www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

President Hugo Chavez Frias’ Bolivarianism is a sham … senior Venezuelan columnist Domingo Alberto Rangel says “to be Bolivarian today is to be between God and Devil.”

Rangel brushes aside opposition hype about the presence of Colombian guerrillas in Venezuela, recalling that the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia (FARC) has had an “Ambassador” in Caracas since Rafael Caldera was President.

Asking the question whether the FARC has a foreign policy, Rangel observes a contradiction … “they supposedly want to establish a socialist order, even though they do not say so with clarity and internationally they appear to be traditionalist."

"They should have such an internationalist policy that would eliminate current nations and create one unit consisting of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela … if Bolivar talked disparagingly about ‘mini-countries,’ why shouldn’t 21st century Marxists not assume the standard of a single entity from the Orinoco to Guayas?”

FARC, Rangel insists, takes refuge in Chavez Frias’ "ridiculous  bolivarianism, which is an opportunist way of being all right with the armchair Left and all the right wings."

Singling out the all-powerful Venezuelan ranchers with their accusations that Colombian guerrillas are invading Venezuela, Rangel points out that Colombian guerillas have been entering and leaving Venezuela since General Perez Jimenez (1953-1958) and they have done a good job ... “they forced the big landowners and ranchers to recognize social benefits and a decent salary for Colombian laborers … ranchers with a few exceptions paid miserable wages … Colombian workers were illegal pariahs.”

Continuing his criticism of FARC and the ELN’s international policy, Rangel says they seem to ignore the fact that they are the vanguard of a revolutionary movement destined to change not only Colombia but also the whole of meridian America … “they should strike alliances and even fuse with Venezuelan and Ecuadorian groups … policy as regards Venezuela is pure opportunism.”

The FARC’s declaration that it is a Bolivarian group was made to appease Chavez Frias.

“It’s not even original... Venezuela will not be liberated unless Colombia and Ecuador are liberated at the same time. The FARC and ELN could start by organizing Colombians living in Venezuela … they are all hard workers and sometimes in some towns the hardest workers … when there are 1.5 million Colombians at least living here, are FARC and ELN going to renounce such a force because of a limited patriotism that was ridiculous in the times of Bolivar, especially in our days of a prolonged war?”

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to opposition leader and Miranda State Governor Enrique Mendoza, Coordinadora Democratica (CD) is set for a shake up of its image and strategies so that it can better address the political situation following the failed 2-month opposition work stoppage.

• The change is scheduled to occur next week after Carnival celebrations have drawn to a close.

The focus of this revamp will be on preserving unity "at any cost" and will see the inclusion of new groups, parties and civil associations into the mix.

Although Mendoza refused to clarify exactly what form this new structure would take, he did say the opposition grouping would welcome new spokespersons. However, at this stage, the Miranda Governor says he doesn't think the time is right to be talking about a possible presidential candidate to challenge President Hugo Chavez Frias in any upcoming elections.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to Coordinadora Democratica negotiator in the Organization of American States (OAS) led peace negotiations Timoteo Zambrano, the government is losing support from the international community and he says he believes that sooner or later it will be forced to accept an electoral solution to the current political stalemate. 

In Zamrano's opinion, the two events that have had the most significant effect on international opinion were the seizures of the Coca-Cola bottling plant and an Empresas Polar warehouse several weeks ago, along with President Hugo Chavez Frias' "primitive stance concerning globalization trends ... and non-intervention trends."

Zambrano insists "an electoral solution is unavoidable ... this year we are going to have elections."

www.vcrisis.com

I write this letter to communicate my resignation to the official invitation to represent Venezuela in the national pavilion of the 50th Venice Biennial. This decision is a fundamentally ethical one and I have taken it as a Venezuelan and as an artist responsible and aware of our reality.

It is true that my proposal “La Colmena” was presented last year to the committee that would designate de Venezuelan representation in the Biennial. But, since then, the critical situation of the country has dramatically accelerated, urging us a gesture that can represent something more than the artwork itself now: the absence-presence as the only answer.

Having been presented in several international exhibitions of this nature (including the last Venice Biennial) I know through my own experience the importance that is put upon any artistic career by being included in these events. But I consider that my main duty is to foreground my ethical responsibility over any personal interest. “I must forget myself to have access to the other” was for the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas one of the best definitions of an ethical conduct, creating a paradigmatic concept for all artists or cultural producers. This model of commitment can describe the foundations of an ethic based on respect of difference and the intention to incorporate “the other” within artistic discourse. This position was the one that led me, in its moment, to take the decision to participate in Venice Biennial with a work produced in collaboration with the communities of the “23 de Enero” and it is the same one that led me to resign today from the Venezuelan representation.

To participate in the official selection in this situation, under the patronage of the state, would be in some way a betrayal of the principles on which I have built my body of work for over a decade, principles that have always placed me side by side with the excluded ones of our society, those “invisible” subjects within the social fabric: the mentally ill confined in psychiatric hospitals, prisoners or the populations of shanty towns. I have never believed in the autonomy of the work of art over the social context and believe that the Venezuelan pavilion today embodies a toxic environment that would inevitably contaminate the reading of any work of art that deals with social inequality. Especially in moments in which the manipulation of information, violence, populism, intolerance, and nationalisms constitute the political discourses shared by the state and the “official” opposition. The terrible polarization that literally has divided the country in two makes it impossible to articulate a critical position that can operate “in-between” these irreconcilable dichotomies.

As intellectuals we must maintain a critical position in relation to any authoritative and anti-democratic discourse come where it may, because these positions cover up the corruption and struggle for power that are choking the country. The cultural sector reflects this crisis in a specific way. This is another reason that makes it unthinkable for me to be part of an enterprise that without a doubt will generate a considerable cost to the nation in a moment when museums and theatres lack electrical services, to cite only one example that illustrates the pathetic situation that our institutions are going through.

When the Vice-minister of culture suggests to the museums that they reduce their electrical consumption, I can’t help reading this in a very symbolic way and recalling ironically Simon Bolivar’s motto that supposedly is the motor of the “cultural revolution”.(‘’Morals and Enlightenment are our first needs’’) Without Morals and Light it is impossible to imagine cultural endeavors.

Do you sleep well Mr. Vice-Minister?

Javier Tellez

www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, March 03, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

An umbrella group calling itself the Democratic Block has called on the Armed Force (FAN) to do its constitutional duty and re-establish law and order in Venezuela.  The group consists of 40 associations, the most prominent of which are rebel merchant navy officers union, the opposition Gente de Mar and Fuerza Solidaria (FS), an off shoot of the La Rouche Labor Party.

FS president, Alejandro Pena Esclusa says the group is drawing up a document and the FAN plays an important role … “the FAN has to defend citizens because the government is killing them … the FAN must intervene or we will have a dictatorship.”

Crimes against humanity, human rights abuses, threats against freedom of expression, attack on the autonomy of public powers and the government links with terrorist groups will also feature in the document. Personalities supporting the group include Alfredo Garcia, Alvaro Mora, Maruja Beracasa,  Altamira rebel, Silvino Bustillos and former self-proclaimed exile, Nedo Paniz.