Vene-Suelo

Living in denial in Caracas

Here's an article from another American on the ground in Caracas. He's a Phd, and as I may have mentioned, I'm merely a law student. So - he gets published on counterpunch, and I only get to write my blog in response.

George makes some general observations which are fundamentally correct about Caracas: the center of town is viewed as dangerous, the Sabana Grande boulevard connects the rich east with the poor center, and as you make your way up the Sabana Grande things get richer and the climate changes. Beyond that, the article is misguided at best, and disingenuous at worst.

First - the Venezuelan opposition are not admirers of Pinochet. In the former Constitutional regime of puntofijismo, Venezuela's presidency was so weakened that it became equal to Congress. For instance, Presidents under the old constitution could not serve concurrent terms. That meant that the power shifted hands, by law, in every election. This was a rule that Chavez abolished, who recently repeated his claim of staying in power until 2020's (he will legally have served from 98 till 2012 when he wins tomorrow). Ironically, under Chavez, Venezuelans seems to have warmed up to their first autocrat (or closest thing to that) in 50 years.

I'm glad to see a commentator tackle race in Venezuela. Venezuelans, from all walks of life, will tell you there is no racism in Venezuela. They are being fooled. Racism is rampant. Because the opposition is white, and Chavistas are likely to be not white, its hard to find a progressive article talking about this - it is considered counter-revolutionary. However, it is real, and racism is a big problem, even inside the revolutionary movement.

Corruption is a charge which outsiders should handle with care. First, there is a culture associated with corruption here that foreigners have a hard time coming to terms with. Second, Chavez won in 1998 on an anti-corruption platform. Many disaffected voters don't see any change in the system, despite the change in the faces and the flag.

Next - I'm frustrated by privileged intellectual individuals from the United States passing comment on the safety of the tough neighborhoods in Venezuela as if its not so bad. Although it is hyped up, it is also historically bad. I was extremely cautious, and nearly got robbed on Sabana Grande (got the zipper open, but didn't get inside the bag).  All Venezuelans carry their bags  in front of them, or travel with hip pouches. Even friends of mine from the lower class call Plaza Venezuela "Saigon." It doesn't take a phd in class structure or Latin American studies to recognize a lawless area where crime is breeding - and that is what is going on in buhonero city. A few days before I left town, there was a midday shootout where the police and some thiefs on motorcycles opened fire using automatic weapons, killing 4 people as they came out of the train station. That is the kind of thing that is going on towards the center of town - and people have a right to be concerned about that. I limited myself in terms of travel, leisure, and work daily due to safety concerns. On the other hand, I did travel alone for months in Caracas, oftentimes dressed up, and nothing bad happened to me.

Finally - the buhoneros. George doesn't fully understand what is going on. First of all, the Buhoneros are run in a mafia-like system, with bosses and kickbacks and stationing. So, they are very well organized. Second, as you might assume, low-level chavista leaders are at the top of this pyramid. Third, there are so many buhoneros in Sabana Grande that it is difficult, or at time impossible, to get to the stores. Fourth, a large percentage of buhoneros (50% at least based on my experience) are selling illegal goods like pirate books, CDs, and DVDs. Worse yet - they're selling pirated national goods like the new 3 Duenos disc, or Cuatro Poder, not just American schwag.
Fifth, the buhonero system allows those already in to keep others out, unless they come up with ever increasing patronage fees. If you are asking yourself whether this is really an informal economy, or whether this is an attack on the middle class Venezuelans who own the card shop now eclipsed by "shanghai," you're asking a good question here.

Finally - housing. George is right, there is absolutely no housing in Caracas. A few reasons -

• the real estate market is insanely inflated
• the city is slammed with people
• the city is limited by geography, such as a the big mountain on the north side
• people are scared to live outside of the east, and its terribly inconvenient

A-HA! George has done something similar to what I was doing in my time in Caracas - writing a scathing review of the ravages of capitalism from a comfortable capitalist perch on the east side of town! It's not that you can't live in the barrio or the center, its that as a foreigner, you might like minor amenities like a place to store a laptop, and a bed with less than 20 bugs in it at all times. You might also be concerned about all that crime you claimed doesn't exist.

I've come to terms with that irony, and adopted a critical stance on chavismo, especially given all the international chavistas blogging next to me while sipping $4 lattes in the wireless cafe in San Ignacio. George, and his revolutionary cat, might do well to do the same. I'm not suggesting believing the opposition's claims, but simply considering them objectively will help put the situation in which you have been thrust into perspective.

I think George hit on one of the key issues to sum up his piece, that Rosales is a center-left candidate and Chavez is a more-radical-left candidate, meaning that Venezuelans will be voting left in this election no matter what. That is the great work of Chavez, taking a system that was previously center right and right, and thrusting it to the left. The social programs are no longer in contention, the issue is how best to carry them out. These advances are the true success of Chavismo, and should be revered at every turn. Keep up the good work out there, George - I look forward to your next article.

Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez Chavez

WOW! Its Chavez mania.

For the first time ever,  the whacky lefties, liberals, and anti-war people are joined by the general public in talking about Hugo Chavez. Everyone else finally got an earful of the response to US hegemony by the South American government with the biggest mouth: Venezuela (pic, taken by me, from Ave. Baralt in Caracas. The ladies selling fried pork laughed at me when I snapped it).

In America, the mood seems to swing from disdain (how dare he call our president the devil) to admiration (good speach!). I enjoyed the speach so much, I was pretty surprised to find some friends of mine railing against it as inflammatory and disparaging. Sometimes I forget that many Americans, for reasons nobody can explain, still virulently support President Bush. It seems to me that even those who don't heavily support the President, but also don't have a strong opinion about the war, found Chavez's words disparaging.

In any case, the world this week got to see something I was lucky enough to see from the ground level up starting in (for me) 2004. There is a globe-spanning anti-US movement, and its gaining ground fast, and its not built on extremism. Its frighteningly built on a calculated belief that the United States is bad: bad for business, bad for human rights, bad for peace, and bad for humanity. As an American, its fine to have a knee-jerk reaction against such accusations, and I can honestly say I did have that reaction in 2004.

As I travelled around, talked to people, read the news from the other side of things, and saw entire US-backed governments crumble under popular pressure, I realized the weight that anti-american speach has in the world outside the stars and stripes. All across South America, people were putting plans in action to wake up and take control of their destinies, and put a stop to US intervention and control of their governments, bank accounts, and lives. I'm not just talking about the peasant farmers from Bolivia, I'm also talking about the bankers in Argentina, industrialists in Brazil, and the entire government of Venezuela. The movement is strong, its well-funded, its varied, and its devoted to fairness and equality - at the expense of the USA. There is one other key note - its broad-based. Jordanian street-vendors sell "Che" t-shirts at a fast clip. Bolivian bus-drivers put Osama Bin Laden on their rides and cruise through town. 187 nations met in Cuba to complain about subjugation. This thing is gaining steam, its organized, and its worldwide.

Speaking broadly, the US is not in a no-win situation. However, our government, as Chavez warns, needs to wake up and smell the not so free trade coffee. American exceptionalism has gotten to such an astounding level that an organized anti-US movement is likely overdue. We can undermine such a movement, simply, by being civil with developing countries. For example, less forced aerial drug spraying and more mulilateral drug policy work. Less bilaterial free trade agreements where we dump chicken leg quarters on unsuspecting countries with lots of chickens (Colombia, Russia), and more bilaterally positive agreements.

In any case, all of this is unlikely under the Bush administration, which is so out of touch it doesn't realize how badly it lost the battle of 'hearts and minds' this week at the UN. The US is a nation of great people, but the world is tired of holding its breath waiting for our government to live up to that promise.

So, I'd like to join other pundits tonight and predict a very dangerous course for the US in the near-future, unless there is a significant policy shift. We've seen exactly who will be aligned against us, and even if they aren't threatening militarily, they certainly should be numerically.

A New Menace!

I decided to live blog Chavez's speech, on TV right now at a graduation ceremony for Mission Ribas:

"A new menace . . . the US plan for Democracy in Cuba . . . Fidel is more alive than ever . . . lets all applaud Fidel Castro, the Cuban people, the Cuban revolution (cheers for Fidel from audience) . . . Look, watch out - Fidel might live till 100, brother, eternally living in Cuba.

Imperialism doesn't only menace Cuba . . . 80 million bucks to support the Cuban people? No, its to cause damage, like the savage blockades for 40 some-odd years . . .

. . . Venezuela supports the Cuban revolution and the cuban people (applause) . . . the menace of this empire of (killers, inhame, invadors, not in that order). Who ever steps out of line with the empire, gets put in a "transition plan" by the empire . . .  because this century the North American empire will end."

The US should have their own plan democracy . . . if they want to save and maintain a democratic system inside the US . . . its not better to be blind than not wanting to see."

Any missed words in this 'transcription' were not omitted on purpose, rather I may have missed a few or typed too slow. Still, I think it gives you a picture of the speech from tonight, carried on all local channels in Venezuela.

On my TV: TANKS!

Check it out - it was military day this Saturday, and all the stations showed this ubercool military parade. I learned that Venezuela has lots of tanks.

Hey, why not?

avanza!

I know u love it, so I´ll try to keep the pics up on the propoganda front! The Government never ever lets you forget that they´re involved in everything going on in Caracas, and indeed Venezuela. Beyond all the signage, ads, posters, graffiti, and newspaper coverage, the government has their own TV channel, and reserves the right to interrupt all local TV stations to deliver messages it deems important. This weekend, everyone in the country without cable got to watch a military parade for national army day. That probably made Spain fans pretty angry, since the parade interrupted the first 20 minutes or so of the match on Saturday. Eh, everyone knew Spain was gonna win anyway . . .

So, this is a very tame example of propoganda from an overpass. I´ll try to catch some of the more garish and in your face stuff scrawled about the town in the coming days. Too bad have a large, unclandestine digital camera, or else I´d have lots more pics for you already.

Propoganda Paintings

Check it! It´s on the wall. It may be disputed whether the government´s programs are helping the people of Caracas, but no one can dispute that the government´s programs are publicized in Caracas. In every subway station, on every wall, on TV during commercial breaks, you always get the same general message: Venezuela is now for everyone. Which is to say - congratulations poor and marginalized folks, you know have power; watch out richie riches, the government is coming for you.

Still, as a metaphor, this message wall is across from the huge El recreo shopping mall that has citibank, subway, etc, etc. So, both messages currently coexist.

Propoganda Video!

Download S3011383.AVI

Download the above video to check out a snippet of what the government´s TV channel looks like. This is Chavez at one of the Bolivarian schools - a new state-run school system that provides education to kids who might not be able to get it otherwise. I taped this piece from the news- most of the day the channel shows political discourse and government speeches. Saturday night, they showed a  dancin´party!

As you can tell from the video, the Government channel doesn´t have the best camera equipment, but they do have a mission to get everyone access to creating TV. I must say, in my 7 days or so of infrequently watching this channel, they really have put a lot of folks, like that little girl, up on the pulpit to address everyone watching TV. My favorite moment had to be the 15 minute of pain Chavez endured smiling while a girl about the same age as the one in the video gave a clarinet concert. It was the worst I´ve heard, and as many of you know, I´ve heard some bad music in my day. Chavez kissed the girl when it was over, and looked relieved. As you can see from the video here, its hard not to like him: he kises babies, gives away education, subsidizes food, etc, etc, etc. Plus, he is kind of a likeable father-figure type of guy, no? That is, if your father wore a red beret.