Transcript
The artillery of ideas ENGLISH EDITION
Friday | January 20, 2012 | Nº 98 | Caracas
page 7 | Analysis
Opposition candidate Pablo Perez:
Representing the past
page 8 | Opinion
Paul Craig Roberts: Washington moves
the world closer to war
Chavez approval rating at 60%
P
olls and surveys recently
conducted about Venezu-
ela’s President Hugo Chavez
show an approval rating of
about 60 percent, said director
of pollster 30-11, German Cam-
pos this Thursday.
Interviewed on local Venezue-
lan television, Mr. Campos said
the rate of approval has recov-
ered compared to figures from
a year ago, and is now similar
to levels achieved in previous
electoral years, such as 2006.
Chavez won the presidency in
2006 with 64% of the vote.
"All polls coincide with in-
dicating a recovery on the as-
sessment of President Chavez
and his leadership", explained
Campos.
Campos also said that one
element playing a significant
role in Chavez’s popularity is
the economic and social model
his government has been de-
veloping, which prioritizes in-
vestment in social programs,
healthcare, poverty reduction
and education.
Concerning the role of the
mainstream media, which have
conducted a decade-long cam-
paign to discredit the Chavez
Administration, Campos said
that regardless of what they
broadcast or publish and de-
spite their wide audience, today
a more critical society exists in
Venezuela capable of develop-
ing its own view of reality.
"There is a larger and larg-
er discrepancy between the
information released and
viewer perceptions. During
the eighties, the level of cred-
ibility of media outlets in
Venezuela was higher. Today,
one thing is what they broad-
cast or publish and another is
what citizens really believe",
Campos said.
During his 9-hour annual address before the nation, the Venezuelan President,
accompanied by thousands of supporters, engaged in vibrant discussion
with the opposition
It had never happened before in Venezuelan history or probably anywhere else around the world.
As his annual speech to the nation recounting the successes and challenges of 2011 advanced,
opposition legislators in the audience made continual interruptions. But instead of ignoring
them, or forcing them from the venue, President Chavez engaged them in debate, listened to
their comments and critiques and responded thoughtfully. At several points during the address,
opposition Assembly Members made accusatory and defamatory comments against Chavez, live
on television. The exchange reaffirmed that not only is Venezuela a thriving democracy, but also
that free speech is flourishing. | page 2
Venezuela v. US
No, it’s not a battle be-
tween the two governments,
it’s a soccer match! The Ven-
ezuelan soccer team, nick-
named “Vinotinto” for its
red wine-colored jerseys,
travels this week to Arizona
for a friendly match against
the US men’s team at the
University of Phoenix Sta-
dium in Glendale, Arizona.
The game will take place
Saturday, January 21 at 7pm
MT (9pm EST).
Members of the Venezu-
elan team met Monday at the
Maiquetia airport outside of
Caracas to travel to the US,
where they will practice pri-
or to the game.
The Vinotinto will be
joined by Venezuelan for-
ward Alejandro Moreno,
who has played in US Major
League Soccer for a decade.
The players began train-
ing last week in the city of
Puerto La Cruz, where they
established the groundwork
for their encounter with the
US.
“The coach told me to play
hard, up front, and take ad-
vantage of my potential to
approach the goal”, said for-
ward Emilio Rentería.
After facing the US in Phoe-
nix, the Vinotinto goes on to
Houston, Texas, for a match
against Mexico’s national
team.
Chavez turns annual speech
into democratic debate
Consulate closed
amidst threats
the Venezuelan government
has temporarily and
administratively shut down
its Consular operations
in Miami after diplomatic
staff received threats and
harassment from local anti-
Chavez groups. The closure
also comes in response to
the Obama administration’s
decision to expel the Consul
General of Venezuela
in Miami, Livia Acosta
Noguera. The expulsion
came after Spanish-
language network Univision
aired an unsubstantiated
report implicating Acosta
Noguera in an alleged terror
plot to attack the cyber
infrastructure of the US
government. Violent anti-
Chavez groups in Miami
called for the Consul’s
expulsion and further
investigation into Venezuelan
diplomats in the US. | page 3
Economy
Venezuela’s economy
On the rise
Economic growth during
2012 may reach over 5%
according to finance
experts. | page 4
Health
The dangers of breast
implants
A major recall of silicone
implants is affecting
the nation of “beauty
queens”.| page 5
Politics
Armed Forces under
attack
Venezuela’s new Minister
of Defense has been
falsely accused of aiding
terrorism.| page 6
The artillery of ideas
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2
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Impact N
o
ÊnÊUÊFriday, January 20, 2012
While presenting his
annual speech to the nation
last Friday, the Venezuelan
head of state surprised
his audience once again
by actively engaging
opposition legislators in a
vibrant and open debate
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
D
uring a speech that covered
a range of important social
and economic topics, Ven-
ezuelan President Hugo Chavez
announced last Friday his inten-
tions to create a new social pro-
gram to deal specifically with
the question of insecurity in the
South American nation.
The revelation came as part of
Chavez’s yearly appearance in
front of the country’s legislative
body, the National Assembly, in
a review of 2011’s activities simi-
lar to the State of the Union Ad-
dress given by presidents in the
United States.
“I’m proposing the creation of
a new Great Mission for security.
We’re going to see if we can take
these important steps to coordi-
nate activity between the central
government, the investigative
police, the National Bolivarian
Police, the state security bod-
ies, the municipalities and the
media”, the socialist leader said.
Chavez was in part responding
to comments made by opposition
legislator Juan Carlos Caldera,
who engaged with the Venezue-
lan President during his speech.
Caldera, who partly represents
the impoverished neighborhood
of Petare in Caracas, known for
its high crime, asked President
Chavez to consider increasing
resources for more police and
law enforcement equipment,
such as vehicles, to be allocated
for the metropolitan area. The
Venezuelan head of state re-
sponded positively, acknowledg-
ing Caldera’s genuine concern
and respectful tone when inter-
rupting his discourse.
“Thank you Juan Carlos”,
Chavez said. “I will talk with
my cabinet about increasing re-
sources to fight crime even more
than we are already doing”.
Pointing out that the problem
of violence in the Latin Ameri-
can country began well before
his government came to power,
Chavez recognized the neces-
sity to continue addressing the
issue on a multiple fronts.
“These are themes that have
become cultural and for that
reason the battle is that much
more difficult and it involves all
of us”, he said.
Apart from the theme of pub-
lic safety, the head of state also
touched on the issue of political
autonomy and gave a detailed
summary of the gains made by
Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolu-
tion over the past decade.
“If there’s one thing that this
Revolution has achieved, it’s a
new national independence”,
he declared, drawing attention
to the government’s success in
bringing Venezuela’s oil industry
under greater public control.
As such, the former Lieuten-
ant Colonel pointed out that
transnational corporations
that only paid 1 percent of their
profits to the nation must now
contribute 33 percent and are
obliged to enter into minority
partnerships with the state oil
company PDVSA.
Similarly, Chavez recounted,
the government has made great
strides in its development of the
productive potential of the Ori-
noco Belt - home to the largest
oil reserves in the world.
The massive region of central
Venezuela, he explained, had only
been considered valuable for ex-
port of bitumen until his admin-
istration in 2011 proved the exis-
tence of some 297 billion barrels of
extra heavy crude in the belt.
MAJOR POVERTY REDUCTION
With respect to social indica-
tors and poverty reduction, the
head of the United Socialist Par-
ty of Venezuela (PSUV) spoke
of the more than $468 billion
dollars that his government has
invested in social spending over
the past 13 years, a 400 percent
increase in what was spent in
the years previous to his admin-
istration.
General poverty has been re-
duced from 43.9 percent in 1998
to 26.7 percent in 2011 while
extreme poverty has seen a de-
crease from 17.1 percent to 7 per-
cent in the same period.
“We have to continue this trend.
Although there is still a great deal
to do, only by continuing as we are
will we be able to make amends
for the great social needs of the
Chavez turns annual address
Into democratic debate
people that had accumulated over
the past 100 years”, he said.
GROWING ECONOMY
The Venezuelan President also
touched on economic growth
and mentioned the fact that the
nation’s GDP grew by 4 percent
in 2011, double the expectations
of most forecasts.
“This year, we’re aiming for
no less than 4 or 5 percent. I’m
calling on all sectors of the coun-
try to work hard”, he declared.
Chavez pointed out, additional-
ly, that Venezuela’s national debt
represents a manageable 23 per-
cent of its GDP, a far cry from the
70 percent under former govern-
ments and a great deal less than
many countries “whose debt is
1.5 times its GDP”, he noted.
In terms of challenges that
the government must confront
in the coming year, the head
of state cited Venezuela’s high
inflation rate, which he consid-
ered to be an “inherited” and
“structural” problem.
OPPOSITION INTERRUPTIONS
One opposition congressmem-
ber, Alfonso Marquina from the
Accion Democratica party, re-
peatedly interrupted President
Chavez during his speech and
even held paper signs up to get
his attention. “Ok Marquina”,
said Chavez at one point, “lets
focus the camera’s on Marquina
and his sign to see what he has
to say”. The opposition legisla-
tor held a sign referring to high
inflation, to which President
Chavez responded by pointing
out that while inflation may still
be high, it was much higher un-
der previous governments.
He reminded the Venezuelan
congress that inflation in prior
governments reached as high as
100 percent during the presidency
of Rafael Caldera in the 1990s, and
the median inflation during the
government of Carlos Andres Per-
ez surpassed 45%. Nonetheless,
Chavez implored his colleagues to
continue making strides to reduce
the current rate of 22 percent.
“We have to buckle down and
as much as our GDP grows, we
need to fight against inflation”,
he stated.
During his speech, which
lasted the better part of 9 hours,
the Venezuelan President also
reported the construction of
146 thousand homes in 2011,
the advances made in univer-
sity enrollment which place the
country fifth in the world in this
category, and the 155 percent in-
crease in free public health care
access over the past decade.
Chavez also spoke out against
the nation’s conservative oppo-
sition for its refusal to appreci-
ate a single social benefit that
his administration has brought
to the people since coming to
power in 1998.
“Recognize something, even
if it’s small. It’s really difficult
for you to recognize anything”,
he said.
He also responded to criti-
cisms from opposition presiden-
tial candidate and National As-
sembly member Maria Corina
Machado, who called Chavez
a “thief” after the Venezuelan
President allowed her a brief
intervention during his speech.
She accused his government of
“expropriating” private prop-
erty from the nation’s upper
classes, comparing it to “rob-
bery”. The President defended
his redistributive policies and
turned the tables on those who
continue to defend the interests
of the country’s wealthy .
“I think we’ve been re-appro-
priating”, Chavez asserted. “Here,
the ones who had everything ex-
propriated from them over and
over again have been the Ven-
ezuelan people who lost even the
smallest property”, he declared.
N
o
ÊnÊUÊFriday, January 20, 2012 Politics
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The artillery of ideas
Groups of self-exiled Venezuelans
in Miami pressured the Obama
administration to take action
against Venezuelan diplomats
in the US, but complained once
they were left with no local
representation
T/ COI
P/ Agencies
T
his week, the Venezuelan govern-
ment followed through on a commit-
ment by President Hugo Chavez to
withdraw its personnel from the coun-
try’s consulate in Miami after diplomatic
staff suffered increased “threats and in-
timidation” by groups with terrorist ties
based in Southern Florida.
The closure of one Venezuela’s largest
diplomatic missions comes just days af-
ter the US government expelled the South
American nation’s Miami-based Consul
General, Livia Acosta Noguera, with no
formal justification.
CLOSURE IN MIAMI
In his annual address to the National
Assembly issued late last week, Venezue-
lan President Hugo Chavez announced to
lawmakers, and the millions of viewers
watching live on television, that "Foreign
Minister Nicolas (Maduro) recommend-
ed we close the consulate (in Miami)" in
response to the expulsion of Venezuelan
diplomat Livia Acosta Noguera and the
ensuing threats issued against her per-
son and diplomatic staff.
“That’s just what we’ll do”, Chavez said
firmly. “We’ll close it, and there will no
longer be a consulate in Miami”. The de-
cision, which took many by surprise, was
made instead of responding “tit for tat”
to the US government by expelling a US
diplomat from Venezuela, a traditional
act in diplomacy.
The closure of the consulate comes just
days after the US State Department had
declared Venezuela’s Consul in Miami a
persona non grata based on accusations
made in a highly speculative documenta-
ry titled, “The Iranian Threat”. In the re-
port, US-based Spanish-language network
Univision claimed Acosta used a 2008 dip-
lomatic mission in Mexico to plan “cyber
attacks” with Cuba and Iran aimed at dis-
rupting the computer systems of the White
House, FBI, CIA, and nuclear reactors.
While Univision failed to provide any
substantiated evidence to back its claims
After threats, Venezuela Shuts
down consulate in Miami
against Venezuela’s top diplomat in Mi-
ami, and instead based its investigation
on hearsay, propaganda and uncorrobo-
rated (and illegal) recordings, it succeed-
ed in increasing anti-Venezuela senti-
ment in Florida and Washington.
According to Sergio Rodriguez Gelfen-
stein, professor of international relations
at the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign
Relations’ Institute for Higher Diplomatic
Studies, the expulsion of Acosta occurs,
“in a city with very particular connota-
tions” in US politics given that Miami “is
the capital of all counterrevolutionary
Cuban exiles”. Gelfenstein recalled that
Acosta is not the first Venezuelan diplo-
mat to suffer political reprisal by the US
government.
In late 2009, Venezuelan Ambassador
to the US Bernardo Alvarez was forced to
leave Washington after Caracas deemed
Larry Palmer, who made intervening
statements about Venezuela’s internal
affairs, an “unacceptable” ambassador-
nominee of the Obama administration.
Three years earlier, the Bush adminis-
tration ousted Venezuelan political advi-
sor Jenny Figueredo, considered “second
in command” at the country’s Embassy
in Washington, after Caracas sent home
US military personnel found to be con-
ducting surveillance operations and es-
pionage in the country.
According to Gelfenstein, the diplomat-
ic reprisals are “coercive actions” aimed
at punishing countries with domestic
and foreign policies “considered unac-
ceptable by the US (government)”.
President Chavez, who called the ex-
pulsion of Acosta “a demonstration of the
prepotency of a ridiculous empire”, later
affirmed that attacks on the Venezuelan
diplomat and her colleagues in the US are
part of ongoing, coordinated campaigns
against the Venezuelan government led
by “the ultra-right wing in Miami”.
The first public announcement of
Acosta’s expulsion was made by Roger
Noriega, a long-standing spokesman for
extremist political forces dedicated to
demonizing Cuba, Nicaragua and Ven-
ezuela, amongst other nations with left-
leaning governments.
Noriega, who served as US Ambas-
sador to the Organization of American
States (OAS) as well as Assistant Secre-
tary of State for Western Hemisphere Af-
fairs under President George W. Bush,
currently holds no formal position in the
US government. However, it was through
Noriega’s personal Twitter account that
news of the Acosta expulsion was first
made public, evidencing his close ties to
the current administration.
After the news made it into national
media headlines, Washington confirmed
the decision.
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY
In a statement released on Monday,
Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
confirmed and elaborated on the decision
to pull its consular staff from the coun-
try’s consulate in Miami.
According to the official statement, the
Venezuelan government recently “veri-
fied with extreme concern the increase
in threats against Venezuelan consular
personnel in Miami, Florida” and con-
siders the expulsion of Acosta “an unfair
and immoral measure that demonstrates
the submission of Washington’s agenda
to extremist and violent political sectors
in the state of Florida”.
Since the expulsion, “Venezuelan dip-
lomatic and consular personnel have
been threatened and intimidated, and in
light of the criminal and terrorist nature
of individuals and organizations that the
US government harbors in the state of
Florida, this places them in real, serious
and imminent danger”.
As a result, the statement read, and
“in order to preserve their physical and
moral integrity, the government of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has de-
cided to return its consular personnel in
Miami to Caracas”.
Florida is home to numerous violent
extremists and organizations founded
by Cuban exiles and their allies in Wash-
ington. These organizations, many con-
sidered terrorist for their use of bombs,
assassination and other aggressive
tactics to try and overthrow the Cuban
government, include the Coordination
of United Revolutionary Organizations
(CORU), the Cuban Nationalist Move-
ment (MNC), the Cuban National Lib-
eration Front (FLNC), the Cuban Anti-
Communist League (LAC), Omega 7, and
Alpha 66.
During the past few years, Venezuelans
fleeing justice in their own country have
made a home in Miami, forming organi-
zations similar to their Cuban counter-
parts. Many of these “Venezuelan exile”
groups are run by individuals who ex-
ecuted the April 2002 coup d’etat against
President Chavez and subsequent desta-
bilization attempts, including a lengthy
illegal shut down of the oil industry in
late 2002, the bombings of Spanish and
Colombian embassies in 2003 and the use
of Colombian paramilitaries for an assas-
sination attempt against the Venezuelan
head of state in 2004.
After the broadcast of the Univision
report, the Organization of “Politically
Persecuted” Venezuelans Abroad, run
by Venezuelan fugitive and former mili-
tary officer Jose Antonio Colina, charged
with bombing the Spanish and Colombi-
an embassies in Caracas in 2003, sent a
letter to the US Congress requesting the
expulsion of the Venezuelan Consul and
an investigation into all of Venezuela’s
diplomatic missions in the US. Colina’s
organization also led several violent pro-
tests outside the Venezuelan Consulate
in Miami, directly threatening the lives
of staffers.
On Tuesday, the US State Department
confirmed it had received information
about “security concerns” at the Venezu-
elan Consulate in Miami.
After President Chavez announced the
temporary administrative closure of the
Consulate in Miami, Colina and other
self-exiled Venezuelans complained they
would no longer have convenient access
to consular transactions.
The artillery of ideas
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Economy N
o
ÊnÊUÊFriday, January 20, 2012
As the Venezuelan
governments invests more
in social programs and
policies to stimulate jobs
and national production,
the economy grows
steadily
T/ COI
P/ Agencies
V
enezuelan Finance and
Planning Minister, Jorge
Giordani, reported last
week that it's “perfectly possible”
for the South American nation's
GDP to grow by 5 percent in 2012
as a result of the current govern-
ment's social spending and hous-
ing construction plans.
“The first motor of Venezu-
ela's economy is oil and the sec-
ond is construction. The latter
took off in 2011 and is not going
to diminish [in 2012]”, Giordani
said during a special program
broadcast on state television
highlighting the country's eco-
The Venezuelan
head of state responded
to State Department
remarks threatening
to sanction Latin American
countries that welcomed
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
earlier this month
T/ Rachael Boothroyd
www.venezuelanalysis.com
P/ Presidential Press
V
enezuelan President Hugo
Chavez has criticized the US
State Department’s “absurd”
decision to threaten Latin Amer-
ican countries with sanctions
should they engage in trade with
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Venezuela expects greater
economic growth in 2012
Chavez: US threats to sanction
Latin America are “absurd”
nomic advances over the past
12 months.
The Minister’s statement
comes as Venezuela closes 2011
with economic growth of 4 per-
cent, double what was forecast
for the national budget.
In a statement released by
his office last Monday, Gior-
dani pointed out that home
construction grew overall by
10 percent as a result of the
Chavez administration’s new
social program, Mission Hous-
ing Venezuela.
Last May, the Venezuelan
President launched the new
initiative, setting as his govern-
ment's goal the construction of 3
million homes by 2019.
More than 145 thousand new
subsidized residences were
handed over to citizens in 2011
and that number is set to in-
crease annually until the figure
of 3 million is achieved.
“While the [economic] cri-
sis is hurting countries in Eu-
rope and the United States, we
have retaken the path towards
growth”, the Finance Ministry’s
statement reads.
Giordani also pointed out that
the creation of the country’s
National Development Fund,
which takes surplus revenues
generated by the state oil com-
pany PDVSA and directs them
towards social programs, has
been a keystone of the nation's
economic progress.
“President Chavez has placed
human beings as his priority and
the economic indicators demon-
strate a better quality of life. The
economy is worthless if it doesn't
have as its objective the welfare
of human beings”, he said.
ECONOMIC & COMMERCIAL
ADVANCES
In other economic news, Min-
ister of Science, Technology and
Intermediary Industry, Ricardo
Menendez, highlighted the fact
that Venezuela's manufacturing
sector grew to 3.8 percent of the
nation’s GDP in 2011 while com-
mercial activity represented 5.8
percent of overall output.
Menendez also informed
that tourism in Venezuela saw
a growth of 12 percent while
infrastructure and transpor-
tation investments by the gov-
ernment reached more than $1
billion.
$470 million were used to
modernize the nations ports,
the Minister said, and more
than 2 million affordable cel-
lular phones were produced
by the state owned manufac-
turing companies Vetelca and
Orinoquia.
Matching this growth has
been an increase of 111 percent
in the distribution of subsidized
and non subsidized food prod-
ucts through state-run commer-
cial outlets.
In total, nearly 15 million
people have benefited from the
government's points of sale,
buying some 2 million tons of
foodstuffs, the Minister de-
tailed.
"2011 represents the recovery
of our economy", Menendez de-
clared definitively.
Chavez made the comments
following a State Department
briefing last week, in which the
body’s spokesperson, Victoria
Nuland, warned Latin Ameri-
can countries that they would
be liable to US sanctions if they
were to use Iranian banks or
purchase Iranian oil.
“If [decisions behind closed
doors] are going to take those
countries in the direction of buy-
ing more Iranian crude oil and
making more use of the banks,
then they make themselves vul-
nerable to US sanctions”, said
Nuland, who added that the
countries in question wouldn’t
have “any doubt that this is not
something that the US would
think was helpful to the overall
global policy”.
“We have...with a number of
these [Latin American] coun-
tries...difficulties that go well
beyond this [and] that need to
be worked through”, concluded
Nuland.
Presidents Rafael Correa (Ec-
uador), Raul Castro (Cuba), Dan-
iel Ortega (Nicaragua) and Hugo
Chavez all met with Iranian
president Mahmoud Ahmadine-
jad last week as he conducted
a short tour of Latin America.
During his visit to Caracas the
Iranian President signed vari-
ous bilateral agreements with
Venezuela in industry, science
and technology, and politics.
Addressing viewers on state
television channel VTV, Chavez
criticized Nuland’s statements
and cited them as proof of con-
tinued US neo-colonialism in
the region.
“This decision is an absur-
dity...it’s the same absurd his-
tory of the US trying to look
at us like their backyard and
wanting to keep controlling the
destinies of Venezuela, Cuba,
Ecuador and the whole of Latin
America”, said the Venezuelan
president.
“We are free countries...The
United States will end up being
what Mao (Tse Tung) said, they
will become a paper empire and
we; steel tigers”, he added.
In May 2011, the US govern-
ment sanctioned Venezuela’s
state-owned oil company, PDV-
SA, for selling two shipments of
a gas product to Iran. The Ven-
ezuelan government rejected
the sanctions and called them a
“violation of sovereignty”.
N
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ÊnÊUÊFriday, January 20, 2012 Health
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The artillery of ideas
T/ VTV
T
he levels of malnutrition
in children have decreased
in recent years from 7.6% to
2.91%, thanks to food-focused
missions and to the increase
in access to subsidized food
and drink. Growth levels in
Venezuelan children have
also increased, explained
Executive Director of Ven-
ezuela’s National Institute of
Nutrition, Marilyn Di Luca.
According to official data,
the achievements of the last
thirteen years in food securi-
ty have increased the caloric
intake of the Venezuelan peo-
ple by 130%, currently at 790
kilocalories.
Di Luca stated that social
programs like “AgroVen-
ezuela mission, as well as
the network of supply cen-
ters Mercal and Pdval, the
food houses, the education
campaigns and the access to
unique health services, have
all significantly contributed
to these achievements”.
The official said the pro-
cess, “launched thanks to the
political will of the govern-
ment and President Chavez”,
is endorsed by institutions
such as Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) and the
Food and Agriculture Orga-
nization of the United Nations
(FAO).
She stressed that even
though the levels of malnu-
trition in children had de-
creased in recent years from
7.6% to 2.91% - which rep-
resents a reduction of 72%,
there would be no rest until
the index reaches zero.
Finally, she highlighted
the fact that the “implemen-
tation of a set of compre-
hensive policies, which go
further than merely better-
ing the quality of food, now
more accesible at subsidized
prices, have influenced the
increase in the growth lev-
els of Venezuelan children,
who until 1997 registered a
growth level of 0.8 cm, con-
siderably lower than the 1.8
cm registered today”.
In a land obsessed with beauty queens
and cosmetic surgery, health risks abound
T/ COI
P/ Agencies
H
ospitals and health clinics
around Venezuela are pre-
paring to receive and assist
thousands of women who have
had operations involving the
faulty silicone breast implants
sold by the French company
Poly Implant Prosthesis (PIP).
The Health Ministry reports
that some 30 thousand women
in the South American country
have bought the PIP implants -
cosmetic breast augmentations
cited for high rates of rupture and
a composition of industrial rather
than medical grade silicone.
The Venezuelan government
has committed to covering the
costs of removing implants that
have burst but will not be sub-
sidizing replacements, officials
inform. “Aesthetic surgery is
not a practice of [public] hospi-
tals, but if there is a health risk,
the implants will be removed
immediately”, Health Minister
Eugenia Sader said.
One Venezuelan woman, Rita
de Martino, had her implant
rupture after her doctor recom-
mended the PIP company when
she sought cosmetic surgery at
age 21.
“It was really difficult for me
on a psychological level because
I was afraid that this liquid had
spread and that I had cancer, but
they did a biopsy and didn't find
anything”, she explained.
Although speculation that
the industrial silicone could be
cancerous, no evidence that the
material is an emergency health
risk has been forthcoming from
researchers. Minister Sader
called for calm and encouraged
women to continue with regular
check ups to review the condi-
tion of their implants and seek
attention if they break.
“To those women [with the
PIP implants], there needs to be
calm, the implants do not cause
damage unless they burst. They
have a defect that can provoke
their rupture which would gen-
erate pain and would require
their immediate removal”, the
health official said.
Linda Rincon, member of the
Venezuelan Plastic, Reconstruc-
tive and Maxillofacial Surgery
Society, explained that the possi-
bilities of rupture of the French
implants are many times higher
than the industry norm.
“With the prosthesis of other
companies, the possibilities
of rupture are 1 percent while
those of PIP are 7 percent. This
is because the material used is
highly corrosive and can cause
the implant to deteriorate and
break”, she said.
In hospitals around the na-
tion, Venezuelan health profes-
sionals are beginning to receive
inquiries from women asking
for information and requesting
check-ups to ensure they are not
at risk.
“Five women have come for-
ward voluntarily for an oncolog-
ical check-up in order to discard
the chance of cancer. For this
reason, we've decided to put to-
gether a team of experts to give
multi-disciplinary attention
to these women”, said Jenny
Cedeno, Director of the Univer-
sity Hospital of Maracaibo in
the Western state of Zulia.
“Our work will be focused on
diagnostics and health certifica-
tion as well as how to proceed
with respect to the removal or
replacement of the implants.
For that, however, we are wait-
ing for instructions and the pro-
tocol that will be given by Min-
ister Eugenia Sader”, Cedeno
said.
THE RISKS OF SURGERY
Use of the PIP implants was
banned in Venezuela in 2010
when the first alerts regarding
their safety were released by the
French government. “By this
time, there had been 33,000 dis-
tributed in the country”, Sader
explained.
Illegal sale of the prosthesis
may have continued, however,
the Health Minister informed,
as unscrupulous doctors take
advantage of the high demand
for breast augmentations in
a nation where it is estimated
some 40,000 such surgeries take
place every year.
In a culture that considers its
beauty queens to be national
heroes, the scandal of the faulty
PIP implants is, in some ways,
only a mild manifestation of the
dangers represented by Venezu-
ela's cult of the aesthetic.
For other women who have felt
the pressure to pay for an aes-
thetic operation, the price of the
surgery has been much higher
than a ruptured implant.
Such is the case of Elizabeth Ve-
loz, a 23-year old student from the
city of Cabimas, who for 22,000
bolivars (approx. $5,000) sub-
jected herself to a “combo” sur-
gery last November that included
breast and gluteal augmentation
as well as liposuction.
The doctor who performed the
surgery, Eleazar Urdaneta, had
been denounced for the death of
a patient 9 months earlier and
multiple other mal practice com-
plaints, but had been allowed to
continue to exercise his profes-
sion freely.
Elizabeth never researched
the history of Urdaneta and to
the great sadness of her friends
and family became the second
mortal victim of the doctor who
was said to be working out of a
dilapidated clinic more similar
in appearance to a bakery than
a health center.
The 23-year old "had turned
into an addict of her physical
appearance", a friend told the
Panorama newspaper after the
incident.
Following the death of Eliza-
beth, the Venezuelan Attorney
General’s Office in the state of
Zulia issued an arrest warrant
for Urdaneta and his anesthe-
siologist Samuel Ochoa for the
death of their first victim, the
lawyer Ysmelda Venegas.
“I’m asking God that justice
be done... and just as I’m suf-
fering now, I know that other
mothers are also suffering
for their daughters who have
lost their lives... May God
have mercy on this doctor”,
said Elisa Rondon, mother of
Elizabeth.
Urdaneta and Ochoa have fled
from authorities and have yet to
be apprehended.
Venezuelan diet
sees 130%
Increase
In caloric intake
The artillery of ideas
|
6
|
Politics N
o
ÊnÊUÊFriday, January 20, 2012
“We are a pacifist country.
We do not want war, we
want all wars around the
world to stop”. – President
Hugo Chavez
T/ Eva Golinger
P/ Presidential Press
D
uring an event that in-
cluded the transfer of man-
date of several members of
the high military command on
Tuesday, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez said changes to
the National Bolivarian Armed
Forces (FANB) are important
for strengthening democracy.
Chavez was referring specifical-
ly to General Henry Rangel Sil-
va, who was sworn in this week
as the new Minister of Defense.
“May the decent and patriotic
officials of our Bolivarian Armed
Forces give their full support to
our new Minister. Changes in
the National Bolivarian Armed
Forces are important for our
democratic homeland”, declared
the President.
Rangel Silva’s designation as
the South American nation’s
new Minister of Defense has
been hyped up and distorted in
T/ Mercedes Chacin
F
ourth generation warfare
has been brewing for a long
time on this planet and it has
already won a number of bat-
tles. It began when it was said
in the sixties that Fidel Castro
ate children. So, Cuba had to be
invaded. Iraq had to be invaded
to look for weapons that they
already knew didn’t exist. Af-
ghanistan had to be invaded to
save Afghani women from the
Taliban who made them wear
unusual burkas. Libya had
to be invaded to save Libyans
from a monster with forty years
in power. Syria must be invaded
for the same reason. Prefabri-
cated invasions, made in USA.
Now Maria Corina Machado
[opposition presidential candi-
date] says: against communism,
grassroots capitalism. Her three
minutes of “fame” in the Nation-
al Assembly [during President
Chavez’s annual report] were
full of anti-communism. Com-
munists steal, kill people, eat
kids...fried and marinated kids
or cooked in their own sauce!
Did anyone ever believe this?
Yes, millions believed it, our
grandparents believed it.
Maybe they aren’t saying that
Chavez eats children yet. There
are a lot of photos of him with
them. But he steals hotels. He
doesn’t expropriate them, he
steals them. It’s the same lie, just
less bloody. But be careful; don’t
forget that the communists are
coming for you. Chavez is com-
ing to take everything from you,
to steal your soul.
Maria Machado is the Violeta
Chamorro [ex Nicaraguan
president who won the 1990
elections with the support of
the US] of the “gringos” in Ven-
ezuela. Her discourse makes an
impression on a certain sector
of Venezuelan society that lives
“defending” the cars they don’t
have, the property they don’t
have. And for another sector of
society that has everything and
no one has taken it from them,
the real problem is that a “zam-
bo” [a person of mixed African
and indigenous origin] governs
them. “Damn monkey, damn
president of the poor”. And
it doesn’t matter that Chavez
hands out apartments and that
he “gives away” properties and
he doesn’t steal them. And it
doesn’t matter because the
truth is it’s the same lie used
against Afghans, Libyans, and
Iraqis. They are coming for our
petroleum, they - yes them, -
are coming for our soul.
So in the National Assembly,
during the Annual Report of
President Chavez, there was the
arrogance, fascism, racism, and
the haughtiness of the oligar-
chy. There was the conceit of a
certain middle class. There was
all the Gringo propaganda up
and running. Be careful of the
reds. There were the centuries
of oppression trying to take the
stand. There was concentrated
distain in upheld chin. And long
live the Zambo. That’s what they
can’t stand. That the Zambo
is on top and the poor and the
humble are on top. There were
almost 70,000 words of dignity
and independence [in Chavez’s
annual address], celebrating a
Venezuela of people.
Venezuela’s Armed Forces
under fire by Washington
Racism in the discourse against Chavez
media outlets throughout Ven-
ezuela, Colombia and the United
States. In 2008, the US Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC),
a division of the Treasury De-
partment, included Rangel Silva
on its list of foreigners alleg-
edly involved in drug traffick-
ing and/or terrorism under the
“Kingpin Act”. However, no evi-
dence was presented to support
this serious claim.
OFAC also included the head
of Venezuela’s military intelli-
gence, General Hugo Carvajal,
and then Minister of Interior
and Justice, Ramon Rodriguez
Chacin, on the same list with
Rangel Silva, who at the time
oversaw Venezuela’s civilian in-
telligence agency, SEBIN.
The inclusion of the three
heads of Venezuelan intelli-
gence was largely viewed as an
attack against the oil nation’s se-
curity apparatus, at a time when
the US government was consid-
ering placing Venezuela on its
list of “state sponsors of terror-
ism”. The allegations against
Rangel Silva, Carvajal and
Rodriguez Chacin, were based
on unsubstantiated data from
laptop computers acquired by
the Colombian government dur-
ing the March 2008 attack on a
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) camp. Using
the laptop content, Washington
claimed the three Venezuelan
officials had “materially as-
sisted the narcotics trafficking
activities of the FARC, a narco-
terrorist organization”.
INTERPOL later determined
the information on the comput-
ers could not be authenticated
nor could the original source of
the data be verified. Colombia’s
highest court also ruled that the
laptop data could not be used as
legal evidence against anyone.
Nonetheless, the famous FARC
laptops have been used by both
the conservative Colombian gov-
ernment, Washington and some
media to tarnish Venezuela’s
image and accuse it of compli-
ance with drug trafficking and
terrorism. The FARC is consid-
ered a terrorist group only by
Colombia and the United States.
No corroborating evidence
has ever been presented to dem-
onstrate Rangel Silva’s or other
members of the Venezuelan gov-
ernment’s involvement with the
FARC or any illicit activities.
President Chavez did hold nego-
tiations with the FARC on sev-
eral occasions under the direct
authorization of the Colombian
government. His involvement
secured the release of several
hostages the FARC had held for
years, including Ingrid Betan-
court and three US military of-
ficers.
On Wednesday, US State De-
partment spokeswoman Victo-
ria Nuland warned “our con-
cerns about Rangel Silva are
well known and of long stand-
ing”. But those “concerns” have
yet to be substantied by any le-
gally credible evidence.
Rangel Silva has adamantly
denied the charges against him.
No formal complaints have been
brought against him within
Venezuela or by Colombia, nor
has any other independent evi-
dence been presented to link
him to any illegal activities.
Rangel Silva has been a close
ally and collaborator of Presi-
dent Chavez for over 20 years. He
trained with him as a younger
soldier and participated in the
Chavez-led military rebellion
against the murderous and cor-
rupt government of Carlos An-
dres Perez on February 4, 1992.
The new Minister of Defense has
held high-level positions during
the Chavez administration, in-
cluding head of the intelligence
agency SEBIN and Commander
of the Strategic Operational
Command, which oversees all of
Venezuela’s Armed Forces op-
erational activities. At the time
of his designation as Minister
of Defense, he was the highest
ranking officer in the country.
N
o
ÊnÊUÊFriday, January 20, 2012 Analysis
|
7
|
The artillery of ideas
Opposition candidate Pablo Perez:
Representing the past
As the Venezuelan
opposition prepares for
primary elections in
February 2012 to choose
a candidate to run against
Hugo Chavez in the
October 2012 presidential
elections, we provide
exposés on who’s-who in
the anti-Chavez camp
T/ COI
P/ Agencies
O
pposition hopeful Pablo
Martin Perez Alvarez,
more commonly referred
to as Pablo Perez, is the brain-
child of fugitive opposition poli-
tician Manuel Rosales. Having
fled the country in 2009 to avoid
charges of corruption, Rosales
announced the Perez candidacy
via Skype, from his self-imposed
exile in Peru, on August 17, 2011.
Suggesting a Perez presidency
would allow him to return to
Venezuela, Rosales affirmed that
Perez, “is our North and the hope
for all those of us who suffer”.
Perez, who owes his politi-
cal career to Rosales, has been
Governor of Zulia since 2008.
In charge of a border state with
numerous socio-economic is-
sues associated with neighbor-
ing Colombia, Perez is using his
remaining time in office to gar-
ner favor within the Venezuelan
opposition and secure the presi-
dential nomination of the Mesa
de Unidad Democratica (MUD),
or Democratic Unity Roundtable
in English.
Scheduled for February 12,
2012, the opposition primaries
are part of a US-backed strat-
egy to bring together opposition
forces in an attempt to defeat
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez in presidential elections
set for October 7, 2012.
The Perez candidacy, however,
is marred by the fact that that
Rosales tried the same strategy
in the country’s previous presi-
dential election (December 2006)
and was easily defeated by the
widely-popular socialist Presi-
dent. Chavez won that election
by some 3 million votes, obtain-
ing 7,161,637 (62.89%) votes to Ro-
sales’ 4,196,329 (36.85%).
President Chavez, who is ex-
pected to sweep the elections,
has committed to “deepen, push
forward, and consolidate” the
Bolivarian Revolution’s plat-
form of ‘21st Century Socialism’
during his next presidential
term (2013-2019).
PROMISING THE PAST
Son of former Democratic Ac-
tion (AD) lawmaker Pablo Perez
Herrera, Pablo Perez Jr. was born
and raised in a “Fouth Republic”
(the political period in Venezu-
ela from 1958-1998) household.
Known in Zulia as an ‘AD Fam-
ily,’ political life for the Perez’s is
said to have begun after Pablo’s
grandmother, Amalia Herrera
de Perez, helped organize AD’s
first clandestine bases of support
against the dictatorship of Mar-
cos Perez Jimenez (1952-1958).
Speaking to reporters in Au-
gust 2011, Perez Jr. jokingly af-
firmed that his “first diapers were
changed in AD headquarters”.
Reports indicate that the Perez
family maintained close person-
al ties to former AD President
Carlos Andres Perez (1974-1979,
1989-1993), and that Carlos An-
dres was the godfather of one of
Perez’s brothers, named Carlos
Andres Perez Alvarez.
Former president Carlos An-
dres Perez is one of AD’s most
prized politicians, though his at-
tempts to implement neo-liberal
reforms provoked a massive pop-
ular revolt (El Caracazo) to which
his government responded with
fierce repression. Carlos Andres
spent the six years following his
second presidency under house
arrest for fraud and misuse of
public funds and he later left the
country, living in the Dominican
Republic and the United States
before passing away last year in
Miami, Florida.
PABLO POLITICIAN
Before he became Governor
of Zulia, Pablo Perez studied
law at the Universidad de Zulia
(LUZ) and is said to have spent
most of his time engaged in
both student politics and sports.
While at the university, Perez
was openly supported by AD’s
student movement at a time in
which numerous factions of 4th
Republic parties were vying for
control of university politics.
Before graduating in 1994, Perez
was named AD’s Regional Di-
rector for Universities.
Immediately after graduating,
Perez became a staff member of
then Mayor of Maracaibo, capi-
tal of Zulia State, Manuel Rosa-
les. Among other tasks he was
assigned by Rosales, Perez was
made chief legal advisor to the
Maracaibo Municipal Council.
In 1999, just as the Bolivarian
Revolution was delivering on its
promise to found the 5th Repub-
lic (1999 - present), Rosales, Per-
ez, and numerous other profes-
sional AD politicians broke from
the party and established their
own, regional force. Named Un
Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), or A New
Time in English, and heavily
subsidized by US agencies, the
newly-founded UNT helped Ro-
sales win the governorship of
Zulia one year later.
Governor Rosales, apprecia-
tive of Perez’s loyalties, made
the young politician his Private
Secretary.
In 2004, Perez made his first
attempt at winning office in the
mayoral campaign for Maracai-
bo. After trying, and failing, to
defeat Chavez-backed Giancarlo
Di Martino, Perez decided to
wait out the Rosales governor-
ship and, in 2008, was elected
Governor of Zulia. Perez’s cam-
paign was backed by UNT, AD,
and the Social Christian Demo-
crats (COPEI), among others.
Just months into his term,
Perez lost his closest political
ally after Manuel Rosales fled
the country to avoid charges
he used his time as governor to
misappropriate public funds for
his own personal benefit, using
these moneies, for example, to
make illegal land purchases.
THE CANDIDATE
As governor of Zulia, Perez
has been accused of helping
Colombian paramilitary forces
enter the country as part of de-
stabilization plans aimed at top-
pling the Chavez government.
Earlier this year, neighboring
Apure State Governor Ramon
Carrizalez accused Perez of us-
ing his role in office to “make
frequent trips into and out of
Colombia” and “making agree-
ments to bring in paramilitaries
to sow anxiety and violence in
the region”.
These claims was first made
public by former Colombian in-
telligence chief, Rafael Garcia,
who accused former Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe and
members of the Venezuelan op-
position of using “paramilitary
forces to conspire against the
Chavez government”.
According to Jose Pereira,
Regional Coordinator of the Bo-
livarian Circles along the Vene-
zuela-Colombia border, Gover-
nor Perez has “tried to force the
Chavez government into mili-
tarizing the zone and creating
a state of war…bringing about
bloodshed so as to point fingers
later down the line”.
Though Perez denies any
wrongdoing, Zulia has seen a
dramatic increase in paramili-
tary violence since he took office
just three years ago, including an
increased presence of the feared,
Colombia-based paramilitary
group, Las Aguilas Negras, or
The Black Eagles in English.
Largely unknown in national
politics before becoming gover-
nor, Perez won a great deal of
favor in opposition circles after
he helped the MUD win numer-
ous seats in last year’s parlia-
mentary elections. Using the
governorship to campaign for
MUD candidates, Perez helped
the opposition take 13 of the 15
seats available to Zulia in the
National Assembly.
Since announcing his bid for
the opposition’s presidential
ticket, the Rosales brainchild
turned governor has received
several important endorsements
from within the country’s anti-
Chavez minority.
Apart from the obvious support
of his own, UNT Party, Perez is
now officially backed by both the
4th Republic’s AD and COPEI.
A publication of the Fundacion Correo del Orinoco ª Editor·in·Chiel Eva Golinger ª ßraµhic Besiqn Arisabel Yaya Silva ª Fress Fundación Imprenta de la Cultura
The artillery of ideas ENGLISH EDITION Friday | January 20, 2012 | Nº 98 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
Faul Craiq Roberts
was Assistant Secretary ol Treasury
durinq the Reaqan Administration and
is a lormer editor and columnist ol the
wall Street Journal.
S
ince my January 11 column
and the news alert posted
on January 14 (available
at www.paulcraigroberts.org)
more confirmation that Wash-
ington is moving the world
toward a dangerous war has
appeared. The Obama regime
is using its Ministry of Propa-
ganda, a.k.a., the US media, to
spread the story that President
Obama, Pentagon chief Panetta,
and other high US officials are
delivering strong warnings to
Israel not to attack Iran.
For someone as familiar with
Washington as I am, I recognize
these reports for what they are.
They are Br’er Rabbit telling
Br’er Fox “please don’t throw
me in the briar patch”.
If you don’t know the Uncle
Remus stories, you have missed
a lot. Br’er Rabbit was born and
raised in the briar patch.
What these “leaked” stories
of Washington’s warnings and
protests to Israel are all about
is to avoid Washington’s respon-
sibility for the war Washington
has prepared. If the war gets out
of hand, and if Russia and China
intervene or nukes start flying,
Washington wants the blame to
rest on Israel, and Israel seems
willing to accept the blame.
Nikolai Patrushev, who heads
Russia’s Security Council, has
apparently been deceived by
Washington’s manipulation of
the media. According to the In-
terfax news agency, Patrushev
condemned Israel for pushing
the US towards war with Iran.
You get the picture. The help-
less Americans. They are being
bullied by Israel into acquiesc-
ing to a dangerous war. Other-
wise, no more campaign contri-
butions.
The facts are different. If
Washington did not want war
with Iran it would not have pro-
vided the necessary weapons
to Israel. It would not have de-
ployed thousands of US troops
to Israel, with a view toward
the US soldiers being killed in
an Iranian response to Israel’s
attack, thus “forcing” the US
to enter the war. Washington
would not have built a missile
defense system for Israel and
would not be conducting joint
exercises with the Israeli mili-
tary to make sure it works.
If Washington did not want
Israel to start the war, Wash-
ington would inform the Israeli
government in no uncertain
words that an Israeli strike on
Iran means that the US will
NOT veto the UN’s denuncia-
tion of Israel and the sanctions
that would be placed on Israel
as a war criminal state. Wash-
ington would tell Israel that it
is good-bye to the billions of
dollars that the bilked Ameri-
can taxpayers, foreclosed from
their homes by fraudulent
mortgages and from jobs by off-
shoring, hand over by compul-
sion to Israel to support Israel’’s
crimes against humanity.
But, of course, Washington
won’t prevent the war that it so
fervently desires.
Neither will Washington’s
NATO puppets. “Great” Britain
does as it is told, subservient
and occupied Germany, bank-
rupt France, Italy occupied with
US air bases with a government
infiltrated by the CIA, bank-
rupt Spain and Greece will all,
in hopes of an outpouring of US
dollars and devoid of any digni-
ty or honor, support the new war
that could end life on earth.
Only Russia and China can
prevent the war.
Russia took the first step
when the newly appointed Dep-
uty Prime Minister for military
affairs, Demitry Rogozin told
a press conference in Brussels
that Russia would regard an at-
tack on Iran as “a direct threat
to our security”.
Washington is counting on
subverting Russia’s opposition
to Washington’s next war. Wash-
ington can time the attack on
Iran right after the March elec-
tions in Russia. When Putin wins
again, the treasonous Russian
opposition parties, financed by
the CIA, will unleash protests in
the streets. The subservient and
utterly corrupt Western media
will denounce Putin for stealing
the election. The orchestrated
protests in Russia will turn vio-
lent and discredit, if not prevent,
any Russian response to the na-
ked aggression against Iran.
For Rogozin’s warning to be
effective in preventing war,
China needs to enter the fray.
Washington is banking on Chi-
na’s caution. China deliberates
and never rushes into anything.
China’s deliberation will serve
Washington’s war.
It is possible that the crazed
neocon Washington govern-
ment will have one more “vic-
tory” before Russia and China
comprehend that they are next
on the extermination list. As
this date cannot be far off, life
on earth might expire before the
unpayable debts of US and EU
countries come due.
Washington moves The world closer To war