Thursday, April 10, 2003
Communiqué
<a href=www.vcrisis.com>The Venezuelan News Service | Apr 10 2003 20:25:30 GMT
By Aleksander Boyd
As the creator and editor of Vcrisis, director of ProVeO and exerting my right to freedom of expression I feel compelled to raise my voice about some issues. The present circumstances of world affairs and geopolitics are paving the way to increase extremism. Saddam Hussein biggest crime to date -in the eyes of the international community- was his attempt to use oil as a weapon to condition his permanence in power. Bush & Blair, have been rather busy trying to convince the general public about the urgent necessity of removing the Iraqi dictator for humanitarian reasons. Humanitarian reasons? I think not!! Iraq reserves of oil are second only to those of Saudi Arabia. In times of recent economic embargo, 50 % of Iraqi oil was flowing to the American market, yes you read it correctly 50 %. The USA consumes 40 % of the world's gasoline production and a quarter of the total oil production. Their own production, contrary to what everyone believes, picked in 1978 and it's been decreasing ever since according to analysts. Should the current rate of energy consumption remains in the same trend in America, their reserves will last only 8 years. Whereas countries like Iraq or Venezuela have reserves which will last about 50 years depending of course in production levels. "Big Oil" is choked with the prospect of getting their hands on the Iraqi reserves and they are most certainly imposing the rules of the game behind the scenes.
Having said that, I need to stress that the humanitarian factor is completely irrelevant nowadays. Prime example of it is the Venezuelan case. Hugo Chavez differs from Saddam Hussein only in that the latter has been in power a longer period of time. Their ulterior motives are equal, i.e. to subjugate their compatriots in order to ransack rapaciously the wealth generated from the riches of their countries and to use it as means of perpetrating themselves in power. Last night, the BBC aired a program about Hugo Chavez, international news outlets have been echoing all sorts of statements coming from the Venezuelan president and his henchmen. There must be a reason to explain why Saddam on the one hand is the number one threat to western societies and as such he has been marketed and on the other hand Hugo Chavez having an appalling record of humanitarian abuses and crimes continues to be portrayed as the darling of the poor. Could it be that since Venezuelan oil keeps flowing to the US none of it matters? Or perhaps the hypothesis of lucrative contracts to be had in reconstructing the already in shambles PDVSA? Or maybe even to eliminate PDVSA altogether as a worldwide contender among energy companies whilst Chavez plays his game of Robin Hood? Whatever it is, freedom loving Venezuelans are in the middle of this collision course between the crystallization of the Bolivarian revolution and international energy interests.
The amount of money involved in oil markets is overwhelming. Taking that into account, to even consider the possibility of changing the political game on humanitarian reasons is plain wishful thinking. Unfortunately, the battle for control of the once almighty PDVSA has brought about levels of misery to the Venezuelan people unrecorded in the contemporary history of the country. Alas this detail does not count. Hugo Chavez is using PDVSA's monies to buy all kinds of favors and opinions from the world's "most respected" news sources and the BBC is only one of the accomplice companies at the receiving end of this deal. About seven days ago, I was doing searches in Google and Yahoo for the following subjects:
"crisis venezuela"
"venezuela crisis"
"human rights violations venezuela"
"hugo chavez venezuela"
"terrorism venezuela"
"hugo chavez terrorism"
In the first four Vcrisis continues to appear right at the top of the search -even before BBC and organizations of the stature of Human Rights and Amnesty International-. The last two, after some corrections that I made to the page, were resulting in Vcrisis being right at the top of the search of many possible results. I repeated the operation daily to monitor any changes. A couple of days ago I wrote an article about Hugo Chavez and his international rabble, referring to the Gott's, Weisbrot's, Lemoine's and Ramonet's of this planet. Yesterday I had a big rumpus with a member of the BBC. Incredibly as it may sound, Google as well as Yahoo have removed Vcrisis from the search results dealing with the relationship between Hugo Chavez and terrorism. Is it just coincidence, or is it that someone is trying to silence me? I would like to ask to all my readers to help me in the slander fight against Hugo Chavez. I do not want financial help, however linking this site to many others increase the chances of our truth being read by more people. I would like to urge the writers, economists, journalists, lawyers, businessmen, citizens of Venezuela whom are victims of this barbaric regime to forward your reports and opinion pieces, to help me convert this site in the voice of freedom, in the symbol of our genuine right to freely express our ideas, in example for history that an entire nation will not be defeated by a bunch of criminals. One thing is certain, we are on our own. The least thing that we could do is stick together. Please help me to help Venezuela.
LE COMBLE DU CYNISME : PROFITER DU DEUIL D´UN PEUPLE POUR FAIRE L´APOLOGIE DE LA REVOLUTION BOLIVARIENNE.
<a href=www.vcrisis.com>The Venezuelan News Service | Apr 10 2003 20:22:53 GMT
Le 11 avril prochain, 4 journées de réunions et festivités sont organisées à Caracas en l´honneur de la Révolution Bolivarienne menée par le président Hugo Chávez.
Des personnalités sont annoncées entre autres Danielle MITTERAND, Jean-Pierre CHEVENEMENT, José BOVE, Ignacio RAMONET, Bernard CASSEN… Pour l´opinion publique locale, ces noms sont étroitement liés à la France…mais quelle France ! Nous sommes donc assimilés, nous français locaux, qui luttons contre ce régime castriste révolutionnaire, à des supporters de cet homme violent, mégalomane, terroriste, ami de Fidel et de Sadam HUSSEIN, qui par esprit de vengeance fait agoniser tout un pays voulant le mener à la mer de félicité que connaissent Cuba et Haiti.
Comment, nous français, installés ici depuis tant d´années, fiers de notre nationalité, ayant des racines dans ce pays, aimant profondément cette terre qui nous a prodigué de belles amitiés, comment ne pas avoir honte lorsque les médias annoncent que des personnalités françaises viennent fêter les évènements du 11 avril, lorsque ce jour là, nous avons tous vécu un cauchemar.
Injustement prise à parti par des espagnols et des vénézuéliens chez un commerçant que je connais depuis plus de 20 ans, je suis rentrée à la maison en larmes.
-Larmes de tristesse car le 11 avril, nos enfants, nos amis, nos employés manifestaient pacifiquement contre l´autoritarisme et la violence. Bilan : 20 morts et une centaine de blessés.
-Larmes de rage : comment se réjouir un jour de deuil national et quelle indignation de se voir assimilé à un supporter du terrorisme !!!
-Larmes de honte : j´ai honte face à nos voisins, face à nos amis vénézuéliens, face à nos employés, qui tous, sans exception, manifestent contre ce régime totalitaire.
C´est beau, la liberté d´opinion, la liberté d´action de tous ces gens qui ne vivent pas la tragédie que vit actuellement le Vénézuéla. Ils ne perdent ni leur patrimoine, ni l´espoir d´un futur décent pour leurs enfants. Ils changeraient certainement d´avis s´ils vivaient le chaos d´un magnifique pays qui agonise injustement sous l´effet de l´incompétence, de la corruption effrénée et du machiavélisme de la Révolution Bolivarienne qui, par un régime totalitaire de terreur, en finit avec tout le secteur productif du pays qui représente tout de même 75% de la population.
On ne peut profiter des médias, publiant ces noms liés à la France, pour mettre à exécution une telle machination qui ternit incontestablement l´image de notre pays et nous fait, nous français sincères et honnêtes, trembler d´indignation.
Gabriel, en tant que Délégué, se doit de vous transmettre le mécontentement général dont il reçoit les véhéments témoignages.
Je ne suis pas experte en diplomatie mais c´est la rage au cœur, l´ oeil larmoyant que je vous transmets mon indignation et celle de la plupart de nos compatriotes.
Il est très dur, loin de la Mère Patrie, que l´on s´efforce à bien représenter, d´arriver lamentablement à ressentir un certain " malaise " d´ être français.
Hélène et Gabriel LAFAVERGE.
Caracas, le 4 avril 2004.
"The beast is wounded"
The Venezuelan News Service | Apr 10 2003 20:19:00 GMT
By Aleksander Boyd
The rather awkward title of today's editorial is a metaphor of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez present state. Foreign secretary Roy Chaderton has not been this busy in his entire existence. He is traveling up and down this earth attempting to maintain his boss' democratic façade with the help of the Venezuelan diplomatic network, arguably the only government personnel capable of maintaining educated enough conversations in languages other than Spanish. They have an image problem therefore they had recourse to international P. R. firms, Irish filmmakers, obscure analysts, leftist news outlets and a whole array of spin doctors to try to prove their legitimacy and democratic behaviour. Quite frankly they are struggling, their main problem seems to be the Venezuelan president himself. True to its form, a couple of weeks ago in his dominical "Hello President", he brash about the weight of the external debt on the national budget, which cause the Venezuelan bonds to plummet in international markets. The price of his verbal diarrhea is the following; no one in the financial world will advice companies of any size or field to invest in the country.
Similarly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its April 2003 forecasts of the World Economic Outlook. The IMF envisages a -17.0% recession in Venezuela, surpassing Zimbabwe's -11% recession, for the worst performance in the world. This follows a -8.9% recession in 2002, for a two year -26% collapse in the economy, which is only seen in economies of war or during the Great Depression of the United States. After Zimbabwe, Cote D'Ivoire, and Ethiopia are the next worst performers, with -2% recessions in 2003. I am dying to see how the spin professionals are going to masquerade that !! Or shall we assume that the (IMF) is just another opposition mouthpiece trying to discredit the creole Robin Hood?
Expatriate opposition organizations are poping up like mushrooms everywhere for Chavez's misfortune and the fundamental problem that he has got in this particular area is that we are too many, too difficult to silence, impossible to control. In the secure and comfortable western societies there is no space for Bolivarian Circles, Freddy Bernal's or Lina Ron's gangs, which takes out of the equation the possibility of attacking or intimidating us. Such thugs can not operate in civilized communities. Another "lethal aspect" of these organizations is the level of education of its members, as they are formed by the increasing numbers of professionals whom have decided to abandon the country due to the chaotic situation. These extraordinary group of people are doing the utmost to show the ugly face of Chavez's revolution and they are succeeding at it. Private conversations held with top government officials, economists, the media, human rights organizations and jurists demonstrate that the credibility of Hugo Chavez is in the substratum. Everyone knows, or at least the policy makers, who the Venezuelan president is. A good adage for it would be "El sol no se puede tapar con un dedo" or "you can't block the sun with a finger". The enormity of the failure can not be obviated with a power point presentation given by the foreign secretary or a bent film by some Irish fellows.
The country's indexes in economy, poverty, crime, terrorism, corruption, unemployment constitute the best arguments that the opposition has. The level of these conditions are consequence of 4 years of absolute mismanagement of Hugo Chavez and his useless government. Thus, Venezuelan monies can buy favors from news agencies, reports from dodgy institutions, prime time programmes, Irish filmmakers, analphabets from the Middle East and so on but most certainly will not buy the lost credibility. The beast is cornered and wounded. We shall see its end.
Asunto: REP para venezolanos en el exterior
De: "Jessica Rosenberg" jessica@obraweb.com
Fecha: Mie, 9 de Abril de 2003, 7:09 pm
Para: jessica@obraweb.com
VENEZOLANOS EN EL EXTERIOR...
Esta nota es para informar a todos los venezolanos viviendo en el extranjero sobre el proceso para registrrse/actualizar datos en el Registro Electoral Permanente (REP). Debemos registrarnos con anticipación para votar (ya sea para el referéndum como para elecciones presidenciales) pero hay que ACTUAR de inmediato!! (Si conoces a venezolanos viviendo en el extranjero por favor envíales esta nota).
El proceso para el registro electoral es muy sencillo: Presentarse (en el consulado correspondiente) con cédula y algún comprobante de su actual dirección (como prueba de jurisdicción). El mayor inconveniente es que hay que presentarse personalmente de lunes a viernes en horas de oficina (que varían según el consulado).
Sin embargo, necesitamos HACER PRESION DESDE AHORA. En los últimos días he estado llamando al consulado de Houston, mi juridisccion, para verificar que está abierto y funcionando el REP y dicen no tener el material necesario (o planillas) para la inscripción electoral, que les llegara en dos semanas y que les prohibieron sacar fotocopias. En vista de que esta misma respuesta nos la vienen dando desde el mes de Enero, decidí comunicarme con las autoridades respectivas en Venezuela para pedir su colaboración al respecto.
Primero me comuniqué con la Dirección General de Registro del CNE, me informaron que el REP se encuentra abierto y que los consulados deben inscribir a los venezolanos utilizando fotocopias de las planillas, tal como se indica en la circular de la cual se extrajo el texto a continuación. Dicha circular se originó en el CNE y fue enviada a las representaciones diplomáticas por la Dirección General de Relaciones Consulares del MRE
19 de diciembre del 2002
Circular Informativa Nº DGRC-36
1.La actualización del registro electoral de los venezolanos residentes en el exterior, permite inscribirse o actualizar su inscripción en el Registro Electoral en cualquier momento,..."
4.1.En caso de que alguna Representación Diplomática o Consular no cuente con las Planillas de Actualización de Venezolanos residentes en el Exterior (se sugiere revisar exhaustivamente los archivos) deberá utilizar copia del formulario cuyo modelo se envía como Anexo III. ..........
5. El requisito único e insustituible para que un ciudadano venezolano pueda inscribirse o actualizar su inscripción en el Registro Electoral, es la presentación de su cedula de identidad laminada, aun cuando este vencida. El pasaporte no constituye un documento aceptado para los fines del Registro Electoral.........Se recomienda mantener la actualización del registro de manera permanente,..."""
La dirección del CNE también me informo de que ellos no tenían ninguna solicitud formal de material por parte del consulado de Houston. Esta falta de material es una excusa artificial. En vista de esta situación me comunique directamente con la Directora General de Relaciones Consulares del MRE Embajadora Jocelyn Henríquez. Muy amablemente la Embajadora me respondió que el REP debe de permanecer abierto permanentemente y que deben inscribir a todos los venezolanos sacando fotocopias a las planillas. Que no se ha girado ninguna comunicación prohibiendo el uso de las fotocopias como afirman en Houston. La Embajadora se comprometió a hacerle seguimiento al problema y conseguirle pronta solución.
Como preparación y apoyo al movimiento que sucede en Venezuela debemos estar listos para influir en el futuro de nuestro país a través del voto. Esta nota es preventiva pero requiere ACCION IMMEDIATA por parte de los venezolanos viviendo en el extranjero, para que se comuniquen urgentemente con el consulado de su jurisdicción para verificar que el REP está abierto y en funcionamiento. En caso de que reciban una excusa oficial, mucho les agradecería que me mantuvieran informada al respecto, ya que la embajadora Henríquez me pidió que la mantenga informada de estas situaciones. Por favor, anoten el día y hora llamado y el nombre de la persona con que hablaron.
Hay que inscribirse en el consulado respectivo con anterioridad suficiente para poder votar y es mejor estar preparados en caso de no poder viajar a Venezuela para hacerlo.
Si queremos influir democráticamente en el futuro de Venezuela a través del voto, por favor pongan su granito de arena y llamen al consulado de su jurisdicción para hacer presión o asiste a registrarte durante las próximas semanas. Aquí les copio los números de contacto de los consulados en USA, el resto del mundo lo pueden buscar en el Internet.
Saludos
Marisabel Olivares
Mary_olivares@yahoo.com
For any further consultations in regards to the voting process in
Venezuela we suggest you visit the web page www.cne.gov.ve
www.cne.gov.ve
WASHINGTON D.C.
Embassy of Venezuela
www.embavenez-us.org
(Sección Consular)
1099, 30th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
Telephone: (202) 342 2214
Fax: (202) 342-6820
Office hours: 9:00am-1:00pm / 2:00pm-4:00pm Monday to Friday
www.embavenez-us.org www.embavenez-us.org
BOSTON, MASACHUSETTS
venezuela.mit.edu
Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Boston 545
Boylston Street 6th floor, suite 603
Boston, MA 02116
Telephone: (617) 266-9368/ 266-9475; Fax: (617) 266-2350
Office hours: 9:00am-1:00pm (consular service hours) Monday to
Friday
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts, Maine y New Hampshire.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Chicago
20 N Wacker Drive, Suite # 1925
Chicago, IL 60606, USA
Telephone: (312) 236-9659 / 236-9655
Fax: (312) 580-1010
Telex: 234-4330235 CONVE VI
Jurisdiction: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota y Wisconsin.
HOUSTON, TEXAS
Consulate General of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela in Houston
www.consulvenhou.org
2925 Briarpark Dr., #900
Houston, TX 77042, USA
Telephone: (713) 974-0028
Fax: (713) 974-1413
Jurisdiction: Kansas, Nuevo Mexico, Oklahoma y Texas.
MIAMI, FLORIDA
Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Miami
www.consuve.com
1101 Brickell Avenue, Suite 901
Miami, Fl 33131
Telephone: (305) 5774214;Fax: (305) 372-5167
Jurisdiction: Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in New Orleans
1908 World Trade Center, 2 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130, USA
Telephone: (504) 522-3284 / 524-6700
Fax: (504) 522-7092
Jurisdiction: Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama y
Tenessee.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
7 east 51st street
New York, NY 10022 212.826.1660
Phone: 212.826.1660
fax: 212.644.7471
hours open to the public: 9:15am to 12:45pm
office hours: 9am to 4pm
Jurisdiction: Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in San Francisco
www.consuladovenezuelasfo.org
311 California Street, Suite 620
San Francisco, CA 94104, USA
Telephone: (415) 955-1982/ 1987 / 1989; Fax: (415) 955-1970
Office hours: 9:30am-2:30pm (consular service hours) Monday to
Friday
Jurisdiction: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington y Wyoming.
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
Consulate General of <www.tld.net the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in San Juan, PR
www.tld.net
Avenida Ponce de León
Edificio Mercantil Plaza, Suite 601
Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, 00918
Telephone: (787) 766-4250 / 766-4251
Fax: (787) 766-4255
Jurisdiction: Puerto Rico y Virgin Islands
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Checked by AVG anti-virus system (www.grisoft.com).
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Fwd: Réplicas a Documental: "The Revolution will not be Televised"
De: "Jessica Rosenberg" jessica@obraweb.com
Fecha: Mie, 9 de Abril de 2003, 7:44 pm
Para: jessica@obraweb.com
Copio dos excelentes cartas escritas a la BBC con respecto al documental "Chavez: Inside the Coup" o "The Revolution will not be Televised".
Este documental tendrá un efecto muy negativo sobre la imagen que se tiene de la oposición en el exterior. ¿Por qué es importante la opinión pública internacional? Una oposición legítima es un sustento a las potenciales acciones de la OEA, del Grupo de Amigos, de los tribunales internacionales y de los organismos y personalidades en general. Es un pilar fundamental de nuestra lucha... Mientras no surja un documental justo que le haga contrapeso a éste, debemos al menos tratar de expresar nuestro desacuerdo masivamente para que entiendan que no es una élite contra el "pobre" Chávez sino un país entero manifestando su descontento.
Jessica Rosenberg
Pueden escribirle a los productores directamente a
chavezthefilm@hotmail.com. Si prefieren contactar a la BBC, pueden hacerlo a este mail: storyville@bbc.co.uk o en: www.bbc.co.uk
Dear Mr. Fraser,
Have you ever been to Venezuela?
In your review of "Chavez: Inside the Coup", you write: "On one side stand the Versace wearing classes, rich from many decades of oil revenues, and on the other the poor in their barrios and those within the armed forces who support Chavez." Are you aware, Sir, that all polls indicate that between 70% and 80% want Chavez out of power? At the same time, are you aware that 70% of our country is poor? (and that number is increasing.) So how do those numbers jive to you? Could it be that plenty of the poor want Chavez out too?
I'm going to assume that even if you've been to Venezuela, since many British people can afford to travel and wear Versace (and from the looks of your photo, so can you), you haven't attended a protest against the government. If you had, you would have noticed the middle class and poor marching side by side. What, no mention of rich? Oh, I forgot to say that only a tiny fraction of the country is rich. Do you think that Chavez would have come to power if the majority were rich? Who are the millions that march against him on a day's notice, by the way? Who are the millions who left their house to sign petitions asking for a recall referendum? Are those millions the Versace-wearing bunch? Because if they are, then the world's economists have focused on the wrong countries to emulate. Even the United Nations should take notice.
Do you understand our economic structure? How is it that a tiny class can get rich from our oil revenues, when our oil industry is nationalized? Nationalized means that the state, not a small group, owns the oil industry. Those who grow wealthy from it are either corrupt bureaucrats, politicians, or hardworking contractors. Upper and middle level managers also make a nice living, as anyone who is educated and works hard should. Don't you agree? However, I've yet to see a PDVSA professional in a Donatella design. Have you?
The events of April 11 are lamentable, because people died. However, a president is always responsible for what happens in his country. It's an issue of governability, and no one has the right to blame anyone else when governability disappears, especially the media. (I'm shocked I have to point this out to someone who writes on a BBC site!) The opposition made some mistakes that day, but it was precisely because no one was expecting something so horrible and despicable to happen. Everyone acted in desperation, because the military removed Chavez from power when people started dropping like flies. What would you do if someone handed you reign of an entire country? Wouldn't you make mistakes? Or are you a icon of British perfection?
This video that you rave about will cleverly try to pin the April 11 deaths on the opposition, saying that the victims were government supporters. Have you heard of Mohammed Merhi? His son was shot in the head. Mr. Merhi has camped in front of the Supreme Court on hunger strike, demanding justice for his son, who was protesting against the government on April 11. Are you aware that the families of the victims are suing Chavez, that a Spanish Court recently referred the cases to an International Court, since it deemed his actions too severe to be tried in Spain? Have you seen any of the footage of that day, or the days that followed, or are you basing your slick opinions of a country's pain on a documentary by "some young Irish filmmakers?"
An Internet posting is serious business these days, Mr. Frazier. Over time, the world will know what truly happened in Venezuela on April 11-13. You make your living from people like me, who read your stuff. Your credibility is all you have. Without it, you are like background noise or a Pop-up that people click out. I'm certain you wouldn't want to reduce yourself to that level, by basing your opinions solely on one documentary.
I would encourage you to visit Venezuela. Even London has a healthy opposition, so why not sit down with Alek Boyd, president of Proveo.org, and discuss this issue? Unless you have an agenda, which I'm sure you don't.
Remember, Mr. Fraser, that one documentary does not history make. The last thing that you'd ever want is for Storyville to be perceived as Liesville.
Alexandra Beech
Dear BBC and Mr.Nick Fraser,
I saw your program about Venezuela last night, and with great disbelief I saw how you too wasted the opportunity of a lifetime. We, the civil society of Venezuela missed the chance to rid ourselves of an authoritarian man who advocates destruction in order to accumulate personal power. You lost the opportunity to be praised for serious journalism. It's sad to see the strength of the division and polarisation in Venezuela, but sadder to see how it can permeate to outsiders who, like us can no longer see any good in the other side.
It was very weak journalism to try to build a case against the Venezuelan opposition and the local private media for being biased against the president by simply being biased against them. I really expected better from the BBC. If you are going to criticise one-sidedness you can't be one sided yourself, so don't expect any respect from your viewers when using that logic.
I believe BBC owes Venezuelans an apology for interfering in a conflict rather than reporting about it, for leaving more than half of the facts out, for promoting more hatred and division in a conflict that it is not yours. I don't expect you to understand what Venezuela is going through, but I do expect respect and journalistic integrity, so if you are going to tell the story, at least have the courage to present both sides of it. If not, I would really appreciate it if you just stayed out of it. We have enough poison amongst ourselves, we really do not need you fuelling it.
I agree that your journalists had a once in a lifetime opportunity to be at the presidential palace the night of April 11th 2002. It was a pity they didn't have the chance to be outside to see over a million people marching for democracy, something never before seen in Venezuela. It's a pity they weren't there long enough to see how in the four years since Mr. Chavez took office, oil income was at an all-time high, poverty and unemployment levels increased to levels unknown before and corruption multiply a hundred fold.
It's unfortunate that as your journalists were trapped in the presidential palace with all the chaos, they didn't have the chance to hear the head of the military at the time, Mr Lucas Rincon,a very close ally and friend of the president, read a statement informing the nation that the president had resigned.
Unfortunately your journalists missed so much of the story that they wasted their opportunity of a lifetime, and their version lacks credibility and deserves no praise. They are simply two more Chavistas telling their story, no more no less.
If the BBC was ever serious about doing a documentary about the situation of Venezuela please feel free to contact me and I would be glad to help so you can have first hand accounts for both sides. You can make history by choosing to share both sides of the story, therefore you still have an opportunity of a lifetime.
Kindest Regards,
Cristina Granier
London