Justin's Political Corner

CARACAS, Venezuela — Acting President Nicolás Maduro managed to muster 50.66 percent of the vote over challenger Henrique Capriles’ 49.07 percent, in a much tighter-than-expected presidential election Sunday.

“Today we can say that we had a fair electoral triumph,” said Maduro, 50, after the results were announced.

About 78 percent of Venezuela’s nearly 19 million eligible voters cast ballots Sunday, The New York Times reported.

After election authorities announced the result, Maduro’s supporters celebrated outside Miraflores presidential palace, although the party drew nowhere near as large a crowd as past socialist victories.

But while the “Chavistas” partied, opposition candidate Capriles cried foul. He said he refused to accept the results and called for a recount.

“Today’s loser is you,” Capriles told a news conference, referring to Maduro, according to Agence France-Presse. “We won’t recognize a result until every vote has been counted.”

The end of Venezuela’s election day showed a country more divided than ever during the emotionally charged aftermath following Chávez’s death from cancer.

Hand-picked by the beloved Chávez before his death last month, Maduro had commanded double-digit percentage points ahead of Capriles in most polls.

But that lead started slipping as Capriles went on the offensive, with ample ammunition of the country’s dire reality.

Despite the government’s largesse — using the world’s biggest crude reserves to fund poverty-fighting programs at home and provide cheap oil to regional allies like Cuba — problems such as high inflation, produce shortages and soaring murder rates continue to cripple the South American country.

H/T: Salon

The only remaining pro-opposition television channel in Venezuela, Globovisión, is being sold to an insurance company owner friendly with the government, employees told The Associated Press on Monday.

They said its editorial line is sure to change and that many journalists sobbed when informed of the sale, certain some would lose their jobs.

The sale will occur after April 14 elections, which Hugo Chávez’s hand-picked successor, Nicolás Maduro is highly favored to win, they said.

International human rights and press freedom groups have accused Chávez and his political heirs of trying to strangle Globovisión financially by inventing alleged transgressions. Under constant state pressure, it has been forced to pay millions of dollars in fines.

The state telecommunications agency has repeatedly sanctioned the channel and threatened to shut it down. It was accused in one instance of running allegedly incendiary reports on a 2011 prison riot. In another case, it was accused of sowing panic for running spots challenging the constitutionality of the government’s decision to postpone the swearing in of Chávez, supposed to have occurred Jan. 10, due the cancer that ultimately killed him.

Globovisión President Guillermo Zuloaga informed staff at a meeting Monday, naming the buyer as Juan Domingo Cordero, president of the insurance company La Vitalicia, the employees said. The company had no immediate comment but said it would issue a statement later in the day.

The Zuloaga family owns 80 percent of Globovisión. The other 20 percent belonged to a banker but was expropriated years ago by Chávez.

The employee said Cordero is friendly with government officials such as National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job. 

It became the lone opposition channel in that year after RCTV was forced off cable and satellite networks.

Four private channels exist in Venezuela, all ostensibly neutral, while the government has four state-run channels and the regional news network Telesur. In print, two major national newspapers, El Nacional and El Universal, remain highly critical of the government.

h/t: STLtoday.com

(New York) – Hugo Chávez’s presidency (1999-2013) was characterized by a dramatic concentration of power and open disregard for basic human rights guarantees.

After enacting a new constitution with ample human rights protections in 1999 – and surviving a short-lived coup d’état in 2002 – Chávez and his followers moved to concentrate power. They seized control of the Supreme Court and undercut the ability of journalists, human rights defenders, and other Venezuelans to exercise fundamental rights.

By his second full term in office, the concentration of power and erosion of human rights protections had given the government free rein to intimidate, censor, and prosecute Venezuelans who criticized the president or thwarted his political agenda. In recent years, the president and his followers used these powers in a wide range of prominent cases, whose damaging impact was felt by entire sectors of Venezuelan society.

Many Venezuelans continued to criticize the government. But the prospect of reprisals – in the form of arbitrary or abusive state action – forced journalists and human rights defenders to weigh the consequences of disseminating information and opinions critical of the government, and undercut the ability of judges to adjudicate politically sensitive cases.

Assault on Judicial Independence
In 2004, Chávez and his followers in the National Assembly carried out a political takeover of Venezuela’s Supreme Court, adding 12 seats to what had been a 20-seat tribunal, and filling them with government supporters. The packed Supreme Court ceased to function as a check on presidential power. 

Assault on Press Freedoms
Under Chávez, the government dramatically expanded its ability to control the content of the country’s broadcast and news media. It passed laws extending and toughening penalties for speech that “offends” government officials, prohibiting the broadcast of messages that “foment anxiety in the public,” and allowing for the arbitrary suspension of TV channels, radio stations, and websites.

The Chávez government sought to justify its media policies as necessary to “democratize” the country’s airwaves. Yet instead of promoting pluralism, the government abused its regulatory authority to intimidate and censor its critics. It expanded the number of government-run TV channels from one to six, while taking aggressive steps to reduce the availability of media outlets that engage in critical programming.

In response to negative coverage, Chávez repeatedly threatened to remove private stations from the airwaves by blocking renewal of their broadcast licenses. In 2007, in an act of blatant political discrimination, his government prevented the country’s oldest private television channel, RCTV, from renewing its license and seized its broadcasting antennas. Three years later, it drove RCTV off cable TV as well by forcing the country’s cable providers to stop transmitting its programs.

The removal of RCTV left only one major channel, Globovisión, that continued to be critical of the president. The Chávez government repeatedly pursued administrative sanctions against Globovisión, which have kept the station in perpetual risk of suspension or closure. It also pressed criminal charges against the station’s president, a principal owner, and a guest commentator after they made public statements criticizing the government.

The sanctioning and censorship of the private media under Chávez have had a powerful impact on broadcasters and journalists. While sharp criticism of the government is still common in the print media, on Globovisión, and in some other outlets, the fear of government reprisals has made self-censorship a serious problem.

Rejection of Human Rights Scrutiny
In addition to neutralizing the judiciary as a guarantor of rights, the Chávez government repudiated the Inter-American human rights system, failing to carry out binding rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and preventing the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from conducting in-country monitoring of human rights problems. In September 2012, Venezuela announced its withdrawal from the American Convention on Human Rights, a move that leaves Venezuelans without recourse to what has been for years – in countries throughout the region – themost important external mechanism for seeking redress for abuses when national courts fail to provide it.

The Chávez government also sought to block international organizations from monitoring the country’s human rights practices. In 2008, the president had representatives of Human Rights Watch forcibly detained and summarily expelled from the country after they released a report documenting his government’s violation of human rights norms. Following the expulsion, his then-foreign minister and now chosen successor, Nicolás Maduro, announced that, “Any foreigner who comes to criticize our country will be immediately expelled.”

Under Chávez, the government also sought to discredit human rights defenders by accusing them of receiving support from the US government to undermine Venezuelan democracy. While local nongovernmental organizations have received funding from US and European sources – a common practice in Latin America where private funding is scarce – there is no credible evidence that the independence and integrity of the defenders’ work has been compromised by international support. Nonetheless, in 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that individuals or organizations receiving foreign funding could be prosecuted for “treason.” The National Assembly passed legislation prohibiting organizations that “defend political rights” or “monitor the performance of public bodies” from receiving international funding. It also imposed stiff fines on organizations that “invite” to Venezuela foreigners who express opinions that “offend” government institutions.

Embracing Abusive Governments
Chávez also rejected international efforts to promote human rights in other countries. In recent years, Venezuela consistently voted against UN General Assembly resolutions condemning abusive practices in North Korea, Burma, Iran, and Syria. Moreover, Chávez was a vocal supporter of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, bestowing upon each of these leaders the “Order of the Liberator,” Venezuela’s highest official honor.
Under Chávez, Venezuela’s closest ally was Cuba, the only country in Latin America that systematically represses virtually all forms of political dissent. Chávez identified Fidel Castro – who headed Cuba’s repressive government until his health deteriorated in 2006 – as his model and mentor.

• After Venezuela’s oldest television channel, RCTV, broadcast a video in November 2006 showing Chávez’s energy minister telling his employees at the state oil company to quit their jobs if they did not support the president, Chávez publicly warned RCTV and other channels that they could lose their broadcasting license – a threat he had made repeatedly in response to critical broadcasting. A month later, the president announced his unilateral decision that RCTV would no longer be “tolerated” on the public airwaves after its license expired the following year. RCTV stopped transmitting on open frequencies in May 2007, but continued as a cable channel. Since then, the government has used its regulatory power to drive RCTV off cable television as well. In January 2010, the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) determined that RCTV was a “national audiovisual producer” and subject to newly established broadcasting norms. Days later, Chávez’s communications minister threatened to open administrative investigations against cable providers whose broadcast channels did not comply with the norms. In response, the country’s cable providers stopped broadcasting RCTV International. CONATEL has since denied RCTV’s repeated efforts to re-register as a cable channel. Today, RCTV can only be viewed on the Internet, and it no longer covers news due to lack of funding.

• After Globovisión, the only remaining television station with national coverage consistently critical of Chávez’s policies, provided extensive coverage of a prison riot in June 2011 – including numerous interviews with distressed family members who claimed security forces were killing prisoners, Chávez responded by accusing the station of “set[ting] the country on fire…with the sole purpose of overthrowing this government.” The government promptly opened an administrative investigation of Globovisión’s coverage of the violence and, in October, ruled that the station had “promoted hatred for political reasons that generated anxiety in the population,” and imposed a US$ 2.1 million fine, equivalent to 7.5 percent of the company’s 2010 income. Globovisión is facing seven additional administrative investigations – including one opened in response to its reporting that the government failed to provide the public with basic information in the aftermath of an earthquake and, most recently, one for transmitting spots that questioned the government’s interpretation of the constitutional requirements for Chávez’s 2013 inauguration. Under the broadcasting law enacted by Chávez and his supporters in the National Assembly in 2004, a second ruling against Globovisión could result in another heavy fine, suspension of the station’s transmission, or revocation of its license.

h/t: Human Rights Watch 

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Vice President Nicolás Maduro is taking over leadership of Hugo Chávez’s political movement after the socialist leader died Tuesday at age 58 following a nearly two-year bout with cancer. Maduro now faces the daunting task of rallying support in a deeply divided country while maintaining unity within his party’s ranks.

Maduro decidedly lacks the vibrant personality that made Chávez a one-man political phenomenon in Venezuela, but he has the advantage of being Chavez’s hand-picked successor.

The mustachioed 50-year-old former bus driver won Chavez’s trust as a loyal spokesman who echoed the president’s stances. How Maduro will lead in Chavez’s absence remains to be seen, although he’s widely known as both a skilled negotiator and a leader who views upholding his mentor’s legacy as his personal crusade and responsibility.

One of the biggest tasks Maduro will likely face is attempting to hold together a diverse movement that includes radical leftists, moderates and many current and former military officers.

Analysts have speculated that differences might emerge between factions led by Maduro and Diosdado Cabello, the influential National Assembly president who is thought to wield power within the military. But thus far both men have denied such divisions and vowed to remain united.

In his youth, Maduro drove a bus for the Caracas Metro transit system and later became a union leader.

It’s unclear when Maduro and Chávez first met. But Chávez is thought to have first gotten to know Maduro in the 1980s, when Chávez was a lieutenant colonel and began a clandestine movement of disgruntled military officers that eventually carried out a failed coup attempt in 1992. Chávez was jailed on military rebellion charges and then released in 1994 when he was pardoned.

Maduro went on to become a leading member of Chávez’s nascent political movement, growing closer to the budding politician and also getting to know Cilia Flores, who is now attorney general and was Chávez’s defense attorney following his arrest for the 1992 coup attempt.

After Chávez was elected president in 1998, Maduro was selected to join a special assembly to draft a new constitution. He was later elected to the National Assembly and then became president of the legislature.

Maduro was named foreign minister in 2006 and oversaw international efforts such as consolidating the regional diplomatic blocs ALBA and Unasur, strengthening relations with countries such as Russia, Iran and China, and overseeing a rapprochement with U.S.-allied Colombia. He is thought to maintain close ties with Cuba’s government.

h/t: Salon

Rep. José Enrique Serrano (D-NY) released a statement today praising former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, despite the latter’s record of harsh crackdowns on his political opponents and state-sanctioned persecution against Venezuela’s Jewish population. Serrano tweeted a statement praising Chavez as an a champion of the oppressed, writing that “Hugo Chávez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President.” Serrano’s office later released a statement expanding on the tweet:

President Chávez was a controversial leader. But at his core he was a man who came from very little and used his unique talents and gifts to try to lift up the people and the communities that reflected his impoverished roots. He believed that the government of the country should be used to empower the masses, not the few. He understood democracy and basic human desires for a dignified life. His legacy in his nation, and in the hemisphere, will be assured as the people he inspired continue to strive for a better life for the poor and downtrodden.”

While even Chávez’s critics admit that he did attempt to address the plight of Venezuela’s poorest, the decline in economic inequality in Venezuela reflected a broader egalitarian trend in Latin America, and can’t be fully credited to Chávez’s policies. However, Chávez’s policies harmed Venezuela’s poorest in other ways: the value of the Venezuelan currency dropped while prices soared, making it harder for people to buy basic necessities, and crime skyrocketed.

Moreover, Chávez hurt the vulnerable in Venezuela in other ways. Chávez’s state-run media hounded Venezuela’s small, beleaguered Jewish population — he himself once said “Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by those wandering Jews.”

Chávez also attacked Venezuela’s democratic political system. Human Rights Watch reported in 2012 that “the accumulation of power in the executive and the erosion of human rights protections have allowed the Chávez government to intimidate, censor, and prosecute critics and perceived opponents in a wide range of cases involving the judiciary, the media, and civil society.” Contra Serrano, Venezuela’s elections were not certified as “free and fair” by international monitors of late: Chávez had not allowed international election monitors to observe Venezuelan elections since 2006.

h/t: Zack Beauchamp at Think Progress Security

Sad day for Venezuela. Down with Chávez!

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez’s crusade to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, which has bitterly divided the nation, was put to the stiffest electoral test of his nearly 14 years in power on Sunday in a closely fought presidential election.

Reveille blared from sound trucks to awaken voters and the bugle call was later replaced by folk music mixed with a recording of Chávez’s voice saying “those who love the homeland come with me.” At many polling places, voters lined up two hours before polls opened at dawn.

Chávez’s challenger, Henrique Capriles, has united the opposition in a contest between two camps that distrust each other so deeply there are concerns whether a close election result will be respected.

The stakes couldn’t be higher.

If Chávez wins a new six-year term, he gets a free hand to push for an even bigger state role in the economy, further limit dissent and continue to befriend rivals of the United States.

If Capriles wins, a radical foreign policy shift can be expected along with an eventual loosening of state economic controls and an increase in private investment – though a tense transition would likely follow until the January inauguration because Chávez’s political machine thoroughly controls the wheels of government.

Many Venezuelans were nervous about what might happen if the disputes erupt over the election’s announced outcome.

h/t: HuffPo

Hugo Chávez promises to increase production and reduce dependence on US market by doubling crude exports to Asia

While giant rallies in Caracas may be drawing the world’s attention ahead of tomorrow’s Venezuelan presidential election, the global significance of the vote can be found hundreds of miles to the east in the oil-soaked Orinoco Belt.

According to studies, Venezuela has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become number one in the world for proven oil reserves, largely thanks to the heavy crude found in this vast alluvial plain.

Whether this multi-trillion dollar asset is controlled by Hugo Chávez or the opposition challenger, Henrique Capriles, will influence which countries and companies are given the priority to exploit them and how much drivers around the world pay at the pump. According to a report this year by BP, Venezuela has reserves of 296.5bn barrels, about 10% more than Saudi Arabia and 18% of the global total. At the country’s current levels of production, this would last about 100 years.

If Chávez wins – as most polls suggest – he has promised to ramp up production and reduce his country’s dependence on the US market by doubling crude exports to Asia. To further this goal, Venezuela plans to build a pipeline through Colombia to the Pacific which would reduce costs and transport times to China and other Asian markets.

Capriles, who has mounted a strong challenge, says he would fire the oil minister, Rafael Ramírez, and rethink how crude is extracted and used. Until now Russian and Chinese companies have struck the biggest deals for future exploitation.

“We have to revise every deal. I think they are agreements that are not functioning,” he said. During the campaign, he has also said he would halt subsidised oil shipments to Cuba, Belarus, Nicaragua and Syria. Critics say he is a stalking horse for US interests.

Both Chávez and Capriles are calling for more investment so that Venezuela can increase not only output but also the quality of oil through the use of upgrading technology. But the volatile mix of politics and oil has made it difficult to secure partners.

In recent years Venezuelan oil production has fallen due to poor maintenance, low investment and the loss of key workers. Plans to open new fields have been repeatedly delayed. The state-owned oil company PDVSA says the holdups are over. Last week its joint venture with Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil pumped its first barrel. Another operation, with a Vietnamese firm, has also reportedly begun. Projects with Chevron of the US, Spain’s Repsol and others are due to start early next year.

Oil helps to explain why Chávez is vilified in the US. In 2000, a year after taking power, he made his first mark on global affairs with a tour of the Middle East to lobby key Opec members – Iraq, Iran, Libya, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – to drive oil prices higher. Since then, the cost of Brent crude has risen from less than $20 a barrel to more than $100.

Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were among the leaders who joined Chávez to drive up prices. Molina believes it is no coincidence that they were deposed and killed: “There’s a plan in place to control the global oil market. Anyone who tries to erode the monopoly ends up in conflict with the [US] empire.”

In the past, Molina said foreign oil firms were paying only 3% royalties to the government, but Chávez pushed this up to 16%. He also helped to raise the value of the output from the Orinoco Belt by relabelling it as valuable heavy crude instead of cheap bitumin or tar, as it had previously been priced.

Some accuse the US and multinationals of trying to influence the presidential campaign. “Transnationals want control of the oil here. They want the submission of Latin America to supply the market needs of the US,” said Nicmer Evans, a political science professor at the Central University of Venezuela.

But the outside influence cuts both ways. Since 2007, the government has received $42.5bn in loans from the China Development Bank, with the biggest tranche coming in the year ahead of an election in which Chávez has increased public spending, the minimum wage and pensions. This is repaid largely through shipments of 430,000 barrels of crude a day to China in repayment.

Russian president Vladimir Putin showed his support with the gift of a puppy to Chávez this month.

h/t: The Raw Story

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chávez and his allies accused opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles on Sunday of trying to provoke violence by campaigning in areas that have been bastions of support for the incumbent leader.

Chávez accused Capriles of trying to spur violence as part of a broader plan aimed at creating widespread political upheaval ahead of Venezuela’s looming Oct. 7 presidential election.

The socialist leader spoke after a scuffle Saturday involving stone-throwing Chavistas and opposition sympathizers who joined Capriles as he led a march in the poor Caracas district of La Vega. Police forced him to turn back without completing the march.

“Yesterday, for example, a very lamentable incident occurred. But it’s evidence of this plan,” Chávez said, speaking in front of hundreds of uniformed soldiers at Venezuela’s largest military fort. “We must neutralize the destabilization plans.”

Pro-Chávez lawmaker Juan Carlos Alemán echoed the president’s accusations.

Capriles demonstrated “an irresponsible attitude by staging an event in a neighborhood that backs President Chávez,” said Aleman.

Capriles called for calm and attempted to avoid any violence amid the tussle, which police broke up before violence escalated. No major injuries were reported.

So far, campaigning ahead of an Oct. 7 presidential vote has mostly been peaceful, but observers warn the deep political polarization and rising tensions between allies and adversaries of Chávez could boil over, making for a potentially violent campaign.

h/t: AP.com

President Hugo Chávez’s repeated trips to Cuba for cancer treatment and the government’s silence about his health are fueling rumors that he will name a successor to run in October presidential elections.

So far, the government has fiercely maintained that there is no alternative to Chávez, who still leads in the polls. But several names have begun to circulate among observers to take the helm should Chávez delegate his powers.

Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Elías Jaua, and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello are considered potential candidates. They are already cited in polls, triggering speculation over the ramifications of a possible succession battle.

Any departure of Chávez from the national stage would have profound consequences in Venezuela, where he has governed since 1999. It would also have a huge impact across Latin America, especially in leftist ally nations which have been showered with his country’s oil wealth.

Chávez returned to Cuba on Tuesday for what he called the “home stretch” of his radiation treatment, without providing more details. His previous stay, which was supposed to have been his last, stretched out for 11 days.

The exact nature of the cancer has never been disclosed. The 57-year-old underwent an operation in Havana on February 26 to remove a second cancerous tumor in his pelvic area, where a baseball-sized growth was extracted a year ago.

Usually all over the Venezuelan media, Chávez now rarely appears in public and has been reduced to sending out tweets during his long absences in Cuba.

Chávez is running for reelection as a “revolutionary socialist” against Henrique Capriles Radonski, the youthful Miranda state governor and center-left candidate for the united opposition.

h/t: The Raw Story

Venezuelan opposition parties are holding their first primary on Sunday to pick a unity candidate to battle ailing President Hugo Chávez, in power for more than a decade, in an October vote.

Five candidates are running in the opposition contest with the favorite Henrique Capriles, 39, the energetic governor of Miranda state, polls show.

The 57-year-old Chávez, who last year underwent chemotherapy in Caracas and Havana and now claims to be cancer-free, is seeking a third six-year term in the October 7 vote.

A fiery critic of the United States, Chávez is the main political and economic ally of Cuba, the only one-party communist regime in the Americas.

Capriles, telegenic and energetic, has been in politics since 25. His campaign got a boost last month when Leopoldo López, a popular former mayor, dropped out and endorsed him.

He describes his politics as center-left, and has argued that Venezuela can “replicate” Brazil’s model of economic development: allowing markets to play their role, while also making social progress a priority.

Capriles is also known for having confronted Chávez back in 1999, when the governor was a lawmaker.

His main opposition rival is Pablo Pérez Álvarez, 42, of the Un Nuevo Tiempo (A New Era) party.  Pérez governs Zulia, Venezuela’s most populous and wealthiest state.

Both Pérez and Capriles say they want to end the country’s deep political polarization and have pledged to fight poverty. They have campaigned with a conciliatory message and have avoided directly criticizing Chávez.

The other candidates in the race are independent legislator María Corina Machado, labor leader Pablo Medina, and former ambassador Diego Arria. Unlike the governors, these three have chosen to aggressively challenge Chávez.

Capriles and Pérez have emerged in recent months “as favorites precisely because they sought to depolarize the country and refrained from confronting Chávez,” said historian Margarita López Maya.

“It’s apparently an electoral strategy that works,” she added.

Pérez said he does not plan to roll back all of Chávez’s policies.

“We don’t intend to come to power and say: We are ending everything and bringing something else,” he said. “What we view as good, we’ll keep, what needs to be improved we will improve and with what we disagree, we will see.”

The US-backed coalition has called on Venezuelans to head to 7,600 polling stations set up around the country to cast ballots, and have vouched for the confidentiality of their votes.

In January the opposition parties unveiled a unity platform focusing on free-market economics and emphasizing public safety.

This would include an end to price controls, in place since 2003; adoption of a competitive currency exchange rate; reassessing Chávez’s creation of a socialist state; and returning autonomy to the Central Bank.

A key issue will be voter turnout.

The primary is the first of its kind and it remains to be seen what turnout can be rallied. Balloting is also for potential opposition governors and mayors.

Observers will be on hand from countries including Spain, Colombia, Peru, the United States, Australia and Japan.

h/t: RawStory