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What is really happening in Venezuela?

Extracted version of the Op-Ed article by President Nicols Maduro in the New York Times (April 1)
he recent protests inVenezuela have made international headlines. Much of the foreign media coverage has distorted the reality of my country and the facts surrounding the events. Venezuelans are proud of our democracy. We have built a participatory democratic movement from the grass roots that has ensured that both power and resources are equitably distributed among our people. According to the United Nations, Venezuela has consistently reduced inequality: It now has the lowest income inequality in the region. We havereduced poverty enormously to 25.4 percent in 2012, on the World Banks data, from 49 percent in 1998; in the same period, according to government statistics, extreme povertydiminished to 6 percent from 21 percent. We have created flagship universal health care and education programs, free to our citizens nationwide. We have achieved these feats in large part by using revenue from Venezuelan oil. While our social policies have improved citizens lives over all, the government has also confronted serious economic challenges in the past 16 months, including inflation and shortages of basic goods. We continue to find solutions through measures like our new marketbased foreign exchange system, which is designed to reduce the black market exchange rate. And we are monitoring businesses to ensure they are not gouging consumers or hoarding products. [...] Since 1998, the movement founded by Hugo Chvez has won more than a dozen presidential, parliamentary and local elections through an electoral process that former American President Jimmy Carter has called the best in the world. Recently, the United Socialist Party received an overwhelming

Newsletter of the Hands Off Venezuela campaign

www.handsoffvenezuela.org

April 2014

mandate in mayoral elections in December 2013, winning 255 out of 337 municipalities. [...] The claims that Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent mainstream sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are being carried out by people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to reverse the gains of the democratic process that have benefited the vast majority of the people. Antigovernment protesters have physically attacked and damaged health care clinics, burned down a university in Tchira State and thrown Molotov cocktails and rocks at buses. [...] These violent actions have caused many millions of dollars worth of damage. This is why the protests have received no support in poor and working-class neighborhoods. The protesters have a single goal: the unconstitutional ouster of the democratically elected government. Antigovernment leaders made this clear when they started the campaign in January, vowing to create chaos in the streets. Those with legitimate criticisms of economic conditions or the crime rate are being exploited by protest leaders with a violent, antidemocratic agenda. In two months, a reported 36 people have been killed. The protesters are, we believe, directly responsible for about half of the fatalities. Six members of the National Guard have been shot and killed; other citizens have been murdered while attempting to remove obstacles placed by protesters to block transit. A very small number of security forces personnel have also been accused of engaging in violence, as a result of which several people have died. These are highly regrettable events, and the Venezuelan government has responded by arresting those suspected. [...]

The American government supported the 2002 coup In the United States, the protesters have been described as peaceful, while the Venezuelan government is said to be violently repressing them. According to this narrative, the American government is siding with the people of Venezuela; in reality, it is on the side of the 1 percent who wish to drag our country back to when the 99 percent were shut out of political life and only the few including American companies benefited from Venezuelas oil. Lets not forget that some of those who supported ousting Venezuelas democratically elected government in 2002 are leading the protests today. Those involved in the 2002 coup immediately disbanded the Supreme Court and the legislature, and scrapped the Constitution. Those who incite violence and attempt similar unconstitutional

pic: Fabio Rodrigues, ABr

actions today must face the justice system. The American government supported the 2002 coup and recognized the coup government despite its anti-democratic behavior. Today, the Obama administration spends at least $5 million annually to support opposition movements in Venezuela. A bill calling for an additional $15 million for these anti-government organizations is now in Congress. Congress is also deciding whether to impose sanctions on Venezuela. I hope that the American people, knowing the truth, will decide that Venezuela and its people do not deserve such punishment, and will call upon their representatives not to enact sanctions. [...] Venezuela needs peace and dialogue to move forward. We welcome anyone who sincerely wants to help us reach these goals.

Opposition protesters set Housing Ministry on fire

n Tuesday, April 1, a group of violent opposition protestors attacked the building of the Ministry of Housing in Caracas, setting it on fire. Over 300 people had to be evacuated, including children from a nursery in the same building. You are not likely to have read about it in the mass media. The arson attack, the fourth so far this year, against the building located in the opposition run Caracas municipality of Chacao, reveals the real nature of the Venezuelan protestors. Despite being described by the mass media as peaceful demonstrators, they are in fact highly violent in their methods and aims. The mass media also presents the protestors as being concerned with social issues (crime, scarcity, inflation, etc). Why would they then attack the building of the Housing Ministry. The Housing Mission, run from the building of the Ministry, is one of the most recent social programs of the Bolivarian revolution. Starting with the aim of solving the housing problems of thousands of families who had been left homeless in the floods of November 2010, it then expanded its aims to providing decent housing to everyone who needed it. So far, over 750.000 new homes have been built and delivered to families in need, either because they were homeless, or because they live in overcrowded or unsound housing. A large proportion of these new homes have been built with the direct participation of the communities involved, organised in their communal councils, which have had a say in deciding where the houses would be built, established a priority list of families in need and participated in the actual building of the houses. Most of these houses have been handed over free of charge and fully furnished, or in very favourable financing terms. Families who have received the houses are not able to sell them on, to prevent speculation. The housing policy of the revolution has also enacted laws protecting tenants rights and a more recent decision of the Ministry allows for tenants who have been renting their apartments for over 20 years the right to buy them in favourable terms. The attack against the Housing Ministry building therefore shows the real face of the opposition and their hatred of those policies which allow the poorest sections in society to benefit from the countrys oil wealth. In the same way, the burning down of the UNEFA university in San Cristobal del Tchira by masked opposition thugs and the repeated arson attacks against Barrio Adentro diagnostic and health clinics (like this one in Barquisimeto), represent the oppositions hatred of the Bolivarian revolution programs which have massively extended free health care and education to the working class and the poor. It is indeed a revolt of the rich against the poor. The mass media like to present a false picture of Venezuela as a country where freedom of the media no longer exists or is severely curtailed. The reaction of the media to the attack on the Ministry of Housing reveals that the opposite is true. One of the main Caracas based national newspapers, Ultimas Noticias, which likes to cultivate an image of being impartial and unbiased, first used a headline saying Ministry of Housing building catches fire, as if this had been some sort of mysterious self-combustion accident, and only after being denounced in the alternative media, it corrected itself and admitted that it had been violent demonstrators who attacked it with Molotov cocktails.

Housing Ministry on fire pic: Reuters

Free university education expanded from 800,000 students in 1998 to 2.6 million in 2013 Poverty reduced from 48% to 27%, extreme poverty down from 22% to 10% Illiteracy eradicated in 2005, when 1.5 millionlearnt to read and write 19 democratic elections held, 18 of which were won by the Bolivarian revolution Malnourishment reduced from 21% to 5% Privatised utilities and state enterprises renationalised Beneficiaries of old age pensions increased from 380,000 to 2.1 million Number of doctors per 10,000 inhabitants increased from 18 to 58 Trade Union and Labour rights strengthened

Some achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution

Join Hands Off Venezuela!

The international broad-based Hands Off Venezuela campaign was established in 2002 to generate awareness about Venezuela, especially within the trade union and progressive movements. Our main task is to promote the social gains of the Bolivarian Revolution and mobilise public opinion against imperialist aggression towards Venezuela. The basic aims of the campaign are to: Give full support to the Venezuelan revolution, which has repeatedly proved its democratic credentials, in its struggle to liberate the oppressed of Venezuela. Defend the revolution against the attacks of imperialism and its local agents the Venezuelan oligarchy. Support the new trade union confederation, the UNT, as the legitimate voice of the workers movement. To counteract the media distortions and lies about Venezuela and mobilise the maximum support for the above aims. Hands Off Venezuela organises public events, film shows, speaking tours and delegations to Venezuela, provides news and information about the latest events and promotes solidarity and links both in Britain and internationally. To get your trade union or other organisation affiliated, here are the recommended annual affiliation fees: National trade unions: 500, regional bodies: 250, branches/trades councils: 50, others: 25. Membership fees for individuals are: waged: 7.50 and unwaged: 5 (suggested)

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