ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONAL Friday, November 15, 2013 | N 183 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.

ve
In a move designed to combat usury and price gouging by private venders around the
country, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the national government to in-
tervene in a number of electronic and appliance retail outlets last weekend. The mea-
sure marks an escalation in the socialist government's offensive against unscrupulous
businesses owners who have abused the nation's foreign exchange commission, CADIVI,
to reap super prots from the Venezuelan people. Page 2
Free laptops for kids
Canaima laptops have now
been distributed to over
2.8 million Venezuelan
school children, according
to Minister of Science,
Technology and Innovation
Manuel Fernandez.
Speaking on Monday,
Fernandez praised the
Canaima Program for
improving technological
literacy among primary
school students. Launched
in 2009, the Canaima
Program provides free
laptops to schoolchildren
for study purposes. The
child-friendly Canaima
laptops are mostly
imported from Portugal, as
part of an oil deal signed in
mid-2009. Pg. 4
Politics
Urban renewal
saves Caracas
A new state-sponsored
program to rejuvenate
Caracas neighborhoods
sees great success. P.3
Integration
New book reveals How
Chavez became Chavez
Ignacio Ramonets book on
Hugo Chavez delves into
the former presidents life
story. P.5
Integration
ALBA nations condemn
US spying
The Bolivarian Alliance
harshly criticized NSA
espionage and violation of
sovereignty. P.5
Analysis
The shadow of Chile
falls on Venezuela page 7
Opinion
Venezuelan opposition Rrallies
to destabilize the country page 8
Venezuela wages war on economic
sabotage and speculation
Orinoco Oil Belt to
produce 4 million
barrels a day by 2019
T/ AVN
By 2019, the Orinoco Oil
Belt will be producing four
million barrels of oil per day,
according to estimates an-
nounced on Tuesday by Oil
and Mining Minister Rafael
Ramirez.
The belt currently pro-
duces 1.23 million barrels
a day, but in the future, by
2019, we will be producing
4 million barrels a day,
Ramirez said during the
opening of the Orinoco Oil
Belt International Seminar
that is taking place in PD-
VSA ofces in Caracas.
Ramirez, who is also Pres-
ident of PDVSA, Venezuelas
state-owned oil company, in-
dicated the over $200 billion
was invested in developing
the belt.
It is a very important ef-
fort and commitment that
our mixed enterprises have
taken in developing the
belts reserves. The invest-
ments are already there
and the process has begun,
which is why today there is
intense industrial activity
[related to] perforation and
development in the belt, he
stressed.
This effort will let us
meet our production goals
and achieve one of our na-
tions strategic goals: diver-
sifying the economy and
using this immense belt of
natural resources located to
the north of the Orinoco riv-
er as an industrial conglom-
erate, a new oil and non-oil
development that will supply
our Republic for the next 200
years, Ramirez added.
The Orinoco Oil Belt,
which holds the most re-
serves of liquid hydrocar-
bons in the world, is over
55,000 square kilometers in
size, of which nearly 12,000
square kilometers are al-
ready being used. It is lo-
cated in the southern parts
of the states of Guarico, An-
zoategui and Monagas.
Venezuela & Uruguay
renew ties
President Maduro met Tuesday
with Uruguay's President Jose
'Pepe' Mujica in Caracas, to re-
afrm the continuity of the bu-
siness and political alliance both
nations share.
They created a joint venture
between Venezuela's electricity
company, Corpoelec and Uru-
guayan Urutransfor and appro-
ved the purchase of 60 Urugua-
yan transformers to strengthen
Venezuela's power system.
"For us it is an extraordinary
moment when we learn from the
wisdom that 'Pepe' conveys du-
ring conversation. It's a relation-
ship based on openness and true
friendship", Maduro said.
During the meeting they dis-
cussed the importance of the
Union of South American Na-
tions in the coming years, and
the improvement of exchange
between Latin American na-
tions, which "has to do with
efcient response mechanisms",
said Mujica.
This is based, he added, on buil-
ding a complementary economy
serving the people of Latin America.
"It is not just about selling mer-
chandise but to some extent, hel-
ping to transfer knowledge and
skills to our people".
The artillery of ideas
Venezuelan government ramps up
efforts to ght price speculation
2 Impact | Friday, November 15, 2013
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
I
n a move designed to combat
usury and price gouging by
private venders around the
country, Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro ordered the
national government to inter-
vene in a number of electronic
and appliance retail outlets last
weekend.
The measure marks an esca-
lation in the socialist govern-
ments offensive against un-
scrupulous businesses owners
who have abused the nations
foreign exchange commission,
CADIVI, to reap super prots
from the Venezuelan people.
On Friday, the Maduro ad-
ministration ordered the home
appliance chain Daka to lower
its prices after nding evidence
of cost hikes exceeding, in some
cases, more than one thousand
percent.
Similar actions have been
taken against retailers around
the nation, obliging stores to re-
mark their products with prices
in-line with the acquisition costs
of the imported goods being sold.
We, as the national govern-
ment, are not going to allow for
this type of usury targeted at the
salaries and Christmas bonus-
es of the Venezuelan people...
They are taking advantage of
the cash ow to sell at whatever
prices they want, said Herbert
CADIVI, which issues for-
eign currency to importers and
travellers at what is called a
preferential rate of 6.3 boli-
vars to the US dollar, has been
transformed over the years into
a mechanism for corrupt busi-
nesses and dishonest bureau-
crats to bleed the country of its
international revenue.
Since Venezuela exercises
strict capital controls, a policy
enacted in 2003, the national
government is charged with al-
locating dollars to the import/
export sector and overseeing
the disbursement of currencies
to Venezuelans abroad.
The measure is intended to
provide the country with goods
at affordable prices while at the
same time protecting the na-
Garcia, head of a presidential
commission created to protect
the countrys economy.
Various owners of retail out-
lets have been arrested after
ofcial investigations revealed
the intentional manipulation of
Venezuelas foreign exchange
system.
The managers of these stores
have been detained...and will
face the Attorney Generals Of-
ce. The owners of these busi-
nesses have to pay for this theft
being carried out against the
Venezuelan people... Enough of
the abuse of the people, Presi-
dent Maduro said.
The theft refers to the man-
ner in which retailers and im-
porters have utilized government
nancing to enrich themselves.
tions nancial sector from ir-
rational capital ight and eco-
nomic sabotage.
However, beneath the ofcial
system managed by CADIVI,
there has arisen a illegal paral-
lel market for the US dollar that
sells the currency for up to 10
times the preferential rate of 6.3.
Importers have taken advan-
tage of the illegal market and
Venezuelas high ination to
sell the products they acquired
through CADIVI at prices up to
one thousand times more than
their original value.
The result has been a major
distortion in the cost of import-
ed and domestic goods in the
country that ultimately affects
the purchasing power of the av-
erage Venezuelan.
THE BOURGEOISIE
ARE THE LOOTERS
Some residents took advan-
tage of last weekends interven-
tions to loot a number of appli-
ance stores in the central state
of Carabobo.
The ransacking was quelled
by the National Guard and
quickly denounced by the na-
tional government, which has
called on the population to ex-
ercise calm as Venezuelas con-
sumer protection agency, IN-
DEBAPIS, continues its work.
What we have done in the
past 24 hours is just the tip of
the iceberg of what we are going
to do to protect the Venezuelan
people, President Maduro said
of the governments actions on
Saturday.
Attributing the looting to des-
peration in the people, the head
of state urged the population to
not engage in provocations that
will taint the process of price
adjustments that are providing
greater access to commercial
goods for residents.
[The opposition] has begun
to say that Maduro is a looter.
Im not a looter and neither are
the Venezuelan people. The
looters are the bourgeoisie, he
charged.
On Sunday night, the Venezu-
elan President announced that
further measures would be tak-
en to end price speculation in the
retail automotive, food, shoe, tex-
tile, hardware and toy sectors.
Maduro also declared that
his government intends to push
for tougher sentencing on those
found to be in violation of the
law while setting maximum
prot limits on venders.
We will establish obligatory
limits on prot margins just
as there are in every country
in the world. We will continue
to strengthen [consumer pro-
tection] agencies for all of the
products that have been priori-
tized, he afrmed.
According to socialist con-
gressman Jesus Faria, Ven-
ezuelan business owners enjoy
some of the highest prots in
the world.
Faria blames corruption and
organized crime, backed by
powerful economic players, for
the exaggerated price hikes.
The behavior of the Venezu-
elan business owner has been to
pillage the country, take foreign
exchange, and put the prices at
their maximum levels, the law-
maker said on Saturday.
The idea is not to eliminate
the private sector, Faria com-
mented, but to regulate it in
service of the people.
The private sector doesnt
bother me but if the private
sector is designed to attack the
people, then its no compatible
[with socialism]. We are inter-
ested in developing the private
sector so that it generates em-
ployment, income and well-be-
ing, he explained.
For his part, President Ma-
duro vowed to continue to con-
front what he has called an
economic war being waged
against his government and the
Venezuelan people.
Business owners better
adjust themselves to the law
because we are going to im-
pregnate the entire national ter-
ritory with justice in the next 15
days. This economic war has to
end, he said.
The artillery of ideas
Friday, November 15, 2013 | Politics 3
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
V
enezuelan President Ni-
colas Maduro was in at-
tendance last Saturday for
the launch of the second phase
of the urban renewal program
Mission Barrio Nuevo, Barrio
Tricolor in the Caracas sector
of Catia.
The mission, which seeks
to improve living conditions
for residents in run-down ar-
eas, has been organized along
geographic lines and includes
ve strategic points that, Ma-
duro said, will transform the
nations sprawling slums into
thriving neighborhoods.
Tourists from around the
world are going to come to see
Caracas neighborhoods. They
are going to be tourist centers
made up of physical beauty, the
head of state commented during
a meeting with local residents.
While addressing the public,
Maduro outlined the programs
organizational scheme which
includes promoting commu-
nity assemblies, fostering the
democratic planning of public
works, ensuring comprehen-
sive logistics for the execution
of the works, defending the pro-
gram from outside threats, and
boosting productive enterprises
in the citys neighborhoods.
We are undertaking a far-
reaching social planning pro-
cess with the communities, he
said.
Barrio Nuevo, Barrio Tricol-
or will also be linked to other
social programs created by Ven-
ezuelas socialist government to
provide employment, housing,
health care, and security for
the nations population.
Eleven geographic corri-
dors have been established
in the capital district to priori-
tize the programs work, two
of which were set in motion on
Saturday in Catia.
Today we are activating cor-
ridors number two and three
which correspond to the neigh-
borhood of Sucre in Catia, said
Caracas Mayor Jorge Rodri-
Urban renewal program advances
in Caracas neighborhoods
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
C
ontinuing his government's
ght against price specula-
tion and the reaping of super-
prots by private business
owners, Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro announced
the creation of a new social pro-
gram on Tuesday to protect the
nation's consumers and small
business owners.
Mission Transportation, the
head of state informed, will en-
sure that Venezuela's automo-
tive sector is shielded against
dodgy business practices and
will ultimately guarantee access
to cars and replacement parts
for the The program's creation
was proposed by transportation
workers and announced follow-
ing a march of more than 15,000
Maduro supporters in Caracas
who are backing the socialist
Venezuelan President announces creation
of new transportation mission
government's efforts to end the
economic sabotage currently
under way in Venezuela.
"Today more than ever the
people are in the street, support-
ing Nicolas Maduro, supporting
the economic measures that are
being taken. The transporta-
tion workers are with this gov-
ernment", said demonstrator
Manuel Montanes at the rally.
During his address, President
Maduro urged the public to
continue backing his adminis-
tration's new measures, which
have been implemented to curb
articially inated prices and
contrived shortages of basic
products in the country.
"I'm asking the people to un-
derstand our plan and for their
maximum collaboration, con-
sciousness and patience. We're
going to progressively heal the
economy from sabotage", the
Venezuelan President said.
With respect to the new mis-
sion, Maduro informed that the
focus of the government's ef-
forts would be placed on private
wholesalers who are receiving
foreign exchange from the gov-
ernment at a preferential rate in
order to import commodities.
Those goods are then being
sold at exorbitant costs to the
people and small businesses
"Just as we are protecting con-
sumers, we're going to be strict
with the wholesalers who re-
ceive preferential dollars and
then sell overpriced merchan-
dise to the small and medium-
sized vender. We guarantee
that we are with you. Enough
of the theft", Maduro, a former
bus driver and union leader,
told the crowd.
The head of state informed
that his rst step would be to
meet with representatives of
the manufacturing and auto
parts industries in order to
"back them in all that they need
so that there is sufcient supply
and fair prices".
Members of the transporta-
tion unions present for Tues-
day's march further proposed
that the government create a
chain of publicly owned car
dealerships and replacement
parts stores in order to ensure
the availability of merchandise
at affordable prices.
"Transport workers could
obtain replacement parts up to
60 percent less than the prices
that are being charged in the
street", said the President of
the National Urban Transpor-
tation Fund (FONTUR) Jose
Bernando.
Bernando mentioned that
two such retail outlets have
been established in the states
of Aragua and Anzoategui and
that a number of other dealer-
ships are currently planned to
open by the end of the year.
"At the end of this month, we
could have 6 suppliers up and
running so that in 2014, we are
able to provide for 100 thousand
transportation workers", the
FONTUR President reported.
guez who was present for the
launch.
President Maduro referred to
the missions corridors as con-
glomerations that bind various
communities together in order
to consolidate a holistic urban
transformation and have an
impact for as many families as
possible.
In Catia, the government has
planned the construction of
212 new homes as well as the
creation of various pedestrian
walkways, sports complexes
and health clinics.
The works will be carried out
in conjunction with the different
community councils of the area.
Ofcials report that 79,000
families will benet from the
initiative.
This experience is going to
be multiplied in all urban zones
and neighborhoods, Mayor Ro-
driguez afrmed.
For residents, the opportuni-
ties to trade-in their precari-
ously built residences for new,
dignied homes has been a wel-
comed change.
80 year-old Caracas resident
Gladys Coba is one of the rst
in the area to have received aid
from the government program
after her home was considered
unt for habitation.
It was really bad and had a
lot of leaks. One day I was in the
small dinning room and it was
raining. A piece of concrete fell
from the roof and landed on my
foot. When the engineers came
from the Mayors Ofce, they
told me that it was impossible to
repair and that the house had
to be torn down, she explained
during a televised broadcast on
Saturday.
Coba was provided with a
new home with two oors and
seven bedrooms.
Im grateful to God, Coman-
dante Chavez, President Nico-
las Maduro, and Mayor Jorge
Rodriguez. Without them, none
of this would have been pos-
sible, she said.
The artillery of ideas
4 Economy | Friday, November 15, 2013
T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim
P/ Agencies
C
anaima laptops have now
been distributed to over 2.8
million Venezuelan school
children, according to Minister
of Science, Technology and In-
novation Manuel Fernandez.
Speaking to state broadcaster
VTV on Monday, Fernandez
praised the Canaima Program
for improving technological
literacy among primary school
students.
The program has continued
to grow, its a wonderful idea
of Comandante [Hugo] Chavez;
its truly inclusive, concrete so-
cialism, because theyre in the
hands of children and families,
said Fernandez.
The minister also applauded
the work of government institu-
tions involved in the distribu-
tion of the laptops.
Its an inter-agency effort,
involving tens of thousands of
public servants, he said.
Its a party when the Ca-
naimas come to a school, Fer-
nandez stated.
Launched in 2009, the Ca-
naima Program provides free
laptops to schoolchildren for
study purposes. The child-
friendly Canaima laptops are
mostly imported from Portu-
gal, as part of an oil deal signed
in mid-2009.
The machines run on the
open source operating system
Linux, though most of their
educational programs are de-
veloped at the National Center
for Information Technology
(CNTI).
While most of the Canaima
laptops currently being used
by Venezuelan school children
were manufactured in Portu-
gal, according to Fernandez
705,000 machines in use were
produced in Venezuela.
In January, the national gov-
ernment announced plans to
increase domestic production
of the educational laptops, with
a target of 1.2 million units by
the end of the year.
The Canaimas were origi-
nally only distributed to rst
and second year students, but
have now also been handed out
to students up to sixth grade,
under a second phase of the
scheme.
This week, Fernandez an-
nounced that the rollout of
Free Canaima laptops for 2.8 million
Venezuelan school children
this second phase of the proj-
ect had also been completed,
and the laptops are now also
being delivered to high school
students.
The minister also stated that
a similar initiative would be
launched next year for univer-
sity students.
Last month, Minister for
Higher Education Pedro Calza-
dilla announced that from 2014
the government would aim to
provide over two million tablet
computers to tertiary students.
This is part of the plan to
strengthen education in the
country through access to new
technologies, its intended to
ensure continuity from the
Canaimas in primary [school]
and now in college with tablets,
both tools that are produced in
our country, Calzadilla.
Fernandezs announcement
came just days after the govern-
T/ Paul Dobson
T
he political parties allied
to the governing Socialist
Party backed the economic
announcements and actions
of President Maduro this
week, while at the same time
fullling their vital role as the
voices of internal criticism
and the expression of plural-
ity of ideology within the revo-
lutionary process. They called
for more extreme measures
and tax reforms to accompany
the policies announced.
Following the occupation
and supervised selling of
appliances by the National
Guard, the political group-
ings compromising the Great
Patriotic Pole, such as the
Communist Party of Venezu-
Allied parties back Maduros economic
offensive, call for more radical changes
ela (PCV), Redes, Patria Para
Todos (PPT), and Tupamaro,
all announced their backing of
the measures, which they de-
scribed as necessary.
National Secretary for PPT,
Ilenia Medina, announced that
her party denitely supports
the government, which is taking
the necessary economic mea-
sures to protect consumers.
Among such measures, they
applaud the creation of the Na-
tional Center for Exterior Com-
merce, which will centralize, or-
ganize, and plan the importation
of goods, as well as following up
on private rms which apply for
subsidized foreign currency to
import into the private market.
The creation of the National
Center seems very import to
us, explained Medina. It is a
good mechanism which attends
to the necessities of the country,
struggles against ination, and
adequately manages foreign
currencies, not to speculate on
prices, but to favor the econom-
ic development of the country.
However, the PPT party
would have liked to see tax re-
form among the economic ac-
tions announced by Maduro:
We are going to propose a doc-
ument which we will give into
the President, proposing that
the productive industrial sector
should have their tax burden
reduced, acting as a stimulus.
Representative of the Tupa-
maro party, Ronal Mercado, ex-
pressed his complete support
for the measures, reinforcing
that the economic problems are
very real: Its no lie that you go
to the supermarkets and you
dont nd certain foodstuffs,
but outside you see the street
sellers selling the goods, this
is a weakness of the govern-
ment, he explained.
The PCV, the second largest
revolutionary party after the
ruling PSUV, also expressed
their support for the measures,
but declared that in their opin-
ion they do not go far enough,
and that Maduro should have
declared more radical, deeper,
structural changes.
The political bureau (of
the PCV) expresses its total
support for the measures of
occupation and supervised
selling which the National
Executive is doing to hit hard
at nancial speculation and
hoarding, expressed Oscar
Figuera, General Secretary of
the PCV. We consider that the
measures announced by the
President point in the correct
direction, however we consid-
er them to be insufcient.
ment presented the program to
the United Nations Education-
al, Scientic and Cultural Or-
ganization (UNESCO) during
its General Conference in Paris
last Friday.
After addressing the UNES-
CO conference, Calzadilla told
AVN that the international or-
ganization had recognized the
importance, achievements
and originality of the Canaima
Program.
UNESCO ofcials and oth-
ers...have appreciated and very
positively evaluated what we
have done for years with this
wonderful project, Calzadilla
said.
Calzadilla argued that the
distribution of the laptops is
part of a larger effort by the
Venezuelan government to in-
crease access to information
technology, including Internet
access.
We received a special
award for Venezuela for the
Canaima project of Coman-
dante Chavez, President Ni-
colas Maduro stated.
Venezuela has recognized
the Canaima project as a
great educational project for
children. We have given an
international award at the
highest level in the world, we
should be proud, the Presi-
dent said.
Calzadilla also used the op-
portunity to reafrm Venezu-
elas commitment to UNESCO.
Were making an unprec-
edented effort to recognize our
ancestral traditions, without
exclusion, Calzadilla said.
However, while Venezuela re-
iterated its commitment to the
organization, the United States
was stripped of its voting rights
at this years conference.
The US lost its vote after miss-
ing a two-year deadline to re-
start contributing to UNESCO.
Before Washington sus-
pended donations in 2011 in
response to UNESCOs recog-
nition of Palestine, US funds
made up 22% of the organiza-
tions budget.
The artillery of ideas
Friday, November 15, 2013 | Integration 5
T/ Ewan Robertson
P/ Agencies
O
n Monday this week Span-
ish journalist and anti-
globalization intellectual
Ignacio Ramonet presented his
book on the life of Hugo Chavez
to Venezuelan media.
The book, titled Hugo Chavez:
My First Life, narrates the life
of the late Venezuelan Presi-
dent from his birth up to when
he assumed the countrys top
ofce in 1999. Chavez governed
from then until March 5th this
year, when he lost his two-year
struggle against cancer.
During his fteen-year pe-
riod of ofce Chavez introduced
sweeping progressive political,
social and economic reforms to
Venezuelan society. He gained
the overwhelming support of
the countrys poor and won
three reelections as well as sev-
eral national referenda. How-
ever, the domestic conservative
opposition and international
media painted him as heavy
handed and dictatorial.
Ramonets book on the iconic
Latin American leader is based
on the editing of a series of in-
terviews held between Chavez
and Ramonet from 2008 to
2010. Chavez himself reviewed
the book before its publication,
and even had a hand in choos-
ing the title.
Speaking to Venezuelan me-
dia, Ramonet said the book was
not attering, but sincere.
When you converse for one
hundred hours, you cant hide
anything, he added.
Explaining the motives be-
hind writing the book, the
Spanish journalist said, I
wanted in some way to nish
with the opinion that existed
of President Chavez, because
from the outside they made him
seem like a tyrant who was un-
cultured and didnt know about
politics.
Specically, the book explores
Chavezs political, intellectual
and sociological formation, as
well as sharing some unique
personal anecdotes.
Ignacio Ramonet said that he
had been impacted by Chavezs
rise from childhood poverty
in the rural town of Sabaneta
to enter the National Mili-
tary Academy, from where he
would burst onto Venezuelas
political scene.
The book argues that it was
Chavezs experience of pov-
erty in early life while receiv-
ing education from his teacher
parents and engaging in a
great deal of self-study which
formed him into the Chavez
that would become the leader
of the countrys Bolivarian
Revolution.
Ramonet appeared particu-
larly interested in the late Presi-
dents intellectual development,
highlighting how the young
Chavez avidly read on history,
politics and philosophy.
The Spaniard concluded that
despite Chavezs image in the
international media, He was
an unbreakable man; true to
Spanish journalist presents book
on how Chavez became Chavez
his thoughts, loyal to his peo-
ple, extraordinary in his think-
ing, and with great love for his
country.
CHAVEZS LEGACY
WILL CONTINUE
Ignacio Ramonet also argued
that with the election of Presi-
dent Nicolas Maduro in April,
Chavezs political project will
continue.
According to the journal-
ist, the right-wing opposition
thought that the Bolivarian rev-
olution would end with Chavezs
death, and after the election of
Nicolas Maduro, have launched
a plan to sabotage the economy
and achieve that goal.
Because of that, this situa-
tion has been created of hoard-
ing, electricity sabotage and dif-
culties in everyday life. Now
the opposition says everything
is the governments faultits
exactly the same situation that
was created before the military
coup against [former Chilean
President Salvador] Allende,
he said, while dismissing that
a similar coup would happen in
Venezuela.
Ramonet predicted that pro-
gressive politics would contin-
ue to predominate in Venezu-
ela and Latin America, arguing
that only a few countries in the
region were still governed by
conservatives.
Thanks to Chavez this coun-
try is in the center of Latin Amer-
ican dynamics once again, which
curiously hadnt happened since
[Venezuelas 19th century found-
er] Simon Bolivar. Venezuela is
politically more important than
some of the Latin American co-
lossi! he remarked.
The promotional tour for
Hugo Chavez: My First Life,
which was published earlier
this year, also includes visiting
Argentina, Chile, Mexico and
Spain. The book is to be translat-
ed to German and Portuguese.
T/ Paul Dobson
T
he leftist, anti-imperialist
grouping- The Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America/Trade Agreement
for the People (ALBA-TCP)- is-
sued a collective statement this
week, adding their names to
the long list of nations that have
denounced the US espionage
program which has caused so
much scandal in recent weeks.
The collective statement
harshly criticized the violation
of human rights by the US Gov-
ernment, and called on the UN
to set rules to protect both the
Internet and the rights of citi-
zens and nations to privacy.
The NSA espionage program,
which has been unveiled to the
world by former NSA contractor
Edward Snowden, has caused
dismay both amongst US allies,
ALBA nations denounce
US spying program
such as Germany, France, and
Spain, as well as economic and
political adversaries, such as
China, Russia, and Iran.
ALBA described the NSA
espionage against sovereign
countries as a agrant viola-
tion of the human and inter-
national rights, an aggression
against the sovereignty of the
peoples, and an attack against
the pacic coexistence between
nations.
The statement went on to
categorically reject the exis-
tence of an espionage network
in the most advanced commu-
nications system that human
history has seen- which is oper-
ated by the agencies of intelli-
gence of the US government.
The regional bloc is made
up of anti-imperialist nations
including Venezuela, Cuba,
Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador,
as well as Caribbean islands
Dominica, Antigua and Barba-
dos, and San Vicente and the
Grenadines.
Collectively, they pro-
nounced that international
relations should be based on
equality, respect, and sover-
eignty between nations, and
not the aggressive, arrogant,
power-mongering character-
izing US foreign policy. No
government, however power-
ful it may be, has the right to
stomp over the rights of its
own citizens, nor those of the
citizens of other countries,
intimidating them, violating
their privacy, intervening and
collecting data about their
communications and using
this data for commercial, mili-
tary, and political ends, read
the statement.
Recent revelations have
shown that Venezuela is one of
the most spied-upon countries
in the world, due to its vast oil
wealth and leftist government.
The ALBA bloc called on the
UN to take rapid, rm and
efcient measures to put an
end to these acts, to protect
the rights of all of the citizens
of the world, and put rigorous
rules in place to penalize such
practices.
In the same terms, the ALBA
congratulated the initiative of
Germany and Brazil, who have
jointly presented a project to
the UN to curb and regulate
such violations of privacy in
the Internet, and to punish the
US Government for its abuses
in cyberspace.
We salute the initiative
presented to the UN by Brazil
and Germany, which moves
towards the creation of clear
rules (for the internet) to pro-
tect the rights of all of human
beings to privacy and to plain-
ly practice their civil liberties,
and we add ourselves to this
request to the UN to promote
an open system of government
which is participative, plural,
shared, accessible, and genu-
inely democratic regarding
the internet, for the benet of
the common good.
The artillery of ideas
6 Security | Friday, November 15, 2013
T/ COI
P/ Agencies
I
nvestigative journalist Jose
Vicente Rangel warned
this weekend that extrem-
ist members of the Venezu-
elan right-wing intend to use
political violence in ongoing
attempts to destabilize the
government of President Nico-
las Maduro. Just days before
campaigning begins for na-
tionwide municipal elections,
Rangel cautioned the Venezue-
lan people that violent extrem-
ists frustrated by their failure
at the polls may soon return
to acts of terrorism. Speaking
specically about opposition
spokesman Leopoldo Lopez,
Rangel revealed that the 2012
Campaign Coordinator for
Henrique Capriles visited a
paramilitary training camp
while on a recent trip to south-
ern Florida.
JOSE VICENTE WARNS
Speaking on his weekly
television program this past
Sunday, Venezuelas widely-
respected investigative jour-
nalist Jose Vicente Rangel
warned that there are ele-
ments within the Venezuelan
opposition who may use politi-
cal violence to disrupt munici-
pal elections set for December
8th. In addition to the eco-
nomic war already under-
way, Rangel afrmed that cer-
tain members of the extremist
opposition will do anything
to harm the socialist govern-
ment of Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro.
They have no scruples in
their use of shortages and eco-
nomic sabotage strategies that
harm the people much more
than they do the government,
Rangel afrmed.
Speaking to the most ex-
treme of the Venezuelan oppo-
sition, Rangel cautioned that
the country has changed a
great deal since 2002 when a
US-backed military coup suc-
cessfully ousted democrati-
cally-elected President Hugo
Chavez. Though the violent
ouster of President Chavez
lasted only 48 hours, the oppo-
sition did succeed in bringing
together a short-lived coalition
of representatives from the
mass media, the church and
business community, as well
as the armed forces.
The National Bolivarian
Armed Forces (FANB) are now
shielded against any sort of ad-
venturism, Rangel explained.
Important sectors of the
business community categori-
cally reject repeating errors of
the past, people on the street
no longer respond to their (the
Journalist warns against
extremist violent plans
oppositions) calls, the oil in-
dustry is now in the hands of
the state, and within the cath-
olic church there have been
changes thanks to the new
orientations coming out of the
Vatican.
Nevertheless, he warned,
the extremist opposition
doesnt want to recognize that
things are different now. Back
then, they had successfully pen-
etrated high-ranking ofcials
in the armed forces, they had
tremendous support from the
business community, they had
the capacity to mobilize people
onto the streets, and they con-
trolled (the state-owned oil
company) PDVSA.
They now lack all of those
elements, he said.
There are sectors within
the opposition however, Ran-
gel added, that believe they
are experts on the matter, who
pretend not to perceive the dif-
ference between then and now,
or who prefer to ignore said dif-
ference so as not to alter plans
already underway and the com-
mitments made by the most na-
ve of the countrys opposition.
That is why some choose not to
head warnings.
Calling out to more moderate
sectors of the opposition, Ran-
gel offered one word of advice:
Dont make the same mistake
twice. They (radical extrem-
ists) are waiting for you down
the way.
His mention of the same
mistake is in reference to the
unarmed protestors killed in
the run-up to the 2002 coup
against President Chavez. On
April 11th, 2002, as pro- and
anti-Chavez demonstrators
marched on downtown Caracas,
unidentied snipers opened re
on both crowds, killing 19 and
wounding another 60.
Though they ed the coun-
try before facing trial, the
gunmen are suspected to have
been contracted by right-wing
elements so as to provoke chaos
and deaths, the reasons used
by those who backed the 2002
coup.

TARGET PRACTICE
In addition to his general
warnings about the possible
use of violence in the context
of next months municipal elec-
tions, Rangel also revealed that
opposition spokesman Leo-
poldo Lopez recently visited a
paramilitary training camp in
southern Florida where young
Venezuelans are now receiv-
ing military instruction. .
Leader of his own right-wing
party, Voluntad Popular or
Popular Will in English,
and Campaign Coordinator for
Henrique Capriles in the Octo-
ber 2012 presidential election,
Lopez is said to have offered
nancial assistance so that an
additional 10 Venezuelans be
trained in the camps.
Venezuelan daily Ultimas
Noticias rst reported on Lo-
pezs visit to Miami on Novem-
ber 2nd. In an article describing
his public speaking engage-
ments with Venezuelans living
in Miami, the paper described
how Lopez sought only to ex-
change opinions about the sit-
uation in Venezuela and invite
them to actively participate
in the change needed in their
country.
According to the paper, Lo-
pez told those gathered at a
public event that the opposi-
tion plans to vote and take
to the streets in next months
municipal elections.
We must vote and at the same
time articulate the discontent
in diverse sectors of society,
thus achieving, in a very short
period of time, the change we
want for Venezuela, he said.
What Ultimas Noticias didnt
report, perhaps for lack of
sources, is that while in Florida
Lopez accepted an invitation
by Maria Elvira Salazar and
Luis Conte Aguero leaders of
the Cuban exile community in
Miami to visit a paramilitary
training camp in Los Cayos.
According to Jose Vicen-
te Rangel, Lopez visited the
camp alongside Conte Aguero
and Regulo Semidey Crassus,
watching as a group of some 30
people red weapons at printed
images of Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro. Rangel also
afrmed that Lopez spoke to
the paramilitaries in training,
encouraging them to prepare
themselves to defend democ-
racy and liberty in Venezuela.
Lopezs host, Luis Conte
Aguero, is a known condant
of confessed terrorist Luis Pos-
ada Carriles and is described
by the New Times of Miami as
a leading anti-Castro voice in
Miami.
Rangel explained that, Lo-
pez also offered to cover the
costs so that 10 additional Ven-
ezuelans could receive simi-
lar military training, making
Conte Aguero the contact per-
son for these actions.
Rangel also warned that
plans are now underway in
southern Florida to establish
a non-governmental organiza-
tion (NGO) in support of the
victims of Marxist terrorism
in Venezuela.
The artillery of ideas
Friday, November 15, 2013 | Analysis 7
T/ COI
P/ Agencies
I
n the context of ongoing at-
tempts to destabilize the
Venezuelan government,
members of the countrys US-
backed opposition protested
this weekend against what
they called the dictatorship
of democratically-elected
President Nicolas Maduro.
Responding to anti-govern-
ment messaging disseminated
across social media, members
of the opposition demonstrat-
ed in a handful of cities across
Venezuela. Part of a strategy
aimed at achieving social
discontent and altering the
electoral tide before mayoral
elections early next month,
the protests included vague
calls for a new president
and an end to crisis.
RALLYING IN CONTEXT
As was recently revealed
by investigative journalist
Eva Golinger, Venezuelas US-
backed opposition is currently
carrying out a series of events
aimed at debilitating the gov-
ernment before the December
8 municipal elections. These
elections, in which all of the
countrys 377 mayoralties are
up for grabs, are the rst since
Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro defeated opposition
hopeful Henrique Capriles in
the unexpected presidential
election of April 2013.
In December 2012, as wide-
ly-popular Venezuelan Presi-
dent Hugo Chavez fought his
nal battle with a deadly and
resurgent cancer, pro-Chavez
candidates won 20 of 23 gov-
ernorships. In April 2013, a
month after Chavez lost his
life, pro-Chavez socialist can-
didate, Nicolas Maduro, was
elected president for the rest
of the 2013-2019 period.
In response to their repeated
electoral defeats, anti-Chavez
forces elaborate a strategy ti-
tled the Strategic Venezuelan
Plan. Prepared by right-wing
leaders from within the Ven-
ezuelan opposition including
Maria Corina Machado, Ju-
lio Borges, Ramon Guillermo
Avelado, and J.J. Rendon the
plan was developed in June of
this year with the assistance
of Mark Feierstein, Director
for Latin America at the US
Agency for International De-
velopment (USAID), ex Colom-
bian President Alvaro Uribes
Democratic Internationalism
Foundation, and the US con-
sulting rm FTI Consulting.
Revealed last week by
Golinger, the plan includes a
series of objectives essentially
geared towards the municipal
elections set for December 8,
while at the same time includ-
ing the accelerated deteriora-
tion of the government, facili-
tating an opposition victory for
this event.
To achieve said deteriora-
tion, the plan includes actions
aimed at generating emotion
with short messages that reach
the largest quantity of people
and emphasize social problems,
provoking social discontent.
Rallies held this weekend
included just that short mes-
saging targeting President Ma-
duro, demanding unspecied
change, and insisting that
street protests are the solu-
tion to peoples problems.
TO THE STREETS
Though the internet-based
messaging that brought protes-
tors to the streets said nothing
more than Enough Already,
demonstrators brought out a
typical selection of right-wing
rallying cries. Held in a hand-
ful of large cities including
Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia,
and San Cristobal, where the
opposition has a signicant
number of voters, demonstra-
tors held placards that read we
urgently need a new president,
change is coming, and we
are not Cuba.
Opposition daily El Nacional,
which spent the entirety of the
Chavez period (1999-2013) dis-
crediting his socialist platform,
reported that protestors held
signs reading Maduro is not
Venezuelan, hes Colombian
and out, out, out to all the
street rats. Both xenophobic
and derogatory, these signs
were backed by anti-Cuba and
anti-communist street chants.
Journalist Soa Nederr, who
wrote the El Nacional piece,
afrmed that, banners at the
demonstration were directed
at the presidents nationality, at
corruption, scarcity, unemploy-
ment, the crisis in hospitals, at
the entirety of the governments
policies.
Though she failed to specify
which policies she, or protes-
tors, were referring to, Nederr
cited one student who afrmed,
vaguely, Change is urgently
needed to move forward.
I want change in Venezu-
ela, the student said. I want
change in all aspects political
change, social change, econom-
ic change economic change in
particular.
In a separate quote, published
in Ultimas Noticias, a different
Opposition rallies look to
destabilize country, elections
protestor said she went to the
weekend rally to protest the
human rights violations.
Maduro is a puppet, she
afrmed, at the service of
Raul Castro.
FREE OF GUILT?
In an interesting shift of
opposition maneuvering, and
clearly part of the Strategic
Venezuelan Plan, no for-
mal leader of the so-called
Democratic Unity Round-
table (MUD) was present at
the weekend event. Instead,
right-wing spokesmen such as
Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique
Capriles Radonski went only
as far as to make statements
expressing their solidarity
with the demonstrators.
Leopoldo Lopez, through
his party, Voluntad Popu-
lar or Popular Will in Eng-
lish, said he supported the
grassroots, non-violent dem-
onstrators that have come
out to transform Venezuela.
Capriles, meanwhile, sent out
a Twitter message praising
the peaceful protests.
According to Miami-based
El Nuevo Herald, the Satur-
day rally included strong
messages against the major
leaders of the opposition for
having shown weakness.
The demonstration, it ex-
plained, was held to show
Maduro, as well as the oppo-
sition leadership, that their
time is up to show that the
way out is by taking to the
streets.
The Strategic Venezuelan
Plan states specically that
the opposition should create
situations of crisis in the
streets that will facilitate US
intervention, as well as NATO
forces, with the support of the
Colombian government.
Whenever possible, it
reads, violence should result
in deaths or injuries.
According to President Ma-
duro, who spoke about the
protests late Saturday, pro-
Chavez forces know what
kind of election numbers to
expect from the opposition.
However, he explained,
they are now calling for
marches without leadership,
blocking trafc, etc. The -
nancing for these protests
is coming out of Miami, the
demonstrators arent speci-
cally linked to anyone in the
opposition, and this makes
them dangerous.
They tried setting the
streets ablaze, Maduro said.
They didnt achieve their
objectives and they never
will.
A p0b||cat|oo oI the F0odac|oo 0orreo de| 0r|ooco Editor-in-Chief va 6o||oger Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera - Audra Ramones
INTERNATIONAL Friday, November 15, 2013 | N 183 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
T/ Francisco Dominguez
T
he mayoral elections cam-
paign has seen an increase
in economic sabotage
aimed at incapacitating the
government of President Ni-
colas Maduro and, says Fran-
cisco Dominguez, presents a
threat not unlike that faced de-
cades ago by Salvador Allende
in Chile.
Mayoral elections are to be
held in Venezuela on Decem-
ber 8. Every mayoralty will be
contested and, as is the case
in Venezuelas vibrant democ-
racy, both the right-wing coali-
tion and Chavista candidates
are busily campaigning up and
down the country.
These municipal elections
take place in a very different
context to recent elections in
Venezuela - they will be the
rst held since the death of
Hugo Chavez.
They are also the rst follow-
ing the violent response of the
right-wing opposition to the
presidential election in April.
Venezuelas anti-democratic
opposition used the close elec-
tion results to try to unseat the
elected government of Nicolas
Maduro. They alleged fraud but
failed to provide any evidence.
Nonetheless, their leader Hen-
rique Capriles encouraged oppo-
sition supporters to vent their
anger. A wave of violence fol-
lowed resulting in the death of
13 innocent people as well as the
burning of vehicles, attacks on
health centers, national elector-
al council buildings and houses
of prominent members of the
government.
The opposition also attempt-
ed to internationalize its false
claim of fraud. Its political lead-
ers travelled around the world
linking up with right-wing
politicians such as Jovino No-
voa, senator for Chiles extreme
right Union Democratica Inde-
pendiente (UDI). The establish-
ment of UDI was encouraged
and assisted by Pinochets dic-
tatorship. Novoa notoriously
served as general government
undersecretary of the military
dictatorship between 1979-1982.
This link with the Chil-
ean right-wing makes sense.
The opposition in Venezuela
is at the moment - just like its
counterparts in Chile 40 years
ago - waging economic war as
a strategy to destabilize and
bring down the government of
President Maduro.
They are organizing short-
ages of vital food and other
day-to-day essentials, carrying
out sabotage attacks against
key facilities such as electric-
ity plants, the metro and oil
reneries.
All this echoes the strategy
of President Nixon in Chile de-
signed to make the economy
scream to prevent Allende
from coming to power or to un-
seat him.
As in Chile, they have un-
leashed psychological warfare
in the media to sow confusion
and despair among the poorest
and most vulnerable as well as
the middle classes.
The Wests mainstream me-
dia readily and uncritically
lends support to this campaign.
In October alone the Wash-
ington Post ran an editorial
headlined Venezuela, On The
Path To Implosion, the Miami
Herald right on cue announced
Desperation In Venezuela and
the FT followed with Chaos In
Caracas. Foreign Policy maga-
zine ran a piece called Is The
US Ready For A Venezuelan
Meltdown?
Just as with the ousting of
the democratically elected Sal-
vador Allende in Chile the in-
uence of the US looms large in
Venezuela.
Key bodies of the US foreign
policy apparatus are very ac-
tively intervening in the inter-
nal affairs of the country by
channelling millions of dollars
of taxpayers money into oppo-
sition political, social and me-
dia coffers.
President Maduro has de-
nounced the destabilization ef-
forts saying that the Venezuelan
right-wing is not campaigning
for elections but is instead fo-
cused on insurrection.
Former vice-president Jose
Vicente Rangel - now a well
respected journalist - warned
of a terrorist agenda of the op-
position seeking to selectively
assassinate Chavista leaders,
ministers and high military
ofcers, as well as terrorist
attacks against the metro (un-
derground), cable cars, state
oil company installations, wa-
ter supplies, supermarkets and
electric installations.
Maduro has explained that
extremists in the opposition
are seeking a total collapse,
The shadow of Chile falls on Venezuela
exploiting difculties in the
Venezuelan economy to cre-
ate chaos or, at the very least,
to give the strong impression
of it among anxious sections
of society. It hopes to provoke
a social explosion that could
see the government ousted.
In that context, one major
concern is the recent state-
ment by 45 Venezuelan retired
military ofcers - including a
dozen generals and admirals
and a former defense minis-
ter - supporting a military
intervention to replace the
Maduro government which
they claimed would not be
a coup dtat but defending
sovereignty.
The opposition is charac-
terizing the mayoral elec-
tions as a plebiscite against
the Maduro government.
They are seeking to popular-
ize the idea that a setback for
Maduro must lead to a new
government.
This is a baseless line of
argument as the pro-Chavis-
ta forces have a two-thirds
majority in the National As-
sembly, 20 out of 23 state gov-
ernors and 22 of 23 local state
assemblies as well as just hav-
ing just won a six-year presi-
dential term for Maduro.
Furthermore, recent polls
indicate that the government
coalition will win a majority
of the mayors.
In coming weeks calls from
anti-democratic sections of
the opposition for an end to
the Maduro government are
likely to get ever more shrill
and should they, and their
external sponsors, be able to
carry out their plans success-
fully it would lead to a severe
setback to democracy and so-
cial progress in Venezuela.
As in Chile 40 years ago, we
would see the rise of a vicious
regime trampling on all the
democratic, social, political
and economic rights that the
Venezuelan majority secured
over the past 15 years.
In Chile, Pinochets dicta-
torship lasted 17 years and an
estimated 10,000 people were
killed. So the stakes are very
high in Venezuela. A setback
there would be a massive blow
to progress in the whole of
Latin America.
Global solidarity with the
elected government of Ven-
ezuela is vital. As Martin Lu-
ther King once said, In the
end, we will remember not the
words of our enemies, but the
silence of our friends.
Opinion