The true meaning of our Venezuelan Bolivarian Circles
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News
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Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2003
By: Alvaro Sanchez
USA-based commentarist Alvaro Sanchez writes: At times, some Venezuelans, as well as non-Venezuelans, seem to forget the real promises made by current President Hugo Chavez when he was a candidate running for office. Unlike previous Presidents, Chavez did not promise to make a millionaire out of each citizen.
On the contrary, Chavez announced time and again that there would be obstacles along the way in order to fully make, implement, and enforce sound policies directed towards the eradication of poverty and the construction of an egalitarian society.
Indeed, Chavez' political platform included the following points: the restructuring of the Venezuelan political system, participation of the State in state-related matters, fair distribution of income, the fight against corruption, and perhaps the most importantly, accountability of lower levels of government as well as active grassroots political participation for community improvements. Both the Venezuelan and international media did a poor job of presenting the true meaning of these grassroots organizations.
These grassroots movements are known as Bolivarian Circles, after Venezuela's forefather: Simon Bolivar. Endorsed by the Venezuelan president and supported by the majority of the population, Bolivarian Circles grouped community leaders and neighbors alike. They worked hand in hand in order to make ends meet at various shantytowns, neighborhoods, and villages across Venezuela.
For instance, instead of waiting for the President, or another high authority or power of the government, to arrive at Barrio La Palomera, near Baruta, Miranda State, neighbors and community leaders, mostly women, went ahead and organized themselves to secure a badly-needed medical supply dispensary. In addition, they worked together on the beautification and clean up of La Palomera.
By the same token, Bolivarian Circles across Venezuela began an extensive social and political activism intended to aid the usual disenfranchised population of Venezuela. Other Bolivarian Circles, for example, concentrated their work and efforts on feeding the hungry, providing after school care for poor children, securing resources for small businesses, etc.
President Chavez did his best to provide the means and resources necessary for these Bolivarian Circles to be able to help themselves. Thus, the Venezuelan National Assembly, with the support of the President, passed legislation and appropriated funds for the creation of a line of credit available for small businesses, particularly those owned by low-income Venezuelans, women, Native Americans (Indians), and other minorities.
Along with the Bolivarian Circles, President Chavez implemented Plan Bolivar 2000. The plan allowed President Chavez to mobilize the Venezuelan Armed Forces in poor areas of the country with the goal of providing health care, subsidized food, construction equipment, school tutoring, and logistical organization to those who needed it most: the poor in the shantytowns of Caracas and other large cities of Venezuela.
All of this, on its own, represented a major achievement, especially in a country like Venezuela, where unfortunately most of the people were not used to grassroots community organization and development.
Moreover, President Chavez also suggested that Bolivarian Circle members had to carry on a civic duty as well.
By this, President Chavez meant that members were in charge of learning and teaching their constitutional rights and responsibilities. Members of Bolivarian Circles thereby became the common defenders of the Venezuelan Constitution. Even though the Venezuelan Constitution was ratified and voted on, and for, by almost 80% of the voting population in the National Referendum of 1999, this Constitution was outlawed by the 48-hour government that presided Venezuela after the April 11th military-civilian coup.
Venezuela's Bolivarian Circle members then put into practice all the civic and community training they had obtained in previous years and implemented an active demonstration that ultimately allowed, not only President Chavez back in office, but also the Venezuelan Constitution to freely reign in a country meant to be free by its brave people.
The immediate reaction of the Venezuelan opposition was to demonize the Bolivarian Circles.
After all, the Bolivarian Circles were the ones that rescued and guaranteed democracy in Venezuela. Opposition leaders and followers accused Bolivarian Circles of being armed and practitioners of terrorism. The Venezuelan and international media, major allies of the Venezuelan opposition, did their job by conveying such false messages through newspapers, radio, and television broadcasts. In the end, these poor grassroots Bolivarian Circles, with their limited resources and inefficient public relations, had to compete for public approval against major media corporations worldwide.
This was a remake of David and Goliath, Venezuelan style.
What makes such media reaction even more irrational, if not laughable, is that in neighboring Colombia a somewhat similar program was created, yet television, radio, and newspapers said nothing to criticize it. Indeed, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe also encouraged Colombian citizens to organize themselves at a community level. However, contrary to Chavez' community improvement and civics-oriented call, Uribe's own Red de Informantes (Informants Network) pretended to align, engulf, and engage poor Colombian peasants into a war with no end in sight.
As a matter of fact, while governor of Colombia's Antioquia State, Uribe developed a similar program, CONVIVIR, and its results were disastrous for poor countryside people. Indeed, Colombian and international human rights activists condemned CONVIVIR as nothing less than an institutionalized program for the "paramilitarization" of civilians. According to these human rights groups, Uribe's CONVIVIR did absolutely nothing positive for the improvement of the needy.
Where was the international media when it was time to criticize Uribe's Red de Informantes?
Why were the Bolivarian Circles evaluated by different standards than the Red de Informantes?
International media needs to answer these questions, for otherwise its credibility will suffer tremendously. Also, Colombian citizens should confront and oppose President Uribe's aggressive programs, as well as Colombian and international media, for looking the other way, thereby allowing such climate of confrontation to take place in Colombia.
In Venezuela, on the other hand, Bolivarian Circles have not been given the opportunity to show their true meaning.
The Venezuelan opposition as well as the Venezuelan and international media have stopped the Bolivarian Circles from presenting their humanitarian character.
- Nonetheless, with or without Chavez in office, Bolivarian Circles will continue their quest to improve conditions in Venezuela at a community level.
President Chavez did fulfill his campaign promise of providing the tools for self-help and political awareness ... he planted the seeds ... and future generations, as well as history, will one day appreciate such generous actions.
Alvaro Sanchez was born in Venezuela and is a middle school teacher in Miami. He is a graduate of the State University of New York – Albany. He is currently working on his Master’s Degree in Latin American history. You may email him at a2000@rocketmail.com
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VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American.
-- Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher Editor@VHeadline.com
Agreement in Venezuela.
<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>MercoPress News Agency
Mercosur Falklands-Malvinas
Friday, 18 April
The Venezuelan Government and opposition reached an agreement for the Calling of a revocatory referendum sometime after August 19 when President Hugo Chávez will have completed half of his six year term, announced Mr. Fernando Jaramillo head of the Organization of American States, OAS, delegation that is mediating in the extended civil and political conflict.
United States praised the agreement and said it was confident that Venezuela, --one of its main oil suppliers--, would soon overcome the political crisis going to the polls.
The agreement opens the way for a “voting” solution to the almost chaotic situation that Venezuela is confronting for over a year following the frustrated coup attempt (April11/02) that triggered street fighting with 19 dead and over 300 wounded when pro-government mobs opened fire on an opposition protest march.
However even when the OAS delegate was announcing the terms of agreement, President Chavez in a press conference with foreign correspondents in Government House was saying he wanted a “true dialogue with authentic political leaders”.
“Let’s hope these negotiations advance, because they actually didn’t start well. Those sitting at the table are representatives of coup sponsors and not political figures of relevance”, said Mr. Chavez.
The Venezuelan president was also critical of the “Friends of Venezuela” group that was created at the beginning of the year to support OAS mediation efforts. The group is formed by United States, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Portugal.
“I’d say the group has failed, but at least they’ve tried and now they know which is Venezuela’s president”, stressed Mr. Chavez who is accused by the opposition of promoting class division and attempting to impose a Cuban style regime.
The August referendum solution is the second agreement reached between government and opposition delegates. At the beginning of the year both sides signed a document condemning violence and favoring peace.
Mr. Jaramillo said both sides are committed to the participation in the revocatory referendum next August.
However according to the Venezuelan constitution a mid term referendum on the Executive can only take place if 20% of the Electoral roll agrees and supports the initiative. That is 2,5 million of the 11 million Venezuelan voters.
Both sides also agreed to the naming of an “impartial” National Electoral Council as soon as possible to guarantee the transparency of the whole signatures collection effort and the August voting. Ruling legislators that have majority in Congress anticipated they would not impede the process.
The opposition is confident about reaching the required number of signatures since last February it managed to collect “four million signatures”.
Overall the agreement is a victory for Mr. Chavez and his followers who all the time argued that no referendum could be convened until after the president’s mid term. The opposition had unsuccessfully insisted that elections had to be held before August 2003.
Venezuela’s major business organizations and trade unions organized a strike that extended from last December to February in an attempt to force president Chavez resignation and new elections. They failed but the economy suffered greatly with the stoppage of oil production, (the country’s main source of income), and Venezuela was left in the verge of defaulting.
MERCOPRESS is a news agency concentrating in Mercosur countries which operates from Montevideo, Uruguay,
and includes in its area of influence the South Atlantic and insular territories.
E-mail: merco@mercopress.com - Web technical help: webmaster@mercopress.com
Chavez wants to distribute the wealth back to where it belongs
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News
Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003
By: Bob Dang
VHeadline.com reader Bob Dang writes: Hi, I'm a Canadian University student, who just wanted to say that i think your President Hugo Chavez is a great man.
I just watched an Irish documentary called: Chavez inside the coup.
If you have not seen this documentary, I highly recommend it, for in it lies the truth.
I was wondering if you could recommend it to be played on the state-owned channel in Venezuela (channel 8). I really hope that Venezuelans come to realize that Chavez is for the people ... he wants to distribute the wealth back to where it belongs: you.
These social reforms require a vast amount of capital ... capital that can only be gained with the new hydrocarbon bill coming into effect (i.e. the dismantling of PDVSA).
- I hope your country finds the stability, security and riches that it's people deserve.
Have a good day and thank-you for reading my e-mail.
Bob Dang
freshjive112@rogers.com
Forums
Referendum 2003
discuss the pros and cons of a revocatory referendum
President Hugo Chavez Frias
express your opinions on the Presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias and his Bolivarian Revolution
Bolivarian Circles
Are Bolivarian Circles a Venezuelan form of Neighborhood Watch Committees or violent hordes of pro-Chavez thugs?
Venezuela's Opposition
What is it? Is a force to be reckoned with or in complete disarray?
Our editorial statement reads:
VHeadline.com Venezuela is a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference. We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress. Our declared editorial bias is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela ... which some may wrongly interpret as anti-American.
-- Roy S. Carson, Editor/Publisher Editor@VHeadline.com
Chavez Frias has promised to reconcile a deeply divided Venezuelan population
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News
Posted: Sunday, April 13, 2003
By: David Coleman
President Hugo Chavez Frias has promised to reconcile a deeply divided Venezuelan population as he celebrated the first anniversary of his return to power after the brief and unsuccessful opposition coup d'etat in April 2002 which served as a prelude to bitter feuding and an equally unsuccessful two-month labor-business stoppage aimed at forcing his democratically-elected government out of power.
The celebration came amid heightened tensions after a bomb blast at the central Caracas venue where government and opposition have just concluded final phases in protracted negotiations on legal procedures leading up to a revocatory referendum which may be launched mid-August with the election itself perhaps as early as December.
Chavez Frias had presided over the closing ceremony of an international forum supporting his Bolivarian Revolution with thousands of supporters thronging the streets outside. Speaking to international wire service reporters, one of the President's supporters described the events of last April 11 as "terrible for the country ... thank God that it was possible to restore democracy just two days later!"
Chavez Frias had been taken prisoner by right-wing extremist military officers who had had the support of the United States of America to install business leader Pedro Carmona as a "transitional" President of the Republic. Once he was sworn in, however, Carmona Estanga proceeded to take upon himself dictatorial powers and immediately decreed the dissolution of the National Assembly, Supreme Court and the nation's 1999 Constitution.
Although privately-owned TV channels had implemented a news black-out as the inevitable reversal of Carmona Estanga's fortunes came, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans converged on the Miraflores Presidential Palace demanding Chavez Frias' return ... they were told he had resigned and was being flown to Cuba ... but he was quickly located to an offshore military base at La Orchila and flew back home by helicopter to retake the Presidency in the early hours of April 14.
Carmona Estanga has since evaded trial for his part in the failed coup d'etat, escaping from house arrest to flee to the Colombian embassy from whence he was afforded asylum in Bogota. Another coup leader, Trade Unions boss Carlos Ortega recently went fugitive before holing up at the Costa Rica embassy in Caracas to gain asylum in San Jose, and Carmona Estanga's replacement at the head of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Fedecamaras) has flown to the United States on the pretext of needing urgent medical attention for high blood pressure...
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Organization of American States (OAS) had announced, Friday, that agreement had been reached to "pave the way for a midterm referendum" on Chavez' Presidential mandate which had been on the table since the nation's 1999 Constitution was ratified in a national referendum, December 1998. OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria says an agreement is to be signed after Easter, although Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel says the agreement must first pass the formality of Executive approval.
Chavez Frias was elected to a 6-year term in 2000, accusing traditional elitists of opposing his plans to equitably distribute Venezuela's oil riches to millions of Venezuelans who have been held in abject poverty through more than 40 years of politically and economically mis-managed pseudo-democracy since the overthrow of the last military dictatorship.
Disenfranchised business and labor mafia leaders have accused Chavez Frias of imposing an authoritarian regime where they must pay regular taxes and agree to a series of judicial, land and labor reforms that would be considered self-evident elsewhere.
The main thrust of the OAS document, forced the disloyal opposition to play by Constitutional rules they have ignored with impunity for the last four years, while Chavez Frias will accept the fact that if the democratic will of the people is that he should leave office, he will do so, handing over to a democratically elected successor as prescribed in Constitutional regulations ... "I'm sure that we will win any referendum, but if the people choose that I should go, I have no other option but to obey the people," Chavez Frias has said.
Meanwhile the privately-owned opposition media is unrelenting in its anti-government propaganda hyping up theories that Saturday's bombing, which destroyed three floors of the Teleport building at Plaza Venezuela was intended to intimidate the opposition while, for its part, government sources were claiming that blame should be apportioned to "coup-plotting sectors of the opposition."
Referendum 2003
discuss the pros and cons of a revocatory referendum
President Hugo Chavez Frias
express your opinions on the Presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias and his Bolivarian Revolution
Bolivarian Circles
Are Bolivarian Circles a Venezuelan form of Neighborhood Watch Committees or violent hordes of pro-Chavez thugs?
Venezuela's Opposition
What is it? Is a force to be reckoned with or in complete disarray?