Analysis

Opinion

Capitalism, genocide & Colombia page 7

What Europe could learn from Latin Americas Independence page 8

Friday, August 23, 2013 | N 172 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas

INTERNATIONAL
UN FAO highlights Venezuelas Agricultural Production Fund
T/ AVN The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has noted the importance of a new initiative in Venezuela to create a Producer Stimulus Fund, according to an announcement by Agriculture and Lands Minister Yvan Gil. A FAO press release reads: This action is essential to stimulating and consolidating the development of production chains in a country, and also to reduce the impact of ination on the consumer. The fund will be developed to pay a subsidy on the price of rice, corn, sorghum, soy and sugar in order to assist primary producers without having an impact on the price of food. The government also announced measures to promote national coffee production. Actions include creating a National Coffee Council to debate ways to strengthen production, increasing payouts to Venezuelas 57,000 producers by 66%, and creating a research center. The Agriculture Minister announced these decisions after a recent meeting with coffee growers throughout the country. He said that they stemmed from assemblies of coffee producers in 15 states to discuss the old framework that dates from before the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999, and which last year produced only 1.6 million quintals. The National Coffee Council will address issues such as production and productivity, access to inputs, rural agriculture, pesticides, nancing, the creation and renovation of coffee facilities, the diversication of production, and land regulations.

Economic violators busted

Head of Venezuelas Institute for the Defense of People's Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis) Eduardo Saman has reiterated calls for businesses to abide by price regulations and refrain from misleading customers, after penalties were imposed on a number of businesses this month. According to Saman, the consumer protection agency found businesses increasing prices of imported merchandise by more than 200%. page 4
Politics

Maduro calls for more production, efciency & corruption crackdown

New ferry service to Margarita

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with members of his executive cabinet last Saturday to discuss economy, improvements in government services, and the continuation of the anti-corruption campaign that has marked the early months of his rst term. The Venezuelan President outlined a series of new initiatives being implemented by his administration to jump start the nation's economy and put the breaks on ination. Page 2 Venezuela has launched a new modern ferry to transport tourists & residents to Margarita Island. page 3
Economy

Celebrating free childrens health care

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrated the seven-year anniversary of the founding of the Dr. Gilberto Rodriguez Ochoa Latin American Childrens Cardiology Hospital, a facility built in the capital city of Caracas thanks to an initiative by the leader of Venezuelas Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez. The head of state said that the facility, which has helped save the lives of thousands of children, demonstrates the profound sense of love that inspired the revolution. He called for the nation to continue working to achieve a health system with great human and technical ability in order to ensure the best possible service following the model of the Cardiology Hospital. In its 7 years of operation, the Cardiology Hospital has performed more than 8,000 free procedures for Venezuelan children and children from other countries including Honduras, Colombia, and Nicaragua, to help strengthen ties among Latin American and Caribbean nations.

Fair prices for school supplies

Subsidized socialist school fairs are helping families prepare for the new academic year. page 5
Social justice

Communes to expand
The communal model is growing as Venezuelas revolution advances. page 6

2 Impact | .sFriday, August 23, 2013

The artillery of ideas

President Maduro meets with cabinet to boost production, efciency in government

T/ COI P/ Presidential Press

enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with members of his executive cabinet last Saturday to discuss economy, improvements in government services, and the continuation of the anti-corruption campaign that has marked the early months of his rst term. Its about making a great effort towards reform in order to achieve efciency, Maduro said during the encounter broadcast on state television. Present for the dialogue was Minister of Industry Ricardo Menendez, the new head of the Central Bank Eudomar Tovar, Food Minister Felix Osorio, Agriculture Minister Yvan Gil, President of the nations Foreign Exchange Commission (CADIVI) Jose Kahn, Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming, and Finance Minister Nelson Merentes. For much of the discussion, the Venezuelan President outlined a series of new initiatives being implemented by his administration to jump start the nations economy and put the breaks on ination. This includes placing greater emphasis on domestic production and manufacturing, which Central Bank President Tovar said will see signicant growth in the next trimester. Food security and agricultural expansion were other important points of conversation with cabinet members explaining plans for greater development of the governments national network of subsidized staple products and a strengthening of agrarian credits. According to Maduro, his administration has already approved a credit line of $150 million for the state-run agricultural supply chain Agropatria to boost access to inputs for small and medium sized producers. 150 million dollars so that we produce more, the head of state afrmed. The former union organizerturned president also described plans to facilitate greater acquisition of foreign exchange for businesses and to cut down on price gauging and speculation

in the private sector that forms part of what he called an economic war against the socialist government and the people of Venezuela. We are neutralizing the negative effects of an economic war that has been unleashed on the Venezuelan people... Were developing an economy with its sights on the future and were increasing investments, he stated.

EFFICIENCY OR NOTHING
During the discussions, President Maduro informed of a measure that will entail a meeting between himself and 200 leading public administrators

to devise new ways to enhance the day-to-day functions of the national government. The idea, the Venezuelan President said, is to promote the participation of public employees in the reformation of state services in order to promote the human qualities of government and provide greater efcacy for residents. Im calling for a training process, for a new state that is more efcient, that assists people, and that loves human beings. Love is what is going to allow us to change the anti-values of the civilization inherited [from past governments] into real human values of the new

civilization, the former union leader said. To further what he is calling a transformation of the Venezuelan government, Maduro proposed creating grassroots commissions made up of activists and ordinary citizens to provide feedback to administrators in each of the executives ministries. We are going to work under the true concept of Popular Power. In every ministry there must be a Popular Power Council. For example, there should be one made up of transport workers in the Ministry of Ground Transport. There should be a Council of Popular Power comprised of producers, small farmers, and agrarian workers in the Ministry of Land and Agriculture, the head of state asserted.

FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

Importantly, Maduro reiterated his intention on Saturday to seek Enabling Law powers that would permit him to pass legislation by decree for a limited period of time. The request has been made to the nations unicameral congress, the National Assembly, and must be approved by a

three-fths majority of the 165 members of the legislative body to go into effect. The Venezuelan President has urged the approval of the request in order to streamline measures designed to crackdown on corruption in the country. I am going to ask the president of the National Assembly for an Enabling Law in order to establish and deepen strict and severe regulations against corruption and to establish the most severe sentences for the crimes of money laundering, Maduro explained. Were going to inoculate our democracy and public life. Surely what we are going to do in Venezuela is going to serve as an example for brother countries on our continent, he added. The use of the constitutionally-sanctioned Enabling Law was frequent during the later years of the presidency of former head of state Hugo Chavez, who utilized the legal mandate to accelerate government programs and social services. While the idea has been rejected by members of the rightwing opposition, Maduro challenged the conservative factions to a public debate regarding the Enabling Law as well as the numerous charges of corruption that have been lodged against members of Venezuelas political elite. I have challenged the opposition to a public debate on this topic and above all on the topic of the charges that have been made, one by one if they want. It they want, well transmit the debate [live on all public radio and television stations] so that the people know the truth, he invited. For the Venezuelan President, the refusal by the opposition to concede decree powers is an indication of the dubious practices of members of the nations old political guard who, Maduro said, were accustomed to using the presidential palace as a house of business. [The opposition] is very desperate because they know that were going to catch them with their hands in the till. There will be no escaping it. The people will see, he declared.

The artillery of ideas

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| Politics

New ferry to improve access to major tourist destination in Venezuela

T/ COI P/ Agencies

enezuelas tourism industry saw yet another positive development last weekend when the eet of ferries that service the island destination of Margarita was augmented with the arrival of a new, fully modern and equipped ship. The Virgen del Valle II arrived at the port El Guamache on Saturday in the state of Anzoategui amidst enthusiastic crowds applauding the ferrys docking in the central Venezuelan state. The new ship, which has a capacity to transport 950 people and 350 vehicles, will link the city of Puerto La Cruz with Margarita Island in voyages that will last approximately two and a half hours. I had no idea it was going to be so big. This is a tremendous ship, said Gabriela Nunez, one of the spectators on hand last Saturday. Carlos Figueroa, Governor of the state of Nueva Esparta, informed that the purchase of the ferry was an outcome of the grassroots assemblies held by

the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The people of Margarita were clamoring for a new ferry and thats why the commitment was made during [the meetings of] the Street Government. The people are content with having an extremely modern and dignied ship, he said. The Virgen del Valle II is the rst of three new ferries that

are being added to the current eet of three ships that service Margarita Island. It cost $17 million euros ($22.6 million), was built by the Australian company Austal, and will perform two trips linking the island with the mainland every day. The seafaring upgrades are expected to increase the number of visitors to Margarita,

one of Venezuelas biggest tourist destinations, by 30 percent during high season. This ship represents a significant step towards the improvement of tourist resources for the island, towards sea travel, and towards making our economy dynamic. This is a machine of the latest technology and of high power, said Tourism Minister Andres Izarra.

The Minister for Sea and Air Transport, Hebert Garcia Plaza, commented that a fourth ship will be acquired which will connect the coast of La Guaira, close to the capital Caracas, with Margarita Island as well as other islands in the Caribbean. The goal, Plaza said, is to continue strengthening our nations tourism and, at the same time, follow through on the commitments made during the activities of the Street government. An additional $17 million have been allocated for the purchase of the new vessels. For the governor of the state of Anzoategui, Aristobulo Isturiz, the national governments investment in the central state makes clear its intention to convert the area into a port of call for the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) trade alliance. Isturiz cites the more than 600 million bolivars that have been spent by the Maduro administration in regional infrastructure development including airport modernization and the renovation of the port in Puerto La Cruz to back his claim. The overarching goal, the governor asserted, is to convert Venezuela into a powerful nation, just as was the objective and the legacy of our eternal Comandante [former President] Hugo Chavez.

UN recognizes Venezuela's move towards racial equality, eradication of poverty

T/ COI P/ Agencies enezuela was recognized last week during a meeting of the UNs Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for its progress in ghting ethnic prejudice, providing universal and free health care for its residents, and laying the groundwork for a more just and inclusive society. Venezuelan Vice President for Social Affairs, Hector Rodriguez represented the South American nation at the encounter in Geneva and reported to fellow cabinet members on Monday the reception awarded to his country. In general terms it was very positive, a tremendous recognition of the efforts that are being made in Venezuela, Rodriguez, who is also Youth Minister for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, said on Monday.

While no ofcial ranking of countries was released during the 83rd Session of the CERD, this is not the rst time that Venezuela has been applauded for its advances in social development by the UN. In June, the Food and Agricultural Organization granted a special acknowledgement to the OPEC member state for its reduction of poverty and its marked diminution of malnutrition within its borders. The progress has been due in large part to the more than 30 social programs, or missions, founded by former President Hugo Chavez who succumbed to cancer in March. Earlier this month, President Maduro announced a restructuring of the missions to achieve greater efciency and enhance services for the Venezuelan population. The topic of reorganizing represented an important agenda

item for the meeting held on Monday between Rodriguez and the eleven other ministers working in the executives Social Affairs Commission. As head of the executive commission, Rodriguez is charged with overseeing the streamlining of the programs that provide free education, health care and numerous other services to the population. According to Rodriguez, the genesis of the missions in the early 2000s was to provide a direct line of benets to the population from the executive branch by bypassing a corrupt and bureaucratic state, he asserted during an interview with the news agency Noticias24 last week. We still have this in many institutions and we must build an institutionalism that is more efcient, he said. Another important element in the restructuring of the

programs, the high functionary stated, will be designing initiatives that create productive enterprises that can encourage a platform for work. At the same time, Rodriguez rejected the idea that governments missions are instilling in the population a type of dependency on national welfare programs. There is always the critic who says that social policies generate dependencies on the

state. I dont believe this is true, he said. There are those who believe that the state should not invest in social issues, that such investment is too much of a cost. For us it is not a cost but an investment. For us, investing in education, culture or sports is development for society. What does the state exist for if not for giving us a more dignied life and for providing justice? What sense would it have otherwise? the minister asked.

4 Economy | .sFriday, August 23, 2013

The artillery of ideas

Venezuelas Indepabis busts businesses for unjustiable price hikes

al Airport at Maiquetia and La Chinita International Airport in Maracaibo would both receive new permanent inspectors as part of a push to strengthen consumer protection during the holiday season. We have a permanent presence in Maiquetia and La Chinita; we are overseeing airlines, delayed ights, overbooking of tickets, Saman said. During the Tves interview, Saman also issued a warning to restaurants nationwide, urging owners to ensure they are listed in the national registry system, and display accurate prices at the door. The restaurant must be registered... to avoid being penalized, Saman stated. He also warned hotels to ensure they honor bookings and are receptive to customer complaints. Saman said that members of the public have already contacted Indepabis complaining of hotels canceling bookings after payment has already been made by the client.

INDEPABIS RESTRUCTURE
While Saman indicated that his agency would be increasingly active over the holiday season, the institution has itself been undergoing restructuring since June. On June 9th, authorities reported they had allegedly uncovered an extortion ring operating within Indepabis in Caracas. On June 14th, President Nicolas Maduro announced that Indepabis would be overhauled. After being appointed to head Indepabis with a mandate to eradicate corruption in the body, Saman has since stated that the rst phase of internal assessment has been carried out, and an action plan is currently being developed. This follows the high prole relaunch of Indepabis on June 20th, when Saman stated that the agency would focus on collaborating with Cadivi to tackle illegal price hikes by retailers. In July, however, Saman had his authority to appoint Indepabis directors revoked by the commerce minister Alejandro Fleming, after he red numerous regional heads. At the time, Maduro urged Saman to negotiate with Fleming, and to stay rm in the ght against the maas who cause shortages. We came to an institution that was hit by corruption...an institution that was very run down, especially morally. When I arrived, we made across the board changes, nationally and regionally. Its like rebuilding a body to be able to walk, Saman said on Sunday.

T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim P/ Agencies ead of the Institute for the Defense of Peoples Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis) Eduardo Saman has reiterated calls for businesses to abide by price regulations and refrain from misleading customers, after penalties were imposed on a number of businesses this month. According to Saman, the consumer protection agency found one business increasing prices of imported merchandise by more than 200%, while failing to inform customers that the products had been purchased with dollars issued by the Commission for the Administration of Currency Exchange (Cadivi). Speaking to Tves TV Foro program on Sunday, Saman stated that the business, Pablo Electronica C.A had been found by inspectors to be imposing a monthly increase of 5% to 10% on prices of Panasonic goods.

These rises often exceeded monthly ination rates. The highest level of monthly ination since 2008 was recorded in May, at 6.1%. Since then, ination has declined each month. Saman stated that one Panasonic television on sale at Pablo Electronica had a marked price almost four times its original value. According to Saman, inspectors found that the TV had been purchased with dollars from the now defunct Transaction System for Foreign Currency Denominated Securities (Sitme) last December, at an exchange rate of 5.30 bolivars to $1. The retailer would have paid around 1500 bolivars for the TV, which was found by inspectors on sale for close to 13,000 bolivars. Even taking into account operating costs for the retailer, Saman argued that the maximum cost of the TV should be 3400 bolivars. Saman further stated that Pablo Electronica had allegedly failed

to notify customers that some products had been purchased with government issued dollars. It didnt say anywhere that any of the property was acquired with Cadivi dollars. It was the rst nding, for which [Pablo Electronica] was ned, Saman stated. Then on Monday, another business was ned by Indepabis. Indepabis coordinator for Inspection and Supervision in the Capital District, Cariana Garcia told AVN that an outlet of retailer Compumall had been found applying allegedly misleading labeling on some products. Garcia stated that investigators found that Compumall had imposed unjustiable increases in the marked price of some school supplies. We have been evaluating the prices of products such as notebooks, pencils and other school supplies...but there is a variation between [prices in] June, July and [last] September; why does this happen? These are old

products that were purchased in January or February, Garcia stated. This is unjustiable stuff were punishing, he said. According to Garcia, Compumall also used prohibited modes of labeling such as stickers attached to products, instead of stamping or marking a price directly on the merchandise. There are books which had their price tags removed and replaced with higher ones, due to the season, he stated. Garcia warned that the retailer had been given 24 hours to rectify the price discrepancies. He also stated that the bust came during a one-day crackdown on school supply retailers across the capital. However, these arent the only businesses under renewed scrutiny from the agency. New Indepabis staff will be permanently stationed at two of Venezuelas largest international airports. On Sunday, Saman announced that Simon Bolivar Internation-

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| Economy

Socialist school fairs guarantee equal access to school materials

T/ Ewan Robertson P/ Agencies

s the new school term approaches, the Venezuelan government is launching Socialist School Fairs across the country to guarantee families access to schooling goods at fair prices. At this time of year parents and guardians ock to clothing and stationary stores in search of notebooks, stationary, schoolbags and uniforms, which result in a signicant cost to family budgets. Furthermore, many of these stores mark up their prices to take advantage of the increase in demand in what authorities call speculative commercial practices. In response to this situation the governments Socialist School Fairs aim to cut out the intermediary and guarantee Venezuelan families, especially those on lower incomes, equal access to school materials. First launched in 2009, this year the school fair program will distribute 2,104,168 items over 48 product groups, enough to equip around 175,000 children and teenagers. According to the Ministry of Commerce, these products offer savings of 26 to 60% compared with the commercial price. Speaking to media last Saturday, commerce minister Alejandro Fleming said that so far the school fairs have been a great success. As in every year, everything the [Bolivarian] revolution does is successful, even if the right-wing media make this invisible. This is the only country where a government has honored the right to education, not with rhetoric, but with visible acts, the minister declared. A total of 592 national producers of school materials are participating in the program this year, comprising small, medium and social property companies. The fairs will take places in all of Venezuelas 24 territorial entities in different phases between August 15th and September 14th. In the Socialist School Fair in central Caracas, which opened last week, members of the public can choose goods in 48 separate

shops, while cultural and recreational activities have been organized for children.

FIGHTING SPECULATION
Alongside the school fairs, the government also employs a strategy of monitoring prices in commercial stores in order to break the speculative price

schemes imposed by the private sector on consumers of school materials at this time of year. The governments Institute for the Defense of People in Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis) is currently conducting inspections of stationary stores to ensure that retailers

are not marking up prices or introducing misleading offers to consumers. Some stationary storeowners claim that a lack of government-issued foreign currency and consequent shortage of supply of goods is what is causing the increase in stationary prices.

The most repeated phrase [heard in stationary stores] is sold out, and its because of the shortage of foreign currency which is causing a lack of control on sales, as well as a great economic loss, said Juan Carlos Torres, manager of a stationary store in San Mateo, Aragua state. However the president of Muns Investments in the city of Maracay, Franklin Tivamoso, said that commercial school fairs in his area are not affected by lack of supply. The businessman added that while his stores sell products at low prices compared with the street price, the price of school materials is higher than last year. Meanwhile, on Monday Indepabis issued a ne of 160,500 bolivars ($25,887) to a store in the Compumall chain for engaging in speculative commercial practices. These included marking up set prices on stationary goods with stickers and using misleading offers, such as products which contained less items than advertised on the packaging. Speaking to news agency AVN, Indepabis Coordinator of Inspections for the Capital District, Cariana Garcia, used the opportunity to warn other establishments not to engage in the same practices. This call is to all stores, to stationary stores: dont speculate on the prices of school materials, she said.

Government continues to tackle enduring mild food shortages

T/ Paul Dobson P/ Agencies espite the situation of shortages having improved greatly since the presidential elections in April, the Venezuelan government announced various measures this week which will further address some of the enduring shortages in basic food items the country has suffered this year. Vice-Minister for Political Food Sovereignty, Rafael Coronado, revealed that the series of meetings with representatives from the private food sector, initiated in May by President Maduro, are continuing with positive results. They are addressing the issues of stockpiling, shortages, distribution, and production levels. We are working hand in hand with them to correct all

of the details which are arising, stated Coronado. It is a daily battle, where the elements who are disaffected with the government look to generate angst in the population, removing the products from their normal distribution channels, speculating in an immeasurable way. Coronado highlighted that distribution problems have caused certain shortages in some sectors, and that a plan of action is being developed. He also mentioned that the informal re-selling of regulated goods is causing rapid shortages in supermarkets. Under this scheme of the extraction of food items in a permanent and continuous manner, it is very complicated to keep the isles stocked, explained Coronado. The informal selling is affecting us all, especially in

terms of price speculation. Its not justied that a product with a regulated price often triples its sale price. Another problem government is addressing, explained Coronado, is the contraband goods to Colombia. The Maduro administration recently declared the border zones of strategic national importance and is cracking down on contraband. Finally, explained Coronado, certain producers have complained that related products necessary in their production

are hard to nd, such as plastic covering, tin casings, or polypropylene holders. We are going to review all of these issues between the Ministries of Food Sovereignty and Industry and Commerce. We are going to call on the private producers who produce plastic, cardboard, etc., to see what their difculties are and take corresponding actions, be they permits or foreign currencies, so that these themes dont affect the nal stocking of products.

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The artillery of ideas

Maduro: Greater Government support for Venezuelas communes needed

T/ Ewan Robertson venezuelanalysis. com P/ Presidential Press

regional and local media and that nothing like any ministry or institution created up until now reected the aims or needs of the commune movement.

ECONOMIC ROLE
Speaking Friday in a town in the Andean state of Merida, Maduro argued that the communes should be central to a new productive economic model in Venezuela. Every communal council and every commune should aim to be an organized [group of] people, that develops an economically productive socialism, he stated. He further argued that these bodies should help meet the needs of the local community, playing an important role in local economic and social life. As part of the televised broadcast, the President approved 100,000 bolivars (US $16,129) for the Ezequiel Zamora commune in Merida state, in part for the commune to organize repairs to a nearby aqueduct.

enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on his government to give greater support to the construction of communes in the country, proposing several initiatives by which this could be done. The head of state also announced a complete restructuring of his government. Speaking on his weekly television show, Bolivarian Dialogue, Maduro urged his cabinet to work to consolidate and expand the construction of communes in Venezuela. Lets make the issue of the communes into a central issue for the construction of territorial socialism, concrete socialism, where we all contribute to the construction of the communes, [and] support and consolidate those communes already established, he said. Maduro entrusted this task of government to Vice President Jorge Arreaza, Communes Minister Reinaldo Iturriza, and Communication and Information Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Established and consolidated communes must be transformed into a vanguard which goes out to construct, and with their example, educate, motivate, form and support the construction of new communes, added the President. Communes in Venezuela have their origin in communal councils, which are grassroots bodies composed of members of the local community. These bodies are self-managing and receive public funds to undertake community projects and small-scale public works. Communes, meanwhile, are made up of groups of community councils, and are able to take on larger scale projects and further develop mechanisms of local self-governance. While there are currently over 44,000 registered communal councils, there are only around 200 established or developing communes in the country.

construction of communes and countrys grassroots democracy more widely. One of these was the establishment of a vice ministry dedicated to the spreading of information about the experiences of Venezuelas communes and other social movements. This task was given to minister for communications, Delcy Rodriguez, with the new body to be named The Communications Vice Ministry of Communes and Peoples Power. A second proposal was for the creation of a national television channel for communes, which will be dedicated to sharing information about the work and daily life of communes and community councils. Were going to design a national television channel, Com-

mune TV, so that the life of the communal councils and communes can be seen. It would be a subject that could produce endless documentaries, news and music programs, stated Maduro. The Venezuelan President entrusted the coordination of this project to the ministers of communes, communication and science and technology, and explained that such a channel could operate nationally on the new Open Digital Television (TDA) service. In 2009 the government established the Ministry of Communes and in 2010 passed the Communes Law. However, in a cabinet meeting in October 2012 late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez critized his government for not doing enough

to support the construction of communes. Where are the communes? Chavez asked his then vice president Nicolas Maduro, adding that he was considering eliminating the Ministry of Communes altogether. The National Network of Communes responded to these comments in a written statement, in which they afrmed that communes were being constructed across the country, and that we are constructing the communes through our own knowledge and actions, because we aspire towards a communal way of life, as a community, in socialism or communism. The network also argued that almost nothing about this appears in the national,

GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING
Maduro also proposed a complete restructuring of his government in order to optimize its functioning and better achieve stated objectives. Prior to this restructuring, an evaluation of the pertinence, functions and organization of existing government ministries will be undertaken. Weve inherited the structure of the bourgeois government, the bourgeois state. We need to erect a new structure, the President declared. Part of this restructuring will be a greater focus by ministries on mechanisms of grassroots power. We call ourselves ministries of peoples power. We have to be ministries of peoples power, Maduro exhorted.

New communes to launch in Venezuelan capital

T/ Ewan Robertson mass grassroots electoral operation is being organized to elect spokespeople for communal councils and twenty new communes in Venezuelas capital, Caracas. The operation has drawn national media attention as these will be the rst communal elections to use the National Electoral Councils (CNE) electronic voting system. The director of the CNEs Ofce for Citizen Participation,

VICE MINISTRY & TELEVISION CHANNEL

Nicolas Maduro proposed several initiatives for the government to better support the

Joen Keiler Jimenez, explained to the media last Monday that while the CNE is providing equipment and technical support, it is the communal councils, through their own electoral commissions, that carry out the elections. The capital-wide communal electoral operation is a result of cooperation between communal councils, the CNE, and the governments Foundation for Communal Power and Development (Fundacomunal), with the aim being to elect new

spokespeople to the citys communal councils. This will be followed by elections to choose the spokespeople and founding charters of twenty new communes in Caracas. The communes will then be able to formally register with the Ministry of Communes. Communes in Venezuela are participatory democratic bodies that promote local selfgovernance and undertake public projects to develop the community. The Communes Law, which was passed in 2010, sets the legal framework for their formation and their functioning. The rst elections of the communal electoral opera-

tion in Caracas will take place on September 22 in the 23 de Enero district, when twenty-seven communal councils will choose the spokespeople of the new Socialist Faith and Simon Bolivar communes. Each commune will contain twelve commissions of two members each, with around 50 spokespeople to be elected overall. It is estimated that over 5,500 local citizens will participate in the vote. Legra Serrano of the Simon Bolivar Commune highlighted that, Its necessary for the population to actively participate, not only in the vote, but also [to create] the communal structure.

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| Analysis

Dispatch from catatumbo

Capitalism, genocide & Colombia

T/ Dan Kovalik P/ Agencies just returned from Catatumbo, Colombia where thousands of peasants are waging a lifeand-death struggle against the US-backed Colombian military and its paramilitary allies. For over 60 days, the peasants have been demonstrating against the deplorable living conditions and economic circumstances in which they live, and in support of their proposal for a Peasant Farmer Reserve Zone of 10 million hectares. Such a zone, which is provided for under the law, would allow the peasants to engage in subsistence farming free of the threat of encroachment by extractive companies desiring to mine or drill on their land. This demand, along with the concomitant demand of the peasants for all mining and oil exploration and extraction in their region to be suspended, is critical to the peasants who are being driven to the verge of extinction. According to the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers Collective (CALCP), 11,000 peasants have been killed in this region by state and para-state forces, most of them during the 2002-2010 term of President of Alvaro Uribe, and over 100,000 peasants, out of a total of around 300,000, have been forcibly displaced. At least 32 mass graves containing the bodies of murdered peasant activists have been found in this region in recent years. And, this mass murder and displacement is being carried

out to make way for more oil drilling, African palm cultivation (for biodiesel) and for coal mining by North American companies. I say that this mayhem is being carried out, in part, in order to make way for more oil drilling because, in fact, much oil drilling has been taking place there for the past 70 years. The peasants of this region have nothing to show for this many years of drilling. After 70 years of oil exploration, the rural parts of this region do not even have a paved road. In addition, there is no sewage system, no running water and no health services. Indeed, peasants injured in their confrontations with the military and police during the two months of demonstrations with the peasants defending themselves with sticks against the guns, tanks and other USsupplied hardware of the military and police have been forced to ee into Venezuela for refuge and medical services. In short, the oil and other extractive companies, beginning with Texaco in the 1930s, have taken and taken, and left the people with nothing. Now, the companies want even more, and it is the very existence and presence of the peasants which stands in their way. And so, quite logically, the companies, with the help of the US-backed military and paramilitaries, are aiming to literally wipe the peasants off the map. In other words, these forces are engaged in a calculated act of genocide.

YOUNG PEASANTS OF CATATUMBO IN REBELLION

The calculated mass killing and displacement that is taking place in Catatumbo is a good example of the phenomenon discussed in the new book, Capitalism: A Structural Genocide by Garry Leech. In that book, Leech argues, and quite forcefully, that capitalism, left to its own devices, will inevitably destroy (1) those who stand in the way of the exploitation of natural resources; and (2) those individuals, such as peasants and subsistent farmers, who are engaged in pursuits which neither contribute towards economic growth nor produce surplus value or prot. Of course, the peasants of Catatumbo fall into both of these categories simultaneously, and are therefore a double threat. Citing Indian physicist and philosopher Vandana Shiva, Leech explains that, under capitalism, nothing has value until it enters the market. Shiva points out that under capitalism if you consume what you produce, you do not really produce, at least not economically speaking. If I grow my own food, and do not sell it, then this does not contribute to GDP, and so does not contribute towards growth. Rather, for such subsistence farmers, nature exists as a commons. The commons, moreover, and those who work on it, are simply not permitted under capitalism. As Leech and Shiva explain, those working the commons must either be incorporated often through coercion into

the ever-widening spheres of production and circulation, or they must be simply be destroyed. This process, as Leech explains, is what Karl Marx termed, primitive accumulation, and it is quite a nasty process, wherever it is carried out. Leech explains that, as capitalism was beginning to get into full swing in Britain in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the British Parliament passed a series of Enclosure Acts which privatized commonly held lands and prevented much of the generations-old practice of grazing their animals and cultivating their crops on commonly held lands, thereby forcing them to move to the cities in search of jobs. More recently, as Leech astutely points out, Mexico outlawed communal land titles for indigenous peoples in order to make way for NAFTA. As Leech explains, and as many of us have argued for years, a major raison dtre of NAFTA was in fact the primitive accumulation of the commons of millions of small farmers in Mexico. This primitive accumulation was carried out by NAFTAs provisions which allowed heavily-subsidized, and therefore cheap, agricultural products from North America to ood the Mexican markets tariff-free. Meanwhile, the IMF rules governing Mexico forbid that country from subsidizing its own agricultural producers. As Leech explains, the results for 2 million small farmers in Mexico, who could not compete with the subsidized food from

the North, was devastating, with these small farmers losing their livelihood and their land and eeing into the cities, or illegally into the US. Finding themselves displaced from their land, many were left with no jobs at all, found themselves exploited in low paying jobs with poor safety and health practices, or turned to the drug trade for employment. The result for Mexico as a whole has been the destruction of the social fabric of the nation and increased violence, with cities like Juarez suffering violence levels comparable to nations at war. Leech mentions that Colombia has become Latin Americas poster child over the past decade and its economic growth has been driven by the exploitation of the countrys natural resources, particularly oil, coal and gold, by foreign companies. Colombia now has the largest internally displaced population in the world at over 5 million. As Leech explains, [m]any have been forced from their lands by direct physical violence related to the countrys armed conict often by the Colombian military and right-wing paramilitary groups serving the interests of multinational corporations. However, many others have become economic refugees due to the structural violence inherent in neoliberal policies that has dispossessed them of their lands in order to facilitate capital accumulation for foreign companies. The peasants of Catatumbo have long been the victims of such direct as well as structural violence, but now they are ghting back to defend their land. For 53 days, these peasants, armed only with sticks, blocked the main highway linking the cities of Cucuta and Tibu. Shortly after our visit, the government agreed to negotiate with them directly, and the peasants ended this blockade for now. However, they will begin it anew if talks fail. While the Colombian Minister of Defense warned us not to travel this highway because of these protests, the peasants freely allowed us to pass. Of course, as all of us understood, what the Colombian government was truly afraid of was that we would witness that it is in fact the peasants who are on the side of right; that it is they who are defending the land, the water and the rainforests for all of us. And, this is why their struggle, and the struggles of others like them, must succeed. In truth, our very lives and future depend on them.

INTERNATIONAL

Friday, August 23, 2013 | N 172 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

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Opinion
T/ Mark Weisbrot

Miranda Rights

ith a few exceptions, most of Europe hasnt had an independent foreign policy for the past 70 years, and the UK stands out as a prime example of this. I remember discussing British foreign policy with a UK Member of Parliament a few years ago, and he said to me, Do you want to know what the Foreign Ofce is going to do? Just ask the (US) State Department. The British government proved its rst loyalty once again by detaining Glenn Greenwalds Brazilian partner, David Miranda, under the UKs Terrorism Act 2000 as he passed through Londons Heathrow airport on Sunday. He was interrogated for the maximum of 9 hours and his laptop, cell phone, and other stores of digital information were seized. It is clear that Miranda was not suspected of any connection to terrorism. To detain and rob Miranda on this pretext is no more legal than to have done so on trumped up allegations that he was transporting cocaine. The White House has admitted that Washington had advance knowledge of the crime, and so we can infer approval if not active collaboration. It is interesting, too, because the UK government had previously kept a relatively low public prole on the Snowden case, despite the fact that Snowden had leaked les from its own intelligence gathering and not just the NSAs. Until Sunday it looked as though the British authorities had learned at least a little bit about public relations after their international embarrassment last year, when they threatened to invade Ecuadors embassy in order to capture Julian Assange. Although they are still keeping Assange trapped in the Ecuadorean embassy, illegally, and presumably at the behest of you know who. And the editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, now reveals that the UK government, at the highest levels, has been very seriously threatening and harassing his newspaper in an attempt to silence it. At the other end of the spectrum of national sovereignty are the independent nations

What Europe could learn from Latin Americas independence

of Latin America, three of whom have ofcially offered Snowden asylum, and others who would never turn him over to the United States if he were to land on their territory (or in their embassies). These governments have played a signicant role in the Snowden affair and NSA spying scandal because they have achieved a second independence over the past 15 years that enables them to pursue an autonomous foreign policy. The exercise of this new independence is largely ignored or, more often, denigrated in the major media as populist demagoguery. But it is easy to see that the problem is much deeper than that. Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota demanded answers from UK foreign sec-

retary William Hague over the detention of David Miranda. Last week, at a news conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Brazil, Patriota spoke of a shadow of distrust caused by Snowden and Greenwalds revelations that Brazilian citizens were a major target of NSA surveillance. He called for the Obama administration to stop practices that violate sovereignty. Patriota was previously Brazils ambassador to Washington and nobody can accuse him of holding a grudge against the United States. Brazils President Dilma Rousseff had also expressed her indignation over what Bolivia described as the kidnapping of President Evo

Morales by the European governments who forced down his plane last month on the basis of false allegations that he was transporting Edward Snowden. We believe this constitutes not only the humiliation of a sister nation but of all South America, said Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) also issued a strong denunciation. Brazil is the main target of Washingtons most recent charm offensive, with President Dilma Rouseff scheduled for an ofcial state visit in October the rst by a Brazilian president in nearly two decades. The US does not even have ambassadorial relations

with Bolivia or Venezuela. But the US attempt to improve relations with Brazil is not going any better than its diplomatic efforts with the other left governments of the region. This is not because these governments wouldnt want better relations they all, including Venezuela, have signicant trade and commercial relations with the US and would like to expand these. The problem is that Washington has still not accepted Latin Americas second independence, and expects its southern neighbors to behave in the same embarrassingly obedient way as Europe. And US ofcials still dont understand that they are dealing with a team they cant be hostile or aggressive towards one country and expect the others to give them a big hug. So we cannot expect better relations between Washington and its southern neighbors any time soon. On the positive side, Latin America has done quite well over the past decade, since its people became free enough to elect left governments, which have subsequently led the ght for independence and transformed regional relations. Regional povertydropped from 41.5 to 29.6 percent from 2003-2009, after showing no signicant improvement for more than 20 years. Income per person has grown by more than 2 percent annually over the past decade, as opposed to just 0.3 percent over the prior 20 years, when Washingtons inuence over economic policy in Latin America was enormous. The left governments detractors attribute these improvements to a commodities boom, but this is just a fraction of the story. The region would never have seen such improvements in employment and poverty reduction if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were still calling the shots. As for Europes leaders, well, they have nothing to lose but their national dignity, which they dont seem to value very highly. But the world will be a better and safer place when Europe, like most of Latin America, declares its independence from Washington.