The Guardian : The truth about Venezuela , a riot of rich By Mark Weisbrot Images shape the reality , which gives television, videos and even pictures a power that can dig deep into the minds of people even without them realizing it. Also I thought I was immune to repetitive portraits of Venezuela as a failed state amid a popular revolt. But I was not prepared for what I saw in Caracas this month: how little of daily life seemed to be affected by the protests , normalcy prevailing in most of the city. I too had been deceived by the media imagery. Big media have reported that the poor in Venezuela have not joined the opposition protests right , but this is an understatement : it is not only the poor abstain en Caracas are almost all but a few areas such as Altamira, where small protest groups get in night battles with security forces , throwing stones and firebombs and flee from tear gas. Walking from the working class neighborhood of Sabana Grande to the city center , there are signs that Venezuela is on the verge of a crisis that requires the intervention of the Organization of American States (OAS ) , despite what John Kerry says . Metro also working fine , although I could not get out in the Altamira station, where the rebels had set their base of operations until they were taken this week. I managed to see the barricades for the first time in Los Palos Grandes area high class where protesters do have popular support and the neighbors shout at anyone who tries to remove the barricades , something risky to try ( at least four people have apparently been shot to shots do ) - . But even here on the barricades , life was pretty normal , except for some heavy traffic . Over the weekend , East Park was packed with families and runners sweating in a heat of 32 degrees , before Chavez had to pay to get in and the people I was told , were disappointed that the less well were allowed to enter free . The restaurants are full at night. Tourism helps to verify the reality a bit more, of course, and visited Caracas for information mainly in the economic area . But I came skeptical of the story, reported daily in the media, that the shortage of commodities was the reason for the protests . The people that you scarcity creates more discomfort is, of course , the poor and the working classes. But the inhabitants of Altamira and Los Palos Grandes , where I saw real protests have servants queuing for what they need and have the income and space to accumulate some stocks. These people are not suffering, are doing very well . Its revenues have grown apace since Chavez took control of the oil industry a decade. They even have a great support from the Government : anyone with a credit card (except poor and millions of the working class ) is entitled to $ 3,000 per year , at a subsidized rate of change . They can then sell six times more expensive than they paid dollars, which makes a multi-million dollar annual subsidy for the privileged, and yet these are the base supplying troops and sedition. The class nature of this struggle has always been stark and irrefutable , now more than ever. Walking among the masses who were the ceremonies for the anniversary of Chavezs death on 5 March, saw a sea of working class Venezuelans , tens of thousands of them . There were no expensive clothes or shoes $ 300. What a contrast to the discontented masses of Los Palos Grandes , who had Grand Cherokee SUVs $ 40,000 carrying the slogan of the moment: VENEZUELA SOS . In regard to Venezuela , John Kerry knows which side of the class war is . Last , just week when I was the Secretary of State of the United States doubled its discharge of rhetoric against the government, accusing President Nicolas Maduro to promote a campaign of terror against its own people. Kerry also threatened to invoke the Democratic Charter of the OAS against Venezuela , as well as sanctions . Bragging on the Democratic Charter against Venezuela s almost like Vladimir Putin threatening a UN vote on secession in Crimea. Maybe Kerry did not notice , but just days before their threats , the OAS passed a resolution introduced against Venezuela and Washington turned it over , declaring solidarity with the regional government agency Maduro. Twenty-nine countries and only the approved right-wing governments of Panama and Canada allied with the U.S. against it. Article 21 of the OAS Democratic Charter applies to the unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order of a member state ( as the 2009 military coup in Honduras , which Washington helped legitimize , or the 2002 military coup in Venezuela , that further collaboration was the U.S. government ) . Due to this recent vote , the OAS could invoke the Democratic Charter more against the U.S. government for deaths caused by their drones on U.S. citizens without trial , of what I could do against Venezuela . The rhetoric of terror campaign Kerry is equally divorced from reality and , as expected , caused an equivalent response Chancellor of Venezuela , which he called murderer to Kerry . This is the truth about the allegations of Kerry since the protests began in Venezuela , is that more people have died at the hands of the protesters that security forces . According to the deaths reported by the CEPR (Centre for Research in Economics and Politics) during the past month, in addition to those killed by trying to remove barricades put by protesters , at least seven have apparently died due to obstructions created by protesters , including a motor that was beheaded with a guaya placed on the road - and five officers of the National Guard have been killed . Regarding the violence by security forces, allegedly three people may have been killed by the National Guard and other security forces, including two protesters and an activist who supported the government . Some people blame the government for three more deaths from armed civilians , in a country with an average of more than 65 homicides per day, it is entirely possible that these people were acting on their own. A total of 21 members of the security forces are under arrest for alleged abuses , including by some of the murders. This is not a campaign of terror . At the same time, it is difficult to find a serious complaint about the violent opposition of the most important leaders of the opposition. According to survey data, the protests are largely rejected in Venezuela , but look better outside when they are promoted as peaceful protests by people like Kerry . Surveys also suggest that most Venezuelans see these disturbances as what they are : an attempt to overthrow an elected government . The internal politics of Kerry s position is quite simple. On one hand , you have the Cuban -American lobby to the right of Florida and his neoconservative allies shouting for the ouster . To the left of the extreme right , well , nothing . In this White House cares little Latin America and no electoral consequences for doing that most governments in the hemisphere bother with Washington. Maybe Kerry thinks the economy will collapse and Venezuela that carry some of the non-rich to the streets against the Venezuelan government . But the economic situation is stabilizing actually - monthly inflation fell in February and the dollar on the parallel market has fallen sharply on news that the government is introducing a new rate based on the market . Venezuela s sovereign bonds had a yield of 11.5% from February 11 ( the day the protests began ) to March 13 , the highest performance as Bond Index Emerging Markets Bloomberg. The shortage will likely fall in the coming weeks and months. Of course , this is exactly the main problem of the opposition: the next election will be within a year and a half and by that time , economic shortages and inflation have increased in the last 15 months will have been relieved. In this sense , the opposition may lose the elections , and has lost every election in the last 15 years. But its present insurrectionary strategy is not helping his own cause : it seems that have divided and united opposition to Chavez . The only place where the opposition seems to be gaining widespread support is in Washington. telesurtv.net/articulos/2014/03/26/diario-ingles-the-guardian-la-verdad-de-venezuela-una-revuelta-de-ricos-744.html
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:57:46 +0000
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