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November 2008
Sponsors: Michael D. Higgins (TD), Chris Andrews (TD), Tony Gregory (TD), Robert Ballagh (Artist) Andy Pollak (Dir. Centre for Cross Border Studies), Donal OÕKelly (Actor/Playwright)
Update November 2008
(1) European conference : On Saturday the 25th of October the Venezuela Information Campaign (UK), Labour Friends of Venezuela (UK) and Memoire des Luttes (FR) hosted a conference in Paris . The theme was “Venezuela : working towards an independent European foreign policy”. An Irish delegation of seven, including two TD's attended. Speakers included Mario Soares (ex President of Portugal), Colin Burgon MP (Labour Friends of Venezuela), Nicolas Maduro (Venezuelan Foreign minister) and Miguel Angel Martinez (Vice President, European Parliament - Spain).
The conference was very well attended, in fact it seems that the organisers were not expecting such a big turnout and an overflow room had to be set up. In view of the major events in the world's financial markets the speakers were quick to reference these and the possible effects on Venezuela. With the waning of US economic power there is a need for new models of international interchange and maybe a new economic order. The G8 group no longer even represents the most powerful economies in the world and reference was made to the G20 meeting. The Latin American “Bank of the South” may also help that continent escape the worst of the oncoming recession. Nicolás Maduro in a powerful speech did mention that the effects of the downturn would not be a new experience for the poor countries of the “South”. Miguel Angel Martínez also reminded us that an independent European policy on Venezuela would be no good unless it was a progressive one and not just a continuation of the US line.
A fuller report of the conference is available from. http://www.vicuk.org/
(2) Elections - Regional , local and legislative elections take place in Venezuela on the 23rd of this month. Losses are expected on the Chavez side mainly because the opposition did not seriously contest the last elections and also it will be buoyed up after the defeat of the constitutional amendment vote in December 2008.
(3) Ireland - Samuel Moncada the Venezuelan ambassador to the UK has now received his papers for Ireland. He met with the two TDs at the conference and expects that he will be over to present his credentials to the President early in 2009. We plan to arrange a cross party meeting in the Dail and also a public meeting during his visit. A member of VIC (UK) who is also in the National Union of Teachers (NUT) is arranging a visit to Venezuela by academics and would be interested in hearing from anybody from here who would be interested in joining (4) President Chávez Willing To Talk to Obama / Government Statement on Obama Victory The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has said he is willing to work together with Barack Obama to repair diplomatic relations with the United States.“I am willing to sit down and converse on equal footing and with respect,” said Chávez.
Venezuela-U.S. relations have been tense for most of Chávez's ten years as president. Last September, Venezuela expelled U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy on suspicion that the Bush administration was helping destabilize and overthrow the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia.
“We do not ask [Obama] to be revolutionary or socialist, no we hope he will rise to the occasion of what is occurring in the world, and to the hope that the majority of the world has for a world of peace,” said Chávez. "For a black man to become president of the United States is not a small thing,” Chávez added.
“The entire world is watching.”
Chávez has expressed his willingness on several occasions to have a dialogue with the next president of the U.S. Furthermore; Obama has not retracted his offer to converse with Chávez without preconditions, despite being heavily criticized by the McCain campaign for his willingness to do so.Last month in Venezuela:
Venezuela's 2009 Budget Increases Social Spending
In October, Venezuela's Finance Minister Alí Rodríguez presented a national budget proposal for 2009 to the National Assembly. The budget emphasizes poverty reduction, including by increasing social spending to nearly half the national budget. This represents a 25% nominal increase over 2008. The percentage of the budget allocated to education will be 18.2%, more than double the percentage allocated to education in 1998 before President Hugo Chávez took office. Regional and local governments, including community councils, will receive 41.1 billion bolivars ($19 billion) in 2009, a 32% nominal increase over 2008.Venezuelans from Low-Income Backgrounds Graduate
Almost 6,000 Venezuelan university students recently graduated through the government's scholarship program, with a further 700 doctors to graduate at the end of the year, significantly filling skills shortages that Venezuela has previously suffered from.
In October, 5,949 students who participated in the programme MISSION SUCRE graduated in areas of administration, computing, social communication, agricultural production, environmental management and social management for local development. MISSION SUCRE is a programme created five years ago for including low-income Venezuelans in university education. The mission currently has 527,134 students and 108,000 applicants registered to enrol .Last month in Colombia:
A report presented by different NGOs to the “Extrajudicial Executions: a reality that cannot be hidden” documents 535 cases of extrajudicial executions in Colombia between 1 January 2007 and 30 June 2008.
South African Navy Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said recently that the extrajudicial executions, as are called the assassinations carried out by the Colombian military, may be considered a crime against humanity that may trigger the intervention of the International Criminal Court if the Colombian authorities are unable to stop the massacres.
Since 1987 more than 35,000 non-combatant civilians have been murdered or made to “disappear”, mostly by the security forces and their paramilitary allies. (Figures only up to 2000)
The figures for indigenous people is 1240 killed since 2002, again mainly by the same forces.
A stream of reports in the last 24 hours of a tense stand-off and impending confrontation between a 'Minga', a gathering of social movements, and the Colombian state. The conflict point is the occupation by 9,000 people of the Pan American highway in the southwest. The police have attacked and in the last 24 hours killed 2 and injured over 20 protestors, but at time of writing this force have been unable to dislodge the blockade.
Paradoxically, while in Bogota the Route (the Women's Pacific Route) was presenting the book, “Violence against women in a society of war”, in Medellin one of its members was murdered along with her son, niece and nephew one of whom was less than 5 years old.
International Volunteer deported from Colombia
On 1st October 2008, at 5.30pm Christina Friederika Müller, a German citizen was walking in the Plaza de San Francisco, in the city of Cali with a member of the Cali branch of the Solidarity Committee with Political Prisoners and a member of the Yumbo branch of Sintrametal, Union of Workers in the Metal Industry. As they were about the leave the plaza she was approached by five people, who without showing any identification claimed to be employees of the Colombian Security Service (D.A.S.). They interrogated her as to her reasons for her stay in our country. Immediately these people took her to the Security Services facilities. The investigator was the victim of several arbitrary actions: illegal deprivation of her liberty, prevented from being in communication with lawyers and deportation. Finally she has been banned from returning to Colombia for seven years as “she endangers national security, public order, public health, social tranquility, public security.”Christina had been invited by various Colombian human rights organisations that belong to the Network of Solidarity and Friendship with Colombia in order to carry out an investigation into the impacts of human rights violations in various parts of the country.
Her case, along with many others, clearly shows the government's policy of preventing internationals from verifying the serious human rights violations that have occurred under this government. N.B. - Since the mid-eighties, more than 3000 trade union members have been murdered in Colombia, most by the right wing paramilitaries.Army involved in murder of street children
Colombia's army commander, Gen Mario Montoya, resigned yesterday after an inquiry tied scores of officers to the disappearance of a group of men who were later shot, dumped in mass graves and reported as killed in combat (Irish Times 05/11/08) What was omitted in the report was that some of these young men were street children and that FARC uniforms were put on their bodies. Also that this is not an isolated incident but has been practiced for some time now. To ensure that the army and police get a double benefit, children are removed from the streets of Bogotá, murdered and their bodies dressed in guerrilla uniforms. The army then inflates their numbers of FARC successes, the police claim that the streets have been cleaned up, US and European aid and investment (including Irish) flows in. The Irish Times carried an article on the 12th of November (“Aides play down Bush and Obama tension rumours”) which mentioned that even the Democratic Party in the US were baulking at a Republican Party aid package for Colombia but that Bush was attempting to link it to support for the incoming president's proposed bailout of the US automobile industry.Although our concerns are about Venezuela, it would not make sense to ignore the effects on the whole region of what is happening in a neighbouring country, particularly in view of the unbalanced or biased reporting which we are accustomed to in all our media. During most of the ten years of Hugo Chávez's government there has been a steady stream of very critical articles in the Irish press but hardly a mention of Colombia. During George Bush's time President Uribe, who has links to both the drug trade and the paramilitary death squads, was feted in Washington and his government was the main recipients of US weapons in the world. Meanwhile “Plan Colombia” which entails the “Agent Oranging” of large tracts of Colombian territory has created a refugee problem in neighbouring countries such as Venezuela. It has not stopped the flow of drugs into the US. The industry has merely relocated. Unfortunately the EC has contributed to this immoral and dangerous scheme, which could also do untold ecological damage. Our own government may also have contributed Irish taxpayers money - it may be possible to ascertain this through the Dail and take appropriate action.
Finally - It is with regret that we note the resignation of Gordon Hutchinson from the chair of the Venezuelan Information Campaign (UK). Gordon was instrumental in the setting up VIC and bringing it to the forefront of campaigning. His work with the trade union movement and the Labour Party in the UK helped mobilise huge support for the Venezuelan process. Gordon also helped transform the campaign into a Europe-wide one and was a great help to our Irish group. His links with Latin America and progressive groups for change there, were invaluable. He was also to the forefront of taking on the vicious worldwide media attacks on Venezuela. Enjoy the peace Gordon - but not for too long!