Venezuela Matters

Taxi Nights- albanian Louie and Me

2008-08-12T18:40:00.001-04:00

Yes I'm trying to write a book here.

www.taxinights.blogspot.com

Hugo Chavez, a Green President.

2007-09-22T20:19:00.000-04:00

Viva Venezuela verde!
Derek Wall
April 11, 2007 5:00 PM

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/derek_wall/2007/04/viva_verde_venezuela.html

My only transatlantic flight in the last decade was a return trip to Caracas, Venezuela at the invitation of my friend Cesar who works in the ministry of the environment. I was promised a chance to see a green revolution in progress and I was not disappointed. President Hugo Chávez, deposed in a CIA backed coup in 2002, back in power a week later after huge protests in the barrios (the slums) and recently re-elected with a whopping 63% vote, is a green.

This is pretty astonishing because Venezuela is a petro-economy, the fifth largest oil producer in the world and with gas just a few thousand bolivers a gallon (about 20p) the Venezuelan's love to drive huge ancient, battered and polluting cars (at speed). However Chávez knows that climate change is a reality, one that is likely to hit countries near the equator, like Venezuela, hard. He also knows that the great car economy is a source of choking fumes and urban vandalism.

There is a huge organic farm right in the centre of Caracas between the freeway and the Hilton. This is part of a drive towards green agriculture. I visited an ecological high school outside the city, in thousands of similar schools in the country pupils are taught organic farming based on the use of worm bin compost. Venezuela has also banned energy wasting light bulbs. Another green initiative is Misión Arbol, which aims in five years to collect 30 tonnes of seeds, plant 100 million plants, and reforest 150,000 hectares of land.

Chávez, with his usual passion, has observed: "One car each? Our planet won't stand that - that model of capitalism, extreme individualism and consumerist egotism. The destructive so-called developmentalism destroying the planet is, quite frankly, a thing of stupidity."

While greens are rightly suspicious of oil deals, Chávez's plan to barter cheap oil with Ken Livingstone in return for advice on dealing with congestion in Caracas, strikes me as the right thing to do. Incidentally the oil will be sold for cash and used to fund the scheme, rather used to fuel buses in Camden, Barnet or Hackney. Ken Livingstone's congestion charge is admired by Chávez, who aims to buy in the Mayor's expertise in reducing car use in return for a cash payment to reduce oyster card fares for low income Londoners. Already a new railway out of Caracas has been built and it will be free for the first few weeks to get commuters out of their cars. This is just one part of the Venezuelan plan to reduce their long-term dependence on oil revenue, so as to build a future that is economically sustainable and ecologically sound.

The debate that could have been, but wasn't.

2007-06-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

This Thursday 7 of June, competing student leaders had the opportunity to attend the National Assembly of Venezuela (the congress of the country) to expose their ideas on the motivations of the protests that have affected the country soon of the aim of the concession of RCTV. Also, bolivarianos student young people attended to give their own impressions.Although the opponents had originally requested a debate, in this occasion went to the place with red franelas (put them by own decision) and, after making an intervention and clearing them to it in revolt signal, they left the enclosure without wanting to debate with chavistas his contrapartes.Nevertheless, the day was described as historical and a forceful victory for the chavistas forces. In a country accused of dictatorial, the competing students attended to the maximum legislative enclosure of the country, expressed their ideas and soon they went by own decision, although the invitation was to debate with the chavistas students in equality of conditions, in a debate that was transmitted in national chain of radio and television where they said to million people everything to him what they wanted.They do not lose the review of Carlchucho, that was in the place working arduously. Next I leave all the interventions them of the students, as much of a side as of the other.
Introduction of Cilia Flowershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vNzJvxxwlQ
Douglas Districts (competing, Univ. Metropolitan)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xpPDeMZXfA
Andreína Tarazon (bolivariano, UCV)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCeuB-S_HkM
John Goicochea (competing, UCAB; after their speech the opponents go away)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gor6sekgjQw
Robert Serra (bolivariano, UCAB)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0kZXCVn8yM
Freedom Velasco (Bolivariana, UCV)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdyziSWssCw
Yahir Muñoz (bolivariano, USM)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8bHmQSDYRY
Caesar Trompiz (bolivariano, UBV)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl9ZPim4JGs
Mayerling Aryan (bolivariana, UBV)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCZrfaZZmI
Manuel Dum (bolivariano, UNEXPO)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-TgQSRRSMA
Osly Hernandez (bolivariana, UCV)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INXZ3vMLazE
Eder Dugarte (bolivariano, Licero Bolivariano Eduardo Cream)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Y3Kn8ilG4
Hector Rodriguez (bolivariano, UCV)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Kq4_wuhukHe was the one that denounced the one of ARS Publicity. Inluye hymn and aim of the chainThe bolivarianos students left and celebrated, whereas the opponents were accompanied and protected by the Metropolitan Police and the National Guard until a safe place, since the Legislative Federal Palace were surrounded by hundreds of compatible people the revolutionary process who tooted and booed the opponents.One of the student leaders, Stalin González, could not enter because it arrived late. Other interesting things happened very in the outside from the building to hands of a journalist but very altered, according to a journalist of Avila caught TV. Cilia deputy Flowers also had her own collision with the right press, that knew to handle very well.The competing students soon did a press conference twisting some of the things that had requested originally. On the other hand, President Chávez invited the ten bolivarianos young people who took part to a special act, where congratulated them and he called "the ten heroes".The lamentable thing in all this is the attitude of the main competing digital means, News Digital and Noticias24, which have attacked several of the young people, having published the direction and the telephone of Andreína Tarazón and Héctor Rodriguez. Noticias24 calls "ladronzuela" to Andreína in a holder, of a form that violates its dignity like woman. This explained Mario Silva in the Hojilla. All this because Andreína took a leaf that left to Douglas Districts in the lectern so, and seems that that leaf served to discover that the speech of Districts had been advised by ARS Publicity, a well-known Venezuelan agency.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette Editorial On Venezuela Makes Sense.

2007-06-08T02:25:00.000-04:00

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07127/783961-192.stm

Chavez's chafing: The state of U.S.-Venezuela relations needs repair
Monday, May 07, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

President Hugo Chavez has nationalized the control of four oil fields and a refinery in Venezuela's Orinoco River Basin, affecting foreign companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, France's Total and Norway's Statoil ASA.

The assets are worth $30 billion, with compensation by Venezuela to the companies yet to be worked out.

In taking the action last week, Mr. Chavez continued to carry out a policy that melds his own personal attitude toward the United States with a course he has set to free Venezuela as much as possible from external control. He includes in this category influence from foreign governments and companies, in particular the United States, and any future need on Venezuela's part to toe the line in dealing with international financial institutions. On Thursday, he said that he plans also to nationalize Venezuela's banks and a steel company.

He also announced that Venezuela would be withdrawing from both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It has paid off its loans to both with revenue from the high oil prices of this decade.

Some of what Mr. Chavez is doing changes little for Venezuela. Its oil industry was under national control from 1975 to 1992, when privatization resumed. Greater national control of development of the country's oil resources could mean that investors will be less likely to provide the necessary funds to keep Venezuelan oil production up to date.

On the other hand, world market demand for oil -- largely depoliticized in nature -- is such that Venezuelan nationalization of its reserves will likely make almost no difference, in sales or investment. Three-quarters of the world's oil reserves are under state control in any case.

Mr. Chavez's actions are another step in a resurgence of socialism as the governing theology of economics in Venezuela, and potentially at least in some of the rest of Latin America. Looking around the world, it is probably fair to say that the economic philosophy of a government has little to do with actual oil production. An expansion across Latin America of Mr. Chavez's approach, however, would probably mean that more American companies would lose parts of their concessions and other positions in the region.

Mr. Chavez's own basic problem with the United States is political and goes back to 2002, when the administration of President Bush prematurely recognized an ultimately unsuccessful coup d'etat against Mr. Chavez. He is also no doubt aware that across the years some other Latin American leaders have come to premature, sticky ends for their opposition to the United States. He is noisy about this subject on the world stage to try to ensure himself against such U.S. action against him.

The state of U.S.-Venezuela relations is painful. It would be unfortunate if Mr. Chavez and his country became another Castro's Cuba stuck in America's craw as time goes by. It is hard for Washington to take steps toward Mr. Chavez while he lambasts the United States publicly. On the other hand, the United States is the big power and Venezuela the small one. Venezuela is also the fourth-largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States.

The importance of the relationship would seem to suggest greater efforts on the part of Mr. Bush and his administration to patch things up with Mr. Chavez and Venezuela.

From Oil Wars Blog- Commentary On A New York Times Opinion Piece by An FCC Official.- The Airwaves Need Government Oversight

2007-06-08T02:15:00.000-04:00

If only the FCC could be more like Conatel
In all countries the government has regulalatory agencies that allocate and control the radio spectrum that broadcasters use. In Venezuela that agency is called Conatel and they recently created an uproar by not renewing the broadcast license of the RCTV television network.

In the United States the agency in charge of such matters is the FCC, or Federal Communications Commission. In today’s New York Times one of the commissioners of the FCC, Michael Copps, wrote an Op-Ed piece essentially wishing that the FCC would exercise more control and oversight over television broadcasters to push them to improve the quality of their programming – in other words, he wants the FCC to be more like Conatel. It is quite informative (and more than a little ironic) so even though it never mentions what recently happened in Venezuela lets have a look:

The Price of Free Airwaves

AS a member of the Federal Communications Commission, I often hear how fed up Americans are with the news media. Too much “if it bleeds it leads” on the evening news and not enough real coverage of local issues. Too little high-quality entertainment and too many people eating bugs.
It doesn’t have to be this way. America lets radio and TV broadcasters use public airwaves worth more than half a trillion dollars for free. In return, we require that broadcasters serve the public interest: devoting at least some airtime for worthy programs that inform voters, support local arts and culture and educate our children — in other words, that aspire to something beyond just minimizing costs and maximizing revenue.

Wow, talk about “handouts” – a half a trillion dollars worth of prime “real estate” just given away for free. And to very rich companies and individuals no less. How can this be? Why would something of so much value just be given away for free to private companies and people? What is the government getting in return? And can television broadcasters and the government really be said to be free of each other when one depends on the other for so much in giveaways? Its interesting how none of this ever seems to be questioned.

Using the public airwaves is a privilege — a lucrative one — not a right, and I fear the F.C.C. has not done enough to stand up for the public interest. Our policies should reward broadcasters that honor their pledge to serve that interest and penalize those that don’t.

“Using the public airwaves is a privilege… not a right” – try telling that to Marcel Granier. He and his supporters seems to think that it is his “right” to have his broadcast license automatically renewed and that unless he or the station is convicted of some crime he cannot lose it. Kudos to the F.C.C. which at least gets it that the license had to be earned through serving the public interest. And can any honest person say RCTV has worked in the public interest and is deserving of the privilege of having a lucrative broadcast license?

The F.C.C. already has powerful leverage to hold broadcasters to their end of the bargain. Every eight years, broadcasters must prove that they have served the public interest in order to get license renewal. If they can’t, the license goes to someone else who will. It’s a tough but fair system — if the commission does its job.
Hmm. So in the U.S. broadcasters only get their licenses for 8 years – not the 20 years Venezuelans got until recently. More on this in a minute.

The problem is that, under pressure from media conglomerates, previous commissions have eviscerated the renewal process. Now we have what big broadcasters lovingly call “postcard renewal” — the agency typically rubber-stamps an application without any substantive review. Denials on public interest grounds are extraordinarily rare.
Yup, that is what RCTV wanted too – “postcard renewal”. And when they didn’t get it Venezuela got their rock throwing hissy fit.

Just recently, the F.C.C. made news because it fined Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster, a record-breaking $24 million. Univision claimed that its stations offered three hours of children’s educational programming per week — one of the few public interest rules still on the books — in part by showing a soap opera involving 11-year-old twins.

That was the right decision. But, viewed closely, it also illustrates just how slipshod our renewal process has become.

The fine was not levied at the ordinary time. In fact, the license term for one of the two stations initially at issue had expired 18 months earlier. This is typical — applications opposed by watchdog groups often languish for years while the broadcaster is permitted to continue business as usual. Then infractions are commonly disposed of with a small fine.

The commission paid attention to the Univision complaint because the station was part of a chain of 114 TV and radio stations being transferred from a public corporation to private equity firms. Without that, it is unclear when, if ever, the violations would have been acted upon. This even though scholars believe that one-fifth of what is billed as children’s programming has “little or no educational value” and only one-third can be called “highly educational.” Our children deserve better.
The FCC wants to promote better and more appropriate programming? Good luck. Just be careful. When Venezuela did the exact same thing a few years ago the screams of censorship came fast and furious. Sadly though, it does seem as if the broadcasters in the U.S. have the run of the place as they are sometimes allowed to keep broadcasting even with expired licenses. But don’t you try driving your car with an expired license!

It wasn’t always like this. Before the deregulatory mania in the 1980s — when an F.C.C. chairman described television as a “toaster with pictures” — the commission gave license renewals a hard look every three years, with specific criteria for making a public interest finding. Indeed, broadcasters’ respect for the renewal process encouraged them to pay for hard-hitting news operations. That was then.
Here things get interesting. Venezuela used to give its broadcast licenses for the absurdly long 20 years. They have now reduced the terms of the licenses to 5 years. Some opposition supporters see this as a sinister plot to exert political control over broadcasters.

Yet in the U.S. licenses are renewed every 8 years – that is sure a lot closer to 5 years than 20. Further, they used to review them every 3 years and as we’ll see in a few paragraphs this commissioner wants them to go back to that. Sounds good to me. And it shows that rather than having anything to do with politics Conatel reducing its licensing terms to 5 years is simply the government making sure it exercises appropriate oversight of its valuable broadcast spectrum.

Nowadays, a lot of people claim that because of the Internet, traditional broadcast outlets are an endangered species and there’s no point in worrying about them. That’s a mistake.

First, broadcast licenses continue to be very valuable. Univision’s assets — many in small markets — were sold for more than $12 billion. A single station in Sacramento, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, went for $285 million in 2004. A station in a megamarket like New York or Los Angeles could easily fetch half a billion dollars or more.

Second, broadcast outlets are still primary, critical sources of information for the American public. Nearly 60 percent of adults watch local TV news each day — it remains the nation’s most popular information source. And so it’s imperative that broadcasters continue to provide high-quality coverage of local and national issues.
But ensuring they do so means putting teeth back into the renewal process. To begin with, shorten the license term. Eight years is too long to go without an accounting — we ought to return to the three-year model.

It sure is imperative that broadcasters “provide high-quality coverage of local and national issues”. No one ever accused RCTV of doing that. Too bad the Venezuelan government had to wait so long to be able to do anything about it. Fortunately, in the future they won’t.

Let’s also actually review a station’s record before renewing its license.

Whoa, you mean it shouldn’t just be automatic?!?! You mean the government should look at what is broadcast and possibly not renew a license if it doesn’t think it is appropriate? If so, they better watch themselves around Jose Vivanco of Human Rights Watch who seems to think it is a crime to “investigate” TV stations or to even to have standards for what types of things are appropriate to broadcast to little kids.

Here are just some of the criteria for renewal the F.C.C. considered in the 1990s but never put into place:

Did the station show programs on local civic affairs (apart from the nightly news), or set aside airtime for local community groups?

Did it broadcast political conventions, and local as well as national candidate debates? Did it devote at least five minutes each night to covering politics in the month before an election?

In an era when owners may live thousands of miles from their stations, have they met with local community leaders and the public to receive feedback?

Is the station’s so-called children’s programming actually, in the view of experts, educational?

All of this information ought to be available on the Web so people can see how their airwaves are being used.

These issues are even more pressing today: broadcasters are making the transition to digital technology that permits them to send several television and radio channels into our homes instead of the single channel they’ve had up to now. The F.C.C.’s next step after reforming the licensing process should be to address how this new digital capacity can increase local programs and also improve the generally shoddy coverage of minority and other underserved communities. New benefits for broadcasters should translate into public benefits, too.

If you need convincing that something needs to be done, consider that only about 8 percent of local TV newscasts in the month before the last presidential election contained any coverage whatsoever of local races, including those for the House of Representatives.

This low number is just one example of how poorly stations are serving their viewers. Do stations that make so much money using the public airwaves, but so plainly fail to educate viewers on the issues facing them, really deserve to have their renewals rubber-stamped?

Nope, no broadcaster should have their renewals rubber stamped. Venezuela has the good fortune to have a government that has already put a stop to that. If this editorial is any indication maybe there is hope for the U.S. on this issue too.

And though it is a little off topic it should be noted Chavez is a trend setter. He ramps up royalties and taxes on big oil and soon after even the U.S. did the same for oil pumped from federally owned lands. Chavez started putting in energy saving bulbs and now governments from Australia to California are falling over themselves to mandate them too. And now after the Chavez administration re-asserts government oversight the airwaves the FCC pines for the same. What can you say, Chavez is the ultimate trend-setter.

Is Chavez a dictator? Isn't he closing a TV station (RCTV- Radio Caracas Television) that is against his politics?

2007-05-21T13:51:00.000-04:00

This video and fact sheet explain why RCTV is not getting its license to broadcast over the airwaves renewed in Venezuela. Practically every country on earth including the US regards the radio spectrum as public property owned by the government, and whoever uses it uses it with government permission. Ask Howard Stern if you can say whatever you want over the airwaves.

Press Freedoms in
Venezuela:

The Case of RCTV

Overview

In late 2006, the
Venezuelan government announced that it would not renew a 20-year license to
Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) to continue broadcasting on public airwaves.
Cable or satellite broadcasts however, would still be available for the
station’s use. Though the decision has faced criticism by some who say it is a
move to restrict press freedoms, most governments have the constitutional right
to make decisions on such licensing, a mandate that the U.S government also
enjoys with the U.S. media. In fact,
RCTV’s non-renewal does not violate legal norms in Venezuela, nor does it
significantly alter the balance of power in Venezuela's vociferous, opposition-affiliated
and privately-owned media. The decision
is not an isolated government action, but forms part of a larger policy program
for democratizing Venezuela's airwaves.

The Grounds for Non-Renewal

Throughout the years, RCTV
has demonstrated extremely poor business conduct and its frequent legal
infringements comprise the most important reasons for the non-renewal
decision. An editorial in the Houston Chronicle asserts that
"it's doubtful [RCTV's] actions would last more than a few minutes with
the FCC [in the U.S.]."[i]

In fact, RCTV has often
faced legal sanctions for its poor practices, and indeed has been closed or
fined numerous times by various administrations, including President Chavez's
most recent predecessors. This most
recent decision is not an isolated case, but is the first opportunity the
government has had to reconsider its licensing since the 20-year contract
began.

RCTV's Legal Offenses

1976	Closed for 3 days	Tendentious news coverage
1980	Closed for 36 hours	Sensationalist programming
1981	Closed for 24 hours	Airing pornographic scenes
1989	Closed for 24 hours	Airing advertisements for cigarettes
1991	Programming suspended	Program "La Escuelita" suspended

The television station is
also in default for tax payments spanning a three year period.[ii]

Most importantly though,
in 2002, RCTV ran ads encouraging the public to take to the streets and
overthrow the democratically elected president. Once the president was forcefully removed from office and an
interim government installed, the station continued colluding with the coup
government by conducting a news blackout and egregiously misleading the public
about important events occurring in the country. In fact, it is public knowledge that one of the managing
producer’s of Venezuela's highest-rated newscast, the RCTV program El
Observador, testified before the Venezuelan National Assembly that he had
received very clear instructions on the day of the coup from RCTV's owner,
Marcel Granier. On April 11 and the
following day that there should be "No information on Chávez, his
followers, his ministers, and all others that could in any way be related to
him."[iii] Instead the station reported that President
Chavez had resigned. Similarly, two
days later when poor masses of Venezuelans poured into the streets demanding
their president’s return, which occurred a few hours later, RCTV was silent and
aired only cartoons. [iv] A presidential guard at the palace
during those days overheard a group of media executives, including the
president of RCTV, at the palace to meet with the newly installed president,
saying “We can’t guarantee you the loyalty of the army, but we can promise you
the support of the media.”[v]

The Legal Right not to Renew

The government of
Venezuela, like most others throughout the globe, has the constitutional right
to make decisions regarding all public broadcasting. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) controls
licensing and programming, and has regularly denied license renewals based on
public interest standards established in 1960.

A recent report by a
Spanish journalist looking at radio and TV station closures, revocations, and
non-renewals found that in 21 countries including the U.S. and Europe, there
have been 236 closures, revocations, and non-renewals in the last few decades.[vi] And out of the U.S. cases, not only have
there been non-renewals but there have been outright revocations of licenses by
the FCC. In 1969 a Memphis television station, also an NBC affiliate, had its
broadcasting license revoked for racial discrimination in its programming; in
1981 WLNS-TV was charged with being very selective in the hour it assigned for
political figures and had its license revoked; and in 1999 Trinity Broadcasting
Miami TV received a revocation. Fines
have also been issued to major televisions stations for airing inappropriate
scenes and programming. CBS was
recently fined 3.6 million for airing scenes with nudity that could easily be
considered pornographic and the WB television station has faced a similar fate.[vii]

Similarly, in Venezuela,
the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information grants and regulates access
to the broadcast spectrum in accordance with the Organic Law of
Telecommunications contained in constitutional Article 156 and is the body
responsible for compliance.

Democratization of the Airwaves

The decision not to renew
RCTV's broadcasting license will allow for a broader democratization of
Venezuela's airwaves, offering access to the broadcast spectrum. RCTV has long had a disproportionate
influence in the Venezuelan media by maintaining the most powerful broadcasting
signal in the country for more than 50 years and is currently one of two
private channels that together claim 70% of all TV revenues each year. RCTV's non-renewal will allow for a
redistribution of the airwaves, and may be used to provide community
programming and public television, allowing new voices and views to be heard in
Venezuela.

Revenue shares of television
companies in 2006

The Opposition and Freedom of Expression

With President Chavez's
landslide electoral victory as an alternative to the two major political
parties in 1998, the privately-owned media in Venezuela assumed the role of the
traditional political parties, and became an outlet for them to challenge and derail
the actions of the newly elected President.[viii] The fact that the media – which is majority
privately owned – is closely associated with the opposition is undisputed and
may shed light on why the government’s decision not to renew RCTV’s license is
currently being criticized.

In 2002, Human Rights
Watch found that, "Far from providing fair and accurate reporting, the
media by and large seek to provoke popular discontent and outrage in support of
the hard-line opposition." [ix] Several journalists have even noted, "the five main privately owned channels—Venevisión,
Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Globovisión, Televen and CMT—and nine out 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…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…the media is still directly encouraging
dissident elements to overthrow the democratically elected president – if
necessary by force…”[x]

The Venezuelan private
media, then, plays a controversial role in the political life of that country,
but human rights organizations cite no deterioration of freedom of expression.[xi] In fact, the Venezuelan government has respected
and defended civil liberties, including freedom of expression and freedom of
the press. The decision not to renew a
broadcasting license that has run its course simply does not qualify as an
infringement on press freedoms.

Media Ownership in Venezuela

Television

Of 81 stations

… 79 (97%) are privately owned

Radio

Of 709 stations

… 706 (99%) are privately owned

Newspapers

Of 118 companies

… 118 (100%) are privately owned

[i] "Chavez
as Castro? It's not that simple in
Venezuela," Houston Chronicle,
February 7, 2007.

[ii] "RCTV
ha sido el canal más sancionado en Venezuela," Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias, March 29, 2007.

[iii]
“Venezuela’s Media Coup” by Naomi Klein, The Nation, February 13, 2003.

[iv] Eva
Golinger, "The Media War Against the People: A Case Study of Media
Concentration and Power in Venezuela," in Olivia Burlingame Goumbri, ed., The Venezuela Reader: The Building of a
People's Democracy (EPICA, 2005).

[v] Coup and Counter-Coup from The Economist
Global Agenda, April 16, 2002.

[vi] “Venezuela:
On the non-renewal of RCTV's open signal broadcasting license” by J. David
Carracedo, Axis of Logic, March 31, 2007, http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_24223.shtml

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Golinger,
p. 91.

[ix]
"Venezuela's Political Crisis," Human
Rights News, Human Rights Watch, October 9, 2002.

[x] Maurice
Lemonine, Le Monde Diplomatique,
August 2002.

[xi] Maurice
Lemonine, "How Hate Media Incited the Coup Against the President," in
Gregory Wilpert, ed., Coup Against Chavez
in Venezuela (Fondación Venezolana para la Justicia
Global, 2003), p. 158.

US Congressman Jose Serrano calls Posada a "known terrorist".

2007-05-20T16:55:00.000-04:00

From the Los Angeles Times-

"Pressure grows to prosecute Cuban exile

MIAMI — Three months before the 1976 midair explosion of a Cuban plane off the coast of Barbados, CIA covert operative Luis Posada Carriles cabled his U.S. minders...

..."After learning that Mr. Luis Posada Carriles, a known terrorist, was released from U.S. custody and allowed to reside in the U.S. as a free man, I have become very concerned about our ability to protect our nation," U.S. Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday.

Extradition sought

The Caracas government asked for the extradition of Posada soon after he arrived in Florida in March 2005 on a shrimp boat owned by wealthy Cuban American developer Santiago Alvarez, now serving time for weapons violations "

Of course the United States Government is in no posotion to lecture anyone about terrorism, especially as long as it protects Posada Carriles. The United States Government is no no position to expect a friendly Venezuela, or a Venezuela that respnds to US concerns, while Carriles if a free man under the protection of the US Government.

People live in Venezuela.

2007-05-18T14:43:00.001-04:00

Sofia at her baptism.

My wife Marbella, me and our Godchild Sofia in San Joaquin,
Carabobo, Venezuela.

Sofia partying.

Our kids at an amusement park in Carabobo.

There are plenty or other pictures from my wife's and my voyage to her homeland, Venezuela.

26 million people more or less live in Venezuela. The majority has spoken through election and plebiscite over and over that they approve of the government led by President Hugo Chavez. I am doing this blog in part to stress to my country's people that Venezuela is a nation of human beings who have a right to decide their own fate and who is to lead them and for how long he is to lead them. My country has a history of bothering and killing people like the people of Venezuela- I wish we'd stop doing these things in Iraq and Afghanistan, like we did in Vietnam and Nicaragua and not start doing them in Venezuela or anyplace else.

Venezuela's oil belongs to the people who live there and is not "our oil supply." After our country helped a group of renegades kidnap the elected President Hugo Chavez, after our country gave aid and comfort to an economic sabotage/ oil strike and lockout replete with terrorism against people who wanted to work - a sabotage that set Venezuela back a decade or more in terms of its economy- Venezuela is reasonably shopping around for other customers for its oil. Also it has taken over the control of its oil fields, its telecommunications, and its electrical system. These are reasonable actions any government might want to take. The government there has made sure that the oil wealth is shared by the entire country's people, and not just a few rich and foreigners. The government has said that a television station that helped orchestrate a violent overthrow of the government that was reversed by the people and patriotic soldiers and that broadcasts advertisement for prostitution over the airwaves that belong to the people must stop broadcasting once its license expires. This is more than reasonable. Had the owner of this television station, RCTV done these things here in the US he would be in prison and his property sold off at auction by the government.

What the United States ought to do is apologize to Venezuela for interfering and threatening and ask to start a new chapter in our relationship. We ought to comply with Venezuela's request that is supported by most world public opinion to extradite Posada Carriles so that he can face trial in the terrorist bombing of a civilian airliner and mass murder.

Most Venezuelan people harbor no ill will towards the ordinary people of the United States and in fact they admire many things about our country.

Perhaps the next president will have the common sense and intelligence to take these simple steps.

US Wants Posada Carriles to shut up about CIA In Court

2007-05-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

The US government has filed a motion in US court to put a gag order on Luis Posada Carriles
in his upcoming May 11th court date on his relationship with the CIA..

Luis Posada Carrieles - The Declassified Record

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

Well it's history now. Posada Carriles is a free man in the United States of America. How can the people of Venezuela regard this as anything but a very hostile stance and an implicit threat?

The coupsters' poopster wants to know

2007-05-06T19:50:00.000-04:00

Miguel Octavio runs a blog he calls "The Devil's Excrement". Now I'd probably like this guy if I ever met him.
Politically though he's full of poop and still defends the coup.

He dared me to prove that General Rinky Dink Romero, (aka "This guy") was connected with the CIA. Here is the answer I tried to post on his blog. Sometimes I get these notices that my messages are forbidden, then they show up later. For safekeeping and because I did such a damned good job answering him I'm putting it here.

Eugene: Still waiting for you to provide the factual connection between the CIA and this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elxfUyFq3H8

Put up or shut up!

Miguel Octavio • 5/6/07; 7:48:13 AM #

Miguel sorry I missed your challenge. I figured the old thread was closed. Thanks for bringing it to me here.

http://venezuelafoia.info/cia1.html

http://venezuelafoia.info/ciaa4.html

http://venezuelafoia.info/ciab3.html

http://venezuelafoia.info/ciac3.html

http://venezuelafoia.info/ciad4.html

The above documents are CIA documents predate the Carmona disaster that they released under the Freedom Of Information Act. They are highly redacted by CIA but they show CIA awareness that a coup was coming, and that the coupsters were awaiting a pretext. I'd love to see the stuff that's cut out. Maybe my grandchildren will.
http://venezuelafoia.info/ciaspot.html
There was no coup say some oppositionists. Well the CIA calls the overthrow of Carmona a countercoup.
http://venezuelafoia.info/ciae3.html
There's more but you have your rules about lengthy posts.

April 17- Here they're (CIA)looking for the OAS to pull their chestnuts out of the fire.
Everyone who knew anything knew the CIA was knee deep in it.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html
Venezuela coup linked to Bush team

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

Observer Worldview

Ed Vulliamy in New York
Sunday April 21, 2002
The Observer

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...
Miguel-
Who said I have to prove that each and every coupster met with the CIA pre coup and took money from them? Did I ever say that each and every coupster met with the CIA and took money from them? General Rinky Dink Romero was a coupster. Did he personally meet with the CIA and take money from them? Perhaps his priest knows...

Heck, it's possible they never even met with you nor paid you a farthing.

Considering the bloody hisory of the Estadounidenses involved it would mean that the coupsters were ready to see lots of Venezuelan blood get spilled, that's the way these guys have operated before in Latin America. No reason to expect anything different in Venezuela. Not in 2002 and not in 2008.

http://www.counterpunch.org/blum0414.html

Rudolf, or Rudolph or Rudy or Rudi Giuliani Jumps On The Anti-Venezuela Bandwagon (So, What Else Is New?)

2007-05-04T14:27:00.000-04:00

That long time showboater R. Giuliani, the man who put New York City's Emergency nerve center in the main known target for "terrorism" (The World Trade Center) and then ordered that kerosene be stored in that building against the advice of his Fire Department, (Seven World Trade Center), the man who did not want to spend money so that his Fire Department and Police Department could communicate with each other via radio, the man who gave the world Bernard Kerik, his one time body guard and driver, convict , Giuliani police commissioner, (and what else?) to be in charge of the United States' Homeland Security, the man who could not beat Hillary Clinton in his own city, the man who announced his divorce and adulterous affair on television so that his children and could suffer public humiliation, ,the man who says he slept on the sofa in a homosexual supporter's home after his wife kicked him out, the man who never met a politcal fence he wouldn't first try to straddle is now (after taking money from Venezuela) talking about a Venezuelan threat to the United States of America.

What a joke! If the United States' people were not so easily tricked it would be funny. Giuliani, to be even considered a Presidential candidate of any seriousness is all the proof anyone needs that the American people can be tricked, tricked and tricked again.

http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/books/april05/control.html

"Hindsight is 20-20, as Giuliani has intoned since leaving office and building a multi-million dollar consulting business. But one wonders what the pugnacious Giuliani would be saying if a rival had been mayor on 9/11. What if anyone but the self-involved Giuliani had built a highly publicized multi-million dollar emergency command post near a known terrorist target? What if after being warned for years that New York City was subject to sudden attack, that person never upgraded the fire department’s communication equipment or devised a citywide evacuation plan? What if that person had installed a 6,000-gallon diesel fuel tank at 7 World Trade Center, which became the only steel-reinforced high-rise to fall in a fire? Would Giuliani be saying that in placing large tanks of diesel fuel at 7 World Trade Center, that person had destroyed his own bunker and helped to bring an entire building down?"

Los Angeles Police Violently Attack Peaceful Protest by Immigrant Workers And Their Supporters.

2007-05-03T15:27:00.001-04:00

On May First Los Angeles Police attacked a peaceful demonstration that was calling for legal rights for the immigrant workforce of the United States of America. The police violently attacked, blaming a small group of provocateurs and dupes of provatateurs who were separate from the main body of peaceful protesters.

The United States relies on a large workforce mainly from Mexico and Central America. This workforce has no legal rights that the police are bound to respect. Most of these Mexicans live on land that was seized from Mexico by the US to begin with.

LA cops are US cops

2007-05-03T15:27:00.000-04:00

Half the people in the US cheer the cops. People of the world must be aware of the nature of the beast.

Rock Star Bono - Please Think Again

2007-04-25T12:41:00.000-04:00

Bono with George Bush

April 4, 2007 -- Bono's Venezuela attack game. The Venezuela Solidarity Network has sent the following appeal to Bono, the so-called "humanitarian" rock star:

Bono (of U2)
Principle Management
30-32 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay
Dublin 2, 1111
Ireland

Dear Bono,

On the “Hearts & Minds” page of your website, you open with an appeal to others with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” Your appeal goes on to highlight the many philanthropic efforts of U2 over the years. These have included benefit concerts and other worldwide campaigns for issues such as human rights, sustainability, debt reduction, AIDS, poverty, disease, militarism, and political oppression.

Given this background, many people around the world have been shocked to find out that you are a part owner, through Elevation Partners, of Pandemic/Bioware, producers of “Mercenaries 2”.

As you must know, “Mercenaries 2” is a war game that simulates the invasion of Venezuela in the year 2007. Of course, at this point, we have only been able to see the web-based sample of the game. However, even this is enough to see that the game is designed to demean the Venezuelan people, to undermine the democratically elected government of Venezuela, and to strike fear in the hearts of ordinary Venezuelan citizens who, through this game, can witness their very neighborhoods, villages, and capital being blown up and their virtual selves being massacred by a band of marauding mercenaries, who are clearly working for foreign interests who want to take control of the country’s oil industry. Please note that in one of the scenes in downtown Caracas one of the buildings being blown up belongs to the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela. This building is amongst a group of easily recognizable residential buildings, in which it is presumed thousands of innocent people are being burned alive. You may also want to note that this oil company (PDVSA), which owns CITGO, is the only oil company to offer discounted heating oil to residents of poor neighborhoods in the United States.

We have family and friends in Venezuela and many of us have walked and stayed in the places featured in the war game. To us, these are not just clever abstract pictures. They are scenes of a place we consider our second home. Please try to imagine how Venezuelans must feel viewing a bulky, blonde, military man laying waste to their country, a country that is finally rising above a 500-year history of oppression and exploitation by foreign powers. To them, this game is simply another sign of the racist, interventionist, arrogant, and uncaring attitude of the United States and Europe toward Venezuela.

Clearly, this issue goes beyond Venezuela. As you know, your company, Pandemic, has developed video games with military applications for the Pentagon and the CIA. “Full Spectrum Warrior” is one example of this. “Mercenaries 2” is obviously an offshoot of this Pentagon/CIA funded development. Here is a web reference about this: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3131181#storyContinued.

In addition to the concerns we have expressed, it seems that you would want to give some consideration to how this “game” will be received by people in Venezuela, Latin America, and throughout the world. We can only imagine that the general impression will be very negative and this negativity will reflect on you and on U2. Is there any “upside” to the release of this game, other than some short term profits in the U.S. and European markets?

Potentially, all of the work you have done for the causes mentioned on your “Hearts & Minds” page could suffer because of your association and ownership of this game.

One would think that you might also give consideration to how this video game, like many others, may be used as a recruiting tool. The game is targeted to teenage and 20-something males, the same target market for military recruiting. Bono, are you now joining the recruiting efforts of the U.S. military?

In addition to impressionable young people who may be stimulated by this to join the military or become mercenaries, it is clear that another side effect of such a game is that it contributes to the process of desensitizing people to the horrific violence of war. In the case of “Mercenaries 2,” it also could help people rationalize the invasion of countries by the United States and its allies for the sake of controlling natural resources. Given your “public persona,” it is hard to imagine that you think this is a good thing.

We realize that for you this may seem like a smart investment and you may not even be aware of the nature of this video game. That said, on behalf of reasonable people everywhere, we appeal to you to re-think your association with this game and your ownership of this company. Please take steps to stop the release of this game.

Our hope, and that of many, is that you will do the right thing and stop the release of this virtual rape and devastation of a small, developing country. Would you see fit to release a version of this game set in South Africa, Haiti, or Ireland?

If that would be objectionable to you, then why are you singling out Venezuela? One can only conclude that there are motives beyond the immediate profit that may be gained by selling the game.

Sincerely,
Chuck Kaufmann
Actions/Emergency Response Committee

To The Devil's Excrement Blog (and other Venezuelan purveyors of raw fertilizer).

2007-04-25T11:36:00.000-04:00

I sometimes drop by Devil's Excrement blog to read what the hysterical Venezuelan oppositionists are trying to convince citizens of The United States of America to believe and at times I drop off a comment (or two or three). Here is one that might not have actually posted (I sometimes get "forbidden" responses but find the post active later).
In one post I wa accused of trying to tell Venezuelans what they ought to do and here is my response>

I don't specialize in telling Venezuelans what they ought to do, but I do notice what they are doing, at least to the extent of what I read in the media, and learn from people I know who live there. And even here (in the Devil's Excrement blog) there is this cry that the oppositionists need to get off their ummm chairs and "do something."

Well, maybe they are enjoying life too much to bother. I think that's a very strong possibility.

I never called myself a "Chavista." I do not and do not need to believe that everything Hugo Chavez says or does is marvelous to believe that my country, the United States of America (aka North America, which also disrespects Canada and Mexico) olught not to meddle and interfere in the internal affairs of another country.

As coming from the left and being a more or less rehabilitated atheist (I know that there is a God) I have said elsewhere that it is clear that human beings are actually "hard wired" to believe in a diety or dieties (that's certainly not my original idea) and that a big problem with the old "Socialist Bloc" was that they thought they got rid of God but ended up deifying individuals - and that God ought to be deified, not men.

I hope Venezuela avoids this fault. You could say I even advise that they do. That does not change the facts that overall things are getting better for the majority, that the people duly voted this government in, and that my country ought not to meddle there.

A country embracing socialism is a country making a revolutionary break with the past, in that way similar to those movements once led by Bolivar, Washington and Lincoln. So yes the country's institutions will have to be a part of that for the process to be successful. And yes, there does need to be a leader, just not a mangod.

English language media that is consistently against the elected government of Venezuela, and that consistently make outrageous claims of living under a dictatorship are not engaging in the political porcess in Venezuela. They are engaging in the political process here in the United States. They are lobbying for US intervention. That is what this website (devil's excrement) is for.

Shuffle of the living dead.

2007-04-24T19:40:00.000-04:00

The revolutionary people and government of Venezuela are generous, good hearted and patient, maybe to a fault. I read in the excellent informative blog OIL WARS of how the good people of Caracas suffered through a funeral for the soon to be off the air Radio Caracas TV. I would not even try to compete with Oil War's coverage and analysis of the participants in this funeral procession,or of the history of RCTV's active subversion of the political process in Venezuela, something that suddenly the oppositionists so dearly cherish and prize.

Hats off to OIL WARS.
Part of the reason I will probably be retiring to Venezuela is the sweetness and goodness of its people. Man, here in the US they would never,and I mean never tolerate what the RCTV management tried to pull in 2002. It's this sweetness that explains why RCTV has remained on the air since that time and why its owners know that they can walk and drive through the streets of Caracas or anywhere else in Venezuela. Had they pulled the stunts here that they tried there they might very well be in Guantanamo. The government waited for the license to broadcast expired, refused to renew it and that was that. Lucky luckito are these oppositionists in Venezuela.

Lincoln and Chavez I - or later for Teodoro's Complaint.

2007-04-24T14:20:00.000-04:00

The tired old new left was/is always hung up on "process" instead of "results".

What matters is that the army not become an instrument of counter revolution. The people voted for a revolution!

Abraham Lincoln disregarded constitutional norms (the United States were and are plural, so said and so says the US Constitution) when he had to.

Thank God he did, he just didn't do enough of it.

How's this for a constitutional catch 22 - the secessionist states never legally seceded (supposedly) but were not allowed to re enter the Union unless they voluntarily ratified the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution.

Had this not happened we might still have slavery here in the US.

Because it did not happen thoroughly enough we ended up with Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan.

So congratulations to President Chavez for telling his army officers that they are either for the revolution or they ought to resign. Later for the oppositionists like Teodoro Petkoff and his bullshit complaint squealing about niceties. Niceties never bothered the right wing before. The people voted rojo rojito, Teodoro and rojo rojito Venezuela shall be.

When push came to shove niceties didn't bother Abraham Lincoln either!

Coming soon - Abraham Lincoln and Hugo Chavez

2007-04-24T13:55:00.000-04:00

You won't be neutral on this one either.

Hugo Chavez, Child Abuse, and Me

2007-04-24T09:13:00.000-04:00

Beaver Cleaver is a television show.

If you look at my profile you'll see that I am a veteran (ex) child abuse investigator here in New York City. I'm becoming something of a crusader against the child abuse/foster care industry and I have an anecdote about Hugo Chavez that he might or might not enjoy were he ever to read it but it makes a point that needs to be made.

It is widely said that Hugo Chavez was an abused child and it seems that that is true in the sense that we understand it - and that understanding ought to change. They say that as a boy Hugo Chavez was frequently beaten with a belt by his parents and that he would sometimes run to his grandmother's house for some relief.

Fortunately for him he did not live in an enlightened place like New York City @ 1980-today. Had he lived in such a place he most likely would have been subject of a child abuse or child maltreatment investigation (likely several). He could then have ended up in foster care.

Had he gone into foster care he very likely would have been eventually a career prisoner and not an army officer and later president of his country.

I once had a girlfriend who was raised in NYC public housing like I was. She once told me (I was still working as a baby snatcher) that she had often wished that someone like me had come to her home to rescue her and her siblings from her angry violent father. Lucky for her this never happened. She was spared the trauma of seeing her parents turn her in, give her up, surrender her, hand her over to an unspeakably cruel odysey of neglect and abuse called foster care. Better her angry father's belt than this crippling betrayal.

This woman went on to become a high ranking New York State official, a holder of a Doctorate and a university professor. She harbors angry memories and feelings about her childhood, but as imperfect as it was, and her childhood was no fairly tale, she was not mortally crippled by it as millions like her were not (all of her siblings made it into the middle class by the way). Lots of Venezuelans, even Chavistas, look to the US as some sort of golden world that needs to be emulated. In a perfect world no child would grow up angry at her parents. No child would be hit by a belt. We don't live in a perfect world. Foster care is not the answer.

I hope they never emulate our "Child Protective Services" in Venezuela.

I don't want to make light of child abuse. I would like it to be properly defined, though. The Bible itself advocates corporal punishment of children. I don't agree with it, but most people raised in the Judeo/Christian/Islamic world have experienced it, some more than others. When all is said and done it is parents and no one else held responsible for what their children do and what they grow up to be.

Another gringo Venezuela blog...

2007-04-24T08:39:00.000-04:00

Yeah, well I'm aiming to make mine different. Oil Wars and BoRev and others are good blogs but I'm not here to reprint what they say or to imitate them. They should be read by people who want to know about Venezuela.

I want to say something though about the Posada matter.

Posada is a self proclaimed bomb plotter who is wanted in the murder of seventy people who died when a Cuban airliner was blown up in flight. He entered the US illegally, held a press conference, got arrested for being illegal and let out on bail, with no charges against him for murder.

This country locks people up indefinitely without trial for much less than what Posada already has said he did.

If he murdered seventy Venezuelans, Cubans and people of other nationalities he must be punished. Meanwhile he is wanted by a duly constituted State, Venezuela, who is now asking the United Nations to prevail upon the United States to adhere to law and extradite him.

It's not as though this news is hidden from my compatriots, it is not. True it isn't on the front page, and true it is not repeated and repeated, like for example the clip of some R and B singer's breast sticking out on television, but the news media here in part "give the people what they want" and they do not want to be repsonsible for the doings of their government, and want to know as little as necessary about it.

Posada no doubt has the goods on the CIA, and can provide a lot of very damaging information about the first Bush, especially about his reign over the CIA and the South Florida ("anti") Drug Task Force.

So once again my country forfeits any legitimate claim to tell anyone anything about terrorism. What a shame.

2007-04-06T16:52:00.000-04:00

Hear No Evil See No Evil Speak No Evil

Giclee Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Honchos at New York City's Administration For Children's Services Meet About the Skyrocketing Fatality Rate On Their Caseloads Since Nixzmay Brown Was Murdered.

New York City's Administration For Children's Services Must Be Stopped

Child Protective Manager Ramon Vargas is Not An idiot He's New York City's Administration For Children's Services Poster Boy