ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONAL Friday, November 29, 2013 | N 185 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.

ve
With aims of democratizing technology and promoting access to information for youth in
the country, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced his governments plan to
distribute free tablet computers to students pursuing higher education. The devices will
be made available thanks to an accord signed between the Venezuelan government and
the Korean rm Samsung that will see the construction of an electronics assembly plant
on Venezuelan soil. In addition to the tablets, free wireless Internet service will also be
available to students in every higher education classroom in the country. Page 2
Transforming
communities
Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro introduced
Monday the next phase
of a plan to transform
the countrys poorer
neighborhoods and
improve their inhabitants
quality of life. The
program, called Mission
Barrio Nuevo, Barrio
Tricolor, seeks to renovate
and beautify Venezuelas
barrios: the name given
to urban communities
made up of informal
housing which
traditionally lacked
adequate public
services. Pg. 4
Economy
Deals made with Dutch
Monarchy
The King and Queen of
Holland visited Venezuela
this week to strengthen
relations. P.3
Politics
A revolutionary oil policy
Venezuela should use its oil
and status to ght against
US imperialism, says oil
minister. P.5
Politics
Communes ratied
nationwide
Community groups
are building socialism
through inter-linked
councils and grassroots
organizations. P.6
Opinion
Violence plagues
Honduran Elections page 8
Analysis
Low turnout in opposition protest
against economic measures page 7
Scholarships and Resources
for Students a priority in Venezuela
Venezuela: 2nd highest
university enrollment in
Latin America
T/ AVN
The President of Venezu-
ela, Nicolas Maduro, high-
lighted the growth in univer-
sity enrollment throughout
the country, which has been
achieved through Bolivarian
government policies.
Venezuela is second in Lat-
in America and the Caribbean
in terms of university enroll-
ment. This wasnt the case
ten years ago. Today, we have
2.6 million youths studying
in universities. First is Cuba,
and following [Venezuela] are
Ecuador, Bolivia and Uru-
guay, he announced on Mon-
day in a graduation ceremony
for students from the Latin
American School of Medicine
(ELAM) in Caracas.
Maduro indicated that the
country currently has 17,790
students enrolled in com-
prehensive communitar-
ian medicine programs in
institutions throughout the
country.
The Bolivarian University
of Venezuela has 3,670 stu-
dents in its medical school;
the National Experimental
University of the Armed
Forces (Unefa) has 2,242
people studying medicine;
2,552 study in Francisco de
Miranda University; 3,800 in
Ezequiel Zamora University;
3,250 in Romulo Gallegos
University and 2,276 in Rafa-
el Maria Baralt University.
GROWING ELAM
President Maduro also en-
couraged the training of doc-
tors through ELAM, a Latin
American project that came
about through an agreement
with the Cuban government.
It is not just about con-
tinuing one project. A true
revolution is measured by
its capacity to multiply a
project, to improve it. We
have to multiply the num-
ber of students in the Latin
American School of Medi-
cine by a factor of thou-
sands, he urged.
Reducing gender
violence
According to Andreina Tarazon,
Minister for Women and Gender
Equality, Venezuela has conside-
rably reduced violence against
women thanks to Bolivarian laws.
She made this declaration in ob-
servance of International Day to
End Violence against Women.
In these 14 years of Bolivarian
Revolution, we have progressed
with new legal tools and new pu-
blic policies that not only punish
violence against women, but
they also help prevent it, she
highlighted.
After the Law for the Right of
Women to Live Free from Vio-
lence was passed in 2006, Ve-
nezuela experienced a qualitative
jump in reducing statistics re-
lated to violence. In comparing
2012 to 2013, there is a subs-
tantial reduction in the rates and
complaints, she said.
Gender violence is a complex
topic. Not all victims le com-
plaints because of cultural pres-
sures Venezuela is not among
the countries with the highest
rates of violence against wo-
men, like Spain or Mexico, whe-
re the statistics are alarming,
she indicated.
Venezuela counts on 108 spe-
cial prosecutors and 50 courts
that handle cases of violence
against women.
The artillery of ideas
2 Impact | Friday, November 29, 2013
T/ COI
P/ Presi dential Press
W
ith aims of democratiz-
ing technology and pro-
moting access to infor-
mation for youth in the country,
Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro announced last Thurs-
day his governments plan to
distribute free tablet comput-
ers to students pursuing higher
education.
The revelation was made
during a rally held outside the
Presidential Palace of Mira-
ores in celebration of Ven-
ezuelas National University
Student Day.
We are ready to begin deliv-
ering personal tablets to uni-
versity students for their stud-
ies. This is an investment that
were going to make in order to
continue strengthening access
to the most advanced technol-
ogy of the era, the head of state
said to the crowd gathered out-
side the presidential palace.
The devices will be made
available thanks to an accord
signed between the Venezuelan
government and the Korean
rm Samsung last Wednesday
that will see the construction of
an electronics assembly plant
on Venezuelan soil.
The factory will operate as
part of a mixed company in
which the Venezuelan state will
maintain a 51 percent share of
the enterprise.
Were going to develop the
technology here in Venezuela
[as part of our] national produc-
tion, Maduro explained.
In addition to the tablets, the
former union leader announced
his administrations intent to
make wireless Internet service
available to students in every
higher education classroom in
the country.
Vice President of Social Af-
fairs, Hector Rodriguez, along
with the Minister of Univer-
sity Education, Pedro Calza-
dilla, and Education Minister
Maryann Hansson have been
charged with making the proj-
ect a reality.
Now with the tablets that
we are going to give to our
university students, we need
to strengthen all of our inter-
communication for study and
research, Maduro said.
Similar educational programs
aimed at expanding technology
for students have been launched
in the past by Venezuelas social-
ist government.
The Canaima initiative,
started by President Hugo
Chavez, has provided hun-
dreds of thousands of mini-
laptop computers to grade
school students and has been
hailed by the United Nations
as an educational example for
countries around the world.
Millions of free textbooks
have also been published for
grade-schoolers in recent years
and numerous other programs
have been created to provide
educational opportunities to
residents who would otherwise
be unable to earn a high school
or college degree.
The massive spending has
converted Venezuela into the
country with the highest public
investment in education in Lat-
in America as a full seven per-
cent of the OPEC nations GDP
is dedicated to the social area.
MORE SCHOLARSHIPS
While Venezuelas constitu-
tion, ratied in 1999, codies
access to a free public educa-
tion as a human right, the
current government has been
attentive to the tertiary costs
of studying.
It has thus created a num-
ber of scholarship schemes to
provide recourses to students
from underprivileged popula-
tions and has pledged to main-
tain this trend through the
coming year.
From 1998 to 2013, weve
increased scholarships by 275
percent. And this will contin-
ue. Nobody is going to stop us,
President Maduro remarked
after informing supporters of
a further expansion of univer-
sity grants on Thursday.
The head of state declared
that the overall number of
scholarships will rise from
164,000 to 200,000 in the com-
ing year and will include a
boost in the number of nanc-
ing opportunities for those
studying abroad.
Through the governments
Field General of Ayacucho
program, named after inde-
pendence hero Antonio Jose de
Sucre, postgraduate students
studying for advanced degrees
outside Venezuela will be pro-
vided with ten thousand new
funding prospects.
We are going to train stu-
dents in careers that are fun-
damental for the development
of the country and that are
strategic for the needs of the
Venezuelan government grants tablets,
more scholarships to university students
homeland, the Venezuelan
President assured.
A BREAK WITH THE PAST
During Thursdays rally, Ma-
duro drew a contrast between
the university policies of previ-
ous governments and the range
of programs being offered
through the socialist platform.
This year, 2.6 million stu-
dents are attending univer-
sity. During the nal 10 years
of neoliberalism [in the 1980s
and 1990s] the opposite was the
case. University matriculation
was disappearing to the point
that public education had al-
most disappeared, he remind-
ed the crowd.
According to the head of
state, Venezuela has increased
university enrollment by 216
percent since the socialists rst
came to power in 1998.
The 51 year-old also recom-
mended that todays students
review the history of repres-
sion that the youth confronted
during the twentieth century, a
time when activists where per-
secuted, imprisoned, and even
murdered by the governments
of the day.
It has been calculate that
more than three thousand
university and high school
students were captured and
disappeared. There was erce
repression unleashed against
youth who wanted true revolu-
tionary changes, who dreamed
of a real popular democracy in
which the right to study was
guaranteed, in which control
over the nations oil was recov-
ered, Maduro said.
The only way to inoculate
youth and the future from any
kind of fascist pretension is for
youth of today to know about
the massacres of the 1950s, 60s
and 70s, he added.
The student struggles of the
past have been vindicated, the
head of the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela asserted, by
the educational reforms started
by the late Hugo Chavez and
which continue to form one of
the pillars of the current gov-
ernments social policy.
I want young people to un-
derstand with certainty that
only in socialism is it possible
to guarantee access to public
education. Do you think these
rights could be guaranteed in
capitalism? Never. Only in so-
cialism, afrmed Maduro.
The artillery of ideas
Friday, November 29, 2013 | Economy 3
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
T
housands of small and medi-
um-sized Venezuelan busi-
nesses heeded the national
governments call last weekend
to enroll in a new registry de-
signed to protect local produc-
ers and retailers from usury
and price gouging.
The initiative is part of Presi-
dent Nicolas Maduros offensive
against importers, distributors
and wholesalers who have been
raising prices exponentially
and speculating against the na-
tional currency, the bolivar.
Referring to the usury and
destabilization as a compo-
nent of an economic war be-
ing waged against the socialist
government in Venezuela, the
head of state expressed his con-
tentment for the progress of the
registry on Sunday evening.
I have received reports that
the Commercial Registry has
gotten off to a great start. Thou-
sands have enrolled in the shop-
ping malls and public squares
of the country. We keep mov-
ing forward, Maduro wrote
via his twitter account.
The enrollment points have
been set up to compile a record
of rms that will help aid the
government in identifying sup-
pliers and retail outlets who
are taking advantage of the
nations preferential exchange
rate to overcharge consumers
and small businesses.
According to Brut Linares,
President of the state-run rural
development foundation, Ciara,
the registry will be an important
tool in the governments efforts
to protect the purchasing power
of the Venezuelan population.
Were going to have a data-
base of businesses and were
going to be able to trace, with
much more detail, what the
steps in the production chain
are and what the real costs
of production and distribu-
tion of certain a product is
in order to make sure prof-
its dont exceed 30 percent,
Linares said.
Venezuelan Vice President,
Jorge Arreaza, commented
on Sunday that the inscrip-
tions are happening at a good
pace and that the measure is
intended to bolster commerce
at the local level.
Its to protect you (small
and medium-sized business-
es) from the big rms, from
the speculation that comes
from the commerce chain,
from imports, from the sup-
pliers and wholesalers... This
registry is going to primarily
protect you but we are also
working as a team in order to
provide nancing, Arreaza
informed.
The database initiative has
been accompanied by inspec-
tions across the country that
have led to a lowering of pric-
es for many products includ-
ing appliances, shoes, and
automotive parts.
In many cases, retailers
have voluntarily reduced
costs without the need for
state intervention.
The head of the nations Fair
Price and Cost Commission,
Karlin Granadillo, praised
those establishments for their
compliance, but noted that the
problem of speculation is wide-
Maduro: Venezuelan business
registry off to great start
spread and will require con-
stant vigilance on the part of
the government and the popu-
lation to combat.
This is a very positive ef-
fect. However, we must re-
main on top of all the estab-
lishments and the complaints
that have been made by the
public in order to put in place
the necessary measures,
Granadillo said.
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
V
enezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro and his wife Cilia
Flores received Dutch King
Willem Alexander and Queen
Maxima last Saturday for an of-
cial visit that saw the strength-
ening of bilateral relations be-
tween the two countries.
We welcome this visit which
we value very highly and we are
grateful to be able to reactivate
our different areas of coopera-
tion and friendship, President
Maduro said upon greeting the
king and queen.
Saturdays meeting follows
the signing in June of a Mem-
orandum of Understanding
between Venezuelan Foreign
Minister Elias Jaua and his
Dutch counterpart Frans Tim-
mermas, outlining the political
will to foster greater relations.
Mike Eman, Prime Minister
of Aruba, and Daniel Hodge,
Prime Minster of Curacao,
were also party to the accord
which seeks to advance mutual
assistance in energy, agricul-
ture and tourism.
Certainly we are pleased
to anticipate the possibility
of positive cooperation, espe-
cially regarding the memo-
randum that has already been
signed, King Willem-Alexan-
der said during his visit.
One of the examples of this
cooperation is that which al-
ready exists between the coast
guards of our countries, the
monarch added.
According to President
Maduro, Saturdays talks
addressed the fight against
drug trafficking and the pro-
motion of commercial ties by
linking the Common Market
of the South (MERCOSUR)
trade bloc with the Europe-
an Union.
Venezuela currently occupies
the pro tempore presidency
of the MERCOSUR alliance,
which additionally consists of
Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina,
and Paraguay.
Maduro described the area
that the alliance encompasses
as a peaceful zone of good
neighbors and permanent col-
laboration.
The head of state extended
this spirit of solidarity to Wil-
lem Alexander and Maxima
upon their arrival.
We hope that they feel at
home in our country and that
they see this land as their land
also, Maduro said.
The king and queen were
welcomed with a concert per-
formed by Venezuelas youth
orchestra at the Presidential
Palace of Miraores.
The program included a ren-
dition of the Dutch national an-
Dutch monarchs visit Venezuela to promote
cooperation in energy, commerce
them, Wilhelmus, recognized
as the oldest in the world.
The Dutch king expressed his
gratitude for the performance
and praised the exceptional tal-
ent of Venezuelas orchestra.
I would like to thank you for
this magnicent and impres-
sive reception that we have
had today. Its very difcult to
perform the national anthem
of our country and it has been
truly excellent the manner in
which you have interpreted it,
he commented.
For his part, President Ma-
duro also thanked the orches-
tra, which he asserted has
transmitted such force and
power that could only come
from the heart.
We want to thank you for
having brought us so much
love in the form of music. It
has been a great gift, the so-
cialist leader said.
Willem Alexander became the
monarch of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, which includes Cu-
racao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten,
in April upon the abdication of
his mother Beatrix.
Saturdays royal visit was part
of a regional tour realized by
Willem Alexander and Maxima
that included stops in the Neth-
erlands Caribbean territories.
Since I have become king,
I have dedicated myself to vis-
iting allied countries, among
them Venezuela. We will con-
tinue to strengthen our co-
operation, the king afrmed
last weekend.
The artillery of ideas
4 Social Justice | Friday, November 29, 2013
T/ Paul Dobson
P/ Presidential Press
T
he rst batch of doctors to
graduate from the Latin
American Medical School Sal-
vador Allende (ELAM), located
on the outskirts of Caracas, re-
ceived their degree certicates
directly from President Maduro
this week, following the culmi-
nation of their six-year course.
The graduating students are
the rst to complete the rigor-
ous program after the Univer-
sity was established in 2007, in-
cluding four years of classroom,
and two of work placement.
The ELAM receives students
from previously excluded sec-
tors of the Venezuelan society,
but has become famous for
fullling the internationalist
medical model of Che Guevara-
receiving students from across
the globe, training them, and
returning them to their home
nations to practice what they
have learned. It was built by
the ALBA alliance following
the success of its predecessor in
Havana, Cuba.
In this rst graduation cer-
emony, 108 students from Boliv-
ia graduated, 41 from Brazil, 29
from Peru, 24 from Colombia, 17
from Paraguay, 15 from Nicara-
gua, 14 from Ecuador, 12 from
Chile, 6 from el Salvador, 3 from
Surinam, 1 from Uruguay and 1
from Argentina. There are cur-
rently students enrolled from
the Middle East, Africa, and
Asia, including an important
presence of Palestinians.
Now you must return to your
lands, to your people because
now you form part of a power-
ful army of dignity, of peace,
an example of that it is possible
to construct an alternative
world, underlined Maduro at
the graduation ceremony.
The ELAM also has a signi-
cant representation of indig-
enous students, allowing for-
merly excluded groups to break
through the social boundaries
which previously inhibited
them from such professions.
Maduro expressed his plea-
sure in graduating the rst
Chilean Mapuche doctor from
the University: to the rst
Mapuche Indian to graduate
in Comprehensive Medicine, a
shaman of the Mapuche Indi-
ans, hunted for centuries. She
graduated dressed in toga and
mortarboard, she looks beauti-
ful, congratulations.
The President reminded the
newly qualied doctors that
the rst graduation from the
ELAM was a dream of Hugo
Chavez he didnt live to see in
person. When I gave in your
deserved certicate to each of
you, I felt a great emotion, be-
cause in each of these actions
I feel the fulllment of the an
oath which we took. In each of
these acts, I feel the presence of
the strength of Chavez alive in
you, in your looks, your eyes,
your smiles, in your tears.
60,000 DOCTORS BY 2019
At the event, the President ex-
plained that by 2019, Venezuela
should have 60,000 graduated,
qualied doctors to attend to the
needs of its people, thanks to the
First Latin American Medical
School Doctors Graduate
efforts of both the ELAM and the
other public sector universities
in the country which are train-
ing Venezuelan as doctors.
There are currently 47,000
medical students in the public
universities, 18,000 of which are
studying Comprehensive Com-
munity Medicine.
Comprehensive Community
Medicine is a humanist medi-
cine at the service of the social
human being, which looks
to form doctors from a Latin
American, internationalist,
Bolivarian, Chavista vision
medicine which is preventa-
tive, community based, which
goes out into the communities,
explained Maduro.
Comprehensive Community
Medicine includes traditional
medical practices, but also
takes into account social, per-
sonal, and mental factors when
diagnosing and treating, some-
thing which has been harshly
criticized by the traditional
schools of medicine. 14,500 doc-
tors have already been certied
as Comprehensive Community
Doctors in Venezuela.
T/ Ewan Robertson
P/ Presidential Press
V
enezuelan President Ni-
colas Maduro introduced
Monday the next phase of
a plan to transform the coun-
trys poorer neighborhoods
and improve their inhabitants
quality of life.
The program, called Mission
Barrio Nuevo, Barrio Tricolor,
seeks to renovate and beautify
Venezuelas barrios: the name
given to urban communities
made up of informal housing
which traditionally lacked ad-
equate public services.
The administration of Hugo
Chavez (1999 2013) brought
great changes and improve-
ments to the barrios, and the
government of Nicolas Maduro
is aiming to build upon those
changes with the Mission Bar-
rio Nuevo initiative.
Launched last month, the
program focuses on specic
points in order to develop
the barrios. These including
renovating dilapidated hous-
ing, installing and improv-
ing basic services, promoting
a culture of peace to com-
bat insecurity, and boosting
productive communities
through schemes like urban
agriculture.
The Mission Barrio Nuevo
(New Barrio Mission) also
promotes greater political or-
ganization in the barrios, ar-
guing that organized commu-
nities must help implement
the missions projects.
On Monday, President Ma-
duro argued that the Mission
Barrio Nuevo was part of the
strategy to create a participa-
tory communal democracy of
socialism of the 21st century.
We need to consolidate the
project of communal democracy,
of the new communal govern-
ment. Street government and
communal government: they
are two elements of the new de-
mocracy, he said to community
activists in Caracas.
At the event, the Venezuelan
President announced the expan-
sion of the Mission Barrio Nuevo
to ve new corridors, or zones,
in the capitals barrios. The mis-
sion was rst launched in three
zones of Caracas last month.
According to Jorge Rodri-
guez, mayor of Caracas, these
ve zones will cover 141 neigh-
borhoods, attending to the
needs of 128,000 families. The
mission aims to benet one mil-
lion families by the end of 2014.
President Maduro also con-
rmed that the program would
be expanded to the regional
states of Lara, Monagas and Bo-
livar, among others.
Further, authorities reported
on the progress of the Mission
Barrio Nuevo in the rst three
zones in which the plan was
implemented last month. May-
or Rodriguez told activists that
technical planning centers had
been established which were
analyzing community needs
such as housing in need of reno-
vation, recreational needs, risk
mitigation, and others.
As such, Nicolas Maduro ap-
proved 272,965,000 bolivars (US
$43.3 million) for projects in
these three zones: Ali Primera,
Catia Sur and Catia Central.
The president called upon com-
munity councils, communes,
and other social organizations
Venezuelan government expands plan
to transform communities
to incorporate themselves into
the mission and present their
projects for the development of
their local communities.
These resources are to begin
the plan of key public works so
that you [organized communi-
ties] erect everything, from the
structure and engineering of the
communities, Maduro said.
Ofcials also reported that
last Sunday a further 169 com-
munes were voted into existence
by local residents, bringing the
total number of the participato-
ry neighborhood organizations
in Venezuela to over 450. Com-
munes are larger than commu-
nity councils, and can take on
larger scale public projects.
Along with creating a com-
munal democracy, Maduro re-
iterated his vision for the Mis-
sion Barrio Nuevo to aid the
creation of a communal econo-
my, with organized communi-
ties increasing local production
and depending less on foreign
imports and large companies.
The President invited commu-
nities to focus on the produc-
tion of food, shoes and clothing.
I want to develop the com-
munal economy to its maxi-
mum levelthe countrys new
productive economy has one of
its supports in the communal
economy, he said.
Mission Barrio Nuevo, Barrio
Tricolor is based on a program
launched by Hugo Chavez in
2009 of the same name.
The artillery of ideas
Friday, November 29, 2013 | Politics 5
T/ Paul Dobson
P/ Presidential Press
O
ne of the most important
Venezuelan trade unions
overwhelmingly voted in favor
of the revolutionary presidency
of Edison Alvarado this week,
as the Caracas Metro Workers
Union (Sitrameca) elected its
leadership. President Maduro
congratulated Alvarado by re-
ceiving him and his team after
the victory.
Metro workers vote for
revolutionary union leadership
Alvarado has 14 years of ex-
perience in the Metro, and was
re-elected by 76.3% of the votes,
achieving 12 of the 13 positions
and defeating the right wing
tendencies within the labor
movement.
In his previous term as presi-
dent of the union, he has suc-
cessfully overseen a new col-
lective contract for the 8,100
workers, as well as impressive
expansion and modernizing of
the network.
Alvarado made the con-
nection between his victory
and that of the national ex-
ecutive, in favor of social-
ism: now more so than ever
there is political conscious-
ness in the workers of the
Metro, claimed the re-elect-
ed labor leader.
The government has done
everything possible to im-
prove the conditions and
adapt the Metro to the needs
of the people, he explained,
mentioning the new lines in-
cluded into the Metro, such as
the cable cars of San Agustin
and Mariche, the Cable-Train
of Petare, the new Line 5 of
the Metro, the connection of
the Caracas and Los Teques
Metro networks, the Bus Ca-
racas network, and the Cara-
cas Metro-Bus lines.
Making reference to the al-
most 99% subsidiary, by the
government in fares, Alvarado
explained that we are an in-
clusive company. The Metro
has seen usage rocket from
7,000 users in 1998 to more
than 2 million today.
The union will, under the
leadership of Alvarado, con-
tinue in defense of the great
banners which our President
Chavez left us. Alongside the
oil workers union, it is widely
recognized as one of the most
organized, committed, and mil-
itantly revolutionary unions in
the country.
President Maduro, speaking
with Alvarado in Miraores
Palace, reinforced the working
class nature of government,
so evidenced by his own class
roots as a bus driver.
We have never seen trade
union freedom like there is to-
day in Venezuela, stated the
President. It is impossible to
construct socialism without
a conscious and constructive
working class.
I believe in the working
class as the great transform-
ing force of history, it is the
great class which should as-
sume its responsibility, he
went on to declare.
As an ex-union leader him-
self, Maduro offered some
words of advice to Alvarado.
Sitrameca should struggle
for the truth, for its redemp-
tion. A socialist trade union
doesnt put particular inter-
ests above those of the collec-
tive, he offered.
T/ Ryan Mallett-Outtrim
V
enezuela should use its sta-
tus as a major oil produc-
ing nation to counter the
interests of Western nations
that run contrary to the inter-
ests of the Venezuelan people,
oil and mining minister Rafael
Ramirez said this week.
Because of its resources,
Venezuela is among the few
countries in the world that is
able to play an active and lead-
ing role in global oil issues,
Ramirez stated on Tuesday.
As well as advocating for the
continued use of oil revenue to
fund social programs, Ramirez
also argued that Venezuelas
position as an oil producer
means it plays an inuential
role in the international econo-
my, and can work against West-
ern interests that threaten the
Venezuelan people.
He stated that Venezuelas
national, popular and revolu-
tionary politics can have a
major impact on the interna-
tional economy and developed
capitalist nations, which are
energy consumers, he said.
Venezuela has been an oil
exporter since the early 20th
Century.
Venezuela was the leading
oil exporter in the 1970s and
then remained among the top
ve countries worldwide in oil
matters, Ramirez stated.
Under former President Hugo
Chavez and his successor, Ni-
colas Maduro, the Venezuelan
government has increasingly
used oil income to fund social
programs ranging from free
housing to subsidized food. So-
cial spending is set to increase
even more in 2014 under the
governments national budget
proposed by nance minister
Nelson Merentes in October.
62% of the 551 billion bolivars
budget will be used to fund so-
cial services; up from 37.7% un-
der the 2013 budget.
However, over 90% of Venezu-
elas foreign currency earnings
are through oil sales, and some
analysts have warned that a re-
cent dip in the price of Venezu-
elan crude oil on international
markets could affect govern-
ment expenditure in 2014.
When Merentes announced
the budget, Venezuelas oil
basket had been fetching an
average of around US$102.64
per barrel since the start of
the year. Since then, the price
of Venezuelas crude hit a 16
month low in October, and
ended last week at US$93.98.
However, the 2014 budget is
based on oil prices of US$60 a
barrel, though Merentes stated
that he expected oil revenues to
increase next year.
CONFRONTING DEVELOPED
NATIONS
Ramirezs comments came
just days after 133 developing na-
tions including Venezuela staged
a mass walkout during the Unit-
ed Nations climate conference in
Warsaw, Poland last week.
Venezuelas lead climate nego-
tiator Claudia Salerno accused
developed countries of trying
to shut down discussions over
compensation for poor nations
disproportionately affected by
climate change.
When you see developed
countries being so bold to
tell you that they are not
even considering reducing
their emissions, but they are
not even considering paying
for the costs that those inac-
tions have in the life of oth-
ers, that is really rude and
hard to handle it politically,
that we are heading to a point
in which countries are not
ready to take responsibility
for their acts, Salerno told
US based alternative news
Democracy Now.
Prior to the walkout, Europe-
an Union, US, and Australian
representatives called for com-
pensation to only be discussed
after 2015.
The behavior of the Austra-
lian delegation in particular
was slammed by numerous
NGOs and developing nations.
The Australians were be-
having like high school boys in
class, their behavior was rude
and disrespectful, Harjeet
Singh from ActionAid Interna-
tional told the press.
While weather tragedies
are worsening and multiply-
ing the lack of commitment
from the developed countries
to the ght against climate
change is overwhelming,
Salerno said during her ad-
dress to the conference last
week. Despite the actions of
Western countries, Salerno
stated that Venezuela re-
mains committed to address-
ing climate change.
The [Venezuelan] govern-
ment has a strong commitment
to the execution of the legacy
of President Hugo Chavez, who
before departing from us left as
part of his program for govern-
ment 2013-2019, the task of de-
veloping an ambitious national
adaptation and mitigation plan
for the ght against climate
change, and the expressed
mandate of our country to con-
tribute to saving the planet,
she stated.
Fight imperialism with oil: Venezuelan oil minister says
The artillery of ideas
6 Politics | Friday, November 29, 2013
T/ COI
P/ Presidential Press
I
n another important step
in Venezuelas struggle to
build socialism, over 150,000
people participated in week-
end elections to ratify recent-
ly-constructed communes.
These communes, which bring
together three or more com-
munal councils, are part of
ongoing efforts by communi-
ties, grassroots organizations,
and the national government
to build the missing link in
what late Venezuelan Presi-
dent Hugo Chavez called So-
cialism of the 21st Century.
Part of his nal government
platform, and now the respon-
sibility of President Nicolas
Maduro, Chavez proposed the
consolidation of some 3,000
communes by 2019.
THE MOVEMENT
With the technical support of
the countrys National Electoral
Council (CNE), Venezuelas com-
munal movement held elections
this weekend ratifying 169 com-
munes nationwide. The weekend
election, in which 166,000 voters
took part, increased the number
of communes now legally regis-
tered with the national govern-
ment to 452.
Voting took place in 22 of the
countrys 23 states and involved
2,245 communal councils.
According to Minister Rein-
aldo Iturriza, head of the Min-
istry of Peoples Power for Com-
Venezuelan communes ratied nationwide
munes and Social Movements
(MppCMS), reports coming
out of the communes indicate
that the weekend election went
just as expected, with voting
booths where they needed to be
and with people actively par-
ticipating.
The smell of victory is in the
air as we wrap up an extraor-
dinarily successful process
of ratication, he afrmed.
Communal democracy is be-
ing fortied.
Only in the state of Vargas
did we not hold a communal
election this weekend, Iturriza
explained, but we expect to do
so in the coming week.
In the state of Aragua, for
example, a total of 12 com-
munes were ratied in 10 of
the states 18 municipalities.
According to Betzy Camacho,
Coordinator of the MppCMS
in Aragua, these elections
demonstrate the enormous
amount of effort being made to
transfer power to the people.
It is essential that communes
come together, she said, and
that they be socialist communes
that integrate communities with
shared histories, communities
that recognize each other as one
and the same within the territo-
ries they occupy.
Though elections took place
in 179 communes, 10 failed to
meet the voting criteria neces-
sary for ratication. With 452
communes now ratied, Minis-
ter Iturriza proudly told report-
ers that he is convinced the
movement to build communes
will achieve the larger objec-
tive of 3,000 communes by 2019.
A communal census carried
out in August by the MppCMS
found that 1,401 communes are
currently under construc-
tion. Though they have yet
to carry out the ratication
process, these communes can
be expected to do so sometime
next year.
RATIFYING THE COMMUNES
Venezuelas communes are
a grassroots entity made up
of three (or more) communal
councils communitybased
organizations made up of lo-
cal residents and their elect-
ed spokespersons. Based on
needs identied by the com-
munities themselves, commu-
nal councils develop concrete
proposals and seek support
from local, regional, and the
national government. Once
approved, public funding is
made available so that orga-
nized communities can ad-
minister project development.
There are currently some
44,000 communal councils
registered with the national
government.
Communes take things one
step further by voluntarily
grouping communal councils
together. Because they engage
more people, and involve more
territory, Venezuelas com-
munes are designed to take
on larger efforts including the
development of communal-
owned banks, properties and
industries, all aimed at consoli-
dating socialism in the Latin
American nation.
President Maduro recently
described the communes as
the building blocks in Venezu-
elas experiment with participa-
tory democracy.
In an article published by
Caracas daily Ciudad CCS, Ti-
bisay Perez detailed the steps
that must be taken in order to
ratify a commune.
The rst step is comprised of
each communal council holding
an assembly to elect their rep-
resentatives for the commune,
she explained.
Then they will choose
their development and democ-
racy committees so that they
can draft up the Foundation-
al Act which should contain
the geographical limits of
the commune, its geographi-
cal environment, the name
of the commune, the declara-
tion of its principles, a census
of its population when it was
initially formed, an analysis
of its principal problems and
the needs of its population, an
inventory of its economic, so-
cial, cultural, environmental
potential and options for its
development, a strategic and
communal political program,
an outline of the general action
lines for initiatives to be taken
in the short, medium and long
term in order to overcome the
communitys problems and
needs. The Foundational Act
must then be submitted to a
popular vote.
Once the commune is estab-
lished, it then gives way to the
creation of the communal state,
which is a form of socio-polit-
ical organization established
in the Republics Constitution
whereby power is directly ex-
ercised by the people through
self-governing communities.
That is what its all about,
she concluded.
Speaking to reporters on
Monday, National Director of
the Communal Registry Otto
Flores explained that, by law,
for a commune to be legally
ratied, a minimum 15% of its
inhabitants must participate in
the vote. As long as a majority
50% plus 1 of those 15% (or
more) vote in favor of the com-
mune, it is formally ratied.
Minister Iturriza, who joined
communal activists as they
voted in the state of Miranda,
described the successful rati-
cation of the Alicia Benitez So-
cialist Commune.
Of the 10,829 inhabitants
with the right to ratify the Ali-
cia Benitez commune, 3,745
came out to vote.
34.6% of residents voted,
and of those who did, 3,459
voted in favor of the commune
thats a yes vote from 92.4% of
participants!
THE THREAT OF DEMOCRACY
The Venezuelan opposition,
and their allies in the corpo-
rate media, described the com-
munes as a threat to democra-
cy. In the context of municipal
elections set for December 8th,
Minister Iturriza explained,
all mayors are expected to col-
laborate and work alongside
the peoples communes.
Any mayor that is in agree-
ment with the progressive em-
powerment of the people will
naturally welcome communes
in his or her neighborhoods,
communities, and overall mu-
nicipality, he said.
As Dario Azzellini wrote in
June of this year, the partic-
ular character of what Hugo
Chavez called the Bolivarian
process lies in the understand-
ing that social transformation
can be constructed from two
directions, from above and
from below.
Although not free of con-
tradictions and conicts,
he wrote, this two-track ap-
proach has been able to uphold
and deepen the process of social
transformation in Venezuela.
The artillery of ideas
Friday, November 29, 2013 | Analysis 7
T/ C OI
P/ AFP
I
n a telling sign of fading
support for the opposition
platform in Venezuela, few
participated in weekend ral-
lies called by the rights self-
proclaimed leader Hen-
rique Capriles. Supposedly
held in protest of provisional
lawmaking authority granted
to President Nicolas Maduro
by the countrys National As-
sembly, demonstrations were
marred by low turnout and
a plot to blame the countrys
socialist majority for pre-fab-
ricated violence.
UNPOPULAR PLATFORM
Called in the context of Pres-
ident Maduros popular new
offensive against corruption
and economic sabotage, oppo-
sition rallies held on Saturday
proved largely embarrassing
in number. Demanding their
supporters protest against the
democratically-elected presi-
dent and his efforts to bring
stability to the Venezuelan
economy, opposition spokes-
men failed in their attempt to
hold mass protests nationwide.
Instead, small rallies were held
in about a dozen cities.
According to Jorge Rodri-
guez, Mayor of Libertador,
Caracas most populated mu-
nicipality with some two mil-
lion inhabitants, the reason so
few showed up to Saturdays
rallies is that the demonstra-
tions are being held in defense
of speculation and hoarding.
The only explanation for
calling such protests, he
said, is that the opposition
thought they could starve
our people, limit their access
to basic goods, and that this
would somehow result in the
fall of the revolutionary gov-
ernment.
With the lawmaking pow-
ers now granted to President
Maduro, he afrmed, the
Revolution is going to advance
even further.
In early October, Maduro
requested legislative author-
ity in order to streamline the
struggle against corruption
and economic warfare being
waged against the Venezuelan
people for political purposes.
Though a minority of op-
position lawmakers tried to
prevent the law from passing,
three-fths of the National
Assembly approved the law
early last week.
President Maduro promised
to the use his new powers to
protect the Venezuelan peo-
ple against economic sabotage
Low turnout, violent plot,
mark opposition rally
being orchestrated by the op-
position. In response, opposi-
tion lawmakers as well as self-
proclaimed leaders Henrique
Capriles Radonski and Leopol-
do Lopez called on supporters
to take to the streets.
In Caracas, the nations capi-
tal, estimates place the number
of protestors at under 5,000.
In the words of Diosdado
Cabello, President of the Na-
tional Assembly and First Vice
President of the ruling United
Socialist Party of Venezuela
(PSUV), the real aim of ongo-
ing opposition protests are to
get the December 8th election
postponed.
They know we (the PSUV)
are going to sweep the elec-
tions, he said, and they want
to push them back.
Even if we have to hold
them by candlelight, he af-
rmed, the elections are go-
ing to be held.
Cabellos reference to can-
dlelight comes just weeks after
investigative journalist Eva
Golinger unveiled opposition
plans to provoke power out-
ages and the hoarding of basic
goods, among other strategies,
to inuence the results of the
December election. Though
successful in creating discon-
tent among voters, these strat-
egies have been largely de-
feated by President Maduros
recent offensive.
On Sunday, Mayor Rodriguez
reiterated Cabellos assertions,
telling investigative journalist
Jose Vicente Rangel that, the
opposition isnt interested in
winning mayoral elections.
What the opposition wants
is to conspire against the gov-
ernment.
MADE IN MIAMI
While weekend rallies failed
to get out a signicant numbers
of supporters, a plot foiled by
Venezuelan authorities sug-
gests the U.S.-backed opposition
is growing increasingly desper-
ate. Speaking on national tele-
vision late Friday, President
Maduro announced that his
government detected plans by
political operatives to shed
blood during Saturdays pro-
tests.
According to Maduro, opposi-
tion strategists based in south-
ern Florida decided on Thurs-
day that someone must die on
November 23rd.
Preventative measures were
taken, he explained, after two
political operatives one from
Primero Justicia and the other
from Voluntad Popular were
detected trying to hire motor-
cyclists to dress up as pro-gov-
ernment supporters and attack
the demonstrations.
Primero Justicia (PJ) and
Voluntad Popular (VP) are
two of the oppositions most
right-wing parties. The for-
mer, controlled by opposition
leader Henrique Capriles,
suffered a series of recent set
backs after socialist members
of the National Assembly ex-
posed several PJ lawmakers
for blatant acts of corruption.
VP, meanwhile, is led by Leo-
poldo Lopez. A right-wing
spokesman, Lopez is known to
have spoken to paramilitaries
training in southern Florida
earlier this month.
Detailing the foiled plot,
Maduro afrmed that, op-
eratives planned to create a
spectacle get people pushing
and shoving, throwing rocks,
spitting in the faces of police
ofcers or members of the Na-
tional Guard.
They wanted to get head-
lines reporting on civil society
coming under attack, he said,
and they had plans to attack
their own.
In this country, he con-
cluded, the political, civic,
and electoral rights of all peo-
ple are respected. Those who
want to protest, even if its on
behalf of speculation and price
gauging, are free to do so.
Thanks to our decision
to act, Saturdays protests
occurred peacefully as
they should.
CRYING FOUL
Though details are still
pending, opposition hopeful
Henrique Capriles Radonski
claims a close condant was
one of the men targeted for
questioning before the pro-
tests. According to the oppo-
sition spokesman, early Sat-
urday morning authorities
detained Alejandro Silva, his
national tours coordinator,
at gunpoint.
Silva was forcibly taken
from a Caracas hotel room by
military intelligence agents,
Capriles said in a Twitter
message, and I hold Maduro
personally responsible for
whatever happens to him.
Though Silva was released
several hours later, Primero
Justicias National Coordina-
tor Julio Borges promised to
take Silvas detention to the
European parliament.
Delsa Solorzano, the law-
yer who spoke with Silva
during his detention, told re-
porters that he is ne and
in good health.
Speaking to the press,
Silva himself afrmed that
authorities treated him re-
spectfully.
In the words of
Diosdado Cabello,
President of the National
Assembly and First Vice
President of the ruling
United Socialist Party
of Venezuela (PSUV),
the real aim of ongoing
opposition protests are
to get the December
8th election postponed...
They know we (the
PSUV) are going to
sweep the elections, he
said, and they want to
push them back
A p0b||cat|oo oI the F0odac|oo 0orreo de| 0r|ooco Editor-in-Chief va 6o||oger Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera - Audra Ramones
INTERNATIONAL Friday, November 29, 2013 | N 185 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve
Opinion
T/ By Sarah Blaskey and Jesse
Chapman, Truthout
W
hat we want is to de-
fend our rights and
that they be respected.
And the only way that our rights
will be respected is to perform
our duty, and our duty is to
be here [protesting], said one
young man, eyes still streaming
from the clouds of teargas that
engulfed his school.
Jose is a student of the Autono-
mous University in Tegucigalpa.
He and a few thousand of his fel-
low students were tear-gassed and
beaten November 26, 2013, when
they peacefully demonstrated,
alleging fraud in the presidential
election that took place two days
earlier in Honduras.
Most of the protesters support-
ed the newly formed, left-leaning
Party of Liberty and Refounda-
tion (LIBRE) in the elections.
They say their presidential can-
didate, Xiomara Castro de Ze-
laya, wife of deposed president
Manuel Mel Zelaya, was the
true winner. Their assertions of
fraud are based on exit polls and
numbers that were called in by
table observers at all of the vot-
ing centers that projected Cas-
tro would win by a margin of up
to 5 percent.
However, with 68 percent of the
total votes counted at this point,
the Honduran Supreme Elec-
toral Tribunal (TSE), charged
with overseeing the elections,
declared an irreversible lead
for the hyper-conservative Na-
tionalist Party, which currently
runs the country.
Students began what they say
will be a series of protests against
the fraudulent election results.
Their protests took place in de-
ance of the cautionary words
that Zelaya used at the LIBRE
press conference Monday when
he said that LIBRE supporters
should take the streets only if it
is necessary.
The demonstration began out-
side of the university around
noon, when several hundred
students blocked the streets.
Not long after it began, national
police in riot gear arrived and
forcefully pushed the students
back inside the campus, using
military-grade tear gas and gi-
Violence against demonstrators follows
contested result in Honduras elections
ant batons made out of long thick
pieces of hardwood. Students be-
gan throwing rocks in defense.
Human-rights observer
Franklin David Dercir said
that the violence was started
by the police.
We asked [the police] to let
the students express themselves
freely. But before we knew it,
they came from the front and
from behind, Dercir said.
They surrounded us and start-
ed throwing teargas bombs. The
boys obviously had to defend
themselves.
Once the students were
pushed inside the university
gates, the police continued to
assault them with tear gas and
weapons. Many minor injuries
were reported, and one young
man was sent to the hospital
with a broken leg. A dozen pro-
testers were taken to jail after
the violence subsided.
This violent repression of politi-
cal protest came as no surprise to
the protesters. The police force is
corrupt and completely under the
command of the ruling oligarchy,
12 families with absolute power
in Honduras.
Lorena Espinal, a student pro-
tester said, [The police] dont
go to the neighborhoods where
the real delinquency is. Here in
the university, where we have
the knowledge, they come here
and attack us. They dont mess
with the delinquents, because
they protect the delinquents of
power - the oligarchy that has
dominated us.
The election took place in
an atmosphere of intimidation
and militarization. The TSE
controlled 14,000 troops and
sent them to monitor the poll-
ing stations and transport the
ballots. These troops are some
of the same forces that carried
out the military coup against
Zelaya in 2009.
Many of the generals that
orchestrated the coup, includ-
ing the leader Romeo Vasquez
Velasquez, were trained at
the School of the Americas.
The US military also has had
a role in training the Hondu-
ran military and police force
and is responsible for massive
arms exports to Honduras. In
2012, the United States export-
ed $1 billion of arms to Hon-
duras, although the specics
of what was exported are still
unknown.
Contrary to popular narra-
tive, the military exports the
United States sends to Honduras
are not being used solely against
drug trafckers and cartels.
They are being used widely
to repress Honduran citizens
all across the country. From
Bajo Aguan, where campesi-
nos are driven off their land to
make room for corporate Af-
rican palm plantations, to Rio
Blanco, where the Lenca people
are struggling to protect one of
their sources of water against a
dam that is being installed, the
Honduran military and police
use their weapons and training
to clear the way for the ruling
elites interests.
The United States is not just
complicit in the violent repres-
sion of Hondurans. It formally
has endorsed an illegitimate
coup-government, until now,
run by the National Partys
Porrio Lobo. Now, the United
States is on track to endorse the
current elections wrought with
fraud and intimidation.
According to the US State
Departments press release on
the elections:
Honduran and international
observers, including those from
the US Embassy in Honduras, re-
ported that the process was gen-
erally transparent, with strong
voter turnout and broad par-
ticipation by political parties.
The United States supports the
democratic process and remains
committed to continuing our co-
operation with the Government
and people of Honduras.
On Tuesday morning, a press
conference was held at the of-
ce of COFADEH, Committee of
the Relatives of the Disappeared
in Honduras, where many del-
egations of election observers
presented their ndings. All ex-
pressed deep concern over the
electoral process and the results.
Azadeh Shahshahani, presi-
dent of the National Lawyers
Guild (NLG) said, We have se-
rious concerns and questions
regarding the validity of TSE
preliminary election results.
We are deeply concerned about
the United States governments
characterization of the electoral
process as transparent. The US
government should refrain from
assessing the validity of the
elections at this early stage but
should insist on the protection
of Honduran civil society.
All of the groups present at the
press conference denounced the
elections as fraudulent. Observ-
ers documented many irregu-
larities ranging from already-
marked ballots, to dead people
whose names were on the lists
to vote. Others documented cas-
es of intimidation, ranging from
frequent pat-downs at the doors
of voting centers, to whole del-
egations of LIBRE Party table
observers detained by paramili-
tary forces.
The groups also expressed
concern over the worsening of
human rights violations under
the rule of the National Party.
Marta Flores, a speaker at the
press conference, concluded,
Here a military dictatorship is
continuing to deepen. Here the
population is being criminal-
ized. We cannot stop denounc-
ing this and we publicly ask that
this continue to be denounced.