COMMUNICATION TO THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
In view of the recent articles posted in the international news agencies, I consider necessary for objectivity's sake to stop the ignorant and irresponsible attitude of portraying the conflict as an oil workers strike or even worse, as a clash between classes.
It should not be forgotten that the oil strike commenced after the national strike began, due to the violent attacks perpetrated on Juan Fernandez's house - Manager of the company -, followed by the aggressive dissolution by the army of a peaceful demonstrations outside one of PDVSA's buildings in Chuao, Caracas. This act left journalists, police officers and demonstrators wounded.
Thanks to Chavez's wicked ability at the helm of the economy ( preliminary data from the Venezuelan Central Bank shows that the country's economy contracted by an estimated 10 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002, the largest quarterly drop in the past 50 years ), in Venezuela there are only two social status; a shrinking middle class and the poor. Only 2% of the country's population earns more than 1500 US dollars/month.
In the last survey:
- 58% of Venezuelans blamed Chavez for the disastrous state of the country,
- 68% doubted that the government is willing to negotiate,
- 68% thought the strike should continue until Chavez resigns,
- 93% expressed that the government must negotiate the solution of the conflict,
- 63% wanted the president's immediate resignation. The results are quite clear, perhaps some A-levels in maths will help overcome the press' inability to understand the numbers.
Country's population: 24 million PDVSA's workforce: 36.000 people
This web site was launched exactly 43 days ago. In this period I have been scrutinizing the major international news agencies in search for articles regarding Venezuela's crisis, in an attempt to provide credible information to whomever may be interested. To my surprise, the "trustworthy" sources of information have been producing the most staggering collection of misleading articles about the conflict, not facilitating the formation of a true picture of the events in the country to the general public, and more importantly failing in their commitment to inform. They have flirted with concepts such as "clash between rich and poor" or "the oil workers strike". What I believe constitute the biggest damage to all the sectors involved in this drama, is the constant and repetitive argument of Chavez having been democratically elected. Let us imagine this scenario for one moment: roughly 10% of Americans taking voluntarily and spontaneously to the streets of Washington to demand Bush's resignation - same could apply to Englishmen and Blair, Frenchmen and Chirac, etc.- and their presidents reactions to these events being , " demonstrations? What demonstrations?". Of course it should be added the speech on national TV by the president, urging army commanders to disobey the rulings of the Supreme Court, and I will not continue depicting examples of Chavez democratic behavior for I do not want to appear "biased", the examples are there for anyone to see. Hence my conviction that the international media covers and publishes only what they want and not the true facts. At stake is the freedom and welfare of an entire nation and not just the survival of elitists groups, therefore the significance of providing proper comments on this topic. I have been repeatedly accused of being partisan, in this respect I can only say that there are enough links to CNN in this site to prove the contrary. I really doubt about the skills and education of the journalists in charge of covering these events. I am only a doorman in a foreign country - no journalism background or experience in these matters whatsoever - however, I honestly think that as far as providing veritable information about Venezuela is concerned, I could easily lecture them. The realities reflected in the Venezuelan media and feedback received from family, friends, and people in general are completely divorced from what I gather daily from the international media. Perhaps now that the Americans are going to start to feel the consequences of this issue where it hurts the most - i.e. their pockets -, some questions will be raised and some sort of condemnation towards Chavez will follow. In view of this precedent, who will believe these "journalists"? Most certainly not me..
Aleksander Boyd editor@vcrisis.com