March 27th., 2008

Chávez Confessions

Chávez persuaded Colombia to stop the war drums.  What is it you want, war? He pointed out to the Colombian Defense Minister, Juan Manuel Santos, as the promoter of the war, but denied that it was Uribes’s doctrine.  “I am sure of it, better said, I want to be sure”.  The foreign correspondents called in for a lunch- press conference did not hide their surprise.  In the character, free of his usual attire, only the tie showed a delicate pink tone, matching his elegant dark suit.  Like the posture of a British gentleman, he added a cordial and kind behavior, especially with the correspondents that he has qualified as CIA agents upon writing their perceptions of the national situation.  This time there were not claims or threats after difficult questions, as in past occasions and the answers tried to be in tune with the peaceful image portrayed in the Rio Summit.  “I am willing to go to the Caguán to talk about peace and continue the process of the humanitarian exchange.  Our policy has been of extending our hand to Colombia to be able to achieve the peace process.  What I want is to help”.  Upon a question regarding his support to the FARC, he responded categorically:  “This is gossip from the Colombian oligarchy, it is a media war from the Empire against us.  We have not given anything to the FARC, not one Dollar, not one Peso, not one rifle”.  He considered that to resolve the Colombian conflict, the government of that country must “recover the trust lost by the FARC”.  Questioned about Ingrid Betancourt, he assured that he has not received news from the ex Presidential candidate, since the death of Raúl Reyes.  “Before March 1, the level of probabilities of Ingrid being liberated was very high.  Today it has not decreased, I simply do not have any news of her”, adding that the FARC keep requesting the eviction of an area of the Colombian jungle and await for Uribe’s government to listen and respond positively.

During the long 4 hour lunch-press conference, Chávez insisted in disqualifying the result of the exams undergone by Interpol of the Raúl Reyes computers.     He assured that they would not find all the things that the CIA or the DEA want.  “Do not be estranged if I appear in meetings with Marulanda or with Osama Bin Laden”.  Colombian media informed that the General Attorney’s Office extended for another 15 days the deadline to deliver the final report about the content of the archives, in order to legalize the supposed evidence.  According to consulted sources, the main FARC data base would be in the computers.  Andrés Oppenheimer wrote that Uribe is crazy about inviting Interpol to authenticate the archives and will pay the political consequences if he lied, or Chávez and Correa will be exposed to the world as allies of a terrorist group.  He added that according to experts he consulted, it is practically impossible to plant evidence in the hard disk of a computer, without being later discovered.  “This is the cause of Chávez and Correa’s nerves”.  Likewise, it was notorious, in Chávez responses, the purpose of trivializing the issue of incorporating Venezuela in the list of countries that support terrorism.  He made an analysis of the US electoral campaign and showed concern upon McCain’s candidacy, of whom he said, may have as an objective of his foreign policy to include Venezuela in the list.  “We should not underestimate the threat”.

 PROBLEMS GROW

The President also made reference to internal issues.  “There is a tie subversion and some of his representatives are behind television screens or are owners of companies or banks”.  One of the correspondents asked him about the Constitutional modification project that allows the indefinite re election, and for the surprise of the attendees and of the audience that followed the event by TV channels, the issue appears to be in a drawer.  “All at its time, right now we have other tasks ahead:  the struggle to resolve practical problems, elevate the government’s efficiency, the issue of the united party of the Revolution, regional elections.  This is the priority, the rest remains in perspective”.

Analysts give that Chávez has examined the latest polls.  The National Data Pulse, the              most traditional company regarding the measure of the country’s  opinion, presented its clients with the last study, wherein a graph of the progressive and consistent decrease of the popularity appeared, which was of 55% at the beginning of 2007 and which went down to 34%.  It happens in all regions and social sectors.  The hard support is 17%.  The trust in the President’s capacity inverted its values in the last three years, to the point that distrust doubles the percentage of those that believe in him.  For the first semester of 2005, 51% gave him some or a lot of confidence, and 25% a few or none.  The lines, one on descent and the other going up, overlapped during the third semester of 2007, in 36%.  Distrust reached 51% and confidence 28%.  For the first time in four years, the negative judgment over the government’s labor exceeds the positive.  25% considers it positive or very positive, and 43% negative or very negative.  For the first time in the last 4 years, the confidence in the President does not surpass 30% in any region of the country.  In the capital region it is 26%.  40% blames Chávez of the problems they face, specifically lack of goods, insecurity, unemployment. For the first time, in the last 4 years, the perception about the situation of the country is negative (57 vs. 43) and pessimism dominates the expectations on the future (56 vs. 31).  The numbers from Datos coincide enough with those of other reliable surveys.  Lack of governance is made patent in the reality of the country.

They also affirm that the President is aware of the debate that his party men make in Aporrea.org and other portals of the regime.  “The responsibility of the defeat in the Referendum is of those who convinced Chávez that the Revolution depends of his personal figure”, is an opinion chosen from one of many.  Another one:  “Even if criticism is hard, it necessary to do it: the December 2 results defeated the prepotency and the criteria that our Commandant was infallible”.  A third one:  “Either we get used to understanding and saying out loud that Chávez may be wrong, or this Socialism that we are building is pure fantasy.  Without doubting the role that he has played, we question his style of personal leadership and the non critical unconditional and opportunist people that surround him”.    Apart from those voices from silence, in the web pages of the regime, a pro Chávez Depute, Wilmer Azuaje, has just made a ruckus upon denouncing that in Barinas, his native State, there are 17 farms property of the Presidential family, registered on behalf of others for them.  The fact was not unknown, but it is the first time that with strong evidence, within the interior of the regime, the family of the leader is accused of corruption.  Internal problems are getting complicated for the President.

Chávez is worried about the inefficiency of the government upon the coming regional elections.

 TERRORISM OR MEDIATIC HEGEMONY?

The international order keeps generating expectations.  Not all come from what the major North American newspapers say. The Minster of Information accused the newspaper from Madrid, El País, of manipulating the Venezuelan reality.  “In 2007 only they qualified the President as authoritarian 34 times, 10 times as a dictator, and 7 times as totalitarian”.  He is saddened that such things occur in a newspaper that “has been a reference in journalistic ethics”.  From Spain also came information regarding what seems to be Presidential unrest.  According to the newspaper El Diario Exterior, the Iberio American Front for Freedom requested the Fiscal from the International Criminal Court to initiate an investigation regarding the alleged collaboration from Chávez with the FARC, based on the faculties granted by the Statue of Rome and by virtue that the European Union has qualified them as a “terrorist group”.  In Lima, the Prime Minister ratified that Chávez finances the Houses of Alba, as propaganda instruments in the popular sectors, and Congress is undergoing an investigation “with many indicia” and Lourdes Flores, leader o the National Union, affirmed that the worst thing that can happen to Peru is that pro Chávez expands within its frontiers.  The Latin American Jewish Congress’ President, Jack Terpins pointed out Venezuela as one of the countries with most anti-Semitic cases registered and linked Chávez with the growing tendency of anti Jewish actions in the region.

The Interamerican Press Society (SIP) meets to analyze the liberty of the press in the Americas, “although Venezuela could concentrate the major part of the meeting”.  Chávez responded negatively to the invitation to the opening event and gave his support to the International Meeting against media terrorism, which has been convoked to meet at the same time as the SIP.  He said that his battle against the media is already of ten years, and that they were all involved in the “coup d‘etat” of April 2002, and that he was sorry he had not closed them then. The International Meeting proposes, according to the program elaborated for its activities, to confront the media war against the government on the part of the international media.  Miguel Henrique Otero, the President-Editor of El Nacional declared that the SIP will examine the threats against Globovisión, the closing of Radio Caracas Televisión, the denial to provide Dollars to import the paper for newspapers in the interior of the country that have not complied with the regime and the closing of independent radio stations. “This is about – he stated- a government strategy to move on in the announced media hegemony policy.  He pointed out that the government’s sector talks about a private media dictatorship, “but they are the ones who have such dictatorship, because they are occupying more that 80% of the radio electric space”.

Numerous “intellectuals and analysts” from other countries attend the International meeting.  A columnist writes that Chávez, with his oil dollar check book, imports these figures so that they come and insult Venezuelan media and journalists.  “The events such as these are so frequent and loud, that part of the money derived from our oil ends up in the pockets of Revolutionary tourists, always willing to rent their voice in exchange of Dollar checks, guaranteed first class plain tickets, a room in a five star hotel and succulent meals in the best restaurants in town.  He adds that if they are truly intellectuals, they should look around for the day to day reality lived by Venezuelans in order to give testimony of the tragedy that has meant XXI Century Socialism.