Ojalá fuese así de matemática la “guarandinga”.  Claro, Miriam tiene mente de ingeniera graduada en la U.S.B.: pragmática y calculadora.  Ella, antes de comer, cuenta las calorías, mientras yo me atiborro de lo primero que encuentro en la cocina que no esté bajo llave.  En ella predomina la lógica y en mí los palos que he recibido del CASTRO-COMUNISMO INTERNACIONAL.

El factor que Miriam no le ha introducido a sus cálculos tiene nombres y apellidos cubanos, como el del General Rogelio García, cariñosamente llamado “Eo”, quien tiene como misión la organización de los cuadros militares regulares del ejército castrista en Venezuela. 

Castro ha implementado tantas veces su plan de distribución de sus cuadros militares en países africanos, asiáticos y caribeños que ya se le debe hacer aburrido.  En Angola logró colocar un verdadero ejército de más de cien mil hombres, superior al personal efectivo del Ejército Venezolano (forjador de libertades).  En Zimbabwe metió un “cojonal” de soldados y se cansó de enviar “turistas” a Vietnam, Camboya y Afganistán.   Grenada de vaina no llegó a tener más cubanos que grenadeños y Jamaica se salvó por un plín de terminar siendo una sucursal de Cuba.  El condimento principal para ese plan de penetración y afianzamiento de los cuadros de acción medios y bajos se llama “TIEMPO”. 

Cuando nos demos cuenta de que no habrá referendos, elecciones, constituyentes, piñatas, reuniones de más de seis personas en cada casa, libertad para salir del país o de mudanza dentro del territorio nacional, propiedad privada, etc… y que la famosa “comunidad internacional” nos pinte una paloma del tamaño de King Kong, estarán esos soldados uniformados de verde oliva diciéndonos: “Oye mulato, ‘cosa más grande, ¿dónde carajo crees tú que vas… mi socio?”  No nos olvidemos (en especial Miriam que es petrolera), que Castro recibe gratuitamente de Venezuela la bicoca de MIL MILLONES DE BOLÍVARES DIARIAMENTE en petróleo. ¿Dejará Castro que esa “manguangua” sea revocada por un revocatorio?

El avión de Cubana de Aviación -- siniestrado en las costas de Barbados el 6 de octubre de 1976 -- era un objetivo militar porque formaba parte de los tres aviones que Castro empleaba para transportar sus tropas desde Cuba hacia Angola, abasteciéndose de combustible en la Guyana del difunto Forbes Burnham.   A pesar de la distancia entre Cuba y África, Castro se las arregló para tener una presencia militar decisiva en muchos de los conflictos africanos.  Con Venezuela es “papayita”, porque estamos a tiro de piedra del “mar de la felicidad” y los mil-veces-fogueados soldados castristas podrían llegarnos hasta en Ícaro, lo que reduce el tiempo requerido y suaviza la complicada logística.

Pero además – para seguir regalándole tiempo al régimen -- existe el temido y terrible “auto-guaraleo”.  Cuando llegue el 19 de agosto (o antes, mucho antes) y ya no nos quede la menor duda que los señores Chávez y Castro no permitirán el constitucional referendo revocatorio, podría salir (si no antes) un “astronauta opositor” proponiendo la recolección de firmas para unas elecciones generales o una constituyente o para organizar un juego de “matarile-rile-rile” y darle cuerda (guaral) al “asunto”; después de todo ya tenemos una estupenda organización llamada “Súmate” que nos puede sumar (a Miriam y a mí, entre otros que todavía estamos cuerdos) al manicomio en el cual se encuentra gran parte del país.

Ya hemos recibido cualquier cantidad de palos del incipiente régimen CASTRO-COMUNISTA de los señores Chávez y Castro.  ¿Remember “el Consultivo”?  Me despido con un refrán anglicano que dice así: “You cheated me once, shame on you… you cheated me twice, shame on me…”  (Me engañaste una vez, la culpa es tuya… me volviste a engañar: la culpa es mía).

Caracas, 10 de mayo de 2003

ROBERT ALONSO robertalonso2003@cantv.net

DE MI MISMA AUTORÍA

La Sra. McKensey, nuestra “land lady” del dormitorio donde vivía mientras estudiaba en la Universidad de Aberdeen, en Escocia – hace ya tres décadas -- nos solía recomendar todos los viernes por las noches cuando nos preparábamos a salir en busca de juerga en la siempre viva y emocionante “George Street” de esa ciudad norteña escocesa, lo siguiente: “If you can’t be good, be careful” (Si no se pueden portar bien, tengan al menos cuidado).

Aquella adorable e inteligente anciana -- quien hoy debe estar en la Gloria del Señor -- solía recomendarnos el jugo de naranja como un extraordinario anticonceptivo, muy apropiado para mantener estático el índice de natalidad entre los estudiantes universitarios de la ciudad del granito, Aberdeen. Según ella, había “anticonceptivos” que uno tomaba “antes de”, otros “después de”… y algunos (como el jugo de naranja), que se tomaban “EN VEZ DE”.

Los otros días cuando vi como la Iglesia paseaba en una especie de “papamóvil” la imagen de Nuestra Señora de Coromoto -- patrona de Venezuela -- por las calles de Caracas, me pregunté si no estaba ante una opción “mackensiniana”, en la cual el venezolano – muy creyente, por cierto – estuviera buscando la ayuda celestial “EN VEZ DE” empeñarse en la terrenal acción de “La Guarimba” para sacudirse en Venezuela del incipiente régimen CASTRO-COMUNISTA de los señores Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías y Fidel Castro Ruz.

Hay que tener mucho cuidado.  En Mateo 17:20, este evangelista pone en boca de Jesús la siguiente afirmación: “…porque de cierto os digo, que si tuviereis fe como un grano de mostaza, diréis a este monte: Pásate de aquí allá y se pasará; y nada os será imposible.”  Según las Sagradas Escrituras, cualquier devoto cristiano cargado de fe pudiera pensar que con ella sacudirnos a Chávez sería un paseo por el prado en una tarde primaveral… y lograr que este régimen acepte la celebración delreferendo revocatorio equivaldría a tomarse un vaso de leche tibia con pitillo.

Sin embargo, no debemos olvidarnos de las enseñanzas de Santiago, el hermano carnal de Jesús, quien aseguraba que la fe sin obras es muerta y así lo predicó en el versículo 14 del capítulo 2 de la única carta que la historia bíblica recoge del sucesor del movimiento que Jesús dejó rodando: “Hermanos míos, ¿de qué aprovechará si alguno dice que tiene fe y no tiene obras?  ¿Podrá la fe salvarle?”  Algo así como que a Dios rogando y con “La Guarimba” dando…

Buscando una comparación adecuada que pudiera alertar al pueblo venezolano en cuanto a dejarse llevar por la mera fe y los rezos, se me ocurrió comparar estas piadosas prácticas y creencias religiosas al equivalente a una fuerte dosis de vitaminas para el espíritu, cuando en Venezuela lo que necesitamos es – en todo caso -- un TRANSPLANTE de espíritu.

La fe cristiana, os aseguro, agradecerá inmensamente nuestras obras radicales… ya habrá tiempo para lo demás.

Caracas, 9 de mayo de 2003

ROBERT ALONSO robertalonso2003@cantv.net

DE MI MISMA AUTORÍA

<a href=www.angola.org>Source: ANGOP Date: May 6, 2003

Houston, 05/06 - World Energetic Cities Partnership (WECP) Monday analyzed here Angola’s candidature to join the organization, alongside an Oil Technological Conference being held in Houston since Friday.

Luanda governor Simão Paulo had been invited to attend by Houston mayor Lee Brown, but ended up not traveling to the States.

However, the Consulate to Houston transmitted to the participants the interest of Luanda authorities to join WECP in the next months.

WECP is an association of 12 member cities from different regions, namely Aberdeen (Scotland), Baku (Azerbaijan), Daqing (China), Dongying (China), Halifax (Canada), Houston (US), Maracaibo(Venezuela), Perth (Australia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Stavanger (Noruega), Saint John(Canada) and Villahmosa (Mexico).

Among other objectives, the organization promotes exchanging of experience in various fields, the development of combined projects, sharing of information about planning, emergency, industrial diversity, international education, expectations and strategies from petroleum industries.

scoop.co.nz Wednesday, 7 May 2003, 7:21 pm Press Release: US State Department

Strengthening Democracy: A Review of OAS Actions in 2002

Ambassador Peter DeShazo, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the OAS Remarks to a Special Session of the Permanent Council on Democracy Washington, DC April 29, 2003

Ambassador Peter DeShazo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

A little over a year ago, still in the aftermath of September 11, we determined that we wanted to keep the issue of Follow-Up to the Democratic Charter as a permanent item on the agenda of the Permanent Council. We did so because we recognized the great significance of this document for us, and for the citizens of this Hemisphere in promoting and defending their right to democracy. In doing so, we reaffirmed our obligation, as representatives of the democracies of this Hemisphere, to promote and defend that right. Gradually, we have come to realize that the Charter stipulates not only the democratic values that we hold in common, but provides the essential tools that the Organization (Organization of American States, OAS) has to prevent or address threats to democracy.

We meet today under General Assembly Resolution AG/RES. 1907 to "review actions undertaken by the Organization in calendar year 2002 to promote and strengthen democracy, in order to determine such additional actions as may be deemed appropriate." In fact, the Democratic Charter is the spirit of the OAS , and virtually everything that the Organization did in the year 2002 was done in the spirit of the Democratic Charter.

We also should overcome the hesitation of using Article 17 of the Democratic Charter. In fact, every time a member state makes a request for technical assistance from the OAS, such as technical electoral assistance, strengthening institutions, promoting dialogue and conflict resolution, or leadership training, in essence it invokes the Democratic Charter.

We have two questions before us today.

First, what did we do in the year 2002 to promote and strengthen democracy? We can look at our efforts in two categories:

The first category is technical assistance or promotion of a democratic culture by the organs and entities of the OAS. The long-awaited inventory of democratic activities in the Organization that we have before us today is an impressive list. There is indeed a lot going on in the area of democracy, and not just in the work of the UPD (Unit for the Promotion of Democracy). I wonder if there was anyone in the Secretariat, let alone any of the Permanent Representatives, who was aware of all that the Organization is doing in this area. The level of technical activity is very reassuring.

Our delegation commends the UPD for putting this chart together, and all of the organs and entities that provided the information. We hope this will prove to be a catalyst for even greater coordination throughout the Organization in the future. To facilitate this, I propose that we make this very informative report an annual part of our review in preparation for the General Assembly each year. While we in the Permanent Council and our ministers in the General Assembly give the policy orientation for the Organization, it is in the daily implementation of these activities that we will make progress in promoting and defending democratic institutions, practice, and culture.

The second category of what we did in 2002 is more political in nature. Clearly, the Permanent Council has become more proactive in lending solidarity to member states, as we did in the case of Venezuela, Haiti, and Bolivia. Clearly, we are recognizing the need to speak up when the rights of the Hemisphere's citizens are being violated, as we did yesterday in the discussion on Cuba. Clearly, when representatives of OAS member states traveled to Seoul, Korea, in November 2002 to meet with member states of the Community of Democracy from other parts of the world we were promoting our values of democracy and the instrument we drafted to promote it. The meeting June 5-6 in Miami between OAS members of the Community of Democracies and members of the African Union-NEPAD is another such proactive initiative to share our values.

Clearly, when the Secretary General offers assistance to the Government of Bolivia to help resolve conflicts in that country or speaks out in support of the Government of Nicaragua's anti-corruption efforts, he is representing our democratic values. As the Permanent Council considers and votes on a resolution defending human rights in Cuba, we will be projecting those fundamental values.

The second question we have before us today is: What more can we do or should we be doing?

I am sure that all of us could come up with a long list of projects and activities we would like to see developed by the Organization were there only sufficient money and time to do it all. But I have a few concrete proposals to make:

1. One of the strongest ways we have of supporting those organs and entities of the Organization that are actively promoting democracy is to fund them adequately. We talk about providing increased financial support for the inter-American human rights system. We need to ensure that we are also providing adequate financial support for the democracy programs of the UPD and other organs and entities of the Organization. Without an increase next year to the regular Program-Budget, it will be difficult to maintain at current levels, let alone enhance support, for these essential democracy programs. Each member and observer state should consider making voluntary contributions to these collective programs. My government has approved a substantial increase in what we will contribute to democracy activities this year. Frankly, we hope these additional funds will leverage greater contributions from other donors.

2. We should actively seek ways to promote a democratic culture in the Americas based on our shared values. There are many ways we can do this:

• We should urge our Education Ministers to make a commitment at their August meeting to incorporate civic education, including the Inter-American Democratic Charter, into the curriculum of each of our countries. * Last year's special session on Women in the Political Process was highly successful and attracted outstanding speakers. I propose that the Permanent Council, following on the Education Ministerial and with the help of the UPD and the Unit for Social Development and Education, consider holding a Special Session in September on "Promoting a Democratic Culture Through Civic Education."

3. Inter-parliamentary exchanges are useful: Representatives of the U.S. and Venezuelan legislatures have been meeting for the last year to learn more about each other's methods and understand more their differences. We should encourage more such practical exchanges.

4. Horizontal cooperation is productive: Brazil and Paraguay have shown us the way with their pilot program to share Brazil's electronic voting machines and software for the Paraguayan elections held this past Sunday. Peru is inviting members of the Rio Group to share best practices and experiences in the area of political party reform. The Inter-American Forum on Political Parties is encouraging greater sharing of experiences among the current and future leaders of our countries, and we should encourage these efforts. We should make horizontal cooperation a strong element of political party reform.

5. An annual evaluation of democracy activities is essential: We have discussed follow-up activities to the Democratic Charter at least 6 times since we adopted it on September 11, 2001. I propose that we hold an annual session of the Permanent Council as we are doing today to evaluate the level of activity in the previous year. To prepare for this session, we should ask the UPD to provide us with an updated inventory of activities each year. The results of this session should be included in our report to the General Session on the promotion of democracy and follow-up to the Democratic Charter.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[End]

Released on April 29, 2003

commondreams.org Published on Monday, May 5, 2003 by the Guardian/UK by Oliver Burkeman in Washington and Jo Tuckman in Mexico City

Governments across Latin America have launched investigations after revelations that a US company is obtaining extensive personal data about millions of citizens in the region and selling it to the Bush administration.

Documents seen by the Guardian show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) last year in return for its data, which includes Mexico's entire list of voters, including dates of birth and passport numbers, as well as Colombia's citizen identification database.

Literature that ChoicePoint produced to advertise its services to the department of justice promised, in the case of Colombia, a "national registry file of all adult Colombians, including date and place of birth, gender, parentage, physical description, marital status, passport number, and registered profession".

It is illegal under Colombian law for government agencies to disclose such information, except in response to a request for data on a named individual.

One lawyer following the investigations described Mexican officials as "incensed", and experts said the revelations threatened to destroy fragile public trust in the country's electoral institutions. In Nicaragua, police have raided two firms believed to have provided the data, and the Costa Rican government has also begun an inquiry. Other countries involved include Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Argentina and Venezuela.

The identities of the firms supplying ChoicePoint with the data are unknown, since the company says its contracts ensure confidentiality, although it insists all the information was obtained legally.

Exactly how the US government is using the data is also unknown. But since it focuses so heavily on Latin America, it would appear to have vast potential for those tracking down illegal immigrants. It could perhaps also be used by US drugs enforcement agents in the region.

ChoicePoint, though, which is based near Atlanta, is far from unfamiliar to observers of the Florida vote of 2000 that decided the US presidency in George Bush's favor. Its subsidiary Database Technologies was hired by the state to overhaul its electoral registration lists - and ended up wrongly leading to the disenfranchising of thousands of voters, whose votes might have led to a different result.

Investigations in 2000 and 2001 by the Observer and the BBC's Newsnight program concluded that thousands of voters had been removed from the lists on the grounds that DBT said they had committed felonies, preventing them from voting. In fact, the firm had identified as "felons" thousands of people who were guilty of misdemeanors, such as, in at least one case, sleeping on a park bench.

Then it produced a revised list of 57,700 "possible felons", which turned out to be riddled with mistakes because it only looked for rough matches between names of criminals and names of voters. James Lee, a vice-president of ChoicePoint, told Newsnight that Florida, governed by Mr Bush's brother Jeb, had made it clear that it "wanted there to be more names [on the list] than were actually verified as being a convicted felon". Mr Bush's eventual majority in Florida was 537.

Since the election, ChoicePoint has been the beneficiary of a huge increase in the freedom of government agencies to gain access to personal data. The USA patriot act, passed after September 11, allows government investigators to gain access to more information on US citizens without a search warrant, and to see data on private emails with such a warrant but without a wiretap order. The act also means banks must make their databases accessible to firms such as ChoicePoint.

In Mexico, the president of the federal electoral institute, Jose Woldenberg, revealed that his investigators had talked to the Mexican company that said it paid a "third person" 400,000 pesos (£24,500) for a hard disk full of personal data drawn largely from the electoral roll. It sold this to ChoicePoint for just $250,000, indicating the huge profitability of ChoicePoint's contracts - last year's $11m payment was part of a five-year contract worth $67m.

"The companies had to know that it is forbidden to use the information in the electoral register for any other purpose than elections," said Julio Tellez, a specialist in Mexico's information laws at the Tec de Monterrey University. "It is a federal crime to misuse the information, and they did that by selling it and putting it in the hands of a foreign government."

Mr Tellez said he believed that this makes the companies and the US government liable to prosecution.

The sale of information from the electoral register is particularly devastating in Mexico, because the electoral institute enjoyed a close to unique reputation for honesty and transparency in a country plagued by corruption.

"We feel betrayed. The IFE [federal electoral institute] was the only Mexican organization we could trust," said Cesar Diaz, a Mexico City supermarket administrator whose feelings were echoed by many. "I mean, if we can't trust them who can we believe in? I think it will have repercussions in the next elections."

Britain's much stronger data-protection framework probably means ChoicePoint could not make similar wholesale purchases of databases from the UK, and a similar situation exists across the rest of the EU. But the Latin American states "don't have data protection on the level of Europe", said Chris Hoofnagle, deputy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based pressure group which obtained the purchasing and advertising documents.

ChoicePoint was taking advantage of those more relaxed laws to profit from the US's "increasing reliance on private companies to obtain data on persons of interest to law enforcement", he said.

But the US government has shown itself eager to enhance the amount of data it can gather on people across the world, including those in the UK. In February, Washington announced that it would be seeking access to credit card details and other information on all travelers entering the US. Britain, too, is proposing laws which would give state agencies wide-ranging access to information regarding telephone and email use, though ministers insist their plans will not now include the content of such communications.

In a statement provided to the Guardian, ChoicePoint strongly denied breaking any laws and said it was cooperating fully with Mexican authorities. "All information collected by ChoicePoint on foreign citizens is obtained legally from public agencies or private vendors," the statement said.

The statement insisted that "ChoicePoint did not purchase election registry information and our vendor has verified that the information we purchased was not from the padron electoral [Mexico's central registry of electors]". But that claim is called into question by the company's advertising documents. Those documents, dated September 2001, explicitly boast that ChoicePoint can offer a "nationwide listing of all Mexican citizens registered to vote as of the 2000 general election - updated annually".

Asked how the US government is using the data, Greg Palmore, a spokesman for the bureau of immigration and customs, said it was helping to trace illegal immigrants but only if they were guilty of another crime. Asked to confirm whether the data was used by his bureau only to pursue criminals, he said: "Mainly."

ChoicePoint insists that it requires all its subcontractors to sign pledges that they are not breaking the law. But legal experts say that would offer it scant protection if the Latin American police inquiries were to result in others being convicted.

"If you know that a practice is actually illegal, you can't immunize yourself" with a pledge, said Mr Hoofnagle. "There's a strong principle in US law of being responsible for the actions of your agents."