September 30th., 2009

Chavez wants to influence Africa

When in a recent summit such as the one regarding Africa-South America (ASA), several of its most conspicuous participants are military despots, some as old as Gaddafi, who after 40 years in office in Libya, maintains it poorer and without progress, in worst conditions than that left by the settlers, or others like Mugabe, who also has managed to make Zimbabwe a country in far worse situation than the former colonial Rhodesia, it is valid to question whether the help South America will give is going to produce any results, whilst many African countries continue to be ruled by corrupt, greedy and inefficient elites, and by military coups. This is the comment from a correspondent who covered the Summit regarding the numerous agreements on energy, financial and trade cooperation between both regions. Chavez was particularly nice to Gaddafi and Algerian Bouteflika, of whom he confessed to be a "disciple." He expressed his "moral, spiritual and political" support to Mugabe, "who is the target of an international attack for his anti-colonial struggle in Zimbabwe, we have to ally on his defense, his government, his dignity”. Being the Host President, and with his usual generosity, he made various offers to several African leaders. Gaddafi proposed the creation of a South Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO of the South, and remained in Venezuela, after the conclusion of the Summit for long personal interviews with Chavez and in order to sign agreements "to consolidate an alliance with great prospects”. Chavez imposed him our highest award, el Collar de la Orden del Libertador, (The Liberator Order Collar) and gave him a replica of the sword of Bolivar.

The Summit produced an agreement regarding Honduras of "rejection to dictatorships and to condemn the military coup against President Zelaya”. It was signed by some of the cruelest African military dictators, who conquered and maintain power through coups, like Gaddafi and Mugabe; Abbel Aziz of Mauritania, Jameneh of Gambia, Mamadou of Niger and a few more of the same kind. Sudan was represented by Vice President Ali Taha, who was widely applauded when he accused the U.S. of being behind the arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir issued by the International Criminal Court because of his responsibility in the genocide in Darfur. The representative of Guinea signed the Human Rights Declaration, and the following day his government massacred a demonstration by opponents, in Conakry, killing 160 people and leaving many injured. Chavez left the summit with key achievements for his political leadership project in Africa. He achieved the Technical Secretariat and the Seat of the South Bank with a capital of $ 20,000 Million. Lula represented the old Itamaraty geopolitics, excluding the ideological objectives. Chavez specifically tried to highlight that Lula is near to finishing his mandate, and that he, (Chavez), on the contrary, will rule for decades, insisting that he will continue to preach in Africa the virtues of the XXI Century Socialism, as a successful model for developing countries. As his Host condition, he addressed the meeting, with many references to Marx and Fidel Castro.

 IGNORANCE OR CYNICISM?

 The actions of the leaders at the Summit in Porlamar or at the OAS meeting, who smilingly applauded Chavez´ fallacies about the so called model of democracy and respect for human rights regime seem cynical. It is the opinion of those who have commented both events. Will the Ambassadors inform, including the European ones, that this year, close to five hundred people have been imprisoned for demonstrating peacefully to demand constitutional rights; that more than two thousand demonstrations were violently repressed and that most of the protesters were students and Union members? "We are concerned that to action criminal trials to those who protest has become a government policy, therefore the police, prosecutors and courts act aligned in order to imprison demonstrators and prevent labor leaders from performing their duties”, said Marino Alvarado, human rights defender. At the Emergency Forum organized by IAPA, they concluded that the severity of threats to freedom of expression deserves international mobilization since the model implemented by Chavez is being imitated by other governments in the continent and Venezuela is leading increasing efforts to control information. Marcel Granier made a dramatic appeal to the IAPA to alert about this reality. "I consider it necessary to notify that the information hegemony announced by the regime is about to be materialized, in order to avoid future untimely surprises and unnecessary feelings of guilt at an international level... from that moment on, all forms of protest will have been silenced and all dissent removed ... there will be no political prisoners, as we now have an increasing number which is a cause for concern, but disappeared ones, as we learned by the tragic experience of Argentina and Chile, there will be no prisons, but ideological education centers as in the Union Soviet and China ... we cannot accept that the Spanish government will say in the future  “ We had a suspicion but there was so little information! ...the OAS, the UN, President Obama, and the Presidents of Spain, France, Brazil, Italy  "have been duly notified that in one day 32 radio stations were closed and they are getting ready to close 208 more ... in Venezuela there is no separation of powers, or rule of law, nor human rights respected, and therefore neither the regime is legitimate nor are we in a democracy ... the willingness is to resist but that resistance should have the support of all Latin Americans, since this totalitarian project has imperialist tendencies”.

Mr. Insulza said that if Honduras is violating human rights, the OAS will intervene. Is he aware that at the OAS headquarters, there are many students on a hunger strike to demand that this Institution and the Human Rights Commission come to Venezuela to see the situation of the political prisoners? The Inter-American Democratic Charter and international treaties establish the right to denounce human rights violations and to be heard. If the regime does not allow the visit of the IACHR, the least Insulza could do is to collect information on the hunger strike of students. What is it that prevents him from looking towards Venezuela? Is it the purpose of intervening in Honduras, or look after Chavez´ votes for his re election as the General Secretariat? Students are an example of resistance against the regime. A group of leaders are traveling abroad to achieve international solidarity with their struggle. "It is necessary to explain what happens in the country because it seems that the world is ignoring our drama”.

VENEZUELA IS NOT ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Chavez started his campaign with a view to next year's elections, when the new National Assembly should be elected. This was the warning from analysts at the announcement of a new plan, delivering millions of dollars into the economy and reviving the Missions. He arranged to create, along with his ministers, some of them promoted to vice-presidents, a board committee to give the administration more effectiveness and "continue the fight against bureaucracy, and delays”. For the first time, he recognized that the rebound of the unemployment rate marks an upward trend and informed about a special plan to boost employment and production. He also acknowledged for the first time, the collapse of the Missions, especially Barrio Adentro. According to surveys, the penetration rate of the Missions, which reached over 50%, dropped to 23%. Clearly, the cruelty against private companies and the politicization of public companies has stalled the productive system. The answer was to promote some ministers with the poorest endeavors, to the status of vice-presidents, instead of improving the quality of his collaborators. As for the Missions, Chavez said a contingent of Cuban doctors would arrive, which led to speculation that it was Cuba who called to his attention on the deterioration of the social policy and its adverse effects, if he plans to hold elections. Chavez, says one analyst, wants to create the perception of an environment of hope towards a better future, but the plan is reduced to simple statements. “A Strategy to make people feel that something good will happen”.

What Chavez does not understand is that facts are stubborn. The war on large estates, as he calls it, has killed more than 2,5 Million acres devoted to agricultural activities,  such as cattle raising, milk production and the cultivation of sugarcane. Neither cooperatives nor agricultural communes have worked out, and the country has to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to import meat, milk and various foodstuffs. "Without a radical change in agricultural policy, in 2013 there will be no herds in the country and we will have to import sugar close to the domestic consumption figure”, said a leader of the sector. For the World Economic Forum (WEF), which compares the level of prosperity and growth potential of 133 countries, taking into account a set of interrelated components, the institutional factor is the most important, meaning the legal and administrative structures in which individuals, businesses and government interact, in order to generate income and welfare to the population. Venezuela ranked last in institutional and labor market efficiency, since according to the criteria of multiple sources consulted by the WEF, there is no clear relationship between work incentives and the efforts of workers in the country, and there is not an optimal use of the existing talent. Given that the degree of development of the productive system is what allows the raise of efficiency in the offer of goods and services and increase productivity and competitiveness in an economy, in the WEF research, we are placed in the second to last place, only surpassing East Timor. We also rank second to last in the real estate market efficiency. The infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and education also obtained very poor ratings. These are the facts found by a body of unquestionable partiality. "Venezuela is not on the right track" is the conclusion of those who have analyzed the WEF report.