What's Next for Venezuela's Opposition?

[A few distinct tendencies have become visible in Venezuela's opposition since February's referendum: from re-engagement with the political process and an attempt to broaden appeal, to a more thorough self-analysis and a recognition of the need to address poverty and inequality.]

What's Next for Venezuela's Opposition?

March 30th 2009, by Max Ajl - NACLA

When Venezuelan voters approved a referendum allowing for indefinite re-election on all elected posts, commentary immediately turned to what the reform meant for chavistas-particularly, the prospect of having Hugo Chávez as president until 2019 or later. Far less attention was paid to what the defeat meant for the opposition, or to its reaction.

A functioning opposition could have good effects on Venezuelan society. If it were to advocate, say, a corruption-free, developmental state-capitalism, it would force the Chávez government to put its program and its sometimes-hazy ideology into sharper relief. It also could compel the government to scrape out corruption and, perhaps, accelerate structural change.

A great many opposition groups, linked to the 2002 imperial coup d'état and U.S. financial support, ideologically bankrupt, are hardly speaking in such terms. But for others, the referendum's passage has occasioned deep self-evaluation.

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Conspiracy and Propaganda Centers: Illegal US Consulates in Venezuela

[At the end of 2005, the Embassy of the United States in Venezuela inaugurated the first of what would become a total of four seats of "virtual consulates", known as "American Corners" in Latin America. These are no typical diplomatic seats.]

Conspiracy and Propaganda Centers: Illegal US Consulates in Venezuela

March 28th 2009, by Eva Golinger - Axis of Logic

At the end of 2005, the Embassy of the United States in Venezuela, under the leadership of then Ambassador William Brownfield (present U.S. Ambassador in Colombia), inaugurated the first of what would become a total of four seats of "virtual consulates", known as "American Corners" in Latin America. These are no typical diplomatic seats, given the fact that they do not have any authorization from the Foreign Ministry of the respective countries in which they are situated; neither do they offer services to the US citizens who reside in the country. Documents of the US State Department, recently declassified in the realm of my investigations, explicitly emphasize that the purpose of these "American Corners" is to facilitate an "unfiltered" dialogue and relation between the Embassy of the United States and the Venezuelan people. In a clear flagrancy [of their disregard] for international law and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in particular, Washington intends to ignore the authority of the Venezuelan government in order to manage establishing bilateral relations directly with sectors of the Venezuelan society.

Since President Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution came to power in 1998, Washington has intended to undermine the Venezuelan democracy through different acts of destabilization, including the coup d'état of April 2002, the economic sabotage and the sabotage of the petroleum industry of 2002-2003, Guarimbas¹, electoral interventions, media warfare, and a constant flow of dollars into the pockets of the violent and anti-democratic groups of the opposition. Hence, when the Embassy of the United States seeks to establish an "unfiltered" relation with the Venezuelan people, it cannot be understood other than that they have the same intentions as always; their objective continues to be the overthrow of President Chávez and the destruction of the Bolivarian Revolution.

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Chávez Sweeps Away Budget Predictions of Venezuela's Opposition

[President Chávez outlined new economic policy for Venezuela, designed to protect the national economy from the effects of the global economic collapse. These new policies neutralise all the arguments and predictions of the opposition economists and their media.]

Chávez Sweeps Away Budget Predictions of Venezuela's Opposition

March 23th 2009, by Arturo Rosales - Axis of Logic

The so called "economic adjustment package" announced by President Chávez on Saturday was predicted by the opposition media to look something like this:

Devaluation of the local currency, the Bolivar by some 40%
A 400% increase in the price of gasoline
28% tax on the purchase of new vehicles
25% increase in gas and electricity prices
Freezing of the minimum wage
Cutting social programs
Reintroduction of the tax on all bank transactions
An increase of 10% in VAT (purchase tax) taking it up to 19%

In other words, the opposition predicted a traditional neoliberal package of measures designed to shore up government coffers and stop the country "falling off the cliff" at the expense of the public. Not surprisingly, the measures they predicted would have followed a capitalist model.

In Venezuela the word "package" harkens back to the 1989 economic package imposed by the then Pérez government on February 27th of that year which sparked countrywide riots and looting and almost overthrew the regime. Thousands were slaughtered in the streets as the Pérez government used fully armed troops to quell the rioting and protect the sacred cow of private property.

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Gender Advance in Venezuela: A Two-Pronged Affair

[Though the last decade of Hugo Chávez's "socialist democratic" government has never been far from the media spotlight, key elements of the proclaimed Bolivarian process have been overlooked: chiefly the struggle for female emancipation.]

Gender Advance in Venezuela: A Two-Pronged Affair

March 13th 2009, by George Gabriel - OpenDemocracy.net

Though the last decade of Hugo Chávez's "socialist democratic" government has never been far from the media spotlight, key elements of the proclaimed Bolivarian process have been overlooked: chiefly the struggle for female emancipation. Yet these ten years have seen Venezuelan patriarchy increasingly challenged from both above and below, by rising tides of female participation and a new swathe of innovative institutions.

Kristen Sample's overview of women's gains over the past decade in Latin America chronicles the potency of electoral law change for the realisation of effective female representation. This has also had its impact in Venezuela, where party list quotas have largely realised gender parity at the level of state legislature and the number of female mayors tripled to 19% in November's regional elections.

Yet as noted by Sample, such changes cannot alone guarantee equal representation, let alone translate into a broader social equality. She suggests a complementary group of strategies involving all sectors of society is needed to bring about female emancipation. Raquel Barrios, a committed young feminist identifies three key target areas for such strategies in Venezuela: "domestic violence, discrimination at work, and a deep moral questioning" that must come from the whole of society.

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Defining 21st Century Socialism in Venezuela

[Leftist visitors and international observers often ask of the Bolivarian process, "What does 21st century socialism mean? What is it?" Those same leftists must be wary of answering that question. To interpret events is to participate in them, to define events is to exercise control over them.]

Defining 21st Century Socialism in Venezuela

March 7th 2009, by George Gabriel

Leftist visitors and international observers often ask of the Bolivarian process, "What does 21st century socialism mean? What is it?" Those same leftists must be wary of answering that question. To interpret events is to participate in them, to define events is to exercise control over them. It is about time that observers recognised the virtues of an undefined, uncertain, creative and rebellious movement; where ends remain a swirling vortex of values and passions and our means are less readily sacrificed to them. We leftists must not forget the lessons paid for in blood and sweat in "slave camps under the flag of freedom,"[1] in Russian Gulags and in the prison camps of the Khmer Rouge.

Nowhere has domination by categorisation been felt stronger than in the Middle East. Edward Said's groundbreaking Orientalism examines the historic process by which Europeans codified the "Middle East" into an exotic, sensual, chaotic, and immoral Other. The constructed Other, authored by European experts, was juxtaposed against the Occidental European reason, order, and Christianity, grounding a European identity that is still very much alive today. This process in the words of Said robbed the region's peoples of the chance to be "free subject(s) of thought or action."

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Members of U.K. Parliament Praise Venezuelan Government

[During a parliamentary debate about U.K.-Latin American relations last week, several members of parliament supported the Venezuelan government’s anti-poverty programs, including the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.]

Members of U.K. Parliament Praise Venezuelan Government

March 6th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, March 6th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- During a parliamentary debate in the United Kingdom about U.K.-Latin American relations Tuesday, several members of parliament supported the Venezuelan government’s anti-poverty programs and nationalizations of strategic industries, and urged the British government to take a more constructive approach to the South American nation. Also, the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, expressed support for Venezuela’s anti-poverty programs.

Introducing the debate, MP Jeremy Corbyn highlighted that in Latin America today, “there is in the air a sense of optimism and, in many countries, of liberation from past oppressions.”

“The huge changes that have recently taken place in Venezuela… show that there are different paths to development and out of poverty. Those paths do not necessarily rely solely on the traditional development of trade patterns,” Corbyn continued.

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Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) against Venezuela

[A secret document of the US Army National Ground Intelligence Center, recently declassified in part, confirms that the Pentagon's most powerful team for psychological operations is employing its forces against Venezuela.]

Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) against Venezuela

March 15th 2009, by Eva Golinger - Axis of Logic

A secret document of the US Army National Ground Intelligence Center, recently declassified in part, through the application of the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), confirms that the Pentagon's most powerful team for psychological operations is employing its forces against Venezuela.1 The document, dating from the year 2006, analyses the border situation between Colombia and Venezuela. It was drafted by the US Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) (4th PSYOP Group (A) or 4th POG) and the US Army National Ground Intelligence Center, a fact that thus reaffirms that the same psychological warfare team operates in the region against Venezuela.

The small part of the text of the secret document which was left uncensored explains how the Plan Patriot (previously known as Plan Colombia) has successfully pushed the activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ((FARC), Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) into Venezuelan territory. It is explicitly being emphasized in the secret document that

"...the offensive operations of Plan Patriot and its counterparts of the Colombian military have had an important impact on the activities of the Eastern Bloc [of the FARC]...due to the success achieved against some fronts of the Eastern Bloc in Colombia, several fronts of the Eastern Bloc are conducting more combat and regenerated their activities at the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The Mini-Blocs in the Llanos and the eastern zone... have assumed distinct strategic roles in response to the Plan Patriot 2B..."

The arrival of the US Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) in Colombia in the year 2006 and the strategy of pushing the FARC and the Colombian civil conflict into Venezuelan territory cannot be taken as a coincidence; for it is exactly the moment when the US State Department and the Pentagon also started to publicly accuse Venezuela of collaborating with terrorism, specifically by referring to alleged dealings with the FARC.

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