A Week of Protest in Venezuela

Street protests have become a near-daily event around Venezuela since President Hugo Chavez pulled opposition television station, RCTV, from cable programming just one week ago. The demonstrations—led predominantly by Venezuelan students—have also publicly attacked the president’s energy rationing policies which have led to rolling blackouts across parts of the country. Late last week, this included a march of over 2000 students on the country’s electricity provider in Caracas, Corpoelec, which, writes the Latin America Herald Tribune, was blocked by Caracas police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators. Responding to the protests, President Chavez said if students “continue down that road then [he] will be forced to take radical measures.” Chavez offered few specifics about what sorts of security measures he would implement next but he did indicate a willingness to supplant local police with national forces in those places where “[security] functions are not being fulfilled.” This as students involved in marches last week claim they have faced “brutal repression” at the hands of Venezuelan police and the National Guard [The attorney of eight detainees says his clients were threatened that they would be jailed alongside common criminals if they refused to sign statements attesting to the good treatment they received from the National Guard]. Chavez has called such accusations “slander.”

Among those international groups who have criticized Venezuela’s media suspensions in the last week are the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Washington Office on Latin America. The DC-based human rights group urges both RCTV and the Venezuelan government to resolve the current conflict in a way that “guarantees RCTV-International's right to freedom of expression while recognizing the government’s legitimate regulatory authority.” [Note: Four other stations suspended with RCTV were put back on the air late last week after CONATEL determined that they did NOT qualify as “national channels” and thus were exempt from the national social responsibility law cited in RCTV’s suspension.] Meanwhile, Amnesty International, in a recent statement, called on Mr. Chavez’s government to “guarantee the right to public assembly and freedom of expression of all persons.” AI adds that Venezuelan authorities must “unequivocally condemn any serious abuses” and conduct proper investigations, including into the deaths of two allegedly pro-Chavez student activists last week. And the Venezuelan human rights group, Provea, issued a statement on Jan. 27 as well, El Universal reports. The rights monitoring group says “the government has the responsibility to ensure the security of demonstrators in Venezuela.”

With opinions and analysis, the AP writes this morning about some of the growing troubles facing the government of Hugo Chavez, among them “Latin America's worst inflation, increased blackouts, runaway violent crime and a scandal involving bankers close to [the] government.” Speaking to the opposition, however, Chavez recently remarked that “they should get some good chairs so that they can sit and wait.” Indeed, as the report goes on to say, Chavez remains Venezuela’s most popular politician and “there still is not a single challenger [that] has emerged who seems capable of breaking his hold on power.” But, as the Economist opines, internal problems within the ranks of the chavista leadership could be trouble come next September when legislative elections are set to occur. Conservative columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady argues in the Wall Street Journal that “Only two things can save Hugo. One would be a new dollar windfall of oil revenue,” and the other a “police state.”

In other news this weekend:

· On Haiti, the New York Times writes about how the country is once again a “canvas” for various approaches to foreign aid. From maximalists, who argue Haiti should be temporarily taken over by an international organization, to minimalists who argue only Haitians can successfully rebuild their country, to those in-between (Jeffrey Sachs, cited here) who have called for a joint-partnership to administer a “Marshall Plan” for Haiti, various aid experts are attempting to counter what most are now calling a very poorly-coordinated initial recovery effort. Such discontent was expressed last week at a Senate hearing. Looking forward, Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health, was among those who testified (full testimony here). Farmer called for a restructuring of the “aid machinery” currently at work in Haiti--focusing on “creating local jobs for Haitians, and on building the infrastructure that is crucial to creating sustainable economic growth and ultimately reducing Haiti’s dependence on aid,” rather than funneling money through NGOs alone. According to Farmer:

“We need a reconstruction plan that uses a pro-poor, rights-based approach far different from the charity and failed development approaches that have marred interactions between Haiti and much of the rest of the world for the better part of two centuries.”

Also, news that the UN will be setting up 16 new food distribution sites, instead of an earlier ad hoc method through which relief workers handed out bags of dry goods to large crowds. This morning, the Times leads its Haiti coverage with a piece critical of the Haitian leadership during the crisis, the Washington Post follows with a piece on how some Haitians, wary of their own government leaders and even the UN, are calling for the US to temporarily “take over the country.” And the Wall Street Journal writes on the restarting of Medevac transfers from Haiti to South Florida. Such flights were inexplicably suspended last week. And Haiti opinions this weekend include Bob Maguire and Robert Muggah in the LA Times who say Haiti’s young people must be the focus of reconstruction efforts; Amb. Raymond Joseph in the Wall Street Journal who praises the international community (interestingly, he mentions both the US and Venezuela, along with the DR, for their support) while calling for “a Marshall Plan for Haiti by the international community led by the U.S;” Andres Oppenheimer argues that reforestation must be part of the reconstruction process; a New York Times editorial cites proposals from development expert Paul Collier on promoting self-sufficiency and opening up the Haitian countryside; and a Miami Herald editorial echoes the “Marshall Plan” call, demanding a “sustained, long-term” international commitment to the country. Also, Al-Jazeera reports the African Union is considering a proposal to resettle thousands of homeless Haitians and Amnesty International reports on the human rights challenges Haiti now faces.

· From Honduras, the AP says the US and Honduras will be normalizing relations shortly. Reuters says this will include restarting of US foreign assistance to the country. This as Pepe Lobo entered office Thursday to find a country on the cusp of bankruptcy. According to the AP, Pepe Lobo will be working with an account that only has some $50 million left. Mr. Lobo also said last week that, “at the urging of the United States,” he would begin the process of creating a truth commission this week while last Friday, Lobo welcomed his first foreign visitor, Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The two leaders signed a “security pact” stating they would begin to exchange “experiences and best practices” on security issues. The beginning of “democratic security” in Honduras? Finally, at RAJ and RNS’s new blog, Honduras Culture and Politics, news and analysis about Lobo’s attempt at forming a “unity government,” and the potential consolidation of a new political movement around members of the National Resistance Front.

· On Colombia, a new report from the human rights group CODHES says over 286,000 persons were internally displaced by armed conflict and other forms of violence in Colombia in the year 2009. These numbers represent a 24% decrease from one year prior. More on the report from IPS , which quotes the study’s authors: “It's true that there have been advances for some segments of society, but not for everyone, which casts into doubt the democratic component of (the government's) security policy.”

· In Argentina, embattled Central Banker, Martin Redrado, announced this weekend he is stepping down.

· In Foreign Policy in Focus, there’s a new piece by Jo-Marie Burt and Coletta Youngers on the Fujimori trial in Peru. “The confirmation of the verdict [against Fujimori],” the two write, “represents the culmination of nearly two decades of searching for truth and justice by the family members of the victims.”

· And finally, I was struck yet again last week by the near universal appeal of Brazilian president Lula da Silva. Midweek Lula addressed a crowd of international activists gathered in Porto Alegre for the 10^th World Social Forum, blasting wealthy nations for not doing enough to regulate international finance capitalism and combat global climate change. He then had his foreign minister, Celso Amorim, accept the World Economic Forum’s “Global Statesman” award, on his behalf. Lula was the first-ever recipient of the honor. [The president was expected to travel to Davos but cancelled due to illness]. Amorim went on to read a prepared statement by the Brazilian president who called for a “deep change in the economic order, favoring production, not speculation.” Is there any other international leader capable of appealing to both the World Economic Forum and the World Social Forum?