Posted on 04/14/2002 4:01:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The intimate collaboration between "social movements" (particularly the MST) with the PT government, and vice versa, has led to one of the most important and grave denunciations ever to be published by the press.
In an article in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo titled "O Plano R" [The R Plan], Denis Lerrer Rosenfield, professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and a former PT member, shows that a concerted plan is being implemented by the PT government and MST, the leading "social movement."
According to Mr. Rosenfield, the tandem tactic is nothing new, as it was used by communist parties in many countries to seize power.
He affirms that Lula would never have won the elections if he had shown an intention to subvert democracy.
However, once the elections were over, the government began to show the profound affinities between the president in power (and his party) and the MST.
"It seems, however, that we have now entered a new phase in this process, in which MST no longer needs to play the election games of distancing itself from the government while acting in concert with it. The distancing, albeit cosmetic, is manifested by disobedience to democratic rules. We have seen an increase in 'pre-revolutionary' actions that grow in intensity and pick different targets. . . .
The working in concert with the PT takes place through tolerance - rather than encouragement - of these revolutionary actions" (7/28/2003).
The Lula da Silva government thus deepens yet more the profound ambiguity that has characterized it from the beginning: while repeatedly affirming it no longer adheres to many theories and practices of the left, its ideology and praxis remain basically unaltered.
In an interview given in Caracas alongside Hugo Chavez, Lula went to the point of saying that he never liked to be labeled as a leftist.
Many commentators took that statement with a rather large grain of salt. They pointed out that Lula and Chavez - old buddies of Fidel Castro - actually are the left in South America, as they try to create an alternative to the so-called neoconservative model.
An editorial in the Folha de S. Paulo noted that Lula has had a leftist career influenced by the kind of politicized Catholicism that strongly marked the PT - a clear allusion to Liberation Theology, so influential in Lula's career and in the present administration.***
From a specially prepared classroom at Miraflores Palace, the former paratrooper and schoolteacher's son lectured teen-age and adult students from an impoverished Caracas neighborhood on the importance of reading and writing.
"Reading helps us to interpret the world," the populist president said, before taking a roll-call of his students, writing words on the blackboard for them to read, and drilling them in punctuation and spelling.
Infuriating midday television viewers across the South American nation, his government interrupted all normal television and radio programming for more than two hours to broadcast the presidential literacy class live.
Venezuela's telecommunications laws allow the president to do this at his discretion. But critics of Chavez, who accuse him of ruling like a dictator, say he frequently abuses this right to make marathon propaganda broadcasts.
The class was organized to promote a government campaign to eradicate illiteracy in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. The campaign was launched two months ago with textbooks, videos and educators provided by Cuba's Communist government.
These are extreme signs of a country in chaos, without law, without government, in anomie (social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values). But there are many others. Every day private land is invaded, urban buildings occupied by organized groups, companies taken over by workers with the backing of members of the armed force or government officers. This is taking place in broad daylight, under the very noses of the institutions which should protect the citizen, but are watching in silence. No reader can truly measure the magnitude of the crime being committed in Venezuela today unless s/he were here. Since many are not, here I am telling them.
When I was a kid, I watched old western movies in which, sometimes, the "sheriff" of a town was a criminal in disguise ... just maneuvering to "take over" the town. I have the perception that a similar situation applies to Venezuela today. There is a group in government, disguised as democrats, trying to take over the country in the name of a revolution based on dead ideologies. They have many of the country's institutions under their control and exercise a rule of terror to "persuade" those who dissent from their views.
Today even the most basic civic rights are threatened with extinction. I have mentioned before how some 500 hours of compulsory TV and radio hookups have been imposed on us by a megalomaniac President, so that he can tell us about his daughter's turtle, about his new grandson or about his childhood in Barinas ... or, he can extol the virtues of Fidel Castro, or the need to eliminate the rich. The matters of real national interest ... the economic and social problems which are overwhelming us are never dealt with. These hookups are a tool of social exclusion, as the man uses them to breed hate among the members of our society.
No institution in Venezuela stands up and challenges this parade of inanities. As impunity becomes total, the President becomes more and more violent and starts threatening all dissenters with armed responses. Like a train jumping tracks the violent President has become an object of destruction.
The only obstacle between this runaway object of destruction and the intended target: Venezuelan society, is a referendum. Only a civilized vote by the Venezuelan population stands in the way to total destruction.***
Besides the United Nations in New York, the left-wing Venezuelan leader had been planning to visit the Organization of American States in Washington and the oil industry city of Houston in a Sept 25-29 trip.
"He's not going to either Washington or the U.N ... he prefers to concentrate on affairs at home," one government source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
The sources offered no further explanation for the trip cancellation by the populist president, who has traveled widely and enjoys lecturing foreign audiences about his "Bolivarian Revolution" in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. ***
"In defense of our country's democracy and sovereignty, the government has decided to end this relationship," Ramirez said. He declined to identify the oil traders in the alleged conspiracy. The Dominican Republic was getting about half of its oil from Venezuela. Now it will have to seek it elsewhere on less preferential terms.***
We are deepening the already significant ties with traditional partners in North America and Europe, but also seek to widen and diversify our international presence. Our relations with China and the Russian Federation have revealed unexpected complementarities.
We are proud to be the country with the second largest population of African descent in the world. In November, I will be traveling to five countries in Southern Africa to foster economic, political, social and cultural cooperation. With the same goal in mind, we will also host a summit meeting between South American countries and the Member States of the Arab League. With India and South Africa we have established a trilateral forum for political consultations and joint projects.***
Kuwait is "very worried" about the 14 percent decline in prices so far this month, but its oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Fahd al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, joined several other OPEC delegates in calling for the group to leave output unchanged for now.
Al-Sabah said he believed Iraq would be allowed to attend Wednesday's formal meeting as a full member because Venezuela was the only one demurring.
Wednesday's OPEC meeting is at the group's Vienna headquarters.
OPEC secretary-general Alvaro Silva predicted that OPEC, which supplies about a third of the world's crude, would hold its output ceiling steady at 25.4 million barrels a day for the rest of the year. Some members, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, have expressed a similar view.
"I think we have to continue with the same production that we have now" and monitor the oil market closely in coming months, al-Sabah said upon his arrival at a hotel in the Austrian capital. December would be "a good time" to reassess supply and demand for crude, he said.
United Arab Emirates' Oil Minister Obaid Al-Nasseri, speaking earlier, said there appeared to be "no big reason" for OPEC to adjust its output at this meeting.
Earlier fears that Iraq might quickly restore its prewar output and glut the market with crude have all but disappeared. Sabotage of Iraq's oil pipelines continues to crimp its exports, and with Iraq's recovery taking much longer than expected, several OPEC members have said the group should continue pumping at current levels leading into the peak winter heating oil season.
Given the large number of oil ministers who have already stated a preference for not changing output, a decision by OPEC to do anything different would be "irresponsible," said Yasser Elguindi of Medley Global Advisors, a New York-based consultancy. "It would take something dramatic at this point for them to change their position, and the market would not appreciate it," Elguindi said.
OPEC's benchmark crude price stood at $24.82, the lowest since May 8. Despite falling, prices remain within OPEC's target $22-$28 price range.
Iraq hasn't attended an OPEC meeting since Saddam's defeat. It hasn't participated in OPEC quota agreements since the United Nations imposed sanctions in 1990 to punish Baghdad for invading Kuwait. ***
Bahr al-Ulum, from the new government formed after Saddam Hussein was toppled by US-led forces in April, arrived Tuesday in Vienna at the invitation of the OPEC president, who is also Qatar's energy minister.
But Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez was still insisting Tuesday that the Iraqi government should be recognized internationally before being allowed to sit as a full member at a meeting of the cartel.
In an effort to avert an embarrassing snub to Iraq, the cartel held a late-night meeting Tuesday to try to reach an agreement over how the country, one of OPEC's founding members, should be represented at the conference.
Ramirez later confirmed that Venezuela would no longer oppose Iraq's sitting as a full member.***
Following a scuffle between lawmakers in the National Assembly building, opposition Christian Democrat deputy Cesar Perez displayed bleeding scratch marks on his face and accused Chavez ally Iris Varela of having attacked him.
"This vindictive parliamentarian jumped at me," Perez said.
Varela, who earlier exchanged shoves and kicks with Perez, blamed him for starting the fight. "This man is an animal," she said as government and opposition deputies jeered each other.
Parliament leaders suspended the debate, in which opposition lawmakers were contesting government proposals to reform the 20-member Supreme Court by adding 12 more magistrates to be elected by a simple majority in the National Assembly. ***
In a combative speech sure to enflame strained U.S. ties, Chávez also lambasted President Bush for invading Iraq and dismissed Bush's plea at the United Nations for help in Iraqi reconstruction.
''Who gave the United States government the right to bomb cities, invade countries, overthrow governments?'' Chávez demanded. ``No one gave this right to the United States government. And here, we will keep saying that.''
Chávez was supposed to attend the U.N. summit on terrorism earlier this week in New York but said he canceled because of an alleged plot to kill him. ***
But the lack of common sense in this absurd proposition isn't likely to stop President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, whose idea it is, from trying to make it stick. His objective is to block the drive to keep Venezuela's voters from casting an up-or-down vote on his presidency.
Nor is the absence of any provision in Venezuelan law that establishes this time limit likely to deter Mr. Chávez. The president's opponents, who are demanding a referendum on his tumultuous presidency as a peaceful way to resolve an increasingly tense crisis, rightly insist that imposing a time limit would curtail their political rights.
This isn't the first time that Mr. Chávez and his supporters have attempted to stop the recall. Government opponents often have been targets of threats and harassment. The president usually sets the tone. In one recent declaration, he said opponents have a ``great capacity for cheating.''
Earlier, the National Elections Council rejected for technical reasons a recall petition with more than three million voter signatures. Opponents say that the new signature drive will begin on Oct. 5. We hope that the council will show its impartiality by giving the referendum backers what would be in any democracy a reasonable and fair amount of time.
Venezuelans are bitterly divided over the Chávez presidency. Since the president claims to be a populist, he should favor giving voters a free and clear choice by way of a referendum. But in today's Venezuela, such logic seems to be in short supply, at least in official circles. [End]
The Latin American bloc is growing closer and closer together, while expanding allies outwards. The Bloc collectively is allied to Saddam Hussein (or was), Iran, Libya, China, Russia, India and South Africa. And perhaps even worse, the Bloc is tightening into a single community, almost like the Latin American version of the European Union.
With Venezuela and Brazil leading the efforts to oppose and counter the US-proposed Free Trade of the Americas agreement, the Latin American countries are calling for "full Latin American integration" to counter US economic dominance. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Chile all are participating in these talks. Brazil and Argentina are leading the effort to form a joint parliament, common currency and common policy towards international venues and organizations, to be reached by 2006, although a final agreement has not been reached. They hope for the Mercosur customs union to merge with the Andean Community, which would effectively swallow the current pro-American countries of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia into the bloc. Venezuela, a member of the Andean Community, is expected to lead the efforts on the Andean side.***
This production by foreign oil companies becomes more important daily; as the oil fields operated by Petroleos de Chavez continue to suffer irreversible damage, a result of their improper exploitation activities, which reduces oil and gas production. In other words, Chavez's cash cow and his control of Venezuela is now being maintained by the foreign oil companies.
These foreign oil companies with their 33 agreements, in August, were turned over to CVP (Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo), which is now under the Energy and Mines Ministry (MEM), not PDVSA's Board of Directors.
One should take note of a very curious arrangement here. Luis Vierma, who is the president of CVP is also the vice Minister of MEM. Clearly, the supervision of the foreign oil companies has been transferred from PDVSA to the Ministry, and these companies will now be under the direct control of President Chavez, to use their royalties and payments as he pleases. More important, the legislative branch will no longer have any control over the foreign oil companies, or their remitted revenues.***
One thing that's clear is that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is fast becoming America's newest nemesis, U.S. officials say. He has forged close ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro and has befriended some of America's other notorious enemies, traveling to Saddam's Iraq and Qadhafi's Libya. Now, after surviving an attempted coup and a nationwide petition demanding his recall, Chavez is flirting with terrorism, and Washington is watching with increasing alarm.
"We are not disinterested spectators," says Roger Noriega, the new assistant secretary of state for Latin America. "Any actions that undermine democratic order or threaten the security and well-being of the region are of legitimate concern to all of Venezuela's neighbors." U.S. officials are monitoring three sets of developments:
Middle Eastern terrorist groups are operating support cells in Venezuela and other locations in the Andean region. A two-month review by U.S. News, including interviews with dozens of U.S. and Latin American sources, confirms the terrorist activity. In particular, the magazine has learned that thousands of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon.
Venezuela is supporting armed opposition groups from neighboring Colombia; these groups are on the official U.S. list of terrorist organizations and are also tied to drug trafficking. Maps obtained by U.S. News, as well as eyewitness accounts, pinpoint the location of training camps used by Colombian rebels, a top rebel leader, and Venezuelan armed groups.
Cubans are working inside Venezuela's paramilitary and intelligence apparatus. The coordination between Cuba and Venezuela is the latest sign that Venezuelan President Chavez is modeling his government on Castro's Cuba.
The Venezuelan government denies supporting Middle Eastern terrorist groups and says that no Cubans are operating inside its intelligence agencies. Venezuela has long denied providing aid to the Colombian guerrilla groups.
Venezuela is providing support--including identity documents--that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups, say U.S. officials. U.S. News has learned that Chavez's government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Colombia, and Middle Eastern nations that play host to foreign terrorist organizations. An American official with firsthand knowledge of the ID scheme has seen computer spreadsheets with names of people organized by nationality. "The list easily totaled several thousand," the official says. "Colombians were the largest group; there were more than a thousand of them. It also included many from Middle Eastern `countries of interest' like Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon." The official adds: "It was shocking to see how extensive the list was." U.S. officials believe that the Venezuelan government is issuing the documents to people who should not be getting them and that some of these cedulas were subsequently used to obtain Venezuelan passports and even American visas, which could allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States. U.S. officials say that the cedulas are also being used by Colombian subversives and by some Venezuelan officials to travel surreptitiously.
The suspicious links between Venezuela and Islamic radicalism are multiplying. American law enforcement and intelligence officials are exploring whether there is an al Qaeda connection--specifically, they want to know if a Venezuelan of Arab descent named Hakim Mamad al Diab Fatah had ties to any of the September 11 hijackers. The United States deported Diab Fatah to Venezuela for immigration violations in March 2002. A U.S. intelligence official says that Diab Fatah is still a "person of interest" and that his family in Venezuela is "a well-known clan associated with extremist and illicit activity" in northern Venezuela. But when U.S. officials sought Diab Fatah for further questioning, they were told by Venezuelan officials that he was not in the country. Diab Fatah may also be tied to the Caracas mosque of Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz, which has caught investigators' attention. One of the mosque's officials, also a Venezuelan of Arab descent, was recently arrested in London for carrying a grenade on a Caracas-London flight.
Sympathy. Latin America's Arab communities are also becoming centers for terrorist sympathizers. A Venezuelan analyst who recently visited Margarita Island, a free zone on the north coast of Venezuela run largely by Arab merchants from Lebanon and Iran, described the Venezuelan-Arab Friendship Association as a "fortress" with armed guards outside. A U.S. official says the association has been long known as a location of illicit activities. In addition, support "cells" for the groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamiyya al Gammat are active on Margarita, according to Gen. James Hill, the head of the U.S. Southern Command. In a speech last month, Hill said: "These groups generate funds through money laundering, drug trafficking, or arms deals and make millions of dollars every year via their multiple illicit activities. These logistic cells reach back to the Middle East." ***
However, Not In Our Name is deeper than the latest academic babblers and limosuine liberals. NION professes peace, yet it is involved - directly as well as indirectly - with terrorist organizations and anti-American propaganda campaigns headed by fanatical Communist and Muslim groups. NION has cemented alliances with bona fide radical organizations like the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Revolutionary Communist Party.
Not In Our Name: What is IFCO?
Not In Our Name (NION) requests donations on its website, yet on this site donors are asked to make checks payable to NION/IFCO. IFCO is the acronym for the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization. NION states that the " Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)… is our fiscal sponsor." Fiscal sponsorship by IFCO means Not In Our Name receives donations that are tax deductible because of IFCO's 501c(3) (charitable, federal tax-exempt) status. IFCO charges a fee for this service.***
"US officials are monitoring developments that show the South American nation is providing assistance to Islamic radicals from the Middle East, and exploring whether there are any al-Qaeda connections," it added. The magazine also said it has learned that "thousands of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt and Lebanon."***
Globovision director Alberto Federico Ravell said inspectors from the Conatel state telecommunications watchdog seized equipment after accusing the station of illegally broadcasting on unregistered frequencies. The 24-hour news channel remained on the air.
"We consider this an illegal and irregular seizure...It is the first step in closing down a television news channel," Ravell said.
Angry anti-government demonstrators waving flags and blowing whistles crowded outside the station in northeast Caracas as Globovision employees jeered Conatel officials inspecting antennas on the roof.
Lawyers for Globovision said Conatel had seized seven transmission dishes and an antenna that the station used to broadcast live.
Globovision is one of four private television stations President Hugo Chavez has dubbed the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" for their critical coverage of his self-styled "revolution" for the poor. Chavez has accused the channel of backing a short-lived coup against him last year.
But government officials said the seizure was part of a routine inspection. "There is no move to take Globovision off the air. This is a legal procedure because Globovision is operating on some frequencies illegally," Information Minister Jesse Chacon told reporters.
Chavez has threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of private stations he views as biased against him.
At a rally on Friday, Chavez warned he would no longer allow private television stations to broadcast calls for rebellion from dissident military officers.
"We are on the alert and we will remain on the alert for any sign of excess, especially from the media... We will apply the law where we have to," he said.
Chavez is battling a referendum campaign by opponents who portray him as a dictator bent on installing communism. Opposition leaders want to end his rule with a vote next year. ***
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.