December 19, 2005

Battle Against the OAS and the European Union

Summary:

• Electoral observers that act as mercenaries of the Empire are part of the project from Washington to stop the revolutionary movements.

• According to Lula the world is aware that there is a Democracy in Venezuela.

• The new relationships between Uribe and Chavez have the energetic business as the agenda.

• The December 4 elections present Chavez a serious problem with the International Community.  The OAS and the European Union recommendations are the Wall of Berlin that Chavez must jump in order for him to continue to be included in the world’s democratic club.

• Insulza must report to the Permanent Council.  What will have more weight, the Observation Mission or Chavez´ oil?

• The Spanish Parliament was the scenario of a first debate.

• Chavez and Evo Morales coincide that a new history starts in Bolivia.

• Venezuela and Bolivia have, in the power of the state, the greatest gas reserves of the continent.

• The Lieutenant Colonel has never hidden his purpose of expanding the revolution.

• Nicaragua with Daniel Ortega and Peru with Ollanta Humala are priority objectives.

• In the August recall, there were 6 million votes and in the Parliamentary elections there were less than 3 million.

Chavez maintains his announced battle against the OAS and the European Union reports regarding the December 4 elections.  Upon his return from Montevideo, he announced that the governors present in the MERCOSUR meeting shared his concern for the interference of the Observation Missions in internal politics, and the risk that the Imperialism tries to repeat similar operations in the next coming Latin American elections. 

According to the Lieutenant Colonel, electoral observers that act as mercenaries of the Empire, are part of Washington’s project to stop revolutionary movements that move towards the continent.  His stay in national territory was brief.  On Friday 16, he traveled to Brazil and met with Pernambuco with Lula to initiate the constructions of a binational refinery that will process oil from the Orinoco, at a cost of US$ 2,500 Million, with financing from PDVSA and Petrobras.  He reiterated his proposal of creating a Banco del Sur (Southern Bank), that would receive part of the monetary reserves of the countries of the region and the Southern Gas pipe line, running through 8,000 kilometers, would deliver Venezuelan gas to the South Cone.  He affirmed that Venezuela has quantified reserves to supply the gas pipe line for one hundred years.  Regarding Chavez´ denounces about what is being plotted by the United States by questioning about the Venezuelan electoral system, Lula responded that in Brazil, they knew well the significance of such denounce and emphasized that the whole world knows that there is a Democracy in Venezuela.

Saturday, December 17, he met at Santa Marta with President Uribe.  The objective of the meeting was to commemorate the 175 anniversary of the Bolivar’s death.  According to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, in the midst of laughter and hugs, the agreement for the sale of Venezuelan gasoline to the communities in the Frontier was accorded, at special prices, and the commitments for the construction of the gas pipe line between Paraguana and the Colombian Guajira were reinforced, as the pipe line between Maracaibo and the Colombian Pacific border.  According to the above mentioned newspaper, the former stormy relationship between Uribe and Chavez seems to have stayed in the past.  “What exists now, as stated by El Tiempo, is a type of complicity or affair that has allowed marking the bilateral agenda with a joint economic interest around the energetic business.

The energetic businesses are Chavez foreign policy instrument.  Right now he is developing them at ease to confront the most serious problem faced in the last years with the International Community.  The result of the December 4 elections was a Parliament totally packed with his party men.  He was surprised by the abstention from all the opposition.  The Opposition line, correct or not, the truth is that the new Legislative Assembly is a one color body.  Not easy to convince that this responds to democratic criteria, with a government that controls all public powers with military quarters discipline, and whose Parliament does not include one dissident voice.

THE HISTORY COMMENCES

Within the internal point of view, 75% of abstention from voters was demolishing for Chavez, given his call to vote.  It is a national policy issue, with an immense potential for a new leadership with a convincing alternate project.  But his spokesmen in the international scenario easily sell the argument that such a huge abstention does not annul the results.  The Berlin Wall that he must jump to keep being included in the world’s democratic club are the recommendations from the OAS and the European Union.  In synthesis, the Observation Missions conclude that for the Presidential elections of 2006, legal and constitutional provisions that guide the electoral issue must be respected, and this supposes a National Electoral Council comprised of independent personalities who enjoy a general trust, financing of political parties with public moneys during the campaign, an audit of the electronic voting system from an independent institution, and an audit of the Electoral Registry against the data from the National Identification Office.  (Venezuela Today, December 14, 2005)

José Miguel Insulza must report of the OAS Mission in a Permanent Council meeting.  It would suffice for him to state that it was carried about upon request from Venezuela, and that with this finality, an agreement was accorded with the National Electoral Council determining the scope and coverage of the Mission, and that such Mission was effected in accordance with the principles and provisions of the OAS. 

Regarding the recommendations, it could explain that they fit exactly within the requirements of the Interamerican Democratic Charter.  What would weigh more in the Permanent Council of the OAS?  The Observation Mission or Chavez oil?  The answer has to do with the new OAS promised by Insulza and with the value of the Interamerican Democratic Charter.  Will its destiny be the waste paper basket?

The European Mission, in its preliminary declaration attested that it welcomed an invitation from the National Electoral Council, and that its activity fitted the methodology established by the European Union and the United National Declaration of International Electoral Observation Principles, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations on October 2005.  A final report is offered for February of 2006, advancing on similar recommendations as that of the OAS.  A group of Spanish Parliamentarians added to the European Union’s Mission, who represented all political tendencies and who formulated coincidental opinions with the preliminary document.  The Spanish Parliament was the scenario of a first debate in the Control Session, when Chancellor Moratinos was questioned about the December 4 elections.  Next January, the scenery for the debate will be the European Parliament, and in February we will know if Chavez will also win his battle in the European Union against the observers Report.  As allies he will have the great transnational companies that have been invited by Chavez to partner with PDVSA to share the energetic reserves of the country, and as stated by the Spanish Minister, Bono, when he signed the military equipment sale, if one can do good business in Venezuela, there is no reason not to take advantage of it.

OIL AND DEMOCRACY

From Colombia he returned to his Sunday Hello President.  He commented about his interviews with Lula and Uribe.  He announced being aware of the Bolivian elections, where today starts a new history for Bolivia. These were exactly the same words used by Evo Morales when he announced his victory.  He affirmed that in the political process ahead, he will not be alone since he will count on the support of other governments that will also impulse Simon Bolivar’s ideas.  Journalists covering the event at Cochabamba informed that the first call received by Evo was the call from Hugo Chavez.

In Mar de Plata, Chavez manifested that with this event, a new history for Latin America commenced.  He assured that in the coming summits, the number of musketeers confronted against Imperialism would increase.  He now counts with Evo, who has recognized him as his political ductor, and who he supplied all means of support.  Evo emphasized that he will nationalize gas. Venezuela and Bolivia have, in the power of the state, the greatest gas reserves of the Continent.

Chavez has never hidden that his purpose is to expand the Bolivarian Revolution.  In the electoral schedule that awaits the region, he has two priorities:  Nicaragua, wherein he hopes to replace Daniel Ortega in the Presidency and Peru, wherein his candidate, Ollanta Humala, of indigenous ethnic, such as Evo, is profiled as the second voting option, as reported by Efe.  Lourdes Flores, who heads the count, has given serious information that link Ollanta with Chavez.  Ecuador has been and is still in Chavez periphery.

In Hello President Chavez claimed to these party men that in the August recall he had obtained 6 million votes and that in the December 4 elections (Parliamentary) they had not reached 3 million votes.  He announced that he would head his campaign for the Presidential elections of next year and that he would obtain ten million votes.  Within the Presidential circles, the possibility of accepting the OAS and European Union recommendations is denied, and it is announced that the only observers will be the ones invited by the government. 

He has candidates: a recent communication that demands respect for the Venezuelan elections signed by the Nobel Prize winners such as Perez Esquivel, Nadine Gordimer, Saramago and personalities of the world’s leftist wing as Noam Chomsky, Eduardo Galeano and Ignacio Ramonet.  To the latter, Chavez financed a building for the Le Monde Diplomatique.  Surely, personalities such as the formerly mentioned will attest to the figures obtained by Chavez, and the OAS and the European Union will regret not being invited.

The scenario would be the following, Chavez re elected for six more years, as sole candidate, since without the modification of the December 4 elections, the opposition candidate profiled as the contender will surely withdraw its name.  The problem is that Venezuela lives a grave political crisis.  If closed to a peaceful way out of the elections, the drama may end up in violence, with incalculable regional effects.