Care

Venezuela's 1961 constution envisaged universal health care for all Venezuelans in its 76th article, which reads:

"Todos tienen derecho a la protección de la salud.
Las autoridades velarán por el mantenimiento de la salud pública y proveerán los medios de prevención y asistencia a quienes carezcan de ellos.
Todos están obligados a someterse a las medidas sanitarias que establezca la ley, dentro de los límites impuestos por el respeto a la persona humana".

(It gives every Venezuelan the right to health care, and binds the government authorities to maintain public health care facilities and to provide prevention and medical assistance to those who lack them. It also binds all Venezuelan to sanitary measures established by the Law, within the limits imposed by the respect for human integrity).

Whether this universal health care was effectively available for all Venezuelans is, as it is with the Misiones today, a question of debate. What is certain is that it did exist. At least 239 public hospitals, 4027 mobile health units (of which at least 3365 were once located in rural areas and only 714 dispensed medicines), were operated under the regimes of 1961-1998 (What is termed as the Fourth Republic, la Cuarta República. The statistics above refer to 1995). These health care facilities provided , at many points in their history, more-or-less and sometimes absolutely free health care to those who had physical access to them (which evidently wasn't everyone, as it is today with Barrio Adentro. Especially marginized from these services were (and still are), for example, many mostly isolated indigenous tribes).

Here is a link providing more health care statistics for 1995.
http://www.cideiber.com/infopaises/Venezuela/Venezuela-02-03.html

More statistics:
http://www.gerenciasocial.org.ve/bases_datos/gerenciasocial/Index.htm#
(Infraestructura y Recursos Humanos)

Oh, and on the Sales tax: I guess we'll have to agree on 14.75% :p

[Vladimir]

59. The picture painted here of the pre-Chavez years

is far less rosy. If you had to pay for a consultation and surgery, I don't see how the pre-99 system could be called universal. Again, it may be that it was envisaged as such in 1961, but by the late 80s and 90s it had evidently broken down. I find particularly interesting that the 1999 constitution expressly forbids the privatisation of health services - something which I find intellectually appealing but hadn't seen a practical application of yet. The more I read about Venezuela, the more I itch to visit.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/610/610p21.htm

[Piotr]

66. Health Care II

The 1999 Constitution forbids the privatization of public health services, which does not mean it forbids the existence of private medical care, in its 84th article.

The court mandate that was issued in favor of the Venezuelan Medical Federation was chosen to be disregarded by the government, declaring it null and void on the grounds that saving lives and providing health care was more important than worrying about licenses. The incipit arose , however, from the fact that these unlicensed doctors might cause more harm than good to their patients. There have been several non-spurious claims of malpractice on these doctors' accounts:

http://www.consejoslocales.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa2showpage&pid=128

http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/6133054.asp

http://intranet.logiconline.org.ve/news/p83.html ("Martes 08-07-2003 -Fallas de "Médicos" cubanos no pueden ocultarse")

http://historico.notitarde.com/2004/08/27/valencia/valencia11.html

More than actual doctors, they can be termed paramedics. They specialize in preventive medicine, not treatment.

Here is a chronology on their history in Venezuela:
http://www.defensoria.gov.ve/detalle.asp?sec=190702&id=1319&plantilla=8

From the same website:
http://www.defensoria.gov.ve/lista.asp?sec=190702

From the Federación Venezolana de Médicos website:
http://www.saludfmv.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=195

The infrastructure for the old public hospitals still stands today, except where they are literally falling apart from lack of funds. Their funding situation is worse today than it was during the Fourth Republic. Of course, the government has chosen to concentrate on other matters.

[Vladimir]

70. Like sending patients to Cuba for the

operations?

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=6441

I put it to you that if the Venezuelan medical community cared one bit about the poor, it wouldn't need protection or guarantees of safety when travelling to those neighbourhoods. And if the government is caught up in an ideological fight with the Venezuelan doctors, that would explain the lack of investment in some hospitals.

[Piotr]

73. Ok; you try walking through

the Bronx on a daily basis. I suppose that that is how safe the Venezuelan medical community feels about the barrios.
And I have never heard of a place where ideology supersedes the interest in health care for a population. Also, lack of hospital investment isn't new to the Chávez administration; as you pointed out, the Venezuelan public health care system was beginning to crumble eighteen or so years before Chávez took office, during the 1980s.
He just has done very little about it where hospitals are concerned, at least.

[Vladimir]

76. Oh I know it isn't new to Chavez

but I imagine he might be more inclined to spend money on hospitals if the FVM wasn't so obviously racist and classist, and if there were more hospitals in the poor areas to spend money on. But lets say he started a programme of bulding new hospitals in the barrios - who is he gonna staff them with, if the Venezuelan doctors refuse to work there without 'protection'? When this new batch of medicos being trained in Cuba get back, I expect he might start addressing that. As it is, Chavez is putting a lot of money into preventative care, and educating people about their health - which is in the long run gonna reap dividends anyhow.

PS The doctors fear for their safety because they are predominantly white, and the poor are predominantly indans and negros, or monkeys as the opposition likes to call them. Besides, if its so dangerous, how come the Cubans don't need an escort? And why would I care about walking through the Bronx - I grew up in Belgrade mate.

[Piotr]

83. Then,

Why doesn't he have additional Cuban doctors working in the hospitals? Funding for hospitals isn't only about the doctors: it's also about medical supplies, technical equpiment and machinery, other hospital employees, social security for those employees, infrastructure, etc etc, all the running costs for those hospitals, not just its medical staff.

PS: Prove it. Prove to me that the Venezuelan doctors are predominantly white, and that the poor are predominantly indian and black. Just prove it.
PPS: Unlike most Venezuelan doctors, those Cubans have nothing to lose. And if you think that Venezuelan crime is a joke, then tell me what you think of the average 80 murders that occur per weekend in Venezuela.

http://www.psicologiajuridica.org/psj99.html
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/ve/Crime

[Vladimir]

86. The Cubans have nothing to lose?

what, you mean other that their lives, if the situation is as drastic as you make it out? Or are they all being forced to work in Venezuela, all 13,000 of them? Nothing to lose my arse...

PS As you well know, since you stated it, most of the Cuban doctors aren't the surgeons and specialist consultants that would be needed to staff the hospitals...

[Piotr]

87. Yes, I mean other than their lives. And if Venezuelans are being

taken to Cuba to get operations and consultations, why couldn't Chávez have some of those Cuban doctors operating and consulting right here, in the hospitals, through another agreement?

I would be surprised if those Cuban doctors were not being forced to work in Venezuela. Nothing indicates that they're voluntary, and I'm sure articles that talk about them would mention something like that, because being a volunteer is a good thing- it adds prestige to the volunteer. I think it is something that would be worth mentioning, at least in terms of image, not being kept in silence unless- of course- they were being forced.

[Vladimir]

88. You mean he is forcing 13,000 people to work in a foreign country

Ha! Well that is truly a spectacular show of power by the Cuban government... oh, wait a minute, I know. Their families are being held at gunpoint, right?

As to the first question: because there are only so many surgeons to go around, and Cuba need to have them at home to operate on Cubans. That much is obvious at least...

[Piotr]

96. Yes. That is what I mean.

Again, I would not find that surprising. Would you say that the Cuban government doesn't have the means to do so, especially considering the Castro regime, on whom the inhabitants of Cuba depend on for survival?

Another thing: you tell me how 13,000 doctors/paramedics are supposed to offer universal health care to a country of 24 million people when in a country like Cuba, where health care is supposed to be universal, roughly 67,000 doctors care for 11 million.

http://www.cubagov.cu/mapa.htm
http://www.cubagov.cu/mapa.htm

As to the surgeon reply: Very well. Let's wait for the arrival of that batch of Venezuelan médicos being trained in Cuba and see what happens to those hospitals. Agreed?

[Vladimir]

98. I guess we will see n/t

[Judi Lynn]

58. Interesting comments from Medea Benjamin......

Chavez Could Teach US Leaders a Thing or Two About Winning Votes
By MEDEA BENJAMIN

I knew that the administration of Hugo Chavez had won my heart when I met Olivia Delfino in one of the poor barrios in Caracas. As I was touring the neighborhood with an international delegation here to monitor this Sunday's referendum on Chavez, Olivia came out of her tiny house and grabbed my arm. "Tell the people of your country that we love Hugo Chavez," she insisted. She went on to tell me how her life had changed since he came to power. After living in the barrio for 40 years, she now had a formal title to her home. With that, she was able to get a bank loan to fix the roof so it wouldn't leak in the rain. Thanks to the Cuban dentists and a program called "Rescatando la sonrisa"-recovering the smile-for the first time in her life she was able to get her teeth fixed. And her daughter is in a job training program to become a nurse's assistant.

Getting more and more animated, Olivia dragged me over to a poster on the wall showing Hugo Chavez with a throng of followers and a list of Venezuela's new social programs that read: "The social programs are ours, let's defend them." Then slowly and laboriously, she began reading the list of social programs: literacy, health care, job training, land reform, subsidized food, small loans. I asked her if she was just learning to read and write as part of the literacy program. That's when she started to cry. "Can you imagine what it has meant to me, at 52 years old, to now have a chance to read?" she said. "It's transformed my life."

Walk through the poor neighborhoods in Venezuela and you'll hear the same stories over and over. The very poor now can go to a designated home in the neighborhood to pick up a hot meal every day. The elderly now have monthly pensions that allow them to live with dignity. Young people can take advantage of greatly expanded free college programs. And with 13,000 Cuban doctors spread throughout the country and reaching over half the population, the poor now have their own family doctors on call 24-hours a day-doctors who even make house calls. This heath care, including medicines, are all free.

The programs are being paid for with the income from Venezuela's oil, which is at an all-time high. Previously, the nation's oil wealth benefited only a small, well-connected elite who kept themselves in power for 40 years through a two-party duopoly. The elite, who controlled the media as well, kept the vast majority poor, disenfranchised, and disempowered. With the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 on a platform of sharing the nation's oil wealth with the poorest, all that has changed. The poor are now not only recipients of these programs, they are engaged in running them. They're turning abandoned buildings into neighborhood centers, running community kitchens; volunteering to teach in the literacy programs, organizing neighborhood health brigades and registering millions of new voters.
(snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/benjamin08142004.html

[HuckleB]

44. Sources?

Claims are nice. Sources to back them up are much better.

Thank you.

[SeattleRob]

35. For a good picture of what is happening in Venezuela...

Look for the film "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."


Chavez is a threat to the oligarchs and oil companies and much if what you read in the US Corporate Media is disinformation. Remember, the New York Times and much of the so-called "liberal media" seemed to support the illegal coup from a couple years back.

[Frances]

38. Chavez is definitely a threat to Bush's oil buddies

that the MSM is not covering. I suppose when we are paying $5/gallon for gas, the MSM will still be talking about how successful Bush is.

Here's what I have learned from a friend and from DU:

The Chinese are everywhere in Venezuela's oil industry, according to a friend's nephew who works there. China is investing millions in developing new oil fields in Venezuela as we speak.

Chavez plans to go to India to make oil deals there.

Russia is also talking to Chavez.

But I imagine that the biggest threat is that Chavez is trying to uite a number of South American countries into a huge oil group. I think he wants it to be like OPEC. I think he's making overtures to Brazil, Uruquay, Argentina, etc.

[Say_What]

41. Carbosuramerica, Petrosur, Telesur

Brazil, Venezuela have agreements in Carbosuramerica (coal South America) and Colombia is attending meetings in March for Carbosuramerica and to discuss what the three countries have in common.

Petrosur, which Chavez is sponsoring is a huge multinational government hydrocarbons company comprising Venezuela and Brazil, along with Argentina and other countries of the region. As he said today in Montevideo, "Petrosur is moving forward: a company that is national, South American and powerful with government to government sales which can save us 15% of cost because it will eliminate middlemen”, emphasized Mr. Chavez who has repeatedly expressed his interest in diversifying markets for Venezuelan crude, preferably to Latin America and China. "Venezuela has spent 100 years selling oil to the north, but never to the south, and that is now going to change".

and then there's

Telesur: A Counter-Hegemonic Project to Compete with CNN and Univisión

Paralleling the Arab Al Jazeera, Telesur will be something like Al Bolívar. Aram Aharonian, the Uruguayan journalist who will be the general director of this continental channel says it will be, "the first counter-hegemonic telecommunications project known in South America."

Telesur is intended to become a strong competitor to CNN and Univisión. Under the name Televisora del Sur (Television of the South), the Venezuelan-Argentinean-Brazilian-Uruguayan multinational will follow strict regulations regarding profit value, competitiveness and commercialization. According to plans, it will begin by broadcasting over one channel throughout South America, via satellite from its headquarters in Caracas in May.

Two veteran journalists involved in the direction of this project are touring México, in search of useful relations for a television channel that adheres to past and present values of progressive journalism: Aharonian, who fought in the struggles against the southern cone dictators, and who is now the director of the newspaper Questión of Caracas and a collaborator of the cyber-journal Red Voltaire and Jorge Enrique Botero, a Colombian television producer and author of two documentaries "Como voy a Olvidarte” (How Will I Forget You) and "Bacano salir en Diciembre" about those kidnapped by the FARC during the Colombian war. He won the Premio Nuevo Periodismo (New Journalism Award) for both.

Telesur, explains its director, is “a strategic project that was born out of the need to give voice to Latin Americans confronted by an accumulation of thoughts and images transmitted by commercial media and out of the urgency to see ourselves through our own eyes and to discover our own solutions to our problems. If we do not start there, the dream of Latin American integration will be no more than a salute to the flag.”

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1388
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Much to the chagrin of the Bushistas, LatAm and the Caribbean are uniting and it's about time.

[Frances]

42. Thanks for all of the links

You mentioned the Caribbean nations. Didn't I read that Chavez is giving money as well as scholarships students in the Dominican Republic? I am sure that is PR, but it sounds to me as though it may be successful.

[Say_What]

43. Dominca... Venezuela forgave Dominica's debt and granted

the poverty stricken country millions in developement funds. Dominica is part of CARICOM who has 13 votes in the 34-member OAS, which is about to vote for a new secretary general in June.

Rumor has it that Uncle Sam is gonna try to isolate Venezuela further by manipulating the OAS charter. This was reported in the Bogota daily, El Tiempo and deserves watching--although it would meet with wide resistance and probably not happen. As you no doubt know, the US excels at manipulating elections at home and abroad.

It's also internesting to note that China has contributed to OAS and is signing deals all over LatAm for oil and other goods.

[Judi Lynn]

45. India will discuss oil & gas exploration with Venezuela

India will discuss oil & gas exploration with Venezuela

Thursday, March 03, 2005 12:18:32 IST
Venezuelan President arrives in New Delhi today...

NEW DELHI (PTI): India will discuss opportunities for exploring oil and gas in Venezuela when the country's president arrives here on a visit today, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said. India and Venezuela are seeking closer cooperation in several sectors including hydrocarbons, infrastructure and biotechnology.

"Venezuela looks upon India as an important upcoming partner in hydrocarbon sector. We will sign an MoU for wider and deeper cooperation in hydrocarbon sector," he told reporters here.
Venezuelan president is scheduled to meet Aiyar today. The Latin American country had last year offered ONGC Videsh Ltd, the foreign arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, five oil fields for exploration and production. Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA had offered two exploration blocks and three development blocks. "OVL is still interested in the blocks and I will convey our desire to explore oil in their country," he said.

Indian state-run firms are seeking investment opportunity in foreign oil and gas projects as domestic reserves, which meet just 30 per cent of the total requirement, are shrinking, while demand is rising. ONGC has stakes in projects in several countries, including Russia, Vietnam, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Myanmar and Australia, and hopes to produce 400,000 barrels a day from its overseas petroleum assets by 2010/11. Venezuela has emerged a new oil supplier for India. Between the Athabasca Sands and Venezuelan Orinoco basin, there is more recoverable oil (with current technology) than the whole of Middle East.
(snip/...)

http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=inbombay&xfile=March2005_inbombay_standard5915

[IndianaGreen]

49. Stop reading rightwing propaganda!

and start getting your news from foreign press.

[dameocrat]

53. Good God we are ill served by the MSM

Even after all the WMD lies we are still getting right wing propaganda instead of news.

[Judi Lynn]

55. The only possible salvation is to become as informed as humanly possible

in the areas they want most desperately to misrepresent. Up 'til now, the country has been a vast plain of people who've been so caught up in their own lives many haven't taken the time to look long and hard at the stories we've been fed.

Too many people swallow this bilge without question. If anything can finally get through to jolt them, stir them, nudge them, they'll start paying closer attention, which would be disasterous for the propaganda creators, like Otto Reich, Cuban "exile" disinformation specialist, and everyone who has followed him in the State Department and the Department of Defense.



Here's looking at you!
Otto

[IndianaGreen]

56. Look at the coverage that Martha Stewart got when she was released

from prison. Keith Olbermann said last night that he had turned down the anchor job to cover Martha's release, which fell to Dan Abrams.

[slor]

62. Only South America?

Our guy is a threat to the world! Top that Mr. Chavez!

[GoldenOldie]

63. Chavez understands who his Nation's enemies are

It's is all about the OIL and the oligarchs and oil companies using the full power of this administration to defeat and overthrow Chavez by depicting him as a dictator.

You don't have to do a whole lot of research to understand that Venezuela contains a huge oil field which the oil companies and the BFEE are salivating over.

Chavez understands that the powerful Miami Cubans who fled Cuba with their bankrolls are biding their time to again take Control of their homeland and working on gaining further power in other areas of SA.

Chavez has earned the love and support of his people, his roots. They elected him and they have come to understand that they must do what is necessary to support him......The BFEE did not contemplate this support and have discovered that Chavez will not back-off from the BFEE threats and that the majority of US citizens who are informed do not believe the BFEE media-whores who attack him as being a cruel dictator.

It begs the question: Why do they hate us?

or better yet; What are our Representatives doing in OUR Name?

American students and adults know little if anything about our very own history and the majority know nothing of the history or cultures of the rest of the World. Yet we claim ourselves to be smarter, better and have the right to tell others what is best for them. Americans claim to monetarily support much of the world nations yet we allowed our leaders to sell our Nation China, Saudi Arabia and Japan, etc.

[dArKeR]

64. China's oil diplomacy offers aid in Latin America

Latin America is becoming a rich destination for China in its global quest for energy, with the Chinese quickly signing accords with Venezuela, investing in largely untapped markets like Peru and exploring possibilities in Bolivia and Colombia.

China's sights are focused mostly on Venezuela, which ships more than 60 percent of its crude oil to the United States. With the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East, and a president who says that his country needs to diversify its energy business beyond the United States, Venezuela has emerged as an obvious contender for Beijing's attention.

The Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez, accompanied by a delegation of 125 officials and businessmen, and Vice President Zeng Qinghong(???) of China signed 19 cooperation agreements in Caracas late in January. They included long-range plans for Chinese stakes in oil and gas fields, most of them now considered marginal but which could become valuable with big investments.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2005/03/06/2003225714

[Judi Lynn]

65. You may find this interesting!

Published: Sunday, March 06, 2005
Bylined to: Bob Chapman

Venezuela's President Chavez Frias had declared the elitist FTAA as dead

THE INTERNATIONAL FORECASTER editor Bob Chapman writes: The Presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela have issued a joint statement saying they are committed to pursuing a South American Community of Nations and expect to seal to seal a trilateral agreement at an upcoming meeting.

Meetings are also being arranged for finance, energy, and social area ministries and with central banks within 30 days.
The framework for a Southern Cone Economic Community (Mercosur) Structural Fund and Venezuela's full Mercosur membership is in the works.

To be discussed is a continental TV Network, Petrosur, South American Development Bank and ways and means to deal with poverty.

In further developments Venezuela will supply Uruguay with 43,600 barrels of oil per day, of which 75% will be paid for in 20 days and part can be paid by goods and services. The other 25% has a two-year grace period and a 15-year limitable. Venezuela will also buy $500,000 of Argentina's sovereign debt as an aid measure.

President Chavez Frias had declared the elitist, US Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) as dead.
(snip/...)

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=26443

[Piotr]

74. Article

This newspaper article appeared in the March 5th 2005 edition of the periodical Descifrado. The link leads to the article as it appeared. below that is a translation.

http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4321


"More poor, more chavistas
By Eugenia Campos

Almost four months have transpired since vice president José Vicente Rangel announced a definitive plan to combat poverty in Venezuela: two years have passed since the national head’s upstart launch of Misión Cristo, “the greatest of all missions”, with the objective of bringing hunger down to zero. For these two promises, however, no strategies have been offered and no national bodies have been designated to carry out such rewarding tasks in a country where 60.1% of the population doesn’t have the capacity to acquire the basic food and services basket, according to data from the official National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística).

Meanwhile, the growth of poverty during the fifth republic has been a constant, according to the numbers gathered by both regional and international bodies. Chávez’s performance in economic and social matters has been evaluated as the worst in the last 54 years, according to a study published in July 2004 by the Institute of Advanced Studies (Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, IESA) and the Andrés Bello Catholic University (Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, UCAB- one of the most important institutes of higher learning in Venezuela), which reviews economic and social indicators from 1950 to 2003. According to that research paper, during the first five years of the Bolivarian revolution extreme poverty rose 15%.

Likewise, the latest evaluations carried out by the Economic Commission for Latin America (Comisión Económica para América Latina, CEPAL) also contradict the government’s claims in advances in matters of eradicating poverty, a subject that, along with corruption, was one of the most well-worn promises since its beginning. In the World Outlook 2004 report, released in December last year, it was emphasized that Venezuela is far from achieving significant accomplishments in reducing extreme poverty levels or homelessness, areas which include the population group whose annual income isn’t even enough to cover food expenses. The study reveals that extreme poverty in the country rose 122% if compared to the decade of the 90s. “There were no improvements, only setbacks”, concludes the report.


Shortages on the rise

“We are certainly poorer today than we were in 1998”, points out Luis Vicente León, president of Datanálisis. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 7% lower than six years ago; the drop in real income is around 6%. Unemployment is at 12% and over half (54%) of the economically active population (12 million 247 thousand 300 people) dedicates itself to the informal sector.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Judi Lynn]

77. Wanted to know about your source,before reading your 20 paragraphs

So I did a quick look for it first, having recognized a pattern to anti-Chavez posting here, and pro-opposition (right-wing) and posting ONLY from right-wing authors.

I learned the source of your article, Descifrado, was founded by Juan Carlos Zapata, who based that publication in Boston. He started up his own periodical here, along with "Hispanic News Press." Hispanic News Press claims Descifrado is "the lead business and politics intelligence information provider in Venezuela since 1997."

He was formerly the information chief at Tal Cual, in Venezuela. Tal Cual is an anti-Chavez publication which did the following: They ran a newsphoto of Hugo Chavez, allegedly waving a gun in the air, during a speech. Here it is, with the REAL photo:



Explanation of this vicious attack:

On Friday September 26, the newspaper “Tal Cual” ("As such"), opponent of the Government, was sent to the streets with an issue that became the scandal of the week. On the cover of the paper, President Chávez is shown holding a 9mm caliber gun on the left hand. The publication of this high impact photo is the full responsibility of the Editor of the paper, who will have to appear before the Law for falsification of information.

The "little retouch" that was done to the original photo is not as simple as changing an image for another one. In this case, a gun was digitally put in place of a red rose that had been given to the President during the First Women World Forum underway in Caracas. Chavez gave a speech at the Forum in which 190 women from 27 countries participated in support of Venezuela’s revolutionary process.

The retouching of this photomontage exceeds all boundaries of respect. On the background of the scene, there was a poster with the logo of the Forum. The logo in the altered photo was erased in order to put the photo out of context. The original photo was taken by Feliciano Sequera, a photographer of the Miraflores Presidential Palace in the morning of September 24, - two days before the publication of the controversial Tal Cual issue- during President Chavez’s opening speech of the Women World Forum. There, he addressed the feminine audience in a very particular style for a President, with the tender and sweet familiar tone of a dear relative.

Original photo taken by a presidential palace photographer, showing Chavez holding a rose given to him by the audience.
(snip)

“What has happened in this case is bad journalism. It is media terrorism which is made in Venezuela by television, radio and of course by printed press”, said the Minister of Communication and Information, Jesse Chacon in a press conference offered to a small group of local and foreign journalists.” What the President has in his hand is a red rose that was offered to him. That rose is a love sign, that is the process."
(snip/...)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1025

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't that truly pathetic?

From Say_What's article, posted in the last few days here, an article concerning the Venezuelan media. Tal Cual is mentioned:

After Chávez came to power in 1998, the five main privately owned channels - Venevisión, Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Globovisión and CMT - and nine of the 10 major national newspapers, including El Universal, El Nacional, Tal Cual, El Impulso, El Nuevo País, and El Mundo, have taken over the role of the traditional political parties, which were damaged by the president’s electoral victories. Their monopoly on information has put them in a strong position. They give the opposition support, only rarely reporting government statements and never mentioning its large majority, despite that majority’s confirmation at the ballot box. They have always described the working class districts as a red zone inhabited by dangerous classes of ignorant people and delinquents. No doubt considering them unphotogenic, they ignore working class leaders and organisations.

Their investigations, interviews and commentaries all pursue the same objective: to undermine the legitimacy of the government and to destroy the president’s popular support.
(snip/...)

http://mondediplo.com/2002/08/10venezuela

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the publication from which your derived your post for anyone who wants to look it over, if he or she reads Spanish well. Maybe you'll be able to tell how "fair and balanced" this thing is!

http://www.descifrado.com/categoria.php?idcat=8&cat=Novedades

[Piotr]

80. The pictures placed on the cover

The pictures placed on the cover of Tal Cual are almost always purposefully tampered for hyperbolic, sometime comic, effect, and that is something that everyone knows. They are not actual photographs, nor do they intend to be. It goes in accordance with Tal Cual's strongly sarcastic and parodic tone, which , as a principle, intentionally makes no attempt to respect the Venezuelan government.

[Piotr]

81. Another thing about Tal Cual

The owner and director of Tal Cual, Teodoro Petkoff, is an economist, ex-guerrilla partisan and the founder of one of Venezuela's main socialist parties, Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), which originally supported Chávez in his presidential campaign but then eventually broke away from him. You can look him up.

[Judi Lynn]

82. So it was artistic expression, then. Only the slow-witted were fooled?

Such sophistication is a rare gift.

Maybe I was wrong to imagine they are occupying the same space people expect to see occupied by an actual straight news source.

Maybe you could explain why the "guns and roses" cover was seen as a contemptible attempt to mold public perception.

Are you telling me that the FRONT COVER of Tal Cual, then, can be expected to be a clever statement, although done with dishonest photography? "Tal Cual" is not a virulent anti-Chavez publication?

3) Massive media lies and distortions including forgery. The daily paper Tal Cual printed a front-page photo-shopped image of him waving a revolver around, under the headline, "A Nation at Gunpoint."
In the original picture, Chavez was, in fact, holding a rose.
(snip)

http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org.uk/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=23

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is Pedro Carmona, the man who presumed to replace Hugo Chavez, laughing at a clever, artistically expressed front cover in this photo?



Apparently Venezuelan "opposition" members are a loftly, intellectual bunch, then?

I never would have guessed.

[Say_What]

89. Strong Evidence of U.S. Media Imbalance on Venezuela (Tal Cual)

Hey, Tal Cual's Teodoro Petkoff is 4th on the list of most anti-Chavez sources quoted in the US propaganda machines. Hardly what one would call unbiased.

<clips>

Strong Evidence of U.S. Media Imbalance on Venezuela

One key to understanding how U.S. news media portray the politics of foreign countries concerns who the media rely upon as sources in reports about those countries. In a commentary last June, the progressive economist Mark Weisbrot noted that English-language journalists covering Venezuela frequently quote analysts who oppose the Chávez government but rarely cite experts who sympathize with that government. My own recent report for the U.S. media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (“Oil Calms Troubled Reporting,” Extra!, December 2004) corroborates Weisbrot’s charge of media imbalance.

Below is a chart showing the number of citations of respective pro and anti-Chávez sources in six U.S. newspapers. I tallied the numbers of citations of each listed analyst by performing archive searches on the websites of the six U.S. newspapers.

In the two-and-a-half-year period following the failed coup of April 2002, the most frequently quoted anti-Chavez analysts are cited in more than five times as many press reports as their Chavez-sympathizing counterparts.

...When looking only at the U.S. press’ citations of Venezuelan sources, the anti-Chávez bias appears even starker. Only six press reports included quotes from the prominent Venezuelan historians Margarita López-Maya and Samuel Moncada, both of whom speak English fluently and sympathize with the Chávez government. For every citation of the two pro-Chávez Venezuelan historians, there were more than 17 citations of anti-Chávez Venezuelan analysts.

Oft-quoted opposition sources include the anti-Chávez historian Alberto Garrido, the virulently anti-Chávez Venezuelan pollsters Luis Vicente León and Alfredo Keller; Alejandro Plaz and Maria Corina Machado of the opposition “civic organization” Súmate, which is partially U.S.-funded; and Teodoro Petkoff, the editor of the anti-Chávez Caracas daily Tal Cual.


That Dictator-for-a-Day pix says it all!!!
Way to go, JL! :smoke:

[Judi Lynn]

91. Great article, Say_What. Sad that so many people simply swallow

what the propaganda pushers shove at them, as the absolute truth. Apparently they've seen too many World War II movies, and imagine the only people who've used propaganda and outright lies were the "enemies," like Hitler, Stalin, various Islamic sources, and "commies." These people, if they don't get hit by buses, or step into open manholes just may live long enough to discover they've been fed massive amounts from their earliest moments of "consciousness."

Here's a link to your article. I grabbed it to read the whole article: http://faculty.valenciacc.edu/tbyrnes/schedule4.htm

Concerning that photo of Pedro Carmona? It's hard to find a GOOD photo of him. In every one he resembles a tumor in a suit! He surely does look dirty enough to carry out the wishes of the Venezuelan oligarchy!

Isn't he a close friend of the impeached former President, Carlos Andres Perez? I think I've read they're "chums," just like Carlos Andres Perez and _{George H. W. Bush."}



What are the impeached former President Carlos Andres Perez, the failed would-be dictator,
Pedro Carmona, and George H. W. Bush and Mini-Bush?

(Have you read that the impeached former President Perez has made public statements claiming Hugo Chavez should be killed? Pathetic.)

[Say_What]

92. Yes, I did read about Perez's threats--made in Miami I think...

or was that Carlos Ortega. There's so many I get confused about who said what, where, and when. I do remember reading that Carmona and Perez were hanging out in Bogota together plotting how to stir up the shit again in Venezuela while crying in their Club Colombia.

[Judi Lynn]

93. No doubt Ortega has made some nasty public threats, too

but Perez has made death threats at least a couple of times I've read recently. One concerned his believe Chavez should be shot like a dog (odd hobby, shooting dogs, for sure!) and another made a claim like they were going to take him down any way they could, and violence was definitely an option.

Here's one threat:

"I am working to remove Chavez . Violence will allow us to remove him. That's the only way we have," said CAP in an interview published Sunday in El Nacional, one of Venezuela's main daily newspapers.
(snip)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1320

Here's the other:

This vulnerability led one of the most outspoken members of the opposition - former President Carlos Andres Perez - recently to suggest that Mr Chavez should "die like a dog".
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3559668.stm

All this noise from a man who stole more than $17,000,000.00 from the Venezuelan government and was impeached, and only sentenced to house arrest. He also is the butthead who ordered his military to shoot into the crowds of protestors after he raised the cost of their transportation by bus to and from their jobs to an impossible price, along with other infamies.

Well, with Hugo Chavez, the poor DON'T get shot, killed, and screwed. It's about time, isn't it?

[Piotr]

105. Look at these Tal Cual covers so that you can see what I'm talking about.

http://www.talcualdigital.com/Portadas/Feb.asp
http://www.talcualdigital.com/Portadas/mar.asp
http://www.talcualdigital.com/Portadas/Abr.asp


PS: I think Carmona is laughing more because of the fact that Tal Cual joined the paro, which is what the cover states, than because of the cover itself.

[Judi Lynn]

84. Kick!

[Piotr]

85. I'm sorry , I had no idea I was infringing copyright.

Here are the four paragraphs I would have wanted to keep:

"To clarify the enormous acceptance held by Chávez among sectors D and E of the population, it is necessary to understand the logic of chavismo. “The Government interprets the problem of poverty as an affair of exclusion. Because of that, the group that currently holds power speaks of political participation, within the precepts of participative democracy”, explains Tito Lacruz. “Its concern is not eradicating poverty through the creation of employment plans, for example, even if they have some training programs”."

(skip)

""The misiones, although necessary as emergency assistance programs, do not manage to solve the poverty issue in depth, a point many studies come together on. “They reflect the populist facet of the current government. In this sense, they generate a great deal of mobilization from the masses around the figure of the president and his cause”, considers Lacruz."

"One of the necessary conditions, although not the only one, to rise out of poverty is economic growth. The indicators being processed for 2004 show that the Venezuelan economy is recovering, reason for which the quality of life for Venezuelans might improve. It is because of this that Luis Vicente León observes that we must be careful when analyzing the economic performance of the chavista administration, because the greater part of studies on that matter are based in the disastrous year of 2003. “We’re poorer than we were six years ago, but I wouldn’t say that to dramatic levels”.

(skip)

"Nevertheless, the situation has worsened, the president of Datanálisis points out. “GDP is 7% below that of 1998, the drop in real income is 6% and there has not been an important recovery of private investment, which is fundamental for true economic recovery. There has also been an increase in public spending, sustained by the oil and its currently high prices. There has been an increase on dependence on a very unstable market that, should it change, would have an enormous impact on the country’s economy, and, of course, on poverty”.

“Economic growth that is being recorded is misleading”, Lacruz adds. “There has been a certain upturn after the recession generated by the paro, a certain revival of the economic system. But there are still many production sectors that have been paralyzed for years that have subjected their decisions to the comings and goings of the political crisis. Besides, the Government has repeated escape measures typically used by previous administrations when it increases its public spending. It eventually reduces poverty, but, just like decades ago, it is tied to the volatile market of the crude. We’re still barely in the oil honeymoon”."

As I perceive it, the article as a whole states the following:

1- The economy in today's Venezuela has been the worst in 54 years.
2-Basic item prices are on the rise. The most affected are those in extreme poverty.
3-To counter this situation, the government has enacted plans such as Barrio adentro, popular diners and Mercal.
4-The government, and especially Chávez, enjoys great if not massive popular support among the poorest in the nation because of these popular programs.
5-Some see these measures as insufficent to bring and en to poverty the because they do not deal with the problems of poverty in depth, but rather symptomatically.
6-The government believes poverty to be a result of political exclusion, not of a dependent, recessive economy. Its plans to counter poverty do not include the private sector.
7-Chávez has worked to try and include previously excluded sectors into the country's management through his participative democracy through the form of organized committees in the poorest areas and other similar manifestations.
8-The participative elements of Chávez's participative democracy are limited to his party. That is, spaces of participation and opinion have only been opened within the lines of this party's ideology- anything going over these limits is shunned and excluded.
9-High oil prices and increased public spending are present in today's government. However, this is not the first government to do this.
10-The country's dependence on oil for public funding carries with it a very high risk as it is tied to the crude market.
11-The economy, though recovering, is still severely lacking. The absolute costs of living today are higher than they were in 1998.


I found this article to be balanced enough, alright. The sources are cited and reliable, the language is sober, and some partial claims showcased elsewhere with dubious or apparently spurious reliability (such as in http://www.skog.de/envenezu.htm) are presented and substantiated in this article.

[Judi Lynn]

90. Your last link was interesting. He made some good points.....

especially by pointing out the obvious similarities in what the CIA has done to Chile in the 1970's and what they have done already to Venezuela:

All the prerequisites for CIA-engineered foul play are present: A left wing president, oil, the "threat of a good example", a rich upper class and foreign investors dissatisfied and a small country´s refusal to be the obediant servant to US interests in spite of living in its backyard. And the wheels seems to be in motion. James Petras, a professor at New York State University, who has studied the Chileans coup in the 70s, says that "the IMF and financial institutions are fabricating a familiar crisis. The tactics used are very similar to those used in Chile. Civilians are used to create a feeling of chaos, and a false picture of Chavez as a dictator is established, then the military is incited to make a coup for the sake of the country." CIA is doing its best to assist in the background. Is that Henry Kissinger smiling knowingly?

Hugo Chavez may use rough methods in introducing his promised legislation and he is no friend of the greedy rich or corrupt civil servants, but so far he is allowing a free press, even if the right-wing majority of it is very critical of his regime. He has avoided using his power in a violent way. There are no political prisoners and his government has managed to cut inflation from 40% to the 12% expected this year. And the armed forces are reported to back him, at least so far.

Should Chavez be allowed to proceed and hopefully succeed in making Venezuela a land where the poor are not thrown to the wolves and health programs and education benefits the majority?

Or have any other country, including USA, the right to sabotage this experiment?
(snip/)

http://www.skog.de/envenezu.htm

Thanks.

[Piotr]

95. These were not the parts of the link the article was substantiating.

I was referring more to the bits on the misiones, for example.

I don't know why you keep insisting on a destabilizing CIA presence. Up until recently, the last thing the US Government was trying to do was to destabilize Venezuela. It took Chávez's anti-Bush rants in stride while still receiving the crude that Chávez happily supplied. I don't think the US government could have afforded to have its Venezuelan oil supply route disrupted, not to mention possible embargo measures from OPEC nations, for example. That might change as the US Government becomes more aware of Chávez's possible influence ... But I also doubt it. I think it has more important things to worry about- namely, Iraq.
The Venezuelan Chancellor announced today that there are no plans to interrupt oil supplies to the US despite Chávez's claims. He stated that the current plans are to increase production in order to better supply the US and other nations with oil.

The rest of the "article" from the link that you picked out sound like biased, insensitive, generalized, ignorant hogwash to me.

[Judi Lynn]

97. You won't find a lot of people who've been watching Bush's behavior

toward Venezuela who will agree with you that the CIA has not been involved in a planned program of destabilization. I have some very quick examples I found in a search, in mere moments:

THE 48 HOUR COUP (Investigation into CIA involvement in recent failed coup in Venezuela)

Pérez Recao regularly moves between Caracas and Florida and is a major shareholder in the Veneco petrochemical company of which Pedro Carmona – the 48-hour illegal president - is an executive. Pérez Recao is also linked to several obscure Florida companies alleged to be linked to the CIA. The Venezuelan paper, El Nuevo País, reports that the conspirators met several times at Pérez Recao's house east of Caracas, and that he controls an extreme right-wing paramilitary group trained by former agents of the Israeli Mossad.

We also know that US Asst. Sec for the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, had a meeting with Carmona, in November last year. . We also know that the Venezuelan Army’s Inspector General Lucas Romero Rincon, had visited the Pentagon in December 2002 for a meeting with the US Asst. Sec. of Defence for the Western Hemisphere, Rogerio Pardo-Maurer; another George W appointee to have been heavily involved in supporting the contra rebels in Nicaragua. Two of the coup leaders, General Efraín Vázquez and Ramirez Poveda, are also known to have graduated from the notorious School of America’s, the CIA’s school of insurgency which has trained a multitude of covert operators.
(snip)

Despite their continuing state of denial, US fingerprints have been found all over the short lived coup in Venezuela. It is still marginally unbelievable that political diplomacy and prudence were thrown to the wind in both the US and Europe within a day of a military overthrow of a democracy. Perhaps the heady smell of oil, induced western politicians and leading financiers to abandon all sense of diplomatic caution. Perhaps the ousting of a radical socialist leader made giddy the minds of western capitalists. Whatever the reason, their premature celebrations became an embarrassing hangover devoid of justifiable excuses within just 48 hours. US fingers have plunged into Latin American pies before but never have they been so hastily rebuffed by popular insurrection and Latin American solidarity.
(snip/)

http://www.squall.co.uk/squall.cfm/ses/sq=2002051001/ct=2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bush administration has certainly done a lot to get rid of Chavez ... that he’s alive for the recall referendum is a sign of the Bolivarian process’ resilience. Just this Tuesday Spain’s El Mundo newspaper reported on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) meeting held in Chile to prepare a contingency plan in the event that Chavez wins the recall.
(snip/...)

http://www.energybulletin.net/1636.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geary’s disclosure of the CIA’s Venezuela operation put him in the cross-hairs

During his 5-year USCG training mission of the Venezuelan Coastguard, Geary’s disclosure of the CIA’s clandestine 'Operation Deep Six' to destabilize the elected government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez put him in the cross-hairs of the Agency.
(snip/...)

http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias/index.php?act=ST&f=23&t=12265

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is the CIA preparing another coup?

By Bill Vann

11 December 2002

The atmosphere of provocations and employer-organized economic sabotage recalls the CIA campaign to destabilize the Popular Unity government of Chile's President Salvador Allende in 1973. It was subsequently revealed that US intelligence, working through both business associations and corrupt right-wing unions, funded a truckers' strike that paralyzed the country. The economic dislocation set the stage for the September 11, 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet that led to a bloodbath of the Chilean working class and 15 years of dictatorship.

There can be little doubt that Washington is deeply involved in instigating the disruptions in Venezuela. Before it launches a war against Iraq, the Bush administration will most certainly assure itself a secure supply of Venezuelan oil. In the long term, the US ruling elite, together with the Venezuelan oligarchs, look to a substantial profit windfall through the privatization of the state-owned oil company.
(snip/...)

http://www.kominf.pp.fi/6aextra.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can be sure there's a ton of material to post here on the subject.

[Overseas]

94. Kick and hope more people learn to support Chavez

Mega propaganda and more violent campaigns against Chavez, supported by our government and its friends. Hope you're all reading "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," to understand what is going on in Venezuela. He wants the economic wealth generated by oil to be shared more equitably. That creates a dangerous example.