Chávez en el espejo del alma
Alexander Cambero  //  El Universal

Washington, D.C.
{05-07-2012]

The drugs issue indicates to "a concerning trend" in Venezuela
Frank López Ballestero  //  El Universal

     The drugs issue indicates to "a concerning trend" in Venezuela, revealed in an interview with daily newspaper El Universal Adam Szubin, director of US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an agency responsible for assistance in anti-terrorist efforts. Specifically, Szubin is the head of a small, yet mighty, division within the US Department of the Treasury, which leads the efforts against terrorists, drug traffickers, criminals and rogue nations around the world.

    Most Venezuelans are familiar with the acronym OFAC. It became well-known in 2008, when the agency added for the first time Venezuelan senior government officials to its OFAC's list -sort of black list of drug kingpins- for alleged cooperation with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).  "The Kingpin Act goes after foreign persons designated by the Secretary of Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General, CIA, FBI, DEA, and the Departments of State and Defense," said the official who answered some questions e-mailed by El Universal.

    From 2008 to 2011, seven senior officers of the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and some other individuals have been designated by the agency headed by Szubin for aiding groups and countries regarded as terrorists. Designated individuals include Venezuelan Defense Minister Henry Rangel Silva.  Through April 10, 2012, there were in the OAFC list 258 references to Venezuela, including companies, entities and individuals fingered for their links with narcotics trafficking activities.

    Szubin has cautioned that nobody enters the OFAC list by mistake." After six years as head of the OFAC, he confessed that so far, "one Venezuelan national has been removed from the OFAC's list," existent since 1995. He maintained that there is evidence of Islamic groups operating in Venezuela.

    What does Venezuela represent for the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at this point in time?

    Our designations over the last couple of years under the Kingpin Act indicate a concerning trend in Venezuela. The Kingpin Act goes after foreign persons designated by the Secretary of Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General, CIA, FBI, DEA, and the Departments of State and Defense, who are found to be: (1) materially assisting in, or providing financial or technological support for or to, or providing goods or services in support of, the international narcotics trafficking activities of a person designated pursuant to the Kingpin Act; (2) owned, controlled, or directed by, or acting for or on behalf of, a person designated pursuant to the Kingpin Act; or (3) playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.

    In September 2008, the current Venezuelan Minister of Defense Henry Rangel Silva was identified as a significant narcotics trafficker under the Kingpin Act, along with PSUV Functional Director Ramón Rodríguez Chacín and the former Director of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios.  Later on, in 2011, additional four Venezuelan government authorities were added to the list.

    In the case of Rangel Silva, upon which grounds do you substantiate your charges?

    In 2008, Rangel Silva was designated under the Kingpin Act for materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization. Rangel Silva has also pushed for greater cooperation between the Venezuelan government and the FARC. The OFAC talked about the attachment of assets from Rangel Silva and other government officers. What are the amount, value and/or nature of such assets? OFAC does not publicly release information on assets frozen of specific entities or individuals under the Kingpin Act.

    How many Venezuelans have been removed from the "Clinton List"? Why?

    One Venezuelan national has been removed from OFAC's list (often referred to in Colombia as the "Clinton list") pursuant to Executive Order 12978.

    Which steps should these officials take in order to be removed from the OFAC list?

    Any person whose name appears on OFAC's sanctions list may seek the removal of their name by submitting a petition for removal to OFAC. This person may submit arguments and/or evidence showing that the original basis for the designation no longer applies (i.e. change in circumstances and/or behavior). As part of the removal process, OFAC will consider any relevant information in its possession and determine whether the person should be removed from OFAC's sanctions list. Since 2009, more than 400 individuals and entities have been removed from OFAC's list.

    What is the value of the assets property of Venezuelans that have been frozen by the OFAC in the last years for their alleged links with drug traffic and terrorism?

    OFAC does not publicly release information on assets frozen of specific entities or individuals under the Kingpin Act.

    Are there any Islamic groups tied to terrorism acting in Venezuela or anywhere else in Latin America?

      In June 18, 2008, OFAC designated two Venezuela-based supporters of Hezbollah, Ghazi Nasr Al Din and Fawzi Kan'An, along with two travel agencies owned and controlled by Kan'An. OFAC has also named the following entities in Venezuela pursuant to WMD and Iran authorities: Banco Internacional de Desarrollo, C.A. and Petropars Ltd.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{04-09-2012}

Hugo Chávez calls opposition candidate a 'low-life pig'
guardian.co.uk,

    President Hugo Chávez on Thursday called the opposition's presidential candidate a "low-life pig", signalling a caustic start to Venezuela's election campaign.

The socialist leader vowed to crush Henrique Capriles in October's vote, branding him an agent of imperialism and oligarchy hiding behind a mask of moderation.

"Now we have the loser, welcome! We're going to pulverise you," he told an audience of medical students. "You have a pig's tail, a pig's ears, you snort like a pig, you're a low-life pig. You're a pig, don't try and hide it." He avoided calling Capriles by name, referring instead to "el majunche", slang for "the crappy one".

The speech, which all radio and television stations were obliged to broadcast live, followed Capriles's victory in opposition primaries. The state governor won almost two-thirds of 3 million  votes cast, a higher than expected turnout which jolted the government.

Since then state media have launched multiple accusations at the wealthy 39-year-old challenger, calling him, among other things, a mendacious gay Nazi Zionist.

The state news agency's report of Thursday's speech omitted the pig references and used a Chávez quote as its headline: "You're going to have to stand up or run away, crappy one."

Maria Corina Machado, an opposition leader, said Chávez had insulted not just Capriles but all those who voted for him. "We understand that these are signs of desperation."

Opinion polls make the president favourite to win a third six-year term on the back of oil-fuelled social programmes and a growing economy. But Chávez's supporters fear Capriles could tap frustration over crime, inflation and crumbling infrastructure to topple what they call a "21st century socialist revolution".

Capriles, who runs Miranda state, which includes part of Caracas, has cast himself as a centre-left candidate in the mould of Brazil's former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Chávez, 57, said that was a disguise to hide a pro-US bourgeois plan to dismantle social programmes. Wearing a beret and scholar's robe, he said: "Take off your mask. You're a pig. Don't disguise it … the only place you're going to govern is the land of Tarzan and his monkey Cheeta."

The former tank commander said his rival was part of the opposition which briefly overthrew him in a 2002 coup. Capriles, a mayor at the time, was accused of being part of a mob which attacked the Cuban embassy. He said he was trying to mediate.

Conscious that a polarised climate has helped Chávez win successive elections since 1998, the opposition's candidate has preached conciliation and unity in an attempt to woo voters disappointed with the government but still fond of the president. He tends to avoid calling Chávez by name, instead referring to him as "the candidate of the PSUV", the ruling party.

The Hollywood actor and activist Sean Penn, who has toured south America this week in his role as roving ambassador for Haiti, also spoke at the president's event in Vargas state, just outside Caracas. He told the graduating medical students that Chávez had told him the best thing he could do for his children was raise them as doctors.

Washington, d.c.
{03-06-2012}

DICTATOR Hugo Chavez might be on the way out after ruling Venezuela for 13 years
Gwynne Dyer

    “Nobody said it was going to be easy” is the campaign slogan that Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski chose for the presidential election next October, and that remains true.

    Taking on incumbent President Hugo Chavez, an accomplished populist and self-styled “revolutionary”, is a tall order: for 13 years, he has seen off all comers. But it is getting easier.

    It’s too early to write Chavez’s political obituary, but he is not a well man. Only a year after he had a cancerous growth removed from his abdomen, and despite four bouts of chemotherapy, he is back in Cuba for further treatment. Another tumour has been cut out from the same location, and this time he will require radiation therapy. The signs are not good. “I swear that I'll live and I'll accompany you to new victories,” Chavez told a rally in Caracas the day before he left for Cuba. “No cancer will stop us.”

     He was equally optimistic after the operation last week: “I continue recovering thanks to Venezuela's support, the Cuban people, the doctors here in Cuba, to the love from the people that fills me. I'm taking flight, raising the fatherland of the future.”

    If sheer willpower and old-fashioned Marxist rhetoric were enough, Chavez would still be ruling Venezuela 20 years from now, but he actually has to win elections to stay in office. He controls all the levers of state power and he bends the electoral rules shamelessly, but in theory he could be voted out. If he has not visibly recovered his health and his strength by October, he probably will be voted out.

    For the first time since Chavez won power, all the opposition parties have united behind a single candidate. Capriles is an energetic challenger 18 years younger than Chavez, and he has the wit not to trade insults with the older man, who is a master of vitriolic abuse.

    Chavez recently called his rival “a pig”, but Capriles simply replied: “I wish the head of state a long life. I want him to see the changes that are going to come about in our country, for him to see a Venezuela of progress, a united country, a country where Venezuelans have many opportunities.” He makes Chavez’s rhetoric sound dated and vicious, as indeed it is.

    If Venezuela’s politics were a simple matter of the poor against the rich, then Chavez would win every election hands down, for the poor certainly outnumber the rich. In reality, however, the opposition parties won a narrow majority of the popular vote in the 2010 parliamentary elections.

     They failed to turn that victory into a parliamentary majority because they were all running on different platforms, and because Chavez has gerrymandered the system in favour of his faithful supporters among the rural poor. But now all the opposition parties have united behind Capriles, and the gerrymandering has no impact in a simple nationwide vote on the presidency. Chavez would have a real battle on his hands even if he were in good health.

    In the last opinion poll of Venezuelan voters, taken just before Capriles was chosen as the joint opposition candidate in a primary on February 12, Datanalisis, the country’s most trusted polling organization, found a gap of less than five percentage points between Chavez and the still undetermined winner of the opposition vote.

    The choice of Capriles will certainly erode Chavez’s lead further. He is a moderate politician firmly rooted in the principles of the modern South American centre-left. As the governor of Venezuela’s second most populous state, Miranda, he has built up a reputation for fairness and efficiency, and he was already making Chavez look like a political dinosaur. He now seems to be a very sick dinosaur as well.

    If Chavez were to regain his health in a couple of months, he would still have a good chance of defeating Capriles at the polls, for he is a formidable campaigner who can still mesmerize huge numbers of the country’s poorest people.

    If he becomes a feeble, absentee campaigner with what voters perceive to be a limited future, the vote will go the other way, and Capriles will win.

    Chavez has allowed no obvious successor to emerge in his party, so that could be the end of the country’s long experiment in populist politics. If Capriles wins the election, he can then use Venezuela’s soaring oil revenues to continue Chavez’s antipoverty programs and consolidate his hold on power. At least, he could do so if Chavez is willing to accept electoral defeat.

    Nobody would have been willing to bet on that a year ago, but if the impression persists that Chavez is on his last legs, the hardliners in his party will be reluctant to carry out a constitutional coup and risk ending up in power without him. This may really be the end of South America’s most colourful and controversial politician.

    That would be no great loss for Venezuela, but it might be a disappointment for God. As Chavez revealed just before leaving for Cuba, “I dreamed a while ago of Christ who came and said, ‘Chavez, arise. It is not time to die, it is time to live.’ With cancer or without cancer, with rain, thunder or lightning, nothing and nobody can prevent the great victory of October 7....Soon we will return to the battle!”

Caracas, Venezuela
{03-03-2012}

Venezuela says "ignore rumors" in Chavez cancer saga
Andrew Cawthorne //  Reuters

    President (dictator) Hugo Chavez's government urged Venezuelans on Wednesday to ignore rumors the socialist leader's health may be worse than the official version that he is in good condition after surgery in Cuba.

Despite allies' upbeat assessment of his latest operation, some sources including a prominent pro-opposition Venezuelan journalist are suggesting the 57-year-old may face a life-threatening spread - or metastasis - of the cancer discovered last year.

That would throw into doubt Chavez's campaign for re-election in October and his capacity to rule afterwards should he win, as well as send shockwaves round a region where Cuba and other leftist governments count on his oil-fuelled largesse. "Our people should not pay attention to these rumors. We are going through a very emotional time," Isis Ochoa, the minister for social protection, told state TV. "People should keep trusting in their leaders."

The government blames Venezuela's "ultra-right" for fomenting speculation that Chavez's health is deteriorating. "Ever since the news that President Chavez was ill, they tried to conjure up a sense of a vacuum," Ochoa said, urging his supporters to show "combativeness" in counteracting this.

Having exuded strength and energy since storming to power as an election outsider in 1998, Chavez's public image and personal ebullience suffered a big blow last year when doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in his pelvis.

Although he said he was fully recovered toward the end of 2011, the president returned to Cuba for new surgery last weekend on a probably-malignant "lesion" in the same area.

The government said the lesion was completely removed and that he is recovering well at a Havana hospital, with tests due soon on the extracted tissue to determine the full picture. There has been no word on when Chavez will return, prompting opposition calls for a replacement to be named.

Nelson Bocaranda, an anti-Chavez Venezuelan journalist who broke the news of his return to Cuba, and Merval Pereira, a well-known commentator for Brazil's O Globo network, have been quoting medical sources to suggest the Venezuelan leader's situation is much more serious than the official version.

The pair have become hate figures among Chavez allies, while opposition supporters have mocked the lack of details from the government by dubbing Bocaranda as the country's only "information minister."

Experts say the pathology results from Chavez's operation on Monday may take up to five days, while a normal recuperation period from that type of surgery would be a week to 10 days.

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has long been Chavez's mentor, and the Venezuelan leader prefers receiving treatment in Havana where there is high security and a lower chance of his medical details being leaked on the tightly controlled island.

His rival for the October 7 election is Henrique Capriles, a 39-year-old state governor who hopes to woo former Chavez voters with a promise of a Brazilian-style "modern left" government.

Before the announcement that he would need more surgery, opinion polls showed Venezuelans broadly split - a third pro-Chavez, a third pro-opposition and a third undecided.

But the polls indicate Chavez has the edge in voter enthusiasm due to his popularity among Venezuela's poor and an increase in welfare spending for the most needy.

While the president may get a "sympathy bump" in opinion polls from his latest health setback, analysts say perceptions of weakness - particularly in contrast with Capriles' youthful image - could offset that.

The OPEC nation's widely traded bonds have jumped on investor perceptions of a more market-friendly opposition's enhanced chance of winning the presidential poll in October.

Chavez has avoided grooming a successor, so rumors abound as to who from his inner circle could take over if he were incapacitated. Two heavyweight allies, Vice President Elias Jaua and Congress head Diosdado Cabello, are widely rumored to be at odds. But they made a public show of friendship in parliament on Tuesday, smiling and pledging unity behind their "Comandante."

But neither man, nor any other of Chavez's closest allies, have his man-of-the-people charisma or the political talents that have enabled him to thwart the opposition for 13 years.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{02-28-2012}

Government silence on Chávez's health prevails
El Universal

      "We are always informing as we deem it appropriate, and now I, all of us, will be much more on the watch, to demolish any lies and supply true information, as we have always done it in good timing and as appropriate," Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez promised that last Thursday before heading for Havana, Cuba.

There, he will undergo a surgery to resect "a two-centimeter lesion very likely to be malign." Nonetheless, 24 hours after his departure, government silence has prevailed in this regard.

His account and that of some of his senior officers on the Twitter social network have remained idle. Others not even mention the health of the Head of State. In arriving in Cuba, Chávez himself vouched that the government spokesperson to advise Venezuelans about his medical condition, before and after the surgery, would be Minister of Health Eugenia Sader.

"The communicational issue is very important," the Head of State told last Thursday his Minister of Communication and Information Andrés Izarra. And the president instructed the minister to have available in Cuba "everything needed to contact and speak to the people on the radio, TV," and "coordinate there whatever necessary for the broadcast, whether on live or recorded."

Before leaving, President Chávez instructed his ministers to keep "deployed" and "speed up the results and successes of the administration, the end of cycles." "(We must) focus ourselves on the completion of works, for nothing should stop us," he strongly recommended.

Last Saturday, Venezuelan Vice-President Elías Jaua showed up along with Defense Minister Henry Rangel Silva heading a ceremony where Simón Bolívar training vessel set sail from La Guaira port. Afterwards, they held a press conference.

Some other ministers were very active last Saturday, as appears from the images aired by state-run TV channel Venezolana de Televisión. Minister of Interior and Justice Tareck El Aissami would meet with homeless and explain to them the Housing Plan for the people staying in shelters.

Last Thursday, Chávez himself reported that he would have his operation either on Monday or on Tuesday.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{02-26-2012}

POLLSTER: "CHAVEZ'S SICKNESS IS THE WORST SCENARIO
FOR CHAVEZISM
El Universal

     The issue of dictator hugo chavez's disease allowed him to reconnect with people, and increase his popularity by 10 percentage points.

Luis Vicente León, the director of polling firm Datanálisis, stated during the Environment 2012 forum hosted by Signium International, that thanks to this matrix, Chávez managed to increase significantly his popularity in November, December and January.

As a result, "the opposition had less popular support in the primary election than the support they had in October." Nonetheless, after undergoing cancer treatment, and consolidating an image that he was recovered, his momentum vanished and popularity returned to its usual levels.

The beginning of Chávez's reelection bid is marked by the absence of President Chávez, due to the recurrence of cancer, which fuels uncertainty even among his closest allies.

Caracas, Venezuela
{02-06-2012}

Opposition angered as Venezuela's Chavez celebrates coup
Reuters

    Venezuelan President  (dictator) Hugo Chavez mounted a lavish celebration on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the failed coup that helped launch his political career, as opposition leaders slammed the event as a blemish on the country's democracy.

The discord over the elaborate military parade that lionized the 1992 putsch is a reminder the OPEC member nation remains sharply divided over his leadership in the run-up to the October 7 presidential election. "We will not give rest to our bodies nor our souls until we have freed the country from backwardness ... and built socialism of the 21st century," Chavez said, echoing an oath he took in the 1980s with other leftist military conspirators.

Helicopters and Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets flew overhead, and soldiers carrying weapons marched while shouting, "February 4, socialist fatherland." The former soldier was accompanied by allied presidents, including Cuba's Raul Castro and Bolivia's Evo Morales.

The failed coup made Chavez a household name in Venezuela, and paved the way for his 1998 election. But his annual commemoration of the event has traditionally divided Venezuelans between supporters who say it honors the end of an era of corrupt politics and critics who call it a gratuitous celebration of violence.

The country's primary opposition coalition wrote a letter to the Organization of American States denouncing the event as anti-democratic. "The promotion of a coup d'etat contradicts democracy as an end and as a means because it celebrates military uprisings against constitutional order," the letter says.

COUP CELEBRATION

Chavez mocked the critics as a "bourgeoisie that is lost without a map and without a compass." Analysts and pollsters say Chavez is likely to win six more years in office thanks to liberal spending of oil revenues.

The opposition holds primaries on February 12 that will determine the challenger, with the youthful Henrique Capriles, governor of Miranda state, seen as the most likely candidate to face Chavez.

Reactions to the coup celebration in Caracas were predictably mixed on Saturday as the rumble of jets and helicopters served as a reminder across the city of the unfolding event. "For me, this is a day of death, for Chavez it's a day of celebration," said Jose Alfredo, 21, a student relaxing with a friend in a Caracas park. "This is wrong."

Venezuelan Twitter users flooded the site with names of people killed during the uprising, with some tweets including the question: "Is this what we are celebrating today?"

The leftist leader's ideological crusade that demonizes the United States and looks to Cuba as a model has captivated the country's working classes, although his support is built most strongly on social spending funded by windfall oil revenue.

Government programs known as "missions" that provide benefits ranging from free health clinics and subsidized food to apartments and cheap financing helped Chavez win an overwhelming victory in his 2006 presidential bid and are seen tipping the balance in his favor this year.

In the neighborhood of 23 de Enero, a traditional bastion of Chavez support, residents feted the anniversary. "We had 40 years of repressive right-wing governments until Chavez arrived," said Miguel Pabon, 30, who runs a neighborhood community group. "The fourth of February is the day that a true leader arrived, a leader who listens to the people."

CARACAS, VENEZUELA
{02-01-2012}

"PROPHETS DID NOT REMAIN SILENT AND NEITHER SHALL WE"
Juan Francisco Alonso // El Universal

"THE ESSENCE (OF THE CHURCH) IS TO PROCLAIM JUSTICE AND TRUTH, AND WE WILL NOT REFRAIN FROM DOING SO." "Dialogue causes no harm (...) It would be good for those of us who serve the people to find common ground". Monsignor Padrón hopes that President Hugo Chávez accepts his invitation to meet and discuss the issues ailing the country. 

At first glance, this gray-haired, short man who walks with a mild stoop may come off as a fragile individual. Yet, after only a few minutes of conversation with Monsignor Diego Padrón, it is obvious that the incumbent president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (VEC) is a man filled with firm ideas and strong beliefs, and an unwavering resolve, akin to that of someone of a younger age, to defend those ideals.

The energy exuded by the native of Montalbán, Carabobo State, who has fronted the Cumaná Archdiocese of Sucre State for 10 years, is surely to stem from the years that he headed the Episcopal Social Commission for Youths and University Students.

Next month commemorates 200 years of the Battle of La Victoria Battle, where students and youths played such a crucial role. What do you make of the present-day youth of Venezuela?

It seems to me that the Venezuelan youth has so much to give, and so much can be expected from it. The fact that it is non-conformist is positive because any young population that does not react, protest, take a stance or express interest in the events of its country is simply dormant, alienated and detached from reality. A youth like ours, one that is interested in politics, is a most promising one.

What are the objectives outlined for the upcoming three-year term in which you will be in charge of (VEC)? What do you expect to achieve?

I am hoping that VEC remains as a reference for Church life and for the life of the country and provides moral and spiritual orientation while serving as companion to the people, regardless of the circumstances we are forced to deal with.

Changes always bring about fear. Some fear that change in VEC's forefront entails changing in its stance on the issues affecting the country; that is, fear that silence will prevail in spite of the issues Venezuelans face. What is your reply?

VEC continues to follow criteria from beyond. There is a particular criterion established in the Bible regarding prophets: Prophets did not remain silent and neither shall we.

For a long time now, the Church has determined that it cannot be silent. It must make pronouncements to acknowledge the positive elements that aid in the harmonious development of society, as there are many positive things that are not discussed, and to condemn the evils that harm men and society.

The VEC will not be silent.

It will not, but I would like to insist that, more than a tradition or custom, our pronouncements are founded on our essence to proclaim justice and truth, and we will not refrain from doing so.

You claim that you will continue to speak regardless of the cost. Are you worried about the government's reaction to the messages, documents and statements you issue?

At no time am I afraid of any interpretation of a statement or decision made by VEC. We are well aware that whatever we say and do may give rise to reactions. We embrace it because we live in a pluralist world, and not everyone has to agree with us or agree with what we do and say. It is logical for different reactions to arise; it would be senseless for us to pretend to have everyone agree with what we say.

The return of Monsignor Mario Moronta to the Board of the VEC has generated interest. Some see it as a gesture of bonding with the Government, because of the high regard the president has repeatedly claimed to have for him, while others see it as a likelihood that the VEC intends to take a less critical stance.

Internally, the election of Monsignor Moronta does not imply changes or budging to pressure. Whenever we choose a colleague, we do so based on criteria such as personality, skills and preparation. No other reasons impact our decisions. I find it positive that a section of the country views this election as an approach to the government; I truly hope that some connection is made because the people demand reconciliation.

In your first appearance as VEC president you said you were willing to talk and listen to all. Would you like that offer to be accepted by President Hugo Chávez and have him accept the invitation that VEC has been extending to him for years?

Well, of course, because I believe that it is both natural and logical for institutions, organizations and groups devoted to public services to meet and exchange ideas, even if they have differences in vision, interpretation or proposals.

Have you formally requested to meet with President Chávez?

Yes, we have sent our regards to the president once again, as we usually do every time we meet.

Last year you denounced attacks against religious freedom as evidenced by the obstacles foreign religious figures face in entering the country. Does this situation persist or has it improved?

The song remains the same. Foreign priests have a hard time entering the country while Chinese folk come and go, and no one says a thing. A foreign priest must exit the country every four months.