ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONALFriday, December 21, 2012 | Nº 140 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) affirmed its political dominance over the right-wing opposition last Sunday by winning 20 out of 23 gubernatorial races in the nation’s regional elections. The convincing electoral victories have solidified the platform of the Bo-livarian Revolution and have left no doubt regarding the capacity of the PSUV to effectively organize despite the health problems of the party’s leader, President Hugo Chavez. Page 2

Social movements with ChavezOver the weekend, as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez began his difficult recovery from what has been described as “complex medical intervention”, social movements from across the country expressed their firm support for the Venezuelan President and his political program of Bolivarian Socialism. Numerous events have been held throughout the nation in support of the President, wishing for his successful recovery. Additional events have been held around the world in solidarity with Chavez. page 5

Politics

Opposition licks woundsThe anti-Chavez opposition took a major blow in Sunday’s regional elections. page 3

Integration

ALBA turns 8

The Bolivarian Alliance celebrated eight years of trade based on solidarity and fairness. page 4

Culture

Bolivar Commemorated

Independence hero Simon Bolivar was remembered this week. page 6

Analysis

The achievementsof Hugo Chavez page 7

Opinion

Venezuela’s uncertain future page 8

Venezuelaamong most positive countries, Gallup says

A new survey by poll-ster Gallup finds that Latin Americans are the most pos-itive people in the world, and Venezuela is tied for second place among all countries measured.

The survey asked citizens of various countries to an-swer questions including: “Did you feel well-rested yes-terday?” “Were you treated with respect?” and “Did you smile or laugh a lot?”

In Venezuela, 84 percent of respondents answered “yes” to those questions, the same amount as in El Salva-dor, which tied with Ven-ezuela for second place af-ter Panama and Paraguay, which tied for first with 85 percent.

According to Gallup, eight of the top ten most positive countries in the world are in Latin America, with Trini-dad and Tobago coming in at number five (with 83 per-cent), followed by Thailand (83 percent), Guatemala (82 percent), Philippines (82 per-cent), Ecuador (81 percent), and Costa Rica (81 percent). At the low end, just 46 per-cent of respondents in Singa-pore answered “yes” to the questions.

The implications, accord-ing to the analysis, are that a country’s overall economic prosperity does not corre-spond with the amount of positivity felt by its citizens.

The report explains: “These data may surprise analysts and leaders who solely focus on traditional economic indicators. Resi-dents of Panama, which ranks 90th in the world with respect to GDP per capita, are among the most likely to report positive emotions. Residents of Singapore, which ranks 5th in the world in terms of GDP per capita, are the least likely to report positive emotions”.

Chavez’s party sweepselections, wins governor races

Chavez stableMinister of Communication and Information, Ernesto

Villegas, read the latest official statement regarding the health of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, say-ing: “the general condition of the President is stable after having suffered a respiratory infection on Mon-day, December 17”.

The statement is as follows:The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Vene-

zuela addresses the nation once again to comply with its duty to offer timely information about the evolution of the health of President Hugo Chavez.

The President’s general condition is now stable af-ter he was diagnosed Monday, September 17, with a respiratory infection which his doctors treated imme-diately and were able to control.

According to the doctors, this type of illness is among the most frequent afflictions suffered by pa-tients after a complicated surgery like the one Presi-dent Chavez underwent on December 11.

Finally, the medical team has informed that Presi-dent Chavez should maintain complete rest in the coming days and receive with the greatest rigorous-ness the prescribed medical treatment, in order to maintain the stability of his vital functions.

Long live Chavez!

The artillery of ideas2 Impact | Friday, December 21, 2012

Chavez supporters bulldozeopposition in regional electionsT/ COIP/ Agencies

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) affirmed its political dominance over

the right-wing opposition last Sunday by winning 20 out of 23 gubernatorial races in the na-tion’s regional elections.

The convincing electoral victo-ries have solidified the platform of the Bolivarian Revolution and have left no doubt regarding the capacity of the PSUV to effec-tively organize despite the health problems of the party’s leader, President Hugo Chavez.

Underscoring the PSUV’s ability to mobilize sympathiz-ers was the defeat of incumbent opposition leaders in the states of Zulia, Tachira, Carabobo, Nueva Esparta and Monagas.

“We congratulate the Ven-ezuelan people for the immense victory of the homeland. It’s been an enormous victory in its scope - quantitatively as much as qualitatively”, said PSUV campaign director Jorge Rodri-guez at a press conference after the release of the results.

Key among the hotly contest-ed opposition-controlled gover-norships was the state of Zulia, Venezuela’s most populous re-gional entity and formerly seen as a conservative stronghold.

With the victory in Zulia, the PSUV has dealt a severe blow to the opposition Democratic Uni-ty Roundtable (MUD) coalition and has stripped the right-wing of one of its most important bas-es of political power.

The same can be said of the Andean state of Tachira, an-other bastion of the opposition, which voted against President Chavez in last October’s presi-dential elections.

With the victory of socialist candidate Jose Vielma Mora in Tachira, the PSUV now spear-heads Venezuela’s western corri-dor and the entire border region with neighboring Colombia.

“Zulia now has a patriotic gov-ernor and Tachira has Vielma Mora, who will work with Chavez for the length of the international border”, Rodriguez said.

During a celebration rally in the Zulian capital of Maracai-bo, PSUV supporters expressed their excitement over the chang-ing of the guard in the border

NO-HITCH PROCESS Sunday’s election results

were read a little after 9pm by Tibisay Lucena, President of Venezuela’s National Electoral Commission (CNE).

According to officials, the vot-ing process had taken place with complete normalcy and was marked by the kind of efficiency and professionalism that has made Venezuela’s democratic contests an international model.

state and articulated their loy-alty to the revolutionary move-ment founded by Hugo Chavez.

“It’s been more than 10 years [of opposition rule in Zulia] and during that time the state hadn’t advanced. This is one of the rea-sons why the state of Zulia is with Comandante Chavez”, said Joan Mavares, a Maracaibo resident and PSUV activist.

“My vote for [Zulian Governor] Pancho Arias was accompanied by a prayer for my Comandante Chavez to whom I dedicate this triumph”, said Manuel Antunez another Chavez backer present at the victory rally.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is currently recovering from surgery performed last week in Havana, Cuba after the socialist leader informed the country of a new outbreak of cancer.

For many followers, last week’s vote was a necessary af-firmation of the strength of the movement built by the popular President, despite his absence from the country and his pre-carious health status.

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro spoke of the importance of the sweeping victories for the nation’s Boli-varian Revolution and for the convalescing Chavez.

“Today the people have given preference to the truth and to perseverance. In doing so they have given a gift of love to Co-mandante Hugo Chavez. Today the people did not let Chavez down”, Maduro said.

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“It has been a successful day. Once again, we can say that we have seen a very success-ful electoral contest”, said CNE official Sandra Oblitas at the close of the polls.

While turnout did not come close to the astonishing 80 percent that voted in the na-tion’s presidential elections last October, security for the contests was nonetheless present to ensure the demo-

cratic right of every Venezu-elan citizen.

A total of 141,000 soldiers were on hand in over 12,000 polling place to provide safety and guard against any disrup-tions in the voting process.

“This electoral process has been carried out with total pro-fessionalism and with the demo-cratic consciousness that all of the Venezuelan people have dem-onstrated”, commented the head of the electoral security forces, Wilmer Barrientos.

According to Barrientos, Sunday’s elections took place with minimal security prob-lems and all potential threats to the orderly operation of the polls were effectively dealt with by security personnel.

OPPOSITION KEEPS MIRANDAWhile the PSUV has emerged

as the indisputable victor of last Sunday’s contest, opposition candidate Henrique Capriles defeated his socialist challenger Elias Jaua in an election that has kept the former presidential can-didate in a leadership position of the Venezuelan right-wing.

The race in the state of Miran-da was one of the most closely watched contests as Capriles, de-feated by Hugo Chavez in last Oc-tober’s presidential race, faced off against former Vice President of the nation, Elias Jaua.

With 50.37 percent of the vote, Capriles retained the governorship of Miranda and has set the stage for a possible electoral showdown with cur-rent Venezuelan Vice Presi-dent Nicolas Maduro in the event that Hugo Chavez is un-able to remain in office.

While the election in Miran-da was close, the PSUV leader-ship immediately recognized the vote outcome and vowed to keep working in the central state as well as the two other states won by the opposition to attain a complete victory in all regional entities.

“Sooner rather than later [the states of] Lara, Miranda and Amazonas will once again be on the road of the home-land”, said Vice President Ma-duro of the three states won by the Venezuelan opposition.

The artillery of ideasFriday, December 21, 2012 | Politics 3

Venezuela’s oppositionevaluates another major defeatT/ Chris Carlsonwww.venezuelanalysis.comP/ AFP

As pro-Chavez candidates celebrated their victories in 20 of 23 states in Sunday’s

regional elections, opposition leaders attempted to explain what led to such an overwhelm-ing defeat for their gubernato-rial candidates.

Leaders of Hugo Chavez’s United Socialist Party of Ven-ezuela (PSUV) immediately claimed an “immense victory” for their side after initial re-sults were given late Sunday night.

“This was an immense vic-tory. The people responded faithfully to Chavez’s call to action”, said PSUV’s campaign head Jorge Rodriguez at a post-election press conference.

The PSUV candidate for the western state of Zulia, Fran-cisco Arias Cardenas, called it a “perfect victory” and direct-ed his comments to President Chavez, saying, “President, we completed the mission”.

Opposition leaders were much less enthusiastic about the re-sults, despite having won their most important battle in the central state of Miranda, with opposition leader Henrique Capriles re-elected governor.

“I am happy for Miranda, but I can’t be happy for Venezuela”, said Capriles during his victory speech Sunday night.

Various opposition leaders pointed to low turnout as a rea-son for the results, while oth-ers claimed the government had used unfair campaign tac-tics such as inaugurating vari-ous public works and handing out gifts in the days before the election.

Capriles also claimed in his victory speech that the gov-ernment had used President Chavez’s health problems to their advantage.

“They took advantage of the circumstances, and asked peo-ple to vote for Chavez’s health”, he said.

The forty year-old governor of Miranda was solidified as the leader of Venezuela’s opposition after Sunday’s victory, some-thing that may have been called into question had he lost his re-election bid.

Opposition forces see Capriles as their most likely chance of winning the presidency if Pres-ident Hugo Chavez is unable to recover from cancer and con-tinue as President.

“Here we’ve already beat-en two vice-presidents”, said

Capriles, referring to his 2008 victory over then Vice Presi-dent Diosdado Cabello, and Sunday’s victory over former Vice President Elías Jaua.

However, some opposition voices called on the opposition to reflect on the reasons for

their defeat and make changes for future electoral battles.

Caracas Mayor Antonio Le-dezma said that it was time for the opposition to “reinvent our-selves”, whereas Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) head Ramon Aveledo said the op-

position “must make profound changes”.

Despite having retained con-trol of the opposition-strong-hold of Miranda, the opposition lost control of five states that they had previously held.

In addition, the other two states claimed by the opposi-tion this time around, Lara and Amazonas, were both due to the re-election formerly pro-Chavez candidates who went over to the opposition during their last term.

Some analysts saw the defeat as the result of fundamental problems with the opposition parties, such as their leader-ship and political project.

“We have long maintained that the opposition lacks iden-tity, vision, and proposals”, said Oscar Schemel, head of the pri-vate pollster Hinterlaces.

Pro-Chavez electoral analyst Hector Davila assured that the opposition will continue to lose if they do not make changes to their political project.

“They haven’t been able to comprehend that the majority of Venezuelans want a political project that makes social pro-grams and social spending a priority”, he said.

“If they can’t understand that, the results are going to be the same in future elections”, he said.

High abstention seemed to adversely affect opposition candidates as well. Initial re-sults showed turnout of 54% compared to 65.5% in the 2008 state elections.

T/ COI

Mission Housing Venezuela delivered over two thou-

sand homes in three different states last Friday as part of the government’s plan to end 2012 with 200,000 new living spaces provided to low-income and needy residents.

“As part of the our end-of-the-year plan, all the institu-tions of the state and the or-ganizations of the people are working to reach the goal and begin 2013 on the right foot in order to continue to meet the needs of the Ven-ezuelan people”, said Hous-ing and Habitat Minister Ri-cardo Molina at a ceremony marking the delivery of 57 new homes to residents of Cumanacoa in the Eastern state of Sucre.

Venezuela’s public housing programnears annual construction goal

In the Andean state of Mer-ida, a further 664 homes were handed over while one thou-sand families in the state of Miranda received the keys to their new residences, as did 420 additional families in the capital of Caracas.

In total, the mission seeks to deliver more than 34,000 other homes by the end of the year to meet its established goal.

“This is the best gift that my President has given us on my daughter’s birthday. Now we live in a dignified home”, said Maria Henriquez from the state of Miranda upon re-ceiving her keys last week.

Mission Housing Venezu-ela was first inaugurated by President Hugo Chavez in 2011 in response to coastal flood-ing at the end of 2010 that left

many poor and working class residents without a home.

The ambitious program, above and beyond providing housing only for flood victims, has taken up the challenge of constructing a dignified home for all Venezu-elans currently in need.

As such, the Chavez admin-istration has set as a goal the erection of 3 million new resi-dences by 2019.

To date, the mission has suc-ceeded in building just under 312,000 units.

Minister Molina emphasized last Friday the tireless work being done by the employees of the program to make sure that all Venezuelans, especially those left homeless by torren-tial rains, have a dignified liv-ing space as soon as possible.

“We’re working day and night, Saturday, Sunday and

everyday because we under-stand that the families that are in shelters are in a situa-tion of extreme need. That’s why we’re working hard and fast with an eminently social purpose which is to satisfy the needs of everyone, not to ben-efit the few”, the cabinet mem-ber said.

One of the unique features of the housing program, Molina said, is the way that communi-ty members have participated in the design and construction of their own homes.

In order to stimulate grass-roots democracy and achieve higher levels of efficiency, the national government has been encouraging organized residents, through their com-munity councils, to actively lead the process of home con-struction.

“This advance in the capac-ity to build homes has become something normal for Venezu-elans but we need to highlight it as something extraordi-nary”, the minister asserted.

The artillery of ideas4 Integration | Friday, December 21, 2012

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Over the weekend, high-ranking del-egates of the countries that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peo-

ples of Our America (ALBA) gathered in Caracas to commemorate eight years of what Venezuelan Vice President Nico-las Maduro called “a true brotherhood of integration”. President Evo Morales, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, and former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, among others, joined Maduro in commemorating the regional bloc’s growth and consolidation.

First elaborated by Venezuelan Presi-dent Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Cas-tro back in 2001, the regional alliance tasked with integrating the peoples and economies of the Americas was formal-ly launched in 2004. Since then, it has grown to include eight Latin American and Caribbean countries representing some 70 million inhabitants across Ven-ezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicara-gua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Earlier this year, Suriname and Saint Lucia also joined as guest nations.

ALBA IN CARACASGathered in Caracas’ central Plaza Bo-

livar, one of the city’s most bustling pub-lic squares, the delegation of top ALBA representatives expressed their firm commitment to regional integration while praising the leadership of Venezu-elan President Hugo Chavez. Speaking to reporters and members of the public

gathered Saturday evening, Venezuelan Vice President and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro provided context to the eighth anniversary celebration.

“Our peoples have walked a path of many victories”, he said, “and when we consulted the ALBA nations on the possibility of hosting this modest com-memoration, Evo Morales, for example, said he’d join us right away, told us he wanted to be here to accompany his brother Chavez and the Venezuelan peo-ple...Manuel Zelaya, with his permanent spark, intelligence, and perseverance, traveled to Caracas to represent the Honduran people”.

Speaking alongside Venezuela’s Maduro, Bo-livian President Evo Mo-rales told those gathered at Plaza Bolivar that “no one will be able to de-feat the peoples of Latin America”, calling for “unity” in what he described as “the struggle to continue defeating imperialism and its lackeys”.

According to Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricarco Patiño, his country “stands firm with Venezuela and Presi-dent Chavez because we hold a shared view of the world, because together we are fighting imperialism”.

“ALBA’s greatest strength is our com-mitment to struggle”, Patiño affirmed, “our collective principles, and that’s why we are proud to join in these cel-ebrations today”.

“We are also here”, he said, “because the people of Ecuador have asked us to

express their support for, and revolu-tionary energy with, Hugo Chavez”.

ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVEReferring to concrete steps taken to

build ALBA as an economic alternative to the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister explained, “having a monetary system controlled by the United States and Europe is like having an artificial respirator that you leave in someone else’s hands”.

Patiño was referring to the Unified System for Regional Compensa-tion (SUCRE), an online trade mechanism cre-ated by the ALBA block to conduct trade without using US dollars. Mem-ber nations Ecuador and Venezuela, for example, are currently carrying

out significant financial transactions using the SUCRE.

According to ALBA Secretary Gen-eral Rodolfo Sanz, the regional alliance traded goods and services worth 700 mil-lion SUCRE in 2012 alone, an equivalent to $800 million.

Venezuela’s Maduro explained, “On February 4 (2013) ALBA is set to cel-ebrate a year since we decided to cre-ate our own economic trade zone, and we’ve advanced greatly in strengthen-ing the tools associated with this pro-cess. One of these mechanisms is the definitive consolidation of the SUCRE...and our goal is to conduct a minimum

30% of all inter-ALBA trade using the SUCRE”.

“In 2013, ALBA’s development is set to continue at an even greater rate”, Ma-duro said, “and we’ll continue to consoli-date efforts at economic integration”.

CHAVEZ’S VOICEWith Venezuelan President Hugo

Chavez currently recovering from sur-gery in Havana, many of those present at the ALBA commemorations spoke to his role in the struggle for social and economic justice in the Americas.

“Independent of pressures from Wash-ington”, said Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, “Chavez has become the voice of the voiceless” and “the time has come for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to build our own way forward”.

Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya agreed, stating, “Venezuela is just like its President Chavez – both are a symbol of inspiration of the democratic revolution”.

In August 2008, before he was force-fully removed from the presidency, Ze-laya had Honduras sign on to the ALBA accord. Two years later, US-backed de facto President Roberto Micheletti pulled the country from the regional alliance.

“We share the ideals of this process of integration”, Zelaya said, “and no one can hold back the people of Venezu-ela, nor stop the advance of socialism in the Americas. Commander Chavez will never die because he is immortal in the hearts of the people”, he affirmed.

During the event, Venezuela’s Maduro also read a letter sent to him by Cuba’s Fidel Castro, dated December 15, in which the revolutionary leader empha-sized that “Hugo Chavez’s name is ad-mired and respected around the world”.

“Everyone, even many of his adversar-ies, wish him a prompt recovery”, wrote Castro, “and his doctors are working with great optimism to achieve that objective”.

“I for one”, Castro said, “am certain that all of you, with him, and even in his painful absence, are capable of carrying out his life’s work”.

Miguel Diaz Canal, Cuba’s delegate to the ALBA event and Vice President of the Cuban National Assembly, told those convened in central Caracas, “ALBA is about unity – unity, unity, and more uni-ty, which is what makes it the greatest weapon in the struggles of our peoples”.

Canal added that Cuba, its people, and revolutionary leaders “say to Chavez that no one can take away the gains made by the Bolivarian Revolution!”

Referring to the over 30,000 Cuban pro-fessionals currently in Venezuela sup-porting public efforts to improve health, education, sports, and agriculture, Ca-nal also affirmed that “all of us await his (Chavez’s) return so as to continue this battle for independence, so as to continue receiving his guidance in this struggle”.

Closing his remarks, Nicolas Maduro thanked “all those present for the gener-osity and love shared among us”.

“Today, more than ever”, he af-firmed, “we feel the true brotherhood of integration”.

ALBA celebrates 8thanniversary, Chavez leadership

“Bolivian President Evo Morales told those gathered at Plaza Bolivar that “no one will be able to defeat the peoples of Latin America”

The artillery of ideasFriday, December 21, 2012 | Social Justice 5

Social movements standwith Chavez, bolivarian socialism

T/ COIP/ Agencies

Over the weekend, as Venezu-elan President Hugo Chavez began his difficult recovery

from what has been described as “complex medical intervention”, social movements from across the country expressed their firm support for the Venezuelan Pres-ident and his political program of bolivarian socialism. At a press conference held in downtown Caracas, grassroots organiza-tions representing rural commu-nities, urban collectives, student movements, and the LGBT com-munity, among others, promised “Chavez, the leader of this Revo-lution…can dedicate himself to his recovery because the people are now Chavez, and now under-stand our role in history”.

ALBA’S SOCIAL MOVEMENTSIn the context of President

Chavez’s renewed bout with cancer and his repeated calls for “unity, unity, and more uni-ty” among his diverse array of militant supporters, the social movements that make up Ven-ezuela’s chapter of the Bolivar-ian Alternative for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) held a joint press conference on Friday. Speaking to reporters gathered

in downtown Caracas, the coali-tion of ALBA Social Movements affirmed that “the ties that bind our people with our leader, Hugo Chavez…fill us with the courage to express, alongside millions of others, our unscathed commit-ment to deepen the process of change” led by Venezuela’s first socialist President.

Published online and made available to the press, the state-ment issued by the nation-wide network of grassroots social movements read, “Chavez opened the doors of history, gave us hope, gave faces to the faceless, a voice to the poor”.

“As such”, it continued, “we call together all the forces, en-ergies of the world, to serve as the material and spiritual strength needed to preserve the life of our Comandante while at the same time we want him to know that he can rest, he can dedicate himself to his recov-ery, because the people are now Chavez, and now understand our role in history”.

“People’s Power exists to consolidate all that has been achieved – homeland, sovereign-ty, and national dignity – and we reiterate our commitment, as social movements, to continue deepening the socialist transfor-mations underway”.

Signatories to the document, titled “The Revolution Won’t Stop!”, include, among others, the Popular Revolutionary Al-liance, a coalition of grassroots organizations that includes the Bolivar and Zamora Revolu-tionary Current, Movement of Urban Dwellers, National As-sociation of Free, Alternative, and Community Media, Social-ists for Revolutionary Unity to-wards Communism, Socialist Tide, and Revolutionary Alli-ance of Sexual Diversity.

PEOPLE’S POWER WITH CHAVEZOf the movements that signed

on to the aforementioned state-ment, perhaps the largest and most organized is the Bolivar and Zamora Revolutionary Cur-rent (CRBZ) – an active politi-cal current within Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (PSUV) comprised of the Ezequiel Zamora National Campesino Front (Fncez), the Simon Boli-var National Communal Front (Fncsb), the Bolivarian Popular Workers’ Movement (MPBO) and the Simon Rodriguez Cen-ter for Political Education and Social Studies (Cefes).

In their own statement calling for unity in support of Chavez, the CRBZ explained that Ven-ezuela “finds itself in a sad and

complicated moment, difficult to assimilate” in which “our Com-mander-in-Chief is engaged in a decisive battle for his life in very adverse conditions”.

“Hugo Chavez is a father, comrade, brother, and son”, the statement read, “Hugo Chavez is the dream, the homeland, the people, the poor, the repre-sentation of everything we are today. His dream of a just, free, and sovereign homeland is our dream, a dream that became a man, an individual that later became an entire people”.

“But beyond the pain and sadness, the angst and uncer-tainty”, the CRBZ affirmed, “we must think and act as he would, focusing our sights on the most important thing of all – the revolution that must continue no matter what happens, and the revolutionaries that must be capable of handling the most difficult of circumstances”.

“With loving prayers we await the recovery of our Com-mander President”, the state-ment continued, “while at the same time we take on and pre-pare ourselves for a new period of struggle filled with threats and risks to the revolution”.

“The first thing we must do is contribute to revolutionary unity within Chavismo, con-

duct ourselves with great ma-turity and discipline, starting with the instructions given by Comandante Chavez which in-clude the designation of com-rade Nicolas Maduro as his eventual political successor. If the President says it’s Nicolas Maduro, then it’s Nicolas Ma-duro to whom we give our total support”.

“What we must not do”, the statement concluded, “is act with political infantilism and false radicalism, a conduct which contribute solely to the possible return to power of the oligarchy, a fatal scenario for our revolution...In these 14 years of President Chavez’s popular and revolutionary gov-ernment, the people have not only accumulated important historical gains in their qual-ity of life – the most important thing they’ve accumulated is political consciousness, histori-cal consciousness, an under-standing of the strength they have when they stand up”.

Venezuela’s CRBZ is largely responsible for establishing the country’s first communal city – the Ciudad Comunal Simon Bolívar (CCCS-SB) – made up of 39 community councils, or-ganized first into 10 communes, and later into the country’s pio-neering communal city. Locat-ed in Apure state, the CCCS-SB encompasses roughly 115,000 hectares of land, or 46,500 acres, and is considered the country’s most concrete example of Peo-ple’s Power.

LATIN AMERICAN MOVEMENTS The Social Movements to-

wards ALBA, a continental coalition that brings together similar grassroots organiza-tions from across Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean, also affirmed its steadfast support for President Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution. In a statement released over the in-ternet, the coalition affirmed that “the People of Venezuela and their Commander Hugo Chavez Frias demonstrate, on a daily basis, what the path to-wards an emancipatory project looks like, a project based on sovereignty and popular pro-tagonism that strives towards socialism”.

“The social movements of Our America understand the significance of the role played by the Bolivarian Revolution in our continent, in the world”, the statement read, “and the People of Latin America have chosen to build the path towards our second and definitive indepen-dence, a task in which, together with President Chavez, Venezu-ela holds a fundamental place”.

The artillery of ideas6 Culture | Friday, December 21, 2012

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Venezuelans paid homage to their nation’s most im-portant historical figure,

Simon Bolivar, last Monday during a ceremony held at the National Pantheon in the capi-tal of Caracas.

The event, attended by the Executive Cabinet of President Hugo Chavez and Vice President Nicolas Maduro, saw the com-memoration of the 182nd anni-versary since the death of the Venezuelan Independence hero responsible for the liberation of no less than five contemporary South American nations.

Also on hand to honor Boli-var during the ceremony was the Venezuelan youth orches-tra, led by internationally renowned composer Gustavo Dudamel.

According to historian Alex-ander Torres, Simon Bolivar is “without a doubt, one of the greatest men” to ever live in the Americas.

“He was the most prominent Latin American of the 19th century, not only for his strug-gle but also for the reverbera-

tion of the idea that he had for the region. He is a motivat-ing symbol that is alive today in the collective conscience of the continent”, Torres said during a television interview on Monday.

Also known in South Amer-ica as “the Liberator”, Bolivar was born in Caracas in 1783 and commanded the anti-co-lonial armies responsible for the liberation of contemporary Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

Throughout his military and political career, the native Ven-ezuelan fought to unite all of Latin America under the ban-ner of one “Great Colombia” which would link together the various struggles against the Spanish empire in the Ameri-cas and create a world power that could compete with the US in the hemisphere.

Bolivar was eventually be-trayed by a host of sectarian interests and forced to abandon his life-long project, claiming just before his death in 1830 that he had “plowed in the sea”, a metaphor for failure.

Yet, the Liberator’s legacy as an anti-imperial freedom

Venezuela commemorates 182nd

anniversary of Bolivar’s death

fighter has been strengthened in Venezuela in recent years as the political movement founded by Hugo Chavez has adopted the figure of the Inde-pendence hero as a key inspi-ration for the nation’s “Boli-varian Revolution”.

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro spoke to the resurgence of Bolivar in the imagination of the people dur-ing Monday’s ceremony.

“182 years ago, our father ‘the Liberator’ left us physically and after his passing, his ideal and his work was betrayed and left in pieces until our people rose up... Our Bolivarian Revolution has signified the waking of the ideal of this great Latin Ameri-can: Simon Bolivar”, the Vice President said.

This has included a renewed sense of regional integration in the spirit of Bolivar’s aspira-tions of the “Great Colombia” which has been a cornerstone of the multi-lateral foreign policy of the Chavez administration.

While addressing the nation on Monday, Maduro drew at-tention to Sunday’s sweeping regional election victories of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) as indicative of the resonance of the Bolivar-ian ideal, not only in Venezue-lan, but around Latin America.

“The people are happy. The victory of the Bolivarians is be-ing celebrated like the victory of millions of women and men around the world who believe that another, better world is possible”, he said.

T/ Paul Dobson

Solidarity events were held this week in many South

American cities to send posi-tive energy and best wishes to the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on his road to re-covery from cancer surgery he underwent last week in Cuba.

In Managua, Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, the President of Nicaragua, led a concert entitled ‘Celebrating Chavez: Songs, Life, and Hope’ in the Plaza of the Revolution in the capital. Ortega paid tribute to his colleague Hugo Chavez in his recovery against cancer: “Chavez is the soul of our peo-ples, of poetry, of revolution, of freedom”.

Referring to the regional elections last Sunday, in

Chavez: “The oldestSon of Bolivar”

which pro-Chavez forces won in 20 of the 23 States, Ortega proclaimed that “today, the 182th anniversary of the pass-ing into immortality of Simon Bolivar, we tell President Hugo Chavez, accompanied by Fidel and Raul (Castro), the peoples of the world, we send them all our happiness at the victory which was achieved yesterday (Sunday)”.

He went on to describe the electoral results in Venezuela as “a historic victory which can be added to the great victories which the Venezuelan people have achieved”.

The concert was also ad-dressed by First Lady Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the Council of Communication and Citizenship in Nicaragua. She described the event as being

held “with all our love”. She explained that the Nicaraguan people had attended the event due to “the need to continue spiritually strengthening our-selves, all of us who love Presi-dent Chavez”.

Venezuela’s Ambassador in Managua, Maria Alejandra Avila also attended the concert in solidarity with President Chavez, stating that “we value him (Chavez) in an extraordi-

nary way, our words are always going to be full of so much love, of so much care”.

On the same day, events were held in other parts of the continent.

In Peru, a vigil was held to support President Chavez. The event, which was organized mainly by feminist groups in the Andean Nation, sent all of its best wishes and positive energy to Caracas and Havana

where Chavez continues his slow recovery.

In neighboring Colombia there was also a 12 hour vigil held in the capital, Bogota. Fol-lowing recent comments made by conservative Colombian President Santos, describing Chavez as “necessary” to the continent, the people of Bogo-ta occupied the main square in solidarity with the Venezu-elan head of state.

Daniel Porras, one of the or-ganizers of the event in the Co-lombian capital, explained that in a symbolic manner, Chavez can be considered as “the old-est son of Simon Bolivar, who physically disappeared on this day, December 17”.

Similar statements of soli-darity and best wishes have come in from the fellow na-tions which make up the ALBA alliance, celebrating its anniversary in Caracas this past week, as well as from the Mercosur countries, and from further afield.

The artillery of ideas Friday, December 21, 2012 | Analysis 7T/ Charles Muntaner, Joan Benach, Maria Paez Victor

While Venezuela’s Presi-dent Hugo Chavez is fight-ing for his life in Cuba,

the liberal press of both sides of the Atlantic has not stopped trashing his government. The significance of his victory (11 points ahead of his contender) has yet to be analyzed properly, with evidence. It is remarkable that Chavez would win, sick with cancer, outgunned by the local and international media and, rarely acknowledged, an electoral map extremely biased towards the middle and upper classes.

One of the main factors for the popularity of the Chavez Government and its landslide victory in this re-election re-sults of October 2012, is the reduction of poverty, made possible because the govern-ment took back control of the national petroleum company Pdvsa, and has used the abun-dant oil revenues, not for ben-efit of a small class of renters as previous governments had done, but to build needed in-frastructure and invest in the social services that Venezu-elans so sorely needed. Dur-ing the last ten years, the gov-ernment has increased social spending by 60.6%, a total of $772 billion.

Poverty is not defined solely by lack of income nor is health defined as the lack of illness. Both are correlated and both are multi-factorial, that is, de-termined by a series of social processes. To make a more ob-jective assessment of the real progress achieved by the Boli-varian Revolution in Venezu-ela during the last 13 years it is essential to review some of the key available data on the social determinants of health and pov-erty: education, inequality, jobs and income, health care, food security and social support and services.

With regard to these social determinants of health indica-tors, Venezuela is now the coun-try in the region with the lowest inequality level (measured by the Gini Coefficient) having re-duced inequality by 54%, pover-ty by 44%. Poverty has been re-duced from 70.8% (1996) to 21% (2010). And extreme poverty re-duced from 40% (1996) to a very low level of 7.3% (2010). About 20 million people have benefited from anti-poverty programs, called “Misiones” (Up to now, 2.1 million elderly people have received old-age pensions – that is 66% of the population while only 387,000 received pensions before the current government.

Education is a key determi-nant of both health and poverty and the Bolivarian government has placed a particular em-phasis on education allotting it more than 6% of GDP. Unesco has recognized that illiteracy been eliminated furthermore, Venezuela is the 3rd county in the region whose population reads the most. There is tuition free education from daycare to university; 72% of children at-tend public daycares and 85% of school age children attend school. There are thousands of new or refurbished schools, including 10 new universities. The country places 2nd in Lat-in America and 5th in the world with the greatest proportions of university students. In fact, 1 out of every 3 Venezuelans are enrolled in some educational program. It is also a great achievement that Venezuela is now tied with Finland as the 5th country with the happiest population in the world.

Before the Chavez govern-ment in 1998, 21% of the popu-lation was malnourished. Ven-ezuela now has established a network of subsidized food distribution including grocery stores and supermarkets. While

90% of the food was imported in 1980, today this is less than 30%. Mision Agro-Venezuela has given out 454,238 credits to ru-ral producers and 39,000 rural producers have received credit in 2012 alone. Five million Ven-ezuelan receive free food, four million of them are children in schools and 6,000 food kitchens feed 900,000 people. The agrar-ian reform and policies to help agricultural producers have increased domestic food sup-ply. The results of all these food security measures is that today malnourishment is only 5%, and child malnutrition which was 7.7% in 1990 today is at 2.9%. This is an impressive health achievement by any standards.

The Venezuelan economy has low debts, high petroleum reserves and high savings, yet Western economists that op-pose President Chavez repeat ad nauseam that the Venezuelan economy is not “sustainable” and predict its demise when the oil revenues stop. Ironically they do not hurl these dire pre-dictions to other oil economies such as Canada or Saudi Ara-bia. They conveniently ignore that Venezuela’s oil reservoir of 500 billion barrels of oil is

the largest in the world and consider the social investment of oil revenues a waste or futile endeavor. However these past 13 years, the Bolivarian gov-ernment has been building up an industrial and agricultural infrastructure that 40 years of previous governments had ne-glected and its economy contin-ues to get stronger even in the face of a global financial crisis.

Economic milestones these last ten years include reduction in unemployment from 11.3% to 7.7%; doubling the amount of people receiving social insur-ance benefits, and the public debt has been reduced from 20.7% to 14.3% of GNP and the flourishing of cooperatives has strengthen local endogenous economies. In general, the Ven-ezuelan economy has grown 47.4% in ten years, that is, 4.3% per annum.

Hugo Chavez’s victory had an impact around the world as he is recognized as having spear-headed radical change not only in his own country but in all Latin America where progres-sive governments have also been elected, thereby reshaping the global order. The victory was even more significant con-

sidering the enormous finan-cial and strategic help that the USA agencies and allies gave to the opposition parties and media. Since 2002, Washington channeled $100 million to oppo-sition groups in Venezuela and this election year alone, distrib-uted US$ 40-50 million there. But the Venezuelan people dis-regarded the barrage of propa-ganda unleashed against the president by the media that is 95% privately owned and anti-Chavez. The tide of progressive change in the region has start-ed to build the infrastructure for the first truly independent South America with political integration organizations such as Bank of the South, Celac, ALBA, Petrosur, Petrocaribe, Unasur, Mercosur, Telesur and thus have demonstrated to the rest of the world that there are, after all, economic and social alternatives in the 21st century. Following a different model of development from that of global capitalism in sharp contrast to Europe, debt levels across Latin America are low and falling.

The changes in Venezuela are not abstract. The government of President Chavez has sig-nificantly improved the living conditions of Venezuelans and engaged them in dynamic po-litical participation to achieve it. This new model of socialist development has had a phe-nomenal impact all over Latin America, including Colombia of late, and the progressive left of centre governments that are now the majority in the region see in Venezuela the catalyst that that has brought more de-mocracy, national sovereignty and economic and social prog-ress to the region.

Dozens of opinionated ex-perts can go on forever on whether the Bolivarian Revo-lution is or is not socialist, whether it is revolutionary or reformist, yet at the end of the day these substantial achieve-ments remain. This is what infuriates its opponents the most both inside Venezuela and most notable, from neo-colonialist countries. The “ob-jective” and “empiricist” The Economist will not publicize this data, preferring to pre-dict once again the imminent collapse of the Venezuelan economy. But none of them can dispute that the UN Human Development Index situates Venezuela in place #61 out of 176 countries having increased 7 places in 10 years.

And that is one more reason why Chavez’s Bolivarian Revo-lution will survive Venezuela’s Socialist leader.

artillery of ideas Friday, D

The achievements of Hugo Chavez

Editor-in-Chief Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera

INTERNATIONAL Friday, December 21, 2012 | Nº 140 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

T/ Gregory Wilpert

With President Hugo Chavez having com-pleted his fourth and

most difficult operation in 18 months, the whole world is asking, “What now?” Chavez’s opponents want to know be-cause they eagerly hope that this development means that Chavez will finally leave the political stage and his support-ers want to know because they worry what it means for the future of the Bolivarian social-ist project. The only two things we can say with certainty about Venezuela’s future is, first, that its future is uncer-tain and, second, that it will never go back to the way it was before Chavez’s first election almost exactly 14 years ago, in December of 1998.

Despite this uncertainty we can perhaps identify a few possible scenarios of what might happen in the near fu-ture. First, if Chavez survives and overcomes this latest bout with cancer, personally he will have been humbled, having faced mortality in this way, but he would be like the Phoe-

nix that rises from the ashes, stronger than before - a feat that he already managed to perform following the 2002 coup attempt and 2003 oil industry shutdown.

All indications, though, given the somberness of his closest advisers and Chavez’s own sym-bolic passing of the baton, when, in his last televised broadcast before leaving for treatment in Cuba, he handed Vice President Nicolas Maduro the sword of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, is that Chavez will leave office sooner rather than later. Venezuela’s National Assembly could, in the-ory, extend Chavez’s temporary absence for up to six months--if he survives the cancer--before having to declare his separation from the presidency.

Once Chavez leaves office, ei-ther because he lost the battle with cancer, or due to his need to recover, new presidential elections must be called within thirty days. This is an extreme-ly short period of time given the complicated logistics of organiz-ing a national election, but could be facilitated if Chavez’s depar-ture from office takes a little bit more time and can thus be scheduled.

Since Chavez has already des-ignated his party’s candidate for the presidency, a new presiden-tial election would be relatively straight-forward for the Boli-varian movement.

However, for the opposition, the situation is more compli-cated. Most likely it would run its presidential candidate, Hen-rique Capriles, again--who last October 7 lost against Chavez by 11 percentage points. The oppo-sition faces the added complica-tion, though, that some factions within the opposition could challenge this scenario. Finding a new viable candidate in a rush will be difficult for the fractious opposition.

If Maduro wins the election, which is quite possible, given his humble union organizer roots and his ability to connect with the country’s working classes, he would probably faithfully follow in Chavez’s footsteps, implementing the second so-cialist plan, which is currently being worked out by support-ers throughout the country. His main challenge, though, would come after his honeymoon ends, when he has to keep the differ-ent factions within the Bolivar-

ian movement together. The reason no one else came close to taking Chavez’s place in all of these years is that Chavez seemed to be only one on whom everyone within the movement could agree upon.

Where Maduro might have an easier time than Chavez is with the opposition. No doubt, the opposition would try to undermine Maduro at every opportunity, just as it did with Chavez, but these efforts would be moderated by the fact that Maduro is less likely to offend in his public pronouncements than Chavez. Also, given his role as a loyal civilian soldier under Chavez, he is less likely to be confrontational.

There is a possibility that Maduro would lose an election against an opposition candi-date, however. There are many unresolved problems in Ven-ezuela, among which the great-est are insecurity, crime and state inefficiency. In his last campaign Chavez promised to resolve these issues in his next term and most Venezuelans be-lieved him. It could be, though, that many Chavez-voters will not give Maduro this benefit of

the doubt because Chavez was always more popular than the people around him, who many blame for poorly implemented policies.

This risk that Maduro does not inherit all of the support that Venezuelans gave to Chavez could give the opposi-tion a false sense of optimism. That is, the opposition ignores Chavez’s most recent pro-nouncement at its own peril, when he said, in reference to his presidency, “Venezuela has changed forever”.

There are many ways in which Venezuela has changed during the Chavez presidency, but one of the most important of these changes is that now there is a politically active working class, one that is more conscious and more organized than ever before and that will actively resist any return to a status quo ante. This, as I said in the beginning, is one of the few certainties we have of Ven-ezuela’s future.

Gregory Wilpert is a founder of Venezuelanalysis.com and teaches political science at Brooklyn College

in New York City.

Opinion

Venezuela’s uncertain future