VIO News & Action - Elections Sunday, ECLAC Cites Advances, Anti-Semitism Charged

[magbana]

VIO Venezuela News and Action

Dear Friends,

As elections sweep through the hemisphere - last month in Bolivia, this Sunday in Venezuela, and next month in El Salvador - we hope you will take the time to visit the website of our new organization, the Latin America Information Office, which now hosts the VIO project. In the coming months, it will provide you with an increasing amount of timely analysis and factual information on the progressive advances and movements for social change currently underway in the region.

You can read our fact sheet on Venezuela's upcoming vote here and a context paper on El Salvador and the presidential elections here. We hope you will also take the opportunity to sign up for the monthly newsletter of the Latin America Information Office here.

VENEZUELA VOTES ON AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION IN 5 DAYS

Venezuela's upcoming referendum, which will take place this Sunday, February 15th, will let voters decide whether or not to remove limits on the number of times a candidate for any public office may run for reelection.

According to Venezuela's 1999 constitution, all changes to the constitutional text must be put to a popular vote in a national referendum. Only if proposed amendments or reforms gain majority approval at the polls can they become law. This is a political right that Venezuelans never had under previous administrations. Some media have falsely suggested that, with this amendment proposal, President Chavez is attempting to become "president-for-life." The fact is, this amendment would simply remove limits on the amount of times any elected official - whether president, governor, mayor or legislator - can run for reelection.

It is worth noting that President Chavez's policies remain popular after 10 years in power. Reuters cited 60% approval ratings for Chávez in mid-January. However, President Chávez has indicated that he will gracefully accept defeat if voters decide to reject the amendment. He told CNN en Español on February 2nd: "I am a democrat. I am subordinated to the constitution and to the people's decision. If we lose, we simply lose, and I have four years left in the government."

It should be pointed out that a number of the world's democracies do not have term limits for public office. Even in the U.S., President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for four terms in office. The U.S. Constitution did not include presidential term limits until the 1950s, a change that was voted on by Congress and not through a popular vote, as is the case in the coming referendum in Venezuela.

Elections in Venezuela occur frequently, and are among the most transparent in the world. All observers - including the OAS, the Carter Center, the NAACP, the EU and others - have certified electoral processes in Venezuela as free and fair. Observers have also praised the work of the National Electoral Council (CNE), the independent branch of government that is responsible for electoral oversight. See quotes from observers here.

ECLAC APPLAUDS VENEZUELA'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN POVERTY REDUCTION

During an interview with CNN En Espanol this week, Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena of the prestigious Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) corroborated statements made in an earlier interview with President Chavez, that his administration's achievements in alleviating poverty have been impressive. She points out that "unemployment has decreased from 11 percent to 7.4 percent" and overall, "extreme poverty and poverty went from 51 percent to 28.5 percent." You can watch the interview here and read the English transcripts here.

VENEZUELA & CHARGES OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE PRESS

As has often been the case before each national election in Venezuela, much of the U.S. press has decided to abandon basic journalistic ethics in their reporting and editorializing on Venezuela. This past weekend, the Miami Herald and the NY Daily News both issued scathing editorials alleging that the Chavez administration was responsible for anti-semitism in Venezuela. The Washington Post and many other newspapers followed suit with articles that promoted a similar line.

The reality is far more complex. Here are some of the facts that should, at a minimum, be mentioned in any discussion of anti-Semitism in Venezuela:

- Criticism of certain policies of the current government of Israel by the Venezuelan government cannot be construed in any way as anti-Semitic. In fact, in recent criticism of Israel's military action in Gaza, Venezuelan officials have always accompanied their protests with statements of good will towards the Jewish people.

- Venezuela's 1999 constitution embodies a spirit of multiculturalism and religious pluralism. The human rights guarantees it establishes are among the most progressive of any constitution in the world.

- The vandalization of the oldest Caracas synagogue on January 30th was quickly condemned by President Chavez, as well as the Venezuelan Vice President and several government ministers. They ordered a swift investigation of the crime that has yielded eleven arrests so far. Though it is being depicted by some media as a symptom of rampant anti-Semitism. this isolated incident is not in any way emblematic of attitudes toward the Jewish community in Venezuela.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!

PLEASE WRITE TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS at: [e-mail] and give your opinion of their recent editorial entitled "Venezuela's Jews are facing a wave of hate generated by President Hugo Chavez" Or WRITE TO THE MIAMI HERALD at: [e-mail] in response to its editorial, "Campaign of hatred grows in Venezuela."

We invite you to utilize the key information above in responding to both editorials.

Remember, letters to the editor should be brief (usually 150 words) and can respond to any article or opinion piece you would like to comment on. Letters to the editor can critique coverage or point out information that has been overlooked. Letters must include your name, city/state, and contact information for verification. Letters that are personalized, fact-based, and polite in tone are much more likely to be published.

[Peace Patriot]

1. This looks like a very good resource. Thank you for posting it!

The story on the vandalism of the synagogue, as handled by our lying, scumbag, corpo/fascist press, is even worse than this memo indicates. More arrests have been made, and the vandalism has been exposed as an inside job, involving the synagogue's our security guard. It was a robbery. The president of the largest Jewish organization in Venezuela, Elias Faranche, said on TV that Chavez was not to blame, and that Chavez's government is a "liberal" government and very protective of minority rights. None of this has been reported in our putrid press.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4179