Spain Probes ETA-FARC Connection

March 2, 2010

Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a message to Venezuela on Tuesday, demanding an explanation from the government for its alleged support of an alliance between Basque separatist group ETA and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).  

On Monday, Spanish High Court Judge Eloy Velasco accused Venezuela of helping the two groups plot attacks on Spanish soil and issued international arrest warrants for six alleged ETA members and seven Colombians thought to be members of the FARC.  The Venezuelan government facilitated communication between the two groups, the Court found, leading to the FARC asking ETA for help coordinating an assassination of Colombian officials visiting Spain, including Colombian president Álvaro Uribe.
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Velasco’s 26-page report outlines the contacts ETA is believed to have in Venezuela, and says the groups also collaborated on an assassination plot of former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana in 2000.

A statement from the Venezuelan government said the accusations were politically motivated.  At a press conference in Germany, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the Spanish government awaited an explanation from Venezuela before pursuing any further action. 

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Pelea protagónica en Cumbre del Grupo de Río

February 26, 2010

Más de un medio latinoamericano pagaría por las grabaciones que tienen en su poder los medios oficialistas mexicanos que presenciaron la pelea verbal entre los presidentes Álvaro Uribe y Hugo Chávez durante la Cumbre del Grupo de Río en Cancún. Los mandatarios de Colombia y Venezuela no solo fueron protagonistas de un incidente calificado como “bochornoso” por sus mismos colegas sino que, fruto de una relación de amor y odio desde que ambos están en el poder, el comercio entre estos vecinos, otrora grandes socios, se redujo en un 15 por ciento solo el año pasado.

La pelea colegial, en que Uribe le pide a Chávez que “sea varón, pues usted es valiente para hablar a distancia y cobarde para hablar de frente”, y éste le replica con un “vete al carajo”, vuelve circense el hecho de que las relaciones diplomáticas están seriamente deterioradas desde su congelamiento el año pasado, por acusaciones nada simples: Colombia dice que Venezuela alberga altos miembros de la guerrilla de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), mientras Chávez culpa al gobierno colombiano de enviar paramilitares a su país, para matarlo. Uribe compara el "sabotaje y bloqueo económico" de Chávez al comercio colombiano, con el bloqueo económico de Estados Unidos a Cuba desde la década de los años 60. Chávez le dice a Uribe que es un lacayo del imperio.

Los airados insultos no terminaron en golpes porque según lo dijo el mismo Chávez en entrevista con CNN, "la mesa y los amigos que estaban allí, impidieron que Uribe me hubiera agredido".

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UNASUR to Focus on Haitian Aid Coordination

February 9, 2010

Leaders of countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Haiti arrived in Quito, Ecuador, on Tuesday to discuss a collective response to Haitian President René Préval’s appeal for aid. It was the first time Alvaro Uribe, president of Colombia, had visited Ecuador since 2008 when he ordered the bombing of a rebel camp on Ecuador’s side of the border. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had also planned to attend, but cancelled his trip at the last minute to attend to his country’s electricity emergency.  He sent Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro in his place.

Rafael Correa, the current president of the 12-member Union of South American States, also visited Port-au-Prince on January 29 to pledge from his country as well as the regional block.

Vice President of Bolivia Álvaro García Linera, also attended, along with representatives from Argentina, Suriname, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank. The gathering was to focus exclusively on coordinating aid to Haiti, putting aside other political differences between members of the two-year-old block.

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Chávez Says U.S.-Made Spy Plane Entered Venezuelan Airspace

December 21, 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced on Sunday that an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft flying from Colombia violated Venezuelan airspace over the northwest state of Zulia near the countries’ shared border. According to Mr. Chávez, who yesterday described the incident as an act of war, the plane uses U.S. technologies.

In response, Chávez has ordered his military to be on alert in the future and to shoot down any such aircraft if they violate Venezuelan airspace. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson has said the mission has no information about any flyover and had not been contacted by Chávez's administration.

These most recent allegations follow a particularly tense period in Colombian-Venezuelan relations and a rise in anti-U.S. rhetoric. Last month there were reports that Venezuela would destroy border bridges if Colombia moved forward with plans to escalate its military presence on the border and Chávez last week accused the Netherlands of allowing the United States to use the Dutch islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, off Venezuela's coast, to prepare a possible military attack against his country.

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Financial Unrest in Venezuela after Bank Seizures

December 4, 2009

The Venezuelan government’s move to close four private banks plunged the price of the Bolivar and the country’s widely traded 2027 global bond as jittery investors pulled money out of the financial system to put it overseas.  President Hugo Chávez tried to assure investors yesterday that his ultimate aim was to strengthen and improve the country’s financial system. "The government is putting out fire ... We are fixing the problem," he said. "We will all emerge stronger."

Chávez has nationalized key components of the economy, including oil, telecommunications and power, but he had mostly kept the banking system in private hands. However, shortly after announcing he had “no problem” nationalizing banks that broke the country’s laws and failed to lend to the poor, Chávez seized four private banks and liquidated two of them.

Although the banks hold less than six percent of the country’s deposits, more than 30 percent of these holdings have some relation to the government.  The Venezuelan attorney general has barred 16 bank executives from leaving the country and their owner, Fernandez Barrueco, is now in prison facing a 10-year jail sentence.

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Congressional Hearing Focuses on Iran and Latin America

October 29, 2009

What exactly does Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a leader of a secular government whose people are largely Catholic, have in common with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a leader of a nonsecular government where 90 percent of the population belongs to the Shi’a branch of Islam? The connection of one of the most divergent governments in the world with one of the most divergent governments in the Western Hemisphere can’t help but create bewilderment. This relationship, as well as a handful of others that Iran is pursuing in the region, came under question this week before a joint hearing of subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congress is increasingly concerned with Iran’s growing presence in this hemisphere—clearly shown by the presence of 16 lawmakers at a Capitol Hill hearing on Tuesday. Lawmakers, alarmed by Chávez’ recent trip to Iran and Ahmadinejad’s trip to Brazil in late November, expressed apprehension about Iran’s relationships. They questioned Iran’s real motives, the impact on democracy and expressed fears of growing terrorism linkages. As mentioned in his opening remarks, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere Chairman Eliot Engel is concerned about the purpose of the relationship: “I seek to explore in this hearing whether Iran’s expanding presence in the Western Hemisphere is a threat to our region or is merely a nuisance. Is it only about expanded trade or is there something more nefarious going on? I believe it is both.”

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At the DC Watering Hole: Senate Continues to Hold Tom Shannon's Nomination to be the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil

October 15, 2009

For months, the Senate has unnecessarily held up President Obama’s appointments for the U.S. ambassador to Brazil and the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. These actions have prevented the administration from assembling its Latin America team and have held hemispheric policy hostage to a few, lone voices.

We are stuck in gear. But if some conservative Republicans get their way, we risk being thrown into reverse, back to the Cold War. This time instead of communism, it’s through the prism of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

A more conspicuous and tangible evidence of the Cold War revival has been the recent campaign by some conservative Republicans against the nomination of Tom Shannon as ambassador to Brazil. This is the same Tom Shannon who was appointed and served as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs under George W. Bush.

The closed-door briefings and talking points that circulated in Congress are narrow and hollow criticisms of the United States’ Latin America policy over the last four years and are specifically tailored against Shannon. 

Because the talking points are dangerous without context, I want to share them in full as they arrived to me. A major part of their context is this underlying partisan intent:

“In Honduras, Shannon remained silent as Manuel Zelaya attempted to subvert democratic institutions and the Honduran Constitution.  But as the Congress and Supreme Court worked to remove Zelaya legally from office, the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa and Shannon worked diligently to dissuade the Honduran Congress and protect Zelaya (3 July Washington Post, columnist Carlos Alberto Montaner).”

“In Venezuela, Mr. Shannon constantly promoted narcotics cooperation with Chávez despite evidence—and objections from other U.S. agencies—that the Venezuelan government itself was facilitating narcotics trafficking.  Mr. Shannon also denied support to Venezuela's civil society and sat by as Chavez dismantled the country's democratic institutions.  Today, the Mayor of Caracas still cannot get into his office to perform his duties.  In all this, Mr. Shannon’s rationale for shunning Venezuela's civil society has been that the U.S. and Venezuela have a strategic relationship based primarily on energy.”

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Desde Bogotá. Los alcances de la revolución bolivariana en Colombia

October 5, 2009

Intervencionismo o mediación. Según el espejo con que se mire, el papel del Presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez en la política doméstica colombiana, tiene tantos detractores y seguidores como en su propio país.

Su cercanía con las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)—que según los computadores del extinto Raúl Reyes y miembros de la inteligencia colombiana incluye financiamiento y tráfico de armas para la guerrilla—ha causado que mientras Estados Unidos lo considera una figura desestabilizadora para la región, el gobierno colombiano de Álvaro Uribe haya tenido que aceptar a regañadientes sus buenos oficios para dialogar con el grupo insurgente y así lograr liberaciones de secuestrados.

No obstante, la necesidad de mantener relaciones diplomáticas con un vecino con el que se comercian más de 7.000 millones de dólares anuales y con el que se comparten 2.219 kilómetros (1,379 millas) de frontera—límites ,en donde dicho sea de paso, es innegable la presencia de grupos armados ilegales, contrabandistas, narcotraficantes y miles de refugiados expulsados por el conflicto—se ha dejado de priorizar recientemente por las atrevidas declaraciones de Chávez en lo que a la política nacional se refiere.

Luego de llamar a los colombianos “traidores” e invitarlos a sumarse a la “doctrina bolivariana”, Chávez fue denunciado ante la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA) por su “intervencionismo” e “injerencia” en asuntos internos. Sus declaraciones motivadas por el convenio firmado entre Estados Unidos y Colombia para la instalación de siete bases militares en el país, impulsaron a cuatro ciudadanos a convocar por las redes sociales Facebook y Twitter a una marcha contra el mandatario que finalmente se desarrolló en más de 100 ciudades del mundo con miles de participantes vestidos de blanco que gritaban al unísono "Chávez, Colombia no te teme" y "¿Por qué no te callas?".

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Extradition of Former Venezuelan President Requested

September 30, 2009

The attorney general of Venezuela, Luisa Ortega Díaz, requested on Tuesday that Interpol seek the detention of former President Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974—1979, 1989—1993) for his role in the deaths of 300 people during the Caracazo street protests in 1989. These protests were sparked by Pérez’ economic reform package and its elimination of gas subsidies.

The detention order is “included in Interpol’s code red, but this is not a guarantee that he will be captured. This depends on the government of the country where he is residing at the moment,” Ortega said last night.

The 87-year-old Pérez resides in the United States. He was accused by the attorney general for his “responsibility in the instruction and implementation of Plan Ávila”—a military plan to squash the protests that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights later found had resulted in massive human rights violation.

President Hugo Chávez led a failed coup attempt to overthrow Pérez in 1992.

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Chávez Vows to Start Nuclear Energy Project with Russian Assistance

September 17, 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez repeated yesterday his intention to jumpstart a nuclear energy program and announced the creation of an atomic energy commission between Venezuela and Russia. Chávez attempted to dismiss concerns over the possible future militarization of the proposed program: “We’re not going to make an atomic bomb, so don’t bother us like with Iran.”

The pronouncement follows news of a $2.2 billion loan from Russia that Venezuela will use to finance arms purchases, including 92 Soviet-era T-72 tanks, short-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons systems. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the issue saying Venezuelan arms purchases  “outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region.” Venezuela has already bought more than $4 billion worth of Russian arms since 2005.

Earlier this month, President Chávez met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss a possible nuclear partnership. Talk of nuclear energy development, coupled with news of major conventional arms purchases has fueled fears in the United States that Chávez’ actions pose “a serious challenge to stability in the Western Hemisphere,” according to State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.

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Venezuela Obliged to Import Petroleum Products Due to Local Production Issues

September 1, 2009

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA will have to import at least six shipments of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to meet local demand due to production stoppages at key local refineries. Reports from local sources at Venezuela’s largest national refineries, Amuay and Cardón, on the Paraguaná peninsula, indicate that technical problems coupled with scheduled maintenance-related stoppages have paralyzed output and contributed to supply shortages to the local market.

Gasoline in Venezuela is the cheapest in the world, costing around $.04 per liter. This most recent news comes amid reports that President Chávez and his economic cabinet are considering a hike in gas prices, which have remained unchanged in recent years despite the region’s highest inflation in other sectors of the economy. Reports also indicate that the government has begun restricting gasoline sales to Colombian motorists who cross the border to fill their tanks.

The last time the Venezuelan government proposed raising gasoline prices, in 1989 during the administration of then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez, it triggered a series of bloody protests in Caracas that ultimately caused the death of up to 3,000 people.

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Hugo Chávez and FARC Weapons: Magician's Secrets Revealed

August 5, 2009

Magicians, tricksters and clowns have employed illusions created by the sleight of hand for generations. Some of the recent developments out of Venezuela seem to validate that President Hugo Chávez has mastered this time-honored tradition.

I was reminded of the parallel while recently walking by a shell game on the street. The fellow was using cheap plastic cups and a ball made of waded tape to draw an audience who were all captivated by the fast moving hands and cups. A stack of dollar bills was on the small folding card table, so this man was certainly winning more than losing. President Chávez, like this street magician, has managed to divert attention from growing domestic troubles through his recent, inflammatory rhetoric aimed at Colombia.

As has been widely reported, the Venezuelan president again recalled his ambassador to Colombia last week—this time in response to Colombia’s announcement that they found three Venezuelan anti-tank weapons in the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the terrorist group fighting against the Colombian government.

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Venezuela's National Assembly Considers New Media Law

July 31, 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is pushing the National Assembly to pass tough new legislation that would “regulate the freedom of expression” and stipulates prison terms for journalists—ranging from 6 months to 4 years—for disseminating news “that causes serious public disorder, fear and anxiety among the population, or damages to state institutions.” Luisa Ortega, Venezuela’s attorney general, insists that "freedom of expression must be limited” to punish media owners who "manipulate the news with the purpose of transmitting a false perception of the facts."

The proposed legislation is the government’s latest move comes amid an ongoing campaign to rein in private news organizations. In 2007, the government revoked the broadcasting license of the national television channel Radio Caracas Televisión Internacional (RCTV), saying the station supported the 2002 coup against President Chávez.  More recently the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) has launched “administrative procedures” against 240 broadcasters, claiming they have not met legal requirements to keep their affairs in order with state authorities.

Opponents of the bill called it “reminiscent of the dark days of Latin American dictatorships” and “a serious setback to freedom of expression and democracy in Venezuela.” The vice president of Venezuela’s National College of Journalists, Alonso Moleiro, said the government was intent on “dismantling” the influence of private media and “shutting up some opinion formers.”

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A Reflection on Brazil's Gift to Obama

July 10, 2009

What is it about South American leaders and public gifts to President Obama? In April, we were treated to the spectacle of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez giving a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins to the U.S. President at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad—a disingenuous publicity stunt that backfired and stole the headlines from other, more substantive and important issues. And now we have Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the G8 summit in Italy giving Obama a soccer jersey signed by all the members of the Brazilian national soccer team.

Now, as a soccer head myself, I can think of no better gift to receive from the Brazilian President than a signed jersey. I certainly hope that it is displayed properly in the White House, and even though there is no record of the First Family having any particular interest in or affinity to soccer, nonetheless this is quite a cool gift. No complaints there. Except one. It was barely a week ago that the United States and Brazil played the championship game of the Confederations Cup in South Africa, the 2010 World Cup host. This was the first time in history that the United States men’s soccer team made it to the final of an extra-regional international soccer tournament. For Brazil, this was old hat, a big yawn, which paled in comparison to their five (yes, five) World Cup Championships. But for the upstart Americans, this was a big deal.

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Caracas Mayor's Hunger Strike Attracts OAS Attention

July 8, 2009

Antonio Ledezma, the mayor of Caracas, spoke with the Organization of American States (OAS) yesterday to discuss how the OAS can help to end a hunger strike that has spread to include over a dozen city employees since it began last Friday. The mayor—a member of the opposition to President Hugo Chávez—is protesting Chávez’ violation of democratic rights and has asked OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza to create a high-level commission that would visit the country and analyze the “gravity of the situation.”

Ledezma’s chief complaint is that President Chávez has stripped away his executive responsibilities by naming Jacqueline Faría as the chief of government of Caracas, a post that has complete veto power over the mayor’s actions. Chávez also has limited Ledezma’s access to state funds, leaving over 22,000 city employees without a paycheck for the past eight months. The President has taken similar actions against opposition governors, taking away their power to administer schools and hospitals.

The Venezuelan government denies Ledezma’s accusations and claims that his hunger strike is a stunt to attract media attention.

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Venezuela to Annul Select Pharmaceutical Patents

June 22, 2009

Commerce Minister Eduardo Samán announced on Saturday that “patents have become a barrier to production” and stymie access to medicine, placing the interests of multinational pharmaceutical companies ahead of the welfare and needs of the Venezuelan people. With President Hugo Chávez calling patents a “trap,” the government will now revise its patent system, annulling certain pharmaceutical patents and allowing domestic manufacturers to produce licensed medicines. This action follows a recent reform in intellectual property laws authorized by President Chavez. 

In a press release issued by the Autonomous Service for Intellectual Property (SAPI), the “technical information” of patents licensed in Venezuela will be posted on the SAPI website so that anyone can “make use [of the information],” which would allow “Venezuelan technicians to improve new technologies that have been developed. ” The president of Venezuela’s pharmaceutical business chamber, Edgar Salas, said this could potentially scare off foreign investment, result in internal shortages of medicine and “create obstacles to importing the newest medicines.”  Venezuela currently ranks at the third largest pharmaceutical import market in Latin America, estimated at $1.2 billion.
The latest pharmaceutical developments come on top of previous moves that have jolted the business community, namely nationalizations in the energy, concrete, telecommunications, and steel industries.

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Nicaraguans Lose $62 Million in Assistance as Ortega Stands Firm in Defending Flawed Elections

June 18, 2009

Eight months later, the consequences of last November’s municipal elections continue to reverberate throughout Nicaragua. Now the latest victim is not the legitimacy of the democratic process but Nicaraguan citizens. And the government of Nicaragua is to blame.

Last week, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)—a U.S. government entity established in 2004 that ties aid to good governance, economic freedom and investments in people—announced that it would cut $62 million in aid to Nicaragua. This money, suspended a few weeks after the municipal elections, was part of a five-year, $175 million agreement (or compact) that was signed with the Nicaraguan government in July 2005.

The reason? MCC assistance only goes to “governments who are governing justly,” and according to MCC Acting Chief Executive Officer Rodney Bent, Nicaragua has not shown “meaningful reforms or progress” in this area. The MCC had been looking for the government of President Daniel Ortega to address the voting irregularities that helped his Sandinista candidates win the mayorship of Managua, and the country’s second city, León. In Managua, Alexis Arguello defeated Eduardo Montealegre (Ortega’s challenger in the 2006 presidential election) amid accusations of voter identity fraud and suspicious polling station tallies. For the first time in 20 years, independent observers were barred from monitoring the election.

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Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

June 10, 2009

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.

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Political Fallout in Peru after Bloody Clash

Indigenous protesters and police forces clashed in Peru’s northern Amazon region over the weekend in a violent clash that claimed dozens of lives on both sides. The unrest followed months of demonstrations against a set of decrees that protesters said violated their ancestral claims on land and resources in the region. The Minister for Women and Social Development Carmen Vildoso resigned as a result of the controversy over the government’s handling of the clashes. Indigenous leader and head of the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle Alberto Pizango was granted political asylum by the Nicaraguan government on June 8, after the government accused him of inciting violence against the police on June 5.

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Daily Focus: Tensions Arise at the Venezuelan Airport for the Vargas Llosa Family

May 27, 2009

On Monday, Peruvian writer Alvaro Vargas Llosa was detained for over two hours at Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar International Airport. After being questioned and searched, the writer claimed that local authorities warned him not to make “any political statements during his visit to Venezuela.” Today, his father, Mario Vargas Llosa—who had criticized the government of President Hugo Chávez before departing from Bogotá—was also pulled aside upon arriving in Caracas.

Both father and son are in Venezuela to participate in “The Latin American Challenge,” a forum by the Knowledge Disclosure Center for Economic Freedom (CEDICE) that is addressing themes such as democracy, freedom and property. President Chávez claimed that the Vargas Llosas are in Venezuela to promote neo-liberal ideals and warned that he would not tolerate suspicious activity.

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