PANDEMONIUM MIDDAY TRIBUNE

Venezuela News Bulletin

No. 998

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URGENT ALERT

*** RAFAH: Emergency Medical Teams Prevented from Accessing Injured and Dead.

*** Chavez Frias: Bush should kneel before Pope John Paul 2nd to ask forgiveness.

*** Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government'.

*** Testimony Details Last Hours of

Iraqi Prisoner's Life.

Dossier Especial
*** Plan Contrarrevolucionario buscaba
asesinar a lideres del proceso y opositores.

*** Revelan pruebas sobre reclutamiento de paramilitares para ir a Venezuela.

*** Fremibol: La defensa integral de la nación nos corresponde
a todos.

*** Rubén Ávila (MVR): Giandoménico Puliti fue asesinado por sujetos utilizados por los conspiradores de Mérida

Por: Diario Pico Bolívar.

*** Venezuela entre el asedio y la revolución.

*** Why South Africans Should Roll Out the Red Carpet for Aristide.*** Para profundizar la Revolución, es necesario revaluar el bolívar.

Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)

URGENT ALERT

RAFAH: Emergency Medical Teams Prevented from Accessing Injured and Dead

Tuesday 18th May 2004

Not content with launching a full-scale attack upon the residents of Rafah
killing 16 the Israeli occupation forces are preventing medical teams from
accessing the dead and injured. Despite international condemnation of their
attacks, the occupation forces have also defied International Law yet again,
by denying civilians the right to medical care. The hospital in Rafah is
overflowing with the casualties that ambulances were able to reach, but
those they could not lie dying in their homes and streets. So far PMRS has
received the following news:

Said Lemghayer (23) from the Tel El Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, died
instantly when Israeli snipers shot him whilst he was standing outside his
house. His family tried to transfer him to a hospital but the occupation
forces prevented the ambulance from reaching him. Snipers have been planted
on every rooftop in the area and are shooting at anyone they see. As a
result, repeated attempts by the ambulance to get to Said were met with
heavy firing. Eventually the family had to resort to putting him in shop
refrigerator that is normally used to store dairy products.

Fathi Abu Ermaneh (35) was shot in the neck by a sniper whilst standing in
the street. However, medical teams have not been able to reach him because
the snipers start shooting as soon as they attempt to move. He remains in
the street and because no one can reach him, they do not know if he is dead
or alive.

On the outskirts of Rafah, Munira As Siguli was injured whilst in her house.
Again, snipers have prevented the ambulance from reaching her, so nobody
knows whether she is dead or alive.

Witnesses have reported that there is film footage showing an ambulance
attempting to reach an injured person lying on the ground. Due to the
intense shooting the ambulance is prevented from doing so. In the end one of
the team has to get out of the ambulance and drag the body towards the
vehicle.

A woman from the Abu Ghali family in Tel Al Sultan attempted to get to a
hospital as she was about to give birth. Again she was prevented from doing
so and with aid of the local women, had to give birth at home, placing the
life of both Mother and child at risk.

A brother and sister from Tel Al Sultan, around ten and eleven years old and
called Ahmed and Asma AlMughayer, were shot whilst inside their home. The
ambulance was prevented from accessing them and the hospital has now been
informed that they bled to death. The hospital is appealing to all human
rights and humanitarian organizations to help them in facilitating the
transfer of these two dead children to hospital.

Ismail Balawi was killed a few hours ago after his son was killed this
morning. However, he has two children who are injured but stuck in their
house with ambulances unable to reach them. These two children are in a very
serious health situation as they are both bleeding heavily. We again urge
you to contact International Humanitarian organizations to help ambulances
to reach them.

There are many more reports about people being killed or injured in areas
such as Qadisia and Akbet bin Nafe' but because no one is allowed to reach
them, we are unable to confirm their condition.

The Abu Yusef Al Najar hospital used to be a local clinic but was converted
to a hospital when the Intifada started. It lacks many amenities, including
an intensive care unit. It has no electricity and is now dependant on a
generator. The hospital cannot receive all the injured and three of the dead
have had to be stored in a room because there is not enough space in the
morgue. After coordinating with the Israelis, the hospital was given
permission to transfer the injured to the European and Nasser hospitals in
Khan Yunis. However, once the ambulances began to move the patients, they
came under heavy fire, and had to abandon the mission.

According to witnesses the Israeli soldiers have also imposed an ambush
around a series of ambulances. They allowed them to enter Tel Al Sultan from
Rafah in order to collect patients and transfer them to the Abu Yousef Najar
hospital in Rafah, but on their return journey the occupation forces
surrounded six of these ambulances preventing them from leaving the Tel Al
Sultan medical clinic. They also demolished the clinic's fence.

In addition to the dead and injured, patients with chronic and
non-communicable diseases are being prevented from accessing treatment.
There are a considerable number of patients urgently requiring dialysis and
chemotherapy but can not get to hospital, which places their health in a
critical situation.

PMRS is asking the International community to contact all humanitarian,
human rights and health organizations to intervene by pressurizing the
Israeli occupation forces to allow the free movement of medical teams. The
Israeli occupation forces' appalling disregard for the Palestinians' right
to access to medical care must be prevented otherwise there will be a
serious humanitarian disaster in Rafah. Please ask all organizations to
contact:

Shaul Mofaz
Minister of Defense
Kaplan Street
Hakirya
Tel-Aviv 61909
Tel: +972 3 5692010
Fax: +972 3 6916940

Tommy Lapid
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010
Israel
Tel: +972 2 6708511
Fax: +972 2 6285438
E-mail: sar@justice.gov.il

For further information please contact: pmrsupdates@yahoo.com

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Chavez Frias: Bush should kneel before Pope John Paul 2nd to ask forgiveness

President Hugo Chavez Frias has told reporters that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would be sending a bad message if it surrenders to USA demands to increase world crude production. Chavez blame rising world prices on the Bush 2 regime's unilateral invasion of Iraq and its inability to restart Iraq's oil production already a year after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

"OPEC should tell the big consumer nations to sit down and talk with us about the direct causes of their increase in prices ... in my opinion, it would be a very bad message to simply give into pressures and then increase production ... No! If we increased production, it would like giving a sick person the wrong medicine."

Without directly saying it, Chavez Frias implies that it is sick US polices that have caused Washington D.C.'s plight and the Bush 2 administration should be thinking first of reducing internal fuel taxes before attempting to gain energy advantage on the backs of Venezuela's domestic need for hospitals and schools.

Saudi Arabia has said that it could envisage a minimal 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) increase in the oil cartel's output since prices have risen to 21-year highs ... US light crude is down 49 cents at US$41.58 a barrel from Monday's $41.85 after hitting a new high Monday on concerns over fuel demand growth outpacing supply and fears of sabotage at Middle East oil facilities.

Several OPEC members said they would be willing to increase production inasmuch as prices have soared above and beyond the cartel's established $22-$28 price reference.

Chavez Frias is strongly backing his Energy & Mines Minister's proposal that OPEC should instead increase its target price band from $22-$28 a barrel to a new range of $25-$30.

Meanwhile, in a weekend speech, President Hugo Chavez Frias has said that US President George W. Bush should kneel before Pope John Paul 2nd to ask for forgiveness for abuses committed by US soldiers in Iraq.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21211

*********************************************************************

This story is taken from Opinion at sacbee.com.

Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government'

By Paul Rockwell -- Special to The Bee - (Published May 16, 2004)

"We forget what war is about, what it does to those who wage it and those who suffer from it. Those who hate war the most, I have often found, are veterans who know it."

- Chris Hedges, New York Times reporter and author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"

For nearly 12 years, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey was a hard-core, some say gung-ho, Marine. For three years he trained fellow Marines in one of the most grueling indoctrination rituals in military life - Marine boot camp.

The Iraq war changed Massey. The brutality, the sheer carnage of the U.S. invasion, touched his conscience and transformed him forever. He was honorably discharged with full severance last Dec. 31 and is now back in his hometown, Waynsville, N.C.

When I talked with Massey last week, he expressed his remorse at the civilian loss of life in incidents in which he himself was involved.

Q: You spent 12 years in the Marines. When were you sent to Iraq?

A: I went to Kuwait around Jan. 17. I was in Iraq from the get-go. And I was involved in the initial invasion.

Q: What does the public need to know about your experiences as a Marine?

A: The cause of the Iraqi revolt against the American occupation. What they need to know is we killed a lot of innocent people. I think at first the Iraqis had the understanding that casualties are a part of war. But over the course of time, the occupation hurt the Iraqis. And I didn't see any humanitarian support.

Q: What experiences turned you against the war and made you leave the Marines?

A: I was in charge of a platoon that consists of machine gunners and missile men. Our job was to go into certain areas of the towns and secure the roadways. There was this one particular incident - and there's many more - the one that really pushed me over the edge. It involved a car with Iraqi civilians. From all the intelligence reports we were getting, the cars were loaded down with suicide bombs or material. That's the rhetoric we received from intelligence. They came upon our checkpoint. We fired some warning shots. They didn't slow down. So we lit them up.

Q: Lit up? You mean you fired machine guns?

A: Right. Every car that we lit up we were expecting ammunition to go off. But we never heard any. Well, this particular vehicle we didn't destroy completely, and one gentleman looked up at me and said: "Why did you kill my brother? We didn't do anything wrong." That hit me like a ton of bricks.

Q: He spoke English?

A: Oh, yeah.

Q: Baghdad was being bombed. The civilians were trying to get out, right?

A: Yes. They received pamphlets, propaganda we dropped on them. It said, "Just throw up your hands, lay down weapons." That's what they were doing, but we were still lighting them up. They weren't in uniform. We never found any weapons.

Q: You got to see the bodies and casualties?

A: Yeah, firsthand. I helped throw them in a ditch.

Q: Over what period did all this take place?

A: During the invasion of Baghdad.

'We lit him up pretty good'

Q: How many times were you involved in checkpoint "light-ups"?

A: Five times. There was [the city of] Rekha. The gentleman was driving a stolen work utility van. He didn't stop. With us being trigger happy, we didn't really give this guy much of a chance. We lit him up pretty good. Then we inspected the back of the van. We found nothing. No explosives.

Q: The reports said the cars were loaded with explosives. In all the incidents did you find that to be the case?

A: Never. Not once. There were no secondary explosions. As a matter of fact, we lit up a rally after we heard a stray gunshot.

Q: A demonstration? Where?

A: On the outskirts of Baghdad. Near a military compound. There were demonstrators at the end of the street. They were young and they had no weapons. And when we rolled onto the scene, there was already a tank that was parked on the side of the road. If the Iraqis wanted to do something, they could have blown up the tank. But they didn't. They were only holding a demonstration. Down at the end of the road, we saw some RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) lined up against the wall. That put us at ease because we thought: "Wow, if they were going to blow us up, they would have done it."

Q: Were the protest signs in English or Arabic?

A: Both.

Q: Who gave the order to wipe the demonstrators out?

A: Higher command. We were told to be on the lookout for the civilians because a lot of the Fedayeen and the Republican Guards had tossed away uniforms and put on civilian clothes and were mounting terrorist attacks on American soldiers. The intelligence reports that were given to us were basically known by every member of the chain of command. The rank structure that was implemented in Iraq by the chain of command was evident to every Marine in Iraq. The order to shoot the demonstrators, I believe, came from senior government officials, including intelligence communities within the military and the U.S. government.

Q: What kind of firepower was employed?

A: M-16s, 50-cal. machine guns.

Q: You fired into six or ten kids? Were they all taken out?

A: Oh, yeah. Well, I had a "mercy" on one guy. When we rolled up, he was hiding behind a concrete pillar. I saw him and raised my weapon up, and he put up his hands. He ran off. I told everybody, "Don't shoot." Half of his foot was trailing behind him. So he was running with half of his foot cut off.

Q: After you lit up the demonstration, how long before the next incident?

A: Probably about one or two hours. This is another thing, too. I am so glad I am talking with you, because I suppressed all of this.

Q: Well, I appreciate you giving me the information, as hard as it must be to recall the painful details.

A: That's all right. It's kind of therapy for me. Because it's something that I had repressed for a long time.

Q: And the incident?

A: There was an incident with one of the cars. We shot an individual with his hands up. He got out of the car. He was badly shot. We lit him up. I don't know who started shooting first. One of the Marines came running over to where we were and said: "You all just shot a guy with his hands up." Man, I forgot about this.

Depleted uranium and cluster bombs

Q: You mention machine guns. What can you tell me about cluster bombs, or depleted uranium?

A: Depleted uranium. I know what it does. It's basically like leaving plutonium rods around. I'm 32 years old. I have 80 percent of my lung capacity. I ache all the time. I don't feel like a healthy 32-year-old.

Q: Were you in the vicinity of of depleted uranium?

A: Oh, yeah. It's everywhere. DU is everywhere on the battlefield. If you hit a tank, there's dust.

Q: Did you breath any dust?

A: Yeah.

Q: And if DU is affecting you or our troops, it's impacting Iraqi civilians.

A: Oh, yeah. They got a big wasteland problem.

Q: Do Marines have any precautions about dealing with DU?

A: Not that I know of. Well, if a tank gets hit, crews are detained for a little while to make sure there are no signs or symptoms. American tanks have depleted uranium on the sides, and the projectiles have DU in them. If an enemy vehicle gets hit, the area gets contaminated. Dead rounds are in the ground. The civilian populace is just now starting to learn about it. Hell, I didn't even know about DU until two years ago. You know how I found out about it? I read an article in Rolling Stone magazine. I just started inquiring about it, and I said "Holy s---!"

Q: Cluster bombs are also controversial. U.N. commissions have called for a ban. Were you acquainted with cluster bombs?

A: I had one of my Marines in my battalion who lost his leg from an ICBM.

Q: What's an ICBM?

A: A multi-purpose cluster bomb.

Q: What happened?

A: He stepped on it. We didn't get to training about clusters until about a month before I left.

Q: What kind of training?

A: They told us what they looked like, and not to step on them.

Q: Were you in any areas where they were dropped?

A: Oh, yeah. They were everywhere.

Q: Dropped from the air?

A: From the air as well as artillery.

Q: Are they dropped far away from cities, or inside the cities?

A: They are used everywhere. Now if you talked to a Marine artillery officer, he would give you the runaround, the politically correct answer. But for an average grunt, they're everywhere.

Q: Including inside the towns and cities?

A: Yes, if you were going into a city, you knew there were going to be ICBMs.

Q: Cluster bombs are anti-personnel weapons. They are not precise. They don't injure buildings, or hurt tanks. Only people and living things. There are a lot of undetonated duds and they go off after the battles are over.

A: Once the round leaves the tube, the cluster bomb has a mind of its own. There's always human error. I'm going to tell you: The armed forces are in a tight spot over there. It's starting to leak out about the civilian casualties that are taking place. The Iraqis know. I keep hearing reports from my Marine buddies inside that there were 200-something civilians killed in Fallujah. The military is scrambling right now to keep the raps on that. My understanding is Fallujah is just littered with civilian bodies.

Embedded reporters

Q: How are the embedded reporters responding?

A: I had embedded reporters in my unit, not my platoon. One we had was a South African reporter. He was scared s---less. We had an incident where one of them wanted to go home.

Q: Why?

A: It was when we started going into Baghdad. When he started seeing the civilian casualties, he started wigging out a little bit. It didn't start until we got on the outskirts of Baghdad and started taking civilian casualties.

Q: I would like to go back to the first incident, when the survivor asked why did you kill his brother. Was that the incident that pushed you over the edge, as you put it?

A: Oh, yeah. Later on I found out that was a typical day. I talked with my commanding officer after the incident. He came up to me and says: "Are you OK?" I said: "No, today is not a good day. We killed a bunch of civilians." He goes: "No, today was a good day." And when he said that, I said "Oh, my goodness, what the hell am I into?"

Q: Your feelings changed during the invasion. What was your state of mind before the invasion?

A: I was like every other troop. My president told me they got weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam threatened the free world, that he had all this might and could reach us anywhere. I just bought into the whole thing.

Q: What changed you?

A: The civilian casualties taking place. That was what made the difference. That was when I changed.

Q: Did the revelations that the government fabricated the evidence for war affect the troops?

A: Yes. I killed innocent people for our government. For what? What did I do? Where is the good coming out of it? I feel like I've had a hand in some sort of evil lie at the hands of our government. I just feel embarrassed, ashamed about it.

Showdown with superiors

Q: I understand that all the incidents - killing civilians at checkpoints, itchy fingers at the rally - weigh on you. What happened with your commanding officers? How did you deal with them?

A: There was an incident. It was right after the fall of Baghdad, when we went back down south. On the outskirts of Karbala, we had a morning meeting on the battle plan. I was not in a good mindset. All these things were going through my head - about what we were doing over there. About some of the things my troops were asking. I was holding it all inside. My lieutenant and I got into a conversation. The conversation was striking me wrong. And I lashed out. I looked at him and told him: "You know, I honestly feel that what we're doing is wrong over here. We're committing genocide."

He asked me something and I said that with the killing of civilians and the depleted uranium we're leaving over here, we're not going to have to worry about terrorists. He didn't like that. He got up and stormed off. And I knew right then and there that my career was over. I was talking to my commanding officer.

Q: What happened then?

A: After I talked to the top commander, I was kind of scurried away. I was basically put on house arrest. I didn't talk to other troops. I didn't want to hurt them. I didn't want to jeopardize them.

I want to help people. I felt strongly about it. I had to say something. When I was sent back to stateside, I went in front of the sergeant major. He's in charge of 3,500-plus Marines. "Sir," I told him, "I don't want your money. I don't want your benefits. What you did was wrong."

It was just a personal conviction with me. I've had an impeccable career. I chose to get out. And you know who I blame? I blame the president of the U.S. It's not the grunt. I blame the president because he said they had weapons of mass destruction. It was a lie.

About the Writer
---------------------------

Paul Rockwell ( rockyspad@hotmail.com) is a writer who lives in Oakland.

Go to : Sacbee / Back to story

[ Sacramento Bee Web sites ]

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Contact sacbee.com

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Testimony Details Last Hours of

Iraqi Prisoner's Life

By Richard A. Serrano
Times Staff Writer

5:37 PM PDT, May 17, 2004

WASHINGTON — When CIA officers brought the Iraqi detainee to Abu Ghraib prison, his head was covered with an empty sandbag and Army guards were ordered to take him directly to a shower room that served as a makeshift interrogation center at the overcrowded, shell-damaged facility outside Baghdad.

An hour later, in the midst of intensive questioning by military intelligence officials, the prisoner collapsed and died. Only then did interrogators remove the hood to reveal severe head wounds that had never been treated.

The dead prisoner, whose identity has not been made public, would become famous around the world in the photograph of the body wrapped in plastic sheeting and packed in ice - among the grisliest images yet made public in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

An account of his final hours - and of the failure to provide medical attention to a severely wounded prisoner - is contained in sworn testimony statements provided to Army investigators by military police guards at Abu Ghraib.

Even after the prisoner died, the documents say, officials continued to pursue their own agendas: They haggled over who was responsible for the body. Eventually, the body deteriorated to where it had to be disposed.

The official documents describing the grim episode were based on testimony at a secret military court hearing held last month on the charges against Sgt. Javal Davis, one of seven members of the 372nd Military Police Company accused of beating and humiliating Iraqi detainees.

"He wasn't dead at first,'' said Spc. Jason A. Kenner, explaining that guards were told not to remove the prisoner's hood when they took him to the shower room.

"We didn't know how much he was injured. He went into the showers for interrogation, and about an hour later he died on them. I was sent to find out what was going on. Later that day, they decided to put him on ice."

"After he passed [away], the sandbag was removed and I saw that he was severely beaten on his face," Kenner testified. "At the time, they would interrogate people in the shower rooms. He was shackled to the wall. The shower room was just used because there was no other space available."

Another guard in the 372nd Company, Spc. Bruce Brown, said: "I heard of a dead detainee being stored in the hard site. We would spray air freshener to cover the scent. They finally took the body away.''

In their testimony, Kenner and Brown agreed that the CIA brought the prisoner to Abu Ghraib and ordered guards to take him to the interrogation facility without removing the hood. They disagreed on who was involved in the subsequent questioning: Kenner said it was the CIA alone, while Brown said the CIA and military intelligence officers worked together.

Both Kenner and Brown referred to the CIA by its commonly used pseudonym, the OGA, or Other Government Agency.

A CIA spokesman said he could not comment because the incident is under investigation by the agency's inspector general's office in conjunction with military investigations.

In other testimony at the Davis hearing, other guards said military intelligence officers routinely deprived prisoners of food, sleep, clothes and cigarettes, and sometimes sunshine, and expected guards to treat prisoners just as harshly or worse.

Separately, a key defendant in the scandal said in a sworn statement to Army investigators that mistreatment of prisoners was known and condoned throughout Abu Ghraib and no one ordered a halt to the abuses - or to photographing humiliated inmates.

"Everyone in the company from the commander down'' knew what was going on, said Pfc. Lynndie England, the Army soldier seen laughing, smoking and flashing the thumbs-up in front of naked male Iraqis. "The pictures were shown to anyone who wanted to see them. Cpl. (Charles) Graner told me he showed them to his platoon sergeant and platoon leader.''

England said guards forced detainees to crawl on their hands and knees on broken glass, threw a nerf football at handcuffed prisoners and forced male detainees to wear women's sanitary "maxi pads.''

She also said Graner, her lover with whom she is now pregnant, applied needle and thread to prisoners after beating them.

"Cpl. Graner would personally stitch up detainees if the wound weren't too bad,'' she said. "He would take pictures of his work. One particular incident Cpl. Graner ran a former Iraqi general into a wall and split his lip. Cpl. Graner stitched up his lip.''

England, interviewed at Ft. Bragg, N.C., on May 5, said she did not believe the guards went too far in punishing detainees, and said that much of what happened at the prison's notorious Tier 1A was done in sport.

"We thought it looked funny so pictures were taken,'' she said. It was "basically us fooling around.''

England described abuse by all seven defendants, including herself, except one - Spc. Megan Ambuhl, who is not seen in any of the prison photographs. ``She rarely participated,'' England said. "She really wasn't part of all this.''

As have other defendants, England described Graner and Staff Sgt. Ivan L. (Chip) Frederick II as the leaders of the rogue guard unit, and said Davis was close behind.

"He was the intimidator,'' she said. "Very big. He would push them around or into walls. He also stepped on their toes. He would help with rowdy detainees.''

"Personnel from MI (military intelligence) and OGA would tell us to keep it up, that we were doing a good job,'' she said. "I was just told we were doing a good job.''

She said there were many other abuses, but "I can't remember all of them.'' And yet she felt no guards should be punished because "we did what we were told.''

That excuse is at the heart of the defense of the seven accused guards. At the court hearing for Davis on April 7, Sgt. Hydrue S. Johnson described how he said intelligence officers held sway over guards.

A member of the 372nd Military Police Company that also was home to the seven guards now being prosecuted, Johnson testified that military intelligence officers never explicitly ordered guards to "rough up'' detainees. But he said guards throughout the prison looked to the MIs for guidance on how to treat them.

"I did not question anything of MI personnel,'' Johnson testified. "They were there longer than me. I did not question them.''

With the first court-martial scheduled for Wednesday, when Spc. Jeremy Sivits is expected to plead guilty and begin helping prosecutors in trying to convict the others, the statements by England, Johnson and others reflect the effort by some guards to show that prison interrogators must share the blame for abuses.

The interrogators helped establish a climate of abuse and Army supervisors did not intervene to stop the misconduct, they said.

Brown said he had "little to no contact with MI'' officers. ``I would only see them in passing, and said hi or bye,'' he said.

But, he added, "there were situations where they gave us ideas on how to treat detainees. They had sleep management plans and eating plans.''

Kenner said intelligence officers ``would take away their clothes and the detainees would sleep in their cells naked.''

Sgt. William A. Cathcart, also of the 372nd, said he routinely asked MI and OGA officers how to properly handle detainees but he ``got no response.'' Intelligence officers told him the interrogators were putting together a formal SOP, or standing operating procedure, ``but I never saw it.''

Still other guards testified that they would never have followed any direct encouragements to abuse or humiliate detainees, such as making them masturbate in front of others.

``If an MI (officer) told me to make detainees masturbate together, I would cut off his air supply,'' said Joyner. ``This is not acceptable instruction to me. There is no special training to know this behavior is wrong, except `life.' ''

Revelan pruebas sobre reclutamiento de paramilitares para ir a Venezuela

DPA

La Fiscalía colombiana dispone de evidencias que prueban el reclutamiento de paramilitares que luego son trasladados a Venezuela y la infiltración de los grupos de ultraderecha en los servicios de inteligencia de la ciudad fronteriza de Cúcuta, según dieron hoy a conocer medios colombianos, señaló DPA.

Las pruebas fueron difundidas por el noticiero de televisión "La red independiente" coincidiendo con el escándalo internacional suscitado por la captura de un centenar de presuntos paramilitares colombianos que, según el gobierno venezolano, preparaba un complot contra el presidente, Hugo Chávez.

El informativo difundió unas grabaciones interceptadas a los paramilitares en Cúcuta en las que se reseña las operaciones que cumplen esos grupos en la frontera y en territorio venezolano.

Una de las comunicaciones en poder de la Fiscalía recoge el testimonio de un presunto jefe de las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), Carlos Enrique Mora (alias "El Gato"), quien se presume es el encargado de organizar el reclutamiento de los combatientes que luego son trasladados a Venezuela.

"Ahí estuve, anoche, por los lados de (el cerro de) los Motilones.

Ahí estaba un man (hombre) que llevé para que le diera clases a los pelados y se los llevara para el otro lado, pa'llá (Venezuela)", señala "El Gato" en una conversación telefónica.

Otra de las grabaciones registra el momento en que el también líder paramilitar, conocido como comandante "Andrés", reporta el fin de unas operaciones urbanas y el inicio de una posible campaña en Venezuela.

"Voy a acabar la parte urbana y voy a coger para Venezuela, entonces voy a ir con ellos para presentárselos a Enrique (alias El Gato)", señala el jefe de las AUC en una conversación con un hombre que según "La red independiente" corresponde a un oficial activo de la Policía.

La evidencia fue recopilada por las autoridades dentro de la investigación que llevan a cabo por el asesinato del ex asesor de la Alcaldía de Cúcuta, Alfredo Flórez, esposo de la prófuga ex directora seccional de la Fiscalía de Cúcuta, Ana María Flórez, acusada de tener vínculos con las AUC.

El informativo de televisión también divulgó unas grabaciones en las que funcionarios de la Fiscalía advierten a los jefes paramilitares sobre su posible captura.

El diputado de oposición Gustavo Petro, quien ya había denunciado los nexos entre la Fiscalía y las AUC, señaló que las pruebas aportadas por el propio organismo demuestran que "Cúcuta es una ciudad controlada por el paramilitarismo".

Según Petro, el plan de las AUC es "lograr que venezolanos acaudalados los contraten para ir a matar en territorio de Venezuela e ir a incidir en el conflicto social y político que se vive en el vecino país".

El pasado viernes, el gobierno colombiano aseguró que no dispone de indicios o pistas que comprometan a los paramilitares en un supuesto complot contra el presidente Chávez.

Desde el pasado fin de semana han sido capturados en Venezuela un centenar de presuntos paramilitares colombianos bajo sospecha de preparar un complot contra Chávez.

Los señalamientos fueron rechazados por las AUC a través de su máximo líder, Salvatore Mancuso, y los familiares de los sospechosos, que denunciaron que los jóvenes fueron trasladados con engaños al vecino país.

http://www.rebelion.org/venezuela/040518paras.htm

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Subject:

[redial_s_bolivar] LISTA DE SICARIABLES

From:

Redial Simón Bolívar <redial_s_bolivar@yahoo.es>

Date:

Wed, 12 May 2004 11:00:52 -0400

To:

Venezuela Patriótica <venezuela_patriotica2001@yahoo.com>, "Vanessa Davies" <vdavies@el-nacional.com>, "Temas Venezuela" <temasdigital@temas.com.ve>, "Robertos" <comoustedespuedenver@yahoogrupos.com.mx>, "Redial" <redial_s_bolivar@elistas.net>, "Barro y Fuego" <barroyfuego@cantv.net>, "Cadena Bolivariana" <sierrajaguar@yahoogroups.com>

Estupendo envio Lorenna, como siempre estás en todo. Es muy bueno que todos estamos atentos a cualquier información de relevancia porque en el exterior son muchos los camaradas que están preocupados y quieren saber, -para difundir- todo cuanto pueda estar ocurriendo en nuestra patria. Por cierto a nivel del mundo hay una real preocupación que contrasta con la de los opositores venezolanos que hablan de show o campamentos de boy escauts. Martín

Dossier Especial
Plan Contrarrevolucionario buscaba
asesinar a lideres del proceso y opositores

PRENSA LTG. Caracas, 11 MAYO . Los organismos de seguridad del Estado hallaron en las diferentes pesquisas realizadas en las últimas horas un documento de ocho páginas denominado “ Plan Contra- revolucionario” con el cual se pretendía generar una rebelión para posteriormente asesinar al presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez y a 43personas más entre ellos lideres del proceso revolucionario y dos opositores.

Se pudo conocer que el plan contemplaba una “operación fumigación “ para eliminar a parte del gabinete Ejecutivo, comandantes generales de los componentes de la Fuerza Armada Nacional, diputados, lideres políticos, periodistas a Enrique Mendoza y Gerardo Blide.

La desaparición física de Mendoza y Blide respondería a una estrategia producto de los divisiones y conflictos del grupo opositor y para crear mártires políticos. En el caso del asesinato de las personas allegadas al gobierno nacional el objetivo principal sería crear un efecto desmoralizador.

A continuación la lista de los sicariables:

Gabinete (6)
	Vicepresidente Ejecutivo de la República	José Vicente Rangel
	Ministra del Trabajo	María Cristina Iglesias
	Ministro de Comunicación e Información	Jesee Chacón
	Ministro de Educación	Aristóbulo Isturis
	Ministro de Energía y Minas	Rafael Ramírez
	Ministro del Interior y Justicia	Lucas Rincón Romero
Presidentes Instituciones (5)
	Asamblea Nacional	Francisco Ameliach
	Tribunal Supremo de Justicia	Iván Rincón Urdaneta
	PDVSA	Alí Rodríguez Araque
	VTV	Wladimir Villegas
	Fondo Único Social	Alejandro Andrade
Gobernadores (2)
	Gobernador del estado Mérida	Florencio Porras
	Gobernador del Táchira Ronald Blanco La Cruz	Ronald Blanco La Cruz
Alcaldes (2)
	Alcalde José Vicente Rangel Avalo	José Vicente Rangel Avalo
	Alcalde Municipio Libertador	Freddy Bernal
F.A.N (6)
	Ministro de la Defensa	Jorge Luis García Carneiro
	Comandante general del ejercito	Raúl Isaías Baduel
	Comandante del Cufan	General de División Julio Quintero Viloria
	Comandante general de la Guardia Nacional	General Jesús Villegas Solarte
	Jefe Casa Militar	General Mata Figueroa
	Jefe de la Policía Militar	Coronel José Gregorio Montilla Pantoja
Directores Instituciones (2)
	Director de la Cicp	Comisario marcos Chávez
	Director de la Disip	Coronel Miguel Rodríguez Torres
Diputados (6)
	Diputada	Iris Varela
	Diputado	Luis Tascón
	Diputado	Nicolás Maduro
	Diputado	Tarek William Saad
	Diputado	Dario Vivas
	Diputado	Diputado Juan Barreto
Periodistas(4)
	Director Ultimas Noticias	Eleazar Díaz Rangel
	Periodista	Ernesto Villegas
	Periodista	Periodista Miguel Salazar
	Periodista	Walter Martínez
Candidatos Gobernación (4)
	Candidato a la gobernación del Estado Bolívar	Francisco Rangel Gómez
	Candidato a la gobernación del Estado Carabobo	Luis Felipe Acosta Carles
	Candidato a la gobernación del Estado Miranda	Diosdado Cabello
	Candidato a la gobernación del Estado Zulia	José Gutiérrez
Dirigentes Politico (2)
	Dirigente Politico	Lina Ron
	Dirigente Politico	García Ponce
Personalidades (2)
	Ex Vicepresidenta de la República	Adina Bastidas
	Ex-Ministro de Interior y Justicia	Ramón Rodríguez Chacín
Opositores (2)
	Diputado	Gerardo Blide
	Gobernador	Enrique Mendoza

---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Fremibol: La defensa integral de la nación nos corresponde
a todos

Por: Venpres
Publicado el Martes, 18/05/04 08:56am


	imprímelo

	mándaselo a tus panas

Caracas, 18 May. Venpres (Miyeilis Morales Flores).- En opinión
del director del Frente Cívico Militar Bolivariano (Fremibol), Héctor
Herrera Jiménez, la defensa integral de la nación "nos corresponde a todos"
y no se limita a la creación de más batallones de reserva.

Herrera Jiménez hizo la afirmación en el programa "En Confianza" conducido
por el periodista Ernesto Villegas y transmitido por Venezolana de
Televisión, donde aclaró que no se trata de que el presidente Hugo Chávez
Frías quiera crear grupos paramilitares o armar al pueblo para que haya una
guerra civil.

Explicó que en países como Suiza e Israel la mayor parte de la población
está entrenada como soldados, independientemente de las actividades a las
cuales se dediquen en su vida cotidiana.

En tal sentido, anunció que Fremibol y el periodista Walter Martínez
comenzarán una serie de foros para explicar cómo organizarse para defender a
la patria.

A tal efecto, este martes Herrera realizará un foro en la Universidad
Bolivariana de Venezuela y el próximo sábado estará en el estado Bolívar
juramentando la primera brigada en defensa de la soberanía.

Es necesario la organización, "porque se ha amenazado la seguridad y defensa
de la nación", al tiempo que insistió "la seguridad de la nación nos compete
a todos, la defensa integral es responsabilidad de todos los venezolanos y
tenemos que hacer todo lo que esta en la Constitución para garantizarla".

Noticia leida 106 veces.

La fuente original de este documento es:
Venpres (http://www.venpres.gov.ve
http://www.aporrea.org/dameverbo.php?docid=16646

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Rubén Ávila (MVR): Giandoménico Puliti fue asesinado por sujetos utilizados por los conspiradores de Mérida

Por: Diario Pico Bolívar
Publicado el Martes, 18/05/04 09:48am


	imprímelo

	mándaselo a tus panas

La siguiente es una entrevista a Rubén Ávila aparecida en la edición de hoy del diario local "Pico Bolívar", Rubén Ávila es dirigente regional del MVR Merida. Entrevista donde hace una una serie de revelaciones muy importantes en cuanto al asesinato de Puliti.

Giandoménico Puliti fue asesinado por sujetos utilizados por los conspiradores de Mérida, Tovar y El Vigía, la denuncia fue hecha por el dirigente regional del MVR Rubén Ávila, quien advierte sobre algunas reuniones conspirativas que se están haciendo en la región. Se refiere a un encuentro celebrado en la hacienda "La Estancia La Bravera" entre el general Efrain Vásquez Velasco y el comisario de la Policía Metropolitana Henry Vivas. Además, ratifica la presencia de paramilitares en las zonas del Páramo y Panamericana, donde contarían con campamentos de entrenamiento y lujosos hoteles que los alojan.

Las evidencias y pruebas fehacientes apuntan que el crimen del candidato a alcalde del Comando Ayacucho fue planificado presuntamente por adversarios políticos, con financiamiento de gente ligada al narcotráfico y el lavado de dólares en Mérida, Tovar y El Vigía "Giandoménico Puliti fue asesinado por sujetos utilizados por los conspiradores de Mérida. Tovar y El Vigía, pero no se entiende cómo los organismos de seguridad están enredados en el caso cuando es sumamente claro y se tiene pruebas fehacientes del porqué lo ultimaron".

Así lo expresó el dirigente regional del MVR en el Estado Mérida. Rubén Ávila, quien refirió que las pruebas contundentes de cómo asesinaron a Giandoménico Puliti son evidentes: en primer lugar, la forma como se cometió el crimen, de un certero balazo; segundo la protección del individuo, que utilizó un revólver calibre 38 pues se encontraba supuestamente detenido en la cárcel, donde se pagó dinero (e incluso este preso canceló casi un millón de bolívares) para que ande suelto por las calles de la ciudad. En el homicidio de quien en vida era candidato a la Alcaldía de Tovar Giandoménico Puliti están comprometidos narcotraficantes y lavadores de dólares de Mérida, Tovar y El Vigía, porque Puliti representaba un peligro para sus Intereses, por eso lo mandaron a matar. "Políticamente también representaba un peligro para los fascistas de la Coordinadora Democrática con la Importación de paramilitares", dijo Ávila.

Campamentos de paramilitares

Como es conocido por la opinión pública, la presencia de paramilitares en el estado Mérida y en el país es real. Recientemente se hizo una reunión en la finca "La Estancia La Bravera", en La Azulita, con Efraín Vázquez Velasco, ex comandante general del Ejército, y Henry Vivas. secretario de seguridad de la Alcaldía Mayor, que como marionetas de la corporación norteamericana continúan conspirando contra el gobierno bolivariano, afirmó.

Ante la Impunidad jurídica que se vive en el país, los líderes de la llamada Coordinadora Democrática están envalentonados y como no quieren ir a los reparos porque perderían, ahora quieren seguir conspirando trayendo por los caminos verdes y carreteras a asesinos y terroristas bajo la complicidad de algunos militares traidores, acotó el dirigente emeverrista.

Señaló Ávila que "los organismos que están investigando el caso Pullti deben ya sacar a la luz lo que pasó, ¿acaso se espera que los asesinos se fuguen? , pues hay tres abogados que cobran muy caro para defender al indiciado en el crimen, por lo que hay que averiguar de dónde viene ese dinero".
Destacó el integrante del Comando Táctico Regional del MVR, que existen campamentos de paramilitares en la zona Panamericana y el Páramo, e incluso cuentan con hoteles de lujo con campos de entrenamientos y cercas electrificadas. La Guardia Nacional de Venezuela y demás organismos de seguridad están alerta ante esta situación, pero se deben tomar medidas porque habían llegado hasta Caracas casi 150 elementos para matar sin ideología ninguna, refirió.

El principal blanco en la lista de víctimas de los paramilitares en el estado Mérida lo encabezaba el Gobernador Florencio Porras Echezuría y algunos integrantes de su equipo de gobierno según decisión tomada por los conspiradores en esta entidad, aseveró.

Mérida y la revolución necesitan paz que se consigue puro y simplemente con justicia, pero parece que ésta no éxiste, sino que en su lugar hay impunidad. El homicidio de Puliti no fue, producto de un asalto o asunto pasional. No señores. Fue un crimen por motivos políticos, concluyó.
http://www.aporrea.org/dameverbo.php?docid=16649

*******************************************************************

Venezuela entre el asedio y la revolución

Por: Modesto Emilio Guerrero
Publicado el Martes, 18/05/04 10:49am


	imprímelo

Venezuela vive sometido a una presión sistemática y dislocante del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, desde septiembre de 2001. El gobierno nacionalista revolucionario de Chávez ha respondido con la movilización de las masas y la proclama de "profundizar la revolución en su fase anti imperialista"
(discurso del domingo 16 de mayo).

Esto se daría en tres terrenos, el fortalecimiento de la defensa militar dentro y fuera de las Fuerzas Armadas; la reforma agraria y algunas expropiaciones a empresarios financistas del terrorismo interno. Fuentes del movimiento sindical venezolano sostienen que la "profundización" también podría afectar a algunos medios comerciales, esos que día a día convocan al caos y a derribar el gobierno, en operaciones de prensa coordinadas con la CNN y Univisión.

¿Cuál es el apuro del imperialismo en echar a Chávez" ¿Por qué ha acentuado su asedio en los últimos 4 o 5 meses" ¿Por qué esa conducta imperial se manifiesta en desesperación patológica de un sector de la oposición interna"
¿Por qué está decidida a provocar una guerra civil al estilo del Bogotazo (asesinato e Gaitán, 1948) matando al presidente Chávez".

La explicación hay que buscarla en cuatro hechos vinculados: El desastre iraquí, el síndrome petrolero de las economías desarrolladas en precios y reservas confiables, y la incontenible fuerza política y organizativa adquirida por la "revolución bolivariana" dentro de una Sudamérica cada vez más insurrecta.

El olor petrolero del desastre iraquí

Para comprender el desastre iraquí de la política de Bush, debemos recordar que fue la operación matriz de su nueva política mundial. Afganistán fue la reacción y el castigo, a lo sumo la señal de que el imperialismo necesitaba reubicar su estrategia.

Irak consumió 23 veces más de lo gastado en Afganistán, superó lo invertido en Vietnam entre 1969 y 1973. Pero la operación sobre Irak no se limitó a lo militar. Fue la inauguración de un nuevo patrón de dominación internacional que involucró las relaciones con la ONU (léase Unión Europea, Rusia, China y Japón).

Desde la ocupación de Bagdad, cambió el cálculo de la seguridad energética global a largo plazo (precios y reserva). Surgió una nueva plataforma de control para el Oriente Medio y un campo de inversiones nuevas en 8 ramas industriales y comerciales ligadas a la reconstrucción de Irak.

También tenía como objetivo ejercer un mayor control social sobre la población de los Estados Unidos.

Estos elementos de carácter típicamente nazis, o fascistas, son los que han comenzado a sorprender, lentamente, al propio pueblo norteamericano, que muestra signos de reacción, también lentamente. Pero las muestra. Las imágenes de las torturas equivalen, en otro contexto internacional, a las bolsas negras que llegaban de Vietnam con cadáveres estadounidenses.

Pero Irak es más que Vietnam. Es al mismo tiempo Palestina, Afganistán, etc., porque involucra reivindicaciones y movimientos integristas islámicos de una subregión repleta de crudo. El desastre en Irak, del que sólo falta el capítulo final, afectará todo lo que Europa y EE.UU. hacen o dejan de hacer, en Oriente Medio y los países gasíferos del Extremo Oriente.

Quién se va primero

Los precios altos en la energía mantendrá en rojo las bolsas, obligando a la extorsión continua de las tasas de interés en New York. No sólo se verá afectado el consumo del norteamericano medio, sino que ha entrado en cuestión el nuevo y débil crecimiento de los PBI latinoamericanos. No por capricho, la CEPAL, Standard and Poors y el Banco Mundial redujeron los porcentajes previstos en octubre de 2003.

Conclusión: Estados Unidos está por perder su segunda guerra en 200 años, después de ganarla en menos de 3 meses. No podrá controlar como se propuso con Irak las reservas de crudo liviano árabe. Las mayores del planeta. Tendrá que retroceder en su política para Palestina-Israel, sobre todo después de las movilizaciones en Tel Aviv contra los bombardeos nazis de Ariel Sharon.

Y mientras todo eso se reordena, los precios del crudo en la pantalla de Texas estarán muy por encima de la base media de 17 dólares. El más importante efecto al interior de EE.UU. es la probable derrota de Bush, especialmente si crecen las movilizaciones internas. El pronóstico de Chávez puede cumplirse y el "pendejo" de Washington se iría antes que el mulato de Caracas.

La marcha de las agujas del reloj

Es este cuadro nuevo de las relaciones políticas y económicas internacionales, abierto con el desastre iraquí, lo que obliga a Washington a reordenarse en América latina. Y para lograrlo debe mover dos piezas convertidas en verdaderos obstáculos: Cuba y Venezuela. Cuba es su más grande dolor de cabeza político. Venezuela es eso más petróleo. Ambos son malos ejemplos para el equilibrio imperialista sobre el continente.

Es allí donde comienza la nueva fase de la conspiración contra el gobierno de Hugo Chávez. Su intensidad será directamente proporcional al modo en que salga de Irak e inversamente correspondiente a la fuerza de la resistencia interna venezolana. No será igual si sale por paliza como en Vietnam, o por la puerta trasera del negociación.

El asunto se torna de alto interés político porque esa resistencia se fortalece ideológica y organizativamente. Este es el verdadero dilema del Pentagon Club que rodea a Bus. La renovada ofensiva contra la "revolución bolivariana" deberá resolver este asunto.

La opción Gaitán

La apuesta por la "opción Gaitán" (matar al líder del proceso) deberá despejar la incógnita de cómo responderán centenares de miles de jóvenes, obreros, empleados, estudiantes y una parte del campesinado. No sólo dentro de Venezuela.

La "revolución bolivariana" ha ganado simpatía en las masas pobres de varios países del continente.

Dirigentes y difusores populares de Caracas y Maracay, me comentaron en medio del II Encuentro Mundial reunido en Venezuela el 11 de abril lo siguiente: "El compañero Chávez es el líder de esta revolución y perderlo sería un desastre. Pero él mismo siempre ha pregonado la necesidad de la organización popular y la conciencia de que estamos en una revolución que se salva si la salva el pueblo, como dijo Alí Primera".

Este parece ser el curso tomado por el proceso político venezolano. La derrota en las calles del golpe del 13 de abril de 2002, es la impronta más palpable de esa tendencia.

Tanto el discurso del presidente Chávez este domingo 16 de mayo, como la respuesta popular en Caracas y muchas ciudades del país, muestran que la revolución sigue su marcha.

Soporta el asedio imperialista y la conspiración interna, pero al mismo se niega a cumplir el calendario artificial de "gradualistas" y tremendistas al interior. Ambos sectores del proceso imaginan con la posibilidad de imponerle su ritmo privado a las agujas del reloj de la "revolución boliviariana".

http://www.aporrea.org/dameletra.php?docid=8183

************************************************************************
posted on allafrica.com, May 17, 2004 http://allafrica.com/stories/200405170349.html Sunday Times (Johannesburg), May 16, 2004 Why South Africans Should Roll Out the Red Carpet for Aristide By Molefe Tsele Johannesburg We have an obligation to take in this victim of global bullies It is now official: Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to make South Africa his next home of asylum. While in many countries of the world this act would have been a routine executive decision, not so for us in South Africa. Predictably, it has become yet another issue exposing the wide chasm that still characterises our social and political fabric. To be sure, this is much more than simply a foreign policy disagreement. It shows how history becomes a victim of political debate, leading to morality taking the back seat, if not being consigned to the scrap heap. Thus, amid the political noise, the history of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and of the Republic of Haiti is rehashed and rewritten. There is a debate about the political legacy of Aristide in the context of the history of Haiti. What is not in doubt are some facts of that history. We know for a fact that Haiti became an independent republic in 1804, being ruled since then by a series of strongmen, dictators and thugs. We cannot dispute another fact; that the first democratically elected president was a Catholic priest of the Society of Saint Francis of Sales, a liberation theologian called Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was first elected in 1990. As a liberation theologian, Aristide followed a tradition that sought to infuse faith into the pursuit of political and social justice. His parish work in the poor slums of Port-au-Prince became the grounds for mobilising protests against the dictatorship of the Duvalier government. But with Haiti being beset by class contradictions which continue to this day, with the upper class dominating the church and politics, the theologian of the poor of Port-au-Prince was soon expelled from his order in 1988 for organising and leading protests against Duvalierism. In December 1990 the first ever free elections were held and Aristide won with 67% of the vote, assuming office in February 1991. But within a year he was ousted by General Raoul Cedras and was forced into a three-year exile in the US. Aristide returned to Haiti on condition that he not stand for election in December 1995. But in the election of 2000, he was re-elected by an overwhelming majority in an election his opponents boycotted. By the time he resumed office in February 2001, his presidency was shaky. As the bicentenary year of the Haitian Republic dawned in 2004, an armed rebellion by anti-Aristide groups began in a number of cities in early February. On February 29, Aristide went into exile for the second time. It is worth noting here that both the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and the US Secretary of State Colin Powell began to suggest that Aristide step down, despite acknowledging that he was legitimately elected. Much of this version is historically accepted, with disputes around whether or not the 2000 elections were fraudulent. But alongside this dispute, another charge has emerged, seeming to suggest that Aristide is in the same league as all the past dictators of Haiti, if not the worst, and that he was corrupt beyond comparison. It is this latter version of Aristide which has evoked vociferous opposition from some South African quarters. It is also true that Human Rights Watch and other international groups have accused Aristide's supporters of violent reprisals against the opposition. But they have also recorded similar violations conducted by opposition thugs. But which version of the Haitian leader should define our foreign policy intervention? The liberation theologian from the slums of Port-au-Prince who dared to annoy his own religious order and incite the poor against the wealthy - or the corrupt rights abuser and dictator? Much of the political noise does not pay sufficient attention to what has been going on in Haiti, that a popular leader, who is most hated by the upper-class of society (and Washington), has been forced from an elected office he won for a second time. South Africa will be failing in its values of solidarity and internationalism were it to refuse Aristide asylum. If any country deserves to do that more than any, it is South Africa. We should give Aristide a home, not only because we have been requested to do so by the Caribbean Economic Community but because it is morally right to do so. The fact that some people are making this act of solidarity the subject of controversy reflects how morally bankrupt we have become. In fact, those opposing Aristide's asylum should be ashamed of themselves. The Cabinet should be congratulated for coming to the help of a leader who is the victim of global bullies. There might be some costs down the line for South Africa, but the same was the case when poor countries like Zambia and Tanzania gave our leaders asylum during the dark days of apartheid. Like many liberation theologians who were inspired by Aristide' s courage and spirituality, I cannot wait to welcome him to South Africa. And I pray that he will continue to work for the liberation of the Haitian poor, from South Africa. [Tsele is the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. This article was written in his personal capacity and does not reflect the position of the council ] Copyright © 2004 Sunday Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

***********************************************************************

Hola, no puedes dejar de leer este artículo de Soberanía.info: Para profundizar la Revolución, es necesario

revaluar el bolívar , te va a interesar!! http://www.soberania.info/Articulos/articulo_1047.htm

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Para profundizar la Revolución, es necesario revaluar el bolívar

Eudes Vera / Soberania.info - 17/05/04

Cuando en Febrero del 2003, el BCV y MinFinanzas decidieron implantar el Control de Cambio,                                                      fijando la tasa de cambio oficial en 1.600 Bs/$, ambas medidas estaban plenamente justificadas pues                                                          las reservas habían caído a los 14 millardos de dólares, a raíz de la huelga petrolera que se tradujo                                                           en una acentuada  fuga de divisas y en la drástica caída de los ingresos petroleros (en unos 10                                                         millardos de dólares).

Para el 10 de Febrero del 2004, el nivel de las reservas internacionales se había recuperado,                                                        alcanzando un nivel de 22 millardos de dólares, encontrándose la deuda externa más o menos en el                                                           mismo orden.  Para esa fecha se justificaba revaluar o al menos mantener la paridad. Sin embargo,                                                    Nóbrega y el BCV decidieron devaluar en un 20%.

Actualmente, la situación económica del país es aún mejor. Por una parte, las reservas superan los                                                        24 millardos de dólares y la deuda externa está más o menos a la par. Además, según el director del                                       Banco Central de Venezuela, Armando León, los ingresos extraordinarios petroleros deberían estar                                               ubicados en  el orden de los 6 millardos de dólares al cierre del año. Si traducimos a bolívares                                                 oficiales  estos ingresos extras se convierten en unos 11,5 billones de bolívares extras no                                                  contemplados en el presupuesto del 2004.

El barril de petróleo venezolano cerró la semana pasada en 33,40 dólares. El precio promedio para lo                                                    que va del año se ubica en 29,11 dólares, superior, en casi 10 dólares al valor de referencia de 20                                                      dólares establecido en el presupuesto de 2004. No hay señales de que la demanda mundial de petróleo                                                  vaya a decaer, sino más bien todo lo contrario.

Por otra parte, el Superintendente Tributario Nacional, José Vielma Mora, recalcó que el Seniat                                            aspira  superar la meta de recaudación prevista por el Ejecutivo Nacional en 15,2 billones de bolívares,                                            elevándola a 18 billones de bolívares. Es decir, que por Ingresos No petroleros existirá un                                                           excedente al cierre del año de Bs. 2,8 billones.

Adicionalmente, el BCV entregará pronto al Ejecutivo Nacional unos 900 millardos de bolívares                                           provenientes de sus ganancias cambiarias del año pasado . Si sumamos estos tres excedentes,                                           obtenemos como superávit la cifra de Bs. 15,2 billones para este año 2004, que por cierto                                                          supera con creces las necesidades de endeudamiento (Bs. 12 billones) presupuestadas por                                                      Nóbrega para este año. Ergo, el endeudamiento en que nos ha sumido el Ministro con todas                                                           esas emisiones de bonos no era estrictamente necesario.

Ante esta realidad, la lógica indica que esos ingresos excedentarios debieran traducirse en                                             una revaluación inmediata del bolívar, pues su última devaluación se fundamentó en un déficit                                        del presupuesto que ya no existe. Echando numeritos, si para un presupuesto de 49,9 billones de                                                  bolívares le corresponde una tasa de cambio de Bs. 1.920/dólar, para un presupuesto real de Bs 65,1                                                   billones le debe corresponder una tasa de Bs. 1.472/dólar. Según este punto de vista, el dólar estaría                                            actualmente sobrevaluado en un 30,4%. Entonces se podría revaluar a razón de 4,34% mensual                                                          durante los restantes 7 meses del año,  es decir, a razón de Bs. 64 cada mes. No obstante lo que                                                    Nóbrega y el BCV tienen reservado para nosotros este año es otra devaluación, a fin de llevar                                                             el dólar promedio a Bs. 1920, con lo cual no sería sorpresa si el dólar oficial para Diciembre                                                sobrepasara los 2200 bolívares.

Personalmente, pienso que la devaluación del bolívar ha sido un retroceso para nuestro Proceso                                                         Revolucionario. Tengo la impresión de que Nóbrega y los demás burócratas del BCV ignoraron                                           olímpicamente las consecuencias de su devaluación sobre la condición socio económica del                                           sostén principal de este proceso: las grandes masas de pobres de este país, quienes han visto                                                    cómo sus precarios recursos se  han visto minimizados en su poder adquisitivo ante la                                                        inocultable escalada de precios de los artículos de la dieta  básica, medicinas y servicios. Si                                                            bien el aumento del salario mínimo en un 30%, decretado por el   Presidente, es un paliativo para los                                                           que gozan de un empleo, no es menos cierto que las grandes masas de desempleados están                                                          indefensas ante la arremetida de los precios. Para un pobre hoy en día adquirir una casa, una                                                        nevera, una cocina, o cualquier artefacto doméstico, es un sueño inalcanzable. Los Mercal y                                                        mega mercados si bien alivian un poco la deficiencia alimentaria del pobre, resultan insuficientes                                                         a todas luces. Paralelamente ese aumento del salario mínimo inevitablemente conlleva a una mayor                                                     inflación pues los productores y empresarios trasladan dicho aumento a los precios de sus productos y                                                servicios. Mientras tanto, los ingentes capitales fugados al exterior permanecen allí esperando la                                                          próxima devaluación, y sus dueños y los especuladores del mercado negro se frotan las manos por las                                               inmensas ganancias que les esperan con la próxima devaluación.

Ante este estado de cosas y vista la confrontación inevitable con el Imperialismo y sus aliados,                                       los  oligarcas, el camino que le queda a esta Revolución si aspira a consolidarse no es otro que                                          el de acelerar el empoderamiento del pueblo humilde. ¿Cómo? Profundizando y expandiendo                                las actuales misiones, los Mercales y boticas populares y al mismo tiempo otorgándole un mayor                                                 poder adquisitivo a las masas  populares, mediante la revaluación inmediata y progresiva del                                                      bolívar. Esta última medida,  de aplicarse, traería como consecuencia el mejoramiento instantáneo de                                        las condiciones de vida de la población, el abaratamiento  de los insumos importados, la reactivación                                               económica, la caída  instantánea de la inflación y el retorno masivo de los capitales fugados, ante la                                              debacle que les sobrevendría a estos últimos si se dejan en el exterior devengando allí ínfimas tasas de                                                        interés. (Por supuesto que la revaluación debe ir acompañada en todo momento del Control de Cambio,                                                         el cual debe hacerse inclusive más riguroso para impedir que se utilicen los dólares preferenciales                                               para importar artículos de lujo o productos que compitan con los nacionales).

¿Habrá alguien en el alto gobierno que nos escuche, por amor de Dios?

Addendum: Resulta curioso ver cómo varios Diputados del Bloque del Cambiorecientemente salvaron su voto y hasta enfrentaron abiertamente la aprobación por la Asamblea Nacional de la apertura de un proceso para revocarle la nacionalidad a varios pseudo periodistas extranjeros (entre ellos: Marta Colomina, Napoleón Bravo, etc.). Es decir, estos diputados se han lanzado al ruedo para defender a una minoría de escuálidos. Pero no dijeron esta boca es mía, ni salvaron su voto, cuando se aprobó precipitadamente el presupuesto devaluacionista del 2004, que ha perjudicado a las grandes mayorías populares, por el incremento galopante del costo de la vida. ¡Cosas veredes, Sancho!

Eudes Vera - eudesvera@cantv.net

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